Half Way Through The Term

And A Quarter of The Way Through Her Total Teaching Time in Aroab

Considering everything Lisa sounded great when we called! Very cheerful and excited about life!  She went to a dance at the Hostel next door last night. It was a fundraiser for the sports teams - some things like fundraising are universal I guess (grin). She "only" stayed 1 and 1/2 hours since she was sooo tired (GRIN). She does love dancing!

With great success she did her weekly (well second weekend in a row) reading to the kids at the Hostel this morning - she was happy. There was someone in today's audience who was very good at translating so when the kids had a question about the story or about a specific word they were able to stop and ask Lisa and have her respond then translate the answer. The kids get a lot more out of the stories that way (grin). She's starting to build a small Library in the Hostel too! Lisa the Librarian!  Erna (who works at the hostel) visited near the end of our call  so we had a chance to chat with her too.

 

Sooooo Tired 

After a very long and tiring week Lisa is getting a little rest. She's been fighting an unending cold, with a runny nose and scratchy throat - typical winter ailments! Drinking lots of tea helps! Since this Monday she has to turn in a copy of each final she intends to give this term to the Principal so he can review them all, she spent every minute outside of class this past week creating them (mostly so she wouldn't have to spend every waking moment of this weekend doing it - the way she did last term -grin-). She's still amazed at how much time teaching takes up outside of the classroom. Everyone's learning something throughout this process - even Lisa (grin)!

She was able to re-use last years English exam as is but had to create all the others from scratch since most of the courses had changed and last years exams weren't workable. She's trying very hard to make the exams passable while covering everything she's supposed to - but she's sure her learners won't appreciate all the effort she's putting in on that account.

In fact it was funny - at the dance her learners told her they liked seeing her "this way - happy and smiling and not mean". She asked what they meant since she didn't think she was so different in school. They informed her that in school she "told them to be quiet, to sit down, and to do their work, and to stop fooling around". Well duhh - in school she's asking them to behave and to learn. Not nearly as much fun as dancing. She tried to explain that if they behaved better she'd be less grouchy in class but that went over their heads! Again some things are universal.

 

Her Principal

He's taking some "How to be a better Principal" course from South Africa and he chose as his main project topic - Literacy. He was going to choose Discipline but decided it would be too hard. OK - You can all stop laughing now - It took everything Lisa had not to break up in front of him when he told her that. Talk about great straight lines!

 

Her Town

It seems like her whole town is on the cutting edge of trying to improve and grow - It's trying to find ways to occupy the unemployed (of which there are far too many), trying to improve literacy among both children and adults, and trying to clean the place up and make it a nicer place all around. And from what Lisa says they're trying to achieve this mostly on their own just asking her (as the Peace Corps Volunteer) for suggestions and help whereas in many other areas the locals seem to expect the Volunteers from PC and other places (English, Australian, various religious volunteers etc.), to do most of the work. Aroab is a rather go-getter kind of place for Namibia!  They are trying to problem solve and get people involved in the process.

The only problem is that they're having trouble accomplishing a lot of their goals - sort of like in the rest of the world - so they constantly ask Lisa for her thoughts and suggestions. She's doing her best but it's all new turf for her and it's a real challenge to grow into this side of her "job" there. Priceless experience for her though!

 

What's on the Agenda for the Next Few Weeks

Next week is a normal week of classes, the following week the 9th graders go on a field trip to learn team building etc. so she'll only have 1/2 her classes, then there are 2 more weeks of classes then exams start.

At some point in the next few weeks folks from the Regional  Education Division will be visiting her school and evaluating the classroom lesson plans, exams, classroom methods of teaching of everyone etc. Lisa isn't sure how she'll measure up but as she says all she can do is her best and listen to any suggestions they make!

The only mail she got all week was a small package from the Peace Corps with magazines in it - a batch of Newsweeks etc. She has been spoiled by getting at least 1 letter or mailing from someone every week -  The next letter will be all that much sweeter because she had to wait for it.

