Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008. “The Wannabe” musical debut is scheduled for September 4th of this year. Things are starting to come together for sure. What an exciting project! The Mascatos had their very first press conference for the musical today. A few Bank Windhoek people and the costume designers came down from Windhoek to take pictures of the group and the main characters in their costumes. Soon these pics will be made public in local news papers and magazines to start promoting the show. With Bank Windhoek backing up the whole extravaganza, this spectacle is bound to be a success. I mean, our very own Jen Kinghorn is being flown in from Canada to accompany the musical! Plus the bank is also bringing in a choreographer from Scotland to work with the choristers. It’s going to be a biggy, no doubt! I enjoyed the costume parade most of all… oh yah, and the yummy snacks afterwards… heehee. I also had fun snapping shots throughout the press conference so y’all can get a sneak peek of some out the characters’ snazzy outfits. Enjoy!
Musical Press Conference + A Beautiful Swakop Day
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008
The Heavenly Hazelnut/Chocolate Multi-layer Mousse Cake (yes, I dubbed it myself) at the Ultra Online Café rocks my tastes buds!
Mr. Pacman concurs... CHOMP CHOMP MMM...
Yea... this is what I do to entertain myself. Sad, I know. ;-p
Holy moly, where goes the time?!!
Wowee… I know what you’re thinking. This inconsistent blogging of mine is ridiculous. Haha… no worries, I agree. Thing is, it’s not because I am so busy that I do not blog. I guess I’ve just fallen into a daily routine here in Walvis Bay and I don’t realize how the time flies. One sort of loses track of time in this place. I decided to check my handy dandy cell phone calendar today to reorient my mental clock… HOLY MAKEREL, it’s July 21st, 2008!! My apologies for the tardiness indeed. No worries, I am still alive. Haha… I just can’t believe how quickly the weeks are passing by!
Sigh… as you can imagine, a lot has happened since I last posted an entry. Most of my time is spent with my Sunshine Kids of course, but I’ll try my best to recount the other highlights that went on in these past few weeks. Do check out my pics also because I’m even relying on them to help me recall what I’ve been up to. Haha yup, it sure has been a while. Whatevs… here goes…
So the endeavor to establish a music program at the Sunshine Kids centre continues. Poppy (the music teacher) has now requested that I also teach her how to play guitar and drums. Haha… thing is, I am no instrument maestro. A jack of all trades usually, but I know my limitations. Good thing for connections though, because I soon roped Dollar into the whole shebang as well. He has been taking guitar lessons, so I figure the centre would appreciate his newly attained guitar knowledge and skills. Dollar will primarily focus his time on a select few of the older Sunshine Kids. Things have been going stellar since Dollar stepped in to help. Poppy and the kids love him. Now, who shall I persuade to teach drums? Haha…
Side note: I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Kim Chung for initiating and organizing a project back in Edmonton to help gather a bunch of books and other materials for my Sunshine Kids. She and a small group of people have pooled together their resources and funds to send a hefty package of resources over to the centre. On behalf of the Sunshine Kids, centre staff, and myself, I would like to thank you all for your generosity and time. Your kindness and compassion are much appreciated. Everyone at the centre is so grateful. They were ecstatic when they heard the good news. They wish God’s blessings upon you all. Thank you again for being such wonderful and considerate people. I am very honored to have friends like you.
On July 9th, I spent the day chilling with Rebecca Ponder, an ex-Mascato member who lives in South Africa now. For those who know Pamela Lowry who worked at MYO with Lex last year, Rebecca was Pam’s roommate and she used to teach at Hanganani. Pam was the one who introduced us to each other… over Facebook no less… haha. We thought it would be nice to meet up and chat about school related stuff, life and whatever. That day, we had lunch at The Village Café (I love the ambiance of that place!) and ate dessert at the Lightkeeper’s Cottage Gallery & Tea Garden. Hectic name eh? Well, I’ve never been to the latter, so Rebecca was kind enough to enlighten me. The tea garden also had a very nice atmosphere. The tables were situated outside where we could enjoy the nice weather and watch various birds fly/waddle by our feet. The restaurant even had a den in the back with even more birds and two tortoises. Cool! Besides that, the lemon meringue I had was absolutely delectable… probably the best I had ever! I will definitely visit this place again.
On July 11th, Scott, Nigel, Joel & I made a daytrip out to Spitzkoppe (aka Pointy Head). Ooowee… what I can recall from that day was the heat, strenuous walks and climbs, breathtaking scenery, annoying flies that buzzed around our sweaty heads, prickly bushes, a nice picnic underneath the natural bridge of rock, street side merchants selling whatever they can to make a buck (mostly gems & minerals which are abundant in the area), and children running up to our cars for candy. It was quite the full day, lemme tell ya. Scoot was the trooper who drove us three sleepy heads safely back to Swakop. Check out my recent pics to get a fuller depiction.
My my, later on that evening, Richie from Mascato was hosting an African Music Choir Concert in the Atlantic School gymnasium. A bunch of local choirs came together to celebrate the music community here in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. The show was also a tribute to Mrs. Venter who has made an especially significant impact to the choirmunity. She seemed to have started it all actually because the Mascato singers whom she has nurtured and developed over the years are now branching out beyond the Mascato Coastal Youth choir to foster choirs of their own. The circle of life? The cultivation and celebration of music. Scoot was also invited to present awards to the various choirs and Joel was asked to be the emcee. Haha… and guess who got roped in to being an impromptu co-emcee? Of course it was yours truly… MOI! Crazy nuts! I was initially reluctant to do it, but Joel gave me one of his wide-eyed “HELP ME” looks and I couldn’t say no. Haha… but imagine having climbed and sweated all over Spitzkoppe that afternoon and suddenly roll onto a stage and try to look presentable. Bleh! I didn’t have a change of clothes for the event, so I made a quick run for it to Mr. Price to find something decent to wear. Welps, the whole event was a hoot really. Quite informal and disorganized but Joel & I kept going with the flow and doing things like it did (please refer to a nearby Ebonics phrasebook). Joel & I were probably two of the most hammiest emcees ever, but I think the crowd liked us. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. Joel probably posted an even more detailed and descriptive entry about this particular event, so check out his post too ‘cause I’m moving on…
'Twas also on this day when we visited Mrs. Venter to see how she was fairing. Her beloved Belka, her German Sheppard of 13 years passed away recently. I can see that she was still very disheartened about the whole thing, but she is coping gradually. To the precious Belka, you will be missed dearly.
Aight! So some day last week, Engelhardt invited Joel & I to teach his students a line dance. Being as Canadian as we are, we naturally chose to teach them The Cadillac Ranch… YEEHAW! Apparently, Lex also taught the dance to some of these kids when she was here last year, but most of those kids looked like they needed a refresher, so we boogied ahead with the plan. The kids had a blast pretending to be cowboys and cowgirls, yeehawing here and there. The dance posed just the right amount of challenge to peak their interests and keep them on their toes. Due to the repetitive nature of a line dance, everyone eventually caught on to the moves. Another successful venture of mine and Joel’s it seemed! WOOT! Ooo… and kudos to Joel and Scoot for trying kepana for the very first time that day as well! Yep, ‘twas Fire Bar kepana again… the best in town!
July 18th. The three Swakop bachelors (aka Scott, Nigel, and Joel) have composed a to-do list of things that they would like to accomplish while being here on holiday. Today, I thought it would be nice to join them in doing a couple of the activities on that list. Scoot picked me up in Walvis Bay because he had some errands to do there. Then we headed to Swakop together. Scoot had to take Squeaky Sam in for an oil change, so after dropping it off at the service station, we decided to walk to all of our destinations. Good idea ‘cause I definitely needed the exercise. Ick… I’ve been feeling kinda blobby lately, what with my frequent consumption of bread, butter, full cream milk, Mammie’s cookies, and kepana. Not the best of diets, I say.
Anyway, our first stop was Snake Park, which wasn’t really a park. It was more like a small pet shop containing about 25 species of Namibian reptiles. Amongst these reptiles were the deathly dangerous Zebra snake and Black Mamba, and geckos and scorpions. One of the two pythons there was named Piggy. One could get a picture taken with Piggy for N$20. That was only about $3 Canadian, but none of us four were brave enough to let the python wrap itself around our torsos. I was more than happy to stand on the side and watch another lady get constricted. Yup!
We next stopped at The Village Café to grab a quick lunch. It’s becoming quite the ritual amongst us Canadians. Then we strolled down to the beach and towards the aquarium for our final activity of the day before choir practice. The aquarium was bigger than I had expected. There were a decent number of fish, sharks, and water life on display. My favorite creatures were the two huge turtles. On the second floor, we got to oversee and look into the main tank and watch the turtles come up for breath. Several times, one of them would pop up right in front of us. I got to touch one turtle’s big flipper! Heehee… not as gross as I thought it might’ve been, sorta like grabbing hold of one of those floating boards they have at swimming pools… firm and not slimy. Anyway, after the aquarium the four of us hung out on the beach for a while. The waves were awesome to watch. I eventually got my pant legs soaked by a big wave, so I thought what the heck, why not get even more soaked and have some fun, right!! So the other three just watched as I ran around making a goof out of myself. Haha… good times.
Later that evening, there was a Mascato rehearsal for the musical. This time everyone met up to do a run through of the entire musical for the first time. It was so cool to see all the individual puzzle pieces come together. I think everyone is beginning to see the big picture. That being said, their first practice went pretty well. It’s going to be a gooder, this one! Bank Windhoek is investing a lot of money, time and effort in this spectacle. Aldo Berons, the director, has been raving about the costumes as well. oOooo… can’t wait to see the finished products! Mascato has never done something of this magnitude before. Did I already mention how sucky it is that I’ll be missing the official show?!! Aiyah… they better record it for me!
Skipping ahead several days to present time now… phew, quite the catch-up post so far… I hope y’all are still with me. Haha…
Yesterday was a pretty chill Sunday. Garth and I rented “The Man” (featuring Eugene Levy & Samuel L. Jackson) and “Ice Age 2” to occupy our afternoon. Both movies were good choices. Haha… “The Man” was especially hilair. I love Eugene Levy’s acting! His facial expressions would crack anyone up! Later in the day, Garth and I went for a stroll on the beach to catch the sunset. With the weather being so nice and warm, it was just what we needed. Then we went to the evening church service. Besides the message being in Afrikaans, my first impression of the church was a good. And guess who I bumped into?? Jan, the guy who gave me a lift from my hitchhiking expedition! Crazy pants… he’s the sound guy for the worship team. Haha… small town, I guess.
This church provides a lot of outreach programs and ministries. One project that particularly peaked my interest was the JCK Project. The project’s mission is to serve food to the children in the Quisebmund community during the week. The organizers told me that they serve an average of 150-200 kids a day. This project is actually nationwide and has support and sponsorship from local businesses and donors who provide and fund the meals. The project even receives goods from the United States apparently. Wow… good to hear that it is well supported.
