Pictures!

I am working on a new post with details about the end of Term 2, my trip during our short break, and the beginning of Term 3, but for now enjoy some pictures.

Finally, a new post. An update to get completely caught up. Lots of pictures including holiday, Term 2, projects, wildlife, and more! Enjoy.

So, three months. Sorry for the delay and broken promises. I do have some exciting stories to tell. I will not bore you with the details of everything, but some things I can' pass up. This is an attempt to get caught up to the present and touch on the highlights of my first holiday and Term 2.

Vacation

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be on vacation until May 16th so, check back around then for an update about the end of school, mid-service training, and my travels to the south of Namibia.  Thanks for reading.

Bret

Major flooding, wrapping up Term 1, and over 30 pictures are after the text!

Rain, rain, and more rain. Water? Water? Still no water.

In my last post I mentioned the summer, from about January to April, is the rainy season. From what I could tell at the beginning was that things were pretty normal. It rained the entire first week I was in the North, but from there, rained a few times a week with a few weeks getting no rain. At times it had been wet even changing the way I walked to school, but seemingly normal until a few weeks ago. Since then the entire North and some of the Northeast of Namibia has experienced severe flooding. Schools have closed, both crops and roads have been damaged, and some people have been forced from there homes. In Omungwelume the paved road to Oshakati has been washed away, cutting all traffic, and the water from the tap has been off since Wednesday 23 March.

Pictures from Raucana Falls

 More pictures can be found on my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/bwmcspadden

 

A great weekend trip and progress at school...

Just so you know I will be posting pictures asap.  I couldn't wake up last night when the internet is free from 1-5am.  I will try to get them up tonight.

Wow! Has it really been a month since I last posted? The answer is yes. I apologize for the delay and hope you enjoy reading what has been going on. It has been an interesting few weeks. I took an incredible and refreshing weekend trip to Raucana Falls and have had a variety of emotions regarding teaching and the work I am doing here. Overall, things are going well and I am glad to have finally got the ball rolling on some extra projects I have been wanting to do. Time is flying by and it has been a challenge to keep up.

A few weeks of school and travel. Address also included.

Sunday 2/6

So, it's been a while since the last post minus the pictures. I hope you enjoyed those. I am still getting to know my way around blogging so I apologize there are no descriptions and if they don't look good on the page. I may have mentioned it before, but the way you pay for internet here is by usage, really per megabyte of data. Fortunately, the internet provider, MTC, does have an internet 'happy hour' from 1-5am where the internet is free. So, what I'm getting to, is that I don't let my web browser load any pictures during regular hours and haven't seen the way the ones I posted look on the page. I was just able to load them to the web page right before 5 Saturday when I set an alarm to wake up and use the internet. Also, rushing to get them up I was unable to give them descriptions before the 'happy hour' ended. I will put up descriptions asap, but until them enjoy.

In addition to a long post, I do finally have my address. I did get word today that a package sent from the U.S. on December 29^th has just arrived! I think this is normal, so electronic might be the best bet, but you are free to send packages and they don't even have to be for me. The learners would appreciate anything you would like to send as well. The address is as follows:

BRET MCSPADDEN

OMUNGWELUME JSS

P.O. BOX 2370

OSHAKATI, OHANGWENA

NAMIBA

Here is the link to the USPS international mail website with more information if you need it... http://www.usps.com/business/international/welcome.htm. Also, this sounds terrible, but I have heard that if you write things like “God Bless You”, “Jesus Loves You”, or even put “Father” or “Sister” in the address, things will arrive faster and will not be broken into. I don't really know if this is true, so I wouldn't really worry about it. Just something I've heard.

On to the post...

Pictures!

Orientation Over and First week in Omungwelume

Sunday 1/24

Hello all! It's been about 2 weeks since the last post and so much has happened. Last week we finished Orientation on the 15the with final sessions on a past volunteers perspective on the classroom, teaching speaking, basic language instruction on the tribal languages of our region (mine is Oshikwaynama, oshi-qwan-yama, a dialect of Oshivambo), our syllabuses, continuous assessment, a security brief from the U.S. Embassy, testing/grading/assessment, health and safety, hand-washing clothes tutorial, our Emergency Action Plan if we have to evacuate, challenging situations, first day tips, fears/expectations/hopes, logistics/evaluations, and an amazing dinner at a local restaurant called Fusion (the food was modern takes on traditional African dishes and was one of the best meals I've had anywhere). Overall, it was great to be done with Orientation. Although it was very informative and a great few weeks getting to know the staff, their husbands, and the other volunteers, I had been ready to get to my placement, unpack/settle in, and start at the my school.

Keeping Busy. Tsumeb, my first teaching experience, and Etosha National Park

It's been a week since I last wrote. Sorry for the long breaks in posts. I hope to write more often once I'm settled. It's been a bit crazy with all the sessions, my first teaching experience (!) and traveling back to Windhoek from Tsumeb. Tomorrow is the mark for being here two weeks and I can hardly believe more time hasn't passed. I think because we have covered so much it seems like we have been here longer. Since I last wrote, we have began and finished our teaching practicum, and had sessions on teaching listening, the Namibian culture of indirectness, international development, teaching pronunciation, teaching reading, Namibian views of westerners, teaching writing, assessing learners, challenging school/community situations, teaching large/multilevel classes, teaching new vocabulary, teaching new vocabulary, and have begun basic language instruction. Again, quite a lot, but it does make the days go by pretty quick.

First update from Namibia!

The following is a compilation of a few journal entries I made since arriving in Namibia.  At first I did not have any internet access so I just wrote a little on the computer.  Now that I have access to the internet I hope to make more regular updates to the blog, but we'll see.  Anyway, enjoy and talk to you all again soon.

Thursday, December 30, 2010, Windhoek, Namibia

I have arrived in Namibia! After an overnight flight to D.C. through Atlanta, I left the U.S.A. the evening of the 28^th. The flight had a short stop in Dakar, Senegal and then made its way to Johannesburg, South Africa where we (WorldTeach group of 12) switched planes for a 2 hour flight to Windhoek. We landed around 9 pm on December 29th, disembarked the plane on the tarmac and walked through a slight drizzle into the airport. After getting my passport stamped, I continued on into the baggage claim area only to find that my bag did not make it. I'm not sure how this happened because we all checked our luggage at the same time, but two other members of the group are also missing baggage. I have been told this happens all the time and that it should arrive today. I hope this is true!