Started the day with an 8 am Zoom lesson with my five year old in China. He is a lot chattier and was chortling away when he drew me squashed Easter eggs on the screen that he said the Easter Bunny had sat on. We looked at all things to do with Spring and practised some reading and writing in between Easter egg drawings. After I finished the lesson, a friend picked me up and we drove out to Ruwa to take mealie meal and some other basic groceries to the Tirivanhu psychiatric rehabilitation centre. Talked to some of the patients and handed the supplies over to the person in charge. There were a few more women patients there compared to the last time I went out. The one lady kept repeating that she really isn't well.
Did some work and then picked up a friend for tea and hot cross buns before driving to Chisi to go along to a JW memorial of Christ's death. I went partly out of curiosity and partly out of respect to the friend who invited me. Everyone was dressed very smartly and the service was similar to other Christian gatherings. Luckily was told that you don't actually eat the bread or drink the wine at communion - I think I would have done so otherwise - you simply look at them and pass them on. The concept of heaven and how many people go in is also
different. It was an interesting evening.
Tomorrow I've got a friend's three year old's birthday and then have another Zoom lesson. Managed to fit in a swim today before it turned chilly again. I think it may be one of my last swims as winter is fast encroaching, but it is still raining lots.
Yesterday only ended up teaching one student. We started going over the major themes and character development in Macbeth. Finally thanks to my friend Nina located a study guide for the book Spies. Need to go through it and see what we can work on from that these holidays. After teaching I went and had a cup of coffee at Alo Alo and it was nice to chill in their garden. Arundel suddenly became bustling at around 12 when schools ended and people started stockpiling for the holiday. Pick'N'Pay actually ran out of Easter eggs! Had personal training with a new instructor as my normal lady is busy preparing for her wedding next weekend. The new person pushed me to new levels. Had to balance doing a plank on weights and lift up my arms into rowing from that - goodness gracious me! Surprised myself in managing though. Bit sore today.
From there I went to my second attempt at seeing my psychiatrist for a check up (last time I gave up after waiting for an hour and a half and rescheduled). Well yesterday I walked in and there were only four people waiting compared to over ten last time. I thought I should be out fairly soon. Um no! Waited over two hours for what ended up being only a twenty minute consultation. It is times like this when I miss my previous doctor where I waited a maximum of ten minutes, sigh. Am reducing my lithium levels as I have developed hand tremors. Need to still up it though when I have PMT. I forgot to up it this last month and hit a low but apparently in future I can up the lithium if I hit a low. Spoke to my psych about helping people who are not on medical aid but need to see a psychiatrist to be prescribed medication. He had an idea of getting a psychiatric nurse at a clinic who can dispense medication and be overseen by psychiatrists. This sounds like a viable option. I need to contact ZIMNAMH (Zimbabwe National Association for Mental Health) and find a clinic that might be willing to come onboard with this. We could fundraise to help provide medication. So it's sounding promising and hopefully can help those who desperately need help and medication but just can't afford it.
Had a farewell braai for the two friends who got married recently last night, as they head back to Deutschland today. Laughed a lot and we sat round the fire afterwards and two other friends played the guitar and we sang (or tried to) along. At one point the almost full moon had a rainbow halo round it which was really cool.
My Chinese student in Xi'an doesn't obviously observe Easter so we soldier on with lessons this weekend, today and Easter Sunday. I have put together a lesson today though on Easter and Pesach (he should know a bit about Passover from going to Sharon, the Jewish school here in Harare). On Tuesday at my school one of the grade 7's dressed up as the Easter Bunny and went and hid Easter Eggs for the grade 1's and 2's. One little boy looked out the window and saw this and went and tapped his friend on the shoulder and said "You see I told you the Easter Bunny's real!"
It's back to A2 bio on Thursday with my Iranian student. Have been putting together a revision lesson on the rest of biodiversity and then coordination in the endocrine and nervous systems. Just found some audio book options for Spies for my form four student and was sent a video of my Chinese five year old's little brother starting to walk in China - very cute.