I went to visit the spot where they serve the food this afternoon. Wow… all the happenings occur within and around one long container… like a narrow portable classroom. No electricity, no water. Sophie, the young lady who cooks the food, arrives at the container at 10am every morning to prepare everything. She uses portable gas tanks to cook the food. At that time, there are usually 10 or so toddlers hanging out with her until lunchtime. She feeds them nutritional cereal while they wait. 1pm, the rest of the children arrive, wash and dry their individual plastic buckets and spoons, and wait for the food. 1:30pm, about 4-5 school boys come to help Sophie out. They all get busy in the container, dishing up for everyone. The kids eat outside. It’s important to keep an eye out for the older kids who sometimes steal the younger children’s food. See, the meal they eat here is usually the only one they get for the whole day. It’s quite unfortunate because most of these children are obviously malnourished, with swollen stomachs and skinny limbs. Children aren’t allowed to take food home as well, because their parents will eat it and leave them hungry. Sadly these grown ups are illiterate and can’t speak English or Afrikaans which means they will never be able to find jobs for themselves. They typically rely on fishing to survive.
I am so thankful that I found out about this project because I was yearning to do more in my day-to-day life. The slow pace of life here was starting to get to me. Being the busy person that I am, I can’t stay idle for too long without getting antsy. This is a worthy project to invest my time in and I am honored to be able to serve the needy Quisebmund community.
In other new news, Scott is in Copenhagen with Katy & Bruce right now. The three of them are participating in the World Symposium on Choral Music. Man oh man, those lucky ducks! I loved Scandinavia when I went with Kokopelli back in 2002. Sigh… I most definitely plan to revisit those countries someday.
Joel & Nigel are also away currently. They went on a camping road trip up to Etosha National Park for a few days. Pretty sweet, eh!
As for me, I’m stuck in Walvis Bay for another week and then… the whole gaggle of us Canadians (plus Dollar) are heading down to South Africa!!! WEEEEE! I am looking forward to the change of scenery and activities fo’ sho! I can’t wait to see all the Siyacula peeps again as well! And so the countdown begins…
Welps, congrats on getting through another catch-up blog post of mine. I hope it wasn’t too all over the place for y’all. Til next time… PEACE, JOY & LOVE to all back home! =D
Check out my newest photo albums:
Day to Day Stuff
Spitzkoppe & Emcee-a-thon
Une Mélange de Photos
Sigh… as you can imagine, a lot has happened since I last posted an entry. Most of my time is spent with my Sunshine Kids of course, but I’ll try my best to recount the other highlights that went on in these past few weeks. Do check out my pics also because I’m even relying on them to help me recall what I’ve been up to. Haha yup, it sure has been a while. Whatevs… here goes…
So the endeavor to establish a music program at the Sunshine Kids centre continues. Poppy (the music teacher) has now requested that I also teach her how to play guitar and drums. Haha… thing is, I am no instrument maestro. A jack of all trades usually, but I know my limitations. Good thing for connections though, because I soon roped Dollar into the whole shebang as well. He has been taking guitar lessons, so I figure the centre would appreciate his newly attained guitar knowledge and skills. Dollar will primarily focus his time on a select few of the older Sunshine Kids. Things have been going stellar since Dollar stepped in to help. Poppy and the kids love him. Now, who shall I persuade to teach drums? Haha…
Side note: I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Kim Chung for initiating and organizing a project back in Edmonton to help gather a bunch of books and other materials for my Sunshine Kids. She and a small group of people have pooled together their resources and funds to send a hefty package of resources over to the centre. On behalf of the Sunshine Kids, centre staff, and myself, I would like to thank you all for your generosity and time. Your kindness and compassion are much appreciated. Everyone at the centre is so grateful. They were ecstatic when they heard the good news. They wish God’s blessings upon you all. Thank you again for being such wonderful and considerate people. I am very honored to have friends like you.
On July 9th, I spent the day chilling with Rebecca Ponder, an ex-Mascato member who lives in South Africa now. For those who know Pamela Lowry who worked at MYO with Lex last year, Rebecca was Pam’s roommate and she used to teach at Hanganani. Pam was the one who introduced us to each other… over Facebook no less… haha. We thought it would be nice to meet up and chat about school related stuff, life and whatever. That day, we had lunch at The Village Café (I love the ambiance of that place!) and ate dessert at the Lightkeeper’s Cottage Gallery & Tea Garden. Hectic name eh? Well, I’ve never been to the latter, so Rebecca was kind enough to enlighten me. The tea garden also had a very nice atmosphere. The tables were situated outside where we could enjoy the nice weather and watch various birds fly/waddle by our feet. The restaurant even had a den in the back with even more birds and two tortoises. Cool! Besides that, the lemon meringue I had was absolutely delectable… probably the best I had ever! I will definitely visit this place again.
On July 11th, Scott, Nigel, Joel & I made a daytrip out to Spitzkoppe (aka Pointy Head). Ooowee… what I can recall from that day was the heat, strenuous walks and climbs, breathtaking scenery, annoying flies that buzzed around our sweaty heads, prickly bushes, a nice picnic underneath the natural bridge of rock, street side merchants selling whatever they can to make a buck (mostly gems & minerals which are abundant in the area), and children running up to our cars for candy. It was quite the full day, lemme tell ya. Scoot was the trooper who drove us three sleepy heads safely back to Swakop. Check out my recent pics to get a fuller depiction.
My my, later on that evening, Richie from Mascato was hosting an African Music Choir Concert in the Atlantic School gymnasium. A bunch of local choirs came together to celebrate the music community here in Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. The show was also a tribute to Mrs. Venter who has made an especially significant impact to the choirmunity. She seemed to have started it all actually because the Mascato singers whom she has nurtured and developed over the years are now branching out beyond the Mascato Coastal Youth choir to foster choirs of their own. The circle of life? The cultivation and celebration of music. Scoot was also invited to present awards to the various choirs and Joel was asked to be the emcee. Haha… and guess who got roped in to being an impromptu co-emcee? Of course it was yours truly… MOI! Crazy nuts! I was initially reluctant to do it, but Joel gave me one of his wide-eyed “HELP ME” looks and I couldn’t say no. Haha… but imagine having climbed and sweated all over Spitzkoppe that afternoon and suddenly roll onto a stage and try to look presentable. Bleh! I didn’t have a change of clothes for the event, so I made a quick run for it to Mr. Price to find something decent to wear. Welps, the whole event was a hoot really. Quite informal and disorganized but Joel & I kept going with the flow and doing things like it did (please refer to a nearby Ebonics phrasebook). Joel & I were probably two of the most hammiest emcees ever, but I think the crowd liked us. Everyone seemed to have fun and enjoy each other’s company. Joel probably posted an even more detailed and descriptive entry about this particular event, so check out his post too ‘cause I’m moving on…
'Twas also on this day when we visited Mrs. Venter to see how she was fairing. Her beloved Belka, her German Sheppard of 13 years passed away recently. I can see that she was still very disheartened about the whole thing, but she is coping gradually. To the precious Belka, you will be missed dearly.
Aight! So some day last week, Engelhardt invited Joel & I to teach his students a line dance. Being as Canadian as we are, we naturally chose to teach them The Cadillac Ranch… YEEHAW! Apparently, Lex also taught the dance to some of these kids when she was here last year, but most of those kids looked like they needed a refresher, so we boogied ahead with the plan. The kids had a blast pretending to be cowboys and cowgirls, yeehawing here and there. The dance posed just the right amount of challenge to peak their interests and keep them on their toes. Due to the repetitive nature of a line dance, everyone eventually caught on to the moves. Another successful venture of mine and Joel’s it seemed! WOOT! Ooo… and kudos to Joel and Scoot for trying kepana for the very first time that day as well! Yep, ‘twas Fire Bar kepana again… the best in town!
July 18th. The three Swakop bachelors (aka Scott, Nigel, and Joel) have composed a to-do list of things that they would like to accomplish while being here on holiday. Today, I thought it would be nice to join them in doing a couple of the activities on that list. Scoot picked me up in Walvis Bay because he had some errands to do there. Then we headed to Swakop together. Scoot had to take Squeaky Sam in for an oil change, so after dropping it off at the service station, we decided to walk to all of our destinations. Good idea ‘cause I definitely needed the exercise. Ick… I’ve been feeling kinda blobby lately, what with my frequent consumption of bread, butter, full cream milk, Mammie’s cookies, and kepana. Not the best of diets, I say.
Anyway, our first stop was Snake Park, which wasn’t really a park. It was more like a small pet shop containing about 25 species of Namibian reptiles. Amongst these reptiles were the deathly dangerous Zebra snake and Black Mamba, and geckos and scorpions. One of the two pythons there was named Piggy. One could get a picture taken with Piggy for N$20. That was only about $3 Canadian, but none of us four were brave enough to let the python wrap itself around our torsos. I was more than happy to stand on the side and watch another lady get constricted. Yup!
We next stopped at The Village Café to grab a quick lunch. It’s becoming quite the ritual amongst us Canadians. Then we strolled down to the beach and towards the aquarium for our final activity of the day before choir practice. The aquarium was bigger than I had expected. There were a decent number of fish, sharks, and water life on display. My favorite creatures were the two huge turtles. On the second floor, we got to oversee and look into the main tank and watch the turtles come up for breath. Several times, one of them would pop up right in front of us. I got to touch one turtle’s big flipper! Heehee… not as gross as I thought it might’ve been, sorta like grabbing hold of one of those floating boards they have at swimming pools… firm and not slimy. Anyway, after the aquarium the four of us hung out on the beach for a while. The waves were awesome to watch. I eventually got my pant legs soaked by a big wave, so I thought what the heck, why not get even more soaked and have some fun, right!! So the other three just watched as I ran around making a goof out of myself. Haha… good times.
Later that evening, there was a Mascato rehearsal for the musical. This time everyone met up to do a run through of the entire musical for the first time. It was so cool to see all the individual puzzle pieces come together. I think everyone is beginning to see the big picture. That being said, their first practice went pretty well. It’s going to be a gooder, this one! Bank Windhoek is investing a lot of money, time and effort in this spectacle. Aldo Berons, the director, has been raving about the costumes as well. oOooo… can’t wait to see the finished products! Mascato has never done something of this magnitude before. Did I already mention how sucky it is that I’ll be missing the official show?!! Aiyah… they better record it for me!
Skipping ahead several days to present time now… phew, quite the catch-up post so far… I hope y’all are still with me. Haha…
Yesterday was a pretty chill Sunday. Garth and I rented “The Man” (featuring Eugene Levy & Samuel L. Jackson) and “Ice Age 2” to occupy our afternoon. Both movies were good choices. Haha… “The Man” was especially hilair. I love Eugene Levy’s acting! His facial expressions would crack anyone up! Later in the day, Garth and I went for a stroll on the beach to catch the sunset. With the weather being so nice and warm, it was just what we needed. Then we went to the evening church service. Besides the message being in Afrikaans, my first impression of the church was a good. And guess who I bumped into?? Jan, the guy who gave me a lift from my hitchhiking expedition! Crazy pants… he’s the sound guy for the worship team. Haha… small town, I guess.
This church provides a lot of outreach programs and ministries. One project that particularly peaked my interest was the JCK Project. The project’s mission is to serve food to the children in the Quisebmund community during the week. The organizers told me that they serve an average of 150-200 kids a day. This project is actually nationwide and has support and sponsorship from local businesses and donors who provide and fund the meals. The project even receives goods from the United States apparently. Wow… good to hear that it is well supported.
