This was the week of the Jubilee which we weren’t doing anything in particular to celebrate so we thought we would have a Jubilee themed Art week. With all the younger children we made crowns and they decorated them. This resulted in us having to draw out 34 crowns for G1 as we didn’t think they were capable of drawing them on their own, luckily the rest were able to as the novelty wore off pretty quickly! With the older grades we got them to design an outfit for a Royal to wear to a celebration or to design a form of transport for the Royal to get to the celebration. We started each lesson with a little talk about our royal family which they all found very interesting although they were outraged to learn that the Queen never carries any money on her!
We also invented a new sport which we played all week with all the Grades....it’s called Crounders. It’s a mixture of Rounders and Quick Cricket but played with a tennis ball and bat! It was really fun and all the children seemed to enjoy it as well. One of us would bowl each time and the other would either field or with the younger ones help them to bat. With the older ones the games got quite competitive and we had a really fun time playing this. Wings this year have been quite difficult to teach PT to as they have such a range of ages, however, this was something that they all could play and enjoyed. I think for the first time ever we went a whole week without a strop in PT from a single Wings child, which is unheard of.
I spent the actual day of the Jubilee in bed as at 3am I woke up and then was sick for an hour or two for no apparent reason. Didn’t get much more sleep so spent the day dozing in bed with a rather sore tummy feeling sorry for myself. After the holidays I haven’t been sleeping as well as I’m getting back ache like I did at the start from the mattress. Over the holiday I was spoiled and got used to sleeping on a proper mattress and my back isn’t appreciating my return to my Otjikondo bed! Chelcie is very excited about the return to her bed but worryingly I can’t remember what mine feels like! I know it’s nice but I can’t imagine it at all...
I have started running again on some of the mornings as I need to get fit and thin to come home. It’s a massive struggle to get out of bed that early especially as it’s freezing. I must look absolutely ridiculous in my running gear – trainers, leggings, a t-shirt, Uapiona’s beanie and my cashmere fingerless gloves! Luckily no one else is up at that ear to witness me like that. On Friday morning I met two Giraffe at my half way point which brightened up the run. They were crossing the road where I turn around (a road sign saying Kamanjab 70km) and when I turned around they followed me for a bit. My run took rather longer than usual as I stopped for about 10 minutes to watch them as they were really close to me and very beautiful.
On Friday’s we have a clash class when we have to teach G4 music at the same time as G2 PT. G4 is our devil class so neither of us like to teach them that much, especially on our own, but said I would do it. Last term we battled away doing Theory with them which they hated and I can’t say I enjoyed teaching that much either. I thought I would do something they would enjoy hoping that would make them behave. We went to the grass hut and I taught them some new songs – we started with ‘Nick Nack Paddy Wack, give the dog a bone’ which they already know and like and then I introduced ‘One Man went to Mow’. This has to be one of the most monotonous songs to sing as it never changes but they absolutely LOVED it. We probably spent half an hour just singing this repeatedly! Song of the girls asked me to write down the words for them after the lesson but I said if they couldn’t remember the words to this after singing it about 20 times they really shouldn’t be in G4. Finally I started to teach them ‘There’s a hole in the bottom of the sea’ which they also really enjoyed.
I then had my first keyboard lessons with Theopoldine and Revonia after the holidays. Theopoldine remembered lots and we made great progress so I was very happy. On the other hand it was like I have never taught Revonia the keyboard before, let alone the fact that she is in my Intermediate Recorder class and therefore should be able to read music! I would show her one C minim and ask her what note it was and how long she should hold it on for her. After a couple of tries she would get it right but if I then pointed to another C minim the whole process would start again and she would say it was an G. I haven’t even taught her how to play a G yet! Very frustrating but I made her a key which should help her to identify notes in future and make it easier.
Friday afternoon was spent rehearsing the Button Box (just to warn you if you haven’t already guessed the Button Box will be my main topic over the next 10 weeks or so!). We repeated The Belly Button Boogie, rehearsed Button Your Lip and Crows Button and then added dances to Uncle Jack’s Sailor Button and the Chocolate Button. Absolutely exhausted by the end of it but came back and did some planning of rehearsals before doing TV. We watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory which was brilliant – haven’t watched it for ages. I ended up lying at the front on the floor where all the little boys sit. I had Dankie lying on top of me on my back so that he could style my hair – my boy is definitely going to be hairdresser when he’s older, he loves to play with hair and can actually make it look nice as well! I was propping myself up on my elbows and I had Ambrosious (G1) by my side with his head under my chest asleep, Alex (G4) just lying next to me and then Deon (G1) curled up into a little ball in front of me leaning back against me and using my face as a pillow. I can’t say I was particularly comfortable but I did feel extremely loved and they were happy which was the main thing.
