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

Week One and a bit more

Hello friends, family and random followers!

Well I have survived my first week at Otjikondo and done more than just survive. It was a massive shock to the system just to get here after over a years planning. Chelcie and I had the weekend to settle in before the children arrived on Monday afternoon. On the drive from Windhoek we had to stop for a family of baboons to cross the road - this was when it struck me that I'm actually in Africa!

On Sunday evening Gilly, Reiner and Paul took us for a drive over part of one of their farms. Chelcie, Gilly and I sat in the back of the truck on a bench, with the wind blowing through our hair and the sun shining on our backs. A blissful three hours was spent driving - we saw plenty of game, cattle, and part of the Lion King cast - real life Pumbas and Zazzus! We also saw two Giraffe, whom we named Geoffrey and Jemima, who were beautiful but looked as if they had had a lovers tiff! We were put to the test of opening gates which I, the country girl passed easily and Chelcie (the townie of us two) had a little more trouble with!

Classes for us started on Wednesday and Assembly at 6.50am was a bit of a shock to the system, although my body is now already running in Namibian time. Controlling thirty seven children who you don't know their names and they can speak Afrikaans or Damara at will, is no easy feat. To be honest getting thirty seven six year olds to be quiet is incredibly challenging. In the morning Chelcie and I teach art, PT and music together, but between three and six we separate for activities. On my first afternoon I had ten six year old boys for playgroup and then twelve, ten to fourteen year olds, for bead work. By the time the boys had fought, sulked and pleaded every other minute to play football and the the girls had talked to each other in Damara and tipped the bead box upside down so all the beads were mixed up in the lid (far too much for my OCDness) I retreated to the chapel for a good cry.

My first lesson was learnt: NEVER EVER cry wearing sun cream - it hurts like hell and just makes you cry more!

Incidentally the chapel is amazing and has a wonderful atmosphere of peacefulness. There are lots of stained glass windows which tell bible stories and were painted by the children. Behind the altar (a huge rock) is a humongous window in the shape of a cross with a tree in it. It's amazing.

This weekend was an application weekend as well as a music weekend. This means that hundreds flocked to Otjikondo for Saturday - some camping even two nights before to be here. It is the best Primary school in the area and the seventeenth best in Namibia even though its quite small in comparison. Faustinaus, the music man, travelled from Windhoek to teach the children from Friday afternoon until after church on Sunday. He is an amazing musician and a wonderful teacher - the music in the church which featured recorders, marimbas and singing was excellent.

Friday was such a fun day - I had four fitness lessons in the morning followed by the first Nativity rehearsal in the afternoon. I utilised my Lacrosse training and subjected the children to endurance running mixed with sprinting (shout out to Mrs. Marvin!) however feeling like a good teacher I led from the front and nearly killed myself! On Saturday morning even my neck muscles hurt!

The drama rehearsal was hilarious - I have thirty two children in my cast to work with, plus two Grade 7's to help out. This definitely includes some Drama Queens and divas!
In the evening we went to Gilly's house for a braai where we ate eland steak (largest antelope) and the best steak I've ever eaten. It was a lovely evening although Gilly and Paul laughed at some of the things I'd brought with me - chili powder (been incredibly useful), Tabasco but namely my blanket. Paul has already noticed many similarities between me and his children who are all under three! Mostly when he talked about his son's wind up squeezy frog torch and I said I had really wanted to bring a duck one but Mummy wouldn't let me!

The children are all so lovely and welcoming. They find it fascinating that when you touch my skin it goes even whiter! They love to be attached to you and stroke you - most of all they love hair and want to constantly run their hands through it. Being a germaphobe I do not appreciate this at all!
The heat here is very different - it's as if the air is warm rather than the sun is particularly hot! The sun rises are incredible and I have already taken loads of photos.
The Kindle wins the prize for the best bring having already read five books! I love my afternoon siesta.
I can't even try and fit everything in here but most importantly I am very happy here and loving it all so far.
I must go to bed now as I am knackered and I have a staff meeting at 6.50am.
Anyway love to all and sending hugs and kisses,
Lots of love
Ottilie

Hello Africa!

Well I am here at last - I am sitting here in a youth hostel called The Cardboard Box and I have a free 20 minutes on the Internet so lets see what I can cram in!

