With each step I am more certain...

Alright, so now that site visit has come and gone, I feel I should backtrack a bit and elaborate on the whole process.

Mainly… It was terrifying. The few days between site announcement and site visit involved a lot free time, and my busy mind quickly created numerous scenarios of extreme situations I might encounter at my site. For the first time since being here in Namibia I began to question my ability to be a successful volunteer. Which was really hard for me… It’s even difficult for me to admit now.

Those few days made me feel like Maria in the Sound of Music… “I’ve always longed for adventure, to do the things I’ve never dared. And here I’m facing adventure. Then why am I so scared?” I really was scared. And it was uncomfortable. But the good news is that the fear was temporary, and I am now even more excited about life in my village than I ever was before.

I don’t mean to sound like I no longer have any fears or concerns about my site. I do. I’m sure that once I move there permanently, I’ll have even more. I’m confident that there will be lots more opportunities for me to push past my moments of doubt to see what’s on the other side. But - with each step I am more certain,  everything will turn out fine.

So, here are Steph’s words of encouragement for the day. The best thing about the fear of venturing into the unknown is this: you have the power to eliminate it. Just go for it. And once you do, you may find that your fears were misplaced and unfounded. And that’s a good place to be. 

{Check back later for stories about how I turned the whole village's curtains into play clothes!}

New Address!

Hello all! I'm pleased to announce that I have my permanent mailing address!

Stephanie Sestito
PO Box 114
Rundu, Namibia

All future mail can be directed there :)

The Music of Mayenzere

There’s something magical about the first moment you set foot in a place that will be your home. It’s the way you feel when you see your freshman dorm room for the first time. It’s the tingly feeling you get when you’ve finally found the perfect house. It’s the start of a new chapter, the realization of a dream, and really…it’s an incredibly nice way to feel.

That is how I feel about Mayenzere. My training is preparing me for my career as a teacher, teaching me how to maintain my health, and filling my head with a new language – but nothing prepared me for the way I would fall in love with my new home.

It’s just beautiful. The people are beautiful. The vast, open land is beautiful. The sky is beautiful and enormous and goes on forever. At night, I lose time just staring up at all of the stars. It’s breathtaking.

My hut is just as I pictured it - mud walls, thatched roof - and will be home to a number of wild creatures as well as myself. It is situated on the homestead of another teacher, and enclosed by a log fence. I will cook in a separate hut, beside my house, where I have a small gas stove. Cattle, goats, and chickens freely roam the sandy ground between the neighboring homesteads. Children run around in groups, fetching water, washing laundry, playing and singing.

The culture here is so musical I can almost hear it…everything has a certain rhythm; the exchange of greetings, the steady walk of a woman with water upon her head, the low conversations around the cooking fire. It’s all woven into a simple but amazingly rich melody of peace and beauty. 

And the most amazing part is that I get to learn how to sing along. 

LPI and Site announcements!

Wow... the past few days have been a whirlwind of activity. I only have a few minutes...but I'll try to get the highlights:

LPI yesterday morning - I felt pretty confident about it, and I just found out that I scored novice high, one level higher than I was required to. Such a relief!

The other major event of yesterday was site announcements! I found out that I will be moving to a village called Mayanzere (population 600) about 65 kilometers west of Rundu! I'll be living on a homestead, with a family, very close to my school. My housing will be a mud hut, I will have electricity, and my water source is a borehole 500 meters from site. So...basically, I got my best case scenario :) I'm extremely excited! I leave this weekend to visit my site for about 5 days, meet my host family, see my school, and talk to the volunteer I'm replacing. I promise to try to take pictures!

Speaking of pictures...here are some shots from the cultural cooking day on Saturday:

 The chickens!

 Plucking my chicken

Laurel and I showing off our traditional clothing 

Preparing the cow stomach

A little insanity goes a long way...

Alright...so, before I left I read many, many, many PCV blogs - and I vowed to update as often as possible to avoid those awkward gaps as much as possible. But now that I'm here, it's really hard to find motivation...

Subject matter is super abundant though! So I apologize in advance if this post is just as scattered as my last one was...time is a great commodity here - especially today! Tomorrow is our first LPI (language proficiency interview)! By US standards, it's insane to think that we're about to be tested on a language we just started less than two weeks ago. By Peace Corps standards....it's still insane. But I guess it takes a little insanity to become a volunteer, so the shoe fits.

Saturday was a big day here in PST - it was a cross-cultural day of new food, traditional dress, and radical experiences. My host family had a shitenge from Kavango (basically just a large and colorful piece of cloth) that I wore as a sort of wrap around skirt. It was pretty sweet :) We did all of the cooking outside, over open fires in big cast iron pots. It took most of the morning...we got there around 7:30, and the food wasn't finished until about 12:30. I tasted a wide range of new foods...and as adventurous of an eater as I've become - some things were a bit of a struggle. There were more mopane worms (boiled this time), cow stomach, and goat head, just to name a few menu items that didn't really strike my fancy. The curry chicken, spinach stew, and roasted bread were among the favorites. I also had a particular connection with the chicken we cooked... because I was among the few who decided to take part in the chicken slaughtering earlier that morning. It was definitely more life altering for the chicken than it was for me, but it WAS an experience.

