The Cost of Living Keeps Rising

Arundel Village shopping centre.

The exchange rate of dollars to bond currency has been rising exponentially this week. The official bank rate doesn't really budge but the black market is sky rocketing and this is reflected in retail. A modest basket of groceries now costs a couple of thousand in bond and it is a bit scary. Your salary, if you have one doesn't really keep its value to the end of the month. Some people immediately convert to US which is quite a good idea. I know people in the catering industry are struggling to budget and cover costs. I am very grateful to earn a teeny bit of US for my online French lessons. Life in Zim!

Yesterday I was pretty knackered when I got home. I worked non-stop from getting to school just after 7 in the morning, through until just before 6 pm. Lots of marking and then some prep for the coming week. I had been asked with my French lesson to make it more conversational and for future lessons to do some reading, so I will have to try find some simple French books online. While marking I listened to an hour's webinar on Zoom about online education and in relation to disadvantaged students in South Africa. It was interesting to hear how online can be a benefit but there are some things in traditional face to face teaching that cannot easily be replaced.

Winter is creeping in slowly. Although there is some sunshine today, when it gets cloudy there is a definite chill. I sat and did some of my marking in the sunshine yesterday. Some of my students are still far behind and one is not coping with things very well. Ostensibly my grade 7's write their entrance exams on the first Saturday of July so the pressure is on and at the end of my Zoom class today they all were a little apprehensive. Some are applying to schools that do offer learning support but whether they would be able to fully support some of my lot is questionable. There is still a great need for high schooling for children with extreme learning challenges and offering other skills that can be taught to those students who will not cope with IGCSE exams.

I might do some more Les Mills with my sister in a bit. Possibly Body Balance or core work. Had been invited to two social gatherings tomorrow but both are for fairly large groups and I think it's a bit risky. Not just for Corona, but also if the police get wind of it, you could face a 35,000 ZWL bond fine (still a fairly hefty amount). Looks like we might play another round of Jackbox.tv games with my friends and Beth and Andrew online on Sunday.