The proud learners with their awards!July 12th 2008
Saturday morning on my tiny piece of land in Africa means sleeping in until 7. This is the time that the one healthy rooster meanders towards my window and starts to crow at irregularly maddening intervals. 7 is also about the time my neighbor wanders out of his flat to start working on his car. I’m not sure what he’s doing to the car because for the 5 months I’ve been in this flat he’s been working on it like a religion and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I do like it though because he lets the boys in the hostel help him and that gives them something to do. Saturday also means that I get to hide in my flat until maybe 10 or 11. This is the approximate time the walls start to drive me crazy and I have to leave.
All that is to say, it’s Saturday! Outside the rooster is alternating its crows with some sort of mechanical banging and it’s all to the tune of adolescent boys getting in an argument about something. Oddly, the argument is in English. When people speak English, I assume its because its something I need to hear. But when they don’t know that I’m listening, it really confuses me. Maybe, this morning I woke up with a magical power to automatically understand all languages. Yes, I love Saturdays. Not as much as I love Sundays, though, but that’s a whole different story.
Yesterday was a very special days for me. But to understand why, I have to start on Thursday… Or maybe even Tuesday… but I only need to start on Tuesday because I’m a logical person and if I go out of order then I’ll forget what actually happened and spend a whole blog post talking about the price of avocados or something.
So, Tuesday, I finally made it home from Windhoek. They shipped me home on Monday but at sunset I still wasn’t home. So, I stayed the night in Outjo. Then Tuesday morning I traveled in true Namibian style – in a crammed bakkie, with all the luggage tied to the roof going approximately 70km/hour. Five hours after we left, we made it the 120km to Khorixas. School was finished by then, so it was like another vacation day.
Wednesday is usually a really easy day for me. I only have three classes that bookend the day – one in the morning and two at the end. But Wednesday morning the administration decided that the last two periods of the day would be canceled so the whole school could listen to the learners who were in the science fair present their projects. When the two grade 7 learners heard this they got really nervous and asked to be let out of class so they could practice. So, then my really easy Wednesday turned into listening to “Light from Above” presented 7 or 8 times. They were getting really good at it and could actually explain any part of the project.
When they actually presented to the school that afternoon, they did well. The English teacher offered to meet with the all three groups (grade 5, grade 6 and grade 7) after school to polish the projects. I really like him. He’s always volunteering for odd jobs – kind of a rarity. He also only responds in English at staff meeting no matter what language the question was asked in. Understandably, I would like him. Also a lower primary teacher offered to help. She was the teacher that coached all the beauty pageant contestants last week. She’s one of the young, hip teachers... I’m actually jealous of her cool clothes… and how clean they are… how does she do it? And, obviously invested, I volunteered to show up also.
Grade 5 had a nice project. It was on dental health and how to care for your teeth. It was well put together and had all the requirements. The two learners had the cute-factor too. The boy is adorable but, at 12 years old, would hate being described as such. 60% of the time he’ll run where he’s going but only on his tiptoes. His run looks like something Willie Coyote would do off a cliff and into mid-air. The girl is a little soft spoken but smiles a lot. They really just needed to work on speaking loudly.
Working with grade 6 was all about damage control. The kids had a poster and topic way beyond their skill level – Diabetes Mellitus type I and type II and all the medical gibberish that slow Namibian dial-up Internet could produce. This was coupled in disaster with the fact that the poster was poorly put together, the learners didn’t have any involvement whatsoever, there were spelling and grammar errors everywhere and there was absolutely zero linear logic in anything. One of the kids was actually put on the project that afternoon because she had a louder voice than the previous candidate. When we were working with them, I forced the two girls to abandon their poster and just explain the topic in 6th grade language. Meanwhile, my grade 7s undertook the poster to attempting to fix it. I also forced them to listen to me explain Diabetes in three or four different ways until they understood what they were saying. Gosh, they hated it – they thought Wednesday was going to be easy too.
And grade 7 was sparkling by the afternoon. They could tell about their project and results without even looking at their poster. I know this because I took their poster away and made them explain without it. Did I ever explain what their project was? We put out 5 different boxes covered in colored paper – black, white, blue, green, and red. Then we put thermometers in the boxes and left them in the sun. After an hour we checked the thermometers to see which box had the highest temperature. The black box was 45C. Blue and green were 42C. Red was 40C. And white was 35C. By Wednesday afternoon grade 7 even had theories about why blue and green were 2 degrees hotter than red. They could explain IR light and UV light. They could explain absorption and reflection. And they had a few examples of applications for such information. They were good and they knew it.
Thursday morning, we put the six kids in matching jerseys and packed them and their projects up into the other science teacher’s bakkie to take down to the youth hall near town. When we got down there, some Ministry of Education officers met us to explain that the fair was being postponed until the afternoon. They just forgot to tell our school. So we toted the learners and projects back to school. That afternoon, at 2:00, we toted everything back down there to set up the projects. Then they told us the judging wouldn’t start until 6. So, we set up the projects and toted all the learners back to school. Then at 5:45, we pulled the learners out of the dining hall; most of them still holding porridge in their hands, and toted them back down to the youth hall. By this time, I was getting really tired. It gets dark at about 5:30 and lately it’s been bitter cold in the shade and inside, especially at night. The kids were nervous and it was making me nervous too. But, my nervous energy was soon transformed into my patience-practicing energy when they informed me I would be a judge.
