Volcanoes and contortionists

Class 6B have been learning about volcanoes apparently.  And today they built their own.  The class had to divide into four groups, and they had to choose a leader.  The teacher, Sebastian Gitbang, had 4 recycled (of course) small water bottles.  One was intact, and the other 3 varied and each leader had to choose one.  Then they had mounds of clay, and they each had to build their own volcanoes.

Tomorrow, they are going to explode them - NOT in class, but out in one of the fields.  I hope it doesn't rain before lunch - usually it only rains in the afternoons - because I'm looking forward to seeing it all and I hope they get to explode them individually.

This sure is a good way to learn - I don't remember getting the chance to do this sort of thing at school.  The rest of the day was very ho hum with just a couple of small jobs and the rest of the time downloading stuff and resizing it.

Tonight there were a few of us who went to see Circus Mama Afrika.  The larger touring group have recently been in Sydney and this group tonight were Kenyan and Tanzanian.  The same format of show so the music and drums were fantastic.  It did get a bit confusing watching the contortionists - there were 3 of them.  Watching a guy put himself through a gutless tennis racquet was quite something - he did it backwards and forwards.  And no, I didn't take my camera!

So I'll finish with the volcanoes

it's not every lesson you can have so much fun

I've been in this boy's class several times now, and he always says hi when I see him out and about.  He was having a great time and was quite pleased that he got more than his hands dirty (he was also one of the volunteers to clean the desks afterwards)

this girl had finished up by making a model person, and so it will be interesting to see if the person makes it to the explosions tomorrow!

The Egg Man ... and hats!

I spent the morning over with Natalie at Upper Primary.  Natalie is in charge of the teacher mentors, and since the school is changing over to the Cambridge system, there is a stack of work to do.  We had tried to get the photos last week, but the first classroom we went to the teacher was absent, and so she ended up teaching a maths lesson on integers – and I stayed to photograph and assist where I could.  So this week our first visit was to the art room, where the class was in the process of making hats. 

This is where cardboard – in this case, the packaging for a computer – ends up recycled as a variety of hats  (continuing my ‘Recycling’ theme from yesterday). The kids are learning about world climate in geography (and every other subject is linked to this theme in some way) so in art they are making hats, and the idea is that they need to be able to explain what climate the hat would be used in, and if they were making a real hat, what materials could they use to make it etc etc etc.  So there was the remains of the computer box, as well as a variety of newspapers and magazines all being recycled into hats, and some of the kids certainly had plenty of imagination!  I think we spent longer in this class than we should have – we were both enjoying ourselves immensely.

Our next class was English, and the kids were learning about different types of nouns.  Instead of the class being set out in rows, and each child sitting on their own, the classrooms are being changed over gradually.  The new layout is for about 4-6 kids to be in their own pods (desks put together like cheese segments) and each pod is a different colour, ie, desks are either yellow, blue, red or green.  So the teacher does the teaching bit on the blackboard still, and when it comes to assignment work, the kids all learn to work in a group so they can learn to discuss their different ideas, learn to listen to other viewpoints and learn to decide on a single outcome.  Well, that’s the theory anyway.  Some groups of course are better than others at it.  And you can see future leaders and politicians – and bludgers - even at this young age!!! 

After the teacher mentor meeting, we had a quick visit to the Upper Primary PE class and then it was time for me to head back to the Lower Primary.  I had just started to download the images when someone realised that the egg man was there, and it would be good to get some photos.  Augustine (the “egg man”) delivers the eggs on his bicycle.  All 600 of them.  He had the eggs in cardboard trays – 30 eggs per tray and there were 20 trays.  Tied securely with a long piece of rubber.  On the bike rack.  He cycles for only 20 minutes from his place (where he has his 400 chooks) to our school, but when he is delivering to other shops, it’s a longer cycle.  And since we “only ordered 600 eggs” this week, he had a small load.  There are times when he delivers 1,200 eggs – in the one go – on his pushbike.  Zoë, are you getting any ideas yet???????  So of course I enjoyed this unexpected diversion taking those photos and learning about his way of life.