I was a good Mommy and refrained from commenting on how much less mail I got in Finland and how with long distance costs back in the 70's I didn't get to speak to my parents or anyone else back home for over a year whereas we call her once a week on our nickel. Well many nickels - don't want to think about that phone bill (Ahh). I tell all of you reading this blog instead! (GRIN)  Oh - last week she bought an egg beater! It was funny to hear from her how wonderful a plain old eggbeater can be - That's all for now -

 

Susan Rothman

Baby It's Cold Inside

It's Winter in Namibia

Called Lisa this morning - talked a LONG time since her Dad is at a computer conference in New Brunswick Canada (a time zone closer to Lisa believe it or not!) and wasn't around to remind us how long we were talking (GRIN) My first call went through to her voice mail - even though she was right there and had her phone on. I guess if the signal isn't strong enough it kicks to voicemail immediately! The second call 30 minutes later went through fine.

Anyhow, this Morning when she woke at 9am she could see her breath inside her place. That's cold! At least with her blankets etc her bed is warm - (thank you Grandma for the long underwear!) and it warms up a bit during the day - but the way her house is situated it stays cold most of the time - nice in summer but not so nice now!

It was her shopping week - and though she didn't get to Keetmanshoop - she at least had time to get to the Aroab stores which are usually closed by the time she gets out of school. She picked up some nice fruit - bananas, and oranges! which she doesn't see very often! And the oranges were 1 Namibian dollar each - less than 10 cents US! Considering how she's fighting a cold nonstop she's happy to get more Vitamin C in her diet!

Speaking of cold - If you want to send her a little something -  warm socks, gloves, or a warm hat would be nice for her long winter! Envelopes of hot chocolate, orange spice or chai tea would be nice too!

She really can't even get a portable heater since her extension cord electric set up won't support it. She's lucky to get enough power to use her hot plate! But she's managing quite well - just hearing about the cold brings out the mommy in me and makes me want to bundle her up like when she was a toddler Who know how I'll manage if she ever does research at the North or South Poles! (grin - grin) Although with global warming. . . but I digress.

 

Crazy Week

It was a short week for Lisa but a crazy one nonetheless. There was no school Monday - in honor of The Day Of The African Child, Tuesday there was an Assembly for AIDS Awareness Week, Wednesday there was supposed to be something else but it was canceled due to cold rainy weather, Thursday there was another Assembly to use up some stuff the school was given to celebrate AIDS Awareness Week, and Friday was a very short day since it was payday and classes ended early.

In addition Lisa had three of her classes supervised - including one of her Agriculture ones by the Principal. Next week she has 2 more supervised, 2 weeks ago she had several others supervised -  and I think that will have covered all of them. She loves having people watch her classes since the kids are much better behaved.

In fact one story she shared was when the Principal came into her class to observe - some of the kids had not settled down (ones that never seem to settle down) and since they were still standing the Principal had them stand the whole class time - they weren't allowed to sit down at all. I think they were better the next day but who knows if it will carry over to next week (grin). She's not sure when she's actually going to get formal feedback about these observed classes though.

 

More School Info

This week she finally got a copy of the Language Policy for Namibia - she's been getting these various documents slowly - sort of as they find extra copies to give her. It's kind of nice knowing what you're supposed to teach and what their educational rational is behind their decisions. She had a curriculum for each course but didn't have anything to show her how her classes fit into the overall National Curriculum. Who knows - she may actually get a copy of them all before the second term is up! (GRIN)

This week was the week of the Spelling Bee. It took a long time (1 hour and 15 min) to get down to the 3 finalists who will go compete in Keetmanshoop. There were 10 learners they had to winnow down to the 3 and at the end it took a final 21 rounds.

The Bank of Namibia is sponsoring a competition covering various books on Economics, Banking, and Finance. Three of Lisa's 9th graders are competing at the local level - The winners go on to competition in Keetmanshoop, then the finals are in Windhoek. This is a big deal since the top winner gets a very large cash prize.