As a Kunene Regional Science Fair judge, the first obstacle you have to overcome is the judging form. This form is the worst form I have ever experienced. And I’m not even exaggerating. I cannot even explain the terribleness because explanations require reason and logic and this form had zero of either. But, after 45 minutes of debate, the 7 other judges and I finally came to an agreement on how to fairly use the numbers on the form. I was set loose to judge “Innovations and technology” and “Agriculture”. I suspected a little foul play when I noticed some judges giving marks to their learners but, sneaking peaks at my kids, I felt like they were doing ok on their own. Plus, I learned a lot from Innovations and Technology. I learned how to make a water heater from a soda can (small amounts of water – not enough for my bathtub. Bummer). I learned how to make a hair relaxer from burned aloe, how to make detergent from the sap of a tree, how to make glue from gasoline and Styrofoam and how to make a fun math game with circuits. It was really odd to strike so much fear in the kids when they saw me coming. All of them had really wide eyes when I would say; “tell me about your project”. It would take them a few seconds to say, “weeeeelll…” and start explaining. It turns out I was a really mean judge too. I didn’t know I was until I added all the numbers for Innovations and Technology. The highest score was 53 out of 100. Luckily, the kids all got two judges and, therefore, two scores. Judging Agriculture was also ok but there were only two projects. One was about chicken feed. I told the girl her board was cute and pointed to the spray paint on the background – it was yellow dots with little runs. I thought it was supposed to look like someone had thrown eggs at it. But the learner got embarrassed and apologized profusely. Oops, guess it wasn’t supposed to be and egged board. The second project was from Braunfels, the all-boys high school 30Km or so outside of Khorixas. It was about fertilizing soil with ants. It was really interesting and the kids had even collected an ant colony in an aquarium. The two grade 12 boys definitely had good marks in confidence. After I asked them to tell about their project, they talked for a good 7 or 8 minutes straight and only paused to make sure I was not confused by the difficult science they were explaining. Future tip: Don’t insult your judge’s intelligence… you know, I’m just sayin…
At the end of the night, the kids from my school all felt like they had done well. The grade 7s were asked how far the sun is from the earth and how fast light travels – two questions I feel are slightly irrelevant. The kids were kind of disappointed that they didn’t know the answer. I was happy though, because they remembered that they should know the answer from our section about the solar system in class. They were listening! Not remembering… but listening… half the battle, right? Anyway, we all finally made it home around 11:00. It was cold and the kids were locked out of the hostel. But in the end, we woke up enough people to get them in. The next morning, they told us to be at the hall at 9 am. It’s really hard to give up American habits because I made all the kids and the other science teacher leave the school at 8:45. We got to the hall and had to sit there for 2 hours before anything happened. I should have known. But it was a great opportunity to teach my six learners how to play Hangman. Though, I never realized how gruesome the whole premise really was until one of the grade 6 girls asked, why is it bad to hang a man?
The award ceremony started with the judges’ awards. I got a dictionary! And a picture with the mayor of Khorixas! Woo! The dictionary is maybe 150 pages long and is from USAID. It has a paragraph about George Bush on the back. I thought that was silly – American charity making its way all the way over here and into my hands. No fear, I’ll leave the USAID in the library when I leave. There were a lot of speeches and songs after that. This is when I realized that I was magical. I taught my learners how to trick their friends into believing their thumbs were detachable. I taught them how to make a squirming worm halfway underground with their two middle fingers. I taught them how to spin a pen around their thumb. And when I say, “taught”, I really mean, “showed them at least a hundred times and they still think it’s all magic”. It was entertaining because we got in trouble. We were fine until the boys started trying to spin a pen over their thumbs and the pens started flying into peoples’ heads. Luckily, the actual award giving saved us.
Everyone who entered the science fair got an award – certificates. Projects that score below 30 out of 100 got third place. Projects that scored between 30 and 50 got second. And projects that scored above 50 got first place and gets to go to the national science fair (remembering that 50% is a good grade here. 70% is stellar. And maybe one in a class of 38 will get an 80%). They called all the third place winners first. None of my learners were called. Then they called the second place winners. None of my learners were called. I thought, “Great. Just great. They forgot to print the certificates for my kids. So, now they think they’re going to national and then, they’re going to get nothing. This sucks…” Then they called the first place winners. All the names they were calling were from secondary and high schools. My heart was sinking for my kids. Then, they called our grade 5 learners. Our principal was on stage, she almost fell over I think. The kids just stared. Then, they called our grade 7 learners. The principal was giggling now. The kids were still just staring. Then, they called our grade 6 learners. The principal was shaking everyone’s hand. I was laughing. The kids were all still staring. They took a picture of all the first place winners. My grade 7s were standing next to the two tall grade 12 ant-boys from the all-boys school. My learners were still just staring. Someone had to tell them to move when it was time to come down from the stage. When our grade 7 boy came down from the stage he said with wide eyes, “Miss, I am in shock. I almost fell over. I need you to hold my certificate… I’m coming now…” (“I’m coming now” means “I’ll be right back”) and he walked straight out the back door. I have no idea where he went. He came back maybe ten minutes later and was still staring. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. Our grade 7 girl was beaming. She said, “Miss, all my dreams have come true! I’m going to take my certificate to my mother this afternoon” (her mother lives 4 or 5 km out of Khorixas). Then they gave an award to the highest scorer in every category. All of the awards for the tops scorers were books about math and science. Our grade 6 learners were called first. They were the only project in their category, “Medical Science”. But they hardly noticed that tiny detail – they were first! Then our grade 7 learners were called for “Physics”. It was a little difficult for them because they were still in shock from their first award. The other projects in the Physics category were all from secondary schools. The top scorer was called for “human sciences” but it was not our grade 5 learners. They were a few marks too short of the top scorer… who was in grade 10… just FYI…
At the end of the ceremony, one of my grade 6 learners came up to me and gave me a big hug. She said, “Thank you so much, miss! Thank you so much for helping us!” I thought maybe we were in some cheesy sports team movie where they win the big game at the end. It sure felt like that. They all didn’t want to ruin their awards so they gave them to me to hold. I had an armload of books and certificates walking out of the youth hall. Someone stopped us and explained that it appeared that Eddie Bowe had gotten just what it had come for. I said, we hadn’t. I said, we’re going to Windhoek to get that.
The kids were the school heroes when they got back to school. The other learners were giving them hugs and running up to hear the news. The hostel matrons gave them bread, jam and butter to eat. It was definitely a moment that they will never forget.
