Another year older

        I had my first birthday in Namibia on the 13th.  It was kind of a big deal for me because it was the first time I wasn't able to celebrate with my family.  With my sitemate gone to visit another volunteer it was up to me to make the best of my day.  I started it off by waking up and reading for about an hour.  After an exhaustive Insanity workout I bathed and went on my way to find me a good lunch.          
          My town was hosting a soccer/ netball tournament so there were a lot of extra people in town that weekend.  Of course that meant more opportunities for me to be harassed.  I got the usual calls of " I love you", "Hey baby" and " I want to marry you" as well as an extra call of "Princess".  After navigating the seas of men of who need to learn to keep it in their pants I went to one of the few restaurants in town for a good lunch of fish and some kick ass chips ( seriously the best chips I've had in Namibia...no joke).

Netball practice

       After eating a really good lunch and shooing off someone asking for food by constantly reaching for the food on my plate I went over to watch the tournaments for a bit.  I watched a game played by teenagers and the skill level that they showed was astonishing.  The goalie made some unbelievable saves and in the end the score was 1-0.  I went to the netball court to watch some netball but the teams were only warming up.  It was still interesting because this was the first time that I've seen a netball uniform.  Netball, for those of you who haven't already read about it, is a sport played only by females.  The court is similar to a basketball court but smaller in size.  The object is to score as many baskets as you can.  Of course it is much harder than basketball because there is no back board for you to bounce the ball off of, there is only a hoop made of wire attached to a pole.  The players wear a uniform similar in style to female tennis players.  When playing you can't move when you have the ball, it is similar to ultimate frisbee.  I can't recall how many players are on the court at one time but it's either 5 or more.

A time out during the game

     Once I had my fill of soccer and sun I went back home and prepared for some awesome conversations with the family and the boyfriend.  I started by facetiming the family.  It was taking a really long time for them to answer my call so I was afraid that they weren't ready or I had messed up with the times.  I was greeted with a piece of cake? with a lit candle and my family singing happy birthday to me.  It was honestly one of the sweetest moments ever.  I kept tearing up and I had a hard time hiding the fact that I was crying a little bit.  It was really perfect because I had been feeling slightly depressed about not being home for the holidays or for my birthday.  I got to talk to my dad which was really nice, whenever I facetime home he is usually at work.  It was nice catching up with them and hearing the latest gossip and family happenings ( my little sister started in her first basketball game!! woot woot!!).  When I logged onto facebook I noticed I had a video of everyone at my parents christmas party (that happened on my birthday as well) singing me happy birthday.  It was really awesome and I really appreciated it.

Cows chilling by my school

Some fans at the game

     I finished my conversation with them and then proceeded to facetime my boyfriend.  Seeing his face and hearing his voice always makes my day and after talking to my family talking to him was the cherry on top!  We had a great and lengthy conversation.  I love talking to him, and we never run of things to say.  I really appreciate having someone like him in my life.  There are some people whose support is one of the only things keeping me here and sane.  Among them are my family and him.
    Overall it was a great day.  Sure I may not have been able to celebrate it like I normally do, but this birthday will definitely be one I remember.  As for future endeavors....I got my timetable for next year. I will be teaching 9th grade math, 9th grade english, and 11th grade computers.  I really look forward to start teaching even though in the beginning I will have no idea of what to do.  I just painted one of the walls in my flat with chalk board paint.  Since the wall has the door way in it I intend to turn one side into a to do/ grocery list, and the other into inspirational/ favorite quotes.  I am also hoping to expand my household in January.  I recently spoke with a pet store that will be selling kittens and have put my name down to become an owner.  I'm hoping to pick up a male kitten in January.

Typical houses in town

 

Theft and Turkey

I know it has been a while since I posted, but to be fair nothing really exciting has happened in between the previous post and this one.
     Last week I had Reconnect.  Reconnect is a Peace Corps. conference with the purpose of talking about our experiences at site so far and providing us with sessions about what to expect in the upcoming months.  I left on Nov 14 with my site mate Brittany and headed to our shopping town Gobabis. We spent the night at a fellow PCV's flat there and headed back to Okahandja on Saturday. I spent the night with Brittany's host family from training.  They were really nice.  She has a ton of host siblings and they were so welcoming.  Within an hour I had the younger ones cuddling me as we watched TV and the older ones asking me questions about myself. Her host mom and dad were so nice to let me stay (especially since they found out we were coming the night before) and didn't ask me why I wasn't staying with my old host family.  I spent that night watching TV and chatting with the family.  I got up to date on the soapies and was able to sleep in the next day.

the kick ass room

    Sunday we left for Windhoek with 2 other PCV's from our group.  Once we got into the car we realized that neither the driver or the PCV's (including myself) knew how to get to Greiter's Lodge, the location of our conference.  Well you can imagine the slight anxiety we all felt.  So we used our network of people to get the lodge's phone number so that we could get directions.  I texted my awesome APCD Waldo, Brittany texted a PCV with internet and between all of us in the car we got the number.  We got directions and began our journey.  I knew the lodge was isolated from PCVs who had been there before but I didn't really register the meaning of isolated until we turned onto a dirt road that seemed to lead straight into the mountains.  The poor car had to go up and down so many times that I was afraid we'd run out of gas.  There were many times when I thought the car wouldn't make it, but it always managed to putt on.  Then we came to a part of the road that was tar and finally the car decided it had enough.  No amount of begging, pleading, or pushing could convince this car to continue on.  So the four of us got out of the car, paid the driver and continued on foot.  It was about a 15 minute hike up a very steep part of the hill and then a 10 minute walk up a flat ish part to the lodge.  However I had my huge hiking back pack on so every journey seemed to last forever.  We were the first group to arrive at the lodge so we got to choose our room.  I took one of the single rooms.  My room had a beautiful view of the mountains, a huge bed, an awesome shower with hot water, a hot water boiler, and tea!

