-----Teaching in Namibia-----: Wednesday Adventures in Namibia

This Wednesday turned out to be quite the long day, but was still a good one. I started my morning off at the school surrounded by a group of learners eager to hear what I was saying. I was teaching them different words that I knew in Spanish. I took two years of Spanish in high school, but can't remember much for the life of me. So, the words they were learning were simple ones like how to say hello and ask someone their name and tell theirs as well as counting from one to twenty. It was fun to watch their curiosity stir as I continued to pronounce these words for them. They also took some time to tell me how to count from one to ten in Afrikaans which I have already forgotten. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my time and interaction with them.

When I got into my classroom, we had to wait for Mrs. Emma to do something, and the girls asked me to sing the penguin march song with them. I knew Mrs. Emma wouldn't like it if we were loud at that moment, so we sang a silent rendition in whisper form of the penguin song. I think that the learners enjoyed this even more than they would have if we would have been loud. They had silly little grins on their faces the whole song as if they were sneakily getting away with something. Once we were finished with the song, it dawned on me that I would like to have some Afrikaans written down to use back in the states as morning greetings and such with my students. So, I spent some time writing the following words down and attempting to learn how to pronounce them.

Goeie More- Good Morning

Gellukigel Mandag- Happy Monday

Dinsdag- Tuesday

Woensdag- Wednesday

Donerdag- Thursday

Vrydag- Friday

Saterdag- Saturday

Sondag- Sunday

Gellukigel Veryaardag- Happy Birthday

Verstan ownce makar?- are we tracking?

After school this particular day, I was scheduled to go on home visits with Molly to three of her learners houses. Simultaneously, Jessica Short and Jessica Tall went to visit a learners house. I was a little bit nervous about doing the home visits, but a lot a bit excited at the same time. This was our opportunity to go out into Katutura and deeper into the lives of our learners. It was an adventure we were in for for sure. As we set out on foot out of the gates of AI Steenkamp, I was pleased that my sweet little friend Ann-Lee decided it was her duty to accompany me on this journey. She liked to escort me places at school, so why not escort me around Katutura, it made perfect sense. She is great company and I felt safe at her side while Molly and her learners sped ahead in her usual quick walking stride. When we went into the first house, Ann-Lee waited patiently at the fence as if standing guard for me while I was inside. I sat on the couch next to Molly as she asked questions of her learner's aunt. She then showed us around the house and we were off to the next location. The next house, Alex's house, was quite a bit farther down the road. We talked to some locals as we passed through and Ann-Lee and I enjoyed a small conversation.

We stayed even less time at Alex's house. We met his mother and brother and saw the kitchen where Alex slept on the floor. There was one more room to the house, but we were not shown it. Molly asked to use the restroom, but decided not to when she found out it was nothing more than a bucket in a lean to shack. When it was time to depart, I found Ann-Lee faithfully waiting outside the gate for my return. It was then time to travel to Maria's house which happened to be on the other side of school. We started to head toward walking on a busier street, but Ann-Lee said we could not because there were thieves that hung out on that road who would probably try to grab our bags. So, she insisted that we walk the longer, safer way around. When we arrived at Maria's house, we discovered that she lived in a set of buildings that housed a small preschool. It was so cool! We toured the cute school rooms that were filled with miniature colored tables and chairs. The walls were sweetly decorated with the ABC's and some pictures labeled in Afrikaans. Once we had explored the rooms, the sounds of several small children squealing with glee led us to the backyard playground. The playground was awesome complete with a platform fort and tires galore.

We spent a long time in the background taking photos of the small children as they played and interacting with them. At one point, one of the teachers (consequentially named Mrs. Veronica) called the children together in a group in front of us to sing songs. For probably about a half hour, we enjoyed the small children singing some of their favorite songs together. Then, I taught the small children the penguin march song which was super fun. We didn't want to leave because we were having so much fun, but we had to as we were supposed to meet Jessica and Jessica at the school for the taxi pick-up at 3:00pm.

When we arrived back at the school, Jessica and Jessica were no where to be found, but many of my learners were still there as they were waiting for a teacher to return from town with more supplies for them to finish preparing for the next day's athletics events. I had a good ol' time hanging out under the tree with my kids and showing them pictures on my camera while they played with my hair. By 3:30pm Molly and I were beginning to get concerned as to one where Jessica and Jessica were and two where our taxi was. Molly decided to track down the school cleaner to have him open the office so she could call the taxi company. Upon getting a hold of Grant she found that Jessica and Jessica had been picked up long ago and the driver had forgotten that there were more girls needing a ride home. Grant apologized and sent another driver to collect us. In the mean time, I enjoyed singing songs with my learners and just spending time with them.

We finally made it back to Casa and chilled out for the rest of the evening. I made some pasta for dinner and ate it while I uploaded pictures and video clips. I ended the evening by creating a custom handmade and designed by me poster for the athletics events the following day. It read, “Lutes love AI Steenkamp Learners.”

Sweet Crezelda