Monday turned out to be an incredibly productive day. Chelcie’s throat wasn’t very good and she had lost her voice so she stayed at home. Hannah and Carla took the lessons while I continued with preparations for Parents Day. I managed to get all the people made and finished which was very satisfying and I was really happy with the end result. The Europe board has been transformed into a 3D state and everything is staying up touch wood! The asia board is now also complete. The bottom half of the board has ‘bamboo sticks’ on it – made from green paper, and on the top half we have displayed G7’s work on Chinese Symbols. Hanging from the bottom of the board is all the origami work and down the sides I stuck all the paper lanterns. It’s a really bright and colourful board now. In the afternoon with the help of Jacky and Marvelous (G7 boys) we managed to get the world and people stuck up on the board. So happy with what it looks like. Big Ben is also now completed and up on top of one of the cupboards.
I spent the evening preparing lessons as Mr Hawaxab was away on Tuesday and Wednesday so I got to return to the class to teach English and Social Studies. Tuesday started with double Social Studies with G6 in which we did a revision quiz which I’d written the night before for topics four and five. They really enjoyed this and hopefully it was helpful. I then had G7 English and we were looking at comparatives. They were in a good working mood and we had a fun productive lesson. After break it was double social studies with G5, they were less fun to teach but not too bad. Then BIS with G6 and they just had a study period and lastly double English with G6 which was brilliant. We were looking at adjectives and the eight different kinds;
1. Descriptive 2. Proper
3. Quantative 4. Order
5. Demonstrative 6. Interrogative
7. Possessional 8. Compound
I attempted to tell them the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’ without using a single adjective, so of course the story became ‘The Pigs’ and not only was it really difficult not to use any adjectives but the story was deathly boring. It’s easy to remember not to say the pink pig but remembering not to say the second pig was challenging! I then told it again using lots of adjectives and they loved it.
During Remedial with my G7 boys they made me promise that if I marry a footballer or someone really rich that my husband would fly them out for the wedding. They were being very serious! Afterwards went and finished the last bits and pieces for the Art Room – cut out the Eiffel Tower and stuck it up, did the last name tags and then placed the boards. The Art side is now all complete and we just have to get ready all the craft things. We started sorting out some of the jewellery and some of it is HIDEOUS! Hopefully the children will disagree and think that it’s lovely as otherwise we aren’t going to make any money at all!
In the evening we had our last supper with Hannah as she was leaving the next morning – I made pasta with bacon and leeks in a cheese sauce and we had a good last night with her. Chelcie and I each made here a friendship bracelet to start her collection and we made here a little book called ‘Question Time with Kicks and Dimps”. It was for her to write all her unanswerable questions on as she proceeds on her travels. We filled in the first page for her… “Why do men have nipples?”, “If people from Poland are called Poles, why aren’t people from Holland called Holes?”, “Why are weathercocks often cockerels?”. On the back cover we wrote “What do you call a donkey with 3 legs?” (a wonky) as this is one of two jokes in my repertoire! We then went over to Paul and Sara’s for a drink and to watch some of the Olympics.
I cannot, cannot, cannot believe it’s August. How can it be August? It can’t be August, as I leave in August, but somehow it is. That means that July is over so records for the month…..I read 15 books, wrote 9 letters and received 10, cried twice, completed month 10 away from home, got into Holland Halls, took my 5th course of antibiotics in 10 months, made friends with a 2 week old Baboon, said goodbye to Glenn, discovered Desert Island discs – thanks Hannah, turned green and red (at different times!) and had our first performance of the Button Box.
We had a goodbye assembly for Hannah and I had a little cry when the children sang one of the goodbye tunes – it gets to me every time. I am going to be totally hopeless when a) it’s time for me to have to say goodbye and b) listening to them sing that song but this time to me. The day started with G6 English and lesson on Adverbs, this time only five kinds to remember thankfully. Then Social Studies where we did another quiz but this time with them working alone to see how much they really knew – luckily they all got nearly full marks. Spent p3 saying goodbye to Hannah, it was sad but I am sure I will see her again and we had a really fun three weeks which I have to remember. After break I had quadruple G5 which was a test, a real test. Started with an individual social studies quiz which went well and they were all listening and then double English where we looked at adverbs and comparisons. Lastly BIS, which was just a study period. When they are quiet they are fun to teach and they actually ask intelligent questions but I find it deeply frustrating having to stop the whole time to ask some people to be quite as it always makes me lose my thread. There is nothing worse than standing at the front of a classroom and knowing that people aren’t listening to you. Luckily, ended on a high by teaching adjectives to G7. It was also Desvino’s birthday today, who is another person who is very special to me and he had a good day which made me happy. In the afternoon we continued setting out the craft things ready to be sold and finishing off bits which the children hadn’t quite completed.
