Back to School . . . I'm in!

I am now officially a PGCE student, and have the student card to prove it.  Below please find the hoop-jumping process to achieve this:

Monday

Hoop 1:  Postgraduate registration opens.  To avoid the early morning rush of last time, I arrive at 11am, and go to the Registration Office to pick up my Admission Form (Form A).

Form A. I'm glad I'm not a Mr

Hoop 2: However, I cannot pay the required deposit, as Mthatha has had a power cut for 24 hours, and even my cellphone battery is flat.  So I make a plan,and return at 2.30pm, with proof of payment in hand.

Hoop 3:  The Registration Office says I'm in the wrong place, and says I must go to the Registration HALL.
Me: The same place as last time?
Them: No.  This time it's in the Chumani Dining Hall.
Me: Where's that?
Them: (Pause) Just wait.(Animated conversation in Xhosa with everyone in the open plan office). Here, she will show you where to go.
Me:  Thank you (Aware that this is the third time I've had my own personal guide)

I would never have found it. It's attached to one of the residences.

\

Seven terminals this time, up five from last time.  Only two operators though - each one performing a different function. It feels like I'm applying for my Driver's Licence all over again

Hoop 4:   I'm quite relieved - there are only 24 people in front of me.

But I've left my book at home, and the only thing I can find to read is the package insert for the homeopathic wart remedy I bought that morning.

Bad idea.

Ingredients:  Anagallis arvensis acts on the skin to treat severe wart outbreaks, groups of vesicles on hands and fingers with severe itch. (My wart is on my shin.  How will this stuff know that?) 

Hydrastis canadensis acts on the skin to relieve irregular growths accompanied by profuse perspiration and generally unhealthy skin (I can't remember when last my shin perspired).

Thuja occidentalis (sounds like something out of Harry Potter)

Castor equi is indicated for skin thickening and warts on the forehead and breasts. (WHAT?)

Fortunately, by this time I had reached the front of the queue, and was spared any further reading.  I hand in form A, and get given Form B, with a stamp confirming that I have paid my deposit.

Form B

Hoop 5: I have to wait in another queue in the same hall, so that I can hand Form B in to the second person in the row of 7 terminals, who will capture the data on Form B, and print out Form C. I ask what I have to do next, and get told that I have to get my curriculum approved, then go back to registration.

Hoop 6:  I take Form C to the Very Nice Man from my first visit. (Basically all I have to do is mark on Form C which two of Business Studies, Economics or Life Orientation I wish to teach when I graduate).

The office where the candidates for the PGCE are chosen and announced.  The list of names is on the piece of paper on the window at the top of the door.  I'm not sure why the notice boards on either side of the door were unsuitable.

Hoop 7:  I take Form B and Form C to the Faculty Office to get the stamp saying that my curriculum has been approved.  Problem is, it's 4.35pm, and everyone has gone home.  Oh well, I'll just have to come back tomorrow.

As I make my way back to the car, I start to take note of my surroundings.

A sight I'll have to get used to - abandoned braids.

The notice boards are full of pleas like this one.  Not a drawing pin in sight - the stapler seems to be the weapon of choice.

Rugby is the only extra-mural activity that seems to have got its A into G.  Well, for the most part.

Tuesday

Hoop 7 (continued):  I arrive at the Faculty Office at 1.30pm.  Closed. Now why did I think they would be open during the lunch hour?  At least I've remembered to bring my book this time (Girl with a Pearl Earring). At 2.15pm, there are quite a few students standing and waiting (there seems to be a lot of this all over), and eventually a woman comes up to us, and says she can't help us, we must come back another time.  I say, "All I need is the stamp approving my curriculum, where must I go?" She tells me to come with her, adorns my form with said stamps and gives them back to me.

So off I go to Registration.

Hoop 8:  As I sit down in the only queue in the Registration Hall, a security guard approaches me, and asks what I need.  I tell her that I was sent here.  She looks at my documents, and says, no, this queue is for student cards only. I must go to the Registration OFFICE. 

After a 15-minute wait in that queue: 

Hoop 9: 

Them: I don't know why they keep sending everyone here.  You're supposed to go to Faculty Office

Me:  But I've just come from there.  Look, I've got my stamp.

Them:  But where's your Proof of Registration?

Me:  Here - my form, it's got a stamp

Them:  No, they were supposed to give you another form

Me:  The same people who stamped my form?

Them: Yes

Me: Then why didn't they give it to me when they stamped my form?

Them:  I don't know.

Hoop 10: Back at the Faculty Office. More students standing around and waiting, with no apparent queuing system.  Eventually a woman comes down the passage, takes all our forms, and leaves without a word.

Two minutes later she comes back:

Woman: The machine is broken, you must come back tomorrow.

Me: NO! FORGET IT! (The seemingly infinite well of patience has now run dry. All the other students scatter).  THIS IS MY SECOND DAY HERE AND I'M NOT COMING BACK TOMORROW (Yes, I was shouting)

Woman: Okay, come with me...

I follow her down the passage into an office where a young lady explains to me that the printer is not working properly, but she will do her best to help me. I must wait. It will take about 10 or 20 minutes. Fine, I said, I'll wait here.  No, she says, please wait in the passage.  So I go and stand where she can see me through the door.  She closes the door.  The only thing there is for me to look at is this poster:

I have two problems with this poster.  1)  Why is it still up, if the conference was three years ago? 2) How did the Department of Education manage to organise an extra day in September 2011?

Eventually I get Form D, and the woman tells me to go to get my student card,  Ha!  I know where to go!

Hoop 11:  This was the most painless procedure of all.  There were two guys - one taking the photo, and the other one printing the card.  It was great watching the students get all self-conscious as they looked into the lens.

By now, it's 3.30pm, and time for the Orientation Lecture. YAY, my first ever on-campus lecture!  Apart from the normal stuff about dates and times, we are told that the Faculty's means of communication is via the notice boards.  As students are still registering, no timetables are available.  Lectures were supposed to start last week, but because of the demonstrations, everything is delayed.  The best way to establish when classes are, is for the students to speak to the lecturers directly, and negotiate the best time.  Yes, I'm serious. And the only way to find out when lectures are, and if there are changes, is to come onto campus and check the notice boards every day. I'm still being serious.

We had to finish up by 4.30pm because we were due to have our first Real Lecture at 4.30pm.  But at 4pm, the lecturer phoned in to cancel the lecture.  Sigh.

Anyway, those of us at Orientation swapped details, including subject choices (to facilitate setting up study groups).  I am delighted that of the 17 students present, five are studying to teach Maths, and six are studying to teach Physical Science.  It makes my heart sing that in some small way our class will help fill a very big gap in our High School education system.