The New Normal

The New Normal.

So I have been in Namibia for a little over a month now and what started out as something new and exciting is turning into an everyday routine and becoming the new normal. It is kind of reassuring to know that I am settling in nicely and feel at home here. Normal does come with a lot of frustrations, however. So here is a list of crazy norms that have never been part of my daily life in the United States.

It is normal to:

• Wake up before the sun comes up and go to bed before the sun has completely set. 
• Teach 2 different grades 2 different core subjects. If I didn’t dislike Math before this is making me hate it haha
• Be called Sir because they aren’t used to having female teachers
• Eat Apples and Peanut Butter for almost every meal.
• Never have clean feet. I swear dirt is magnetized to them as soon as I step out of the shower.
• Play soccer or workout for 2 hours everyday after teaching all day. I am the school’s new all around trainer. The kids love it and it keeps me in shape so I am not complaining but boy is it tiring.
• Not have any communication with the outside World till the weekends. 
• Have to spend 8 hours doing something that would normally take 2.
• Travel 2 hours every weekend to get into town.
• Repeat myself 10 times and still have my learners and colleagues stare at me like I am speaking in tongues to them. 
• Enjoy a cup of coffee every break I get.
• Ride in the back of pick up trucks.
• Rely on people for every mode of transportation
• Feel lost and completely confused at least 2 times a day.
• Sleep under a mosquito net. At first I felt like a princess, now it is like a trap!
• Take 2.5 hours to do laundry that would normally take 5 minutes to put in the machine.
• Always be thirsty and salivate every time you think of water. 
• Have learners and colleagues bang on my door all hours of the day.
• Run with cows, donkeys, springbok and learners everyday.
• Wash my dishes in the bathroom sink
• Wash my underclothes in the shower with me. It is so much easier than washing them in bulk.
• Have it rain at random times during the day for only 5 minutes and then clear up.
• Have the power go out at random times.
• Have the water stop running while I am in the middle of a shower. This has happened 2 times already ahah
• Have a gorgeous sunset every night!
• Drive up to the mine to watch TV and speak English normally. I have adopted a weird accent haha. Over-pronunciation of T’s and D’s has contributed to this weird accent. 
• Have to climb a mountain to get spotty cell service. I have yet been able to make a call from this spot.

While some of these norms are crazy and I can’t believe that this has become my life; I am loving every minute of it; maybe except for things taking forever to get done. My New York impatience is taking a beating and I am learning to slow down. I am feeling like I am finally making progress with my Grade 7 learners. They finally had bar graphs click and are giving their first presentations Friday. My Grade 6 learners are going to be the death of me. It is so hard and frustrating. I usually teach them 3 periods in a row. I dread those days and find myself having to go outside for fresh air before I lose my cool. I am not one to get upset but when you have explained bar graphs for a week and a half every which way possible and still get blank stares it gets frustrating. I am just having to move on to the next topic and hope that there won’t be that many bar graph questions on the national exam. 

I am loving this new, crazy, normal, mixed up life.