Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Feb 7
No real news, but here is some info my dad sent me on Nkurenkuru, the Kavango, and the Caprivi Strip via google:
ELCIN stands for Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia.
Located primarily in the north of the country, the ELCIN was originally initiated by Finnish missionaries in 1870. The ELCIN became autonomous in 1954. It has 522,000 members and is based in Oniipa in the far north.
This church suffered much during the occupation of Namibia by South Africa, including having its church printing press destroyed twice and many of its people fled to neighboring Angola and Zambia. The task of rebuilding the church and country began in earnest with the independence of Namibia in 1990.
The present priorities of the ELCIN are Christian education, mission work and urban work. Christian education, centered around the church's two high schools--Oshigambo and Nkurenkuru-- is being strengthened because of the rapidly changing situation in the society. Urban work has brought the church into the cities of central and southern Namibia. Outreach also is happening among other ethnic groups within the country.
The ELCIN, in cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, relocated its Paulinum Seminary from a rural site to the capital Windhoek. This is a project that received some assistance from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Enrollment is about sixty women and men.END
I also learned from the book, that the Caprivi area (long and narrow region in the NE) is tropical, has lots of wildlife, and is about 30% flooded in the rainy season. It's named after the German chancellor, Baron von Caprivi, who was the leader of Germany in the late 1890s when they took over Namibia.
I read that the Kavango people are found on either side of the Okavango River and are the 2nd largest ethnic group in Namibia. Most of these people living in Namibia immigrated from Angola during their civil wars in the 1970s. German and Finnish missionaries have had a big influence on the people of this region in the past couple decades starting over 100 schools in the region (one of which is your school). The Kavango region now has a modern hospital in Rundu and the road system has improved dramatically in the past several years.
No real news, but here is some info my dad sent me on Nkurenkuru, the Kavango, and the Caprivi Strip via google:
ELCIN stands for Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia.
Located primarily in the north of the country, the ELCIN was originally initiated by Finnish missionaries in 1870. The ELCIN became autonomous in 1954. It has 522,000 members and is based in Oniipa in the far north.
This church suffered much during the occupation of Namibia by South Africa, including having its church printing press destroyed twice and many of its people fled to neighboring Angola and Zambia. The task of rebuilding the church and country began in earnest with the independence of Namibia in 1990.
The present priorities of the ELCIN are Christian education, mission work and urban work. Christian education, centered around the church's two high schools--Oshigambo and Nkurenkuru-- is being strengthened because of the rapidly changing situation in the society. Urban work has brought the church into the cities of central and southern Namibia. Outreach also is happening among other ethnic groups within the country.
The ELCIN, in cooperation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia, relocated its Paulinum Seminary from a rural site to the capital Windhoek. This is a project that received some assistance from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Enrollment is about sixty women and men.END
I also learned from the book, that the Caprivi area (long and narrow region in the NE) is tropical, has lots of wildlife, and is about 30% flooded in the rainy season. It's named after the German chancellor, Baron von Caprivi, who was the leader of Germany in the late 1890s when they took over Namibia.
I read that the Kavango people are found on either side of the Okavango River and are the 2nd largest ethnic group in Namibia. Most of these people living in Namibia immigrated from Angola during their civil wars in the 1970s. German and Finnish missionaries have had a big influence on the people of this region in the past couple decades starting over 100 schools in the region (one of which is your school). The Kavango region now has a modern hospital in Rundu and the road system has improved dramatically in the past several years.
Monday, February 05, 2007
Feb 4
Nkurenkuru is becoming a town! We will be only the second town in Kavango (after Rundu). I’m not exactly sure what being a “town” will do for them as opposed to being a “village.” People keep saying that it will bring more businesses to town, I think just having a paved road would do that. They have started construction of the town offices, and several government officials are in town for election training. There will be an election to select town officers, and then a big celebration of the new town status. The president is coming to speak at the election. I’ve heard conflicting reports, but we are hoping it is not this coming weekend because we are planning to go to Rundu.
Lindsey’s school, Nkuruenkuru Combined, had athletics this past week. They had high jump, long jump, shot put, discuss, and several running events. They didn’t have the mattresses they typically do for high jump, so they just used a shovel to turn up the dirt similar to the long jump pit. None of the kids were going over the bar like they do in the Olympics. Most went feet first, but a few dove or flipped head first over it. I got some great pictures of this, I was the official photographer. Lindsey was one of six judges, which meant she recorded everyone who came in 6th place. The school was divided into three teams: red, yellow and blue. Each learner was required to participate in three events, there were four age groups for both boys and girls. The entire day, the students who weren’t currently in an event would be standing in the sun cheering and chanting their hearts out. Friday it was from 2-7, and Saturday 7-5. The teachers (13 of the 28 showed up for the mandatory event) sat under a large tent for shade. The top four in each event will go next week for a meet with local schools. The best there go to Rundu, then Windhoek, then South Africa. My school doesn’t participate, but occasionally our teachers will play their teachers to football (soccer) or netball. Maybe I can arrange a basketball game.
The test over sequences I gave to my 9th grade learners was too easy. Several of them got perfect scores. Only a handful didn’t have a clue. Monday I’ll be starting fractions. I went to the science lab for the first time. It was an easy lab, just measuring small objects in graduated cylinders, but they really seemed to enjoy it. It just took a really long time; they are such slow workers.
Last weekend I bought some mince and chicken filets in Rundu. In Nkuruenkuru, the only [non-canned] meat you can get is chicken (which has a funny taste), sausage, and occasionally pork chops. I made some delicious burgers from the mince, which is like ground beef, but doesn’t stick together quite as well. The chicken fillets were also really delicious. It has been a nice change, because we were eating pasta almost every night, sometimes rice. Have made a batch or two of potato salad that was really good, too. I have been eating fruit for breakfast, we have a tea break midmorning where I have been eating strawberry jam on buttered bread, but we just got some peanut butter, so now I plan to be snaking on PBJs.
During tea break on Friday my teachers started talking about American Politics. They are all supporting Hillary in ’08, which I found pretty shocking. I guess maybe she is one of the only politicians they are aware of, but I wouldn’t expect males in a seemingly sexist society to back a female president. They were likewise surprised that I was not opposed to a female president. A few of them had heard of Barak Obama, they thought it was great that he is “Kenyan,” but Hillary is still the favorite. I had trouble explaining that Senators start campaigning before officially announcing they will run for office.
Nkurenkuru is becoming a town! We will be only the second town in Kavango (after Rundu). I’m not exactly sure what being a “town” will do for them as opposed to being a “village.” People keep saying that it will bring more businesses to town, I think just having a paved road would do that. They have started construction of the town offices, and several government officials are in town for election training. There will be an election to select town officers, and then a big celebration of the new town status. The president is coming to speak at the election. I’ve heard conflicting reports, but we are hoping it is not this coming weekend because we are planning to go to Rundu.
Lindsey’s school, Nkuruenkuru Combined, had athletics this past week. They had high jump, long jump, shot put, discuss, and several running events. They didn’t have the mattresses they typically do for high jump, so they just used a shovel to turn up the dirt similar to the long jump pit. None of the kids were going over the bar like they do in the Olympics. Most went feet first, but a few dove or flipped head first over it. I got some great pictures of this, I was the official photographer. Lindsey was one of six judges, which meant she recorded everyone who came in 6th place. The school was divided into three teams: red, yellow and blue. Each learner was required to participate in three events, there were four age groups for both boys and girls. The entire day, the students who weren’t currently in an event would be standing in the sun cheering and chanting their hearts out. Friday it was from 2-7, and Saturday 7-5. The teachers (13 of the 28 showed up for the mandatory event) sat under a large tent for shade. The top four in each event will go next week for a meet with local schools. The best there go to Rundu, then Windhoek, then South Africa. My school doesn’t participate, but occasionally our teachers will play their teachers to football (soccer) or netball. Maybe I can arrange a basketball game.
The test over sequences I gave to my 9th grade learners was too easy. Several of them got perfect scores. Only a handful didn’t have a clue. Monday I’ll be starting fractions. I went to the science lab for the first time. It was an easy lab, just measuring small objects in graduated cylinders, but they really seemed to enjoy it. It just took a really long time; they are such slow workers.
