{desolation and remoteness}

"The desolation and remoteness of the place hit hime with such force that he felt God inside him."
-Orhan Pamuk


After the excitement and upscale living of Swakopmund, myself and nine other volunteers went camping in the desert. It was a much needed and welcomed change in pace. We camped in Solitaire, a tiny town about an hour from Sossusvlei, one of Namibia's greatest tourist attractions. It was a great place...quiet, plenty of shade, running water (hot showers AND flush toilets!). The running joke of the week was "you know you're a PCV when your campsite is nicer than your real life" :)

To get there we rented two itty, bitty volkswagens. Every one of us relished the freedom of having our own reliable transportation! We stopped to help turtles cross the road, assist stranded tourists, and to take photos (whenever we wanted!). It was great! It did mean we had to face several roadway challenges...such as small bodies of water and amazingly steep inclines... but, thankfully, we had competent drivers and encouraging passengers, and we made it through in one piece.

We took two trips into Sossusvlei, taking in the amazing scenery and wildlife. It's truly an incredible place. Even in Namibia, one of the least densely populated places in the world, I've never been anywhere so empty feeling. If you wander away from the tourists for just a few meters, sit down and just absorb everything you can see... you start to think that you're the only person left in the world. It's incredible.

The road into the park is paved for 65 kilometers. The last 5 k, however are only accessible to 4WD vehicles. Our vw's were certainly not up to the task. The shuttles were a bit beyond our PC vacation budget, so we took the last 5 k on foot, into the edge of the desert. We made it all the way to Big Daddy, the largest dune in Sossusvlei, at 325 meters high. By the end, we were all pretty beat... so we sang our way into a free ride from one of the shuttle drivers (he was impressed with our knowledge of Namibian songs!). Afterwards we hiked down into Sesriem Canyon, which ended up being an unexpected highlight for a lot of us.

And now, here we are, almost to Christmas! I'm enjoying some down time for the weekend, then heading up to Okahandja to see my host family for a few a days. I hope everyones holiday preparations are going well! Travel safely and enjoy every moment!

Hello everyone! Sorry for the gap between posts, I've been on the road for the past week and a half without my laptop. Last week I was outside of Windhoek for Reconnect, another week of Peace Corps training. It was really great to see the rest of my group, swap stories from site, and just relax a bit. We also has another language interview, and I went up another level, which was really encouraging.

Currently, I am sitting in a cute little psuedo-Starbucks in Swakopmund. It's an amazing town, although it does make me feel less like I'm in Africa. We're staying in a bungalow that we've rented here... it's a tiny A-frame, made for 6 people (so 6 beds, one shower, 1/2 a kitchen...) and we currently have 23 people crammed in, Peace Corps style. We're having a blast though...it definitely facilitates bonding!

One thing in abundance here that I can't find in my village is delicious food that I don't have to cook for myself! There's Mexican, Italian, Thai... my stomach and my wallet are both in overdrive right now! There is also an amazing beach, where I've been swimming just about every day, sand dunes, and...skydiving! I went yesterday - and it was amazing! It was a fantastic experience! Thanks so much to my amazing grandparents for financing a once in a lifetime Christmas gift! (I'll get the video up as soon as I can!)

Anyways, so far this Christmas/Summer break has been amazing. Just the right combination of restful, invigorating, lazy, and fun. I can't tell you how much I love group 36! :) And, it's not close to ending yet! From here I'll be traveling to Sossusvei, camping there in the oldest desert in the world, then I'll head up to Okahandja and spend Christmas with my host family from training.

Hope all of you are enjoying your holiday season as much as I'm enjoying mine. I'll update again when I can!

Mr. Sandman bring me a...juice.

Before coming to Namibia I read countless blogs written by other PCVs, trying to imagine what life here would be like. In fact, I’m pretty sure I spent about 70% of the classes in my last semester of college doing just that… And one of the things I read over and over again about Namibia was that there was a porridge eaten in the northern part of the country that often had pieces of gravel and sand mixed in. Also, that it was impolite to remove said sand.

