Talk about being thrown into Namibian culture.I actually slept in this morning, but when I woke up I started working on lesson plans.I had to look up a few words too because some of their math terms are different.For instance, mensuration is measurement. LolAfter that I just hung out for awhile until Hopson got back from doing his research.

Hopson took me around the city showing me the main streets like Independence and Robert Magubi (the president).I think my mom and I will walk around the city more tomorrow.Hopson also took me to the edge of Katutura meaning something like no one wants to go here.Katutura is a township (don't say township in Africa…I tried explaining where I worked and got some pretty odd looks.I didn't find out what township meant until later).In Africa, a township is where black people lived during the apartheid.So Katutura was where the black people were forced to live.Pandu is going to give us a better tour of it later this weekend.

Then he took me to the National Archives where my mom is working, but they were having an exhibition/competition for history teachers and students all over Namibia.It is an annual event, but this year's theme was anti-colonialism.The students did fantastic reports on the genocide and Shark Island (a death camp) that took place in the early 1900s and on the apartheid and the freedom fighters that took place much more recently.They interviewed many people that fought for the independence of their country and had pictures, information, and antiques from their ancestors.It was very cool, but also depressing.They really understand the importance of their research too.Each club/school focused on different aspects of both fights for freedom.I really liked one group that focused on the Windhoek Massacre because they explained it very well step by step and focused on the important people of both the South African Side and the SWAPO side (South West Africa something which was what Namibia was called before it gained its independence).I also liked a group that talked about the importance of a particular tree in Namibia during their fight for freedom.Since the trees are large in diameter…rebel groups could actually hide out in them and create caves underneath for secret meetings.It reminded me a little of Peter Pan.They took pictures of one of these trees and Martin Luther's name was carved into it in '77.I don't know if it was actually him or someone else carved it because of its significance, but I thought it was interesting.Another group talked about the importance of heroines during the apartheid and how education was key to gaining their independence.The schools seem to be slowly trying to bring in more inquiry based learning to their classrooms.

Sometime before I arrived, the prime minister was there.He was gone by the time I got there, but I walked around and talked with a lot of the students.Around 5, they quieted everyone down and had a few speakers.One of them was a founder of Namibia and everyone was very excited to see him there.Also, the composer of their national anthem was present as well as a representative of the Ministry of Education.They sang their national anthem and a few other songs.Apparently, this does not happen very often and people were extremely happy that so many important people showed up.There were a lot of news stations there as well.Tomorrow they will be judged.

After the exhibition, we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant and then headed over to another thing being held by the same students as the history exhibition.Since they were from many different tribes/parts of Africa, they had the students perform two things that represented their culture.Examples were poems, dramas, and most often tribal dancing.It was pretty cool to see that they still passed down everything from generation to generation.Some of the students wore animal skins and loin clothes and others wore more recent tribal skirts, but they always sang in their tribal language.I love their accent, but it is sometimes very hard to understand them when the speak English.Most of them speak 3 or 4 languages:English, Afrikaans, German, and then their tribal language.The skits were about AIDS and freedom fighters for the most part.I'm guessing the freedom fighters had a particular walk in the army.A few of the groups imitated it.It's very interesting to watch because it's graceful and almost seems like they dance every few steps.But of course, these were all performed by students so there was a lot of laughing and squealing happening in the background.It doesn't change no matter where you are in the world.

When this was over we decided to meet Pandu at the Windhoek Theatre which is a type of bar where people perform.For the first hour, they played only Michael Jackson music.I love the way they say his name.They were selling left white gloves at the door for N$20, which is about $3.50.They know all of his songs and dance moves.All of the performers also wore the gloves in commemoration.The first person was good…it was cool hearing their music and rap.In clubs you only hear American music.Let's just say the second and third acts were different.I thought any second they were going to strip.Tonight's performances were supposed to be about Tanzania.Lol I guess not. Well, it's late and I'm gonna get to bed.Have a good weekend everyone!Miss you!