Okay guys. I know. I royally suck. It’s been almost 3 months
since my last post. I would give you some lame excuse, except… I don’t really
have one. Excuses are worthless anyway. To make it up to you, not only will you
get this post but also, as soon as I can conduct the interview, I’ll give you a
firsthand look at the daily life of my Namibian co-worker. You forgive me? Still
bestest friends??
Good :)
In December I went on vacation to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay.
Both are Namibian coastal towns. I also spent a few days in Windhoek, the
capital. While in Windhoek, I had all of my money stolen. It ended up being a
couple hundred American dollars and a couple thousand Namibian dollars (a combined total of approximately 400 USD or 4,000 NAD). I
left the money in our locked room thinking that it would be safer there than it
would be to walk around with it on my person. Oops. When I came back from dinner
one night I couldn't find the money anywhere. My best guess is that a staff
member of our accommodation took it. I almost called off the rest of the trip
but luckily, Peace Corps was able to reimburse most of the Namibian money that
was taken. My family and close friends back in the promise land got together
and helped me with the rest. I’m one lucky girl <3 love you guys!!
While in Walvis Bay we went on a seal and dolphin cruise. I
got to hug a seal! Jealous? His name is Bubbles. Things are getting pretty
serious. I may go back to see him this year ;) I also saw dolphins and ate oysters
for the first time. They were pretty good! Especially with tobasco sauce. Apparently,
Namibia has some of the best oysters in the world. Who knew?
Mine and Bubbles love affair <3
In Swakopmund we all went Skydiving. It was AMAZING! The
view was so beautiful. On one side there was the ocean, on one side there were
mountains (or really large hills) and on the other side there were the sand
dunes. It was simply breath taking. The thirty second free fall before they
pull the cord for the parachute is the best part. I was simultaneously
screaming and smiling the whole time. Once my guy pulled our parachute he let
me steer us for a little bit. I will definitely be going again one day.
Falling (with style) over the Atlantic Ocean
Once I got back to site everything was a little boring for
awhile. I had a couple of weeks before school started up again and I had to go
back to work. I spent the time both working on art projects and being a couch
(bed) potato. I was actually excited once school started again and I had
something to do. I worked at my regular job (KAYEC) for a couple weeks before I
got a call from the principal of one of the secondary (high school) schools in
town. They desperately needed an English teacher for grades 8 and 9. So I’ve
been doing that for a couple of weeks now. It looks like I’ll be filling in
until they can find another English teacher. Since I’m working for free I
assume they won’t find anyone until it’s time for me to ship off lol
Teaching is SO hard. The language barrier doesn’t really
help. All of my kids understand English, but our accents are so different they
have a hard time understanding MY English. Because of this, they haven’t made
the best grades. It really does make you feel like a failure when your students
fail. It’s just unfortunate, because I know that they would be getting twice
the points on all of the assignments if they had a Namibian teacher
explaining/reading the assignments. It’s getting a little better though. Plus,
it’s so fulfilling when just one kid starts to understand.
For those of you who read my blog but are not my FB friend (if there even are any) here is an update on my hair! It's 5 months old now :)
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September 2013 February 2014
Well, that’s life in Namibia. Stay tuned for the interview!
Maybe I can post that next weekend.
