24 Days!

Wow, in 24 days from now I will be driving to Sea Tac Airport, boarding an international flight, and flying 10-12 hours to Frankfurt, Germany then another 10-12 hours to Windhoek, Namibia! It seems like just yesterday that I signed up to go to Namibia and it was still a year away and now it is only 24 days away! I just cant believe I am actually going to Africa! I have always wanted to go somewhere in Africa and now I am!

I will be going to the country of Namibia with my school to teach in a small town called Katatura. There are 9 of us college students going and we just had our last meeting this weekend...next meeting is the AIRPORT!!

We have had meeting once a month and our professors have tried to prepare us as much as they possibly can for what we will be experiencing, but honestly I don't know that they can fully prepare us for the things we will see and the experiences we will encounter. I am excited, yet nervous at the same time. We just found out the schools that we will be teaching at and I am at a school called AI Steenkamp. We were told that at least one of us, if not more, will probably have a teacher that doesn't show up in the beginning, which will put us in charge from the very first day. We were also told that some do use corporal punishment and we need to prepare ourselves for that, seeing that we are not to say anything or criticize because that is all most of them know. Hopefully, we can share our classroom management strategies with the teachers there and show them by our actions that that isn't the only way to get kids to behave and maybe, just maybe they will be willing to try a different way.

In the last week, I have laid in my bed and began to come to the realization that I am not just going to another state here in the US...I am flying across the world and living in a completely new culture and atmosphere for 2 months. It blows my mind and honestly I don't even know how to explain the mix of excitement and nervousness that I have experienced! :)

P.S. If anyone wants to donate school supplies or children's books for me to take with me it would be much appreciated. They do not have very much over there and I am trying to pack as much as I can. Just call or let me know on here, thanks!