Racism, sometimes it's awesome?

After being in Namibia for well over a year, I have noticed all sorts of prejudices. Most are tribal related and date back several hundred years. The Damara and the Herrero have been fighting off and on for nearly 1000 years, though with no written record of when the conflict started it’s difficult to know when it actually started. Everyone just knows those two hate each other and always have. Occasionally though, it is extremely helpful to be white. Why? You say. Well, as many of you know I’ve been working on a school renovation project with money that was donated by my church (thanks Trinity United Methodist Church) and we finally went to Windhoek to buy paint, brushes, sealant, and a few minor things for classroom repairs. I went with my vice principal (Mr. Bock) who is a Baster (colored). We spoke with the people in the paint section about prices and inquired about a school discount. They sent us to the manager who was an Afrikaner, white people who are known for establishing apartheid. I speak with him instead of my vice principal and he sends me to a contract manager, who is another Afrikaner. The second guy barely spoke but gave us a large discount. I mean he took off about N$2000, about a 35% discount when we were just hoping to get 10% off. My vice principal is convinced it’s because I’m white. I think it’s more likely because I’m American. People here are fascinated with Americans. I’ll never actually know why they gave us such a large discount, but I know we’re going to take advantage of it for the next year.
Also I have decided that one rabies post exposure treatment was not enough and decided that I should obtain a dog so I can receive more rabies treatments. In reality my new roommate wanted a dog so I agreed and ended up getting a dog from another volunteer. He’s about four months old and his former name is “Polony,” but it has been decided he needs a new one. We decided to rename him “wicket,” not after cricket or croquet but after the ewok adventure movies of the mid 1980’s . Yes, I found a roommate who is a nerdy as I am. Sometime Peace Corps is awesome.
School has been hectic and crazy since the start of term three but I’m just going with it. Only one more week of teaching and then I can sit back and watch learners take exams. Then it’s off on a whirlwind adventure around northern Namibia followed by time in the states. I’m using all my vacation time to do these trips. It’s ok though, my only other planned trip is Cape Town next April. My garden workshop had to be postponed for a few days. If it happens again I’m just going to dig the whole thing myself. It’s easier than trying to plan around the constant cycle of weddings and funerals.

Onward and Upward

Term is pretty much back to normal after the initial confusion and craziness. Or maybe I adjusted my definition of confusion and craziness; I’m not sure which yet. The garden is coming along nicely though we won’t be planting until November 5th. It’s supposed to be a garden workshop but I’m not too optimistic that teachers will give up half a Saturday to dig in the ground so I may end up doing the whole thing myself. I don’t actually mind because it gives me something productive to do in the afternoons. Two of my classes have been combined into one massive class which is creating most of the current problems. 8C and 8D were combined which puts somewhere around 55 learners in a class. There aren’t enough chairs or tables, or even space, but no one really seems to care.
I played soccer this week with some learners from the hostel next to my flat. They’re pretty good but completely undisciplined when it comes to tactics. Mostly they rely on an individual or two to do all the scoring and work while everyone else tries to get in the way. I tripped and landed on my left while playing and decided it was best to pull myself out. I put ice on it, elevated, and called Peace Corps. The next day I went to the Rehoboth School Spelling Bee and was impressed with some of the learners. My school was out in the first elimination round (like always) but other schools had to spell words like lymphocyte and aborigine. Some 20 rounds later a winner was crowned. Otherwise there’s not much going on in my life. Oh I might also be getting another puppy from a volunteer. This one has all its shots and hopefully won’t give me rabies.

Term 3

The start of term 3 has been riddled with problems and annoyances. After coming off of a wonderful break, the learners have decided that being a mutinous, whirlwind of insanity is an excellent way to kick off the new term. The problem is similar to that of senioritis, except with more violence. The learners who are going to pass, know they are going to pass, and don’t care. The learners who are going to fail (most of them) know they are going to fail, and don’t care. Most of this term is spent doing review for the end of year exams. So the learners don’t have anything new and the smart ones know everything already. The ones who are demotivated because of the last term’s grades give up trying to learn the old information. So you have two completely separate groups of disinterested people. This creates a huge headache for the teachers.
Now before you go thinking that everything is bad, I’ve developed a new hobby to release my stress. I’ve finally started digging my garden. It’s 6m x 6.5m x 10cm roughly. I posted some videos on facebook but for those of you who are not my friend on facebook, I will explain the process. The entire area was full of dead grass left over from the previous rainy season. This grass is 2.5 feet high and with roots that go down a few centimeters. The grass has adapted to be resilient and grow back quickly. I cannot simply plant over it, so I have to dig it all out. I’ve spent at least ten hours on it already and its coming along nicely but I need to spend about another 10 hours or so on it. This is all just preparation, we haven’t actually planted anything and we won’t be planting anything until the beginning of November.
Also this week I met my new roommate Sam. He’s from Georgia and seems like a nice guy. He won’t move in until December because he has to do a homestay with a family in Rehoboth. He will work at Rehoboth Primary School teaching English. It was awesome meeting his principal, Paul. Paul is actually interested in making sure the volunteers are comfortable and he’s committed to painting part of the flat, as well as moving in some comfortable furniture. This is a small miracle. I slept on the floor for three months because my bed was so shitty (only accurate word) it hurt my back. My principal (and the inspector) wouldn’t do anything for me. It good to see that there are some principals who see volunteers as more than just free labor.

