Sunday, September 30, 2007
Game Time
After our cooking fun (read more below) we relaxed a bit and play Skip-Bo. This is a card game my mom sent me recently. The kids really loved it and it was good with math skills. It is always fun just to be able to hang out with my class and get to know them individually as people. I love teaching them but I love getting to know who they are as well. I hope to be able to continue next year with this same group of kids.
Cooking Day
Last week, my sixth grade remedial class came over to my house to do a cooking project as part of our math class. As you know, cooking is a great way to use math practically. We had such a great time. First we had lunch. The girls fixed lunch with me while the boys played out in the yard. After we ate we started to cook. We made brownies and cookies. The kids did such a great job and we really bonded. We are kind of like a little family together. I love these kids!
(first picture) - The boys playing in the yard.
(second picture) - Lazarus and Timo reading the recipe directions.
(third picture) - Fixing the cookies. From left to right; Timo, Lazarus, Edukali, Emilie, Salinde and Festus
(fourth picture) - Working together!
(fifth picture) - Tasting our treats! Emilie, Salinde, Edukali, Festus, Timo and Lazarus
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Emilie
Sorry for the blurry picture. This is Emilie, she is in my sixth grade remedial class although I don't think she really needs to be. She has improved exponentially in the past seven months and does well on all her work. Emilie is kind of my special girl. She hangs out with me a lot at school when I don't have a class, we have really connected. Emilie lives near my school which is in a very poor part of town but she is so happy! She is one of the sweetest girls I have ever met.
I wanted to share with you a little bit of insight on the lives of some of the kids I work with at the school, what the reality of their lives really is. I have been working on some english with my sixth grade remedial math class. One of their assignments is 15 spelling words each week. With those words, they have to write two sentances using the words. Below is some of the examples of Emilie's work, exactly how it appears in her book. I hope this gives you an idea of the life and reality Emilie and many others at my school live with . Please pray for all of them.
The Word: better
The Sentence: my mother is better than my father
The Word: mother
The Sentence: my mother likes to beat my sister
The Word: heart
The Sentence: my heart is painig (paining which means hurting)
The Word: hard
The Sentence: don (don't) beat me hard
Not all of the sentences are like this, some of them are funny and some of them are quite positive. At the same time, when I read this it reminds me that however often these kids don't listen or fight or frusterate me, their reality is so different from what I have known and it encourages me to have more patience and more love for them and it also reminds me that God loves these children so much more than I do.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Day in the Life of Jessica
Today has been a crazy day for sure but not entirely out of the regular norm. So, I thought I would share with you about my day!
I would say my day started at 7:30 (it is Saturday) but in reality I didn't really go to sleep because we had a sleep over last night. I dozed off around 4:00 for a couple hours but one of the girls had to go home at 6:30 so I got up with her, dozed again till one of the other girls woke up at 7:30. We got up, made breakfast, watched some cartoons than her and her sister headed home.
I really wanted to take a nap then but alas, it was not meant to be. I had to do some laundry and clean up from the sleepover. I also baked some brownies because some of the teen boys were coming this afternoon to help make my garden.
Finished cleaning and hoped for a nap but the youth girls came over and so I had to stay up. While they were hanging out, I corrected the homework from all 40 of my students. That is about 120 pages of homework!
2:00 is here which is the time the neighbor kids are allowed to come over to play. Looks like my nap will have to wait until they go home at 4:30. The kids came over so I did some jewlery beading with some of the girls, cars and animals with some of the boys, read a couple books and one of the neighbor boys helped me bake an apple cake for my dinner guests later that evening.
4:30 rolls around and no nap is in sight! The youth boys show up early so we get to work on starting my garden. Trying to get six boys to get it together enough to help me dig and rake and build a border was quite a challenge. The dirt did feel great between my toes! 6:00 comes and we are finished. The boys get some brownies and are about to leave when Peter reminds me that I wanted to cut his hair and he had brought his razor along.
