10-year Reunion: Girls Night

Friday night was finally going to happen. Weeks of planning was finally going to come to fruitation. The evening went of absolutely well with tributes to our late classmates and friends, Lelethu Lumkwana and Ashanti Kakaza. I also prepared a slideshow for the girls filled with photos and tidbits from 2001. 

With my oldest friend, Catherine

10-year Reunion: Grateful

Leaving Founder’s Day, I was overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude. Clarendon is an institution that I’m so proud to have been part of.

First and foremost, I was grateful to my parents for recognizing what an excellent school Clarendon was and still is.  They knew that by enrolling me at Clarendon Prep, I would be taught the best life lessons and be introduced to opportunities that I may not have been exposed to elsewhere.

For my entire school career, I felt like I was constantly nurtured under the loving care of my teachers. 

It was the encouragement of my English teachers that fueled my love for the language and ultimately lead me to explore the wondrous world of words.  My very first piece that was published in an anthology of verse was a poem I wrote in Std 2 called "My Secret Garden". This was the beginning and I am proud to say that I have had my writing published in local and international publications - enforcing my belief that I can spread whatever message I wish through the written word. My love for English also led to my career choice in teaching English to foreigners.

I was a bit of an introvert growing up and was a bit hesitant to take risks and challenges, but in Grade 10 I felt like I went through my own metamorphosis. I joined the Forum Discussion team, the school magazine, Interact and other clubs and societies. It was through these platforms that I developed confidence in developing my voice. Above all, I developed leadership skills.

With their guidance and caring attitude, teachers like Mrs Felton, Miss Rose, Mrs Edwards, Mr Deutschmann and so many others, my wings had fully grown by the time the end of my matric year came by.  

Biology was my weakest subject and I was sure I was not going to pass with good enough grades to enrol at a university.  The day I went to collect my results from school with my mum, I cried tears of joy. Months of hard work, studying and tutoring had paid off and I passed with good grades. I now have a Bachelor of Journalism from Rhodes University. Something I never thought would be possible!

Ten years later, I am still very good friends with many of the girls I met at Clarendon High School...including those from Sub B!

Thank you, mum and dad for choosing Clarendon as my education foundation. Thank you to the dozens of teachers who believed in me. Thank you to all the friends I made.  Without you all, I know for sure that I would not be the person I have turned out to be.

If I can give any piece of advice to current Clarendonians, it would be...

"Don't for a single second take any opportunity you have for granted. Respect your teachers and recognize that they are very special people who take on many different forms to ensure that you will leave the school successful and ready for the world. Don't wait till your reunion to come back to school and realize what a fine institution you were part of. Know it now. When you look around at the lack of education in our country and the children who would give anything to be in your place - even sitting on those hard, wooden floors, appreciate that you are one of the most privileged people to be receiving education of such caliber."

10-year Reunion: Founder’s Day at School

Entrance to Clarendon High School

It was a chilly Friday morning when I arrived at Clarendon High School with 3 friends. On the way into the school, we met Mrs Carol Forward – my Std 3 Bible Education teacher. I remember Mrs Forward sitting on a chair while we sat cross-legged on the floor engrossed in the Bible stories she told us. I loved Mrs Forward and she gave the best hugs ever.

We were taken to a white marquee on the field where the assembly would take place and were shown where we would be seated. On our way there, we walked through one of the two quads and walking out of the staff room was Virginia, one of the maintenence workers. We hugged and it was so heartwarming to know that she actually remembered me! I also met the legendary Biology teacher, Mr Currin who – to my surprise, greeted me with, “Makhan. Sheetal Makhan!”

Hearing Mr Nel and Miss Rose speak behind the podium brought back so many Founder’s Day memories of sitting on the hard wooden floor in the hall, being asked to “Please stand” and “Please be seated”. Singing the hymns again opened a flood gate of memories. I was always proud to be known as a “Clarendonian” and the I felt the same pride wash over me on that day.

After assembly, the guests congregated in the school hall where we drank tea, had snacks and mingled. Reaching for a snack across the table, I heard someone say my name, “Sheetal”. It was Mr Deutschmann, my Travel and Tourism teacher.

