In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight.

Since I have come to Namibia almost six weeks ago, I have learned many things about the Namibian culture. To name a few:

Taxis are the most ubiquitous vehicle on any major road in Windhoek and their drivers are the antithesis of shy, honking at any and every passerby who might have an inkling of an interest in giving them business.
Namibians like to call each other (and unsuspecting tourists) “brother” and “sister,” even when trying to bum $2 (equivalent to like 14 cents) off of two American girls at the store down the street.
Typically cheap toiletry products in the United States (i.e. sunblock, contact solution, and hand sanitizer) are 2-3 times more expensive here.
While tap water is safe to drink, it tastes funny and chlorine-y to tourists. However, the bottled water that I prefer tastes weird to the natives.

I’ve come to terms with these customs (we’ve simply just started saying T.I.A., as in “This is Africa,” apparently adapted from some Leonardo DiCaprio movie), but I’m still shocked by Namibia’s approach to public holidays and their implementation in the public school system. I have only been here for a month and a half, starting to work at the Center literally the day after the winter term started, and there have already been three public holidays. I guess it’s important to mention that while going to public school in Maryland, we started every school year with a four day weekend, but that’s not the issue. In Namibia, when a holiday (like African Child Day and Ascension Day) falls on a Thursday, as they have the past three holidays, teachers will often hold classes the Saturday before the holiday and cancel classes the Friday following the holiday for the sake of having a long weekend. In addition, the different schools are not consistent in their policies, and so when it comes to teaching at the BNC those weeks, we have no idea who is actually going to show up.

Me and some of the Grade 1 and Grade 2 girls super pumped for a fun day at the Okapuka Lodge!

This past Thursday was a public holiday (and no, I have no idea what holiday it was). However, this one was pretty cool for us because we got to take all the BNC kids from Grades 1 to 7 to the Okapuka Lodge about thirty minutes out of Windhoek for a game drive. The kids did not find out until the day before, and they were so excited as were the volunteers!

On the bus to Okapuka

We woke up before 6AM to meet the kids at the BNC at 7AM and amazingly, 102 of the 107 kids that had been given permission slips were already there eagerly waiting for the day trip. Overall, the day was a success. I think the kids really enjoyed riding in the big safari vehicle with no doors, seeing the animals (it’s amazing how these kids live in Africa, yet they had never seen giraffes, crocodiles, oryxes-Namibia’s national animal, or even a springbok, which I have seen hundreds of by now), having a picnic lunch in the big field located right outside the lodge, and just playing and enjoying their day off. Even the bus ride to and from Okapuka was a blast: the kids serenaded us the whole time with our favorites: Justin Bieber’s “Baby,” “Waka Waka,” and even such Lion King hits as “Lion Sleeps Tonight.” Since Grade 7 was not invited to come since they are going on a big overnight camping trip at the end of the school year, I helped with the Grade 2 kids and got to work with an amazing group of eight girls, some of who I already knew and others I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet prior to the trip. We were all super tired by the time we returned to the BNC in the afternoon so we didn’t teach when we got back…but don’t worry! We made up for it by teaching Friday… 😉