Positively not Negative/ Karate / Beard me?

A quick post after an interesting day of teaching. After now nearly a week of teaching how to add and subtract negative numbers, I had a learner ask me...”Sir, which is bigger, a negative or a positive number?” Needless to say that didn't make me feel like Namibia's most valuable teacher (I considered writing MVT, but decided not to). It's very difficult because while there are those that don't know that a negative number is always less than a positive one, there are others who are bored sick of the topic, and understand it! I am wrestling with that right now. I have brought the idea to group the classes by ability, which I know is not always the right thing to do, but I really think it would help all involved in the education process. The range of levels in each class is just too big, and their would still be various levels in an ability grouped class (The argument against is that the students learn the best when they get it from their peers). I have the support of most of the staff, it is just going to be a logistical nightmare to reshuffle the classes, the likes of which I will not bore you with here.

Otherwise, I am ok. I have been running a fair amount now. I actually had a kid come up to me and said he saw me running; “Sir, are you training for Kung Fu or Karate?” I said neither, just to relax. ha. “Making exercise,” as they call it here, is an activity I am thoroughly enjoying.

We had some good rain last night, and overcast weather today so maybe more rain is coming. I have a new found meaning for the words that I sang for many a year....”I bless the rains down in Africa.” I hear them every time it rains, and it definitely is true.

Been eating decent. Had some fried green tomatoes to kick off the week, and feasted on french toast last night. My neighbor also gave me some guavas that I am excited to try tonight. The kids are definitely interested to see how I cook. Don't know if it is because I am a male or American, but most likely a combination of both.

News of site visits and reconnect is starting to emerge from PC Namibia which is exciting. Crazy that the date for reconnect is already set (April 23-29).

Have heard from Leah's madre, she is well, enjoying life in the Dominican Republic. I am anxiously awaiting the first contact from her, but also have confidence that she is having a great time.

Pretty relaxing weekend coming of nothing but soccer, planning, reading and sleeping. Looking forward to it. Enjoy your Thursday and Friday.

p.s. Thinking about trying to raise money for my school through something I can do...really well. Would anybody out there be interested in pledging money for every day I grow my beard???? You could pledge by the day, week, month, or in a lump some. All the money would benefit my school or any number of worthy causes I am working with over here. If you pledge by the day, please keep in mind I could grow a beard for a long time. I would post a picture of myself every week, so you could keep track of how it looks. I could maybe get others PCVs involved as well. For my fellow beard grower out there, “it'll evolve.” Just comment or email me, if you know my email, if you would be interested in this. Thanks.

Mail Rules!

So strolling to the post office today after school, not feeling the greatest. School could be going better I think. I deliver some outgoing mail and check my box. Two letters and a package! The Kohr G-rents, thank you so much for the vacuumed sealed tuna and fish. It is going to be great tonight for dinner after my run.

Running, by the way, is my new favorite activity. I have run only twice so far, but both have been great. I hit a gravel road and am quickly out of my little town. I quickly transition into rural Africa. Traditional homesteads, blue sky for as long as you can see and cattle. I get similar looks from the cattle as I do the people. They both just stare and me and wonder what I am doing. The kids run to the fence of their homestead and scream “Oshilumbo” until I give them a wave. I have yet to have kids come up next to me and join in on my run but I am sure/hoping that will soon happen. Its great. I run with the sun at my back then turn around and end my run under an African sunset.

Hope all is well.

Keith

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I have had a call for more posts, so for those, here goes. I guess I will first describe my setting, right now (Saturday night) I sit in front of my laptop typing, while outside the sky is so clear you can quite clearly see the Milky Way. I spent some of my day at school, trying to download good templates for grade books for the teachers here to use. Our computer lab runs in Linux so it’s difficult to find templates that work on OpenOffice and not Excel. I was not alone at school; there is a teacher who holds class every Saturday for the Grade 10 learners. I think today he also held class for a grade 8 class that has been falling behind. He only teaches Business Management, is Windhoek educated, and is very, very motivated. My most interesting and revealing conversations about education in Namibia and Namibian culture in general have been with this teacher. He has also taken over a computer class that he teaches directly after my class. I teach it from 1:30 to 3, when he takes over and runs his class from 3-6! As I said, he is very motivated. I still have yet to ask him directly why he runs the longer computer class and holds class on Saturdays, but I have a feeling his answer would be that he just feels it is needed. As you can imagine, this is quite a pleasant surprise for me that I am still getting used to. Coming into Peace Corps I was told to be ready to set the bar high and don’t expect to be shown any gratitude. Well things are totally different for me; I sometimes find myself saying why am I not working as hard as he is? It’s a good problem. And though the entire staff doesn’t share this level of enthusiasm, they are all pretty dedicated. We still are two teachers short, one is out on sick leave and the other has yet to show up, but in general the staff is pretty decent. To be honest, sometimes I feel this school doesn’t necessarily need a PCV, but then something will happen that reminds me they do.

I spent the other part of my day with soccer. We have a local team in my town, the Epupa All Star 11 FC (football club). This was the second game I have seen, and it’s great. They play on a gravel field, which is a little crazy. But it is very fast paced, I have learned (if I was a Namibian textbook writer I would say learnt….its written all over all the text books...”today you learnt that…”) that the African style of soccer is much different than the European version. Much less focus on passing and finesse; here it is get the ball toward the goal as fast a possible. Thus, we were on the winning side of a 6-1 game. More football at the place with the DSTV. More conversations with my colleague. Overall a good day.

