So I'm really here for a year

By now the excitement I felt at being in Namibia, and then again when I first arrived here in Oluvango, has definitely worn off. The sunsets are still beautiful, but I'm used to them. I no longer wave to everyone I pass in the car, or at least I don't wave very enthusiastically. I seem to be running out of the adrenaline that carried me through my first two weeks of teaching. Things are starting to seem normal, or more accurately they are still strange but I'm getting used to the strangeness. These things are always hard to diagnose, but I would say I'm beginning to feel a little of the numbness that comes with culture shock.

But then again there is no reason to be so negative. My classes seem to be going better, I get the sense that my learners are learning from me, even if not every class is a clear success. In English I have them doing a project where pairs write an imaginary interview with a famous person and then present them to the class- my guess is that some of the interviews will be dissapointing, but I am hoping that some will really impress me. I've been giving quite a few tests, and it feels good to have something concrete to begin planning with. And hopefully I will begin doing computer lessons soon, which will take up more of my precious free time, but also hopefully be something I can do for learners that they can't get elsewhere and will make a noticeable difference in their lives. One can only hope.

So that is school. Last weekend Sinead and I had a nice visit with another volunteer- Kate Byers- in Okahao, a large village/town about an hour southeast of here. It was really nice to sit there on a Saturday afternoon with a beer and feel a cool breeze flowing and not worry about lesson planning for a while. Not to mention to spend the day with Sinead and not have to leave her at sunset and drive back to my empty flat- the loneliness at night is starting to get to me. This weekend we are doing something similar, visiting two volunteers who are a married couple- Inbal Goldstein and Laura Smock- in their town right on the Angolan border. So far its been nice to get away from Oluvango on the weekends, though I'm also feeling as though I should make more of an effort to get involved in the community here, though I'm not certain what the best way to do that is.

My apologies for the somewhat negative post, but this is just a phase I've got to get through before I can really start enjoying my time here.