Part Six: Christmas comes early and we get an oven (16th October - 27th October)

It had been a music weekend so church was filled with different groups playing including my Advanced Recorder group who played ‘Morning has broken’ – felt like a proud parent watching them from the congregation! Gilly asked us to take photos of the learners playing music during the service so we snapped away.  Chelcie and I then spent the morning cleaning! Not only did we clean out the fridge but we also defrosted the freezer – wow I am still only 18!

This week was the week of cross country running! I now have a route which consists of a figure of 8 around the farmyard and the school. I run on Thursday and Saturday mornings and can do three laps in 25 minutes. We also did this week in PT with Grades 3-7 with various degrees of success even though we only make them run it twice. In the Grade 7 lesson I got the crossest I have ever been here and I used the disappointed card! After telling them that we expected them to run and then take a break when tired and not run, about half of the girls pretty much refused to run. This made me boil over as they didn’t put any effort in and this resulted in me losing my temper and then forcing them to do extra laps running around the football pitch threatening that if they didn’t they couldn’t go on their class outing!

Spellings this week were colours for the younger grades and Science body words for the older ones. They had learnt them much better this week and we had lots of people getting full marks although from now on Grade 1 won’t take the Spelling test as they are too young and really can’t spell! Second week was animals for the younger ones and Geometry words for the older ones – requested by Grade 7s but I  could never spell parallelogram!

Tuesday was Stanley’s birthday so him and Tabs came to lunch and then again for supper for birthday cake.  Also Gilly went to Otjiwarango and bought us an oven! It is black and looks like a big microwave – it has a grill, an oven and two hobs on top! This is incredibly exciting although we can’t actually use it yet as there is nowhere to plug it into yet but we are very happy looking it! Unfortunately, our washing machine has broken so now we are washing things by hand which isn’t actually that much fun and I’m not sure how good I am!

It has been the week of horrible insects! On Wednesday when we were tidying up the art room shelves we discovered a MASSIVE MASSIBE yellow, hairy fat spider on one of the shelves. I got chills all over my body and it was so big that not even Chelcie could deal with it! We went to enlist the help of the Grade 7s but when we returned...it had gone! They spent a while looking for it but it is talented at hide and seek. One of the children tickled my neck and I jumped about a foot and screamed so loudly which they all found hilarious – I less so! On Friday night I was in bed reading by book when I heard a scurrying noise which sounded distinctly like a mouse coming from the box where I keep all my letters...I went to investigate! When I pulled out the box I discovered a huge spider dragging another smaller black bug across the floor in order to eat it. It was HORRIBLE! I didn’t feel I could wake Chelcie up so I had to be brave so I manage to thwack it with one of my shoes leaving an imprint of spider on the floor – ugh! In the morning there was a massive black, long fat horrible beetle bug scuttling across my floor it was running away quickly so I had to chase it and trap it under a glass ready for Chelcie to deal with later! I really really don’t like the bugs out here – they are all so giant and horrible and unnecessary!

Had a really fun weekend – on Saturday night we went to Paul and Sara’s house for a Braai and Byron came who is always good fun. For pudding he bought a carrot cake which was delicious and a massive round, French cheese which looked a bit like brie. It had been made from unpasteurized milk and tasted like sweaty socks – it was REVOLTING so we all had to have more cake to take away the taste! He had also brought a toblerone which one of his clients had brought out and that was delicious! Amazing to eat real chocolate and made me think of Daddy! On Sunday morning we went there to watch the World Cup and they were finishing the cake and toblerone for breakfast! I found it quite ironic that I ended up watching the match as if I had been in England I definitely wouldn’t have watched it! We then went to Gilly’s for lunch so we were fed well! In the evening Roland came round for a bit as he was on his way back home from a party and it was nice to see him.

We have started to make props for the play and sort out the scenery. In my craft group today we started the presents for the Three Kings as well as making gold coins for the Innkeeper. Over this week I have now completed the “Project Plan” which is a huge sheet with God’s plans for Jesus in pictures on – drawn by Chelcie, coloured in by me! We have also made a scroll using the sound technique of squishing a tea bag on paper.

Our washing machine broke this week – it is now mended, however, I had to do some hand washing....this is what I thought I would be doing here anyway and I’m very glad I don’t have to! I don’t think I was very good at it so might just put everything through the washing machine just in case! We are now able to use the oven as Gilly bought us an extension lead so I think Monday will hold the grand ceremony of the first use of the Oven!

In Otjikondo, everyone is either in the Yellow or the Green team. The Green team wins all the sports events and the yellow team are the academics. All the learners, teachers and hostel staff are in a team and once you are in a team you are in that team for life! I am now officially in the Yellow team – it is my favourite colour and as I’m the sportier of Chelcie and I we thought it would be a good idea as apparently the Yellows never ever win the sports but maybe this year. In January for the first five weeks we do Athletics every day for two hours – this is already filling me with dread but at least I will be super fit....if the heat doesn’t kill me first!

On Monday I have playgroup with ten girls from Grade 1 and 2. I am reading them “The Witches” by Roald Dahl which they loving. It was very funny as Sagittarius, Elifas and Linus (boys from G7) all came to listen and were enthralled and promise to return next week! This week has been crazily busy as we have had two extra rehearsals every day – one after lunch and one after supper so have been pretty exhausted. As we have tomorrow off there is no Nativity rehearsal so we have been having practices with small groups to help them learn their lines and trying to get them to learn the Carols which is easier said than done! The Grade 7 farewell supper is next Saturday so we have had two practices with them as we have to prepare 3 songs with them, two of which require dances!

On Monday night suddenly all my post arrived which was lovely and I got 12 letters and a newsletter from Project Trust. After much anticipation I got my first two letters from Emma which were incredible which included a lovely quote which I thought was very suitable: “Though miles may lie between us, we’re never far apart, for friendship doesn’t count the miles, it is measured by heart”.  It was also lovely to get two letters from Izzy A which was amazing as I feared she might have fallen off the face of the earth! I also had masses from home which was lovely as well as a letter from Granny Paula who said she had read my blog – so if you’re reading this I am sending lots of love and a big hug and a letter is on its way!

