End of term

I have been here now 1 month and am slowly getting to know the area and the locals. I haven't had many language lessons as my tutor flaked out and its difficult finding a suitable person who will take all this seriously. I have to improve my language ability by 1 level before our Reconnect conference in December. We will have another language interview and we need to be able to converse, answer questions and describe our local community. I'm having a hard time understanding when people speak. Its difficult to immerse in the language when everyone here speaks a bit of all languages.

I need to catch up on the photos so here are some from September when I was living with a delightful young family. They have 2 small children and an extensive family of nephews, nieces, etc. They were very hospitable and showed me around. The kids always amazed me by their curiosity, energy and hard work. These kids could show a few Western kids what it means to help around the house, pull your weight and respect your elders!

Scenes from my arrival in Namibia

Wanted to share a few photos

Hello! !Gai //goas and welcome to my blog for my US Peace Corps experience! I decided to start a blog once I had officially become a Volunteer. I intend to include mostly my teaching experience and my progress on community projects in this blog but I will indeed share photos of my life here, special events and of course, this beautiful, colorful, curious land of the brave!

We were sworn in October 15, 2015 in Okahandja, Namibia where we spent most of our technical and language training. I am now stationed in my permanent site, Gibeon. It is south of the capital, Windhoek, about 4 hours, just off the main highway that heads south into South Africa. Gibeon is a dusty village, population nearly 4,000. I will be teaching English at the local high school, C //Oaseb Senior Secondary School. You may be wondering why all the strange ! and //...well, I am also trying to learn the local Nama language and it has some tricky clicks to master! (BTW, an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence does mean "exclamation!")

I have been here for a few weeks and I live in government-owned flats where the other teaching staff live. My flat is great! I am on my own, have all that I need, running water and a shower! I have even adopted the neighbor cat that the previous Peace Corps Volunteers took care of. At the school, there are about 18 teachers, all quite young and dedicated to doing their jobs. I am one of the few older staff members and I have been treated with respect and courtesy. Being the old lady doesn't make it easy to make friends as most are hesitant to strike up conversation. I have been trying to get to know my community and people are very friendly and curious for the most part. It is now summer so very hot here. We get strong, gusty winds so I don't go out much in these days. The only wifi I have for now is the local library (3 km walk) and they are only open till 5pm Mon-Fri.

I need to get organized and set up regular times to post here. For now, I'll sign off. Need to get home before dark and correct some papers.