Gus Gets the Gold

The Khomas Regional Science Fair was held July 15-17 at the Polythechnique of Namibia (the principal university in Namibia). Augustus having won the Teachers’ Choice Award at his school science fair in April qualified to attend. Over 250 participants showed up with their projects. For their efforts they received a t-shirt, box of CD-ROMs, and CD holder from the sponsors Kolok (Memorex distributor). Augustus was reluctant to go at first because he thought he’d be all alone in the cavernous examination basement of the Polytechnique, but he did encounter several people he knew when he went in to set up on the first day. He felt a great deal more comfortable returning the following day knowing that he’d have friends with whom he could at least chat.
On the evening of the third day of the event, the awards ceremony took place. The basement had been transformed into an auditorium and there were several hundred moms, dads and siblings in attendance. Fair officials indicated that they’d be as efficient as possible handing out the awards and they were true to their word. Our heads were spinning because children were called one after another with no indication as to what level or category. First the bronze medals were awarded—no Augustus Bates among them. Then, the silver medals were awarded and still no Augustus Bates among them. Finally, the gold medal was being distributed and the official called out OGOOSTUS BA-TEZ. Seeing that my child did not recognize his own name being called, no doubt because of the peculiar pronunciation of the Namibians, I shook his leg and got him to realize that he had gotten a gold medal. We laughed heartily that he didn’t even know he had won a medal until he got back to his seat.
All in all, I think he is pleased in retrospect that he spent a part of his break time doing “school work” while most of his classmates were vacationing. He has certainly racked up on the freebies that have been handed out at each level—t-shirts and the like. We’re not yet sure whether or not he’s qualified to attend the National Science Fair, but we’ll know shortly.

Nando's Peri-Peri Chicken Jambalaya

There are very few options regarding fast food here in Namibia. Neither McDonald’s, Wendy’s nor Burger King have yet made it here. This may or may not be a good thing. The only American chain in evidence is KFC. Additionally, the local equivalent of the burger joint, Steers or the Hungry Lion, just don't cut the mustard. The kids are really missing Raising Cane’s chicken tenders, which probably goes without saying. One chain that we have come across and like very much is Nandos. Nandos produces a Peri-Peri grilled chicken for which it is famous throughout Southern Africa. Peri-Peri has a unique flavor that takes a little bit of getting used to, but man do we like the spicy hotness of it. We have been buying 2 family packs which total a whole chicken and comes with fries and coleslaw for well under twenty American dollars. We’ll usually have a bit leftover depending on our appetite for the evening. Lately, I have been taking the leftovers and remodeling them in the form of chicken jambalaya. The kids absolutely love it. Add a little Tony’s and it’s almost like home! Talk about Cajun ingenuity.
By the way, we’re running a little low on Tony’s (even though I brought over 2 industrial size cans of it when we came over), so if anyone is interested in making a kind gesture toward our cause, our mailing address appears at the bottom of the page. The stuff they call Cajun Spice here just isn’t the same.........

Augustus the Budding Thespian?

Is there a doctor in the house? Dr. Brown, Dr. Brown please report to the stage.
To help illustrate the dangers of smoking, the year 8s at WIS (Augustus’ class) decided to put on a skit that they had written. This coincided with World No Tobacco Day at the end of May. One of the main characters was Dr. Brown. Augustus got selected to perform this role. He acquitted himself quite well having never before acted---at least not in front of an audience. Students from other levels also created anti-smoking posters and literature. Hopefully their efforts will not fall on deaf ears. Unlike in the U.S. where smoking is banned in most public venues, people smoke quite freely in Namibia. Often there aren’t even any designated smoking areas to separate the smokers from the non-smokers. It is particularly difficult to stomach in restaurants. Who would have ever thought that Louisiana is ahead of the game in this regard where smoking isn’t allowed at all in restaurants, other public venues and even in many bars?