I am super excited about the national science fair. It is the first week of September. It should be interesting to travel with learners. But I did just spend two days straight with those six kids. They’re a great group and it should be fun to travel with them. I’m already trying to think of where I should take them in Windhoek. Maybe out for ice cream or to the sweets shop. I haven’t decided.
The rest of the afternoon, random kids were knocking on my kitchen door. When I would answer the door, they would beg me to detach my thumb, make a squirming worm from my middle fingers or spin a pen over my thumb. Luckily, I didn’t have to play a round of hangman with them. If you teach one, you have to teach them all.
I swear, this has to be one of those cheesy movies. Where are the cameras? Really.
July 16th
So, on the other end of the spectrum, two kids got in a fist fight in science class today. I asked the kids to bring in plants. I was going through the class taking down the names kids who brought in a plant. I turned around to the sound of a desk flying somewhere and saw a tall girl with a boy in a headlock hitting him. I just stood there. I didn’t just stand there because I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there because I had this feeling that any second the kids would magically realize how absurd they were and stop. But, as per usual in these parts, I was wrong. That poor boy just started losing more oxygen to his head. But, on the plus side, I had stood there long enough doing nothing that other kids in the class had already taken action and started pulling the two apart. I took them both outside and was about to practice some well needed mediation when something else was said or sworn and they were at it again… with me in the middle… and a rock… ugh. I feared for my head, as it is not so fond of baseball sized rocks in the hands of enraged 14 year old girls. When I stopped that bout, I took them to the principal’s office. On the way to the office, I tried to think what normal people do with kids who get in fist fights. And I tried to remember what people in America would do with kids who got in a fist fights. Luckily, the principle was there to answer some questions… Parents! We find parents! But, parents are a luxury that we didn’t seem to have. Well, I left them both there, bawling, and didn’t see them again until after school when they both sobbed an apology to me. Sheesh.
I just thought I would give you both sides though – science fair… fist fight… I can’t figure out what I feel about teaching here. So, I’m just going to focus on this being a pleasant cultural experience with new and interesting friends. Then, I’ll just gauge the worth and value later. And if that fails, I’ll still have my pumpkin bread, right?
July and August were the months that PC sent out invitations to come to Namibia last year. So, if we’re on the same timeline, the lucky winners will soon be getting a letter in the mail informing them that they have won a two-year vacation in Namibia. Namibia? Is that a disease? No, I think it’s near Morocco. Rick, is that you? Well, wherever it is, I’m living in a hut and slaughtering chickens for dinner every night – the real Africa!!
Fine print: Once accepted, this two year vacation comes complete with gray hairs, decreased sanity, increased water consumption and constantly dust-coated nostrils. Half of all participants’ feet increase in size due to calluses. Patience was shown to be tested in all winners. Increased awareness of skin color, language usage, monetary habits and fuel efficiency was noticed in most candidates. 97% chance of sunburn. 110% chance of homesickness. All candidates were showing an increasing in the using of the ending “-ing” in day-to-day speech patterns. 3 out of 70 had to discontinue use of this vacation before completion.
If they’re normal people, they’re probably searching the web for any answers they can scrounge. You have to look online because the Peace Corps doesn’t tell you anything. At first, you think that they don’t tell you anything because they’re maliciously forcing you to be a braver person. But later, you realize that they aren’t telling you things because they can’t. They can’t even insure that you get a ride to site. They can’t guarantee that you’re even going to have a place to stay when you get to site (though, disclaimer, we know they try). And then, even later, you start to realize that all those complications and gaps in information don’t really have anything to do with the Peace Corps and have more to do with the fact that you’re moving to Africa and if you want details (Can I bring my hair dryer? Will there be seatbelts? So, does “business casual” mean khaki pants or my ruffle skirt?) You’re on the wrong continent. And, in the very end, you finally realize that the details don’t matter at all – I’m always wrong anyway and nothing I brought from America is really that life-changing... except my Ipod… and computer…
So, really, all this is to say, if you’re an invitee and you stumbled here: Booga dee Booga dee booga dee boooo! Namibia is scary!!
Ok, not really. It’s pretty great. The worst part is getting on the plane when mom and dad are sad-waving from the other side of security and you’ve got crocodile tears coming down your face and the man you’re sitting next to on the plane seems to think you’re in some sort of condition to carry on a conversation about baseball. I don’t care about baseball! My life: upside-down! What part of sobbing do you not understand?
But just focus on the Africa being cool part. And think of all that character you’re going to build. Nothing says, “I’m awesome” like character. So, like a band-aid… just do it. See you here in about 4 months.
28 July 2008
I think it’s been implied that I’m addicted to Facebook Mobile. Facebook Mobile is great for a whole lot of reasons. It’s much cheaper than text messaging here, it’s reliable and it’s possibly the most brilliant way to stay sane while questioning and metaphorically head butting the whole perception of one’s own as well as a plethora of foreign cultures… Um, what I mean to say is, when I’m stuck in a meeting that is just so “Namibian” or in the midst of a purely Damara argument that makes me really feel as though I stick out like Tupperware in a china hutch, Facebook is where I turn. It’s a distraction. It’s a connection. It’s a calm moment of familiarity. It’s a coping mechanism.
What can I say? I’m addicted. But I justify this addiction because I know, out there, in this tiny country, in the midst of the other 2 million residing here, are other volunteers who have morphed Facebook so completely into their life, the phone has become permanently attached to their thumb. For those who I am Friends with… not friends, but Friends… you know that I change my status every other day, on slow days. My Friends know it usually takes less than 24 hours to get a response to a wall post (quite the record time for communication from me, I would say). But, I justify this because I know that I will make it through Facebook Mobile rehab with flying colors when this is all over.
There are ramifications to this addiction though. For instance, Tango. Tango is what the phone minutes are called here for my phone company, MTC – Make the Connection. It’s kind of fun to be able to say “Tango?” to a street vendor who doesn’t speak English. Who will, in turn reply, “MTC?”. Which is your cue to say “Mmm” while nodding your head yes and holding up 1, 2 or 3 fingers to show how many ten minute units you would like to buy. It’s a universal language… but only in Namibia…
But, the most serious ramification of this addiction comes in my evaluation of day-to-day events. This is how you know your addiction is serious: When something happens in my life, I have a tendency to make it a Facebook status in my head. And all these status updates seem fine and dandy. But then I realize that I’m thinking in status updates. Which, somehow, makes all of my thoughts in third person… Which, somehow, is really weird. But, Lucky for us,
Jessica is becoming a whiz at justification.
