English lessons

Yesterday, I was working with one of the Japanese students whose English is quite limited. We were reading a passage and then she was supposed to answer questions to check her comprehension. Here was some of the passage:

"Meryl played the pools for the first time on Thursday. On Monday, she learned that she had won 75,000 pounds. She hired a coach to take her family for holiday in Blackpool."

And I thought, "what kind of English am I trying to teach this girl?" She was completely bewildered, and frankly, so was I. Not to mention the blank stares I get at other times when I slip up and mention the dumpster instead of a skip, a can instead of a tin, gas instead of petrol, sweater instead of jersey, an eraser instead of a rubber, fries instead of chips, chips instead of crisps, a trashcan instead of a rubbage bin, and so on and so on. Sheesh.

School is winding down and there are many class parties today, primarily in the lower school. Nothing like stuffing them full of sugar and then sending them home. The kids are ready to leave and so are we. Still PATIENTLY waiting for our shipping and visas. Russ is completely finished with teaching, reports, and grades. Hallelujah! Tomorrow night, our housing complex will have a block party. We received an invite from one of the kids who had carefully written out "Party on Friday for adults and kids. 6:30 to LATE. Bring food and drinks. It will be fun. Love the party planning committee". Cute.

Last night, Katie invited me to a gathering of psychologists and social workers. I really enjoyed meeting the group, made up of Batswana and ex-pats. There is a strong mental health network here, and it seems that the larger population is more psych-savvy than I remember in Namibia. Of course, as Russ keeps reminding me, the last time we were really in Namibia was ten years ago. Things do change, even if I have locked our Namibian memories and experiences in a time warp.

Today we are going to see our friend Beverly from Luderitz! She is in town for a conference and it will be nice to catch up with her since we last saw her in 2003.