the view from the lodge

            The lodge was really nice and I loved seeing everyone again BUT the sessions we went through were bogus! Everyday Monday through Thursday ( got ended early, read on to find out why) was about best practices on teaching.  Now for those of you who don't know what best practices are, it is exactly what it sounds like.  We talked about ways to teach a multileveled classroom, how to manage a classroom, etc.  While these are very important topics, everything said during those sessions was said during training.  So why did we have to go over them again?  There was one session that was actually interesting.  That was the session on grant writing.  I'm hoping to renovate the soccer field by my school and in order to do that I'm going to need money so grant writing will be in my future.  Along with the sessions we had language classes everyday.  I did learn some useful things during those classes, like how to say that thing over there, or this child, etc.

the conference room

        The best parts of the conference was the food, which was amazing, and the down time after sessions to hang out with people and catch up.  The worst part was that 3 people were robbed and another 2 had their rooms broken into.  The first time it happened was when a PCV was taking a shower and left the door unlocked for his roommate. Someone came in and stole two backpacks that had laptops in both.  Thankfully only one wallet was stolen.  Then it happened again...but this time two people left the door unlocked but were sitting on the bed talking.  The guy (probably the same guy) came in, dropped the two rocks he was carrying, grabbed a back pack and ran.  He was chased through the lodge area and ran into the bush around the lodge.  After the first time it happened "extra" security men were added to the roster but they clearly did nothing since it happened again.  And before the guy went into the room with the people talking he broke into another room and had to be chased out.  Needless Peace Corps. was not happy about what happened and on Thursday we were all sent home.  The lodge's insurance supposedly covered the stolen items, but I'm not too sure about that.  One of the wallets was recovered, and everything but the cash was intact.

a beautiful sunset

some of the thanksgiving group

After leaving Reconnect on Thursday we headed back to Gobabis to prepare for an epic Thanksgiving meal. A lot of people came.  We had 7 from my group (Group  40), 3 from group 39, 1 from group 38, 2 from group 35, and 3 locals.  Cooking happened from 9 in the morning Saturday until 5 pm.  We had a real turkey (small, expensive, but so worth it!), apple pie, strawberry/peach pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cream of spinach, chicken, mac and cheese, guacamole and chips, and soda.  It was a lot of fun getting to know new people and eating.  I was also able to buy some stuff that I needed for my flat.  Or rather I bought a ton of stuff, some of it needed and some of it not.

Turkey!

       Being back at site is a little weird.  I miss being with Americans and not sticking out.  However school ends for the learners today, so it will be quiet at the hostel until the new year starts.  I still haven't finalized exactly what I'm teaching but I need to do that soon so that I can start with my lesson plans and what not.  Last night I saw a mouse in my room.  Never having dealt with that before I was a bit anxious and clueless about what to do. BUT since several PCV's have a puppy I'm considering buying a cat.  I just need to make sure that I'm actually allowed to have one.

My plate!

3 months gone in a blink

It's strange to think that I've been in Namibia for over 3 months.  So I figured I would talk a little about my what my life has been like through lists.

  Things I can't believe:

            I'm in Africa

           That it's just starting to be summer here

           There could be this much sand

           Thorns could go through your shoe

           Red meat is really cheap

           Chicken is expensive

Things I love

            The people

            The weather

            That I'm in Africa

            The resources my school has

             How curious everyone is about why I am here

             The bread

Things I dislike

             The constant, tiring marriage proposals

             The bugs

             The assumption that I speak Africaans

             All of the down time I have right now before teaching in January

             Fellow Co-worker actions

Things I've done

             Eaten goat face

             Jumped off a dam

             Moved to a new place

             Learned (more like learning) a new language

             hitch hike to my shopping town and back

Things I want to do

            Go sand boarding

            Start a computer lab

            Go to traditional events

            Join Peace Corps. committees

            Have American holiday parties when I teach

            Start a pen pal system with an American school

           Start a girls club

           Adjust my schools punishment system

Places I want to visit

           Cape Town

            The beach in Cape Town where I can swim with penguins

            Caprivi Region

           Etosha National Park

           Swakomund

           Zanzibar or Madagascar

           Victoria Falls (again)

           Chobe National Park (again)

Things I miss

           Chinese Food 

           Cook Out

           Lemonade

          Washing machines and dryers

           Running hot water

           Cable

           Seeing movies at movie theaters

Things that are surprisingly difficult to buy in town

            Tomatoes

            Cheese (can't buy it at all in town)

            Peppers

            Fruit

            Water

Things I do in my free time

             Read

            Watch movies/ TV on my laptop

             Work out 

             Make friendship bracelets

             Cook

            Walk to the store

My life here is good.  I'm slowly making this place feel like home.

  

           

      

Walking around naked...except not really (aka my flat)

So on Friday I moved into my flat.  My bedroom is really simple.  There is a table and 1 chair, a bed, and a wardrobe.  Since my kitchen doesn't have any shelves or anywhere to put my food, I use half of my wardrobe for my food and cooking stuff.
         The kitchen is small too.  There's a sink, a fridge and a hot plate.  A hot plate is just the top part of a stove and many people use a hot plate in place of a stove and oven.  My kitchen is also the happening spot for all the local bugs.  At nights they are everywhere.  It's usually cock roaches (they're not nearly as big as the ones in the states) and some really small bugs.  But I avoid them none the less.

My bathroom

       My bathroom is split into two parts.  The toilet (missing a seat) is in one room and the bath tub and sink is in the other.  Since my bathtub has neither a shower head or hot water I take bucket baths.  What that entails is turning on the faucet scooping up the water with my hands and pouring it down my body.  I have a bucket that I could fill up and dump on me that way, but I don't have a shower curtain so I don't use it in order to control the water.  Once my body is all wet I wash my hair first and run it under the faucet to rinse it out.  Then I wash the rest of me.  All of this is done standing up with my hair in a bun (after it was washed) to prevent it from dripping on me.  I usually use cold water because it takes a while for me to heat up water and it's usually pretty hot so the cold water is refreshing.