Last weekend I bought some mince and chicken filets in Rundu. In Nkuruenkuru, the only [non-canned] meat you can get is chicken (which has a funny taste), sausage, and occasionally pork chops. I made some delicious burgers from the mince, which is like ground beef, but doesn’t stick together quite as well. The chicken fillets were also really delicious. It has been a nice change, because we were eating pasta almost every night, sometimes rice. Have made a batch or two of potato salad that was really good, too. I have been eating fruit for breakfast, we have a tea break midmorning where I have been eating strawberry jam on buttered bread, but we just got some peanut butter, so now I plan to be snaking on PBJs.
During tea break on Friday my teachers started talking about American Politics. They are all supporting Hillary in ’08, which I found pretty shocking. I guess maybe she is one of the only politicians they are aware of, but I wouldn’t expect males in a seemingly sexist society to back a female president. They were likewise surprised that I was not opposed to a female president. A few of them had heard of Barak Obama, they thought it was great that he is “Kenyan,” but Hillary is still the favorite. I had trouble explaining that Senators start campaigning before officially announcing they will run for office.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Dec. 30
We finally have left model school, our host family, and Grootfontein for two more weeks of training in Okahandja. We celebrated Christmas with a barbeque in the dried out river bed. After returning to all the volunteers (now 63…) it’s very apparent how close the Kavango group bonded (the 12 of us who spent 3 weeks in Grootfontein). These are the people I’ll be the closest to for two years, and I’m very thankful. They are all great. 3 of those 12 live very close to Lindsey and me; we plan to get together frequently.
Training has dragged on since we’ve returned to Okahandja. Only last night is worth writing about so far. Sunset watching has replaced ultimate Frisbee as my favorite after dinner activity. The three nights preceding last night I hiked up a mountain (mountain is not the right word, but neither is hill, cliff, or bluff – if they are mountains, they are very, very old. Plateau is what the atlas calls it.) with a few others. The sunsets themselves ranged between okay and good, but the view from the mountain was always spectacular. From my perch, I watched the sunset over the city and could see several surrounding mountains and occasional storms, lightning, and rain. Unlike the sunsets I’ve seen back home, here the color is not limited to the west. Clouds all across the sky (even far east) are painted with orange and pink. Hiking down in the dusk or dark is a challenge but well worth it.
Last night we decided to hike to the cross – the highest peak around, so called for the cross atop it. From the river bed, it doesn’t look to be too much higher than the others, but I soon discovered that was because it was much farther away. We ducked through thorns and jumped from boulder to boulder as we ascended. Before we were even half way up, we were higher than most of everything else around, I paused frequently to check the view. It probably took us an hour to get to the top. This made the fourth sunset in a row that I had made in nearly perfect timing. Just after we had oooohhhed and aaawwwwwed at the amazing view, the sun came from behind the clouds, changed the color of the sky, and dropped off the horizon. We saw a few small monkeys climbing up the side of the cliff, and we quickly climbed down 100 feet or so to get a better look. We couldn’t find them, but when we turned around to look at the cross we saw 10-20 baboons climbing up to where we had just been. Needless to say, they were much better climbers than we were, they didn’t even bother to go up the “easy” side. Some of them were very large.
At this point, the sun was long gone, but the sky was dark red in the west and dark blue elsewhere. Their black bodies were easily identifiably against the dark sky and grey cliff to the naked eye, but sadly, not the Kodak DX 4630. I don’t think I’ll need a picture, though, I’ll never forget that. Last night’s experience may have even topped Etosha.
It’s also very satisfying that Lindsey is overcoming her fear of heights instead of being crippled by it. Enthused by last night, a few of us are going to skip dinner for an even longer hike and sunset watch this evening. Can’t wait.
**********
Jan 9
This will probably be a long entry, bear with me. I’ll start with where I left after my last entry. The next afternoon after the hike to the cross, I hiked with three others to a peak on the other side of the cross. On the way to the top, we ran into the baboons again. We sat and watched them for about half an hour. I was about 40 feet from them while they played, screamed, mated, and sat and watched the four of us.
We continued our hike to the top, where we ate apples and dinner rolls with Italian dressing and watched the sunset. From here, we could see that this peak was in fact taller than the cross. It was quite an interesting view, the “mountains” that we had been climbing had rock walls that jutted out of the land. The walls were about three feet wide, 10-20 feet tall, with varying lengths. Because of the large amount of hooks, thorns, and hooked thorns along the ground, scaling the rock walls was sometimes the preferred way of travel. In contrast, the landscape we could see maybe two or three miles away was large, rolling hills that surrounded a lake or river. And even further away were more mountains. We could see little detail; they appeared jagged, but didn’t have the rock walls. From here we could also see plains, the river bed, and the town of Okahandja. Up so high, everything looked lush. Green is a deceiving color. The ground was covered by brown grass, rocks, large millipedes, bones, and occasional cow or baboon poop . Only the sparse trees were green, and most of them were very prickly. Not your typical “green.”
The next night, the same group of four decided to do a sunset to sunrise excursion. This time we went back to the cross. Of course we saw another great sunset, but it was much nicer to not have to hike down afterwards. The sky gets very red just before going to black, and we had missed this before not wanting to descend in darkness. I learned how to recognize Venus. As the sun vanished, the full moon took its place. The moon light lit up the rocks wonderfully, and the light of town illuminated Okahandja. We could hear the trains coming into town. They were very loud, and would screech to a stop, but from Such Great Heights it looked like they were barely moving. They looked like red caterpillars crawling off the horizon, and white caterpillars coming into town.
There were several mice that scurried around us that night. They were not afraid of us at all. First we thought they were large spiders, we were relieved when we finally cast light on them. We just knew we would see some snakes with all that snake food running around.
When it was time for bed, we meandered down the cliff a little ways, searched for our sleeping bags, and then a decent place to sleep. We were afraid the tall grass would be home to mice eaters, and the rocks were too rocky. Eventually we found a place under a tree that was mildly decent. After lying down for at most two minutes, the girl with us (who didn’t even have a sleeping bag) screamed, stood up and started brushing her body off. The culprit: a scorpion. The largest scorpions I had seen before were about two inches long. This one was at least 6 inches long, fast, and hairy. It looked and moved a lot like a crab. A big crab. That made sleeping much more difficult. I imagined critters crawling on my shoulders several times thorough the night. However, I know I did get some sleep, because I missed the first part of the sunrise. My personal photographer was not with me either of these days, so no pictures.
Another highlight of training was our trip to Windhoek, the capital. I originally stated it was pronounced “Vinhook.” It’s only the Germans and Afrikaaners (for some reason the white Namibians are called Afrikaaners) who pronounce it that way. Other’s say “Windhook.” Windhoek Lager is pronounced “Vinhook” in the commercials. The malls were very large, clean and nice, and the city pretty cool, too. I bought some speakers, a Frisbee, two shirts, a juicy ranch burger with a fried egg, some locks and another electrical converter. Any Americans who come to visit (hint hint) would be in shopping heaven because the U.S. dollar goes so far here. Bring an extra suitcase.
Our last night in Okahandja we went to a German restaurant. It turned out to be very upscale by Namibian standards. Even though I’ve been eating lower quality food since I’ve been here, I think I can still judge food objectively, and this was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I ordered chicken cordon blue because my favorite German meal had (previously) been stuffed veal (at Das Stein Haus in Jeff City). It was cooked absolutely flawless, although there was only cheese, no ham. It was served with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables inside of a squash. The squash was the size and shape of half a tennis ball. It had a hard green shell, and soft yellow inside. The center was hollow, and filled with carrots, pea, green beans and corn. The squash itself was somewhat sweet, and the perfectly cooked veggies made a mouth watering combination. Seven of us shared three wonderful ice cream treats for dessert. The service would have been above average in America, but was outstanding for Namibia. At other restaurants, you have to call the waitress over to your table to order or for refills, and they are usually hiding back in the kitchen. Three of the four other times I’ve eaten out, the waitress has forgot a dish or brought an extra one. The worst part is when you confront them about it, they argue with you. I guess that is why tipping is generally not expected.
