Just the right smell

This evening was the first of the rains. It was only a spatter, enough to make the dust settle but not enough to actually wet anything. The clouds have been slowly collecting all day, starting first as puffy whites this morning and getting lower and darker throughout the day, till this afternoon was stifling hot and muggy.

It feels as if all of WHK pauses to listen when the pat pat pat starts, and everyone perks up and says; 'is that rain?' The scent of ozone follows so quickly that you don't even need to go outside to confirm, but each one of us did. Not together in a group, but trailing each other for to each have that feeling of silence and peace as you turn your face up and the cool water hits your closed eyelids. As if that weren't enough, there was a double rainbow, glowing above the Jakaranda which is in full bloom across the road.

The country here is so desperate for rain, and we have been looking at a brown landscape for what feels like a very long winter that the first rain is something we have almost been holding our breath for. Now the grasses will start to grow, the trees will suddenly burst out with green and all the thorns will flower with bright yellow stars in patches all over WHK where there are no buildings.

When you bite off more than you can chew

If you're wondering why I am not posting as often as I should... here's why, I'm two timing, I'm doubling up, I'm leading a double life.

http://stpcnamibianews.blogspot.com/

Nothing to report

I'm sad to say that life is really quiet here. Mostly we are just getting on with our daily busniness. K has gone to Gobabeb and will be there all week. It has been very odd adjusting to having the house completely to myself. Well aside from the cats, who must be missing K cos they have taken to following me around the house. Henry has a little sniffle and has had a drippy nose all week and so just wants to snuggle everytime you sit down for more than 30 seconds, which is adorable of course. The worst of being home alone is when I come back from TV watching next door to a dark and empty house and then get into an empty bed. I miss K's feet the most at this point. They always find me in the night.

Other than that - bird club at school is hilarious, every Tuesday we take out the students and spend an hour an half trying to convince them that if they chat at the top of their voices they won't see anything, which doesn't seem to bother them that much, and at least we haven't heard the dreaded "B" word yet! The club does remind me how quickly time is passing - it seems impossible that every week Tuesday is here already and we need to arrange what and how and communicate that to the students. Thank goodness for assembly.

Next door - R is writing exams this week, L took a spill and has her arm in a sling, which is teaching me how tough it is to plan supper for a family every day, you can't jsut tell them to make toast like I do for K quite often. Ooh - we watched no less than five episodes of West Wing last night. Whenever we get to the end of the season there is absolutely no way we can go to bed without watching the first of the next season. The of courses the brilliant bastards made that a cliff-hanger too! Will CJ become the new chief of staff, will Josh finally realise that he is in love with Donna, will they ever bring peace to the world and good, free education to the USA?

Working and on a Friday night!

Sometimes the internet can be the most frustrating time spender. I have just spent the last 45 minutes looking for a map of namibia showing the areas occupied by which tribes. I am CONVINCED that it exists and that someone has published it online. I am also convinced that I cannot teach the next chapter without it. This after an hour of reading the textbook, making a timeline and scrunching up my brain to come up with some interesting way of teaching this stuff. You see, I feel that one must have some concept of the geography of Namibia for it to make sense that Witbooi and Maharero couldn't get it together and sort out the Germans.

To temper my frustration and kick start my creativity, I have been working on a few different techniques for making me feel better. First a glass of crisp cold white wine, then balance on my excercise ball in front of the comp. Trying to sit cross legged on it has given me a good few minutes of entertainment while I wait for a site to load. Also Chris Evans is helping considerably by playing some absofab music! The I decided to become completely distracted and read my new fave blog: http://www.hoboteacher.com/blog/index.html It's great if you are a teacher - and perhaps if you aren't one too. But he makes me laugh and laugh because so much of what he says happens in my classroom daily!

Maybe I can come up with some version of Risk that shows the movement of tribes, troops and Germans around Namibia around 1890. Or some kind of role play? urgh.

Our fifth anniversary!

It was even harder to leave K wrapped up and snuggly in bed, and go to school to face rambunctious and enervated Gr. 8's yesterday. It was our fifth anniversary, even though it seems like we have only be married a couple of years, it's just been so easy. I guess in the grander schemjavascript:void(0)e of things, five years isn't that long actually. I'll get back to you at 25...