Very excited about tomorrow and our trip to Outjo where all these blogs will finally get posted along with putting photos onto Facebook for you all to see. However, quite apprehensive about our first go at Hitch hiking, I will probably end up spending the journey in the back of a truck with some chickens and goats! Thank you once again to everyone who is keeping in touch, it is lovely to return to my room at the end of a long day to have a text from a friend with some news of what you are up to. I hope that everyone who has just started Uni is having an amazing time – write me a long letter and tell me all about it!

Lots of love to everyone as usual

Ottilie xxx

Part Five: Not one Elephant, not two elephants but fifty five elephants! (14th October – 15th October)

You can stop holding your breath – never fear I am alive and well having not been eaten by a lion or an elephant!

Thursday night seemed to go on forever as I lay awake in bed like a six year old eagerly awaiting Christmas – I think I slept for about two hours as I was so overly excited! After a cup of tea and bowl of muesli and yoghurt I made my way over to the school at 6:30. All of Grade 4 were in their home clothes and had a little bag and a blanket. We packed the cars and by 7:00 we were off. The boys went in the Buggy – an enclosed van with no seats in the back so all the boys sat on the floor. This towed a trailer which had the tents and the sleeping bags in, Festus drove the buggy and Ms Rachel sat with him. Stanley drove the Kombi which all the girls sat in and I sat in the front. This is like a minibus but not as civilised as the ones we know – the seats are more like benches with backs but no seatbelts. We also packed all our food into this.

So we set off to Etosha and went via Outjo to collect the sausage and rolls which were to be for our supper that night. We had a slight problem in that the Kombi every time we stopped such as at a T-junction the whole engine would cut out! This was quite funny but we didn’t think it was a good idea to go Etosha with a crazy van which might land us stranded among lions so Stanley made a quick trip to the garage where they flicked a switch and all was solved! All the children had a chance to go into the big supermarket and spend some of their saved pocket money – laden with sweets and crisps we set off again. While sitting in the Kombi, I got out my camera to take a photo of the girls and to my horror it didn’t turn on – I didn’t understand as I knew it had a full battery as I had charged last night. I opened the battery part and nearly died – I hadn’t taken the battery out of the charger but had put it away in my cupboard in the GAP flat. So no camera to take photos with....I was devastated but still very excited about everything that we would hopefully see.

Etosha is massive so it wasn’t long before we were in “Etosha region” but it was a couple of hours before we reached Okaukuejo. At the main gates of Etosha Park we stopped to give the children their break of jam and bread which was much appreciated. Ms Rachel told me that she had brought a camera so I could have copies of all them – massive sigh of relief! Before we even reached Okaukuejo I saw my first herd of Zebras and springbok. Zebras are really cute and their faces look really cheeky. I’ve decide Otjikondo should definitely get a pet Zebra which I could take for walks in the morning! Our final destination for the day was Halali which was where we were camping, but we stopped at Okaukejo to climb the tower. Okaukejo is one of the places you can stay in Etosha – you can camp there or you can stay in a little apartment and there were a few shops, a restaurant and a couple of pools. I bought some postcards of the animals that I would hopefully be about to see. Then Ms Rachel discovered that she had lost her camera! This so nearly made me cry as the thought of having no photos twice was too much! After a panicked 10 minutes the camera was found and it was handed to me for the rest of the trip....thank you! We then climbed the tower (103 steps) and at the top the view was incredible. You could see for miles and miles in every direction.

We then made our way to Halali – you could drive whichever way you wanted and you saw the animals on the way on the side of the roads or at the water holes. We saw so many animals – it was absolutely breath taking. We saw zebras, giraffes, gemsbok, springbok, ostrich, vultures, secretary birds, jackals, hartebeest and my first two elephants! We were at a watering hole when we saw them – they were so incredible. Even bigger than I expected and so unbelievably beautiful! From then I couldn’t stop grinning which all the children found hilarious and Stanley finally began to believe how much I love elephants. After that I would have been happy not seeing anything else! We sat and watched the elephants that were drinking and splashing the water over themselves and of course I was snapping away on the camera! The only shame was that the learners don’t have a very long attention span so we didn’t stay for nearly as long as I wanted, although, I could have stayed for hours!

At another waterhole where we were watching Springbok and giraffe the Kombi then decided not to start again! This was quite alarming as there signs all over Etosha saying “Do not get out of your car” but Stanley had to get out to try and fix it! After 10 minutes of hitting the fuse box (I think?!) with various things and the car still not starting we both got out our mobiles to ring for some help (don’t actually know who we were hoping to ring?!) but as usual in a crisis there was absolutely no signal! Luckily after some pushing and more hitting the Kombi decided to start to our huge relief!

By now the learners really wanted their lunch and claimed to be dying of thirst – it was incredibly hot but they really know how to complain/whine! We arrived at Halali for a late lunch at about 3:00/3:30. Having lunched on cold fried chicken and macaroni salad everyone was feeling a lot happier. Everyone changed into their swimming gear and we made our way to the swimming pool for a much needed swim! As my bikini bottoms were stolen in Windhoek I was borrowing Chelcie’s swimming costume! I was pretty nervous about the whole activity as we had 33 learners who couldn’t swim and me being put in charge – talk about responsibility! Luckily Stanley had got a swimming badge when he was at Otjikondo, so he assured me everything would be okay! Everyone who knows me knows that I am a very self conscious person so I wasn’t delighted when Ms Rachel told me to check out the pool while they all watched! The learners are all incredibly skinny....so I clambered out of my shorts and a t-shirt and swam two lengths much to the delight of all the learners! Having discovered where the shallow end finished all the learners jumped in with shrieks of delight which made all the European tourists laugh a lot! You could see all their brains whirring trying to work out where I fitted in with 33 children and 3 adults! The learners were incredibly happy and we spent a couple of hours in the pool cooling off with me teaching some of them to swim, giving them piggy backs and generally splashing around! It felt absolutely incredible to be in the water and to be properly cool for once! Stanley and I had two races (I won both!) which illustrated to both of us how unfit we were! One of the tourists asked me why we didn’t let them out of the shallow end and when I said that none of them could swim she suggested that I tow them round the deep end. I didn’t feel this was such a fool proof idea!

