Typical Namibian Farewell

Today is Saturday, and I leave Opuwo for the last time Monday morning. It feels extremely weird, though I know it's stranger for my Peace Corps friends that have been here for two years. And with departures comes goodbyes...

All year, there had been rumors about how the national election would affect the school calender. Mostly, everyone thought we would finish early to allow people to travel home to vote. However, a few months ago all the schools in the country received a memo from the Ministry of Education stating explicitly that the schools would not close early, they would close on Dec. 4th as planned.

So this Monday rolls around, and I figure I have a solid 5 days in which to say goodbye to learners, give away gifts, etc. Monday morning at about 11 am, all the teachers were informed that a decision had been made: the kids would write their last exam on Tuesday, not Friday, and be sent home. Not sure what happened to the edict from the ministry, but ah well.

Tuesday, the kids wrote their last exam, and were sent to the hostel to pack their things. It was utter chaos, as usual. Most of the kids just started leaving to go to the hike point to catch a ride home. About an hour later, the bell was rung so we could have an assembly, and maybe a third of the kids were still around. I got to say goodbye and thank you to this small crowd, and some of the kids simply waved as they walked away. Not quite the farewells I had planned. Alas, this is typical of the way things happen here: very little notice is given in regards to important decisions...

Last night, the teachers at my school had an end of the year/farewell party. It was excellent, lots of fun, and I had my fill of goat meat. Pictures of that event I will try to post soon; I got to see some great formal Herero dresses.

By next Thursday I will be in Cape Town. Then home for Christmas and snow. I am excited to travel, and sad to say goodbye to my home and friends from the past year. As I said to the members of my school, the best I can say to them is simply thank you.

Time to Vote

So as everyone I'm sure knows, Namibia has an election coming up on the 27th-28th of November. While not quite a political junkie, I am applying to get a PhD in political science, so I am understandably interested. Political science in many ways is the study of how individuals and groups of people make decisions. Seeing these decisions take place in a country so new to democracy is fascinating. [Side note: when I tell my students that the US declared independence over 230 years ago I am met with silent disbelief].

Without getting too much into the details or taking sides, it seems clear that SWAPO, the ruling party since independence, will come out on top again. They seem to be apprehansive about some of the new opposition parties, and accusations of corruption fly back and forth daily. I try to avoid stereotypes, but I must admit that I have seen some of the "typical" African corruption going on (or is it just developing areas in general?), as well as examples of so-called African "big men." I would say that some members of my staff would qualify for that role: so charismatic and charming that it is sometimes hard to remember that you disagree with them on fundamental issues.

Living here and trying to explain how things work back home has made me think that it will be equally challenging to explain Namibian experiences when I return home. Trying to answer the question "Sir, what tribe are you?" has been frustrating me for the last month. When you start talking politics, oh how much more difficult it becomes. Of course, this is exactly what I find interesting, and ultimately what I want to study. What sorts of local traditions, values, etc. affect the way countries interact with each other at a global level? This is both a source of conflict but also of the great diversity of people on Earth.

Enough philosophizing. I have enough stress and excitement trying to write my statement of purpose. Anyway, with the Namibian propensity to switch r's and l's, the big election coming up will be sure to surprise and entertain.

Achievements of the Past Month

- A debate dinner, during the course of which I realized that pizza is surprisingly easy to make.
- I used duct tape to fix an actual duct, for the first time ever
- I started PhD program applications… key word being “started”
- Let my nerdy side loose by playing far too many games of Citadels… highly addictive
- Read six books
- Taught roughly 115 periods, give or take a few
- Convinced some kids that my Herero nickname (Rakutuka) was in fact my real surname
- Realized that Facebook is just not all that exciting now that I have had such little access to it the past 10 months
- Played (rough estimate) 200 games of minesweeper
- Received the first glimmers of hope in regards to my running fitness
- Posted two letters, one to the US and one to Guinea
- Managed to somehow go to the bank and not spend forty-five minutes in line
- Spent a total of several hours anticipating the pleasure of cold weather
- Reveled in the return of rain
- Decided that a reliable, constant source of water is one of the things that makes life easy for me in the US
- Saw the sunrise over the plateau 30 times. Won’t ever get tired of that one
- Had my hopes raised yet again by the Twins, only to have them dashed by the Yankees. Sigh
- Started wearing sunscreen again
- Decided that the next five years are up for grabs

Cha Cha Cha Cha Changes

It’s nearly the end of September, which is a bit mind-blowing. Second term flew by, and the last trimester promises to do the same. At the beginning of the year I predicted that the second term would drag and that it wouldn’t speed up until the last few months, but I was off by 3 months or so. The holiday after the term ended was spectacular (somehow we managed to pack more into that time than into the much longer May holiday…), and Carmen has posted about it here, including pictures. I don’t have too much to add, except for saying that Fish River Canyon was one of the coolest hiking experiences of my life, and that elephants are just all-around impressive.