if you're traveling the north country side

I started my journey heading north on the B1 (main road) to Tsumeb to meet up with my friends Quinn and Gretchen. I’ve been to Tsumeb before but it is one of the nicest areas in Namibia. It has some of the most fertile land and looks well maintained by the population. Of course, I did not visit the location (ghetto) where most of the problems are. After that I headed north (still on the B1) to Ondangwa. The landscape along the road is reminiscent of Paines Prairie, with long stretches of flat grassland with only a few trees no taller than a two story house. Along the road sprawls mud huts and tiny villages every few kilometers. Nearly half the population lives in the area, we call, the four O’s, or Oland. This area is populated by the Owambos and is largely homogeneous. I made my way to Eenhana (silent “h”) and then on to the village of Okongo to see my friend Edward.
Just north of Ondangwa the landscape changes, the grass is greener, the trees are taller, and a real feeling of Africa overcomes you. Edward and I cook in his brick house on a homestead. A homestead is an enclosed area with several huts or houses living under the same patriarch, many PCVs in the north live with a family on homesteads. Edward introduces me to the family and we decide that we should go to Oshikongo, a border town between Angola and Namibia. Oshikongo is one of the strangest places on earth and I determined I was 64% more likely to die in that town than anywhere else in Namibia. It’s not exceptionally dangerous or anything, there’s just a ton of taxis and people. Taxis in this area do not drive by any sort of rules. The just simply drive and try to get more people for more money without any regard to other cars or pedestrians. Now the crazy part about Oshikongo is the china town area. I didn’t expect to find a china town outside of Windhoek but right on the border is a china town with restaurants, housing, and shops, for the Chinese only.
I went back to Okongo but left the next day for Tsumeb. I met my friend Min, who was traveling to Victoria Falls, and went to a really nice country club with Quinn. Nothing of real excitement happened. I left and went on to Okahandja, meeting up with Shannon, Brian, Diana, and some of the new group, who arrived a week ago. While in Okahandja I am told of an opportunity to head to Spitzkoppe and I leave the next day heading east.
I meet up with my friends Adam and Jeanine, and their friends Spencer and Mel from America. We camped in the Spitzkoppe mountain range. It’s a good thing I always bring my tent (and food) while traveling. Spitzkoppe is an absolutely gorgeous mountain range complete with technical climbing routes, or if you’re like me, hiking routes. We spent much of the afternoon and early evening just climbing around on massive boulders and mountains before watching sunset over desert. We made a fire and slept well that night. The next day they dropped me off in Karibib and I heading for Rehoboth, making it home around 4pm, completely exhausted. I covered between 400 and 650 kilometers everyday without rest for 6 days.


Also the title comes from a Bob Dylan song.

Entrepreneurship Day

This past Friday my school had its first entrepreneurship day of the year. It was a pretty big success. The learners and teachers all had fun. My group made a pizza, cake, pancakes, potato salad, cookies, and we had colored pencils, string and other items for sale. The pizza was the first to go lasting less than 20 minutes before being devoured by learners and teachers alike. I didn’t know it would go over so well. Often American (and foreign) food don’t go over well unless it’s covered in meat and grease. My pizza had only the necessary amount of grease and meat. Teachers are now asking for the recipe and to come over and watch me make it so they can do it for themselves. I don’t know how my teaching impact is, but if nothing else I can show everyone here how to make a good pizza. I also allowed the teachers and learners to cut my hair for N$2 per cut. It went over well with the teachers but the learners spent their money on the bounce castle or food. One of the highlights for a few learners was when I let them shave my beard with an electric razor. They enjoyed it and left me with a nice mustache. It was good to “let my hair down” with the learners. Most of the time they see me I’m very serious and work oriented. The teachers have all seen me have fun and make jokes but it’s not a side I show to the learners too often because I want them to be as serious about their education as I am about teaching them. During the festival I spoke with my HOD and we want to put on another one in October. This time I will make more than one pizza.
After the festival, Ricky and I went to judge the Mr. and Mrs. Ruimte (pronounced raim-ta) pageant as a favor to Anna, the other world teach volunteer in Rehoboth. These pageants are a big deal here and they are sometimes corrupt. That is why Ricky and I were brought in as impartial judges from America. In the end winners were crowned but that was not the highlight of the night for me. There was a section of the contest called “recycle” wear. The children were supposed to make a dress out of old everyday items and they were extremely creative. There was a dress made entirely out of old ties and several unique skirts made out of burlap sacks. The one that won though was a dress made completely out of Xrays from the hospital. The chest piece was even a chest Xray. Needless to say Ricky and I were blown away when we saw that dress.
I’m still sick but hopefully getting better soon.