When we got out of the pool two German tourists told Stanley and me that they had an alligator in their car! They had been driving along and seen it in front of their car and then as they had carried on driving it had got into the bonnet! I didn’t believe them so they told me to look....I screamed as I saw this massive lizard thing, about 2 metres long, wrapped around inside the bonnet! They all found this incredibly funny. It wasn’t an alligator (they didn’t know the English word) but I think it was an iguana! They were trying to get it out of the bonnet and they had these massive pincer things which they were trying to grab this creature with! They persuaded me to look again and as I looked over the bonnet it poked its tongue upwards which scared the living daylights out of me as it was almost a metre long! They managed to get it out of the bonnet and it shot up into a tree which I was then taking photos of. One of the German tourists came up behind me and sort of picked me up and carried me towards the creature – more screams! I was then rather worried as we were camping very nearby and I really didn’t want to share a tent with this thing!

The children then all showered and started to pitch the tents and we had the difficult job of working out where everyone would sleep. There were 6 tents and 21 sleeping bags - the plan was that Stanley and Festus would sleep in the cars and that Ms Rachel and I would share a tent, however, we worked out that this would mean that the girls would have to sleep with 8 in a tent and the tents aren’t that big. There was also the added complication of the fact that some of the children still wet the bed. They had brought their own duvets to use but we didn’t want to separate the bed wetters: 4 boys and 6 girls! I ended up sharing a tent with 5 girls in which we all slept head to toe! It was pretty cramped and the floor was very solid! After we had cooked supper of sausages and a roll with left over macaroni salad and I had told them all “Beauty and the Beast” and “Cinderella” we made our way up to the water hole. This was 5 minutes walk away and by now it was dark. We passed a sign informing us that “Tourists visit this waterhole at their own risk”! Luckily I had brought a torch as no one else had!

There was a wooden structure above the water hole where you could sit and watch the animals sitting on rocks or wooden benches. When we got there, there were five rhinos which were incredible – so powerful and quite scary looking! We watched them for ages until some of the children started to fall asleep. It was very mesmerizing as you had to watch in silence and it was dark apart from some lights lighting the water hole. We took the children back to the campsite and they all went to bed. I told the girls to leave me a space to sleep and Festus, Stanley and I went back up to the waterhole to wait for lions. The rhinos had gone but we sat and just talked quietly. After an hour and a half we decided to go to bed as nothing had come and we were exhausted but Festus set his alarm for 2:00 (when the lions were predicted to come) and he was going to wake up Stanley who would wake me up. Despite being sooo tired I didn’t really sleep – too much excitement! But at about 1:30 I managed to sleep thinking I would manage a quick cat nap but woke up at 4am! Festus had decided not to wake us up and had gone back to sleep himself! I tried to go back to sleep but didn’t manage it – I had forgotten to bring a pillow so I was using my rucksack with my fleece on top as a pillow. When I looked down I saw Audrey’s hand on top of the fleece – she had obviously thought it was soft and then I had been using it as a pillow! Later I also discovered a Bible underneath the fleece so I had a pretty weird pillow! The learners woke up at 5 and then didn’t want to sleep anymore and by then I was quite cold and ready not to have someone’s feet in my face! Lavinia was also sick this morning at about 5 and then a few more times later – apparently she gets ill every class trip from nerves combined with excitement. Luckily she felt better over the morning and by the time we headed home she was fine.

At 6:00 we went back up to the waterhole where there were Giraffes drinking which were so beautiful and we watched them for about an hour. After breakfast of bread and jam and packing up the tents we left to try and find some lions! We took some photos at the gate to Halali next to the giant elephant’s skull! We then spent an hour or two driving and not really seeing anything and then we decided to head back to Okaukejo, on the way we went to a waterhole where we saw 46 elephants. I was in pure heaven! There were three families there including some really small baby elephants that were so CUTE! We watched them walk and wash and splash each other and it was just incredible. I nearly cried! I got really emotional and had one of those “Oh my God, I’m in Africa and I’m watching elephants” moments – so weird! On the way back we managed to get separated from the boy bus as Stanley took a wrong turning and by the time we turned around they had vanished but we caught up with them when we reached Okaukejo. We were planning to swim here but they wanted to charge us $30 each to swim as we weren’t staying there that night so we couldn’t. Stanley and Festus went to look at the waterhole there while I tried to debate with the Staff about the swimming! Stanley then came back for me as there were 5 elephants at the waterhole. This was the most amazing, wonderful, incredible sight I have ever seen and I could have stayed for days watching! We sat so close to the waterhole that if I had jumped the fence I could have touched an elephant in under 20 seconds. There were loads of zebras and springbok and 5 massive elephants and it was just unbelievable. Unfortunately we could only stay about 10 minutes as we needed to go and get the children and Ms Rachel but that 10 minutes totally made the trip for me. I also bought a little wooden spoon here with an elephant on the top for remembrance!

We were then told of a sighting of lions about 22km away so the lion hunt was back on! We drove in eager anticipation until we reached the water hole where there were so many zebras, gemsbok, springbok and ostrich. We could also see two lions sitting down eating – one male and one female. They were quite difficult to see but the binoculars were very useful and were passed around eagerly. They were so magnificent – in particular the male. It then got quite funny as they started “making love” which the children found hilarious – especially the girls with the binoculars at this point! Stanley and I tried to eat the sour worms that I had bought in Outjo but they had all melted together into a sticky mass and we had to use his pen knife to try and cut it all up!

After lunch of Vet Koekies and an ice lolly (special treat) for the children we headed for Otjikondo. We got back at about 5:00 – I was totally exhausted after no sleep and being in the sun driving all day but couldn’t be happier! After telling Chelcie everything and exchanging our presents! (You’d think that we had been parted for longer than 2 days – we both bought presents and left each other notes when I left! We have also started talking in sync and finishing each other sentences and we haven’t even lived together for 2 months yet!). I bought her a Cheetah postcard and she got me a welcome back Appletiser (!) I put all the photos from Ms Rachel’s camera on to the laptop. Although the only thing I wanted to do now was to get into bed we had already decided, before we left for Etosha, to have a Braai that night so Stanley, Festus and Tabs were coming for supper. The actual Braai was a bit of a disaster as we had picked the wrong wood?! We were told it would’ve poisoned us so everything had to be transferred to the two hot plates so we ate in stages! However, Gilly has decided to buy us an oven which is hugely exciting and will make meals more varied! We had a really fun night and after some Savannah Dry (Namibian cider!) I felt a lot less tired! Went to bed very happy having had two of the most amazing, unbelievable days of my life, with the photos to prove it!

