A rundown of the last few weeks

So it has been nearly three weeks since I have returned from a two month hiatus from the village.  It feels so good to be back or at least felt so good to be back.  I recently had to leave for a couple of days because of an infection.  I am currently in Ondangwa, a town about 3 ½ hours east of where I live.  It is one of the big town of Owamboland meaning this is where Peace Corps was able to find a regional doctor that meets their medical requirements.  I am really lucky because the medical care I’ve received has been amazing, the doctor even acknowledged that I was lucky because the Peace Corps nurse sent one of the ‘best’ antibiotics, that really isn’t available else wise in the North.  Needless to say I am now going to be spending the next few days in a hotel, although I am itching to get back.  Don’t get me wrong, this hotel is wonderful, it has TV, hot water, air conditioning, and a wonder balcony that overlooks a semi busy road.  I just miss my home and my learners.

So here are a few recent highlights.  I’ve come back to find a nearly dry village, which means I managing to run a few times a week.  I also came back to find 10 parcels at the post.  It was a little bit crazy and took me two trips to get everything home.  A big thanks to everyone, ESPECIALLY PICKETT ELEMENTARY IN GEORGETOWN, TEXAS, my learners have spent the last few weeks ooing and awing over their completely stocked store. 

So along with retrieving the parcels in my attempt to get everything back in only 2 trips I emptied a few of the boxes into my school bags.  I did this at the Tsandi (Uukwaluudhi) post, and the first parcel I opened came from my grandfather, Gramps, and the first thing I pull out of this parcel is a pink plush alien like toy.  Not only was the entire post office watching me because I am their token Oshilumbu, white person, but I had to make multiple trips in and out of the building, and when they see this creature come out of the box they burst out laughing.  I don’t doubt them because who would expect that to be in the parcels.  My learners love it though.  I brought it to class to toss around and they find it absolutely hysterical that its lips move as it sings songs.  That was actually a funny day because I told the learners that they had to tell me about their holiday when someone threw the toy at them.  One of my boys decided to tell me that for his holiday he went to Libya and joined the Gadaffi’s (not sure if that’s spelled right) to defeat the US.   

My learners are doing well though.  When I arrived back at school I was greeted with a que of learners waiting to give me a welcome back hug and they even bought me a fat cake (Of course the first two people who greeted me when I arrived back in the village proclaimed I am getting fatter, gotta love Namibian).  I don’t want to jinx it, but I think my Grade 8A class will also go better this term.  Last term the boys were incredibly rude and disrespectful.  However, knock on wood, this term so far they have been quiet and done their work.  The only problem I had with them was reoccurring from last term when they arrive late in English on Monday because before English they have break where they play soccer.  I hope I put an end to it because it just happens Tuesdays are their PE day, so last week they all sat in from PE to read an English story and answer questions on the story.  I feel like it was and is a very appropriate punishment.  It they make me lose English teaching time because of soccer then they can expect to lose soccer time from me.

So you all might find this interesting, but Namibian news is a little bit skewed.  When the whole Libya situation boiled over the only thing that we heard here was the US is trying to Christianize Libya.  We were also told my Namibian politicians this is an African issue, therefore should be handled by Africa.  And yes that does make sense, but how long is the world going to wait before African nations decide to act.  In situations like this the world cannot operate on African time.  This however is and was one of the few international events I actually heard about.  Getting a hold of international news is not easy.  I will admit it’s nice to live in this period of ignorance, though I can only imagined how confused I’ll be when I get home about what has occurred in the last 2 years.  Oh wait, I did forget to mention I did hear about Osama Bin Laden’s death.  Every Namibian tells me, “oh you’re from America, I heard they got Osama, but I don’t believe them, not for a minute.  I need to see the body.” 

Another big event of this term was that I went to hear the Minister of Education speak in Outapi.  A rumor spread that the minister was coming and expected all teachers in Omusati to attend his speech, which occurred last Monday at 2 PM.  So according to the Ministry this is afterschool, but school ends at 1:50 PM, so in order to get all of our teachers to Outapi we ended classes around 10:30 AM and then headed to town.  He is actually a really good speaker and his English is pretty remarkable, which had me in awe, especially because he is a product of my region.  It was reaffirming to hear that the Minister does actually seem to understand the problems of the Education system here.  However I and I think he ultimately believes he can only do so much.  It’s up to the teacher’s to take ownership of their classes and actually invest their own time into their teaching outside of the regular school day. I think the worst aspect of the meeting was simply that it turned into a 4 hour meeting.  I understand why Namibians let meetings go so long.  I am of the philosophy that after an hour or hour and a half you have lost nearly everyone’s attention and if the message cannot be said in an hour and a half then maybe it’s too long or a meeting is the appropriate way to convey the message. 

Anyways that’s is just a quick overview of a few highlights over the last couple of weeks.  Needless to say I haven’t been bored and have been kept on my toes since returning to school.