I am finally at my site, which I will be calling “home” for the next two years!

I live in a large village in Hardap region. There isn’t much here, but it’s nice and quiet and everyone I have met so far has been very friendly.

My school is a private primary school that hosts Grades 0-7. There is also a combined school next door that has Grades 0-10.

I live on the school grounds in the hostel, as do the principal and her family, and two other teachers.

My new home is a large room that is divided into three, a kitchen, a sitting area (I’m using it as a little exercise room), and my bedroom, by ¾ walls that don’t quite reach my tin roof ceiling. I ended up adding a curtain to create more of a divide between my bedroom and the other two areas.

When I arrived, the beds were pushed together, but it was much easier to separate them! (Ignore the mess please!)

My exercise room

Separation curtain

The view from my bed!

It took me a few days and I still have a few more things to add (please send me fun things to put on my walls!), but I’m pretty pleased with how my little place is turning out!

The first six weeks of being at site are known as “Phase Two”. We are meant to use this time to familiarize ourselves and integrate into the community, analyze the needs and wants of members of the community and the school, observe, and basically establish our sites as a home base.

It’s a slow process, but I’m looking forward to it!