I adored Mr Deutschmann and this is why:

During my high school career, I was involved with almost every club and society and in my matric year I was a bit overwhelmed with all I had to do. There was a particular project that I was working on for Travel and Tourism – about the Wonders of the World. I finished my assignment way beyond time, but hadn’t printed it yet. I guess my famous line of “Technology Hates Me” started from way back then because something happened that was out of my control and I lost my entire project. When I told Mr D about it, he sat me down at my desk and drew a pyramid for me. He explained about life’s priorities. First, is my health – if I don’t have my health, I have nothing else...I can’t look after my family and won’t be productive in anything I do.

Mr D

It’s something I’ve taken with me in my life from that moment Mr D spoke to me in class.

When I met Mr D at Founder’s Day, I reminded him about that all important life-lesson he taught me. He didn’t have a recollection of it, but I guess that’s the impact teachers have on their students without knowing it.

After tea in the school hall, we walked around the school and visted some of our old classrooms. How did we fit into those little wooden desks?!

I felt so excited and happy on the way home. I felt rejuvenated after seeing old friends and teachers again.

With Virginia

  

With Mr Currin (Biology) and Mrs Felton (English & Matric) 

10-year Reunion: Gala Dinner

Thursday, August 18 2011 - Gala Dinner at the EL Golf Club. This was the first event of our reunion weekend. I arrived with 3 school friends and the first couple of hours were spent mingling. There were quite a few reunion groups at this event - even a 50-year reunion group!

Mayuri, Bavika, Poonam & I

Telana & Me

Some teachers I met that night - Mrs Forward (who taught us in primary school), Ms Winkelmann (Afrikaans), Mrs Thorne (Maths), Mrs Felton (English & matric), Miss Rose (History) and - our headmaster, Mr Nel!

Legendary English (and matric) teacher, Mrs Felton
Miss Rose (History teacher) in the background

To be very honest, I think I was at a loss for words when I met Mrs Felton and Miss Rose.  Hands down, they were (are) two of the best teachers at Clarendon High School and I feel absolutely honoured to have been taught by them both.

Carolyn, Tania & Thandi

With sweet Carolyn

I've kept in touch with many school friends over the years, but seeing each other face to face was completely different. It was especially lovely seeing Natalie who coincided her vacation from New Zealand to be with us :)

Mr Nel (headmaster)

I went home that evening feeling quite excited about the following morning - Founder's Day assembly at school! 

10-year Reunion: The Build Up

I think it was in April when I found myself part of the group that was to organize our 10-year high school reunion weekend. There would be a series of events, starting on Thursday evening with a Gala Dinner hosted by the Old Girls Guild at the East London Golf Club. On Friday morning we'd meet at school for the Founder's Day assembly. Friday evening would be a "Girls Night", Saturday afternoon would be a family picnic and on Sunday we'd wrap up with a breakfast. I was asked to organize the event on Friday evening.

I was very fortunate to get a lovely venue, and after sorting out details like catering and the program for the evening, I felt like everything was set.

A few weeks before the reunion, I had a chat with a friend while I was still in East London. She was feeling a bit hesitant about the reunion weekend and I wanted to know why. As can be expected, everyone will want to know what the others have been up to over the past 10 years (let's face it, we're not ALL avid FaceBook-ers to keep up to date with each other's marriages, children etc...)

"What am I going to say?" she asked me. "I'm job-less, husband-less and child-less."

Wait a minute. So am I! 

It's no longer a secret that I have been battling to find a job since I came back to the country from South Korea last year. So I, too, have no job at the moment.

Also, I thought back to our school days - to our "bonding sessions" in the matric quads - where we used to talk about our future. I always thought that by the time our 10-year reunion came around, I'd be married, maybe with a child and I would be a published author. Well, I'm certainly far away from being married with a child :)

I thought of other classmates and what they've been up to over the past decade. Many are living abroad and have taken different paths in life, some not what they expected. I have friends who are climbing the corporate ladder in Johannesburg, some are married with children and are amazing stay-at-home-mums (living all over the world!) Others are engaged and planning their wedding. However, each one of them/us have something to be grateful for. 

I thought about the meaning of "Success". What is it?

Is success earning 20k+ a month? Perhaps. Is it being married to a wonderful man who you have beautiful children with? Maybe. What about just being happy - regardless of one's financial or relationship status?

I came to the conclusion that success means different things to different people. I then tried to imagine packing my life over the past ten years into one box. What would I put in there? 