Love as usual to everyone and hope that you are all well. Special thanks to the Cranes as without their recommendation I would never have thought of bringing my binoculars with me and they made the whole trip even more spectacular as I was able to see the animals in such detail.

Ottilie xxx                  

Part Four: Chelcie’s birthday and making friends with a psycho (1st October – 13th October)

Pinch punch, first of the month, white rabbits! (I haven’t said that for years – actually oddly satisfying!) Spent the first few days recovering from the tonsillitis and bronchitis and although I have to take medicine until the end of the month, I am now feeling a lot better. Chelcie’s birthday was on the 6^th so there was a lot of preparation needed to make it a fun day. I made her a big A3 card – although I have no artistic talents, I am very good at colouring in and I really enjoy it! So I stuck an A3 picture of 3 people on safari (I brought with me an A3 colouring in book) and stuck it onto a piece of cupboard. I also made two bracelets – plaited wool and put beads on, and I made a necklace having found a cheetah’s head made from metal in our store cupboard, I plaited blue thread to make a chain. I also made a little pillow; it was white on one side with a print of a chameleon on and the other side was purple and I copied out the poem for the 6^th October from the “A Poem for Every Day” book.

On the afternoon of the 4^th we painted our faces to look like Tiger Cubs to celebrate being here a month. We are going to do it every month near to the 2^nd to celebrate our anniversary. Some of the children pretended to find it very scary and I kept on forgetting we were wearing it and then seeing Chelcie and getting quite a shock! Gilly says that we will go down as the craziest GAPs, so at least we are making our mark!

The 5^th was a teacher holiday so there were no lessons for the learners, so on Thursday night we spent a couple of hours writing a quiz for the learners and splitting them into teams. The quiz started at 8:30am for Grades 3 – 7 and at 9:20 we walked out! We had spent 50 minutes trying to get them to be quiet and sit down in their teams but they were all very disgruntled about being split up from their friends (one person from each year in a team) so as they weren’t listening, we walked out! They were supposed to watch TV for the rest of the morning, have matches in the afternoon, and a mobile competition in the evening but that was cancelled as a punishment! We spent the rest of the morning playing games with the Grade 1 and 2s which was very sweet and fun. Although frustrating as we had spent the time on the quiz, it did mean that we got the rest of the day off!

Paul returned with Sara his wife and his three children Mati (3), Olivia (2.5) and Helena (10 months) who are all very sweet especially Helena who is so cute! In the afternoon I made Chelcie a chocolate mousse for her birthday – I thought my arm was going to drop off. Not only do we not have an electric whisk but the end of our whisk has fallen off so as you whisk metal prongs press into your hand! However, I whisked until the egg whites wouldn’t fall out of the ball and then mixed everything together. It was hazelnut moose as there was no plain chocolate in the shop!

Chelcie’s birthday was a really fun day. Stanley and Tabs came for lunch (Nina wasn’t here as she went to the Kindergarten with Ralph and Paul) and we had chicken and salad and then the moose. We wore the party hats I had found and it was really fun. Also the mousse was really yummy if a little thick so I think that will be repeated at some point. In the evening we went to Paul and Sara’s for a birthday braai which was great fun and we were fed lots of delicious food! We had barbecued pork belly in slithers as a nibble and then beef steak and smoked pork with salad, salsa and potatoes for supper followed by ice-cream drenched in the alcohol which made up the Springbok shot which was delicious! The evening was really fun and it was a really good end to the day....PT the next morning was not so much fun!

Feeling slightly the worse for wear we taught acceleration which involved a lot of running! Luckily the children were all well behaved although I was made to do lots of running so that they all could race me! Sprinting is not my idea of fun, especially after a party the night before! We had our weekly meeting with Gilly on Friday and we were joined by Sara. This left us rather stressed as the list of things that they left us to do seemed endless. The Nativity is only in six weeks time and there is so much to do for that; props, costume, scenery, learning the songs, not to mention rehearsing and learning all the words for the actual play! We also have the Grade 7 leaving party to organise which is on the 5^th of November – we have various songs to learn and can’t use their Art or PT lessons as we have to hand in marks for them and we can’t use outside of lesson time as they are already stressed so really we have no idea when we are going to sort that!

We had a really lovely weekend. On Saturday afternoon we had a bit of a tea party with some of our favourite older learners as a MASSIVE cake had arrived the day before from Outjo for Chelcie’s birthday.  We sliced up some of the cake and put it on a big plate and took it out to where everyone was sitting – no one moved so we told them to help themselves. I blinked and then all the cake was gone – they were stuffing into their mouths and grabbing pieces in their hands. Very funny and it was good cake! Anyway they stayed for hours and we had to chuck the last couple out! That night we then had our second braai – which was successful although the butternut squash got a tad burnt on one side!

Sunday was a funny day...on Saturday sixteen Grade 7’s had got confirmed at St Michaels (local missionary school) and they all wore their clothes on Sunday. The girls looked like they were going to be married as they were all in white and had little white jackets or shawls to cover their shoulders. Some of them had gloves and they had all had their hair done so lots of fake hair and white flowers and pearls were scattered about, they were also all wearing heels. They boys were in suits and Bascallus had a white one and wore matching white leather shoes! So far I have found Church services quite emotional as I miss the Marlborough ones...I find it difficult to follow the services as it is done mostly of by heart and it is a Catholic service. Also I can’t join in with most of the singing as the hymn books only have the words in and not the melody. This week I found it particularly difficult and I cried throughout the service! This was bad enough but made worse as I was sitting with the Grade 1 boys to make sure they were behaving and they noticed! Took a while to stop crying after Church as had got very over emotional and was very homesick!

