I’m taking this time to write a new blog post because
A.
It is overcast and beautiful which is sparing me the
misery of the heat.
B.
My mood has seemed to even out and I don’t feel so
angry at the moment. No one wants to
read angry words.
Where am I right now?
I am in the staffroom on a Friday. I don’t have any classes until the afternoon
and I’ve prepared a listening activity for them that should keep their
attention, more or less. You see,
learners in grade 10 have to take national exams and today is the first day of
testing. They are writing
Entrepreneurship as I type this. The
rest of the school is fairly sedentary because they don’t want to get in
trouble for disturbing the grade 10s on this important exam.
This is all good and fine but I have the pleasure of
teaching them in the afternoon…when the learners will be running wild and not
want to listen to a word I say. Many of
the teachers at my school are out in meetings or workshops. The others are
scrambling to prepare grade 10s for their examinations.
The result? I asked
9A how many lessons they had had that day and they told me 0. We were at lesson 7 by that time. This bothers me greatly because the learners
don’t have the self-discipline to study in this free time. Like I said.
They are wild.
Let me clarify that I don’t really blame anyone for this
situation. It’s not like all of the
teachers are sitting in the staffroom drinking beer and playing games. We’re working. And we care about the kids. The circumstances just aren’t ideal. In the US
So, the circumstances.
It causes me so much frustration and yet I have to find a way to make it
work. I have to keep my learner’s
attention however I can. Unfortunately, Alice
Did I mention it is hot?
Yeah, it’s hot. You try to stay
awake when it’s 100 degrees and there’s no such thing as air conditioning. I can’t be angry with them. I have to tell them to go outside, splash
their face with water, and return to me refreshed. They look at me like I’m completely
irrational and evil for wanting them to learn during my time with them.
Today, we’re listening to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
(The Across the Universe version) and they have to fill in the gaps where I’ve
taken out words. I believe that at least
half of the class will be grateful for this fun lesson…the others don’t feel
gratitude for anything I do so I might as well stop caring if they like me or
are having fun. Will I actually stop
caring? Probably not.
On the plus side, all this out-of-my-controlness is wearing me down to a more easy going sort.
For example, the taxi ride from town to my village’s gravel
road is N$10. Often times, the driver
sees a white lady and instantly raises the price unaware that I’ve lived here
for a year, am not actually rich, and have brothers who drive taxis and I most
definitely know the price. If I have the
exact amount, it’s rarely a problem. If
I need change, they always give me less than what is due to me. I used to argue with them over N$2; not
because I care about this much money.
It’s almost nothing, really. I
would get upset because they were stereotyping me and taking advantage. It is dishonest and I can’t stand
dishonesty. Well, on Wednesday, I was
riding home from town, gave the man N$20 and asked for my change. He got in the car and drove off.
I’m still thinking about this experience and writing it down
now because I didn’t feel angry about it.
I was left on the side of the road in a cloud of dust and thought to
myself “oh well, I guess that’s that.”
Maybe I simply can’t take another ounce of frustration. It could very well cause me to explode. Or maybe I just let go of it because it was a
nice day and I had chocolate in my bag to eat when I got home and I didn’t feel
like being angry with him. Has it always
been that easy to just decide to let it go?
It’s certainly not that easy most of the time but I see that
experience as progress.
And now for something fully positive.
In the month of September, Nengushe Junior Secondary
welcomed 5 Peace Corps trainees and their language trainer. At the end of October, they will be sworn in
as volunteers and begin their service in the northern part of the country
(somewhere around me). For three weeks I
had the privilege of serving as a resource and mentor to them. This experience was highly beneficial to me,
though they may not have realized. Their
energy refreshed me and the rest of the school, for that matter. Our learners were so silly and excited about
their presence. I had friends from home
with whom I could discuss all the crazy stuff that’s going on in the USA
Until next time.
