I hope that everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving! I had my own
mini-celebration with my host family on Thanksgiving. I made mashed
potatoes, peas, corn, and chicken nuggets. Before the meal, we all
said something we were thankful for, it was a nice bit of cultural
exchange. Thanksgiving is a tricky holiday to explain…
My explanation went something like this: It’s a day that families
come together and eat turkey to celebrate the things we are grateful
for. (This part went over well.) It started when the Pilgrims and
the Native Americans shared food. (The Native Americans????) Ummmm,
the Indians? (Why were people from India in America back then?)
Hmmmmm, I mean the Indians like in the movies… You know Spur
steakhouse in Windhoek? You know how there’s that picture of a guy
with feathers on his head on the sign? (Oh yes, Spur steakhouse, yum!
Spur and KFC are my favorite places to eat in Windhoek.) Yeah,
that’s what I mean by Native American…
I am also pretty sure that I didn’t make it clear that chicken
nuggets are not the traditional entrée of Thanksgiving… I have
mislead a nation…
Things have been pretty tame here, the learners are out of school.
The next week is just teacher workdays. I’ve been trying to stay
busy, so I’ve been reading some resource materials for teachers and
playing a lot of sudoku.
The other day, we had a chair dedication ceremony. A German couple
donated chairs and a chalkboard for the new classroom Karundu built.
This is a fantastic donation, something the school really needed.
There was a small ceremony in which the couple presented the chairs to
the principal. Despite living in the 4th largest town in Namibia,
it’s a pretty small place, not too much happens here. The chair
dedication was a pretty big deal, and the national press came to cover
it! The school was on NBC (Namibian Broadcasting Corporation) nightly
news, and in the paper, The Namibian.
Well, that’s all from here. Hope you are well. Thanks to those who
have sent updates, keep the e-mails coming.
Take care,
Sarah
P.P.S. More pictures!
1. Some of the kids at the school hostel.
2. The chaos that occurred when I handed one of them my camera to take
a picture that included me.
3. The picture that was finally taken of me and the learners. (Note:
I did not choose to squat, I was dragged to the ground during the
chaos of the previous picture.)
4. An Orwetoweni organized soccer tournament.
5. The average Namibian sunset.
6. Chef Gibney and the Thanksgiving meal
7. Me at a braai (barbeque) out in the bush.
8. The news covering the chair dedication.
9. Me with my host mom.
10. A couple of teachers celebrating the last day of school.
Those pictures I promised!
1. My bike!
2. A herd of Bontebuck
3. Zebra!
4. Future doctor
5. Future judge and future psychologist
6. Future soccer player and future police officer
Hope everyone has a happy thanksgiving! Eat some turkey for me!
Greetings friends and family!
I hope that all is well stateside. Please send me updates on your
lives! Things here in Namibia are going well, the weather is getting
hotter by the day. It’s hard to remember that it’s November, when I’m
walking around in shorts and flip-flops.
Things here haven’t been to exciting since I last wrote… I’ve moved
in with my host family here in Otjiwarongo, the second Namibian family
I have lived with. The Ngupandjaras are great, they are so kind and
welcoming, and they cook great food!
Mrs. Ngupandjara, my host mom, is very active in the community,
always running to various meetings. She is also a teacher at my
school, so we ride to and from work together everyday. She teaches
grade 7 English, so our communication is great! My Tate, Mr.
Ngupanjara, works in personal insurance, as is your typical cheesy
dad. I have two host brothers, one that is 22 and currently away at
university, and one that is 18. Himme, the 18 year-old, just
graduated from high school and will be attending university for
computer engineering in January. I also have a host sister, Faith who
is 11 years-old. She and I hang out a lot, we watch Oprah and
Lorenzo’s Wife (a soap opera) every evening together.
I’m really enjoying their company. I will be spending the month of
December with them at their farm. I’m looking forward to this, I have
yet to experience the Namibian village life.
I bought a bike two weeks back, which has added to my entertainment
greatly. The other day I biked outside of town and had a few animal
encounters… I saw zebras, ostriches, springboks, and wildebeests. My
zebra encounter was actually a little scary. I didn’t notice the
zebra in my path until I was about 15 yards away from it. I know this
sounds impossible, but their stripes really do camouflage them. When
I finally saw it, it was staring me down. Zebras are not so cute when
you think they might attack you…
We had a career day at my school last week. About a third of the
learners (the Namibian word for students) dressed up. There were a
handful of naughty kids that brought guns and said they wanted to be
‘street kids’ when they grew up. For the most part, however, the kids
outfits were pretty impressive. They came as doctors, nurses, police
men, soccer players, soldiers, etc. One of the most popular boys in
grade 7 (the oldest grade) came as the prime minister. He wore a full
suit and tie and carried a brief case. His posse came as all of the
different ministers, the minister of finance, education, etc. It was
great.
