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.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
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.
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.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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.
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.
Monday, December 13, 2010
New Apartment
Reconnect is a part of Peace Corps training where after six weeks at site a group (in my case group 32) meets at a designated location and discusses aspects of their first six weeks on the job. The discussion includes Namibian culture, social norms, education practices, language training, HIV forum, and general Peace Corps policy guidelines. The lectures themselves were not particularly interesting but it was good to see everyone from my group again and trade stories from our various sites. In my group there are three people located in the south, about seven or eight in central and roughly 30 people in the northern part of the country. I happen to be one of the three in the south so I don’t often see people from my group. The reason for so many volunteers being in the north is because during apartheid that’s where the Ovambo people were forced to live. There are other tribes in the north but the “red line” was specifically to keep the Ovambo in the north and the “coloureds” and “Afrikaners” in the south.
For Peace Corps reasons I cannot tell you the town we met in or the hotel we met at, but I will try to describe it. Just outside of the city we turned down a dusty dirt road. The three kilometer ride was uncomfortable and slow. The faster the driver hit rocks and pot holes, the harder we would be thrown around inside the combie (van). After a steep climb we arrived at a hotel on the top of a mountain. The view was breath taking. Looking north from the lobby a mountain range sprang forth for 15 or so kilometers. From the top of our mountain, near our bedrooms, to the west were a few mountains followed by a 30-40 kilometer valley and then another mountain range. The sunset from outside my bedroom was spectacular. To the east lay a road slicing through the mountain range we were on, and several more mountains. The south was first sprawling city slums that turns into suburbia, then transforming into a metropolitan downtown. The mountains have turned green with plant life due to the recent rains and underground tributaries reminding me of Central America. On a few occasions we were privileged enough to watch a few lightning storms rage in the mountains to the north.
I am now back in Rehoboth and moved into my new two bedroom flat (apartment). I have been busy this week preparing to live in it for the next two years. I posted a video of the place on facebook for people to view. Ironically it is much nicer than the dorms I have been staying in for the last five years. December 18th I will start my holiday travels. It seems almost the entire country shuts down for the month of December. We have all been given two weeks of free vacation for domestic travel and I have decided to take advantage of it by going to Swakopmund, Heinte’s Bay, the Skeleton Coast, and maybe Luderuitz. These are all coastal areas and I miss the beach. Due to the accommodations I will not be taking my computer with me because I will be living in a tent, either with other volunteers or with my host family, but still in a tent. For security reasons I am leaving most of my valuables with other people or in my place.
For Peace Corps reasons I cannot tell you the town we met in or the hotel we met at, but I will try to describe it. Just outside of the city we turned down a dusty dirt road. The three kilometer ride was uncomfortable and slow. The faster the driver hit rocks and pot holes, the harder we would be thrown around inside the combie (van). After a steep climb we arrived at a hotel on the top of a mountain. The view was breath taking. Looking north from the lobby a mountain range sprang forth for 15 or so kilometers. From the top of our mountain, near our bedrooms, to the west were a few mountains followed by a 30-40 kilometer valley and then another mountain range. The sunset from outside my bedroom was spectacular. To the east lay a road slicing through the mountain range we were on, and several more mountains. The south was first sprawling city slums that turns into suburbia, then transforming into a metropolitan downtown. The mountains have turned green with plant life due to the recent rains and underground tributaries reminding me of Central America. On a few occasions we were privileged enough to watch a few lightning storms rage in the mountains to the north.
I am now back in Rehoboth and moved into my new two bedroom flat (apartment). I have been busy this week preparing to live in it for the next two years. I posted a video of the place on facebook for people to view. Ironically it is much nicer than the dorms I have been staying in for the last five years. December 18th I will start my holiday travels. It seems almost the entire country shuts down for the month of December. We have all been given two weeks of free vacation for domestic travel and I have decided to take advantage of it by going to Swakopmund, Heinte’s Bay, the Skeleton Coast, and maybe Luderuitz. These are all coastal areas and I miss the beach. Due to the accommodations I will not be taking my computer with me because I will be living in a tent, either with other volunteers or with my host family, but still in a tent. For security reasons I am leaving most of my valuables with other people or in my place.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Reconnect
This week was pretty slow. The school year ended this past Thursday for the learners but the teachers are still working on marking final exams and preparing the schedule for next year. I was delivered a package that is actually for another Peace Corps volunteer, I’m told this is fairly common in you’re in an urban area like I am. On Saturday I hiked up a hill with Ricky and Barbara. My dog followed us, I’m not sure why dogs here love me so much but they definitely follow me everywhere. The town looks completely different now that it’s been raining a bit. The trees are green and there are actual grasses instead of just sand. I forgot to mention that last weekend our group met a Polish man who biking from Cape Town back to Europe. He had already gone through Asia, made his way to Australia, biked Australia, and sailed from Australia to Cape Town. He had some great pictures of his journey.
On Thanksgiving I talked with my parents via skype. It was really good to hear their voices though I didn’t get to see them. Sunday I leave for Reconnect which is more Peace Corps training. I will meet up with all of the people from my group and discuss different aspects of teaching and Namibian culture, as well as share our experiences for the first six weeks. I am not bringing my laptop and will be out of contact for those two weeks.