Chelcie and I decided that we don’t spend enough time together (!) so she has moved into my room. We have made a double bed on the floor of my room where we are now both camped out. Franzelle and Aune scared the living daylights out of us by coming at 8:30 and asking for selotape just outside my window. We hadn’t heard them coming and suddenly there were just voices outside my room. Franzelle also has a very low voice so actually sounded like a man in the dark!
Our month 11 ‘anniversary’ was a day of real highs and lows for me. We had just discovered at break time who the new GAPs are so we spent the time checking them out on their Facebook pages! In G7 art we decided to take them to the Zebra Pan which is just the other side of the road from the school gates. It’s a big stretch of open countryside where lots of animals go to water and then around the edges there are rocks and trees. I went off with Brenden and Diodores exploring which was great fun and later we were joined by Milla. They kept on talking about us as the Damara 5 – not really sure why, because even if I was a token Damara, there were definitely only four of us and these are the boys I teach remedial maths to! Occasionally we would bump into other people but if they were girls we had to leave as they don’t like girls! When I asked ‘what about me?’ they informed me that I wasn’t a girl but a chick and that makes me cool! Glad I have their seal of approval. We finished the lesson by eating Namibian figs – they are bright purple and the outside has thorns on so we got the boys to de-thorn them for us. You end up with bright pink lips and fingers from where ever the juice has touched you but it’s worth it. A really fun outing. With the G6s we went for a walk along the air strip which was also fun. We tried Bush Gum which looks like honeycomb/resin but it was disgusting. It’s supposed to be really sweet and the children were fighting over it. At first it tasted like rice cakes and then it was just REVOLTING!
In the evening we performed The Button Box to the school and all the teachers. We had to wait for all the children to eat supper before we could set out all the costumes. I went outside to wait and I heard Ruben shouting at Brenden and Diodores, so I went over to see what was going on. I didn’t want Ruben to get all upset before he had to perform. Bradley was sitting down crying his eyes out and Ruben was saying it was because Brenden and Diodores had been mocking him and it wasn’t the first time they had made someone cry. I knew it was serious as Ruben isn’t someone to lose his cool over nothing so I said that they should apologise straight away but they refused saying they hadn’t done anything wrong. I said it didn’t matter what they thought, they should be the bigger person and just say sorry as something they had done had obviously really upset Bradley and I didn’t want to hear details, I just wanted them to say sorry. They went over to Bradley and were trying to pull him to his feet, laughingly saying sorry but it was very clear that it was a joke and they didn’t mean it. I then totally lost it; I really can’t remember feeling that cross before. I’m sure I have before but I can’t remember it. I felt so let down by them – I have stood up for those two numerously and I won’t let anyone criticize them in my presence and I felt that they had really let me down. I got so riled up and upset by the way they were acting – they wouldn’t listen to me properly and were just playing the clown. I know that they are teenage boys but I felt so personally let down by their behaviour and the way they chose to act. I was so close to crying so I just left them and went and ranted to Chelcie who fed me fudge to calm me down!
I love those boys so intensely and just writing this is upsetting me again. I can see both of their potential’s, Breden’s is more obvious which is why he was appointed Deputy Head Boy but I can also see how Diodores could succeed if he makes the right choices. Seeing them like that really made me question whether at High School they will make the right choices especially without someone like me to protect and care for them. Once they leave here, they are basically going to be on their own and I really can’t bare it.
It was then time for the performance which was FANTASTIC. I was so, so, so, so proud of all them, they really were amazing. From the moment Diina and Uapiona ran on stage to the end of the last song it was full of energy and life and I was just so unbelievably proud of all of them. For the first time Paradise Island was great – they don’t enjoy singing this one, but you would never have guessed it. Damian was amazing and I was just so happy for him. Xunta-I and Vanessa sang their duet in tune which was just incredible and quite unbelievable to be honest! The main four were acting the whole time and I enjoyed watching them so much. Once again Desvino was our star player and he was stupendous. He got so many laughs from sneaking biscuits and sticking his tongue out at Grandma behind her back and at one point I had to go out as I was laughing so hard! Ruben panicked at the beginning of his second verse, slightly forgetting his words and ended up singing the rest of his solo which was just brilliant but shocked me so much. The best thing was the grin on his face once he’d finished. The teachers and Mrs Vermaak were very complimentary and it was clear how much they had enjoyed themselves. I was only sorry that Gilly was away so didn’t get to see it.