We came back via Paul’s house to check he was alive. Sara has flown home to England as her Grandfather isn’t very well and is in hospital, she took Helena, the youngest, with her but left Mattie (4) and Ola (3) with Paul. The children were in bed already and we ended up having a very funny conversation about what we would have for our last supper if were on death row. Paul’s answer pretty much straight away was crayfish for a starter, then t-bone steak with salad and chips followed by chocolate sponge pudding. It was more difficult for me – obviously sticky toffee pudding but couldn’t think of a starter and I was debating between the same main course as Paul versus lasagne and peas!
Saturday was a very nice day – before cleaning I put up the new spellings for the week. It’s quite challenging comeing up with new words each week. There are three different lots of spellings; one for Wings and G2 who need 15 very basic words with no more than 4 letters, then 15 words for Grades 3 and 4 at a medium level and finally 20 quite difficult words for Grades 5, 6 and 7. I had done all the lists and then decided to play the dictionary game for Grades 5, 6 and 7. I came up with a word for the letters A-R all of which the learners wouldn’t already know so that they would end up improving their vocabulary. I can’t say I was very popular when they saw the list and spotted Quibble and Rumbustious. Chelcie and I spent the whole afternoon painting our border for the backdrop while eating chocolate – very naughty. Gilly came and invited us for lunch tomorrow – t-bone steak, chips and salad, which we both found very funny. Paul obviously couldn’t wait any longer!
On Sunday morning rather than go to Church we went over to the Costume Room and got out all the costumes that we need for the Button Box. The musical has 14 songs, all of which require different costumes as they are all about different countries or music periods so as you can imagine that’s an awful lot of costumes! Last year all costume changes were eliminated from the Drama to make it easier so I’m not really sure what we’ve got ourselves into! Luckily we managed to find most of them and get it all sorted but we still have a couple of things to adjust and make. My latest project is to sew 6 green sashes for the Irish Leprechaun Dance all of which need a big shamrock sewn with beads on the chest. In the afternoon we had another Button Box rehearsal which went well partly as Gilly came to watch most of it and therefore all the children were very well behaved. Sorted out a couple more of the dances which was good but still not finished which is slightly worrying. Also Nicole and Sabine arrived – they are two Swiss women who are training to be teachers and have come for three weeks to get some experience. Nicole has brought one of her son Mathieu who will be joining the Grade Fives and Sabine has brought her youngest daughter Maxime who will join Grade Four. They will live in the Pastoral Centre which is adjoined to our flat.
Can’t believe second week of school is already done. This is our shortest term and it’s already flying by. On Monday and Tuesday I was back to teaching Ken’s subjects for him as he was in Otjiwarongo taking some exams for his degree. Having talked to Mummy on the Sunday night and said there was no need for her to send out some winter clothes I swiftly changed my mind on the Monday morning. I have never been so cold – when I was packing for Namibia I really didn’t believe that Winter in Africa could actually be that cold as it’s Africa! MAJOR ERROR – so I am now trying to combine summer clothes to make winter ones which isn’t really working. It’s freezing, luckily I have a sympathetic Mother who is sending out my hat and Lacrosse jacket, cannot wait, literally.
Craziest thing ever happened on Monday....we were sitting in the staff room during break and there was a telecom man installing something. We asked what was going on and Mrs Vermaak informed us that they were installing WIRELESS INTERNET. I now have internet at Otjikondo which is mental. Luckily it doesn’t get as far as the flat otherwise I would get nothing done but I can get it at the school. So you are now free to email me! So exciting as it means I can be in better contact with my friends and hear what they’re up to rather than hearing about it 3 months later. Looking forward to some skype dates....
On Tuesday I had double agriculture first with the G5s, then the G6s and finally the G7s. This was quite torture like as I have never been so cold and the sun was refusing to come out, so I was very unhappy. The boys finished levelling their plots in about 15 minutes and then were left with not much to do. They haven’t planted anything yet so there is nothing to weed or tend to so they were literally just levelling the soil and then lightly watering it. They then introduced me to Namibian figs which are purple, very sour and quite yummy. They stain everything you touch so you end up with bright pink fingers and tongue. Also they have thorns on the outside which can be very painful but the boys were very sweet and de-thorned figs for me so I wouldn’t get hurt!
I started making beaded match boxes with my girl craft box to sell in our craft shop. My idea for this was to paint the top of the match box white and then glue beads on to it to make a pretty pattern or shape. Some of them got the hang of this but others much to my horror put glue onto the whole of the top and then just threw a handful of beads onto it. Needless to say this looked pretty disgusting and I made them pick them all off again. My theory is that if I can manage to do the craft project then the children definitely should be able to and I managed to produce a decent looking matchbox!
