'Some few' updates

Well today (Friday) was my last day of teaching for 2011!  Since the secondary school learners have more exams to write they start earlier, so Kevin’s last day official day was a couple of weeks ago now.  The learners at the primary school will start writing their exams on Monday and both schools will finish in just less than 2 weeks.  In general, learners write one exam per day.  It feels pretty dragged out, but the idea is that they have the whole day to study for the exam that they will write the next day.  Study… Hah.  Anyway, it will be time for a 4+ week holiday by early/mid December.

And so I managed to survive this last day of school on a Friday in which I had two double periods (one which turned into a triple because someone forgot to ring the bell I guess), and one of these double periods fell on the last two periods of the day.  It turned out to not be so bad, but I had been dreading it since the kids have been extremely anxious to finish and go home.  And they’ve been showing signs of feeling increasingly anxious in their increasing whining and complaining, decreasing compliance, and their decreasing sleep.  More than 20 learners sleep together in a room at the hostel so it only takes one or two in the room to keep everyone awake.  Last night what kept learners from sleeping, however, were beliefs in witchcraft and things taking place at night.  The learners were convinced that there was a man who was turning into a black cat and basically haunting them last night.  A couple of teary grade 6 girls came into the staff room this morning about it, and I continued to hear tales about this mysterious cat all day.  So it’s just perfect that the learners will be sleep-deprived during this all-important time of writing end-of-year exams!

Also yesterday (Thursday), the primary school held a prize-giving ceremony which recognized the top learners with certificates and small prizes.  When I think about it, it still amazes me that a great mark here is in the 70’s and 80’s (90’s being unheard of)… and that if the best kids here were brought to America to go to school, even putting any language barrier aside, they would probably have to go back and repeat a few grades.

The prize-giving was successful overall.  Some misbehavior, but justice was had when some boys ran from Kevin trying to bring them back to the hall.  (It’s common for kids to run from teachers, or any authority really, when they’re in trouble.  This is largely because most of the time, it pays off and they get away).  Unfortunately for these kids, Kevin and I do not tolerate such acts of disrespect.  We got the names of the Grade 6 boys (mine!) who ran off (from the other boys who Kevin caught), and we taught them not to run from Mr. Metz after the ceremony.  Kevin and I connived about a punishment and decided it was fitting to give them a 5-second head start, then tell them to run as fast as they can, and then have Kevin run after them and take them down.  Thus, teaching them to not run from Mr. Metz (or mess with his wife for that matter)!  It was fun.  Then they had to run laps.  The point was they received some consequence (which they usually don’t).  And Kevin and I were impressed with the loyalty of the boys’ friends who chose to run with them just as support, even if they were late to dinner.  (Most of them only joined them for a lap or 2, but still!)

In other minor news, Patches has made a habit of hanging out with one of us at school pretty much all day (unless we bring him home).  We normally leave him outside to frolic about, but bring him inside if he’s hanging around the house when it’s time to walk to school in the morning...  Because if he sees us going, he will follow us to school.  But more recently, Patches has gotten very good at finding one or both of us at school even without seeing and following us.  Fortunately he’s been mostly well-behaved at school and even sometimes simply rests or sleeps in the classroom under a desk where we’re teaching (this is mostly the case for Kevin since the older learners are more mature in their handling of his presence).

Patches is quite the specimen for the learners.  The other day when Patches was following me around school, I visited some boys who were summoned by the principal to build a fence for the school yard.  I told Patches, “dig,” and showed him the place and Patches didn’t hesitate to join in the work.  I looked up to see quite the look of amazement on one of the boy’s faces, and they all laughed, not seeming to know how else to react.  “Miss, you must give me this dog,” another said.

Some of the kids are really growing to love and appreciate Patches and playing with him.  Others, unfortunately, continue to be slow in coming to understand how to treat him.  But who knows, maybe there’s progress even in those learners that just isn’t quite visible to the eye yet.

Finally, we’ve really enjoyed the company of some of our colleagues recently, especially the guy who helped us plan Kevin’s birthday surprises!  He’s a lot of fun and a jokester (actually reminds us of an African version of Chio for the Metzes and others who know him!).  I’ve started to tease him about how he always says “some few things.”  As in, “I’m just getting some few things. “ Or I just have to do some few things.”  This is great of course, except that he and many others will be leaving next year.  And this guy is actually South African so needless to say, he won’t really be around.  The way the school system is here, there is a lot of change and teachers moving around to and from different schools in Namibia for one reason or another.  Just one more thing we have to accept and make the best of.

So those are some few updates from our side!  Hope you all enjoyed Halloween and will enjoy Thanksgiving in less than a week!  How we miss the joys of American holidays and the wonderful company of YOU!