While it was snowing in New York...

Hello! I am sorry that it has been a while since my last post! I will try to catch you up on what has been going on in Omungwelume!

A couple of weekends ago, I played my first and last soccer game. It was on a Friday. During the school day a couple of learners that had recruited me found me and told me that we had a game. I had a problem, though, because I had scheduled to show the learners a movie in the dinning hall. I decided to put the movie on and then go to the game. I was a little late and it had already started. I stayed on the sideline and watched with the other learners. One kid came up to me and gave me a jersey. It was an extra small green long sleeved jersey that was drenched in sweat because it was used in the game before. I decided to put it over my shoulder and continue watching hoping they wouldn’t notice me. Anyway, a couple minutes go by and one of the kids on the field got kicked off because they wanted me on. I had to squeeze the wet jersey onto my body and run out on the field. They put me at center midfield. I told them that I wasn’t good but I think they got the picture only after I touched the ball once. I went to stop the ball and instead kicked it across the field and into the bush. I didn’t score at all that game but I made a lot of learners laugh. Coincidentally, I was playing against a team made up of boys from my two English classes so I had to try really hard not to foul them. Anyway, that was the last time the learners reminded me about a game, so now I am off the hook.

The learners here are fascinated by movies and music videos. I show a movie to one of my twelfth grade classes at least once a week during study period. I have also been putting on movies in the dinning hall with the schools projector and speakers. They really like music and they really like action. So far, I have showed them: The Dark Knight, Rocky, Dream Girls, The Ring, Four Brothers and Rocky. I also showed my two English classes The Wizard of Oz and they thought it was bazaar. They were astounded by little things like the trees throwing apples or the tin man dancing. They all started cracking up when the Munchkins came out and started singing. I gave them questions to answer while they were watching and they all took it so seriously. They would write down every little thing that they understood. Also, when “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” came on, the girls started singing along. At first, I was excited because I thought they knew it but, then, I realized that they were reading the subtitles because they liked the song, which was just as exciting. After the movie, the learners always ask to watch music videos. I only have a handful on my computer so we went through them pretty quickly. I decided to download more from itunes but I can only download them from 1 – 5 AM because that’s when we have free internet and downloading things takes a lot of megabytes. I stayed up one night to do it so I chose Rihanna’s new song “S&M” because they like Rihanna. I have been out of the loop with music and hadn’t heard it before. The video took three nights of waking to download it. I would set my alarm clock to 1 AM, turn the download on, go back to sleep, wake up at 5 AM to turn it off and go back to sleep. After three nights of downloading and finally seeing the video I can’t even show it to the learners because it is too inappropriate!

I never know what to expect to come out of the learners’ mouths. One day, one boy came in with a bandage on his hand. He made it a point to show me and I asked what happened. His response was, “A cat scratched me when I was castrating it.” Not a response you would expect coming from New York. I didn’t know what to do but laugh. The learners also have great things to say when I have them write sentence. One learner wrote that he impregnated a girl; another wrote that his mom shot his dad when she was drunk. Another learner wrote an essay about how he got drunk and went driving with his friends even though he was too young and got in an accident and his friend broke his ribs. Sometimes they use me in their sentences and will write how I gave them sweets or a new computer. Today, I had a learner write that I beat them if they are bad. 90% of the time they make this stuff up to get a rise out of me.

I like to tease them too. It’s easier than getting mad when they are disruptive. Today, one girl kept on turning around and talking to the two boys behind her. I told her about four times to stop talking and copy the notes. After the fifth time I went up to her and asked her if she was in love because I noticed that she couldn’t keep her eyes off the boys. The class started cracking up and she told me no, that she was going to beat them because they were teasing her. (They use beat for hit) I told her to just ignore them and, that, in America, when boys tease girls, it means they like them. I got another rise out of the class. Also, whenever the learners need your attention they snap their finger at you and say “Sir.” At first I was taken aback by them snapping their fingers at me but then I realized that this is how they do it here. Another thing that cracks the learners up is whenever they say “Sir,” I always respond “Sir” or “Mam.” This is unheard of here. At first, I was doing it to be sarcastic but now I do it just to make them laugh.

