Sun, Sand, and Waves

TTS41 at the Independence Memorial Museum in Windhoek (read more about this in last week’s blog post!)

L to R: Olive, Taran, their museum guide Josiah Matengu, Laila, Marina, Julia

Ale’a, Betty, Catherine, Annie, Sophie, Charity

Hi family and friends!

TTS41 spent a whole week in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It’s characterized by beautiful historic and modern architecture painted in all hues of the rainbow. We went out for dinner as mentor families to an absolutely incredible cafe selected by our very own student, Annie. The walls of the stairway up to the cafe were lined with records of bands throughout the past decades. Already beyond impressed, stepping into the cafe there were shelves with instruments and trinkets, framed posters on the walls, and clear tables with foreign money and items from all over the world stashed inside. Although the atmosphere alone was intricate enough to keep someone fascinated forever, the real jewel of this space was the people. Outfits so individual and authentic we couldn’t help but stare – they simply looked so effortlessly and seamlessly classy. Everyone here seemed to know each other extremely well, deeply embracing new people with hugs and hellos when someone would walk in. One of us said writing in their journal that they felt like we were in the “Friends” coffee shop, if the people were much cooler and the set designer was an edgy 80s teenager. On the bus ride home we chirped like birds about our excitement, the delicious food, and the people we saw. We stared out the window, mesmerized by our gained knowledge of this culture. That night at dinner the question was posed “what are a few moments that happen only at TTS?” This was one of those once in a lifetime moments!

Betty, Sophie, Laila, and Olive at the cafe

On Saturday evening, we held our poetry night, a TTS tradition where all students get to perform their “Where I’m From” poems for the group in a formal, intimate sharing of our unique, complex identities, as we have been exploring in Lit class. In the week prior, we composed our poems to best represent the moments, people, and emotions throughout our lives that we believe have formed us into the brave, adventurous young people we are today. We would all collectively agree that this vulnerable experience of expressing our true, honest selves through poetry deepened our connections with each other beyond expectations. We really loved getting to know our classmates on a more personal level through the power of their own voices. The next day, during Lit class, we each chose the stanza of our poems that we believed to be one of the most representative of who we are separately, and then combined them to create a group “Where I’m From” poem – a collection of our personal identities joined together to form a mosaic of experiences, as beautiful and complex in words as we are in real life.

I am from seventeen years and ten months time,
A life that came about in a small Tennessee valley.
I am from a father whose trail name is “Deep-Woods-Dreamer”
And a mother who strives to keep her little ducklings safe at home.
I am from a mind buzzing with thoughts every second,
Yet somehow seconds instantly disappear and turn into years.

I am from two houses, two homes
The house I called home for over a decade
And the house that has been home for a year
Different houses, different places, different surroundings
But the same loving people
With the same laughs filled with joy
And cries filled with sorrow
The same scent lingers in the air
And the same dog greets the door
Everything moved but nothing changed.

I am from John’s Island.
Her beautiful shining waters and tall grass blanketing me in comfort.
I am from Cavin holding my hand squeezing it tightly as he fell deeper into tears.
As we all broke down at the gut-wrenching thought of leaving.
I am from sweet, heartfelt prom-posals
And singing of The Rolling Stones “Wild Horses”.
Family through love rather than blood.

I am from four bullet journals in as many years
planners, color coding, and career paths
tucked between dot-grid pages
and hand worn covers of my life

I am from comforting food cooking in the kitchen while doing homework
After a tiring yet fulfilling day of counting by 8s,
Any traces of daylight long vanquished
Behind dark clouds and the pale blue peaks of the horizon.

I am from the house on the corner of Beaver and Cotton
Where the once sunshine colored exterior has turned into an onion yellow
Pulling into the T-shaped driveway
Where my two dogs are barking at me.

I am from a man who loves adventure
From freeing ski days that turn my feet to ice
14er hikes with wind that threatens to blow me away
Bike rides always hours longer than intended
From the tears, every single one making me tougher.

I am from homemade pizza nights,
A buffet of meat, cheese, olives, and untouched pineapple.
From flour that can’t seem to stay on the countertop
And dough formed into the many shapes of a child’s imagination.