Sports day went well at the school this morning. All the kids gave it their best and some of them were really chuffed to have their mums and dads there cheering them on. At one point though one of the students from the group I was in charge of decided to put the bucket on his head instead of holding it to catch a ball. At least he wasn't pinching the little boy in front of him today. The little ones were thrilled with their Easter egg hunt and the older students who didn't believe in the Easter bunny were pleased to get an egg at the end of the morning. Now the fun starts with preparing for next term. I am going in again tomorrow morning to sit down with the head and need to get cracking.
Think I didn't explain what the fundraising for mental illness is for very clearly. It would be to try help those who need to specifically get medical assistance and be prescribed medication but who can't afford to as they are not on medical aid and can't afford consultation fees. For things like bipolar you need to see a psychiatrist as you have to get medication prescribed by them. A social worker can't help with this and in some cases a GP can't either. Watched the video below and thought it did a very good job of describing depression and bipolar.
Going to a piano recital celebrating the centenary of Debussy's death at Alliance Française tomorrow evening.
Got a bit more direction from going in to school today and going through more stuff with the teacher that's leaving. Do feel the weight of having five grade sevens I have to get into high school next term though. They are at different levels. Some are going to try for St Christopher's that caters for children with learning difficulties. There aren't really enough high schools that accommodate these children sadly. Tomorrow's the sports day and I officially take over. Will probably have to go in again on Wednesday to discuss things with the head. Two of the little boys keep bursting out with "Don't stop believing ...". I think it's rather sweet.
Feeling a bit flat and low. I should have upped my lithium last week with PMT, which could explain it. Also just tired.
Misplaced my red marking pen - had left it at my Chinese French student's. It's now the most important pen I have. Am a sucker for punishment as I volunteered to mark the last two mental tests for the other teacher. It's done now. My French student is going to be doing his DELF level one exam. We need to up the grammar.
Looking forward to friends from Australia and England arriving next week. Trying to see if we can go to Imire. The other exciting thing today was hearing I am now an aunt and have a newborn nephew.
I can feel every muscle I used yesterday - definitely did a thorough workout. Ever so slightly owee. Think the wood chops with the kilo ball in particular are letting me know all about it today. I stayed home this morning and worked on the last wetland report. Got up later than usual - first lie in for a while. Teaching-wise I only had my Chinese ten year old for French this afternoon. Monkey, he tried to tell me he hadn't learnt the future tense after all but he had told me he had last lesson. After we did a bit he admitted he had learnt it at school. We did a bit more on the French Revolution and he enjoyed the meme below, although he tried to tell me that Louis XVI's real name was Ronaldo.
Have a Zoom lesson with my five year old in China tomorrow morning bright and early. His mum asked to keep the lesson simple, so we will look at Peppa Pig and some of the Oxford Reading Tree. Am supposed to go out to the Tirivanhu mental health rehabilitation centre in Ruwa tomorrow afternoon with a friend. They need mealie meal so will get some with money raised from raffles at the Tuesday quiz. Was supposed to see my psychiatrist on Tuesday this week for a check up but I waited an hour and a half and there were still three people he had to see before me. I couldn't wait any longer so have to go back next week. Will ask him about what he suggests for helping people who need to see a psychiatrist but aren't on medical aid and can't afford it. There are a lot of people in this situation. Can see if a fund can be set up that psychiatrist's can draw upon maybe - still thinking about it. The other thing was the need for more social workers.
Tomorrow evening is the Eisteddfod Honours Concert at the International School. Sunday I teach again in the morning online and then have a braai, followed by a bible study where I am house sitting.
Today was my last teaching day at school for this term. I will go in again on Monday to get handover notes and then go help with the sports day on Tuesday. Am going to have to keep up to date with current affairs. One of my students asked me about the northern white rhino that died yesterday today. Luckily did know about it. Also will need to know a bit on pop culture it seems. Quite a few of the boys like drawing superheroes. I do at least know what Wakanda is but was told about Max #10. My students absolutely love swimming. I get asked at break time by at least five of them if there will be a swimming lesson at the end of the morning. Even the students that aren't strong swimmers are eager. I think it helps them release energy and I have a hard time getting them all to get out of the pool at the end.