My Class Field Trip to Rock Lodge by Gus Bates

School Field Trip

I woke that morning excited because today was our school field trip. We were going to spend the rest of Friday, all of Saturday, and a little bit of Sunday at Rock Lodge, Okahandja. Okahandja is about an hour away from Windhoek.
THE TRIP:
Day 1
I made it through English and I.T. my first two classes, but when math came along, I thought I might die. My math teacher Ms. Laura-Ann Rainy gave us home work!! On a Friday and on the day of our Field trip!! When we left math we went to our other homeroom teacher’s room (we have two homeroom teachers Ms. Madri and Mr. Buckland) and we got our bags that we dropped off that morning and headed for the bus that we were going to take to Rock Lodge. Mr. Manley (the elementary school’s principal) drove the bus. When we got to the lodge we drove to our bungalows and put our bags inside on the beds that we choose. I shared a bed with my friend Jonny.
After we put our bags away, we went to the ‘hall’ to play a few games. The first game was involved hula hoops and we had to get them to the ground by using just our index finger. All the girls were on one team and all the boys were on another. We lost the first challenge. The second challenge was everybody had to join hands and then everybody had to go through the hula hoop without breaking the joined hand circle and the team in which everybody had gone through the hula hoop won. We lost…..again. The last challenge was an all-against-all. You had one stone and you had to tell a random person a truth and a lie and they had to choose which the truth was. If they chose the lie then they lost their stone and you got it. If they picked the truth then you lost your stone and the other person got it. I lost. Then we broke into teams and we came up with names. The team I was on was the El-Tigres, Kitty Got Claws!! After each team made their names and mottos, we presented them to one another. The other team’s name was The ASSASSINS We Kick A…! Then we went to an obstacle course which had a lot of puzzles in it. The first one we did was one where you had to move the tires with numbers on them to 3 poles. You couldn’t put a tire with a bigger number than the one under it. You could only move one tire at a time and all the tires had to end up on a certain pole in number order, 1-5. Then, we had to make a bridge over a pit of lava (sand.) Then, there was an obstacle course with platforms and you had 2 logs and you had to get across without touching the ground. Finally, there was a course that wasn’t really a course, it was rope tied around a big square made out of wood and was made to look like a spider web, and what you had to do was get through the spider web without touching the rope. After that we went back to camp to have dinner.
We had a variety of things for dinner like, mystery meat, rice, corn, and peas. About an hour after dinner, we all gathered in the hall to watch a movie, Radio. When the movie was over me and five other people were left. Me and My two male friends (the girls had their separate rooms) walked back to our room and went to sleep.
Day 2
When I got up in the morning it was cold. I got changed and went to get my breakfast. Turns out we had to find our breakfast. We split up into our teams and went on a search. The other team got there first, but everybody got to eat sandwiches with only butter, butter and honey, butter and peanut butter, and butter and jelly. They also had apples. I preferred the butter and jelly.
After breakfast we went back to camp to go on a hunt for 15 words in the bush. Our team found seven and the other team only found 2 or 3. Then some people wanted to go swimming before lunch. Now you must keep in mind that it is the beginning of winter and the water is freezing. One of my classmates/friends Kastriot from Kosovo was riding on the back of Ms. Madri to the pool so me and Rachel (we both had cameras) filmed him riding to the pool and when Ms. Madri was about to throw him in, Kastriot held on to her and they both went in and I caught it on film. Then some boys picked me up and luckily they took all the valuable stuff off of me and then threw me in. I made Rachel film me. Then we had spaghetti bolognaise for lunch. It was O.K. Next, we went do an obstacle course that was supa-dupa-lupa-oopa hard. Then, after that, we went ab sailing as the Namibians call it, but we know it as rappelling. It was fun except for the part where I waited for 2 hours in the cold wind with only 1 person with me and my camera was out of battery so my friend couldn’t take a picture of me. When I went back the other people were getting ready for dinner which we had to cook ourselves. It was borevors and bread that no one managed to cook fully. After dinner we had this improv talent show. Then we went to bed.
Final Day
We woke up in the morning to the sound of our camp counselor kicking open the door and shouting that it was 9:00 when it was only around 6:00. We packed up everything and put it by the bus and then sat around the still hot ashes from previous night and waited for breakfast. We had the butter sandwiches for breakfast. Then we boarded the bus at around 9:00 and drove back to the school. When we got there we said: “See ya tomorrow,” because it was Sunday. I went pick up my bag at Ms. Madri’s classroom and then went home.
It was the best field trip ever in the history of Mars!!!!!