So, I justify that: generally, the possibility of sharing the situation I’m in makes me feel better. Sometimes it makes me feel better because I can make light of an absurd circumstance:
Jessica is staring down the cow head in the kitchen sink
Jessica is standing in Lake Khorixas... A.k.a. her kitchen floor. Plumber?
Jessica is trapped in her house by a herd of goats with crazy eyes. Um, Heeelp!
Jessica is Ice Skating on the library floor wax. The school inspector’s coming - Clean everything!!!!
Jessica, after further analysis and observation by tiny tot experts, is actually more of a pink color than white. Hmmm.
And sometimes it makes me feel better because I can voice my concerns and emotions knowing that someone will listen and understand:
Jessica just wants to go home-home.
Jessica keeps forgetting to breathe.
Jessica needs a hug.
And sometimes it makes me feel better because I can just share the mundane facts about my life that make me feel connected to others:
Jessica is watching MASH MASH MASH – anyone got some potatoes.
Jessica is a baking whiz. Somebody stop me… I mean her…
Jessica is a camel.
Jessica CAN feel it… so turn off the The Dogg already, neighbors!!!
Yeah, Facebook has become a staple in my life. I’m a little ashamed and little apathetic to the addiction. But, overall, I’m grateful for it. I’ve heard it said by many in the Nam27 group: I wonder, how did volunteer before us survive in the developing world without Facebook? … Hmm… maybe things weren’t as culturally complicated back then. Yeah, that must be it.
Saturday morning on my tiny piece of land in Africa means sleeping in until 7. This is the time that the one healthy rooster meanders towards my window and starts to crow at irregularly maddening intervals. 7 is also about the time my neighbor wanders out of his flat to start working on his car. I’m not sure what he’s doing to the car because for the 5 months I’ve been in this flat he’s been working on it like a religion and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better. I do like it though because he lets the boys in the hostel help him and that gives them something to do. Saturday also means that I get to hide in my flat until maybe 10 or 11. This is the approximate time the walls start to drive me crazy and I have to leave.
All that is to say, it’s Saturday! Outside the rooster is alternating its crows with some sort of mechanical banging and it’s all to the tune of adolescent boys getting in an argument about something. Oddly, the argument is in English. When people speak English, I assume its because its something I need to hear. But when they don’t know that I’m listening, it really confuses me. Maybe, this morning I woke up with a magical power to automatically understand all languages. Yes, I love Saturdays. Not as much as I love Sundays, though, but that’s a whole different story.
Yesterday was a very special days for me. But to understand why, I have to start on Thursday… Or maybe even Tuesday… but I only need to start on Tuesday because I’m a logical person and if I go out of order then I’ll forget what actually happened and spend a whole blog post talking about the price of avocados or something.
So, Tuesday, I finally made it home from Windhoek. They shipped me home on Monday but at sunset I still wasn’t home. So, I stayed the night in Outjo. Then Tuesday morning I traveled in true Namibian style – in a crammed bakkie, with all the luggage tied to the roof going approximately 70km/hour. Five hours after we left, we made it the 120km to Khorixas. School was finished by then, so it was like another vacation day.
Wednesday is usually a really easy day for me. I only have three classes that bookend the day – one in the morning and two at the end. But Wednesday morning the administration decided that the last two periods of the day would be canceled so the whole school could listen to the learners who were in the science fair present their projects. When the two grade 7 learners heard this they got really nervous and asked to be let out of class so they could practice. So, then my really easy Wednesday turned into listening to “Light from Above” presented 7 or 8 times. They were getting really good at it and could actually explain any part of the project.
When they actually presented to the school that afternoon, they did well. The English teacher offered to meet with the all three groups (grade 5, grade 6 and grade 7) after school to polish the projects. I really like him. He’s always volunteering for odd jobs – kind of a rarity. He also only responds in English at staff meeting no matter what language the question was asked in. Understandably, I would like him. Also a lower primary teacher offered to help. She was the teacher that coached all the beauty pageant contestants last week. She’s one of the young, hip teachers... I’m actually jealous of her cool clothes… and how clean they are… how does she do it? And, obviously invested, I volunteered to show up also.
Grade 5 had a nice project. It was on dental health and how to care for your teeth. It was well put together and had all the requirements. The two learners had the cute-factor too. The boy is adorable but, at 12 years old, would hate being described as such. 60% of the time he’ll run where he’s going but only on his tiptoes. His run looks like something Willie Coyote would do off a cliff and into mid-air. The girl is a little soft spoken but smiles a lot. They really just needed to work on speaking loudly.
Working with grade 6 was all about damage control. The kids had a poster and topic way beyond their skill level – Diabetes Mellitus type I and type II and all the medical gibberish that slow Namibian dial-up Internet could produce. This was coupled in disaster with the fact that the poster was poorly put together, the learners didn’t have any involvement whatsoever, there were spelling and grammar errors everywhere and there was absolutely zero linear logic in anything. One of the kids was actually put on the project that afternoon because she had a louder voice than the previous candidate. When we were working with them, I forced the two girls to abandon their poster and just explain the topic in 6th grade language. Meanwhile, my grade 7s undertook the poster to attempting to fix it. I also forced them to listen to me explain Diabetes in three or four different ways until they understood what they were saying. Gosh, they hated it – they thought Wednesday was going to be easy too.