On Thanksgiving I talked with my parents via skype. It was really good to hear their voices though I didn’t get to see them. Sunday I leave for Reconnect which is more Peace Corps training. I will meet up with all of the people from my group and discuss different aspects of teaching and Namibian culture, as well as share our experiences for the first six weeks. I am not bringing my laptop and will be out of contact for those two weeks.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Thanksgiving
I called my dad this week for his birthday and had a nice talk with my parents for about ten minutes. It also rained nearly every day past week. I miss the rain a bit but it also gets annoying when you don’t have a car and have to either bike or walk everywhere you go. Also the power goes out for a few hours when it rains. I managed go to a barber and get a haircut similar to how it was in the states instead of just shaving my head like I have been. This is a big deal because we had one guy in Okahandja get a haircut that turned into a disaster and he had to shave his head. It turned out well and I even got a free shave out of it.
I invigilated (proctored) a test this week and taught some sixth grade math. I noticed the learners I was teaching could multiply and add pretty well but had serious problems with division and subtraction. I will test these skills my first week next year to see about remediation. The learners were hesitant with me at first but quickly warmed up to me. It was nice. I also marked (graded) exams for the science classes this week. It was slow but I used to grade for a professor so it’s nothing new.
This past Friday Caitlin and I got a combie (van) ride down to Keetmansoop for “Thanksgiving.” They aren’t many volunteers in the south, and those who are there are very spread out, so we don’t get together very often. It was nice to meet people I had been texting with since coming to Namibia. It was a nice enough ride down but there is a whole lot of nothing in the south. We could see several kilometers of nothing but brown plants and sand on both sides of the van. But we made it down to Keetmansoop and ate lots of food, it was amazing.
PS if you were wondering, Movember is when you go the month of November without shaving your mustache.
I invigilated (proctored) a test this week and taught some sixth grade math. I noticed the learners I was teaching could multiply and add pretty well but had serious problems with division and subtraction. I will test these skills my first week next year to see about remediation. The learners were hesitant with me at first but quickly warmed up to me. It was nice. I also marked (graded) exams for the science classes this week. It was slow but I used to grade for a professor so it’s nothing new.
This past Friday Caitlin and I got a combie (van) ride down to Keetmansoop for “Thanksgiving.” They aren’t many volunteers in the south, and those who are there are very spread out, so we don’t get together very often. It was nice to meet people I had been texting with since coming to Namibia. It was a nice enough ride down but there is a whole lot of nothing in the south. We could see several kilometers of nothing but brown plants and sand on both sides of the van. But we made it down to Keetmansoop and ate lots of food, it was amazing.
PS if you were wondering, Movember is when you go the month of November without shaving your mustache.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Movember
This proved to be an interesting week with most of the teachers in Windhoek grading tests the teachers mostly reviewed material with the learners or the learners started exams. Once exams started there was less for me to do than usual so I played the piano every day for several hours and helped out writing memos (answer keys) and marking (grading) exams. Luckily Mr. Bock came back on Wednesday so I had my buddy back to talk about music. He is impressed with how much better I have gotten at piano. On Thursday I bought a bike and biked over to Mr. Bock’s house for “band practice.” He has a dream of getting paid to play shows, coffee houses and hotels mostly, whereas I mostly just like having someone around to jam with. It would be awesome to play shows eventually though.
On Monday a group of young adults from Cape Town came to our school to dance to Christian music and perform dramatic skits for grades 7-9. These were people from Europe and Africa, though the group was out of Cape Town. I had an interesting discussion with some colleagues about whether or not it is wise to have the learners distracted right before exams when they should be studying. Most agreed that the dance group was a bad idea but no one knew whose idea it was for them to come.
I realized how incredibly out of shape I am when I rode my bike to the Oanob dam and nearly died of exhaustion on the way up the first hill. I biked about 16km round trip in an hour and a half going up and down hills on an uneven gravel road. I will get back in shape eventually.
It rained this week for the second time since I’ve been in Africa. I miss the rain. I enjoy reading and listening to the rain, it’s very calming. This week I didn’t have any credit on my 3G (internet works similar to a go phone) so I couldn’t post this over the weekend. Next weekend I will be in Keetmansoop for “Thanksgiving”. We can’t all get together on Thanksgiving Day so most of the volunteers in the south are getting together the weekend before to hangout. It should be fun.
On Monday a group of young adults from Cape Town came to our school to dance to Christian music and perform dramatic skits for grades 7-9. These were people from Europe and Africa, though the group was out of Cape Town. I had an interesting discussion with some colleagues about whether or not it is wise to have the learners distracted right before exams when they should be studying. Most agreed that the dance group was a bad idea but no one knew whose idea it was for them to come.
I realized how incredibly out of shape I am when I rode my bike to the Oanob dam and nearly died of exhaustion on the way up the first hill. I biked about 16km round trip in an hour and a half going up and down hills on an uneven gravel road. I will get back in shape eventually.
It rained this week for the second time since I’ve been in Africa. I miss the rain. I enjoy reading and listening to the rain, it’s very calming. This week I didn’t have any credit on my 3G (internet works similar to a go phone) so I couldn’t post this over the weekend. Next weekend I will be in Keetmansoop for “Thanksgiving”. We can’t all get together on Thanksgiving Day so most of the volunteers in the south are getting together the weekend before to hangout. It should be fun.
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