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.