Most of April was spent at my site, more specifically at school. Here in Namibia we three school terms a year. Term 1 is January to April, term 2 is June to mid-August, and term 3 September to early November. At the end of each term learners take exams that span over two weeks. With the end of my first term teaching came a lot of catching up. While learners were writing exams I was marking up a storm of papers that they had turned in and I had yet to find the time to look at. (When I say a storm, I mean a blizzard, like when it snows so much you can't get out your front door.) Once I finished marking all their papers, then I got to mark the 55 grade 8 math exams and 75 grade physical science exams they had just written. But wait, that's not the best part... then I had to calculate all 130 of those learners grades for term 1 in a week to turn in for their reports. Being a teacher is not an easy job y'al! (Shout out to all my teachers that did this for me!)
Besides school and marking, I got to spend time with other volunteers at the beginning of the month for a media committee meeting and then again during our long weekend for the Easter holiday. I hosted a few volunteers to have a fried chicken party. We have KFC here, but its not the nearly the same. We came together and prepared a delicious meal of fried chicken and coleslaw.
The grand finale for the month, my family came to visit me in Namibia! What you see here is just their arrival, but they spent 2 weeks exploring Nam with me (check that out in May's video recap)! It was so good to see them after 8 months of being away from home. I didn't think I'd get emotional, but as soon as they walked out those airport doors there were tears in my eyes from the happiness for seeing them. Whatsapp can only cut it for so long before ya just need a hug from from your mama, sis and pop.
Favorite Day: April 15th
This was the day we made homemade fried chicken and I ate way too much.
Least Favorite Day: April 5th,
I stood in the cue at the bank for 4 hours to get my new bank card that had a chip in it. No that is NOT a typo, you read right.... 4 HOURS! It was unlike any cue I've stood in. The lines at Disneyland don't even take that long! (Unless Space Mountain is broken down and you continue to wait in the line in hopes that it will reopen in a somewhat timely manner because it's your favorite ride and you have to ride it at least once. rant over)
Three things I learned this month:
1. Greek yogurt is a great substitute for mayonnaise.
2. Don't put things off! (This includes marking and getting new bank cards.)
3. Family is something that will always be important in my life.
Something new:
For the first time, my water went out. The previous volunteer at my site had left ten 1 liter bottles of water "in case of an emergency" should the water go out. Almost 6 months of being at site, and it finally happened. Coincidentally enough it happened no more than 10 minutes after my friend asked if my water had ever gone out (spooky, I know). It was out for a day before it turned back on. Unfortunately it was the day of the fried chicken party, which only put a slight damper on the sheer happiness of eating good comfort food.
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