I went to visit the spot where they serve the food this afternoon. Wow… all the happenings occur within and around one long container… like a narrow portable classroom. No electricity, no water. Sophie, the young lady who cooks the food, arrives at the container at 10am every morning to prepare everything. She uses portable gas tanks to cook the food. At that time, there are usually 10 or so toddlers hanging out with her until lunchtime. She feeds them nutritional cereal while they wait. 1pm, the rest of the children arrive, wash and dry their individual plastic buckets and spoons, and wait for the food. 1:30pm, about 4-5 school boys come to help Sophie out. They all get busy in the container, dishing up for everyone. The kids eat outside. It’s important to keep an eye out for the older kids who sometimes steal the younger children’s food. See, the meal they eat here is usually the only one they get for the whole day. It’s quite unfortunate because most of these children are obviously malnourished, with swollen stomachs and skinny limbs. Children aren’t allowed to take food home as well, because their parents will eat it and leave them hungry. Sadly these grown ups are illiterate and can’t speak English or Afrikaans which means they will never be able to find jobs for themselves. They typically rely on fishing to survive.
I am so thankful that I found out about this project because I was yearning to do more in my day-to-day life. The slow pace of life here was starting to get to me. Being the busy person that I am, I can’t stay idle for too long without getting antsy. This is a worthy project to invest my time in and I am honored to be able to serve the needy Quisebmund community.
In other new news, Scott is in Copenhagen with Katy & Bruce right now. The three of them are participating in the World Symposium on Choral Music. Man oh man, those lucky ducks! I loved Scandinavia when I went with Kokopelli back in 2002. Sigh… I most definitely plan to revisit those countries someday.
Joel & Nigel are also away currently. They went on a camping road trip up to Etosha National Park for a few days. Pretty sweet, eh!
As for me, I’m stuck in Walvis Bay for another week and then… the whole gaggle of us Canadians (plus Dollar) are heading down to South Africa!!! WEEEEE! I am looking forward to the change of scenery and activities fo’ sho! I can’t wait to see all the Siyacula peeps again as well! And so the countdown begins…
Welps, congrats on getting through another catch-up blog post of mine. I hope it wasn’t too all over the place for y’all. Til next time… PEACE, JOY & LOVE to all back home! =D
Check out my newest photo albums:
Day to Day Stuff
Spitzkoppe & Emcee-a-thon
Une Mélange de Photos
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
First-time Hitchhiker
Monday, July 7th, 2008. Sigh… another week in good ol’ Walvis Bay. What to do today? Sleep in! Haha… everyone usually gets up REALLY early and so do I, but because there’s nothing for me to do, going back to sleep seems to be the best option. Most of the time I just toss and turn until about 9:30am or 10am (which is the max time my body will let me toss and turn for) and then get up and go about my ways. Granny has been complaining about the car’s usage lately, so that has created a kind of awkward situation in the house. Something about the wear and tear? But it’s a 2006 vehicle in excellent condition… meant to be driven right? Anyway, Garth says there’s no point in arguing so has now resorted to carpooling to work with Theo. I no longer feel comfortable asking Aunty J to drive me around to places either. I wouldn’t want to be a bother or fuel any tension, so it looks like I’ll just have to cab it everywhere from now on. Sigh… I’m beginning to understand Garth’s apprehension about Granny visiting us. Haha… tough love?
Anyway, I had a quiet brunch then made the walk to returned the DVD, which was good by the way. You should rent it if you’re up for a feel-good faith booster.
After dropping off the DVD, I thought, what a nice day for a walk. I was already at the edge of Narraville which is close to the highway, so why not make the trek towards Dolphin Park – a fancy resort about halfway between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. In driving it seemed not too far away so I thought it was totally walkable. I first bought a Lemon Twist soda from the local grocery store and then headed for my destination. The sun was bright but there was as light breeze to keep me cool, so I was not worried. I walked in the dunes for a bit and then made the climb to get onto the main road. I didn’t walk for too long when a gentleman on the side of the road greeted me. He was friendly enough and I asked him how far was it to Dolphin Park. He said 15mins… by car… 1 hour by foot. Whatevs… I had all the time in the world, didn’t have go to the washroom, had my iPod with me, and had a hydrating soda in my hand… set to go, I’d say. But he reassured me that I wouldn’t have to walk far because someone will give me a lift. That’s what people do here. I shrugged my shoulders, said thanks, and off I went. I walked about halfway and was feeling sweaty but not too shabby when a small truck stopped in front. He asked where I was headed and said that he’d give me a lift ‘cause he worked construction just across Dolphin Park. I saw all his name badges and stuff on the dash and my instincts were not on the defense, so I thought, ok why not. During the short drive we talked about Canada and what I was doing in Walvis Bay. He told me a bit about what he did (electrical engineer) and also told me that there was a Canadian company that was fishing here as well. Cool, I didn’t know that. Anyway, I arrived at my destination sooner than I had originally planned and thanked, Jan (pronounced Yon), my random stranger friend. I took a little rest on the deck by the resort and simply basked in the sun and enjoyed the fullness of the ocean. Then I decided to check out the neighboring Langstraand (Long Beach) community, where Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt made famous by staying there during their visit in Namibia. I made the walk across more waves of sand and into Long Beach. Only the rich people can afford to stay here. The housing apparently costs millions of dollars… Namibian of course. Anyway, I walked around and oooed and awed at some of the houses, then walked back onto the main street to head back home. There was an Ovambo lady waiting all by her lonesome for a ride so I said that I would wait with her. Maybe this way, a car would stop for us sooner. Not too long after, a combi did stop for us and two German (business men it seemed) offered to give us a lift back to Walvis Bay. SCORE! I must say, my first hitchhiking experiences in Namibia were successful ones. I had fun doing it actually! One surely gets a feeling of freedom and born-to-be-wildness when hitchhiking. Don’t think I would be too keen to hitchhike back home on our highways or in South Africa. But hey, while in Namibia, do as the Namibians do. Next time… to Swakopmund!! WOOT!
Anyway, I had a quiet brunch then made the walk to returned the DVD, which was good by the way. You should rent it if you’re up for a feel-good faith booster.
After dropping off the DVD, I thought, what a nice day for a walk. I was already at the edge of Narraville which is close to the highway, so why not make the trek towards Dolphin Park – a fancy resort about halfway between Walvis Bay and Swakopmund. In driving it seemed not too far away so I thought it was totally walkable. I first bought a Lemon Twist soda from the local grocery store and then headed for my destination. The sun was bright but there was as light breeze to keep me cool, so I was not worried. I walked in the dunes for a bit and then made the climb to get onto the main road. I didn’t walk for too long when a gentleman on the side of the road greeted me. He was friendly enough and I asked him how far was it to Dolphin Park. He said 15mins… by car… 1 hour by foot. Whatevs… I had all the time in the world, didn’t have go to the washroom, had my iPod with me, and had a hydrating soda in my hand… set to go, I’d say. But he reassured me that I wouldn’t have to walk far because someone will give me a lift. That’s what people do here. I shrugged my shoulders, said thanks, and off I went. I walked about halfway and was feeling sweaty but not too shabby when a small truck stopped in front. He asked where I was headed and said that he’d give me a lift ‘cause he worked construction just across Dolphin Park. I saw all his name badges and stuff on the dash and my instincts were not on the defense, so I thought, ok why not. During the short drive we talked about Canada and what I was doing in Walvis Bay. He told me a bit about what he did (electrical engineer) and also told me that there was a Canadian company that was fishing here as well. Cool, I didn’t know that. Anyway, I arrived at my destination sooner than I had originally planned and thanked, Jan (pronounced Yon), my random stranger friend. I took a little rest on the deck by the resort and simply basked in the sun and enjoyed the fullness of the ocean. Then I decided to check out the neighboring Langstraand (Long Beach) community, where Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt made famous by staying there during their visit in Namibia. I made the walk across more waves of sand and into Long Beach. Only the rich people can afford to stay here. The housing apparently costs millions of dollars… Namibian of course. Anyway, I walked around and oooed and awed at some of the houses, then walked back onto the main street to head back home. There was an Ovambo lady waiting all by her lonesome for a ride so I said that I would wait with her. Maybe this way, a car would stop for us sooner. Not too long after, a combi did stop for us and two German (business men it seemed) offered to give us a lift back to Walvis Bay. SCORE! I must say, my first hitchhiking experiences in Namibia were successful ones. I had fun doing it actually! One surely gets a feeling of freedom and born-to-be-wildness when hitchhiking. Don’t think I would be too keen to hitchhike back home on our highways or in South Africa. But hey, while in Namibia, do as the Namibians do. Next time… to Swakopmund!! WOOT!
Catching Up
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008. We had another Mascato performance at Pelican Bay Hotel this evening. Joel & I had a blast winging it for the most part! WEEEEE! I’ve heard Mascato perform most of these traditional songs before, but I’ve never performed them myself. I especially enjoyed the Damara (the language with clicks in it) and movement pieces. Joel stood directly behind me and every time we successfully made it through a piece, we’d low-five each other. Hahaha… I also kept turning around to give Joel one of my “let’s do this” grins at which he’d return with his wide-eyed “uh… here goes nothing” facial expression. Hahaha… I wonder if the audience could tell that we’ve never done these songs before. But still… I danced, I sang, I dressed like a Mascato… heehee… I must’ve at least looked the part. ;-p Winging it was SOOO FUN!!! Gotta keep this up fo sho!
Friday, July 4th, 2008. After my usual bout at Sunshine Kids, Aunty J picked me up and we strolled around town for a bit to run some errands. She then took me to visit a friend of hers named, Aunty Meata, who is a very skilled seamstress here in Walvis Bay. She is currently busy with sewing graduation dresses for many girls who are going to the Matric Farewell (equivalent to high school graduation banquet). After looking at all her projects, I must say that she is very good at what she does. Haha… and I kept getting the hint from her that she wanted to sew my wedding dress. She kept giving me bridal magazines to look through. Oy vey… and I haven’t even made any wedding plans yet, so I was like… “Uh ok… I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer.” =p Haha…
After picking up Garth from work that evening, we bumped into Dolfie in town and gave him a lift home. He literally lives a few doors down from Garth’s house. We had to cut our catching up short though because the combi (mini-van) was waiting for Garth & I to take us to the Mascato rehearsal in Swakop.
At the rehearsal, we were greeted by Nigel. YAY! He has arrived! He stayed for a short bit and then left to take a nappy nap – catching up from jet lag no doubt.
The Mascato rehearsal was pretty productive. We sang all Karl Jenkins music in preparation for the musical. I dig Jenkins music. Things are starting to sound promising.
Wow. It was so great to sing in front of Scott again. I missed him and his conducting. I couldn’t seem to wipe off the grin on my face throughout the entire rehearsal. Looking forward to the next rehearsals.
Saturday, July 5th, 2008. Had another Mascato rehearsal this afternoon. You guessed it… more Karl Jenkins music. At one point in the rehearsal everyone started glazing over… haha… Scoot said that everyone seemed to be going through Karl Jenkins overload. We had a quick break then went back at it. Mascato is known to have a lot of long practices… especially so depending on the magnitude of the performances. This musical is going to be a huge sponsored event, so it’s no surprise that Mrs. Venter and Mascato are working so hard. I am sooooo sad that I’m going to miss the actual spectacle. =( Sigh… but at least I get to experience the behind-the-scenes making of this musical with them.
Garth & I went to visit his dad, Titus, after the rehearsal. His birthday was on July 1st, so we came to see how he was doing.
