We’ve now been in Tsumeb for
almost six weeks, which means we have pretty much completed Phase 2 of Peace
Corps! On Sunday we’ll be going to Windhoek for our “Reconnect.” This is a
chance to see the rest of our group and receive further training now that we’ve
been at our sites and know what things will be like. After that we have summer
holidays until January! We’ll be travelling to the coast and doing some hiking
in the mountains and spending Christmas with other volunteers in a town nearby.
Then it’ll be back to the grindstone, preparing lessons for next
year!
We feel much more settled at our site now that we’ve been here for a
while. This weekend we finally bought a wardrobe and some shelves so we could
finish unpacking our suitcases! The wardrobe is kind of a novelty (I think)
because it’s made of poles covered in canvas – it came in a flat box, some
assembly required. But it works really well! And it’s blue, how great.
=)
On Saturday, the Tsumeb Family Support Center held its Peaceful March and
Clothesline Project in town. I joined in on the march, with some other
volunteers, which was really good. There were a bunch of kids at the front
singing the whole time, followed by the adults, everyone wearing a t-shirt
decorated with a message about domestic violence. We strung all the shirts up
on a clothesline around the park when we finished, and heard a nice speech by
the regional councilor.
This week there’s a praise and worship gathering on Thursday with worship
leaders from various churches in Tsumeb (including ours) so we’re looking
forward to that tomorrow. On Sunday we saw the children’s Christmas program at
our church – a little early, but many of the kids will be leaving next week as
school finishes. It was a good program including lots of songs, a puppet show,
and a movie of the Christmas story.
As we are still without gas for our gas stove, we’ve become pretty good
at cooking things in our electric broiler – pizza, chicken, garlic bread, apple
crisp, tuna melts, frittatas, toast… Who knew a broiler could be so useful? I
miss baking cookies though, especially with Christmas coming
up!
We will probably have very limited internet over the holidays since we
obviously won’t be able to use our school networks. We’ll find internet cafes
when we can, but otherwise we’ll have lots to report in
January!
I’m so glad our whole group has made it this far! Dylan and I feel ready
to start teaching in January, and excited about all the possibilities the new
year will bring. In the meantime, please pray for safe travel for our group as
we traverse Namibia by hitchhiking and public transport. =) Hopefully all the
activity will keep us from being too
homesick!
almost six weeks, which means we have pretty much completed Phase 2 of Peace
Corps! On Sunday we’ll be going to Windhoek for our “Reconnect.” This is a
chance to see the rest of our group and receive further training now that we’ve
been at our sites and know what things will be like. After that we have summer
holidays until January! We’ll be travelling to the coast and doing some hiking
in the mountains and spending Christmas with other volunteers in a town nearby.
Then it’ll be back to the grindstone, preparing lessons for next
year!
We feel much more settled at our site now that we’ve been here for a
while. This weekend we finally bought a wardrobe and some shelves so we could
finish unpacking our suitcases! The wardrobe is kind of a novelty (I think)
because it’s made of poles covered in canvas – it came in a flat box, some
assembly required. But it works really well! And it’s blue, how great.
=)
On Saturday, the Tsumeb Family Support Center held its Peaceful March and
Clothesline Project in town. I joined in on the march, with some other
volunteers, which was really good. There were a bunch of kids at the front
singing the whole time, followed by the adults, everyone wearing a t-shirt
decorated with a message about domestic violence. We strung all the shirts up
on a clothesline around the park when we finished, and heard a nice speech by
the regional councilor.
This week there’s a praise and worship gathering on Thursday with worship
leaders from various churches in Tsumeb (including ours) so we’re looking
forward to that tomorrow. On Sunday we saw the children’s Christmas program at
our church – a little early, but many of the kids will be leaving next week as
school finishes. It was a good program including lots of songs, a puppet show,
and a movie of the Christmas story.
As we are still without gas for our gas stove, we’ve become pretty good
at cooking things in our electric broiler – pizza, chicken, garlic bread, apple
crisp, tuna melts, frittatas, toast… Who knew a broiler could be so useful? I
miss baking cookies though, especially with Christmas coming
up!
We will probably have very limited internet over the holidays since we
obviously won’t be able to use our school networks. We’ll find internet cafes
when we can, but otherwise we’ll have lots to report in
January!
I’m so glad our whole group has made it this far! Dylan and I feel ready
to start teaching in January, and excited about all the possibilities the new
year will bring. In the meantime, please pray for safe travel for our group as
we traverse Namibia by hitchhiking and public transport. =) Hopefully all the
activity will keep us from being too
homesick!
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