The Science Fair is coming up next week -  though Lisa doesn't have many official duties so far - most likely she'll help do all the last minute prep! The winners go on to more competition in Keetmanshoop.

At some point in July all the winners of all these events go to Keetmanshoop - I think all the same week - then everyone hopes that at least  a few will move on to finals in Windhoek. I'll keep you posted as to their progress.

 

Story Hour

Friday night she read stories at the Hostel next door - she was expecting a small handful of kids but it ended up being quite an event with all the young ones coming to listen. Lisa enjoyed reading to them and they loved her I guess. She was surprised how good they were listening - considering that she was reading in English and most of them still don't know much English yet.

Afterwards they all danced - which Lisa loved herself! It looks like this might become a regular Friday night event for her. The kids in the hostel have little to do other than get in trouble and it's a good way to integrate more in the community for Lisa. Erna her "Namibian Mother" (see last weeks entry) was pleased with how it all turned out.

 

Long Nights are Made For Reading

Lisa's been keeping track of all the books she's read since January - 30 so far - some were children's books, but that also included several Shakespeare plays (we sent her an inexpensive Complete works - I figured that no matter how fast she read you can only devour Shakespeare so fast! -GRIN -) and novels. We've sent her books, and she got a lot in the Peace Corps Library in Windhoek (a very popular place) - those she reads then returns for a new batch every time she makes the 16 plus hour trek up there! Sounds like a lot but several PCVs were over 36 books as of re-connect at the start of May. Lots of reading going on!

 

Odds and Ends

I guess our election system is even more confusing than I realized (grin) Apparently everyone has been stopping her since news of Obama becoming the Democratic Nominee broke, and they ask her what she thinks of America's new President! It really confused her for a moment - then she realized what they thought had happened - they all thought Obama had been elected.

Boy has it been a challenge for her to explain how he only won the nomination not the election. The Namibians don't really understand how this first step got so much press - they really thought the election was over. So it has been interesting - and she's not sure she's explained it quite well enough. As she says "with luck Obama will win in November and it won't be an issue."

 

Wildlife 

I told Lisa about the woodchuck we have in the backyard who has no fear of people and who is so cute, fat and sassy that if he wasn't making it impossible for us to garden (and wasn't undermining and tunneling through the whole backyard) I'd be more amused than bemused over his existence. I'd much rather watch critters like him on TV.

I mentioned how he'd only run away if I actually came outside (yelling works as well for him as for the squirrels who just don't care what a human says or does around here) and how when I chased him down his tunnel and stood there a minute he bobbed his head up to check if I was still there and only went back down when I yelled from close up.

She said it sounded like the Buffey the Vampire Slayer episode with Dracula who dissolved into a gray dusty puddle and tried to reform while she was still there - causing her to remind him that she was "still standing here" or something close to that. I'm torn between thinking he's so cute and wishing he'd take up residence elsewhere. Oh well - on that odd note I'll end for the week.

Have a good one - one and all!

Susan Rothman

Happy Flag Day, Happy Father's Day, and Happy Day of the African Child!

First Things First

When we called Lisa this morning she popped out with a bright and cheery "Happy Flag Day, Father's Day and Day of the African Child! I had 3 adventures this week!" She informed us that Namibia seems to Celebrate Father's Day tomorrow like we do - there wasn't much mention back around Mother's Day that they celebrated anything similar but she didn't know if she missed the info or if they ignored Women in that way. And Monday is the Day of the African Child - not sure what that means  other than a day off - which everyone seems to like! (grin)

Also - she got packages from her Grandmother and from us

As to her adventures 

1 -  she had a bat in her home - she went next door to the Hostel and several kids came over and got rid of it. Right now she loves her learners super bat exterminators that they are - and they can do no wrong (I bet their behavior in class will modify her adoration of them but till then they are little angels on earth to her) I gather when they put the roof on her place (corrugated tin - nice and wavy) it was put on with a fairly large gap between the roof itself and the walls so all kinds of critters can come visit whenever they please. Ahh well. At least all PCVs got preventive rabies shots. Not easy being a PC parent.

