Pizza! Pizza!

Hello Again...
Thursday was a nice day. I woke up in the morning a little early and ran off to do some shopping. Susmitha had been asking me for weeks to buy her something to remember me by so I bought her a little wire animal pendant- she seemed to like it. For the seven kids I am bringing to the airport with me I also bought each of them a huge Cadbury candy bar and some biltong (a dried meat snack that is very popular here.) Around 11am I went to the BNC to meet with Abner and work on some math problems. Hopefully he will do well on his test in May, but he does not seem to bestudying his basic multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction skills which is disappointing. I was there to see all the kids arrive and the computer room ran smoothly. At 5pm, I brought Steve and Marloes in to give them a quick tutorial on how things are run. There were about 15 of the kids stuffed into the room with us, "helping" me teach Steve and Marloes. We left around 6pm and Steve drove MB and Marloes back home and I took the bike so I could hang out a few more minutes with the kids. I gave Esme, Dora, Miraldi, and Antonia all rides home before leaving. Antonia, who is about 8, is really sweet (I think I posted a picture of her in one of the first photo blogs) She is tough as nails when it comes to holding her own on the street- she is not afraid of anyone and I have seen her on more than one occasion with a boy in a headlock. She even acts tough around me at first which I think is a defense mechanism. But she will also come up to me and cuddle in my lap, sucking her thumb. She is sooo adorable.
Last night MB, Marloes, Fr. Rick, and I went to an all-you-can-eat pizza place for dinner. The wait was about 30 minutes but once you are in you sit down for 2 hours as pizza is passed around by waiters from table to table. The selection was good and the pizza apparently is one of the better places in Windhoek. For N$32.50 (US$5.50) we stuffed ourselves for two hours. MaryBeth put away 18 slices of pizza- breaking her old record by one. I went piece to piece with her for awhile but at one point I looked over and she had about six slices piled on her plate. Although I lost count, I think I finished somewhere around 15-16 slices. The waiters would passby with a pie of pizza and MB would wave them over and before they could say what type of pizza they were offering, she had one piece in her mouth and another on her plate. She is crazy.
We got home and organized some clothes to give away to the kids at the BNC today. We are going to play Bingo for Sweets and have a raffle to give out the clothes and stay late at the BNC. Other than that all I have to do is pack, do soccer tomorrow, and say goodbye! :-( This is my last blog to be written in Namibia, but I will update my blog on Monday or Tuesday morning in NY to talk about my goodbyes with the little kiddies.
Have a great weekend!

The First Goodbyes

Hello again...
Yesterday we went to the Pink Kindergarten for the last time. Many of the kids are sweet, but saying goodbye was not hard- except perhaps for the realization that I will be saying goodbye to the BNC soon. Having only been to the Pink Kindergarten once a week, and even then not every week, I never really developed an attachment for the place. Plus, it was more of a school environment with me helping MB with crowd control and handing things out- I am not trained to teach and therefore was not that useful there to begin with. That being said, I did get to know a few of the kids there and I did have a nice time when I went. I invited Martha, the teacher there who is about my age, out to dinner last night to say goodbye. We had a nice time, and it was nice spending some time with her outside the classroom.
At the BNC we had a good day with computer games, soccer, and singing. Those kids are extra special and make every other program in Namibia seem boring. All the kids I invited to the airport have kept quiet and it looks like all 7 will be able to go with me. Little Esme is a doll... I am more and more impressed with her each and every day. In the evenings as I get on my bike to go home I first ride her a block away to her house. She is so cute the way she smiles the whole way and points her house out to me (even though I have brought her there 1,000 times) and then she jumps off the bike and goes running away laughing and smiling, forgetting to say goodbye! I will miss her a lot.
Hope all is well at home, have a great day!

Changing of the Guard

Good morning everyone...
The past few days I have been trying to enjoy where I am at a little more and enjoying the company around me. At home I have spent time with Michael, Sebastian, and Mark which has been nice. Last night Mark and I staye dup till about 130am talking and listening to music. Hopefully the three of us and Steve will be able to go out Thursday night and hang out together. I have made some nice friends here and consider myself lucky to have been here at the time I was and living with the roommates I have had.
Yesterday before the BNC I walked into the city of Windhoek to do some window shopping and walk around Independence Avenue which is the main drag. I have driven through it a few times but never really spent anytime downtown so it was nice to browse the shops, stop in a park for a coffee, and just look around a little more. That section of Windhoek is somewhat cosmopolitan. It was nice spending time there alone and just wandering around.
My "replacement" just arrived from the Netherlands yesterday. Her name is Marloes and she is about my age. Talking with her in the morning, she had a few questions about what to expect at the BNC and I told her the kids were fine and that after a few weeks she would get used to them running up to her with spears screaming "White Devil!" and that it actually becomes endearing after awhile. In the evening we gathered in the living room with chips and drinks to officially welcome her to the house but she was so tired from the flight that she ended up going to bed soon after.
The BNC has been nice the past few days. Yesterday I taught Brian, Daniel, Ricardo and a few other boys the basics of baseball and I pitched a little ball to them and they practiced hitting it with a stick. They were enthusiastic about it and now I wish I would have brought a wiffle ball bat along with me.
I have invited the seven kids I will be taking to the airport with me and all were happy to be invited. I am worried that their excitement will result in them telling other kids and then the rest will be upset so I have asked them to keep it quiet. "Don't tell a soul, not even God in your prayers tonight," I told each of them. When I told Salome that she said with a straight face, "But God already knows." There are many other kids I would like to take but I had to draw a line in the sand somewhere.
Everyday when I ride my bike into the BNC I am greeted with shouts of "Scooter!" and "Hello!" and receive many hugs on my walk up the path. I have not reached MaryBeth status yet, but it is so nice to turn in eight different directions and see smiling faces. I do feel I have made a memorable impression on many of these kids, but I do wonder whether they will remember me as long as I will remember them. I don't say that looking for sympathy or words of encouragement, but the reality is that people come and people go in their lives, and I am one of those people. Leaving them behind will be sad but it is inevitable- whether it be Saturday or nine months from now, eventually I would have had to leave. Regardless of how long their memories last, mine will be with me for a lifetime. Returning home allows me to help these kids in other ways too, like sending equipment to MB, making money to send down for pool parties and supplies, and improving my education so I might be able to help these kids (and kids like them) on a larger scale. That being said, nothing beats giving Salome a huge hug at the end of the day and whispering in her ear "Nam si da" (I love you) knowing I will see her tomorrow...

