New Year’s Blog: Reflections and Resolutions

Over this year, I’ve learned a lot, and I think I’ve grown a lot as a person.  I’ve learned how important positivity is with people.  All people.  Being home, I think I was more able to apply some of the positivity and patience I apply in the classroom with my family.  That’s a really good sign, for me, because it means that I may be more capable of applying it to the more professional interactions in my life.  I’ve struggled with that forever, but maybe that’s changing. 

I made some really amazing friends.  I think I forget about that because they were often really far away from me, but the other volunteers in my group are amazing individuals, and I’ve loved getting to know them and travel with them and be a part of this crazy adventure with them.  I’m really sad that they won’t be there, but as the Girl Scout song goes, “Make new friends, but keep the old…” I’m resolving here and now to be excited about the new volunteers and not compare anything to last year: not try to find “This Year’s Abby” or “Jenn 2014” or “Jamie2.0” or “KSaddRemixed.” And instead just be excited for Namibz2014. 

I’m also going to resolve to chill out a bit, and not be high strung.  Listen, smile, and breathe more, and stress-cry less.  2014 has a lot of potential. I’m going to be stronger-willed without being antagonistic, more goal-directed, with understanding, positive, and patient.  Let’s do this!

Holiday!

I’ve been away from blogging! Sorry!! A quick update on my actual life before reflecting and resolving: I was in Windhoek for three weeks working with our field director to plan the upcoming orientation for the incoming volunteers.  It was amazing, and I feel like I was doing something I’m good at, which has left me so incredibly excited for the orientation which starts tomorrow!

Being home was incredible.  I was welcomed in the Rochester airport by my wonderful family, including my brother and his fiancé who came to visit from Chicago. My parents threw a huge house warming party for their new home. We fit right in there! I substitute taught a few days, and got all my doctor appointments out of the way.

Substitute teaching reminded me of some things.  I forgot how incredible patience is for kids.  I was subbing for an elementary music teacher, so I had a rotation of all of the grades K-5.  First off, K-2^nd grade: A-dor-able.  3^rd and 4^th grade were excited and enthusiastic and we sang holiday songs.  But 5^th grade.  They were off the walls bonkers crazy. So many classified kids/kids with IEPs and just general sub-at-a-holiday-hyperness.  I couldn’t even get TO attendance. I was NOT about to just put a movie in for these kids.  So instead, I turned off the lights and we did some breathing.  Then I had them play that team building game where as a group, people count to a given number (10, in this case), without repeating or simultaneous counting. If two people say the same number at the same time, the whole group has to start over again.  It was working! Quite well, if I do say so myself.  And in that game, a remarkable thing happened.  One of the kids was clearly on the autism spectrum, and he REALLY didn’t want the class playing this game.  So first, I pulled him aside (because the class was pretty much running itself by this point), and asked what I could do to make the game more manageable for him.  But he lost it, and ran into the middle of the circle to stop the rest of the class.  The rest of the class was wonderful.  The kids acknowledged that he was having a problem, but didn’t let it really interfere.  There was a lot of, “It’s ok. Just sit out for a bit, but the teacher asked us to do this, and that’s what we need to do” and “Everything is safe and fine. Just take a minute for yourself” and the like.  It was one of those shining moments for inclusion where everyone is helping everyone else learn something about people.  I liked that.

I also got a few good swims in at the WAC while I was home!

Christmas was great. Lots of laughing and family time, and the Legends still got together for a gift exchange which has been happening for a long, long time.  While we were missing a few, everyone managed to at least Skype in for a bit and contribute.  Pretty cool that we can still manage to organize a get together of 15 friends from high school.  And I got to see HANNAH!!!  And Sara and Ben got engaged and I saw them.  (ok this is spiraling)  All in all, the trip home was super necessary and an absolute joy.

Thankfulness

I know this is a bit late, but I wanted to give thanks for so many things in my life.  First, the people.

My parents are unbelievable.  They support me, emotionally and… well… financially, and they don’t make me feel ashamed of needing them on both counts.  In fact, I’m proud that my parents stand behind me, because I know that what I am doing is good if folks like them believe in it.  I love you both so much.

My brothers are such rockstars.  I am so lucky to have such a diverse trio of bros backing me up, and who let me back them up whenever I am able.   

My grandparents, though I only have one left living, have been inspirational and a guiding presence in my life.  Growing up is really cool, because you realize the impact amazing people have had on your whole life.  I’m excited to tell my kids someday about what awesome grandparents I have, but for now, I’ll settle for telling everyone else (friends, strangers, whoever will listen) about how cool you are.

Friends and family world-wide are lovers, haters, ballers, shot callers, and ah-wey, mann, ‘ya keep me going.  This year has been so hard to stay in touch, and I am so thankful for all of the extra effort people have been willing to put into talking to me—waking up early to Skype, Facebook, staying up late to Skype, flying across the world—thank you!

My learners.   I am the luckiest teacher in the world to have such an amazing group of 240 learners.  I know that I talk about how much I love you all the time, and it’s always true.  You are brilliant, and I am so proud to hear about all of your end-of-year results! I am overflowing with pride in you (but I’m also not at all surprised)!  Love you all to bits and pieces, now go to bed!

 

I am also incredibly thankful to the powers that be for all I have learned this year. A brief list of lessons I am thankful to have learned:

1.       My brain operates very quickly, with very little direction, and zero filters whatsoever.  While this gets me into trouble often, I actually really like this about myself.  Mostly, I like it because it seems like Grandma Nana was the same way.

2.       A positive attitude can almost always improve a situation. Listen, smile, and breathe.

3.       Meditation, yoga and kickboxing are amazing.

4.       I have the ass of a black chick!

5.       Music is a great way to bring people together.  Thugs, Gs, girls from the village, boys from the town, everyone can rock out to M’Bop.

