February 20

Its going on a month worth of writing that I am going to post today. I spent the weekend with three PCVs which was a much needed opportunity to talk with other teachers who are dealing with the same stuff. It looks like I might trade my 3 sections of grade 8 physical science for 2 sections of grade 10 physical science. That would reduce my load of periods from 39 to 34 per cycle, but it would add the stress of my kids being tested in six months. The teacher who has the grade 10 right now is pretty and his specialty is Life Science so he isn't particularly comfortable with Physical Science. It will be a lot of work to get the grade 10 kids ready for the exam but I like the grade 10 syllabus a lot more than the grade 8 syllabus. Once they get to grade 10 they actually do a few things quantitatively and it feels like real chemistry and real physics instead of a completely conceptual version. The math will be a problem I'm sure, but the grade 10 kids have been studying hard so far this year. They seem to be taking things pretty seriously such that I think they will respond pretty well to me giving them a lot of work.

The real story is about how the under 13 track meet had some impressive performances. In the 1500 the winning boy ran 5:00 (1:16 - 400, 2:38 - 800) on a sand track without shoes. I was in charge of discus so I missed some of the sprints, but luckily no one got killed by a disc although we had one really close call. Remember this is a sand track so forget about a discus cage. I was surprised that there was a curb around the infield of the track. My favorite race of the day was the 800. A girl from my school ran the first lap in 80 seconds in a distant fourth place, and then my instincts took over. I could tell she was in good position because the front three had come through in 76, I sprinted across the infield and told my girl to pass the two that had fallen back from the leader at the 600 meter point, which she did, then coming onto the homestretch I yelled for her again and she finished very strong pulling away from third into a solid second place in 2:52. She was exhausted, but we got a good picture after the race. This girl is one that always smiles at me when I walk from my house, past the girls hostel, to the classrooms. The boys 800 was almost a repeat except that the boy from my school started well back in the pack, moved up on his first trip up the homestretch, I told him to pass two boys on the backstretch then he finished well in third place. The same boy that won the 1500 won the 800 in 2:26. On a sand track. No shoes.

The races were on Saturday but the other PCVs were staying Saturday night so I decided I would stay also. The teachers that drove us to the track meet thought that I would be able to find a hike home, and they were eager to get back to watch a soccer match so they left me behind to go the coaches meeting and hang out with my friends. It was great to see the others and hear about their schools and other PCVs around Namibia. Then Sunday morning came, no hike, afternoon, no hike, ask everyone in town that has a car if they are driving anywhere, no hike. When the teachers left me behind they told me if I couldn't find a hike I should just call and someone would come collect me because its not that far, but I couldn't get a hold of anyone on the phone. I tried several numbers but couldn't get through, this is normal for the phones here. Finally I talked to a teacher who informed me that none of the ones who have cars were around so I should just stay the night and get a hike on Monday. Whatever, I was fine with relaxing and missing a day of school, but after some tacos and a pizza another guy came along that offered to drive me home, for a small fee. I was tempted to say no thanks, but my bed is more comfortable than the floor and I wasn't planning to stay one night so I didn't bring any clothes. Two nights was going to be pushing it even though I washed my shirt. I made it back home at about 8:30 after nearly hitting several cattle and enjoying a fantastic sunset.