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.