Absurdity and ridiculousness at its best

In the interest of full disclosure I would like to pre-apologize for any offensive language in this blog. I often try to keep my blogs relatively clean but after this past week it just seems unreasonable. I actually wrote this twice. The first time was an incoherent rant filled with a slew of curse words and colorful language.

On July 18th I went to mid-service training with the rest of group 32. It was really nice to see everyone again and I even learned a few good techniques for classroom management. Two days later I went to the all volunteer conference (AVC) where we ate delicious food, used high speed internet, drank significant amounts of beer, and sat in on guest speakers. The Deputy Minister of Education gave a speech and so did the Director of Education for Hardap region. The highlight of the conference was meeting the ambassador from the US to Namibia. We had a meet and greet at her house, which was large and beautiful, where we ate pizza and there was draft beer. Draft beer isn’t something we get often so it was a good change up. That was the good part of the week, now for the bad.

During AVC I received a text saying my dog was sick. The next day I got a call saying it would cost N$3000 and the dog needs to go to a hospital. Not having the money for this I asked my counterpart to take care of it. Later I received a text that said “dog done” and I believed my dog was dead. That night I got a call from Mrs. Pretorius where she said “Ernest (my dog) is responding well to medicine and might recover,” I was ecstatic. I came home Saturday the 23rd and retrieved my dog from the Pretorius house. Ernest immediately responded to the sound of my voice, though he was weak and sickly, he raised his head and tried to get up. Mrs. Pretorius gave me the medicine and some food and I carried the sick puppy back to my flat. I fed him medicine with a syringe, gave him a warm towel in his box, placed it next to a heater, and gave him lots of food and water. In the middle of the night he started having severe seizures, foaming at the mouth, and he became unable to control his bodily fluids. In the morning the two volunteers (PCVs) staying with me for the weekend left to run errands while I watched the dog. I put warm water in the bath tub and moved him so he could piss and shit without making my flat gross. I gave him water using the syringe and tried to make him comfortable. He died as I was petting him and I was miserable. This was the only time I thought about coming home since I left nearly a year ago.

Now earlier I mentioned there were two other PCV’s and I mentioned the dog had seizures and foamed at the mouth. These two were worried about rabies. I was just depressed. They called the medical officer and it was determined that we should all be put on rabies quarantine and then come to Windhoek for additional rabies shots. That’s right, fucking rabies quarantine. One of the PCVs and I were told to stay in Rehoboth for quarantine and not venture out too much though I was allowed to attend school. I never in my life thought that I would be put on quarantine for anything let alone a disease that, if untreated, kills 100% of the time. The absurdity and ridiculousness begins and I spin out of control, losing my fucking mind in the process.

I return to school the following day only to find that 8D has decided my classroom would be better if they broke my desk. That afternoon we had a meeting where all the teachers argued for more corporal punishment. I kept my mouth shut until I was asked to speak by another teacher. I spoke concisely and passionately about not beating children but was mostly ignored me. However I managed to convince one teacher to stop corporal punishment. Hooray for small victories, otherwise this place would eat you alive. I returned to my flat where my quarantine buddy and I make some mac and cheese. Sometimes mac and cheese is the best food ever. Wednesday I got slightly yelled at for not having my end of term exams ready. They weren’t ready because I was at a conference and then getting rabies shots. I quickly worked with two other teachers to get exams prepared. Wednesday was uninteresting except for the fact that my immune system is in a state of shock. I received a flu shot and a hepatitis shot, and a rabies shot, and went to school where half of my learners are sick. I cough so hard my chest hurts.

Thursday I go back to Windhoek with my quarantine buddy and speak with the medical officer only this time she notices the cough and writes a prescription for some over the counter cough medicine to knock loose the phlegm in my lungs. I get another shot and wonder how many vaccines are too many. Friday my school has an American day. American day is when the learners pay two dollars and are allowed to wear clothes other than the school uniform. No teaching occurs and I sit around solving IT problems for my HOD and colleagues. Since my absence, many computers seem to have developed random IT problems that I fix. My cough is getting worse and the medicine seems useless. Ricky, Liz and Anna come over for pizza Friday night. It was a successful night of bitching. My roommate Mitra left to take a week off from school and go to Zambia on vacation. Sometimes I wish I wasn’t so committed. That way I could go on vacation in the middle of a term. Shit I’ve only take 4 sick days this term and spent most of it with some form of flu/cough/rabies.

Some other little things annoyed me too but they aren't important enough to mention on my blog.

