New friends. New horizons. Nye venner. Nye horisonter.

This term I have attended an Alpha course in the church I go to. I thought: “Hey, that’s a good place to get to know more people!” I also brought a good friend and colleague a couple of nights. She is part of the Zionist Church here in South Africa, where they teach both the Bible and worship of the ancestors, so she really needs to learn more about what the Bible says about Christian living!

Dette semesteret har jeg gått på Alpha-kurs i kirken jeg går til. Jeg tenkte at det var en glimrende måte å bli kjent med nye folk på! Jeg har også hatt med meg en god venn og kollega et par kvelder. Hun tilhører et sørafrikansk kirkesamfunn som heter Zionist Church. Der lærer de både Bibelen og tilbedelse av forfedrene, så hun trenger å lære mer om hva Bibelen sier om kristen tro og liv!

Well, I have been part of a really awesome group, and I have gotten to know some great people! We have had dinner at church, then watched the teachings of Nicky Gumbel on big screen, and after that discussed the teaching in small groups. Good times! One Saturday evening most of us went out for Ten Pin Bowling and a coffee! Again, excellent way to get to know people!

Vel, jeg har vært med i en skikkelig bra gruppe, og blitt kjent med noen veldig ålreite folk! Vi har begynt kveldene med middag i kirken, deretter undervisningen til Nicky Gumbel på storskjerm, og så har vi diskutert undervisningen i grupper etterpå. Veldig bra kvelder! En lørdag dro flere av oss ut og bowlet og kaffe etterpå! Igjen, en veldig ålreit måte å bli kjent med nye folk på!

Last weekend we went away to a holiday resort a couple of hours down the south coast. We stayed in chalets and had all our meals made for us! Luxury! This weekend we had teaching on the Holy Spirit. Many high expectations for that weekend, and we were not disappointed! Nicky Gumbel gave a good, down to earth teaching, and Saturday evening we had prayer in our groups. God really touched many of us, and spoke to us both in our hearts and through words of wisdom through others. Three members of our group, along with about 15 others, decided it was time for them to get baptized, so early Sunday morning, 0700, we all made our way to the beach. It took dedication for them to get baptized, because it was very, very cold this morning. It was raining and there was cold wind from all sides! But they all went into the “grave” and was “risen to live with Jesus”!

Forrige helg dro vi avsted til et feriested ett par timer sørover langs kysten. Vi bodde i hytter (små leiligheter)og fikk alle måltidene servert! Hvilken luksus! Denne helgen hadde vi undervisning om den Hellige Ånd. Mange hadde høye forventninger, og de ble ikke skuffet! Nicky Gumbel gav en bra, jordnær undervisning, og lørdagskveld ba vi for hverandre i gruppene. Gud rørte hjertene til flere av oss, og talte til oss enten direkte i hjertene våre eller gjennom visdomsord fra andre. Tre medlemmer i gruppa vår, i likhet med ca 15 andre, fant ut at nå var tiden de ville døpe seg. Så tidlig søndagsmorgen, 0700, gikk vi ned til stranda. Det krevde overbevisning fra denne gjengen, for det var (faktisk!) veldig kaldt denne morgenen! Det regnet og blåste nordavind fra alle kanter! Men de gikk i ”graven” og ”sto opp for å leve med Jesus”!

We also had a few hours during Saturday afternoon to just hang out. Then most of us went down to the beach. The South Africans LOVE their beaches! They go as often as they can, to hang, surf, swim, watch the waves or watch the people surfing! The South Africans also love rugby! So a great group of them spent an hour playing what it called touch rugby, a very mild form of the normally pretty brutal sport! I tried my luck with “boulles”, a French ball game for old men…

Vi hadde også noen timer ledig lørdag ettermiddag til å bare være sosiale. Da gikk de fleste av oss ned til stranda. Sørafrikanere ELSKER strendene sine! De drar til stranda så ofte som de kan, for å bare henge, surfe, bade, se på bølgene eller se på de som surfer! Sørafrikanere elsker rugby, også! Så en god gjeng spilte det de kaller ”touch rugby”, hvor de ikke går hardt inn i taklinger som i vanlig rugby, men spiller MYE mildere! Jeg prøvde lykken med ”boulles”, et ballspill for gamle menn…

All in all a VERY good weekend, both spiritually and socially.

Alt i alt en VELDIG god helg, bade åndelig og sosialt.