My bedroom

     The  kids here are all very curious about me and my flat.  If I leave my door unlocked they will knock.  If I don't answer they will walk in.  I have been making them go back outside, knock and then wait for me to answer in order to help them understand how I want my space to be treated.  But once in they are mainly just interested in how it is set up.  They'll watch whatever I am doing and then leave.  I had many people come and greet me while here.
    It is loud by my flat.  My flat is in the middle of the 8th grade girls' blocks so they usually hang out around my windows.  I'm a really light sleeper so I'm going to have to get used to all of the noise.

The kitchen

    I am very excited to be living on my own.  It means that I have to cook (or rather learn to cook), but I like being in charge of what I do, where and when.  I am close enough to the school that I can usually get some wifi during the day to check my mail and talk to people.  However, the wifi isn't strong enough for my ipod to pick it up so I can't use apps like facetime or viber.  But once at school I can use those.   I was given permission to paint my flat so the next time I am in Gobabis I am going to pick up some chalk board paint and maybe another color as well.  

my picture wall

     I have been very bored during school.  We're not suppose to teach during this time which limits the things that can fill up my time. I have explored my school quite well and spent a decent time in the library.  I really like my school library. It has a lot of technical books ( even a discreet math book!) but is lacking in the fiction department. So I'm going to try to get some more fiction books.

Another picture of my kitchen

Homecoming...ish (aka moving to my site)

So I know it's been a while since I posted but I have been trying to figure out a schedule and make time to actually post.  Since I swore in on Sept 25 I have been busy...kind of.

Me and all the stuff

         That Friday Brittany and her supervisor as well as me went to Gobabis which is my shopping town.  We were suppose to stay there until the next Tuesday, but we actually stayed until Wednesday.  We stayed with Brittany's supervisor and simply lounged around. I did some serious shopping and bought almost everything I thought I would need for my flat.  Also while in Gobabis I got to explore the Ministry of Education there and got to meet the Director there (the head person for my region).   Gobabis has one major street, but has a lot of shops.  I was very happy to see a Mr.Price (a cheap clothes store), and a Wimpy (restaurant).  There are multiple grocery stores, and china shops.  There are a lot of languages spoke there.  I heard Otjiherero, Africaans, KKG, and a little Oshiwambo.  There are a lot of different tribes represented in that one town which is pretty cool.

My school

           On Wednesday we piled multiple suitcases, 2 hiking back packs, 2 green trunks, a ton of shopping bags, and ourselves into the back of a closed pick up truck and took the 1 hour journey to Otjinene.  The journey wasn't unpleasant because we had a mattress to sit on, and there is a tar road that leads to Otjinene. In order to properly picture Otjinene, think of the smallest town you know, and then divide it into 4ths.  That is Otjinene.  All the roads are sand, and there is one fuel station.  There is a store where you can buy necessities like cool drink (sodas), bread, milk, eggs, canned foods, toilet paper and what not.  There is a butcher shop where you can buy meat, and a bakery.  There are 2 take away places, and 1 china shop (to my pleasure).  There is a standard bank ATM, and even a small post office.  There are 3 schools here, which I think is a bit unnecessary.  There is a primary school (grades 1-5) a combined school (1-7) and 1 secondary school (8-10, soon to be 8-11).  Brittany the other volunteer in my town will be working at the primary school and I am at the secondary school.  Omaheke is considered cattle country and so there are cows EVERYWHERE, just kind of roaming.  Everyone here is very nice and always curious about who I am and what I am doing here.  I thought that me being here wouldn't be too big of a shock since they had a volunteer that left last year, but I was wrong.

Donkey pulled cart

         I have been staying with a host family for a few days until my flat at my school is ready for me.  I am actually hoping to move in today.  The house is small.  There are 3 bedrooms, and only one has a working light.  There is 1 light in the rest of the house that is in the kitchen.  There is one sink in the house that  doesn't work.  The family is really nice and I have already learned 2 new card games from the kids.

One of the classroom blocks at schoo

One of the classes. The kids "needed" a picture

        My first day I went to the car wash with my host mom.  A car wash and hair salon are 2 of the most common businesses you can find in a town  because they don't need a lot of space.  While there I met a lot of the community.  I have never been called "white person" as much in my life as I have in that first day.  People would tell there friends to "come meet the white person".  Of course this was all said in Otjiherero so they didn't know that I understood what was being said. At first people see me and assume that I speak Africaans.  They would ask me how I was, and I'd respond in Africaans ( greetings are pretty much all I know in that language), and then I'd have to switch over to English. To that extent I have been using my language everyday while here.  Usually just to greet people, but I have slowly been integrating phrases and words that I learned.  Everyone is generally amazed and happy that I know even a tiny bit of Otjiherero.  My listening skills have increased ten fold because of all the eavesdropping that I have been doing.

The only fuel station in town

      My school is nice.  All of the buildings are green and white.  The school is set up into blocks and all of the classrooms lead to outside.  There is a computer lab with 30 laptops, a home ec. classroom, an science lab, and a library. I was told that my school was the 2nd best school in Omaheke last year so that would explain the renovation that was done then.  The hostel is right next to the school and hosts most of the students.  Each room has 4-6 bunk beds where the learners sleep and 1-2 dressers.  A bunch of the windows are broken so I'm sure it gets cold at nights.  All of the learners were very excited to find out that I would be teaching, however they were disappointed when I said I would only be teaching come January.

my town under construction

      My flat has a kitchen that leads directly into my bedroom. I am going to put up a curtain because there is no door between the two.  My kitchen has a sink, a fridge, and either a hotplate (top part of a stove) or an actual stove (still working those logistics out), and racks that looks like it could hold shelves.  The bathroom is right next to the kitchen and has a bathtub and sink in one room and the toilet in the other.  My bedroom has a bed and a wardrobe.  I am hoping to find a table that I can use as a desk.  All of the walls in my flat are cement.  It is small but will work perfectly.
   All and all I like Otjinene. I think it should a good place for me to stay in.  There is not much to do but I am sure I will find ways to entertain myself.
               