Our swearing in ceremony was long and hot, but there was a really neat a cappella group, fancy finger foods, and we were a big story on the national news – which has turned us into borderline celebrities.
It took two days to get from Okahandja to Nkurenkuru. Mostly because we were in a rackety old orange bus, but also because we had a ton of luggage, traveling at night is unsafe, and the Ministry of Education is inefficient. Anyway, now we are here. Home. At last. We are living in a wonderful house, with two bedrooms, a bathroom with shower, kitchen, large living room, and screened in back porch. Unlike the rest of the volunteers in the Kavango, we have furniture (they will eventually): three tables, two beds (now three 1/30/07), a love seat and comfy chair, coffee table and three benches. The fridge works well and the stove works. I loaded up on salad dressings and tomato sauce in Rundu, everything else we need we can get here. Except contact solution, which we can’t get in Rundu either: oops! should have bought some in Windhoek.
The closest volunteer to us, Cobra, is temporarily living with us. He had a key to his house, but they changed the locks on him and his whole town (which is really just the school) is still on vacation, “even the chickens.” Cobra is already a good friend and only two miles away, so I’m sure we’ll see a lot of him even after he moves into his house. Two other volunteers are about 20 miles away, and we hope to see them a lot too. I also found out that the road going west to Ovamboland actually does go through (some of the time) so we are within three hours of the majority of the other volunteers, not the twelve hours we thought.
The river is very high right now. Angola has gotten a lot of rain. Haven’t seen a croc or hippo yet…
Jan 10.
So the internet café doesn’t currently have a computer. I asked to bring in Lindsey’s laptop, the clerk was going to check with her boss. Even if we were permitted, I don’t know that I’d know how to hook it up using a dial up modem. We’ll see. Next week I should be able to use the internet at my school (I’m not even sure why I’m writing this, because if you are reading it, I found access).
So here’s a little more about my school. ELCIN is a semi-private school. Semi-private you ask, here’s the answer: the facilities are private but the staff is provided by the government – that’s why they were allowed to apply for a peace corps volunteer (PCV). Still, aren’t there other schools that a higher need (ELCIN has the some of the highest test scores in the country)? Nkurenkuru was the only village in Namibia that had two applications for PCVs (Lindsey’s school and mine). If the two of us had been put anywhere else, one of us would have gone to fill a specific need and the other just to tag along. At least in our current situation, we are both filling specific spots. Also, Lindsey’s school did not have any accommodations available, so had my school not been able to house the both of us, her school wouldn’t have gotten a volunteer. All in all, it makes a little more sense.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Lindsey, Cobra, and I slept late and didn’t really do much of anything. The highlight has definitely been our daily Scrabble game. Cobra has beaten us every game. He likes using “words” that aren’t technically legal (“lo,” “qat,” “goo,” and “Jove”), but Lindsey’s dictionary has been deemed worthless because it doesn’t even contain “drip.”
Today our front yard was weeded by two learners. Tomorrow (presumably), the back. Now that the weeds are gone, we are left with dirt. We have a few plants that they put rocks around. I’m trying to start a cactus, too. I also bought some flower seeds, but it says they germinate at 15 degrees Celsius. I’m not sure what that is in Fahrenheit, but regardless it doesn’t get that cool here in summer.
I finished reading Teaching as a Subversive Activity and started reading it again, but had to give it back before I finished. I am sure it is going to help me focus my future learning and teaching. One chapter was about the use of language, particularly interesting given my current Rukwangali studies. N.R. Hanson (who’s that dude?) was quoted: “If a conceptual distinction is to be made…the machinery for making it ought to show itself in language. If a distinction cannot be made in language it cannot be made conceptually.” I read this the night after learning that the word for “have,” “want” and “need” is the same, and the only way to distinguish those from “like” is the its usage. That really says something to me.
I also finished the uber-novel I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Woffe (why not review the books I read, right? I mean, I’ve got time to kill). This was the first book I read by Tom Woffe, and I was amazed amazed amazed at his unique writing style. If in other circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have even attempted to start reading a book so thick. Someone said that in the peace corps, non-readers become readers, readers become writers, and writer become crazy. I was somewhere between a non-reader and a reader, so I guess I’ll end up a mix between a reader and writer (look at me, writing away right now).
After all those pages, I needed a break from novels. I’ve been reading magazines and some short stories, but I’m ready to start another book soon. I’ll keep you posted. I’m going to challenge Cobra to chess, more later.
Jan 15
Soon after we arrived in Africa, Bush announced that he would announce his new plan for Iraq at the beginning of the new year. Since then I had been anticipating the embarrassing moment when he’d finally have to admit he messed up and the mounting political pressure would force him to end the war. I guess it was Thursday when we found learned what the announcement was: 20,000 more soldiers will be sent to Iraq. Given the recent shift in the mindset of the American people toward feelings of opposition (perceived by me pre-November, that is) and hostility about the war, sending more troops is an unfathomable remedy, yet sadly predictable. I wish I was able to watch the country during this time. I’d really be interested in your observations via email.
I have been saying for a while that for the United States to right their ways, things would have to get worse first (I also hold this belief with regards to global warming…). Ideally the “bad things” that have happened in the recent past are not too much for a great country to overcome. I’m not wishing for the country becoming more liberal or Democratic. I’m wishing for a country that understands its place in the world, has honest and respectable leaders, and encourages debate and open-minded discussion.
A small positive is that it seems George Jr. will likely go down as the worst president in history.
In a somewhat related note, I have been listening a lot to Neil Young’s Living With War. Its one of those albums that I like more each time I here it. Most of my CDs got scratched during transport. However some people are sending music to us through the mail, and I’m real excited for that. Missing all the new music (and movies) for the next two years is going to be tough. Still hoping someone will send Barnowl. Erika? Kim?
The music here is mostly hip-hop, but reggae and pop music are widely listened to as well. The most played song right now is Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie,” which I actually liked before coming here – though that was mostly for Wyclef’s part. The two most popular artists are Gazza, the reining Namibian artist of the year, and Tha Dogg, the former artist of the year. Both are reggae influenced hip hop. I’m not to keen of either, especially given how much they are played. However, I haven’t heard either since coming to Nkurenkuru. Namibians like to play songs they like over and over. My host mom played a song I once told her I liked every night five or six times at full (painful) volume. This weekend we traveled in a van for a few hours. The driver played “Gotham City” five times in a row. Finally he switched the CD, where he quickly found “Cause I’m Your Woman, and You Are My Man” (I’m no sure if that’s actually the name, but you probably know it. We think it was Celine Dion.). No exaggeration, we heard that at least ten times in a row. Once he even started it over before it had finished. We were really happy to reach our destination.
And that destination was the youth center in Divundu (check out my transition sentences, Mrs. Rogers would be so proud). Divundu is 200 km east of Rundu. Although it’s twice as far as Nkurenkuru to Rundu, it takes the same amount of time because the road is paved. Ten of us met there for a fellow volunteer’s birthday. His place was very nice; no one had to sleep on the floor. Upon arrival, we learned that the water was temporality out (“temporality” ended up being the entire weekend, never craved a shower so bad). This was the first time we traveled on our own. There was a lot of waiting around, but it wasn’t so bad. In April we have four weeks off from school. In that time we plan to travel to Swakopmund (“Swakop” for short) and Walvis Bay, the Sand Dunes, the Skeleton Coast, and hopefully hit up Etosha again.
Finished another book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I don’t understand the title, and I wish I would have read it when I was 15, but it was still a nice read.
Tomorrow is a staff meeting, and Wednesday school starts. I’m hoping to be able to use my school’s internet but we’ll see. The internet café is still not an internet café. Cobra moved out last night, so Lindsey and I are really starting to settle in. She just took a bunch of pictures, eventually they’ll be online. I apologize for the delay in posting the Etosha pictures. I mailed the CD to my dad, which he received, but I have been unable to email him instructions. By the time you read this though, he will have received the directions and should post them soon, if not already.
