The Daily Grind

I had a conversation with my mom last night and she suggested that I describe my day to day life to you. I had never really thought to do this because it is so normal to me now. I forgot that it may be interesting to someone who has no idea what my life is like here.

First of all, I live in a house on school grounds that consists of two bedrooms, a kitchen area, and a living room area. I live in one room and my housemate Indila lives in the other. Hunter has taken over the living room for his own. So really the only shared space is the kitchen. It is the only house on the grounds where the teachers live. The other teachers live in what we call shacks (they are rooms made of tin).

In the morning I get up at 7:00 and get ready for the day. I dress in professional teaching clothes just as if I was teaching in the U.S. All of the teachers dress really well. On Mondays we wear black and white. No one really knows why. I guess someone decided it was a good idea. On Tuesday and Wednesdays we wear whatever professional clothes we would like. On Thursdays we wear sports attire to support our netball and soccer teams that play on Thursdays. On Fridays we are allowed to wear jeans. I know what you’re thinking, you wear jeans in Africa?! Yes, I do. I have gotten used to the blazing hot weather for the most part and I am able to wear pants here.

My day consists of about 4 classes a day. Each class is 40 minutes long. I have my English 8A and 8B every day and other than that I have a rotation of my computer classes for grades 8-10. In my spare time I plan or help others out with things on the computer. We “knock off” at about 3:30 most days. Classes end at 1:50 (except for Mondays when there is an extra class until 2:30). In the extra hours of the day the learners are expected to stay in their classes and study for the remainder of the day. This is why it always strikes me when learners don’t bring their homework. You mean to tell me you had study time the day before from 2-3:30 and you couldn’t manage to fit my English homework in there?

Each class has 9 teachers and subjects. (Geography, Entrepreneurship, Life Science, Agriculture, English, Oshikwanyama, Mathematics, Art and Physical Science) and now with me here, they have BIS (basic information science) otherwise known as ICT or computers. The classes stay in their rooms throughout the whole day (unless they have computers and then they come to the lab…or as they like to call it the “computer stadium”). Each teacher has their schedule and rotates into the classrooms during the different periods. This school has grade 1-10 so there are a lot of classrooms. Each grade has either 2 or 3 sections with about 30 students in each one.

At the end of the day we all return to the teacher housing and relax and do whatever chores we need to do before we have to cook our meals. Sometimes this consists of hand washing laundry. We have small wash basins that we use. We go to the tap and fill the basin and then add a washing soap. Each basin can wash about 4 articles of clothing until you have to change out the water and repeat the process. Each article of clothing needs to be hand washed 3 times before you can wring it out and hang it up to dry on the clothesline. Once is with soap and the other two is with regular water to rinse it out. I’m not very good at hand washing but I’m getting better at it and my clothes stay clean so that’s something to be proud of.

If we are not washing or cooking dinner, we are normally socializing and playing cards or watching something on one of the few laptops here. Also, Mr. Imms has a flat screen T.V. in his room so he is a popular man during soccer matches. It’s all about Manchester United for a lot of the teachers here. So yeah, I’ve kind of become a soccer fan. Or at least I can tolerate watching it now as a social thing. Because my name is Chelsea and there is a soccer team named Chelsea, I get a lot of jokes thrown at me about it.

As for cooking, my housemate and I usually make chicken and soup with either macaroni or spaghetti. Last night I was really craving the traditional Mahangu porridge that they make here. It is very plain and you eat it on the floor with your hands. Normally you have one plate of it and everyone sits around together and eats from it. You take a small ball into your hands and roll it kind of like dough and dip it into either milk or soup and it is delicious. It also makes eating a social thing instead of something you have to do. Of course we all know we have to eat. But it’s nice to spend time with people. A lot of times in the U.S. eating is rushed and a solo thing.

If we are not doing any of these things, then we are in the village playing pool and relaxing listening to music from the jukeboxes. I have become obsessed with the music they have here. They have so much rhythm! They have either house music or quito (sp?) music. Each one has a unique style and beat. No matter which it is, it’s incredibly fun to dance to.

On the weekends most teachers go home to their families. The mothers and children live here during the week and then see their husbands on the weekends. Vice versa with the men who are married here. Because we live in the bush it’s very hard for anyone to see anyone else other than the villagers and teachers during the week. If you stay here on the weekends, there isn’t much to do. This is why I travel a lot to go see other people and stay other places for a few days. The only thing about leaving is that even this is hard. Hitchhiking is not easy. Sometimes you get a ride the moment you reach the hike point on the road and other times you are waiting in the blazing hot African sun for 2 hours before someone stops. In either direction, Eenhana is a half hour away and Ondangwa is an hour away.

Speaking of the hot sun, right now it is either really hot or really raining. We are in the rainy season right now which means that at any moment during the day the rain comes and pours buckets. Sometimes, there isn’t much of a warning. It’s not like I have the weather channel for my village so it’s a guessing game each day. Last year the surrounding areas flooded and roads were inaccessible for a large amount of time

I think this pretty much covers a lot of what I do on a day to day basis and gives you more of an idea of where I am and what I do. Always feel free to comment on the blog and ask any questions, I’d be happy to answer them.

Also, tomorrow is Namibian Independence day and we are all getting together to eat goat, drink and be merry. We all pooled together our money to buy a goat to slaughter it and share! Because, “in Africa we share” remember that phrase, because it is quite popular here. Literally, anything you have, you share with others. Kind of nice.

Peace and Love,

Chels