But what no one mentioned was that sand would actually infiltrate pretty much all aspects of my life! Seriously… there is sand on my floor, in my bed, in my cookies, sometimes just randomly in my teeth, and in my hair (not fun with dreads!). It’s like a perpetual picnic at the beach! Haha…

Anyways…that porridge is actually pretty good! It’s called mahangu, and it’s made from millet, which is grown here in my region. It’s a staple food of the people in my village, as most of them are farmers. It’s eaten out of a common bowl, and usually accompanied by either meat or mutete (a spinach soup). It’s kind of hard to describe… it’s about the consistency new play doh. To eat it you scoop up a piece with the tips of your fingers (right hand only, I still slip up sometimes!) roll it in to a ball, and dip it in the sauce of the meat or mutete. I like it a lot!

I’ve also gotten to eat some delicious fish with my neighbors! Since I’m relatively close to the river, there are always people around selling fresh fish! I haven’t tackled the project of cooking one myself yet (I’ve never de-scaled and cleaned a fish…) but it’s on my list! :) The shop in my village also doubles as a butcher, they slaughter approximately one cow a week and sell the meat to the villagers. They also eat guinea here sometimes! I have yet to try that, but I’m looking forward to it!

Apart from the occasional burst of extreme cravings for Dominos pineapple pizza, Chick fila sandwiches, and Cookout milkshakes, I’m not missing American food all that much. I cook for myself, I have a gas stove and a fridge, so I’m able to create some pretty delicious meals, when I’m not feeling too lazy :) But, the one thing I have been craving pretty solidly for about 2 weeks now is juice. Real, 100% fruit juice. Simply orange. Those Naked juices with like 5 oranges and 2 mangos crammed in one tiny bottle of deliciousness. Fresh apple, orange, or pineapple juice from my juicer at home. Oh yum… :)

Anyways…hope you’re having a great day! Go drink some juice for me :)

Hi everyone! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving celebration! I most certainly did… on Thanksgiving Day I celebrated with a festive meal in my hut (complete with decorations!), thanks to my amazing family! Then I spent to weekend with a group of fellow volunteers in Popa, a village on the east side of my region. It was a blast! We got to take a boat ride on the river, I got up close and personal with some hippos, and we had a great Nam-style Thanksgiving meal together.

So, phase 2 is winding down, and I’m beginning to prepare for a few projects I’d like to work on next year. Here are a few of my ideas:

- An English after school program for the younger kids at my school (kindergarten – grade 3). In grade 4 they switch to English as the language of instruction, and for a lot of them, that’s a tough transition. So I’m planning to create a place for them to come (voluntarily) and practice, learn vocabulary, and just get more comfortable hearing and speaking English in a fun environment.

- Raising chickens at my school – this was actually something my principal came up with, but I love it! My school is in a very poor community, and because of that, many of our learners aren’t able to pay their school fees. That leaves our school in a pretty bad spot financially. Also, one of the big costs of the school is purchasing food for meeting and events at the school. It’s a cultural necessity to provide meals for any guests. So…I’m hatching a plan (sorry….I couldn’t help it!) to allow families in the community who are unable to pay school fees to donate either chickens or mahangu (millet – a staple crop for the farming families here) to the school’s flock. Those chickens can then be eaten at school functions, and others can be sold, generating a sustainable income. There are still details to hash out, but I’m really excited about where this could go!

- Two projects I’m taking over from my predecessor are the school library, and a girls’ group. I’m really excited about both of those! I’m applying to have some more books donated, and thinking about potential locations for a reading area (the library is now housed in a cabinet in the staff room). Also, my language tutor wants to co-lead the girls’ group with me! Which is really exciting and encouraging. I can’t wait to get started with that!

I’m also beginning to make some tentative plans for my classes next year. I’ll be teaching English and Natural Science again, as well as art and PE. So… if anyone has ideas for fun art projects that are possible with limited resources – send them my way! Here’s what I have readily available: sand, cardboard, cans, egg cartons, toilet paper rolls, and…more sand. :) Also, it needs to be simple and something that can be made about 45 times. Like I said, ideas are welcome! :)

{I will learn to love the skies I'm under}

Hello again everyone! It's hard to believe it's almost Thanksgiving... crazy! The year will be over before you know it. 