New Times... :) Nye Tider... :)

A lot has happened since last time I wrote, both in my life and in South Africa. I'll try to give a short up date, let's see how far we get...

Mye har hendt siden jeg skrev noe som helst her på bloggen min, både med meg og her i Sør-Afrika ellers. Jeg skal prøve å gi en liten oppdatering, så får vi se hvor langt jeg kommer.. :)


New classes. Nye klasser.

Last time I wrote I had monster grade 8 classes of 80 kids in one class. At the end of April we were able to start using 5 new class rooms in the new school building just up the road from where we are now. The 4 grade 10 were moved up there, and that released more rooms for the other classes, and we could now split the 2 monster grade 8 into 4 classes of 40 kids. Compared to Norwegian standards (and actually South African school regulations) that is still a lot of kids in one class, but when I'm used to 80, this was a VERY nice change! I then became the form educator (class teacher) for 8C! :)


Sist jeg skrev hadde jeg to monsterklasser på 8.trinn med 80 unger i hver. I slutten av April kunne vi begynne å bruke 5 klasserom i den nye skolebygningen rett oppe i veien fra der vi er nå. 4 klasser på 10.trinn flyttet opp dit, noe som førte til at 4 klasserom ble frigjort til andre klasser, og vi kunne dele de to store 8.klassene i to så vi fikk fire klasser på 40 unger. Det er fortsatt mange unger, både i forhold til norske standarer og sør-afrikansk skolelov, men når jeg er vandt til 80 var det en FANTASTISK forandring! Jeg ble da klassestyrer for klasse 8C! :)


Many class rooms look like a rubbish dump! The kids throw their litter everywhere! And there is no bin in the class rooms. They don't take pride or ownership in how their school looks, because the whole village don't expect anything from them... So I decided I wanted to try to teach my class some of that. I told them: "Let's try to have the nicest class room at the school!" I bought a nice green plastic bin to keep in the class room. When I brought it to school, the other staff members asked me what I was going to do with the bin, and I said it was for the class room of 8C. "No, you are wasting your money! They are going to steal it!" (There is A LOT of stealing at the school!) I told my class what sme of the teachers had said to me, that they expected them to just steal it, and that they all had to take responsibillity for the bin, that it remained in the class room. One girl got the responsibility to get it from me in the morning and bring it back to me in the afternoon. It still works, and it is now three weeks! Now the kids use the bin! We also stayed behind after school one Friday afternoon and scrubed our class room, ceiling, walls and floor! most of the kids stayed behind and helped out, and I had bought juice and cookies for us to enjoy when the job was done! From being a dump of a class room, we now have the nicest class room at the school, and more important - the kids take pride in it and responsibillity! :)))

Mange klasserom ser ut som en søppelhaug! Ungene kaster søppel overalt! Stolene sine, også… De har ingen stolthet og tar ingen eierskap i hvordan det ser ut på skolen deres, ganske enkelt fordi ingen forventer noe som helst av de… Så jeg bestemte meg for å prøve å lære de litt av nettopp det, stolthet og eierskap. Jeg sa til de: ”La oss prøve å få det klasserommet vårt til å bli det fineste på hele skolen!” Jeg kjøpte en fin, grønn søppelbøtte som vi skulle ha i klasserommet. Da jeg kom med den på skolen, spurte kollegaene mine hva jeg skulle med den. Jeg sa at den skulle vi ha i 8C. ”Nei, nei! Du kaster bort pengene dine! De kommer til å stjele den!” (Det er MYE stjeling på skolen!) Jeg fortalte klassen min hva noen av lærerne hadde sagt, at de forventet at de kom til å stjele den. Så ga jeg beskjed om at ALLE måtte ta ansvar for bøtta, at den ble i klasserommet. En jente fikk i oppgave å hente den hver morgen og gi den tilbake til meg når skoledagen var over. Det funker enda, og nå har det gått tre uker! Ungene bruker søppelbøtta, selv om de må minnes på det av og til… Gammel vane vond å venne! En fredag ettermiddag var vi igjen på skolen etter skoletid og skrubbet hele klasserommet vårt Vi tok for oss tak, vegger og gulv. De fleste ungene ble igjen. Jeg hadde kjøpt saft og kjeks som vi kunne nyte etterpå når jobben var gjort! Så fra å se ut som en søppelfylling, har vi nå det fineste klasserommet på skolen, og det viktigste – ungene tar stolthet i det og ansvar!

The pictures are before, during and after the big clean up!

