Long time, no write!

I have tried writing blog posts for months now, but it just never seems to work out. Most of you who read this have probably heard that the whole Karasburg thing didn’t work out. I’ve moved to village closer to Windhoek, but on a dirt road the middle of no where. I actually really love it here. I walked to work this morning listening to goats bleating and rosters cock-a-doodle-do-ing. It’s super green and there are tall trees along the riverbed (pictures soon, I promise!). I’ve made so absolutely fantastic friends in the community who really take care of me. I now have a friend I buy fresh bread from, a friend I buy meat from, and another I buy seeds from to grow the vegetables I keep meaning to plant.

My daily life changes quite a bit as I’m adjusting to my new responsibilities. I’m now officially a teacher. I teach English and girls’ PE for grades 8-10 (junior secondary school). My kids are smart, funny, and creative as hell. They are also little demons when they are all in a class together and drive me crazy. One on one, or even in small groups, they are really fun to be around, but when the class has 44 students and at least 5 of them are competing for class clown with another 25-30 who just want to chat, it makes it absolutely impossible to get control. I’m struggling a lot with this. But I’m going to keep going. I’m alternating between being the horrible woman who gives detention and the awesome teacher who gives out rewards for good behavior. Lately I feel like the former is the most common side of me. My grade 8Bs were actually really good today though. I promised them rewards tomorrow. Same with one of the grade 9 classes. I teach five class groups in total.

Last night we had the school athletics tournament and it was really nice. Participation in athletics is mandatory for all able-bodied students (and some who lie and say they are, which caused a lot of drama last week!) and after a few weeks we have a school wide athletics tournament and the top three in each event become the official school team. I got to judge high jump, which, as most people don’t know, is by far my favorite athletics event. Some of the kids stayed around to help with raising the bar up and down and keeping everyone lined up. It was a great chance to get to meet some of the students who don’t usually come and talk with me, so despite having to sit in the sun for a few hours, I actually had a lot of fun!

Despite that, my favorite part of the athletics tournament was the community support. Thinking about it now almost brings tears to my eyes. Even though our tournament was rescheduled for a week day, tons of parents and community members came to support the kids. I talked with the parents of a few kids and the level of pride and investment in their kids was amazing. Back down in Karasburg, this just wasn’t a thing. Almost no one came to support the students at the girls’ soccer tournament and the few that did weren’t really there for the students. I talked to some of the teachers here afterwards and they said that this level of participation is typical and it warmed my heart to see that some of the kids really have a good support network at home. It’s probably because this is more of a farming community while the other school was in the Location. It makes me hope another volunteer will get to go back there and work with community development because those kids really deserve it (I obviously miss my K-burg kids a lot).

I’ve only been here a few weeks and it has been a crazy, roller coaster of a time, but as my principal asks each day, I’m still swimming. I’ve made more mistakes than I can count but I’m going to keep trying. I want to be a good teacher because I know no matter how naughty these kids are, they don’t deserve the disorganized wreck I’ve been the past few weeks. Right now I am open to any suggestions on classroom management and planning interesting and engaging lessons!!

Officially a Volunteer and Moving to Site

For as long as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I’ve wanted to be a volunteer for so long, that I stopped asking myself if I really wanted to do it anymore or if I really thought I could do it. It wasn’t until I had already accepted and started preparing for leaving that I began the process of questioning my decision. Going through training, I found myself asking myself more and more, “Do I really want to be here? Am I wasting time and resources being here?” I wasn’t having a tough time or anything, I just felt like I needed to really think it over. On the 15^th we officially swore in as volunteers, and that childhood dream became a reality. And as that happened, I found those questions that had harassed me all PST were gone and I was so ridiculously happy. I walked through town that day in my Damara dress and thought I can do this. And now I’m sitting in my flat in Karasburg, typing this up, and thinking there is no place else I could possibly be right now.

On the 16^th, two other volunteers and I made the long trek to the deep south of Namibia, I however, went the deepest. Pull out your maps of Namibia folks, ‘cause here comes a geography lesson! In Namibia, most people only consider two regions north: Ovamboland and Kavango (Zambezi and Kunene seem to be in another category that I haven’t quite come to understand). Everything else is south. Windhoek is south. Okahandja is south. So saying I’m in the south doesn’t mean anything, hence the “deep”. Karasburg, where I now call home, is so far south, the nearest big city is actually in South Africa. I am living in a teacher’s flat at school here and so far really enjoying it. I went out yesterday to buy some dishes and what not. I don’t actually have a kitchen yet, so I can’t buy much food (no stove and no fridge). I get meals from the dining hall brought to my flat a few times a day by learners, which took some getting used to. Still can’t say I’m too used it, but it’s a good chance to get to meet some of them.

I made fast friends with the Afrikaans teacher, who is about my age, and came to introduce herself to me the first night. I’ll probably end up asking her to tutor me in Afrikaans since that’s what everyone speaks here. And while I can understand a lot of what’s spoken at me, I can’t respond and I understand nothing of what the kids are saying most of the time. At least picking up Afrikaans should be easier than Khoekhoegowab, although I still hope I can learn that as well.

Karasburg itself is a small town in the middle of nowhere. It’s on a flat plain with mountains just barely visible on the horizon. There’s scrub brush all around, but nothing very tall to obscure the view of the plains. It makes me think of old west movies. In town there’s an Agra (farm store), Shoprite (grocery), Spar (grocery), and PEP (clothing and house stuff). When I walked into PEP yesterday, “Love, Love, Love” by Of Monsters and Men was playing and it was the most surreal experience ever. Sometime later this week I hope to go to Agra and look into starting a garden in front of my flat. It would be something to do in my free time and help me save money on vegetables and herbs. However, the rainy season is rapidly approaching, so I’ll have to be really careful about when I start. I also have no idea how anyone gardens in the soil here. It’s pretty much sand all around, but they manage, so I’ll ask around and pretty soon so will I.

It’s tough to describe the land around here without sounding like I dislike it, which is horrible because I really love it. It has its own sort of sparse beauty that I came to love instantly, but when trying to describe landscapes that don’t resemble home, I find myself without the proper words. I hope I can get better at that over time, because it really is pretty here. In town and in the location, people have gardens and paint their houses bright colors. When I walk around later, I’ll try to get more pictures.

I’ve been spending some time meeting the students who live in the hostel as well. They are all really friendly and I find them hilarious most of the time. A few of them are really shy, so it can be hard to talk to them. Most of the older ones speak English very well, so communication is not a problem at all, but when they aren’t talking directly to me, they all speak Afrikaans. I did manage to find a handful of them who speak Khoekhoe, so I should probably see if they would be interested in letting me practice and learn from them.

That’s it for now! I’ll try to update with more about Namibia next time! There are so many small things that are different in how people speak here that I want to make a whole post on it, so look forward to that! I also want to talk about how the school system is set up, so maybe I can combine the two. Feel free to ask questions in the comments, because I would love to answer them!