Here are a few more photos of life lately, along with commentary :) 

Bekah and I in front of my hut! :) My friend and fellow PCV, Kyla, came over last weekend and took this photo for me. We had a great time! We made chicken pot pie, watched Christmas movies and attempted to do Zumba in my hut. :D 

Okay, so yes - I have to use a pit latrine every day. Yes, I take bucket baths. Yes I wash my clothes, dishes, and self with water that I carry from my borehole. But life here is pretty stinking awesome. We have amazing skies:

And adorable people:

Some of you have been a bit confused about hut electricity works.... I am too! But this is what it looks like inside my hut. The pink wire goes through my wall and is my connection to my host mom's house (where our meter is). When it rained last week we had to dig up that wire and duct tape it in a few places for my electricity to come back on!) Anyways....the wires going up run to a light bulb that is affixed to my thatched roof, and the grey cord runs to an outlet that sits on my floor. :)

My hut organization is improving! Woohoo for care package goodies and makeshift closet rods! 

That's all for now! If there's anything you're wondering about life in Namibia, let me know!

Biting flowers and laughing chickens.

Waiting is a big part of my life here in Namibia. Waiting for a hike, waiting for a taxi, waiting for the atm. I’ll admit, it’s been difficult to adjust to the seeming complete lack of efficiency that surrounds most processes. But, it’s just one of those things you have to get used to, and learn to make the best of. Would you rather scowl, tap your foot, and think despairingly of all the other ways you could be using your time? Or just smile, use the time thinking productive thoughts, and/or strike up a conversation with the person next to you?

That being said, even my growing Namibian style patience was tested yesterday. I’ve become slightly accustomed to waiting 30 minutes for the ATM, hour long lines at the post office, battling massive crowds and intense lines at the grocery store… but nothing prepared me for the phone store. It’s official, American or Namibian, phone stores are one of my least favorite places to be. I waited for a record 2 ½ hours to get a replacement sim card! Oy vey!

But, things are starting to feel more and more comfortable here. I’m no longer daily conquering new tasks, but settling into a routine. My learners seem to be adjusting to me; they’re becoming more open and responsive every day. The other day, as I was carrying water back to my homestead (on my head) a few learners passing me asked (through their giggles) if they could help me… I politely declined and told them I needed the practice! I have to imagine I look pretty funny to them, since they’ve been carrying water with ease for years. But, I’m getting better! I can make it about ten paces with only one hand! Haha…

My use of Rukwangali sometimes inspires its own laughter… today, during a lesson with Maxima, I accidentally said that a flower (mbya) bit my sister, instead of a dog (mbwa)… :) oops! Those tricky words that are one letter apart… Not that English is any easier in that respect! One of my learners did a writing assignment for me about how to prepare and cook a chicken… Step 1 was to “laughter”(slaughter) the chicken… I just about did die of laughter! :) That’s my favorite spelling mistake so far! 

A few thousand words...

Some photos I've been collecting... 

Kyla, Lindsay and I during our shadowing week!

Tumbo and I

A random tortoise that showed up at school one day

Panoramic capture of Grade 7

Grade 6...they had a harder time staying still! :)

My school! 

yet another beautiful skscape! 

birthday breakfast with my puppy! 

birthday resolutions

Well folks, my first Namibian birthday was wonderful! My coworkers sang for me, I created a magical carrot cake in my cooking hut, allowed myself unrestricted access to all my package goodies for the day, and got to talk to my mom! :)

One of the reasons I love birthdays is that a birthday is like your very own New Years celebration (I realize it’s NOT my very own, I share it with millions of other people…but humor me!). So, while I rarely (if ever) make New Years resolutions, I do frequently create birthday resolutions for myself. Some of you may remember my 20^th birthday when I decided to try vegetarianism for a year (and I did it!) and last year I decided (just a bit after my birthday) to join the Peace Corps.

