May 2011
2 posts
Watchhostel life.
Watchgps.
April 2011
5 posts
"wild geese" by mary oliver
You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the...
"the journey" by mary oliver
One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice— though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend your life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It...
excerpt from "maru" by bessie head
She walked to the door. Below her the village of Dilepe spread out and swept towards the horizon. It was a network of pathways and dusty roads weaving in and out between a tortured lay-out of mud huts, as though people whimsically said: ‘we want to live here’, and made all the little pathways and roads follow their whims. A thousands wisps of blue smoke arose silently into the air...
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September 2010
1 post
"to recognize the value of a year"
songs I listened to while typing this that you should listen to while reading it. because they’re awesome. and you are too.: “el scorcho” - weezer “the concubine” - beirut “your english is good” - tokyo police club “sleepytime in the western world” - blitzen trapper “the breeze” - dr. dog “staring at the sun” - tv on the radio “all my friends” - lcd soundsystem “back to boston” - rosebuds “sunday...
July 2010
1 post
Watchif the folds of my brain could tell you the secrets of my time here…it would go something like this.
March 2010
4 posts
Watchnote: the first woman “long jumping” is my hod, sodina, and the man “long jumping” is my principal.
jimi hendrix: “long hot summer night”
Watchblank stares in class. all smiles out of class.
Watchturn left at the tree, past the donkeys, third house on the right.
January 2010
2 posts
Watchmy first christmas eve/christmas day/boxing day in namibia.
(full explanation of slaughtered animals, feeding cows, and the namibian baby with his hood up coming soon)
December 2009
5 posts
Watchi love this woman.
(i present to you … my kkg pst language trainer)
(musing)
While living in a village may have its downfalls (see: no grocery store, no post office, no tar road, and possibly more cows, goats, and sheep than people, etc), for me, for now, it is just what I need. I have been able to think, really think. I mean it is obvious that I was required to think a lot as a student at DePauw, if I didn’t I don’t think i would have graduated. But those thoughts are...
Watchpst nostalgia (i):
every morning during assembly, we sang songs and danced. it was the perfect subtle introduction to figuring things out as an american in namibia. collectively, we would belt out african words to songs, clueless of the meaning, but shaking and smiling all the while. there were no wall flowers. even at 8am, for the most part, everyone mustered up the energy to join in the...
Watchthe saturday before exam week, sodina decided to throw a “shakeyshakey” (school dance) for the learners as a last hoorah before they “got serious” (got focused) about their “learning” (studying). as a teacher, i got to chaperone.
the dance is in the school hall and the woman in purple is sodina.
grab a candy cane...this might take a while
The other night, one of the grade two teachers was visiting at my home stay. She is only contracted to teach at the school for this year because she was hired and placed by the ministry for the temporary position. She is renting out half a mud hut across the dirt road from my home stay. She is young, friendly, a genuinely good person who does her job (sometimes this is rare) and does her job...
November 2009
3 posts
the new pornographers: “go places”
Watchthe run-down of what went down.
(full details of ceremony in blog post below)
people&places keep changing, but some things will...
this is not the africa you’re thinking about…
there are three grocery stores in okahandja. there is an “as seen on tv” store in windhoek. my host family has a flat screen tv. i drink water from the tap. i have a flushing toilet, tiles floors, and a comfortable bed. i pack a pb&j every day for my tea time snack and i’ve hiked rides with air conditioning.
this is not the africa...
October 2009
17 posts
Watchnau-aib is the former black location of okhandja. pre-independence (prior to 1990), during the apartheid, every city in Namibia was divided into two or three sections. each city definitely had a town and then each either had one or both of a colored location, and a black location. with these locations came restrictions, strict restrictions. people lived only where the government allowed. they...
bob marley&the wailers: “three little...
so we sing songs every morning of pst during our...
Watchnamdiet
the weepies: “the world spins madly...
Watchtypical day at pst.
(please note: we don’t wear matching shirts everyday, just happened to take footage the day when we were. also, take notice of the prevalence of bread in my diet, cell phone usage, language training with auntie martha and richard. while the bread is integral to physiologically getting me through the day (without it, i would probably pass out). however, i credit the...
Watchi move to erwee 16.10.2009. i begin teaching jan.2010. this is will be my office.
Watcheveryday, uncle joe, our peace corps driver, takes myself as well as the other volunteers and trainers home from the center to nau-aib (the former black location). i’m the second to last stop. this is that drive.
Watch“hakuna matata.”
(viewer discretion is advised)
“this world is not for quiet women”
– angelika tjoutuku, pcalcc
the killers: on top
September 2009
16 posts
radiohead: jigsaw falling into place