Then we got dropped off at the Taxi Rank to catch a cab back to Walvis Bay. Before doing so however, Garth took me to a nearby kepana spot (where they sell street food like braai meat and vetkoeks – aka fat cakes… aka deep fried bread balls… mmm) ‘cause he knew how much I enjoy it. Anyone who plans to visit Namibia must get the kepana experience. The food is cooked in front of you and you eat with your fingers. It’s so uber scrumptious. But yes, one should be careful as well. Sometimes the food could have sat out all day as well, so make sure to check for that before downing your vleis (meat). For me, I’ve had no probs thus far so Ima gonna keep enjoying kepana.
Now the taxi experience itself is another story. Cabbies at the taxi rank fight for their customers. They’ll pull you this way and that towards their individual cabs. They are very persistent and would often get into arguments with each other. When there are four passengers to a cab, only then will they depart. Sometimes the cabby will get one of his buddies to sit in his cab as a pretend passenger just to get the cab filled faster. When there are three people in, the buddy would get out and help the cabby find a fourth passenger. Haha… it’s a dog eat dog world at the taxi rank, I guess.
Sunday, July 6th, 2008. We made another trip out to Swakop again. This time the Mascatos had to get fitted for the musical costumes. I got to see some of the sketches and they look really cool already. I looked for the Oracle’s costume sketch (which is Garth’s role) and was surprised to see a very feminine Greek goddess-esque dress. I gave the designer a “what the?” look and she said that she wasn’t aware that the Oracle was going to be played by both a male and a female (aka Romancia). Well, back to the planning board for Garth’s costume it looks like.
After the fitting the bunch of us Walvis Bayers went out for some more kepana!!! YAY! Oh my goodness, I just can’t have enough. I told the group about my previous kepana experiences and Melissa & Rozain from Mascato just shook their heads. They guaranteed me that the place where we were going to get it today was the best in town. “Nay man! Firebar is the best!” they say. Ooo… my mouth was watering in anticipation. Well, we got there and saw the lady cooking up some freshly marinated steaks. OMGOSH… it smelled so good. We all bought our vetkoeks and Dollar, Garth & I shared a honkin steak. We ripped off a piece of our vetkoeks, spooned on a dollop of chilli onion sauce and wolfed it down with a piece of steak. MMMMM… that bite was soo delicious. Freshness makes all the difference yo. The deep fried fat cake was fluffy and the meat was juicy. (Sorry to all the vegetarians reading this post). Indeed Melissa and Rozain were right. Firebar kepana is the best! And it’s located right by MYO! Now I know where and how to get it on my own. ;-p
On the way back to Walvis Bay, we passed by a family who’s car had veered off the side of the road and was stuck in the sanded. They were struggling, so our combi of 10 MasKoko peeps came to the rescue! At the scene of the incident, I saw that it was an Asian family! Cool! Haha… everyone was like, “Let’s Michelle talk to theml.” But lo and behold they are from Korea and I don’t speak a lick of Korean. Anyway, the macho men gathered up their strength and worked together in pushing the car out of the sand. Sound familiar, anyone? If you’re thinking Dina Koloi, then BINGO for you! Hahaha… the whole time, us girls cheered on the sidelines by singing Dina Koloi which is a song frequently sung by Mascato about a car that had to be pushed because it was so old. Haha… though this car wasn’t old, the fact that Mascato men were pushing the car was funny enough for me. A Kodak moment. =DWhen we all finally got back to Walvis Bay, Garth & I wanted to chillax and enjoy a nice quiet evening together before he has to start another work week tomorrow. So we thought how about a movie? We rented the movie Faith Like Potatoes. It’s a true inspirational story that took place in Africa. We heard a lot of good reviews about it so we thought it would be a good choice for the evening.
Friday, July 4th, 2008. After my usual bout at Sunshine Kids, Aunty J picked me up and we strolled around town for a bit to run some errands. She then took me to visit a friend of hers named, Aunty Meata, who is a very skilled seamstress here in Walvis Bay. She is currently busy with sewing graduation dresses for many girls who are going to the Matric Farewell (equivalent to high school graduation banquet). After looking at all her projects, I must say that she is very good at what she does. Haha… and I kept getting the hint from her that she wanted to sew my wedding dress. She kept giving me bridal magazines to look through. Oy vey… and I haven’t even made any wedding plans yet, so I was like… “Uh ok… I’ll keep it in mind. Thanks for the offer.” =p Haha…
After picking up Garth from work that evening, we bumped into Dolfie in town and gave him a lift home. He literally lives a few doors down from Garth’s house. We had to cut our catching up short though because the combi (mini-van) was waiting for Garth & I to take us to the Mascato rehearsal in Swakop.
At the rehearsal, we were greeted by Nigel. YAY! He has arrived! He stayed for a short bit and then left to take a nappy nap – catching up from jet lag no doubt.
The Mascato rehearsal was pretty productive. We sang all Karl Jenkins music in preparation for the musical. I dig Jenkins music. Things are starting to sound promising.
Wow. It was so great to sing in front of Scott again. I missed him and his conducting. I couldn’t seem to wipe off the grin on my face throughout the entire rehearsal. Looking forward to the next rehearsals.
Saturday, July 5th, 2008. Had another Mascato rehearsal this afternoon. You guessed it… more Karl Jenkins music. At one point in the rehearsal everyone started glazing over… haha… Scoot said that everyone seemed to be going through Karl Jenkins overload. We had a quick break then went back at it. Mascato is known to have a lot of long practices… especially so depending on the magnitude of the performances. This musical is going to be a huge sponsored event, so it’s no surprise that Mrs. Venter and Mascato are working so hard. I am sooooo sad that I’m going to miss the actual spectacle. =( Sigh… but at least I get to experience the behind-the-scenes making of this musical with them.
Garth & I went to visit his dad, Titus, after the rehearsal. His birthday was on July 1st, so we came to see how he was doing.
Then we got dropped off at the Taxi Rank to catch a cab back to Walvis Bay. Before doing so however, Garth took me to a nearby kepana spot (where they sell street food like braai meat and vetkoeks – aka fat cakes… aka deep fried bread balls… mmm) ‘cause he knew how much I enjoy it. Anyone who plans to visit Namibia must get the kepana experience. The food is cooked in front of you and you eat with your fingers. It’s so uber scrumptious. But yes, one should be careful as well. Sometimes the food could have sat out all day as well, so make sure to check for that before downing your vleis (meat). For me, I’ve had no probs thus far so Ima gonna keep enjoying kepana.
Now the taxi experience itself is another story. Cabbies at the taxi rank fight for their customers. They’ll pull you this way and that towards their individual cabs. They are very persistent and would often get into arguments with each other. When there are four passengers to a cab, only then will they depart. Sometimes the cabby will get one of his buddies to sit in his cab as a pretend passenger just to get the cab filled faster. When there are three people in, the buddy would get out and help the cabby find a fourth passenger. Haha… it’s a dog eat dog world at the taxi rank, I guess.
Sunday, July 6th, 2008. We made another trip out to Swakop again. This time the Mascatos had to get fitted for the musical costumes. I got to see some of the sketches and they look really cool already. I looked for the Oracle’s costume sketch (which is Garth’s role) and was surprised to see a very feminine Greek goddess-esque dress. I gave the designer a “what the?” look and she said that she wasn’t aware that the Oracle was going to be played by both a male and a female (aka Romancia). Well, back to the planning board for Garth’s costume it looks like.
After the fitting the bunch of us Walvis Bayers went out for some more kepana!!! YAY! Oh my goodness, I just can’t have enough. I told the group about my previous kepana experiences and Melissa & Rozain from Mascato just shook their heads. They guaranteed me that the place where we were going to get it today was the best in town. “Nay man! Firebar is the best!” they say. Ooo… my mouth was watering in anticipation. Well, we got there and saw the lady cooking up some freshly marinated steaks. OMGOSH… it smelled so good. We all bought our vetkoeks and Dollar, Garth & I shared a honkin steak. We ripped off a piece of our vetkoeks, spooned on a dollop of chilli onion sauce and wolfed it down with a piece of steak. MMMMM… that bite was soo delicious. Freshness makes all the difference yo. The deep fried fat cake was fluffy and the meat was juicy. (Sorry to all the vegetarians reading this post). Indeed Melissa and Rozain were right. Firebar kepana is the best! And it’s located right by MYO! Now I know where and how to get it on my own. ;-p
On the way back to Walvis Bay, we passed by a family who’s car had veered off the side of the road and was stuck in the sanded. They were struggling, so our combi of 10 MasKoko peeps came to the rescue! At the scene of the incident, I saw that it was an Asian family! Cool! Haha… everyone was like, “Let’s Michelle talk to theml.” But lo and behold they are from Korea and I don’t speak a lick of Korean. Anyway, the macho men gathered up their strength and worked together in pushing the car out of the sand. Sound familiar, anyone? If you’re thinking Dina Koloi, then BINGO for you! Hahaha… the whole time, us girls cheered on the sidelines by singing Dina Koloi which is a song frequently sung by Mascato about a car that had to be pushed because it was so old. Haha… though this car wasn’t old, the fact that Mascato men were pushing the car was funny enough for me. A Kodak moment. =DWhen we all finally got back to Walvis Bay, Garth & I wanted to chillax and enjoy a nice quiet evening together before he has to start another work week tomorrow. So we thought how about a movie? We rented the movie Faith Like Potatoes. It’s a true inspirational story that took place in Africa. We heard a lot of good reviews about it so we thought it would be a good choice for the evening.
Friday, July 4, 2008
"You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks”... that easily.
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008. So teaching the Music teacher, Juffrou (aka Teacher) Poppy, was definitely a hoot today. Poppy is a lady in her late fifties who has never played music before. Still she seemed very determined to do it. Haha… even before I wrote out all the notes for her, she showed me her mini keyboard and said, “You must only teach me songs between these notes.” So all the melodies I wrote out were only in the keys of C or F. Should be simple enough. First, I helped her to properly re-label the keyboard with sticky notes because they used to be labeled “1-2-3-4-5…” If she wants to learn to play these tunes, she should learn them the proper way, right. I had originally planned to look at a few songs from the nursery rhyme book with her, demonstrate how to play them, and then have her try plunking out some notes, but seeing how much she struggled with the first song, Baa Baa, Black Sheep, made me realize that I needed to take things slow and easy. So my assignment for her this week is to familiarize herself with the labeled keys and practice playing and singing Baa Baa, Black Sheep simultaneously. Step by step, day by day… she will learn to play. That’s my rap motto for the day. Word. MishLio out. ;-)
AS-SALT!
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008. HAPPY CANADA DAY!!! I hope the festivities were fun and exciting!
Went to the Internet café this morning. That’s when I found out my teaching placement for this upcoming year. I’m going to be a MUSIC TEACHER. Wow. That’s pretty cool. I’m looking forward to my first professional teaching assignment. Though Scoot warns me that it is a very high-stress job, I’m not too worried. Besides, I have good people on my side to support and guide me throughout this year. Haha… staying positive and keeping my fingers crossed for all the best. ;-)
Scott & Joel came to visit me from Swakopmund later. We had lunch together at The Raft restaurant. The restaurant is located by The Lagoon and rests on stilts above the water. It’s quite a nice setting. We ate and sipped our Apple/Grapetisers whilst looking out into the waters. Though the day wasn’t too sunny and threats of fog looked likely, we still were able to spot tonnes of bright red jelly fish and diving dolphins. I loved it!