Found this in our local squash club's newsletter - couldn't believe our eyes!

Click on the photo to open it big enough to read the text.

Home improvement

I had such fun today - As you know, Henry has been making a pest of himself two doors over so we have had them inside for the majority of the the time. This has been fine because it has been winter and having windows and doors closed kept the cold out. Well Summer has arrived and the days are suddenly hot and the closed up house seems stuffy, confining and smelly.

After a week of thinking about it, K and I came up with a complicated plan of attaching some kind of netting to the burglar bars on the sliding french doors which open to the garden. I became determined that this experiment should happen this weekend. So this morning we went on a hardware shopping spree - netting and cable ties!

After a brief break for West Wing we locked the cats in the bedroom and went to work. Our four metres of netting spread out onto the lawn and we began cable tying it to the burglar bars. Disappointment quickly raised it's vicious head. The cable ties were too small, but we are smart and we connected two together and continued. Of course now our number of ties was halved and K had to jump in the car and fetch more. By the time we were finished we were hot, bothered and our fingertips raw from the plastic cable ties.

We let the cats out to see if our construction would stand up to them. It passed the sniff test and then the scratch test. Then Oleo climbed up the netting for the climb test and that passed too. Now we are waiting to see if it passes the neighbourhood Tom-cat at night spraying and howling test.

Ok, now I am actually busy

Term started. And it's haaaaard! Firstly we have changed times back so not only am I getting up early, it's in the dark! Yuck. Plus it is still chilly so it horrid getting out of the shower at that time of morning.

Enough whining, I am enjoying being back. It seems as though people have brought a new energy with them from the holidays and are excited about new projects and old that are happening this term. Of course I have had to say goodbye to afternoon naps as I am now planning and doing extra work in the afternoons. I made it through 7 books this holiday and I suspect that the current one will take me all term to read.

My most exciting thing about this term is that I have an office! No more working on the staffroom comfy chairs and coffee tables for me! I share it with an energetic and friendly teacher and it is situated in the quiet part of school, next to the chapel. It is under a massive pepper tree (schinus molle - not indigenous but wonderful shade and scent) and there are lots of other trees around so the birds are constantly chirriping. This morning when the students trooped into chapel I realised that I am directly underneath the church bell, which is one of my favourite sounds.

As a result I am looking favourably at the new term, and expecting to enjoy not carrying all my books back and forth between home and school.

Long time no see

I was just going through my favourite blogs and being mad at them for not having posted anything. (With the exception of one) When I realised that I have not posted in the longest time either!

This is because I am realllly busy.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH. No actually it is because laziness begets laziness. We are on school holiday and here is our schedule:
get up late, feed the cats and go back to bed
get up again, decide we don't need to shower EVERY day and stay in our pyjamas while we check mail, eat breakfast and then read something on the bed.
get up again, eat lunch
watch an episode of Bones, and one of West Wing, this is exhausting so we must go back to bed with our books.
get up again, wonder what to make for supper, order pizza and eat it in front of CSI. (Which is unadvisable if you have a sensitive stomach - seriously)
Then pretty much we go back to bed.

It is heaven, but I am starting to feel restless and am quite glad that school starts again on Monday. I suspect that on Monday I will not be glad that school started because I will want to be in bed frequently.

Also - the weather here is really wierd. Spring in Namibia means that outside can't make up it's mind whether it is really hot, or really cold. There is a haze in the air from all the veld fires up North and it feels like you need to turn the light on all the time. I am really looking forward to the crisp mornings of summer, which incidentally is tomorrow. Clocks change at 12, which will then be 1.

OK, now I've posted - it's your turn!