And grade 7 was sparkling by the afternoon. They could tell about their project and results without even looking at their poster. I know this because I took their poster away and made them explain without it. Did I ever explain what their project was? We put out 5 different boxes covered in colored paper – black, white, blue, green, and red. Then we put thermometers in the boxes and left them in the sun. After an hour we checked the thermometers to see which box had the highest temperature. The black box was 45C. Blue and green were 42C. Red was 40C. And white was 35C. By Wednesday afternoon grade 7 even had theories about why blue and green were 2 degrees hotter than red. They could explain IR light and UV light. They could explain absorption and reflection. And they had a few examples of applications for such information. They were good and they knew it.
Thursday morning, we put the six kids in matching jerseys and packed them and their projects up into the other science teacher’s bakkie to take down to the youth hall near town. When we got down there, some Ministry of Education officers met us to explain that the fair was being postponed until the afternoon. They just forgot to tell our school. So we toted the learners and projects back to school. That afternoon, at 2:00, we toted everything back down there to set up the projects. Then they told us the judging wouldn’t start until 6. So, we set up the projects and toted all the learners back to school. Then at 5:45, we pulled the learners out of the dining hall; most of them still holding porridge in their hands, and toted them back down to the youth hall. By this time, I was getting really tired. It gets dark at about 5:30 and lately it’s been bitter cold in the shade and inside, especially at night. The kids were nervous and it was making me nervous too. But, my nervous energy was soon transformed into my patience-practicing energy when they informed me I would be a judge.
As a Kunene Regional Science Fair judge, the first obstacle you have to overcome is the judging form. This form is the worst form I have ever experienced. And I’m not even exaggerating. I cannot even explain the terribleness because explanations require reason and logic and this form had zero of either. But, after 45 minutes of debate, the 7 other judges and I finally came to an agreement on how to fairly use the numbers on the form. I was set loose to judge “Innovations and technology” and “Agriculture”. I suspected a little foul play when I noticed some judges giving marks to their learners but, sneaking peaks at my kids, I felt like they were doing ok on their own. Plus, I learned a lot from Innovations and Technology. I learned how to make a water heater from a soda can (small amounts of water – not enough for my bathtub. Bummer). I learned how to make a hair relaxer from burned aloe, how to make detergent from the sap of a tree, how to make glue from gasoline and Styrofoam and how to make a fun math game with circuits. It was really odd to strike so much fear in the kids when they saw me coming. All of them had really wide eyes when I would say; “tell me about your project”. It would take them a few seconds to say, “weeeeelll…” and start explaining. It turns out I was a really mean judge too. I didn’t know I was until I added all the numbers for Innovations and Technology. The highest score was 53 out of 100. Luckily, the kids all got two judges and, therefore, two scores. Judging Agriculture was also ok but there were only two projects. One was about chicken feed. I told the girl her board was cute and pointed to the spray paint on the background – it was yellow dots with little runs. I thought it was supposed to look like someone had thrown eggs at it. But the learner got embarrassed and apologized profusely. Oops, guess it wasn’t supposed to be and egged board. The second project was from Braunfels, the all-boys high school 30Km or so outside of Khorixas. It was about fertilizing soil with ants. It was really interesting and the kids had even collected an ant colony in an aquarium. The two grade 12 boys definitely had good marks in confidence. After I asked them to tell about their project, they talked for a good 7 or 8 minutes straight and only paused to make sure I was not confused by the difficult science they were explaining. Future tip: Don’t insult your judge’s intelligence… you know, I’m just sayin…
At the end of the night, the kids from my school all felt like they had done well. The grade 7s were asked how far the sun is from the earth and how fast light travels – two questions I feel are slightly irrelevant. The kids were kind of disappointed that they didn’t know the answer. I was happy though, because they remembered that they should know the answer from our section about the solar system in class. They were listening! Not remembering… but listening… half the battle, right? Anyway, we all finally made it home around 11:00. It was cold and the kids were locked out of the hostel. But in the end, we woke up enough people to get them in. The next morning, they told us to be at the hall at 9 am. It’s really hard to give up American habits because I made all the kids and the other science teacher leave the school at 8:45. We got to the hall and had to sit there for 2 hours before anything happened. I should have known. But it was a great opportunity to teach my six learners how to play Hangman. Though, I never realized how gruesome the whole premise really was until one of the grade 6 girls asked, why is it bad to hang a man?
The award ceremony started with the judges’ awards. I got a dictionary! And a picture with the mayor of Khorixas! Woo! The dictionary is maybe 150 pages long and is from USAID. It has a paragraph about George Bush on the back. I thought that was silly – American charity making its way all the way over here and into my hands. No fear, I’ll leave the USAID in the library when I leave. There were a lot of speeches and songs after that. This is when I realized that I was magical. I taught my learners how to trick their friends into believing their thumbs were detachable. I taught them how to make a squirming worm halfway underground with their two middle fingers. I taught them how to spin a pen around their thumb. And when I say, “taught”, I really mean, “showed them at least a hundred times and they still think it’s all magic”. It was entertaining because we got in trouble. We were fine until the boys started trying to spin a pen over their thumbs and the pens started flying into peoples’ heads. Luckily, the actual award giving saved us.
