Thimbukushu, Marathons, and Painting

Some students researching in the computer lab.

Our second term as teachers is underway, and everything is going just peachy. We are both teaching different grades than we were the first term, and it has been very enjoyable for the both of us. Lindsey is teaching 9th and 10th grade English and I am teaching 9th and 10th grade math, whereas before we were both teaching 7th and 8th grade. The older students seem to be much more responsive and motivated to learn - especially those that are in 10th grade. The 10th graders know that if they don’t pass in December, then they are probably done with school for good and will most likely have no chance to move on in their education. 

Language Manual

So, I have been spending most of my freeish time working on redoing the Thimbukushu to English language manual that the Peace Corps gave us during training. I am trying to make it more practical and useful by organizing everything in a more logical way, and I am also adding a bunch of new words and phrases that previously were not included. I am by no means an expert at Thimbukushu or anything, but I certainly want to help everyone else learn what I already know. I am also hoping that the Peace Corps will actually completely “renovate” their entire language program that is used during training based on the manual that I am making (the key word here is hoping). Whether or not that will actually happen..... I have no idea. It depends on whether or not the language trainers like what I make I suppose.

Either way, just the fact that I am making a Thimbukushu manual will greatly help Lindsey and I learn the language. Putting ideas in words and on paper really forces you to learn and causes you to realize what you don’t know. So all those things that I don’t know, I am trying to figure out. Hence, I am getting much better at the language much faster than I would have if I didn’t tackle this project.

“But Tim, I want to know some Thimbukushu! Can you teach me!?” 

Well, that is a great question and I like your enthusiasm for learning - so, here is a very brief excerpt from the manual I am making. 

The phrases you can’t live without - crash course for Day 1 in the village

Mbadi na kutjwathana. – I don’t understand.

Ghambe muthihingirisha. – Speak to me in English.

Shime ghani kukuhongo Thimbukushu. – I am learning Thimbukushu.

Kadi shoni dimuke. – I don’t know.

Name. – Me too.

Wiye kuno. – Come here.

Basic Questions and Responses for Everyday Situations

Yinye wa kutenda? – What are you doing?

Kadiko. – Nothing.

Kuna kutoya mbapira. – I am reading a book.

Kupi wa kuyenda? – Where are you going?

Kuna kuyenda kuthitora. – I am going to the store.

Kupi ghuna kara? – Where were you?

Kudimbo – At home.

So you are pretty much fluent now right? The cool thing is, after you learn the basic greetings, the few phrase above will handle almost everything you could encounter if you venture out into the village. And if you don’t understand what they are asking you, all you have to say is, “Mbadi(don’t) na(I)  kutjwathana(understand).” and you are covered - more or less.

The other reason I am writing the manual is to help teach the students at our school English. As far as I know, there isn’t a single book that is practical for Thimbukushu speakers to learn English, and I guess the same goes for English speakers trying to learn Thimbukushu. There is a Thimbukushu to English Dictionary, but have you ever tried to learn a language by memorizing words in a dictionary? It is horrendous. So, I honestly think (yet I could be wrong) that I am the first person to ever try to make a good language learning manual for these people. 

Once I’m done, my hope is to give it to all of the other volunteers in the area so they can also give it to their own schools. Then, hopefully, the Namibian teachers will start practicing English with the kids at a much younger age so that by the time they get to 5th grade (when all of their classes switch to English) they will already be comfortable with at least the basics. Can you imagine how hard it would be to learn a new language with just a dictionary? Well, that is all these students have to work with right now, but hopefully they will have something much better soon. 

Wall Mural 

Lindsey is heading up a new school project that I am very excited for as well. We are going to paint a huge, colorful map of the world on the outside of the school - super cool. A lot of the learners will be involved in helping, so it will be a great learning experience for them and it will leave them with a nice, big map that they can look at and learn from for years to come.

We are going to use a projector to trace the outline of all the countries, and then fill it in with paint that will hopefully be donated from a hardware company here called Build It - it is kind of like The Home Depot of Namibia. She is just in the planning stages right now so there are no pictures of our wall yet, but it should look something like this when we are done. (We did not take this picture.)

Marathon

Lindsey and I have started training for a marathon this October in Swakopmund, where we will be running in between giant sand dunes and the ocean. Sounds cool right? We are also running a half marathon in Zimbabwe at Victoria Falls on July 14th just for kicks as part of the training. Since there is only one gravel road running through Mayara, training consists of running for a long time in one direction, and then simply turning around to come back. We run along a little dirt/sand path next to the road that is sort of the “pedestrian path”, plus or minus a few cows and donkeys. I am currently reading a book called Born to Run (Lindsey already read it), which I would highly recommend reading if you are a runner. It is inspiring you know? Back on topic - running here is actually really enjoyable, until a car drives by and kicks up a cloud of dust that we have to run through.  Ahh, dust, that brings me to my next point....

Weather Change

We are now entering winter in Namibia. Since we are in the northernmost part of the country, it doesn’t get nearly as cold as Windhoek (the capital), but it still gets pretty dang cold at night. To take the edge off of the cold we bought a little space heater from the grocery store for our little hut, and man - that thing is nice. It is not that cold yet, but we have been told that July is the killer month. And you might be like, “But Tim, I looked up the weather on Google and it says it only gets down into the 40’s there. That’s not that cold.” Well, that is true most of the time - but remember, if gets down into the 40’s, so that also means it is 40 degrees inside as well. There is no escaping the cold just as there was no escaping the heat during the summer. We are just much more exposed to the weather.

It also is very dusty know. It hasn’t rained in a very long time and all the grass is now gone, leaving just sand. Everything is much more sandy than it was a few months ago. So, back to the previous topic, when a car drives by when we are running, there is a serious cloud of dust that follows.

Since this post was a little slim  on pictures, here are some that we took in May. 

The sunset on top of Table Mountain in Cape Town.

Lindsey hanging out with Simba and Nala

It was really hard to actually get a picture of him running. I had to push the button like 2 seconds in advance. He flew by us going around 60 mph.

The Next Few Weeks

The next few weeks are actually going to be very busy for us. We are going to Popa Falls (it seems that this is our designated hangout spot) to celebrate the Fourth of July with other volunteers, then the next weekend we have to come back to Rundu to buy food, and then we are going to Vic Falls the next weekend to run in the half marathon. So, our weekends are pretty full for the foreseeable future. Other than that, our health is great and everything is going swimmingly. Snakes are hibernating, so Mom - that is one less thing you have to worry about. Until next time!

Peace,

Tim