6.       Accountability is a really important facet of running a school, and somehow, you have to create a community where people… want (maybe that’s not the right word… are proud?) to take responsibility for their actions.  Ownership of activities, places and tasks is a huge part of developing this pride and love of the job. I’m sure this is my western view on the school I am working in, but I feel like it’s a really important lesson to remember for when I go back state side.  Now I just have to learn how to function in the system which is here, while I’m here, because I’m clearly not going to change it by myself.

7.       I know that I am by no means a full-fledged adult yet, but growing up is really fun!

I am so thankful to have another year of growth, teaching and learning in this beautiful country with so many wonderful people.

Learners and Leadership

I love each and every one of my learners.  Each of them is my favourite for some reason or other.  240 favourite people who are learning from me and are in my care.  I feel so honoured that they trust me to take care of them, love them, and teach them in the best ways I know how, and that they are helping teach me to become a more calm and loving person.  I help them find, learn from and improve on their flaws, and they graciously return the favour.  We got on that way. Making mistakes, learning and fixing together. 

I see leadership as being someone perhaps with more experience guiding from behind as others discover the pathway forward for themselves, knowing that they have someone from whom they can get directions if they get lost.  I am not a fan of making lists of negatives (Don't Run. Don't Dive in the Shallow End... etc).  Instead, I like lists of positives (Please walk. Please only dive after 10 feet depth... etc).  Doing this for leadership is really hard.  I'm learning a lot of things that I don't want to do as a leader of a classroom or other group of people.  But I will try to make a few positive statements about the kind of leader I want to be. 

• Only ask people to do things that you would do yourself, but for learning or extenuating circumstances, it is better for them to do them.  Do the dishes sometimes, sweep the floor sometimes, fill up your own water bottle, carry your own books.
• Accept help when it is offered, and know that having that help will broaden the scope of what you are doing.
• Leave the office to see things in motion.
• Provide everyone in your structure with concrete, clear job descriptions and opportunities to clarify that description and expectations.
• Do. Your. Job. All the time.
• Know everyone. All. The. Time.

That last one brings me to my immediate inspiration for writing this post.  My learners.  I love them all so, so much.

1. The one who is so young, and so clearly still in need of motherly attention. I want to put him in my pocket.
2. The one who wants to be involved in everything I am involved in, and who has become my shadow. Seriously. He thinks he can sneak up on me when I'm marking papers in my classroom. Tries almost daily. (He succeeded once. Never again!)
3. The four who are really more like friends than learners, and I probably get way more relaxed with them than I should.  But if they were a few years older/not any older but just not a learner, I'd totally be friends with them! They are my rocks.
4. The one who is so loving and observant that I avoid him when I'm upset because he'll ask what's wrong and I just can't look him in his sweet face and say that everything is fine when sometimes I'm only hanging on by a thread.  He'll just come share a chair with me on those days.
5. The one who is so caring for those in her class and all around her. The sweetest smile I have ever seen, and she stays up late when people are sick to keep them company/check on them.
6. The one who wants desperately to be a mature woman, but also just loves Disney Channel, so tries to emulate that weird mix of adult/child that only Disney Channel can create.
7. The one who was so depressed because she didn't know she was a good person.
8. The ones who are trouble makers. I just love my four loud boys who never shut up. I love their ADHD tendencies.
9. The girl who has a major ego, which obviously stems from both her upbringing in a family that doesn't value tribal diversity of the country and her brilliance. She's too good for these... people. Ugh.
10. The one who writes poetry and is otherwise quiet.
11. The one who writes poetry and never shuts up.
12. The flamboyant boy who has the strut.
13. The young men who flirt with all the girls, but actually have this immense fear of both girls and the future. (These are the same ones who say "As you wish" to me... still)
14. The one who wears chains and walks like a g, but also spoke very sweetly about the father figure in a play.
15. The one who comes from a very rural village from a very isolated tribe and works so hard to catch up to the rest of the learners.
16. The one who asks me for help with study skills so that she can improve her marks.
17. The ones who play the game they designed to review for a subject when they have study time.
18. The one who sucks up to all the teachers, but tries to reap the rewards too soon. She came into the middle of a different class during the 5th week of school, came straight up to me because she had a paper cut.  Dude, don't interrupt my class with that. But you're cute and obviously I love you!  Now go away.
19. The one who always asks me about books and myths.
20. The one who is always trying to help, but never tries to reap any rewards from it.
21. The one who is so competitive and talented. He stole the stage acting as an older teacher; I think he was channelling one of the teachers here.
22. The one who wants to be an astronaut.
23. The ones who think they can smile their way out of anything.  And they usually make me laugh. So they do get out of many things that way.
24. The one who uses dictionary words all the time. "Have a stupendous day, Miss." "Miss, thank you for being so accommodating and candid." "Miss, don't let our antics delay you. Clearly, you are flabbergasted."
25. The one who wouldn't eat at the beginning of the year, hoping that we would send her home, and her friends who got her to eat in those first days, and who now all laugh and play and study together.
26. The one who cried non-stop for the first week here who is now completely adjusted and one of the most friendly and loved learners.
27. The learner who really turned his act around 180 degrees after first term. He was causing so many problems, but now is such a strong leader in his class.

I could go on and on for another 200 learners. Each face

Mustard Seeds

"Faith is a mustard seed," Jesus told us (I think it was Jesus... Anyway... a representative of God said that once). That is so true.  It's also true of almost every other emotion, feeling or action.  Give someone a small opportunity for leadership, and with proper TLC, that leadership can take root in that person, so that a leadership tree sprouts from their ears.  Give someone a little bit of love, and that love will grow within that person--both for themselves and for others.  Humans are remarkable creatures, and this idea that we can take just a little hint of some emotion, feeling or action from others and grow and create our own shows me how incredibly interconnected we are. 

