I have now been in Namibia for about three months, so I am pretty much an expert. Or at least I feel like I have a better grasp on things here. I am picking up more of the language (including the deciphering of mumbling in Otjiherero by older folks), Carmen and I have hitchhiked successfully a few times, and I am getting to know the school system. Yet there are still surprises, which is both exciting and frustrating.
The latest development has been the total restructuring of classes I am teaching. I went from English and Math grade 11, English grade 10 and Physical Science and Life Skills grade 8 to all grade 8 classes. These include Physical Science, Math, Life Science and BIS (Basic Information Science). Yeah. So, three months into the school year, I get to learn lots of new names, jump into classes already in progress, and hope not to fail the students miserably as exams are fast approaching. It is super frustrating on the one hand, but good on the other. I was establishing good relationships with my kids, especially grade 10 and 11, and now have to start over. I hope some of those relationships will be maintained through English club and such. Of course, now I get to know and teach more of the kids, which is good, and grade 8 is an important year here in terms of passing exams. The switch-up of classes is also better for the school as a whole, as it aligns teachers a little better with what they should be teaching. We have some new teachers, including a man from Zambia who is taking over my grade 10 and 11 classes, and I think he will do a good job. I will also be teaching a little less now, which will make it easier for me to open the library soon.
And so, life continues. Carmen, Adam, Rachel and I hiked our way over to Ongwediva this past weekend and had a nice, relaxing, long weekend for the Independence holiday. Speaking of which, it is interesting how often I have to remind myself of how recent Independence was for this country. I mean, this year is the first election where there will be voters born after independence, and most of the older teachers went to school when all the instruction was in Afrikaans and the teachers were all white.
Anyway, Ongwediva was great. We had some real restaurant-level meals, including pizza (!). We also got to go to a concert, which was delightfully Namibian. We saw Gazza and Tate Buti, two of the biggest stars here, and had to endure a rather awkward duo of MC’s. There were Tafel Lager ads everywhere (a local ale), and pickpocketing was a big issue. Luckily we had been warned of this, and I left all valuables at the hotel.
On the way back, we serendipitously met Carmen’s host mom in Oshikati, and got an easy hike back to Opuwo. Of course in a country of less then two million it wasn’t that much of a coincidence, but still, we were 4.5 hours away from home. We drove back, and on the way I noticed that driving on the left side of the road felt close to natural. When I first arrived, it was a novelty. Then it became an annoyance, as I always forgot which way to turn and look when crossing the road. Now I am almost used to it, though I am sure it would always be a bit strange for me. Pretty much a small example of adjusting to a new place in general. Maybe soon I will begin incorporating local ways of doing things into my own routines. Let’s hope I can drop this whenever I return home, at least in terms of driving on the correct side of the road.
We now have a few weeks of teaching before the Easter Holiday. I am trying to learn about my new students as quickly as possible, and figure out what the heck to do in Life Science. The current plan is to go hiking for the next holiday, possibly Spitzkoppe or Brandberg, the tallest point in Namibia. I’ll try to post some more pictures soon, cheers.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Thanks
I wanted to just say a small word of thanks to everyone who has sent/is sending things here. I love getting packages in the mail, and any supplies for the school are very welcome. The maps I got this week are perfect (thanks everyone in MN), and I know that there are books coming from various people, which will greatly help the library here. As I said, I love getting the mail, just don’t spend too much sending stuff here! I know it’s expensive, especially sending books. My current idea is to send some books myself when I return home, so hopefully the library will continue to grow.
Nothing too much new here. Carmen, Ayoola and I are going to Ongwediva next weekend, which is a long weekend because of Independence Day. Should be lots of fun, we are meeting other WT volunteers there. I hear there is a legitimately good Italian restaurant there, so there are calzones in my near future…
Nothing too much new here. Carmen, Ayoola and I are going to Ongwediva next weekend, which is a long weekend because of Independence Day. Should be lots of fun, we are meeting other WT volunteers there. I hear there is a legitimately good Italian restaurant there, so there are calzones in my near future…
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Settling in/The trials of being an Engligh teacher
We have been in Namibia now for over two months, and I am finally getting used to some of the various systems of interactions. These include working with teachers and learners, talking to people on the street, meeting new friends, grocery shopping, transportation, etc. This has made everything a little easier, though there are still big challenges. I have relooked at my goals for the year, and I am now excited about a few projects, especially the library and English club.
