Half Marathon and Last Visit to the Bing

Sooo...I started this awhile ago and never actually posted it. All time references are off by a month or so...whoops!

The weekend before last was the Lucky Star Marathon in Swakop! It is a great race that runs right along the oldest and biggest dunes in the world (just beautiful!). You have the option to run the full marathon or split the marathon with a friend (one runs the first half, the other the second). Then there is a learner race where they run a 4 person relay. I ran the first half of the marathon (21 km!) and my site mate Christine ran the second half. There were probably close to 20 PCVs down there to run/cheer/bring learners. It was soooo much fun! I was actually had a pretty bad cold for the week before the race and had a nasty cough on the day of and was a bit worried about being able to run, but it ended up being fine! I ran a bit slower than usual but made it to the end :).

It is funny, because the adult portion of the marathon starts a half hour before the learner relays start. So you would think you would not see any learners along the way...FALSE! About 45 minutes into the race, all of a sudden you see these little kids with bare feet speeding past you. It really is amazing how fast these kids can run! I can't imagine ever running that fast...let alone in bare little feet!

After the marathon was over, we all had a big dinner and then ended up going out and celebrating our training being over! It was a fun weekend :).

I ended up spending a few days helping out a vol who is teaching an after school program in Swakop. It was fun to hang out with her and learn more about her project. Her kiddos were cute and their English was AMAZING!

After helping out in Swakop I went to the Bing for my last visit! It was great to be back in the village! Everytime I go back, I never want to leave and actually think about staying a 4th year to teach at Da Palm (don't worry though...I am coming home...I promise!).

I arrived on a Thursday afternoon and went to afternoon study to see all of my learners and teachers. I basically just hung out in the classrooms distracting the kids from doing their homework (I am a fab teacher, huh?).

That evening we had a memorial service for a teacher who died two weeks before. The learners and staff lined the road leading to the hall where the memorial was going to be held. As the sunset, we all sang and then followed the car carrying his body down to the hall. It was really a beautiful evening and quite a fitting way to honor Tate.

The staff at my school is extremely close and his death was a bit of a surprise to all of us, so, needless to say, it was pretty hard. His name was Mr. Shimutukeni, but we all just called him Tate (Tah-tay, meaning father). He would always stir up some kind of trouble in the staff room, but it always ended with us laughing! He was just well loved by all of the teachers and the learners--a great teacher who always had the learners' best interests at heart. I was really glad I was able to be there for the memorial service and the funeral.

So, Friday was spent hanging out again and catching up with friends, teachers and learners. I really just spent the whole day at the school! That evening, I went over to the school to hang out with my learners and we ended up playing games and singing under the stars until 10:30pm when they were sent into the hostel for the evening. It was the best way to end a great last day in the village! It is funny, because I know that would never fly in America. These were grade 10-12 learners (boys and girls) playing "kid" games with their teacher on a Saturday night, but we all just had so much fun! I will really miss that about Namibia. These kids go through so much and have to grow up so fast in some respects, but in others, they are still just kids who love to hang out and play games. I really can't say enough how much I love my school, my teachers and my learners. I was so so so so lucky to be able to spend two years with such amazing people!

On Saturday, we woke up early and traveled into town for Tate's funeral (the funeral was in Karibib, the town about 70km away). A few of my teachers had moved away from the village this year, but everyone came back in for the funeral, so it was nice to see all of them. The funeral was sad (of course) and lasted about 5 hours. Then we had the burial, which was another hour and a half (a long day!). While it was long, the funeral was a beautiful way to remember Tate. Lots of tears, but lots of great Tate stories as well.

In Namibia, funerals are almost always on a Saturday and usually a week or two after the person has died. This is so family has time to travel in and the family can gather money to cover the funeral expenses. On Friday night, the family and close friends gather at the family's house for prayers and singing. The body is delivered to the house that evening and the family greet the body with songs and tears. The family sits with the body for the whole evening until the funeral the next day. It is interesting to observe and be apart of the funeral process here. In some ways things are similiar, but in others it is quite different. Everyone kind of grieves in their own way :).

Well, that is about it for my Swakop/Bing visit! I took lots of pictures, which, once in America, I will put in an album and post online (the internet is too slow here/I don't have enough patience). I have lots of great pictures of my fabulous learners though! Oh I am going to miss them (I know, I say that a lot...but it is true :) ).

Videos from the Bing!

Here is a link to a website with videos my learners and I made last year for a cultural exchange we did. New Hope High School (the school that read Chanda's Secrets around the same time we did at Da Palm) used the videos to help their students and community understand life in Namibia and uploaded them to their website. I wanted to pass this website on so you all could see my kiddos and their life!