This year I have two. The first is to become conversationally fluent in Rukwangali over the next year. The second is to join the ranks of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). NaNoWriMo is an online community of creatively insane people who think it’s a good idea to try to write a novel (of more than 50 thousand words) in the course of a month. It just happens to be November… so over the next 30 days I’ll be trying to put down a first draft of my yet untitled novel. :) I’ll keep you posted on how that goes! (If you want to check it out go to nanowrimo.org!)

As for the first resolution, I’m studying hard! I had my second tutoring session with Maxima yesterday. She is amazing! She has the wonderful ability to strike a balance between praise, encouragement, and good-natured threats that is thoroughly motivating! Which is good, because the first week of December I’ll have my third LPI (language proficiency interview) to assess my progress.

Well, that’s all for now! I’m planning to upload another picture heavy post this weekend while I’m in town, so look for that soon! 

Hut-to-Home: Episode 1

Hello I’m Steph Sestito, welcome to Hut-to-Home, a new DIY special that will take you through everything you need to know to turn your hut into a home!

This is my hut!

Now…decorating mud walls is not always easy… first of all there are the wall creatures. Before decorating an area, make sure to always clear away the:

wall spiders

geckos

and termite tunnels.

Also, chase out any particularly pesky chickens…

Okay, now you’re ready to begin. Survey the area you intend to decorate. Is it mostly smooth? If so, you may be able to get away with using copious amounts of sticky tack, as seen here:

If the wall has decided to be some shape other than flat, or if you’d like to create a larger display, it’s time for drastic measures. First, choose some pieces of cardboard, roughly the size of your display. Affix to the wall with heavy duty Velcro (courtesy of Dad!). Then, tape on a piece of paper, giving you a uniform backdrop for future decoration. Next, apply photos with sticky tack. Add more as needed. You should end up with something like this:

Don’t forget to be creative! Have a book that’s falling apart? Cut heart shapes from the pages!

Have a random stick lying around….? Use some string and thumbtacks to create a necklace display.

The possibilities are endless!

Stay tuned for Hut-to-Home, The Developing Kitchen Edition! It might just blow your mind! :) 

A stormy night with a peaceful heart.

It’s a beautiful night in Kavango tonight, there’s a storm rolling in, carrying with it occasional but brilliant thunder and lightning. Storms here are very different than they are at home for some reason. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that even when I’m in my hut, the thunder can be deafening… or if it’s just that when the sky is as big as it is here, the lightning seems to come from all around you. The storm that knocked out the power legitimately scared me a little bit. It’s just so much power… It’s really incredible.

So, it’s been a rough couple of days. I’ve been sick, and just feeling a bit “blah”. But today…I’ve just had reminder after reminder about how awesome it is to be here. How lucky I am to be living side by side with such amazing people. Getting to teach, and be taught, by such incredible learners. Experiencing that deep down feeling of being exactly where you’re supposed to be.

I’ve taken over the classes the Lauren was teaching, so I have English for grades 6 & 7 and natural science for grade 6. I’m really enjoying all of them. I’m starting to get in the groove a little bit better, and getting more ideas every day. Teaching with limited resources is a challenge, but it also opens up so many opportunities for creativity!

The wedding on Saturday was great! It was a long, long day…but it was fun. One of my friends (and coworkers), Mrs. Ngendjo, was also there, so it was nice to be able to ask her questions about what was happening, and just have someone to talk to. It was an all day affair, lasting from about 10 am to 8:30pm.

I’m happy to announce that one of my other friends, Maxima, has agreed to become my Rukwangali tutor! I’m really excited to start meeting with her to continue growing my vocabulary! Even though a lot of people in my village speak English, most of the oldest and youngest community members do not. Also, most community events (staff and parent meetings at my school, church, weddings, etc… ) take place in Rukwangali. So, to become integrated the way I want to be, I’m striving for fluency. We’ll see how it goes!