Working with kids, you get to see this ten hundred times a day.  "Johannes, can you collect the papers, please?" "Hey Teresa, great job on your art project!" "Douglas, thank you so much for your focus in class today!" "Thank you so much for giving me your attention right away Simon!" "Jason, your smile is infectious! Thanks for bringing it to class." "Juliette, you are such a good friend." Watch the seeds grow.  A hug for a fourteen year old can save her life.  It's inspiring and terrifying to see just how much of an effect these small phrases can have on young people. 

Because unfortunately, fear and animosity are also like mustard seeds.  Just a little bit of these demonstrated or created by teachers will also grow inside a learner, if it's allowed to.  And this can lead to these learners fearing creativity, non-self, change and authority. It can create these vicious cycles, where once adulthood is reached, these feelings are taken out on the kids--a "this happened to me, and I hated it, so now I'm going to do it to you" mentality, instead of a "how can I make things better for you, this time around?" one.  Now you've got an environment which isn't safe or conducive to learning, because it's full of fear and anger. 

It's the job of the teacher not to let their emotions run them.  It's our job to ensure a positive and safe learning environment for the learners, no matter how you feel about a co-worker or even the kids themselves.  It's a teacher's job to love our learners no matter what.  I'm not saying it's our job to coddle them; consequences for actions are extremely necessary for learning and correction of behaviour.  Planting the seeds of self-love, positivity and growth is our job.

Grade 11s studying seeders

Grade 8s watching transplanting

Positivity Revisited

This term has been pretty positive! The school is getting its feet underneath it, and we're starting to walk forward.  It's pretty awesome.  My only major issue with things has been how discipline is handled here.  I am very lucky, in that no teachers at my school hit learners, and the principal is serious about consequences being directly linked to the problem behaviour.  But teachers here are so negative in their approach to effecting changes in learners' behaviour.  In my experience, this is a major waste of energy, time and soul.  I've been super lucky with positive reinforcements and creating more intrinsic desire to be good.  So as explained, one of the troubled classes has been writing down three positive things they could have done instead of a negative behaviour.  It's been working really well, the class teachers are totally on board with the idea, and the class's behaviour has improved 10 fold! The class teacher was reading through the notes today and found this one.  I almost cried it made me so happy.  My heart melted.  It reads:

"Keep it positive as our lovely teacher said. (Miss Mayer Rachel) We congratulate you, our leader, May God bless you for changing our class, if you were not there we could have suffered. We thank you miss! Thank you thank you. Our favourite teacher! YOU ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST! We salute you comrade! Keep it growing! Best wishes for you!"

The power of positivity and a calm, purposeful but loving tone.

In the famous words of Legally Blonde: The Musical "Keep it Positive!"

There is a class at our school which has been labelled as "The Bad Class." This class has quite a number of behavioural problems each day and constantly are being punished and yelled at. With good reason. They make fun of each other, hurt each others feelings, and all around make a lot more noise than is necessary during study times, when silence is expected.  So they get punishments like extra cleaning, staying late or essay writing, as well as stern talkings to.  And teachers know this class, going in. And there in-lies the problem--their negative behaviour has created all sorts of constant negative thoughts about the class. 

And the class thinks about themselves negatively.  They call each other names, mutter about how "Oh it's our class. How could we ever be alright?" or talk about each other in other languages that not everyone speaks. 

So I felt some inspiration to change this negative energy.  Inspired by both New Girl's douche jar and the "knotholes for a swear" from summer camp, I combined the two for the "Positivity Jar."  Say something negative? Write three positive things you could have done or said and put it in the jar.

Changing the negative to positive from the inside out.  The other class teacher and the student council member responsible for the class are both behind it, and I'm going to leading personalities in the class individually to get them to support it as well.

I've got high, positive hopes for this!

Phobias: Asking for help

When I was in the seventh grade, I didn't understand trigonometry on the first day we learned it.  I was confused about how to start to solve a homework problem, and for the last few minutes of class, we had to complete two homework problems and show them to the teacher to leave. We were allowed to work in groups.  A kid named Nick showed me how to answer the question, and walked a few of us through it.  I wrote down the answer. Then the teacher wanted me to show my work.  So instead of asking him (the teacher) for help, I turned back to Nick, and to this day, I promise the words that came out of my mouth were, "Hey can you show me how to start the problem again?" while looking at his paper. I was asking a classmate for help, and the teacher thought I was cheating. The teacher flipped out.  I had to sign "The Book" three times, and I thought that meant detention (turns out five times=detention-graduated detention free). I was mortified and terrified and thought my life was over.

I associate that moment in my life with my fear of asking for help.  I don't know if it comes from before that, so that's why I didn't want to ask the teacher, or if it came from asking Nick for help and then having a grown man yell at me six inches from my face, but I HATE asking for help. It terrifies me.  I feel like a nuisance and like I am incompetent.  I know that this is foolish, and have been working on it for ages. Professors and employers of mine have heard the story above, and graciously and wonderfully helped me ask for help. But this is still a journey. 

And so, in Namibia, I find myself in a system where everything needs to go through committees and through management offices.  In my head, this plays out as asking for help, so this often turns into my worst nightmare! It means that to get things done, I have to go against my natural instinct to fend for myself all the time.  Problems get solved more slowly here, but by more people.  It works, but it is so different from everything I know in my own experience that it often seems impossible.

But I am here to learn how that works.  And I am trying.  So teachers and learners of RVS, thank you very much for bearing with me while I learn how to ask for help in the way expected here.  Thank you so much for your patience as I face one of my biggest fears every day with this. I love you all very, very much, and I appreciate you.

