25 on the 18th

Last month I turned 25. A quater century... yikes. Anywho, my register class (think homeroom class) got together to throw me a party. They were super excited to do it, and managed to contribute N$5 each. That may not sound like a lot but it's a huge amount to some of my kids, so I appreciated the sacrifice. They set jobs for themselves: some went to the store with me to buy food, some helped prepare the food, some were decorators, etc. Here are some pics:

1) Five learners from 8A, my class. Yes, that is a drawn-on goatee on one of them.



2) My entire class, minus I think only one boy who couldn't come. Ages range from 13 to 19.




3) They got me mostly chocolate ( they know me well), but here is me opening a present from one girl... an orange bunny.

4) Cutting banana bread. This delicacy has become a huge hit with my kids.

Hiatus + Travel

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Sorry for the long delay. Carmen’s internet was down, and it took and epic journey on her part to actually get the modem fixed. If you thought a part like that could be fixed within a two hour car drive radius, oh boy you don’t know Kunene region.
Term two has come to its chaotic end. There were of course issues with exams, marking, syllabi, etc. I was told the region would set the exams, then told they weren’t coming (I should make my own at this point). Then later I was informed that the exams had in fact arrived, and that I should use them regardless of any mistakes or inappropriateness for where my learners are on the syllabus. Fun stuff.
Term two went by quickly with few breaks, but we did manage to make one trip to Epupa Falls, almost 180km north on the Angolan border. I went up with Carmen, Ayoola, Tomas, Chris and Chloe for a night. We had a wonderful view of the Kunene river and the falls, a great campsite, two flat tires (another happened after some of us got out in Opuwo), and overall a great time. It was pretty amazing to drive for hours through dry scrubland and to suddenly come upon a huge river surrounded by palm and baobab trees. Didn’t see any crocs, but that’s probably a good thing.
I feel pretty lucky to have been able to travel around Namibia and southern Africa this year. Despite the fact that I will likely miss out on some of the big things (Vic Falls, Chobe River, etc.), I have seen a decent amount of the area, and some awesome hidden gems.

Hmm

Last Wednesday we invited parents to come visit the school and inspect the work their children are doing. I was pleasantly surprised to have about a dozen parents come in to see me (more than I saw at my HS in VT last year). They spoke a mixture of English and Otjiherero, so I had another teacher interpret sometimes.
An older gentleman came in with his daughter who is in one of my classes. Through another teacher, he asked how she was doing. I said fine, and added that she sometimes talks a wee bit much in class. He then encouraged her to follow my directions and obey all the teachers. He then told me that he wanted a good education for his daughter for when he passes away. As easy as that, I was reminded, as I too often am, of how frequent death is here, especially to what I consider young people. It is hard to schedule activities for weekends, because there are funerals almost every weekend. It is a tough life for most people here, and HIV certainly has not helped things.
All in all I was impressed with the level of involvement and caring shown by the parents/guardians that came in. Many people here truly see education as their key to escaping a life of poverty and uninspiring work. This frustrated me last year in the US, as I often encountered an attitude of entitlement rather than appreciation.
Of course, this was followed on Thursday by a parents' meeting where only 4 showed up, but hey you can't win them all.

Woke up, got out of bed...

5:20 am – Wake up, hit snooze on my amazing Nokia phone that includes a built-in flashlight. Very handy here.

5:30 am – Roll out of bed, get dressed and walk the 1200m or so to my school. Accompaniment: rosters crowing, despite no sun yet.

6:00 am – Eat cereal, juice, wonder if I have actually planned for the day. Begin boiling water for instant coffee.

6:45 am – Wander over to the school grounds. At this point I know that school will be disrupted by the following: morning assembly (every Friday), some sort of assembly on AIDS/HIV, planned the day before, and the school tournament happening this weekend. Don’t know yet what time school will let out. Wonder if I will actually give test in life science. School “bell” rings (picture air-raid siren).

6:55 am – Morning assembly begins. Sun rises over plateau behind all the learners, singing gospel sings and the national anthem. Handful of teachers stand behind me and SMS the whole time.

7:02 am – Reflect on the interesting difference between the US and Namibia regarding separation of church and state. Not really existent here.

7:17 am – Morning assembly ends. We still don’t know when school will let out today. Principal suggests a short meeting to talk about it. Said meeting never occurs, and I head to my classroom.

7:20 am – Take attendance, then tell my kids to go to class. Class of 31 8th grade girls comes my classroom. I brace myself.

7:20 – 9:20 am – Fake my way through three periods. Turns out I won’t give my test today. I am informed five minutes beforehand that school will let out.

10:00 am – Head with 10 boys and two teachers over to the athletic field to prepare the soccer field for the tournament. This involves raking weeds out of the dust (no grass here), putting nets up in the goals, and painting lines that we judge by eye.

2:00 pm – Head home, eat a late lunch. Take malaria pill.

3:00 pm – Walk to Carmen’s place. Begin watching bootleg copy of Watchmen on her computer. It briefly switches into German. Strange.

6:30 pm – Walk back to my school to help with tournament events. These include Overitje dancing and a beauty contest, both involving the learners. Beauty contests are big here. Also highly inappropriate.

6:57 pm – Discover my help is not needed. I am told to show up at 6 am tomorrow to help draw the tournament matchups. I would later find out that this was done without me. Oh well.

7:06 pm – Walk back over to Carmen’s. Finish watching Watchmen, and eat delicious dinner prepared by Ayoola. Watch the news. Worry about the fact that the water is supposed to be out for three days.

9:30 pm – Bed time. It is difficult at this point to stay up beyond 10:15 on any given night. Set alarm for 5:20 again, little do I know this is not necessary. Read The Two Towers for a while, and fall asleep.

Ocean to Ocean Vol. II

From Swakopmund, we went on an epic 4 day combi/bus journey to Mozambique, with a day layover in Johannesburg. The northern section of South Africa is apparently modeled after Iowa:

Here is Carmen, Ayoola and Nathan, as we relax on the beach in Tofo. We are probably playing hearts, euchre, or spades:

A frog that decided to make its home in Carmen's shoe:

And the lovely beach in Tofo:

Maybe not as epic as going to Vic Falls, but relaxing. It was great to see lots of southern Africa by bus as well.

Ocean to Ocean Vol. I

Our first big stop for the May holiday, Swakopmund, a city on the Namibian coast with a strong German flavor to it:
Carmen, showing that she is all about the Witbooi's. He's the guy on the currency. Yeah.


I like the whole German architecture/palm tree contrast. You can see the Atlantic in the background. It's super cold due to a current from Antarctica.


Next stop: South Africa and Mozambique.

Update

Just so everyone knows I am still alive, here is a quick update: I've been on the road for the last couple weeks, visiting Swakopmund in Namibia then traveling by bus to the lovely beaches of Mozambique. Full pics and stories to follow when I return to Opuwo, which won't be for another week.