After a difficult morning we then went to Paul and Sara’s for a braai which was lovely and made the day so much better. It was their sons fourth birthday on the Monday so this was a party for him and we made him a card. There were lots of people there which was fun: Gilly and Reiner, Paul and Sara and their children Mati, Olivia and Helena, Paul’s sister Jenny with her husband and two little boys and Roland and Byron. Roland (22) and Byron (30s?) are from Ehorango Safari which is nearby in Namibian terms. They were really nice and we got on with them really well. Roland had left a note at our flat a couple of weeks ago introducing himself and inviting us for a braai or a game drive at some point. We asked Gilly who he was but she didn’t know and said to wait until Paul came home to check that he was a psycho and if necessary Paul would drive us there, check him out and if he wasn’t suitable drive us home again! When we asked Paul who Roland was he told us that he was very nice and that he knew him quite well but he also told Roland about him being a suspected psycho which Roland made jokes about. The little children amused us all afternoon – they had a paddling pool which they were diving into and they were chasing each other all over the garden. They then decided it would be more fun to chase us and we were happy to oblige although my head has definitely changed shape having been sat on for about 15 minutes by a 6 year old!

On Mondays we have four PT lessons and I got pretty burnt and have some very strong lines! However I am now definitely going brown and my watch strap mark is now very strong! (Matilda you will have to go on holiday before I come home, sorry!) We have also started doing spelling tests for all the Grades at the beginning of their Art lessons which I then mark. This week they had words which sound the same but are spelt differently such as mayor and mare. Grades 1 – 4 and Wings have 15 words and Grades 5 – 7 have 20 words. This week is much hotter and on Wednesday it was 37˚ which was too hot for my liking! In the morning we took Grade 3s for a cross country run – we worked out a good route around the school and the farm and I took a faster group out in front. It felt amazing to be running again – I’m having withdrawal symptoms from Lacrosse! Although it was pretty hot – the girls were less impressed to be made to run and I was punished at the end by having a lot of water thrown at me which was very refreshing! On Thursday we don’t teach until 7:40 so we have a bit of a lie in but I decided when I was awake at 4am to set my alarm for 6:20 and go running! I did three laps of the route we had worked out the day before which tool me half an hour and I felt very energised afterwards. Lots of the teachers were very impressed to have seen me out running and all the children were too! I need to try and get into a routine of going running by myself occasionally. Also it’s really annoying as our washing machine keeps on shrinking our clothes – I promise I’m not just getting fat but soon I’m going to have to be really really skinny to fit some of my clothes! The washing machine is in German so might have to go and ask Gilly if she can make it stop shrinking stuff as we have it on 30˚ and I’m pretty sure the right wash!

Tonight the Teachers invited us to join them for supper which was really lovely. They cooked in cauldrons on an open fire. We had liver with onions and peppers and porridge. My first mealy pap and it was truly horrible! We ate with our fingers so had to tear the liver apart and the noises were awful! Chelcie quite liked the taste but I really don’t like liver – far too rich. The porridge is totally different to English porridge; it is totally smooth and has the consistency of mashed potato although it’s a lot stickier and is definitely more savoury than sweet although they eat it both ways here.

Chelcie still considers herself a comedian, so each blog there will be a little paragraph to share some of her “funnier” jokes with all of you!: Gilly always says “ney” at the end of a sentence like some people say “okay”. When we were discussing this Chelcie made the obligatory horse jokes! There is a worker here who we have made friends with called Chicken – this is real name and he is really funny! I have already agreed to be his girlfriend (apparently he asks everyone this!) and he has informed me that he is coming home with me in August on the plane. Anyway we were talking about Chicken and Chelcie said “He’s fowl!” I thought I would join in with the jokes so when we were talking about drawing a star with 500 points I remarked that it seemed rather pointless!

Tomorrow I leave for Etosha at 7am – I am so super super excited as I might get to see my first ever elephant which would make my year. I need to pack my bag not forgetting my camera or my binoculars and the sun cream!

It was lovely to hear from Louise and Sarah last night informing me a little bit about their lives and I am looking forward to “the longest letter ever” from Hattie! Please write to me as I have got to the homesick stage if I’m being totally honest! I am absolutely loving it here and everything that I’m doing but it seems a very long time until I will see all my friends and family again! Letter day really is amazing as we get to hear a little bit of what is going on at home which makes it feel slightly nearer. Lots of love to everyone as usual and I hope that England isn’t to dreary without me! And that the weather isn’t too horrible. Hopefully I won’t be eaten by a lion in my tent tomorrow or an elephant – how ironic would that be?! But if I am I love you all!

Lots and lots of love and a massive hug to everyone

Ottilie xxx      

Part Three: Chelcie discovers she is a comedy genius! (23rd September – 30th September)

Grade 4 have officially become the “Devil Class” - in PT we are currently doing Athletics and specifically at the moment long jump. By the end of the 40 minute class we had one girl and one boy in hysterics from the rest of their class calling them names. We also realised that trying to explain that they should run out 13 paces to know where to start their run is far too complicated and sophisticated an idea for them to comprehend! Next week they are to be punished by having boring lessons all week in order to illustrate that if they aren’t nice then they won’t do anything fun. In their art lesson they have some ‘fascinating’ information on Japanese architecture to copy out for 80 minutes and then in both their PT lessons they will run laps continuously in the heat! This may sound cruel but worked wonders with the Grade Twos! Teaching long jump was when Chelcie discovered she is in fact a comedy genius – “He’s such a bad jumper, he’s a cardigan!”

Chelcie and I had great fun writing in extra parts for the Nativity – some of those children are going to be thrilled that their part in the Nativity is...wait for it: Guest Number 3. Saying that we have written in parts so that every child has at least two lines to say and obviously they will all be involved in the singing. In our first proper rehearsal we read them the play as the scripts weren’t ready to be handed out...when we read out the cast list one particular “Drama Queen” started crying when she heard she was the Innkeeper’s wife. It may sound pretty awful but it’s actually the third biggest part and it’s not actually our fault that she isn’t granted a name! Friday was so hot and being in the Hans Seidal hall was pretty unbearable but we suffered through learning Away in a Manger off by heart and singing through Mary’s Boy Child. After rehearsal Chelcie and I had a water fight with some of the children by one of the taps (taps are located all over the grounds so that the children can drink from them). This was great fun and hugely refreshing but it was quite scary how in a matter of minutes we were totally dry again.

