Ahh.....where to begin? It has been two weeks since my last post and so much has happened! I am in my third week of teaching. My classes are starting to run more smoothly. The learners are slowing adjusting to my methods of teaching. They are used to traditional learning consisting of teacher lecturing, oral repetition, and copying notes from the board. Schools here are starting to move towards a student-centered teaching approach, but it is a slow transition. It took me 20 minutes to explain the concept of working with a partner. It also took an entire class period for my grade 6 learners to draw bingo cards in their notebooks. They are all perfectionists – to the extreme! Many of them could not even handle ripping up paper to make markers for their cards. They insisted on drawing lines on the paper and using a ruler to cut perfect square pieces. They depend on rulers for everything! I have even seen learners use a ruler to draw the “equals” line that you put under a math problem. This often makes it difficult to get anything done in my math class, but it serves well in art class. They are amazing drawers! My learners also love to sing. So far we have sang The Hokey Pokey, Shake Your Foot, and Alive, Awake, Alert. I am so thankful for all my years of learning camp songs! Even my grade 10 class loves to do the hokey pokey! My high schoolers back home would not be caught singing and dancing like that. I love their enthusiasm and love for music/dance here! Today, as I was walking to my math class, I heard my grade 7 learners singing. I expected to find a teacher in their leading them, but instead I found 10 learners standing in front of the class singing an amazing song in Oshiwambo while the rest of the class clapped and sang along. It was beautiful. I will try to record them singing and post the video online.

I can't remember if I said this in a previous post, but my school recently received 20 new computers! They hired someone to come and train all of the teachers to use them. The trainer, Magano, is actually my roommate. She will be here until March or April. They have computer class everyday from 2-5 PM. I have not been allowed to bring my classes into the computer lab yet, but hopefully soon! The computers are set up in the school library, which is a project that I am going to start working on soon. If I had to guess, there are maybe 100-200 books in the library, most of which are old textbooks. I really want to get more picture books and novels in there, but those kinds of resources are very scarce here. I'm sure a book drive back home will happen sometime in the near future! I would love any help and/or donations in that area!

I have had so many moments when I have thought, “Wow, I am right where I am suppose to be.” Ogongo is definitely starting to feel like home. I have adapted, faster than I expected, to the ways of life here. There are still many reminders throughout the day that I am not in America anymore. I am really living in rural Africa. Some of these pleasant reminders include: donkeys, chickens and cows in the school yard, chasing goats out of my kitchen, walking 20 yards to my outhouse (often greeted by frogs and lizards while in there), almost getting run over by donkey drawn wagons, falling asleep to the sound of pouring rain on my tin roof, brilliant pink and purple sunsets, washing all my clothes by hand (which I have grown to enjoy very much), riding in a taxi with 6 adults and a baby, paying $2.00 (US) for an hour taxi ride and 40 cents for a doctor's visit, including 2 prescriptions.

I will leave you with a handful of anecdotes and random thoughts on my life in Namibia:

 The school bell that is suppose to ring between classes sounds like a fire alarm. It is common for the electricity to be out, therefore we have to ring a bell in the schoolyard that involves banging a large steel bar against a pipe hanging in a tree. I have taken over the responsibility of official “bell ringer.”

 A conversation between myself and a colleague:
Meme Benisia: Do you eat meat?
Me: Yes
Meme: Oh...because Kimberlee (the previous volunteer) did not. She only ate
the muscles. That is good that you like to eat the organs and bones as well.

 My grade 11 neighbors get a kick out of mocking my laugh. They say, “I am laughing in English” and let out this ridiculous deep chuckle. This has turned into a running joke of doing things “in English.” The other day they were pretending to run and jump in English.

 Many of my learners are still struggling with English. A common mistake that they make is using “help” instead of “borrow/lend.” Everyday I have learners asking me, “Can you please help me a pencil?” They have memorized the typical greeting of “Hi, how are you?” “I am fine,” but they don't quite understand the meanings of the different words; therefore when I simply say “Hello” to a learner, they will respond “I am fine.” I got taught some of my learners alternative responses. Now I hear words like super, fabulous and awesome when I ask “How are you?”

 As I mentioned before, it is very important to greet people here. The mornings at school are always fun because when I walk into the office, I must greet every teacher that I see individually. I have mastered the greeting process in Oshiwambo, but I'm still working on making sure that I greet everyone. This is hard when I am still learning names and faces and I can't remember who I have already greeted. Those who have been missed are not hesitate to tell me! I often get comments such as “Rachel, why did you not greet me this morning?” or “Rachel, what is wrong? Are you sick? (No, why?) Because you did not greet me this morning, so something must be wrong!”