Then the three of us had a mission to accomplish… to find a GEOCACHE! Both Scott and Joel are avid geocachers and I was the tagalong for the day. This cache was located on Pelican’s Point where there stands a lighthouse and an abandoned three-story house. oOooo… sounds adventurous eh? It was. Haha… and probably the most adventure I’ve had since being here. Anyway, we had to drive past the salt works (salt refining factories), along the ocean, and across soft desert sands to reach this particular cache. Lemme tell ya, I wasn’t feeling too perky sitting in the back of Squeaky Sam (Scott’s 4 x 4) during the excursion. Hah… driving in the dunes ain’t a particularly smooth ride. I wasn’t about to hurl or anything, but I did feel my stomach almost reach the brink of queasiness at several points. Whatevs… we finally got to our destination, found the cache (a plastic film container which had a tiny plastic soldier in it), heard and saw a seal colony in the distance, then backtracked our way out again. The ride back was a bit sketchy at first because it seemed that we were going away from our destination for a while. The view was great though. We got to drive so close by the ocean and witness seals swimming and lots of birds taking flight (probably ‘cause we scared them away). Eventually we got on the right path and was able to get out of the area. Haha… geocaching seems really fun. Perhaps I shall accompany the guys on more geocaching adventures. =)
Before dropping me off at home, the three of us swung by Garth’s work, Standard Bank, to wave hello and give him some signs of hope… haha. It’s the end of the month which means that the bank gets UNBELIEVABLY BUSY. I visited him once during work hours this week to find customers jammed inside and overflowing out the front doors. YIKES! The thing is majority of people only get paid by cheques here. They don’t like to do direct deposit or Internet banking because they are unfamiliar with those ways. So at the end of the month when everyone gets paid, the banks are always bombarded with clients. Garth had been working from 7:30am to 7 or 8pm this week. With no lunch breaks. It’s crazy! And get this, only recently did the bank start paying for overtime hours. Before, employees had to work at least 15 overtime hours to qualify for pay. Meaning, if they worked 14.5 hours or something, those overtime hours wouldn’t count. That’s simply absurd. Things like this wouldn’t be allowed in Canada, that’s for sure.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon at home plunking notes on Garth’s keyboard and writing out the melodies of common nursery rhymes and children’s songs for my Sunshine Kids. I plan to help the Music teacher at the center learn to play these songs. She’s never played the keyboard before or studied any theory, so I’m just gonna keep things simple. We’ll see how things go tomorrow.
Went to the Internet café this morning. That’s when I found out my teaching placement for this upcoming year. I’m going to be a MUSIC TEACHER. Wow. That’s pretty cool. I’m looking forward to my first professional teaching assignment. Though Scoot warns me that it is a very high-stress job, I’m not too worried. Besides, I have good people on my side to support and guide me throughout this year. Haha… staying positive and keeping my fingers crossed for all the best. ;-)
Scott & Joel came to visit me from Swakopmund later. We had lunch together at The Raft restaurant. The restaurant is located by The Lagoon and rests on stilts above the water. It’s quite a nice setting. We ate and sipped our Apple/Grapetisers whilst looking out into the waters. Though the day wasn’t too sunny and threats of fog looked likely, we still were able to spot tonnes of bright red jelly fish and diving dolphins. I loved it!
Then the three of us had a mission to accomplish… to find a GEOCACHE! Both Scott and Joel are avid geocachers and I was the tagalong for the day. This cache was located on Pelican’s Point where there stands a lighthouse and an abandoned three-story house. oOooo… sounds adventurous eh? It was. Haha… and probably the most adventure I’ve had since being here. Anyway, we had to drive past the salt works (salt refining factories), along the ocean, and across soft desert sands to reach this particular cache. Lemme tell ya, I wasn’t feeling too perky sitting in the back of Squeaky Sam (Scott’s 4 x 4) during the excursion. Hah… driving in the dunes ain’t a particularly smooth ride. I wasn’t about to hurl or anything, but I did feel my stomach almost reach the brink of queasiness at several points. Whatevs… we finally got to our destination, found the cache (a plastic film container which had a tiny plastic soldier in it), heard and saw a seal colony in the distance, then backtracked our way out again. The ride back was a bit sketchy at first because it seemed that we were going away from our destination for a while. The view was great though. We got to drive so close by the ocean and witness seals swimming and lots of birds taking flight (probably ‘cause we scared them away). Eventually we got on the right path and was able to get out of the area. Haha… geocaching seems really fun. Perhaps I shall accompany the guys on more geocaching adventures. =)
Before dropping me off at home, the three of us swung by Garth’s work, Standard Bank, to wave hello and give him some signs of hope… haha. It’s the end of the month which means that the bank gets UNBELIEVABLY BUSY. I visited him once during work hours this week to find customers jammed inside and overflowing out the front doors. YIKES! The thing is majority of people only get paid by cheques here. They don’t like to do direct deposit or Internet banking because they are unfamiliar with those ways. So at the end of the month when everyone gets paid, the banks are always bombarded with clients. Garth had been working from 7:30am to 7 or 8pm this week. With no lunch breaks. It’s crazy! And get this, only recently did the bank start paying for overtime hours. Before, employees had to work at least 15 overtime hours to qualify for pay. Meaning, if they worked 14.5 hours or something, those overtime hours wouldn’t count. That’s simply absurd. Things like this wouldn’t be allowed in Canada, that’s for sure.
Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon at home plunking notes on Garth’s keyboard and writing out the melodies of common nursery rhymes and children’s songs for my Sunshine Kids. I plan to help the Music teacher at the center learn to play these songs. She’s never played the keyboard before or studied any theory, so I’m just gonna keep things simple. We’ll see how things go tomorrow.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
The Past Few Days
Friday, June 27th, 2008. Aunty J & I visited my Jonah House today. It’s a non-profit organization that seeks to nurture these orphans until they are of age to be independent or until their rightful mothers are capable of taking care of them - a refuge for orphan children. There currently are 18 kids living there. When I arrived, I didn’t expect the welcome we received. The kids were so excited to see me again! My goodness how some of them have grown! I mean, one child was a baby when I met him last year and now he’s a walking mischievous toddler… haha! Crazy how fast kids grow yo.
Later that evening, Mascato was opening for the Pretoria University Youth Choir concert. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. They did a commendable job and looked very sharp in their Ethiopian uniform tops. The Pretoria Choir was awesome in their own merit. For a youth choir, their unified sound, musicality, and volume was definitely praise worthy. Haha… Scoot kept point out this short guy on the stage who looked like Eric Meen when he sings. He actually did too! Haha… so funny! I got to see the Namib Marimbas perform live for the first time too. They were captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed their rhythms and groove. So good. One simply can’t sit still when they play. =)
Saturday, June 28th, 2008. There was a Mascato rehearsal today at Namib High. It was to prepare for our morning performance on Monday for the Teaching Ministry here. I was relieved to know two out of the five pieces. Haha… we didn’t really practice all the pieces. We just sung through each one once or twice. Eeek… nothing like being on the fly. As everyone was singing away and I was trying to ad lib the African lyrics, Mrs. Venter kept whispering to me, “Don’t worry. Garth will help you.” Ok then. We’ll see how Monday goes.
After rehearsal, the bunch of us drove out into the dunes to participate in a drumming circle with the Pretoria Youth Choir. For those who have been to the dinner in the dunes in previous years can imagine the setting. The only difference with this social gathering was that there was no tent… we all just sat around bonfires under the star-filled dark sky. The pathway to the enclosure was romantically lit with candles. The drumming space was a big circle of chairs surrounding four blazing bonfires. Thanks to that, we were warm. Otherwise, the dunes are known to be very chilly at nighttime. Anyway, we were all served some lovely stew for dinner. During that time we also got to walk around and socialize with everybody. Then we all broke up into instrumental sections (i.e.: djembes of different sizes, sticks, and wooden horns). The Namib Marimbas conducted the drumming session and the rest of us had fun making a ruckus! Good times.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008. Afroshine, Joel, Megan & I made the trip up to Windhoek again today. We left Swakopmund early in the morning and arrived at our destination at around 11:30am. Hah… because of Garth’s speeding tendencies, our car naturally arrived in the city first, so we made arrangements with the other car to grab lunch in our separate ways. The practice with Afrodisiac was at 1pm, so we didn’t have too much time.
Garth & I had lunch at Spur – a scrumptious place for a hearty burger. It’s actually a pretty cool restaurant with a First Nations theme. Interesting huh. When we finished our meal and made way to leave one of the waitresses approached Garth and asked him for his autograph. Wow, I almost forgot that these Afroshiners are famous here in Namibia! So surreal to be dating a popular musician, but hey, Garthy will always be Garthy in my eyes. I took the opportunity to encourage the waitress to check out the evening’s show and to invite all her peeps. Heehee… I’m making myself the marketing manager of the group while I’m here… yup! Anyway, off Garth & I went on our merry way.
So fast forwarding the day now… practice session over, sound check over, dinner time. We went to KFC for dinner. Freakin’ crazy pants… when we got there, the lineups were so long and slow moving. When I finally got to the front, Garth & I had a hoot trying to order our stuff. The items that we first wanted were not available, then we were told that our next choices would take 5-10 mins to prepare. Oy vey! We went ahead and ordered anyway and decided to wait. My goodness, almost a whole line went through and we still didn’t get our food. Seriously, from line up to the time we got our din din, it must’ve taken over half an hour! Note to self: fast food restaurants in Africa and not typically fast. How ironic. Whatevs… at least we got two free ice cream cone out of the ordeal. Heehee… and that was compensation enough. Oh such an easily pleased kid am I. ;-p
The Afrodisiac/Afroshine show in general was stellar! Never minding the fact that the Warehouse did a poor job with advertising for the event, the performers still busted out some rad vocal chops and upped their stage performance. The crowd really enjoyed these guys’ energy and charm. One woman in the audience actually drove all the way from Walvis Bay to see Afroshine perform live! Now she was an avid fan. Sigh, I was really impressed and proud to be associated with the group. And kudos to Joel and his reggae-man roots yo! He did a stellar job bustin out the tunes on his guitar. Woot! Go Joel, our Canadian guy!
The event ended at 10pm. Urg… and we still had to make the drive back to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay! Now that sucked! Megan and I did most of the driving in this part of the trip because we wanted the guys to get some rest after the show. Plus Garth had to work in the morning. I must admit that I had heck of a time trying to stay focused and awake. Haha… my Asian sleeping genes came back! Yep, I even have the power to fall asleep at the wheel. But no worries… I didn’t this time around (ahem… though I did swerve off road during a few of my zoned out episodes… eish). The threat of wild animals running onto the rode pretty much kept me alert. And when I felt myself dozing off, I just kept slapping my face and pinching myself all over. Haha… and I fidgeted a lot. My my… I must’ve looked like quite the driver. Anyway, Joel & Megan arrived in Swakop by 2:30am. All of us Walvis Bayers got home at 3am. Oy vey… Garth works in the morn and I must perform with Mascato as well at 7:30am. TIRED! To bed we go!
Monday, June 30, 2008. Garth & I obviously had a heck of a time getting up this morning… with less than 4 hours sleep! But whatevs… the sun was up and bright, so that helped. We quickly got ready and off we went on our separate ways.