Everyone who entered the science fair got an award – certificates. Projects that score below 30 out of 100 got third place. Projects that scored between 30 and 50 got second. And projects that scored above 50 got first place and gets to go to the national science fair (remembering that 50% is a good grade here. 70% is stellar. And maybe one in a class of 38 will get an 80%). They called all the third place winners first. None of my learners were called. Then they called the second place winners. None of my learners were called. I thought, “Great. Just great. They forgot to print the certificates for my kids. So, now they think they’re going to national and then, they’re going to get nothing. This sucks…” Then they called the first place winners. All the names they were calling were from secondary and high schools. My heart was sinking for my kids. Then, they called our grade 5 learners. Our principal was on stage, she almost fell over I think. The kids just stared. Then, they called our grade 7 learners. The principal was giggling now. The kids were still just staring. Then, they called our grade 6 learners. The principal was shaking everyone’s hand. I was laughing. The kids were all still staring. They took a picture of all the first place winners. My grade 7s were standing next to the two tall grade 12 ant-boys from the all-boys school. My learners were still just staring. Someone had to tell them to move when it was time to come down from the stage. When our grade 7 boy came down from the stage he said with wide eyes, “Miss, I am in shock. I almost fell over. I need you to hold my certificate… I’m coming now…” (“I’m coming now” means “I’ll be right back”) and he walked straight out the back door. I have no idea where he went. He came back maybe ten minutes later and was still staring. I couldn’t help but laugh at him. Our grade 7 girl was beaming. She said, “Miss, all my dreams have come true! I’m going to take my certificate to my mother this afternoon” (her mother lives 4 or 5 km out of Khorixas). Then they gave an award to the highest scorer in every category. All of the awards for the tops scorers were books about math and science. Our grade 6 learners were called first. They were the only project in their category, “Medical Science”. But they hardly noticed that tiny detail – they were first! Then our grade 7 learners were called for “Physics”. It was a little difficult for them because they were still in shock from their first award. The other projects in the Physics category were all from secondary schools. The top scorer was called for “human sciences” but it was not our grade 5 learners. They were a few marks too short of the top scorer… who was in grade 10… just FYI…
At the end of the ceremony, one of my grade 6 learners came up to me and gave me a big hug. She said, “Thank you so much, miss! Thank you so much for helping us!” I thought maybe we were in some cheesy sports team movie where they win the big game at the end. It sure felt like that. They all didn’t want to ruin their awards so they gave them to me to hold. I had an armload of books and certificates walking out of the youth hall. Someone stopped us and explained that it appeared that Eddie Bowe had gotten just what it had come for. I said, we hadn’t. I said, we’re going to Windhoek to get that.
The kids were the school heroes when they got back to school. The other learners were giving them hugs and running up to hear the news. The hostel matrons gave them bread, jam and butter to eat. It was definitely a moment that they will never forget.
I am super excited about the national science fair. It is the first week of September. It should be interesting to travel with learners. But I did just spend two days straight with those six kids. They’re a great group and it should be fun to travel with them. I’m already trying to think of where I should take them in Windhoek. Maybe out for ice cream or to the sweets shop. I haven’t decided.
The rest of the afternoon, random kids were knocking on my kitchen door. When I would answer the door, they would beg me to detach my thumb, make a squirming worm from my middle fingers or spin a pen over my thumb. Luckily, I didn’t have to play a round of hangman with them. If you teach one, you have to teach them all.
I swear, this has to be one of those cheesy movies. Where are the cameras? Really.
July 16th
So, on the other end of the spectrum, two kids got in a fist fight in science class today. I asked the kids to bring in plants. I was going through the class taking down the names kids who brought in a plant. I turned around to the sound of a desk flying somewhere and saw a tall girl with a boy in a headlock hitting him. I just stood there. I didn’t just stand there because I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there because I had this feeling that any second the kids would magically realize how absurd they were and stop. But, as per usual in these parts, I was wrong. That poor boy just started losing more oxygen to his head. But, on the plus side, I had stood there long enough doing nothing that other kids in the class had already taken action and started pulling the two apart. I took them both outside and was about to practice some well needed mediation when something else was said or sworn and they were at it again… with me in the middle… and a rock… ugh. I feared for my head, as it is not so fond of baseball sized rocks in the hands of enraged 14 year old girls. When I stopped that bout, I took them to the principal’s office. On the way to the office, I tried to think what normal people do with kids who get in fist fights. And I tried to remember what people in America would do with kids who got in a fist fights. Luckily, the principle was there to answer some questions… Parents! We find parents! But, parents are a luxury that we didn’t seem to have. Well, I left them both there, bawling, and didn’t see them again until after school when they both sobbed an apology to me. Sheesh.
I just thought I would give you both sides though – science fair… fist fight… I can’t figure out what I feel about teaching here. So, I’m just going to focus on this being a pleasant cultural experience with new and interesting friends. Then, I’ll just gauge the worth and value later. And if that fails, I’ll still have my pumpkin bread, right?
July and August were the months that PC sent out invitations to come to Namibia last year. So, if we’re on the same timeline, the lucky winners will soon be getting a letter in the mail informing them that they have won a two-year vacation in Namibia. Namibia? Is that a disease? No, I think it’s near Morocco. Rick, is that you? Well, wherever it is, I’m living in a hut and slaughtering chickens for dinner every night – the real Africa!!
Fine print: Once accepted, this two year vacation comes complete with gray hairs, decreased sanity, increased water consumption and constantly dust-coated nostrils. Half of all participants’ feet increase in size due to calluses. Patience was shown to be tested in all winners. Increased awareness of skin color, language usage, monetary habits and fuel efficiency was noticed in most candidates. 97% chance of sunburn. 110% chance of homesickness. All candidates were showing an increasing in the using of the ending “-ing” in day-to-day speech patterns. 3 out of 70 had to discontinue use of this vacation before completion.
If they’re normal people, they’re probably searching the web for any answers they can scrounge. You have to look online because the Peace Corps doesn’t tell you anything. At first, you think that they don’t tell you anything because they’re maliciously forcing you to be a braver person. But later, you realize that they aren’t telling you things because they can’t. They can’t even insure that you get a ride to site. They can’t guarantee that you’re even going to have a place to stay when you get to site (though, disclaimer, we know they try). And then, even later, you start to realize that all those complications and gaps in information don’t really have anything to do with the Peace Corps and have more to do with the fact that you’re moving to Africa and if you want details (Can I bring my hair dryer? Will there be seatbelts? So, does “business casual” mean khaki pants or my ruffle skirt?) You’re on the wrong continent. And, in the very end, you finally realize that the details don’t matter at all – I’m always wrong anyway and nothing I brought from America is really that life-changing... except my Ipod… and computer…
So, really, all this is to say, if you’re an invitee and you stumbled here: Booga dee Booga dee booga dee boooo! Namibia is scary!!
Ok, not really. It’s pretty great. The worst part is getting on the plane when mom and dad are sad-waving from the other side of security and you’ve got crocodile tears coming down your face and the man you’re sitting next to on the plane seems to think you’re in some sort of condition to carry on a conversation about baseball. I don’t care about baseball! My life: upside-down! What part of sobbing do you not understand?
