School Field Trip: S.A. Air Force Museum, October 19

The day started with a booming thunderstorm waking us up around midnight. The lightening and thunder were intense, rolling and striking all around our house. As Joe was trying to clean up the puddles of water in our house, Kelli left early for a field trip with one of her elementary schools to the South African Air Force Museum. Joe had declined the invitation as he was working on a project at one of his schools, organizing books and fixing up computers. Decked out in rain jacket and umbrella, Kelli managed to make it to school without getting too wet, but eventually got soaked waiting for the bus to arrive. She stood outside of the school gate (all of the schools have fences around the property to prevent theft) with a group of learners waiting for someone to unlock the gate or the bus to arrive so we could get out of the rain. Although the disregard for punctuality is frustrating, it is usually tolerable. However, Kelli could not help but feel disgusted as she watched the students getting soaked and scaling the barbed wire fence in order to seek some protection from the rain under the awnings of the school.

The bus finally arrived, followed by the teachers responsible for organizing the trip. We all pilled into the bus, excited for the upcoming adventure. Our first stop was the train station, where we would take the train into Pretoria. We had some time to kill waiting for the next train, so Kelli entertained herself and the students by teaching them the English words for different parts of the body and singing songs. Once the train arrived, we were escorted into our own car by transportation employees who ensured our safety. At the train station in Pretoria, the students bought candy and soda from the local vendors while we waited for our bus to pick us up. We could have taken the bus the whole way, but part of the trip was the experience of riding the train, which the students seemed to thoroughly enjoy.

Once at the Air Force Museum we had to wait yet again, as the guide informed us that there was another school group on the way and he would only do his presentation once. We were further disappointed to hear that we would not be seeing the regular presentation on the big screen, as the museum was expecting ‘important’ visitors the next day and the audio visual items were already set up. We were also severely warned not to mess up the bathroom as it had already been cleaned in preparation for the next day, but how can 60 elementary school kids not mess up a bathroom?

Once the other school group arrived, we were treated to an hour long speech by a member of the Air Force in which the students and teachers struggled to stay awake. The gentleman did practice positive reinforcement as he gave away military magazines to students who were able to answer his questions correctly. It was basically all propaganda for the Air Force, but he did make a few good points such as “your future is in your hands, if you study hard and do well in school you can do anything, but if you don’t you will be limited in your options” and “respect your parents and teachers”.

We then got to view a video of an international air show on a very small TV/VCR. Kelli was curious to see if the U.S. Air Force would be mentioned in the video, and sure enough they were. However, they were not seen flying any of their planes, but rather handing our beers from the back of a pick-up to other air force members. Following the movie was a tour of the hangars where we got to see lots of model planes and the students each got a turn to sit in a sample fighter cockpit.

We took a break for lunch, the teachers had actually bought fruit for all of the learners, and the students got to play on the playground. This was a big treat since their school doesn’t have a playground and Kelli delighted in the fact that it was constructed out of reused materials: tires, wooden beams, and even a litter converted into a swing.

The ride home was punctuated with a stop at KFC where Kelli was treated to an ice cream cone and lots of singing and dancing. Although we have both suffered massive hearing loss due to the field trip bus rides, we highly enjoy the excitement and energy that surrounds these adventures.