The Mascato performance for the Teaching Ministry was at the Pelican Bay Hotel. We were there at 7:30am and didn't finish until after 10:30am or so. Haha... and we only sang 6 songs. Most of the time was due to waiting. But whatevs... it was still cool to chill with the Mascato peeps. Apparenly, I made Mascato history today in being the VERY FIRST ASIAN TO SING IN MASCATO!!! WOOT WOOT! *Sound the gongs!* Represent yo! Haha... you should of seen some of the faces in the audience gawking at me as I sang in their African languages and danced along with the Mascatos. They probably thought, "African... African... Asian... African... wait a minute... wha?" Since Joel had already left to see Megan off (she's heading to Spain next), I naturally stuck out like a sore thumb. Haha... I enjoy shocking people apparently.
At noon, Aunty J went to pick up Granny Joel at the bus station. We all call her Mammie. Haha... Garth is going to be so stoked to see her... heehee... or not. I always tease him saying that she's strict because she cares and that he's really her favorite grandson. Haha... he says, "Yea right!" I like Mammie anyway. She is strict but she's very wise. And she has a naturally tendency to rhyme all the time. Haha... perhaps I should try rapping with her some time. ;p Nothing like quality bonding with Granny.
Anyway, that should be all for now. I hope I'm not boring y'all with all my daily happenings. Heehee...
I hope all is well back home in E-town!!! LOVE LOVE TO ALL!!!
and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
Later that evening, Mascato was opening for the Pretoria University Youth Choir concert. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again. They did a commendable job and looked very sharp in their Ethiopian uniform tops. The Pretoria Choir was awesome in their own merit. For a youth choir, their unified sound, musicality, and volume was definitely praise worthy. Haha… Scoot kept point out this short guy on the stage who looked like Eric Meen when he sings. He actually did too! Haha… so funny! I got to see the Namib Marimbas perform live for the first time too. They were captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed their rhythms and groove. So good. One simply can’t sit still when they play. =)
Saturday, June 28th, 2008. There was a Mascato rehearsal today at Namib High. It was to prepare for our morning performance on Monday for the Teaching Ministry here. I was relieved to know two out of the five pieces. Haha… we didn’t really practice all the pieces. We just sung through each one once or twice. Eeek… nothing like being on the fly. As everyone was singing away and I was trying to ad lib the African lyrics, Mrs. Venter kept whispering to me, “Don’t worry. Garth will help you.” Ok then. We’ll see how Monday goes.
After rehearsal, the bunch of us drove out into the dunes to participate in a drumming circle with the Pretoria Youth Choir. For those who have been to the dinner in the dunes in previous years can imagine the setting. The only difference with this social gathering was that there was no tent… we all just sat around bonfires under the star-filled dark sky. The pathway to the enclosure was romantically lit with candles. The drumming space was a big circle of chairs surrounding four blazing bonfires. Thanks to that, we were warm. Otherwise, the dunes are known to be very chilly at nighttime. Anyway, we were all served some lovely stew for dinner. During that time we also got to walk around and socialize with everybody. Then we all broke up into instrumental sections (i.e.: djembes of different sizes, sticks, and wooden horns). The Namib Marimbas conducted the drumming session and the rest of us had fun making a ruckus! Good times.
Sunday, June 29th, 2008. Afroshine, Joel, Megan & I made the trip up to Windhoek again today. We left Swakopmund early in the morning and arrived at our destination at around 11:30am. Hah… because of Garth’s speeding tendencies, our car naturally arrived in the city first, so we made arrangements with the other car to grab lunch in our separate ways. The practice with Afrodisiac was at 1pm, so we didn’t have too much time.
Garth & I had lunch at Spur – a scrumptious place for a hearty burger. It’s actually a pretty cool restaurant with a First Nations theme. Interesting huh. When we finished our meal and made way to leave one of the waitresses approached Garth and asked him for his autograph. Wow, I almost forgot that these Afroshiners are famous here in Namibia! So surreal to be dating a popular musician, but hey, Garthy will always be Garthy in my eyes. I took the opportunity to encourage the waitress to check out the evening’s show and to invite all her peeps. Heehee… I’m making myself the marketing manager of the group while I’m here… yup! Anyway, off Garth & I went on our merry way.
So fast forwarding the day now… practice session over, sound check over, dinner time. We went to KFC for dinner. Freakin’ crazy pants… when we got there, the lineups were so long and slow moving. When I finally got to the front, Garth & I had a hoot trying to order our stuff. The items that we first wanted were not available, then we were told that our next choices would take 5-10 mins to prepare. Oy vey! We went ahead and ordered anyway and decided to wait. My goodness, almost a whole line went through and we still didn’t get our food. Seriously, from line up to the time we got our din din, it must’ve taken over half an hour! Note to self: fast food restaurants in Africa and not typically fast. How ironic. Whatevs… at least we got two free ice cream cone out of the ordeal. Heehee… and that was compensation enough. Oh such an easily pleased kid am I. ;-p
The Afrodisiac/Afroshine show in general was stellar! Never minding the fact that the Warehouse did a poor job with advertising for the event, the performers still busted out some rad vocal chops and upped their stage performance. The crowd really enjoyed these guys’ energy and charm. One woman in the audience actually drove all the way from Walvis Bay to see Afroshine perform live! Now she was an avid fan. Sigh, I was really impressed and proud to be associated with the group. And kudos to Joel and his reggae-man roots yo! He did a stellar job bustin out the tunes on his guitar. Woot! Go Joel, our Canadian guy!
The event ended at 10pm. Urg… and we still had to make the drive back to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay! Now that sucked! Megan and I did most of the driving in this part of the trip because we wanted the guys to get some rest after the show. Plus Garth had to work in the morning. I must admit that I had heck of a time trying to stay focused and awake. Haha… my Asian sleeping genes came back! Yep, I even have the power to fall asleep at the wheel. But no worries… I didn’t this time around (ahem… though I did swerve off road during a few of my zoned out episodes… eish). The threat of wild animals running onto the rode pretty much kept me alert. And when I felt myself dozing off, I just kept slapping my face and pinching myself all over. Haha… and I fidgeted a lot. My my… I must’ve looked like quite the driver. Anyway, Joel & Megan arrived in Swakop by 2:30am. All of us Walvis Bayers got home at 3am. Oy vey… Garth works in the morn and I must perform with Mascato as well at 7:30am. TIRED! To bed we go!
Monday, June 30, 2008. Garth & I obviously had a heck of a time getting up this morning… with less than 4 hours sleep! But whatevs… the sun was up and bright, so that helped. We quickly got ready and off we went on our separate ways.
The Mascato performance for the Teaching Ministry was at the Pelican Bay Hotel. We were there at 7:30am and didn't finish until after 10:30am or so. Haha... and we only sang 6 songs. Most of the time was due to waiting. But whatevs... it was still cool to chill with the Mascato peeps. Apparenly, I made Mascato history today in being the VERY FIRST ASIAN TO SING IN MASCATO!!! WOOT WOOT! *Sound the gongs!* Represent yo! Haha... you should of seen some of the faces in the audience gawking at me as I sang in their African languages and danced along with the Mascatos. They probably thought, "African... African... Asian... African... wait a minute... wha?" Since Joel had already left to see Megan off (she's heading to Spain next), I naturally stuck out like a sore thumb. Haha... I enjoy shocking people apparently.
At noon, Aunty J went to pick up Granny Joel at the bus station. We all call her Mammie. Haha... Garth is going to be so stoked to see her... heehee... or not. I always tease him saying that she's strict because she cares and that he's really her favorite grandson. Haha... he says, "Yea right!" I like Mammie anyway. She is strict but she's very wise. And she has a naturally tendency to rhyme all the time. Haha... perhaps I should try rapping with her some time. ;p Nothing like quality bonding with Granny.
Anyway, that should be all for now. I hope I'm not boring y'all with all my daily happenings. Heehee...
I hope all is well back home in E-town!!! LOVE LOVE TO ALL!!!
and HAPPY CANADA DAY!!!
Sunshine Kids
Thursday, June 26th, 2008. Today was a quiet day. I decided to visit my Sunshine Kidlets again. It’s always a joy to be around these kids. They’re so friendly, eager, and curious. When I got there, I quickly got roped into reading a story. Now realize that most of these children don’t even speak Afrikaans yet, let alone English. What am I to do now? Give it a go anyway, of course. I perused the selection of books to find that there wasn’t anything really age appropriate for them… the English books anyway. They weren’t in too good a shape either, most books missing pages and what not. Sigh… I eventually picked the one that looked the most interesting and simple to understand. Still, I found myself acting out the story more than reading it. Haha… the kids totally looked glazed over. I don’t think they really got the story and I probably looked really silly to them what with all my gestures and facial expressions and occasion Afrikaans word. But hey, I gave it a try. ‘E’ for effort?
Sigh… then we went on to coloring. But they didn’t even have paper for the kids to color on. The crayons were lacking and broken and the coloring books that were available had been colored in already. Note to self: get paper and coloring books for the kids.
I then visited the Music room and the Sign Language room. Get this, the music teacher doesn’t know a lick about music (what the heck do they do in music class then??) and the sign language teacher doesn’t know how to sign nor does she have the resources to learn (she said she typically just plays with the kids and teaches them how to put on their clothes). My goodness, can you imagine how frustrating it would be to teach something that you’re not qualified or knowledgeable to teach? I was a bit disheartened by the lack of resources available to the children and the staff. I commended the teachers for doing their best with what they had. So now I’m in search for various resources in town and on the Internet that could possibly be of assistance to the Sunshine Kids program.
I just hope I can help them out while I’m here. Too bad I’m so far away from my own resources from home. Sheesh… I should’ve just shipped some of my teaching resources here as well. That would make things so much easier. Haha… it’s not actually easy to find good teaching materials here in tiny Walvis Bay. Even if there were, where is the money to get these things? This is something that a lot of the educational institutions here struggle with every day. We in Canada are privileged to have what we have. We should not take our blessings and resources for granted.
Sigh… then we went on to coloring. But they didn’t even have paper for the kids to color on. The crayons were lacking and broken and the coloring books that were available had been colored in already. Note to self: get paper and coloring books for the kids.
I then visited the Music room and the Sign Language room. Get this, the music teacher doesn’t know a lick about music (what the heck do they do in music class then??) and the sign language teacher doesn’t know how to sign nor does she have the resources to learn (she said she typically just plays with the kids and teaches them how to put on their clothes). My goodness, can you imagine how frustrating it would be to teach something that you’re not qualified or knowledgeable to teach? I was a bit disheartened by the lack of resources available to the children and the staff. I commended the teachers for doing their best with what they had. So now I’m in search for various resources in town and on the Internet that could possibly be of assistance to the Sunshine Kids program.
I just hope I can help them out while I’m here. Too bad I’m so far away from my own resources from home. Sheesh… I should’ve just shipped some of my teaching resources here as well. That would make things so much easier. Haha… it’s not actually easy to find good teaching materials here in tiny Walvis Bay. Even if there were, where is the money to get these things? This is something that a lot of the educational institutions here struggle with every day. We in Canada are privileged to have what we have. We should not take our blessings and resources for granted.
Quad Biking
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008. Ooowee… 10:30am… Joel, Megan, Scott & I met up at Desert Explorers to do quad biking on the dunes! I was so psyched, but also a little nervous since I’ve never been quad biking before. Still, more stoked than nervous. ;-p When we arrived, the show started rolling immediately. We all got fitted with helmets then picked out our quads. We had the choice of riding an automatic, semi-automatic, or manual one. I chose the automatic one of course… haha… no need to overthink my first time around. The instructor dude gave us a quick run down of the bike and then we were off.