   

Goodbyes...for now (aka Swearing in)

        Tuesday and Wednesday we had a supervisor workshop. Pretty much every supervisor and volunteer met and then attended workshops that focused on roles, expectations, and what Peace Corps is.  My supervisor did not show up.  BUT my friend Brittany's supervisor did show up and she is the principal of the primary school of my town so she was able to give me some information about my school.  For example, my school has just been renovated and has a nice computer lab.  My school is relatively small (around 400 kids) and there are no more than 15 teachers. I will be able to move into my small flat by the hostel and I'm going to have to buy everything for my apartment.  However a few of the workshops focused on discussing in private the role of the volunteer including what classes they'll be teaching and what not.  So unfortunately I wasn't able to discuss that with my supervisor.
      Today we swore in as volunteers.  I borrowed a traditional Herero dress from one of my host mom's friends.  It was a bit tight around the chest and I couldn't quite snap myself without help (my chest got in the way of seeing where it was suppose to snap into) and my host sibling helped me.  I wore a single petty coat underneath the dress.  My host mom went on to say that she usually wore 6 underneath her dresses.  The dress was then completed with a belt and the tradition hat that refused to stay on my head.  It was really emotional taking pictures with my host family because this was one of the last things we would do together.  As I walked to the center where the ceremony would take place in I got a lot of comments and looks.  I think most people were just really surprised to see a white girl in a Herero dress.
   The ceremony started at 10 ish (good ole African time).  The youth choir sang in the beginning and then we walked down the aisle to our seats.  It was a lot like graduation except I was in a huge dress.  The ceremony started off with the singing of the national anthems.  We sang the Namibian one first (the recording was a lot faster than we were singing), then the African Union one, and lastly the American one.  Our group was introduced by a training staff member.  We then watched this really awesome video that showed what our PST life had been like.  Our training director then gave opening remarks and asked the Country Director to accept the 47 trainees who had completed their training to swear in.  Then our Country Director "accepted" us and gave a really great speech about how we define ourselves.  She spoke about how she doesn't know us all individually but she knows we're "adventurous, selfless, courageous" and a whole lot other words.  She talked about how she felt like our surrogate mother and how she was really proud of us.  She then passed it off to a special guest the acting ambassador for the U.S.A who then gave a speech.  Then we said two oaths.  One was saying we would serve the U.S.A and the next pretty much saying that we would serve as a volunteer.  After this a business guy gave a rather dull speech about the importance of volunteers in Namibia.  A youth choir then sang a really cool song.  Then each language group presented something.  Africaans and my language both gave a speech (my friend adam gave the otjiherero speech).  The Kavango region did a dance.  The Oshiwambos sang.  And the KKG's and Zambezi's said a poem.  After this the national anthems were sung again in reverse order.
    I can't believe that I am finally a volunteer. I am really excited to begin my service.  I can not wait to meet my students and get started.  The next few months are considered phase 2.  Pretty much we will be observing classes, getting to know our schools and communities, and working on integrating.  Then in December we all meet up for a conference known as "Reconnect" where we talk about phase 2.  FINALLY in January (the beginning of the school year) I start teaching.

My host family and little neighbor

My friend Rachel and I 

The 3 out of 4 of us Herero women wearing our dresses

The people I walk to training and back everyday with.

Improvised pizza (aka American culture day and other stuff)

     I know it's been a while since I've posted. In all honesty nothing eventful has really happened and I don't feel like writing about the boring stuff.
     Last Saturday we went to a dam near by for a Braai (BBQ) and to go swimming.  It was a lot of fun to just relax and eat some food. I ended up swimming to this little island and back.  After lunch a bunch of us went and jumped of the dam (about 40 feet).  It was a lot of fun. I only did the 40 foot jump twice but I ended up jumping from a smaller height quite a few times.  In order to jump of the dam we had  to climb over the railing and turn around.  This was the scariest part for me.  After a while we gained a crowd of people on motor boats and kayaks.  The water was cold, refreshingly so, and really really gross.  But in the end it was totally worth it because it was so much fun.
    On Thursday we had our final LPI (Language Proficiency Interview).  I needed to get an Intermediate Low in order to pass.  Pretty much I sat down with a qualified tester (which just so happened to be our language coordinator) and tried my best to talk in my language for at least 15 minutes.  I did pretty well. I was able to convey that I liked to read fiction and I very briefly explained what my favorite book was about ( it's about a woman hero who does magic).  I also spoke about where I wanted to travel to in Namibia and why I wanted to go to Etosha (to see the animals). In the end I got a Intermediate Mid+ (what the + means I have no idea).  I will be retested during Reconnect ( December) and I will be expected to go up a level.
  Then on Friday we went to Windhoek and got a tour of the Peace Corps. offices.  We were suppose to take a bus but the bus driver never showed up with the bus.  So we ended up taking multiple combis and some people even had to jump into taxis.  In the end we all got there.  The office tour was interesting because we got to see where all the behind the scenes work  happens.  We also got to see the volunteer flats.  There are 2 rooms with 2 beds each in it.  If I was to ever get sick and have to go to Windhoek for a medical reason that is where I would stay.  From there we went to the mall to buy stuff for our sites.  However, we were discouraged from buying too much because in the end that is more stuff that we need to bring.  I bought some electronics there but nothing for my future apartment. I anticipate that we will be stopping in my shopping town on my way to my site so I will buy most of my things there.
  Today (Saturday) we had the American culture day.  We divide into different regions, mine was the north east, and each region made different foods.  We made pizza and chili dogs.  We cooked our pizza out on the grill.  In the beginning we didn't know how to cook the pizza because the dough was falling through the grates.  Eventually we used tin foil with a disgusting amount of oil on it.  The pizzas turned out alright (we even made 2 pan pizzas!), and then we made the chili dogs.  The pizza sauce and chili was all pre-made so all we had to do was heat them up.  The south region made peach cobbler, sweet tea and something else that I can't remember.  One group made nachos, another did gumbo and rice.  We didn't have a lot of people come to this which I thought was surprising. I thought more people would want to come to the American culture day than the Namibian one.  Each language also had to give a speech. I ended up doing the one for Otjiherero. I did pretty well, but I was a bit nervous so I stumbled over some of the words.  At the end of this event it became an American hang out.  We played American music and just danced around.