Hope

Term 2 was rough.  It was busy; it was chaotic; it was filled with cultural and personal clashes; it was filled with role discovery, role changing; it was hard; it is over. 

Term 3 will be hard.  It will be filled with schedule clashes; it will have meetings that go on forever; it will be future-defining for learners; it will be evaluative; it will be good.  Teachers have been hard at work for a solid week now, and we are already getting into the swing of things.  I am super impressed at how well everyone here has hit the ground running with lessons, planning and we're already starting assessing learners on our bi-weekly schedule.  Files are submitted, schemes of work are complete, and the management of this school is doing everything in its power to empower teachers for the second round of evaluation from the head office of the ministry this term.

Learners are participating in a drama, we've gotten the sports program going already, and entertainment programming has started rolling in to the committee for approval.  We've set our goals in Life Skills, and now we're moving into communication skills.  Listening, calm communication and compromising.  From there we're moving into sex ed, and I couldn't be more excited!

Bring. It. On. Term. 3!

Taking on Namibia part 2: Ft. Hannah Montana

Day 12: HANNAH!!! HANNAH! Your flight was cancelled! and then delayed.  But we found you!!! YAY!!!! Now quick! We were going to give you some relaxing time in Windhoek to get coffee and shower and all that, but never mind! Pack up the car, it's off to Etosha, cause we have to make it there by sunset, or the gates will be locked. Let's go, go, go! 
Phew! Made it.  Now there's relaxing time at the camp site... Gnocchi and pesto for dinner, wine by the flood lit watering hole with Abby and her sister and Hannah equivalent (bff from college. Mini-Ithaca reunion and LIONS!!!!!! and bed time for Hannah and Rachel. Flying and driving take a lot out of us. 

Day 13: We drove up through Etosha and saw SO MANY ANIMALS! Rhinos, leopard, hyena, elephants, zebras, giraffes, antelope, kudu, springbok, wildebeests, warthogs, birds, oryx... the list goes on and on.

 

We arrived at the campsite in the north, and made campfire pizza. Unfortunately, the watering hole at that site was much less bumpin', but it did mean an early night, which was nice. 

 

Day 14: Before leaving Etosha, we checked out a watering hole, which WAS bumpin' and narrated animals' lives for a while.  Then we headed out to Jamie's place! Lunch at Zebro's in Oshikati was delicious! Chicken and various salads for me, chicken burgers for the other ladies.  We went to Pick-and-Pay (time #1) for delectables for dinner, and Amarulla for dessert.  We also got ice cream. Whatever. We ate a lot. Jenn made hummus for dinner, and we all loved it! Upon arrival at Jamie's, we had some chore time: did some mending, lesson planning, car cleaning and washing.

 

Day 15: We hit up the Ongwediva Trade Fair with Jamie's friend Kristy.  Delicious meat (though not actual kapana), mupane worms (made me gag, but Hannah liked them), traditional breads and marulla jam. Also all kinds of sweets.  We got LOTS of stuff, which I will not list here, as it will probably end up being presents for a lot of you, dear readers.  That night, we went to Rocha's Portuguese restaurant for dinner, and checked out Paulson's (Jamie's co-teacher's) bar.  Pretty standard shabeen experience, with lots of guys and very few ladies. Paulson and his family did a nice job taking care of us, and we were home well before we turned into pumpkins!

 

Day 16: Good byes were said by all :(  We left Jamie's pretty early, and returned the car to Tsumeb, where my directional skills FINALLY kicked in and I found the rental place lickity split.  Goodbye, dear friend. I miss you! N157396W, you'll be in my heart forever. Hiking back to Divundu was actually a breeze, as hiking goes! Free hiked Tsumeb to Grootfontain, then a combi/van to Rundu (could have stopped less, but whatever. Got there in plenty of time!), then we found a combi going to Katima Malilo, which dropped us in Divundu, but made ZERO OTHER STOPS. For those of you who've hiked from Rundu to Divundu in a combi before, you know how huge this is. Zero dirt road.  Hannah and I arrived safe and sound at my flat, and the kids arrive the next day!! YAY! We had ... something for dinner, but I don't remember what.

 

Day 17: The kids are back in town!! YAY! Hannah and I helped register incoming learners with other teachers.  I was so smiley it was a bit ridiculous. The kids must think I'm insane.  Hannah and I also baked cookies and made pizza for a pre-birthday dinner. 

 

Day 18: Birthday and classes.  School started! Hannah came to all of the classes, and we had question time.  The kids loved asking her about celebrities she's met and what she thinks of Namibia.  She did a wonderfully eloquent job of answering questions and being loving and caring toward all of the kids I love and care about so much.

 

Day 19: Hannah hiked out to Rundu in the afternoon to catch her bus from there to Windhoek.  Goodbye my dear!! Love you!!! I am so incredibly lucky to have a friend like you! So that you can bring me things :-) Now for me, it's work work work!!! This term is going to be great; I've got a feeling!

 

(today) she's arrived safely back at home after a stop in London.

Taking on Namibia part 1: Jamie, Jenn and Rachel in a car around Namibia

Day 1-2:
This holiday was amazing.  Two other volunteers and I rented a car out of Tsumeb (pronounced Chumeb), and took Namibia by storm! We drove up to Jenn's in Erango Region, and spent on night at her place.  She's got a nice flat, but no running water inside.  Made me feel lucky once again for the modern amenities at my school.  Way to go Jenn! We drove to Brandberg, the highest mountain in Namibia, on day one of the holiday.  Unfortunately, we did not hike the whole thing, due to my current lack of functional pack, but we did hike up to the White Lady cave paintings.  They were super well maintained.

