Soon after coming to Sangwali, I was approached by my colleagues and asked if I wanted to join the teacher's soccer team known as The Legends. As a fan of soccer, I eagerly accepted and figured it would also be a great way to get to know my coworkers outside of school. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this league, if there are actual games, how serious are they about it, but as not having much else to do in the village, I figured it was worth a shot.
Practice, or training as they called it, took place in weekday evenings and sounded serious. There was even talk of fines for those who missed. Being I didn't live near the school, I only made it to a few, but I could tell I was way out of my league with these guys. They were good, exceptionally good. I was clearing going to be the weak point of the team but they didn't seem to mind how much I sucked. After about a month, as I sat at my desk at school, a colleague and teammate asked if I was going to the game at the neighboring secondary school against their teachers. It was the first I had heard of the game but being in the village and never having anything else planned,
I said “Most definitely!” I rushed back to my hut after school, got ready, and waited to get picked up. Didn't have to wait for to long as the bakki pulled up with my team in the back and a vuvuzela. I hopped in and The Legends were off with vuvuzela blaring. The drive wasn't anything special other than a flat tire along the way, but an hour later we arrived at the school and began warming up for the game.
The game got underway with some ominous clouds on the horizon and I was rewarded for my trek as being placed as a starter. The teams were fairly evenly matched and first half ended with the score tied at 1-1. I subbed out for the second half and took to watching from the sidelines. During the half the game got away from the Legends we became down 3-1. With 15min to go, the clouds rolled in bringing rain, sheets and sheets of rain. Some of the heaviest rains I've seen here in Namibia. Within minutes, I was completely soaked and shivering. The game was called early and we made a break for the nearby classrooms. As we wrung out our clothes, we looked around for our transport, but the bakki was no where to be found. Apparently since being close to Katima, the driver had decided to take a quick stop to do some shopping. The driver showed up about an hour later, and by now it was almost completely dark. It was then decided that the road through the game park was shorter and would be a good shortcut. Only problem is driving through a game park at night is not a shortcut. Every 5mi we would have to stop for kudu, springbok, and all kinds of other horned animals chilling in the road. The driver took it slow and navigated the bakki safely past all the animals. By the time we pulled into Sangwali it was past 10PM and I had school in the morning. Plus after being in the back of a open pickup, going 75mph, at night, and in wet clothes, I was quite chilly and miserable. As soon as I was dropped off, I threw on all my warmest clothes hopped in my bed and through on all the sheets. As I began to thaw out, I could only help but think this was going to be an interesting season for me and The Legends.
Friday, April 22, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Let the Teaching Begin
It's the start of a new year which in Namibia also signifies the start of a new school year and the beginning to the reason I came here in the first place. I had many questions and some anxieties on my mind. What will I teach? What will my learners be like? Will they even understand me?
I came back to Sangwali a few days before the teacher's were to report to school to spend time with the host family and hoping to get settled into my new home. I was welcomed back to the homestead by a big hug from both of the boys and a plate of food from the parents. While re-exploring the village, I scoped out the school to see what my housing situation would be. Unfortunately the construction still isn't done so looks like I'll be living at the homestead for another few months. Don't mind too much though. The family is extremely gracious and gives me plenty of personal space.
The first day for teacher's arrived quickly and I headed to school not quite sure what to expect. Is it just meetings? Will I find out my classes? Do I get to plan lessons? Not quite. Instead it was a mob learners and parents waiting to register for school and none of the school staff seemed even remotely prepared for it. After a brief huddle a plan was formulated and we sprung into action registering. Things proceeded at the a sloths pace getting all 360 learners registered but at least things were getting done. The registering went on well into the first week of classes and I still had no idea what classes I would teach. At last the class assignment meeting came and I got the answer I had been waiting for. Two grade 11 biology, one grade 11 math class, and a couple of PE classes. Math, cool. Older learners, great. But, biology, yikes! I haven't taken a biology classes since my freshman year in high school and it was the only class got a C in, ever!
