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.