Tonight is the dinner for the debate club at Putuavanga, which I have been the mentor for this year. At the beginning of the year English club was going much better, and I felt a bit lost running Debate. I have never done debate before, don’t really like speaking in front of groups (except students for some reason), and attendance was less than spectacular. However, over the course of last term and this term, debate club has grown into a very important part of my week and what I do. The group consists of 11^th and 10^th graders (some younger kids initially as well, but they have disappeared). These are some of the kids I taught at the beginning of the year, and who I miss teaching now. We generally meet once a week on Thursday evenings to debate a random assortment of topics. I admire the students for trying their best to express themselves in a foreign language, and I hope the club is helping them to improve. My goal is to make the club truly student-run, so that it will last after my departure in December. Pictures from the dinner to come soon…

The above-mentioned flight home in December is looming quite large now. I’ve thought about it all year, but now it is much closer to being a reality. I still have mixed feelings about leaving Opuwo (especially with my future prospects back home far from certain), but I am also excited to see everyone again. I am equally excited to visit Cape Town in the ten or so days before we depart (though the temperature change going to MN is going to be rough to say the least). From all reports Cape Town is a place everyone needs to go to at some point. It will probably also act as a sort of transition back to the US, as the city is a tad more developed and fast-paced than Opuwo is.

I am also trying to get my act together to apply to PhD programs for next year. At the beginning of this year I couldn’t stop myself thinking and planning for the future. Now it’s hard to pull my head out of the present long enough to download an application or two…

25 on the 18th

Last month I turned 25. A quater century... yikes. Anywho, my register class (think homeroom class) got together to throw me a party. They were super excited to do it, and managed to contribute N$5 each. That may not sound like a lot but it's a huge amount to some of my kids, so I appreciated the sacrifice. They set jobs for themselves: some went to the store with me to buy food, some helped prepare the food, some were decorators, etc. Here are some pics:

1) Five learners from 8A, my class. Yes, that is a drawn-on goatee on one of them.



2) My entire class, minus I think only one boy who couldn't come. Ages range from 13 to 19.




3) They got me mostly chocolate ( they know me well), but here is me opening a present from one girl... an orange bunny.

4) Cutting banana bread. This delicacy has become a huge hit with my kids.

Hiatus + Travel

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Sorry for the long delay. Carmen’s internet was down, and it took and epic journey on her part to actually get the modem fixed. If you thought a part like that could be fixed within a two hour car drive radius, oh boy you don’t know Kunene region.
Term two has come to its chaotic end. There were of course issues with exams, marking, syllabi, etc. I was told the region would set the exams, then told they weren’t coming (I should make my own at this point). Then later I was informed that the exams had in fact arrived, and that I should use them regardless of any mistakes or inappropriateness for where my learners are on the syllabus. Fun stuff.
Term two went by quickly with few breaks, but we did manage to make one trip to Epupa Falls, almost 180km north on the Angolan border. I went up with Carmen, Ayoola, Tomas, Chris and Chloe for a night. We had a wonderful view of the Kunene river and the falls, a great campsite, two flat tires (another happened after some of us got out in Opuwo), and overall a great time. It was pretty amazing to drive for hours through dry scrubland and to suddenly come upon a huge river surrounded by palm and baobab trees. Didn’t see any crocs, but that’s probably a good thing.
I feel pretty lucky to have been able to travel around Namibia and southern Africa this year. Despite the fact that I will likely miss out on some of the big things (Vic Falls, Chobe River, etc.), I have seen a decent amount of the area, and some awesome hidden gems.

