Recap of a Month of Activities!

I have been slacking at this blog lately. I just can’t really think of new things to write about anymore. Nothing ever seems to strike me as unusual now so I’m having a harder time deciding what is interesting to be talking about. Any suggestions welcome!!! With that, I will recap all the goings-on in Luderitz. 

This past month we wrapped up Term 1. In it was my 24^th birthday, which was very nice, and filled with SO many cards from learners in Grade 6 and 7. I also took a video of ‘Happy Birthday’ sung Namibian style by my learners. I will definitely upload it at some point when I decide to be patient with the internet, because I now prefer this version to the standard Happy Birthday.

My neighbor/South African dad Douglas had Maria [Group 35 Volunteer who has been living with me] and I over for a crayfish braai and altogether feast. It was delicious!!! I cannot wait for the Crayfish Festival at the end of May.

Teaching-wise, nothing new happened. I made my exam really hard because the kids started acting up towards the end of the term and they deserved it! But at the end of the day, my exam actually tested what they had learned in English class, versus so many common English exams here that I kid you not illiterate people can still receive up to 10/30 on.

In my Girl’s Group we finished up the term with a field trip to Shark Island [I also have a good video of this with 60 girls singing their way through town on our walk, maybe it’ll show up on this blog eventually], a fun day of Easter sweets and coloring activities, and a day where we made girl's group shirts with fabric paint and cut-outs that Maria and I made from cardboard.

Our picturesque spot on Shark Island, making crazy faces of course. This was before the girls all got in the water and I proceeded to freak out that someone was going to drown with only me supervising everyone [thankfully it was all fine!] 

A small sampling of girls with their shirts on the last day of exams!

We also finished another intervention of PC Skillz!

The Graduates of 7C, aka the 'Shining Stars'

Love these two colleagues, Frieda and Esme!

Yesterday, the last day of the term, I sent off two of my Grade 7s to Camp GLOW [Girls and Guys Leading Our World] in Windhoek, a week-long leadership camp run by volunteers and Namibian facilitators. They were SO excited, and I can’t wait to hear what they learned at the start of next term. We also had our end of term staff party yesterday. We had it at a little café on the Luderitz Waterfront, and we lucked out on the weather, managing to avoid wind for the most part! We had a great time eating, drinking, and celebrating the end of the term as we said goodbye to a colleague who, with the exception of maybe 5 teachers, had been at DPS the longest [9 years!]. Holiday is beginning now, and it is going to be an incredible month, during which a best friend from college is visiting Nam, Peace Corps Namibia is having an All-Volunteer Conference, and I will be exploring South Africa with some awesome volunteers in my group. Basically, namlife is awesome, and I'm making everything count now that I'm nearing the end of service!