Gotta love termites!

my bedroom ceiling :)

culture competition in Rupara

The learners from schools in Bunya circuit competed today in a culture competition.This is a picture of the Sivara group. .... and as i type this someone near me is pkaying cekine dion on their phone as culture drums are beating behind them

5pm - rush hour traffic

Life lessons

8 February 2013
Things I’ve learned over the past week,

Toms are not good running shoes- at least to my spoiled, asics loving feet.

A good way to support my red team is by having a red face, so  it was actually good I forgot sunscreen.

Second graders really love the songs “head shoulders knees and toes” and “ten little monkeys jumping on the bed”.

I still am not a sprinter.

I can’t run long distances anymore (at least in the heat and with toms).

A bicycle should probably have two tires that are the same size or  else one may go flat every day.
I have absolutely no pool skills.

How Patriots fans felt when they lost the AFC championship when my team {Les Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire) lost in the quarter finals of the Africa Cup (soccer).

There are 3 major methods for natural family planning and I know now the brief overview of them all after attending my neighbor’s presentation after Sunday service in Sivara (She is in Peace Corps and extended for a third year to work on establishing a natural family planning program for Catholic Health Services in Namibia).

There appears to be two different types of wall spider, one flat and not menacing the other bent up a little from the wall and creepy.

“In Africa, we dance.” .

"Madame, I want to borrow a book."

1 February 2013

The Namibian school year has commenced! We have just ended our third week of school, second week of actual classes. As last year I was still at orientation during the bulk of the first week of school, I felt like a confused new person all over again. We had no rotating classes, and people were still registering and getting things organized, so I felt that I had to somehow entertain these kids for the 6ish hours they would be seated in the sixth grade room being their class teacher. It went all right. They seem like a really good bunch of kids. Some troublemakers of course, but all seem so wanting to learn and eager to show me their work! I am back to being “Madame! Madame! Madame!”

Today I felt like I was melting. It was so hot, and only rained a bit in the morning. Coming back from school was a struggle because for the 4^th time this week, I had a flat tire. I don’t know how so many thorns get into the tires. But it is not fun.

Starting the Friday of the first week of school I opened the library. Holding a library book has seemed to become some sort of status symbol at Sivara Primary. Kids between grades 4 and 7 have been coming to the library any time I seem to have a free minute and they are not in class, or anytime I am near the office. When I talk about the library, I am talking about the precious cupboard in the corner of the storeroom/office. J I have put most of the non fiction books I brought back and got last year on the shelves and they just do not stay on the shelves. The second day I opened the library, over 60 learners took out books. (And this is one at a time coming to the cupboard, because I still have my perfectionist ways, and want to keep my books in order) The next day another 20ish kids came. I have stacks of checked out cards I’m trying to go through to put the books back, but as soon as I get a couple done, the line forms again and I’m back to giving out more books! It is tiring but also rewarding. Even if they are not reading the books, at least they are being introduced to all of these topics in pictures- like dinosaurs, rocks, and weather. They love the snake books and crocodile books. I also try to give them a star with some question to answer about the books, and a lot of them have been getting the answers! I hope this helps them on their exams, and I hope all the books with pictures helps them to learn English better and maybe develop a love of reading. But that is the library. It seems to be running my life! I have a stack of stars to go through this weekend that have piled up through the week. J

Thus far, I feel like I have made a good decision in coming back. Between working on the library and getting into the swing of things with school, utilizing some things I did and learned from last year, I am glad to be back. It is also nice that I know a lot of the kids. Most of the new sixth graders were fifth graders that frequented the library so learning names was easy, but this year there are just soo many coming to the library, it is going to be difficult to learn them all!

I'm melting

Well, it doesn’t seem like only a week ago I was facing the cold of Massachusetts as I sit here in the heat with birds chirping loudly outside. I am still adjusting back to life with out a packed fridge (mine currently contains cheese, apples and yogurt) and restauraunts just around the corner, but it’s nice. I’m back to seeing goats and cattle on a daily basis J The other day I say two cows pulling a big branch of a tree across our soccer sand area, with no people directly around them…

Everything is so green again around here too! And you can see more of the river along the road I ride to get to school. Sadly my bike already has a flat tire, which is just a nuisance, especially when it happens on a Friday, and the bike shop won’t be open until Monday, and I couldn’t stop afterschool because I wanted to go into town to get things for school and to eat, and to try to figure out if I can use my black berry which still is not working.