The rest of the day was quite normal really – staff portraits in Lower Primary and some time to finally download and label some of them.  Today it’s been quite hot again, and one of the gardeners was out mowing the lawns again.  In a week its amazing how much the grass has grown, and when he finished they looked wonderful.  Then at about 4pm you noticed the change and you could smell the rain coming.  The distant thunder, and the smell of the rain, was great.  Then it rained for about 20 minutes and we were back to sunshine again.

After work, I headed over to spend a couple of hours with Gemma again.  This always goes way too quickly - but after a bad start for me to the day, it was great to spend a couple of hours back in the "travel world".

At Bondi tonight we had a full kitchen - it was Stephen's turn to cook and we were treated to a 3 course dinner:  starters of biscuity bits with cheese and salami; yorkshire puddings, roast spuds, beans, mushroom & onion gravy and meat and then his version of banana split which was a banana, frozen raspberries (he didn't think about defrosting them), ice cream and chocolate sauce!  I think he was trying to impress his girlfriend (who was also there) and we were the lucky beneficiaries.

Hats - a bit of imagination, an old computer carton, a pair of scissors, paper, ribbon, glue (there is no paint available - yet) and hey presto, a hat!  The smile usually seems to come with it   ...

and on the recycling theme, here is the remains of the computer box with some of the hats from this class and a few finished hats from another class

Isn't this one priceless?  The sunglasses are an integral part of the hat, not an afterthought.

If you have your own chooks, this is how you deliver the eggs.  The road here just outside the school gates is really good, but apparently Augustine never arrives with omlettes ...

As it started to rain this afternoon

these kids were daring each other to go out into it.  I didn't think they would, but then the tennis ball they were playing with accidentally escaped down the steps and so this girl drew the short straw

Back into the working week

After such a relaxing day yesterday - with no rain! - it was back to 'full on' mode from this morning.  My halo and I went for an early morning walk.  Actually my camera came too because one of the jobs on my "list" (not to be confused with my schedule) was either a sunrise or sunset photo of the new block of land.  Actually, there really is no sunrise or sunset - it's either light or its dark.  No luxurious twilights at this latitude.  The early walk was good, and getting another job ticked off was even better.

Then into the office at 8:30 and I thought I had plenty of time to download the land photos and stitch them together, as I wanted to make a panoramic shot.  This was easier said than done, because events again overtook my schedule.  Even getting time for a coffee proved a challenge, but it's still fun being out and about with a camera all day.

It was a "normal" day for me - today I was in Class 2C Science lesson.  The reason I joined this class was to get a photo of the teacher "helping a student".  The teacher knew this is why I was there.  The lesson was about  "harmful plants" and last Friday, the class had gone out and collected a range of weeds and harmful plants.  Somehow they had more or less survived over the weekend (the plants, not the students), and so the teacher explained what each specimen was, and why it was harmful.  I found it really quite interesting!  Then she moved to the blackboard, to write down everything she had explained from the back of the classroom and then the bell went for the end of the lesson.  So no single time when she "helped a student" and this was the class just before lunch!  So I had to ask her if she'd mind just pretending to help one of the boys who sat nearest the door, and she made the whole class sit down again while she did this.  I thought that perhaps helping a student wasn't really her forte, and she was really good at just talking to them in a group scenario ...  and the kids all got to their lunch on time!

This afternoon went in another mad rush.  Monday afternoons are the Lower Primary Assembly.  I'm sure by now you all know the starting format for these assemblies.  One of the Australian girls who is working here (in the Visitors team) is actually on holidays this week because her mum and her aunt are visiting the school.  So her mum was called up on stage to introduce herself to the kids (her aunt is in a wheelchair, so she just had to smile and wave).  Up on stage, her mum was so overcome with the welcome she received that she didn't quite manage to finish her thanks before she was in tears.  The kids really are wonderful, and in Lower Primary it is better than the older kids really, so I could understand her mum's reaction.  She recovered very well, and was able to help out with giving out the prizes and thoroughly enjoyed herself with that.