Bildene er tatt før, underveis og etter den store vaskedagen!

Thanks! TAKK!! :)

Thanks be to the genious Johnny Wills and his family :) I am now back to bogging!
I HAVE MY TOOL BAR BACK!!!!

Takket være datageniet Johnny Wills og hans familie :) er jeg tilbake på bloggen!
JEG HAR FÅTT TILBAKE VERKTØYLINJA MI!!!!

Waterloo Secodary School :))

English first. Norsk er skrevet i kursiv! :)

This is me at my work place in the staff room. The red and white TYPEK-boxes work as my own little filing “system”. He-he! I have no shelves… Most of the stuff to the right in the picture is stuff left from last year, from another teacher who had this place before me.
Dette er meg ved min arbeidsplass på stabsrommet. De røde og hvite eskene fungerer som mitt eget lille fil-system, et forsøk på å holde litt orden i sakene… Mesteparten av det som er på bordet bak meg til høyre i bildet, ligger igjen fra en annen lærer som hadde plassen min i fjor…

This is one of a total of 7 buildings at the school. This is the longest one, called the train, with 8 class rooms, one staff/class room, the office and a small copy room. 3 of the other buildings are small toilet buildings, 2 more class room buildings and one staff room building. In the back ground you can see part of the village where the kids live. Behind the hill is Waterloo Primary School, a very nice school with a huge amphi theatre in the school yard.
Dette er en av I alt 7 bygninger på skolen. Dette er den lengste, kalt toget, med 8 klasserom, 1 stabs-/klasserom, kontoret og et lite kopirom. 3 av de andre byggene er toaletter, 2 til er klasseromsbygg, og 1 er stabsbygg, hvor vi har stabsrommene med våre arbeidsstasjoner. I bakgrunnen kan dere se deler av landsbyen der mange av elevene bor. Bak åsen ligger barneskolen, som er en veldig velholdt skole med en stor amfiscene midt mellom byggene.

Me in front of one third of one of my two grades 8. I teach English in grade 8, and Life Orientation in two grades 9. In this class there are about 80 kids, and they are crammed into a normal sized class room. There are always some kids absent, and in one way it is a good thing, because it means more air (it gets EXTREEMELY hot!) and maybe enough chairs. It’s good to be small and thin in these class rooms, as space is a luxury..! I barely have space to turn around! (I’m NOT exaggerating!)
Meg foran ca 1/3-del av den ene av de to 8.klassene mine. Jeg underviser engelsk på 8.trinn, og et fag som kan oversettes med livs-mestring i to 9.klasser. I denne klassen er de ca. 80 elever, og de er stuet sammen i et klasserom på vanlig størrelse. Det er alltid noen unger som er vekke, og på én måte er det bra, for det betyr mer luft på hver (det blir SINSYKT varmt!) og kanskje nok stoler til alle. Det er bra at jeg er liten og slank i disse klasserommene, for plass er luksusvare..! Jeg har knapt plass til å snu meg, og det er IKKE en overdrivelse!

The kids LOVE the camera! Part of one of my grade 8.
Ungene ELSKER kameraet! Dette er del av den ene 8.klassen min.

More of the same grade 8. As you can see, they are really crammed together!
Flere av den samme 8.klassen. Som dere kan se, er de virkelig stuet sammen!

Here I give back a test that I they had had. Mostly grammar questions, and some comprehension tasks. As you can see, there is a big hole in the ceiling. It is creatively used as a book shelf, and there is no money to fix it… My parents were visiting that week, and came to see the school and meet my colleagues and pupils. It is my father standing to the left of the board. My mother is the one taking these pictures.
Her gir jeg tilbake en prøve de hadde hatt, med stort sett grammatikkspørsmål, men noe tekstforståelse. Som dere kan se, er det et stort hull i taket. Det blir kreativt brukt som bokhylle, og det finnes ikke penger på budsjettet til å fikse det… Mine foreldre var på besøk den uken, og kom for å se skolen og å møte kollegaene og elevene mine. Det er min far som står til venstre for tavla. Det er mamma som har tatt disse bildene.