I have not yet made any decision about next year. Some volunteers choose to stay longer than a year, and I want to keep that option open. I must admit that I am leaning in the direction of returning home, but I gave myself a deadline of June to make a final decision. Who knows if there will be jobs left when I return…
On an unrelated note, it is very fun to teach English. There are some local idiosyncrasies, however, that can be a bit frustrating. I will share two. The first is pronoun usage. “Me myself, I don’t think this homework is difficult.” Or, “The girl, she is not serious.” Very unnecessary. My favorite, and subject of recent tirades, is the use of the phrase “used to.” Along with being spelled incorrectly, this is used here to talk about things in the present tense. For example, if you play soccer every day here, you might say “I used to play soccer every day.” Needless to say, this leads to some confusion on my part. I explained how it really means an activity is complete, and it was like dropping a grammar bomb on my learners. Fun times.
I have not yet made any decision about next year. Some volunteers choose to stay longer than a year, and I want to keep that option open. I must admit that I am leaning in the direction of returning home, but I gave myself a deadline of June to make a final decision. Who knows if there will be jobs left when I return…
On an unrelated note, it is very fun to teach English. There are some local idiosyncrasies, however, that can be a bit frustrating. I will share two. The first is pronoun usage. “Me myself, I don’t think this homework is difficult.” Or, “The girl, she is not serious.” Very unnecessary. My favorite, and subject of recent tirades, is the use of the phrase “used to.” Along with being spelled incorrectly, this is used here to talk about things in the present tense. For example, if you play soccer every day here, you might say “I used to play soccer every day.” Needless to say, this leads to some confusion on my part. I explained how it really means an activity is complete, and it was like dropping a grammar bomb on my learners. Fun times.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Some Belated Pictures
Some late pictures, in backwards chronological order. Sorry for the quality, I had to crop.
First, me at Ruacana Falls:
And finally a host of other volunteers at the traditional Herero dinner during orientation. This is when we ate goat head:
First, me at Ruacana Falls:
Some learners sitting on classroom steps during orientation:
James B., one of the other volunteers:
And finally a host of other volunteers at the traditional Herero dinner during orientation. This is when we ate goat head:
Saturday, February 28, 2009
On Simple Pleasures
Enough about all these deep, depressing, philosophical things I have been writing about, time for some good clean fun. This weekend Carmen and I are in Opuwo, and it has been pretty nice. This is a home weekend for the learners. Most schools here are hostel schools, and this is an opportunity for learners to go home for a while (those who can pay for a hike at least). The town is a bit empty, though tourists have begun to creep in, together with honest-to-God fanny packs.
If you are not traveling or imbibing, there is not a lot to do here on the weekends. I have a lot of work, but during those moments when I decide to take a break, it's some serious down time. Yesterday Carmen and I got off school early, and watched a movie. We went running, made dinner, and read. We read some more, watched part of another movie, and went to bed early.
Today we got up, made a leisurely breakfast, and ambled over to my place. We met some friends along the way, and stopped to say hello. Everything is pretty slow here, especially on Saturday mornings. We went to my place and I did some clothes washing as we ate some oatmeal. Then Carmen and I went over to my school's library, which is in an old chemistry room (complete with sinks and gas outlets). I am helping to get the library up and running, as it is now just a pile of unused books. I have decided that if I accomplish one thing this year, I want to get a functioning library going, with some learners helping to make it better. There is a very random assortment of old textbooks, many UN publications, and the occasional gem like Grahm Greene, Shakespeare, and an amazing edition of Grapes of Wrath.
We worked on that for a couple hours, then grabbed some dinner ingredients at my place and headed back to Carmen's (she has a real kitchen). We then relaxed again, read more, and I sat down to watch Liverpool lose to Middlesborough. Awesome. Then we had some beef stew, and now we get to... well, relax again. Maybe we will go out, maybe not. It's raining off and on, but that cools it down, which is nice.
Random post, but I thought some people might like to hear about some of the silly litle things that are good here.
If you are not traveling or imbibing, there is not a lot to do here on the weekends. I have a lot of work, but during those moments when I decide to take a break, it's some serious down time. Yesterday Carmen and I got off school early, and watched a movie. We went running, made dinner, and read. We read some more, watched part of another movie, and went to bed early.
Today we got up, made a leisurely breakfast, and ambled over to my place. We met some friends along the way, and stopped to say hello. Everything is pretty slow here, especially on Saturday mornings. We went to my place and I did some clothes washing as we ate some oatmeal. Then Carmen and I went over to my school's library, which is in an old chemistry room (complete with sinks and gas outlets). I am helping to get the library up and running, as it is now just a pile of unused books. I have decided that if I accomplish one thing this year, I want to get a functioning library going, with some learners helping to make it better. There is a very random assortment of old textbooks, many UN publications, and the occasional gem like Grahm Greene, Shakespeare, and an amazing edition of Grapes of Wrath.