Bird list for Etosha, as promised

Redbilled Hornbill
Monteiro's Hornbill
Yellowbilled Hornbill
Red-eyed Bulbul
Rock Kestrel
Black Shouldered Kite
Groundscraper Thrush
Longbilled Crombec
Fork-tailed Drongo
Dusky Sunbird
Glossy Starling
Kori Bustard
Pale Chanting Goshawk
Red-billed Quelea
Marico Sunbird
Helmeted Guineafowl
Lilacbreasted Roller
Whitebacked Mousebird
Pririt Batis
Crimson-breasted Shrike
Whitebrowed Sparrowweaver
Crowned Plover
White-bellied Sunbird
Lappet-faced Vulture
Swainson's Francolin
Grey Lourie
Cape Turtle Dove
Double-banded Courser
Pied Crow
Black Crow
Northern Black Corhaan
Redcrested Corhaan
Secretary Bird
Double-banded Sandgrouse
Spotted Eagle Owl
Gabar Goshawk
Blacksmith Plover
Egyptian Goose
Red-billed Teal
Cape Sparrow
Southern White-Crowned Shrike
Namaqua Sandgrouse
Pearl-spotted Owl
Blue Waxbill
Violet-eared Waxbill
Grey-headed Gull
Fiscal Shrike
Short-toed Rock Thrush
Laughing Dove
Grey Hornbill
Purple Roller
Greater Kestrel
Burchell's Starling
Black-chested Prinia
Greater Blue-eared Starling
Red-headed Finch
Black-cheeked Waxbill
Scaly-feathered Finch
Ant-eating Chat
White-throated Canary
House Sparrow
Tawny Eagle
Red-billed Francolin
Common Moorhen
Red-billed Buffalo Weaver
Ostrich
Marico Flycatcher
Sociable Weaver
Wattled Starling
Namaqua Dove
Titbabbler
Black-throated canary
Masked Weaver
Acacia Pied Barbet
Hoopoe
Giant Eagle Owl
Rattling Cisticola
Hottentot Teal
White-crested Helmut Shrike
Little-banded Goshawk
African White-backed Vulture
Bare-cheeked Babbler
Stark's Lark

Birding in Etosha

yes - that's right. We went to Etosha and twitched. Best Big Game Park in the world ( according to me) and we looked for lbj's, warblers and eromomelas!

I have to say though, that people who have the vaguest interest in birds - should do it this way. When you are sitting at the waterhole and "nothing" is there, or you are tired of craning your neck to see the Lions on the other side of the trees, then the birding comes in really handy. It keeps you at the waterhole for a few hours where you are more likely to see the big game, rather than rushing desperately from one waterhole to the next.

We were very excited and also a little proud of our extensive bird sightings and identifications. Collectively we saw 83 different species, and that is not counting males, females and also one notable "mellanistic form"! I won't exhaust you with the full list. (Well maybe I will, but in another post) I'll just give you the highlights for me. Although I think our number is very impressive considering that there are only 340 bird species to be seen in Etosha.



I think my absolute favourite was the Giant Eagle Owl. He was at the Okaukuejo waterhole, sitting perfectly still in a tree at dusk. We only knew he was there because he started screeching incessantly. Just as the book said, the juveniles frequently will make single piercing screams all night, and he did. We also saw a pearl spotted Owl, which is a tiny and adorable little thing. He flew across the waterhole in the middle of the day, and perched perfectly on a piece of wood for us. He had caught an lbj (unidentified) and was on his way to taking it home, but the lbj was almost the same size that he was so he was having some difficulty flying!



At a tiny and completely deserted waterhole, we had an absolute treat! A huge eagle had come down to drink. Ladydi tortured us by stretching out the 100& ID for a good half an hour, but we eventually agreed that it was a Tawny Eagle!



And of course there were a few tiny birds that I will always adore, no matter how many times I see them! Blue, violet eared and black cheeked waxbills all drinking from a pipe near our camp! Not to mention the delightful red-headed Finch!

Teaching is stressful

I just finished marking the History exam papers.

When I first saw the paper I thought it was reallllly difficult, even for me! They wrote the paper while I was cruising around Etosha, and when I returned there was a massive stack awaiting me and my red pen. Which, by the way, was empty from all the marking through the year.

I arranged myself at the dining room table where I could spread out, made tea and lined up my pink pen and my red pencil. I marked the first paper with the pink and the second with the pencil. Neither was satisfactory and the first two students did not even pass. This gave me an exceptional excuse to work avoid for another 24 hours.

Next day, Mom provided me with an excellent red pen; bright, roller ball, liquid gel, 0.5mm needle tip. I once again commandeered one end of the table and commenced. I marked all afternoon, with a pause for tea and another pause for washing. Some students passed, some even did quite well. After three hours I needed something else red. Red Wine, really gooood red wine. Delheim cabernet sauvignon shiraz. It was wonderful and I had to mark one of the students papers again today because after three glasses everything had taken on a pinkish tinge, and her 85% was generous from the bottom of the bottle.