Before we could start TV night we had to chase a loose donkey off the football field (very different to an English football field – no grass, hard yellow ground with a smattering of sand over it). The donkey ran off the football field, around the back of the hall and through some of the children’s garden plots. This was hugely funny and we managed to turn the donkey around and it ran back again over the football pitch and into its field, where we firmly closed the gate! Tjirondwauvi (a boy in Grade 6 – I won’t lie he is one of my favourites although favourites are very unprofessional!) had a toy rhino (similar in size and style to the duck I brought with me) on his key but it had a split down its back, so I offered to sew it up for him.

When we returned to our flat I discovered a pretty big spider on the wall next to my bed. I called for Chelcie and after about 10 minutes we managed to trap it inside a mug and take it outside. Namibian spiders are very speedy. On opening my cupboard about five minutes later I discovered a massive sketch of a spider although when I went to hang up my dress the spider came to life! It was absolutely MASSIVE, without exaggeration the size of my hand. More yells for Chelcie. The reason I had thought it was a sketch was because the spiders are very flat in Namibia; they are pale grey with black lines on them, which to me looked like shading! The spider was too big to fit inside the spider catching mug so we decided to kill it. We removed very slowly all clothes on the hangers and I handed a large book to Chelcie to use as the weapon. Then Chelcie decided to develop a spider killing conscience – talk about timing! When she went to hit it the spider escaped and went into the next door cupboard where all my folded up clothes are – at this point I was so close to crying, this spider was horrible. Armed with a magic spray appropriately named DOOM, Chelcie sprayed the spider causing it to fit and unable to run away and then smushed it with the bottom of one of my shoes. This was a horrible experience and I woke at 2:30 from a nightmare of being covered in Spiders and I had a mini fit shaking all duvet and blanket to free them from all the spiders!

On Saturday morning after cleaning we did ‘The Bank’ which I think sounds quite ominous! There are two banks – one for the boys and one for the Girls. They are metal drawers with a small booklet for each of the children. Each book has four columns in: the date, in, out and balance. We took the banks to the art room and all the children line up in silence outside. I did the boy bank and Chelcie the girl one. Tjirondwauvi was my helper so he would get out the right book so when the boy approached my desk I would know who it was! The children have to hold out their hands so I can inspect their nails – if they have dirty nails then they have to go and clean them and then come back again. They have to say “Please may I have X dollars” and then thank you. It depends on what Grade you are in as to how much money you can take out. The maximum amount is for Grade 7 which is $8 which is the equivalent of 80p. At the beginning of the term they bring back money to put in the bank, everyone starts with $35 (£3.50) so if you don’t bring that much back Otjikondo puts the money in for that child. By looking at the books you can see the range of children who go here – some children will only have the $35 where as others will have as much $300 but that is often for the children who have long journeys home at the end of term. The bank was a bit of a test to me especially as Tjirondwauvi only pointed out to me after about 15 children that I need to work out the balance!

After doing the bank we went to work in the shop which was frantic as all the children came to use their pocket money. I bought Tjirondwauvi a lollipop ($1.50) for his help! In the afternoon Gilly kindly let me use the internet to sort out a few issues on my personal statement. It seems weird that there is internet here but we just can’t use it! We had choir practice at 4:00 which was a complete nightmare; 3 people didn’t show up and the rest didn’t appear until about 4:40. I went a little bit crazy. They all sleep on a Saturday until 4:00 and none of them have watches. We explained that they have to come ready to rehearse at 4 otherwise there is no point. This was frustrating as we wanted to perform on Sunday but now we couldn’t. 

In the evening after TV we had a little dinner party type thing which was really fun. Ivan cooked for us what was supposed to be traditional African food – he had been threatening to cook us snake and porridge – not amused! Anyway we got him the ingredients he wanted: porridge, potatoes, spaghetti, red meat, mushrooms (tinned), onions, seasoning, vegetable soup powder, BBQ seasoning powder and tomatoes. This combination of food rather shocked me! We layed the table as nicely as we could and even had flowers and a candle on the table. At 8.30 Stanley (boy hostel father, aged 26) and Festus (works on the farm, bit older and married but Sylvia (wife) not around this weekend) arrived but no sign of Ivan yet. Ivan then turned up and got to cooking or should I say delegating! I was sobbing chopping up onions which really amused the boys and Ivan made a ratatouille type thing. By 10:15 Ivan abandoned the porridge (he was horrified that on our cooker the water never actually gets to the bubbling stage!) and the potatoes were taking too long so we had ratatouille with steak and spaghetti which was actually really nice. We had been playing music all evening so we then danced – Chelcie learnt to waltz with Festus which was very funny especially as she is about a head taller than him! We all had a really good time and we went to bed after midnight – seriously crazy!

On Sunday woke up with a very sore throat and felling pretty ill but just presumed it was from a late night. Went to Church which I found strangely emotional and I actually cried during the service. I’ve realised how much I depend on my Sunday service but I find it very difficult to follow in Namibia mostly because in the hymn books there is no music just words and I don’t know the melody which makes it very hard to join in and because they do most things from memory and I don’t know any of it. I kept giving myself the pep talk that I couldn’t be cut off from God by a language barrier but I still find it really difficult. Sunday is actually a really busy day as we have to plan all our lessons and then prepare all the things that we need for the week – making colour wheels, preparing for activities, making seating plans and marking sheets etc... We went for lunch at Gilly’s which was delicious; chicken and chips with spinach followed by ice cream with bilberry sauce. In the evening Chelcie and I watched ‘Georgia Rule’ on her laptop which was very funny and then had an early night.