Upside down

Lately my world has been upside down. I was given a puppy by my colleague Mrs. Pretorius, six days later it was stolen. The following day the security guards stole it back for me. Then I went to mid service, all volunteer conference, my dog died, and a fair bit of room mate conflict. I was always taught, "If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all." So instead I will just post a link to her blog and allow you to read anything you like. Please do not comment on this page or in any other public forum. If you feel your opinion needs to be heard, you may email me or facebook me.

http://bombsandfireworks.tumblr.com/

Still waiting for a puppy

I didn’t make it to Gobabis for the Fourth of July BBQ and I didn’t get my puppy this past weekend either. I actually skipped the BBQ so I could get the puppy and then the car that had my puppy broke down on the way from Keetmansoop. I ended up going to Dr. Lemmer High School’s entrepreneurship day and rugby game to see if I could get any ideas for my own. The thing that was most noticeable was the income disparity between my school and their school. Most of the teachers here want to sell cakes, sweets, and other food items. When I went to Dr. Lemmer they had professionally made cakes donated from local bakers. My school can’t get any food donated to it. They also had an inflatable slip and slide which I thought was awesome, though I decided it was too cold for it. While at the entrepreneurship day I ran across some Americans who were working at Oanob Primary School. They were missionaries from California and invited me to a braai on Tuesday. Some of them went home Wednesday and another group is showing up Friday. Most of them will be here for about a month working at the school and helping out with various church functions. The group is comprised of mostly high school students and early college students. It was good talking to them and sharing some of my wilder stories about school and traveling.
Last Friday I went with the grade 10 classes to Windhoek on a field trip to show them that the world is greater than just the town of Rehoboth. For many of them it was their fired time to Windhoek. The trip was an overall success with only a few minor delays and setbacks. We went to Hero’s Acre, The State House, Parliament, NamWater, University of Namibia (UNAM) and then ice cream. I was not allowed in The State House due to the fact that I am not a Namibian citizen. My favorite place was NamWater the water utility for Namibia. They were exceptionally kind donating 10 computers to the school and giving food to all the learners and teachers. They also offered me a job when I made an offhand remark about having a degree in chemistry and looking for a job. I don’t plan on taking it, but still, it was nice to get the offer.

it goes

So my roommate showed up a few weeks ago and she’s pretty cool. After living alone for several weeks it feels weird having someone else around sometimes. I can’t play my music as loud as possible anymore or walk around naked. Not that I would actually want to, it’s freezing, but still it’s nice to have the option. My puppy should be arriving this Friday and I think I’ve decided on the name my friend Martin gave me, “Ernest Rufferford”. This is a play on Ernest Rutherford the famous chemist/physicist who theorized about neutrons.
Last weekend we had Christmas in June in Mariental. Almost 20 volunteers got together to eat chicken, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, and egg nog. We had a gift exchange that was entertaining with everyone going for different types of gifts. Some people gave funny, others gave useful, and other just gave the universal gift of alcohol. This coming weekend I’m going to Gobabis for a Fourth of July Bar-B-Que. Here in Namibia a BBQ is often called a braai but because it’s Fourth of July we are making hamburgers and having a BBQ.
As far as school goes I’m working on a secondary project because my teaching load has been lightened by Mitra (the roommate/other volunteer) which is taking some time to get off the ground. We are having a entrepreneurship day/HIV awareness carnival. My job is to make sure each class has an item to sell and collects $N500. My garden hasn’t been able to take off the ground yet and has suffered another delay because of poor timing. Many of my weekends are full and same with my counterpart Mrs. Pretorius. I think in August we will start clearing the space and in September or October we will start planting. We want to plant before rainy season but not so early that there is no water and everything dies. So far I’m just playing it by ear.

Ps mmmm… bacon

Little things

This week I came across information that changed my life. Nay, it changed my world view! This week I came to the realization that hash browns were merely chopped up potatoes that I could easily make myself. With this newly discovered knowledge I made breakfast, scrambles eggs, sausage, hash browns, and a banana. Now I know it sounds crazy to be so excited over a simple breakfast. Some of you might even be saying “Rob we don’t care about breakfast, tell us about Africa.” But I argue that breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I’d be useless here if I didn’t start my morning off right. When I eat a good breakfast, I exercise more, and think about December when I come home and next April when I summit Kilimanjaro. Oh yeah, a group of us might be going to Kilimanjaro next April. But until I finalize all these plans, I like to focus on the little things like breakfast.
As far as teaching (and everything else in my life) there have been remarkably few changes. Our school has had a discipline problem lately. Discipline problems here are mostly dealt with by corporal punishment. I talked to some of the teachers about why they use a “stick.” They said it was because these learners don’t understand anything else. They also told me at other schools they didn’t need to use corporal punishment. They are under the impression that this area just has worse discipline than other areas and needs more drastic measures.
I like my new schedule because I teach less often and have more time to practice the piano and surf the internet at school. My new roommate is suppose to show up on Monday and the dog won’t be here for several weeks. I have narrowed my list of dog names down to two: Schrodinger or Optimus Prime. I also wondered if my new roommate would have a problem with a dog. Then I realize the roommate will only be here for 6 weeks after the dog gets here and I don’t care, unless the roommate is allergic or something. Then I would give the dog to Mrs. Pretorius to take care of for a few weeks and I would just come over and play with the dog every day.
Also it’s pretty cold here these days. Some mornings when I get up there is frost on the ground. I saw a dead horse lying on the side of the road one morning. It looked like it froze to death in the middle of the night. I feel bad for the female learners because they have to wear school uniforms that involve skirts. They’re allowed to wear pants if they are the school approved uniform pants but most of my learners either can’t afford it or have parents who simply don’t want to pay for it. Needless to say I went out and bought a space heater for my bedroom and some good winter blankets and clothes.
On a very positive note my sister got to meet the Obamas and I’ve been bragging to all my Peace Corps friends about it ever since.