But just focus on the Africa being cool part. And think of all that character you’re going to build. Nothing says, “I’m awesome” like character. So, like a band-aid… just do it. See you here in about 4 months.
28 July 2008
I think it’s been implied that I’m addicted to Facebook Mobile. Facebook Mobile is great for a whole lot of reasons. It’s much cheaper than text messaging here, it’s reliable and it’s possibly the most brilliant way to stay sane while questioning and metaphorically head butting the whole perception of one’s own as well as a plethora of foreign cultures… Um, what I mean to say is, when I’m stuck in a meeting that is just so “Namibian” or in the midst of a purely Damara argument that makes me really feel as though I stick out like Tupperware in a china hutch, Facebook is where I turn. It’s a distraction. It’s a connection. It’s a calm moment of familiarity. It’s a coping mechanism.
What can I say? I’m addicted. But I justify this addiction because I know, out there, in this tiny country, in the midst of the other 2 million residing here, are other volunteers who have morphed Facebook so completely into their life, the phone has become permanently attached to their thumb. For those who I am Friends with… not friends, but Friends… you know that I change my status every other day, on slow days. My Friends know it usually takes less than 24 hours to get a response to a wall post (quite the record time for communication from me, I would say). But, I justify this because I know that I will make it through Facebook Mobile rehab with flying colors when this is all over.
There are ramifications to this addiction though. For instance, Tango. Tango is what the phone minutes are called here for my phone company, MTC – Make the Connection. It’s kind of fun to be able to say “Tango?” to a street vendor who doesn’t speak English. Who will, in turn reply, “MTC?”. Which is your cue to say “Mmm” while nodding your head yes and holding up 1, 2 or 3 fingers to show how many ten minute units you would like to buy. It’s a universal language… but only in Namibia…
But, the most serious ramification of this addiction comes in my evaluation of day-to-day events. This is how you know your addiction is serious: When something happens in my life, I have a tendency to make it a Facebook status in my head. And all these status updates seem fine and dandy. But then I realize that I’m thinking in status updates. Which, somehow, makes all of my thoughts in third person… Which, somehow, is really weird. But, Lucky for us,
Jessica is becoming a whiz at justification.
So, I justify that: generally, the possibility of sharing the situation I’m in makes me feel better. Sometimes it makes me feel better because I can make light of an absurd circumstance:
Jessica is staring down the cow head in the kitchen sink
Jessica is standing in Lake Khorixas... A.k.a. her kitchen floor. Plumber?
Jessica is trapped in her house by a herd of goats with crazy eyes. Um, Heeelp!
Jessica is Ice Skating on the library floor wax. The school inspector’s coming - Clean everything!!!!
Jessica, after further analysis and observation by tiny tot experts, is actually more of a pink color than white. Hmmm.
And sometimes it makes me feel better because I can voice my concerns and emotions knowing that someone will listen and understand:
Jessica just wants to go home-home.
Jessica keeps forgetting to breathe.
Jessica needs a hug.
And sometimes it makes me feel better because I can just share the mundane facts about my life that make me feel connected to others:
Jessica is watching MASH MASH MASH – anyone got some potatoes.
Jessica is a baking whiz. Somebody stop me… I mean her…
Jessica is a camel.
Jessica CAN feel it… so turn off the The Dogg already, neighbors!!!
Yeah, Facebook has become a staple in my life. I’m a little ashamed and little apathetic to the addiction. But, overall, I’m grateful for it. I’ve heard it said by many in the Nam27 group: I wonder, how did volunteer before us survive in the developing world without Facebook? … Hmm… maybe things weren’t as culturally complicated back then. Yeah, that must be it.
July 31, 2008
Look what I did! I made it to August! I’ve got this Peace Corps thing down! I’m amazing - Just ask me, I’ll tell you so.
At the end of August Nam26 is having their COS (close of service) conference. After that they start trickling home as they finish their assignments. I guess that means now is the time to tell you that Namibia volunteers usually have a shorter service period than other countries. It’s just the way it works with schools. It would be kind of odd to stick around through the first month of your third year of school before you went home. Final exams are a good time to make the clean break. If I stay for two school years it’s about 23 months of service plus 2 months of training making 25 months in total. Peace Corps service is defined as 27 month though. So really, it just means in the world of volunteers, we’re a little wimpier than others. But, generally, I feel ok with that.
Today was the first day of exams for term two. I feel a little more upbeat about exams this time around because I have a better idea of what’s going on. For instance, I know that I’m responsible for binding (stapling) and sorting all my own exams (Natural Science and Math) – we have a copier but it is ancient. That is to say, copiers that can collate, staple, sort, print in color, magnify, reduce, touch screen… not break every third day… are approximately 11 generations newer than our copier. But that’s not to say we don’t love it. After binding all my tests, I felt a wave of generosity come over me and I bound three more random tests. At the end of yesterday, my binding hand was beginning to look like someone trying to play A-flat on an air guitar. But, in the end it’s ok because I use the other hand for marking – which is what I’ll spend the rest of exams doing. With the exceptions of the times I’m invigilating. During these exams I’m also more prepared because I know I will be called upon to invigilate in the stead of other teachers. And, I’m more prepared because I know invigilate isn’t a dirty word. And because I know invigilating is boring.