We worked on that for a couple hours, then grabbed some dinner ingredients at my place and headed back to Carmen's (she has a real kitchen). We then relaxed again, read more, and I sat down to watch Liverpool lose to Middlesborough. Awesome. Then we had some beef stew, and now we get to... well, relax again. Maybe we will go out, maybe not. It's raining off and on, but that cools it down, which is nice.
Random post, but I thought some people might like to hear about some of the silly litle things that are good here.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Waterfalls and disgusting chips
This past weekend, Carmen and I decided to meet up with a group of other volunteers at Ruacana falls, about 150 km away to the north and east. I wasn’t sure what we were in for, but it turned out pretty well.
The trip began on Friday afternoon after classes let out. We were in a bit of a rush, as we had been told by various people that it may or may not be difficult to get a hike at that time of day. Ah yes, no good transportation other than catching a hike, that is pretty much public transportation here. We walked with our huge touristy packs to the gas station down the hill, and began to look for rides. We asked one truck, no luck. I then spied a nice-looking, clean, new truck/SUV. These are not common here. At all. I went up to the vehicle, asked about Ruacana, and as luck would have it, that’s where they were heading. Carmen and I proceeded to be absolutely spoiled on our first hike here. It was a new car, we were the only ones hiking, and there was air-conditioning. Not bad for my first time in a car in maybe a month. It was a bit more expensive than we wanted, but well worth it. The man who drove was super interesting as well; apparently he is the marketing director for some Namibian regulation commission that works on importing and exporting livestock and farm equipment. He lived in Kenya for a while, educated in England, etc. Needless to say, we were also paying for good conversation.
So we were dropped off by that vehicle about 10k from where we needed to be. We began walking, and made it maybe 400m before a kombi came by and we flagged them down. It just so happened that Rachel, another volunteer, was in the kombi, coming from the east. We hiked the last 10k with them, and stopped at a BP station. There we met up with some other volunteers (Tomas, Jen L., Aleks, Emily, Chris, Chloe), and enjoyed a huge treat – ice cream with chocolate sauce. Heaven. Chris and Chloe have a car here, and shuttled us to the campsite. Awesome campsite, with stone circles to sit on, braai pits, and showers with hot water(!). We set up, and ate dinner while playing Citadels and mafia.
The next day we went to the Ruacana falls themselves. The falls require leaving Namibia, but not entering Angola… weird. We were in some odd border area, and could see Angola about 10 ft away behind a fence. The falls were very pretty, and we came when the water was flowing at least decently with the recent rain. We didn’t get sprayed, but they were impressive nonetheless. We climbed down to the bottom of a long flight of stairs, and sat on the rocks for a while, seeing monkeys and a crocodile while we were there.
That night we had a little braai with veggie burgers (a contradiction??) and tried to stay out of the rain. It was quite a relaxing time, and it was nice to catch up with everybody. We all have very different situations here, and it was cool to compare and contrast. Rachel, for instance, has just been given a ten day holiday (at least), since her town is flooded. The learners have literally been swimming to school.
The whole weekend made me very excited for other breaks. We are planning on going to Swakopmund around Easter, Cape Town and maybe somewhere else for May break, and hiking Fish River Canyon in August (super excited about that one). While I shouldn’t focus too much on the time when I am not teaching, it is fun to make plans. Hopefully we can make other little weekend trips like this one too. It’s exciting to think that I am getting to see a good deal of Namibia, or at least my little corner of it.
Ah, and before I forget… The title of this post refers to the chips available at the BP in Ruacana, and really groceries in general here. Chips here, you see, have interesting flavors. They have only dried tomato fritoes, no other kind. They had fried-chicken flavor chips, but no ranch or bbq. There were Mexican chili chips, but no sour cream and onion. I bought a couple bags, and enjoyed the raman-flavored variety (fried-chicken). Other types were less than pleasant…
The trip began on Friday afternoon after classes let out. We were in a bit of a rush, as we had been told by various people that it may or may not be difficult to get a hike at that time of day. Ah yes, no good transportation other than catching a hike, that is pretty much public transportation here. We walked with our huge touristy packs to the gas station down the hill, and began to look for rides. We asked one truck, no luck. I then spied a nice-looking, clean, new truck/SUV. These are not common here. At all. I went up to the vehicle, asked about Ruacana, and as luck would have it, that’s where they were heading. Carmen and I proceeded to be absolutely spoiled on our first hike here. It was a new car, we were the only ones hiking, and there was air-conditioning. Not bad for my first time in a car in maybe a month. It was a bit more expensive than we wanted, but well worth it. The man who drove was super interesting as well; apparently he is the marketing director for some Namibian regulation commission that works on importing and exporting livestock and farm equipment. He lived in Kenya for a while, educated in England, etc. Needless to say, we were also paying for good conversation.