Something I wouldn't be able to physically put in is "experience". My experience (for another blog) between 2002 and 2003 was life-changing and has made me a much stronger individual. Something else I have to show is my four year Bachelor of Journalism degree from Rhodes University. I've also written for a number of publications - both print and online and have had the opportunity to meet some incredible people.  Spending 3 years in Korea and having many travel experiences has been like a dream come true for me.  Within a matter of days, I was able to take photographs standing next to pyramids in Egypt and then standing on the Great Wall of China in Beijing. I learned how to like myself and enjoy my own company, because almost all my travel was done alone.

So, does that mean that the fact that I don't currently have a paying job of 20k+ and a man at my side makes my a failure? Absolutely not!

I decided to put my anxiety of our school reunion aside and enjoy the time with friends, some of whom I've known for 20 years now!

Bye Bye Teacher!

It's been an emotional week saying goodbye to students and teacher friends who I've known for the past 3 years. Here are some photos of me with a few of the kids. I'll upload another blog post about the sweetest letters they wrote to me!

School Kitchen Tour

Everyday, the children and teachers enjoy a wholesome lunch at school. I usually enjoy it (when there's no meat on the menu). I was really curious to know what the kitchen looks like, so on Thursday, July 15 2010 I got special permission to visit the place where our food is prepared everyday.

There are special shoes that must be worn in the kitchen

 You have to "clean" your shoes on this wet mat

Aprons and masks

Terrible Intercom Blunder

This morning, I heard that the principal was in an "angry mood". Everyone was feeling her wrath (including me - in an indirect way).

The worst thing was that she apparently was having words with a teacher and saying how disappointed she was in her amongst other things (I have no idea what the story's about) BUT - they were standing right next to the intercom ... the school's broadcasting system ...and... it...was...ON.

Terrible!

   

Beginning of Academic Year 2010

Leaving home at 5pm today, I shared the elevator with a 6th grade teacher.
"How was your first day?" I asked him.
He shook his head and said, "Terrible."

I nodded my head to indicate that I understood.

Today marked the first day of the academic year. The school and English system are completely different to last year and the previous year. Now I have three co-teachers.

KH will teach grade 3 and 4 with me.
JY will teach grade 5.
IK will teach grade 6.

In addition, I will teach Kindergarten as I've done before. This year I will also teach an adult class - an English class for teachers at my school.

IK has just come back from a six month sabbatical. This is the third year I'm working with her, so I'm used to her style - cold and serious.

I'll be teaching fewer classes than previous years, yet my workload seems to have increased. There are more demands and paperwork that needs to be done. I don't mind this. What I do have a problem with is that IK keeps telling me, "It's up to you, but I'd like you to..." when discussing about my lessons...especially classes I'll be taking alone.

I'm completely open to new ideas, but she doesn't seem to want to accept mine.

This afternoon, JY came to the English office to meet me so we could discuss our grade 5 lesson plan. IK was also in the office. She interrupted JY my conversation to say that she'd rather we focus more on the curriculum - OF COURSE I'm going to do that, but I also think it's important to teach them things like days of the week, seasons etc.

Then, she told me that we need to teach the alphabet - which I do ANYWAY.

IK said that the principal told her that there are some students in middle school (who've graduated from MY school) who don't even know the alphabet. 

WHAT? I asked her when she "heard" that and she said this morning.

I've said this before. I teach over 1000 (ONE THOUSAND) students per week. Each class is 40 minutes long. By the time the class settles and we get started with the actual curriculum, you can cut that 40 minutes down to 30 minutes.

I'd teach phonics, the curriculum work and other things. And getting a class quiet and/or reprimanding time eats into my TEACHING time. So how many minutes does a child have with me a week?

During my winter camp, when I asked a few students, "How are you?" they couldn't respond.

I feel so despondent.

When IK left the office, JY told me not to worry about what principal "said" because she has a reputation of fabricating stories.

Schools have just commenced. How can the English level of the new middle school students already have been assessed?...and the news traveled to quickly?

I live and work in an area that is not well off. Students have no motivation to study. Many were forced to come to my after school English classes. As a teacher, of course I want my students to learn something from me. Realistically speaking, all 1000+ students WILL NOT.

Hearing that some of MY students don't even know the alphabet does not have a good reflection on ME the English teacher.

This was my day.
     

Grade 6 Graduation - 2010

On Friday, February 12 2010, the 6th Graders graduated from Elementary School. This lot is very special to me, because when I started teaching in Korea in '07, they were my youngest students... and now they're all grown up and moving to middle school!

It was pretty sad saying bye to them, because they're really nice kids.