One by one we followed the instructor. There was him, the four of us, and one lady named Jill from the U.S., who followed behind me. The whole excursion was pretty exciting for me because I’ve never experienced it before. We raced up the dunes, did loopdy-loops going down, and charged as fast as we could down the slopes. I especially enjoy riding over the rougher terrain, which cause me & my bike to go air borne at time. SO FUN! Everything was pretty swell in general, except for when we all had to stop and wait for Jill. Poor girl. I think she was scared. She kept lagging way behind and all of us had to constantly pause our fun for her. Haha… I could tell the others were starting to get frustrated because we never did get to the climax of our adventures. Every time we started to get into the thrill of things, we had to stop. So you can imagine the anticlimax in that. Whatevs… I still had a fantabulous time. Still, looks like the group of us are going to do quad biking again once Nigel gets here. Next time were going to make sure that the group going with us will be up for speed and adventure! ;-)
Later that evening, Joel, Megan, Garth & I met up again to check out this new Asian restaurant I town. It was called Cai Tai Thai. Naturally, I assumed it was Thai cuisine… mmmMMMmmm. When we got there, we were greeted by… AN ASIAN MAN (from Tibet, I later found out)! Whoop! That was a good sign. (Side note: Garth & I went to a Chinese restaurant last year that was run by African people. I asked if the cook was Chinese and he said ‘No, African, but taught by Chinese.’ Heehee… that was interesting.) Anyway, we perused the menu to find a decent mix of Chinese/Thai food. We ordered seafood soup, chicken spring rolls, chicken green curry with rice, Szechwan beef stir fry, and Singapore fried noodles. Joel in passing by the kitchen to go to the washroom, confirmed that the food was indeed cooked by that same Asian man who greeted us, so I was pleased to hear that. The food arrived and we all gave our individual ratings. Haha… Garth was the most cautious about all the dishes… sheesh… Africans! His favorite was the beef stir fry of course (you gotta understand Africans and their love for meat, you see). All the dishes were pretty sketchy for me actually. I mean they were all right, but they totally didn’t meet my Chinese taste-bud standards. Still, I suppose they were satisfactory. Definitely good for a quick fix if you have a craving. We’re thinking that we’ll give it another try some other time and check out some different dishes on the menu. Yay for Asian cultural experience in Namibia!
After our meal, we all met up with Scott. We went for a nice walk around Vineta (this ritzy neighborhood in town where Scott always runs through). The late evening stroll was very enjoyable thanks to the very mild and nice weather we had throughout the day. We stopped for some beverages at this cute little restaurant which stayed opened later just for us. Then we made the walk back to Scooter’s house. And Garth & I headed back to Walvis Bay. It was fun filled day among friends indeed. =)
One by one we followed the instructor. There was him, the four of us, and one lady named Jill from the U.S., who followed behind me. The whole excursion was pretty exciting for me because I’ve never experienced it before. We raced up the dunes, did loopdy-loops going down, and charged as fast as we could down the slopes. I especially enjoy riding over the rougher terrain, which cause me & my bike to go air borne at time. SO FUN! Everything was pretty swell in general, except for when we all had to stop and wait for Jill. Poor girl. I think she was scared. She kept lagging way behind and all of us had to constantly pause our fun for her. Haha… I could tell the others were starting to get frustrated because we never did get to the climax of our adventures. Every time we started to get into the thrill of things, we had to stop. So you can imagine the anticlimax in that. Whatevs… I still had a fantabulous time. Still, looks like the group of us are going to do quad biking again once Nigel gets here. Next time were going to make sure that the group going with us will be up for speed and adventure! ;-)
Later that evening, Joel, Megan, Garth & I met up again to check out this new Asian restaurant I town. It was called Cai Tai Thai. Naturally, I assumed it was Thai cuisine… mmmMMMmmm. When we got there, we were greeted by… AN ASIAN MAN (from Tibet, I later found out)! Whoop! That was a good sign. (Side note: Garth & I went to a Chinese restaurant last year that was run by African people. I asked if the cook was Chinese and he said ‘No, African, but taught by Chinese.’ Heehee… that was interesting.) Anyway, we perused the menu to find a decent mix of Chinese/Thai food. We ordered seafood soup, chicken spring rolls, chicken green curry with rice, Szechwan beef stir fry, and Singapore fried noodles. Joel in passing by the kitchen to go to the washroom, confirmed that the food was indeed cooked by that same Asian man who greeted us, so I was pleased to hear that. The food arrived and we all gave our individual ratings. Haha… Garth was the most cautious about all the dishes… sheesh… Africans! His favorite was the beef stir fry of course (you gotta understand Africans and their love for meat, you see). All the dishes were pretty sketchy for me actually. I mean they were all right, but they totally didn’t meet my Chinese taste-bud standards. Still, I suppose they were satisfactory. Definitely good for a quick fix if you have a craving. We’re thinking that we’ll give it another try some other time and check out some different dishes on the menu. Yay for Asian cultural experience in Namibia!
After our meal, we all met up with Scott. We went for a nice walk around Vineta (this ritzy neighborhood in town where Scott always runs through). The late evening stroll was very enjoyable thanks to the very mild and nice weather we had throughout the day. We stopped for some beverages at this cute little restaurant which stayed opened later just for us. Then we made the walk back to Scooter’s house. And Garth & I headed back to Walvis Bay. It was fun filled day among friends indeed. =)
School Day
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008. Aunty Jocelyn and I made the drive out to Swakopmund this morning to wake up Scott, Joel & Megan. Haha… we had made a date to go visit Hanganani and MYO (Mondesa Youth Organization) today. So we arrived at Scoot’s house, I made my ruckus, and soon the whole house was up and about. The guys were extra tired because they stayed up late watch TV shows on Scooter’s laptop, thanks to Jenica! Haha… I believe the highlight of the evening was Beauty and the Geek. Ooo wee.
First stop, Hanganani Primary. Last year, Kokopelli performed for the school in the midst of a sandstorm! Thank God for the wonderful weather this time around. We first greeted the Principal and left Scott to chat with her. Joel, Megan, Aunty J & I made our way around the perimeter of the courtyard and visited each of the classrooms. (The grades here ranged from grade 1 to 7.) It felt so weird to be visiting without the whole Kokopelli posse yo. Most of the children recognize the red Koko jacket Joel had on and requested for us to sing them something. Haha… with just an alto, soprano and a bass, we weren’t sure what we could’ve pulled off well so we cleverly dodged the request by changing the topic. “So, nice weather we’re having today, huh?” Hahaha… awkward. Sigh… I sure wished you guys were there with us.
After we made our introductions to the grade 5 class, the teacher saw that I was obviously Asian and asked me to come with her somewhere. She lead me to the what I thought to be the library and showed me an old origami book. “Do you know how to do this? Can you show us how?” BAHAHAHA… so there we were… three Canadians teaching a class of 40 grade fivers how to make paper cranes. Welps, at least we were useful. So the excitement subsided, we said our farewells and headed back into town.
We all went our own ways for lunch. Scoot, Joel & Megan had a lunch date with Mrs. Venter. Aunty J & I went to visit the school where she used to teach called, Atlantic Primary, before heading out for lunch. Wow. When I got there, kids in the classrooms started stirring when they saw me pass by the door. I caught whispers of “China, China, China” as I strolled along the hallways with Aunty J. Hmm… I’m sure they were referring to me but I didn’t know “China” was ever an adjective. Heehee… I remember receiving the same response from kids last year when I was in Namibia. You see, young Asian females are not common here, so their curious and eager reaction was understandable. I had a ball shocking them by speaking in Afrikaans whenever I could. I would always get the jaw-dropping, eye-bulging look from people… heehee… pure entertainment.
Anyway, Atlantic Primary visit over… Aunty J and I wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, so we ate at Ocean Basket (this awesome but very fatty seafood restaurant) located by the Swakopmund beach. She has never eaten there before so I thought it would be a nice experience for her. Plus some quality bonding time for us ladies. ;-p Wow. I couldn’t have asked for a better ambiance. Imagine yourself sitting on the patio enjoying delicious food whilst listening to the softly crashing waves of the ocean and looking out onto the sandy beach, water and bright blue sky. So peaceful. The only annoying thing was the bee that kept wanting a bite of my lunch! EISH… I strongly dislike those buzzing things! Haha… I couldn’t stop myself from constantly escaping the table whenever the bee came near. Aunty J came to rescue and shooed it away (aka squished it with her napkin). Sorry little bee, may you rest in peace. The rest of lunch was lovely.
We met up with the other three at Mrs. Venter’s house after that. Marcie was there! YAY! I love that kid. We stayed and chatted for a bit, then headed out to visit Engelhardt at MYO. MYO is an after school program for a select number of excelling kids in the district. The idea behind the organization is to foster and develop these children into strong leaders and good citizens of tomorrow. The regular education system here doesn’t do a very good job to cultivate the maximum potential of their students, so MYO steps in to try and fill in the gaps. I think they’re on the right track towards progressiveness and are doing an excellent job!
When we got there, Engelhardt was in the middle of teaching a music lesson on notation. We just popped in and surprised him. Then we got to see him teach a dance class! My my… Engie has been practicing his moves! I was taken aback when I heard it was a hip hop class no less. Always one step ahead of the kids, I say. One has a lot of room for creativity when being a teacher. Heehee… I’m really proud of that guy. He’s really doing a great job at MYO. We then bumped into Lindsay from Mascato. She and her husband Jeremy also teach at MYO. She showed us her classroom and told us more about the organization. It was awesome that we got to catch up with these guys again.
First stop, Hanganani Primary. Last year, Kokopelli performed for the school in the midst of a sandstorm! Thank God for the wonderful weather this time around. We first greeted the Principal and left Scott to chat with her. Joel, Megan, Aunty J & I made our way around the perimeter of the courtyard and visited each of the classrooms. (The grades here ranged from grade 1 to 7.) It felt so weird to be visiting without the whole Kokopelli posse yo. Most of the children recognize the red Koko jacket Joel had on and requested for us to sing them something. Haha… with just an alto, soprano and a bass, we weren’t sure what we could’ve pulled off well so we cleverly dodged the request by changing the topic. “So, nice weather we’re having today, huh?” Hahaha… awkward. Sigh… I sure wished you guys were there with us.
After we made our introductions to the grade 5 class, the teacher saw that I was obviously Asian and asked me to come with her somewhere. She lead me to the what I thought to be the library and showed me an old origami book. “Do you know how to do this? Can you show us how?” BAHAHAHA… so there we were… three Canadians teaching a class of 40 grade fivers how to make paper cranes. Welps, at least we were useful. So the excitement subsided, we said our farewells and headed back into town.
We all went our own ways for lunch. Scoot, Joel & Megan had a lunch date with Mrs. Venter. Aunty J & I went to visit the school where she used to teach called, Atlantic Primary, before heading out for lunch. Wow. When I got there, kids in the classrooms started stirring when they saw me pass by the door. I caught whispers of “China, China, China” as I strolled along the hallways with Aunty J. Hmm… I’m sure they were referring to me but I didn’t know “China” was ever an adjective. Heehee… I remember receiving the same response from kids last year when I was in Namibia. You see, young Asian females are not common here, so their curious and eager reaction was understandable. I had a ball shocking them by speaking in Afrikaans whenever I could. I would always get the jaw-dropping, eye-bulging look from people… heehee… pure entertainment.