This is where many of the kids buy their lunch. Notice the queuing system..! It is a car, a pick-up, that works as a kiosk. They sell amagwinya, also called fat-coek or even “Zulu burger”! It is a doughnuty ball, made of bread dough, fried in oil. Quite good (when still warm), quite chewy, quite filling and quite fattening! It costs about 1 rand(R) plain, and 1 R 50 if you want a slice of cheese or baloney with it!
Her kjøper mange av eleven lunsjen sin. Legg merke til køsystemet..! Det er en pick-up (bil), som fungerer som en kiosk. De seller amagwinya (meget usikker på stavemåten..), også kalt fat-coek (fettkake) eller til og med zulu-burger! Det er en slags smultring-aktig ball, lagd av loffdeig, og kokt i olje. Ganske god (når den enda er varm), ganske seig, ganske mektig og ganske fetende! (Ikke Fedon Lindberg’s førstevalg, for å si det sånn..!) Den koster 1 rand (R), og 1,50 R om du ønsker en snei med ost eller servelat til! Noen som ble sulten nå, eller..?

We also have a vegetable garden at the school, which Duduzile is in charge of. It looks a bit neglected, and that is correct… We have just started it off as a project, the Imfino (vegetable) Project, where some boys are given the responsibility for the garden, to keep it neat, grow it and harvest it. What they harvest, we will sell (with the exception of a few items that is given to some orphans), and the boys will make some money from it. It is a great motivation for them to earn some money! Through this they will learn how to keep a garden, grow vegetables, basic business skills and team work! It has just started, so not too much money has been made yet…! And not too much is growing yet, either.. !
Vi har også en grønnsakshage på skolen, som Duduzile har ansvaret for. Den ser litt glemt ut, og det stemmer nok… Vi har akkurat satt i gang et prosjekt med den, Imfino (grønnsak) Project, der noen gutter har fått ansvaret for hagen, å holde den ryddig, plante, luke og høste. Det de høster, skal vi selge (med unntak av noen grønnsaker til de foreldreløse), og guttene får tjene litt penger på det. Det er en stor motivasjonsfaktor for dem, å tjene litt penger til seg selv! Gjennom dette prosjektet vil de lære hvordan man holder en grønnsakshage, hvordan dyrke grønnsaker, litt grunnleggende forretningsdrift, som regnskap, og teamarbeid. Det har nettopp begynt, så de har ikke tjent så mye enda..! Ikke alt for mye er blitt plantet heller..!

Dudu and I (and Makosi) outside the staff room, with the ”catch of the day”, two small butternuts. Dudu is also the one who has been helping me the most, to understand A LOT about what’s going on at the school and in the culture. Priceless! And a true gift from God!!
Dudu og jeg (og Makosi) utenfor stabsrommet med dagens “fangst”, to små .. tja, noe form for gresskarlignende grønnsaker. Dudu er også den som har hjulpet meg mest med å forstå MYE av det som har med skolen og kulturen å gjøre! Uvurderlig, og en sann gave fra Gud!

My parents had collected some money in Norway, mainly from friends and my mum’s colleagues at school, to buy ring files for the kids in grade 8 and 9. We don’t have text books to give to the kids, so we make copies. I asked my kids to buy ring files at the beginning of the school year, in which they would put all the copies that I handed out to them, but most of them have not bee able to. 14 R is too much for them to spend! So thanks A LOT to every one who gave money to this! It is really, really helpful! In the end it will become their text book!
Foreldrene mine hadde samlet inn penger I Norge, stort sett fra venner og min mors lærerkollegaer, til permer til ungene mine i 8. og 9.klasse. Vi har ikke lærebøker å gi til alle elevene, og dermed blir det MYE kopier. Jeg ba elevene mine kjøpe perm i begynnelsen av skoleåret, men 14 R er for mye å bruke på det! Så TUSEN TAKK til alle som var med å gav penger til dette! Det vil være til STOR hjelp for ungene! Etter hvert blir jo permen læreboken deres!

My dad with one of my grade 9 pupils! Great kid!
Pappa med en av 9.klassingene mine! Herlig fyr!

Problems with Blogger...

I'm having problems with my blog...
I've lost my tool bar, so I can't add any pictures...!!! That means I can't show you how it looks like at my school, where I live, the game drive I went on with my folks when they were here. etc.
What is this???!!! Sabotage???
Can someone please help me???

