Do you know Chris Brown and Jay-Z?

Do you know Chris Brown and Jay-Z?

With over one month of my stay in complete, I still cannot get over how fast is going. In 5 weeks, I have already had the adventure of a lifetime, and I can’t imagine what else is in store for me for these next 5 months.

I am finally getting settled with my teaching in both my social studies and my English classes. In my 5th grade social studies class, we are learning about water conservation and rainfall, so they are currently making posters to hang around school to save and conserve water. In my 6th grade social studies class, we are leaning about democracy, so for that I am having them go through the process of electing a class president (speeches, nominating, choosing a vice president, campaigning, and voting). In my 7th grade social studies class, we are learning about population distribution, so I am using the world map to explain the different populations of the world and reiterate how small Namibia is (2 million people- 2nd most least dense country). In my English classes, we just finished up verb tenses (simple and continuous past, present, and future) and they will have their first exam with me on Thursday. I told them in class that they can come to me with any problems that don’t involve class, and now I have slowly become the school unofficial guidance councilor (haha I have students coming to me about home issues, pregnancy, disease, boyfriend, girlfriend, life in America, etc). I wasn’t expecting all of that, but it is actually fulfilling and fun helping them with their problems outside of school.

After school is over, I help out with afternoon study, in which they are supposed to do homework and study their notes. Usually afterwards, I go to the petrol station in town and get the newspaper (The Namibian), and read it over a Fanta. Its always great doing this because I can catch up on some news and I get to see everyone in town. Next, I head over to the local bar to catch up on the World Cup games. The Ghana game last week was absolutely insane. All the kids crowded around a small TV at the hostel at school and I trekked to the bar to watch with 50+ people going crazy for Ghana. It was a tough battle, and everyone thought they were going to win, so it was very disappointing at the end. People were sad for a day, and then they were already back to supporting another team.

By 6, I make dinner in my house. This has been everyone’s main question to me. What have I been eating? Unlike my trips to Ghana and Swaziland, I now have full control of what I make for my meals, so I will not be coming back 30 pounds ligher. Therefore, at the grocery store I buy pasta, canned vegetables, fruit, cheese, sliced meat, and splurge on Doritos, cereal, and cookies. I have bread and butter in the morning, an apple for snack, a chicken or ham sandwich for lunch, and pasta with sauce and veggies for dinner. The difference is I make everything and I can only go grocery shopping once a week by hitchhiking on Saturday morning 200km. So it is definitely an adventure each day. There are MANY times I wish I could just order for delivery a large pizza with pepperoni, but a grilled cheese is fine for now. Finally, by 8 pm I am absolutely exhausted and I am usually struggling to keep me eyes open (I get up each morning at 5 am).

This past weekend I met some Americans in Rundu (the town 200km away) for lunch and in the town I saw about 30 Americans. The peace corp volunteers were having a big celebration for July 4th. On Sunday, it was back to reality, and I washed my clothes (by hand in a bucket!), lesson planned for the week, and hung out with some friends. I now have a ‘crew’ of some of the younger teachers at the school and even some of the 10th grade students (some are 18,19, and 20, as most learners in Namibia fail grades multiple times). I went for a 10k with a few friends and stopped at an unbelievable nearby waterfall, seeing huts, traditional homesteads, people leaving church, and of course goats, cows, and dogs along the way.

As for the title of the entry, almost everyday I will have a learner come up to me and ask me- Is Jay-Z cool in person? Is Beyonce nice to you? How many times have you hung out with Rihanna? Do you know Angelina Jolie? Well since I hang out with all of them, it was easy to answer. Hah. Most only know about America through movies or songs, so they all assume that these are average Americans who could be your friends. You could imagine how disappointed they were when I had to tell them that it is nearly impossible to hang out with these celebrities, and the coolest celebrity I met was Will.I.am enroute to the bathroom in Boston.

Hope everyone had a great 4th. Keep me updated on your lives, I love reading emails from all of you. Currently planning my Debbie and Dean’s trip to Africa now, followed by backpacking trip around South Africa in early September.

Peace, Scott