Hmm

Last Wednesday we invited parents to come visit the school and inspect the work their children are doing. I was pleasantly surprised to have about a dozen parents come in to see me (more than I saw at my HS in VT last year). They spoke a mixture of English and Otjiherero, so I had another teacher interpret sometimes.
An older gentleman came in with his daughter who is in one of my classes. Through another teacher, he asked how she was doing. I said fine, and added that she sometimes talks a wee bit much in class. He then encouraged her to follow my directions and obey all the teachers. He then told me that he wanted a good education for his daughter for when he passes away. As easy as that, I was reminded, as I too often am, of how frequent death is here, especially to what I consider young people. It is hard to schedule activities for weekends, because there are funerals almost every weekend. It is a tough life for most people here, and HIV certainly has not helped things.
All in all I was impressed with the level of involvement and caring shown by the parents/guardians that came in. Many people here truly see education as their key to escaping a life of poverty and uninspiring work. This frustrated me last year in the US, as I often encountered an attitude of entitlement rather than appreciation.
Of course, this was followed on Thursday by a parents' meeting where only 4 showed up, but hey you can't win them all.

Woke up, got out of bed...

5:20 am – Wake up, hit snooze on my amazing Nokia phone that includes a built-in flashlight. Very handy here.

5:30 am – Roll out of bed, get dressed and walk the 1200m or so to my school. Accompaniment: rosters crowing, despite no sun yet.

6:00 am – Eat cereal, juice, wonder if I have actually planned for the day. Begin boiling water for instant coffee.

6:45 am – Wander over to the school grounds. At this point I know that school will be disrupted by the following: morning assembly (every Friday), some sort of assembly on AIDS/HIV, planned the day before, and the school tournament happening this weekend. Don’t know yet what time school will let out. Wonder if I will actually give test in life science. School “bell” rings (picture air-raid siren).

6:55 am – Morning assembly begins. Sun rises over plateau behind all the learners, singing gospel sings and the national anthem. Handful of teachers stand behind me and SMS the whole time.

7:02 am – Reflect on the interesting difference between the US and Namibia regarding separation of church and state. Not really existent here.

7:17 am – Morning assembly ends. We still don’t know when school will let out today. Principal suggests a short meeting to talk about it. Said meeting never occurs, and I head to my classroom.

7:20 am – Take attendance, then tell my kids to go to class. Class of 31 8th grade girls comes my classroom. I brace myself.

7:20 – 9:20 am – Fake my way through three periods. Turns out I won’t give my test today. I am informed five minutes beforehand that school will let out.

10:00 am – Head with 10 boys and two teachers over to the athletic field to prepare the soccer field for the tournament. This involves raking weeds out of the dust (no grass here), putting nets up in the goals, and painting lines that we judge by eye.

2:00 pm – Head home, eat a late lunch. Take malaria pill.

3:00 pm – Walk to Carmen’s place. Begin watching bootleg copy of Watchmen on her computer. It briefly switches into German. Strange.

6:30 pm – Walk back to my school to help with tournament events. These include Overitje dancing and a beauty contest, both involving the learners. Beauty contests are big here. Also highly inappropriate.

6:57 pm – Discover my help is not needed. I am told to show up at 6 am tomorrow to help draw the tournament matchups. I would later find out that this was done without me. Oh well.

7:06 pm – Walk back over to Carmen’s. Finish watching Watchmen, and eat delicious dinner prepared by Ayoola. Watch the news. Worry about the fact that the water is supposed to be out for three days.

9:30 pm – Bed time. It is difficult at this point to stay up beyond 10:15 on any given night. Set alarm for 5:20 again, little do I know this is not necessary. Read The Two Towers for a while, and fall asleep.

Ocean to Ocean Vol. II

From Swakopmund, we went on an epic 4 day combi/bus journey to Mozambique, with a day layover in Johannesburg. The northern section of South Africa is apparently modeled after Iowa:

Here is Carmen, Ayoola and Nathan, as we relax on the beach in Tofo. We are probably playing hearts, euchre, or spades:

A frog that decided to make its home in Carmen's shoe:

And the lovely beach in Tofo:

Maybe not as epic as going to Vic Falls, but relaxing. It was great to see lots of southern Africa by bus as well.

Ocean to Ocean Vol. I

Our first big stop for the May holiday, Swakopmund, a city on the Namibian coast with a strong German flavor to it:
Carmen, showing that she is all about the Witbooi's. He's the guy on the currency. Yeah.


I like the whole German architecture/palm tree contrast. You can see the Atlantic in the background. It's super cold due to a current from Antarctica.


Next stop: South Africa and Mozambique.

Update

Just so everyone knows I am still alive, here is a quick update: I've been on the road for the last couple weeks, visiting Swakopmund in Namibia then traveling by bus to the lovely beaches of Mozambique. Full pics and stories to follow when I return to Opuwo, which won't be for another week.

Journey to the middle of nowhere

Last weekend was Easter, thus we had a four day weekend. Awesome. Carmen, Aleks and I embarked on a journey to the highest point in Namibia. While nothing went as planned (as usual here), it was good fun.