So we were dropped off by that vehicle about 10k from where we needed to be. We began walking, and made it maybe 400m before a kombi came by and we flagged them down. It just so happened that Rachel, another volunteer, was in the kombi, coming from the east. We hiked the last 10k with them, and stopped at a BP station. There we met up with some other volunteers (Tomas, Jen L., Aleks, Emily, Chris, Chloe), and enjoyed a huge treat – ice cream with chocolate sauce. Heaven. Chris and Chloe have a car here, and shuttled us to the campsite. Awesome campsite, with stone circles to sit on, braai pits, and showers with hot water(!). We set up, and ate dinner while playing Citadels and mafia.
The next day we went to the Ruacana falls themselves. The falls require leaving Namibia, but not entering Angola… weird. We were in some odd border area, and could see Angola about 10 ft away behind a fence. The falls were very pretty, and we came when the water was flowing at least decently with the recent rain. We didn’t get sprayed, but they were impressive nonetheless. We climbed down to the bottom of a long flight of stairs, and sat on the rocks for a while, seeing monkeys and a crocodile while we were there.
That night we had a little braai with veggie burgers (a contradiction??) and tried to stay out of the rain. It was quite a relaxing time, and it was nice to catch up with everybody. We all have very different situations here, and it was cool to compare and contrast. Rachel, for instance, has just been given a ten day holiday (at least), since her town is flooded. The learners have literally been swimming to school.
The whole weekend made me very excited for other breaks. We are planning on going to Swakopmund around Easter, Cape Town and maybe somewhere else for May break, and hiking Fish River Canyon in August (super excited about that one). While I shouldn’t focus too much on the time when I am not teaching, it is fun to make plans. Hopefully we can make other little weekend trips like this one too. It’s exciting to think that I am getting to see a good deal of Namibia, or at least my little corner of it.
Ah, and before I forget… The title of this post refers to the chips available at the BP in Ruacana, and really groceries in general here. Chips here, you see, have interesting flavors. They have only dried tomato fritoes, no other kind. They had fried-chicken flavor chips, but no ranch or bbq. There were Mexican chili chips, but no sour cream and onion. I bought a couple bags, and enjoyed the raman-flavored variety (fried-chicken). Other types were less than pleasant…
Sunday, February 15, 2009
A quick note on neighbors
This post will unfortunately lack the punch of humor I had hoped for due to the fact that it is difficult/impossible to upload photos right now due to the internet connection here. Ah well.
Readers of my last post will recall that I mentioned the slight possibility that wild animals might choose to use my creepy-hallway-of-death as a temporary refuge from rain. Quite soon after writing those very words, it all came to fruition. (this is where a picture would be perfect).
I was hanging out in my room last weekend when it was just raining buckets. I heard scuffling in the hall, and opened my door to investigate. Seeing nothing immediately, I ventured down to the end of the hall. Out of the two rooms closest to the end pop three goats. No joke. They were all peering out the main door to the outside, as if trying to ascertain from the cloud cover whether the rain would continue for long. I shooed them away in my most hesitant voice.
There is one actual new neighbor in my hall, which is nice, and makes the hallway slightly less terrifying. I am getting to know other people in the community better, and it is now rare for me to walk anywhere without saying hello to someone I know, which is nice. Most often I hear the cry of "Sir!" or "Mitiri," which means teacher. Ah, actual terms of respect from learners, craziness...
On a side note, it occurs to me that we have been in Africa for almost eight weeks now. The time alternates between dragging and rushing by. I know by the end I will know my neighbors even more, and perhaps grow close to some of them. Unfortunately for me, I don't think they will let me bring goats home with me.
Readers of my last post will recall that I mentioned the slight possibility that wild animals might choose to use my creepy-hallway-of-death as a temporary refuge from rain. Quite soon after writing those very words, it all came to fruition. (this is where a picture would be perfect).
I was hanging out in my room last weekend when it was just raining buckets. I heard scuffling in the hall, and opened my door to investigate. Seeing nothing immediately, I ventured down to the end of the hall. Out of the two rooms closest to the end pop three goats. No joke. They were all peering out the main door to the outside, as if trying to ascertain from the cloud cover whether the rain would continue for long. I shooed them away in my most hesitant voice.
There is one actual new neighbor in my hall, which is nice, and makes the hallway slightly less terrifying. I am getting to know other people in the community better, and it is now rare for me to walk anywhere without saying hello to someone I know, which is nice. Most often I hear the cry of "Sir!" or "Mitiri," which means teacher. Ah, actual terms of respect from learners, craziness...
On a side note, it occurs to me that we have been in Africa for almost eight weeks now. The time alternates between dragging and rushing by. I know by the end I will know my neighbors even more, and perhaps grow close to some of them. Unfortunately for me, I don't think they will let me bring goats home with me.
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