Namibian beauty

Sometimes it's small things here which make me realise how lucky I am to be here for a whole year, and what an amazing experience this year is, and is still going to be. Sunsets and sunrises here are quite simply, breath taking. The flat ground means we get an incredible display of natural beauty nearly every single night. So I thought I would just put some pictures up of my favourite sunsets, so that everyone can see a little piece of the beauty that is Namibia.

 

One month of school!

 

Well the last month has certainly been an interesting, and incredible experience. Daisy and I have quickly learnt that school here is nothing like anything we have ever experienced before and that we need to adjust ourselves not only to the school but to the whole way of life here.

We're still trying to find our place in the school - which is quite complicated due to the fact that the school system here is so complicated and nobody has really explained anything to us. There's still some things that we're trying to work out, such as how can discipline the children without beating them. This is actually really difficult because being beaten is the only discipline these children have ever experienced and so to blunt, they are simply not afraid of us.



Some of the learners are admittedly, amazing to teach. The rare few love to learn and they behave incredibly in all their lessons, listening to us and doing their work. But then there are also some children that have absolutely no interest in school and simply want to disrupt the other class - normally by starting fights in the middle of a lesson.

We've got our good cop, bad cop act sorted now(unsurprisingly I am the bad cop! A role which many would agree I am well suited for). Our coping strategy at the moment seems to simply be to deal with everything one day at a time.

So far we've managed to work out a couple of tricks to deal with the children. For example, the children absolutely love singing together and so that's a good reward to be used at the end of the lesson if they've behaved well. They also LOVE stickers - which is an easy enough way to reward them! And surprisingly enough, if you tell them to go back to their seats and they don't do it, tickling them is a very good way to make them run!
Admittedly, there have been some bad moments. I got a death threat off one girl and another girl has threatened to beat me up (since she only comes up to my shoulder and ran away when I told her I accepted her challenge I don't think I really have much to worry about!)Admittedly, there have been days when we have both declared we are never going back to the school and that we can't deal with the stress anymore. This happened a lot this week when a teacher didn't turn up at school for three days in a row and we were expected to cover his class without notice, cover work, books or even any knowledge of the subject. And yes, there have been some tears (although so far I can proudly say that none have been from me)

But overall the good times make up for the bad. Even though we've had to fight them every step of the way most of the children finally stood up this week and performed their mimes - and some of them were actually pretty good! A handful of children have even handed in their stories in BIS (although probably about 90% didn't and so have failed - but we'll deal with that next week). This month has gone by so quickly, we've done so much already and yet we still have so much to do!  It has truly been an incredible experience.

The broom game!

One evening Daisy, Sachi and I were sat around at the table chatting when Daisy suddenly asked us, 'have you ever played the broom game?' We both admitted that we had not, and as a result we had a hilarious and crazy half hour begin.

Bringing out the broom from the kitchen Daisy began a very painful looking contortionist act. First she stepped over the broom and pulled it behind her back and over her head (simple enough). But then she continued, and this is where it got more complicated.

She then stepped over the broom and twisted one leg around the other - describing this is rather difficult, especially as I still don't quite understand how she did it! (As a result it's probably easier to look at the photos if you want to understand what was happening).

She then leant down on the floor and twisted the broom around herself and back over her head without ever letting go of the broom. It looked incredibly painful (and also pretty unnatural tbh) and it was no surprise to me that she ended up collapsed on the floor, clutching her side and complaining that she had pulled a muscle.

Sachi and I both watched this spectacle with a mix of admiration, horror and amusement (as you can probably see from the picture of Sachi's bemused face.) Eventually we were, of course, persuaded to join in and have a go ourselves.

Sachi went first but was unable to complete the act - she claimed that she wasn't flexible enough. And then sadly it was my turn. Unfortunately for me, Sachi picked up my camera with glee, announcing that it was my turn to be photographed (which is never a good thing).
 

And so I attempted to do the trick as well. The first part went fine - I can understand the concept of just stepping over a piece of wood and pulling it back over my head. But the second part of the act proved to be too much for my brain to handle.

I simply could not understand how my legs were meant to twist in that way, or how I was meant to move my arms! And my hands simply refused to turn in the correct direction - which proved to me that it is a completely unnatural trick to be able to do!!