After the short hike up to the cave paintings, we had a lunch of delectables (copyright pending Jenna Weintraub)--apples, cheese and crackers at the base of the mountain.  Then we drove on to Spitzkope, another rocky-mountain area with more cave paintings.  We camped there for the night, and enjoyed more delectables and red wine as we watched the sunset.  In the morning, we had some trouble with wind, as it almost blew our tent away as soon as we got out of it.  The wind was crazy! Before we headed out, we climbed up some of the rock formations, and took in some marvellous views! Vastness and rocks. Reminds me of what I think Arizona or Nevada looks like.

Day 3: Bright and early, we headed over to Swakopmund.  That was some crazy context right there.  Driving through the mid-west, and then into beautiful sand dunes, and then suddenly, rocky, misty, cold coast.  We walked along the coast to find lunch at the Garden Café--unbelievable savory pancakes with chicken and mushroom for me. Veggie stir fry savory pancake for Jenn, and mince meat savory pancake for Jamie.  Paired with milkshakes and lots of coffee, and followed by a trifecta of creamy cheesecakes and meringues. Then we walked around town a bit more, and got more coffee at Slotown Coffee. Yum. Everything about everything this holiday was about food! That night, we cooked pasta salad and couscous for food in Sossusvlei.  Thanks Jamie's mom for the great pasta salad with feta, Greek dressing, veggies and our own addition of tuna. We also bought these unbelievable honey-explosion pastries.  We went out for Mexican and margaritas for dinner, followed by DARK BEER at the Brauhaus.

Day 4: The next morning, we drove down a really long (300km+), really bumpy (washboarding everywhere!) dirt road to the lodge on the road to Sossusvlei, Camp Agama. This place was BEAUTIFUL! They had a rooftop look-out, where you can look out over the plains, and the campsites had privacy wind-screens, and hot water in the showers in the evenings.  All-in-all, a beautiful place! We enjoyed our pasta salad and honey explosions and wine as we watched a simultaneous sunset and moon rise exactly opposite each other. Spectacular. I took that moment to just sit and take it all in. No camera, just my eyes to try and comprehend the vastness and beauty. 

Day 5: The next morning, it was off to the dunes and vleis (dried up lake beds).  We climbed sand dunes and ran down the sides, made friends with a bird, and caught more amazing views.  Once again, this place was a completely different scene--like walking on Mars, almost.

Obviously, after a hot day in the sun, we were seeing mirages of frozen treats, so it was ice cream for all, and then back to the camp site for couscous (saving some for stuffing peppers that we accidentally left at the hostel in Swakopmund--thank goodness we were going back!).  
Day 6: The next morning was Jamie's birthday, which obviously we turned into "Let's eat dessert all day" day.  Breakfast was at an adorable moose-themed bakery at the turn of the road toward Sossusvlei. Apple pie, chocolate muffins, cinnamon rolls and coconut dreams.  Wonderful! Then it was hit the road back to Swakopmund. 

On that road, I think it was the C-14, is a pull off with a toilet. Awesome. Only the toilet is a HIKE away from the actual pull of with a sign. Also, the flies at the pull off (no where near the toilet, mind you) are absolutely dreadful.  Just use a bush, loves. Seriously. Not. Worth. It.

Before Swakopmund, we stopped in Walvis Baii for lunch and flamingos.  Lunch was perfect. I got a seafood bruschetta with mussels, clams, prawns and cappers, and a seafood soup.  We then walked around and shopped a bit, then found coffee and carrot cake (note that this is a continuation of desserts all day day).  Jamie and I went to get the car, and Jenn went to the bank. Poor Jenn. Turns out roads in Walvis Baii don't really go straight (think Boston roads).  So Jamie and I got a bit lost finding the car. When we finally got there, I pushed the unlock button on the keys. Nothin'.  Manual unlock works. Phew. But the battery was dead in the car.  Thank goodness there was a cricket tournament in Walvis Baii that weekend! Come here middle school cricket team! Let's have some team bonding and push start our car! Much thanks to the coaches and team who got us going again!! I'll always remember to turn the headlights off.

Back on the road to Swakopmund, we actually saw a sunset, which is rare there, because it's so hazy/misty/cloudy by the coast all the time.  Arriving back at the backpacker, due to a change in plans, the three of us shared a double room (HUGE BED, and they gave us towels!) instead of camping or having two double rooms.  After so much go-go-go, we watched a movie and ate ice cream and Amarulla (think Baileys) milkshakes. And thus ended "Let's eat dessert all day" day. Happy birthday Jamie!

Day 7: We had sort of a slow morning, then we headed up to the first day of the Henties Bay fish festival, which had far more meat than fish.  I got new sandals, because I was sick of wearing out the cheaper ones from Jet/Mr. Price etc.  When I got back to school, all the kids were like, "Cool Jesus sandals!" I'm hoping they'll last! We also ate super fresh calamari, fries with so many different dipping sauces, and iced coffee. Now here's the thing about iced coffee here. It is coffee, with a huge scoop of ice cream in it.  Delightful! We also found hummus, pesto and stuffed olives.  I like the first day of a festival, before it's really really started. People are still excited about things, so they'll let you try EVERYTHING! Sure! Try one of each olive, and sample each hummus and dip and sauce.  Thanks!  Back in Swakopmund, we had pizza for dinner (after accidentally going to a non-pizza restaurant that was attached to the pizza place and being judged by a bunch of Germans).  One more Brau at the Brauhaus, and then it was bed time--lots of driving the next day!

Day 8: We woke up at 4 am to drive to Luderitz.  Dad, I felt like you driving to Wisconsin since we were driving well before sunrise.  It made me feel really cool and responsible and important.  We stopped for breakfast in Okahandja, and again, I felt like you, dad, because I made us take our time and sit down to breakfast instead of eating in the car. I would like to say, I get it now.  The driving continued past Windhoek almost all the way to Keetmanskoop, when we stopped and ate our couscous stuffed peppers.  We made it to Luderitz at almost exactly the same time as Mariella, Kristin, Emily and Taylor! Oh haaaaiiii ladies! Unfortunately, they all caught something so trips to various clinics and pharmacies were in order for that group.  Jamie, Jenn and I celebrated the end of a long car trip with more seafood at a visit to the Yacht Club, where we made friends with some lovely people from Luderitz.  They invited us to a braii for the next night.  Cool!!