Our destination was Brandberg, a mountain rising alone out of the plains south of Khorixas, in Damaraland. At 2573m, it is by far the tallest point in the country, though Spitzkoppe, further south, is perhaps more photographed. We departed Carmen’s place early on Friday morning, arriving at the hike point before 8. We soon realized we should have left Thursday, as the hike point was deserted. We ended up getting a ride finally, though not exactly to our destination, more like a ride to a place where we can get another ride to another place that we want. Yeah. This ride consisted of an old Toyota truck (ubiquitous here), with eight of us crammed into the bed with our bags. Let me repeat that, there were eight of us in the back. Fun times.

We finally arrived in Khorixas in the afternoon, and determined that it was too late to get to Branberg, another 100km. We were fortunate that our friend Tamara lives there, and we bummed some sleeping areas. She had space, cable tv, and ice cream. It was like Eden. I got my BBC fix, and the next morning we were on our way.

We made a deal with a local guy to drive us to the campsite and pick us up the next morning. We proceeded to drive his tiny 2WD car through sand that would probably stymie a Panzer. It was hilarious/terrifying. Damaraland is pretty bare, and it was impressive to see Brandberg in the distance as we approached. It was a bit hazy, but still cool. We stayed at a wilderness camp, which had running water and great views.

Saturday afternoon we were driven over to Brandberg itself. Now, our reliable guide book, which I normally love, has this to say about hiking the mountain: “No special equipment required, bring lots of water,” or something to that effect. We soon found out that climbing the mountain itself was a three day venture, something we did not have time for. We settled for a guided tour to see some San rock paintings, the most famous of which is the White Lady. The paintings are between two and five thousand years old. It was interesting to try picturing people thousands of years ago holding ceremonies and sheltering from the sun in these very rock overhangs.

On Easter Sunday, before our ride arrived, some local kids walked with us about a kilometer to see some more rock paintings nearer to the campsite. Our ride arrived, we bid farewell to the manager of the camp, and we were on our way again. We eventually made it back to Khorixas, where again it was too late to get a hike back home to Opuwo. We again crashed at Tamara’s place, and were treated to two English Premier League games.

The next day we successfully hiked to Kamandjab, where we sat for a few hours wating for a ride further north. During this time we had a random conversation with this teacher from Germany (Bavaria area), who had happened to live in Vermont at one point. Weird. Finally Aleks approached a nice SUV, and after brief confusion, we found ourselves getting a ride from two French tourists who have recently moved to Zimbabwe.
That night, we reached Opuwo, and were pleasantly surprised when our chauffeurs declined our offers of cash (thanks again!). Aleks ended up missing an extra day of school, we never made it to the top of Namibia, but there were so many good things that happened that it was still a success. Obviously we need to do more research next time…
It is exam time for the learners, so we are busy marking tests. This week is the last of the term, which means a big holiday; very exciting. Current plan is Swakopmund then Cape Town, so I will try to update when I can. I may be unreachable for a time, but I promise to return emails whenever possible.

Visual Evidence

1. Some of my learners taking part in a debate
2. Me slicing some delicious banana bread on my floor
3. The fort Carmen made at the Peace Corps house
4. My clever clothes-line that allows me to hang things any time inside, so they won't be stolen.

Remnants of Intro to Philosophy

“How do I say this word sir?”

I am sitting in the community center of Opuwo, located at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare. I am surrounded by people, cameras and bright lights. One of students is pointing to the word “escapism”, which she has scrawled onto a piece of paper. We are here to take part in a discussion about youth and voting. This is particularly relevant as the “born-frees” (people born after independence) are just turning eighteen. There are other students, community members, and political party representatives here.

Some of the learners are supposed to read posters that line the walls of the hall, which are filled with language that would be a challenge for American high-schoolers. I struggle to explain “escapism,” as well as “political tolerance,” “exercise restraint,” and “political climate.” It gets me thinking of my own escapes…

Sometimes I worry about my desire to escape for a while by reading, watching movies, adjusting my fantasy baseball team, etc. Am I delaying growth by avoiding confrontation with difficult issues? Would I be better off in the bush, separated from the means to escape? Then I think about how I fled from things back in the US as well. It is nothing new. I also don’t escape all the time. I work hard and face problems, but I can’t constantly. It seems natural and ok, and has led me to some of my favorite books, movies, etc. I am a nerd at heart, and love pondering other places and times.

