Another Year Older

Both Namibia and I celebrated our birthdays last month - Namibia turned 21 on the 21st of March and I turned...another year older...on the 22nd of March. It was really great to celebrate Independence Day here in Namibia. It's very different celebrating an Independence that is so young. Some of our teachers spoke during the assembly about how it was when they were in school during apartheid and one told of how he participated in marching for a demonstration. Each class presented a poem, dance, song, etc. Below is grade 8B doing a traditional Nama dance:

(I will post a video when I have a faster internet connection or hours to sit letting it upload)

Some of the teachers decided we would dress in traditional attire. I borrowed a dress from my host sister Celeste. The dress I borrowed was from when her daughter Zia was baptized. I had so many complements at school! Now, I am trying to find some material to have my own dress made.

Another Independence Day event at school was the Mr/Miss Independent pageant which I was asked to be a judge. It was difficult to judge because everyone did a great job. One thing that was different about this pageant was that the boys dressed as girls and the girls dressed as boys. It was HILARIOUS! Below are some pictures of the formal wear:

Over the Independence Day weekend, I made a trip to Mariental to visit with some other volunteers. It was a nice weekend to get away and on Monday I was treated to lunch and a birthday milkshake.

On my actual birthday, I had one class sing "Happy Birthday" to me and I had a lot of hugs and handshakes from my learners and colleagues. After school, I walked to the store and bought a cooldrink (coke) and some biscuits (cookies) to share with the Matron in the evening.