Rule #16: Always have an up-to-date family tree.

The past two weekends have been very nice low-key weekends in the village. Two weeks ago I went to Town for one day to go out to dinner with Jen and have a much-needed Rundu day, and then returned on Saturday to have a lovely evening with Mita. We were going to just relax and watch a movie when Ms. Gases, a member of Kanjimi Management, invited us over for her birthday celebration. We ate Dahmara porridge and another teacher attempted to teach Mita and I traditional African dance. Though the steps were pretty basic, I don’t think I mastered them that well. It was great to hang out with some of the teachers on a more social setting and enjoy everything that our little villages have to offer.

This past weekend, however, was much more exciting. During the last period on Friday I stepped out of my store room to see all of the chair outside of the classrooms. Befuddled by this, I asked Mr Gabriel (the principle), what was going on, and he informed me that the daughter Mr. Katewa (another teacher at Sitopogo CS) was getting married this weekend in the village, the chairs were all for the wedding. That’s a lot of chairs for a wedding, but Mr Gabriel said that there would be tons of people coming, and though I didn’t get a straight out invitation, I knew I would be crashing this wedding. How often do you get the opportunity to crash a village wedding? Plus Mita and I decided it was truly “Namibian” of us to invite ourselves.

On Saturday afternoon Mita and I dressed in our wedding party attire and headed across the almost tarred road (that’s right the tar road is now 5K away from Sitopogo!!) to the wedding. Friday afternoon I had seen everyone pitching a huge tent in the homestead* across the street, and figured that’s probably the place. When we entered everyone was there. I mean EVERYONE. The homestead was packed. The entire village was crammed in, whether they were sitting around the outskirts on the ground or packed into the chairs around the MC. My teachers were everywhere. Mr Katewa and Mr Sivera were at the head table with the bride and groom. Ms Nangola was a brides maid; Mr Gabriel and Mr Sivera were at another table, and Mr Hamusira was the DJ. I sat with Mita and Ms Mujohn in the “audience” while the MC did his business. (side note: the night before I met the MC and he told me I was his first pick. Though it was a lame pick up line it made me really miss oc rhinos, because hell I am first pick!!) Eventually the reception really got underway and we were served a real Namibian meal (meat, rice, pasta, and potato salad with lots of ketchup). After dinner each church performed a different dance, and then we all got to dance. I didn’t stay a horribly long time, but it was quite a night!

*For those of you who aren’t familiar with African housing styles, a homestead in Kavango refers to a group of huts that are grouped together. Usually a very extended family will live in one homestead: mother, father, aunts, uncles, cousins etc. It was my first time in a homestead, and I am very lucky to have had that experience.

Exam Success!!

Last Monday grade 10 finally faced the Junior Secondary Exam in Mathematics. I don’t know who was more nervous, me or my learners. Sunday evening I baked as much banana bread as I could possibly handled and added peanuts and raisins so that each learner could have at least something nutrious in their bellies before embarking upon 4 hours of sequences, trigonometry, and word problems. The bread was a hit and hopefully put the learners in a more positive mood. When everyone finished with paper 1 they came rushing to my store room with tons of questions. But rather than frowns and faces of disappointment all of the learners seemed extremely upbeat and as I walked through each problem there were a good number of cheers.

At the end of the day I talked to as many grade 10s as I could and everyone seemed to be really happy with the exam, and after looking through the test I can understand why; Term 3 was a much easier exam than Term 2. It made me so happy and proud that my learners left their math exam feeling confident. Even if they didn’t score As, Bs, or Cs, they walked away from school with their heads held hi and confident of their math skills, rather than feeling defeated by the system. And really, isn’t that what teaching is all about, making helping my learners build confidence?

Do You Remember? Dancing in September?

In case you missed the reference I was just quoting the greatest wedding band song of all time. “September” by Earth Wind and Fire. Great song, it’s impossible to sit during that song; you just have to move.

Unfortunately, September in Namibia wasn’t as catchy and upbeat as the song, and in fact it was the hardest month I have faced thus far in Kavango. Joci warned us that term three can be really difficult for volunteers, and it’s very common to get homesick. I went into the month knowing that and preparing for some quality time in the village.

