Blocked Extra Point in Overtime!

16 Sept - I will not deny that I am a homebody. As nice as it was to be around Windhoek for the better part of a month, I am glad to be back in Coblenz. The main trouble with being in Windhoek is that there isn't that much to do, and even if the city had more to offer I couldn't afford to partake in much. Peace Corps did help some since I was there so long on account of a medical problem, but frugality is still essential. The best entertainment value is unquestionably found at the miniature golf course. Half-price movie night is also a winner, but not when the current showings are undesirable or previously viewed thanks to bootleg copies from Malta. Windhoek's Chinatown got raided last month so the only new DVDs came from Europe. Anyway, after my triumph in the 100 hole marathon I returned to the same site and rolled a blistering 37. Out in 16, In in 21. Lots of twos, three aces, two 3s and a 4 on 17, the water hole that I have never done so poorly on. I remember one phenomenal round in Tulsa a couple years back but I believe that this is the best round of putt-putt in my entire life. The key is that the felt on this course is old, so you controlling the speed of the ball is of utmost importance. I recommend putting cross-hand, I gave up on my typical left-handed approach to putt-putt and was paid off well. Truly the best part of being in Windhoek is being able to go out for nice meals. I can't afford to eat out every meal but I did enjoy a delicious Ethiopian meal, all-you-can eat pizza night, fish and chips and ice cream from a little Italian restaurant. Another perk is that the hotel that I stayed at has a washing machine and satellite TV in each room. Now packing involves consideration of the weather, and which clothes are most in need of a machine wash. And I got to watch Monday Night Football on Tuesday evening.

 

After travelling all day Friday I turned in early so that this evening (Saturday) I could supervise Joaquin Phoenix night. I showed the kids Ladder 49 and The Village; no fighting but hopefully they'll get scared during The Village. Next week will be busy preparing the grade 10s for their exams and completing official paperwork for the ministry on their grades for the year. Oral exams for languages start Monday, their farewell party is Friday evening and Saturday they'll go to Waterberg Plateau Park to hike and swim. The following week we'll have an awards assembly for the school and the beginning of November we'll have the 50th  anniversary celebration that was scheduled, but not planned, for June.

 

 

28 September – Another month has slipped away. And this weekend is one for the kids to go home, visit their parents and come back late with pocket money. Most days now the focus of peoples' attention around the school is on how the grade 10 kids are not particularly serious about their upcoming exams. I wonder how useful it is to berate them every day, but hopefully it will pay back a nice dividend. This week I had them write out the school they attended from grade 5 – 10 also noting when they spent two years in a grade. I haven't produced a full analysis yet but its interesting to see the variety of backgrounds that these kids come from. My hypothesis is that within this small sample of kids there won't be any significant difference between kids that spent 1 year at Coblenz or every year from grade 1. When the results of their exams come in December then we'll see if there are any interesting trends. Since many of our kids won't pass grade 10 they have a Farewell Party in place of a graduation party. With the now expected last minute flair, the evening came off pretty well. I wasn't feeling well (ear) the days prior so I wasn't involved much with the planning but I was on duty the whole evening as the resident photographer. I number of the kids were barely recognizable dressed up in black and white as I took their photos coming in the door. There were too many speeches, a lot of down time waiting for things to happen and the teachers dashed for the door as soon as they got their food, but it was a good night. At least at the beginning there was that energy, the magic in the air that you associate with a special occasion. After the formalities were over I fulfilled my promise to take photos of the kids for my usual fee and by the end of the night I had grossed over N$300. Together with the other photos I have taken for kids these weeks I will be printing over 100 pictures next time I get to town. At the latest I plan to upload some new pictures at the end of October when I am back at the doctor for a check-up on my ear.