Well, that’s all from the cheetah capital of the world. Did I
mention that Otjiwarongo is the cheetah capital of the world??? (I
have yet to see a cheetah, thank goodness, that encounter probably
would not end as well as the zebra one…)
Please keep me updated on your lives!
Kara nawa,
Sarah
I hope that all is well stateside! I’m sorry that it has taken me so
long to e-mail you all. The Peace Corps has been keeping us so busy
here. I have so much to tell you all, I don’t even know where to
begin. I’m really loving Namibia so far! I wish I could share the
beautiful skylines and starry nights with you through e-mail!
We have been doing our training in a town called Okahandja. It’s
about an hour outside of Namibia’s capital, Windhoek. Okahandja is a
very pleasant town. The town has a nice grocery store, a few shops,
and an open market, but not much else. The weather here has been
awesome so far, it has been the end of winter, but it’s starting to
get hotter and hotter. Summer here begins next month, and it’s going
to be hot and dry.
There are 31 other people in my group here. They are all very nice
and I look forward to traveling with them. Yesterday, one person from
our group went home, she decided that Namibia just wasn’t for her, a
sentiment that I have a felt once or twice since I’ve been here. The
peace corps is sort of an emotional roller coaster ride… Overall I
really love it here, but there are sometimes when I just miss home.
Members of our group are learning one of five different languages. I
am learning a language called Otjiherero. It is very interesting,
challenging, and often frustrating. It is definitely worth it, and
really exciting, when I am able to communicate with the Herero people.
The Herero are one of the most dominant tribes here in Namibia. They
are a fun bunch of people, and for the most part, very modern.
I visited my site last week, the place that I will be living and
working in for the next two years (from October on). It is called
Otjiwarongo, and is the forth-biggest town in Namibia. (Namibia only
has one city, Windhoek) It has a population of about 30,000 people
and all the modern conveniences I could ask for. I will be working at
a school named Karundu Primary School, teaching grades 6 and 7
science, ages 12 and 13. The school is huge, with class sizes of
about 45-50.
My housing is super nice! (Well, on African terms…) I will be
living in a house on the school hostel grounds. We have about 230
boarders that come in from the farms surrounding Otjiwarongo. The
house has three bedrooms, a kitchen, running water, electricity, and A
TOILET!!!!! The only thing I don’t have is hot water, but that is
definitely something I can deal with! Did I mention that I have a
toilet…
I seriously hope that you all come and visit me in my huge, fancy
African house… I’m hoping to post some pictures once I figure out a
better internet situation, I will let you all know when/if that
happens.
I miss you all very much! Please let me know what’s new in your lives.
Kara nawa (stay well),
Sarah
P.S. I got a phone! Here’s my number: 011 264 81 469 8767
Call me!!!!!
Also, can somebody send me Pat & Meghan's e-mails? Thanks! Please
I hope that all is well stateside! I’m sorry that it has taken me so
long to e-mail you all. The Peace Corps has been keeping us so busy
here. I have so much to tell you all, I don’t even know where to
begin. I’m really loving Namibia so far! I wish I could share the
beautiful skylines and starry nights with you through e-mail!
We have been doing our training in a town called Okahandja. It’s
about an hour outside of Namibia’s capital, Windhoek. Okahandja is a
very pleasant town. The town has a nice grocery store, a few shops,
and an open market, but not much else. The weather here has been
awesome so far, it has been the end of winter, but it’s starting to
get hotter and hotter. Summer here begins next month, and it’s going
to be hot and dry.
There are 31 other people in my group here. They are all very nice
and I look forward to traveling with them. Yesterday, one person from
our group went home, she decided that Namibia just wasn’t for her, a
sentiment that I have a felt once or twice since I’ve been here. The
peace corps is sort of an emotional roller coaster ride… Overall I
really love it here, but there are sometimes when I just miss home.
Members of our group are learning one of five different languages. I
am learning a language called Otjiherero. It is very interesting,
challenging, and often frustrating. It is definitely worth it, and
really exciting, when I am able to communicate with the Herero people.
The Herero are one of the most dominant tribes here in Namibia. They
are a fun bunch of people, and for the most part, very modern.
