I spent Thursday morning and the early part of the afternoon sitting in the admin office going over the curriculum and adding more ideas for activities and homework. I have decided to be more consistent about homework than I was for the Introductory Course, largely because the course structure is different. Instead of doing separate morning and afternoon sessions we are going to teach each of two groups of 35 students for two, longer, days per week; the first group on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the second on Thursdays and Fridays. Rather than have an hour and a half or so for preparation time each day, which is what we had between the morning and afternoon groups on the Introductory Course, David and I will have Wednesdays for preparation and visits, organizing outside speakers and so on. There are other advantages; the students who have to travel a long distance will have to do so only twice a week, so this will cut their fares to two fifths the cost it was before. Beehive have agreed to provide a subsidized lunch for our students and this too will be cheaper as we shall need 35 lunches on each of four days rather than 70 lunches for five days, a bargain! In addition each student will have three clear weekdays to try to find part-time work to help support themselves. Anyway with this structure, and the arrival of my box of child care books, so kindly donated by colleagues at UEA and Suffolk College, it seems to me that the students will have time for a weekly piece of preparation. There are 19 weeks available for the course. I have divided this into two 9-week terms and a revision week. Each week we shall look at a different subject area and the homework will usually be relevant to the subject for the next week. Some of it is practical, much of it will involve practice at observing children, and some will be preparation of brief presentations to the class. There are one or two pieces of written work as well.
David has been helping with Jan's interview schedule for staff for the IT Centre this week by taking groups of the candidates for tours of the building site to view the IT College building which is nearing completion. I went on one tour myself to see how things are progressing and certainly there has been progress since my last visit. The roof is on. The windows have glass. There are heaps of sparkling gravel in the library room, which I assume is for the Terrasso flooring. I'm not really sure what this is, but I know Jan is very pleased about it. The view from the library, which is on the third floor, is beautiful. I suspect that this may be the only three-storey building in Chilomoni at present, although the Children's Centre will join it soon.
After his interview duties were done and he had taken the first steps to locate lockable filing cabinets that arrived on the last container so that we can keep resources at the school without fear of losing them, David came and picked me up and we went to find the second Mzuzu coffee of the week! We went to a lodge run by a French couple in Namiwawa and drank coffee overlooking a panoramic view of Michiru Mountain in the pouring rain. When we got back to the admin office I did not have my handbag. To be honest I cannot definitely remember that I picked it up from my desk when we left to go for coffee, but certainly it was not there when we got back. We returned to the coffee place, but no luck there either. I did have hopes that someone had found it and locked it away safely for me, but unfortunately that proved not to be the case, so the next morning I telephoned my efficient and long-suffering older brother to sort out all the practical details of new bank cards and driving licences . Poor Dave, I forgot about the time difference and woke him up, but like a hero he was immediately on the case and preventing any financial loss. How much poorer the world would be without big brothers!! I was lucky really not to have lost more than I did, bank card and driving licence being the worst of it, but I shall miss my lovely purple leather wallet that was a bargain from TK Maxx, and I shall have to buy a new phone tomorrow. For the benefit of those of you who call me, I shall try to get the same number activated, but don't know if I will be able to. Watch this space for details of how to contact me.
On Friday I finished the draft curriculum and circulated it to a few people for comments and advice, but have not had any feedback yet.
This weekend is a national holiday which means that many shops were closed both Saturday and Monday, hence no new phone until tomorrow. On Saturday Jan and Lindy and I went into Blantyre and did bits of administration including booking a special trip to Mvuu Camp in Liwonde National Park for when Jack is here. It is a package deal and we get a luxury tent, a boat trip up the River Shire, two game drives, one in a land rover and one in a boat and all our meals for 24 hours, I can't wait! Especially want to see elephants!
Yesterday I took my courage in both hands and went for a walk at Michiru by myself. Since when I went with Malcolm we got lost and I did not relish the thought of being lost in a wilderness by myself I consider this to be quite brave! It was a beautiful morning and I was rewarded by seeing absolutely loads of monkeys. I also saw a snake, a tortoise, quite a few birds and an unidentified mammal that shot across the path, jumped into the stream, streaked across it and out the other side in a lot less time than it takes to write it. I guess it was more like a stoat than anything else I've seen, but it was so fast I didn't have time to focus properly!
Encouraged by my success, today I climbed the Way of the Cross again. No fear of getting lost here as it turned out there was a special service at the top, I suppose in honour of the bank holiday. As I neared the top I was passed by about a hundred worshippers on the way down, including a few people I know. I had a quiet few minutes by myself up there in the sun looking down on Chilomoni and drinking my bottle of water before I was joined by the next lot of pilgrims who had been slowly following me up, stopping at each station to pray and singing in between stations. I saw a lot of butterflies but hardly any birds and no animals, too many people I guess.
From the top I could see dark clouds gathering over the hills beyond Chilomoni so I packed away the camera and got out my raincoat and set off back down the mountain. I was lucky and reached the bottom just as it began to rain. I was greeted by Tony Madanitsa who pointed out that one of my tyres was a bit soft and very kindly changed the wheel for me.
When I got back to Mitsidi I sat and read for a while. For the last year since Karl died I have hardly read at all, but in the three months I have been here I have read about ten or twelve books. This is really a change and I am glad of it. I was beginning to think that I would never be able to concentrate on a story again, but I was wrong. I guess the lack of television has something to do with it. Surprisingly I have not missed the TV at all, not even Eastenders!
After a while I wandered down to the main house in search of food to find David and Tamara in the final stages of making a vegetable curry, so I joined them for lunch, which was very nice. This afternoon, reading, sleeping, writing and watching the rain. It's a good thing I went out this morning!
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