Chicken and Carrots (aka it's been 2 weeks)

      I've been in Namibia for 2 weeks and honestly it feels like its been longer.  I've have fallen into a pattern.  I wake up around 6:30 get dressed, put on my face (make up), pack my bag, grab a banana for breakfast, lock my room and lock the house when I leave. By 7 am I'm at the graveyard waiting for the rest of my group to come and then we walk around 20 minutes to training.  Training generally starts at 8 and goes until 4:30.  We have language training in the morning until tea time and then sessions as a group in the afternoon.  Then I walk back to my house where I settle down for the evening.  My meals are generally a piece of fruit for breakfast since I'm not much of a morning person but I need to eat something I suppose, last nights leftovers for lunch, and a heaping plate of food for dinner.  Dinner is always already made and on a plate waiting for me by the time I get back to my place around 5 pm.  Most of the family has already eaten and I'll usually eat around 5:30 6 ish.
     Dinner is generally rice with sauce, some form of meat (not chicken)and a tiny amount of vegetables (usually potatoes, carrots, squash or beets).  I have no idea what type of meat I've been eating.  I hope it's either beef or pork but you don't really know.  Game meat (wild boar and what not) has a very distinctive taste to it, so I can almost always narrow it down to either beef, pork or game meat.  I have only had chicken twice since getting to Namibia.  Chicken is really expensive here so it's not usually made for dinner. Chicken was for dinner last night and my eyes legitimately closed with each bite because it was so good.  I'm really glad that no one was eating with me or else I would've received some really weird faces.  I am really starting to miss fresh veggies.  We eat potatoes a lot but I really miss salads and celery.  Rather I really miss any green veggies and tomatoes.  The juice here is awesome though.  It is so  fresh that you have to use it within 5 days of opening it.
     I have been wearing the same pair of shoes everyday.  They're Keens and they're amazing.  They're closed  toe but not like sneakers.  The front consists mainly of straps, so for people like me who love flip flops but aren't allowed to wear them they're perfect.  They are also dust colored which is perfect.  I walk through so much sand everyday that clumps of it form dirt in my shoes.  I get so much sand on my feet but that is to be expected.
      In training we started the technical aspect of it.  So for me that means teaching training.  There are 32 of us education volunteers.  We started first by looking at a syllabus for math grades 5-7.  Then we created our own year plans based on that syllabus.  Schools here function on trimesters so we broke up the year plan into three parts.  From there we narrowed our focus to create a scheme of work.  A scheme of work outlines all the topics that will be covered in each week and how long you think each will take.  Lastly we used that to create a single lesson plan.  It was really hard to create a year plan because I wanted the order of topics to make sense and I wasn't sure if my order actually made sense to anyone besides me.  These sessions were really boring but really informative so overall I think the sessions were very useful.
     Today went and observed high school classes.  In the classroom I was in each wall was written on.  Each student had their own desk and chair but not everyone had paper.  Since it was the end of the term the teacher just kind of taught whatever they wanted. The purpose wasn't to teach the kids anything new, it was for the volunteers to experience a class.  The kids in my class were really rambunctious. They didn't necessarily misbehave they just had a hard time paying attention. They had a volunteer who had been in Namibia teaching for a while teaching a lesson.  It was really interesting seeing his style and I definitely took notes.  From the second he walked into the classroom he demanded the kids attention and he dominated the room.  He had the kind of presence that forced the kids to respect him and pay attention (most of the time).
     I know a lot of you are wondering how proficient I am in my language. Well, I'm going to type the next paragraph in my language.  Then I will translate it for you and you can judge my language skills for yourself.
           Ene randje owami Lynn.  Mba za ko America mo Connecticut.  Mbina ozombura vivari nbari. Owami omuriyandjere morupa romahongero.  Me kara ozombur mbari muno.  Mbi kara mo Okahandja. Ami me suvera okupuratena ko mzumbi. Me vanga okurihonga Otjiherero.Mbi nomuzandu.  Mbe mu suvera tjinene.
           My name is Lynn. I am from America in Connecticut. I am 22 years old. I am a volunteer in the education department. I will be staying for 2 years.  I stay in Okahandja.  I like to listen to music.  I want to learn Otjiherero.  I have a boyfriend. I love him very much.
    I could go on to say things about other people and use different tenses but you get the message.  Right now I can really only do simple sentences. We just worked on likes/dislikes and we have worked on possessives like my book and his bread.  I have flash cards for nouns and a list for verbs. I should study more than I do.