Phase 2 Comes to a Close

Over two weeks have passed and no posts… Hopefully you’re not disappointed that I’ve already failed to adhere to my goal of posting once per week.  I must say that after re-considering my situation here – and fully coming to grips with the phrase “African Time” – I will probably never post more than once every two weeks.  And with that little note out of the way, here is chronological recapitulation of my life since my last post:

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the week following my last post was the last full week of teaching for this school year.  I was beginning to get into the groove of teaching and it was sad to see the year come to a close but as the days before the end-of-year examination waned away I came to realize how deeply seated some of the academic problems here really are.  Example: a class of 8th grade students unanimously agreed that 0-1=0.  Yeah, much work remains…

The following weekend, I was introduced to the community members of Ohalushu and surrounding villages during the church service.  The school counselor of the whole Ohangwena Region introduced me and I delivered a brief speech telling the people about who I am, why I’m here, and what I will be doing over the next two years to help the community.  The event was both a positive and negative experience.  I was able to meet some important members of the community and gain acceptance from them, but I also was a bit of a laughing stalk of town for the rest of the day.  You see, I had fatally damaged the one and only belt I had brought with me on Sunday morning and had to stand before the 200+ people and speak sans-omwiya, pants hanging on by a thread… In hindsight, it was a pretty funny experience but during the event I was mortified.  By the way, I ended up going to Ongha to get a N$25 (~US$3.50) belt at a China shop after church, so ombuluweva yange fit once more.

Last week, we finished revising (reviewing) for the examinations and I began to train some of the teachers in the basic functions of a computer.  The learners and teachers represented completely different attitudes this week. The learners looked mentally maxed out with the hot Namibian sun draining all of their cognitive juices.  I could only hope they would be able to muster the energy to make it through the almost three weeks of non-stop examinations to close the school year.  Conversely, the teachers, seeing holiday right around the corner, used their spare time to pick up on some of the technological advancements of the past decade.  Almost every teacher eagerly attended to my informal sessions on basic computer functionality and accessing the newspaper through the internet was better than sliced bread – which maybe not surprisingly doesn’t exist here in the village, we have to go into town to get it.

Finally, exuliloshivike la fika.  About 12 of us northerners came together in Ondangwa on Saturday.  We had a good time and then some of us moved on to Ongwediva for Saturday night and Sunday.  Sunday was cool because most of my language group got to meet our language trainer’s family and have lunch together.  I realize the details of this weekend were severely lacking and that was done purposefully… 

And that brings us to now.  This week at school is all about invigilating (proctoring) the examinations for grades 8 and 9.  I got my first taste today and it was exceedingly boring.  I tried to keep myself busy during the two-and-a-half hour exam, but I ran out of bread and yesterday so my stomach was aching for some nourishment.  I can only imagine how slowly the time ticked away for the countless learners in class who struggled to recall everything about physical science while nursing an empty stomach.  I invigilate one more exam on Thursday and then it’s off to somewhere near Windhoek for Reconnect.

Some important future dates:

Mon	29	Nov	Start Reconnect
Fri	10	Dec	End Reconnect
Mon	13	Dec	Begin "Work Collaboration" Week 1
Fri	17	Dec	End "Work Collaboration" Week 1
Sat	18	Dec	Begin "Cultural Weeks"
Sun	2	Jan	End "Cultural Weeks"
Mon	3	Jan	Begin "Work Collaboration" Week 2
Fri	7	Jan	End "Work Collaboration" Week 2
Sun	9	Jan	Return to site

Reconnect - conference to review the things that did work and things that didn’t work during the past few weeks (Phase 2) and gain from the experiences of our peers

Work Collaboration Weeks - time for us PCVs to get together in small groups and plan workshops and lesson plans for the upcoming school year

Cultural Weeks - time for PCVs to travel throughout Namibia and gain cultural insight A.K.A. vacation time for the holidays

So as you can see, it is possible that come this Saturday I will be away from my site for about 6 weeks.  With that said, I may only post once or twice before the beginning of the next school year in January.

Hope all is well back in the States…

Oshi li popye,
-Joe

P.S. It rained last week.  HARD.  I guess the rainy season isn’t too far away.

P.P.S. I know some people requested my new address.  I asked my principal and I probably won’t be using my school’s address to receive mail.  It is likely that I will use my host family’s address and I will update the address on the blog when I have a definitive answer.  Also, once I post it, do not send me a package until January.  Packages get lost in the mail very frequently during the holidays and I’d hate to see someone send something and have it never get to me.
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