First week!

Sorry for the long delay in getting this up! The internet in Windhoek was pretty unreliable and I’m only able to access internet at my village school.  But after a 15 hour flight, several hours in the Johannesburg airport, then another flight to Windhoek, we finally arrived at our hostel on June 2^nd. Windhoek is very very different from what I expected. It is extremely German/European influenced and didn’t feel all that much different from being home. Their malls are actually probably nicer than ours but any line you stand in you must be prepared to wait there for an ungodly amount of time. One Namibian nuance for you: “now” means maybe within the next few days or maybe never, “now now” means soonish, and “now now now” means actually right now (which is also probably half an hour to an hour later than now in our sense of the word. We spent the whole week going through orientation and really getting to know the other volunteers as well as our Field Director and Summer Coordinators Kaylan and Rachel. Getting to know them and all of our volunteers has been such an amazing experience in itself. Everyone here is so different and brings something special to the table in every situation. All have the biggest and kindest hearts and I couldn’t ask for a better support system while I am here. 

I was extremely happy that we had training in lesson planning, classroom management, and all of those other things that I have no clue about since I don’t have a formal teaching background. We also had language lessons according to which regions we would be staying in so I began to learn the Oshindonga dialect of Oshiwambo. Pretty difficult but a lot of the words are fun to say. Like omafufu, meaning hair and the response to all greetings, EEEEHHHHH (picture a very loud inquisitive sound that isn’t actually asking a question at all).

We visited Klein Windhoek, one of the more prominent areas of Windhoek then traveled to Babylon, an informal settlement of aluminum scrap shacks. Seeing the difference was incredible and the informal settlements like Katatura (sp?) are far more prevalent. We then went to an open market in the settlement where we ate fat cakes (a type of doughy goodness) and kapana (grilled and heavily spiced meat). One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned while here is to not ask questions when food is involved. It’s typically never refrigerated and “fresh” can mean anything from “I just axed it in the sand over there” to “It was killed fresh two weeks ago and I’m just going to go get it out of my car.” Hmm sticking to being vegetarian looks better and better the longer I’m here… Though I have to say braai spiced meat is delicious and I haven’t gotten sick off of anything yet. Hopefully it will stay that way! We also drink the water here straight out of the tap which was a big surprise. It tastes a lot like chlorine but its bearable and actually tastes much better up in the North.

Our last night in Windhoek Friday, June 8^th, we went to a local Herrero restaurant that Andrew Zimmerman has apparently also been to…the potatoes were good…everything else scared me. But everyone should be proud that I ate beef liver (one of those things where I just didn’t ask questions until later…). Later Paul, my phenomenal friend from the UK, convinced us all to go to a club after that even though most of us had to be up at 530 the next morning to get lifts from the Ministry of Education into the North. It was definitely an experience. It was fun to go out and dance and finally let loose a bit after being cooped up in the hostel all week. (General Namibian Rule #1: NEVER go out after dark. Even in groups.) We all had some close run-ins with locals getting a bit friendly, but of course Paul and Benedict always came to my rescue. Steve, one of our oldest but most spirited volunteers, came along as well and danced better than any of us! I was also told I was “very beautiful like a chicken” by a guy in the club…I was curious what the heck that meant so I asked around and found out…if you’d like to know shoot me an email, its quite entertaining or you can just leave that one up to your own imagination.

The next day we all left for our villages. Roger, Steve, Alida, Richard and I all took one combi (van-type thing) up to the North together since we were all going to the Oshana region, though in different villages. The drive was about eight hours and involved gospel, Prince, and Blondie on repeat for hours while avoiding wart hogs. Good times.

We then had some confusion with principals so I ended up waiting at a bar with Alida and her principal for mine to come pick me up. He was so kind and told us about his childhood when the war was still occurring. It was sad to hear that the heaviest fighting was around here and that everyone could constantly hear gunfire around them until it was over. Freedom is something you don’t take for granted here. My principal eventually showed up and we piled all of my stuff into the back of his truck and proceeded down the “treacherous” road leading to my village. I think I live the farthest out of town from any of our volunteers and the road is immensely bumpy and in the middle of a whole lot of nothing but it is absolutely beautiful. It is incredibly peaceful with nothing but grass and semi-desert for miles around me. Grant, a peace corps volunteer in my village, was extremely generous and helped me get settled into my house then invited me back to his homestead, the only one I can even see from where I live and where the school is located, to eat dinner with the kids he lives with (their meme is out of town for a week or so). I tried the local brew, some kind of fermented grainy thing, and mopani worms. Yep, that happened. They’re actually fat caterpillars cooked up in butter from the forest farther out from our village in the bush. Interesting. Not bad though, just kind of salty.

The sunrises, sunsets, and night sky here are incredible. Incredible is an understatement. The sheer amount of stars you can see is amazing and the milky way is beautiful. You can actually see a very clear and large milky way. Don’t think Ill ever get used to that one.

I start my first day tomorrow and hopefully the power will be back on by then!