Hike.

On the recommendation of Nadine, we hiked up to the top of the Drakensberg mountains to overlook the Ampitheatre. The views were spectacular the entire way. The hike itself was long and arduous, especially because of the snowfall from earlier this week. I appreciated the "hiking mindset" that I developed as I concentrated on each step. We snaked along the sides of the mountains, along paths made narrow and slippery from the snow. We ascended the "dodgy chain ladders" to the top of the mountains, and then walked the distance in knee-deep snow. We were cold, and wet, and tired, and the day faded quickly. It was worth it. We made it back to the car just as the sun set behind the mountains, and then Mike and I shared the long drive home.

Explore.

I drove the entire way out to Drakensberg today, and it was the brownest, driest road I've ever seen. We arrived at the Royal Natal National Park, and a man at the visitors' centre recommended that we hike the Cascades (it was already quite late in the day).

The rest of the afternoon was spent marveling at the beauty of South Africa. "Eish!" I would say happily, whenever I would turn the corner and see the smoke from campsites filtering through the pines, or the water that cascaded over stones, or the vast horizon of hills, or the majesty of the mountains as they changed from brown to gold in the light of the setting sun.

Everything made me stop and smile. It felt good to be surrounded by beauty today.

Describe.

I considered for a long time what to write about today. I did many things, but none of them seemed especially worthy of discussion or documentation. I think it is because as this week wraps up, I find myself in a world that has become completely normal.

This morning, I commuted with Josephine to work on mini-bus taxis. I marveled at the morning light, as I do most every morning when I drive to work because it is always just before dawn and everything comes alive as the sun rises.
We nearly froze to death, because another cold front has hit Gauteng, and it's fuh-reezing.
Nadine and I walked to Shoprite and she purchased a large...what does she call them? slop-chip, or something. It's just a big mess of fries with salt and vinegar and it is my new favorite thing.
We walked with the students to the Diepsloot mall and meandered about in the small science exposition.
Later, I got a ride to Dainfern and helped the students begin their business plans. They worked amazingly hard for a late Friday afternoon, and I have perhaps never seen a Friday afternoon class so focused on the task at hand.
I rode with the students back to LEAP 3, as today marks the end of my homestays. I shared a blanket with Karabo and Zinhle.
I went to the market (grocery store) with M & Kr and we picked up food stuff for our weekend trip. I also purchased snacks on behalf of the girls staying at LEAP 3, and this was an adventure not unlike Supermarket Sweep ("top deck? what's a top deck?").
In the evening, M & Kr and I packed our things, and relaxed a bit, and that's the day.

It's a lot. But you see, today I think is the day that merely represents that my life here is another life entirely. It's normal. The names, the faces, the personalities, the routines. What can I say about what I have done? I have done so much, and yet, it seems like nothing. That's all I can say to describe.

Commute.

I woke up early this morning to commute to school with Josephine. As Josephine is fairly new to the area, she opted to leave her car in Cape Town and use the mini-bus taxis to get to work each day.

For me, taking the mini-bus taxis was an adventure. We woke up so early, and the city still stood quietly in the dark, and then we caught our taxis. The sounds and feeling of all of this were so unfamiliar to me, and I loved this new experience.

I also loved the way the city looked with the sun just on the horizon of the day. Eish.

We left the house today at 10 till 6, and returned at half past 8. Long, long, long day.

Read.

I have been reading, Leadership: The Care and Growth Model during the past week and a half that I have been with LEAP 4. This is a book about running a successful and healthy business that LEAP is using as a focus for their school.

Overall, the book is a dry read (no offense to the author -- but there are far too many examples that explain the same thing!), but I am finding little nuggets that help me understand my own philosophies about educational practices.

Today, I appreciated Chapter 12, "Holding People Accountable." Here is a relevant quote:

"...[F]ar from being a virtue, a results focus is probably the most pernicious vice one can cultivate in an organization.... [F]ocusing a person's attention on results is focusing the person on something he or she cannot do anything about. By definition, results are something which one gets. However, one only has power over what one gives or contributes. This means that if your attention is on what you are getting you are paying attention to that which you have no power over. To focus a manager's attention on results is to fundamentally disable him."

Education is a very results-oriented sector, and we commonly look to test results, expecting them to indicate how well teachers performed. Yes, test scores may tell us something about a teacher's ability to teach, but they also may be information about the child's home life, what they ate (or didn't eat) for breakfast that morning, or how much money their parents make.

Results do not always tell us what we want them to tell us. Ultimately, this chapter insists that organizations must analyze what each person has contributed, and not just the results. To do anything else would unfairly hold people accountable for that which they cannot control.

Enjoy.

Today was my last night staying with Nadine & Chase, and so we celebrated by going to Cape Town Fish Market and eating half-priced sushi from a conveyor belt, which was beyond cool (and so tasty).

On the teacher-y side of things, today the students presented the social businesses that they researched last week, and now we will get to move forward into their own original ideas. I am excited to hear what they come up with! In English, all of the students read this blog, and I got lots of comments from them. I have so enjoyed getting to know them and work with them in the past two weeks!

Attend.

We were invited to attend a talk at Witswatersand University this afternoon, about astronomy and being alive. The talk was entitled, “You’ve got to know where to scratch.” I had a really good time walking around the campus with the LEAP 4 students and gawking over everything and wishing I were in college again. The talk was good – I was struck by his discussion of how change is the only constant, and that our lives are what we do when we submit to the chaos and challenge ourselves to make the most of it. I thought Lesego said it best when she said, “We must use failure as a fertilizer,” and never give up. For whatever reason, I supremely enjoyed today, and was very glad to accompany the students to the university and to the talk.