Woke up feeling worse on Monday but needed to teach. We rolled two big tyres from the farm up to the school which was very amusing and needed a lot of skill otherwise the tyre would topple and land on your toe! Chelcie once again decided she was hilarious and came out with some tyre themed jokes: “We’re on a roll” and “I’m getting tyred”! We used the tyres for more long jump teaching and this was pretty entertaining! Mrs Vermaak gave us the new term dates which were pretty different; our Easter holiday now starts on the 25^th of April rather than the 20^th of March. Although we now have longer holidays we have less out weekends so I’m not sure whether it’s better or worse although Chelcie and I agreed that we would rather our parents could have come in March/April rather than April/May. The summer term finishes on the 22^nd of August and at the moment our flight is on the 16^th so we have emailed PT to try and change this so that we can complete our year properly. Excitingly, my birthday is now on an out weekend so we should be able to something fun for it. I have been rooting around in our store cupboard and have found some party hats and napkins and some balloon which will come in useful for Chelcie’s birthday which is on the 6^th October.  In my Monday playgroup (10 girls from Grade 1 and 2) I read them half of ‘The Worst Witch’ which they loved and they can’t wait for next week to hear the rest of the story! On Monday night none of us were really hungry but we have discovered recently a new frying pan – it’s pretty small but not made out of metal! Chelcie made pancake mixture and this time we had actual pancakes. Not scramble egg pancakes last time but pancakes that not only tasted of pancakes but also looked like pancakes! It was a celebratory moment and we were both very happy!

On Monday night it rained – absolutely bucketed! As our roof is made of tin, I spent most of the night listening to it rain! In the morning there was not even one puddle to show for it! After going to Period One and surviving approximately 10 minutes I returned to bed. I thought I was going to be sick my head hurt so much. On Wednesday night Gilly made me a doctor’s appointment as I had been ill for nearly two weeks (including my better bit in the middle). Tabs (who runs the shop and is Gilly’s secretary and is lovely) drove me to Outjo. Doctor Berger was very nice but lightly horrified when he looked at my tonsils and then listened to my chest. He then diagnosed me with severe tonsillitis and bronchitis – just what I wanted to hear. I been but on bed rest for 3 days and if I’m not properly better in a week I have to go back, although, I should expect to have my cough for up to 3 weeks! I have been given 5 different medicines, 2 of which I have to take for a month and they have broken the bank slightly! The trip to the doctors, plus all the medicine cost me £110. It’s expensive being ill without the NHS! Feeling pretty miserable as it’s not much fun being ill without having your Mummy to look after you and is really weird being ill when it’s hot! So I am using my time now to write a blog report which will go up when we go to Outjo on the out weekend.

A massive craze has hit Otjikondo, bigger than the craze of eating raw cookie dough in Shell and even bigger than the microwave popcorn frenzies: lots of the learners have made themselves mobile phones. They are made from two blocks of wood and hours are spent on sanding them so they are perfectly sided. They then attach a hinge so that they mobiles can flip open. Pictures are cut out and stuck on to create screen savers and buttons are drawn on. Some of them are really good and they all love them. The learners have endless conversations on their mobiles and if you try to ask them to do something they reply with “Can’t you see I’m on the phone”, it’s hilarious. They leave TV night to take calls and really won’t stop talking and go inside again until their conversation is finished! On Saturday we were watching ‘Grease’ and it got to the part when Rizzo is kissing someone in the car – the learners went crazy! They were all standing up and taking photos of the scene on their wooden mobiles, it was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. It took us about 10 minutes to settle them down again! The downside of the mobiles is that they are distracting in lessons and we have made it that if we see any mobile in class it is confiscated for the rest of the week!

This week I have been inundated with letters from my family including my first ever letter from Daddy which was lovely and a letter from Greeney which was especially nice as she had included some photos of the two of us together which can go up in my room (first person to write from Marlborough). Mummy also sent me a packet of Strawberry flavoured popping candy which is very exciting; not only that it arrived but I get to eat it when I’m feeling better! It’s so lovely getting letters from people as it makes me feel connected to home. I can’t believe that on Sunday I will now have been at Otjikondo for a month (I have already been in Namibia for over 4 weeks). We have decided that on our monthly anniversaries it would be fun to do something to celebrate so once a month we are going to paint our faces (there is a massive box of face paints in the store room). Now everyone who knows me well knows that I love to have my face painted but I haven’t actually ever painted someone else’s face...no one seems to trust me for some reason, so Chelcie is slightly wary but I assure her that by month 12 I will have mastered face painting! Also just to make you all jealous it has started to get REALLY hot – in Namibia October and November are called the Suicide months because of the heat. Now the really big news (drum roll needed): I HAVE A WATCH STRAP MARK! I have changed colour – I have probably reached my proper summer colour of cream as opposed to my winter colour of white. This is hugely exciting and you never know I might even reach honey colour!

Matilda said I should write down the scores of all the games that Chelcie and I play over the year but we haven’t actually played any games yet....! So, I have been recording other things: this month I have received 14 letters, sent 10, coloured in two pictures using felt tips (one of a monkey sitting on a turtle and one of an elephant painting!), cried ten times, and read 24 books (my theory of two books a week was a very, very bad estimation!). If you have any other ideas of things that I should be recording than let me know!

Okay better stop now as this quite a long one and Staighty has already complained that my blog entries are too long – aren’t you supposed to be interested in what I’m doing?! I hope that you are all well, that it isn’t raining too much and that whatever you are up too is fun. Write and tell me all your news as soon as possible. Love and hugs to everyone

Lots of Love

Ottilie XXX

Part 2: Sugar, Choir and Flu! 13th-22nd

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch - letter day is crazily exciting but equally, a text from a friend is immensely exciting. So, I have now been in Namibia three weeks and already my life in England seems such a long time ago.
 
The night after I last wrote I was woken up at 3.30am by someone trying to break into the flat, I was absolutely petrified - I sleep on the ground floor (all buildings are bungalows). I had no idea what to do - at home I have my escape route planned and a place inside and outside to hide in case of intruders! Here there was no where to hide - I couldn't wake up Chelcie, as that would have meant unlocking my door and going outside. I was even too scared to turn on my torch in case the murderer saw I was awake and decided to come for me first! So until 6.00am I sat bolt upright listening to the banging and the door rattles, metal torch in my hand ready to put my self defense lessons in practice! Funnily in the morning there were no signs of an intruder - not even footprints in the sand?!
 
