Home Again (9-4)

The trip home was long. Sunday I flew from Bulawayo to Johannesburg and then, after four hours at the airport, on to Windhoek. Leokadia had invited me to stay in her house again, which was nice, especially since I didn’t arrive until 7:30 and left at 7:00 Monday morning. Although we aren’t good friends, it was nice to see friendly faces.

Monday morning I took a taxi to the place for getting a combi, a shared van, to Oshakati. I arrived at 7:20, and we didn’t leave until 11:00 because it took that long for the van to fill. Since I knew I wouldn’t arrive back in time to hike, I contacted Wilhelmina to pick me up. She did, and, since she was staying in the village, she brought me home. I was really tired after sitting in the van for twelve hours; so it was really nice to be home. Kowmongwa and Helena came to greet me and welcome me back.

Tuesday was teachers’ work day. I washed some of my clothes before going to school since I know these days are pretty casual. By noon, I was the only one left. I did some work in my room and went home at 3:15. It was good to have time to relax and read in the yard in my chair, which makes me feel that I’m home. 

I enjoyed watching the chickens, as always. The little ones are starting to look like their mothers. There are a couple new groups of chicks as well.

I gave Kowmongwa and Helena some sweets from Zimbabwe and the usual shampoo from the guesthouse. Tuesday morning they came to give me a Sprite and a Coke from a wedding they had attended. I also gave them the dried beef patties I’d been given during our practicum back in January and had forgotten about. That evening they came to give me a big chunk of raw beef for me to cook for myself. Since I hadn’t cooked beef for over 30 years, I looked up a recipe online. Wednesday I cooked it like a pot roast with sweet potatoes and onions. I tasted a bit, but I don’t like beef and could eat only a few bites. But the gravy was good with the potatoes and porridge. I took the cooked beef to school to share with the teachers.

Wednesday was the first day for learners. Basically, nothing happened that day. We had an assembly in the morning because it was the first day. Then I went to class, but the learners didn’t come. I learned that they were cleaning their homeroom classrooms. My next class didn’t come, either. During the next two classes we had a staff meeting. Afterwards, my last class for the day didn’t show up, which was not a surprise. 

But the 8A girls who really like me ran in to hug and high five. When I asked, they moved the desks back in place (The cleaning woman had moved them to wash the floor.) so it looked like a classroom again. Since this wasn’t their class time, we ended out having a photo session, which was fun. 

I enjoy watching them pose and enjoy looking at their photos. Unlike the Thais and Chinese, they like serious poses. 

Several of the boys came in to join us and to just hang out in the back of the room. We all went home at 2:00, which was nice.

Thursday it was back to classes as usual. I’m aware that this is my last semester teaching as well as teaching in Namibia. Although I’m ready for this, it feels strange. There are many things I will miss about teaching and Namibia.

  

Saturday I hiked to town and was lucky to get a ride within ten minutes. Wilhelmina had mentioned the annual Ongwediva Trade Fair that she had wanted to take me to but couldn’t because she had a workshop. So, after purchasing my food, I went across the street to the Trade Fair. There is a large, permanent building that had information displays from various organizations and companies. 

Two large tents were full of items for sale—trinkets and clothes. 

A smaller tent had the cultural items for sale

—mostly things that can be purchased at the open market. There were also stalls selling trinkets outside the tents. I enjoyed walking around for an hour.

I’d been wanting to return to Spur for a quesadilla for a couple months, but the tiiming didn’t work out. So Saturday was a good opportunity since there was no rush to get back to the road to hike home. I invited Wilhelmina to join me and was glad that she was able to do so. We shared the quesadilla and buffalo wings. I was lucky she could join me because she thought she had a workshop but no one was there; perhaps she didn’t pay close attention to the dates and it is next month. At any rate, it was nice to have the time to relax and share the meal.

Sunday the time changed to daylight savings time; so in the future I can stay out later, as it isn’t dark till 7:00 instead of 6:00. It also means I can enjoy relaxing in my yard after school before dinner. Spring is here. Day temperatures are in the 90s; night temps are in the 60s. I’ve used the fan briefly a few times to cool off in the evening and have packed the heavy blankets, using only the light one now.

Sunday Helena’s nephew came to fix the light switch. He replaced all the wiring so that it’s along the wall instead of hanging from the window to the light bulb and put the switch on the wall. After two weeks with no light, it’s nice but a little strange to have light all evening again. I’m not sure how much control I’ll have even with the switch, as they still turned the lights off Sunday night.

The grade10 girls have asked about not having to have the very short haircuts. I think they want to look like girls. This was discussed at the staff meeting, and it was decided that the policy has to remain for this year but that they will discuss it with parents. I learned from Wilhelmina that the policy was made by parents many years ago because they wanted their daughters to be serious about studying and not about spending lots of time fixing their hair.

Some of the learners were not happy with their exam results, especially some who had worked hard but failed the exam. The exams are like the one they will have in October for grade 10 and November for grades 8 and 9. Maybe more of the learners will be more serious this term, since the next exams are the ones that determine whether or not they pass to the next grade.

Sunsets are featuring a big, red sun every night.