Tackling the last wetland report this evening for Tafara. It is quite different from the other sites I've visited and there is a lot of spiritual significance to parts of it. Need to get it written up.
Had my last training session with my fitness instructor today before she gets married. Will have someone else take me for the two weeks and will then start again with her after that. She punished me with quite a cardio routine with EMOMs (every minute on the minute) and then repeats. Definitely pushed my endurance.
In art this morning we were inspired by the work by Georgia O'Keeffe and had a go trying to do spathodeas in her style using bold colour and shape. I had a go in oils. Not sure if it's finished. Will keep looking at it. My car now smells of turps. Have been lent the book "Born a Crime & Other Stories" by Trevor Noah by one of the ladies at art.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Have just finished preparing my lessons for tomorrow. Will be my last teaching day at school for this term. Can't believe it's Easter already next weekend. Our friends from Australia arrive the following week and another friend back from England. Need to get to bed just now as it is an early start. A friend has suggested I have vitamin B jabs for next term. I am not looking forward to winter and waking up early.
Had a fun quiz last night with a friend being quiz master at the Mustard Seed.
Mondays! Today was a long one. Went to school in the morning and helped and took notes before heading to HIS to do another library shift, followed by two sets of tutoring. This week's book in the library was "The Night I followed the Dog" by Nina Laden and it is all about how the family dog actually lives a secret life at night and goes out. I started by asking the class to imagine what their pets might get up to at night. Well, one little boy in grade one immediately piped up that he knew exactly what his rabbits do - they make more babies and they are getting a bit tired of it. Wasn't quite expecting that one, I won't lie.
The end of term is in sight. My new school closes next Tuesday with the sports day as the final event. I am going to have a lot of preparation work to do over the holidays. Need to start putting together my schemes of work and lesson plans - a little daunting. I will probably also be helping my form four with his literature and have my French student.
Just waiting for my Chinese student to come online for our second lesson this weekend. I am thinking I may have to just teach him at weekends - during the week is a bit problematic. I did a lesson on disabilities but how people have overcome them with him yesterday. Turns out Andrea Bocelli is one of his mum's favourite singers. He was quite taken with Stephen Hawking and that he worked on black holes.
Managed to do an early morning lesson yesterday so that I could then go pick up the wedding cake and some other things for my friends' wedding out at Darwendale. Was quite a responsibility trying to make sure the icing didn't come off on the drive out over the bumpy roads but it made it. We had a gecko holding on for dear life on our windscreen at one point. It was a fairly big gecko (about 15 cm long) and was using the suction pads on its feet to great effect. We stopped and released it to the wild, so there was a happy ending.
The wedding celebration was lovely and chilled and in a super setting. There were games and later on people played volleyball. Went out onto the water at sunset which was special and the light on the water was pretty. Some of us stayed the night and we introduced visitors from Germany to mopane worms (I'll be honest I didn't try one) and chibuku (I had a sip), round the campfire.
Managed most of the drive back this morning without directions but from memory, however, at one point I was unsure and it was lucky I asked someone on the roadside as I would have otherwise gone in completely the wrong direction. There were a couple of police blocks but they seemed to be only after the big trucks and let me through without any hassle - what a joy!
So my five year old has just sent a voice message to say they are stuck in a traffic jam. It is getting late for him in China so will see if we have a lesson today or not. Going with people to Coimbra for dinner tonight. Feel recharged for the week and ready to tackle it.