Okay…that’s all for now. Look for an exciting post tomorrow with lots of pictures of my hut improvements :) 

Home, sweet home

Well folks…false alarm. Last night, just as we were finally settling into the idea of traveling to Tsumeb, the power came back on! So this afternoon I headed back to my village.

I have to say, although the idea of staying in a nice a lodge for a few nights, ordering cool drinks and pizza, and swimming in the pool was beginning to sound appealing, being back at my village only solidifies in my mind how happy I am to be living here. I just finished unpacking some groceries, doing a little laundry, playing with my puppy, and eating a delicious calzone with a nalgene full of peach iced tea (thanks Deedee!). Tomorrow I’ll start teaching! I’m really excited to start getting to know my learners!

One of the things I forgot to write about last post was the flag hoisting I went to on Sunday. It’s a traditional event in my region that takes place one week before a wedding. The bride and groom are both somehow related to my principal (on different sides of the family!) so when he offered to bring me, I jumped at the chance! At a flag hoisting, money is collected for the couple, placed in a metal box, and then put in deep hole in front of their house. When everything is ready, family members carry a white flag on a long pole, amidst singing, clapping and dancing. The flag is then hoisted into the hole, everyone cheers, and the celebration begins! The flag stays there for one year, signifying a newly married couple, and on their first anniversary, the couple is allowed to dig up the money. It’s a really fun tradition! Then there are speeches and songs prepared by friends and family, food and champagne, followed by a dance party. I got to meet a lot of people, make them laugh as I practiced my Rukwangali, and then laugh even harder as I attempted to dance… all together, a great evening! The wedding is Saturday, so I’m looking forward to another day of cultural learning :)

Hope everyone is doing well stateside! I’ll keep you posted about my first couple of days teaching!

A chronological account of kudu, cuteness, and consolidation.

Oh my, what a week it’s been! It’s hard to even know where to begin… with the most recent things that are freshest on my mind, or with the chronologically first things, before they become even harder to recall? It’s such a conundrum. Okay… let’s start at the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start…

Last week I shadowed a nearby volunteer named Kyla, along with another member of my group who came over from Caprivi. It was a fantastic week! We cooked lots of delicious food, shared ideas on everything from coping with corporal punishment to shitenge tying methods, and planned and taught Kyla’s classes together. It was so much fun! We even Nam-ified the acronym for metric prefixes (King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk) and changed it to: Kudu Have Died By Drinking Cow’s Milk. And yes, we did create a kudu magnet to illustrate moving the decimal place. It was quite a hit! :)

We also had the incredible opportunity to witness the start of a club at Kyla’s school. Each year, PCVs host a gathering for youth here in Namibia called Camp GLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World). It focuses on building leadership skills and talking about issues like HIV/AIDS, teenage pregnancy and corporal punishment. Three learners from Kyla’s school attended this year, and they came back so inspired, that they asked her to help them start a club to continue talking about such issues at their school. Wednesday was their first meeting. It was completely learner-led, and it was incredible. They started by making a list of problems at their school and possible causes and solutions. It was definitely among one of the most profound moments I’ve experienced since being in Namibia.

Thursday afternoon I traveled back to my site, so that I would be back in time for Lauren’s farewell party on Friday. All of the teachers at my school, a good portion of the learners, and other community members all came to say goodbye. There was lots of food, singing, dancing, and speeches… it was all a very nice way to say goodbye to Lauren, and left me feeling welcomed at the same time.

Thursday night was the first rain since I’ve been in my village! It very nice, and cooled everything off, and I’m in love with the sound of rain on my thatched roof. Right before the rain, the power, water, and cell phone network went out in my village. Which was not a big deal…it’s been happening periodically since I’ve been here. So we continued on as usual.

