End of Week Three

The weeks are flying by. It's hard to believe I'm already at the mid-point of my experience in Namibia. This weekend I am scheduled to meet up with the rest of the summer WorldTeach volunteers for our Mid-Service weekend. We will spend time talking about our experiences so far, catch up, share best practices and struggles we have had teaching computers. We will travel to Tsumeb, a town about 4 hours away for the weekend.

In my third week here I've definitely settled into a routine. For those that are interested, I thought I'd share what a typical day/week looks like for me in Namibia...

5:30 AM - Alarm goes off...time to wake up. It is still dark outside at this point since it is winter here! The mornings are cold, but it's hot during the rest of the day.

5:30-6:30 AM - Get ready, make breakfast.

6:30 AM - Head to school. Mondays and Fridays we have morning devotion with the school, and usually every morning we have a briefing from the principal.

7:00 AM - Classes begin.

7-10:45 AM - 5 periods...I have a handful of free periods when I can plan lessons, so I will typically teach 2-3 classes in the morning.

10:45 AM - Tea break! There is a meme that has hot tea and bread you can buy, and all of the teachers meet in the staff room. Usually there is a lot of laughter, marking of papers, and relief in having a moment to have a break from the learners.

11:15 - 1:30 PM - 3 more periods. I usually have full afternoons of classes, so busy teaching during this time.

1:30 PM - Run home to have lunch!

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I teach the teacher classes. These are from 3-5 PM, and usually run late. When I'm not teaching, I'm relaxing after school in the sun and planning lessons for the next day.

5:00 PM - Jen and I go for a run around Okahao. The sun is setting and the day is finally getting cool. It's a beautiful time of day and always an incredible sunset.

6:30 PM - Make dinner. Yes, I have to cook every meal for myself. For those of you that know me well, this is a feat in and of itself! I am learning to make some new things but definitely look forward to the day when I can go out to grab a bite to eat!

7:30 PM - This is when the World Cup games begin. We usually have a group of learners come over to ask to watch the game after their evening study ends at 8 PM. It's fun to watch the games and see the excitement and intensity with which they stare at the TV! Jen and I watch and usually play with my Scrabble Pass-N-Play option on my iPad. Keeps us entertained!

Another especially entertaining thing to watch on in the evenings are the 'soapies'. This is a show called 'Shades of Sin' and it is all the rage here in Namibia. Mind you, there is only one channel you get on TV here, so everyone watches it. It is a Brazilian soap opera dubbed in English. It's awesomely bad...like, really, really bad. Kind of like a car accident...you don't want to look but you can't help yourself!

8:30-9:30 PM - Shower, read, go to bed. Get ready to start it all over again!

It's a simple routine and it's nice to not have many options. You learn to find ways to stay entertained and are really so exhausted at the end of most days that it's a joy not to have much to do.