It is very weird but being here has made me really consider being a teacher. I know I have my goals and I will make sure I reach them but, I could see myself teaching in the meantime. I really like being in the classroom and I really like teaching 11^th and 12^th grade. I also really enjoy teaching English. Being an English teacher allows you to teach a lot, not just language and grammar but, history, theology, philosophy, social sciences, creativity and more. It’s definitely something that I will be thinking about when I get home.

I realized that I have yet to speak about my dog, Maggie. Bret and I have sort of adopted a village dog. Actually, it is more like she adopted us. Whenever we go into town she walks besides us and if another dog or animal comes near us she growls at it. She is very protective over us. Also, whenever I go running, she comes with me. She runs with me the entire way, its crazy. I feel bad. Sometimes I try and tell her to stay and wait for me because her breathing makes her sound like she is going to die but she refuses. The little kids still love to see me run. I had another girl run with me the entire way with no shoes on. I was so impressed. There are a bunch of little kids that live in houses outside the school gate and when I get close to the school they all try and race me. It is really funny.

Two weekends ago, myself, Bret, Hannah, and three other volunteers, Mary, Brett and Karen went to Okalongo to visit Bridget. We made Mexican food and it was delicious. Being here, we make everything from scratch, so we made tortillas which were, honestly, the closest thing I have had to the ones in Mexico. Everybody ate a lot and then had upset stomachs. It was kind of funny. We stayed up late playing drinking games and listening to music. We also got to explore her town which was really nice.

The next weekend was my birthday. Five of us were planning on going to Raucana falls (a waterfall in Namibia) but I ended up getting sick so Bridge and I stayed home. It ended up being a nice weekend, very relaxing. We watched twelve episodes of Modern Family and did a lot of reading. She got me a big coffee mug that I really wanted and a jump rope for my birthday.

We had heard that there was a Chinese restaurant in a town not too far away so we decided to go try it out that Saturday. The town is called Oshikongo and is on the Namibia-Angola border. When we arrived in town we got dropped off at this big gate that said “Dragon City.” The Chinese people have their own little city within this town. It was crazy. We couldn’t believe it. A huge gated in complex. There were markets and big factories where I guess their business are headquartered. We knew the Chinese were here but we didn’t know to this extent. When we found the restaurant we went inside and were once again in shock. A person visiting this restaurant could literally forget they are in Africa and assume that they were in China. It looked like the Chinese restaurants and the weirdest thing was, it smelled like China. It was very bazaar to take in. The only difference was the two waitresses were Namibian. They were really nice, though, and didn’t take any of the Chinese people’s crap. When one served us our rice, the Chinese lady wanted her to give us a spoon but she didn’t think we needed one. The Chinese lady insisted and pushed her away with the spoon. When she got to the table she took the spoon and put it down somewhere else right in front of the Chinese lady just so she got her way. It was really funny. In the end, though, the food was very good.

The Monday after my birthday I had to go into Oshakati to send a fax at the post office to the WorldTeach office in Windhoek. While I was there I went to a store called Game which is like their Walmart. I ended up buying myself a birthday present. I bought a set of weights: a barbell, two dumbbells and some plates. Of course when I spend a lot of money and say to myself that I won’t spend any more, I get home and realize I left my phone in the cab. I had to go all the way back to Oshakati the next day to buy a new phone and a new sim card. I had to go to five stores to find the cheapest phone (of course none of them were as cheap as the one I got in Windhoek). Finally, I found one that was only N$50 more than my other one (US$8). Not a big deal in the end.

I do have a weight lifting partner. One of my twelfth grade learners, Lee, was at the gate when I got dropped off with the weights. He was the only one there so I made him carry some of them back to my house (in Namibia, you make your learners carry everything). After he brought them to my house he asked if he could train. I said yes and he has come every weekday since.

This past weekend, Hannah and Bridget came to Omungwelume and we ate and relaxed. We made pizza on Friday and I made chicken rolls on Saturday. We make our own pizza dough here and it comes out really nice. On Friday we went to the Shabeen and stayed until closing. The Namibians get a kick out of us. They think it is hilarious when we take shots or “tots” in Namlish (Namibian English). One shot of Whisky is the equivalent of US$1.25. Not bad. (Don’t worry; we don’t take too many tots).