After assembly they spend each Monday afternoon with their Clubs.  So I had to dash around to all of the clubs and take photos, particularly of the teachers.  There are athletics (today it was 100m dashes as practice for the upcoming sports carnival day); cooking (although they were just talking about food and tasting some doughy balls); the youngsters were all busy doing jigsaw puzzles; traditional dancing; singing; circus (out on the sports field doing cartwheels and other things); music; and one that looked just like "rope" - I've no idea (yet) what that club is called, but the kids each had a piece of twiny rope about 8" long and they were either tying knots or plaiting it.  As a kid, it wouldn't have been my choice of Club!!! (reminds me of my 'career' in Brownies when I spent about 4 Saturday mornings, in a park in Pennant Hills, blindfolded, tying reef knots.  NOT fun!!!  Exit Brownies and Girl Guides for me).

After clubs the kids all went home, and I thought I may get time to download and label all the images from the whole day.  But there was a cake for Stephen's birthday, and so we all crowded into his office to sing happy birthday and cut the cake.  And I had to take the odd photo.  Then I had to photograph a couple of projects for the Marketing Department again and by this time it was well past finish time.  So later tonight I will get them all downloaded and labelled, because tomorrow morning is a full morning for me over at Upper Primary.

Beats sitting at a desk all day though.  And to start off today's photos, this shot was one of the drummer boys at the LP Assembly - today's assembly featured some traditional dancing, which I always enjoy more than the debates .....  at least they all look like they are enjoying themselves!

and I still love the hair ....  talk about "wash and go" and it's also a great way to easily tell the girls from the boys

and it's not just the kids who have great hair.  The teachers change so much with their hairstyles, and it's interesting to try and work out how much is a wig, and how much is really theirs (without actually looking like you're staring at them) - even the piece at the top of her head is real hair (I was going to say hairclip) -I'm sure you'll all work it all out ....

these girls were practicing the 100m dash.  They'd been taught how to start a race, and the teacher was waiting for them at the other end.  I also like sports classes - some of the kids run with shoes, some take off their shoes & socks and there are a large number of kids who just take off their shoes and run around in their socks.

teacher waiting at the other end of the 100m - it looked like he had to virtually catch the girls, because they all wanted to get there first, and they just flung themselves at him.  He'd caught these 3 and then the stragglers from this run also ran right into his arms - really great to see

changing the subject.  If anyone there is thinking perhaps of changing the venue for weekly boys nights, it is possible to find somewhere else where you can get a meal, and a drink, and also enjoy a game of pool ....  (Moshono - reservations again not necessary)  and they will let you sit around and play a game or three of cards as well!!!

on the walk over to Moivaro, which is the boarding campus for the Upper Primary, there was cycling the easy way

and cycling a bit more challenging

It's always good to recycle.  Take the Kilimanjaro water bottles for example.  Most of us recycle them by refilling them with boiled water, which we cool.  Saves buying another bottle.  But they are also recycled by the school, and this is just one way

and recycled toothpaste packaging turns up after art classes as buses or trucks

and changing the topic again, one last one.  This tree house is on the drive back (on a back road) from Usa Campus back to Moshono.  On the main road out to Usa, there is also a tree-house pub, and I keep meaning one day to get a photo of that too .....

Sunday lunch at Shanga

Sunday …  aaahhhhh   bliss.   A relaxing morning felt quite luxurious really and we had lunch to look forward to.  Today we were going out to a really expensive place to celebrate Shean’s 50^th birthday, which was actually last Wednesday.  Today it was also Stephen’s 47^th birthday (but it was Shean that got the special birthday cake).