Saturday I got my puppy! Words can’t describe how adorable she is…so just see for your self… This is Bekah:

The power stayed out over the weekend, and I was starting to really be careful about conserving my water, because it was starting to get low. (Translation: I stopped bucket bathing and reused the water I boiled things in). Sunday night I was notified by the PC that all the volunteers in my region were being consolidated to Rundu, the regional capital, because of the extended water and power outages, and because they had no communication with most of the villages. So, Monday afternoon a PC driver showed up at my homestead and brought me to a campsite where I’m currently staying with 24 other volunteers. Rumors have been flying around as to what happened, but the most dominant and seemingly reliable one, is that people had been taking bolts off of towers at the power plants for some time, and the storm on Thursday knock over 4 or 5 of them. Also, I’ve been hearing they need parts from South Africa to fix it, and the strikes there are affecting how long everything is taking. Recent estimates are that it could be off until next Monday. Rundu is crazy… the grocery store shelves are bare, people are being forced to bring water from the river, things are just getting out of hand. So, tomorrow, the plan is for PC to move all of us to Tsumeb, another city about 4 hours away.

All of this sounds pretty intense, but now that we’re here it’s kind of more like a group vacation. It’s been really great to meet all of the other volunteers, and I got to sleep in my hammock last night! So, things are good. The only really sad part is that I had to leave Bekah at home. My host mom is taking care of her, and I’m sure she’ll be fine, but I’m sad that our bonding time has been interrupted.

So... I'm sure I'm forgetting things that I'll need to go back and add in later, but I've made you all wait long enough for news! Hope you're all doing well! 

quick update...

Hello everyone!

I am currently relaxing in the Peace Corps Rundu office, drinking cold Coke and eating chocolate! Ah...it's the little things. :) I also received a ginormous package from my wonderful grandparents, so it's definitely been a fantastic day!

News from my homestead:

Friday was International Teachers' Day, and my school hosted a celebration for the area schools. We cooked a TON of food, I got to meet a lot of teachers from the nearby school, and overall, it was a fun (but exhausting) day. Here are a few of the learners, helping get the meal ready...

One of the cats on my homestead had kittens in my cooking hut! They are tiny and adorable! 

The other big piece of news is... I've decided to get a puppy! :) One of my learners has a litter and I've picked one out. I will pick her up next weekend. She is so cute that I've hardly been able to stop thinking about it... I'm so excited! I'll post pictures as soon as possible!

This coming week I'll be travelling to Tondoro, a nearby village, to shadow another volunteer. I'm really excited about getting another perspective and even more ideas to use at my school. It should be a fun time! :) But, I will be without internet for the week - so stay tuned for more news next weekend!

Weekend escapades...

(Written Sunday, September 30th...had a hard time posting the pictures!)

It’s been another quiet weekend on my homestead… I kept myself pretty busy with daily tasks, some crafting, and this morning I took a nice walk around my village. That doesn’t sound like a big deal…but when your sense of direction is as bad as mine is, walking around a new place with few landmarks and no GPS is slightly daunting, haha. But I made it! :)

On the way I found – 

A future hammocking spot:

 Some interesting nests (any ideas Dr. Nation?):

And, of course, plenty of cows:

I also met two 5^th graders along the way and walked with them for a little while. It was fun :)

Other highlights of my day include:

- Talking to my great aunt! I love trying to practice/learn Rukwangali with her! Every time I say something she just gets SO happy and laughs and claps her hands… it’s great!

- These delicious apple crepes I made for breakfast!

Haha…well that’s all for now! If there’s anything in particular you’d like to know about life in Namibia, please comment! :)

The Phase 2 Ambiguity

So. I finished training. Moved to my village. And now everyone (myself included) is a little fuzzy on what I’m up to these days.

You see… I’ve entered the grey area known as phase 2… (Cue twilight zone theme music)

Seriously though… when they say that PCV’s should be prepared to deal with massive amounts of ambiguity – they aren’t kidding around!

So here’s what I’ll be doing from now until December:

        Settling into my community

·      Getting to know my host family, neighbors, coworkers

·      Practicing Rukwangali!

·      Establishing my daily routines

·      Observing Namibian teachers at my school

·      Shadowing a near-by volunteer (for 1 week)

·      Brainstorming ideas for my own classes

·      Doing some preliminary lesson planning

·      Investigating some potential secondary projects

·      Working on the school library

·      Helping learners prepare for exams

The first week of December I will be heading down to Windhoek for another week of training, and then in January I will take over my own class load!