Day 9: Jenn and I let Jamie sleep in (because we FORCED her to go out and dance with us the night before), got our tickets for the Kolmanskoppe Diamond Boom Ghost Town and then we hit the road out.  Breathtaking.

After a day of picture taking, we met up with our new Luderitz friends, and braiied and danced until the wee hours. 

Day 10: We slept til 1.  Awesome. So. Awesome.  Then we got iced coffee (remember--ice cream + coffee) and "breakfast" by the bay.  The we met up with our Luderitz friends at Diaz Point.  Here it where I will explain to you a recurrent theme from this trip: Lonely Planet guide to Namibia sucks.  Diaz Point is a conquistador point where the Portuguese explorer erected a cross to stake claim.  Also at this point are sea lions, penguins and a SERIOUSLY WAY COOL CAMP SITE.  You can camp inside of old boats.  And there's a café with great coffee, red velvet cake and mussels directly out of the ocean.  Seriously, Lonely Planet, nothing on this??? Worst.

Day 11: Heading back up to Windhoek, because Hannah comes tomorrow!!!!! !! !!!! !!!!!!! Met up with Bret, who GRACIOUSLY and WONDERFULLY let us crash at his place.  Indian food for dinner, and Dab at a hipster theatre bar.  Can't stay up too late though, cause Hannah's flight gets in early!!

Cooking in Namibia revisited

So remember when I was going to write about food? Whoops! Generally, breakfast is oatmeal with peanut butter, snack is bread and butter or eggs and toast or bread and like... bologna, lunch is an apple and peanut butter, and dinner varies. Sometimes, my room mate will cook porridge and game meat and stew or gravy.  Other times it's baked beans, rice and veggies. Or fried Kavango River fish and rice or porridge (delicious... and I was watching her cook them last time, so I'm going to help next time! Update on that to come. Also an update on how to best prepare kudu meat).

Anyway, throughout the term, I've made some pretty delicious things.  I made my go-to dish for a few volunteers.  Mushroom cream sauce with white wine with chicken and pasta. Turned out well, and it was on an electric stove top thing with only one side really working... the water for the pasta was the hardest part! Turns out the water kettle switch is opposite the one I have in my flat; it wasn't broken! Oops.  But I think it was worth the wait!
               Ingredients:
                                1 can mushrooms
                                1 bottle of wine (you'll need about a cup for the recipe, the rest is for you!)
                                1 clove garlic
                                1 small onion
                                1.5 cup cream
                                1 braai package of chicken
                                salt and pepper to taste
                                Pasta for 3
              Procedure:
                        Put water on to boil 2 hours ago
                        Cook chicken in the frying pan, because it's the only pan you have. With salt and pepper
                        When the chicken is finished, leave the juices in the pan, but remove the meat. Saute the onion and garlic in the rest of the juices. Add mushrooms after 5 minutes, tossing occasionally for 5 more minutes.
                        While the veggies are heating, cut the chicken off the bone.
                        Add wine to the pan, boil and simmer for a few minutes. Let's call it 5 minutes.
                        Go back to trying to get the chicken off the bone before the dog gets to it. For those of you into Namibian music, I accidentally typed that "The Dogg."
                       Add the cream to the pan and turn down the heat just before boiling, so that it will simmer for another... oh... 5 minutes (but it can be left over low heat for a while). Add the chicken.
                       If you're lucky, now would be the perfect time to cook the pasta!
                    Serves 3 volunteers (about 5 normal people)

For the fourth of July, I went "Treat-yo'-self" and bought feta cheese and mixed it into burger patties.  Very good decision! With avocado and tomato and lettuce and home-made barbeque sauce made by a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer, for those not ITK (In the Know)).

I've been making a lot of cream-based soups with sausage and spinach, which have been turning out well.

Tonight, I made a nice veggie and noodle soup.
                  Ingredients:
                      One package of Knolls Curry Vegetable Soup Mix
                     1/3 large onion (probably could use 1/2)
                     1 clove garlic (could definitely use 2)
                     2 small green tomatoes (probably want to use 3)
                     1 small green pepper (probably could use 2)
                     about 1.5 cups frozen veggie mix (could definitely push this to 2 cups)
                     .75 L water to cook 2 cups uncooked macaroni (could probably cut the pasta in half if you're not going to add more veggies--the ratio I ended up with was really off)
               Procedure:
                      cook pasta
                      While water is boiling etc cut veggies and saute fresh ones until the onions are translucent
                      Add frozen veggies to the cooked veggies, and keep over low-medium heat until they melt
                      Combine the soup mix with about 3 cups of water
                      Add cooked pasta and its water to the veggies
                      stir
                      add soup mix + water
                      bring to a boil
                       simmer for like... oh.... 5 minutes. I think. (I say five minutes when I don't know how long I left it for. It was enough time to wash the pasta pot and put away some other dishes and stir it a few times)
                        Enjoy with 3 other friends! Or save some for tomorrow... there are about 4 servings.

And one last recipe for you.
                     You will need:
                             Spoon
                             Peanut butter
                             Apple
                     Procedure:
                            open jar of peanut butter by twisting off the lid
                            put spoon end of spoon into the jar
                            scoop out as much peanut butter as will fit in the spoon (or catch some in your mouth as it falls)
                           spread on each bite of your apple.
                           hopefully, you will have an excess of peanut butter.
                          If you do, don't waste it. Put it in yo' mouf (Sorry I couldn't wait!)