Mummy and Daddy took me to Heathrow where I met up with the rest of the Namibian crew who were just as remembered which was a pleasant relief! We went to check in and that's where the problems started! I went to check in and they asked when my return date was - I showed them the ticket which is booked for March (you cant book a year in advance so the ticket will be changed later), they then asked to see my visa (you need one if you are staying for over 3 months) when I explained that my visa was being sorted out when I arrived n Namibia and that my return date was only provisionally they wouldn't let me check in EVEN THOUGH Chelcie, Alex and Sophie had been let through. After a few telephone calls to Project Trust and a lot of panicking we managed to change our return dates free of charge to the 20th of September so it appears that we are returning to England within 3 months. We were then all allowed through but not until I had learned that airport people don't like me: one of the officials asked her colleague "What is wrong with this child?" after I couldn't understand her accent - how rude!!

After a very tearful goodbye to the parents and a few friends on the mobile we boarded the plane to  Dubai. This flight passed quickly - flying with Emirates definitely has many advantages but food is not one of  them. To my excitement I saw sticky toffee pudding on the menu but it was an insult to any sticky toffee pudding to call this cold sponge surrounded my congealed cold custard sticky toffee pudding!

By the time we got on our plane to Johannesburg we were all pretty tired and we tried to sleep most of this flight we varying degrees of success. It was decided that Project Trust were being stingy and we could definitely have flown at least Business Class! by the last flight to Windhoek we were all feeling pretty sick - combination of limited dodgy food and being very over tired. However we arrived after a very bumpy flight all of us clutching sick bags for "just in case".

We then had the challenge of getting through without visas! This was interesting.....and once again shown that airport officials just don't like me! We all split up into pairs and there most challenging question was to Alex and Simone (from Glasgow and Holland) was "why are you friends you are from Scotland and you are from Holland"!. Chelcie and I had slightly more issues with the woman grilling us as to why we wanted to travel in Namibia, why 3 months, what were we doing, who were we staying with etc etc. Luckily we all made it through and went to collect our extremely heavy baggage!

All of ours arrived apart from Chelicie's and Alex's after a long wait and lots of talking we discovered that their baggage was being put on a later flight and would arrive at 7.15pm that night. No explanation. We organised it to be delivered to Robert's house (our project trust contact in Windhoek). We then met up with who we thought was Robert who took us to the Youth Hostel. We had a competition to see who could see which animal first - Chelcie saw 5 monkeys (jealous!) and  I saw 3 cows....

The airport was about 30km from the main city and the drive was FASCINATING. Some times you could just see nothing for miles and the countryside is bare and then there would just be a scattering of houses on the side ranging from pretty smart houses to what looked like goat sheds.

We arrived at the youth hostel and the man declared that Robert would be over at about 5.30 (this was when we discovered he wasn't Robert!). It was very hot so we decided to go for a swim in the pool. Having dipped our toes in and nearly gotten frostbite we decided that would be plenty until egged on by some other travellers we all decided to jump in. IT WAS FREEZING but very very refreshing!

Robert arrived at about 6.15 by what time we were pretty hungry and sleepy but we decided to go out for supper. We went to the most  amazing restaurant called Joe's where I have my first ever Zebra steak which was amazing (steak, chips, salad and a glass of very sweet rose cost me 110 rand = 10 pounds!) The place was like a museum filled with nick knacks and a lot of Yagermister bottles! On the roof was a mini which had been driven by two girls across Africa! They were was a pond with MASSIVE fish in and just a lot of relics including a wheelbarrow strapped to the ceiling!

I am off to Otjikondo at 9.30 (having expected to be collected tomorrow) so I will try and buy a Sim card on the way. This is very exciting and I cant wait to get to my new home! So far Namibia is amazing - the colours are so bright and everything is so well African!

After a long night of listening to people snore I am ready for my own bedroom and a proper nights sleep - hopefully breaky will be as good as last nights supper!

Lots of love to everyone

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Good bye!

Today is the day. The end point of my countdowns. The only thing I have to do now is actually go to Namibia, be a teacher and somehow survive a year away from home. When I put it like that it sounds pretty easy!!

I have said goodbye to all my friends and family and my bags are packed. Yesterday I went to the vets to weigh my bags as I was paranoid they would be overweight and I'm not sophisticated enough to own a bag weigher! My main bag was 28kg and my hand luggage was 7.8kg (only allowed 7kg) with not everything in it. The painful discarding process began (I am now bereft of a tube of toothpaste, some shower gel, a pair of shoes and some sour apples - it was painful!) and hopefully today my bags will be under the limit otherwise I have no idea what I will get rid of.

I am now ready to head for Heathrow where I will meet Chelcie and the rest of the Namibia crew, hopefully no one will have grown an extra head in the last month or so and they will be just as lovely as remembered. I have 500g of sour apples packed (thank you Matilda), lots of books on my kindle (thank you Cluny), 18 sachets of hot chocolate and most importantly my blanket. Some people believe that by the age of 18 I should have out grown the use of my baby blanket, however, I haven't seen it as necessary although I am slightly worried as I was told not to take anything white with me as it would turn orange....I bet you can guess what colour my blanket is!