We had 2 dalla dalla’s booked – really, we could have all fitted into one, but since both of them did arrive on African time, we spread out.  I had to smile – yesterday coming home there were 18 (including the driver) in the dalla dalla and I thought it was quite normal!  I was also the only white person, and although everyone was carrying an assortment of bags & shopping, there wasn’t even a single chook on board.

We arrived for lunch at Shamba and spent the first hour just sitting chatting and checking out the shop – at the front of the complex they were making the beads and other glass works, and the shop at the back, facing onto the lawns, had a range of goods for sale.  Drinks were served and the conversation continued.  Eventually they called us down to the thatched dining room for lunch.  Most of us hadn’t eaten too much because we wanted to save ourselves for lunch.  Sandy did make me smile because she said she’d “given up her morning tea” for this special occasion.

The lunch was amazing.  Not just the setting:  the thatched open dining hall which looked out to either the sweeping lawns or down to the river past the frangipani and acacia trees.  Or the tables:  long hand hewn wooden tables, with vases of tightly bunched pink roses, place mats made to look like Maasai women’s necklaces, gleaming glasses and layers of cutlery.  Or the service:  loads of waiters, and what a sense of humour they all had! 

But, aaahhhh, the food:  a choice of either carrot & ginger or spinach soup started the meal; this was followed by vegetable samosas with delicious sauce; (by this time I was filling up fast) then we lined up for the buffet (the waiter wiped each plate before handing it out, and it was so huge we needed both hands to hold it) of mouth-watering salads and then outside to the buffet BBQ – beef, sauce, wrapped sweet potato, chicken, wrapped fish, sausages, crumbed zucchini, lentils in a peanut sauce (yum). 

Eventually this all disappeared, but the waiters had warned us at the start to make sure we kept some space for the dessert.  This came around in a layered trolley, and they served out the five different desserts on a large plate for each of us.  Somehow we managed to eat all that as well.  And then of course they came around asking if we’d like coffee (brewed, not instant) or tea, so we just had to finish with coffee and even this was served like we were at Harrods.

Then the waiters came out with Shean’s birthday cake.  Actually there were two cakes – we’d ordered one from town and they must have also baked one because when the booking was made, they knew it was for his birthday.  So the waiters all came out in a line and we all sang happy birthday, with the waiters joining in.  Then they sang it in Swahili.  Stephen decided to add to the atmosphere, and started jumping up and down like you see the Massai warriors do, which caused much laughter all round. 

The entire meal, plus the cost of hiring the dalla dallas to get us all out there, was 20,000/= which of course was a fortune for a meal, but we all agreed that it was worth every shilling.  After all, it’s not every Sunday you can enjoy such a banquet in those surroundings for $13-50 now is it?

And of course word went around that one had to visit the “ladies”.  I could see why.  I’ve been known to take photos of ladies loos in a variety of places, and this just had to have a photo – I’ve never been in a loo before that had a day lounge!  And the only time I’ve seen a loo so enormous is at Sue & Roger’s place – there are houses with smaller bedrooms than this loo.

After this, we headed down to Michel’s.  This is the French wine, cheese, pate etc shop cum café I mentioned in yesterday’s blog.  There was an interesting crowd there – a mixture of Tanzanian, Kenyan, French, Australian, American and British.  It was the perfect way to finish a very relaxing day.  Just sitting and chatting.  Some people have led very interesting lives it turns out.  Then Paula (one of the volunteers here) and Bill started their gig – both had guitars and sang.

aaaahhhhh  …..

(for those wondering about the time difference between here and there, yes, this is a day late.  Our internet connection was down again last night, and so between the internet being off and on this afternoon after school, I'm endeavouring to get yesterday's post done tonight)

At the school gates, waiting for the dalla dalla with Ellena (left) and Cindy (right) - Bondi mates

At Shanga, as you can see the grounds were very peaceful and it wasn't a hard job just relaxing while drinks were being served

Inside the dining area

Kat and Cindy ...  the roses on the table are actually grown in the area, and I've heard that they are flown over to the flower markets in Europe.  So a bunch of roses from a street vendor is quite cheap. 