The rain just quit and it has cooled off real nice. Now that my dinner has digested, I’m going to go on a jog. How’s the ice? ;)
Jan. 22
I knew two things about the Southern Hemisphere before coming to Namibia. I was genuinely excited the first time I flushed a toilet in our hotel room in Johannesburg. I was quite upset to see the water virtually sucked down the toilet instead of swirl swirl swirl in the opposite direction. We had to put in our room key to turn on the lights, so I thought maybe it was just the hotel that had super efficient toilets. It wasn’t, I haven’t seen a toilet swirl since Farmington, Mo.
The other thing is the reversal of seasons. It’s very warm here, maybe even hot. But it is nothing compared to Midwest summers. The sun is the villain here, not the humidity. We are much closer to the equator (about as far south as Mexico City is north). The shade is quite tolerable. Our house gets quite stuffy, and even though nights are the coolest, it is so hot to lie down. I have to flip my pillow constantly to avoid sleeping in sweat. The locals say it’s too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. I think their “cold” is more like 50’s. Can’t wait.
Daylight savings time is two hours. The rumor is that the shift is too hard on the learners, so the schools don’t switch, but continue to follow the sun. So when that happens, we will be starting our first class at 4:40 AM.
Last Tuesday was our first staff meeting. It lasted four hours and eighteen minuets, and we didn’t even complete the schedule (which is absolutely insane – each day of the week is different). The first day was pretty much a waste, but I’ve already had a few good lessons since then. I was kind of dreading the science classes, but I am going to have more opportunities for discussions and questioning, which are all I really care about after Teaching as a Subversive Activity (have you read it yet?). There is already a struggle forming between teaching to the end of the year test (covering the entire syllabus) and teaching to comprehension (actual learning).
It has become even more apparent how fortunate the learners at ELCIN are. My hilarious new friend from Chicago hasn’t seen his classroom. His principal lost the keys, and he doesn’t even know if he has desks or chairs (assuming they will recover the keys, I guess). (UPDATE: Jan 30. He found out the “locked room” was actually the janitors closet. For some reason they refused to give him a room. Since then, he’s outsmarted them somehow (via the janitor, no less) and has a room and desks and chairs). The other PCVs I’ve talked to haven’t started any real teaching and are busy the first week registering learners and sitting in the sun. The government didn’t provide schools in the Kavango with exercise books, so schools are charging the learners for the would-be complementary paper on top of their excessive school fees. I have given each of my learners three exercise books (for homework, notes, and tests), and doubt I’ll have any trouble getting more. Most of my learners will get books (which is really irrelevant because they are so poor quality that I will rarely use them). I think Lindsey told me a teacher at her school said one grade/subject had 11 books to distribute to 155 learners. The grade ten tests are the most important event in Namibian education (grade 11 and 12 are highly selective). Most schools pass about 30% of their learners (the formula for a passing grade is complicated, but it is somewhere between 20 and 40%, where 60% is typically failing in America). My school passed 92% of their grade ten learners, a drop from previous years. Today I saw the physical science lab. It is loaded.
They charge N$5 900 (no commas in Namibian numbers, except to replace the decimal point. A real pain for math teachers), that’s less than a thousand U.S. and I believe that includes room and board and food. Several learners from Nkurenkuru are sponsored by the Lutheran church in Finland. In comparison, school fees are mostly less than N$100 throughout the rest of the country. More difficult than coming up with the money is having high enough test scores to get in.
More later.
Jan. 28
I’m going to start this out with some of my lessons. So if you’re not interested, skip down to the next post. My first full week of school went well. My science classes meet for four periods a week, math seven. Science is double periods, each class twice a week. Math meets every day with two double periods a week. I had some pretty interesting science classes. I think the beginning of every fundamental science class starts the same: learning the scientific method, observations, classifications, etc. The previous week I had given a homework assignment to make five observations about ELCIN, their rooms, and any teacher. Each student selected one of their observations, read it, and I wrote it on the board. Most were completely general: ELCIN is nice, my room is nice, Mr. Scott smells nice. Expecting this lack of creativity and detail, I planned to spend the next class period talking about uniqueness. I wrote the word “unique” on the board and asked the students to think about what it meant. I doubted they would know what it meant, but I thought they may have heard it, and working as a class they might be able to figure it out. I had pairs of students write down the definition. The only ones that wrote anything were complete guesses. One student had a dictionary, so I had her read the definition. I don’t remember what it was exactly, but it was weak. I wrote down the key words from the definition. Then we had to repeat the whole process with the key words before we got anywhere. I then gave them 10 minutes to “write as many unique observations as possible.” I stressed that the quality of the observations wasn’t important and you could write down anything you saw, thinking if they kept writing for ten minutes they would eventually have to write something unique. The unique observation examples I gave were “The curtain on that window has a brown elephant” and “there is a long crack in the wall above the chalkboard.” My learners write extremely slow, possibly intentionally. Most of them wrote one or two observations, the most common being “there are trees” and “8A is having a window.” At least this was an improvement. The bell rang and I quickly left the room before pulling out the rest of my hair.
When I taught that lesson to the other eighth grade class, I made a few adjustments. After we wrote the learners observations on the board, I had them write down their favorite five, and I did the same. Then we tallied votes, and I erased (or rubbed, and an eraser is called a duster) observations one at a time starting with the least popular. After there were eight or so left on the board. I stopped and asked why they thought those specific observations were the most popular (for the most part, the ones left were the most specific and, well, unique). They couldn’t really put vocalize their thoughts (and this goes back to the Hanson quote I wrote about a few weeks earlier), but I think they understood. So I told them I wanted them to write observations for the remainder of class. Instead of saying “unique observations,” I said write observations that no one else will write. I continued to repeat the directions while they were writing, occasionally slipping in the words “unique” and “original.” The observations they wrote were all different(!) and relatively creative. I really felt good leaving school that afternoon.
For the next science lesson, I gave them a group activity. They were instructed to measure five objects: chalkboard, door, shoe, Mr. Scott, and the ceiling. Those were the only instructions, purposely vague. I was hoping that each group would measure the objects in a different way, then I would ask the students why each group found such different measurements, then conclude the lesson by stressing the importance of clear and precise directions. However, every group copied off of one another and measured each object the exact same way. Luckily, they are not very accurate measurers, so when each group reported their scores, there was still a noticeable discrepancy. Their written responses about the differences were weak and vague, but some learners gave good ideas during the discussion. One mentioned that not every group measured the same shoe, and another that they should have been more careful when measuring. I hope to be able to refer back to that lesson and discussion throughout the year when stressing the importance of sameness and fairness during experiments.
I struggled for a few days thinking about how I would introduce the concept of prime numbers to my eighth grade class. I decided to write “=1,” “=2,” “=3”, on the board, through “=10.” Then I had the students write each as products of their factors (i.e. 6x1=6, 3x2=6, 2x3=6, 1x6=6…). After that they put them on the board, and then we had made corrections to them. I reviewed what a factor was, and wrote out the factors for each of them. I identified the prime numbers and asked them to write the definition of a prime number on their paper. Then I instructed them to make three columns on their board, “primes,” “not primes,” and “mistakes.” I put the numbers 1-10 in the appropriate columns, and challenged them to distribute 11-30. When they were done, I would count up write the number of mistakes they had made on their paper. Only one student had no mistakes on the first attempt, the rest really enjoyed the challenge. By only telling them how many mistakes they had, they had to reread the definition and analyze their work (the Synthesis stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy, I believe. Boo yah!). I think I could probably do this again with squares and cubes, maybe more.
The last activity worth writing about I did in ninth grade math. I started off the year with integers and sequences. The students did not know the word “pattern,” and had never worked with sequences before, so we started very easy. Most caught on (some very quickly), others didn’t. After a week or so I was getting very bored. So I had them build trains out of triangles using matches. They built trains of length 1 through 5, then I asked them how many matches a train of n triangles would need. None were able to answer this question, but when I rephrased the question as “write the rule for the sequence” they quickly answered. Then they made predictions for trains of 7, 15, and 100 using the rule, then built 7 and 15, comparing to their predictions. I then asked them for a triangle of any length, how many matches would they need to add one more triangle and then if this was the same as the common difference. To end the activity they had to think backwards. I asked them how long of a train they could build with 17 and 191 matches. 17 was no problem because they could actually do it. Most took a lot of time figuring out 191 (though some got it in no time at all). I counted five different methods for figuring it out. I was really excited, but when I tried to go over each of the five ways, they couldn’t have cared less. They said they really liked the activity, and I think they did. I know I did. I had no real problems using matches, either.
