Group 35 PST

I’ve been going to rugby practice every Tuesday and Thursday. I’m not particularly good but that’s mostly because I don’t really understand the game, or what position I am, or what I’m supposed to do. However, the coach and other players seem optimistic that I can be turned into a solid player. I am faster than most of the guys, though out of shape, and made some good, hard tackles during practice. However, my body has only so many tackles in it before soreness becomes a problem. Oh well. If I get injured Peace Corps will pay for everything.
In other (and more interesting) news, I went to group 35’s pre-service training (PST) as a resource volunteer this past week. It was awesome working with them. They’re an excitable group of individuals and seem eager to get to their sites. It was a bit strange because they made pop culture references that I missed in my year and a half here. I gave a presentation on working with Namibian children and I specifically tried to scare them. I could tell that I burst their optimism bubbles but as a group they bounced back and are determined to prepare themselves for the things ahead. I explained that sometimes things here are miserable but you have to push through it. “The highs are really high and the lows are really low.” Many people appreciated my honesty but one girl was particularly weird. *Carley interrogated me several times and said some really awkward things. I feel sorry for her parents. The older volunteers in the group are totally awesome people. I enjoyed talking with Cathey, Jim, and Mary in particular. I don’t know what any other PST was like (other than my own) but as a whole, group 35 looks like they’ll be a solid and fun group to have in Namibia. As a side note, there is another Rob in Namibia now.
One thing that made my week was when Nicole delivered a can of enchilada sauce that was given to her by Matt Flick, a volunteer from my group who left Namibia. She also gave me an orange and blue survival bracelet that he had made. I’m not in the habit of accepting jewelry from guys, but it was pretty moving. Not only do I get to flaunt the dominance of the Gators over everyone else but I also get to eat enchiladas while doing it.

*Carley is actually a pretty awesome individual. However, she told me her dad found and reads my blog so I had to say something. I hope you are well Mr. Johnson. She’s in good hands with Peace Corps.

General training of trainers and illness

I recently returned from Omaruru where group 35 will have their pre-service training. I have been selected as one of the resource volunteers to assist the new group in adapting to the life of a volunteer in Namibia. It was like any other workshop. People talked, we made plans, we discussed things, and we talked about the new group. All in all it wasn’t particularly exciting. The town of Omaruru however is rather nice but expensive. There is a large Afrikaner population because of the farmland nearby which drives prices for everything up. I’ll be one of the first volunteers group 35 will get to meet, it should be interesting.
Recently I became rather ill after eating some fish that I might not have prepared properly or it might have not been stored properly before we bought it. Sam (my roommate) bought some fish from a dude in a parking lot outside of his school. I know that sounds shady but it’s really quite common. I ate two fish and started feeling bad about an hour later. I won’t go into detail but let’s say it was quite the unpleasant experience. I got food poisoning and ended up with a GI track infection because of the food poisoning. I also managed to strain several abdominal muscles due to the violence of my vomiting. I also became dehydrated because I was unable to hold anything down. I started drinking oral rehydration salts. If you’ve never tasted oral rehydration salts imagine going to the beach, filling a nalgene with salt water, and drinking the whole thing slowly over time while you have painful stomach issues. That’s how it feels. It’s almost like a punishment for being dehydrated. However, it is much nicer than the alternatives of IV fluids, or worse, suppositories.

A first time for everything

So far the garden is going pretty well. We have several plants growing and only one small problem. None of the plants growing are growing where we planted them. For instance, in one bed we planted watermelon and in one bed we planted peppers. We now have watermelons growing in both beds and peppers growing in a third bed. I have a theory about birds coming, digging up the seeds, and then crapping them out in another place where they grew. Overall though, the garden is still quite nice looking and should be producing its first fruits within a week or two.
On to something more interesting. This week I made my first learner cry and go home. Then another first, I had my first parent come to school to find out what I did to make her child cry and go home. So let me explain. Thursday I gave all my classes’ physical science exams. I made them extra long because I have double periods on Thursday which means I teach the same class for two straight periods. The first class (8A) worked nearly the entire time on the exams and my preliminary grading shows they did ok. Grade 10A followed and they worked nearly the whole two periods. Then grade 8B took the exam. The entire class finished in about 25 minutes. I look at the exams and notice that half of the answers are blank or have a random word filled in. This angers me severely. Some of the learners went to sleep after the exam (I have no problem with this because I did it all the time in school) so I started waking them up by going around and tapping on them with the exams. Not hard but hard enough that they woke up and knew it was time to listen to the teacher. I start asking questions off of the exam and going over answers. One girl goes back to sleep. I go over and wake her again. She turns her head and says “no” and puts her head back down on her desk. Now, there are several ways to anger a teacher (I’ve done many of them) but saying “No” to a teacher is probably the fastest way to get their blood boiling. I pull her desk away. She puts her head on her lap and says “No” again. I asked her to leave the Stand up. “No”. “Leave the class.” “No”. I am left with no option. I start pulling her chair out from under her. She stands up and leaves the classroom. When she gets outside she runs away from school and I have no chance to talk to her away from the other learners. I go back to the exam.
About five minutes later a parent comes to my door with another teacher. I escort her to the office and we have a conversation through/with the principal, it was partially in KKG. She wasn’t angry, she just wanted to know why her child came home crying. I explain my side of the story and she agreed that her child was out of line. She also gave me a little advice, next time don’t send her child out of the classroom because it’s embarrassing. Instead just beat her. We left on good terms and everything was fine.

