School Field Trip: Planetarium & SABC, October 11

During our first few weeks in the schools, we were invited to go on a class field trip with one of Joe’s elementary schools. Excited about the idea of exploring a new part of S.A. we enthusiastically accepted and were treated to the Johannesburg planetarium and SABC studios.

As you have probably already come to realize, most of the adventure of a trip resides in the transportation. After waiting an hour for the bus to arrive, we were finally on our way with sixty extremely excited learners and seven teachers (only two were supposed to go, so that there would be enough left to teach classes, but….). Shortly after we pulled out of Vezubuhle, the driver cranked up the radio and the singing and dancing began. Imagine sixty students screaming and dancing in the aisles and on the seats, accompanied by seven teachers and the principal singing and dancing in the aisles. Joe even shared a few of his famous moves with the group. Before we could get to the first town, the bus pulled over on the side of the road and we all unloaded and got onto another bus. Guess there was a problem with the fist bus, but all was OK because the radio worked on the second bus and the dance party could continue.

About half-way through the ride we stopped at a grocery store in order to buy snacks. As this was a Spar (a grocery store that we do not have near us) we took advantage of the stop and purchased some granola and juice. We must have appeared stranger than usually to the students who were stocking up on chips, chocolate and soda.

In a sugar-induced dancing and singing frenzy, we arrived at the planetarium located on the University of Johannesburg campus. We were seated, along with 4 or 5 other school groups and the presentation began. The narrator began by asking the students to raise their hands if this was their first time to the Planetarium. None of our students raised their hands. Since we had confirmed it with the teachers that none of the students had been there previously, we knew that it must have been because they didn’t understand the question in English. Although the technology was from the 1930’s, the information was accurate (including a discussion about why Pluto is no longer a planet) and we both enjoyed the show a lot. The students on the other hand began to lose interest, most likely because they didn’t understand much of what was being said, and their favorite part was not the pictures or moving models of the solar system, but a poorly drawn picture of a face coming out of a book. You never know what kids will be interested in.

On the way out of the planetarium, an ice cream vendor had parked himself right outside of our bus, so of course all of the students and teachers had to buy some. As it was still before lunch, we both passed. We then made the short trip over to the SABC studios, South Africa’s most popular TV and radio station. We ate a quick lunch on the grass outside of the building and students bought more ice cream from local vendors.

The SABC tour was definitely the highlight of the trip. The guides were great, the building and studios were interesting, we got to walk through numerous TV sets, and best of all we saw three starts from Generations, the most popular TV show here. The students went crazy when they saw the stars and could hardly believe their eyes. To the actors and actresses credit, they indulged the students, waving and blowing kisses to them. What an experience!

If you thought that our adventures ended there, then you are terrible mistaken. We still had the trip home! We started with a stop at another grocery store to buy more food and while we were pulling into the parking lot it started hailing. After a few minutes of watching and concluding that it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, we all ran into the Shop Rite, jumping over puddles and trying not to get hit with the large balls of ice. We decided to take advantage of the free transportation and get some shopping out of the way. We bought some cereal and fruits and just after we finished checking out all of the lights went out in the store. It was pitch black, no emergency lights or anything! Luckily, we were close to the door and had already purchased our items, so we were allowed to slip through the doors they were quickly closing to prevent looting. Back on the bus we had to wait for all of the others who were stuck inside. During this time the principal informed us that we would not be going to the airport as we were short on time. Since we didn’t realize that was part of the itinerary, we were fine but the learners were a bit disappointed.

In order to be fair to the students who were unable to purchase more snacks at Shop Rite due to the power outage, we stopped at a KFC on our way out of town. Of course no one could regulate who had / had not purchased things at Shop Rite, so all of the learners ran out of the bus to stock up on more junk food. We opted for some peace and quiet and were surprised with a KFC meal provided to us by one of the teachers. (We later learned that the schools charge a little extra for each learner so that the teachers can indulge in free food.) If we thought that the music was loud on the way to Jo-burg, we were blown away on the ride home. Although the driver played the same song over and over, the students sang and danced with more intensity each time so that by the time the bus pulled into the dark and quiet streets of Vezubuhle, we were literally ‘rockin’.