Kevin's birthday at Arnhem Cave

Last Sunday, a colleague/ good friend of ours here and I managed to pull off surprising Kevin for his birthday.  He was pretty clueless until we got on the school's bus early that morning to go to the local Arnhem Cave with the top 3 learners from each grade from the secondary school along with the accompanying teachers.

In the video you can hear and see the Namibian birthday song which the learners sang to Kevin as we headed off that morning.

The cave itself was cool, but we also just had a lot of fun swimming and braaing with everyone.

One teacher's 5-year-old found herself a bit attached to me (or actually my hair, which she started braiding), and we ended up playing in the pool together quite a bit.  (One of the grade 11 girls also asked to touch my hair, so it's nothing unusual.)  I also enjoyed reminiscing on my swim instructor days at the YMCA(!) by teaching her some swimming techniques, which was pretty successful because she was just loving the water and being silly getting wet.  Her parents seemed a bit nervous at first (Namibians can be a bit hydrophobic, in comparison with our culture anyway), but then I think they were just pretty impressed by what she could do in the water at such a young age.

(Sister Clara (left) nearly made it, but ended up turning back.  But really I just tell you this because of the image of a nun in a cave which still amuses me.  (Sorry for being immature, although I hope I'm not the only one!))

The secondary school learners also felt they had to take advantage of the opportunity to swim because they just didn't know the next time it would come up again.  For some of them, it had been a couple years as it was.

Also I would like to testify that I don't think my hair color is as light as they seem in the photos, perhaps because the group photos were taken with a friend's camera..!

The day was a treat for Kevin, the learners, and all of us.  Truthfully I think he was happy to share the spotlight for his day.  But one of these birthdays he might not be so lucky, but I suppose he'll have to cope!

And Kevin thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and greetings he had received from home!