Visiting the Department of Education

This morning we visited Simon, one of Victor’s friends in the Department of Education in Bloemfontein. Simon spent a semester in Montana, while Victor went to South Carolina, and both went through the same program that I am in but for International Fellows. After they tease each other about the fact that Simon had to freeze while Victor got the nice weather, Simon tells me more about the school system and how it operates. He is an expert in his field (Science) and is in charge of visiting several schools in the district and seeing that they implement the standards of the country. His responsibilities could be anything from running a workshop to teaching a sample lesson and he tells me he misses being in the classroom, because he is now “office-based”. We also meet other experts in their fields, from math, Afrikaans, Technology (but what we would consider engineering), and History. After a quick stop at the Bloemfontein mall to have lunch and exchange money, we head back to school, but stop along the way so I can take pictures of some ostriches I see on a farm. I expect them to run and show off their quickness but they are lazily picking their way through the field. We also make a stop at a small town called Black Mountain, named after a spectacular mountain that is, you guessed it, black, to buy “airtime” (Internet minutes) for me. Right before we reach the shops in town I see the township, consisting mainly of temporary structures that unfortunately have become permanent residences for some. Others are waiting for permission to move into the much nicer government houses, but all of the applications take time to be processed Victor tells me. Later that evening I meet my roommate, Matheko, another math teacher at the school and I am so happy to have company. We share the homemade bread she brought from her home in Lesotho (nearby mountainous kingdom) and drink Rooibos tea (think South Africa’s Lipton tea) which I find I am addicted to.