I had my first remedial lessons - Monday to Thursday I teach maths to groups of Grade 6 and 7. Ironic that I'm now teaching maths but, after all my extra maths lessons, I am an expert in what makes a good teacher!
Strangely this is one of the things I enjoy doing most - it's really nice to work with some of the learners in smaller groups, which means that not only do I know all their names, but I'm getting to know them properly as well.
 
We spent a lot of last week making a birthday card for Gilly as it was her 65th birthday on the 14th. The card looked incredible - don't worry I was relegated to colouring in and Chelcie drew it. On the front was a three tier cake and each layer was decorated e.g. one had felt flowers on.
We drew candles and then used glitter pens for the flames and silver ones for the 'piped icing'. On the inside we drew circles for each grade to write all their names in. It took hours and half way through one of the silver pens exploded over one corner of the cake. I'm not joking when I say Chelcie and I nearly cried but we managed to repair the damage by sticking some paper over it and then drawing over it! Luckily Gilly loved it so it was all worth while. We celebrated her birthday with some Springbok shots which were delicious - tasted like mint milkshake with a strong punch. However felt a bit weird sitting with a 65 and 80 year old doing shots!
 
On Tuesday all the teachers (8) had to do a written English exam to check their standards so we held auditions for our chapel choir. We wanted it to be select so that people would look up to it and we now have 14 members; five from Grade 6 and the rest from Grade 7. We have four boys and ten girls, it was really difficult to only choose fourteen because there are some really talented singers here and they all harmonise naturally and beautifully.
 
Chelcie and I were feeling adventurous on Tuesday so we made pancakes for supper as we had all the ingredients. We measured everything in ratios as we had no scales and cooking them was a challenge. Our frying pans are metal - no non stick pans here, so we went for the 'scrambled egg' esq. pancake which although looked horrible, covered with lemon and sugar were actually pretty yummy!
Thursday is a very full on day, with three lots of double art and a PT lesson, so we have decided that we need a sugar break. At 11.20 we have a 10 minute break so we now run to the shop and buy a fizzy drink which fuels us for the rest of the morning!
 
Grade 6 ('The Devil Class') are actually really fun and for us the really difficult class is Grade 4. However 12 of the 14 girls arrived 20 minutes late! In the 10 minute break they had gone back to the hostels and stayed for half an hour! No Vet Coekies for them. It was discovered that they had all brought lots of food back with them which isn't allowed - only a little bit of food is allowed for the first few days. A massive inspection followed of the hostels and all the food was confiscated! No one was allowed Bank on Saturday and therefore had no money to buy sweets with!
 
Having tired of fitness in PT lessons (also it's now way too hot by about 10 to even think of running!) we though it would be fun to do some Hip Hop aerobics with some classes, as we have a DVD. We managed to entertain them with our limited Hip Hop skills ( I credit my skills to that one painful Sunday morning in Marlborough town hall this year!) however it was more difficult to persuade them to join in! I lost my temper at one class and promised them that this week they will just run laps for the whole 40 minutes without loo or water breaks. This week is a lot hotter and I'm worried they might collapse fro heat exhaustion however I must follow through with my punishment!
 
On Friday night I met Given who is the cutest little boy ever, however he doesn't speak English yet and my white skin is very scary. We went to the Dining Room at supper time and got some very steely glares from the people who we had punished, who were now getting plain porridge rather that their favourite treat of Vet Coekies. On our way over to watch a DVD, Stanley (the boys housemaster equivalent), decided to educate me on African music. He played me lots of happy music so I think the Valentines dance we organise should be fun.
 
On Saturday we had our first choir practice and Reiner took us to the museum on the neighbouring farm. 15 of us (2 people forgot plus Chelcie, Nina and I) got into the back of Reiners truck with a cool box, a music book and some sunglasses. Lesson learnt: NEVER EVER travel in the back of a truck wearing a dress! I spent the whole journey clamping my unhelpful dress to my legs, desperately trying not to flash my pants! 
This place is truly amazing. It's where Gilly and Reiner used to live and its full of relics - loads of animal skins, some HUMONGOUS bugs in the sink and their shower was a tin with holes in! We all signed our names on one of the doors - everyone who visits is recorded on the doors - it's brilliant. 
We began our practice by candle light: we taught them 'Any dream will do' from Joseph. They can really sing! So it was really satisfying, although I'm having to overcome my singing solo phobia. Once we'd finished practising Reiner instigated some African dancing which was brilliant. They used the drums, clapped and whooped. Daddy would have been right at home with his Reeling whoops and I can see him loving the dancing too. They danced throughout the house and it was amazing to watch.
 
Saturday night I retired to bed - I'd caught the flu that all the children had been suffering. I spent the next few days in bed with a temperature of 68.3C, a hacking cough and a continually runny nose. Need I say I was feeling very sorry for myself?! Also I felt pretty guilty as this meant Chelcie was having to manage by herself - no mean feat.
 
We had out first Braai last night - I cooked steak, potatoes and butternut squash in foil with a tomato salad. It turned out really well and was delicious although we could have done with some steak knives! Chelcie was sent wood scouting half way through as it burnt pretty quickly. We are being cooked supper on Saturday night by Ivan (my age who is here for a bit staying with his stepmother who is a hostel mother) which should be fun and a treat not to cook! Wow, that makes me sound 40. 

Last night we went really wild and went with him to the Hans Seidal Hall to watch television until 9.15! Music videos and my first ever episode of Hannah Montanna which I actually really enjoyed! It was a crazy night.
Feeling better now, however I've started drinking tea! How ironic that I've started liking tea while in Africa. It's actually more of a need than a like - by 9.00 I need some sugar. Yes, sorry Mummy, I have sugar in my tea!! Well the tea gets me through the rest of the morning (apart from Thursdays!)
 
Thanks again to everyone who is keeping in touch - it really makes a difference (if you haven't feel guilty!). My mobile number is 0817377860. Big shout out to Angharad - first friend who has written - your letter is on its way! If you are interested in knowing even more about where I am buy the book Namibia Calling by Michael Schnuur, it's truly amazing and tells the story of how Otjikondo was started.
 
Lots of love to everyone - hope you are all well and happy. Don't forget about me!
Lots and lots and lots of love
Ottilie xxxx