Yossarian in Africa

Feb 19

Today and Friday I had my eighth graders make paper air planes. I couldn't believe that activity was in the book, and I sure wasn't going to pass it up. We have not moved on from observations and estimations, so I was able to work it in easily. They weren't interested in making minor adjustments to their airplanes in between practice throws, so the educational aspect went right down the drain. However, the competition was still fun. I drew an arena for each event (airtime, distance and accuracy) on the basketball court with chalk. Some of the airplanes were really good. I had prizes of a coke, candy bar, and pad of paper for the three events. To my surprise the pad of paper was the first chosen in both classes, followed by the coke. I'm going to have them compare their estimations to their results in the next class, so maybe that will feel a little more like school.

Friday we had a braai (bbq) at our house for our fellow teachers, local friends, and close volunteers. We bought a goat and made pasta salad and fat cakes (deep fried rolls). It was a little nerve racking trying to acquire the goat and grill, but it all came together at the end. Some learners from Lindsey's school butchered the goat. I helped two of Lindsey's friends wrap the intestines around pieces of the stomach, which is cooked in a pot (both handles of "the good pot"burned off while on the grill). The learners took the head and hoofs (which is customary for the butcher). I was hoping to try it; they say that is the best part. Guess I'll have to learn how to clean a goat first. We probably fed around 30 people and didn't even use the whole goat. I think the teachers at my school were surprised I was able to throw such a good braai.

The president didn't show up for the third Saturday in a row. Two ministry officials did, though, and apparently that is a precursor to the head honcho coming. I think he may come Independence Weekend, because that is when the election for town council will be held. That is a five day weekend, though, and I think we're going to try to go to Mahongo Game Park, the one we missed out on when we went to Divundu. This coming weekend is the first when we won't be in town or receiving any guests. We are really looking forward to it.

Last weekend we traveled to Rundu to celebrate the volunteers with February birthday's in the Kavango. I suggested a return to the Omashare Lodge, and it was amazing again. While we ate dinner on the porch, we watched a storm come in from Angola. It poured for hours. The only reason I'm mentioning this is because what happened next wasvery fun. Our entire dinner party went for a late night swim in the downpour. The water was warm, but the bullet rain freezing. Eventually the water level was even with the ground (due to rain, people, and cannonballs). Quite an unforgettable experience.

Feb 25

This was the first weekend we didn't go anywhere or have any house guests. It was really nice to sleep in our own bed, relax, and not do much of anything (I upset Lindsey in Scrabble last night). We have been expanding our food options. Yesterday we made our own pizza crust and sauce for a delicious veggie pizza. This morning we made tortillas for breakfast burritos and then I made a loaf of beer bread with cheese, onions, and garlic. It is still cooling, but I can tellfrom the smell that it is going to be tasty.

This week in the afternoons I went back to school to play volleyball. The learners have been challenging the teachers. Some of the learners are really good. Two of the teachers are really good. Not me, I am good in the front but awful in the back. Friday a former learner was there who used to play on the national team (a lot of learners fromELCIN have been selected for national teams in the past, but they no longer participate in athletics because the parents complained). The basketball is very flat, but I am planning to buy one in Rundu the next time I'm there or in Windhoek in April. I even had fun playing with a flat ball for about 15 minutes. Basketball is just far superior to all other sports. Can't believe it's almost March…

The internet café "forgot to pay the bill" so who knows when I'll be able to post this. We are going to inquire about getting internet at our house next time we are in Rundu. I think that it's got to be cheaper than the internet café in the long run. Even if it's not at least it will be reliable. Apparently the modem at ELCIN has been busted for over a year, so I don't see that getting fixed any time soon.

My ninth grade math classes have been dragging on (ratios) so tomorrow I'm trying a hands-on activity where they'll build shapes out of matches. I had an interesting (to me) experience in my eighth grade math class. We are getting to the point (powers) where order or operations is becoming important (it was the first thing in the book, but I skipped it then). The acronym in the book and I've seen students using is BODMAS, for brackets, of, division, multiply, addition and subtraction. I was as shocked (probably more) as you are to see "of." "Of" means multiply! (Think one half of ten as ½ x 10 = 5) Of course the book has no explanations or even examples using "of." I was unsure of what my learners understood "of" to mean in this sense. After having them give examples for each letter of BODMAS, I realized they held the same definition of "of" as I did (not sure if that was good or bad). I took a moment to explain the necessity of order of operations and why they should be universal. They didn't believe that I had not heard of BODMAS before, so I showedthem Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition and Subtraction – but surely if you're still reading you are familiar with this) quickly explaining the terminology of brackets and parenthesis and showing that multiplication and division could be flipped. We had just covered power/idiocies so they knew what I meant once I gave an example of exponents. They never saw the problem with BODMAS though, even though what they understood "of" to mean was obviously the same as multiplication. Luckily, the day before I had them write out exponentexamples in words (e.g. "2 to the power of 5) so I quickly wrote three or four and circled the word "of." I think I might have them change "of" to "power of" in their books. I am outraged at BODMAS. It is so ridiculous how bad the text books are. It doesn't really affect me, but most teachers teach directly from the book. I mean directly.

I think I took the bread out of the oven too early, but it is sure tasty.

Feb 28.

Dear Mikey, Matt, Jimbo, Phil and Paul-

I've played basketball twice now. The learners are much better than I thought, but I still dominated. Monday I only played for about ten minutes, but it was the first time since Grootfontein, so nothing could have been better. The game was incredibly fast paced. Today learners took turns being referee. It took a while to get used to them blowing the whistle after every basket (there was even a jump ball and half time). There were only three fouls called, two of them on me; both really weak calls. One I knocked the learner down, but only because I blocked him sooooo bad. It was all ball, really. They once caught me for not being out of bounds to throw in the ball after a basket. They also refused to call any fouls in my favor, but it didn't stop my team from dominating, we won 70 to mid-40 something. I would tell you approximations of my personal stats, but you wouldn't believe them. I ALWAYS play well when there is no one there to vouch for me (Like the time I dunked to win the game). There were probably 30 or 40 bystanders that stood around the court. Every time I humiliated a learner by blocking his shot (many times), crossed over or spun move thru traffic (I swear), vigorously snagged a rebound (many, many times), swished a three (only once), or behind-the-back passed (you know it) I was either cheered or the learner I disgraced was ridiculed. It was great.

They play very weak zone and haven't heard of cutting or picks. Some were barefoot, some in flip-flops, some slip on sandal/shoes, one pair of Timberlands and only a few pair of tennis shoes – thus "steps" were rarely called. I am thankful my ankle has healed in the months I had off. I wish I would have brought my bball shoes instead of my hiking books.-PG

We are inquiring to getting the internet here at our house. By the time I am able to post this, who knows? maybe we'll have it. One more thing: last night, in Scrabble, after losing the lead by letting Lindsey add an "s" to my "queen" for the triple letter, I came back after 10+ minutes of deliberating to find "face" on the end of "pit" to make "pita" also for the triple letter and win on my last move of the game!