We've spent the past two days at our individual schools. For me, that meant traveling back to Thandi Eleanor Sibeko Secondary School in Duduza. Yesterday, I briefly introduced myself to Lebogang's classes, observed her teach, and got a better understanding of the school context. Lebogang teaches English and Social Studies to 8th and 9th graders, but she is also the IT specialist at the school. If there is a question from another teacher about using a Smartboard or wifi accessibility issues, she may be pulled from her class or planning period to help a colleague. In one of the pictures below you'll see evidence of her flexibility and adaptability. One of the classrooms where she teaches (teachers move around, not students), had no surface at the front of the room on which to write. The chalkboard or whiteboard had been removed to make room for a new Smartboard. However, the Smartboard had not yet been installed. Lebogang quickly made do with a dry erase marker and the shiny corrugated metal walls of the classroom pod. I did get a chance to briefly introduce myself to a 12th grade history class. They were a smaller group--20 students, as opposed to the 40-45 students in Lebogang's 8th and 9th grade classes. These numbers reflect both a significant drop-out rate and the lower number of students who choose to focus on the social sciences in the upper years. When I asked the 12th graders if they had any questions, one of the young men politely inquired: "Why does your country always get involved in other people's business?" It is an interesting perspective of which I am aware, but it carried more weight coming from this school context and "corner" of the globe. I did not have time to discuss in depth our post-World War II role as a superpower, our championing of democracy, and our clear geopolitical and economic interests. However, I did challenge the crude stereotype of the United States as (only) a self-interested empire and the idea that all US citizens share the same political views on global issues. Another student asked, "What is your government's relationship to communism?" And yet another chimed in, "How could you lose the Vietnam War?" Some of my colleagues are working with 12th grade classes in other schools, so I bet some of these great questions will be explored in the context of the GETEP exchange. In the afternoon, we had an opportunity to shop and bargain at an African market in Rosebank where traditional arts and crafts from across the continent were sold.