A typical weekday in the life of Bernie goes like this:

6:00 AM – wake up, eat breakfast (cereal, yogurt or a peanut butter sandwich), and brush my teeth

6:35 AM – leave for school

6:37 AM – arrive at school and go to the staff room (The school is directly outside my house. Refer to pictures on facebook)

6:40 AM – brief staff meeting (On Mondays there is prayer and announcements with the learners from 6:20- 6:40 and they sing the school song and national anthem)

7:00 – 10:00 AM – 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th periods (schedules change every day)

10:00 – 10:30 AM – break, I usually go back to the house and eat something (usually whatever I didn’t eat for breakfast)

10:30 – 12:45 PM – 5^th, 6^th, and 7^th periods

12:45 – 2:00 PM – lunch break, I usually go back to the house and eat something and maybe read or check email.

2:00 – 4:00 PM – the learners have afternoon study and the teachers sit in the staff room and do work, either lesson plan or mark papers/homework. On Wednesdays the learners have to clean the property during study so they usually are weeding part of the lawn.

4:00 AM – Lee comes over and we exercise

4:45 – 6:00 PM – check email, read, write

6:00 – 7:00 PM – cook and eat dinner, we usually take turns cooking and whoever doesn’t cook usually washes the dishes.

7:00 – 9:00 PM – shower, read, internet, watch tv shows on my computer

9:00 – 10:00 PM – read, go to bed (sometime within the hour)

I hope you are all enjoying the snow. Luckily, it has been pretty cool here the past couple of days. We have been having thunderstorms in the morning. It has been some of the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my life.

I miss you all and want to hear from you!

If you are interested:

Beers we drink here:

Windhoek Lager

Black Label

Tafel Lager

Castle/ Castle Light

Hunters

Savannah/Savannah Light

Wine: Tassleberg

Hard Stuff (Liquor):

Bell’s

Cool drinks (soda):

Coke

Coke Light

Sprite

Fanta

Fanta Pineapple

In Oshakati you can find Sprite Zero, Mountain Dew and more Fanta flavors

Books I have read here so far:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The Stranger by Albert Camus

Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone by James Baldwin

Currently reading: The Green House by Mario Vargas Llosa

Adjusting to Life in Namibia

So, let me just say that I have completely adjusted to cold showers. I just took one and I am able to dive right in. No pain, no shivers, it actually feels good at the end of the day.

The past two and a half weeks of teaching have been challenging yet rewarding. It will be a struggle to get my 11^th grade English learners to pass their exams but I promised them that we will do it. They are probably at a 6^th grade writing level. It is sad. I had to grade essays they wrote and they were miserable. I told them, though, that by the end of the year they will all be perfect writers. When I handed back their essays I gave them sweats so that they wouldn’t feel as bad when they looked at their grade.

Pronouncing my learners’ names has probably been the biggest challenge so far. Some have easy names like David or John, some have remixes to familiar names like Priskilla instead of Priscilla or Wilhelm instead of William, some have the same first and last name and others have names that you can try and pronounce but you will most likely struggle and have the entire class laugh at you when you try and pronounce it, for example: Ndapendoola.

Because the learners are so behind where they are supposed to be at and expected to be at by the Namibian government, you never know what they do or do not know. Today, they were reading about marriage in their text book and they had to answer a question about arranged marriage. I had them come to the bored and write the pros and cons of arranged marriage in two columns. A bunch of learners came to the board and wrote in each column. After a while, I noticed that what I expected to be in one column was in the other. I realized that I never explained to them what arranged marriage was. I assumed that they knew because it was in their textbook (made specifically for Namibian 11^th graders). Sure enough, when I asked them what it meant, they told me an arranged marriage is when two people arrange a marriage. After I told them what it really meant, they were all like ohhhhh... This may sound stupid, but I am going to have to be extra careful to make sure I explain each and every thing as clearly as possible.

