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 25th of April rather than the 20th 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 22nd of August and at the moment our flight is on the 16th 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 6th 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
