thanks Thanks for making the effort to write your blog so regularly. Barry and i have enjoyed reading it very much as it brought back so many memories of our time in PE. The final farewell is always moving and I always cry and become too emotional. It makes us want to return once again. I am glad you had such a successful trip.
WOW what an awesome "finale" to your adventure/trip - I will get someone to sign me on th Facebook so I can see the photos of the animals - I am really envious of that...!
goodbyes Hi, sounds as tho you have had a successful and very useful few weeks, well done that girl.
Enjoy the last few days , and make the most of the warmth, love H
leaving You will have had your specail farewell by the time you see this, so hope it wasn't too emotionsl!
Do you go on safari between now and next week ?
love Hil
books etc What sort of books then Susie? Are there any which I could garner from here? Would it be possible to use second hand ones or do they need to be pristine, what sort of age groups/standar of ENGLISH ETC ETC ?
gLAD you are gettign some warmth. Minus 5 again this morning, but then another dry sunny breezy day.
Make the most of your final week, love H x
dazzles and journeys! Hi Sue, Great to read more about your adventures. I love the notion of a dazzle of zebras! It seems perfect. However, I am so not so sure about a journey of giraffes!?? Need more time to think about that one!! I'm glad you have an intrepid swimming (and boozing?) companion - enjoy it to the full. I am sure you will! I look forward to hearing about it all when you are home again and to seeing some photos, perhaps. x Rose
wondering how you find supplies etc and time to make games for the classes - do you stay at the school after the children leave - it all still sounds a little disorganized...must be difficult to keep the schedule at all straight...
lesson plans Hi, must be frustrating at times when you have tried to prepare,but sounds as if it is going well regardless.
World Cup preparations will probably take precedence over everything else, and the water supplies too, will probably get diverted to that, so none of the incomers get to realize what dire straits they may well be in.
Only another week or so isn't it ? Enjoy, love H x
Hello All sounds very interesting and exhausting Sue but great fun with a whole range of emotion I imagine!
Jack is coming for lunch on Sunday or Saturday night - don't know which yet! he wants to go to the music shop in Kew though...his cold sounds fine though now, and so does he.
See you soon
Love
Penny x
I love hearing of the children in their various "fashion statements" - I can imaging how colorful it was and how "charged up" they must have been after assembly..!
envy, envy ! Sounds as tho' you are really enjoying yourself, and doing something really worth while. Mind the bluebotles don't get you, use sun screen, and TAKE PHOTOS, love H x
Mufti Monday Hi Sue, Mufti Monday sounds like a bit of a challenge in terms of getting any work done!! I am so glad that you have got your voice back and that the weather has improved, making swimming possible again. Blue skies here today - wonderful! We might even manage some digging next week in Gill's garden. x Rose
Hey
too bad about the cough and lack of voice - VERY difficult to teach in any school in that condition - speaking from experience! just got caught up on your last 3 entries...we had a big wind/rain storm Wed into Thurs last wk...R got a late Wed night flight and got to Bath at 2 am as all the flights on Thurs had already been cancelled and then the Fri flights got cancelled as well....it was fortunate - he would not have been up til Sat... the wind was terrific - thought I might be like Dorothy and Toto (Jillian and Bandit and Maggie) so was GLAD he was here - and , we of course , lost power about 24 hrs in Bath and more like 40 down at the coast...which necessitates getting generators running in both locations as both basements will flood w/heavy rain (we had about 6"inches.)...and no internet...
Thought at first - reading the blogs backwards that the " bluebottles" we a kind of fly - like the SmPt "green heads" but sounds like they are a kind of jelly fish? it is a shame - it seems as if you have not been able to do much swimming?
The dusty environment would drive me a little nuts... hopefully you are a bit better and had some wkend time to rest and recover...
XO Jillian
voices Glad to hear you have your's back, cos' even when you know them well it isn't easy doing things in a class when barely audible.
Demob happy ! Good grief, you have only had less than two weeks in a classroom, wot a wuss!
enjoy, x
thankyou Sue Thankyou Sue for your very informative messages. Sorry i have not replied before.We fell we are back there with you. I hope your voice is back. I think it is the need to project your voice, which teachers do all the time when in school but once you are retired you speak normally and getting back into teacher mode causes the strain.
Barry was so happy to hear about the art classes at Joe Slovo. he asks do you have any info about art classes at other schools.
please ask robin to give us a brief run down of happenings at Tshume if she has a moment. I know how pressured it can be, but we are always keen to hear how they are doing. Particularly if they have a new teacher for Grade r after Tsidi retired last year?
keep writing
love Brenda
Hi Sue
It's great to get your diary with daily news. I'm so sorry you've lost your voice and can't imagine how you'd cope in that chaotic teaching situation croaking! It must be frustrating to miss a day when you've just got your room and timetable sorted out.
I've been in Lord's Hill this afternoon talking to 14 yr olds about implants..........it's a whole different world from where you are!
Hope you're feeling better, take care
love Ez x
Hello Souffle I liked your new name, it really suits you.
Sorry to hear about the voice, I hope it gets stronger soon and that the cough goes too. Maybe your day off with have done the trick, do you feel guilty about taking the day off?
When you mentioned the bluebottles and dogs it sounded like the dogs had barbs on them!
I just cannot imagine it being hot enough for the sun to burn your knees, it is pouring down with rain again here.
Lovely to hear from you again Souffle. I hope the weather clears up there and that the bluebottles get lost somewhere else.
Love form Chris xx
Hi Sue Hi Sue, I'm sorry I have been so slow at getting in touch. I have been reading your blogs with great interest. You are so good at describing everything! I feel that I can imagine to some extent what you are seeing and doing and hearing. Are you now totally proficient with Xhosa clicks? Will you teach me when you come home? I do hope your cough goes very soon and also that the sun appears! x Rose
Wow... it sounds a bit confusing - the teaching side of it...can't imaging trying to "wing" a classroom of 40 2nd graders whose language I can't speak! where do you begin?!! will you now just take small groups out to your "classroom" and work with them? You go girl!!
XO Jillian
great to hear your news! Hi Sue, I am sorry I have been so very slow to reply but it is has been great to hear your news! You describe everything so well that - again - I can at least begin to visualise what you are seeing and doing. I hope that (a) your cough has disappeared by now and (b) the rain has stopped and that you have sun again ( I have to be able to imagine you body-surfing!) and (c) that you have located the readers and other materials that you sent or took last time. love, Rose
Just got caught up on your last 2 blogs...I would LOVE to see the elephants and any other animals! if I could just be "beamed" there in sort of a "star wars" process - it would be perfect! your change in assignment sounds like the situation got a bit confusing...hopefully - since you had the younger ones last time it won't be too difficult to redirect...and I hope your cought gets better quickly - that is a big annoyance..
Dagny is loving reading your blog - don't know if she commented to you as well as me!
sending love!
Jillian
I suddenly have time to try some new things. I always thought I needed a gap year but am starting the big gap. I didn't think I would retire and then it seemed like the right time. Now there are myriad choices of what to do, who to be and where to go. I am not sure going to South Africa to volunteer for a month is exactly travelling, but it seems an adventure and worth recording and sharing. It could have been a notebook, but this is the age of electronic communication so blogging is another adventure.... full info
Brenda
non-member comment
thanks
Thanks for making the effort to write your blog so regularly. Barry and i have enjoyed reading it very much as it brought back so many memories of our time in PE. The final farewell is always moving and I always cry and become too emotional. It makes us want to return once again. I am glad you had such a successful trip.