And all of this is good… And I’m glad I have all this time to adjust and plan and really get my head on straight. But it’s a VERY drastic change, after the intensive schedule of pre-service training (PST), to come out to the village and have to go looking for things to do, people to talk to, etc.

Some days I sit and think: what DID I do today? I cooked. I got water. I did laundry. I got water again. I read a book. I wrote a letter. I played with a baby. I chased a goat off the homestead… hmm…

But – even in the midst of the daily, miniscule activities, I’m learning. And to be honest, although two months seems like a long time, it won’t be enough! There’s just so much I don’t know about life here…but I’m soaking up as much as I can every day, and loving every minute of it. :)

p.s. Anyone who realized the title of this blog is supposed to resemble a BBT episode title gets cool points. :)

The lost goat and other adventures...

Thursday, September 20

Well…here goes nothing! I am now an official United States Peace Corps Volunteer! It’s been a long and crazy process, but I made it. Now it’s finally time to do what I came to do. I move to my village tomorrow!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, September 22

I’m here! I arrived to a pretty quite homestead last evening. My host mom is away in town, and Lauren (the volunteer I’m replacing) is running a marathon this weekend. So there’s not very much going on at the moment. Which is a nice change from the past couple of weeks. The new school cleaner, Maxima, has been keeping me company, along with her 1-month old son. He’s adorable! Pictures coming soon!

I also got to talk to some of my wonderful family today! It’s crazy how moving 6 hours north made them feel further away. In actuality I think I moved closer to home…but communication is a bit more difficult from the bush. We’ll get through it though. :)

While I was on the phone with my mom a baby goat came onto my homestead and got lost… he was very unhappy to be separated from his mother, who was stuck on the other side of the fence (she wasn’t too happy about it either). I helped him out the front door and received a disgruntled bleat for my efforts. Oh goats…

I also christened my cooking hut with some chili and cornbread! It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself. And I have plenty of leftovers for the rest of the week!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Monday, September 24

It’s been a hot, hot day. I was laying in my bed this afternoon trying to take a nap, just sweating. Ick. It was definitely one of those “I’m really in Africa” moments.

But, then people got back and it made my day 100 times better! My host mom came back from town this morning. I also got to meet my host grandmother and great aunt this afternoon. The two of them are just precious! They don’t speak English, so it was a chance to truly put my Ruk skills to the test. They said I was doing well, which was quite encouraging. So, I now have two more reasons to strive for fluency. :)

I also got adventurous this afternoon and decided to try carrying water on my head… It was quite an event. I went to the well with my host mother and observed. Then I was like: “Okay, I got this.” Turns out, I didn’t. The lid wasn’t all the way on my container so I basically just splashed a lot of water in my face. But…like I said – it was a super hot day! So I just pretended I did that on purpose and tightened the lid. Take two…water up – all good. Except… in the process I loosened my shitenge and as I stood up it fell off. Oh dear…thankfully I was wearing some shorts underneath. Anyway, I then took a slightly embarrassed but simultaneously victorious trip back to my homestead. All together, I consider it a success. I definitely have room for improvement!

Afterwards I took a trip to Maxima’s homestead to visit her and Junior. The view of the sunset along the way was glorious, and I spent most of it kicking myself for not bringing my camera along. I definitely will next time! I had a nice visit with them and came back to find that Lauren had arrived! Hooray! Then I embraced a cooling down evening bucket bath, returned my feet to their normal shade of white, and brushed my teeth while examining my star chart, :)

It’s been a great day!

The Final Countdown...

Well...things are winding down around here. I just conquered my final LPI (language proficiency interview), tomorrow is our last day of training, and Thursday is swearing in!

It's hard to believe we've been here barely 2 months. PST possesses strange time-warping abilities. When I think about everything that has happened (in Namibia and the States) since we've been here, it seems like it could be a lifetime. But at the same time, I don't feel like it could possibly be over so soon. And yet, here we are... just days away from officially becoming Peace Corps Volunteers!

