From the field...

I heard from James today, the volunteer I'm replacing in Divundu. He answered all of my questions and more!

1. Internet Options:
a. Bring a laptop, get a USB modem to run (at dial-up speed) over the cell-phone network.
b. One shop in Divundu has internet access.
c. Lots of internet cafes in Rundu (2 hour drive)
d. Wait for the school to get internet access for their ONE computer.

My best friend Nicole has talked me into trying to bring an inexpensive laptop. I'm poking around on Craigslist now hoping to find one!

2. Cell Phone Access:
"Cell phone reception is great (as long as you use MTC as your carrier here). It is very cheap and easy for you family/friends to call your Namibian cell phone via Skype for example."

3. Receiving Mail:
About 5 weeks.

4. Hot Water:
Nope.

5. Visitor Accomodations:
"If they are on a budget they could sleep in your room (I have a spare single mattress that is not uncomfortable). Otherwise there are a number of very nice lodges along the river between 5 and 20km from the school that vary in price and character."

6. Accomodations in General:
"I live in a 3 bedroom house on the school grounds. On paper, two other (very nice) Namibian teachers live in the other two rooms. In practice, the 'wife' (officially getting married is not yet very popular in this part of Namibia) of one is often there, and his daughter stays in the school hostel but is often in the house, same with his wife's sister. The other teacher has her 6 month old baby (who is adorable and very very good) and her baby-sitter in the house too. Many of the teachers hang out in the house during break time or after classes finish. So it is a very busy house with not much privacy.

The advantage of that is that it is never boring, and there are always people to talk to. Furthermore, living with locals makes it easier to get oriented and to meet other local people."

7. The Classroom:
"The syllabi are very ambitious for the learners in the villages of Namibia. To give you an idea of the level of the learners here, most can´t calculate 3*4 in their heads and will estimate the length of the classroom as 250 metres long. There is just a general lack of intuition for numbers that makes things hard. Also, most of the grade 8s, in particular, don´t really speak English (even though all their classes and their exams are in English). So it would be a good idea to think about how to try to reduce the dependency on language skills in teaching physical science."

James also gave me links to blogs from other volunteers in Namibia and I've been glued to my computer ALL DAY!

So how am I feeling with all this new information? Excited, scared, anxious......
Not to mention wondering how I'm possibly going to get everything done that I need to get done before tackling a 40 hour travel-time trip.

AHHHH! (in a good way)
:-)