This weekend I stayed in the village to recover from Hunter staying up all night long crying at me this week. I missed the other volunteers but I got a taste of village life here on the weekends. Most of the teachers leave to go home so it was me and a few others who were behind. On Saturday some of the learners went to Eenhana to go run track against other schools. Being a fast typer, I was the one who made the list of learners who were competing in which meter race. Let me just say, some of these names sound made up. When I got to someone named George I was so happy because I could spell it and I knew I was doing it correctly. Then you’ve got names like Hishidhivali Elikan. Try saying that ten times fast.
When some of my colleagues got back from Eenhana I was just walking into the village to go hang out for a few hours and socialize. I met up with one of my friends who works at one of the small shops and she told me that I needed to stay and go do traditional things with the villagers. One of the bars was just opening and they made mohangu (traditional Namibian beer made from oats) and insisted that I drink it with them. They also slaughtered a cow earlier that day in order to feed all the people coming out to party. I actually ended up walking right into a puddle as I was mesmerized watching them pick apart the cow and hang it up. I ended up having some of the meat later on and it was delicious! It was wonderful getting to spend time with some of the people. Out of nowhere they started clapping and singing and stomping their feet. Later on in the night when I returned from dancing at the shop with some of the other women the people insisted that I get into the middle of the circle and they clapped for me as I danced and stomped my feet. It was so much fun! I got a lot of hugs afterwards from the older memes.
I also had a confrontation with one of the men. He was pushing my friend around and yelling at her. I got so mad that he was pushing a woman that I stepped in the middle and told him to relax and back off. He then informed me in Oshikwanyama as he pointed to our skin that he was black and I was white. That really set me off and I informed him that I didn’t care we were the same and I walked away. Later on that night he along with many of the other men were complimenting me on my dancing and asking me to come talk with them. I also had someone tell me they love me. It’s pretty common here to have this happen. I just laugh and walk away.
I tried to go into Eenhana this weekend and it ended up being an epic fail. I walked the mile out to the hike point and sat in the blazing sun for over an hour with only one car driving by that did not stop to pick me up. I ended up giving up and walking back to the village. At least I got a 2 mile walk in. I get frustrated sometimes with having to hike everywhere. I have to depend on other people for transportation. I also get pretty heated trying to adjust to what they call here “Africa time”. When people say they are “coming now” they mean like 2 hours later. Time isn’t as much of an issue here as it is in the U.S. When someone says now they mean much later, now now means in a little bit, and now now now means what we mean when we say “now”. I find myself asking people “Oh so when you say now, do you mean now now?”
I’m excited for this week because many of the teachers are gone for a workshop so grade 10 is staying home all week and grade 8 and 9 are only staying until break time which is 11:40. That makes my teaching week ten times easier than it normally is. The one drawback is finding what to do in my free time. Of course lesson planning is always an option but other than that…it’s not like we have a movie theatre or mini golf or anything really to go to. I have to occupy my time with very limited resources. Thank goodness I have friends here that I can play uno and chat with. I’m thinking about bringing out the deck of regular cards one of these days and teaching them to play rummy 500. Won’t be the same as when I play with Mom and Pat back home but at least I won’t be out of practice when I come home. J
Peace and Love,
Chelsea
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