Cindy just being Cindy ...

This is the women's loo!

The bit I didn't mention in the blog was that just after we'd sat down in the dining area, we looked over and saw our official taste tester busy testing the soups.

He'd had a few mouthfuls, and then just looked around to check he wasn't being caught ....

and then had time for a few more quick mouthfuls before he really was caught and was "asked to leave".  Having seen that the soup was obviously OK, we all tucked into it with much gusto!!!

Variety ...

I've been starting my updates with a title, which seems to come naturally, usually over what has been a highlight or a focal point.  Except now.  For the past couple of days, by the time I sit down to actually write this, the internet connection has been lost.  I've been assured that this is rather uncommon, but it means now that so much has happened since Thursday morning it seems like a lifetime ago and yet has gone so incredibly quickly.

There have been 2 families visiting here this week.  They're from Vancouver and both mums are PE teachers back home.  The entire families are well connected and well versed in a variety of sports, and so on Thursday they were over at the Usa campus (1st - 3rd form high school) teaching the kids there how to play baseball.  So I was over at the Usa Campus photographing it all, as well as doing some other jobs like staff photos and a couple of extra requests.  I'm not sure who had the most fun really.  The kids loved it, and it was amazing that most of them - if not all of them - had never held a baseball bat before and certainly had never seen, not to mention worn, a baseball glove.  But some of them were certainly naturals.  The Canadians were also having a wonderful time, and considering they were donating all the equipment they had bought over to the school, it was quite something.  And of course I was as happy as Larry, or as the proverbial pig in whatsit just having a job where I was outdoors all day and being a photographer.

After lunch, it was the school assembly.  Usually this follows a pattern - a prayer, the national anthem, the school song and then announcements from the headmaster.  As there were visitors there, they had to get up on stage and introduce themselves.  Then this time there was a play put on by the students, and then the prizes were handed out.  This week it was slightly different though, because next week the school is having elections.  When I was at school, these would have been for the school Captain and Vice Captain and then for the Prefects.  At the Usa campus, they are called President, Vice President and then there is a Secretary General and then Minister (and also Deputy Minister) for such things as Education, Discipline, Food and Health, Security, Environment and Cleanliness.  It was quite an eye opener.  The students who had nominated themselves, or had been nominated for each of the positions, came up on stage and they were given about two minutes to give a speech on why they should be elected for the position.  Then the headmaster asked if anyone had any questions for the speaker.

There was a 3rd form girl who had nominated for the President, and she gave quite a good speech I thought.  There were a couple of questions, and since she was the only person who had nominated for this position, the next was Vice President.  A boy had nominated for this position, so he got up and gave his speech.  He didn't look as confident as the girl before him, and then when it came to questions from the rest of the students there was a hush.  Then one girl at the back put her hand up, and so they took the microphone down to her.  She wanted to know why he, as a boy, had only nominated himself for Vice President.  Why hadn't he nominated himself for President?  After all, she said, a girl had nominated for President.  I thought it was quite an interesting question, and the poor boy on stage looked at first a little flumoxed by the question.  He looked out of the assembly area for about 30 seconds and then he said, "You know, if you're smart, and you decide you're going to build a house, you don't start with the roof."

I was amazed.  Such a great answer.  I looked at the Canadian parents, and saw they too were gobsmacked.  He got a cheer from the kids for the answer, but I don't think they understood what a great answer it was.  I'd like to come back in 10 years time and find out what that boy is doing with his life.

And so we left after assembly, and I came back to Moshono here to download images and check to see if there were any changes to my schedule for Friday.  Also in the afternoons, after my school work has finished, I've been heading over to the travel side of things and usually spend a couple of hours working with Gemma, and to spend the days with my camera and then a couple of hours back in the travel world, it's perfect.