But admittedly it was a very fun game to play - and it resulted in a lot of laughs (and a lot of pain). Daisy had suggested that Sachi and I should perfect the trick. Then the next time that Ruben and Anne came over we should all do it, and if one of them was unable to do the trick we could say 'but why can't you do it? It's so easy!' But we quickly realised that that plan was never going to work! And so the madness continued for another evening...

 

A chaotic second week - part one!

Our first Namibian cloud!

 

Rain glorious rain!

So we have had yet another hectic week here at Tses! It started off with a lot of excitement as Daisy and I noticed our first cloud! After over a week and a half of constantly clear skies we were unbelievably excited by this discovery - as you can tell by Daisy's picture!

 

But the excitement didn't end there! The next day something even more amazing happened - it rained!!! (I should point out that the rainy season quite literally didn't happen here last year which means that they're suffering from a really bad drought,so this was genuinely really exciting for the locals). It may have only lasted for about 20 seconds but Sachi, Daisy and I still all stood out in the rain, arms widespread in glee. We couldn't help but laugh as we heard the cheering and screaming of the secondary kids from inside their hostel - I wonder what their reaction would be if they had to endure typical English weather for a day?

 

So the week of craziness continued from there! One of the hostel workers came over one night with her two children. I quickly kidnapped the baby and refused to give her back (I did return her eventually I should point out) while Daisy had to eat her dinner being chased around the front room by the toddler! Unsurprisingly I ignored Daisy's pleas for help and instead ate my own dinner in peace, laughing at her as the little girl dragged her around the house and chased her (I did manage to work up the effort to take some pictures though!)

 

It was a truly lovely way to spend an evening, and it was made even better by the hysterical giggling from the little girl (which is kind of a miracle because she normally refuses to smile, let alone laugh for anyone!)

 

That evening we also watched Sachi make an apple pie for the hostel worker. We only got a tiny little mouthful each but it was absolutely amazing and it made Daisy and I determined to make our own! (luckily we had some apples which we needed to get rid of!)

 

And so the next afternoon we made the apple pie. It was my first attempt at making a pie in my entire life and so I have to admit that I was feeling quite proud of myself! We were pretty much guessing on some of the measurements, we didn't have a proper mixing bowl or a rolling pin but we managed to somehow muddle through! And so later that evening we were enjoying a completely scrummy apple pie - and I only burnt myself once in the process! 

There were also the moments when we just filled our time with absolute rubbish. In the afternoons and evenings sometimes it's nice just to chill in the main room, to put on a movie, update our diaries (which we've both managed to continue so far) and do random things to entertain ourselves.

For example...one evening I ripped out every single crossword I could find in the piles of gossip magazines Sachi had. We've all been filling  out as much of them as we possibly can, and we've now stuck them all on one of the walls. This means that in years to come all the future volunteers can attempt to fill out more of the crossword answers. And maybe someday someone will actually be able to finish one! If not it still was an amusing thing to do, it decorated one of the walls a bit more, and as Daisy pointed out, it's created a strange kind of 'trippy optical illusion'.

We've also had plenty of visitors this week. Sometimes Daisy and I feel like we're being invaded there are so many people in our house! They drink our water, read our magazines, listen to Daisy's ipod and often have weird but wonderful conversations with us!
The obsession with our hair also still continues. One day Daisy and I were sat outside playing cards when a small group of girls came up to us. At first we attempted to teach them how to play 'cheat' but we quickly realised this wouldn't work. Instead of lying they would announce 'but miss, I don't have a card that I can play'!!!

In the end the girls simply gave up and started plating my hair (Daisy refuses to let them anywhere near hers!). And as you can see from the photos, it was rather a painful experience!!!
 



 

 

Projects Galore!

So, for BIS and Arts this term Daisy and I decided that we would do some (reasonably big) projects. This would mean that we wouldn't have to do lesson plans constantly (although we haven't been asked for any so far, so I get the feeling they're not really going to be an issue) and we also thought it would be a bit of fun for the kids - especially since their lessons literally just consist of copying down stuff from the board.

So first of all we looked at the syllabus's. BIS said that this term we had to concentrate solely on writing and speaking. So I came up with the idea of getting the learners to all write their own story (one page long if they're in Grade 5, one and a half pages if they're in Grade 6, and two pages long for the Grade sevens). We gave them all exactly two weeks to write their stories - this way they can't use the excuse of 'I didn't have enough time to do it' if they don't hand it in time for the deadline.