The start of term 2

School “started” back up last Monday. My school has a serious problem with learners taking extra vacation days. The first three days of school we didn’t change classes but instead just took roll. Out of my class of 25 we only had 13 learners. I also spoke with my head of department; I am no longer a register teacher for my fifth graders. Peace Corps doesn’t want us to be register teachers because they are supposed to follow the learners through several years of school. We can, at most, follow the learners for two years. He also changed my entire schedule by giving my favorite class (tenth grade math and physical science) to the other teachers and giving me another grade eight math class.
The other big news is that a World Teach volunteer is coming to my school to help out in the computer lab for three months. The World Teach volunteer will also be staying in the spare bedroom in my flat. I’m excited to have a little more company. It is highly recommended that Peace Corps volunteers don’t go out at night due to the statistically higher probability of being robbed. It’s winter now so by 5:30pm I have to be in my flat. Essentially I have no life and go to bed around 9pm. Also, it’s really cold at night. Every night is probably in the 30’s or 40’s and my flat has no heater or insulation. It’s not a problem because I have a nice sleeping bag. The problem comes in trying to get up at 530am while simultaneously trying to stay in my nice warm sleeping bag.

Holiday travels

My travels this last holiday break began in Gobabis for my friend Martin’s birthday. After a few days hanging out in Gobabis I went back to Rehoboth to meet up with some friends. We took day trips to Windhoek for Zambian visas and other necessities. On Friday April 29th we went to Windhoek, saw a movie, and boarded the Intercape bus system. The Intercape is a business that sends charter buses all through southern Africa. Twenty three hours later I arrived in Livingstone Zambia. The following day myself, Edward, Sam, and Quinn went into Botswana on the Chobe National Preserve safari. The morning was a boat safari along the Chobe River where we say hippos, impalas, crocodiles, elephants, and a whole host of other animals. It was the most expensive part of my journey and well worth every penny. We were given lunch at a really nice lodge and then preceded to the car safari. In the car safari we got to see all the same animals except much closer. We also got to see lions but they were too far away to get a good picture.

The following I went with Barbara, Quinn, and Sam to the Zimbabwe side of Victoria Falls. Victoria Falls is one of the greatest things I have ever seen in my life. My favorite part was called Eastern Cataract and was not for weak hearted. In this area there are no barriers to keep you from the falls and we actually walked out on a cropping of rocks, slippery with algae. I describe that area as standing in the middle of a tropical storm because of the force of the wind and rain. It was nearly impossible to see the falls through the mist but if you stood there long enough the mist would dissipate for a few seconds and a view of the entire falls would appear. While standing there I’m pretty sure my brain exploded.

The next day we traveled to the Zambia side of Victoria Falls. This side had several hiking trails that we did, and a large craft market. I went with Nikki and Sam, and the scariest thing that happened was when a baboon charged us. So many people come to the area with food in their backpack that if you open your backpack, the baboons will charge you and try to steal food. And trust me; it’s terrifying when they come right at you.

I needed a break, so the next day I stayed around Livingstone and I got a pair of pants made out of a chetenge. A chetenge is a traditional African clothe/skirt that many of the guys got made into pants and the girls use it as skirts. My last morning was spent in a constant state of terror as our group prepared to go bungee jumping in front of Victoria Falls. I did not bungee jump. I zip lined from Zambia to Zimbabwe. A feat not easily accomplished by me due to an extreme fear of heights. In the afternoon our entire group (about 20 people) went on a final cruise. I then ventured back to Rehoboth after the craziest week of my life.

World

Dear World,

I have replaced the greatest fear that one can conquer. I have stood among, the winds whirling around me, the force of a storm splattering against my face, and felt nothing but the unbelievable beauty, that soaked me in the misty rain. I have tried, in multiple attempts, to explain, how amazing life is along the Zambeza River/Victoria Falls. As much as I have tried to explain things in words, I simply cannot. There aren’t enough words in any language to describe it. I am however, exceptionally proud of my buddy Shane. Who now has been nominated for Guinea Peace Corps. I wish him the best, and may be visiting him at some point soon.

