I sit here on the morning of Christmas Eve listening to Christmas music but not really convinced it is actually Christmas. It is my first summer Christmas (because it is summer here) and my first one away from home. It got me thinking about what makes Christmas, Christmas and I would say weather is one-it should be cold and ideally, snowing. The other is the people- family, friends and loved ones. We have some fun planned for today and tomorrow so we most certainly will be celebrating. We just completed about 24 days of CBT, Community Based Training. During this time we were responsible for teaching at Model School, continuing to learn Afrikaans and to also have the “cultural experience” of living with a Namibian family.

School during the holiday…
The Model School was a school set up during the holiday (school vacation) for us to have the opportunity to teach and for learners to have the opportunity to get a head-start on the coming year. In Karibib, we had about 220 learners in grades 6 -12 for 19 of us teachers. I was responsible for teaching grade 8 Life Science, Grade 11 Physical Science and Grade 12 Physical Science. We had a little less than three weeks to teach whatever we wanted within that subject, following the syllabus or sometimes not. The first week was very challenging because it was my first time with a class of my own, my first time just being in a Namibian classroom with Namibian learners and the fact the learners were all coming from different backgrounds- different schools, what they have learned and whether they actually should have been in the grade in which they were sitting. It was very much a learning process in a really good way. I was learning to speak Namlish which is English but spoken slowly, clearly and just very deliberately- English is not the first language of the learners and most likely more like the second or third language so it is something I had to think about in teaching, asking questions and making a test. I learned very quickly that you cannot ask, “Does that make sense?” because the response every single time will be, “Yes, miss,” so with my grade 11 and 12, I found that asking, “Who has questions?” was an effective way of getting them to think about it and then ask what they did not understand. And another thing, when you think you have revised (reviewed) something enough, do it one more time because it can only help. We finished Model School with a very colorful celebration. Each grade delivered a performance of some sort- song, dance, drama. Singing is very much an integral part of the culture here. The learners are very talented and seem to have an endless supply of songs that they know so being able to watch was very much a treat. We then presented certificates to each of the learners. Certificates are very important to the learners and they take pride in receiving them. I will miss having some of them in class. I must admit, Grade 12 was my favorite. What was interesting yet challenging about that class is that some learners really were entering the twelfth grade come January, some had just finished and then there were older people (some host moms even!) who had either not made it that far or who haven’t been in school for awhile so were taking advantage of the opportunity. Despite that, each learner in that class worked very hard, really trying to take away whatever they could from the class.

My Host Family…
My host family was made up of my host mom, Heidi, my two-year old brother, Ryan, and then
my host mom’s boyfriend Amien. They are Baster and are originally from Rehoboth so it was a good opportunity for me to be able to learn more about some of the people with whom I will be living and working for the next two years. Like many moms I know, my host mom definitely has a great deal of responsibility in her life. She works for the gold mine (the only gold mine in Nambia, located 20km outside of Karibib) and because she works, she has a responsibility to take care of her parents (her mom works at the mine) as well as her sister (who also works at the mine) and her brother who does not work. She also takes financial responsibility for her boyfriend who does not work. In probably overstepping some boundaries, I ventured to ask my host mom how she felt about the fact that she works all day then must come home to cook and care for her son and also study (as she is taking classes through a university in South Africa) when her boyfriend does not work. She said that it can be frustrating on her end because it is a lot for her to do but also it results in some discussion and disagreement as he feels she works too much and does not spend enough time at home but if she does not work then there will be no food, clothes, holiday, etc. She told me “it is tough, my dear, but I must cope.” And she does. We had some really great conversations together where I was able to share where I come from and she could share the same with me.

A couple of interesting things in the Baster culture - if on your wedding day it rains, your marriage will be full of tears, if it is very hot (not sure what that means since Namibia is kind of always hot) then your marriage will be full of troubles and if the day is cool and calm, your marriage will be the same. An interesting belief and I wonder to what it extent it holds true. Also, the value of a woman increases significantly if she has more education. And by value, I mean that when a man asks the family to marry her, he has to offer more goats, food and the likes. The parents (namely the father) is supposed to approve the marriage between the man and the woman so without the approval, they are not supposed to get married.

