Differences

---

I’ve told lots of you a few of the funny and interesting differences between here and home but here are just some of the things I’ve noticed.
At School
• Students wear uniforms
• Girls must wear their hair up, can not wear make up, earrings (except studs), bracelets, or necklaces
• Boys must wear a belt and have their shirts tucked in at all times, their sideburns can not go past a certain part of their ear, their hair must not be long
enough to grab a significant part of, no earrings, and they must be clean shaven
• The students also wear nametags
• They have tests every Wednesday, in a different subject each Wednesday
• Their grades are comprised of nothing but one class tests, one grade test (Wednesday tests), and one project and/or practical, we don’t give homework,
we don’t do labs
• They are on a schedule that goes in two week rotations, the students do not have the same classes every day or even at the same time every day
• They get two breaks a day, a 20 min break around 10:00 and another 20 min break around noon, not really a lunch break. As long as it is nice, the
students are required to be out of the school at this time. There are two quads they are allowed to be in and then outside.
• We also get out at 14:10 and most kids go to some type of sport
• Every student is required to play two sports a year, normally one winter sport and one summer sport, there are “social teams” if you aren’t actually good
at anything but you are still required to attend once a week. They also don’t have practice every day, normally just twice a week.
• The entire school is contained in a fence but we have 6 tennis courts, a swimming pool, two rugby fields (which also double as cricket fields), two hockey
fields, a soccer field and “batting” cages for cricket. There is also a workout room and Pearson is one of the first schools to employ a sports medicine and
trainer person.
• We have a copy room and a woman whose job it is to make your copies. So, you bring her your things to copy, tell her how many you want, and them
come back and pick them up later.
• There is also a “typist”. There are two technology labs in the school but other than that no teachers have computers in their rooms. So, if you want
something typed up you write it up and bring it to the typist.
• And, the teachers during break always drink tea or coffee and hang out in the staff room. There is a woman that gets our tea and our cups together and
then washes all of our dishes and cleans up after us as well. So we kind of have a “housekeeper” at school as well.
• The schools here also have houses that each of the students are divided in to, prefects, and head boys and girls…kind of like Hogwarts!
• They also have “workbooks” in some classes and the kids cut out and paste handouts into it and have to draw lines in certain places and always have
their rulers, scissors, and glue stick close by!
• We have assemblies every Tuesday and Friday mornings and then an “enrichment” period every Thursday morning, they sing their school song, a hymn,
have a little “story” and prayer time, any announcements, and a sports report
• South Africa actually has 11 national languages but the main ones in this part of the country the main ones are English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa (which is
pronounced Cosa but the C is kind of a click, there are 3 different clicking noises in the Xhosa language). At school, most all of the teachers speak both
Afrikaans and English and classes are taught in both languages. So, it’s interesting during staff meetings and such, because the teachers and principal
slip between the two languages often. I normally only get about half of the announcements.
• The school here is year round and starts in January as opposed to August. They are also divided by primary school, which is K-7, and then high school is
8-12 (which is called your Matric year).
• There is no AC so the windows and doors are always open and there is a bunch of natural light in the school because of the windows everywhere
• The students are required to take certain courses their 8th and 9th grade years and then they may choose what to continue with after that. If you
choose Life Sciences (biology at home) you then take it your 10th, 11th, and Matric years. Therefore, their text books are much smaller and they do not
cover things in as much detail every year but are cramming a lot into that year. They are learning things, though, in 10th grade here that kids learn way
earlier at home so it’s almost like they’ve waited to introduce science at all.
• They are also required to stand at the beginning of class and tell me good morning or good afternoon before I let them sit and we begin class, it’s kind of
nice

In General
• They don’t really use paper towels here. The first couple weeks when I was eating in the house with the family, I was often wondering what to do with
my fingers because we never had paper towels or napkins at dinner.
• Their electric outlets have a switch that you turn on. So, if you don’t have your tv on during the day, you switch the plug off until you turn it on later.
• They also drive on the left side of the road, which makes shifting gears and turning on my blinkers really strange!
• It’s not unusual to see everyone barefoot, they go to the store, mall, beach, everywhere barefoot quite often…Kentucky?
• You can buy milk in boxes that doesn’t need to be refrigerated…gross, or your “regular” milk comes in bags…weird
• Most of their juices are in concentrate forms
• You also can’t do your own laundry at a Laundromat here, you drop it off, it is done for you, and you come back and pick it up
• Most houses also don’t have AC, as well as the schools
• It’s also interesting that all of the houses are gated and surrounded by gates. I have a key to get into the main gate, a key to open the gate right
outside my door, and then a key to get in the flat

Words
• Braai (pronounced bri) = cookout
• Hire a car = rent
• Robot = stop light
• Pigeon hole = teacher’s mailbox
• Write an exam = take a test
• Garage = gas station
• Queue = line
• Glossy = magazine
• Sweeties = candy
• Booked off = out sick or off of work
• Borrow you the money = lend
• Rubber = eraser
• Plasma = substitute teacher, or really just to sit in for someone (they really don’t have subs)
• Costume = swimsuit
• Tipex = whiteout
• Cokies = markers
• Takis = sneakers
• Plaster = bandaid
• Buggy = pick up truck
• And then they have this very strange understanding of now, now now, and just now. I’m not even sure which one really means right this minute, maybe
none of them, I mean it is South African time we’re talking about.

---