**********

People selling flowers outside the school for the graduates!

 

  

I went to every class (6-1 to 6-8)  to say good bye.

This is one of my favourite classes: 6-6!

  

Parents standing in the back (taking loads of pics!)

  

The school principal giving a speech.

 

They're brother-sister. 

When I arrived in Korea in '07, he was a senior, and she was a junior!

  

Snacks for teachers at lunch time

 

   

What's the most important thing in YOUR life?

Image taken from Google Images

My friend, Yong-un leaned back in his chair and said with a heavy sigh, "Life is very hard, you know?" He was telling me about his family responsibilities, his financial responsibilities and pressure from work. Before becoming a teacher, he was a banker. He told me about the pros and cons of both professions.

He sighed again and said, "Life is really hard!" He was the youngest in his family, and his older siblings were all married with children. It was up to him to take care of his ailing parents who were frequently in and out of hospital. I told him that no one promised life was going to be easy. I was trying to put up a positive front, but at the back of my mind I was nodding in agreement with him - 100%!

"We have to focus on what's important in our life," he told me.

"So what IS the most important thing in your life?" I asked him.

He pondered for a few seconds and finally said, "My family."

I shook my head and said, "No! The most important thing in your life is your health. You shouldn't have to think about it. If you're not healthy, how can you take care of your family?"

"Yaaa! That's really good!" he said with a smile on his face.

I wish I could take credit for that tiny bit of insight, but I can't. Credit is due to my high school teacher, Mr Deutschmann (aka Mr D) who taught me Travel & Tourism. He noticed that I was taking strain with my school work and numerous responsibilities that I carried in my final year at high school.

During one of our lessons, he sat next to me and drew a triangle on a piece of paper. He explained that our lives are like pyramids, with various segments that rely on the other. The most important one, the base of the pyramid, is our health. If we don't have sound health, how can we work to earn money...to take care of our family?

Mr D probably wouldn't remember that moment he told me that, but I've never forgotten it. So if anyone ever asks me what the most important thing in MY life is, without hesitation I'd say, "my health" and after that comes my parents and brother, my passions in life and so on.

...anyways, just a random Sunday thought blog post~!

H1N1 Frenzy at School

There were approximately 100 students absent from school today. And there were 3 (that I know of) confirmed cases of H1N1. One is a student in Grade 1, whose mother is a teacher at my school and the other two are Grade 6 students.

Apparently there were talks of the school closing for 2 days because of this... Will see what happens.

First day back at school

For the entire past week, I've only been falling asleep at 04:30. It was agonizing tossing and turning in bed. Last night, I probably fell asleep around 2:00am - not ideal, but so much better than 04:30am, yeah? Apart from the darn mosquito buzzing near my ear and having an absolute feast on my meaty body, I was happy to have woken up when my alarm rang this morning.

I got to work pretty early 'cause I had paperwork to sort out before my first class at 9:00am. I was genuinely happy to see my lil' kiddies again. I taught 6th graders all day & started a new chapter, "How was your vacation?"

One of my 6th graders said to me,

"Teechurr! In-ploo-en-za (influenza) ... you ... ok?" :-)

I had a very warm & loving welcome back to work from the staff. Bit disappointed that our vice-principal is moving to another school, and another teacher friend of mine (Sun-young) has also been moved to another school. Many people (foreign teachers included) are always surprised to know that I'm with my same school/employer for 3 years in a row. Not that common...

New Library @ School

Today was the official opening of the new library at school. I think it looks fantastic :) SO modern with bright, fresh colours. I wish we had libraries like this at school. My friend, Joo-hyeon was in charge of the remodeling project.

Lunchtime with Grade 1-2

On Wednesday, May 20 2009 I spent the lunch hour with my friend Joo-hyeon and her Grade 1 class (1-2). At my school, there 2 Grade 6 students who go and help each Grade 1 teacher and their class during lunch time.

I taught this boy in Kindergarten last year~ so cute!

I taught her in Kindergarten last year as well~

My friend calls this boy Winnie the Pooh

Sports Day at School

Friday, May 1 2009

It was Sports Day at school on Friday, May 1 2009. Luckily I didn't have to physically teach any classes. I got very tired around 2pm, but had to power through till 16:40.

Grade 1 class

I taught this boy in Kindergarten last year

With a 5th grade teacher ~ NamGung So-yeon

Cooling off with the teachers in the teacher's room