When we have the stories Daisy and I will mark them, and so the learners will get one score for 'writing'. We're then going to give the stories back to the learners. They then will have to stand up in front of the rest of the class and read their story aloud (although I think if they're really shy/nervous we'll give them the option of just reading  it to the two of us) and thus they get a mark for their speaking. We're going to record the reading on my camcorder I think, so that all the children can watch themselves - they LOVE photos and videos!

And then once everybody has done their reading project we're going to decide on prizes. We haven't made up our minds completely about what the prizes are going to be for, but at the moment we've thought of: best story, best main character, neatest handwriting, best male speaker, best female speaker, best overall individual (lots of prizes for lots of encouragement - basically bribes). And despite the desperate pleas of the children, Daisy and I have made it clear that the prizes will not consist of either money or our hair (what is it with these kids and hair????) I think food is probably going to be the best (and cheapest) option!


We were, admittedly, quite pleased with this project. It seemed like a fun, and simple task. But no, once again Namibia has proved that everything has to be more complicated than it needs to be. Despite explaining to the children numerous times that they must write their own story, and that it must come out of their own heads (explaining the concept of 'imagination' proved too difficult) many of them simply do not seem to understand. One lesson was spent making the children write the following in their books:

I must not copy a story from a book
I must not copy a story from a film
I must not copy a story from the TV
I must not write down a story someone else has told me
I must not write down a Namibian story \
I must make up my own story

Yet still children continue to hand in stories with titles such as  'Cinderella', 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', or 'the secret garden'. Again and again we read stories only to realise that they must be traditionally Namibian stories. Sometimes it's simply so obvious, children who can barely speak English giving in a story which includes a description of the beautiful tapestries that hung above the four poster bed, or the girl who managed to survive the Cholera and was whisked away to live in a lavish house nestled in the countryside.... And yet they still try to convince us that they made the story up, despite the fact that when we ask them to explain to us what a tapestry or Cholera is they are unable to do so. But a few of the children have finally handed in some original (if not a little confusing) stories - it seems there is still hope!


Showing the kids some Charlie Chaplin!


Arts has been....equally interesting. For some reason I cannot explain I decided to pick 'mime' as the topic (it was on the syllabus and I naively thought that if it didn't involve speaking it might make the lesson easier!) Once we had finally managed to explain what mime is (we showed them videos to help), we introduced the classes to their project. Splitting the classes up into small groups we instructed them to come up with a short mime. Thankfully some of them understood and began straight away - some of the classes have even begun to show their performances to the rest of the class. Yet as always, there is still a few learners who refuse to listen and insist they have no idea what is going on!

But oh well, recording the performances and the promises of prizes is once again motivating the majority of the children, and Daisy and I are left with the knowledge that we still have at least another week before we have to come up with the next idea for our lessons - if we manage to last that long!


1 laptop, 35 kids!!!



First trip to the sand dunes!

So one evening Sachi took us on our first trip to the Sand dunes. Walking out of the school compound we turned left and followed a dusty road for about 10-15 minutes. Everything around us was completely flat (which is basically just the normal terrain in this area) apart of course, from the one mountain - whose name I once again cannot remember.




Sachi told us one day that all the guidebooks etc. say that this mountain is an extinct volcano (which is kinda understandable really because to be blunt, it does look like it was once a volcano). But apparently it is simply a mountain caused by the tectonic movement millions of years ago - another interesting bit of trivia that we're picking up about Namibia!



So the five us of (Anne and Ruben came along too) walked down the dusty road as Sachi pointed out the local river (a tiny stream), a water pump and the local cemetery. She also seemed to have a moment of madness, standing pointing at a piece of empty land repeating 'where's the house gone?' over and over again. It was finally established that there used to be a house on that spot, and that the man who lived there used to wave to Sachi as she ran past. But now all that remains is the foundations. The house has quite literally disappeared. We tried to come up with some helpful suggestions to what had happened to the house - they included the possibility that it had been stolen by aliens, that a tornado had swept it up and taken it to Kansas, or that the owner had simply moved it somewhere else.

