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!

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