I wish I could bottle up some of this beautiful weather and bring it back to Houston! It’s my kind of sunshine. To continue the metaphor, the students at Masianokeng High School are also my kind of sunshine. They’ve kept me non-stop smiling since the beginning of today; their enthusiasm and eagerness is infectious…from asking questions, to patiently listening to our answers, to teaching us Sesotho (and about how to talk like a “cool kid”), these students are definitely stealing my heart (yes, I am a total cheese).

Like Karthik detailed in his last post (so hilarious! go read it!), we spent last Friday at Masianokeng helping the students revise (answering questions about old exams) for their upcoming exam week. Today we went back and helped out again (though this time with much more actual teaching and less of silly introductions and random displays of mediocre talent, haha). I think we legitimately answered most of their questions, so I’m glad about that. Aside from the teaching, I am really loving getting to know the students. From playing basketball together (well, I tried playing…I have the kinesthetic intelligence of a brick) to waiting with us for our taxi and teaching us some Sesotho, the kids have given us a welcome warmer than I could have ever possibly imagined. It’s such an incredible feeling knowing that the enthusiasm we had begun building up at the beginning of this year is being completely reciprocated, even to an excess. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of their huge grins and antics. 

Now, I’m going to stop rambling and let these pictures from today do the talking! 🙂

One last thing: I really can’t wait until our camp starts! Teaching academic subjects is always a good experience and hopefully we’ve been able to help the students out, but now, after talking to Mr. Chimombe and seeing how inquisitive the students are, I truly think the camp will have a great positive impact on the students. Plus, teaching abstract subjects like math gets tiring 😛 Our week one’s syllabus has been hammered out and from the looks of it, we have a lot of work ahead of us if we want to engage our students and give them the most fulfilling experience possible. I think this is the beginning of a beautiful adventure!