Me giving my speech

The North East Table

Our lovely braai pizza

New People and New Places (aka shadowing)

      Wednesday morning I left with 3 others to Otjiwarongo for shadowing.  We met at the training center and were scheduled to leave at 8 am.  Well, that didn't really happen and we only left around 10:30, but hey  we're on  Africa time as they call it here.  There were 6 of us traveling together so we took 2 cars.  We rode with some guy that our trainers knew and this was our first taste of hitch hiking.  I rode with 2 other girls in a tiny car that already had 2 other hikers.  It was about a hour and a half hour drive to Otjiwarongo. It's more north than Okahandja and a lot bigger. Otjiwarongo has around 30,000 people (according to the census but the people I stayed with said it was probably closer to 80,000).  My first impression of Otjiwarongo was that it was really pretty.  There was grass (grass!!!!!!!) along the side walks and there was a beautiful church.  We pulled up to a gas station where we got out and paid our driver $150 Nam.  From there I met up with the people in the other car and waited for the people we were staying with to pick us up.  Oskar and I were shadowing a young married couple Julia and Trent.  They're both volunteers and have been there for around a year.  They have amazing stories.  Before they joined the Peace Corps. they taught English in Korea.  They're both really nice and I am really glad I got to stay with them.  2 other trainees Scott and Ben were suppose to be staying with a volunteer Steve but since Steve's place is tiny (smaller than a UNCC suite!) and Steve lives near Julia and Trent, Ben and Scott stayed with Julia and Trent as well.

      Julia and Trent are both teachers and live in a teachers flat that is an extension of the hostel that the kids stay in.  Julia teaches 5th graders and Trent teaches 8-10. Julia's school is yards away from her place.  Most of the kids that go to her school stay at the hostel that is attached to it.  This means that there are kids outside screaming and playing at all times.  Trent's school is about a 25 minute walk away.

    The flat that I stayed at was really big in comparison to what I imagine most teacher flats to be.  The flat had a living room that consisted of a dining room table, a couple of chairs, and 2 hostel beds that guests would sleep in.  Then there was a tiny kitchen, a bedroom that I stayed in, a shower room, a toilet room, a master bedroom where Julia and Trent slept in, and another bedroom where 2 guys slept in.  All the walls were cement as were the floors.  They had running water but it wasn't usually hot so whenever they wanted to do dishes they would use a hot water boiler to heat up water and then use that to clean.  A lot of the stuff in the flat was left over from the last volunteer that stayed there.

   On Thursday I went and watched her teach.  She teaches 5th grade English and that day there were learning about stories.  Most of the kids wore school uniforms and all of the were colored (black).  There were enough desks and chairs for all of the students but a few had to double up.  They were very curious about who I was and at the end they were able to ask a few questions about me.  I got asked how old I was ( definitely not the first nor the last time I will get this one) where I was from and what languages I knew.  They were generally pretty well behaved.

   On Friday I observed Trent who taught 2 English classes and 2 BIS classes (basic information sciences). The kids had to wear uniforms to school everyday except on Fridays.  Friday was when they could wear casual clothes.  A lot of the guys looked like they were in a Chris Brown music video and the girls looked like they were going to a club. 

   Each night we cooked food.  Wednesday night we made salad, pasta and sausage.  Thursday night it was a different type of salad, and left over pasta.  Friday night we did a potluck dinner where Scott made corn chowder and we all pitched in sides or dessert. Saturday night was all about leftovers.  On Saturday went to a trade fair in Okakarara.  It was very similar to the expo we went to the first week.  Then after a bunch of other volunteers and the people shadowing them came over and stayed the night.  It was really fun meeting new volunteers and just relaxing with them.  The entire time I was shadowing I felt like I was on vacation.  I was so happy to be away from the trainers and training in general.  Today (Sunday) we got a ride back to Okahandja.  

This is Julia' classroom pre class

This is Trent's classroom

Trent's school's library which is pretty much just a closet with books

A mural the previous volunteer did

An improved bookshelf

The kitchen

Antici.......pation ( aka site announcements)