2 - A Froggie came a calling. She had a frog visit her 8th grade English class - at first she thought the little fellow was something the boys were tossing around just to scare the girls - then she discovered it was a real frog. She took care of it - calmed the girls down and took it home where she took pictures of it and set it free. Man I wish she could download pictures to the Internet! I usually don't like seeing them that way - but hey - I'd take anything I could get from Namibia!

3 - She helped set up the "Miss Oosterheim" Beauty Pageant at the school. She was on the decorating committee with the request that the place be decorated in the spirit of Namibia's culture or something. I gather that they managed with various fabric prints (including a cloth she got in Mozambique) etc. The pageant was a great success with the hi-light being a presentation by some of the boys in drag. I gather they looked so good that Lisa didn't realize they were guys for a while. The audience cracked up and loved them! She thought the boys did great!

The positive audience response sort of surprised her since the people in her community are so religious - praying 4 times a day in school (I don't really understand that since most are Lutheran, Catholic, or some form of Evangelical Church - but things are different in Africa) and people who are that religious here tend to have more members who are uncomfortable with kids doing stuff in Drag etc.

Lisa said she thought guys in drag seem to be a universal concept when girls do a beauty pageant - the guys just want to get involved! The situation reminded her of when one of her cousins went to Europe on a school trip and some of the guys dressed up for a "mock" pageant in their hotel. A few folks back in the US had issues with it but her cousin thought it was all done in a fun spirit. Life has changed from when I was young. For the better I think.

Parent's Day

Friday was Parent's Day at school. But since another class wanted to use her room and she was relocated - no one came to talk with her. It was probably a mix of her only speaking English so many parents felt awkward about trying to talk with her - and those that might have tried simply couldn't find her. She used the time to correct papers and catch up on paperwork.  She doesn't like paperwork. (WOW not loving paperwork! What a concept!) I was a good Mommy and I didn't say "Poor baby - welcome to the real world" I just said - "yeah, everyone tends to hate paperwork" It's just so funny to hear Lisa make these observations of life from Africa.

Tim Russert's Passing

I told her about the death of Tim Russert yesterday - and she recalled him from his election night coverage and the whiteboard with Florida, Florida, Florida on it. He was only 58 - 2 years older than Chuck and 4 years older than me - much too young! Political commentary will miss him greatly.

The mid-west flooding

We told Lisa about the horrible flooding in the mid-west, the tornadoes, etc. and Lisa decided that Mother Nature should stop being so cranky. I told her that Mother Nature might be less cranky if we started treating her better. There was a very long pause and she said "uh oh - we don't have the best track record when it comes to taking care of Mother Earth." That long pause and "uh oh" really cracked me up - it was sooo Lisa - made me feel like we were in the same room not an ocean apart. It was a very nice feeling.

Culture/Language/Communication

Final thoughts - Lisa said she had called Erna - a worker at the Hostel next door who she does a lot with in town - a friend. Erna said "no no no - not a friend a Mother" Lisa doesn't understand why "friend" was a term that bothered her so much and she still doesn't understand the way words we use to describe relatives are used to describe so many relationships with no real blood or marriage family connection. Makes me think about the assumptions we make about our communication skills. We think we're being very clear when we speak but our audience may be hearing something very different.

In the spirit of communication and of Father's Day - everyone should try to get hold of a copy of the "Who's on First" baseball routine. Whenever Chuck and I seem to be talking at cross purposes I always say "We're doing a Who's on First Again" and he smiles.

Happy Father's Day one and all

 

Susan Rothman

The term is one quarter over!

At least she has power this week

Lisa was having a restful day when we spoke with her. Doing lots of reading and relaxing and sipping hot tea. As we prep for 90+ degree humid weather it's easy to forget she's dealing with cold nights and often cool dry days. It's good to hear how she can just rest once in a while.