 

My project right now is reorganizing the library. I have wanted to move things around for a long time because the focus of the whole room is the television, which doesn't make sense when the books should be pre-eminent. Redecorating seemed like a waste of energy though so I left it alone. Then through a fortuitous family connection the school was given more two computers. The current arrangement for the computers is very rigid, so there is no simple way to integrate the new machines into the existing scheme. Now I've got a reason to start the project, but I refuse to do it by myself. It would be too easy to make it happen with on my own and I see this as a possible bridge toward another teacher taking over some duties in the library. Over a week after announcing the situation to the faculty during a morning meeting I have yet to have a serious offer to help with the project. My next move is to explain in more depth to the principal including the notion of sustainability that is unapparent in anyone's plans for the library. A simple project to rearrange some furniture could be the link I have been looking for to get out of the role of the school librarian. I like working in the library, but during the two weeks I was gone from school this term the library remained closed the entire time. I doubt anyone even thought about letting the kids in to read and that is the biggest issue. Everyone knows and talks about how reading is a huge problem for our kids but no one seems willing to do anything about the greatest hindrance to improving the educational standard of the school. Fundamentally, this school needs a lot of fresh blood on the teaching staff. We will have a new principal within the next couple years, but still the vast majority of the teachers have been here for more than a decade and are stuck in a rut too deep to climb out of.

Ear Troubles + Educational Tour

Here is the quick ear update before I head for the hike point. Four weeks ago I got a blister in my left ear with an infection as well. Two rounds of antibiotics, a paperclip and two weeks and I wasn't getting better. ENT specialist got rid of the blister, the infection had cleared up and everything seemed fine. Two days after returning to site my right ear feels infected. I arranged to see the specialist again on Wednesday during the tour and he gave me some more antibiotics and a bunch of other medicine. By Saturday I was back in town, half done with the antibiotics and no improvement. So the next step was to get a CT scan done on my sinuses and see the ENT again. Got the scan on Wednesday, saw the doctor Thursday morning and learned that I have a retention cyst in my ear next to the eustachian tube. The cyst is jamming things up so fluid can't drain hence the plugged up feeling. The cyst was obvious on the scan and I also got to see it via the camera the doctor shoved up my nose. That wasn't nearly as bad as the paperclip in the ear. He said this is probably caused by a virus that is not so common in the States but very common around here. After I finished with that doctor I went to have some blood drawn so pretty soon it should be confirmed if the virus is present in my system. In the meantime I've got more medicine, an antihistimine and a nasal spray to try and deal with that cyst. I am due back at the doctor on Halloween for a checkup, but in between I am heading back to school cause my grade 10 kids start exams in two weeks, physical science is Oct. 13. I'm feeling fine, ear feels blocked but isn't usually painful. Hopefully it will all clear up and maybe a few kids will be able to pass their physical science exam. Next is a rambling account of my time on the tour with the grade 7 kids. I starred the best part.

 

 

Since I'm spending a week in Windhoek waiting to see doctors, it seemed like a good time to describe the educational tour I went on last week. The planning for the tour started several months ago, but a week before we were scheduled to depart the government decided that we couldn't use the bus we had been promised because they needed it the next week. Apparently before the gov't will use a bus it has to be around for a week to be serviced which I still don't understand because you would think that the bus would be serviced before they gave it to us anyway. After exhausting every possible solution we decided to postpone the tour and ask for permission to take the kids during the first week of school, we would be gone Tuesday to Sunday. You have to understand that nothing, I repeat nothing, of any educational value happens during the first week of school but the regional inspector said that we were not allowed to go. Of course everyone was out of the office during the two week term break so we didn't get this news until the Monday prior to our new departure, but someone in the Ministry intervened on our behalf so at 8pm on Monday a kid comes to me and says that we are leaving tomorrow. It seemed odd so I went to find the teacher that was organizing everything to see what was going on and in fact the bus would be here in the morning. You notice that even though this information the organizing teacher made no effort to inform me directly. So Tuesday morning comes around, I had heard maybe we would leave by 8am which I knew was unrealistic and the bus arrived at 11am. You might think that we had used all that time to prepare, but no. We finally left the school at 1:15 with about four hours of normal driving to reach our destination for the night. It took two hours to cover the first stretch that should take one and then we stopped on the side of the road and everybody started getting out of the bus. This seemed strange to me and since no one bothered to tell me what was going on I just stayed put and read my book. We avoided a full blown conflict but I made it known that I expected to be told when things were happening and not just commanded to come take pictures. By 6:30 we arrived at the town where we were staying the night, but due to the schedule change and an utter lack of planning our accomodation was at a small house so 25 boys slept in the garage while 25 girls slept in two small sitting rooms. Not quiet what I would consider acceptable but I wasn't in charge.

