A Good Year So Far

It's Been A Good Year So Far

Though it has just started! Lisa told us Saturday when we called that so far she's read 2 books this year. Since she's cleaned and organized her place top to bottom there wasn't a whole lot else to do right now! She wanted a sure fire way to keep her place looking so perfect - I said "Move?" "Go on another vacation?" (GRIN) I don't think I provided the response she was looking for. (Double Grin)

 

A New Term Is Around the Corner

Thursday or Friday she'll be heading to Keetmanshoop then to Windhoek by Saturday. It all depends on when she can get a ride out of Aroab. Then it's Peace Corps training till she heads back to Keetmanshoop on the 14th and back to Aroab on the 15th or 16th.

Now all of this is in spite of the fact that the teachers are due back on January 12th for the new term and the learners should be there on the 14th. Peace Corps training trumps showing up on time for work (GRIN). She won't have any idea what she'll be teaching till she gets back, but considering 4 teachers have left for sure and up to 4 more may be leaving - a lighter course load does not seem too promising. But it will grant her a bit of seniority so she's hoping she has a chance on some upper level classes. And she'd love to "keep" some of her best classes as they move up.

At one point Lisa thought all this rampant changing of teachers from district to district was the norm - but now she thinks having just 1 or 2 teachers change over a year is much more common. She still hasn't figured out why her district has such heavy duty turnover but that's life.

She is trying hard to switch from Agriculture to almost anything else since that's the subject she knows the least about and as far as she can tell it isn't even on the list of courses Peace Corps has approved  for their volunteers to teach in Namibia -  which are English, Science, and Math - with the ability to teach "non academic" classes such as art, music, health etc allowed. Again as far as she can tell she's the only PC Volunteer in Namibia teaching it. Her school just slipped it into her schedule I guess (GRIN).

 

Cooking

She spent several hours today caramelizing a very very large onion - very very slowly so it wouldn't burn in her wimpy pot on her poor little hot plate. She wound up with a huge pot full! Now she can add interest to a lot of what she's cooking over the next few days before she leaves for PC training. She claims she's slowly getting the hang of cooking starting mid-December. As to how her meals were the past year - I'm not going there one of those places where "Don't Ask - Don't Tell" works for the mommy in me. Maybe she's just picking up tips from Erna etc. I guess Erna did a wonderful job grilling the meat Lisa had bought. It was done in a large rectangular outdoors grill.

Too bad such a thing would likely "walk" if Lisa tried to fashion one by her place. Of course Hostel rules prohibit it too begin with. Ahh the joys of living on "State Property".

 

Political Challenges

With everything going on in the Middle East she mused that if only those with deep roots of hostility could forget the past, and those who do not want to recognize one group or another suddenly were "blind to them and thus literarily saw no enemy to shoot at" things would be calmer. I mentioned that while living in one's past may cause grief at times remembering the richness and beauty, strength and courage of what our cultures have lived through usually makes up for it in the long run.

But it makes me think of the mantra I grew up with "What if they held a War and Nobody Came" It was a very appealing concept when I was young. And I think it's one that resonates with Lisa right now. Deep down she'd love to treat everyone's military (sanctioned or unofficial) like 2 year olds and yank away all their weapons, send them to their respective corners and tell them they can't come out till they can apologize and promise to play nice again. Not likely but I do think she could write a nice Science Fiction Story about the idea!

She hopes President-Elect Obama manages to encourage less fighting and more cooperation among all the various groups. She hopes he's a "good friend" to them all telling them what they need to hear not just what they want to hear. We shall see.

 

Humor on the Internet

In the spirit of believing that the Universe wanted to inject some humor into the world - she did find some political humor on-line with a report that seems to be serious coming out of Russia predicting that the US will be divided into 4 areas -  by mid 2010 with the West Coast becoming part of China, the South becoming part of Mexico, the East Coast becoming part of the EU and part of the Mid-West becoming part of Canada. The whole idea brought forth a belly laugh or two from her. And her biggest laugh was the idea of Canada "overpowering" the Mid-West and taking it over. She just couldn't see Canada in that role. They just seem to her to be too civilized to do that.

I suppose that in a world of shifting borders and changing political and economic alliances it's nice to feel so secure in the integrity of the country you're living in - no matter what the current problems it's facing. And we are facing a doozy of a set of problems right now. I think we take that for granted about the USA - and we shouldn't - we need to appreciate what we have a little bit more. - End of Mommy lecture.

 

One Big New Year's Resolution for the Planet

Lisa has made a resolution for the country in particular and the planet as a whole - she would like both to "Un-crisisify" (her word) themselves. First off she'd like the Economy to fix itself before Obama takes office so he can concentrate on other things. (I bet that would thrill him too! GRIN). I think the environment fixing itself is next on her list. Ahh - well if you wake up tomorrow and find all "the bad stuff" of the past few years is gone and the world is a kinder gentler place you'll know she was a very good girl and has a heck of a lot more sway with Santa than I do!

Till then we'll just keep on doing what we can to make this world a better place one day at a time! (enough clichés and mixed metaphors for one blog? -GRIN) Bye till next week!

 

Susan Rothman