Finally we reached the spot, and so we sat, chatting and drinking as we watched the sun drift behind the mountain - once again the Namibian sunsets proved themselves to be incredible! And much to my relief we didn't see any snakes, baboons or tarantulas - yay!

We now have hatched a plan - we want to try to camp out one night in the sand dunes! Although we don't have a tent which is kinda essential to keep the potential dangerous animals at bay - I guess we'll just have to wait and see whether it'll happen!

Hot springs and algae surfing

Amazing view!

So, our first weekend in Tses. Saturday morning was spent sleeping and relaxing - which was made slightly more difficult than it needed to be, due to the fact that we had a whole load of random strangers staying in our house (there was a funeral going on in the village and therefore we had about seven people sleeping on mattresses in the main room!) At three O'clock in the afternoon Sachi, Daisy, Ruben, Anne and I were picked up by Cooper, the superintendent of the senior hostel and a teacher at the secondary school (and our next door neighbor). He then drove us to the local hot springs, which are only about a 15-20 minute drive down the road.

 So down the main road we went for about ten minutes, before turning off onto a barely recognizable road. Driving down this dusty and incredibly bumpy road we soon reached the conclusion that open windows were not a good idea - especially when another vehicle was driving in our direction, a cloud of dust following behind them. There was also the problem of the random hole in the floor, which let dust in constantly (this problem was solved by using a towel as a kind of makeshift plug!) As the road got more and more bumpy we were forced to question at times whether the van would be able to make it to our destination, and whether we would survive the journey (the likelihood of survival was reduced significantly by the fact that there were no seat belts in the van and nothing to hold on to in case of an emergency!)

But finally we reached it - the hot springs. Hidden from view behind a small village - basically a tiny collection of houses, it truly was completely picturesque. We saw old men sat in the shade of their houses talking to each other, goats wandering around the village looking for food, a random donkey standing in someone's garden, battered old houses which looked like they could be blown away by the smallest gust of wind and children running around barefoot and covered in dust - yet still grinning and waving at us with huge smiles on their faces. 

Cooper was the only one brave enough to get in!

And then suddenly we saw the hot spring. Once the locals had tried to make a business out of it, charging people to use the waters (since they're supposed to have healing powers - I suppose some local legends never change no matter where you are in the world!) But arguments over who should collect the profits and who technically owned the spring quickly put a stop to this. 

The spring water itself is incredibly hot - and since you're sat in the boiling heat it feels ridiculous that you're voluntarily putting your limbs into even hotter water. But we all just about managed to submerge our legs, and so we sat there for a couple of hours, chatting, drinking and eating as the sun went down. (Daisy and I had a very long conversation with Cooper trying to explain that people in England don't really have 'family farms' - something he simply could not get his head around!)The water from the spring constantly overflows (which makes it pretty hygienic) and so there's a little river created from the spring which goes down to join the main river.

At one point this little herd of goats came down to the river to get a drink and some of them wandered into the enclosure. There were these adorable little black goats and Cooper was telling us that they're called 'black diamonds'. The reason is because they're the farmers best source of income - but the reason is pretty sad. When the black goats have babies the kids are killed when they're just a couple of days old, and then they're skinned (apparently the skins are at their best condition when the kids are only a couple of days old). These skins are then sold to make designer jackets, bags etc. Such a sad story!

Algae surfing!

But there was also a LOT of laughter at the springs. Cooper was walking along the little river created by the spring, and he slipped. It's difficult to explain but he basically ended up surfing down the little stream on the algae - and thus the game of algae surfing was created! I have a video of everyone doing it - which includes a lot of screaming and squealing from Cooper!!! But for some reason the computer refuses to upload any of my videos - but hopefully i'll get a chance to put them up at some point!

So having finished our game of algae surfing (thankfully no limbs were broken in the process) we sat back down in the hot spring and watched another amazing sunset. For the first time it was a cloudy night sky, and so I couldn't help but think that it was like a sunset in England!

Random stuff we get up to in moments of madness to relieve boredom - week one!

Since we finish the school day at 1 O'clock Daisy and I quickly found that we had a lot of spare time...a LOT of spare time. So what to do with ourselves? It soon became obvious that we would need a lot of activities to entertain ourselves. Plus there's the napping. After a long, long morning full of stressful lessons and equally stressful learners we soon worked out that an afternoon nap was the perfect way to wind down and relax. But that still left around six hours to fill with stuff... so what to do?