I am from my mother tongue
And not being able to speak it everywhere
I am from thinking in to languages at the same time
From saying Erima Berel, meaning hello, to saying Afoyo – thank you.

I am from a girl who yelled “it tastes like dog food!”
To a girl who is unsure to share her thoughts
I am from loud to quiet
Like waves on a stormy day to the smallest ripple
Like the ocean I too can be both.

From roots that never settle,
To friends that never stay,
I carry the memories with me
To a new home far away.

Hopefully from reading our poem, you are able to gain a deeper understanding of who we are as a supportive, inclusive community of TTS students and teachers!

Ale’a, Olive, Sophie, Betty, and Catherine on poetry night

Experiential learning is alive in everything we do at TTS. An exciting activity that we got to participate in was visiting a female owned and operated business just outside of Windhoek. Penduka is a company created by two women – one from Namibia and one from Norway who became friends and decided they wanted to do something to help women living in town support their families. Some of the regular employees live at Penduka and others are brought in everyday by a bus. Non-regular employees create wonderful one of a kind stitchwork illustrating their daily life and then send it to Penduka. The regular employees work in different rooms making jewelry, sewing, and painting. Painting is what we all got to do while there, creating our own renditions of different animals on fabric screens. Then we enjoyed a yummy lunch made by the student cook crew and our incredible chef Kingston overlooking the water.

Catherine, Taran, and Betty hanging out after Penduka

Olive & Catherine painting at Penduka

In true TTS fashion, later that week, we woke up bright and early to go kayaking with seals! We drove from Swakopmund to Walvis Bay, where we met our guides, and then drove past a huge salt collection factory on our way to the sheltered lagoon area where the seal colonies live. Our guides shared a lot of information with us about salt production and ownership. Only 10% of the salt is actually Namibian-owned and the same statistic can be applied to the oil wells nearby. It was a brilliant insight on how colonialism still affects current day Namibia. With the salt plant being owned by South Africa due to pre-independence rights, most of it is exported to Europe. Sparking our curiosity even further was our tour guide explaining to us that he sees new boats every single day looking to gain ownership over the newfound oil deep underground. Then, braving the chilly, strong winds, we kayaked in pairs with seal puppies swimming and playing all around us. Our guides told us that they are very receptive to singing, so lots of overlapping choruses of “Our Song” by Taylor Swift could be heard amongst the barks and cries of seals. With our hair dancing and spinning in the air, our faces flushed, and the huge water protective clothes we donned, to an outsider we might have looked like one of the creatures we so desperately wanted to spot. We also got to see two types of flamingos, the lesser flamingos and the greater flamingos. The greater flamingo is taller but not as pink, whereas the lesser is more pigmented but petite in stature. The reason for the difference in color is because the bigger of the two eats more in general and the smaller eats more algae with keratin, which makes them pink. Plus multiple fins gliding through the water that belonged to dolphins (don’t worry Mom and Dad, we were not kayaking with sharks!), both of which were such special animals to experience in their natural habitats.

Marina & Charity sea kayaking

Olive

The next day, after one of Catherine’s crazy ab workouts for POF – Physical & Outdoor Fitness – we also endured a treacherously incredible hike up the Namibian sand dunes, our anticipation building for the epic surf down. We received instruction from our guides then surfed head-first into the vast landscape below. On our steepest track, we surfed down quickly with Julia reaching a speed of 73 kilometers an hour and other students close behind. On another track, we got to go down together sitting on the boards and holding on tight, the stinging sand grasping at our sunscreen covered faces. We felt this activity brought us even closer as a unit. Loud and ecstatic cheers could be heard from near and far from each individual person. And a strong connection could certainly be shared when on a board together, putting full faith and trust into one another. Then after all the excitement of the activity we slid down and enjoyed a wonderful lunch with the view of the dunes as our unreal backdrop. Driving back to the hostel through the desert, there was a sleepy but very proud feeling circulating in our group, along with the sound of girls discussing their final speeds and giving congratulations.