When I returned to Sitopogo on September 6, I was happy to be home. It was nice to stop living out of my backpack and get ready for what I knew would be kick ass term. I started making my various lists, lesson planning, calendaring, and all those various organized things someone does during the beginning of a new semester. My compulsive list making lasted a good two weeks before I reverted my normal lesson planning schedule, and teaching go in the way.

My teaching schedule during the month of September was hectic. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but hell I’ll boast again about my teaching schedule. Every day I taught 6 out of 8 periods; I started 7AM and didn’t have a break until 11:30. The schedule was definitely a mixed bag. The pros were it forced me to be very organized and prepared for my classes, and I got to see every class every day at the same time. That amount of structure is wonderful for my ADD self. The cons were that I was in my store room every night till at least 10 PM planning for the next day, and when I finally finished teaching for the day all I could do was stare off for the last two periods.

During those crazy weeks I was really working my ass off, and despite the exhaution, I loved doing my work. It was fun to be in my store room coming up with statistics games or creative ways to understand Algebra (my favorite lesson was when I made my learners in 9A act out an algebra equation in which I was the equal sign). Not many of my lessons succeeded as much as I would like, but at least they kept the learners entertained and a few of them really started to understand. (funny side note. Grade 8 9 & 10 have a really difficult time with Algebra, and while I was teaching it I was also reading a book in which the narrator would often vent about how difficult and useless Algebra was. It was comforting to know that learners everywhere hate Algebra not just Sitopogo Comined). I even have one learner, Olavi in 9B, who now comes to me asking for extra homework, but we’ll talk about him in a later post.

The hardest times in September surrounded grade 10. Though I finally felt like my lessons were making sense and I was connecting with the learners, Term 3 is really stressful for them, and the teachers. There is tons of paperwork and various things to get in order before their exams start during the beginning of October.

Two weeks into the term I was informed that all my marks for grade 10 were due by the end of the day. I thought, great I have all marks for term 1 & 2 done; all I have to do is copy them, but no, they wanted ALL marks including term 3, which had only just begun. I flipped out and got really stressed, because I had only collected their books once since the beginning of the term. I, insanely, thought I could test them more throughout the term. My colleagues, however were helpful and understanding, and after some alone time in my store room, Hakusemebe (the roommate and HOD) helped me fill in all the required paperwork. We had a few good laughs and got through it. It was also great to hear that both Mita and Jen were freaking out about the marks too. We were all taken off guard. I sound calm now, but during that week I was very seriously contemplating jumping on the next plane back to the states. I felt completely lost and that I wasn’t doing my job.

The other “highlight” of September was the parent teacher meeting with grade 10 parents. Now that was a FUN day. All the parents gathered at school to air their grievances about the exam results and teacher activity. The parents chose two subjects to focus their anger: Life Science and Maths. Pretty much all of Grade 10 failed the Maths Exam, and the parents weren’t too happy. They blamed my contract and me for their kids failings, but that’s when Mr Gabriel (the best principal ever) stepped in. After I responded to the parents (Mr. Julius had to translate into Rukwangali) Mr Gabriel took the floor and told all the parents that I was the hardest working teacher at the school. He said that I am always the last one to leave the school and you can see me from far away with my torch going to and from my store room every night. He reminded them, that I have only been teaching them for a few months and their math exams cover a few years. It felt so validating to have my principal’s support, however being talked about in a completely foreign language for a few hours was not that great for my ego. It’s a very odd experience to be sitting infront of a large group of people and know that they are talking about you, and I couldn’t understand a single word. I was not a happy camper after that meeting, but I still worked, maybe even harder. I decided there that the parents could vent all they want about me, but there is no way they would be able to say I didn’t work hard.

But September wasn’t all bad. I finally ran past Kahenge which is about a 15-20K run, which felt fantastic. I also made Challah for Rosh Hashannah and Jen came in to visit for a weekend. Overall September was definitely the hardest month, but in some ways it’s good it was so hard. I was able to do a lot of reflecting and look at how much I love my people at home, and what an incredible life I have.