Okay...that's all for now, but by Wednesday I'll have my LPI results AND my permanent site information, so check back soon :)

Spring is in the air!

I have so many separate ideas I wish to express, I’m afraid I’m going to just have to type up a bulleted list of things to tell you…  So here it goes:

• ·      Namibian history – we’ve had a few sessions on the history of Namibia, as well as the history of the education system here. It’s tough stuff. I think I’ll soon be looking for some good books to further my knowledge on the subject. In short – this beautiful piece of land was claimed first by Germany, who ruled it cruelly. In particular, the Herero genocide stands out in my mind. More than 80% of the Herero tribe was killed off. The men were killed and the women were forced to clean off the skulls so they could be shipped to Germany and studied. This was in an effort to prove that the Herero’s were animals, rather than humans. The country was later given to Britain, who passed it off to South Africa. South Africa imposed apartheid laws on Namibia, forcing the blacks off of their land and into tribe specific groups. Finally, the country gained independence in 1990. They chose English as the official language of the country, in order to unite all of the tribes. They also switched to English as their medium of instruction, meaning the language in which school classes were taught. Now…this all sounds well and good, until you realize the enormous implications it had on the education system. Imagine that in America, there was an overnight change. All of a sudden, every school in the country was to be taught in French. Until this point, French has been offered as a subject – to fulfill foreign language requirements – but now, all of your classes will only be offered in French. Never mind the fact that most of the teachers don’t speak French either. That’s pretty much what happened here. The very first Peace Corps volunteers in Namibia came in 1990, just after independence, to be English teachers. And, no matter what subjects PCV’s teach now, a huge part of our role here is to increase English proficiency in both our learners, and the other teachers at our school.
• ·      Trip to Windhoek – Yesterday, we took a trip to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia! It was a full day, and there was a ton to take in. On the way there we saw giraffes and baboons! It was awesome! We went to Hero’s Acre, a monument and cemetery dedicated to those who fought for independence. We also went to several markets and a shopping mall. I got to try dried mopane worms! They were…interesting. Strangely fishy in flavor. I wasn’t a huge fan. Haha… but I’ve been told the fried ones are much better, so I’ll have to get some of those next time :). I tried some street meat, which was delicious!
• ·      Part of the Peace Corps’ mission is to promote a better understanding of Americans to the people of our host country. Through one of our cross-cultural sessions this week (we used the iceberg model and it took me right back to my Dr. A classes :) it became very apparent that we give off a skewed perception of what Americans are like. The more I think about it…the more it cracks me up that Namibians must think all Americans: wear Chacos, incessantly carry Nalgenes and backpacks, and don’t seem to shower very often.
• ·      My host home is amazing! I’m already slightly dreading saying goodbye to them all. My host brother adores my hammock, so I usually put it up in the backyard when I get home from training so he can swing in it. They like to play games, so I’ve introduced them to Boggle – and they love it! Everyone was getting in on the action tonight! Haha… We had a braai this afternoon, and my host dad grilled mutton, pork, and sausage. Lots of meat! Everything was delicious though! This evening I learned how to make bread and fat cakes. Fat cakes are basically just pieces of bread dough deep fried in oil. I’m beginning to see why it’s so easy to gain weight while living here! :) I have no complaints though…everything is great. Tonight I set up my laptop and speakers and introduced my host siblings to Quest for Camelot! It was a hit :)
• ·      The weather has been gorgeous! Spring is in the air! September 1^st marks the first day of spring, and I can already feel it approaching. Mornings are gradually getting warmer and pretty soon I won’t need my extra blanket at night.
• ·      Language classes are going well! I can now formally greet an elder, greet a peer with three different slang greetings, and introduce myself, say where I’m from, why I’m in Namibia, and how long I’ll be here. So far, so good. My host mom has informed me that her volunteers are generally at the top of their class, so I’m feeling like I’d better keep up this tradition :) My first LPI (language proficiency interview) is in a week and a half!
• ·      This really isn’t that important, but the Peace Corps is like overly obsessed with acronyms. It’s intense. For instance, in our files we have a schedule of our training sessions. Instead of just referring to it as the schedule, or calendar, they call it our COTE. COTE – calendar of training events. Lol… that’s just completely unnecessary.

Okay…that’s all for now! I’ll try to post more regularly from now on! Pictures coming soon also! :) I promise! 

Morokeni friends!

It's been a busy few days... I moved in with my host family last night! They are amazing! I couldn't have hope for better :) I have a brother who is 9 and a sister who is 12. My moms sister also lives with us. Thy also have two dogs and a cat. One of the dogs (ironically named chico) has four puppies that are one month old! I will get a picture soon!

I also started learning my language this morning! I have been assigned Rukwangali, which means I will be assigned somewhere in the Kavango region. I'm super excited about it! I hear there will be elephants, hippos and crocodiles!

My phone is dying... But I do have one quick and funny story. At my hostel on Sunday, I decided to put up my hammock and relax for a bit. Well...it worked for a while, but then-without warning-it collapsed to the ground and the tree fell on top of me! It had worms on the inside... Here's. Picture just after... It was quite an attraction. :)

That's all for now, love you all!