Back Online... Again
Good Morning...
It has been awhile since my last blog because on Sunday someone sneezed and knocked out the internet server. Fortunately, the internet was up and running within a week. Ajay, our Indian housemate, is an IT wizard who has been able to help everyone of us at some point with our computer related issues, pro bono. He is a nice guy with a good sense of humor- or maybe it is just the funny accent that makes him so endearing.
Aunt Gert is doing well and her snoring has been reasonably quiet. She has been a good sport about going to the center to be with the kids, though I think she plans on taking a few days off. She is anxious to experience as much of Namibian culture as possible so this weekend we will be going to either Okhandja or Rehoboth - towns an hour north and south of here respectively- so that she can see some more of Namibia. She has mentioned, in jest, that at times she feels like she is an indentured servant trapped by all these gates and locks in the house and she is only let out to the go work at the center. I have noticed a few times at the center that she has slipped out the gate and made her way down to the local shebeen to play a few rounds of pool and pound back a few Tafel Lagers. Overall, her experience here has been pretty quiet so far. We will do more travelling and experience more of Africa when MB's family arrives. Before she is gone I expect she will have seen plenty of wild animals, Swakopmund, Soussevlei, Victoria Falls, and other little excursions and hideaways.
Last night we went back to the all-you-can-eat Thursday night pizza shop with the housemates (minus MaryBeth) I think the meaning of all -you-can-eat was lost on everyone as I was the only one who broke double digits in total slices. I think Aunt Gert tapped out at four slices. To be fair one of the girls is a vegetarian so she was a little turned off when they kept bringing pizza with meat on it. I also figured out that the all-you-can-eat pizza deal is really just a front for putting all the leftover ingredients from the past week onto pizza dough and feeding it to us. How else can you explain pizza with onion, pickle, chicken, curry, and barbeque sauce?
The kids are doing wonderful, as always. Yesterday I stayed late and played tennis with Romachell, Bonitha, Esme, and Salome. Though I wasn't really in the mood for tennis, it offered me the opportunity to stay a few extra hours with the kids. It was just me and Steve running the center yesterday as MB and the girls went up to Okhandja for another workshop. We were sure the kids could sense our fear at being left alone to run the center, but fortunately Dora and Edelsine showed up and took control.
The house is full of estrogen nowadays. Erica, from the US, and Katarina and Anna, both from Germany, have all arrived and with MaryBeth and Aunt Gert in the house it really feels like a giant slumber party. Fortunately I have my own room (shared with Aunt Gert) where I can still burp, fart, and scratch my ass. It will get worse when MB's family arrives- four more females around and her father. By the time he arrives though, I might have completely lost all sense of masculinity and already be painting my nails, watching Sleepless in Seattle with the girls, and sharing sob stories about how awful men are.
All in all, things continue to go well here. I thought an interesting new approach to this blog idea would be to take suggestions from the audience (YOU!) about what to write about. I am not sure what your impressions or questions about the BNC, Katutura, Namibia, etc. are and would love to field questions and blog topics from anyone and everyone. It will give me something new and interesting to write about- I am sure I have exhausted the point that I love the kids! So... please email me jmcken82@hotmail.com with any suggestions for possible blog topics. I will address any questions or topics you have about the country, my experiences, my impressions, specific children, the culture, the BNC, etc. ... ANYTHING you want to know about... just let me know. Hopefully I get some interesting feedback and by Monday I will begin to write about it! Have a good weekend.
It has been awhile since my last blog because on Sunday someone sneezed and knocked out the internet server. Fortunately, the internet was up and running within a week. Ajay, our Indian housemate, is an IT wizard who has been able to help everyone of us at some point with our computer related issues, pro bono. He is a nice guy with a good sense of humor- or maybe it is just the funny accent that makes him so endearing.
Aunt Gert is doing well and her snoring has been reasonably quiet. She has been a good sport about going to the center to be with the kids, though I think she plans on taking a few days off. She is anxious to experience as much of Namibian culture as possible so this weekend we will be going to either Okhandja or Rehoboth - towns an hour north and south of here respectively- so that she can see some more of Namibia. She has mentioned, in jest, that at times she feels like she is an indentured servant trapped by all these gates and locks in the house and she is only let out to the go work at the center. I have noticed a few times at the center that she has slipped out the gate and made her way down to the local shebeen to play a few rounds of pool and pound back a few Tafel Lagers. Overall, her experience here has been pretty quiet so far. We will do more travelling and experience more of Africa when MB's family arrives. Before she is gone I expect she will have seen plenty of wild animals, Swakopmund, Soussevlei, Victoria Falls, and other little excursions and hideaways.
Last night we went back to the all-you-can-eat Thursday night pizza shop with the housemates (minus MaryBeth) I think the meaning of all -you-can-eat was lost on everyone as I was the only one who broke double digits in total slices. I think Aunt Gert tapped out at four slices. To be fair one of the girls is a vegetarian so she was a little turned off when they kept bringing pizza with meat on it. I also figured out that the all-you-can-eat pizza deal is really just a front for putting all the leftover ingredients from the past week onto pizza dough and feeding it to us. How else can you explain pizza with onion, pickle, chicken, curry, and barbeque sauce?
The kids are doing wonderful, as always. Yesterday I stayed late and played tennis with Romachell, Bonitha, Esme, and Salome. Though I wasn't really in the mood for tennis, it offered me the opportunity to stay a few extra hours with the kids. It was just me and Steve running the center yesterday as MB and the girls went up to Okhandja for another workshop. We were sure the kids could sense our fear at being left alone to run the center, but fortunately Dora and Edelsine showed up and took control.
The house is full of estrogen nowadays. Erica, from the US, and Katarina and Anna, both from Germany, have all arrived and with MaryBeth and Aunt Gert in the house it really feels like a giant slumber party. Fortunately I have my own room (shared with Aunt Gert) where I can still burp, fart, and scratch my ass. It will get worse when MB's family arrives- four more females around and her father. By the time he arrives though, I might have completely lost all sense of masculinity and already be painting my nails, watching Sleepless in Seattle with the girls, and sharing sob stories about how awful men are.
All in all, things continue to go well here. I thought an interesting new approach to this blog idea would be to take suggestions from the audience (YOU!) about what to write about. I am not sure what your impressions or questions about the BNC, Katutura, Namibia, etc. are and would love to field questions and blog topics from anyone and everyone. It will give me something new and interesting to write about- I am sure I have exhausted the point that I love the kids! So... please email me jmcken82@hotmail.com with any suggestions for possible blog topics. I will address any questions or topics you have about the country, my experiences, my impressions, specific children, the culture, the BNC, etc. ... ANYTHING you want to know about... just let me know. Hopefully I get some interesting feedback and by Monday I will begin to write about it! Have a good weekend.
posted by Jim | 5:03 AM
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