Eilidh's thoughts on school

I went into a high school called St.George’ College about 3 days ago now and sat an hour and a half test to see if I could get a place in the school. Yesterday we received an e-mail from the school saying if I had passed or failed the test which I hadn’t :-D So the school says that I can either go into grade 7 just now and then go into grade 8 in January, go in to grade 8 just now, grade 8 is the same as 2^nd year in the UK, and then start grade 9 in Jan’ but grade 9 is like 3^rd year and I’m only in 2^nd year back in Scotland so the school doesn’t think that I would be ready for grade 9 in January and grade 7 is still in primary school here and I don’t want to go back to primary school, no way. So we have decided that I’m going to start grade 8 in High School in January so that’s cool. Till then Mum says that she can teach Cam and I at home but Mum’s idea of teaching seems to be a 3 mile walk every morning…not so cool.

Today we walked into town and went to a bushman art gallery because yesterday I did some research on the bushmen tribes in Namibia and I found out that by the age of twelve, a bushman child on average knows 200 different plant species and an adult bushman knows about 300. I tried to figure out how many plant species I knew by writing them all down, but I only got to 50 odd plants until I couldn’t think of any more. The “art gallery turned out just to be an overpriced gift shop with dead animal skins everywhere, but seeing all of the pretty jewellery was good and there is a really nice pair of earrings there that I’m going to buy next time go into town even though they are $49.99, that’s £5.00 in the UK !!! What a rip off.

I haven’t seen any cool animals yet except a couple of lizards, a gecko and a warthog when we first got off the plane. Dad reckons that he saw some monkeys on the way to the house, but nobody really believes him :) We are going to go camping as soon as we get a good enough car according to Dad and then we can go see some more exciting animals eg’ hippo’s and even lions :) :) :)

Eilidh Rose

Settling in....

Well, after a frantic few days tracking down passports, chasing up visas, finishing up at school and a whirlwind of folk visiting and goodbye get togethers, as well as packing up a decade’s worth of domestic detritus, we finally made it to Glasgow airport last Saturday (thanks bruv) without too many tears. We had excellent trip with Emirates Airlines and a smooth transfer at Dubia and Johannesburg airports. The SA Airways staff kindly turned a blind eye to our excess baggage (only 20 kg each for this part) when I explained with a smile that most of it was Lego.

Saara from VSO met us at the airport in Windhoek some 30 hours after we had left Mum’s house the previous morning, and greeted us with the news that a house on the outskirts of the city had been found for us. We didn’t have long too unpack as we were due to meet up with the other new volunteers in the legendary Joe’s Bar 45 minutes later. We had a quick shower and off we went, how we all kept awake for another few hours, I’m not sure.

Last week was full on with the VSO induction training. The staff here are great and a breath of fresh air. Within two days they had found a fridge for us, and today, we took delivery of an old mountain bike for Alan to cycle to work to, they really are trying to help us settle in.

The house itself is great, a three bedroom bungalow in typical (black) Namibian style. We have hot water, electricity -albeit rather dodgy- and a lovely outdoor room to sit out in the evenings and watch the world go by. Even the plastic flowers, bright pink lacy net curtains and outlandish pictures are growing on me. The owners have moved into their garage for the time being while their other smaller bungalow is being vacated by other tenants. The guilt didn’t last long.