If you are not a math teacher, and you actually read that, I’m really impressed. I know it was very dry, but it is for my own benefit really.
Jan 30
I couldn’t be happier, the internet café is finally a full functioning internet café. This past weekend was our first anniversary. Can’t believe it has been a year already. Don’t they say the first year is the hardest? Wow, it’s really been easy. I’m thankful to have such a great wife. We were in Rundu this weekend, and were able to celebrate at the Omashare Lodge. Diner is served on the back porch overlooking the freshly cut grass, swimming pool, sausage (yes, sausage) trees and other cool plants and in the background, the Okavango River and Angola. They have a large bird cage with very colorful parakeets (I think) and parrots, and one ugly, loud goose. Maybe geese are rare here? The cage surrounds a tall tree that branches out over the cage. They don’t really need a cage, though. The tree has just as many birds, either wild or ones that have escaped but didn’t want to leave the lodge. There are also several peacocks walking around. I saw one fly 30 feet up into a tree. I had no idea they could do that. The waitress told me that they used to lay eggs on the ground, but now they do it in the tree because of snakes. They weren’t scared, and we were able to get many pictures. I was left wondering, though, what is the natural habitat of the peacock? You only ever see them walking around as upscale accessories. Lindsey says they are from Africa, and I agree, I guess, but what kind of habitat specifically? Someone want to look it up and tell me?
Our room had hot showers, A/C (we used even though we didn’t need it), and TV. Serena destroyed Maria Sharipova in the Australian Open – it was that, cricket or soccer.
The Kavango is also home to other volunteer organizations, which makes sense but I had never considered before. There are two girls living fairly close, a VSO (Volunteer Service Organization, Europe) and World Teach (America). They are allowed to drive. We rode with them to and from Rundu, which was nice because she was a really safe driver. There are several other VSOs farther away, too.
(I just missed snagging a picture of a really cool parrot. It is mostly grey, but had black and red feathers on the top of its head. The birds around our house are plentiful, diverse, but annoying at night. Their call sounds like a squeaky fence opening up. There is also one that we just started hearing that is like a big truck backing up. Lindsey saw an owl the other day. Now there is one with a bright red chest, but he is not closes enough for a picture.)
I think I’ve addressed most (I know I keep putting off Zack’s question about the library, I’ll get to it…) of the questions I’ve been emailed, except this one. My school is about a 45 minute walk. There is another teacher living next door with a van. I ride with him at 6:30 and come home at 1:30. Fridays, I start late and end early. I walked to school one Friday so I could sleep later, and rode the next Friday because I had school work to do. I was able to hitch a ride (called “hiking” here) from school back to town at noon when I was done teaching. It’s great getting out early on a Friday. I love Friday afternoons.
Today, one of the workers at our school came up to me (with an interpreter). She showed me this ad from Better Homes and Garden for a weaving loom and directions and materials to make Mojave blankets and pillows. She was interested in “projects.” I don’t understand completely, but I think projects are money making ventures. For example, there is this group from Namibia that sells hand woven baskets across Southern Africa. Their “project” has done so well, that it provides full time employment for several women who have little or no education. One steady source of income is very important, because Namibian extended families live with and support each other. I digress; the woman in the ad appeared to be wearing clothing from the 70’s. You can never tell with anyone using a loom, though, so I flipped it over. On the back side was an ad for cigarettes with a woman most certainly dressed from the 70’s. Needless to say, the U.S. address on the loom ad would no longer be pertinent. I had trouble explaining that I didn’t know anything about this and that it would most likely be impossible to call the 1-800 number. She mentioned how she was interested in “projects” again, not specifically this one. She asked if I knew of any available sewing machines. I was thinking that there are probably several people in the U.S. with working sewing machines that would be willing to donate them (or buy new ones) to a group (if I could organize such a group). I would think that churches would be the ideal place to start a donation like this, and maybe the church could pick up the shipping as well. I just got this idea today, but if you are reading this and are at all interested, I’d like to hear any suggestions or questions you have. Please email me or post a comment on the blog.
I was excited to hear about the new albums by Modest Mouse, Of Montreal and Deerhoof. You’ll have to send me reviews after a few listens. FYI: Lindsey has an MP3 CD player.
We finally have left model school, our host family, and Grootfontein for two more weeks of training in Okahandja. We celebrated Christmas with a barbeque in the dried out river bed. After returning to all the volunteers (now 63…) it’s very apparent how close the Kavango group bonded (the 12 of us who spent 3 weeks in Grootfontein). These are the people I’ll be the closest to for two years, and I’m very thankful. They are all great. 3 of those 12 live very close to Lindsey and me; we plan to get together frequently.
Training has dragged on since we’ve returned to Okahandja. Only last night is worth writing about so far. Sunset watching has replaced ultimate Frisbee as my favorite after dinner activity. The three nights preceding last night I hiked up a mountain (mountain is not the right word, but neither is hill, cliff, or bluff – if they are mountains, they are very, very old. Plateau is what the atlas calls it.) with a few others. The sunsets themselves ranged between okay and good, but the view from the mountain was always spectacular. From my perch, I watched the sunset over the city and could see several surrounding mountains and occasional storms, lightning, and rain. Unlike the sunsets I’ve seen back home, here the color is not limited to the west. Clouds all across the sky (even far east) are painted with orange and pink. Hiking down in the dusk or dark is a challenge but well worth it.
Last night we decided to hike to the cross – the highest peak around, so called for the cross atop it. From the river bed, it doesn’t look to be too much higher than the others, but I soon discovered that was because it was much farther away. We ducked through thorns and jumped from boulder to boulder as we ascended. Before we were even half way up, we were higher than most of everything else around, I paused frequently to check the view. It probably took us an hour to get to the top. This made the fourth sunset in a row that I had made in nearly perfect timing. Just after we had oooohhhed and aaawwwwwed at the amazing view, the sun came from behind the clouds, changed the color of the sky, and dropped off the horizon. We saw a few small monkeys climbing up the side of the cliff, and we quickly climbed down 100 feet or so to get a better look. We couldn’t find them, but when we turned around to look at the cross we saw 10-20 baboons climbing up to where we had just been. Needless to say, they were much better climbers than we were, they didn’t even bother to go up the “easy” side. Some of them were very large.
At this point, the sun was long gone, but the sky was dark red in the west and dark blue elsewhere. Their black bodies were easily identifiably against the dark sky and grey cliff to the naked eye, but sadly, not the Kodak DX 4630. I don’t think I’ll need a picture, though, I’ll never forget that. Last night’s experience may have even topped Etosha.
It’s also very satisfying that Lindsey is overcoming her fear of heights instead of being crippled by it. Enthused by last night, a few of us are going to skip dinner for an even longer hike and sunset watch this evening. Can’t wait.
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Jan 9
This will probably be a long entry, bear with me. I’ll start with where I left after my last entry. The next afternoon after the hike to the cross, I hiked with three others to a peak on the other side of the cross. On the way to the top, we ran into the baboons again. We sat and watched them for about half an hour. I was about 40 feet from them while they played, screamed, mated, and sat and watched the four of us.
We continued our hike to the top, where we ate apples and dinner rolls with Italian dressing and watched the sunset. From here, we could see that this peak was in fact taller than the cross. It was quite an interesting view, the “mountains” that we had been climbing had rock walls that jutted out of the land. The walls were about three feet wide, 10-20 feet tall, with varying lengths. Because of the large amount of hooks, thorns, and hooked thorns along the ground, scaling the rock walls was sometimes the preferred way of travel. In contrast, the landscape we could see maybe two or three miles away was large, rolling hills that surrounded a lake or river. And even further away were more mountains. We could see little detail; they appeared jagged, but didn’t have the rock walls. From here we could also see plains, the river bed, and the town of Okahandja. Up so high, everything looked lush. Green is a deceiving color. The ground was covered by brown grass, rocks, large millipedes, bones, and occasional cow or baboon poop . Only the sparse trees were green, and most of them were very prickly. Not your typical “green.”