Force feeding my learners Ritlain

A long time ago my brothers and I were known as “Those damn Neiberger boys.” Like many kids there were several adjectives associated with us, the nicest of these were things like “adventurous” and “Rambunctious,” the worst (and more common) was things like “pugnacious” and “a terror in my classroom.” A friend of mine once told me, during a Boy Scout meeting, that his parents had, at one point, forbid him from playing with us on the church playground because we were too rough. Elementary school, for us, was a time of rough housing and fighting. However we were lucky enough to miss the Ritalin craze of the late 90’s and early 2000’s and just enjoy our fighting. Eventually my brothers and I all used sports as an outlet for our aggression and what a great outlet it was. Now let me tell you; there were teachers who wanted the three of us to be on ADD medication or at least mild sedation. I would love those teachers, psychiatrists, and concerned parents to look at my learners. My learners don’t often listen to me or anyone else. Some of their favorite games involve punching each other in middle of my class. Another game is slightly like dodge ball but instead of teams throwing big red balls at each other they throw anything that is available. It could be a dirty sock or it could be a rock. Whatever is available. It reminds me of a game that we use to play in our neighborhood called “Pinecone War,” where we would throw pinecones at each other as hard as we could. Although it is usually infuriating when my learners do these things while I’m teaching, I find I often have more in common with 5th and 6th grade learners than I do with many of the kids back in the states. It could be one reason why I hate kids, with the exception of my amazing niece Gabby. That kid is adorable.

Being normal is overrated

Namibian Independence Day was celebrated with a three day weekend since my last post. Myself and the other volunteers in southern Namibia (we call ourselves “southies”) got together in Mariental for good food and a few good laughs. There were about twelve of us in total but not everyone showed up. After meeting all of these people from different places in The States; I’ve come to a conclusion about Peace Corps. Every volunteer is a varying degree of insane, or at least the volunteers who make it as long as we have, the sane ones leave before being here too long. We are an unusual mosh-posh of thrill seekers, idealists, and weirdos. I have a joke here that I keep saying “In August I came to Africa with 44 of my best and only friends.” Sadly that number has dwindled because two people in our group left and there are people from my group that I won’t see until we get on a plane to go back to the states. Now I’m in Africa with about 15 of my best and only friends. Now don’t get me wrong. I am very happy here. I fit in with all the craziness. But sometimes in life you just have to sit back and laugh at the absurdity of the situation you’re in. Here I am in Rehoboth Namibia, trying to educate nearly unmanageable children whose parents are likely abusive alcoholics, I spend at least 20 minutes a day breaking up fights, I have been cursed at in multiple languages for nothing more than being white, I sleep on a bed that is likely giving me back problems, and every now and then I start randomly vomiting from food I am given that either wasn’t cooked or stored (or both) properly. Yet, I am here and perfectly happy with my life. Yeah I’m pretty sure I’m insane…

it's been a while

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve written a blog post but teaching full time is exceptionally time consuming. Last week my school had control tests. A control test is when the administration forces all math, science, and English teachers to give a test at specific times. It was annoying because I had already given tests the previous week and had to write (make) new tests and grade five classes of tests this week. It was a pain but I got everything done.
This week I was in Okahandja at a Peace Corps seminar on gardening. I have never had a garden before but I managed to grow an onion by throwing rotten onion out of my kitchen window. I have a small area next to my flat that has space for my garden. It won’t be very big but I will be able to grow a few things for myself and maybe a few others. The first part of the seminar was about microgardening with hydroponics. This method is not very feasible for most of the group because it requires a lot of trips to Windhoek to get the supplies and all. The second part of the seminar had a former Peace Corps Volunteer (from Haiti in the 80’s) who explained permagardening, which is a form of permaculture. He showed us how to make these small gardens that are extremely high yield by double digging the soil and using basic rain capturing techniques. It’s pretty cool and my counterpart Dawn became more interested in doing this at the TRC where I live and at various schools and aid relief programs. I’m pretty excited about these gardens too. It’s going to be a lot of work but it would be nice to get the garden going and have a few trial runs before I attempt this at my house. Not my parents house but the someday imaginary house that I have in mind which includes a brewery in the basement and now a garden in the backyard.

Athletics

This was a pretty tough week. Since we finally have our official time table for the school year I had to adjust several lessons to classes I wasn’t expecting or completely prepared to teach. It was a headache for Monday and Tuesday but it got slightly better as the week went on. I do not care for my schedule much because it is very heavy at the beginning of the week and lighter towards the end of the week. For instance, I teach eight straight periods on Tuesday without a break, and seven on Wednesday without a break. But it is not all bad, my school finally has internet and I will start bringing my laptop on certain days so I can check my email without getting up at 4am.

This week was also hectic because of the athletics (track and field) meet that was held Friday and Saturday. I was a time keeper for the high schools and spent most about 10.5 hours taking measurements of people running various distances. It was boring as can possibly be. The exciting part was watching the learners collapse. This happened for multiple reasons. The athletes train for maybe three or four weeks before the meet and are not usually in the best of shape because several times practices are cancelled for rain or learners simply don’t show up. Also, no drinks water at the meet because “it makes them throw up”. I tried explaining simple hydration techniques but no one really listened. Several got bad cramps and had to quit competing. It’s actually pretty scary to have an athlete collapse about 10 feet from the finish line and then be carried under a tent and rubbed with a wet cloth, by the hundredth or so time though you get pretty used to it.

