it's december!

It's incredibly hard to believe since we're here sweating in the heat. It doesn't seem like the holiday season at all! In fact, since it's technically "summer holiday" from school (which means we all get most of December and part of January off from work!) it's kind of not-at-all like winter break at home. We're enjoying the holiday either way, though!

Sorry for the lack of updates recently! We were without internet for over a month at my school, the wireless box thing got messed up and had to get sent to Windhoek to be fixed.

BUT. Now we're on vacation! I'll have internet sporadically for the next month or so as I travel around Namibia until my school opens again. It's pretty slow right now, and apparently uploading pictures to facebook is faster than putting them on here? (sorry), so here's a link with some recent pictures from this corner of the world:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152341478745175.956242.819705174&type=1

My last month or so at school was very hectic, since it was exam time. Our grades 8 and 9 learners had to write exams in every subject, and the exams were prepared by the regional ministry, which led to some interesting scores. By interesting, I mean that less than 25% of my grade 9 learners passed (>40%) their maths exams. It was a little rough. The teachers were all busy trying to keep the learners focused and studying (especially with the added complication of the teachers' strike), marking exams, and reporting scores back to the ministry.

After school got out, I spent last week in Windhoek for some additional Peace Corps training. Now I'm in Khorixas (towards the NW of the country) with a few other volunteers (Marie, Laurel, and Steve) getting to learn a little more about environmental education in this part of the country. Also, doing some camping and really just getting to see a totally different side of the country than we're used to in the south. Next week we're on to Sossusvlei (world famous sand dunes) and the Naukluft (might've spelled that wrong) mountains.

Thanks so much for everyone who's been keeping in touch! Even if I suck at responding (seriously though, internet is hard to get sometimes), I promise I really really appreciate it and getting emails or any kind of mail from you guys really makes my day =)