 

School

It was a strange week for her, once when her class was acting up a bit more than usual another teacher came in and chewed them out in Afrikaans telling them to behave for the PC teacher! Then said teacher proceeded to rap each learner over the knuckles - rather hard from Lisa's point of view. The learners were silent and subdued as this went on but laughed and joked about it after said teacher left the room. Lisa believes this (rapping on knuckles and worse) happens quite often but it was a first for her. Rather disquieting.

The term is over 1/4 over and she's completed  approximately 20% of her Peace Corps Service. Time goes by both fast and slow - it's amazing how much has gone by since last September, and it's amazing how much she has left to go.

Next week she has 5 classroom visits scheduled - her Principal, and several Department heads will be observing her classes. It's a mixed blessing - the learners behave better under these circumstances, but she also feels pressure for her lesson plans to be better than usual. There is also an Assembly next Friday and other stuff going on - a busy time in school.

 

Home life

She learned this week that the curtains in her place were on loan from someone who wanted them back - so she "lost 4 curtains and then was given 3 to replace them from the Hostel. She went from drab beige to a bright African print with lots of animals - so it was a decorating improvement! But she's minus one curtain - oh well.

She sometimes gets to watch a little TV at the Hostel next door - I gather the Mexican and Brazilian soap operas are very very very popular in Namibia. The Gardner's Daughter has a tremendous following. It's quite an event when the show comes on. Lisa has only seen a few episodes and guesses you have to watch a lot more before the show "grows on you".

 

Horse Races

She had hoped to go to some horse races today - sponsored by the school I guess but although she had indicated her interest at a school meeting last night no one knew exactly when they were going and so no definitive plans to pick her up were made. Today they seem to have forgotten about her, no one picked her up to attend. Oh well. I guess horse racing is a big thing there - Last weekend one of the Church's sponsored a race and I guess the town sponsors them too. So there are a lot of them. With luck she'll get to at least one to see what it's like.

 

Politics

We chatted about the current election events and Lisa asked us to e-mail her the local board of elections address since she wants to vote very badly this year. It's a challenge since from what I recall when she was in college ballets can't be requested in NYS sooner than a month before the election and the travel time NY to Namibia and back may not fit the deadlines. But she'll try.

As she reminded us that no matter how convoluted out political system was it had a lot fewer problems than many African systems. And I agree - if the Democrats manage to pull together now it will show a great strength for the party. We can hope.

We also told her that we ordered 2 Obama for President campaign buttons off the Internet - she has some Kerry/Edwards memorabilia and a Al Gore button. She wanted some Obama stuff and it's hard to orchestrate an order from Namibia. The Obama site won't even send things overseas! It gives one pause - the 2000 Presidential Election she was in HS, the 2004, in college, the 2008 in Namibia serving in PC, I wonder where she'll be for the 2012 Elections? I guess she could be anywhere! It's a wonderful world that provides all these options.

 

Thanks for looking in on the blog and thank you to everyone who has sent Lisa a package or letter - you all are very very kind and she appreciates your letters and packages more than she can say. As do her learners when fun school supplies are included! (grin)  I am amazed each week when I hear of another friend of ours or hers who has sent her something - (Thank You Caroline P. - this weeks "surprise" sender! - and thank you Grandma - a wonderful regular mailer of care packages!) Thank You all sooooo much! It really does keep her connected to everyone back home. Have a good week one and all!

 

Susan Rothman

June is here

A New Priest Arrives

Spoke with Lisa yesterday - she's doing great! She spent 3 hours Saturday morning at the local Catholic Church where she believes a new Priest was serving his first Mass or something - it was hard to figure out in Afrikaans. But it was over 3 hours spent outside in the cold and wind!  Seeing the local community at these ceremonies adds a level of depth to her understanding of who they are and what they believe. She often attends the local Lutheran Church - or the Church where her School's Principal serves as the Minister, and there are others in her community. It seems like everyone attends one Church or another.

