My New Life

Things I Said That I Never Thought I Would:
“Hey, get that live frog out of your mouth.”
“You cannot eat worms in my class. Give me that box of dead, cooked worms. If anyone eats another one, you’re getting detention.”

Integrating?
These few months have passed, and I feel very distant from the community, besides of course the teachers and my students. So, I’ve devised a plan to integrate:
Attend Church. Actually I don’t mind it because there is a lot of singing and they translate the sermon into English for me and the Ovambos. Hasn’t really been working. Nobody talks to me except for the kids.
Learn Khoekhoe. 2 kids volunteered to teach me some words. I’m still looking for a KKG grammar book. If I get that, I’ll be set. Really language is posing a barrier to integration, that's for sure.
Visit the parents of my kids. Actually I’ve really enjoyed visiting the farms where some of the employed parents work. Below are some tales from the farms.
Secondary projects I’ll start in May. Dance club, Health and Environmental Club, Hiking Club

Farm Visits
New Post. Two white people own all the businesses, animals, etc, and employ 40 black people in a weavery. They make karakul sheep wool rugs for export to Europe and the US. The website of the company is www.ibenstein-weavers.com.na and the rugs look pretty nice. Most of the people who work there are parents of my students. I also met the white couple—they were super nice to me, but didn’t even acknowledge the kids I was with.
Things I learnt from the kids on the New Post trip:
There are two ghosts on the road at night. I shouldn’t walk there.
There is a mean baboon who only has 3 legs who will attack and kill me if I go farther than New Post by myself.
My 12 and 13 year old kids kill full-sized Kudus (think horse size). With rocks. And sometimes bows and arrows. They also kill wild birds with slingshots.
Farm kids are doing well. Actually most of them are the best students. I think it is because they live with their parents, and their parents are employed (and alive).
Trips like this are a perfect antidote to the endless “sit down” and “be quiets” in class. You would marvel to see how they blossom when they are in their own territory. Just funny, because that’s what I imagined Peace Corps was about: me walking though the kalahari desert hand in hand with a bunch of shoe-less african children (The farm kids have shoes, they just don’t wear them. I mean really, I wear shoes, but my feet are still gross or wet when I take them off, so what’s the point?). I am feeling Jesus-like.
2nd Farm Trip: Ibenstein.
This one was a bit different. First, there were at least 30 kids, whereas before there were only 10. Second, we had to ask permission to the white people to go in their land. It was awkward. Third, all the kids got in trouble for swimming in a water hole. Fourth, apparently they raise ostriches, because they were EVERYWHERE. It was neat, but the kids kept their distance, so I did too. They may walk around barefoot but they know when to keep their distance and to avoid tall grass. It was a weird trip overall, but the kids still enjoyed it.
Trip to the top of the mountain. I went with two learners to the top of a small mountain outside of Dordabis. The views were nice, but the climb was LOOONG. I think they are my new hiking buddies.

My Friend
Found a scorpion in my house. That’s a first. It was big and yellow. Swept it outside and called a neighbor to kill it. Turns out according to my handy dandy guide to scorpions and spiders it is the most poisonous one in southern africa, causing a handful of deaths each year. You know, if scorpions are the alternative, I can fall in love with my cockroaches.

Guilt and Temptation
I feel guilty kind of for not spending much time with the teachers. Some teachers have even said that I should spend more time with them outside of class. Here’s the issue. They say they want to practice English, but I am there every day at school in the morning or at Tea break, and they basically don’t talk to me at all. I would join in the conversation if they would talk in English but they don’t. At other times when I have spent time with them, they still revert back to Afrikaan and KKG, while I sit there in my own thoughts. When they are talking English, they are always pointing out how different I am—its more like talking about me while I’m present. So really its just awkward. I’d rather spend time with the learners.
Temptation—that’s the problem with Peace Corps. We’re up to 3 Early terminations now, that I know about. Could be more. Because its volunteer work, you can leave any time, no penalties, besides not being able to say you completed a 2 year term. With school, you get a degree at the end. With Peace Corps you get the achivement of having lived in Africa for 2 years. It’s really a problem. I knew I was taking a chance coming to Africa. And it hasn’t been for nothing. I’m happy that I’m here, but I love Spanish and Latin America more, and I’m losing the language FAST. And I’m not picking up KKG either, soooo. Its really tempting to transfer to Latin America, but the thought of abandoning these children creates too much guilt for me. Not yet. One thing is for sure—I am not cut out to be an Elementary teacher long term.