Fishing in Swakopmund

Went to Swakopmund over the weekend to celebrate our Independence Day, not that anyone else was celebrating it around here, but we felt like we needed to do something to promote the spirit of the day. We rented a beach house that was nicer than our flat in Windhoek. Needless to say the kids didn’t want to leave the place. Aside from the fact that it was right on the beach, it also had satellite t.v. much to the kids’ delight and their parents chagrin. They could watch all of their favorite American cartoons like SpongeBob on Cartoon Network--one of the principal reasons why we chose not to subscribe to it here in Windhoek. I liked the fact that it was so well equipped right down to a full spice cabinet.

We had spectacular weather upon our arrival, but on the day that we had arranged to go fishing, the wind turned out of the East and was blowing a gale. According to locals, it only blows out of the East about 14 days of the year. This apparently was one of those fourteen. No wonder it’s deemed the off season. We had contracted with a local “fisherman” to take us surf fishing. He’s got all of the poles, equipment and does all of the hard work. He took us down the coast past mile 14 and we battled the wind and blowing sand while Reid, Emma and Augustus reeled in a number of Cob. Cob are of course salt water fish that have a silvery hue. They can get quite large apparently. They perhaps exist around the Americas, but I wouldn’t know what we refer to them as. Their flesh is a pristine white with an extremely mild flavor. Terrence, the guide, gutted and filleted one of the largest for us to take home. Annie and I chased the waves, took photos of everyone’s catch and sought shelter from the stinging sand when things got extreme.

After battling the elements and the heat ‘til about noon, Terrence took us back down the coast near mile 8 where we had lunch and threw in the lines in the hopes of snagging sharks. By then the wind had turned and was blowing off of the ocean. We had to do a complete wardrobe change, because it was now quite cool given that it was no longer coming from the desert side. Our hopes weren’t disappointed. It took a long time to get the shark in, however. The strategy is to tire them out before reeling them to shore. Often it’s the fisherman who tires first though. The first specimen proved to be a male weighing about 60 kg and over 2 meters long, a Bronzee is what they call them here but I think they’re referred to as Copper Sharks at home. His skin had a copper/bronze hue on his flank. Terrence, a professional to the core, measured, recorded and tagged the guy before sending him on his merry way back into the sea.

The second came about an hour and a half later--the same type, but a bit smaller and a female. By this time it was nearly four o’clock and our fishercrew was pooped. Terrence was ready for more and indicated that the weather was just getting good. But, we decided to call it a day especially after such a difficult morning combating the windy conditions. When we returned, every crevice and orifice had sand in it. We all fought for the privilege of showering first.

On Sunday we reluctantly returned to Windhoek. We really would have liked to have stayed in Swakopmund on the beach chasing waves, soaking up rays and catching fish, but a return to reality couldn’t be prolonged any further.

So Just What is a Red Hartebeest, Anyway?

I borrowed this image off of the internet since we had none of this particular species among our vast store of photos. It's copyrighted to a certain Scott Macaskill. Given that we're using it in the interests of education (got a number of e-mails about our last blog posting concerning the contents of our unique gumbo concoction, lots of people wanted to know just what a hartebeest was anyway), I don't think we've violated any copyright laws. So for all of our Cajun relatives, you now know what we were eating and you know you'd eat it too cause it's got horns, four hoofs and runs away when you try to shoot it. Bon Appétit!