   Today was the day I've been looking towards for a very long time.  Today we finally found out where in Namibia we are going to be placed.  During model school today I had a very hard time focusing because all I could think about was where I got placed.  After a quick medical session ( first aid: minor wounds) we were given "blind folds". In reality they were just black trash bags that were cut up.  We walked to the back yard of the training center and told to put our blind folds on.  Once they were on our trainers started calling our names and guiding us to our location in Namibia. A map of Namibia was outlined in string and rocks and each town where people were placed was a stone with the town name underneath it.  Once everyone was placed on the map we took off our blind folds to see where everyone was located.
     I will be going to the town of Otjinene in the region of Omahake. I am about 4 hours east of Windhoek and I am very close to Botswana.  I am not alone though. Ironically my partner for model school is also in the same town as me.  We were given a packet of papers that has all of our site information in it.  I will be teaching grades 8-10 math and possibly 8-10 english and science.  My school has 3 female teachers and 15 male teachers.  When I first read this my eyes got real big, but then I quickly calmed myself.  I get along better with guys and I am not afraid to assert myself when approached in a manner that I don't like.  There are 190 girls and 168 boys at my school (that's 358 students total).  Thankfully my school speaks both english and the language I'm learning.  The town I'm living in is 2000 people.  So beyond teaching classes we are expected to have a secondary project as well.  My school would like to start an exchange program with schools overseas.  This was one of the reasons this site was one of my top 3 choices.  I was really happy when I realized that they gave me one of my preferences.
    I will be living by myself in an apartment.  This apartment is part of a hostel for the kids who go to this school.  I will have electricity, running water, the whole shebang.  I'm really excited to be living by myself. I've never been by myself and I' eager to live my own life instead of having to abide by my host family rules.  However I'm not really sure what to think of the whole living in a hostel full of kids situation. I have no ideas if the hostel will be really loud at nights.  I'm a really light sleeper and if it is really loud all the time I might have to invest in some ear plugs.  My apartment is 100 meters from the school and is owned by the government.  My shopping town is 2 hours away but my town is on a major road so it will probably be pretty easy to get there.  Besides Brittany in my town my friend Adam is going to be in the shopping town Gobabis.  Besides us three though there is no one around.  It is expected of me to live with a host family for the first 3 months.  I have already been given their name and the set up there. I will be living in a modern home similar to my future apartment.
    It was really interesting seeing where everyone got placed and how close together we all are.  A lot of people are going to be in the north and they'll be relatively close to each other.  Thankfully since I'm not in the north I won't have to take my malaria medicine everyday like them.  It seems like everyone got what they pretty much wanted.  Those who wanted a mud hut got one, and those who wanted a house got a house.  We are pretty much going to be all across the country.  I'm really looking forward to service now that I know where I'm going to be and where all my friends are going to be.  And in case anyone was wondering, I am very happy with my placement!

I love how these two dogs sit like that 

Lizard!!

My neighbor Luna with her new doll courtesy of the Sibley-Jett's and co.

Me with my town sign

A map of Namibia

Lessons and food ( model school)

    Last Thursday my partner (Brittany) and I were given a class of 22 8th graders.  We then began our individual teaching while being observed by a Namibian teacher or a different volunteer.  I started my model school teaching multiplication to a class of 7th graders. I started by making sure they could visualize what multiplication is.  To demonstrate this I did 2 x 5 and drew 2 groups of 5 and 5 groups of 2.  The kids were very good at this.  Once this was done I taught them the 9's trick.  I didn't learn this trick until college and I think it is awesome. Pretty much you hold up all 10 fingers.  For a problem like 4 x 9 you would start from the left and count four fingers.  When you get to the fourth one you put it down.  The answer is then the number of fingers on the left for the 10s digit ( in this case 3) and the number to the right of the finger is the 1s digit (6).  The kids absolutely loved this, but they kept trying to use it for doing multiples of 8s and what not.  So we then went outside as a class and did a game called around the world.  Pretty much the kids line up in 2 lines and I hold up a flashcard to the first 2.  The one to get it right goes to the back of the line and the one who gets it wrong (or doesn't shout it out first) stands with me and watches.  The kids did really well with this activity especially since we were outside.  Many had to count on their fingers in order to try to get the correct answer. Many got them wrong or it took them a long time to get it right.  They especially struggled with 7s, and 8s.
      My next math lesson with my 8th graders was one on order of operations.  Here they call it BODMAS.  It stands for Brackets (parenthesis) Of ( exponents) Division Multiplication Addition and Subtraction.  Since my class was 8th grade I included variables like 2a and 5m.  They could get the order down however they really struggled with like terms.  They would tell me that 2a+5b=7ab.  I tried to relate it to the idea that if you have 2 apples and 5 bananas you don't have 7 apples.  They still really struggled with it.  My morning class was able to move beyond this (eventually) and do problems like 15y^4 / 3y^3 with a lot of help. In my afternoon class we were unable to move past addition and subtraction with like terms.  It was really interesting seeing such a gap in levels with my 2 classes.
    Since I saw that my kids had a really hard time with negative numbers in regards to BODMAS  I decided to do a lesson on negative numbers.  This concept is very abstract and they really struggled to even add and subtract negative numbers.  I started off by having them draw a number line in order to gauge what they actually knew.  From there we talked about how to add and subtract negative numbers. I really stressed how -3+ (-2) is the same as -3 -2.  They would continuously tell me that they were different problems because one has a + and the other doesn't.  When it came to subtracting negatives I told them to turn 2 negatives signs into a plus in order to remember what to do.  I had my kids repeat this multiple times to get it.  Again my morning class was able to multiply and divide negative numbers where as my afternoon class couldn't move past subtraction and addition.
   I'm doing Jeopardy tomorrow as my last math lesson.  My categories are negative numbers, fractions, BODMAS, like terms, and multiplication.
    We also had to teach non promotionals (electives). I have done 2 creative writing classes.  The first I had the kids create an I am poem and the second I had them write about who they are and who they want to be.   I have also done a drama lesson that went alright.  I had one group that was really excited to present a skit and one that was less than thrilled.
    In general my kids are pretty well behaved.  Their lack of knowledge in some subjects scares me and what scares me even more is the fact that Okahandja kids are known to be above average in knowledge.  When it comes to class management I give my kids one warning and if they continue to misbehave I talk to them or take something away ( 5 minutes of their break or a piece of fruit).  My kids respect me, I think, and they have a healthy fear of me as well.  My partner and I use a star system for rewards.  The class starts off with 5 stars and if they all misbehave we take stars away.  At the end of the class the number of stars represent the number of questions they can ask about us.  The questions can be about anything, my life in the states, the Illuminati ( a huge fascination over here) or anything else.
    My classroom has enough chairs and desks for everyone.  This is something that doesn't usually happen for most schools.  For some of the kids the desks are so small that the desks rest on the students knees and kind of hover off of the ground.  I have a chalk board that never seems to be clean.  I have 17 kids in my class which again is unusual.  Generally most classes are 40 kids or more.  When it is time for tea break one of the Namibian teachers ring a bell to let us know.  The kids then go outside and run around for 20 minutes or buy something to eat from the memes ( women selling sweets and snacks).  The trainees and teachers then go to the staff lounge where we usually have rolls with jam or cookies as well as tea, coffee, and hot chocolate (my love).

