Grade 6, meet Mozart

I’m having a super awesome day.  

Today, I played Mozart for my learners.  I was…. nervous. I was….  uneasy. Really, it could have gone in many different directions.  Last week, in my absence, I gave them a reading passage and comprehension questions about Mozart; I wanted to make it all make sense to them by playing them some pieces that Mozart composed.  I remember how junior high school students reacted to classical music when I was that age, hence the trepidation.  I told them that maybe they would like the music, maybe they wouldn’t, and it was ok if they didn't like it.  I told them that it was different than anything they’d ever heard before, although they might have heard bits of Mozart’s music here and there (like, in cell phone ring tones).  We finished up going over the reading comprehension questions.  I had 2 sets of computer speakers set up and 3 different songs queued up and ready to go.  I had questions for them to answer while they were listening (if they’re not busy, they’re terrors): How does the music make you feel, and If you heard this in a movie, what would be happening in the movie while the music was playing?  So far, so good.  The only thing left was to actually play the music.

It was a magical moment.  Maybe not as magical as the moment when we finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but magical nonetheless.  Or perhaps I should say that I was prepared for it to be disastrous, and it wasn’t.  Some of the girls stood up and solo-waltzed around the room.  Some of the boys put their heads down and just listened.  Regardless, even when I was ready to turn it off, they told me not to. I took that as a good sign.

I’d planned for 3 songs, and we made it through 3 songs.  It’s always nice to get through what was planned. 

And when I told them that we would listen to more music like Mozart again before the end of the year, they were into it. SUCCESS!

Part of integration is eating what the community eats.  Namibians eat maize meal porridge.  A lot. I ate it quite a bit at the beginning, but the truth is that it’s incredibly high in calories and low in nutritional value and so I eat it only on rare occasion.  The learners involved in the government feeding program are given porridge (pap) during break and also after school, and they walk around shoveling it into their mouths out of empty ice cream containers.  I know some people make pap with milk and butter or animal lard (because some of the learners are so skinny, they need anything to fatten them up a bit), but I’m not sure what the women making the pap for the feeding program at my school put into it.  

Anyway, yesterday, while I was waiting for the learners to finish cleaning the classroom, a couple of the girls were harassing me into eating some of their pap.  I keep telling them that I don’t dislike pap, I just don’t eat it because it makes me too fat.  They were hell bent on me eating a spoon of it…. so I did.  And that one simple action made them all so happy.  And they were still talking about it this morning, about how Miss ate their pap nicely yesterday.  

The same girls tried to get me to eat pap again today.  I told them it makes me too fat.  Their response (while poking and pinching my legs and arms): “Miss is not fat enough yet.  Miss is sexy.” 

I’m still celebrating small victories.  I have a little party inside every time I hear my learners use the correct verb tense. Even the adult Namibians don’t use them correctly.  I celebrate every time they use is/are and was/were correctly.  I celebrate every time they use part of the question to form their answer.  It’s really true that their progress is visible now.  

I mentioned that Namibia has a way of working things out.  Here’s another example.  I’ve managed to lose 3 Nalgenes since coming to Namibia.  I nearly lost my last one (one that I didn’t even bring here, but somehow inherited) in Swakopmund on Sunday.  I was feeling a little panicked, because, even though I could get new ones in December, that’s 2 months of drinking out of flimsy plastic water bottles.  Luckily, Ashley saved my lost Nalgene and brought it to me today.  BUT…  I received a super awesome package from my great friend Barb that contained 2 shiny new Nalgenes, so even if I hadn’t recovered the Nalgene left in Swakop, everything still would have been ok.  And Barb sends great packages.  Thanks, Barb! And thanks to Brian for sending a package filled with climbing magazines. You guys rock. :)

Other small things that have fueled my nam happiness today:

• My bicycle is fixed.  The derailleur was broken. The gear shifter was broken. It was all….  broken.  And broken beyond the point that anyone in Gobabis could fix it. So, I took the front derailleur off. My bike is a 6-speed now, but I don’t mind. I didn’t really use those other 12 speeds anyway.
• I found an Indian shop in Windhoek that sells authentic Indian incense AND imported spices for really cheap.  Score!
• I’m trying to prep Grade 7 for the end of year exam. I gave them a passage from an exam prep book about solar eclipses.  I figured I should give them some basic space background, like why do we have day and night.  One of the brighter learners in the class informed me that it’s because the sun goes around the earth.  The funny/sad part: I’m sure he learned this from another teacher.
• Avocados are 4 for N$19 – about US$2.70.
• I'm adjusting to the heat.  I'm still a sweaty mess 85% of the time the sun is up, but I can really tell the difference between last year at this time and now.  Of course, this means that I'm going to freeze on the east coast in December, even under 18-20 layers....

I've also gotten updates from folks I haven't heard from in a while.  I feel so out of the loop most of the time here, so update emails are really nice. :)

I hope you're well, wherever you are. Thanks for reading!