Anyway, Atlantic Primary visit over… Aunty J and I wanted to take advantage of the gorgeous weather, so we ate at Ocean Basket (this awesome but very fatty seafood restaurant) located by the Swakopmund beach. She has never eaten there before so I thought it would be a nice experience for her. Plus some quality bonding time for us ladies. ;-p Wow. I couldn’t have asked for a better ambiance. Imagine yourself sitting on the patio enjoying delicious food whilst listening to the softly crashing waves of the ocean and looking out onto the sandy beach, water and bright blue sky. So peaceful. The only annoying thing was the bee that kept wanting a bite of my lunch! EISH… I strongly dislike those buzzing things! Haha… I couldn’t stop myself from constantly escaping the table whenever the bee came near. Aunty J came to rescue and shooed it away (aka squished it with her napkin). Sorry little bee, may you rest in peace. The rest of lunch was lovely.
We met up with the other three at Mrs. Venter’s house after that. Marcie was there! YAY! I love that kid. We stayed and chatted for a bit, then headed out to visit Engelhardt at MYO. MYO is an after school program for a select number of excelling kids in the district. The idea behind the organization is to foster and develop these children into strong leaders and good citizens of tomorrow. The regular education system here doesn’t do a very good job to cultivate the maximum potential of their students, so MYO steps in to try and fill in the gaps. I think they’re on the right track towards progressiveness and are doing an excellent job!
When we got there, Engelhardt was in the middle of teaching a music lesson on notation. We just popped in and surprised him. Then we got to see him teach a dance class! My my… Engie has been practicing his moves! I was taken aback when I heard it was a hip hop class no less. Always one step ahead of the kids, I say. One has a lot of room for creativity when being a teacher. Heehee… I’m really proud of that guy. He’s really doing a great job at MYO. We then bumped into Lindsay from Mascato. She and her husband Jeremy also teach at MYO. She showed us her classroom and told us more about the organization. It was awesome that we got to catch up with these guys again.
The Weekend
Whoops, sort of fell out of sync for a few days… heehee. No worries, I’ll give y’all a quick update now. So here goes…
Friday’s highlights…
1) YAY! I learned how to drive on the other side of the road!! I am SO PRO now! Heehee…
2) Had dinner at Napolitana’s (yummy Italian restaurant in Swakop) with Garth’s cousin Donna-Lee & her husband, Michael. It was actually a coincidence that we met up. The two live in Windhoek and were just visiting for the weekend and we just happened to bump into them at the restaurant. It was certainly a nice surprise rendez-vous… good food and good friends.
The weekend was all about Windhoek…
Garth had to work Saturday morning so we only started driving out past 1pm. When filling Garth’s mini-mobile (dubbed Vasbyt – pronounced “fas-bait” – aka “You can do it!”… haha) at the gas station in Quisebmund, I bumped into some Mascatos inside the shop! Chakalaka, Tula, Fennie, Mervin, Gladwyn, Ernet, and some newbies were eager to greet me. Oh it felt so great to see all of them again as well! Such joy! My my… I can’t wait to reunite with the entire clan! Anyway, greetings aside, Joel & Megan rented a car and Doller & Romano accompanied them to navigate the way to Windhoek. And so we all made our 5-hour drive out to Windhoek. Phew… it was a HOT trip! Side note: I saw a baboon run across the highway! But Joel’s groupie got to see not only baboons, but also warthogs and giraffes chilling by the roadside. BOO… unfair! Oh well, whatevs.
Thanks to Garth’s speeding tendencies, Vasbyt won the race to Windhoek. While waiting for the others to arrive, Garth and I went around visiting relative of whom included Garth’s infamous brother, Jerome. Haha… I’ve heard a lot about this guy ‘cause Garth and him are really tight, so it was real cool to finally get to meet him. Jerome seemed like a really sociable character who liked to laugh. I liked him.
When the others arrived, we all went out for dinner at Cattle Barons in Maerua Mall. Wow… this place had HUGE portions for next to nothing in moola. For example, the Afroshine guys all ordered the rib & chicken combo which was HONKIN’ in size, for only N$78 – that’s about $10 Canadian!!! Can you believe that?! No where can we find that back home, that’s fo’ sho! The portions was SO LARGE that Garth & I didn’t even finish our meals, and that says a lot because we’re both foodaholics. Anyway, good place. I highly recommend chowing down at this joint if you happen to be visiting Windhoek.
Later that night, we all retired back at Arebusch Lodge, where Kokopelli stayed at last year. We booked two budget rooms for the six of us, which meant no in-suite washrooms and heaters and two single beds in each room. Doller & Romano shared one room and the couples slept in the other. Haha… it was definitely interesting trying to fit two of us to a bed, but we managed. I was quite amused by Joel & Megan’s bickering about their discomfort with sleeping so close together. Apparently they both have space issues. Warning: Megan is a blanket hog. Good thing… at least we all stayed warm throughout the night.
All the guys got up early the next day to practice some tunes before the rehearsal with Afrodisiac. It was such a beautiful sunshiny morning. Megan enjoyed a booked while I basked in the sunlight surrounded by sounds of Afroshine & Joel. They were doing a mighty fine job might I add. Later on that morning, Megan & I left the guys at the Warehouse to jam with Afrodisiac. From what we heard so far, we think the show will be bang on for next week. They already sound really pumpin’… should be great.
First stop, breakfast! Megan and I chillaxed at this very organic café above a craft market. She had a pineapple health shake and fruit salad, while I drank a glass of orange mango freshly squeezed juice. Our pleasant breakfast was suddenly made even more interesting when we were serenaded by a very young primary school choir from below. Megan and I suspect they were from South Africa. I recognized both the tunes that they sang. Mascato also sang them before. Oy, these kids sure seemed to struggle with two part harmony and movement coordination. Haha… I think Megan caught a couple clips on her camera. Still, I gave them an ‘E’ for effort.
Now here in Africa, almost nothing is opened on weekends. So after breakfast, Megan and I ended up strolling around a pretty deserted city. We visited some street vendors selling gizmos & gadnets and all sorts of crafts. Then we checked out the few shops that were open in the Wernhill Mall. Megan bought a pair of wooden salad spoons. It was really purdy and Africano. Then we went about killing time again.
Alas, the guys finished their practice early and met up with us. The whole clan then paid a visit to Kristian Palone, Afroshine’s producer. He was a very eccentric kind of guy who was obviously VERY French. Joel recently composed a song for Afroshine called “Morning.” So the guys just played around with the song for a while. Kristian shared some pretty good advice and suggestions and said that the song had potential. Way to go, Joel! I think the guys are wanting to record the song sometime soon. We’ll see…
Anyway, this post is getting long. I best be cutting it here. Haha… nothing more happened that day really except another 5-hour drive home to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. What a full weekend! Woot!
Friday’s highlights…
1) YAY! I learned how to drive on the other side of the road!! I am SO PRO now! Heehee…
2) Had dinner at Napolitana’s (yummy Italian restaurant in Swakop) with Garth’s cousin Donna-Lee & her husband, Michael. It was actually a coincidence that we met up. The two live in Windhoek and were just visiting for the weekend and we just happened to bump into them at the restaurant. It was certainly a nice surprise rendez-vous… good food and good friends.
The weekend was all about Windhoek…
Garth had to work Saturday morning so we only started driving out past 1pm. When filling Garth’s mini-mobile (dubbed Vasbyt – pronounced “fas-bait” – aka “You can do it!”… haha) at the gas station in Quisebmund, I bumped into some Mascatos inside the shop! Chakalaka, Tula, Fennie, Mervin, Gladwyn, Ernet, and some newbies were eager to greet me. Oh it felt so great to see all of them again as well! Such joy! My my… I can’t wait to reunite with the entire clan! Anyway, greetings aside, Joel & Megan rented a car and Doller & Romano accompanied them to navigate the way to Windhoek. And so we all made our 5-hour drive out to Windhoek. Phew… it was a HOT trip! Side note: I saw a baboon run across the highway! But Joel’s groupie got to see not only baboons, but also warthogs and giraffes chilling by the roadside. BOO… unfair! Oh well, whatevs.
Thanks to Garth’s speeding tendencies, Vasbyt won the race to Windhoek. While waiting for the others to arrive, Garth and I went around visiting relative of whom included Garth’s infamous brother, Jerome. Haha… I’ve heard a lot about this guy ‘cause Garth and him are really tight, so it was real cool to finally get to meet him. Jerome seemed like a really sociable character who liked to laugh. I liked him.
When the others arrived, we all went out for dinner at Cattle Barons in Maerua Mall. Wow… this place had HUGE portions for next to nothing in moola. For example, the Afroshine guys all ordered the rib & chicken combo which was HONKIN’ in size, for only N$78 – that’s about $10 Canadian!!! Can you believe that?! No where can we find that back home, that’s fo’ sho! The portions was SO LARGE that Garth & I didn’t even finish our meals, and that says a lot because we’re both foodaholics. Anyway, good place. I highly recommend chowing down at this joint if you happen to be visiting Windhoek.
Later that night, we all retired back at Arebusch Lodge, where Kokopelli stayed at last year. We booked two budget rooms for the six of us, which meant no in-suite washrooms and heaters and two single beds in each room. Doller & Romano shared one room and the couples slept in the other. Haha… it was definitely interesting trying to fit two of us to a bed, but we managed. I was quite amused by Joel & Megan’s bickering about their discomfort with sleeping so close together. Apparently they both have space issues. Warning: Megan is a blanket hog. Good thing… at least we all stayed warm throughout the night.
All the guys got up early the next day to practice some tunes before the rehearsal with Afrodisiac. It was such a beautiful sunshiny morning. Megan enjoyed a booked while I basked in the sunlight surrounded by sounds of Afroshine & Joel. They were doing a mighty fine job might I add. Later on that morning, Megan & I left the guys at the Warehouse to jam with Afrodisiac. From what we heard so far, we think the show will be bang on for next week. They already sound really pumpin’… should be great.
First stop, breakfast! Megan and I chillaxed at this very organic café above a craft market. She had a pineapple health shake and fruit salad, while I drank a glass of orange mango freshly squeezed juice. Our pleasant breakfast was suddenly made even more interesting when we were serenaded by a very young primary school choir from below. Megan and I suspect they were from South Africa. I recognized both the tunes that they sang. Mascato also sang them before. Oy, these kids sure seemed to struggle with two part harmony and movement coordination. Haha… I think Megan caught a couple clips on her camera. Still, I gave them an ‘E’ for effort.
Now here in Africa, almost nothing is opened on weekends. So after breakfast, Megan and I ended up strolling around a pretty deserted city. We visited some street vendors selling gizmos & gadnets and all sorts of crafts. Then we checked out the few shops that were open in the Wernhill Mall. Megan bought a pair of wooden salad spoons. It was really purdy and Africano. Then we went about killing time again.
Alas, the guys finished their practice early and met up with us. The whole clan then paid a visit to Kristian Palone, Afroshine’s producer. He was a very eccentric kind of guy who was obviously VERY French. Joel recently composed a song for Afroshine called “Morning.” So the guys just played around with the song for a while. Kristian shared some pretty good advice and suggestions and said that the song had potential. Way to go, Joel! I think the guys are wanting to record the song sometime soon. We’ll see…
Anyway, this post is getting long. I best be cutting it here. Haha… nothing more happened that day really except another 5-hour drive home to Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. What a full weekend! Woot!
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