Today, I went to the celebration of the 25^th jubilee for three local nuns, one being the matron in charge of the Bunya Health Center. It was an interesting day. The mass was very long, and mostly not in English, but the food and watching the singing and dancing was nice. There were no live chickens present as far as I could tell though!

From Wednesday 9 Jan

The journey back

So I will try to blog more this year than last year J.

After three days, I have made it to Bunya. We flew out of Boston at 6 am on Monday. Then out of New York at 10:30 to land in Johannesburg at 8:30am (1:30am east coast time). After a 6 hour layover and 2 hour flight, I landed in Windhoek around 4:30 in the afternoon to get a cab into the city. After a night in Windhoek, I travelled up to Rundu to get a taxi to take me back to Bunya, and finally I was back at my house! Already have a few bug bites ( I don’t know how) and am listening to the loud crickets… much different from the winter I left!

Church Stories

6 April 2012

Since I’ve been in Bunya and living on the mission grounds, I have been going to church on most weekends. It is a very passive way to try to be a part of the community I am in. Growing up going to Catholic school, it is also comforting to go to something I am familiar with. Even if I have no idea what is being said, I have a general idea of what is going on. While Church (it is rarely “mass” since the priests are generally off at other churches “in the bush”) has its normal abnormalities, there are some occasions that have been rather interesting.

A couple weeks ago, in the middle of March, the mission celebrated the 50^th anniversary of one of its priest’s priesthood. I believe he is a European priest, but I’m not quite sure where he is from. It was also evidently his 80^th birthday. My neighbor and I had been in town the night before, so were a little late getting back, but figuring mass generally started late anyways, and people sometimes would get there even after I would get to church at home, I figured it was ok to still go about 45 minutes to an hour late. The whole church was full and people were sitting outside on the steps, so I joined them there, not really knowing what was going on. Even though I got there an hour late, I think there was still an hour or two hours left of the mass, so it was worth going. I finally got into the church during the collection part (Here instead of carrying the basket up and down the aisle or passing it, two people stand at the front and you bring money up). I was glad I went in because I got to see the people singing and dancing in the front, and as I walked back, in the back of the church in the corner I noticed live chickens! Later, a procession of gifts for the priest began. It started with wrapped gifts and cards, then others brought boxes of soda, several brought up white pumpkins, and then there were also the chickens. Several people brought up live chickens. After mass, there were some performances for the priests by different groups at the church. This went on for a while, and I some of the dances the kids were doing were rather interesting…After mass, there was evidently a dinner, but I wasn’t sure if I was one of the people that was invited inside or not, so I ended up going back. Later I found out everyone living at the mission was invited…oops!

My next interesting mass excursion was a couple Fridays ago, when I decided to go see what they do at the Stations of the Cross during lent. I don’t think I have gone through the stations of the cross since elementary school, but thought it might be an interesting and was something to do. As it turned out, mass for the learners that live at the mission was to follow immediately after the stations (which I thought were quite a workout as we had to kneel during one part of each station), so I ended up staying for the mass as well. It was in English this time which was nice- I actually knew what was going on! As I sat there, all I could think of was those First Friday masses we had at St. Bernard’s and felt like I was on the other side of one, no longer a student. It felt even morelike high school first Friday mass like when at the end of mass the priest had to make several announcements- one being that the learners they were not allowed to turn on the new tvs they had gotten for them, only the hostel mother or father could and all videos must be approved to avoid anything inappropriate.

Last week was of course Palm Sunday. It was also the morning after Namibia had its “fall back”, which I am still figuring out where the fall back actually applies. I decided to go at 9 at the old time in case church, like school, was still following the old time and not the new time, and I was evidently  correct in guessing so. When I got there,theI priest was standing in front of the church with the palms, and I was there early enough to see them blessed. They seemed to be really fresh palms here- I assume they picked them somewhere locally. Well, after the palms were passed out, the priest and some women in all purple and some others began walking away from the church in a line, the girl next to me said lets join, and it seemed everyone was getting in this line which was forming a big circle singing outside of the church. It was an interesting spectacle. Then the line started going into the church. When some were in the church, some outside started singing another song, so there were two different songs going on at once. Palm Sunday is known for its long reading of the Passion, but in the US it is split up as a play, so there are different speakers and audience participation. I was wondering how it would work here as  no one has books just for mass, but brings a bible and finds the passages used in mass inside. As it turned out, the priest had to read the entire thing.