Anyway, today was the first exam for grades 5 through 7. My grade 6 kids took their first math exam. Their second math exam is a week from Tuesday. I’m thankful that there is so much time between the two tests because we need all the time we can get. I just finished marking the exams from today… highest score 18/30 (belonging to one of my brightest girls, Uazundaije. I knew I had become a better person when I could say her name without thinking for a few seconds first. She’s adorably short with freckles that belong painted on the face of someone headed for a hoedown). Not bad score, all things considered. Next highest score? 13/30. Average score? 6/30. Ugh. I’m not taking it too personally because the kids I don’t teach performed equally as… somehow. And, I was happy to see that most of them were actually trying instead of just writing any words and numbers they could read on the classroom walls (a very very common occurance – it’s the main reason to erase the board before a test. Otherwise, you’ll get random words for answers. It’s not uncommon to get “welcome to classroom 5B!” for an answer on a question about circuits… Some kids just can’t read – one of the many reasons two years is just not enough time. I could tell they were trying because there was some kind of logic in their answers. Unfortunately, where they possessed logic, they severely lacked in skill. But, I was also pleased to see that nearly all of my learners have improved in their long division skills. We do at least two long division problems together everyday in class. I like long division because it makes you practice subtraction and multiplication at the same time. And I like it because you have to follow the same pattern every time. Patterns tend to be foreign to my learners, so anything I can do to force step 1… step 2… step 3… step 4… makes me feel better about the general state of my learners.
Natural science for my grade 7 classes is next week Wednesday. I feel like there’s no hope for them. I love working with my learners, I do… Well, most of them… The others I love the challenge they present. But the lack of hope has nothing to do with them. The exam is, yet again, awful. Awful. Yesterday, when we were all sitting around in the staff room strategizing about exams, one of the other teachers clued me in to why the Khorixas cluster science exams are so terrible. He said, “I’m sorry, dear, to be the one to tell you but some of these teachers are lazy. They’ll just take questions from old exams without checking them first.” It sounds like an ok idea but the questions weren’t good the first time around. And they’re even worse this time around… for a lot of reasons… but mostly because the syllabus changed 2 years ago!
Luckily, I’ve mellowed a little since first term. This term, I spent my review time just going over things we learned during term two. Last term I spent a huge amount of time teaching new things that had randomly appeared on the test. I felt like it would help them get better scores on their exams. Since then, I’ve realized it’s probably better to just review and let the chips fall. The kids will be ok because, even though all of Khorixas has to write the same exam, I’m allowed to curve the scores before I put them into the report cards.
Which brings me back to the main reason a curve will be needed on this exam. There are questions on the exam that I’m not supposed to teach until term 3. There are questions on the exam that I’m not even supposed to teach. And then there are questions on the exam that are just… well, they’re just… well, just let me show you:
Khorixas School Cluster Exam
Term 2 – 2008
Natural Science
Grade 7
1. We can purify water from germs if we _____________.
a. Litter it b. Boil it c. Decanting it d. Drop it
2. Identify the following animal
a. Crab b. Kelp c. fish d. Salamandar
3. Mention the habitat of the animal mentioned above.
a. Trough b. Water c. Kraal d. Camp
4. Study the following diagram and answer question 1.6
a. Trough b. Water c. Kraal d. Camp
4. Study the following diagram and answer question 1.6
5. Which organism is a producer
a. Grass b. Zebra c. lion d. Atoms consist of protons, neutrons and ____________
a. Mars b. Oxygen c. Nitrogen d. Elections
24. Explain how you can separate sand and water mixture. Name the only process you can use
__________________________
25. Construct a food chain of a Jackal.
26. Similarities of Earth and Mass is
Total: 60 Marks
There were a lot more questions but you get the idea. I did proof read above and there’s nothing wrong with the way I typed it. Yes, an atom does consist of Protons, Neutrons and Elections. 13, 14 and 15 year olds do have to identify a picture of a fish and know that it lives in water. No, question number 4 doesn’t have a question. Yes, the planet Earth and the Planet Mass is very similar. I can think of two ways to separate sand and water. Who knows the food chain of a jackal right off the top of their head? Because I don’t. And I didn’t teach it. And, Yes, we did jump from number 5 to number 24.
So, as becoming tradition, we do the best that we can do. We accept what we have and make it work. The kids are excellent at this. I am new to it. Some call it being passive. I call it a new talent.
14-8-08
I’m in Windhoek again. And I just saw The Dark Knight. And I ate Kiwi today. Hmm. It’s good.
A lot of our group is in Windhoek this month because it’s time for Mid-service medical exams. Honestly, the exams are a bit of a pain but it’s really nice to see a bunch of familiar faces.
To come to medical I had to dodge out of the last week of school. My learners finished taking their exams on Tuesday though. I hurried and got all of my paper work in before I traveled to the big city. As it turns out, Natural Science was ok. The kids pointed out some of the weird things about the test though.
Next week, I’m leaving Windhoek and traveling down to Capetown in South Africa. I am so excited about it. A new country! A new city! Should be great.
a. Grass b. Zebra c. lion d. Atoms consist of protons, neutrons and ____________
a. Mars b. Oxygen c. Nitrogen d. Elections
24. Explain how you can separate sand and water mixture. Name the only process you can use
__________________________
25. Construct a food chain of a Jackal.
26. Similarities of Earth and Mass is
Total: 60 Marks
There were a lot more questions but you get the idea. I did proof read above and there’s nothing wrong with the way I typed it. Yes, an atom does consist of Protons, Neutrons and Elections. 13, 14 and 15 year olds do have to identify a picture of a fish and know that it lives in water. No, question number 4 doesn’t have a question. Yes, the planet Earth and the Planet Mass is very similar. I can think of two ways to separate sand and water. Who knows the food chain of a jackal right off the top of their head? Because I don’t. And I didn’t teach it. And, Yes, we did jump from number 5 to number 24.
So, as becoming tradition, we do the best that we can do. We accept what we have and make it work. The kids are excellent at this. I am new to it. Some call it being passive. I call it a new talent.
14-8-08
I’m in Windhoek again. And I just saw The Dark Knight. And I ate Kiwi today. Hmm. It’s good.
A lot of our group is in Windhoek this month because it’s time for Mid-service medical exams. Honestly, the exams are a bit of a pain but it’s really nice to see a bunch of familiar faces.
To come to medical I had to dodge out of the last week of school. My learners finished taking their exams on Tuesday though. I hurried and got all of my paper work in before I traveled to the big city. As it turns out, Natural Science was ok. The kids pointed out some of the weird things about the test though.
Next week, I’m leaving Windhoek and traveling down to Capetown in South Africa. I am so excited about it. A new country! A new city! Should be great.