Rugby

I have now been to two games at the "Shark Tank", more correctly the ABSA Stadium, to watch the Sharks play. First time was the opening of the series, and to be honest, I was a bit disapointed... It was a mix of rugby and tennis! Too much kicking the ball back and forward, and NOT enough wrestling! And the audience was a bit tired or absent minded or something... There was no action on the stands either! One of the guys in my Bible group plays on the team (when he's not injured..), and he said they were a bit disapointed with the audience that time. So it wasn't just me...
The second time I went, there was a lot more action, both on the field and on the stands! A friend, Carmen, and I sat right behind two couples and a little two year old girl. The guys were SHOUTING!!! I told the wife "That's called passion!", but her reply was "That's called embarrassing!!!" :))) The little two year old shouted on and off "Go Sharks!" How cute is that!
After the game the biggest BBQ, or rather Braai as it is called in South African ;), in the whole world takes place on the big fields around the stadium. A LOT of people bring their braais, camping chairs and drinks, and hang out with good friends and discuss the game and life in general :) Really nice!
And by the way, the Sharks won both games! :))) GO SHARKS!
Here are some pic's:


Pippa and me.
















A small scrum (I think it is called a scrum..)










Right before the guys go into a scrum. Fun! :)










A line up, where one throws the ball in, and the two different teams try to catch it by lifting one of their players in the air. Then they go into a face (!) where the other team tackles the team who caught the ball, by piling themselves on top of the poor guy who just got lifted..! Great fun! :D









After fighting the ball ovet the far line, the team can convert (no, not religion...). it means to kick the ball between these two poles and get another two points! Good fun!

Back to school.., or not?

Last time I told you guys what was going on, was after the riot, or rather the demonstrations, started on Monday. Now it is Friday afternoon, and this is what has happened:
Tuesday when I arrived at school, there were hardly anyone there. A couple of teachers were sitting in the staff room, and we were all wondering what was happening... Was there going to be school or demonstrations? Some students had told me the day before that they would be demonstrating also on Tuesday, but who knew what would really happen...
Then all of a sudden one teacher comes running, saying we must just all leave. A parent had told him that the students were going to come after him and his car, and set them both on fire! So we went to the circuit office 20 mins away from the school. That is where head of department is, and here we could present our case to the right people (whoever they are.., some leader of the schools in the area). So that is where we, all the teachers, remained for most of the day. Fortunately I had some school work in the car, so I could get a little bit of work done.
In the mean time the kids were burning more tyres and having confrontations with the police! This time the police had probably used all their tear gass, 'cause now they started shooting at the kids with rubber bullets!!! That is just insane and pure paranoia!!! If the police cannot stop the kids from demonstrating, they should just control them, use these plastic sheilds if they are throwing stones at them!!! The police are there to protect and control, NOT to attac!!! They are CHILDREN, for crying out loud!!! This is NOT the way to teach them! Some of the kids had to go to the clinick after the whole ordeal!
Well, we were over at the circuit office not knowing what was going on! So I prayed! And I prayed some more! And then I prayed again! At the end of the day, we decided to have a prayer meeting the next day! So Wednesday prayed for the kids, the police, for the school, for the new building to be errected, for teh ones in charge of the whole building project, for the ones sitting on the bag of money, and so on!
Later I got an sms, saying that we would be gong back to school and teaching the next day, Thursday. Yee-ha! :)
I only teach one period on Thursdays (so far, new timetable next week), and I was looking forward to it! The 9B that is normally 62 pupils were reduced to 16!!! How nice is that! ;) For once we could have a little discussion! But what had happened to the other 46?? Hadn't word gotten around to them that there would be school again? Who knows? Today, Friday, they were still just 16. Two girls came to me asking if I could not come to their class again, 'cause they were so few also today. They must have liked having actual teaching instead of "crowd control"..! ;) How about that! :))) My kids! :D I told them that if there was another period where the teacher didn't show up, which happenes ALL the time because no-one is filling in for those who are absent, they must come and get me! the next thing that happenes is that all my 8A-pupils are leaving the school!!! It's 20 mins before I'm going to teach them about uncountable nouns, and they are just leaving.., along with all the other pupils f the school!!! I asked them why they were leaving, but all they could say was "I don't know..", or "This one, mam...!", pointing at a fellow pupil as to say that he had said it was time to go home...
I come to the staff room, where I found out that the vice principal had just called it a day, just like that..! She had told the pupils, but not the staff... So we all go home, which is nice, but it also means that we have lost yet one more precious period of teaching...
Just hang in there, Mon!!!

Tonight I'm going to my very first live rugby game!!! I'm gonna watch the Sharks, last year's winner of the series, play against the Western Force! Should be a GREAT game! I've been told... Watching a whole bunch of big guys hugging each other, (literally) pulling each others croaches, and running like a maniac! Will take pic's!!! :)))

Peace and Love