A little bit of culture…
So it was a Sunday morning and I woke up, had some corn flakes and then proceeded to get working on lesson plans for the week. At about 8:30am, my host mom came into my room to let me know they were eating. I am thinking, okay, Sunday brunch, nice. Well, I went out there and on the table there was a huge plate filled with rice and gravy and tomato salad and vegetables and lots of meat (mutton, I think…I have stopped asking and just eat what I can.) It was a bit overwhelming because I am not used to eating like that so early. It only happened that one Sunday so it was not something I had to get used to. Another Sunday we had a braai and I was able to learn how to make braai bread which is by far, the most delicious part of the braai and just really delicious in general and it’s just bread that is then cooked on the grill.

As a part of our language and culture training, one night we had a potjiekos. In Afrikaans that translates to “cute little pot of food.” It is an accurate description because it’s this iron pot, like a cauldron, that you put on a fire and then throw in some vegetables and meat and let it stew for quite some time until it gets thicker. It was quite delicious.

I also had the opportunity to witness one night (out of the four) of an engagement. And yes, by engagement I mean when the man asks the woman to marry him. This engagement was in the Damara/Nama culture. A quick description of the night- the man’s family (without the man) showed up at the gate of the home of the woman’s family. Keep in mind that inside the house there are 9 of us Americans and about 30 or so family members. The woman’s family did not let them in but instead allowed them to beg and plead to be allowed in. Eventually they are allowed past the gate but now begin the challenge of getting into the house. We turned off the lights in the house before letting them in because the man’s family is responsible for bringing the light. They entered, sat of the floor and lit candles. A discussion then ensued about the engagement, all of this in Damara/Nama or Khoe-khoegowab (which is a click language.) Anyone on the woman’s side is allowed to speak in response to the questions or to present reasons as to why the couple cannot get married. At one point I was told to go outside, not sure why but did and there I was able to witness the slaughtering of a goat/sheep (those words used interchangeably.) It was really rather incredible to watch how skillfully these three men were able to slaughter, skin, gut and then cut up all the parts of the goat with very little mess. They were even able to keep all the internal organs in the lining. It turns out that there were some major issues with this engagement. First, the goat had a black head. Because the woman does not have a child and thus there is no evidence that she is not a virgin, the goat must be all white, not a speck of any other color. Second, the goat was not big enough, according to the wishes of the father. Third, they slaughtered the goat without the father being home. A discussion back inside ensued about these issues and at that point, I left. The engagement continued on for the next few days but I did not take part.

Good times all around…
Most mornings I was able to begin my day with a run. There was a nice 30 minute loop that included the rising sun, some roads of sand and hills, some goats and donkeys and of course, some dogs who will viciously bark and sometimes run at you if they are not behind gates. We had a good group in Karibib. The other PCTs were Megan, Pat, Snoti, Angela, Elizabeth, Karen, Erikka, Lindsay, Janet, Chester, Caroline, Jia, Sandra, Dylan, Dan, Amy, Wendie and Mark. We also were able to celebrate a few birthdays while we were there. Erikka will be spending her two years in Karibib so one Saturday, to celebrate her birthday, we all went to her house. We made pizza, a chocolate cake, potato salad, banana bread- all from scratch. We ate, watched School of Rock and Shrek 2 (yup, in Namibia) and just had some downtime. To celebrate Sandra’s birthday, her host family threw her a surprise braai and invited us all to come. It was also very delicious and very welcoming. The families have been very generous and so good to us. I was also able to teach my host mom how to make pizza dough and add the toppings. It was nice to share that with her.

I will leave it at that for now. I wish you a very Merry Christmas, happy holidays and a happy and healthy New Year. Smile.