Everything's Better That Side

So way back at the end of August and beginning of September I went on that trip to Zimbabwe and Botswana (remember?). Well the trip was such a great way to relax and bond with Mita and Jen. The highlights in Zim were the falls, of course, and the Spanish tour guides.

On our second to last night at our rest camp I was in the restaurant having a beer and reading The Book Thief (which constantly reminded me of Syd!!) when a group of Spanish tour guides decided to sit with me. They were a HOOT!!! So much fun. I instantly stopped reading when they made me sing happy birthday and insisted that I join in all of their various other songs. My favorite: Mae is in love she’s always on the phone (I still get that damn tune stuck in my head every now and then). Eventually Mita and Jen made their way over to our table and we all had a grand evening. They were all celebrating being done with their overland tours and having a few days for holiday and were staying at the same rest camp as us. We ended up hanging out during the rest of our trip in Zim. I had so much fun with them and hopefully we’ll meet up again before I leave the continent.

I know all you care about is my social life in Namibia, so I shouldn’t even bother with talking about the falls…just kidding. Vic falls are INCREDIBLE, and if anyone ever makes it over to Africa to see them; you really must go to the Zim side. Zambia is just nothing in comparison. It was the dry season during my visit, so the falls weren’t as massive as they get during November-January, but still…WOW! We could hear the falls all the way from our rest camp, but it wasn’t until we actually made it into the park that we could begin to see their beauty. Actually you felt the falls way before you saw them. The mist from the falls hit Jen Mita and I as we entered the park and made our way to what they call cataract peak, but we finally saw it, and I was speechless. There is no way I can possibly describe it; so I guess you’ll have to wait for the photos…sorry!

On to Botswana!! We got a hike out of Zim at 5am for another exciting day of traveling. The hike to the boarder was so amazing. There we were in a small sedan driving through Zim, still pitch black because it was too early, and what do we see but a baby elephant!!! That’s not all a few kilometers later we saw….wait for it…a LION!!! Proof that the best trips aren’t huge safaris or planned extravaganzas, but random hikes you take with your friends. Once we crossed the boarder we needed to get a hike to Maun which wasn’t an easy thing, but luckily we got a free hike with a very nice South African and were on our way to the Okavango Delta.

We didn’t stay long in Maun, just enough time to get some good food and book our Makoro tour. Makoros are the hallowed tree canoes that are used to traverse the delta. Jen and I decided we wanted to do a three day two night trip and Mita would come along for one night. Our guides for the trip were Bess (a dude) and Saul. They took us along with our cook, Steven, through the delta and to our camp which felt miles away from civilization, even though the closest other campers where a few meters away.

Over the next two days we went on various game walks taking in the beautiful sunrises, sunsets and walking amongst the wildbeasts, zebras, giraffes, and elephants. It was so different than any other “safari” like trip I hade been on. We didn’t get to see the animals extremely close up, but as if we were walking with them; we were sharing the same environment, rather then encroaching upon their territory. I felt very lucky. The Okavango Delta is starting to turn into more of a tourist hot bed, which is great for the economy of Botswana, but I fear the serenity I felt while walking with the animals might not be there for too long. Which means you need to go there NOW!

So that was my trip. Once we finished the Mokoro trip; Jen and I hike backed to Jen’s place in Divundu and then I went back to Sitopogo the next day. I was sad to say good-bye to my holiday, but all that sadness and stress left when I pulled into my little concrete house. There is something so special about being in the middle of no where. I know I will never have an experience like this again (at least that’s what I tell myself when I’m homesick or seriously missing It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.). I know there’s a lot more to catch up on but that will have to do for now. Till next time. Ame Nakumesah.

Back on the Blogging Game

OK I’m back and I will try to be better. Please note the word TRY; I’m not making any promises but things should be better. Grade 10 finally had their math exam on Monday so I am down to teaching four classes a day, and though the heat gets exhausting, I will make some time to write about life here in Stop and Go!