School

I finally started school today, which I had been very eager and nervous about. School here is very different than at home. When we walk into a classroom we stand until we greet the teacher. The classrooms are individual buildings outside, placed on top of dirt. The classrooms are surprisingly bug free, but are very dusty because the school does not have AC, so the windows are open and the school sits on a dirt plain. I was so hot today. I wore a big sweater because when I bought my uniform they didn't tell me that they had vests, so tomorrow I will just wear my school shirt, and maybe my tie. There are different options for what you wear to school everyday unlike the private school I went to in America; where everyone wore the same thing. The kids that sit by the teachers learn the most. There are about 30 of us in my class and when you sit in the back you can't hear anything because everyone is talking. The icing on the cake, for me, is that everyone is speaking in a different language, they call Spretoria; it is a mixture of all of the most common languages spoken between Sesotho and ZuIu, which are the primary black ethnicities. I go to a public school, but church and state are not separate here, so you have the option of church during your lunch break. I went to church today because I figured it would be an interesting experience and it was! I was greeted at the door by a student who happened to be the one who leads church everyday. He was the most mature boy I had seen all day, and I knew then that it was going to better than sitting outside with the kids who are less engaged. When it started, the student pastor asked someone to lead us in praise and another student started singing a song in Zulu. It was so uplifting. One of the girls told me that the song was about power, I am assuming the power of God. After the song was over, another girl started singing another song in Zulu. Then the student pastor asked me if I could sing; I laughed and told him "no", he then asked someone to "accommodate" me. I guess he meant, would someone sing a song in English. One of the girls started singing a song in English. The entire room clapped along to every song. Everyone who attends church is referred to as Christians, regardless of how we identify, or whether we identify as any formal religion at all. Nevertheless, he talked about REAL issues, and I will definitely go back. I have so much to catch up on in my classes, I'm trying not to feel overwhelmed. Yo!( a commonly used expression by all languages in SA meaning, "oh my")