On Holy Thursday I also decided to go to the service. The priests were not there, so it was the people who normally run the service when the priests are at other churches. There was no feet washing! After the service ended, people kept singing songs, and I’m pretty sure they did a whole rosary and I had no idea why we were still sitting there or what we were waiting for. After about an hour of this, a man finally said to go home. He translated for me and said we had been waiting for a priest to turn something around, but they were still too far away, so we could just go home.

14 April 2012

A final church story: Last Saturday, my neighbor and I went to the Easter vigil. It started outside which was very dark and a bit chilly. During the part of the mass where people are to be baptized, at least 17 babies were brought up with their parents and one godfather. This was not even all of the babies in the church! And yet, there was barely any crying!

The baptisms seemed to take absolutely forever. Whenever I thought it was done, they seemed to add another step. The homily was long as well, and the priest said it in English and had a translator. He was yelling at the people from Bunya for not being serious enough about their religion and calling out some of the people with children to be baptized on how they would raise their child. It was a very interesting experience.

This week in Namibia...

16 March 2012

I have to say this was definitely a week of highs and lows. But as frustrating as things may get or seem, I find I am just happy being here! I feel like I have been learning more about myself too and really find myself the frustrations that I have which are internal, and those which are from my surroundings. As cliché as it sounds,  I feel like I’m really learning more about myself and my strengths and weaknesses, being put into a different cultural context. I have become more aware of things I wish I could change about myself and of things that are just who I am no matter where I am. Before departing, some of our literature talked about the “myth of a personal journey” and how you can’t escape who you are by going to another place. That passage makes more sense now, but being aware of this, I think there is a lot of growth in self awareness.

Anyway, thinking back to Monday, this seems to have been a very long week! On Monday, I nearly completely fell off my bike, and ended up throwing my bag of bread from the local bakery and some papers I was carrying on the way home from school, because my gears locked up foot flew off the pedal and I couldn’t grip the break with my hand full. I cut my leg a bit, and just had no energy to go to the bike place, because I can’t really explain what exactly is going on with the pedals, and few people understand my American. I had a quick lunch and had to rush back to study because I had the printed copies of all of the upper primaries (5-7) agriculture tests, which the principal teaches.

On Tuesday after study I stayed later giving some of the learners “trivia” that has to do with the classes they have with me. One of my learner’s mother also stopped in and did some addition flashcards. She was so happy when she got through them all. It was great!

Wednesday was just a long, long day. It’s one of my day with a lesser load of classes (teaching for 5 periods and off for 3), but just seemed to go on forever. 

Wednesday is technically my day for study, but they have athletics on Wednesdays, and I really have yet to find my purpose in that, especially since I cannot even manage them in a classroom, never mind an open field. I ended up going out to watch some of the soccer playing, but then I just found myself wishing for fairy dust to make me speak and understand their language. I finally decided to go back inside at the time when study was officially done and saw one of my learners, who had been one of the ones staying late  and talking with me and taking extra reading things and is so smart, playing with my ipod. She had not asked, and I wasn’t really comfortable with it, because I only had my ear phones, and I don’t really want those in someone else’s ears and this had been another long day of constantly rearranging the teacher’s desk in the 6^th grade room and searching for books that kids just take off it without asking, so I told her and who I thought were her accomplices to just get out. I felt really bad, but at that point I didn’t know what else to do. These learners had also taken my camera out of my bag one day when I was not going to use it, and I did not get upset, and I know the boys who ask to ride my bike one round around the school, go much further or ride it many more times, but I pretend not to notice, so this just was a step too far. I think by Friday she was finally coming around to being ok with me. She was giving some good answers in English met with encouragement, so maybe she will not hate me! But also will not just take my things. I was very glad I stayed later at the school though on Wednesday, because later some learners came in and taught me some more Rukwangali words -mostly animal names, and I think I forget a lot of what they were telling me, but it put me in a better mood and it was a relaxing setting with only four or five of them there. They also wrote for me the Our Father, so maybe I will know what they are saying the next time I go to mass! I love seeing how frustrated they get when I can’t pronounce the words, and hope they can see a little bit into the same difficulties I have when I am trying to teach them English! I also am still hoping they see my mess ups and are less scared to make their own, since learning Rukwangali is supposed to be “easy” according to them. They did teach me the word for “be quiet”, which I threw out on Thursday and was met with what I think was a stunned silence for about a minute then back to chattering.

