An interesting start to March....
I know I’m starting to say this in every blog but I cannot believe that it is now March; February seems to have flown past even though we managed to fit an incredible amount in. The most exciting thing about March, apart from it being the month dedicated to me (!) is that April is the month that follows it and at the end of April Mummy and Daddy arrive!
On the 1st of March we finally heard word that our passports had been stamped with our visas. I haven’t actually written much about my visa here as you never know who might read this and it’s all been a bit dodgy. We came out to Namibia on a 3 month tourist visa while our year working visas were being sorted. Our first visa ran out on the 30th of November and ever since then we have been illegal immigrants. This is why we were unable to go to Cape Town at Christmas as we would have been unable to return to Namibia and we were told we were lucky not to have been chucked out of Namibia. All very scary and every time we passed a policeman (quite often in Namibia) my heart would stop. In January we were told there was a 50% chance that our visas wouldn’t be sorted and we would be sent home, as you can imagine this was very upsetting but luckily it didn’t come to fruition. Anyway, apparently it is now sorted, however, I won’t believe it 100% until I have my passport in my hand and I can see the visa stamp. However, we can start thinking about where we want to go in our next holiday and take the chance to visit as many surrounding countries as possible in the time we have!
That evening we went to Gilly and Reiner’s house for a braai; this was a combined celebration for visas being sorted and a goodbye braai for Ian and Katie who left on the 5th. We had a delicious braai which actually felt very English: steak and chips with salad followed by apple crumble and ice cream. Reiner was being very funny and forcing me to drink the most disgusting shots as I had to make the most of my last few days of being 18! We then had another little concert – singing after the very potent alcohol was easier said than done but it was good fun. Ian had very kindly photocopied a lot of the music that he had brought out so that we could continue to use it.
On Friday there was a lot of preparation for the next day which was not only Parents Meeting but an athletics match against St Micheals. I also gave my first two keyboard lessons....I taught Theopoldine (G6) followed by Revonia (G5) and they both went very well. Theopoldine picked it up very quickly and Revonia less so – she was struggling to remember to lift up one note before pushing the next one down but I’m sure she will get there next time. I am going to have to brush up on my reading the bass clef skills as they are a little rusty but I think this will be a really fun project and I can’t wait to see how far they get in the next six months. Friday being our sixth month anniversary we painted our faces as usual, although this is the first month we’ve actually managed to do it on the right day! So we transformed ourselves into Zebras...I was in the Art room cleaning (Friday afternoon becomes Saturday morning when Saturday mornings are taken up with other things) when Ken (G6 teacher) walked in and got the shock of his life. Although we have face painted a lot we haven’t actually been seen by the teachers as we do it in the afternoons and don’t tent to bump into them. He was very puzzled and amused as to why I had a white face with black lines all over it!
I got a really sore tummy in the afternoon and I wasn’t feeling very well so I decided to have an early night and was in my bed by 7. Sadly I got a tummy bug and spent the rest of the night throwing up. I spent Saturday in the same position feeling incredibly sorry for myself while listening to the cheers and singing from the Athletics pitch. Chelcie bought me some Coke to drink flat and later Sara arrived with medicine and the most disgusting tasting mint tea! Unfortunaltely Otjikondo lost to St Micheals although we did our best HOWEVER Diina who I have been training since Outjo won the 1500m at Regionals and will now compete at the Nationals which made me very happy and proud. I was supposed to have been introduced to all the Parents at the Parents Meeting but Mrs Vermaak introduced Chelcie and told everyone that I was in bed throwing up – how kind of her!