The next night, the same group of four decided to do a sunset to sunrise excursion. This time we went back to the cross. Of course we saw another great sunset, but it was much nicer to not have to hike down afterwards. The sky gets very red just before going to black, and we had missed this before not wanting to descend in darkness. I learned how to recognize Venus. As the sun vanished, the full moon took its place. The moon light lit up the rocks wonderfully, and the light of town illuminated Okahandja. We could hear the trains coming into town. They were very loud, and would screech to a stop, but from Such Great Heights it looked like they were barely moving. They looked like red caterpillars crawling off the horizon, and white caterpillars coming into town.
There were several mice that scurried around us that night. They were not afraid of us at all. First we thought they were large spiders, we were relieved when we finally cast light on them. We just knew we would see some snakes with all that snake food running around.
When it was time for bed, we meandered down the cliff a little ways, searched for our sleeping bags, and then a decent place to sleep. We were afraid the tall grass would be home to mice eaters, and the rocks were too rocky. Eventually we found a place under a tree that was mildly decent. After lying down for at most two minutes, the girl with us (who didn’t even have a sleeping bag) screamed, stood up and started brushing her body off. The culprit: a scorpion. The largest scorpions I had seen before were about two inches long. This one was at least 6 inches long, fast, and hairy. It looked and moved a lot like a crab. A big crab. That made sleeping much more difficult. I imagined critters crawling on my shoulders several times thorough the night. However, I know I did get some sleep, because I missed the first part of the sunrise. My personal photographer was not with me either of these days, so no pictures.
Another highlight of training was our trip to Windhoek, the capital. I originally stated it was pronounced “Vinhook.” It’s only the Germans and Afrikaaners (for some reason the white Namibians are called Afrikaaners) who pronounce it that way. Other’s say “Windhook.” Windhoek Lager is pronounced “Vinhook” in the commercials. The malls were very large, clean and nice, and the city pretty cool, too. I bought some speakers, a Frisbee, two shirts, a juicy ranch burger with a fried egg, some locks and another electrical converter. Any Americans who come to visit (hint hint) would be in shopping heaven because the U.S. dollar goes so far here. Bring an extra suitcase.
Our last night in Okahandja we went to a German restaurant. It turned out to be very upscale by Namibian standards. Even though I’ve been eating lower quality food since I’ve been here, I think I can still judge food objectively, and this was one of the best meals I’ve ever had. I ordered chicken cordon blue because my favorite German meal had (previously) been stuffed veal (at Das Stein Haus in Jeff City). It was cooked absolutely flawless, although there was only cheese, no ham. It was served with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables inside of a squash. The squash was the size and shape of half a tennis ball. It had a hard green shell, and soft yellow inside. The center was hollow, and filled with carrots, pea, green beans and corn. The squash itself was somewhat sweet, and the perfectly cooked veggies made a mouth watering combination. Seven of us shared three wonderful ice cream treats for dessert. The service would have been above average in America, but was outstanding for Namibia. At other restaurants, you have to call the waitress over to your table to order or for refills, and they are usually hiding back in the kitchen. Three of the four other times I’ve eaten out, the waitress has forgot a dish or brought an extra one. The worst part is when you confront them about it, they argue with you. I guess that is why tipping is generally not expected.
Our swearing in ceremony was long and hot, but there was a really neat a cappella group, fancy finger foods, and we were a big story on the national news – which has turned us into borderline celebrities.
It took two days to get from Okahandja to Nkurenkuru. Mostly because we were in a rackety old orange bus, but also because we had a ton of luggage, traveling at night is unsafe, and the Ministry of Education is inefficient. Anyway, now we are here. Home. At last. We are living in a wonderful house, with two bedrooms, a bathroom with shower, kitchen, large living room, and screened in back porch. Unlike the rest of the volunteers in the Kavango, we have furniture (they will eventually): three tables, two beds (now three 1/30/07), a love seat and comfy chair, coffee table and three benches. The fridge works well and the stove works. I loaded up on salad dressings and tomato sauce in Rundu, everything else we need we can get here. Except contact solution, which we can’t get in Rundu either: oops! should have bought some in Windhoek.
The closest volunteer to us, Cobra, is temporarily living with us. He had a key to his house, but they changed the locks on him and his whole town (which is really just the school) is still on vacation, “even the chickens.” Cobra is already a good friend and only two miles away, so I’m sure we’ll see a lot of him even after he moves into his house. Two other volunteers are about 20 miles away, and we hope to see them a lot too. I also found out that the road going west to Ovamboland actually does go through (some of the time) so we are within three hours of the majority of the other volunteers, not the twelve hours we thought.
The river is very high right now. Angola has gotten a lot of rain. Haven’t seen a croc or hippo yet…
Jan 10.
So the internet café doesn’t currently have a computer. I asked to bring in Lindsey’s laptop, the clerk was going to check with her boss. Even if we were permitted, I don’t know that I’d know how to hook it up using a dial up modem. We’ll see. Next week I should be able to use the internet at my school (I’m not even sure why I’m writing this, because if you are reading it, I found access).
So here’s a little more about my school. ELCIN is a semi-private school. Semi-private you ask, here’s the answer: the facilities are private but the staff is provided by the government – that’s why they were allowed to apply for a peace corps volunteer (PCV). Still, aren’t there other schools that a higher need (ELCIN has the some of the highest test scores in the country)? Nkurenkuru was the only village in Namibia that had two applications for PCVs (Lindsey’s school and mine). If the two of us had been put anywhere else, one of us would have gone to fill a specific need and the other just to tag along. At least in our current situation, we are both filling specific spots. Also, Lindsey’s school did not have any accommodations available, so had my school not been able to house the both of us, her school wouldn’t have gotten a volunteer. All in all, it makes a little more sense.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Lindsey, Cobra, and I slept late and didn’t really do much of anything. The highlight has definitely been our daily Scrabble game. Cobra has beaten us every game. He likes using “words” that aren’t technically legal (“lo,” “qat,” “goo,” and “Jove”), but Lindsey’s dictionary has been deemed worthless because it doesn’t even contain “drip.”
Today our front yard was weeded by two learners. Tomorrow (presumably), the back. Now that the weeds are gone, we are left with dirt. We have a few plants that they put rocks around. I’m trying to start a cactus, too. I also bought some flower seeds, but it says they germinate at 15 degrees Celsius. I’m not sure what that is in Fahrenheit, but regardless it doesn’t get that cool here in summer.
I finished reading Teaching as a Subversive Activity and started reading it again, but had to give it back before I finished. I am sure it is going to help me focus my future learning and teaching. One chapter was about the use of language, particularly interesting given my current Rukwangali studies. N.R. Hanson (who’s that dude?) was quoted: “If a conceptual distinction is to be made…the machinery for making it ought to show itself in language. If a distinction cannot be made in language it cannot be made conceptually.” I read this the night after learning that the word for “have,” “want” and “need” is the same, and the only way to distinguish those from “like” is the its usage. That really says something to me.
I also finished the uber-novel I am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Woffe (why not review the books I read, right? I mean, I’ve got time to kill). This was the first book I read by Tom Woffe, and I was amazed amazed amazed at his unique writing style. If in other circumstances, I probably wouldn’t have even attempted to start reading a book so thick. Someone said that in the peace corps, non-readers become readers, readers become writers, and writer become crazy. I was somewhere between a non-reader and a reader, so I guess I’ll end up a mix between a reader and writer (look at me, writing away right now).
After all those pages, I needed a break from novels. I’ve been reading magazines and some short stories, but I’m ready to start another book soon. I’ll keep you posted. I’m going to challenge Cobra to chess, more later.