Sunshine and Yoga

After hours of exams in the morning, and hours of study in the afternoon, I gave an open invitation to all of the learners to join me for yoga over in the sports complex.  Walking out to the brick area by the basketball courts, the sun was shining warmly.  Water bottle in hand, and learners in tow, I stretched out, ready to lead them in yoga.

20 learners joined me, and we moved through the vinyasa, sun salutations and a warrior flow. Then we came to child's pose, and as I was introducing it, I suggested that they pretend someone was sitting on their back, pushing down, as they stretched their hands out as far as they would go. Opposing forces to stretch your back.  Well, the girls decided that pretending was too much.  Why pretend, when you have a good friend ready and willing to sit on you.  So they partnered up and helped each other achieve a deeper stretch, then resumed trying to get that feeling on their own. 

The learners all took it super seriously, but not too seriously.  They were there to stretch and free their minds from the classroom, under the open sky, saluting the sun before it sank behind the trees.  We worked hard for more than 30 minutes of solid yoga.

Tomorrow will be a core-focused day. Boats, twists and backbends galore.

Inauguration, A Brief Summary

I know I didn’t update you all right away about the amazing event we had here on the 22^nd.  The school was officially opened by the President of Namibia. A speech was given, a plaque was revealed, a dance was done (video below!).  Our learners were such troopers! With a long morning which was supposed to be filled with our school’s cultural groups and presentations but was instead filled with miscommunication, they kept smiles on their faces and welcomed the President, Minister of Education and other major dignitaries with full hearts.   

First: Links to the videos of the dance!
Rehearsal for the dance. Electric Slide=Dance De Familia!
Rehearsing the transition from a Damara song into an Oshivambo song
Performing for the President! (It was really windy, so sorry about the sound)

Second: Pictures!

Our dining hall, full of learners, teachers and community members

The President of Namibia, inaugurating the school. Behind him are many Ministers and dignitaries.

Our learners, lined up to welcome His Excellency, the Honourable Pohamba

After the president's speech and lunch, our learners took the stage to present cultural dances to remaining guests and visitors. We had lots of laughs, and one Kwaito group from a neighboring school even took the stage and showed us their moves!

Learners dancing Kavango dances

Damara Nama Stap dances

Vambo Dancers

Still looking sharp after dancing

I think my favourite part of the day was cleaning up and re-setting up the school the way it normally is.  We had to move all of the tables and benches out of the dining hall, and shift a lot of tables and chairs around in the classrooms for the event.  That afternoon, we shifted everything back.  The kids were amazing with this.  A group of four grade 11 boys kept asking, “Miss, what next?” all afternoon.  Never a “Miss, we’re tired” or a “Miss, we’ve done enough.” Always “What’s next?” 

I helped motivate some of the less enthusiastic young men and women by partnering up with the smallest grade 8 girls to carry benches back to the dining hall, purposefully walking past all of the grade 11 learners, and talking loudly about how strong this little girl was, and how it was too bad that no one else at the school was so strong.  Blows to ego can get people going fast!

I was incredibly motivated to get the school running back to normal, and I was so excited by the prospect that positive energy just exuded from me, which helped a lot.  That and the music blasting from the new speakers in the dining hall!

Overall, the event was filled with motivational speeches from Governors, Ministers and the President, great food and loving, highly disciplined learners. And the day was beautiful.  Best of all, the day is over!

Now on to exams!

ICT Conference in Ongwediva *An announcement at the end*

This weekend, the school counsellor, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) teacher, and I attended a conference hosted by WorldTeach on ICT in schools.  We travelled for twelve hours to get there, most of that time also travelling with our circuit inspector (pretty much equivalent to a superintendent in the US), and other teachers and the principal from Rundu Secondary School.  We spent the night at Bennie's Entertainment Park and Conference Center, which was nice... complementary hot breakfast, yes please! Amanda, the semester volunteer in Rundu, and I, had dinner with Bret, who did a great job planning the conference and Mallory, another semester volunteer. 

 

We heard from volunteers about their achievements and struggles with ICT in the classroom, then discussed ways to overcome some of the challenges present. 

I thought it was pretty cool to show people the direction of technology in Namibian classrooms, and other teachers, principals and circuit officials were very impressed by the technology that we have at Vision School.  Other volunteers mentioned that Smartboards etc are coming to their schools.  I think this tangible knowledge that technology is coming helped motivate other schools to start preparing their teachers now with laptops, internet and training to embrace technology as soon as it arrives. 

It was also great to see the other volunteers for a bit! I met the summer volunteers, and roomed with Sherri, a teacher from Kansas who has so much experience with teacher training and teaching at so many levels. 

She helped me a lot, and provided me with hand-outs, ideas, links and names to help me next year, when I am the Teaching Fellow for WorldTeach Namibia.  This position will mean that I continue on for another year at RVS, and work with WorldTeach to train incoming volunteers and provide teaching-related support to them as they start their career as a volunteer teacher here. I will be in Namibia for another year!  

 In other news, back in Divundu, goats are able to sneak through the school fence and have eaten all our shrubs around campus. Now to find a way to keep them from the soccer pitch so they don’t get to that grass.

Pictures from Inauguration

RVS students spelling out their school in the final pose of the dance for the president. Video of the dance is coming soon, as well as a break down of the day!

Classroom

One of the great parts about this grand opening inauguration is that EVERYTHING is at the school now--chairs, tables, lab supplies, computers, paper: everything! So that means that we get to move into our own classrooms. 

