School

Mitchell and I in our school uniforms

You have to wear your hat at break time (not like smash time)

School in Botswana is a lot tougher than school in the U.S.A. First of all, the teachers expect all kinds of flattery, like Sir and Ma'am, which is totally unfair, because they are the ones who are shouting at us. Whenever our teacher leaves the room, she will come back and say "Who is the one that I hear talking?" The teachers also have no sense of humor, and would probably find a million mistakes if they read this over. Just kidding. My teacher's name is Miss Masheka. She is from Zimbabwe and she is a really nice teacher.

Miss Masheka

The good thing is that the math class (called maths in Botswana) is really easy. I have done pretty well at math here. I think we work harder at math back at JSIS. I am also learning stuff about Botswana, like history and geography, that I am not sure I will ever use in real life, but it is interesting.

This is the walkway outside of my classroom

The classrooms are kind of small, and they are also separate buildings, so every time you go to a different class, you have to walk outside in the boiling sun. There is also lots of shade.

My Standard 5 classroom

The back of the classroom

Playground

Tennis courts

The field (the strip of artificial turf in the center is for cricket)

The library and computer building (left) and classrooms (right)

My friends in school are Tich, a boy from Zimbabwe, Martin, a boy from here in Botswana, and Kirtesh, an Indian boy. They are very nice and I have already been to Tich and Martin's houses. I am also going to invite them to my birthday party. Some of the other kid's names in my class are Pako, Kabelo, Rosi, Refilwe, Alex, Shane, Mahmoud, Clara, Rashaad, Varsha, Chelsey, Safia, Frans, Thapelo, Cale, Reece, Martin, Desiree, Chikondi, Ian, Tawanda, and Colby. Most of the kids are from Botswana and Zimbabwe.  There are a few from South Africa, and a few from England.  There are one or two kids from Ireland, two kids from India, and one boy from America (guess who?).

Tich

Martin

Kirtesh

My friends and I outside of the classroom

We have to do like a billion tests. I think one day I had to do six!  After two weeks or so, I get back 10 test papers. I just got one back today. I also got the highest grade for my age in a calculator math test. I guess some of the kids have never used calculators before.

I like school here but I also can't wait to get back to JSIS!