Maybe what is difficult here is my experience when not escaping. It is very new, exciting, and exhausting. It seems logical that this would cause me to flee from reality more frequently, even if I run only as far as to things that connect me with home (e.g., an encyclopedia entry on NYC was oddly comforting). Perhaps what really worries me is the end of the year; if I decide to leave, am I just escaping the challenges here? If I stay, is it because I embrace the experience here or because I am not ready for the difficulties awaiting me at home? Career anyone?
“What about this word sir?” The word is “indulge.” Yeah, not easy to explain. I sit in the community center and listen to my learners explain how their parents threaten them if they choose a different political party from their elders. I listen to the broken English, a sign of a break from Afrikaans and the memories of apartheid. I listen to this for 4.5 hours, in typical Namibian fashion. At some point I run over to the Power Save to buy food, as my kids have now missed dinner and most of evening study. I buy 10 bananas, crackers and peanut butter. After returning, the discussion comes to an end. My students, despite being tired and hungry, are excited about the event and eager to discuss future debates and discussions. They receive the food with gratitude; at least it is a break from routine. “When is the next debate club meeting sir?”

It’s a good thing I don’t escape too much; I might miss the good stuff.

On Cultural Acclimation

I have now been in Namibia for about three months, so I am pretty much an expert. Or at least I feel like I have a better grasp on things here. I am picking up more of the language (including the deciphering of mumbling in Otjiherero by older folks), Carmen and I have hitchhiked successfully a few times, and I am getting to know the school system. Yet there are still surprises, which is both exciting and frustrating.
The latest development has been the total restructuring of classes I am teaching. I went from English and Math grade 11, English grade 10 and Physical Science and Life Skills grade 8 to all grade 8 classes. These include Physical Science, Math, Life Science and BIS (Basic Information Science). Yeah. So, three months into the school year, I get to learn lots of new names, jump into classes already in progress, and hope not to fail the students miserably as exams are fast approaching. It is super frustrating on the one hand, but good on the other. I was establishing good relationships with my kids, especially grade 10 and 11, and now have to start over. I hope some of those relationships will be maintained through English club and such. Of course, now I get to know and teach more of the kids, which is good, and grade 8 is an important year here in terms of passing exams. The switch-up of classes is also better for the school as a whole, as it aligns teachers a little better with what they should be teaching. We have some new teachers, including a man from Zambia who is taking over my grade 10 and 11 classes, and I think he will do a good job. I will also be teaching a little less now, which will make it easier for me to open the library soon.
And so, life continues. Carmen, Adam, Rachel and I hiked our way over to Ongwediva this past weekend and had a nice, relaxing, long weekend for the Independence holiday. Speaking of which, it is interesting how often I have to remind myself of how recent Independence was for this country. I mean, this year is the first election where there will be voters born after independence, and most of the older teachers went to school when all the instruction was in Afrikaans and the teachers were all white.
Anyway, Ongwediva was great. We had some real restaurant-level meals, including pizza (!). We also got to go to a concert, which was delightfully Namibian. We saw Gazza and Tate Buti, two of the biggest stars here, and had to endure a rather awkward duo of MC’s. There were Tafel Lager ads everywhere (a local ale), and pickpocketing was a big issue. Luckily we had been warned of this, and I left all valuables at the hotel.
On the way back, we serendipitously met Carmen’s host mom in Oshikati, and got an easy hike back to Opuwo. Of course in a country of less then two million it wasn’t that much of a coincidence, but still, we were 4.5 hours away from home. We drove back, and on the way I noticed that driving on the left side of the road felt close to natural. When I first arrived, it was a novelty. Then it became an annoyance, as I always forgot which way to turn and look when crossing the road. Now I am almost used to it, though I am sure it would always be a bit strange for me. Pretty much a small example of adjusting to a new place in general. Maybe soon I will begin incorporating local ways of doing things into my own routines. Let’s hope I can drop this whenever I return home, at least in terms of driving on the correct side of the road.
We now have a few weeks of teaching before the Easter Holiday. I am trying to learn about my new students as quickly as possible, and figure out what the heck to do in Life Science. The current plan is to go hiking for the next holiday, possibly Spitzkoppe or Brandberg, the tallest point in Namibia. I’ll try to post some more pictures soon, cheers.