Unsurprisingly, during the last ten months we have heard a lot about our predecessors from the children. When they left the children only had a two week holiday before we arrived and therefore the previous GAPs are very much still in their minds at the beginning and are never totally forgotten. Also once you leave you definitely become golden in the eyes of the children and are used against the next GAPs – ‘Miss Catherine and Miss Jordan always let us do this/never made us do that’. You know most of it isn’t true but you do get to hear a lot about them. We have been in contact with Catherine and Jordan most times when we have had internet which has always been nice and we’ve known for a while that they were coming to Otjikondo for two weeks ish sometime this term. We were actually really worried about them coming as we were concerned that a) they may not like us, b) they could be really scary, c) this was their home for a year and now it’s ours and we were just generally very nervous. However they arrived on Thursday evening and were perfectly lovely – they said they were just as nervous about meeting us and coming back to Otjikondo. We stayed up for a long time on the first night after having supper talking about all the children, general life at Otjikondo, travelling and what they had been doing in their year since being here. It was so lovely to be able to talk to people who understood how amazing Otjikondo is and knew all the children so weren’t bored by stories about them! They also brought us ingredients to make Fajitas which went down very well – it’s always nice to have something different so we have some variety.
Saturday the 16th was the day of the African Child in Africa however we ended up celebrating on the Friday as there was too much happening on the Saturday. After lessons finished for the morning we all trooped to the Hans Seidal Hall where we were given a talk by the Head of Police from Outjo, our nearest town, and then a little concert from the children. In my eyes the talk was very inappropriate – he was trying to make the point that the police are our friends and there to protect us rather than being people to be scared of. However, the story he used to illustrate his point was horrific. He asked if anyone knew what had happened in Outjo recently and then proceeded to tell us in detail….‘a woman had been hitch hiking with her two year old child and had hitched a lift with 5 men. They took her to the bushes and raped her before killing her child by bashing its head against a rock’. He told this story in very graphic detail which I found disturbing and I’m 19 – the whole school was present and therefore lots of six year olds were listening to this. The point of this story was that the police have since arrested the five men and they are in jail so the police have protected us. Chelcie and I were slightly more concerned that this had happened in the first place. He then went on to talk about drugs and started talking about date rape….with six year olds in the room! His English accent wasn’t very clear and he was talking about how juveniles are sent to an institution in Rundu where they are rehabilitated but it sounded like amputated – I was very shocked and thought that this was a bit extreme!
The concert was definitely not one of the best we’ve heard as not much preparation had been done. We heard from all the culture groups who either sang or danced in their traditional clothes. My advanced recorder group also played and luckily didn’t put me to shame even though we hadn’t rehearsed for a while what they performed so I was happy. We also heard from Maxime, Sabine’s daughter, on the violin which was impressive.
On Saturday morning Catherine and Jordan took our cleaning and did bank for us so that we could fit in some extra Button Box rehearsals. Unfortunately, it was a music weekend which is always lovely but it meant that we had to fight Faustinas for the children. Funnily enough all the musical children are in our play and therefore they were being pulled in all directions. We managed to finish choreographing the Irish Dance which was a massive relief and now it just needs loads of practice.
When checking my email – how crazy is that?! I had an email from Daddy saying how fantastic Cluny’s new flat was. Well this was the first I’d heard about a flat, funny how being in Africa people can forget to tell you things! Anyway, they have found a flat for her in Wantage which they are renting and she is moving in next Sunday. Totally bizarre.
On Sunday morning I went for a run with Sabine, we set off at a very fast run and luckily she said it was too fast for her which was good as I was dying slightly. So much easier running with someone else and it pushes me a lot more and we definitely ran a lot faster than I normally do by myself. Church was filled with music and it was really good – especially the debut performance from Catherine and Jordan on the flute and violin. In the afternoon we managed to finish all the choreographing which was very exciting and satisfying. Technically everything is now learnt we just have to get it to a standard where we can actually show anyone which will take quite a while!
These two weeks have gone in a flash but a good flash! It’s been fun having lots of people around although we know that as soon as they have gone it will only take about a day for it to feel like they were never here. Just remembered that on Sunday Chelcie cut my hair again; having not cut it since January it was in a serious need of a trim. Loads of the G7 boys then arrived into the flat and thought it very strange to discover me sitting on a chair on a towel with Chelcie behind me armed with a pair of scissors. The scissors were then hastily put away as I definitely didn’t trust the boys with them!
Sending lots of love
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