It has been an interesting day. Went to the school I teach at first thing for more handover notes from the current teacher. I then got a crash course on how the library operates at the International School and took over for half the day. Thank goodness for knowing the Dewey Decimal System from Convent and being familiar with the library's lay out from before. It was quite fun though. Had two classes and their book of the week was Pigcasso and Mootisse. I then had to find books for the kindergarden teachers which related to different materials e.g. glass, plastic, wood etc., so Cinderella's glass slipper, a book called Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse, Julia Donaldson's "Stick Man"and others.
Afterwards I had my form four student, and we analysed the poem "Miracle on St David's Day" by Gillian Clarke, which is really beautiful - although my student really struggled to tell what the miracle was. From there I had my Chinese ten year old and he had to learn the song Chante which is sung by Kids United. I got him to translate the song to English with me and he got stuck on la Bastille - as a wild guess he asked if it was a type of baguette! We had to do a tiny history lesson. Perhaps I will elaborate on this a bit more next lesson.
Just put together a lesson for my Chinese five year old to do over Zoom at 7.30 tomorrow morning. Am going to tell him about Stephen Hawking as my student is into black holes. Have found a bit on disabilities but how people have overcome them in amazing ways, Stephen Hawking being one of these people. I then head out to Darwendale for the wedding celebration of two friends.
Here's the poem by Gillian Clarke for anyone interested.
Miracle On St David’s Day
All you need to know about this poem is that it is a true story. It happened in the ’70s, and it took me years to find a way to write the poem.
‘They flash upon that inward eye which is the bliss of solitude’ (from ‘The Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth)
An afternoon yellow and open-mouthed with daffodils. The sun treads the path among cedars and enormous oaks. It might be a country house, guests strolling, the rumps of gardeners between nursery shrubs.
I am reading poetry to the insane. An old woman, interrupting, offers as many buckets of coal as I need. A beautiful chestnut-haired boy listens entirely absorbed. A schizophrenic
on a good day, they tell me later. In a cage of first March sun a woman sits not listening, not feeling. In her neat clothes the woman is absent. A big, mild man is tenderly led
to his chair. He has never spoken. His labourer’s hands on his knees, he rocks gently to the rhythms of the poems. I read to their presences, absences, to the big, dumb labouring man as he rocks.
He is suddenly standing, silently, huge and mild, but I feel afraid. Like slow movement of spring water or the first bird of the year in the breaking darkness, the labourer’s voice recites ‘The Daffodils’.
The nurses are frozen, alert; the patients seem to listen. He is hoarse but word-perfect. Outside the daffodils are still as wax, a thousand, ten thousand, their syllables unspoken, their creams and yellows still.
Forty years ago, in a Valleys school, the class recited poetry by rote. Since the dumbness of misery fell he has remembered there was a music of speech and that once he had something to say.
When he’s done, before the applause, we observe the flowers’ silence. A thrush sings and the daffodils are flame.
I have only taught three full mornings this week but I feel pretty pooped, I won't lie. I am definitely going to have to build up stamina for 5 days straight next term and for all the marking and preparation. Need to put worksheets together these holidays me thinks but I also have to do my lesson plans for the whole term and schemes. Teachers need school holidays!! No joke. Think what was most tiring today was trying to stop some of the boys constantly bickering and the one boy from some how migrating continuously to the other side of the classroom from his desk. There are thirteen boys and only two girls in the class, and some of the boys are a real handful. Individually they are sweet but when they gang up it's not good.
It looks like I will be filling in for the afternoon librarian at my mum's school tomorrow and some afternoons next week. I need to slow down a little though. Am not quite sure how I am going to fit in my Chinese five year old during the week as access to internet at lunchtime is a problem and trying to squeeze him in with the time difference is a challenge. I really need to weigh up what I feasibly can manage next term so I don't burn out. My personal trainer pointed out that tutoring til 6pm means I have a 12 hour day.
