¿Que pasa, Christel House?

Starting today and going into next week, the learners at Christel House will be writing exams...

DUN, DUN, DUN!

They are being tested in Afrikaans, Xhosa, English (Comprehension, Language, Spelling, and Dictation), Mental Maths, Mathematics, Social Science (History and Geography), and Natural Science --- according to the schedule on the wall I just copied.  Mostly the atmosphere has been hectic, as educators are preparing the tests and learners are studying their brains out.  They still get the scheduled intervals, however, and get dismissed early (around 2pm instead of 4pm or 5pm).  Most of the children come from townships such as Langa, Manenberg, and Delft, so it's probably nice to get home a bit earlier and cut the wait for the commute short.  Alexis and I have pretty much just been offering help whenever possible --- stapling papers, sorting, etc --- but mostly we've just been reading for our research papers... or for pleasure, as is the case with Atonement for me.

There are approximately four weeks left and I am pretty much incredulous about it!  Finally I narrowed down topics for my research papers (Educational Theatre in South Africa and South-South Relations in Angola) thanks to Mama Lee, so now I just have to write, write, write!  30 pages to be exact.  I'll try not to procrastinate then collapse from clinical exhaustion.  Luckily I have a few days on the tail end of the trip when my semester will be completely over and I can just cry about how much I will miss Cape Town as I roam the streets.  If there are any gift requests state them now or forever hold your peace!  (Like if you've always wanted a beaded elephant, for example.)   Hopefully I'll get to go to the craft markets in town sometime.

Yesterday I went around with the Flip Video camcorder from Christel House and filmed a walking tour of the school with the aid of some rambunctious 5th graders.  Most of it consisted of insane wind from the stormy weather, dancing, and shouting.  A highlight was when some of the high schoolers did their American Valley Girl accents and hammed it up for a few minutes.  If I get around to editing the footage I will post a video.

My favorite new word is lekker, which in Afrikaans means nice, used to the same extent that Americans say "awesome!"  So let's hope the weather is lekker this weekend, man.  Dankie and hasta luego.

PS:  Wish the learners good luck!  The first CHSA Matrics are writing their exams.  Class of 2009, wooooo!