great fountain for the weekend

Knock knock. I turn around, disturbed again from neurotically trying to get any kind of connection to the internet. I will admit, I was a little gruff: “What??!” Another student trying to get their Grade 12 results?? Nope. Metha and Beth making a surprise visit at Otjituuo PS. Huddling into a Ministry vehicle we embarked on the gravel back to Grootfontein (aka Great Fountain aka G-fountain) and made a beeline for one of the quickest internet connections in the land of the brave.

I’m so used to the connection at the school, I’m used to working online at that pace – where you might type www.gmail.com, press enter – go teach grade 6 maths – then check an email or two. I actually ran out of things to do online, it’s a problem I’ve never encountered in Otjituuo. At school you furiously attempt to download your email before the rosy LEDs on the external modem, with a timing that suggests a malevolent computational sentience, commit digital seppuku.

Brock rang all up Beth’s cell phone – we did some quick shopping, picked up a power adapter for my shortwave radio and did some heavy perusing at Grootfontein’s finer retailers. Throughout these commercial endeavors we kept running into this American woman in pink. After seeing her in SPAR, the general store, and a café, we finally made our introductions. Turns out she is wrapping up a 1-and-1/2-year stint as a teacher/missionary in Grootfontein so had some tender morsels of information, including reliable cabbies’ cell phone numbers, who to trust in trips to Windhoek. Heather the old hand then ended up introducing us newbies to her American and un-American friends in Grootfontein. This quad became larger and larger throughout this process. By the conclusion of three pizzas and a movie there were fifteen people all told.