On Friday my schedule had me heading into town with Brad, who does the shopping for the school.  He's a young British lad who has just done a degree in Criminology, which sounded fascinating.  So on Friday morning we headed out with one of the school buses to the stationery shop, and then to the Arusha markets to get next few day's supply of tomatoes, ginger, capsicums, onions and then to a mixture of other market stall holders and shops around town for a mixture of things like soap, oil, eggs, toilet brushes, chai etc.  As well as getting the photographs, I also had to get quite a bit of information from each Mama or shopkeeper, and so Alice came with me (she's admin) as translator.  It gave her a morning out of the office as well.  We went back to school for lunch, and then in the afternoon we took the truck to collect the bags of choroko, which is a type of green lentil.  We buy 100kg bags.  This wasn't as simple as phoning Richard and letting him know many hours in advance when we would be arriving and that we needed 10 x 100kg bags of it.  Being Africa, it took many more hours but it was a totally different type of afternoon for me and I wouldn't have swapped it for anything.

And now it's Saturday, so we only work until noon.  I had heaps of "office work" to do - downloading images, labelling them, and then trying to put them all on DVDs.  Then at noon, there is a school bus going into town, and so there was a mad scramble for me to catch the bus, because I'd got sidetracked chatting to the Canadian visitors, who were flying out today as well.

Ellena and I had to do the kitty shopping, but first we had lunch in a cafe in town.  There seems to be a supply around now of coke light, so I'm happy.  And we had a lovely lunch and then walked down to Shopright, which is "the" big supermarket that everyone seems to do their kitty shopping at for most things except fruit and veg.  We get those from  the 'Vege Mammas' stall which is on the way back, just near the Impala roundabout.  When we got to Shopright though, there in the carpark was an Acacia overland truck - they had done a shop as well and were just loading it into the truck.  That brought back all sorts of memories I can tell you. Either side of the supermarket there are also various shops and cafes, including the French one which sells wines, cheeses, pates etc etc etc.

And today has been my most extravagantly expensive day here so far.  And I'm not talking about my $1.75 lunch.  Or the huge delicious pineapples that work out to be about $1.20 each.  Or the mangoes.  This afternoon I went back to Agnes, the dressmaker.  My wardrobe has increased drastically.  I bought the materials last week, and this afternoon went to pick them up, and she made any alterations necessary.  So the fabrics, plus 2 lined tops, 2 lined skirts, 3 lined dresses (all cotton) and 2 handbags all up cost $74.  And the fact that I've got dresses and skirts is not a typo either .....

So to continue the spending theme, tonight a few of us went out to the cinema.  There is another area of Arusha where there is a cinema, a swish looking supermarket (with cans of diet PEPSI), lots of restaurants, souvenir and clothing shops and a few clubs.  So we bought our cinema tickets and then Ellena said she was buying popcorn.  I decided not to, and when we were seated she said I needed to try it.  I'm glad I didn't know about it because I would have happily scoffed a whole bag of it - caramel drizzled popcorn.  And the film was 'Burlesque' which we all thoroughly enjoyed and then caught a taxi back to school.

Tomorrow we're all out to lunch to celebrate Shean's 50th birthday so that will be interesting.  Actually, it's tomorrow technically now, so I'm going to sign off and add a few pics. 

Alex won't be surprised to see this pic, and he knows I love my carrots ....  but even I haven't bought this many in one go!

This is how the locals usually get their veges home.  One day a few of us thought we ought to try it.  I even saw a girl who had a whole hand of bananas in a washing tub, balanced at such an angle (and without any material padding either between her head and the tub) that it looked like she was wearing a beret ...

