Good times!

Ascension Thursday is the fortieth day after Easter, believed by Christians as the day Jesus ascended to heaven. Over 90% of Namibians are Christian so Ascension Thursday is a national holiday. The schools then take Friday as a holiday. Since last Thursday was Ascension Thursday, I had a long weekend holiday. Yay!

I purposely did not plan any travel or other activities, so I could just relax and do whatever I wanted. I was industrious but also made plenty of time to read, lay in my hammock, go for long walks, and simply relax. My most industrious activity was making myself a cross-the-body hobo bag. I had to sew it by hand, so I hope my stitches will hold. I must say that I love my finished product and it is just what I wanted.

I also found a YouTube channel (Rob Plevin) with some nice tips and training for classroom management. I watched several each day in hopes of being a more effective teacher.

My housemate, Blessing’s nanny, expressed an interest in joining me on my daily walks. Her mother-tongue is Oshiwambo and even though she knows English, our conversations are often very confusing. It’s usually over pronunciations. As we were walking one day, she asked “way is lail lay’ or something like that. I tried and tried to understand but no luck. The next day, we were walking by the rail road tracks and she said, “lail lay, this I was looking”. She wanted to know where the railway was in town. We both laughed.

One day, I had coffee with a young, local pastor. I met him a couple months ago thru a mutual friend. He mentioned that his church runs a weekend camp in September for 10^th-12^th graders to help them plan for career/vocations. He asked if I would be interested in attending the camp as a mentor and talking about my career in technology and now as a Peace Corps volunteer. I said sure and gave him my contact info. Now he is following up on it and we are planning on my participation. I am looking forward to it and hope it all works out.

I got a call late Sunday morning from Ginny saying she was at our Super Spar, killing time while waiting for Lyndsey to arrive from Khorixas. They were going to stay at a local lodge and travel on to Rundu the next day. Ginny and Lyndsey are PCVs from my group and they serve way up North. I met up with Ginny and ultimately invited her and Lyndsey to stay with me if they wanted to save their money. Long story, short, we wound up having a slumber party with Ginny, Lyndsey, also Maggie and Nikki who were traveling with Lyndsey and are also PCVs from my group. Ginny and I prepared dinner for the travelers since they had such a long, hard day getting a hike from Khorixas.

My holiday weekend was relaxing, busy, and with some surprises. Good times!

All for now with all my love