This term I continued to teach the same classes - grade 8 math, grade 8-10 BIS (basic information science) and Art. This term went by so much faster than term one and it was difficult to get in all the material I wanted to teach. But I did my best and hoped for the best. My end of term results were a little lower than I wanted, but I'm learning how best to teach and how best to be in charge in the classroom.
Other events from this term:
Zia (my host niece) turned 2 and I baked her birthday cake.
We had two staff parties; one at the beginning of the term for celebrating term 1 and then one at the end celebrating the end of term 2. The first party was at my colleagues' house and we had a potkie (pronounced poi-kee) which is a large stew that is cooked in the traditional black pot outside on a fire.
Our second party was at the hot springs at Kanikobes. It's a natural spring and the water is HOT! We had a braai and had a lot of fun relaxing!
I went to Brukkaros Mountain which is the mountain I can see daily from Tses. It was so beautiful out there. Next time it would be nice to go in a 4x4 vehicle because it took a while just to hike up the "road" to get to the main part of the mountain. I hope to do some more hiking around it soon!
At school, I received a wonderful donation from my church back home, Westlake United Methodist Church. They sent my school art supplies, pens, pencils, erasers, and a classroom set of calculators. It's so nice to have art class with actual supplies to use and to give a test or exam without half the class sharing the two calculators they have. During end of term exams the calculators were put to good use and everyone was thankful to have them!
We had a cultural day at school where the learners were able to perform traditional dances, marches and dramas. They really did a good job and it was fun to see a lot of them dressed in their traditional clothes.
We also had a beauty pageant, Miss and Mr St. Therese. This is a MAJOR event for our school. I made the suggestion to have the theme be India because the soapie that is currently showing is "India - A Love Story". So we had the Taj Mahal as our background and I taught a dance to Jai Ho as the opening number. It was so much fun to teach the dance and I might consider doing a dance class next term or next year. The kids did a really great job! They were judged on their India/Traditional wear, casual wear and evening wear. We had a good crowd show up and the school raised around N$2,000. I'm really glad I was able to be a part of putting it all together.
Before the pageant we had a photo shoot at the dunes nearby. The pictures turned out so beautiful with the blue sky and the red sand. It was a fun day to be photographer!
It's been winter months here and it's been COLD some days. I'm very glad I purchased a heater because it really came in handy! But I really enjoyed the cooler weather. There were only a few days that were really almost unbearable. And it was mostly because the wind and the sun never coming out from behind the clouds. It's turning into spring now and the weather is so enjoyable. Cool in the mornings and at night and warm during the day - but not hot. It's nice to not sweat all the time!