I visited my site last week, the place that I will be living and
working in for the next two years (from October on). It is called
Otjiwarongo, and is the forth-biggest town in Namibia. (Namibia only
has one city, Windhoek) It has a population of about 30,000 people
and all the modern conveniences I could ask for. I will be working at
a school named Karundu Primary School, teaching grades 6 and 7
science, ages 12 and 13. The school is huge, with class sizes of
about 45-50.
My housing is super nice! (Well, on African terms…) I will be
living in a house on the school hostel grounds. We have about 230
boarders that come in from the farms surrounding Otjiwarongo. The
house has three bedrooms, a kitchen, running water, electricity, and A
TOILET!!!!! The only thing I don’t have is hot water, but that is
definitely something I can deal with! Did I mention that I have a
toilet…
I seriously hope that you all come and visit me in my huge, fancy
African house… I’m hoping to post some pictures once I figure out a
better internet situation, I will let you all know when/if that
happens.
I miss you all very much! Please let me know what’s new in your lives.
Kara nawa (stay well),
Sarah
P.S. I got a phone! Here’s my number: 011 264 81 469 8767
Call me!!!!!
Also, can somebody send me Pat & Meghan's e-mails? Thanks! Please
Sorry it's been so long since I've e-mailed anyone, things got a little busy around the holiday here. I did a good amount of traveling with my host family during December.
We went to a few Herero farms as well as an Owambo wedding in the north. I promise I will send pictures soon.
For Christmas eve and day we slaughtered and carved up a warthog and about 5 goats. Yum! It was an interesting Christmas, we were a farm with no plumbing in the middle of nowhere... I had my first encounter with a scorpion. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip, my family was kind enough to let me bring two other volunteers with me for the holidays. It's more fun to be in extreme situations when you aren't the only one being shocked.
I'm sure that some of you may have heard, my house was broken into the day before New Years Eve. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. I had some visitors, so my house was a big target... Three of my friends backpacks were taken; they lost computers, cameras, passports, credit cards, all their clothes, pretty much everything. That in mind, I feel pretty lucky that the only things stolen from me were my Ipod and camera. Don't worry about me though, there will be a security guard with a machete standing outside my house for the rest of the holiday. Haha.
I'm currently at in service training for the Peace Corps, this has essentially been a mini-vacation for me. I have been able to take my first hot shower in a few months. It was awesome! There is also a pool here, very nice considering it's the middle of the summer. It's nice to see the other volunteers in my group and hear everyone's stories from the past few months.
Next week I finally start teaching, I'm mostly excited, but also a little nervous. Hopefully I'll find out exactly what classes I will be teaching soon... Odds are I won't know until the end of the month. Namibian schools are so on the ball...
Well, that's all from here. I'll get those pictures out as soon as possible. Miss you all, take care, and send me some good holiday stories!
Sarah
Sorry it's been so long since I've e-mailed anyone, things got a little busy around the holiday here. I did a good amount of traveling with my host family during December.
We went to a few Herero farms as well as an Owambo wedding in the north. I promise I will send pictures soon.
For Christmas eve and day we slaughtered and carved up a warthog and about 5 goats. Yum! It was an interesting Christmas, we were a farm with no plumbing in the middle of nowhere... I had my first encounter with a scorpion. Overall, I really enjoyed the trip, my family was kind enough to let me bring two other volunteers with me for the holidays. It's more fun to be in extreme situations when you aren't the only one being shocked.
I'm sure that some of you may have heard, my house was broken into the day before New Years Eve. Fortunately, nobody was hurt. I had some visitors, so my house was a big target... Three of my friends backpacks were taken; they lost computers, cameras, passports, credit cards, all their clothes, pretty much everything. That in mind, I feel pretty lucky that the only things stolen from me were my Ipod and camera. Don't worry about me though, there will be a security guard with a machete standing outside my house for the rest of the holiday. Haha.
I'm currently at in service training for the Peace Corps, this has essentially been a mini-vacation for me. I have been able to take my first hot shower in a few months. It was awesome! There is also a pool here, very nice considering it's the middle of the summer. It's nice to see the other volunteers in my group and hear everyone's stories from the past few months.
Next week I finally start teaching, I'm mostly excited, but also a little nervous. Hopefully I'll find out exactly what classes I will be teaching soon... Odds are I won't know until the end of the month. Namibian schools are so on the ball...
Well, that's all from here. I'll get those pictures out as soon as possible. Miss you all, take care, and send me some good holiday stories!