 

No Power Again

Lisa had been out of power for most of the day. A common occurrence for her. Sometimes both the Hostel next door and her place are without power - sometimes it's just the extension cord connecting her to the Hostel that has problems. It's nice when they just have to plug it in again - but sometimes they have to really fiddle with it to make it work again. Since it would cost a reasonable amount of money to actually install electricity in Lisa's place and the school doesn't want to pay for that - she'll be tethered to the Hostel by that extension cord most likely for her entire time there.

With luck the place won't bun down - but that's a Mom's worry not hers (sigh).The buildings don't have heat so it's tough when it's so cold outside.  To be unable to even heat up a cup of tea  seems extra tough - oh well she's managing. As are all the PCVs. They need to vent a bit in their blogs etc but when push comes to shove they all are coping quite well with whatever is thrown at them!

 

The School Library is now Open!

Sooner than expected the School's Library has now opened. I gather it's open 4 days a week and different grades can use it on different days. Unlike the town Library they have Books! (grin) Lisa has explained that there isn't a culture of reading there - the idea of reading for enjoyment isn't common - thus getting people to use the Libraries (school and community) may be challenging.

The learners can take out books, which isn't the case in many schools since often once the books leave the building they are often not seen again in some regions. So that's nice. There are rules though - like older learners can't take out books for the younger students etc.

Most of the books are in Afrikaans their English assortment is rather small. There is a concern by some of the teachers that the learners will use their study time in the Library reading Afrikaans books rather than working on their English. Lisa feels reading is good for them no matter what language they read in! So if anyone has books in English for the 4th through 10th grade range they would be greatly appreciated! Fiction, non-fiction, biographies etc. would be great.

She thinks it's odd she wasn't put on the School's Library Committee since she had expressed great interest in it - so if she's going to do Library Development as a secondary PCV project she'll probably work in the Community Library. Which will probably be good in terms of her involvement in the whole town etc.

 

More School News

I gather the Science Fair will be in mid to late June and at some point Lisa expects to be assigned some students to mentor through the process. She's sort of Vice-Chair of the Committee but so far hasn't had her entire role in the process explained to her. She's getting good at taking things as they come.

In a related area she just finished Teacher Man by Frank McCourt and she found it very interesting. For all the challenges he faced teaching in NYC High Schools Lisa kept thinking how much easier he had it than they do in Namibia. But it was good since it gave her a new perspective on teaching.

 

Mail Update

Last week she hit the mother lode as far as mail goes - 3 boxes and 2 large envelopes. She spreads out the opening to one every few days to make the excitement last! As in real life it's feast or famine so by making them last she can hold out a while till she gets more. She loves everything people have sent her and thanks you all with all her heart!

 

Dessert Success

David a PCV in Keetmanshoop taught her a recipe for a dessert (when she has power and her little freezer compartment stays cold enough) mixing what they call "drinking yogurt" (plain - it doesn't come in flavors like here) with canned fruit. Freeze for a while and you have tangy ice cream. Didn't have the heart to tell her it's not exactly a new concept - freezing a smoothie is something I did in Jr High back in the stone age. But she was excited that it worked and came out well. So I was a good mommy and let her share the "discovery". She feels she is such a mediocre cook that I wanted her to enjoy her success fully.

 

Odds and Ends

She's learning to manage her time better - trying to get more work corrected during the mid-day break etc. She doesn't bother going home to eat lunch since that would take up over 1/2 the break - she's simply eating at her desk. She's trying to find ways to make organizing her work and home easier and less boring. She complained that she'll be good and clean on a regular basis then just sort of let her place go to seed and she wondered how she could keep good habits up. I didn't tell her "Welcome to the real world - if you can solve that one you'll make a million dollars" I just suggested that after one plan for keeping tidy gets boring she could try a different one. And her response was "oh like switching diets when they get boring" I guess - I didn't realize she thought much about diets. Learn something new every week! (grin)

Her current winter desires and needs include orange spice tea, small packages of instant oatmeal, envelopes of hot chocolate, and lots of very small stickers - tiny stars, smiley faces, etc. , decorated pencils etc. - those really motivate the kids as end of the week prizes.

Will up-date you all next week! Take Care!

Susan Rothman