Once classes were settled upon the teaching could commence. Spent the first few days in the classroom getting to know each other. They were very curious and had many questions about me and America. They were shocked to hear I am only 24 since I'm only a couple years older than most of them! And in this time my fear of there being a language barrier evaporated. These older learners have a far better understanding of English than the younger grades in some of the teaching horror stories I'd heard. Learning their names did prove challenging. Not only was I learning their faces but I was also learning names entirely foreign to me like Litokwandambo, Manyando, and Kanyanso.
I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed those first few days. I had a year to plan, a grading system to devise, and Namibian procedures to adjust to all the while teaching classes! But just took it one day at a time, and once I got through the initial class setup I could step back and take a few breathes. It sure does feel good to be busy
again.
I came back to Sangwali a few days before the teacher's were to report to school to spend time with the host family and hoping to get settled into my new home. I was welcomed back to the homestead by a big hug from both of the boys and a plate of food from the parents. While re-exploring the village, I scoped out the school to see what my housing situation would be. Unfortunately the construction still isn't done so looks like I'll be living at the homestead for another few months. Don't mind too much though. The family is extremely gracious and gives me plenty of personal space.
The first day for teacher's arrived quickly and I headed to school not quite sure what to expect. Is it just meetings? Will I find out my classes? Do I get to plan lessons? Not quite. Instead it was a mob learners and parents waiting to register for school and none of the school staff seemed even remotely prepared for it. After a brief huddle a plan was formulated and we sprung into action registering. Things proceeded at the a sloths pace getting all 360 learners registered but at least things were getting done. The registering went on well into the first week of classes and I still had no idea what classes I would teach. At last the class assignment meeting came and I got the answer I had been waiting for. Two grade 11 biology, one grade 11 math class, and a couple of PE classes. Math, cool. Older learners, great. But, biology, yikes! I haven't taken a biology classes since my freshman year in high school and it was the only class got a C in, ever!
Once classes were settled upon the teaching could commence. Spent the first few days in the classroom getting to know each other. They were very curious and had many questions about me and America. They were shocked to hear I am only 24 since I'm only a couple years older than most of them! And in this time my fear of there being a language barrier evaporated. These older learners have a far better understanding of English than the younger grades in some of the teaching horror stories I'd heard. Learning their names did prove challenging. Not only was I learning their faces but I was also learning names entirely foreign to me like Litokwandambo, Manyando, and Kanyanso.
I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed those first few days. I had a year to plan, a grading system to devise, and Namibian procedures to adjust to all the while teaching classes! But just took it one day at a time, and once I got through the initial class setup I could step back and take a few breathes. It sure does feel good to be busy
again.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
My First Namibian Christmas
My apologizes for being away from the blog for so long. I was away over the month of December with training and vacation and have been having some technical computer difficulties. I'm back in Sangwali now and greatly relaxed and ready to start teaching.
So at the start of December I had just finished my six weeks of observing my Namibian school. The school year was over and the Peace Corps was summoning all the Volunteers in my group back down to Windhoek for our Reconnect training. After a 2 day journey, I arrived in Windhoek and reunited with others in my group. I hadn't seen most everybody since swearing in so there was a great deal of excitement with exchanging stories about our sites and the ups and downs during the past month and a half.
The Reconnect training was taking place at a hotel just outside of Windhoek up on rolling hills with a great view of the city and even better view of the gorgeous African sunsets. The hotel had everything I had been missing for the past few weeks, hot showers, flushing toilets, and even wireless internet! The two weeks of training covered everything for classroom management, to lesson planning, to possible ideas for secondary projects at our school. Being together as a group again brought out lots of laughter and usual a dinner performance of some kind. The training went by quickly and I took away some great ideas to use in my classroom.
Our fun together as a group wasn't over yet. Like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, we had made plans to cool down a bit and enjoy the holidays out on the beaches of Namibia in the city of Swakopmund. We arrived on Christmas Eve, and I immediately felt like I had left the continent of Africa and ended up somewhere in California. Swakop was unlike any other part of Namibia I had seen. All the cattle, mud huts, and street vendors were gone and had been replaced with tons of traffic, extravagant hotels lining the beach front, and rows and rows of shops. The city's architecture was also quite the contrast, taking on a Colonial German look. We made our way to the campground which was conveniently located 100 yards from the beach and quickly set about creating a make shift Chirstmas tree at our campsite. We then hit the town to explore and find the many restaurants the older volunteers had been raving about. Sushi, Italian, Chinese were all there. All things I hadn't tasted since leaving for Namibia.