Thanks

I wanted to just say a small word of thanks to everyone who has sent/is sending things here. I love getting packages in the mail, and any supplies for the school are very welcome. The maps I got this week are perfect (thanks everyone in MN), and I know that there are books coming from various people, which will greatly help the library here. As I said, I love getting the mail, just don’t spend too much sending stuff here! I know it’s expensive, especially sending books. My current idea is to send some books myself when I return home, so hopefully the library will continue to grow.
Nothing too much new here. Carmen, Ayoola and I are going to Ongwediva next weekend, which is a long weekend because of Independence Day. Should be lots of fun, we are meeting other WT volunteers there. I hear there is a legitimately good Italian restaurant there, so there are calzones in my near future…

Settling in/The trials of being an Engligh teacher

We have been in Namibia now for over two months, and I am finally getting used to some of the various systems of interactions. These include working with teachers and learners, talking to people on the street, meeting new friends, grocery shopping, transportation, etc. This has made everything a little easier, though there are still big challenges. I have relooked at my goals for the year, and I am now excited about a few projects, especially the library and English club.
I have not yet made any decision about next year. Some volunteers choose to stay longer than a year, and I want to keep that option open. I must admit that I am leaning in the direction of returning home, but I gave myself a deadline of June to make a final decision. Who knows if there will be jobs left when I return…
On an unrelated note, it is very fun to teach English. There are some local idiosyncrasies, however, that can be a bit frustrating. I will share two. The first is pronoun usage. “Me myself, I don’t think this homework is difficult.” Or, “The girl, she is not serious.” Very unnecessary. My favorite, and subject of recent tirades, is the use of the phrase “used to.” Along with being spelled incorrectly, this is used here to talk about things in the present tense. For example, if you play soccer every day here, you might say “I used to play soccer every day.” Needless to say, this leads to some confusion on my part. I explained how it really means an activity is complete, and it was like dropping a grammar bomb on my learners. Fun times.

Some Belated Pictures

Some late pictures, in backwards chronological order. Sorry for the quality, I had to crop.
First, me at Ruacana Falls:

Some learners sitting on classroom steps during orientation:

James B., one of the other volunteers:

And finally a host of other volunteers at the traditional Herero dinner during orientation. This is when we ate goat head:

On Simple Pleasures

Enough about all these deep, depressing, philosophical things I have been writing about, time for some good clean fun. This weekend Carmen and I are in Opuwo, and it has been pretty nice. This is a home weekend for the learners. Most schools here are hostel schools, and this is an opportunity for learners to go home for a while (those who can pay for a hike at least). The town is a bit empty, though tourists have begun to creep in, together with honest-to-God fanny packs.

If you are not traveling or imbibing, there is not a lot to do here on the weekends. I have a lot of work, but during those moments when I decide to take a break, it's some serious down time. Yesterday Carmen and I got off school early, and watched a movie. We went running, made dinner, and read. We read some more, watched part of another movie, and went to bed early.

Today we got up, made a leisurely breakfast, and ambled over to my place. We met some friends along the way, and stopped to say hello. Everything is pretty slow here, especially on Saturday mornings. We went to my place and I did some clothes washing as we ate some oatmeal. Then Carmen and I went over to my school's library, which is in an old chemistry room (complete with sinks and gas outlets). I am helping to get the library up and running, as it is now just a pile of unused books. I have decided that if I accomplish one thing this year, I want to get a functioning library going, with some learners helping to make it better. There is a very random assortment of old textbooks, many UN publications, and the occasional gem like Grahm Greene, Shakespeare, and an amazing edition of Grapes of Wrath.

We worked on that for a couple hours, then grabbed some dinner ingredients at my place and headed back to Carmen's (she has a real kitchen). We then relaxed again, read more, and I sat down to watch Liverpool lose to Middlesborough. Awesome. Then we had some beef stew, and now we get to... well, relax again. Maybe we will go out, maybe not. It's raining off and on, but that cools it down, which is nice.

Random post, but I thought some people might like to hear about some of the silly litle things that are good here.

