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| Cattle are everywhere in Ongwediva! |
The schools here are way different than back in the states! Maurits Devonish is the name of the school I tried out, and it was much, much different than what I've been used to. Everyone wears uniforms to school, and sports are mainly segregated by gender and grade. Of course, we did get to play volleyball with the boys, which was fun. I played volleyball for three years back in the states, so the teacher used me as an example most of the time :)
Each morning, everyone lines up- based on gender and grade- and sings the school song, national anthem, and prays. The schools here are mainly all Catholic, and religion is a big role in many lives in Namibia. Through this part I just kind of stood there awkwardly trying to figure out how the songs go. Parts of it were in Afrikaans, which is the language many kids were brought up with, so I had no idea what they were saying.
Every day, there are nine periods. School starts at seven a.m. sharp and ends at 12:50, except for Monday, which ends at 2:00. The nine periods change daily, and I can't tell you the daily schedule, because I was so lost with it I just followed everyone else in my class around. But I can tell you the subjects. We had Math, Physical Science, Life Science, Life Skills, Geography, Accounting, Entrepreneurship, Afrikaans, and English. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have p.e. which is either fitness or sports.
The classes are all over the place compared to America. In math, I was so far ahead that it was just review. I was tutoring and helping people who sat next to me most of the time, which was fun.
Accounting and Entrepeneurship are a totally different story. The teacher was very understanding when I told her that we don't have either of those classes in America, which is good because I still dont get exactly how to do a Balance Sheet. And that's after two weeks of trying out the school!
Geography was a bit confusing. Especially when you join in during the last months of school. To make it even more of a challenge, the geography was focused on Namibia! It took a while to understand what mahangu was, or mopane trees.
My favorite subject was English. It was fun back in the U.S. too, but it made my day when I got to experience it Namibian style! English is more of a second language in schools here, although it was changed to the first language a couple years ago. Once again, I was much farther ahead in the subject, but I think that's kind of what made it so great. I joined Devonish when they had begun reading aloud a book about the holocaust, and the teacher asked me to read. When I finished, the whole class got into a bit of a riot- I was reading too fast. So, the next girl who reads decides to mimic me. She reads as fast as humanly possible and the whole class bursts out laughing!
On the last Friday of the month, also the last Friday I attended Maurits Devonish, many of the teachers were gone. In America, if a teacher is gone, they have a substitute to take their place. But in Namibia, they may or may not have one! We didn't have many lessons to do either, so we spent much of our time arm wrestling each other. Or the kids in my class would ask me about America. Back in Cali, we had to write a journal entry about stereotypes. All the stereotypes about us were true here. I even got a couple more to add!
Just in case you were wondering, all CA natives:
-see a lot of celebrities
-live by the beach
-have huge parties like the movie Project X
-surf
-say "dude," "brah" and "radical"
-know a lot of celebrities
-are rich and get tans
-only wear bathingsuits and sandals
After that Friday, we got a house, and found out I had to discontinue school there. But I still keep in touch with my friends at Devonish. If you guys at Devonish are reading this, hope you like my American take on my experiences!
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