It took a lot of blue tac to do this!

The first few days were reasonably easy to fill, unpacking all of our stuff and generally just making our rooms feel a bit more like home. Putting up all of my photos on the wall I began to feel like I was once again simply back at school, unpacking after the holidays. But then what to do? Our bags were unpacked, our rooms tidy and we had to think of something new to do. Food, we decided, was the obvious choice, and so we got Sachi to take us into the heart of Tses -partially because we didn't actually know which way to go or where anything was, and partially because we just wanted her to go with us the first time (such cowards!).

Food glorious food!

Visiting the local shop we bought a loaf of bread and then we wandered back to the school. We were followed all the way there and back by a group of small girls, running along the ground in their bare feet (seemingly oblivious to the hundreds of shards of glass left by smashed bottles). On the way back I simply couldn't resist any longer and so I picked up the youngest of the girls and carried her for a bit - something that she and the other girls seemed to find hilarious for some reason! But they were simply so adorable - they had brought Daisy and I a packet of Namibian crisps called 'Nik Naks' each as a present!

It took a LOT of time to do!

A couple of evenings were spent making calenders each to stick up on our walls. Crossing off the days is surprisingly satisfying I've found and it's amazing how fast the days seem to go by now! Afternoons seem to just slip by, sitting outside the house chatting to the secondary pupils who live at the hostel, using the school computers, watching some TV on the laptop (so far we've been watching the first series of the Mentalist!), cooking our dinner - something we're becoming more skilled at as the days go by! One day, to Sachi's amusement I made savory pancakes which we ate with cheese and then raspberry jam for pudding. While skeptical at first, Sachi had to admit that it was good, and that is definitely something to be repeated!

They tasted better than they looked - promise!

As the days slipped by Daisy and I seem to becoming experts at finding things to do to amuse ourselves - although sometimes we do just sit there in silence until one of us comes up with an idea. The pile of American gossip magazines in the corner of the room have now all been read, (and the crosswords are to be stuck up on the wall - another mad idea we've come up with). I even made a new sign to go on the front door, celebrating the volunteers who live in the house :P I also thoughtfully included a small reminder of our nicknames (a tiara/crown, a duck and an American flag!) It seemed to be a good waste of an evening!

Sorry Mother - no shoes!

As time goes by Daisy and I realise that we're becoming more and more 'native' (to use our word). While at first we never went outside without our shoes firmly on our feet (the words of our mothers still firmly in our heads) that has soon gone out the window. Now, like the children, we happily wander around outside in our bare feet, the sand/dust making my skin go a very strange shade of grey! Although I have to admit I don't plan on doing that outside of the school grounds, far too much broken glass, animal droppings and leaking human waste for that (the pipes are experiencing a bit of a problem at the moment - the smell is truly delightful!) 

But perhaps the most amusing way we entertained ourselves in the first week was Ruben's haircut. The boy foolishly told us that his hair was too long and that he needed it cut (yes Ruben, I did just call you foolish - if you don't want to read my comments about you, leave this page now - I've warned you!). To our delight we jumped at the chance, and Ruben soon found himself sat in a chair in the middle of the room with three girls circling him with a pair of scissors. 

It was perhaps lucky that Daisy's mum is a hairdresser and so we had at least a small amount of instruction to go on (although personally I would have found it funny if we had left him with a massive bald patch at the back). But Ruben assured us that if it went wrong it didn't matter as he would just shave it all off. And so eventually, after a very long time we had finished - and it didn't look too bad! Maybe a little wonky in some places (totally not my fault) but overall it looked ok...what a shame!

The week was finished off with a visit to the house of one of the workers at the school. Sat around on chairs the five of us listened as one of the workers told us about the time he use to work as a miner of precious gems. He told us of the dangers that the miners faced and all the ways that people died, how everyone steals off everyone else and all the different methods he used to take the precious gems off his friends when they were asleep - but he assured us that he has now turned his life around and that he is now an honest man (lets hope he was telling us the truth!) 

So that was pretty much our first week. Five days of madness and chaos and first experiences. Full of laughter and random ideas it was certainly one to remember! But I can honestly say that it's only got better since then!