Foofi

New term learned these past few days:
Foofi slide means zipline

This past Monday and Tuesday I went with grade 6 to an overnight camp to the African Imprint. Each grade from 5 to 12 goes on one camp a term (there are 3 terms a school year). The camps last from one night to a week depending on the grade and term. The goal of these camps is to work on teamwork and uniting the grade. Since Kingswood is private boarding/day school, many children attend the school from grade 1 to graduating. There are always a few new students every year too, so the teachers and students work hard to make sure they feel included. On the first day of camp, we went canoeing and did an obstacle course. Before leaving on the camp I promised all the students that I would do all the activities with them. Little did I know that the obstacle course would require army-crawling through a mud pit and trying to jump across a 5 foot pool that everyone fell in. Despite the ruined shirt and shorts, I loved every minute of it. The second day we went foofi sliding aka zip line. The zip line went halfway across the river. A boat would fetch you from the river and then push you into the water. Again, tons of fun. It was my first time zip lining too. Of course, I couldn't show any fear because many of my students were scared so I went first to show them that they would be okay.

Tomorrow is a short day before half term begins. There is a swim gala (meaning swim meet) in the morning from 8 am to 10:30 and half term begins after that. I don't have to return to the school until Tuesday. The two other COST students and myself are going to Port Elizabeth for half term. While there, we are going on a day safari, rugby game and a prickly pear festival. A prickly pear is a fruit the grows on a cactus. I haven't tried one yet...

While we are in Port Elizabeth, another COST student is coming to Grahamstown. She will be at a public elementary school until May. I am so excited to meet her! Our trio of Americans will become a quad :)

Something I found to be interesting at camp is people put warm milk in their cereal... maybe it's just me but when I first ate my cereal I thought I had old milk that had been sitting out too long haha Also people but syrup in the cereal...yes like pancake syrup. To me it's weird but to them it's weird that I have never done it before. I have to remember that I am the foreigner :)