The interview

The school is small.  There are six classrooms, each one with its own unique character.  Jutta the principal was nice.  She introduced me to all the teachers in their respective classrooms.  They were all friendly.  They all looked happy to be there.  They did not look stressed.  The children, clad in school uniform, looked adorable.  

Jutta pointed out the son of Ralph Brammer, who had SMS'd me to inform me of the opening at the school.  His son is called Daniel (I hope I remembered correctly).  He has blonde hair and deep dimples, and he called himself "Frechdachs", which means, he is naughty.  He looked cheeky, but the kind of cheeky that makes you want to run up to him and hug him tightly for being simply cute.  

It was raining today, so Jutta thought it best not to show me the media and computer rooms.  I was visiting in my crutches.  I appreciated her thoughtfulness.  Jutta then introduced me to Uta, the teacher I would be replacing.  She is emigrating with her husband to New Zealand.  She also wanted to travel to Korea, she confided.  It had also "fell into water" as translated from German into English.  She too was nice.  

Then came the more serious interview with Volker Krüger and Rainer (whose last name I didn't catch, having become accustomed to the first name basis repertoire).  Volker Krüger was far younger and better looking than what I had imagined.  I imagined - don't ask me why my imagination dictated this image to me - a 50-year old man with a full head of curls and a thick beard, a happy and burly character, but also stern in his demeanor.  Instead Volker was tall, handsome, with a strong voice and steady hand, and with a selection of questions that he would calculate into answers in his head as though he were placing me on a grid.  I liked him.  And Rainer, with his red-burnt face and round figure, a farmer Jutta had said, had kind eyes, but I felt displaced by him sitting beside me as the financial minister of the occupational affairs.  A man of many talents.   

I might not have made a good impression on Rainer, for I turned oddly to greet him, and grimaced for fear of the pain in my fractured pelvis, but it never came, yet the impression had been already made.  So be it.  By the end of the interview, I had learnt that I was indeed the only candidate for the position, but I also learnt they were most accommodating.  Jutta offered that I should "look and learn" for three days to a week.  I will sit in in a classroom to watch the other teachers teach.  I liked the idea.  Jutta then even offered a room in her own home in Rustenburg.  

They seemed to agree that the Guest House down the road would be an ideal place for me to stay, at least in the interim, as it is close to the school and there is a pool next door, which is a great facility for my rehabilitation.

We spoke about the salary, and it was double what I had imagined in my head.  I thought I would need a second income as at my previous half-day teaching job.  I would work more hours and far more preparation time is required of me at the Deutsche Schule Kroondal, plus I don't yet know the price of accommodation, but I hope and pray for the place I dreamt about, with good Internet access and a good shower, and I hope and pray for superb cycling tracks and hiking trails, and I hope and pray to save enough for a trip overseas, if not to teach in Korea but to visit my sister in New Zealand, visit Shelley in Hong Kong and see Jessica Gordon in South Korea.