The next day was Christmas and in the spirit of things we all exchanged gifts in a “Secret Kudu.” That's were the norm for celebrating Christmas ended as we then took to the beach for football and grilling. Definitely felt weird to be out in swim trunks laying out in the sun instead of bundled up around a fire.
The following days just seemed to fly by as we took advantage of the many great restaurants, bars, and coffee shops Swakop had to offer. We took a these days to explore the sights in the area including a shipwreck and a seal colony north and the world's tallest sand dunes and a flamingo colony down south.
Come New Years Eve we again took the celebration to the beach. Instead of a ball dropping in Swakop there is a bonfire lit at midnight which took place not too far from where we were. We went to check it out and were a bit surprised by the 30ft somewhat unsafe looking structure of wood that they had erected and were at the moment dousing in gasoline. Being Namibia and a not having really any safety codes you could get as close as you dared to the monstrosity. At the stroke of midnight the wood was set ablaze and the 2011 was here.
After the holidays it was time to head back to site and prepare for the real work that was soon approaching. Even though my next vacation won't come till the end April, I'm already getting excited.
So at the start of December I had just finished my six weeks of observing my Namibian school. The school year was over and the Peace Corps was summoning all the Volunteers in my group back down to Windhoek for our Reconnect training. After a 2 day journey, I arrived in Windhoek and reunited with others in my group. I hadn't seen most everybody since swearing in so there was a great deal of excitement with exchanging stories about our sites and the ups and downs during the past month and a half.
The Reconnect training was taking place at a hotel just outside of Windhoek up on rolling hills with a great view of the city and even better view of the gorgeous African sunsets. The hotel had everything I had been missing for the past few weeks, hot showers, flushing toilets, and even wireless internet! The two weeks of training covered everything for classroom management, to lesson planning, to possible ideas for secondary projects at our school. Being together as a group again brought out lots of laughter and usual a dinner performance of some kind. The training went by quickly and I took away some great ideas to use in my classroom.
Our fun together as a group wasn't over yet. Like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, we had made plans to cool down a bit and enjoy the holidays out on the beaches of Namibia in the city of Swakopmund. We arrived on Christmas Eve, and I immediately felt like I had left the continent of Africa and ended up somewhere in California. Swakop was unlike any other part of Namibia I had seen. All the cattle, mud huts, and street vendors were gone and had been replaced with tons of traffic, extravagant hotels lining the beach front, and rows and rows of shops. The city's architecture was also quite the contrast, taking on a Colonial German look. We made our way to the campground which was conveniently located 100 yards from the beach and quickly set about creating a make shift Chirstmas tree at our campsite. We then hit the town to explore and find the many restaurants the older volunteers had been raving about. Sushi, Italian, Chinese were all there. All things I hadn't tasted since leaving for Namibia.
The next day was Christmas and in the spirit of things we all exchanged gifts in a “Secret Kudu.” That's were the norm for celebrating Christmas ended as we then took to the beach for football and grilling. Definitely felt weird to be out in swim trunks laying out in the sun instead of bundled up around a fire.
The following days just seemed to fly by as we took advantage of the many great restaurants, bars, and coffee shops Swakop had to offer. We took a these days to explore the sights in the area including a shipwreck and a seal colony north and the world's tallest sand dunes and a flamingo colony down south.
Come New Years Eve we again took the celebration to the beach. Instead of a ball dropping in Swakop there is a bonfire lit at midnight which took place not too far from where we were. We went to check it out and were a bit surprised by the 30ft somewhat unsafe looking structure of wood that they had erected and were at the moment dousing in gasoline. Being Namibia and a not having really any safety codes you could get as close as you dared to the monstrosity. At the stroke of midnight the wood was set ablaze and the 2011 was here.
After the holidays it was time to head back to site and prepare for the real work that was soon approaching. Even though my next vacation won't come till the end April, I'm already getting excited.
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