P.E. and Alex

By popular demand: information about my little town of P.E. (Port Elizabeth) and my school, Alex (Alexander Road High School).

One of the things I’m always struck by is how small this country is. I’m just so used to the vastness of the US that I sometimes forget that South Africa is only about as big as a few of our states pushed together. So, there are really only a few actual big cities here in S.A, with P.E. having the 5th largest population (1.1 million). It’s split into several different “areas” of town, including Walmer (where I live), Summerstrand (near the beach), Central (the old part of town, pretty dodgy at night), and a few others. It’s hard to find actual facts about P.E., since it’s marketed toward tourists. In my Lonely Planet travel guide, it says that there’s not much going on in P.E.: which is true, but it’s a nice enough place. Many people have said that they wouldn’t want to live in any town other than P.E.: cities like Jo’berg, Cape Town, and Durban are too big and cosmopolitan, while other towns are smaller and either more dangerous or there’s nothing to do. I’m also starting to feel like P.E. is home.

Alex is a very good school. I do not know how many students are at the school but I will guess about 1400. Out of hundreds of applicants to the school each year, they only admit half (there are probably about 250 in each grade). It’s very hard to get into a school if you aren’t accepted in grade 8. School fees are slightly over 8000 Rand for the year (about $1300). Grades 8 and 9 are the “juniors” and 10-12 are “seniors,” with grade 12s called Matrics. They spend the entire 4th term taking exams, but they are also treated slightly better than the other students: matrics are supposedly more responsible, plus they can wear the white sweater with their uniform instead of the brown one. Uniforms consist of: a white shirt, tie, brown sweater, brown blazer, brown skirt for girls and gray pants for boys. They also have to wear the school socks and shoes. Or, students can wear their white or red polo shirts, and a brown “skort” made out of windpant-type material for the girls or similar brown shorts for the boys. They also have brown windpants and a brown windbreaker. The uniform is extremely strict: everything is bought from the school, so it’s all the exact same. Students must wear the proper clothes together (for example, you can’t wear the white polo with the “smart” brown skirt from the first uniform). If students are in school, they’re allowed to take off the blazer and ties, but outside of school, they must be in “smart” dress at all times: with blazer and tie.

Each grade is then split into 7 groups: named after a letter (“J” “U” “N” “I” “O” “R” “S”, or “S” “E” “N” “I” “O” “R” “Z”). The juniors take all their classes with this one group of students. The seniors are split up, because they can now choose higher or lower grade classes, or opt not to take certain classes. The students are also split into 3 houses (yes, like Harry Potter!) which compete each other during athletics day, inter-house sports matches, and other things like the inter-house plays (where each house wrote, directed, and acted in their own plays). The teachers are all also assigned to a house. It’s really fun, actually.

The school building is a series of three hallways. Some of the hallways are partially outdoors. Each hallway is then connected by a walkway at each end, with grassy quads between. There are other miscellaneous buildings: the computer labs, the main hall (auditorium), and so on. Then there are the various sport fields for cricket, field hockey, rugby, tennis, netball, the swimming pool, and so on. Everything is fenced in. When I was in high school, I couldn’t understand why they called it the school “campus,” but here, I definitely can.

I’ve been here for a while now, and everything is starting to feel like second nature to me. So please, if you have any questions about the school or students or the town, ask!