I am finally at my new home in Bunya! As we approached I don’t think I have seen anything more beautiful and the view of the river at the school is the most beautiful thing I have seen.  I was the first of the group to be picked up at the backpackers this morning, traveling in my own car since I am the only World Teach volunteer in this region from my group. It was a small car, so luckily it was just me and all my stuff. We left a little after 8 and arrived at my school a little after 4. The driver had a little trouble with my accent and hearing me over the noise of the road, but he was very sweet and pointed out all of the schools along the road when we entered the Kavango region.

The sky stretches on for miles here and is so blue. It is really beautiful. The river also made the scene so picturesque. Goats and cattle were grazing along the road and by the river. It’s crazy that just on the other side of the river is another country! I could see Angola. I now know how Sarah Palin feels when she can see Russia J.

My principal was very nice and drove with us to my house. It is about 4 km from the school. I am living on Catholic missionary grounds. It seems I can never get too far from a Catholic organization! My next door neighbor is a very sweet Peace Corps volunteer at the Health Center nearby. It is nice to have her here. I walked around the mission grounds a little bit tonight and the scenery is just breath taking. Some of the learners (the missionary grounds is part of a hostel school, so there are students living here as well) saw my camera and wanted me to take their pictures. They were very excited, though I have never felt so stared at in my life.

My house is very nice! The volunteer before me left behind a lot of supplies and I was grateful to see some spices on the shelves, so my sauceless pasta wasn’t too boring tonight! I have electricity and drinkable water and some internet with this little device the volunteer before me had left behind. I have a couple little eight-legged housemates, but they seem to be minding their own business…

So far my site seems wonderful! I will be headed to the school tomorrow to at least observe some classes on my first full day in this region.

Well, I am now coming on my third week in Namibia. It has been great so far! I have met a lot of wonderful people from the US, Canada and Australia also volunteering this year with World Teach. The past two weeks have been full of learning about teaching methodologies and our new home in Namibia! At times it felt like an information overload between learning about writing lesson plans and learning a new language, but it was all so interesting to learn!

The last week we were in a town called Ongwediva in the north central part of the country doing a practicum at a school there. Students from the area volunteered to come to class for 2 hours for four days as we practiced the teaching skills we had acquired. It was really useful to get this practice with a partner before going out by ourselves into our own classrooms in the various parts of the country!

After  our week of teaching, we were able to drive through Etosha National Park. We were luckily enough to spot the rare leopard along with several other animals! It was quite the adventure. I was excited to see a few giraffes this time!

I am now getting ready to depart for my site in the northeastern region of Kavango on Thursday. I am the only volunteer from World Teach headed to this region. I am very excited to be headed to my site, but also very nervous! I will try to keep new updates and post as this new part of my adventure begins!