Week NIIIINNNNEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must say that this has been one of the harder weeks that I have experienced. Not because of anything that had to do with how the children behaved or anything strange that happened at school but because of the fact that it was my last week at this school and I have grown so attached to each and every one of my students. I have grown not only my students, but also my main mentor teacher, Ms Jooste, whom I sat with every single day of the past 2 months. I will miss her dearly. She has always been so helpful and accommodating towards me, and made me feel welcome in her classes (even on her sleepy days!).

With a heavy heart I feel that although I’m sad that I will be leaving I feel the time really has come for me to get back to campus. I miss being in classes and being a carefree youth(?). I miss having a choice whether or not I will attend a certain class (haha!) and I miss being able to walk to a coffee shop whenever I wanted to. I also miss my lecturers! I’m just in a state of deep introspection at the moment because of all the emotions that have been running high this week.

Like I said previously, I loved being at this school but I feel that my time here is through. This is not because of how the teachers treat us, but because of the conflict that has been erupting amongst us student teachers. I sense a certain aura of cabin fever that has descended upon us and this indicates that it’s time to go. I built many beautiful relationships with quite a few of my fellow students and we had many things in common being at this school together and engaging in the daily struggles of a student teacher.

I’ve learnt a lot about myself in this past period of time too. This time has taught me to be able to address conflict and speak up when something is not okay. It has taught me to be able to get along with other people whom I work with and to be able to manage my time effectively. I have been taken out of my little bubble of a world and shaken and prodded violently by the reality of what goes on in schools. I have become a bit more of a harder, stronger person by seeing and experiencing things that I never thought was possible to experience within a school environment. I have even gangsterism and drugs, violence and sweet children who really are the best damn things I have ever seen. I have learnt how to engage with other people from other cultures and even learnt quite a bit of Xhosa!

This week in terms of work has been very relaxed because I have completed all my lessons and observations so the work that I had to complete was minimal; I only had to have a few things signed by teachers I worked under. I used this week as time to soak up the experience without having to worry about things that I had to do. I spent time with the children I enjoyed being around and got to make jokes with them because of the fact that I am not their official teacher anymore.

We had cultural day this week and aside from the slight organisational issues, I enjoyed it so much, and so did the learners I taught. They loved the dance and the hall was full of people who wanted to see their children take part. I find this community to be quite tough but also endlessly endearing and I will miss e\forming part of it. The girls I taught came and gave me a chocolate to say thank you for helping them out with the dancing, which I really appreciated. I am able to leave this school knowing well that I have made my mark, and it’s a positive one!