Thanks New Hope for putting the video online!

http://nhsreadtheworld.wikispaces.com/Namibia+Videos

Romario and Luke

I named the kitten Luke...I had watched a little too much Gilmore Girls the day Christina told me to give him a name :).

Christina with her kitten

One of the sweetest grade 7 girls!

Last Few Months!

I only have less than 3 months left in Namibia! So so crazy! It is hard for me to think about it. Namibia and PC has been my life for the past 3 years (I came to Namibia 22 years old and will leave 26! How crazy is that?), but I know that I will be ready to go in December.

In these next couple of months, I am trying to stay busy with things I just love doing. I am teaching Grade 11 Life Skills classes at a local senior secondary school. We are focusing on relationships (a favourite topic at the secondary schools) and discussing healthy relationships, controlling relationships, talking about sex/condom use with your partner and anything else along the way. I am also planning on adding in some gender/cultural norms in there as well. The learners really seem to like the classes (we meet twice a week) and I do too. I always walk out of the classes smiling--I just love teaching and really like the Grade 11's. Today when I was in one of their classes some boys made up a rap about me--I feel cool :).

I am also thinking about planning a workshop for a secondary all boys school in a village about 20km away. They have a lot of problems with drinking and drugs, so I thought we could maybe do a 2-day workshop on self-esteem/drinking and drugs. We will see though! I still need to run the idea by my counterpart, and I am not really sure what the calendar of events are for the rest of the term, so I am not holding my breath yet!

I also have a trip planned to the Bing! I am soooo excited to see my learners, teachers and friends. The only sad part is that this will be my final goodbye. I am pretty sure there will be a lot of tears from me. Last year when I said goodbye (knowing that I would be back to visit just a couple of months after saying goodbye) I was a total mess! I am just bad with farewells. Always have been! It will be really hard to leave Otjimbingwe and Da Palm though. It will always be my second home and is definitely my Namibian home. As much as I like Khorixas, your first site is always home.

The other big thing I have to look forward to is the Lucky Star Marathon! I am splitting the marathon with my site-mate Christine. I will run the first half and she will run the second half. I am really excited! There are quite a few PCVs running and even more coming to support. Plus the marathon ends in Swakop--my very favourite Nam holiday spot!

Nothing else really big has been happening around here. It is insanely hot in Khorixas already. I forgot how hot it gets here! Oh and we have two new volunteers coming to teach at both of the secondary schools. They are a married couple and one will be teaching English at the senior secondary school and the other is teaching Math at the junior secondary school. They came for a visit last week and were really excited and happy to be here! I am really excited that Khorixas is going to have 2 more wonderful PCVs :).

Well, that is all! I hope life is wonderful on your side of the world!

HOME!

Well...I am not home anymore. But I was home about a month ago! It was so great to be able to spend time with my family and friends. I really do miss them!

I spent most of the time up at the Lake--the perfect way to spend a summer holiday. We did a lot of reading, boating, sun-soaking, laughing, chatting and wine drinking :). It really was the perfect holiday! Not much else to say!

It was sad saying good-bye (as it always is...especially when you are so emotional (like me!). But I guess I just feel so lucky to have so many people I am sad to say good bye to :). And, it was great to know that I would be home for good in 6 months!
Yipee! It doesn't quite feel real that the next I am home, it will be for good. Exciting but sad at the same time.

I will try to post some pictures on here from home (and by "I", I mean getting my sister Mad to post them for me...thanks in advance sis!).

Going Home!

Well...it is official...I am going home for a little holiday at the end of August! And I am bringing my cat Crunch!

I know it is a little silly to come home for a visit when I was just home (last December) and will be finishing up my service (this December), but my parents wanted me to visit and offered to pay, so how could I turn that down?!? Plus, it is a great opportunity to bring home the Crunch-man. He will officially be an Nam-American! He is very excited about his dual citizenship.

So...mark those calendars! I will be home from 22 Aug to 10 Sept. I plan on spending most of my time at the Lake with some FW and Indy visits squeezed in. Of course, all my plans have to be run by my mom (who only allows me to be out of her sight for a select few minutes a day ;), but hopefully I will be able to see as many people as possible when I am home.

After I fly back to Nam, I will finish up my service and leave Nam and PC for good in early December. It will be really hard to say good bye and officially leave my second home, but I think I will be ready (please remind me of this statement when I am saying my final goodbyes and cannot stop sobbing--I can be pretty emotional when it comes to saying good bye!). Once I COS (close of service), some friends and I will backpack around Africa a bit and I will hopefully be home for good in February. I will update you on the whens and wheres of that big trip once we sit down and do some planning..I have begun to realize that planning is not a PCV's strongsuit after 3 years of chaotic non-planning, one of the many joys of living in Nam :).

See you in America soon soon!