Etosha and more

As I hope the pictures below show, Etosha was amazing. We went in the rainy season, which is not supposed to be so good, and still saw lots of animals. We quickly got jaded with zebras, giraffes, wilderbeests, springbok, and other antelopes and drove by them in our search for the more elusive elephants, rhinos, and lions (We saw one rhino that almost charged our car, the rear end of one elephant at a distance, and no lions). Etosha is a beautiful place, centered on a huge ephemeral lakebed/salt pan that still has some water in it this time of year. It is remarkably different from where we are living, and it is cool to see what the landscape would look like without a human influence (though some would say the National Park isn't entirely natural either). It was also great to have a few luxuries, particularly a swimming pool, that we don't have in daily life here. I'm very excited to go back in May, when my parents and brother are coming out, and see how the park looks in drier times (and hopefully see some elephants and lions).

Meanwhile school is going well overall- there are only three weeks left until the end of the term, so it really is the final stretch. After that Sinead and I are heading to South Africa for what we hope will be a really relaxing holiday. I am no longer nervous heading into my classes, which is really nice, and I'm starting to notice some improvement in most of my students, though it is hard to say how much. My tenth graders are starting to get algebra a little more. The one thing that made me nervous this past week was that the principal observed two of my classes- I think they went pretty well, though it is hard to know. I had to scramble to get all my paperwork up to date because he was checking that as well.

These days my only complaints are having no water, which has been out for two weeks now, and the endless rain, which is making the roads really awful. I thought it was bad of me to complain about the rain because this is such a dry country, but someone told me recently that it is too much rain for the crops, so I don't feel bad anymore. They say it hasn't rained this much for 30 years. So that's my life here at the end of the first term- overall I think I'm settling in nicely.

Giraffes

I'm pretty sure I am as tall as their legs- I wanted to find out for sure but Sinead wouldn't let me get out of the car.

lots of animals

They all just blend together!

A gemsbok, which I think might be my favorite antelope.
If you look carefully you can see a rhino in this picture. It was very ornery and tried to charge our little car. I'm sure it would have won if it did.

Springbok scratching him or herself.
One of the many baby zebras we saw- I think it was the right time of year for babies (one of our friends was very excited about seeing small elephants, but that didn't happen.)
Wilderbeest- (what a beautiful creature- I think they are the inspiration for the Beast in Beauty and the Beast.)

Hooray for long weekends

Tuesday is Independence Day in Namibia, and this is a wonderful thing. I am very much in need of a break, especially after this week in which I did not have running water, I have begun to worry about whether I am incompetent at teaching mathematics, and our car has been making funny noises due to the terrible conditions of the roads. Now I am off to Etosha where I can forget these worries for a while (and now it seems the water is back on, so maybe that worry is over) and get ready for the final push of the term.

Photos of large animals to come soon.

Insights

So its been a week just like any other. Sinead and I are staying at home this weekend relaxing, planning lessons, and enjoying each others company. Teaching has become routine, even if it isn't really that much easier. I've discovered how tiring grading can be, and I'm lucky that this weekend I don't have much to do, though next week I'm giving two tests, so my time off will be short.

This week I asked my 9th and 10th grade English classes to write and perform role plays about HIV and AIDS. Overall the role plays were all pretty similar and my students are for the most part terrible at public speaking (they like to stand facing the chalk board, with their hands in their mouths, making it impossible to hear them), but there were some interesting moments. In my ninth grade class most students chose to write about a scenario where two friends are trying to convince another friend to stop having unprotected sex. The explanations for why they were having sex were pretty humourous, including "I like sex because in sex you learn more information" and "I will never stop having sex because it is my only hobby in my life". I took these kinds of lines as an indication that many students are unfamiliar with sex, which I hope is true, but it could just be difficulties with English. I was encouraged to see that in every role play the friend decides at the end to stop having sex, though that is probably just because that is what they think I want to hear.

In my tenth grade classes most learners chose to write about a son or daughter telling his or her parents that he or she is HIV positive. In most of these role plays the parents were angry at first, but then calmed down and told their son or daughter that they would support them. Buying nutritional food for people with HIV seemed to be a big deal. In one role play the mother said she would slaughter 3 goats and one dog in order to buy good food for her daughter, which supports a rumour we had heard that dog is a delicacy here. That is probably one I won't try.

On another note, it is beginning to be mopane worm season. Mopane worms are little catepillars that feed on trees around here, and they are another delicacy- I'm a little more inclined to try this, but I can't imagine it will taste very good. I am excited, though, for May, when the mahangu (millet) is harvested, and I'm hoping that there will be some big parties that we could be invited to. Sinead told one of her teachers who lives near me that we could help to harvest, so we'll see.

Reading on the banks of the Kunene River
Aah, finally some rocks!- A nice limestone cliff at Hippo Pools.














Two landscape shots- First the beautiful scenery as you drive over the plateau and down to the Kunene River Valley. Second, my school flooded after a huge rain (it has since dried out nicely).

Extra photos

A meme (Oshiwambo for mother or woman) who was carrying firewood near my house. At first we thought she was upset when Sinead took her photo, but then it turned out to be ok.


Enjoying a wet walk at sunset.


The goats really hate the rain, so they crowd under my roof and under the outhouse when its wet, which is really cute. Unfortunately they also poop all over the place, which is not.

Finally a little topography

Sunset on the beautiful Kunene River (no crocodiles to be seen)

Ruacana Falls without the water- Still a pretty impressive sight.

Hanging out on the Angolan border (its hard to read but the sign says Angola in big red letters).

So we finally went camping last weekend, and it was really nice to get out of the flatness of Owamboland and see some topography. We went with three other volunteers to Hippo Pools, where we saw no hippos, but which is a beautiful camping spot on the banks of the Kunene River, which marks the boundary between Namibia and Angola. As we were driving there we noticed that the termite mounds had changed from their usual white or grey to a beautiful bright red color. Soon after this we stopped at a very happening bar, where there were many himba people (a group in Namibia that still wear traditional outfits and lead a traditional herding lifestyle- the women wear very little clothing and cover their bodies in a red dye called ochre, so they look very distinctive). We had a nice time here, though the Himba people were charging about $10 for a photo, which we thought was too steep. We then continued and a mile down the road came over a small rise and saw mountains. It was spectacular, everyone in the car was so excited, because we haven't seen a decent hill in weeks. We drove over the edge of the huge plateau that makes up most of Namibia and descended into a beautiful and relatively lush valley towards the river.

Camping was a great way to get away from the daily grind of teaching. We didn't do much of anything, except for a quick trip to Ruacana Falls, which is supposed to be spectacular when it is flowing, but it was not flowing. It is still an cool site, with a lot of rock exposed where the falls should be, but also a little disappointing. There we were able to step into Angola and take some photos by a nice sign that told us we had crossed the border. Angola didn't seem much different, except the border post was in poor shape. After spending some time enjoying the sunshine at the falls, we drove to the nearby town of Ruacana in hopes of lunch, but all we found was some hot dogs at the gas station- its hard to find good food in these small Namibian towns. Back at the campsite we ran into a large group of children from Opuwo, the central town of Kaokoland to the southwest, who were swimming. We decided to join them, despite fears of crocodiles and bilharzia. The crocodiles were not a problem, we'll see about the bilharzia. These kids spend a lot of time selling jewelry to tourists, and therefore they can speak a little bit of many different languages. A few of them could speak some French, Spanish, and Italian, in addition to English, Oshiwambo, and Otjiherero.

So those were the highlights of our trip, it was great to get away from school for a while, and we are looking forward to going to Etosha (where the big animals are) in a few weeks.