On Thursday, I also came to really understand the chattering. It was pouring in the morning, and thankfully my principal arranged with the teacher that lives near me to bring me to school. One of the teachers never came, so I ended up spending my first three periods, which I’m supposed to have free, with my 6^th grade. Many came in late because of the rain, and I had put up their morning word of the day and math challenge which kept them busy and quiet for a while, until they were finishing up and all throwing notebooks at me to check their math work for a sticker (they LOVE stickers). That’s when a seventh grade student came in to say they were too loud. I quite frankly, hadn’t noticed. After they all seemed to have gotten their stickers, I decided to use the extra time to review all of the words of the day that would be on their quiz the next day. This seemed to keep them busy and focused. But having been in the classroom all morning, it really hit me that all they do is sit in the same place for each class, so no wonder by fourth period they are anxious and chatty! I decided to play Simon Says to get them up and moving a bit before starting English class.

In study on Thursday, I was going around making sure they were had done their spelling homework and stopped to help one learner who had nothing on it done. I brought over the dictionary to look up the words together to match the spelling words with their definitions. I have never seen someone so excited to find a word in the dictionary and then to match it on his paper! I don’t know how much of an impact I will have on him, or how much English he will learn from me, but his excitement just made my day!

Finally it is Friday! I think the day went rather well. Though, I do feel bad that during second to last period some of the seventh grade boys were asking to use my and I was like why are you not in class, and one said I need to go home, so I said you can’t take my bike home with you and told them again to go to class. When I got to them last period, there were only a handful there, and I could not figure out why so many decided to leave early on a Friday! But come to find out, they were sent home to get their parent’s ids for one reason or another I’m not quite sure of, and the principal was scanning them onto her computer to print, and that is why they were not there and were going home. Woops!

pictures

Adventure to Oshakati

9 March 2012

Adventure to Oshakati

I finally have a computer back!! I hope it continues to work! It is quite exciting!

I have had limited internet access all week, as I had not bought any airtime last week, but it has been quite an interesting couple of weeks.

Last weekend, I decided to make the trip to Oshakati to visit some of the other World Teach volunteers that are in that area. I knew that the drive would drive would take a while and that I would not be able to stay long, but I wanted to test out the journey and see how it would be getting there. I was feeling a little adventurous, and while I love Kavango, I wanted to try to see some more of the country. I had planned to leave early that morning, but ended up not out until about 10:30. Then I had to wait for a ride on the road.

While waiting, a man who was visiting a friend for the day at the Bunya Health Center, stopped on his way to talk to me. He kept talking to me for almost an hour and when he found out where I was going, he told me that they would cut out my eyes and cut out my organs to sell, they were bad people on “that side” he declared, who listened to the devil instead of God. Needless to say, he was wrong and I still have both of my eyes and all of my organs.

At around 12:45 I was just about ready to give up and try again another weekend, when a red truck with an Oshakati plate came by. I waved it down and it actually stopped! They were not going all the way to Oshakati, but were going close enough that I knew I would be ok and would be able to find a volunteer close by or a ride the rest of the way.

On the first part of the ride, I was with two men who were switching between Rukwangali and Afrikaans. When they were speaking in Afrikaans, I could pick up that they were saying something about getting married, but I couldn’t figure out what. They then decided to clue me in that they were saying that now that women and have money and both men and women have a way to support themselves, there is no need for marriage anymore, you just don’t need to get married, because you don’t need the financial support. And it wasn’t fair any way because if you get a divorce, you have to give some of your money to your wife, and if you die, she will just take it all and not give it to your mother or real family. He said that if you got bored with one boyfriend, you could easily just go and find another. It was going to be an interesting ride…

After we dropped the other man off it was pretty quiet though. Between the noise of the road, the music and my  accent, my driver really could not understand anything I said or asked, and most of my responses were just laughs or  an“o ya”. About 4 hours later, we made it to Eenhana (I think…) and he got me a taxi to my next destination, which brought me to another taxi, which bought me to another taxi, which brought me to the Oshakati Guest House and the rest of the volunteers.