Ups and Downs (month review)

I figured I would break this up into two posts because it would a lot of info otherwise. I wanted to use this post to talk about my emotional state while here and what not.
   Positives about my time here so far:
               People
                     Everyone here is really nice and friendly. I get along really well with my host family, so far. It's a small household so it is really quiet. I can pretty much go about my day without having to worry too much about offending them.  The locals here are also quite nice.  Everyone is curious to know who you are and where you come from.  I also love my training group. I get along really well with everyone and I know I have someone to talk to.
           Training
                    Training has kept me really busy which I like.  Some topics are dull like the medical topics but for the most part all of the sessions are interesting.  We have reached the point in the training where we apply our technical training. So for me that means practicing my teaching skills.  I really like that I am no longer at the training center just listening about how to teach, I get to apply that knowledge.  For the most part our training staff knows their stuff.
            The weather
                    I love the weather here. It is warm enough where I don't need a jacket but can get away with wearing long pants.  I am really comfortable wearing a short sleeved shirt.  It is sunny almost everyday.  It has rained maybe twice since I've been here. And what I mean by rain is drizzle for 5 minutes.  In the evening there is usually a light breeze to cool you down.
           Health
                  The food here is generally really fresh since there aren't that many preservatives used.  This means that it is generally healthier than what I'm used to.  I don't eat as much food here mainly because I don't have anytime to snack.  I live in town which means that I'm expected to walk to the training center everyday (except while model school).  I have been losing weight ( I think) because of how much I walk and all the unintentional exercise I've been getting.  We also play games like ultimate frisbee and what not on our off time so I'm getting exercise there as well.  I really want to lose weight so I'm trying hard to get in shape.
   
Negatives about my time here
      People
             Everyone is really curious about me.  This means I get questions such as where I'm from, if I'm single, do I have any kids and what not.  The locals here think that everyone knows celebrities like Beyonce and One Direction.  They also think that everyone is part of the Illuminati.  My host brother told me that Disney was conspiring because 666 could be found in the Disney logo.  He also told me that Washington D.C stands for Washington Devil's Child.  While I sigh inwardly and cringe at their stereotypes I use these moments to teach them a little more about my culture.  Everyone has a different image of what an American is and it is a little hard changing their minds.  My host family now feels entitled to my hard drive and my makeup.  I am now constantly asked to download a movie for them (at which point I explain that I took all the movies and stuff I have from other trainees, I don't download stuff myself), or how to watch something online.
   Flies
          There are flies EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't believe I need to say anything more
   Food
             There is a lot of starch involved in a meal here. Salads for dinner don't exist.  If I want a salad I buy one for lunch.  I get maybe a spoonful of some sort of vegetable.  I miss green veggies so much. I also really don't like the taste of game meat.
   Dust
           There is a beach in my shoes by the time I get home everyday.  My pants are always dusty, to the point that the water that I use to wash my clothes is dark brown.  My feet are perpetually black.
Communication
       It's hard to stay in contact with people back home


I'm going to take a moment to talk about one of the most important people in my life that claims I don't talk about him enough. I love my boyfriend TJ with all my heart.  It has been really hard being so far away from him.  Back home whenever I was having a bad day I could just open the door to the apartment and talk to him.  Now I have use Viber and hope he checks that app.  If I want to see his face I need to organize a time to face time.  This past weekend was especially rough for me ( the usual stuff...what am I doing here? I can't do this. I was crazy to come here...yada yada yada) and what made it worse was that I thought I wasn't going to be able to talk to him.  In the end the amazing man managed to get my message and talked me out of my sobbing fit.  While I am here because everyone supports me, he is my rock. I know that sounds really cliche but I wouldn't be able to do this knowing he didn't want me to be here.  He understands why I want to be here, and when I need to be reminded of that he tells me.  I believe that my situation highlights what I think every relationship should be like ( if maybe to the extreme). I do not believe that when in a relationship the person's world should only be the other person.  We each need to live our own life and be part of the others.  And that is exactly what is happening right now.  While I am in a relationship I am doing something that is very important to me that doesn't include my boyfriend.  We share a life while living our own.

Too few Sandwiches (aka Model School)