I suddenly feel very patriotic as if I am representing my country which I suppose I am. On the outside of my rucksack I have the St George flag and underneath the Namibian flag. My home country and the country of my new home. Massive thank you to Mummy for that as apparently they were quite difficult to sew on.

It is widely known that I am a massive foody so it probably doesn't come as much of a surprise that I looked up the menu for my flight to Dubai as it is the last official supper I will have in England, it couldn't tell me the exact food I would be eating although it presented me with a possible menu which looked satisfactory although I doubt I will be eating grated carrot and sticky toffee pudding! I have also done my research and have discovered that I will be able to watch the Kings Speech which everyone has been going on about and I have yet to see although I feel at the time I might be more tempted by the children's selection such as Finding Nemo!

Okay Miss Anghard Marment requested a shout out yesterday when she came to visit and gave me a beautiful bracelet to start my gap year collection, so here it is! I love you lots and I will miss you! I also need to mention the most amazing present from Emma Cheshire - my communication turtle. Emma gave me a turtle called Spud and she has a matching one called Sporkle. Over the year I will talk to Spud and she will talk to Sporkle and we will be able to communicate. Spud will also feature in many photographs so if you see a little turtle hanging around that will be Spud!


Okay so I need to leave now, thank you once again to everyone who has helped me in any way possible to get this far I really, really appreciate it. Please remember to write to me and update me on your lives. If you see any of my family or if my family see my friends give them a big, big hug from me.

See you in a years time

lots and lots and lots of love

Ottilie xxxxx

10 days left....

Hello!

So, I am almost down to single digit numbers within the countdown...so scary yet exciting!

3 shopping trips later and I have now pretty much bought everything that I will need to take with me and somehow I now only need to manage to fit it all into my suitcase and make sure it weighs under 30kg. Shopping was fun....but testing at the same time! My first "issue" occurred when trying to buy a 70 litre rucksack and the very kind man who was helping us only wanted to sell me a 65 litre rucksack which also happened to be hot pink. Although he assured me that a 5 litre difference was nothing, I assured him that 5 litres was a lot when going away for a year and needing to take teaching implements with me! I also tried to persuade him that I was not a hot pink sort of girl although Mummy said I shouldn't be so vain! We quickly moved on and decided to return to the rucksack issue later...

Having stayed a weekend with some Project Trust friends who are off to Guyana, they informed me that buying a 10l hand luggage bag and 70l rucksack was not going to be nearly big enough to fit everything in. Massive sigh of relief as a 70l rucksack really is tiny and I was only following the guidelines! Having returned to the shop I am now the owner of a very smart black 45l rucksack which I will use for travelling and hand luggage and a 100l duffle bag which can be carried as a rucksack to fit everything else in!

My next issue was trying to find suitable skirts....a "suitable skirt" needed to cover my knees and preferably be made of  cotton so I don't die of heat. Now most people know that I don't really wear skirts...I am much more a dress person, however, I am petrified of taking the wrong thing so I was determined to take at least 2 skirts as well as dresses to teach in. Easier said then done! I tried on many a skirt but struggled to find a "suitable skirt" which didn't make me look at least 40 years old. Although I am going for the teacher look, I also am only 18!. Eventually I manage to find two flowery skirts which both cover my knees while not making me look ancient!

On my clothes list it told me to stay clear of the colour white as everything is orange in Namibia, white doesn't stay white for very long! I didn't initially see this as a problem until I looked through my wardrobe and noticed that about 70% of my tops are white! White pretty tops would haunt me in the shops, begging to be bought but luckily my Mothers will power was stronger than mine and my wardrobe for Namibia has remained white free.

I am now fully equipped to be a teacher: I have post it notes, felt tips, fine liners and perhaps most importantly CGP Maths and English Key Stage 1 and 2 books! I also have a script for my Nativity play and I have chosen the Wizard of Oz to be my full scale production. Having bought most of Waterstones the children should be ready to learn lots of Disney songs in their Music lessons! I also need to brush up my piano skills in the next few days....

So now that I have everything I need (including over 1000 stickers!) these last couple of days are going to be for saying goodbye to the last special people, spending time with family and finishing sorting out my teaching ideas. I have also made a "must eat before I go plan" which includes sticky toffee pudding and grated carrot - my all time favourite foods - and now I only need to eat them!

Feel free to add a suggestion if you think I might have forgotten to buy some vital thing which I shouldn't live without - don't worry I already have a magic flint which claims to light fires for me!

I hope you are all well and happy
Love from Ottilie xx