I’ve determined Namibia has four basic seasons: winter, summer, rainy season, and second summer. Summer is characterized by near 100 degrees temperatures everyday and nearly no cloud cover. We are now entering second summer. Most days are very hot with very very blue skies. The occasional evening or night time shower occurs but this happens rarely. The nights are getting colder and come winter (sometimes in April or May) it will be close to freezing at night and 50’s or 60’s during the day.

Finally have a timetable

This week I started a competition among my tenth graders to get them to do their homework and be good in class. They’re very excited and the reward is a movie, food, and drink at “Kayak” the after school place for the winning group. There was a massive rainstorm this week and the next morning when I went to my host family’s house for a ride to school (I can’t ride my bike when the roads are flooded) and there was a new ten foot wide river running in front of the neighborhood. After that storm it didn’t rain for two days. I like the rain better.

I started taking Afrikaans lessons again with my colleague’s thirteen year old daughter. It’s very humbling to be taught by a thirteen year old and a little annoying. I’m hoping to be fluent within a few months. We finally have a time table (schedule) that starts on Monday. My subject package includes grade 10 math and physical science, grade 8 math and physical science, grade 5-7 ICT and grade 5 religious and moral education. I’m not sure what to teach for religious education, especially to children who can’t seem to stop punching each other.

Master Chef

Three weeks into the trimester and still no complete time table (schedule). We have a MWF time table and a TR time table but our school is on a five day rotation which means there is a different schedule everyday so the learners can get to all the classes they have. For instance math is five days a week but science is only four days a week, but a learner might also take a once a week computer class. The schedule allows for more subjects to be taken but it’s not always efficient. I also found out this week that the other computer teacher teaches classes in the computer lab at the same time I teach grade five ICT, meaning that I am supposed to teach computer classes without a computer. I asked my HOD and he said I can do whatever I want with my grade fives. I am a babysitter for two classes every day. This realization originally annoyed me but I’ve found benefits in being a babysitter. One benefit is that I don’t actually have to teach so I just play games with the kids. I have them draw pictures, play heads up seven up, or let them play on the playground. It makes life easier less frustrating when I’m not teaching them.

I gave my grade eight class a math quiz and it didn’t go well. In Namibia if a learner fails a grade twice they are “transferred” to the next grade. The problem with this is you have learners in grade eight who haven’t passed a class since grade four. My school doesn’t allow learners to “transfer” after grade eight. The only way into grade nine is by passing grade eight. I helped out with Athletics (track and field) practice most of the week which was good but I couldn’t exercise by myself which is something I really enjoy doing. I learned I’m not very good with a javelin or coaching children how to throw a javelin. My bike tire got punctured by a rock, or broken glass or any number other sharp objects along the roads. I took the tube out, found the hole, and patched it up. It wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. Now I need to find how to stop the gears from making funny noises and slipping. Lots of rain this week.

I cook a lot now and I’m determined to be an excellent chef by the time I come back to the states. Everything I make is from scratch. If I want pizza, I make the sauce, the dough, cut the toppings, cook the meat, and grate the cheese, all by myself. Not the most difficult of dishes but really tasty. I’ve started experimenting with new foods though. I never really made breakfast in the states and now I can make pancakes and omelets. We have a Peace Corps cookbook and I’ve gone through and highlighted the different foods I want to make. The only problem is that sometimes the recipes are wrong and you have to remake the food with changes to the recipe. I had a cookie disaster with my cookies I was making for my host mom’s birthday but in the end I amended the recipe to work.

I started teaching

This week I started officially teaching classes though the time table (schedule) is not completely finished even by the end of the week. My school roughly had 750 learners last year and this year we have around 650. No one is quite sure why but we think more will show up sooner or later. So far on my schedule I get to teach tenth grade physical science, eighth grade math and physical science, and grades five through seven Internet communication technologies (ICT). Here instead of being a subject teacher, everyone just teaches whatever is needed whether or not they are actually qualified for it. Because the time table isn’t finished we’ve been using the same schedule everyday and just waiting until later to use a schedule and teach real lessons.

This hasn’t been too bad except for teaching the fifth graders ICT. The normal ICT teacher is in South Africa because he daughter started school in Johannesburg. I have no syllabus (syllabi are developed by the ministry of education and given to the teachers) and no one to ask what I should teach the learners. Because of a complete lack of preparation for the learners I have not allowed them on the computers and mostly end up babysitting the most rambunctious children for two class periods every day. It is not enjoyable though my older learners are excellent and I really enjoy them. I sought advice from other teachers at school, they replied “You must get a stick and hit them,” for multiple reasons this advice was ignored. Discipline with the younger learners is difficult. They are under the impression that if I don’t hit them they are doing nothing wrong. I’ve talked to other Peace Corps Volunteers and they have given me some advice but they mostly say it will just take time for them to get use to your style. My head of department tells me that when he writes the actual schedule I will not have the fifth graders and will likely only teach grades eight and higher, until then it’s just hang on and hope for the best.