Jan 15
Soon after we arrived in Africa, Bush announced that he would announce his new plan for Iraq at the beginning of the new year. Since then I had been anticipating the embarrassing moment when he’d finally have to admit he messed up and the mounting political pressure would force him to end the war. I guess it was Thursday when we found learned what the announcement was: 20,000 more soldiers will be sent to Iraq. Given the recent shift in the mindset of the American people toward feelings of opposition (perceived by me pre-November, that is) and hostility about the war, sending more troops is an unfathomable remedy, yet sadly predictable. I wish I was able to watch the country during this time. I’d really be interested in your observations via email.
I have been saying for a while that for the United States to right their ways, things would have to get worse first (I also hold this belief with regards to global warming…). Ideally the “bad things” that have happened in the recent past are not too much for a great country to overcome. I’m not wishing for the country becoming more liberal or Democratic. I’m wishing for a country that understands its place in the world, has honest and respectable leaders, and encourages debate and open-minded discussion.
A small positive is that it seems George Jr. will likely go down as the worst president in history.
In a somewhat related note, I have been listening a lot to Neil Young’s Living With War. Its one of those albums that I like more each time I here it. Most of my CDs got scratched during transport. However some people are sending music to us through the mail, and I’m real excited for that. Missing all the new music (and movies) for the next two years is going to be tough. Still hoping someone will send Barnowl. Erika? Kim?
The music here is mostly hip-hop, but reggae and pop music are widely listened to as well. The most played song right now is Shakira’s “Hips Don’t Lie,” which I actually liked before coming here – though that was mostly for Wyclef’s part. The two most popular artists are Gazza, the reining Namibian artist of the year, and Tha Dogg, the former artist of the year. Both are reggae influenced hip hop. I’m not to keen of either, especially given how much they are played. However, I haven’t heard either since coming to Nkurenkuru. Namibians like to play songs they like over and over. My host mom played a song I once told her I liked every night five or six times at full (painful) volume. This weekend we traveled in a van for a few hours. The driver played “Gotham City” five times in a row. Finally he switched the CD, where he quickly found “Cause I’m Your Woman, and You Are My Man” (I’m no sure if that’s actually the name, but you probably know it. We think it was Celine Dion.). No exaggeration, we heard that at least ten times in a row. Once he even started it over before it had finished. We were really happy to reach our destination.
And that destination was the youth center in Divundu (check out my transition sentences, Mrs. Rogers would be so proud). Divundu is 200 km east of Rundu. Although it’s twice as far as Nkurenkuru to Rundu, it takes the same amount of time because the road is paved. Ten of us met there for a fellow volunteer’s birthday. His place was very nice; no one had to sleep on the floor. Upon arrival, we learned that the water was temporality out (“temporality” ended up being the entire weekend, never craved a shower so bad). This was the first time we traveled on our own. There was a lot of waiting around, but it wasn’t so bad. In April we have four weeks off from school. In that time we plan to travel to Swakopmund (“Swakop” for short) and Walvis Bay, the Sand Dunes, the Skeleton Coast, and hopefully hit up Etosha again.
Finished another book: The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I don’t understand the title, and I wish I would have read it when I was 15, but it was still a nice read.
Tomorrow is a staff meeting, and Wednesday school starts. I’m hoping to be able to use my school’s internet but we’ll see. The internet café is still not an internet café. Cobra moved out last night, so Lindsey and I are really starting to settle in. She just took a bunch of pictures, eventually they’ll be online. I apologize for the delay in posting the Etosha pictures. I mailed the CD to my dad, which he received, but I have been unable to email him instructions. By the time you read this though, he will have received the directions and should post them soon, if not already.
The rain just quit and it has cooled off real nice. Now that my dinner has digested, I’m going to go on a jog. How’s the ice? ;)
Jan. 22
I knew two things about the Southern Hemisphere before coming to Namibia. I was genuinely excited the first time I flushed a toilet in our hotel room in Johannesburg. I was quite upset to see the water virtually sucked down the toilet instead of swirl swirl swirl in the opposite direction. We had to put in our room key to turn on the lights, so I thought maybe it was just the hotel that had super efficient toilets. It wasn’t, I haven’t seen a toilet swirl since Farmington, Mo.
The other thing is the reversal of seasons. It’s very warm here, maybe even hot. But it is nothing compared to Midwest summers. The sun is the villain here, not the humidity. We are much closer to the equator (about as far south as Mexico City is north). The shade is quite tolerable. Our house gets quite stuffy, and even though nights are the coolest, it is so hot to lie down. I have to flip my pillow constantly to avoid sleeping in sweat. The locals say it’s too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. I think their “cold” is more like 50’s. Can’t wait.
Daylight savings time is two hours. The rumor is that the shift is too hard on the learners, so the schools don’t switch, but continue to follow the sun. So when that happens, we will be starting our first class at 4:40 AM.
Last Tuesday was our first staff meeting. It lasted four hours and eighteen minuets, and we didn’t even complete the schedule (which is absolutely insane – each day of the week is different). The first day was pretty much a waste, but I’ve already had a few good lessons since then. I was kind of dreading the science classes, but I am going to have more opportunities for discussions and questioning, which are all I really care about after Teaching as a Subversive Activity (have you read it yet?). There is already a struggle forming between teaching to the end of the year test (covering the entire syllabus) and teaching to comprehension (actual learning).
It has become even more apparent how fortunate the learners at ELCIN are. My hilarious new friend from Chicago hasn’t seen his classroom. His principal lost the keys, and he doesn’t even know if he has desks or chairs (assuming they will recover the keys, I guess). (UPDATE: Jan 30. He found out the “locked room” was actually the janitors closet. For some reason they refused to give him a room. Since then, he’s outsmarted them somehow (via the janitor, no less) and has a room and desks and chairs). The other PCVs I’ve talked to haven’t started any real teaching and are busy the first week registering learners and sitting in the sun. The government didn’t provide schools in the Kavango with exercise books, so schools are charging the learners for the would-be complementary paper on top of their excessive school fees. I have given each of my learners three exercise books (for homework, notes, and tests), and doubt I’ll have any trouble getting more. Most of my learners will get books (which is really irrelevant because they are so poor quality that I will rarely use them). I think Lindsey told me a teacher at her school said one grade/subject had 11 books to distribute to 155 learners. The grade ten tests are the most important event in Namibian education (grade 11 and 12 are highly selective). Most schools pass about 30% of their learners (the formula for a passing grade is complicated, but it is somewhere between 20 and 40%, where 60% is typically failing in America). My school passed 92% of their grade ten learners, a drop from previous years. Today I saw the physical science lab. It is loaded.
They charge N$5 900 (no commas in Namibian numbers, except to replace the decimal point. A real pain for math teachers), that’s less than a thousand U.S. and I believe that includes room and board and food. Several learners from Nkurenkuru are sponsored by the Lutheran church in Finland. In comparison, school fees are mostly less than N$100 throughout the rest of the country. More difficult than coming up with the money is having high enough test scores to get in.
More later.
Jan. 28
I’m going to start this out with some of my lessons. So if you’re not interested, skip down to the next post. My first full week of school went well. My science classes meet for four periods a week, math seven. Science is double periods, each class twice a week. Math meets every day with two double periods a week. I had some pretty interesting science classes. I think the beginning of every fundamental science class starts the same: learning the scientific method, observations, classifications, etc. The previous week I had given a homework assignment to make five observations about ELCIN, their rooms, and any teacher. Each student selected one of their observations, read it, and I wrote it on the board. Most were completely general: ELCIN is nice, my room is nice, Mr. Scott smells nice. Expecting this lack of creativity and detail, I planned to spend the next class period talking about uniqueness. I wrote the word “unique” on the board and asked the students to think about what it meant. I doubted they would know what it meant, but I thought they may have heard it, and working as a class they might be able to figure it out. I had pairs of students write down the definition. The only ones that wrote anything were complete guesses. One student had a dictionary, so I had her read the definition. I don’t remember what it was exactly, but it was weak. I wrote down the key words from the definition. Then we had to repeat the whole process with the key words before we got anywhere. I then gave them 10 minutes to “write as many unique observations as possible.” I stressed that the quality of the observations wasn’t important and you could write down anything you saw, thinking if they kept writing for ten minutes they would eventually have to write something unique. The unique observation examples I gave were “The curtain on that window has a brown elephant” and “there is a long crack in the wall above the chalkboard.” My learners write extremely slow, possibly intentionally. Most of them wrote one or two observations, the most common being “there are trees” and “8A is having a window.” At least this was an improvement. The bell rang and I quickly left the room before pulling out the rest of my hair.
