The proctoring this morning went as expected. That is to say, difficult. But nothing out of the ordinary.
I got in a weird mood and started "shocking" my students with a vibrating pen Dirt Devil sent me (bet they never thought of that!), but all in good fun. Then, as I went to my last class, the weird mood ended and I just wanted to be done with the day. I put questions on the board for my youngest class, turned towards them and waited. They never stood to compliment me - which seems quite vain, but it's the norm and also respectful - not to mention the rule. So I simply stood there for 40 minutes, silent and motionless. At the end, I announced that they had earned a collective absence for not complimenting me (and additionally for saying quite a few things while my back was turned that were quite inappropriate).
Leaving the room, they started chanting the Changana word for "colonist" at me. They know that I speak a little, so it was half play, half anger.
Thus, my initiation as a white teacher in Africa is complete.
Peace
John
