School Starts 2Morrow!

[Michael Alexander]

Well after almost a 6 week break, the kids are back to school 2morrow.... My youngest is starting her first day at OPS in a school uniform, big drama, books for mommy to cover..... The eldest, SHannon, is not looking to forward to returning...... 

DO you remember your first days at OPS?

[georg ruf jr.]

Yes. That was in after the winter holidays in 73. I was in std. 2. There was a girl sitting in front of me that left town at the end of the year. She had tiny and light coloured freckals on her nose. That's why I called her sausage-nose. I think Nicky Hodge and Barb. Fry were in that class to. We were definately together in std. 3 in Mrs. Coffins class.
I just remember everything being so new and being homesick about having left PE.

[Michael Alexander]

Georg, thats wierd, I have just been dealing with a guy in PE....

[SandyB]

First  day  of  school  ..   everything  looked  so  big  and  intimidating ..  I  suppose  the  fear of  whats  unknown  can  sometimes  blow  something  up  to  bigger  than  it  is ..   strange  as  we  get  older  we  learn  to  deal  with  fear  of  the unknown   or  at  least  modify  our  approach  or  how  we  deal  with  it ..  and  then  most  things  do  not  loom  so large  in  front of  us   anymore ..   actually  once  we  got  settled  in  .. Kind  caring  teachers   ..  and  yes  FUN ..  first year  always easy ..  then  they start  flexing  the  brain .. at  least i did  not  ahve  the  horror  of  being  in Tinka  Castles  class  for  an  entire  year  .. I  think  my  untidy  scrawl  of  a  handwriting   is  a  rebellion  against the  time  that  she  tortured  me  for  a  few  weeks   when  our teacher  was  off  sick , and our  class  was  split up   between  her  and  another teacher ..

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

My first schoolday in OPS (st.2 -1973) was the scariest day of my life!  Arrived in OMund in Dec. 73 - did'nt meet a lot of kids during the holiday, but then the schools started in Jan.  OMG - I think the only English words I actually knew and understood then was yes and no.  I was in the Afrikaans class, but still......  And then I ended up in Mrs. Ralph's class for English.  I think the poor woman sometimes still has nightmares about me.  It took me quite a while to adapt to the large number of pupils and the different cultures and the English. 

[georg ruf jr.]

Hey Dalene. I had Mrs Ralph to. She was my class-teacher. The last I heard of her was she was having a baby about 1977. Do you know what happened to her?

[Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee)]

No clue what so ever.  Not even sure when they moved from Oranjemund and where to.

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

My Sub A teacher was Miss Clarke.Something I've never forgotten is going to the loo during class in the early days of Sub A and not being able to find my way back to the classroom.

[georg ruf jr.]

Hope you find your way back to the bedroom if you go to the loo at night Diana.

[Delia]

my daughter started high school today - i got such a lump in my throat after dropping her off - i remember her first day in grade 1 like it was yesterday.  i just wanted to be there today to protect her from all the bitches that you find in every high school but i know i can't, she has to find her own feet - besides, i know she's quite capable of standing up for herself and putting anyone in their place who messes with her.  can't wait to get home tonight and hear all about her first day.

i remember Mrs/Miss Jordan ( think her name was Patricia?) was my Sub A teacher at OPS, I think for Sub B as well then Dawn Johnson was my Std 1 teacher.  i don't remember anything major about my first day of Sub A but what does still stand out vividly in my memory of that year was Andrew Pienaar standing up in class and telling us his dream was to lie back & float on a cloud, he said they looked so comfortable, like big balls of cotton wool..........amazing what sticks in the head.............oh, the colour factor blocks i remember very well.............

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

I felt the same way with all 3 of my children Delia. Now they all out there working in the big world and the worring and wanting to protect still continues. Which high school is your daughter at?

@Boy Georg I tie a piece of string around my ankle and the other end to the bed post when I go to sleep at nite.

[Delia]

So true Diana - we worry, protect (try to), stress and it always turns out okay in the end but you can't help it hey - that umbilical cord may have been physically cut but spiritually it'll always be connected.  Caryn's at Table View High.

Talking of trying to protect even once they grown up - I remember how my mom used to lie in bed at night and wouldn't fall asleep until she heard Lance's coming up the driveway and he was in the army then - only when she heard his bike could she relax and finally fall asleep knowing he was safe.

[Diana Rudd (Boehme)]

My 3 were also at Table View High my youngest finished 2years ago. My son moved out of home at 26, all the time he lived here I would wake up at 2a.m. and panic.Mommy could hardly phone a 26year old and check on him,so would pace about and pretend to be asleep when he got in. I find I worry more now than when they were little.

[georg ruf jr.]

I felt the same way with all 3 of my children Delia. Now they all out there working in the big world and the worring and wanting to protect still continues. Which high school is your daughter at?

@Boy Georg I tie a piece of string around my ankle and the other end to the bed post when I go to sleep at nite.

[Delia]

LOL : nothing like a mother worrying her head off - and as for hubby, well he's either lying snoring away or saying, "what you worrying for woman, the boy's old enough to look after himself, now get back to bed" - they just don't get that maternal tug, do they........