In preparing to leave, I have written a list of computer room rules for which ever volunteer is running the room. These are just a few basic rules that help the computer room run a little smoother. Aside from a few minor changes, these are the rules as the stand:

1.) Please arrive at the time you have been given. You are responsible for arriving at your time, if you miss it or arrive late, sorry. It’s called responsibility… look into it!

2.) Please stand up from your computer and leave quietly when your time is up.

3.) Please keep the volume of your voices and the computers to a minimum.

4.) If you have a problem with your computer, it is probably because you broke it so please tell whoever is in charge of the computer room.

5.) Not everyone will be given the opportunity to go to the computer room everyday, there is just not enough space for all you little bastards.

6.) Leave the computer room as you found it, you mangy scavengers.

7.) First come, first served with the games. If you do not like the games available to you, that is fine, there is someone else waiting outside who will gladly play the game for you.

8.) Don’t like your time? Tough shit.

9.) If you hang around the computer room before or after your allotted time, your name will be erased from the list. You must find something productive to do in between your computer time. Possible activities include, but are not limited to reading, playing a puzzle, playing soccer, peddling stolen goods, vandalizing the property, and tormenting the neighborhood.

10.) No fighting, pouting, yelling, swearing or complaining, unless your aggression is directed towards an ugly child.

11.) If you are not willing to share, then do not come to the computer room.

12.) ABSOLUTELY NO food, drinks, soup, candy, ices, or any other sweets are allowed in the computer room at any time!

13.) White children are given priority over colored children, colored over black, and Damara over Herrero.

14.) Females are second class citizens everywhere in Namibia, even in the computer room at the BNC.

15.) If you smell funny, you will be escorted out of the room.

16.) All children are equal, some more than others.

17.) Have fun!!!!!!!!

My Last Weekend

Hello... the clocks have been turned back and the weather seems to be just a little colder now in the mornings. Considering how Namibia is just 20 degrees south of the equator, the temperature really is not all that hot, and they say the winters actually get cold- close to freezing at night. I am actually dealing with a sore throat that is either the result of the changing weather or the dry air- or more likely a combination of the two.
Everything is going well here. Friday was at the BNC and after 5pm we played another soccer game, but because there were only 4 adults who showed up, we just let the kids play with the adults split between the two teams. My beloved pumpkins insisted that I play on their time, and I obliged. They play soccer like bees swarming a nest... it is more or less a horde of girls around the ball, but they laugh and smile the whole time. Afterwards I played on the older boys team in a second game and I played horribly. In fact, the next day one of the guys, Brian who is about 14, came up to me and said, "You played really bad yesterday!" It is not that I had a bad game per se, it's that the previous two weeks I had exceptional games.
Friday night was a quiet, enjoyable evening. MB was housesitting for a friend, Michael went away for the weekend and Mark was on a date so Sebastian and I had dinner (Tobias, who no longer lives here, welcomed himself to some of it anywa) and afterwards we watched "The Groomsmen" which is one of the lamest comedies I have ever seen. The only reason we watched it is because there is no TV in this house (fortunately) and Sebastian found the movie on an external harddrive so we put it on.
Saturday was once again soccer day. The day was long, but enjoyable. I finished referreeing my games around 4pm but MB had one more to do so while she was doing that, I hung out with Wendy, Salome, Romashal, Antonia, and a few others. After the games, as the sun was setting, we walked back to the BNC to get our bikes and the kids followed. It was nice hanging out with them outside the center and MB gave them all sweets. I think the weekends can be rough for the kids sometimes because there is little to do and the adults are drinking more. A few days earlier I had taught Romashal the "Pull My Finger" joke where you pull a persons finger and fart. As we were sitting outside Romashal told me he done it to his little sister, Charlotte, the night before. My eyes filled with tears of pride and joy to think that I really have had a lasting effect on these children.
Saturday night was also low-key. We had talked about going out but instead just had Tim, Karina, Katrin, and AnnaKaren over for the evening. We tried to order pizza around 830pm but the pizzeria said they could not take any orders-they had run out of cheese!! Typical Namibia... The evening was nice, we sat around talking and dancing a little bit. This is a fun group to hang out with, and Germany is definately one of the places I would like to go and see.
Sunday was also very mellow. Mark, Sebastian, and I walked to the grocery store to pick up meat and things for a braai. We invited Steve over and the four of us sat on the front patio for a few hours and ate, talked, and relaxed. In the evening I cleaned up a little, folded laundry, read and then watched a movie with those two.
Hopefully all is well (and warm) back at home in the states. I look forward to catching up with everyone when I get home. So you know, I will likely update the blog a few more times here, but also when I get home I will write a few entries over the next month reflecting on my trip.