It was nice to see everyone and hear how everyone else is doing at their sites. The next day, they let me know where I should  go to find a kombi (a van) ride back to Rundu. This was not as difficult as getting there because all of the kombis headed this way were at the local market. I just had to go and tell them where I was going and to be  pointed to the right van. When I finally found the kombi, I just got in to wait, even though it was so hot. It was comforting when I could pick up on some of the words people were saying  in what sounded like Rukwangali and unless Rukwangali and Oshiwambo were near identical, I knew I was in a kombi headed in the right direction!

Once we were moving it got a little cooler with the breeze and though it was a slow start, we took the new shorter road back and I made it home before dark! I also came home to my first care package from home which my neighbor had picked up in town for me over the weekend, and the package with my new harddrive in it!

I now have my own computer again and have been taking full advantage of its disc drive today!

I had a pretty good week at school this week as well. A lot of the learners seem to be opening up to me now. Some of them seem to be smiling more or at least a bit more engaged in class and I was excited that more of the girls were coming into my classroom teaching me Rukwangali and doing trivia and math practice on Tuesday and going on a picture frenzy on Thursday after their study time. One day this week as well, when I went around the room checking homework, they all were working on their warm-ups, and quickly opened to their homework when I got to them. It seemed like routines are starting to set in! I was so amazed when I got to the end of the room.

I also learned their love for stickers! One morning, the teacher who was supposed to have the class first period, was running late, or saw me sitting at the desk and got confused, but never came, so as I was sitting doing  work, I put a “Morning Math Challenge” on the board and told them to bring it up to me when they had solved it. It was a word problem, so I was not sure how difficult it would be, but once I gave a sticker to one person for doing it, they all started coming up! They also started coming up with their math homework for me to correct. It was really nice to see them so into their math.

Athletics

Sunday morning was the big athletics event in the area which the learners had been practicing after study for for the past few weeks! Nine schools came to compete. It was actually a lot like the track meets from high school, so I could basically follow what was happening! The best runners in the different age groups had been picked on one of the days I was sick and they competed against the other schools. I believe I was told we came in last place, but the learners tried so hard! And we were doing pretty good toward the end with the short distance events! The school I do not think has any of the “field” equipment, so they were not able to practice those beforehand. For some of the races, it was just so hot I didn’t know how anyone was running! I was so nervous that they were hydrating enough because they would basically collapse when they got back to the group after the long distance races!

The events were supposed to start at seven this morning at Bunya Combined School, the school I am closest to. So after a call from my principal making sure I was getting there because some of the learners were supposed to be coming, I got there around 6:50. The car never came to the school to get the learners, so they ended up having to walk, which is about a 30-40 minute walk (no matter what people say, I think it’s pretty far on foot!). Other schools were late coming as well, and they were still getting things like the tent and the wiring set up, so we ended up starting at 9, closer to the hotter parts of the day! The meet seemed over around 6pm, when we started getting the last of the bread ready to give the learners after they were finished their races. Sadly, there was not enough for some of the younger learners who came to watch, but most got at least a piece and everyone got some juice. We did have lunch earlier which was some bread and jam. We then had to wait for the car that would take the learners back to the school, which is closer to where they live. I decided to wait with them for the bus. I did leave a little bit before it got there though because it was already dark, and almost 8pm when the bus that was supposed to take them left for its last run before the Sivara group. It was a very long day for all! But I did enjoy it, especially seeing the learners compete and hearing their cheers(, which are catchy even if I don’t know all of the words!).

Already a month in Bunya!

Well, I think a lot has happened since my last blog post.

I am still borrowing the computer from the clinic next door which is very nice of them! I have been able to keep in contact with people at home and have had some internet access to help with planning for school and keeping up with some current events!