While training has had its rough days...it wasn't all bad. I will miss: getting to spend time with some of the most awesome people in Namibia (group 36!), laughing as we butcher the Star Spangled banner for the millionth time, playing hangman in sessions, morning Garden Cafe runs for real coffee, fun times at the chess club, and living with the best family in Okahandja.

Shout out to my wonderful mom, grandmother, and amazing friend Amanda for making me the most envied package recipient in group 36 :) I've gotta say...nothing brightens my day like a little piece of home that traversed the ocean for 4+ weeks and made it safely to Namibia! Thanks guys! Also to my wonderful SWU pals for that skype date this morning! 4am had never been such an awesome time of the day! :D

Everyone is getting on me to take more pictures... and I will, promise! I will try to be diligent to record these last few days in Okahandja and I will definitely take plenty of pictures at site. Speaking of pictures... here's one I snapped this morning:

I didn't even know this was possible...but this morning while at our pick-up spot, we saw this van lose a tire while it turned the corner. As you can see I got a great action shot of the tire rolling away... it was pretty crazy.

In other news... I've been selected from my language group to give the Rukwangali speech for our swearing in ceremony on Thursday. Which is really exciting and frightening, all at the same time. I don't mind public speaking, but I've never tried to do so in a language I've only been learning for 6 weeks. So I'll keep you all posted on how that goes!

I think that's all for now... Feel free to comment or facebook me if you have any burning questions about Namibia! :)

Quick update!

Hello everyone! I’ve once again let my blog slip…sorry about that. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks, and I’ve not had the time to gather my thoughts well enough to write about them.

So, let’s see…two weeks ago was model school. The school system here runs in trimesters (January to December), so the learners had just finished their exams for term 2. During their week and a half long break, we bribed them to come back to school and be taught by the new Americans. While I can’t imagine this plan would work very well in the states, we had a pretty good turnout of around 230 learners. I taught two classes a day, grades 6 and 8, and had a blast! It was a great experience to get up in front of Namibian learners, be awkward, get slightly more comfortable, and have the benefit of there being virtually no pressure. I was also observed by both Peace Corps staff and a few Namibian teachers, over the course of the week, so I had the opportunity to get some great feedback. It was hectic, stressful, and exhausting, but overall – it was a fantastic week.

Since then, it’s been back to a fairly normal training schedule. Training has its good days and bad days, and some sessions are repetitive (or just common sense), but overall, it’s really not bad. My group is awesome, and they make it bearable – even on the worst of days.

I’m steadily picking up three new languages… Rukwangali (the language I’ll speak in my village), Afrikaans (the language my host family speaks) and Namlish (the English dialect spoken by Namibians). It drives some of the Americans (particularly the English teachers…) a little crazy, but I tend to find Namlish pretty endearing. It borrows some words from British English (such as boot and lorry), but some phrases I’m fairly certain are entirely its own. For instance... a marker is a kokie, a bar is a shebeen, and a soda is a cool drink. In Namlish, you wouldn’t say you had a headache you would say: “my head is paining”.  If you live in a neighborhood or suburb, you say you live in “the location.” If someone is leaving but coming back soon they say: “I’m coming now.” And “now”…is a whole story of its’ own. “Now” can mean anything from 30 minutes to several hours. “Just now” is usually sooner than “now”. But if something is literally happening right away it’s “now now” or “now now now,” depending on how serious you are. It can get really fun. :)

It’s been a bit of an emotional roller coaster around here lately, and I’m sure that will only increase as swearing in approaches. I’m really excited to move to my village and start getting to know my community, but I dread saying goodbye to my amazing host family here in Okahandja. With all the stress and information overload we’re going through right now, my first response is usually to shut myself off for some alone time, but I’m trying to balance that with the fact that I’ll soon be living in a very isolated village. Some days I feel like there is nothing worse I could do with my time than sit in PST sessions, but at the same time I know I’ll soon be missing all my fellow trainees and wishing for any excuse to see them. So… life is a bit oxymoronic right now. But it's still good. I love it here. I love my group. And I know this is where I'm supposed to be.