When I taught that lesson to the other eighth grade class, I made a few adjustments. After we wrote the learners observations on the board, I had them write down their favorite five, and I did the same. Then we tallied votes, and I erased (or rubbed, and an eraser is called a duster) observations one at a time starting with the least popular. After there were eight or so left on the board. I stopped and asked why they thought those specific observations were the most popular (for the most part, the ones left were the most specific and, well, unique). They couldn’t really put vocalize their thoughts (and this goes back to the Hanson quote I wrote about a few weeks earlier), but I think they understood. So I told them I wanted them to write observations for the remainder of class. Instead of saying “unique observations,” I said write observations that no one else will write. I continued to repeat the directions while they were writing, occasionally slipping in the words “unique” and “original.” The observations they wrote were all different(!) and relatively creative. I really felt good leaving school that afternoon.
For the next science lesson, I gave them a group activity. They were instructed to measure five objects: chalkboard, door, shoe, Mr. Scott, and the ceiling. Those were the only instructions, purposely vague. I was hoping that each group would measure the objects in a different way, then I would ask the students why each group found such different measurements, then conclude the lesson by stressing the importance of clear and precise directions. However, every group copied off of one another and measured each object the exact same way. Luckily, they are not very accurate measurers, so when each group reported their scores, there was still a noticeable discrepancy. Their written responses about the differences were weak and vague, but some learners gave good ideas during the discussion. One mentioned that not every group measured the same shoe, and another that they should have been more careful when measuring. I hope to be able to refer back to that lesson and discussion throughout the year when stressing the importance of sameness and fairness during experiments.
I struggled for a few days thinking about how I would introduce the concept of prime numbers to my eighth grade class. I decided to write “=1,” “=2,” “=3”, on the board, through “=10.” Then I had the students write each as products of their factors (i.e. 6x1=6, 3x2=6, 2x3=6, 1x6=6…). After that they put them on the board, and then we had made corrections to them. I reviewed what a factor was, and wrote out the factors for each of them. I identified the prime numbers and asked them to write the definition of a prime number on their paper. Then I instructed them to make three columns on their board, “primes,” “not primes,” and “mistakes.” I put the numbers 1-10 in the appropriate columns, and challenged them to distribute 11-30. When they were done, I would count up write the number of mistakes they had made on their paper. Only one student had no mistakes on the first attempt, the rest really enjoyed the challenge. By only telling them how many mistakes they had, they had to reread the definition and analyze their work (the Synthesis stage of Bloom’s Taxonomy, I believe. Boo yah!). I think I could probably do this again with squares and cubes, maybe more.
The last activity worth writing about I did in ninth grade math. I started off the year with integers and sequences. The students did not know the word “pattern,” and had never worked with sequences before, so we started very easy. Most caught on (some very quickly), others didn’t. After a week or so I was getting very bored. So I had them build trains out of triangles using matches. They built trains of length 1 through 5, then I asked them how many matches a train of n triangles would need. None were able to answer this question, but when I rephrased the question as “write the rule for the sequence” they quickly answered. Then they made predictions for trains of 7, 15, and 100 using the rule, then built 7 and 15, comparing to their predictions. I then asked them for a triangle of any length, how many matches would they need to add one more triangle and then if this was the same as the common difference. To end the activity they had to think backwards. I asked them how long of a train they could build with 17 and 191 matches. 17 was no problem because they could actually do it. Most took a lot of time figuring out 191 (though some got it in no time at all). I counted five different methods for figuring it out. I was really excited, but when I tried to go over each of the five ways, they couldn’t have cared less. They said they really liked the activity, and I think they did. I know I did. I had no real problems using matches, either.
If you are not a math teacher, and you actually read that, I’m really impressed. I know it was very dry, but it is for my own benefit really.
Jan 30
I couldn’t be happier, the internet café is finally a full functioning internet café. This past weekend was our first anniversary. Can’t believe it has been a year already. Don’t they say the first year is the hardest? Wow, it’s really been easy. I’m thankful to have such a great wife. We were in Rundu this weekend, and were able to celebrate at the Omashare Lodge. Diner is served on the back porch overlooking the freshly cut grass, swimming pool, sausage (yes, sausage) trees and other cool plants and in the background, the Okavango River and Angola. They have a large bird cage with very colorful parakeets (I think) and parrots, and one ugly, loud goose. Maybe geese are rare here? The cage surrounds a tall tree that branches out over the cage. They don’t really need a cage, though. The tree has just as many birds, either wild or ones that have escaped but didn’t want to leave the lodge. There are also several peacocks walking around. I saw one fly 30 feet up into a tree. I had no idea they could do that. The waitress told me that they used to lay eggs on the ground, but now they do it in the tree because of snakes. They weren’t scared, and we were able to get many pictures. I was left wondering, though, what is the natural habitat of the peacock? You only ever see them walking around as upscale accessories. Lindsey says they are from Africa, and I agree, I guess, but what kind of habitat specifically? Someone want to look it up and tell me?
Our room had hot showers, A/C (we used even though we didn’t need it), and TV. Serena destroyed Maria Sharipova in the Australian Open – it was that, cricket or soccer.
The Kavango is also home to other volunteer organizations, which makes sense but I had never considered before. There are two girls living fairly close, a VSO (Volunteer Service Organization, Europe) and World Teach (America). They are allowed to drive. We rode with them to and from Rundu, which was nice because she was a really safe driver. There are several other VSOs farther away, too.
(I just missed snagging a picture of a really cool parrot. It is mostly grey, but had black and red feathers on the top of its head. The birds around our house are plentiful, diverse, but annoying at night. Their call sounds like a squeaky fence opening up. There is also one that we just started hearing that is like a big truck backing up. Lindsey saw an owl the other day. Now there is one with a bright red chest, but he is not closes enough for a picture.)
I think I’ve addressed most (I know I keep putting off Zack’s question about the library, I’ll get to it…) of the questions I’ve been emailed, except this one. My school is about a 45 minute walk. There is another teacher living next door with a van. I ride with him at 6:30 and come home at 1:30. Fridays, I start late and end early. I walked to school one Friday so I could sleep later, and rode the next Friday because I had school work to do. I was able to hitch a ride (called “hiking” here) from school back to town at noon when I was done teaching. It’s great getting out early on a Friday. I love Friday afternoons.
Today, one of the workers at our school came up to me (with an interpreter). She showed me this ad from Better Homes and Garden for a weaving loom and directions and materials to make Mojave blankets and pillows. She was interested in “projects.” I don’t understand completely, but I think projects are money making ventures. For example, there is this group from Namibia that sells hand woven baskets across Southern Africa. Their “project” has done so well, that it provides full time employment for several women who have little or no education. One steady source of income is very important, because Namibian extended families live with and support each other. I digress; the woman in the ad appeared to be wearing clothing from the 70’s. You can never tell with anyone using a loom, though, so I flipped it over. On the back side was an ad for cigarettes with a woman most certainly dressed from the 70’s. Needless to say, the U.S. address on the loom ad would no longer be pertinent. I had trouble explaining that I didn’t know anything about this and that it would most likely be impossible to call the 1-800 number. She mentioned how she was interested in “projects” again, not specifically this one. She asked if I knew of any available sewing machines. I was thinking that there are probably several people in the U.S. with working sewing machines that would be willing to donate them (or buy new ones) to a group (if I could organize such a group). I would think that churches would be the ideal place to start a donation like this, and maybe the church could pick up the shipping as well. I just got this idea today, but if you are reading this and are at all interested, I’d like to hear any suggestions or questions you have. Please email me or post a comment on the blog.
I was excited to hear about the new albums by Modest Mouse, Of Montreal and Deerhoof. You’ll have to send me reviews after a few listens. FYI: Lindsey has an MP3 CD player.
