Home is where the heart is....

And I've got mine plastered all over this place. It feels so great to be back home in Ogongo. I have been going going non stop since I got back, hence the lack of communication. Ombili! Here is a quick update (of the good and the bad).

In the past month.....

• School started. I am teaching math grade 7, Computers grade 5-12 and Library grade 1-7.
• I braii-ed (bbq) Springbok and Oryx. Delicious.
• I sweat myself to sleep in this heatwave.
• A donkey gave birth in my backyard.
• I learned all of the possible swear words in Oshiwambo.
  
• I started playing tennis and basketball.
• An important leader in our community passed away and then 2 days later we lost a grade 1 learner. Rough week.
• I taught a group of friends how to do the electric slide to the sound of Michael Jackson.
• I went horseback riding through my village
• I ate bone marrow and sheep's tail
  
• My friend saw a giraffe a few km from our village. I am still looking....
• I watched a man named Tupac break dance on the side lines of a soccer game while wearing an Obama bag as a do-rag

T-Minus 8 days!

I cannot believe this year is coming to an end and I have been in Namibia for almost 11 months now! No words can accurately describe my life here. I would be a complete wreck right now if I knew it was the end, but I have another whole year of this amazing chaotic Namibian life. I will be returning to Ogongo in January to become the school's librarian and computer teacher (plus teach a little math on the side) and I cannot wait! With that said, I am now counting down the days until I come home for the holiday. In 8 days from now I will be flying into Chicago. I am going to be home from December 1st to January 4th. I will be spending that time doing everything I have been deprived of all year - eating Mexican, sushi, and ice cream, driving my car, laying on a couch (wow I forgot about couches) watching reruns, drinking Spotted Cow, walking through the aisles of Whole Foods and staring dumbfounded at the excessive Christmas shoppers.

If you care to join me for any of the above adventures, here is my tentative schedule:

December 1st - 4th Chicago
December 5th - 13th Madison/DeForest
Decmber 14th - 17th Iowa (Iowa City/Webster City)
December 18th - 25th Sparta
December 25th - 31st Madison/DeForest
December 31st - Jan. 4th Chicago

Let me know if you want to make plans during any of these times! Unfortunately I will not have a cell phone when I am back. I should have regular email access and will probably be using my parents' landlines and/or cell phones.

Here are their numbers:
Tom Manley 721-0394 or 712-7745 (cell)
Heidi Tumerman 823-7323 or 487-1316 (cell)

Can't wait to see everyone!

Thanksgiving, mock weddings and condom demonstrations

Ondihole......I love.......

Ogongo sunsets

Punya punya (red wine and coke)

Laughing in English

Grade 6 learners

Ovambo chicken

Curiousity

The milky way

Africa Staudt Haus

My roommate's laughter

African magic

My cat Zizi

Riding in the back of pick ups

Barefeet

Genuine, yet ridiculous inquires

Baboon sightings

My learners' serenades

My Kuku (grandmother)

Meme mumu dresses

I miss......

Mexican food

Having my own car

Take away sushi

Bedi's stories and shenanigans

Spontaneous plans

Stairs

Snow (believe it or not)

Tailgating

Efficiency

Everything bagels with hummus

Meme Heidi

Spotted Cow

Couches

I want a girlfriend, but I don't know how. Can you help me?
How does a person get the homosexuality?
Can a girl fall pregnant if she makes sex with a very young boy?
Will a person go crazy if they do not make the sex?

- Anonymous questions submitted by my Grade 9 Life Skills class. These are the days I cannot imagine leaving this place.

Hairstyles lead to failing grades

There are many days where the following runs through my head – Wow, this school is really progressing. I am so proud of these teachers and learners. I am so blessed to be here. The teachers are making changes. I love it here. Life is nawa!

And then there are those down days – What are these people thinking? These learners are not understanding anything. The teachers don't care. This place is mass chaos. What am I doing here? Someone just give me a chili relleno with extra guac and a Reese's blizzard.....and a strong margarita! Today was one of those days. To set the preface I will rewind...last week during one of our insufferably long staff meetings we spent an hour discussing the failure rate of our learners and what we are going to do about it. Sounds productive right? Not when 45 minutes of that discussion is spent deciding whether or not shaving the hair of all of the girls who failed is an appropriate punishment. One teacher even tried to argue that these “crazy new hairstyles” are leading to failing. A logical question followed. “If we cut the girls hair, what will we do to the boys.” And the discussion continues....It was not until I spoke up that they realized that the removal of hair was a ridiculously inappropriate form of punishment and will in no way improve their academic achievement. They nodded in agreement when I proposed the solution of helping these failing learners, rather than punishing them.

That was 6 days ago. Today I arrive at school to find a large mass of my learners exiting the gate with backpacks on. When asked where they are going, I get the following replies, “Kegumbo” (to home), “We failed the exams,” “We did not bring N$10 for the teachers.” I make a detour from my normal beeline to the library to enter the office and get some answers. I quickly find out that the decision was made to require all failing learners to bring Engeeshu (ground nuts) or N$10.00 as a punishment. All learners that failed to do so were sent home. Brilliant idea.....lets help these struggling learners by not teaching them. It seems that my obvious solution was lost in translation......

P.S. I have to give them credit for choosing an alternative to corporal punishment (baby steps, baby steps)

Advances in technology

In one of the many boxes of school supplies from Webster City High School, I found a gem that has all the learners, and teachers, marveling. An old-school desk-mounted pencil sharpener with the crank and metal wheel to accommodate various pencil sizes (aren't pencils all the same size?). The first group of learners discover this amazing contraption was a bit hesitant and did not know what to think. After demonstrating a quick turn of the crank and presenting them with a razor sharp pencil, they were running all over the library and school finding every pencil, and colored pencil, to feed the sharpener! The last girl to sharpen her pencil exclaims, “Wow miss! Technology these days....”