Deja vu

The new term has started and everything is getting right back on track. This year seems to be starting a lot better than last year. I’ve given up trying to motivate the all kids by becoming a mentor to them. The overwhelming majority just don’t care. I have a few that seem to be following my example though they aren’t in my classes anymore. This year I have grade 8 physical science and math, and a grade 10 physical science. My classes are pretty well behaved so far but it’s early in the year. Last year I made a rookie teacher mistake by being too lenient in the beginning. It’s a lot harder to be a hard ass to a bunch of people you don’t know than you’d think. After getting a taste of undisciplined children last year, it’s become much easier to be a hard ass to the kids. I see the ones who are most likely to cause problems and try to stop it early. Everyone in Peace Corps says your second year gets easier and it couldn’t be truer. I know what to expect from the staff and from the learners. I know what to do if the power goes out. I also know what to do when everything completely changes in the middle of the day for no apparent reason. Last year I tried to be the model of professionalism and certainty, always being on time to classes and being annoyed when a staff meeting went over or started late. I was trying to be the rock in the middle of the river. Slowly, over time, I’ve learned to be a piece of drift wood instead and just go with it. It’s not easy to do. In the US we are so used to the rigidity of our educational system that it’s hard to break into a fluid system.
This rainy season is not like last year’s rainy season. Last year it rained nearly every day and once or twice I woke up to find a seasonal river going through the town. This year the rain has been more sporadic. It will rain about four or five times in a week and then it won’t rain at all for a week. I love the rain here. It slows everything down and cools everything off. The only problem with the rain is when the power goes out but even then you just eat a can of beans and read by candle light.
Athletics (track and field) has begun for the year. The entire school is broken into teams and forced to compete against each other. Even if you hate sports its compulsory. I don’t quite understand why they make it compulsory, but they do. I see the same problems this year that I saw last year. For instance, no one hydrates. Before races the runners are given sugary juices and maybe a Gatorade, but not water. As a result some of the competitors collapse upon finishing the race or right before the finishing line.
Within the first three weeks of school starting we have had two teachers resign from their posts. One was a grade 6-8 math teacher and the other was grade 8-10 life science teacher. This creates a rather large dilemma because both were put on the time table (schedule) and now all the other teachers will have to cover for them. Hopefully we will be able to replace them soon but I’m not overly optimistic. Most likely all of their classes will be given to other teachers and we will continue as normally as possible. However, the other problem is, I leave in October and all of my classes will also need to be divided amongst the teachers. Imagine needing to split three teachers’ workloads on the rest of the teachers at a school. It’s not fun for anyone.

Jet Airliner

Before I left for America, I embarked with several friends on a trip through northern parts of Namibia in a rented bakkie (truck). The first day started in Rehoboth and ended in Ruacana Falls on the border with Angola. This is where we found out our map was not entirely accurate. It stated that Rehoboth was 900km from Ruacana, its closer to 1100km. After a full day of driving we camped for the night and relaxed. The next day we went down to the falls and looked at the trickle of water that barely peaked through the rocks. It was a bit disappointing. Since it’s been dry season so long there’s almost no water in the falls. However, the mountain man of the group had a good idea and we went bouldering on all the rocks that would be covered in water and inaccessible come rainy season. After Ruacana we traveled to Epupa falls. This drive was spectacular, through mountain terrain, dried river beds, and near traditional Himba villages. Here the falls did not disappoint. Though they are along the same river, Epupa Falls is not as seasonal as Ruacana.
From Epupa we traveled south through some crazy mountainous terrain to Sesfontein (6 springs) and Fort Sesfontein. Now, something I’ve learned, driving is not the same everywhere you go. Imagine driving down a mountain, 7 people and gear for a week, on a dirt road, without anti-lock brakes. Luck for the group I learned on the fly and only lost control a handful of times and never in a serious way. Sometimes we slid a little. We saw the fort (now a hotel) but were unable to stay due to the expense. We drove on the next day to Twyfulfontein (doubtful springs), organ pipes, and the burnt mountain. We spent the night at a campsite that had a nice little restaurant and bar. The cool thing about this place is that they also had lots of bats. On more than one occasion we thought we might get attacked. I already had plenty of rabies shots so I wasn’t too worried. Finally we went to Brandberg, Namibia’s tallest mountain. Though this is a beautiful area, the guide (who was required) was a complete jackass and attempted to spoon feed us bullshit about the history of the place. Here one of our spare tires was stolen from our truck. It put a damper on the end of what was an amazing trip. We went back to Rehoboth, dropping people off along the way, and it was good to be back in my flat relaxing.
Two days later I boarded a plane and took the 30 hour journey back to Gainesville Florida. The plane ride was awesome. I wore my Peace Corps polo shirt and met a lot of cool people, some were former PCVs and others who just finished service or were still in Peace Corps. The 17 hours from Johannesburg to Atlanta was close to miserable, the over the counter, natural, organic, sleep aid did nothing whatsoever. In fact in my 30 hours of travel I slept maybe four. Once back in Gainesville I called people, hung out with my family, and made plans for later in the week. I never really believed much about jet lag, but that me hard for the next few days. I would go to sleep around 5pm and wake around 2am. It was strange but eventually worked out. I had a lot of fun seeing people and hanging out with family. I traveled back to Namibia starting three days ago and finally made it back to Rehoboth. Tomorrow I’m going to make enchiladas. Also, Air Namibia is not a fun airline. By far, the worst food of the trip and all the seat belts say “Air France”.

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.