Pretty basic day today…I'm feeling much better.Still not eating a whole lot, but 95% better!Haha On the other hand, I woke up with about 20 big bites on my legs this morning.Some of them were huge, but I seem to be having an allergic reaction to them.Or at least that's what I hope it is.Man…I just attract threats.

I taught double periods of 9th, 10th, and 11th grade today.In 9th grade we went over their homework and any other questions they had because they have a test tomorrow and Thursday.Then we started volume by measuring the volume of different cuboids and cylinders in the classroom.In 10th, we were going over more circle geometry questions and we were doing a lot of think, pair, share, just to make sure everyone understood and could explain it in words.I think they pretty much understand all the rules now; it's just getting them to explain it in their own words.And in 11th grade we started multiplying polynomials.At first, they were completely flabbergasted by all of the x's; but they're starting to get the hang of it.I think their biggest problem is forgetting to multiply one of the terms or forgetting about a negative sign.All of the grades are really bad at multiplying or adding by negatives.

I'm struggling with how mixed the classes are ability wise.They don't always remember to raise their hands, especially the 8th grade and the students who know the answers.So a lot of the students don't even try to solve a problem because they know that someone will shout it out and then I will go over it on the board.I'm constantly reminding them to raise their hands, but even then the really smart students end up getting frustrated because they have to sit for almost 5 minutes, or more in some cases, for the rest of the class to finish a problem that they can do in their head.Or the struggling students get frustrated because the smarter students are shouting it out and then I go through it on the board and they're still trying to catch up with the writing and understanding.I'm supposed to have all the extended classes, which are basically accelerated, but there is a large ability gap.I also try to do a lot of think, pair, share, so that they have to try while I walk around and help.In my 11th grade class, I end up with two of the other students also walking around because they can finish within a minute and the rest of the class trusts these students to help them as well.Unfortunately, when they help, they end up just pointing out what they are doing wrong and giving them the answer.It doesn't actually help them in the long run.I can't imagine how long it takes for the core class to do a problem…but I'm gathering that most of the core math teachers just go through problems on the board without having the students try any on their own.At least this is what I've heard from Peter and see at PAY.Half the time at PAY, the students are asking me to explain their notes to them because they didn't understand what the teacher was talking about.

One of the other teachers, Sonia, showed me their library today.It's a small room with at least a shelf of books for each subject and then a whole book case for English novels.About 3 bookcases total.They also have a lot of flyers and pamphlets on HIV and AIDS.In my opinion, one of the most interesting things in their library was the collection of National Geographic.They have all of the issues starting in 1960-2000.I'm not sure why they don't have any after 2000, but it was really cool because some of the issues from the 1960s weren't even in the classic yellow magazine form, they were just these white booklets.Haha

I only had to teach periods 1-6 today so I was done by 11:20am.Hopson picked me up and I had a couple of hours at home before he drove me to PAY.We picked up my mom on the way so that she could visit the people from SchoolNet, where she worked during her visit in 2007.SchoolNet is right next door to PAY in the Katutura Arts Center.I'm in the Katutura Multipurpose Youth Center.Unfortunately, she found out that they are shutting down in about a month.

I helped two students in particular today.One really had no understanding of angle measurements and how to find unknown values.She wanted to subtract any number she could find from 180 degrees.Her eight homework problems took us about 45 minutes to work through.I hope that she at least somewhat understood after I left her.I then was asked to help a student with geography.Ha I did not think I would be particularly good at this because I haven't taken geography in forever, but apparently geography in Africa includes Pangaea, tectonic plates, volcanoes, and earthquakes which I teach in science in the US.As I mentioned before, she also had about 20 pages of notes, textbook pages pasted in to her notebook and her own notes, that she had no understanding of.This is quite common.So I taught her as much as I could in the time left about tectonic plates and where they are located and how they move as well as the different types of volcanoes and earthquakes.I was then jokingly ridiculed by some of the girls that I had dry skin…honestly, I don't know how much more lotion I can put on in a day.I brought a full bottle with me and I'm already running out.Oh, I was talking with the other volunteers…apparently; this past weekend was the weekend to get food poisoning.3 other people were sick over the weekend.People have told me that it is very common here…you really have to know the restaurant and you never eat takeout is what they told me.