I take a turn at trimming Peter's hair and I mess up a little bit. I try on another boy, Isak, and that goes better. Time is running out so we give up on the haircuts and head to the kitchen. The boys are now enlisted to help me get dinner started. One is stirring the meat, another chopping onions, another cooking corn and the last washing the dishes as we go. Where would I be without my boys? :-)
It is 6:15 and I send the boys home and jump in the shower while the spaghetti sauce is simmering. I shower quickly and get dressed and finish dinner. 7:00 and the dinner guests arrive. The guest is Shama, a guy from my church who goes to college in the city and is in town for a visit. He helps me with the youth occasionally so I wanted to have him over before he went back to school. Along with him was his younger sister. We have a great visit, hanging out, eating, talking and joking around. Shama is a really nice guy and he has been a huge help working with the youth at church. It was a good visit but I am exhausted.
Shama leaves around nine and a little clean up happens. I change into pj's and dial up the internet. I haven't loaded pictures in awhile. As my pictures load, I clean up the kitchen from dinner and make some pie crust dough. It needs to chill overnight. I will be making an apple pie because a missionary family is coming for a visit tomorrow after church. This is where I currently am, sipping some tea and trying to catch my blog up. It is 11:30 Saturday night. Like I said, this is a little extreme due to the no sleep but other than that, it is a typical Saturday in my life at this point and I love it.
(first picture) - Beading with the girls. This is Bertha who lives next door to me. Her three sisters are also making jewlery.
(second picture) - Playing cars and animals with the neighbor boy Festus, Bertha's brother. We recieved the cars and animals as well as the beads for jewlery from my Aunt Lorna and Uncle Bob and my cousins Natalie and Sam. Thanks guys! :-)
(third picture) - Check out the lovely work!
(fourth picture) - I am attempting to cut Peter's hair. He was not amused at my efforts. Ha Ha!
(fifth picture) - My very first garden! I am so excited. We planted tomatoes, potatoes, squash, carrots and cantaloupe. I will also be planting beans, onions and cabbage. I hope everything actually grows now! :-)
Sixth Grade at the Show
I took my six students from my sixth grade remedial math class to the local show (carnival/fair) in Grootfontein this week. This particular class has been working so hard the past couple of terms. We have even been doing some "show" math this week. I thought it would be fun to take them to the show and to have some time to hang out and enjoy being together. They were so cute as they all walked three kms to town to meet me all dressed up and ready for some fun.
(first picture) - Let me introduce you to my sixth grade class. The boy in the blue shirt is 15 yr old Lazarus. He is a super sweet kid that doesn't smile too often but works hard and is doing good work in my class. He has really improved a lot in the past seven months. Next to him in the black shirt is 16 yr old Timo. Timo is so sweet and I absolutely adore him. He came and saw me in the copy room one day and I will never forget how amazed he was at the copy machine. Timo, out of all the boys, is the best about doing his homework on time. He tries really hard in class and it shows in his work. The boy behind Timo with the hat is 19 yr old Edukali. This boy drives me crazy but he is so funny. He was super quiet when the class first started and now he is the loudest. I realized that when he tries to do his work, he does an excellant job. I am amazed at the transformation in his personality. He is a class clown and has had to write sentances in my class may times. In the front in the yellow shirt is 14 yr old Festus. I love Festus but the boy couldn't learn math if it bit him in the face. He tries so hard but he just does not get it. I am pretty sure he is dyslexic and possibly has more learning disabilities. There are no resources here for special needs so we work slowly and there has been a little improvement. He is the "little brother" in the class and is often picked on by both the boys and the girls but he is super sweet and I adore him. In front of him in the white shirt and white hat is 15 yr old Salinde. She is quiet but fun and super sweet. She does really well in my class and is probably the most well behaved out of all of them. She loves to sit and chat with me when she finishes her work. Lastly, the girl to the right of Slinde is 11 yr old Emilie. Emilie is the brightest student in my class and could probably go back to mainstream sixth grade but I can't let her go. She is like my little sidekick and follows me all over at school. She is a great girl. I know this is a long description but I have lost my heart with this class. We are like a little family. They are so possesive and get upset when people interupt our time together. We had such a great time at the show and this coming week they will be at my house to do some cooking as a math project. I can tell you when I came to Namibia, this is the last place I thought I would be but these six kids have really touched my life!
(second picture) - Salinde and me on the Dive Bomber ride. It was super rad!
