Re-cap of the week

It’s been a good and busy week. A definite highlight was getting up before 6 on Monday morning to hike up to the top of Table Mountain for the first time in ten years. For those familiar with the mountain or just curious, my hiking partner (a groundwater professor from Miami University of Ohio) and I started at the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens and went up Skeleton Gorge to Maclear’s Beacon and back down Nursery Ravine. A good 4 hour circuit (see the 4th hike described at this link)!

During the rest of the week, I was able to visit four different schools. Two of the schools reminded me a lot of Northwest School and other familiar private schools. These were St. George's Grammar School, the "oldest private school in South Africa" (1848!), and the relatively new (1998) International School of Cape Town, which is housed in an old mansion. I also got to do some demonstration teaching at Fezeka (see January 25th post). I started a 3-day group exercise with 3 grade-11 Geography classes; I'll be back there for the other 2 days of the activity next week. The Social Studies Department Head is curious to share and compare techniques for group work, and I enjoyed the challenges of teaching unfamiliar students and of teaching the same lesson 3 times in a row (I think for the first time!?). Finally, yesterday, I escorted a small delegation to the Hector Peterson School, the site of the 2008 digital storytelling workshop. Our group included another Fulbright teacher, a representative from a foundation working to help fund post-secondary education for the school's graduates, and a student from Seattle University who is going to working with the school's Bridges to Understanding student group.

UCT classes start Monday, and I'll be both taking a class and helping teach one (details to come). That meant that this was a good week to get to some movies ("Up in the Air" and "An Education" - both pleasant surprises; comments anyone?) before the homework starts. I also found time for two pick-up soccer sessions (one indoor and one outdoor).

In closing, here's a passage from an email description I recently sent:

"Overall, while it's beautiful here, all the social problems and challenges are quite near the surface and rather raw. They're the same issues that the whole planet faces (alleviating poverty, providing quality universal education, battling crime and corruption), but the racist history here combines with the ongoing (and worsening) inequality in a disquieting way - like it could all just explode at any point. I feel relatively safe, especially here in the suburbs, but there's an edge to daily life here that we don't have at home."