Where to begin… Well last week was going rather well at the beginning. I felt I was getting more on top of things with my classes and I had cleaned my house and fixed my broken toilet on Sunday. But, on Wednesday night I got a little stomach sickness. I had lost my voice ,after Monday from trying to talk over noise in my classes and from dropping in on the second grade who had had no teacher for quite some time because she is on maternity leave and her replacement decided not to take the job- Someone finally started this past week! Well, with the second grade I mostly sing songs (they were getting the hang of “Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed” and “the Itsy Bitsy Spider”! They really liked the “washed” part of the song!) So on Tuesday I had no voice, which made the day quite long because not only is it hard normally for me to try to give directions and annunciate and pronounce my words carefully, it was harder with little voice. On Thursday though, I managed to get to the doctor in Rundu , where many people thought my voice was the problem, but that was just a side issue.  (I messaged my neighbour who works at the clinic run by the mission who was able to find a ride to Rundu for me! ). The doctor thought it was some sort of bacteria, and had me stay home the next day as well. I felt bad missing school for two days! One of the days I believe they were doing “athletics” or running competitions, so at least I did not miss teaching. On Friday, I left some work for them to do, but when I came back on Monday Wednesday seemed so long ago so it was a little hard to get back on track.

Over the weekend another World Teach volunteer came and visited me in Bunya. Though I was still getting better, it was very nice to have someone else in the house for the weekend! We hiked into town so we could get some things and so she could see Rundu. We ended up in an Angolan car which was interesting on a couple accounts. One, they greeted us in Portuguese, which sounds a lot like Spanish. Two, in Angola they drive American cars. They also drive on the right hand side of the road I am pretty sure. That means that while we were driving on the left hand side of the road in Namibia, the driver was also seated on the left, while the cars here have the driver on the right. I would get way too confused switching between sides of the road if it was me!

This past week seemed to go by very fast and had many ups and downs. I have been having some trouble with classroom management especially in math, where everyone seems to be continuously talking. Also, with the cement floor and metal chairs, every little movement makes a lot of noise, so it is hard for the learners to hear me and me to hear them. It is hard because I know with the language barrier it must be hard to focus. I also need to find ways to make my lessons more interesting! For a while, it seemed telling them they only had so much time to copy down a sentence or do an activity got them working at least (though they would normally take more time because they take some time to prepare their notebooks for the next activity)...

One of the days this week during study, which they have after school, a few of the boys came up and asked for help with math homework! I’m not sure how much I helped them, but I was so happy that they came to ask for help! I think the most frustrating thing is trying to figure out how best to express something, especially directions, in a way that will be understood when the level of English is low. I just wish I could speak in Rukwangali to them sometimes!

Today during English class it also seemed like a couple boys who normally don’t seem to be paying attention were trying to pay attention and get others to as well after I had stopped to help them with the task I assigned them to do on the back of their spelling tests (to draw a picture of something they do every day and to write the verb). I think they really like to be able to draw, many of them seemed happy. Of course I seem to have gotten a lot of “play netball” and “play soccer”! J With the spelling tests, I have also made it into a contest, and give them points for each word they get correct. I have the highest tests from each week on the wall, and a scoreboard, some of the learners like to go up and count their points. Though it is tedious to add the points, it seems to keep them interested, and I think should help them with listening skills for letter sounds.

I also had an interesting adventure with 7^th grade Natural Science and Health this week. On Wednesday, I assigned “dramas” or skits for them to do to show healthy and unhealthy relationships. I drew names to make partners and randomly assigned “scenarios”, slips to tell them if the relationship was healthy or unhealthy and a little guidance on what to do. The five girls in the class were all split up, and not happy. They sit together at one group of desks and then the boys are split between the other two. Only two boys were partnered together that sit next to each other, and the other two boys in the class that were together do not sit at the same table. No one seemed pleased. I made them get up and move a spot in the room to talk about what they were going to do, so they could perform their drama during study (from 3-4 Monday through Thursday after school) on Thursday, since we have a double block of science on Wednesday and no science on Thursday. Well the pairs barely looked at each other never mind talk. I gave them a half hour during study the next day to finish preparing, but it didn’t seem like anyone had talked. I decided to stick with the partners to have them practice working together. They now are to perform on Monday during study. We’ll see how it goes!

During study on some days I have the learners try to teach me words in Rukwangali. They always laugh when I try to say something in it and sometimes I think it grabs their attention if I use a word doing class. I think it’s good for them to see me too making mistakes and mispronouncing things but trying in hopes that they will get more comfortable taking more risks in English.

