Adventures in Namibia: Lazy Weekend & Back to School

     We had our first weekend home (aka at Casa Blanca) this weekend, and we loved it! It was great just to stay in and relax for a few days. As much as the adventures we have gone on over the last several weekends have been fabulous, and I would never change any of them, I definitely was in the mood for a weekend of nothingness.

     That being said, Friday night consisted of most of the group napping, a lot of blogging/going through pictures, pizza and card games. It was fun just hanging out with all the girls and having a night in. Saturday I had the opportunity to skype several of my friends and family, and then I took a nice, long nap while a couple of the girls went out shopping. The rest of the day we all just sort of did a big room-to-room shuffle and socialized with each other. Sunday was almost identical, consisting of sleeping in, naps, pool time, and some planning. We have had a huge rain streak here, so some of the girls took huge advantage of the few hours of sunshine. However, they took in a few too many rays, and several of them are now pretty red. We also got to skype Katee, our groupmate that left us with Jan and Paula, and Jan for a while, which was GREAT! We made a store run for typical college lunch/dinner (aka Janelle and I found Namibian Top Ramen) and just enjoyed the day.

     With the relaxing weekend behind us, we went back to the normal schedule of school today. None of us were too excited to wake up early again, but it was beneficial on this occassion as I got to watch the play-by-play score for the last minute and a half of the Super Bowl. :) I was pretty excited to see the final score having the Steelers on the losing end. It definitely got my day off to a great start!

     On arrival to school, the Steenkamp crew socialized with our typical morning group of learners, which has now grown even more. We talked about their weekends and took some pictures. During this time, one of the girls informed me that she would be gone on Wednesday, but that her friends would still talk to me in the morning because she told them they had to. I then asked her why, and she said she had to go to the doctor. I told her that if she didn't feel good she should go home. In response, she told me that she was always sick because she had HIV. She said that she was just going to make sure it wasn't worse. This broke my heart. I tried to respond calmly and without prying and told her I would miss her that morning and that I would be excited to see her Thursday, but for the rest of the day she kept coming to mind. I guess the fact that she could just say it in such a factual way, without being upset or shy about the issue, caught me off guard. Also, the fact that this precious, little, bundle of joy was fighting such a horrible disease was not something I was expecting. Later on, during break, she was one of the learners who was, once again, chatting with me. A few of the learners mentioned what they wanted to be when they grew up, and her statement was, "If I grow up, I want to be a doctor, so I can help anyone and everyone who gets sick". Once again, such a poweful statement from such a little girl, starting with the very first word.
     After our before school chat session, we headed off to the normal assembly, which today lasted a little over an hour. As the learners all stand in 'straight' lines for the whole duration, I am surprised that they can even pay attention for as long as they do. It takes a lot of effort and focus on my part to listen and not talk to the teachers around me for the duration of the assembly, so as they begin to fidget and chat since they cannot see past all the learers, I wasn't too surprised. During this assembly they officially named all the prefects, class captains, and the headgirl and headboy. I couldn't help but think of Harry Potter as this happened. :)

     Post-assembly I had my 6A English class. We barely talked about a title, how to create one for their books, and start decorating their book cover before the period ended. That being said, they were all pretty attentive and excited to come back to my class to work more on their books later that day. I then had my 7B class, which the teacher came to today. Zacharrius, one of the boys in the class, drew me a Namibian flag and gave it to me, and it is FABULOUS! I absolutely love it. I then watched as the whole double period block was filled with them correcting their own work, being told how to fill out their new homework books, and pasting a graph and comprehension questions into the exercise books. When discussing various terms in the assignment, a question on how to spell a word came up. Although we were having class in the library that day, there were how many dictionaries? None. Not one in the library. That being said, Jessica I think is going to donate the one whe brought to the school.

     We then had break, which meant a few minutes for me to guzzle down some coffee and scarf down a sandwich before going out to see the kiddos. I taught them all how to make some great goofy faces, which I am sure the other teachers will definitely appreciate. Zaccharius also approached me at the end of break with a flower that he picked for me. I thanked him, and sent him off to class. I then had a break period, which lead to a great conversation about Namibian Education, technology, teacher programs, and jobs and how they differ or are similar to America's. It was a great conversation which started with one teacher, and expanded to several in the staff room.

     I then got to teach my 6A class again, which was once again a great time. They are having a lot of fun making their book covers, and we discussed how to write a book summary, which they also began to work on in class. I then headed over to teach some math to 5D...and oh, what a shift in my day. The last 3 days of the previous week seemed so long ago as I approached my 'line' of learners, which in reality was a line of girls and mobs of boys fighitng. This lead to the girls entering class and beginning to work together to solve the problems on the board while I had a heart to heart about fighting with the boys.

     Despite the discussion about fighting, which then at least somewhat stopped inside my classroom onc they entered, in the following 40 minutes we got through 3 problems. Yes, THREE. That tells you how great the period turned out. Granted, it was a Monday and the 8th period of the day...but, really?! We once again had a talk about repect and behavior in my classroom. However, after a little chat with Jill and Paula last week, I tacked on a little something to the end. I talked about how tomorrow was a brand new day. That although the choices they made today were not good ones, and they were ones that stopped their own learners and others around them, that tomorrow they started new. I would not enter class mad at them. I would not 'punish' them tomorrow for their behavior today. Today was done, and tomorrow meant that they, once again, had the option to make choices and that those choices determine what they learn and how they learn. As they exited, I once again got many hugs, a lot of apologies, and a kiss on the cheek. This learner was pulled to the side briefly to discuss that this was not okay, and then I sent them off to face the rain on their way home.

     The rest of our evening has now consisted of planning, a brief enjoyment of sunshine, and delivery chinese food. Although the noodles aren't like the ones at home, it was definitely nice to just stay in and eat without having to go to the store. Another positive is the leftovers I will be eating tomorrow. The "Sound of Music" will now be accompanying Jill, Janelle and I as we finish planning for tomorrow. :)