The last day before Parents Day, otherwise labelled D Day, was actually quite relaxed and we weren’t running around like headless chickens, luckily! Finishing touches were made to the Art Room and we set all our rubbish on fire. I nearly set Otjikondo alight as I filled the Rubbish bin to full and some fell out only centimetres away from a heap of dried grass. Luckily, I managed to cover the fire quickly in sand and the school was saved! At break time it was lovely to hear the feedback from the teachers; Mrs Vermaak was particularly impressed with Waltraudt’s voice and Vehonga said that it was the first musical she had enjoyed! They unanimously commented on how brilliant the main four were. Gilly returned bringing our passports with our visas stamped in. Finally with less than a month to go I am legal in Namibia.
Parents Day! Never really thought this day would actually arrive – just like leaving for Namibia but it has and it was a brilliant day. From 8:00 to 11:30 Chelcie and I were in the Art Room selling all our craft things and talking to Parents. We had to regulate how many children came in at time as it was very tempting for them to take something. It was lovely to see the children with their parents and astounding as to how similar they looked to each other. The tombola was next door and we had great fun wasting our money and getting rubbish prizes! I ended up with a belt, a little blue jug, two toothbrushes and a packet of biscuits. Chelcie won a wooden spoon which turned out to be made from plastic! Diodores’ parents didn’t come but I met his older sister, who is a year younger than me, and her son who was very sweet. It was nice to meet part of his family. It was then time for the Drama production which went very well – there wasn’t quite as much energy and buzz as Thursday night but it was still a very good production and once again I was immensely proud. The tickets cost N$4 (roughly 25p!) and we were a total sell out, even having to send people away! It was lovely to talk to some parents after the performance who said how much they had enjoyed it and to meet some of the cast’s parents who were as proud as I was. We then returned to the Art Room where we did face painting for the children and a couple of adults! The Parents all went to their meeting where at the end a Raffle was drawn. Aune’s Mummy won a traditional Owambo dress which she then gave to me! This was so lovely of her and it was so unbelievably kind and made me incredibly happy. It was the teachers’ lucky day in the Raffle with Mrs Vermaak winning N$1000, Ms Laurencia N$500 and Ms Shituleni winning the goat! By the end of the day we were absolutely shattered and just collapsed into bed. At the craft fair Reiner bought each of us a necklace so that we went home we wouldn’t forget him. When we told Gilly this she cried.
No rest for the wicked....Sunday was the day of first Communion. All the first Communion children looked so smart all in white. The girls where in white dresses with matching capes, gloves and shoes and they had all had their hair done. The boys were in suits and the twins, Tunga and Tangi, were in matching white three piece suits with bow ties! We sat at the front with the choir and sang with them – we had taught the choir ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ specifically for this occasion but they weren’t very confidant so it ended up being an unintentional duet between me and Chelcie. Father Heinz did the communion for the candidates first and the first one was Desiree. She put the wafer in her mouth straight away just as he said to wait and that all the candidates should take it together. Desiree then fished her wafer out of her mouth and held it again. Everyone who saw this took place lost it and got the giggles so to everyone who couldn’t see what was going on it looked like we were behaving very badly!
The whole community with the parents then had lunch together in the Dining Room. We went up to help the Kitchen Staff and had great fun serving the food. We had a competition between the Rice serving team against the Coleslaw team as to who could serve the quickest. Obviously mine and Chelcie’s rice team won! In the afternoon I went for a ride through the farm. Paul has found me a horse to ride and when Hannah was here we tried it out. It’s quite a crazy African horse but it was lovely to be back in the saddle. I asked Tate Johannes if it had a name which the answer was obviously no so I called him Donkeyba meaning Donkey in Damara.
Totally crazy that Parents Day is now finished. This was one of the few things we were told about on Training that we knew we would have to do. Throughout the year we have heard about it and how important the day was. There was a lot of pressure on us to put on good displays as well as to produce a good Musical. I had so much fun doing the art displays as well as doing the play and luckily the day wasn’t a huge anticlimax.
As usual love to everyone
Ottilie xx
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