     So it's been a month,tentatively (it depends on who you ask) since I've gotten here.  My life outside of training is very much on a schedule. I could predict what I will do tomorrow after training because it is very similar to what I did today.  However my life during training has changed and will be the same for this week and next week.
      All the SUPEP people (if you don't remember what that means read my previous blog)  started model school.  The first day was simply observing.  So the day went something like this. I woke up at 6:00 am and was picked up around 6:30 (again tentatively) and brought to school Aurora Primary in Nau Aib.  The kids were lined up according to their grade.  One of the Namibian teacher started off the morning assembly by having them sing songs, both of which were religious. We then sang the Namibian national anthem and the American anthem, followed by If You're Happy and You Know It led by one of the trainees.  Then he went on to read from the bible for around 10 minutes, summarizing each sentence.  The last thing said was the lord's prayer.  The students then walked to their classrooms or what they thought their classrooms were.  Since a bunch of people still had to be registered it was up to us, the trainees to entertain the kids.  Not only this, but take attendance as well.  My classroom had 70 kids in it.  While I slowly took attendance using their registration slips my partners led them in a name game and then a round of seven up.  I would have taken them outside but I was busy with attendance so I didn't really do anything else.  At 9:05 we broke for tea time.  For the kids it meant running around for 20 minutes and for the trainees it meant sipping hot chocolate hoping for some sort of food to be brought out.
      After tea time the trainees simply observed one of the teacher's teach.  The teacher in my classroom was Julia a current volunteer who is a teacher. I really liked watching her because she was closest to the kind of situation I would be in (white female).  I picked up on a lot of the stuff that did for classroom management and I have made it mine.  While this was going on we had to count our kids to see how many we had for lunch.  The only kids that were suppose to be in our classroom were the one on the roster.  However this was not the case since some kids got registered day of.  One of the volunteers kept coming in and yelling at me and my partner for having too many kids but we couldn't do anything about it.  So when we distributed lunch we didn't have enough food and 8 kids weren't able to get a sandwich or a juice.This happened only the first day though.  We have had plenty of food the rest of the days.  Usually there are some extras for the trainees.
    Yesterday (Tuesday) was the first day the trainees got to teach.  We were suppose to co teach and use the Namibian teacher if we wanted to, but I taught by myself.  I taught multiplication to my 7th graders with an emphasis on mental math.  My kids were really well behaved. I was amazed at how attentive and well behaved they were.  I started off by having them solve 2 word problems on the board as I checked homework.  Then I had them work on visualizing what multiplication.  This meant showing that 2 x 5 could mean 2 groups of 5 or 5 groups of 2.  From there we went over how to read the multiplication table and then we went outside and played around the world.  My kids loved this game and they did really well outside.  Since we had 51 kids I split them up into 2 groups and had one with me and one with my partner.
    In the afternoon my partner and I taught 5th graders and my partner taught them the wobble, and the cupid shuffle.  The kids loved getting up and dancing around.
    Today I taught a creative writing class. I started off by having my kids think about what a poem was and we went over their answers.  Then we talked about imagery, what it was, and why it was important for poems.  I read a poem called "I am".  We talked about the imagery that was in my poem.  Then I had them create their own poems.  A few of my kids followed the correct format but a bunch didn't understand it.  For those I focused on making sure they had at least 2 of the proper lines and then anything else written down.  At the end we shared our poems. A bunch of the boys wrote about being a famous soccer player.  One even wrote all about Messi.
   Monday through Wednesday we had 4 trainees in a classroom.  Each one taught one lesson and the class size was around 50.  The purpose of this was to watch each other and pick up some skills.  Tomorrow (Thursday) until next Friday we will have our partner in the classroom but we will be teaching individually.  We have 2 groups of kids.  One group in the morning before tea time, and another after tea time.  My class is grade 8.  I'm planning on doing the same poetry lesson.  Then I have to do 2 more math lessons, 2 drama lessons, and 1 more creative writing lesson.  For math I want one of my lessons to be on order of operation and the activity will be a relay race.  For drama one class will be on comedies, and the other on tragedies.  I don't know what my other math lesson or creative lesson will be yet.

Kids...Kids Everywhere (aka Fun Day and Model School Preparation)

So for the next two weeks all the SUPEP people ( the education sector is called SUPEP) will be teaching during model school.  All the schools are out for vacation so the kids are going to be attending holiday school and we get to practice teaching.
     In order to register kids for model school we threw a fun day for them.  Pretty much we came up with a list of activities that we could do yesterday and then today we went to a soccer stadium and played with the kids.  It wasn't really planned out too much but it all worked out.  There were a ton of kids there (over 400) and they were really happy to just have a place to play.  Some trainees brought Frisbees with them that they threw around with the kids while others thew a football or did jump rope.  One of my friends who is really into yoga led a yoga class.  I don't think the kids really understood the purpose but they seemed to be having fun trying out all the different poses.  My partner Brittany and I started off by playing Big Booty with the kids.  Big Booty is a rhythm/counting game, and it was surprisingly difficult to teach the kids how to play.  So we then went on to play duck duck goose and the kids really seemed to enjoy that.  Eventually we made our way over to the netball court and we watched a bunch of girls play.  Netball, to me, is a mixture between basketball and ultimate frisbee.  You throw a ball to each other and once you have the ball you can't move from that spot until you pass it to someone.  Then you throw the ball throw a metal hoop that is attached to a pole. It was really interesting to watch.  While soccer is considered a "boys game" netball is considered to be a girls sport.  After this everyone was called over to the stadium seats where we did a sort of talent show.  Anyone could perform for the group.  Eventually all the trainees did the chacha slide for the group of kids.  They loved watching it and once we were done a bunch came down and we taught them the dance.  Then as the kids left we gave them lunch which included a sandwich, a soda, and an orange.  The whole thing lasted 3 hours and by the end of it we had 450 kids registered for the model school.
     So model school is going to last 2 weeks. We each choose a partner.  So in each group someone is teaching math and the other is teaching science. I am going to be teaching math, but one day I'll do a science lesson.  The first day we are simply watching a Namibian or Peace Corps. teacher do a lesson.  Then the second day 2 groups (4 people) will be in a classroom and we will help co teach.  The third day is the same way.  But after that we are teaching on our own.  We are also expected to teach non promotional classes (electives).  The last two days of model school is used to give awards and do a talent show.  So for the next two weeks I'm teaching 2 math lessons, and 1 science lesson.  For my non promotional lessons I will be teaching 2 creative writing lessons, and 2 drama lessons.  The challenging part about this is that we don't find out what grade were teaching until half way through the first day. So we were told to prepare lessons that everyone generally needs to know.  That being said my first day I'm doing a multiplication lesson. I'm going to make sure the kids can visualize multiplication and understand what it is.  Then we're going to play around the world.  For my other math lesson I plan on teaching order of operations though I'm not quite sure on the specific activities yet.  For my science lesson I'm going to do the differences between solid, liquid, and gas.  Again I'm not sure what I'll do with it but I might see if there is a Bill Nye video.  For creative writing the first day we're going to focus on poems. I want to find a short but inspirational poem and then have them write about what they want to be when they grow up.  Then we'll do a short story lesson.  For drama I'm going to focus on comedy and tragedy.  So I'll probably have the kids create a 5 minute sketch for each.

Duck Duck Goose

My partner Brittany and I

Netball

The soccer stadium where fun day was

A bunch of the kids

A group dance

That's right...I can balance crap on my head