While I have no idea if I am actually doing an ok job at teaching, I do love it here. The learners really are great. It is great to see their face when they get something or get positive feedback, and they seem to like to have their good tests on the wall! And as daunting as “hiking” seemed before getting here, it seems totally normal now. Yesterday, I went into town to restock on some food and things and hiked from Bunya alone for the first time. My driver was a very nice man who said he was from Zimbabwe and his wife who is from the region. When I was coming home, they seemed to recognize me at the taxi spot to head “this side”, and knew I was going to Bunya, lucky enough a car was leaving right then!

Well, this has been quite a long and interesting week. My computer's harddrive has crashed and I am currently borrowing a computer for the internet, though I need to leave soon to get back to my house.

The many challenges of teaching Enlgish as a second language were very prevalent this week. Also, keeping order in the classroom proves to be a constant challenge!

I had a few long days this week, where it seemed nothing I did worked. I'm still trying to find a blance between teaching with the books and curriculum and finding the real Enlgish level of the students.

However, one morning this week on my way to school, I saw the prettiest sunrise I have ever seen and the river is still beautiful. As challenging as it is there is no where I would rather be, and nothing I can think that I would rather be doing as of now.

Hopefully next week goes a little smoother!

Well, it has been a crazy two weeks!

I survived my first week at Sivara having learned a lot and realizing there is much more to learn! My sixth grade class has 32 learners (the word they use for students here) of varying ages and skill levels. It is a challenge to try to measure their levels and how much they understand of different subjects, also in trying to find ways to keep them all engaged! The seventh grade class, to which I teach English and Natural science, has about 15 students.

It was a trying week, with lots of logistics to figure out as well as managing teaching. The school was still setting time tables for the classes and there were a few times when I had no idea what was supposed to happen next or when classes were supposed to end. I had a couple long days, as when I went into town with my principal to get my tax id at the end of the school day, and did not arrive back home until 6, because it started to rain while we were waiting for a ride, which delayed some of the traffic. I got to learn more about her though which was very nice. I also was finally able to manage to really fix my bike on Thursday. It had a tire that kept going flat even after they repaired it on Tuesday. On Thursday they replaced the rubber inner of the tire so that it would be less likely to develop holes.

Last weekend was very nice and relaxing. I walked around the mission on Saturday and met some of the nuns who live here and got to play netball with some of the girls who live at the mission to go to school at Bunya combined school just a bit down the road. On Sunday, I ventured into town again with my neighbor and another one of her friends in the Peace Corps for some shopping. Luckily, it did not rain on us and we were able to get a ride home with some people from the Bunya clinic easily, though we had to wait a while to get a ride going into town!

This past week, I tried to really delve into the books that I was provided with for the subjects I am teaching, however, I’m finding that I really need to adjust to work with the different levels of English in the classes. I attempted some “stations” for group work one day in the sixth grade, so that we could do the reading in smaller groups together, but quickly learned that that will take a lot more practice, and bigger groups with smaller numbers, as I do not think anyone did any of the activities at the stations. It was definitely too complex! I had a few rough days last week I am definitely learning as I go and hopefully this week will be even better than the last.

At the end of last week, I also went to a workshop for teachers teaching Basic Information Science (BIS), which I am teaching to grades 5-7 once a week. It is like a library class and the work shop was basically on setting up, organizing, and using a library. It was kind of like a review of elementary school library class, with some extra information on keeping records of and obtaining books. One of our moderators was also veeerrry enthusiastic about the subject. I did not know someone could muster so much enthusiasm about fiction and non-fiction books!

After the workshop ended, some of the teachers were staying at the venue until the next day because the rooms were booked until then.  I decided to stay with them, partly because I was very confused as to what rides were leaving when and a lot of the details were given sparingly or in Rukwangali, and partly because I thought it would be nice to get to know some other teachers in the area, and maybe try to pick up some Rukwangali. I spent much of the day very confused as to what was going on, which is usual for me J. We did get to take a boat ride in the Kavango River, where we could actually see the houses and people in Angola.  Our moderators also took us to the Rundu library for us to see. It was nice to be able to see what kinds of books they have and what they were working with. Later, they did teach me a few phrases I should know while with them in Rukwangali and I got to learn a little bit more of some of the teachers in the area.

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!