This afternoon I marshalled my energy and necessary marking resources and finished the last of the lot. It took me a long time but now I am done and have reviewed their marks against homework marks and last term's marks to assess their progress or lack thereof. I don't need the better part of a bottle of red to induce the stress that this brings. Exams were always considered the ultimate test when I was at school. Teachers talked about them all term, and set them very carefully and as a teacher, I am no different. Except from this side you know that here is the way you will know whether you have got through to the students, whether the child who needed special attention got it, whether the child who always gets 90's with other teachers, gets them with you too, and many other nail-biting thoughts.

Thankfully it appears that most of those questions have been answered in the positive and I have to tell myself that for those that are negative, this is the information I need to adjust what I am doing with them. I also had a pleasant surprise on the last two papers. Students who always make the class average, this term have set the upper reaches of the marks.

They call me... MR. PIG

There were so many giraffe, especially browsing really close to the road, so that Keir always had to drive very slowly for fear of rounding the corner and finding another group munching on the trees along the roadside. Most of them were afraid of the car and sadly would gallumph off as soon as the car approached, but there was one who came over to inspect Hank in his fabulousnous and covered in dust.

Giraffe in abundance

LIONS IN ETOSHA

We were lucky enough to see lions almost every day that we were in Etosha, but no matter how many times we saw them we could never resist stopping to spend hours in the hot sunny car exclaiming in awe at their size, grace, beauty and also how similar they were to our little kitties we have at home! Until we got home and were reminded of just how teeny and miniscule Henry is in comparison to this handsome fellow!

Ongava Lodge

This is the area we spent allll day lounging around in chairs admiring the waterhole that was just a few meters away!

Some photos from Etosha to get started...

There are hundreds, but I have managed to select just a few.

Birds and Rhinos

The steam is pouring and swirling off my tea cup, caught in the small and chilly breeze that is also catching the dust out at the waterhole. I am sitting at SC’s place up north. His home is low and open and the line between his garden and the veld is only marked by the end of his lawn. This is our second day of sitting on his porch and looking out at the waterhole.

It has been birding heaven for us. Yesterday we spent the day identifying the tiny sunbirds settling in his lush green garden. Once we had those we transferred the lenses of our binoculars to the grey, brown and black birds that were camouflaged into the veld around the waterhole: helmeted guinea fowl bouncing across the gravel like soccer balls escaping small children, swainsons francolin peeking out from under bushes and around rocks and cape turtle doves perched in the trees cooing to us all day.

For those who are not as delighted by the birds as we are, there have been kudu, warthog, oryx, springbok, wildebeest, red hartebeest, porcupines and the excitement of a brown hyena, alone and thrilling. For us to see this amazing plethora of creatures, big and small all we have had to do is sit in SC’s comfy chairs, drink his tea and coffee and hold our binocs to our faces. When all of this has overwhelmed us, we simply place the binocs on the table and pick up our books. It has been idyllic idleness!

The night before last, as we arrived here, SC had us pack blankets and sandwiches and took us out for a full moon Rhino observation. We drove through the bush at dusk and watched the sun go down behind a dark southern giraffe. Then we settled in at the waterhole to wait for the rhino to appear. And appear they did!

The moon slowly rose, with the strength and beauty of the goddess that people worship her for. The landscape was lit eerily, like someone had thrown towels over the lamps. Throughout the night we had five rhino visit in about the same number of hours. They are massive animals, as though boulders grew legs and decided to eat, breed and be stately. They are also grey like the rocks in the region and when lit by moonlight they are large, intimidating ghosts. What I found amazing was how nimble they are, the rhinos were so light-footed, and twirled on the spot like ballerinas when spooked by the flash of the camera.

Last night as we were preparing for bed, but enjoying the last of the embers of the fire we had cooked on, we heard the deep-throated call of a lion. Suddenly the end of the lawn seemed very close indeed and us tourists scurried into the house to “brush our teeth”. Once safe and warm under our covers with books once again in hand and the lights firmly on, the continued bellowing of the lions was primal and yet somehow managed to be comforting. Perhaps because, as long as we could hear him out there, we knew we were safe in here!

More to come from Etosha at a later date, although how Etosha will outshine Ongava, I have no idea!