On a more positive note I had several people over this past weekend for a house warming dinner. It was a lot of fun sitting around and discussing our first two weeks of real work with some of the older volunteers who went through the same thing last year. Also the food was wonderful. I made pizzas for people and the second night Martin made tortillas and we had beef curry tortillas. It was pretty delicious. We also had scrambled eggs and pancakes Sunday morning. If you couldn’t tell getting together and eating real food is very important to the sanity of a Volunteer.

Electrolytes

“Electrolytes, what plants crave.”

This quote comes from the movie Idiocracy. It comes from a discussion that is flawed cyclical logic. The quote is appropriate for the first week of school.

We don’t have a schedule (called a time table here) because not all the learners are registered, the learners can’t register until their school fees are paid, they can’t pay school fees until the school opens, the school opens on the first day of school, where there is no schedule because the learners haven’t registered.

Anyhow that’s enough complaining for now. It will all get sorted out within a week or two. Until then I play the piano, read my textbooks, look for experiments I can do without chemicals, and work on getting the school internet. Getting the school internet has been successful so far. I went with my head of department (HOD) and vice principal to the store and talked to them about school options and government stipends for internet. Within a week or two the school will have internet and I will no longer need to get up at 4am to use it for free. I went to Gobabis a few weeks ago. Its 200km east of Windhoek and is one of the more beautiful areas I have seen so far. I forgot my camera and it’s still not working very well so there are no pictures of the journey. I’ve started a exercising everyday and convinced my vice principal to ride his bike to school with me, about 4km on dirt roads.

It’s been raining nearly every day around three in the afternoon. It reminds me of Florida in the summer time. My host mom’s Birthday was the 22nd and I made cookies for her. I found out that the cookie recipe in my Peace Corps cook book isn’t very good and needed modification. But like a true scientist I experimented until I came out with good cookies and the family was very impressed.

Holidays

I returned to Rehoboth from the Namibian Coast on January 1st 2011. I had spent two weeks camping in a tent on the beach and my clothes, and myself, were disgusting. But the trip was completely amazing. I met up with my Rehoboth host family in Henties Bay. The following day I rode with them up to the campground at mile marker 72. It is 72 miles north of Swakopmund and only campgrounds along this one road are measured in miles. Everything else in the entire country is measured in kilometers. I spent five days camping and fishing with them. My host dad (and supervisor) Harry caught a 10 kilogram fish. I don’t remember what type of fish it was but it was nearly the size and a person’s torso. They also prepared a delicacy for me called a “smiley”. This is where you eat the face and brain of a sheep. Honestly it didn’t taste bad, except for the brain, which was pretty gross.
On the 23rd I went down to Swakopmund to meet up with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers from my group and other groups. Swakopmund is by far the oddest place in Africa. It is essentially a German town on the east coast of Namibia. The signs for restaurants are in Afrikaans, English, and German. This is the richest city in Namibia and apparently where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sometimes vacation. It is a complete contrast to everything that I have seen in the rest of the country. Rich South Africans like to vacation there for Christmas because of the mild climate. They also like to talk about how Namibia was better under South African control, and apartheid. Yeah I heard a lot of racist comments over the course of my vacation, but that’s a story for another time. I was happy when I received a call on the 24th (my birthday) from my family and got to talk to everyone for a little bit. It was a short phone call but it was wonderful to hear everyone’s voice.
On Christmas day we exchanged gifts in a secret springbok (secret Santa) fashion. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their gifts even if it was for someone they had never met before. We had a campfire on the beach and most people were received calls from friends and family. It was a good Christmas.
On the 28th myself and 19 others rented two bakkies (covered pickup trucks) and drove north to Cape Cross to see the seal reservation. That night we camped on the beach near a shipwreck. We watched a gorgeous sunset behind the shipwreck and built another campfire. The next day we broke camp early and drove south to Walvis Bay which is the third largest city in Namibia. It is an industrial shipping port and commercial fishing area. We didn’t spent much time in the city, only enough to get great seafood and free crab claws from this little take out place that sold oysters for N$3.50 (about $0.50) per oyster. We then drove a little bit further south to Dune 7, the largest sand dune in Namibia (and maybe the world but I’m not actually sure of that). All 20 of us climbed the dune and that was where my camera got too much sand in it and stopped working. After Dune 7 we drove to the salt mines near there and then back to Swakopmund because we only rented the trucks for 24 hours. I did get to drive however and it was awesome driving on the left side of the road.
Once back in Swakopmund I had a quiet few days, I watched a few movies with friends and ate too much food. I had a quiet New Years Eve because I stopped celebrating New Years a few years ago (long story) and barely made it to midnight. I got up around 7am, packed up all my things, and went to get a hike back to Rehoboth. It was a great trip but after a certain point in every vacation I always feel like getting back and getting to work. I have a few New Years’ resolutions: stop cracking my knuckles and neck, I do it way too often. Start and finish the P90 workout series, which I started today. And learn to play the piano better. I have received a few books from my parents and my school has a piano for me to practice on.