The staff meeting was conducted in Oshiwambo, which means I got about as much out of it as I do faculty meetings at home! I was welcomed by the faculty, and they all seem eager to begin ICT training.
When I arrived back at the family compound, I found the family had gone shopping for me since Mr. Kulumbu had evidently told them I didn’t want to take all my meals with them. They are so kind and welcoming. I feel uncomfortable because I don’t know if I offend them when I offer to pay for things, or if I’m not paying enough, etc. They bought me an odd assortment of groceries, I guess what they think Americans eat. A lot of onions and carrots. I had enough of a charge on my laptop to watch part of a South African DVD about a boy and his cheetah before it went dead and I slept off and on all night.
This morning Mr. Albin (the grandfather) brought me an Oshiwambu/English dictionary and told me that starting tomorrow I have to speak Oshiwambu! I have been trying, but so many of the words sound the same to me that I haven’t been quite successful. But the grandfather has told me I must learn, so learn I must…. And who thought after all those years of watching Johnny Weismueller as Tarzan every Saturday morning that I’d actually be saying Ngawa and knowing what it means! (how are you, by the way). He also brought me my own gas camp stove to keep in my hut and a cabinet to store food. So nice. I’m hoping the family will invite me to eat with them frequently, but I’m glad I have the independence to cook on my own.
Mr Kulumbu, looking quite like James Earl Jones, came to pick me up. One of hardest things about my situation is being so far from the school – and everything else. Once I get here in the afternoon it gets dark fast and I’m sitting in the dark till sunrise. If I was close to the school I could go use the electricity there and then walk back. Oh, well. I spent the day still trying to work out the kinks with the satellite (there are a lot of them) and looking at the 7th grade English curriculum which I will begin to teach on Monday. Not enough books to go around, so I will have to get creative on teaching them the skills, which are very similar to what would be taught to the same level at home…. Figurative language, poetry, comprehension of content material, etc.
Got home earlier today so I walked to the well to get some water to do laundry and got my dinner (chicken and cup-a-soup) cooked on my little stove. There is a toilet here and a shower (cold water only), but I have to walk to the other side to get it, along with any water I need for cooking or washing. Spent some time playing with the children (two toddlers and a 9 year old) outside the fence with a Frisbee type toy I’d brought to them. Then, back to my hut to see a giant iguana type thing on the wall. Eek. A call to Ilena brought one of her brothers or cousins who smushed it for me…. It was kinda funny. He used a mop handle but he stalked it and used the handle just like a spear. I’m in Africa! Now I have to forget that there’s iguana guts on my floor and hope that he doesn’t have any friends as I’m typing this in pitch darkness and I’m sure the battery will be dead soon. “I asked for this” is a phrase I find myself repeating often. I think Paul Theroux said, “Travel is only glamorous in retrospect”. Hmmmm….