This has been one of the parts of being a teacher which I have been looking forward to the most.  I have my own classroom now! I share it with the school counsellor, who also teaches Life Skills with me.  I've been laying out chalk boards, white boards, posters and desks.  It's almost completed! I've recruited learners from one class to help me to make posters for my room, so the boards will be completely filled with various Life-Skills-Related-Tidbits tomorrow or so.  It feels like I have a place to belong now.  I couldn't be more happy about this.  8 groups of 4 learners, desks for art supplies, and a table by the door to pick up books on their way in (thank you Mr. Baier for that idea), posters about time management, summarizing skills, communication, stress, smiling, and relationships, homework/notice board with the objectives for the week, messages on the mirror about smiling (thank you KD for that idea).  I think I've said "my classroom" about 50 times more than is necessary in the last 2 days.

Three Days and Counting

Three days until the grand opening of the first ever Vision School in Namibia, and things are all coming together!

This weekend, we rehearsed for many hours for a large dance that will be the focal performance from the school during the inauguration ceremony, in front of the President of Namibia, as well as a multitude of dignitaries, ministers and other really important people.  On Monday, the principal informed us that we needed to make the dance over 10 minutes long (doubling the time of the performance).  Ms. Mupiri, Mr. Kapisi and I stayed up late coming up with new choreography, and we were super worried, because the choreography we had done had taken the learners a week to learn.  But the next day, we added two solid minutes of choreography (they call the electric slide moves "dance de familia" here, and that takes up a lot of time! Thank you high school gym class!), a train into an RVS formation, and a specialty dance group.  Boom--these kids are all awesome! We doubled the length of the dance in less than three hours of rehearsal.  And tonight, we showed all of the staff, and everyone was very, very pleased and impressed, and I am still just glowing with pride, 4 hours later.  AND the kids are starting to understand what it means to be timely--they were all in their positions for the beginning of the dance before the teachers had all arrived.  Seriously baller, dedicated, talented kids, I'm telling you.

I have learned so much about myself and what adaptability means in the past week.  I have always struggled with asking for help and clarification, and I continue to work on that every  day.  I didn't really realize how much theatre practice from the US was ingrained in the way I expect things to run.  Scheduling here is much more flexible (especially when it comes to ending times for events/rehearsals/meetings etc), and the structure of a rehearsal is as well.  There is not so much of a director who makes executive decisions, but rather a discussion.  That aspect of Namibian even preparation was the hardest for me to adjust to, because moments, comments, adjustments and changes felt like challenges to my ability, worth and experience, and I got super defensive.  But on Monday, after a long rehearsal with a lot of these discussion-based rehearsals and hot tempers (mostly mine), we cooled down and discussed the cultural differences and where we could meet each other in the middle. It frustrates me that things will take longer here, but the result is still a polished, high-quality dance, so that's what matters.  How we get there can be different, but different is not always bad or wrong.  I think a lot people are learning that this week, myself most of all.

I've also decided that I'm going to try saying "Yes, And" every time that I would say "No, But."  I think that little bits of positivity throughout the day will help me.  Monday was a really, really rough day, and with a lot of positive effort, I feel as though I've really become more culturally adapted to this school, this job and this role.

**obviously, a video of this dance will come VERY SOON, but I don't want anyone reading my blog from Windhoek/elsewhere in Namibia to see it before these kids debut for the Pres!**

Controlling our Emotions

This week in Life Skills, we are discussing how to control our emotions, so that they don't control our actions.  For homework, I asked them to reflect on a time when they had been controlled by their emotions--How did you feel, what did you do, and what would you have done differently?  The following is the answer one boy gave me.

"Write about a time when you were controlled by your emotions. How did you feel? What did you do?
           When I wanted to kill a lizard that was in my room, I felt pity for it, because it was innocent. I took it and went to put it on the grass.  I let it free.
If you had more control over your emotions, what would you have done differently?
            I could have killed it."

10 out of 10.  Nice job, bud!

Now... there are many things that could be going on here:
1. He could have missed the point of the assignment.  Perhaps he thought he was to write about a time when he didn't lose control.
2. Pity overwhelmed him. In that case, BE A MAN and KILL THE LIZARD!

I find it so funny that I'm almost sure he was thinking #2.  That is just so different than most American kids would think about a lizard in their room, where we have to protect the adorable little guy.

UPDATE: I sat down with this learner to make sure he understood the assignment.
"Read what you wrote, and explain to me which emotions were controlling your actions."
He read it and replied, "Kindness."
"... So you think you should have ..." I pointed at the paper where he said 'I could have killed it.'
"Yeah. I should have killed it, but kindness led me not to."

Alright. well he understood the assignment.  Not what I was expecting, but definitely an insight into his mind and the cultural position of animals.

"I saw the sign...

... and it opened up my eyes. I saw the sign."

Gotta love 90s music that inspires.

Before I left for this journey, I was encouraged to see those things in life that keep popping up in my life. Just for fun, I started making a list of those things today, and it helped bring life into clearer focus.  Some of these things, like teaching, counselling and working with marginalized youth, I get to do every day here in Namibia, and that is awesome.  Other things, like pushing the US government to decrease barriers to education and support alternatives to traditional educational settings for marginalized youth, will have to wait. 

While I'm working at the Vision School, I do have a major opportunity to be a part of something way bigger than myself.  Since this school will hopefully become the model for other schools all around the country, and this is the pilot school, we get to do something no one else gets to do: whatever we want to help these kids.  We get to pick and choose parts of the Namibian, Cambridge and American models of schooling to create a whole new system, with our own individual flavour added.  That is so cool.  That is what I want to be a part of at this point in my life.  Working with other dedicated teachers and principals and advisors to make a brand new school.  We may not go with my ideas every time, but I am so lucky that I get to have a voice in the future of this school.  Change is difficult, frustrating and exhausting, but it is amazing when you can see the results of the change improving children's outcomes and lives.  This is such an amazing opportunity, one that will hopefully now extend to two full years here.