For sports we had four stations going: soccer, bump (which is a basketball game they play), keep it up with the volleyball, and ladder.I was the soccer ref for awhile, but the teams were so uneven that by 3rd rotation we couldn't play soccer anymore.They have a very interesting way of making penalty shots.One person stands in front of their goal (two brick set up) and put their feet in such a way to block as much of the goal as possible.Then the other team has one attempt to kick it in.Their strategy is to kick it slowly so it rolls over the goalie's toes.Most of these students have sandals on, probably because that's all they have, so half of the game you would see the soccer ball flying with shoes following.Other students just opted to play barefoot.Very few wear tennis shoes.This is not the case at Combretum.They all have closed toed leather shoes at Combretum Trust School.When soccer died out, I was recruited to play ladder.Basically you are assigned a number and you sit with your feet touching the opposing team member's feet.When your number is called you have to get up run to the end and run over everyone all the way down the ladder and then run around the outside back to your seat.The first person seated gets the point.However, this game is crazy!! They end up calling several numbers rapid fire so its nuts as all of these people are trying to run over other people to get back to their spot.Then of course they had to be more complicated and add hopping, skipping, jumping, crab crawl, and hands-feet crawl into the mix.You had to listen for your number and your command.So now, you had people running, crawling, and hopping over you all at once.I was just praying that no one landed on me.Lol It was fun!

I passed out the sandwiches today.And was covered in peanut butter and jelly by the end.I don't remember if I've mentioned this, but all of the students line up at the gate when camp is over to get a sandwich for dinner.If there are few campers, they get two sandwiches.Today however, was a bit of a catastrophe.Apparently, right before I got to PAY today, about 7 campers stole 2 out of the 6 loaves of bread.So they basically ate 2 or 3 sandwiches each.When they were yelled at, (so I heard) they kept saying they didn't understand the big deal, it was just bread.So of course the PAY programmers came back with, if it wasn't a big deal, why did you have to steal it.Anyway, I didn't know of this fiasco, and these 7 campers were told they were not allowed to take sandwiches at the end of the day because of course they already had more than their share.However, they knew I didn't know, and some got away with a 4th sandwich leaving us with about 10 campers without sandwiches.I felt so awful!There was nothing we could do; we just had to hope that they could find some food at home.L

When we came home, Hopson had already started the fire.We cooked chicken, beef, and potatoes tonight.Sassquia is home now, so she came up to join us towards the end.I've already written about her dog Toti before, but I don't think I've mentioned that Toti eats EVERYTHING!She is seriously like a vacuum.We do not let her up if we have food out, but when the food was put away Sassquia let her up.Toti searched high and low for any remaining food.She eats bones within a few minutes.Once the grill was cooled, she set to work cleaning that for us.I have to tell you this because Hopson brought some tradition food and drink from the north for us.The north is more traditional tribes in most parts, but also holds most of the Namibian population.

So, knowing me, I always have to try something once, just to say I tried it.The traditional drink is somewhat fermented, but Hopson shook it slightly to mix it and then opened it with me sitting less than a foot away.I was covered!It was in my eyes and in my hair and on my clothes, and it doesn't have the most appealing smell.LolThe drink is called omovali and it looks like a thick latte with a little beer foam.I only had a sip. It wasn't good to me.It kindof tastes like beer mixed with apple cider and something else that I couldn't place…it does not taste like hard cider though.But I tried it!The next I was very unsure about, but I resigned myself to at least taking a bite.A delicacy they eat in the north is called the mupani worm.HahaWhen I said yes, I'm picturing small little worms that are crunchy.Not the case.The whole worm could have been about 2/3 of my pinkie finger (remember I have long fingers) and about as thick as my thumb, maybe a little thinner.Thank god that I couldn't see it because I was outside in the dark.I only ate half of one, but I should've learned from Toti.Like I said, she eats everything (except lettuce Sassquia corrected), yet when we tossed her a mupani worm before I tried it, she would not eat it.I should have known better and trusted her instincts.Let's just say it didn't taste good, but it wasn't the most awful thing I've ever tasted.It was slightly crunchy, but still too chewy for me.I couldn't think about it while I ate it because every time I did, it made it so much worse.And the worst part was that the taste lingers for forever in your mouth, no matter how much water I drank.Later, I got the chance to see what I ate…it was black, whether that's natural or from cooking it I'm not sure, with little bumps all over it, like a caterpillar.It looked gross.But I tried it, and I can recommend no one else do the same.JLol

Well I'm going to head to bed.Have a good night everyone!

Love,

Shannon