End of the term (8-18)

The second term is over, and the week-long break is about to begin.

Last weekend I spent a lot of time reading in my yard since my marking was finished and I didn’t have lesson planning to do on Sunday. I enjoyed the quiet time, and I enjoyed watching the hens and chicks running about. I’ve gotten quite fond of watching them. The chicks are growing and look like young chickens, not little balls of fluff. They often precede the hens in their running about, and the hens hang back watching them. They have taken to wandering through my open door and checking out the house.

Saturday Kowmongwa’s son came to give me a light switch. I don’t know what brought that on after all these months, but I was pretty excited to be able to control when the lights go out. After not having control, it’s a luxury. He cut the wire from their house to my room and added another piece to lengthen it so I could reach it. Thus, the switch is on the line from the window to the bulb, not on the wall. But I can reach it and it worked. However, when I turned on the switch that evening, the light flickered and went out. So, instead of more time with lights on, I ended out with no time with lights on. When I talked to Kowmongwa about the problem on Sunday, he didn’t know when the local man who fixes such things could come since he had gone to visit a friend. Oh, well.

Wednesday morning Helena came to ask if I have lights. When I said “No,” she called Kowmongwa to come and remove the duct tape on the wires near the bulb that his son had added to replace the tape that was there. The son hadn’t changed the connections; he only added the stronger tape to hold them together. Then she had him reconnect the wires differently, which didn’t make a difference. So I still have no light.

Last month there was a fundraiser for cancer at schools in Namibia. If you donate N$5, you get an apple. The principal kept reminding learners to buy their apple. Friday the apples finally came and were distributed. Some of the learners were given ten or twelve apples, but most received one.

When we went to town on Friday, I did my shopping quickly and then Wilhelmina took Teopolina and me to a culture festival at the university. It turned out to be not interesting—only lots of braii stalls. Teopolina said that they have different events on different days. We did see two girls dressed in Owanbo dresses and took photos with them. Wilhelmina and Teopolina took some photos posing in front of trees. Although it was disappointing, it was good to have checked it out so we knew that we hadn’t missed anything interesting.

After a couple months of not special sunsets, they have become colorful in a muted way. This is the transition from winter to spring. Night temps have moved to the upper 50s, and I’m down to one blanket with a second for the last few hours. Day temps are in the upper 80s and have hit 90.

I haven’t had much to do at school this week since I finished my work last week. I’ve caught up on some online things and typed a few articles that can be made into reading tasks for next term. Tuesday and Wednesday I helped enter marks for grades 4-7 into the computer Excel spreadsheet so they can be transformed to the reports. Thursday the learners came to get their reports/marks. 

And Thursday evening I will leave for the break!