This little girl is the daughter of one of the Vege Mammas at the market.  She was sitting on the carrots in the school bus having a wow of a time

While we were waiting for Richard to organise himself with the 100kg bags of choroko, this little boy came into the shop next door to buy a bottle of coke.  He could only just reach high enough to hand over his coins and take his coke

Traffic on the way home.  Friday afternoon.  Further up there was a dingle at the roundabout, then some roadworks and the usual assortment of traffic on the road.  Sometimes it is quicker to walk, but the view wouldn't be as good!

Check out the guy on the pushbike - with all those white bags tied on the back.  Every few hundred metres he had to stop and adjust the load, and then nearly lost it starting to peddle again.  But he won.

Yes, I did have to look twice at this motorcycle guy .....  nice one eh dad?

Basketball and other news

Have I mentioned that I'm loving it here?  Probably not.  Or Maybe.  But I am.

Take today for instance.  Just a regular day for me ....  Helping one of the volunteers get her return flights problems sorted out; another volunteer who is leaving had to complete the "hand painting ceremony"; then over to the Upper Primary to speak with the Teacher Mentor Supervisor; on hand to photograph the kids and Canadian (Vancouver) visitors testing out the parachute; photographing the Lower Primary sports equipment for the marketing department; sneaking in some photos of the basketball game in progress; then the Staff Development meeting.  In between was downloading images and uploading them onto the database now that I am connected.  Really though, it wasn't a normal day for me because I wasn't helping out and photographing a class of either reading for Preps, or a Maths or English or Swahili class, or any Staff Portraits.  Yesterday I had to photograph the stacked up plates, bowls and mugs in the kitchen area as well as the preprations going on in there.

I usually have lunch in the Lower Primary dining area.  This is an open sided but covered dining hall area where hundreds of the lower primary kids file in and are seated in class order.  Their dinners are already waiting for them.  We (ie, the staff, any visitors, assorted admin departments etc so mixed nationalities and colours) help ourselves from huge pots that are lined up on tables between the kids and the stage.  One day I should probably photograph this, as its a daily occurence!

At the moment there are two families visiting from Vancouver - parents and 5 kids from each family.  As I was finishing my own lunch, I noticed that they had finished theirs and some of the kids had headed out to one of the playgrounds.  It wasn't long before they were playing a game of basketball with the kids.

Now you are probably thinking that a game of basketball means that there are equal numbers of players on each team, there is only one ball, and its usually fairly even play between the teams.  Well, this wasn't.  There were 6 Canadians versus more than 6 school kids.  I would say that it ended up more like about 60 kids at least versus the 6 Canadians.  And it was enormous fun on both sides.  I ended up running up and down as much as they were, except that I had a camera and I was trying to keep clicking as well as keeping an eye out so I wouldn't be run over.  After about 20 minutes, we were all saved by the bell.

 All these school kids were playing basketball, so you can see that the teams weren't exactly 'even'

I thought that some of you may also enjoy a few other mixed photos, although judging from the comments I'm getting, this may not really be the case.

Still, I'll add some anyway.  In one of the classes I was in recently, this book was on one of the shelves, and the note on the book was as interesting as the book itself.  Let me know if you can't read the notice:

In another class, this notice was interesting because in Australia they probably wouldn't have carrying things as a function of the head:

This is one of Cindy's PE classes.  She has recently also recently been allocated an assistant, Ellie, who is the lady on the right with the blue top.

At the Upper Primary assembly last Friday, I couldn't help notice the boy on the right.  Firstly because he kept fidgeting, and then he had such a sense of humour.  You probably wouldn't think so from this photo but ...

it's amazing the difference a smile makes ...

In the Maths class last Friday, you may not be smiling if you were trying to answer these quesitions:

and this list of names has two that we would consider different

I took this shot this afternoon.  Cindy and one of her students. 

This was taken  during the storm we had last Friday afternoon.  I was over at Upper Primary and this was taken from the 2nd level

Also taken over at Upper Primary ....

And this is the last shot I can add this time

This is taken outside our office.  When I am sitting at my desk, if I turn my head left, and look outside, this is the view.  How good is this for a view from my desk?