(third picture) - Emilie, Salinde and me on the Tile A Whirl ride. I enjoyed it but Emilie got really scared and we had to stop the ride so she could get off!
(fourth picture) - Edukali on the swings ride. Even at 19, he loves the littlest things!
(fifth picture) - Enjoying some cotten candy and cool drinks.
We also went on a giant blow up slide, checked out the livestock, got our faces painted, ate ice cream and looked in the booths. It was one of the best days I have ever had in Namibia!
The Parade
The show is coming, the show is coming! Once a year, a show, which is like a little county fair comes to Grootfontein. The kick off is a parade through town. It was absolutely precious!
(first picture) - Here is the first float.
(second picture) - The German school is showing off their float.
(third picture) - The Bushman kids represents her culture.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Snapshot of Life...
Here are just a few pictures of the neighbors at my house!
(first picture) - I love this picture because the looks and expressions on each of the youth's faces is so much like who they are and their personality. It would be to difficult to describe each one because they are so unique. This is the majority of our "regulars" at the house. The top row from left to right is Peter, Anna (a visiting short term missionary), Ileni, me and Bina. The bottom row from left to right is Sippee, Halleluja, Ganine (the G sounds like a J) and Josh.
(second picture) - This is my favorite little gal, Laticia. I know I write about her all the time but what can I say, I adore the little girl!
(third picture) - Me and some of my boys. This is Peter and Josh and we are laughing as usual. These boys are my protectors as well as my biggest pains. Despite every time the bug and tease me, they are great boys. Josh and Peter are always willing to help with anything I need and will come if I ever need to be escorted someone. Even tonight, I was at a friends house near where they live and it was too late to walk all the way home alone. I walked around the block to their house and they escorted me home with no problem. They are a huge blessing to me!
st on
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Baywatch Night!
As I have mentioned before, nights around here are not that exciting. By eight at night all the neighbor kids and youth are home and it is dark so I am home most every night. Usually we hang out, sometimes watch a movie, correct papers, prepare lessons and watch a few shows. After Jackie and Heather arrived we stumbled onto the show "Baywatch." Now I know what you are thinking but it is the best cheesy show in the world. Tuesday's have become "Baywatch" night. It is a whole ordeal. This week, Jackie and Heather wore the swimsuit tops, Linda broke out the cloth surf board and I wore my life guard shirt. I think this goes to show that there really is nothing to do in Grootfontein...
Water Fun!
It is finally getting hot around here so I thought we would celebrate with a little water fight. Anna, a short term missionary who was visiting for a week, also thought this was a great idea. We changed our clothes, loaded up our water guns and headed out for a war. The backyard was full of kids and two of the youth boys, Josh and Peter, had just come over. Now Josh and Peter love to tease and harass me so this was a perfect opportunity to get them back. What started out as a little fun with the water guns quickly turned into an all out war with 20+ kids and a few of the youth, Anna and myself. In the end, there wasn't a dry person in the backyard! :-)
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Monday, September 03, 2007
Wedding
Our neighbors, Danke and Grapes, were married this past Friday. I was really excited to be able to see this. After they were married at the court house they came to the grassy place in town to take the pictures. They have some of the most interesting posed pictures that I thought were just great. It was fun and I was even in a few of the pictures.
(first picture) - The bride, groom, flower girl and ring bearer.
(second picture) - A fun pose...
(third picture) - The wedding party, the parents and friends. The woman in the colorful dresses are Ovambo women dressed in traditional clothing. They are holding sticks with the tails of cows on them that they wave in the air and make this interesting yell.
(fourth picture) - A fun pic!
Reception
After the wedding, everyone goes home for a few hours for some rest for the night to come. The reception was held in a hall in town. There was dancing, speeches and of course meat! It was a lot of fun despite all the drinking. Of course, we didn't take part in it. I spent a lot of time watching all our youth kids trying to sneak a sip here and there.
(first picture) - Hallelujah and Bina
(second picture) - The beautiful bride, Danke and her new husband, Grapes
(third picture) - Can't have an event in Namibia without meat!
(fourth picture) - Danke with my favorite little girl, Laticia
(fifth picture) - Check out the groom, Grapes. Looking pretty smooth...