Sarah
Sorry that I have been so out of contact recently… Things here have
been total chaos here. School started on the 13th. And by started I
mean about half the kids came.
It’s hard to explain the mayhem that has been the first week and half
of school. So we still don’t have class rosters, its always a
surprise to see who is in my classroom. Also, my classroom got
switched on Monday, glad that I spent all that time cleaning and
arranging my first room… I have been put in the “library” now. So
I’m in a tiny classroom with a wall of half filled bookshelves. The
books are in no apparent order, and a large majority of them are just
the covers and binding. Where did the pages go?
This is my school’s way of asking me to organize and build up the
library. That’s fine, I’m actually pretty excited to do it. The
books we have are so funny. You can tell that they were donated by
someone who had never seen our school. Many of them are classic
literature, good stuff. The only problem with that is that I am the
only person capable of reading them. The kids definitely don’t have
the reading skills for Poe or Shakespeare. There are also a whole
bunch of American history textbooks, why on earth do we have those?
While I am excited to take on the library, it’s going to have to wait
a few months… I’m one of the only teachers that has started trying to
teach. My attempts are in vain though because the “cluster” (the
group of schools that we take county administered exams with) keeps
changing the topics to be covered this trimester. So my last week of
lessons on water will have to be revisited come September.
I have managed to implement my class rules and consequences system, so
time has not been totally wasted. We still don’t have a
timetable/schedule created yet, so the kids just wander around the
school most of the time. I’ve taken to just finding a grade six class
and sending them to my room, then teaching them for the equivalent
time of a class period. I repeat this four times a day, and then try
to spend the rest of my time cleaning all the papers that have been
acquiring since the late 90’s out of my closet and filing cabinet.
I’m really liking the kids, and they seem to be enjoying my class. I
use the term class loosely… I now have kids skipping their other
classes to come sit in mine. It would be easier to weed these
groupies out if I had a list of the students in my classes. All
things in time. I’ve been told the schedule will be done sometime in
the next two weeks. I’ll believe it when I see it.
There is a Norwegian girl observing at my school, she’s studying
education in Norway, and is here with some sort of exchange program.
It’s funny to watch her reactions to the madness that is the Namibian
school system. She’ll be here for the next two weeks. She keeps
asking me about things like how long it will take for her to adjust to
Namibia. I don’t have the heart to tell her that it took me three
months to not want to rip off my face in staff meetings, and that I am
still adjusting now.
In other news, I have somehow been appointed the high jump coach.
Excellent, the only sport I know more about is netball, they should
make me the coach of that, oh wait, they did. I’m sure you’re asking
what’s netball? I wish I could answer your question, but I really
don’t know. There is some sort of regional athletics competition
coming up, so on Friday, we shut down school after second period and
had the kids train the rest of the day. My high jump skills were very
handy… I walked to my house, grabbed Biltong, and some cheese and sat
and watched the kids jump over a pole. World class coaching!
Speaking of Biltong, I suppose I haven’t really told any of you about
him. Just another addition to my crazy life… So a week and a half
ago, there was this starving little street dog wandering around the
school grounds. I gave him some water and a small piece of chicken
then sent him on his way. The next day when I came home from school,
well when I walked across the school grounds to my house, there was
the same little puppy lying half dead on my door step. I just
couldn’t say no… So I took him to the vet, bought some flea and tick
powder, and now I have a dog. He’s already gained a third of his body
weight! He was so gross a week ago, and now he’s starting to look
like a real puppy. He’s about 8 weeks old, and black with white feet
and a white patch on his chest.
Fear not, the food name tradition lives on! Biltong is essentially
the Namibian form of Beef Jerky. And it’s said just like it looks:
Bill Tong.
When I found Biltong, he was all cut up and worm and tick ridden. The
ticks are gone, and he’s on a course of antibiotics to get rid of his
Tick Bite Fever. The worms should be out of his system now, so things
are looking up. Not only did he have intestinal worms, but he also
had Mango worms. Mango worms are one of the nastiest things I have
ever dealt with in my life. So mango flies lay their eggs in the soil
underneath bushes. And street dogs sleep in the shade underneath
bushes. The eggs then get in the skin of the dogs and turn into worms
that look like little maggots. The worms grow and grow and then pop
out of the skin… And then unsuspecting Sarah finds the worms in
Biltong’s bed. Gross.
Well, that’s all the big news here. Sorry this e-mail was so long and
scattered. My brain is working in strange ways nowadays. Send me
some updates on your lives! How’s the cold treating everyone? How’s
2010 treating you?
Peace out,
Sarah