The second day of the tour was the best day. Our first activity was a visit to the parliament, which unfortunately was out of session. But the kids got a little explanation of how things work while they sat at the desks used by the MPs in the chamber. Each desk was equiped with a high tech device like they have at the UN so the different MPs can hear the debate through translation along side their nametags made of a folded piece of copy paper. And since when do the Tigers have a record comparable to the Yankees? Anyway, we got to see both houses of the Parliament and then our tour at the Coca-Cola bottling plant was cancelled. So what are we going to do? Ummm... I suggest we get lunch since its noon and then go to the Heroes' Acre (small scale Arlington) so instead we go downtown to take the kids to the mall. I think this is a terrible idea, 50 7th graders, some that were afraid to look over the city lights in Okahandja (pop. about 10000) the previous evening. So we split the kids into two groups and four adults start herding 30 kids toward the shops leaving the others to stay on the bus and wait. The escalator on the way in caused a minor stir but everyone seemed to be doing fine so since I was bringing up the rear I grabbed the last straggling little boy and took off up the moving stairs. This little guy was downright terrified, he latched onto me for dear life... clearly I underestimated the trauma that could be inflicted by his first trip up an escalator. We got off fine and set off to Pep, a discount shop available in every town in Namibia. At this point the organizing teacher left the group because she had some personal business to attend to and the other accompanying teacher left to drop off his young daughter in the location. This left me and another woman that doesn't speak English to supervise 30 kids in the mall downtown. I'm not pleased with the developments and I'm hungry and I have an appointment to see the doctor in a couple hours. We didn't lose any kids, the same boy refused to go down the escalator and when we got back to the bus the other 20 kids were tired, hungry and otherwise disagreeable in everyway imaginable. Out of nowhere a former teacher at my school showed up and took the remaining kids into the mall, so I followed. ***This time when we got to the escalator two of the girls saw those moving stairs and made up their minds that they weren't going upstairs with the rest of the group. I tried appealing to their reason, if so many people have gotton up safely in the last ten minutes you'll be fine. Didn't work. I refused to let them go in any shops on the lower floor but they seemed content to wait until everyone was finished upstairs. Maybe they'd rather try the elevator with the glass walls, or not. We practiced stepping on at the count of three then they each took my hand and we got on the escalator together, except I was the only one that actually got on, the girls backed out. I rode the other escalator back down and a security guard got involved in trying to coax them to go up the escalator and stop blocking the flow of people. People that were all getting a good chuckle at these country girls that didn't know what to make of the moving stairs. But really, there isn't a two story building in the village and since we live on flat country there are hardly any stairs anywhere, even in Grootfontein. We tried getting on the escalator together again but I rode alone. At this point I'm running out of ideas. Luckily once I had made it back downstairs the girls had finally taken that brave step and were on their way up. Going back down was a bit of a challenge for them, but the crowd was too thick for retreat so they had no choice but to get on.