Waterfalls and disgusting chips

This past weekend, Carmen and I decided to meet up with a group of other volunteers at Ruacana falls, about 150 km away to the north and east. I wasn’t sure what we were in for, but it turned out pretty well.
The trip began on Friday afternoon after classes let out. We were in a bit of a rush, as we had been told by various people that it may or may not be difficult to get a hike at that time of day. Ah yes, no good transportation other than catching a hike, that is pretty much public transportation here. We walked with our huge touristy packs to the gas station down the hill, and began to look for rides. We asked one truck, no luck. I then spied a nice-looking, clean, new truck/SUV. These are not common here. At all. I went up to the vehicle, asked about Ruacana, and as luck would have it, that’s where they were heading. Carmen and I proceeded to be absolutely spoiled on our first hike here. It was a new car, we were the only ones hiking, and there was air-conditioning. Not bad for my first time in a car in maybe a month. It was a bit more expensive than we wanted, but well worth it. The man who drove was super interesting as well; apparently he is the marketing director for some Namibian regulation commission that works on importing and exporting livestock and farm equipment. He lived in Kenya for a while, educated in England, etc. Needless to say, we were also paying for good conversation.
So we were dropped off by that vehicle about 10k from where we needed to be. We began walking, and made it maybe 400m before a kombi came by and we flagged them down. It just so happened that Rachel, another volunteer, was in the kombi, coming from the east. We hiked the last 10k with them, and stopped at a BP station. There we met up with some other volunteers (Tomas, Jen L., Aleks, Emily, Chris, Chloe), and enjoyed a huge treat – ice cream with chocolate sauce. Heaven. Chris and Chloe have a car here, and shuttled us to the campsite. Awesome campsite, with stone circles to sit on, braai pits, and showers with hot water(!). We set up, and ate dinner while playing Citadels and mafia.
The next day we went to the Ruacana falls themselves. The falls require leaving Namibia, but not entering Angola… weird. We were in some odd border area, and could see Angola about 10 ft away behind a fence. The falls were very pretty, and we came when the water was flowing at least decently with the recent rain. We didn’t get sprayed, but they were impressive nonetheless. We climbed down to the bottom of a long flight of stairs, and sat on the rocks for a while, seeing monkeys and a crocodile while we were there.
That night we had a little braai with veggie burgers (a contradiction??) and tried to stay out of the rain. It was quite a relaxing time, and it was nice to catch up with everybody. We all have very different situations here, and it was cool to compare and contrast. Rachel, for instance, has just been given a ten day holiday (at least), since her town is flooded. The learners have literally been swimming to school.
The whole weekend made me very excited for other breaks. We are planning on going to Swakopmund around Easter, Cape Town and maybe somewhere else for May break, and hiking Fish River Canyon in August (super excited about that one). While I shouldn’t focus too much on the time when I am not teaching, it is fun to make plans. Hopefully we can make other little weekend trips like this one too. It’s exciting to think that I am getting to see a good deal of Namibia, or at least my little corner of it.
Ah, and before I forget… The title of this post refers to the chips available at the BP in Ruacana, and really groceries in general here. Chips here, you see, have interesting flavors. They have only dried tomato fritoes, no other kind. They had fried-chicken flavor chips, but no ranch or bbq. There were Mexican chili chips, but no sour cream and onion. I bought a couple bags, and enjoyed the raman-flavored variety (fried-chicken). Other types were less than pleasant…

A quick note on neighbors

This post will unfortunately lack the punch of humor I had hoped for due to the fact that it is difficult/impossible to upload photos right now due to the internet connection here. Ah well.

Readers of my last post will recall that I mentioned the slight possibility that wild animals might choose to use my creepy-hallway-of-death as a temporary refuge from rain. Quite soon after writing those very words, it all came to fruition. (this is where a picture would be perfect).

I was hanging out in my room last weekend when it was just raining buckets. I heard scuffling in the hall, and opened my door to investigate. Seeing nothing immediately, I ventured down to the end of the hall. Out of the two rooms closest to the end pop three goats. No joke. They were all peering out the main door to the outside, as if trying to ascertain from the cloud cover whether the rain would continue for long. I shooed them away in my most hesitant voice.

There is one actual new neighbor in my hall, which is nice, and makes the hallway slightly less terrifying. I am getting to know other people in the community better, and it is now rare for me to walk anywhere without saying hello to someone I know, which is nice. Most often I hear the cry of "Sir!" or "Mitiri," which means teacher. Ah, actual terms of respect from learners, craziness...

On a side note, it occurs to me that we have been in Africa for almost eight weeks now. The time alternates between dragging and rushing by. I know by the end I will know my neighbors even more, and perhaps grow close to some of them. Unfortunately for me, I don't think they will let me bring goats home with me.

