Can't think of a title...

01 April 2007

Hi everyone. Before you hear it from elsewhere and get worried, I should probably let you all know that a few days ago I got into a car accident. It wasn’t anything too serious, but I did get a little banged up. I broke my leg in a couple places, but managed to escape without any further injury (except some nasty bruises and minor cuts). Luckily, I convinced them to take me to the private clinic so I wasn’t subjected to the questionable Namibian State Hospital treatment. From what they’re telling me, it should heal up alright but my amateur basketball career is over—for most of my time here at least. The doctor was Cuban, ironically, and he thinks I got pretty lucky by escaping with what I did…

Just kidding! Happy April Fool’s Day! I’m fine. There was no car accident. Sorry, I couldn’t resist. You can call to yell at me if you want—I wouldn’t mind chatting. Otherwise, this will probably be a short entry since not a lot has been going on this week. I’m just going to tell a couple of stories and then send you on your merry way.

First of all, I’m about 2 days from being an illegal alien in Namibia. Apparently, you are supposed to apply for a work permit before entering a foreign country. Otherwise, especially in Africa I think, the process to get one is slow and tedious. Don’t go thinking I’m in danger of being deported or anything, though. We’ve filed all of our paperwork, paid the fees and I hear the visas have been processed. So the lady at the Ministry of Home Affairs just needs to get on the ball and send them to us. In the meantime, however, I’ve been contemplating my life as an ‘illegal’. I’ve always considered myself a bit of a rebel; maybe this step will bump me up to revolutionary. That might not make sense, but just pretend it does and go along with me. They sell a lot of Che Guevara t-shirts around here. I should buy one and if it suits me; that could give a little insight. I just read his book, The Motorcycle Diaries. That sounds like my kind of adventure: one good friend, a beat-up motorcycle, not much cash, seeing some beautiful country… Yeah, I like that. I’m not sure about the next step of joining a revolution in the Sierra Maestra, but I’ll cross that bridge when it presents itself.

Second, I saw a pretty sweet spectacle yesterday. I left the house expecting to have an uneventful walk to the bank and then continue to the internet café. Instead, I ran smack into a mini-parade being staged by the Herero people (not sure about the spelling there). The women were all done up in their traditional costume, and most of the men were in military fatigues marching at a very interesting cadence. The women wear big, colorful skirts, a white puffy shirt and a head scarf that is wrapped, twisted and tied to look pretty much like bull horns. I wish I would have had my camera with me because it was an amazing sight to see. Some of the men had fur caps on; one guy’s started as a hat and flowed down the middle of his back like his own patchwork Daniel Boone hair. I tried to find out what the event was, but the closest thing to an explanation I got was that 31 March held cultural significance for them. In the front of the procession was a sign saying something like: “This is to re-emphasize that we will never again be beaten, enslaved and made to be prisoners in out own land.” That’s a paraphrase; the actual sign had a little more written, but you get the gist.

Finally, Easter is coming up and I get a 4-day weekend because Easter Monday is a public holiday in Namibia. I’m not sure why, but I’ll go with it. That means with only 4 weeks left before the end of the first school term, I only have 2 full weeks of classes. In addition to the long weekend, we’ve got a couple of field trips with our grade 4’s to look forward to. They are a huge group—33 kids to be exact—so we’re actually splitting them up into 2 groups and doing the same trip. I’ll only be going on one, but I’m looking forward to it nonetheless. Also, we’re receiving a visit from some Namibian Chess Federation representatives mid-month, and they’re bringing a Grand Master from Iceland. We’ve recently registered MYO as a school chess team with them, and the visit is part of the deal. I’m pretty sure that my level of excitement in meeting ‘The Master’ (as I’ve taken to calling him) greatly exceeds that of the kids, but I’m confident I can stir up interest in the coming weeks. I love chess, and the lessons I’ve been giving to the kids who want to join the club have been the most fun I’ve had in the classroom so far at MYO. I’m sure you’ll hear more about that and the rest of this stuff on my blog in the upcoming weeks, so keep posted for the updates.

That’s about all I have for now. I hope everyone is doing well. Thanks for the emails, MySpace/Facebook messages and everything else. I really enjoy getting word from home, hearing how you all are doing, etc. It’s nice to know that even though I’m long gone I’m not forgotten. I think about you all a lot, and staving off homesickness is sometimes a chore, but getting word from my friends and family helps a lot. Have a great week!

Beau