Sun, sand and shots for one rand

I have been in the school for two days now and I am already deflated by the realisation that it is very difficult for Projects Abroad to make any real difference here. I have plenty of ideas, but talking to the other teachers reveals that there is absolutely no sustainable funding to implement new initiatives. The classrooms are old, they use chalk and blackboard, there are no visual displays and there is very little structure to the children's learning from what I can perceive. The children, however, are bubbly and full of life. I took a picture of the playground here:



As soon as they saw my camera, a large group of them requested to be snapped and I have several pictures like this:



I already feel a bit frustrated with the school. A particular teacher has very little planned each day and the children sit idle for large portions of time. This teacher then shouts at them for talking but they are not at fault. I have some lesson ideas and I will be talking to the principal to try and move around to several classes. This way I will gain a fuller understanding of how this school works. I am supposed to be teaching English and at present I'm under-used.

I returned home for the evening and took this rather lovely photo of the sunset at the Table Mountain range from the house. I believe this particular section is part of the Twelve Apostles:



At 9pm myself and my housemates ventured to Long Street, the main spot for nightlife in town. We were headed for a club called Chrome followed by a pub called Dubliners. We were collected from the house by Archi, the friendly cabbie. I had the misfortune of landing the front seat and was therefore hit by Archi's story of how his boss has given him a warning for taking sick leave without notifying him. Archi doesn't like his boss and felt that this alone was reason not to inform him. This is of course ridiculous and completely Archi's fault, but when you're in a strange cab with a strange man in a strange country you just agree "yes, how terrible Archi. Take him to court!"

Nothing exciting about either the club or the pub, but shots are 1 rand in Chrome. That's 8p! Long Street at night is interesting though and there are lots of bars, restaurants and people cooking meats and other food on the streets. It's also safe at night when you're in a group. We met up with Jannes's fellow volunteer, a man named Jan who is the most German German I have ever met (yes that is a girl's name, isn't it?) Unfortunately I didn't take my camera out, but Callum did and he should tag me on Facebook soon I have no doubt!

A big hello to Claire and Jose. Welcome to my blog. I have been expecting you!