Not quite productive. But getting there.

Hello again.  Let’s see, it’s been about…almost 3 months now since my last post.  Sorry about that.  I’ve mostly been in Aranos, where there isn’t any internet besides that which I get on my cell phone.  So, hopefully I’ll be able to catch you all up on the goings-on in my little town.

Before I start, I should apologize to any of you who might be reading this that sent me a letter sometime in the last couple-few months that I have not yet responded to.  I haven’t received them yet, and I probably won’t before next month.  All my mail that was sent to the Windhoek address is being held in the Peace Corps office, and I won’t be going back there until we do our “Reconnect” conference January 4-9.  However, for any of you that may still want to send me a letter, here’s a new (far easier) address:

Stephen Martin
PO Box 186
Aranos
Namibia

So easy, isn’t it?  It’s my school’s mailing address.  It will take a bit longer than the normal 3 weeks to get to me, but…it’s better than the 3 months of the mail sitting in Windhoek.

All right, so down to…whatever I’m going to talk about.  I suppose I can begin where I left off.  After my first visit to Aranos, I went back to Okahandja for another month or so of training.  Again, this mostly consisted of Afrikaans lessons, but it was quite possibly my favorite stretch of time in Namibia so far.  After spending a week in a place full of children that look at you like you are a carnival attraction, you begin to feel a greater affinity for other Americans.  I got pretty close to the other trainees in my class.  That’s just the truth; I’m not being sentimental.

In any case, I graduated from Pre-Service Training on October 16, and swore in as a Peace Corps Volunteer officially.  The swearing-in ceremony was interesting.  We all had to give two pledges.  There was the pledge we gave in front of everyone in the audience about how we would all serve the Namibians to the best of our ability, and there was a sneaky oath we gave before the ceremony, which was the actual American foreign service oath.  The first was led by the Namibian Minister of Education, the second by the U.S. Ambassador to Namibia.  I think.  I don’t know, it was a couple months ago, and my memory’s a little shaky.  But one really cool part of the ceremony was that all the girls learning Otjiherero and some of the girls learning Khoekhoegowab were dressed up traditionally by their host families.  And the Hereros have very distinctive dresses, with a headdress meant to represent the horns of cattle.  I recommend finding a picture online.

After becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer, I went down to begin work at my school in Aranos.  For the first couple of weeks, this meant teaching (some of the other teachers were gone).  However, seeing as the Namibian school calendar begins in January, I wasn’t given any classes to teach permanently.  Instead, I cleaned out the new science lab, made a ridiculous amount of copies for exams, and helped other teachers with odd jobs.  School is over now, but there’s still a great deal of work to do…Peace Corps paperwork never rests, and I still need to do some rudimentary lesson planning for next year.

From swearing-in until about a week ago, I was living with another host family.  There were a few problems, but overall I think they were nice.  I’m glad to be on my own now, though.  After 4 months of being expected to mingle continuously in a foreign language, I’m happy I have some alone time.  Plus, my house is amazing.  It has three bedrooms, hot water and electricity, a shower, a fridge, and a nice stove.  The only things that distinguish it from an American home are the lack of a washing machine, the bugs, and the 7-foot high fence topped with razor wire.  Well, and the fact that I have to run around and wave down the sewage truck every couple of weeks.  I even have a dog.  Her name is Shaka, she’s about 6 years old (I’m her fourth volunteer), and is well known for being fertile despite all the precautions to keep the male dogs out.  I think her scent gives them superpowers.  But yes, she’s had two litters in the past two years, and I imagine more before that.

All right, I know there must be more for me to say. Umm…I got my bathroom window smashed in? That was significant. On the second day I spent in my house, I forgot to lock the front gate, and a little kid (judging by the footprints) came in and tried to break into the house. Of course, the door was locked and there are burglar bars on every window, but that didn’t stop him from throwing a rock through my bathroom window and taking my laundry detergent. I turned on the light, and he scampered off. Hope it tastes good, kid.

Now I’m to the point where I’m just grasping at straws. Let me know if you have any questions. I respond better to questions. Hopefully it won’t be another three months before my next post.

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