With the mall adventure over it was time for me to go see the doctor, so I put myself in a taxi and took off for a quick shower at the volunteer lounge. I left the office at 5:25 with a long prescription that I needed to get filled because we were scheduled to depart very early the next morning. The driver picked me up and we sped down to the pharmacy which was just closing, they let me in and locked the door. Most of the lights had already been turned off. But I got my medicine on the spot and went to rejoin the tour. I found the bus at a gas station where the kids were blowing more of their pocket money on sodas and candy otherwise known as cooldrinks and sweets. Once again I was the last person allowed in the store, I walked in and they shut the door. I quickly found some healthy snack food so that I wouldn't starve and so I would be able to take medicine when I wanted too. Then since our accomodation was cramped we took the kids out to the Windhoek Country Club without an appointment to ask if we could get a tour during dinner time. Seemed like another terrible idea, but thanks to a very patient employee the kids got to see some of the hotel (cheapest room is $200 US per night) and the attached casino. I still don't know what the point of going there was except to show the kids a prime example of the income disparity in this country. We made the hour long drive take two and a half hours so after getting some dinner and taking baths the kids finally got to sleep around midnight. Which made a lot of sense bacause the kids were told to sleep in their clothes for tomorrow, the boys slept on the bus and we all woke up at 3:30 so that we could hit the road by 4:30.

Now you would think that at 4:30 you would leave as quietly as possible and let the kids go back to sleep, we had the kids go through the usual morning devotion and sing the school song. Eventually it got quiet as we all dozed off. We stopped at the Hardap Dam, the largest in Namibia, and a slaughtery that the kids didn't get to see the inside of (they waited while the teachers went on the tour because there was no way to get 50 kids inside) and we ended up in Keetmanshoop. We got to town at 5:30 but inexplicably stopped and didn't make it to our destination for the night until 7:00. That night I got to stay with another volunteer who lives at the same place the kids were staying. Before I retired for the night though I tried to find out when we were going to leave in the morning on our way to Fish River Canyon. What time are they expecting us? Oh we'll just call in the morning and see. I started checking at 6am, went back to sleep, checked at 7 and decided it was time to start getting ready. I made it to the bus around 8 and we left town at 9. Three hours of driving on questionable roads and a lucky meeting with someone leaving the area made us able to communicate that we were on our way. But even though we arrived around 12 the owner of the place wouldn't be back until 2pm. No problem, we cooked lunch, and finally headed out towards the canyon at 3pm. 50 kids and five adults + 3 German tourists crammed in two small trucks and a smaller 4x4. Ten kilometers got us to the rim of the canyon (term used loosely, nothing like the Grand Canyon but impressive nonetheless) and another 3km on foot down into the canyon meant the kids got to go swimming in the river. Once they were swimming the kids were happy and having reached the destination the teachers were pleased, still no one seemed quite aware enough of the sinking sun. We spent a little time around the guest farm with the owner, a grandmotherly Afrikaner woman that was thrilled to have kids around, and were told that ours was the first school group from Namibia to ever come out to the Canyon. Finally we left at 6pm with just enough light to get off the worst roads before dark. After some inquirey I learned that we would drive until about midnight and then stop to sleep at the gas station at a town along the way. I wasn't particularly pleased with this idea, but I had friends in the town we were stopping at so I arranged to meet them and stay with them instead of on the bus. The bus continued driving slow, so around 1:30 in the morning we approached our stop for the night. Everyone was asleep except me; I had my bag ready so I could get of that bus and hang out with friends. Then we just kept going. The plan changed with no communication and I was stuck on the bus. We ended up stopping at the next town at 2:45am and instead of letting everyone sleep we turned on the lights and passed out bread and apples to the kids. Two hours later we took off again and by 10am we made it back to Windhoek. We turned a 6 hour journey into and 16 hour nightmare. Soon after I ditched the tour since I was staying to see the doctor again and now I can say that the tour was a good experience. Not sure if I'll agree to go on another but the kids had some once in a lifetime sort of things happen so it was worth it.
 

no more blisters

Vacation is almost over and after a trip to an ENT specialist I no longer have a blood blister in my ear. However, he dug around in my ear enough to get the blister out that its still sore. I just read up on the season opening blowout of a poor IAA team. We seemed to have dominated them but the crowd was smaller than I hoped. And I've got to roll out, confirm that I do not have TB and try to find a ride out of the city.