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!