The week consisted of the ups and downs that are becoming normal for me. Thursday was a low point; my day at school didn’t go well at all which causes the rest of the day to kind of go downhill as well. Friday was the total opposite; learners were answering questions and making connections. I have noticed really how much my mood effects how well the class goes. My educators out there know.

I am feeling a bit more part of the community. I start to see people I know; my town is only an estimated 2000-3000 people. My neighbor gave me a huge butternut squash that I ate over 3 days, and we played cards for a while last Sunday so I hope that continues (for my recent college grads….I taught her “President”).

I hope everybody is well, I hear it’s wicked cold in the states so enjoy that, cause it’s wicked hot here. Heard NY got dumped on with snow. I tried to explain 2 meters of snow to my neighbor; it’s definitely a hard thing to describe when the closest thing they can identify with is hail. Nangala po nawa.

Keith

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February Already?

I guess so, crazy. The month of January flew by, with adjusting to our permanent sites, getting into as much of a rhythm as we can at school, and determining where exactly we are and understanding our surroundings, I think I speak for most PCVs when I say that we all are surprised by the arrival of February. Things have been great at school, finally getting used to the students and vice versa. I teach 5-6, 40 minute periods a day, and thoroughly enjoy all of them. I am really looking forward to getting my life skills classes up and running. I only see them once a week, but I really feel like I could have a big impact on those classes. So far the only topic we have covered is WHO should be responsible for teaching learners about HIV/AIDS? We had some interesting issues brought up, in fact, one of my classes didn’t even mention parents when asked who they thought should teach HIV/AIDS awareness. I let it go and continued the debate about who they thought should teach it, among the choices provided were teachers, organizations, and doctors. After our debate concluded, I pointed their attention the fact that not one of the 35 or so learners suggested parents should be responsible for educating their children. We didn’t have time to hash this issue out further, but it was very interesting to me, and some of the learners as well, I think/hope.

On Friday I also concluded my first week long computer class. My plan is to take 15 learners, 3/computer, and run a week long crash course to the computer. I spend no time on structure of the computer or hardware of the computer; I go right into an online tutorial on how to click and double click. I first typed the directions about how to go to this website, though directing them to open this file caused the first problem. Handouts with clear directions was a big thing my ‘test class’ suggested, though I don’t know how much of a possibility that is without a printer/copier. I’ll figure something out. Just another challenge. I have also noticed that the learners here don’t have that innate video game intuition that young American students have. I feel that young American students view the computer as a more complex video game, and it’s just another thing for them to figure out. Here, with the lack of access to video games, the learners do not have that same confidence. Therefore, it takes much encouragement and assurance to give them the confidence to begin to explore. Also, to be able to explore, you must know how to close windows, switch from various windows, click, double click. They reached the “exploring stage” by Thursday and from there on, I was basically there to answer questions. I gave them a way to vague task, so I think this week I will give them a sort of internet treasure hunt. And for those that care…you know who you are…Guinness, they are Goggling and using firefox and I hope to teach some advanced learners tabs. Maybe even the alt-tab combo to switch windows (try it, hold alt then press tab with it….nice right?). It’s really crazy to teach how to click and double click, and with the language barrier it’s really interesting, ha. Also really wild to see what they search, I had to stop two google searches for Sadam execution, no joke. They are obsessed with him here. I actually got referred to as Sadam by a passerby on a bike in my shopping town last week. I asked my teachers here, they said it was because of my beard, which, for those of you that care….you know who you are…..is getting back in trail form. Also, at the end of the last class of the day, had a learner ask me “What color was Jesus?” I was of course caught off guard (these kids never ask questions so getting this loaded one was…..well, yeah). I said “Well I do not [I try to teach all day without using conjunction. Try talking for a whole day without conjunctions, its tough] know. Why do you ask?” And it eventually came out that I look like Jesus, ha. In case you don’t know, this is not the first I have gotten this. I got it in model school, along with another PCV, Tall Paul (he is in a picture on this site I think, that’s the Jesus picture). Even some other PCVs brought this to my attention when, during model school, I had a good 10 learners, all pretty small, surround me in one big circle as we walked to school. It was funny.

I found out last week that I am member of the VAC, the volunteer action committee….I think? Guess I should really make sure that is what it is. Ha. I have my first meeting in less than two weeks, so I am interested to learn what exactly I will be doing. From what I have heard, it is a volunteer run committee designed to be the voice of your regions’ PCVs to PC Namibia. Living conditions, secondary project problems/questions, scheduling issues, basically anything that effects my region in general. I am not sure this is exactly the right spot for me but I am going to give it a try. The director of all of Peace Corps will also be at this meeting, so I may get a chance to meet him, which is cool.

Tonight is the super bowl, I tried to get the bar with the DSTV to stay open so I could wake up and watch it, but its not going to happen.

Leah is great, she is now nearly one week from the beginning of staging, so she is getting very excited. Her training is going to be a bit different than mine. Hers will be 3 months instead of 2, and will begin with immediately moving in with host families, something that is very common in most Peace Corps training programs. I have hopefully been a good resource for her, but if I have noticed one thing, its that the experience one has in Peace Corps varies greatly from person to person, let alone country to country. I will be very excited to hear how her experience differs from mine.

I am going to try to post some pictures of my place soon….so stay tuned.

Hope all is well, life in Namibia is good.

Keith

ps, elise’s mom, she says hello…