I woke up on Sunday (my birthday) feeling slightly better but not really in the best birthday mood ever! I went into the kitchen to be greeted by a large stack of present which did improve my mood! Chelcie made me a cup of tea as I still wasn’t up for food and then I opened my presents. Chelcie had created a treasure hunt around the garden and my birthday card included the first clue: "The first is to eat but for you and to me. You’ll find it underneath not a chair, bush or tree." I discovered under our large rock a big packet of sour skittles and my second clue: "The second you’ll find, where the cat liked to climb. If you look up, you’ll find it in time." In the branches of a tree was an elephant necklace on a yellow chain (like the cheetah necklace on a blue chain I made her for her birthday) and the third clue: "Where it is won’t work, if the sky turns to rain. If you touch while it’s ‘on’ you’ll feel a great pain." In our braai I uncovered a package containing two friendship bracelets and the fourth clue: "Down in Rachel’s plots, in the soil and the dirt, you’ll find the next one. (Digging won’t hurt)". Buried in the soil, in Rachel’s newly planted flower bed, I discovered a bag containing a very arty ‘Ottilie’ sign and... the fifth and final clue: "Lastly you’ll have to search, where visitors rest. It may be spiky, but it’s good for a guest." Behind the curtain in our spare room which is called ‘Porcupine’ (I sleep in Gecho, Chelcie in Tortoise and Luise in Warthog) I found my favourite present. Having lived with me for the last six months Chelcie knows me very well – she is very aware of my lack of artistic talent but she knows how much I like to colour in so she made me my very own colouring in book! She has drawn lots of our favourite photos of things that we have done together or of people and drawn the outlines for me and then made them all into a book. A very clever idea which I absolutely love. Luise had also made me a lovely card with photos of us on and bought me some smarties and wine gums. She had also made the most incredible sign which says "Happy Birthday" in 3D letters and there is a giraffe and two balloons made from cardboard stuck on. She also found sweets in the shop called ‘Dimples’ which she stuck all over it!
Mummy had sent out lots of cards and jiffy bags with lots of little things inside so that I would have something to open on my birthday, so that was very exciting. Inside all of the cards was a DVD so we now have a very exciting new collection to watch – Chelcie and I watched ‘Footloose’ that night which was very good. I got lots of yummy goodies to eat like tangfastics, toffee sauce, popcorn and sour skittles as well as some ingredients to cook with. I also got a mint gel pen, a silver O key ring (almost as much fun as my ring to play with), sunflower seeds to grow in elephant poo (!) and lots of balloons. It was really lovely to have all these things and made it feel like my birthday. Throughout the day lots of children came over to say Happy Birthday and to bring me cards they had made me so that was really sweet.
At lunch time we went over to Paul and Sara’s for a special birthday braai which I watched them eat as I still felt very sick...it smelt good! Ian and Katie gave me a beautiful necklace which has lots of blue and green stones on – this was very kind and totally unexpected of them. Gilly and Reiner, my "Otjikondo family" gave me the most incredible fabric painting – it’s of an African sunset with some round huts, people and a tree in the foreground which I love. This will definitely be framed and go up when I return home. I got lots of lovely texts from people – African and English friends which was brilliant and I talked to all my family including all three sisters! Mummy told me that she had Daddy are giving me two large green photo frames which have been engraved with OEM and Namibia for my birthday. This is hugely exciting and I am already considering what to put in them! All in all I had a good birthday, even though I was feeling pretty ill, as so many people had put a lot of effort into making sure that it was a special day and I felt very cared about.
Monday and Tuesday were spent in bed doing not much apart from reading and doing numerous Sudoku. I have now finished my 100th book – a comfort read book "Breaking Dawn" by Stephenie Mayer. Wednesday and Thursday were back to normal and teaching – on Wednesday I took my birthday cake in to have at break time with the teachers and there was much discussion about how much weight I would have lost and how jealous they were all of me! I can’t say I can agree! On Thursday night we went down to Gilly’s and there was a German couple who are in Namibia for two weeks doing research on the English language and how it has been affected in Namibia. We stayed and had a drink with them and they gave us German chocolate which was amazing!
Next week I am back to being a science, maths, agriculture and life skills teacher as Ken is away doing a life skills workshop in Windhoek so I am taking over his classes which is very exciting. Hope that you are all well and that you are keeping you Lentern promises!
Lots of love to everyone
Me xxx
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