Two weeks teaching down, forty-some left to go…

11 February 2007

Things are starting to fall into place now, which is great. This is the first weekend I’ve had without anything scheduled for quite a while (unless you count lesson plans that need to be written for my 7th grade math class, which I don’t), so I’ve pretty much spent it on the couch in sweats. I’m pretty sure the neighbors think I’m a little weird for wandering around outside in the evening still not dressed, but if they say anything I’ll just point out that at least I’m wearing a shirt—something the man next door can rarely claim (although my roommates don’t seem to mind).

Last weekend we celebrated my birthday with a big braai on Friday and then went to a small “farm” about 1 ½ hours away from Swakop for a little afternoon getaway. By farm, I mean a little plot of land near the Swakop Riverbed that belongs to a woman named Ushi who is a big local supporter of our program. On the way out there, we pulled off the bumpy, dirt road to check out this area of a national park they call the Moonscape. The name pretty much explains the concept, a massive area (like as far as you can see) that is all jagged hills made out of rock that apparently looks like the surface of the moon. We got to climb up them a little later when we went for a drive with Ushi and her husband to find some Welweichia plants—which are these plants only found in Namibia that are hundreds of years old. The farm itself was very pretty as well. They have a little house built there that only uses a little bit of power for lights (supplied by a lone solar panel since it’s far from any power lines). Outside they’ve got a little sitting area with everything movable chained down because the baboons nearby love to wreak havoc when all the humans are out of sight… I was secretly wishing they would come around so we could have a little tug-o-war battle, but no dice. Maybe I’ll get a chance when we take our grade 4’s there later in the year for a campout.

School itself is still hectic, but I’m enjoying it. There have been some trying times since I’m only teaching grades 6 and 7, and the last thing a group of kids approaching puberty wants is to be told what to do by a white guy they’ve just met. They’re all used to Shannon, the previous MYO teacher, and it’s going to take a while before I win them over. Adding to the difficulty is the fact that they’re not used to much structure and/or having to obey rules (like not wandering around at will in the classroom, raising their hands to speak, etc.). So it seems like I’ve got my work cut out for me trying to help them learn not only the material but also the concept of focus. It’s difficult to explain the way the schools work here, but I’ll try. I’ve been to all of the schools we work in, and every time I go there is at least one classroom without a teacher. Whether they are sick and there’s no substitute so the teacher next door has to try to regulate them from a class away; or maybe they randomly called a staff meeting at 9:30 so all the teachers are yucking it up in the staff room while 600 kids are “working” on an assignment left for them; or my personal favorite, I go to get a copy of grades so I know how my kids did last year and the principal personally takes me from the office to each classroom so the teacher can leave class to come back to the same office and photocopy a sheet of paper while the principal stands around doing nothing—all the while, the class is left unattended and no one seems to think anything of it. That last part only happened at one school, but all the other stuff could be at any school. It’s wild. I’m sure much will be written about the successes and tribulations I face in class so keep tuning back in to see how it all goes.

I haven’t really written much about the weather here, but it is fantastic. I want to find a place in the U.S. with a similar climate and move there. It’s been hot, but only maybe 85-90 degrees here in Swakop so it’s definitely bearable. At night it cools down considerably, especially now that fall is coming, but a long-sleeve or sweatshirt is more than adequate. Now that it’s cooling down the days are much more pleasant, too. I’d say that yesterday and today have been about 75 degrees during the day, and then it’s been cooling down to around 50 at night. The interesting thing about Swakop is the cycle of weather throughout the day. Our tennis coach, Julian, likes to say that we get all 4 seasons in each day. The mornings are virtually always covered in mist, which looks like a cloud cover but melts away around 10am. Then the rest of the morning/afternoon are sunny and start to heat up until around 4pm, when the wind starts to blow. (I hear the wind gets out of hand here in the next few months with the arrival of the east wind off the ocean that carries sand for miles and pretty much forces a person inside.) After the windy evening, it calms down again and gets chilly like all deserts after the sun goes down. So there’s my monologue about weather, I hope no one fell asleep and drooled on the keyboard… I claim no responsibility if you did.

I’ll finish up with Happy Birthday wishes to my sister, Rustee. Only one more year left to make fun of Keith for being over the hill, but it feels like I’m closing the gap, too, so I shouldn’t really comment… but I think we all know that’s not my style.

I miss all of you guys back home, and I hope all continues to go well.

Beau