Speaking of personal training, the last two sessions have been brutal. Today I used the kilo ball and had to throw it doing crunches (I nearly lost teeth by not catching at one point), balance on it doing mountain climbers and do strenuous things with the kettlebell. I got through this to have my trainer announce we were going out of the garden to do sprints. I did wonder why we were going out the gate. Well we walked to the corner and turned onto the next street - ah! A lovely hill slope greeted me. Hadn't packed gym stuff when I moved to house sit yesterday so asked my mum to bring something this morning. Well the leggings she brought need new elastic. I could possibly have sprinted faster but I had visions of my leggings being round my ankles with the whole neighborhood watching :P
My trainer had bought her fiance a fish tank this morning and in the time that I spent training he had set it up with pond weed and water and happily announced he was off to catch bass to put in it. I did ask whether bass can grow rather big - in my mind I pictured one fish taking up the whole tank. He laughed and said he would stunt their growth with limiting how much he fed them as he had done with his miniature staffie!
Had a great intro back to art today with Sarah. She got us to do portraits of each other but doing it all in blind contour (not looking at the page just following the lines on the face without lifting your drawing implement off the paper). The drawing implement in this case was white wax so you couldn't see what you had drawn anyway. There were moments of panic when people went completely off the page or forgot where they were. I actually accidentally did three eyes on my drawing. We then did a wash of black ink over the wax for resist. Sarah showed us a book of work by Marlene Dumas from South Africa. I found some of her portraits a little disturbing, truth be told but I guess they were arresting. Apparently some of her portraits were from the morgue and otherwise of criminals. Was hard to tell which some of these were. We then were to use her technique of applying colour, to work into our portraits - I think I went a bit more abstract but I had fun. As one person at art said, art and playing marimbas are two of the most cathartic things you can do.
Marlene Dumas
Before art I went to the garden nursery in Arundel Village and I happened to see the lady in the shop was reading The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking. I commented on this and she said she had decided to read it again as Stephen Hawking died yesterday. I haven't looked at the news so this was the first I heard of it. We had quite a long conversation about it. I will miss not only being able to go to art next term but also having time to chat and wander about at leisure, but a full time job will be good in other ways. I will just need to build up my stamina to have energy for an entire week of back to back teaching. Something stronger that coffee might be needed, perhaps espressos :P
I am back house sitting now. The person I am doing it for left me a surprise present from her last trip to Bahrain. Wasn't sure what it was initially but on tasting it, it reminded me of halva from Israel. It's called rahash cutting in Bahrain and is made from the same stuff as halva - sesame flour and possibly this has some pistachio in it. Have been snacking on it as I prepare lessons for tomorrow. OK I must get to bed as need to be up at 5.
Did another full day of teaching today. It was a little bit of a rush to get marking done during the course of the morning so the students had their books for homework. A few students came late too which meant they didn't do their morning reading before class. For some of the more dyslexic students reading is a major thing each day. We had a sports day practice again after break. One little Russian boy was on his own mission though and it was fun and games getting him to do what the others were doing. Part of it is a language barrier, but part is also that he is very strong willed. When all the kids in their teams did pull together it was great to see though as they helped each other out and looked out for the ones who struggled. For some it really was a struggle - makes you realise the things you do without thinking and take for granted that you are able to do.
Been getting my paint brushes out in readiness for my art class tomorrow morning. I reckon I am going to have to warm up a bit as I haven't painted since last year. Really looking forward to some chill time while I can still get to the art class. I then move to house sit again from tomorrow to the house with the dachshunds. From there I will be house sitting for another person on Colston Hill, across the other side of Monavale Vlei from us. Will have to make time to pop home and see my dogs as they are going to feel a bit abandoned and I will miss them.
Went to see the friend who is not doing so well with depression at the hospital she is in again. It brings back memories of when I was in hospital and how rotten you can feel when your medication is being adjusted. You are on an emotional roller coaster and feel so raw. You have to just somehow hold out and cling to the hope that your medication will be adjusted to a level where you can try again at life and feel more in control of who you are. It is such a scary place to be in and it is a reminder of how much medication affects you and for severe depression is your main lifeline.
Busy helping put things together to help with the wedding celebration of two friends this weekend out at the Hideaway at Darwendale. Looking forward to it and getting out of Harare.