As you know, I am teaching computers to seven 12^th grade classes. I still haven’t been able to figure out how to get the computers to work. There are about ten computers in the lab. One is an administrative computer and the rest are connected through a network. I have been able to get the administrator to work but none of the others. After two weeks of trying to figure it out, I finally asked for help and nobody knows how to fix them. When I asked what I should do, I was told to write a letter to my high school and ask them to send us computers. LOL. I think we are going to write a letter to the ministry of education and ask for some. A school nearby just got 20 new computers, why shouldn’t we?

On Saturday morning at around 9:00 AM I got a knock on my door. I was in bed so I pretended not to hear it. The knock continued so I looked out the window. It was two learners. After another minute, they started to knock on the window. Finally, I answered the door. They asked me what I was doing so I told them that I was sleeping. They looked at me like I had five eyes and said that it was nearly 11:30. Anyway, we ended up sitting on the porch for about 45 minutes listening to music and they asked me 101 questions.

Today, those same learners, along with several more, approached me after school and asked me to sign a list. When I asked them what it was for they told me that I was on their soccer time. I felt like somehow I was signing my life away but I did it and we have practice on Friday.

Also, after school today, two girls asked me if they could play games on the one working computer. I said yes so I sat in the lab with them. While I was in the lab, two more learners came in and asked me if I could help them with their record label. They were Kwaito rappers and they wanted to show me their tracks so that I could tell them if they were good or not. They were actually pretty good but I didn’t understand a word they said so they are going to write the lyrics in a book for me. They also told me that I have to help them find a sponsor and some musicians so that they can get a record label. This was my second new commitment in like 20 minutes.

After they left, some more kids asked me to teach them French so I taught them the basics. In return, they taught me some Oshakwayama.

I decided to finally go for a run this afternoon. It was the best decision I could have made. It was such a nice run with such amazing surroundings. The sky is always great to look at and the people working in the fields and the grazing cattle add to the pleasure of the run. Whenever you walk in town it is a requirement to say hello to every single person. The same stands when you are running. I was stopped by people of all ages and asked how I was and if I was exercising. Eventually, I learned how to have an entire conversation without losing my pace. After about 1/5 of my run, two girls stopped me who were walking home from school. Their names were Launa and Wilma and they were in 9^th grade at Omungwelume Secondary School, the school that my housemate, Bret, works at. He is actually their Life Skills teacher. They asked me if I was exercising and then decided to join me. They ran (in flip flops) the entire way until I turned around. It was nice to have two people to talk to. They asked me a bunch of questions and when we passed people they would be asked what they were talking to me about. I was amazed that they were able to keep up but I guess when you walk so far to and from school everyday you would be in pretty good shape.

This weekend was really nice. On Friday, after school, the learners asked me if we could watch a scary movie. I brought my computer to a classroom and we watched the Ring. I don’t think many of them understood what was going on but most of them lasted through the entire movie.

When I got home, Bret asked me if I wanted to walk into town and check out the local shabeens (bars). We went to the first shabeen and got a drink with two of Bret’s colleagues. They ended up buying us a couple of rounds. Bridget met us there and we stayed there for a while until we went to the next shabeen where we were able to get some fish and chips. The fish was a full fried fish and the chips were seasoned with spices and white vinegar. It was really good. People ended up following us to the next shabeen and we were there much later than we expected. The owner bought us a round in thanks for supporting his business. We also had conversations with some elders in Oshakwayama. I made friends with the village drug addict. He would come up to me and ask me my name and then just start laughing at me. He was smoking pure newspaper. The other people told us that he was the local crazy person but that he was harmless.

On Saturday, the three of us went to Ogongo to visit Hannah, another volunteer. Her village is extremely rural and in the middle of nowhere. We took a walk and her area is beautiful. We watched the sun set over this big open field. We got to see a lot of donkeys. I don’t know if anybody has been graced with the presence of a donkey but they make the most ridiculous noises you can imagine. Out of nowhere, they just start crying/screaming for about a minute. It is the most bazaar animal sound I have ever heard. Our stay was nice. We played games and had good food. Hannah made brownies from scratch which was a nice treat.

I know I wrote a lot, but I had to catch up on the past week. I hope everybody is enjoying the snow at home and I would love to hear from you!