On local happenings

Right now it is raining. Pouring really, and it has been for a while. We are currently in the rainy season, which lasts until about May. This means intense rain, though it has not been very regular in our neck of the woods here. Other places to the east are getting three centimeters a day or something. Now, our field director, Jocie, warned us that when it rains goats will look for any kind of shelter. Wait, let me back up a bit. We live in Opuwo, which is above the Red Line. This line stretches across the country, with checkpoints at every road. Above said line there is uncontrolled animal migration. This translates into donkeys, goats, and pigs that tend to hang out wherever they want, including outside my window. Long story short, I am a bit worried that I will come home someday to find a group of goats sitting outside the door to my room. They can access this door because the long, creepy hallway that leads there is open to the public since the door at the other end broke off its hinges when I opened it once. This is basically a metaphor for how things go here.
On to the positive things. Carmen and I get to hang out a lot, and even venture into the exciting world of cooking. My current mission is to buy a bread pan. We’ve met some interesting people, including random people at shabeens (one-room side of the road bar things) that just want to ask about America and such. While teaching is stressful for me, there have been some good lessons highlighting the last couple weeks. And I don’t have any life-threatening diseases that I know of yet. Yay.
More news to come as it happens, and maybe some photos too. The sunsets are unbelievable here, I will try to capture them. Bye bye for now.

On the local flora and faunae

Ok, some pictures...

The airport in Windhoek:

The zebra skin on the wall of the hostel:




Traditional Herero dinner (including goat's stomach and head, called smiley):




To skip ahead a bit during orientation, here is what everyone came to see. Huge animals in Etosha National Park:



Those zebras will someday grace their own hostel wall.



So, I have a ton more photos, but these are taking about 4 minutes to load apiece. I only paid for thirty minutes of internet. Yeah, so, to be continued.
One last photo, my first sunset in Opuwo:

Life in Opuwo

First of all, yes, I know, no pictures yet. Sigh. I have them all ready here, on my nice flash drive, and this old computer at a random hostel will not recognize it (I'm just surprised there are USB ports). So, as soon as I find a computer that does work, they will come.

Anyway. I am in Opuwo, and have been here since Saturday night. It was an interesting 12 hour adventure getting here from Windhoek, though it should have been more like 8 hours. Yeah, drivers tend to take the time for random errands here. I got to my place, which is at the end of a long, empty hallway. It is an old hostel, and mine is the only serviceable room. I started out without running water, no stove, no bed, no fridge. I now have a stove, a nice bed, a fridge, a dresser, and occasional running water (that is the most annoying thing, let me tell you). But other things are good. The teachers and learners have been so nice to me, and try to help as best they can. And Opuwo itself is surrounded by beautiful scenery, with mountains and a plateau visible.

Teaching itself has been hard. We have no textbooks for the learners, and really my room consists of a chalkboard and sometimes chalk. Challenging. Carmen has helped a lot in keeping me de-stressed, as well as seeing Ayoola (another volunteer) last weekend. It's been a tough week, but it's getting better, and I did come here to challenge myself.

There's lots more to say, but I'll try to save some of it until I can post some pictures. Needless to say, I wouild love emails saying hello. Bye bye.

On Perpetual Dehydration

Namibia is a dry place. And hot. But not the uncomfortable, please-shoot-me-now kind of hot from say the south east of the US. It's more in the style of "wow, I can feel my skin cells dying a hot death right now." I am used to drinking a lot of water a day, being a runner, but that does not matter here. "You drank 5 liters of water in the last ten hours?" the sun says with a laugh, "well I am just going to make it seem like that never happened." I expect the land here feels the same way. I have some lovely pictures which are now comfortably residing on my camera. Again, I will post the gorgeous scrubland that extends forever and ever as soon as I can. In the meantime, wait with bated breath for my recounting of our trip through Etosha National Park, where much wildlife was observed and recorded. In the meantime, our training here continues for another few days, and we leave Saturday to go to our teaching placements. I am learning the language used there, Otijiherero, the most charming aspects of which are the 9 different formal greetings to use throughout the day. Yeah, greeting is important here. And staying hydrated.

Untitled Post the First

Last night I ate goat's stomach and tongue. Pretty good actually.

On International Travel

So, I like airports. They always seem a little disconnected from time and location. Example: I've been to the Phoenix airport, but never really been to Arizona. I don't care what time it is at Dulles because in a few excruciating hours I will be in Johannesburg, 7 time zones away. I am now in Windhoek, and all the traveling went well. There was a small baggage fiasco at Dulles, and I was required to check my carry-on. Everything turned out all right, though there is a little dent in my checking account because of it. New Years in Johannesburg was fun, especially swimming in the hotel pool on Dec. 31st.
Namibia, or what little I have seen so far, is lovely. It is sunny and in the 80's during the day, and nice and cool at night. Outside of the Windhoek city limits it seems like there is nothing but flat scrub land then mountains; no ugly suburbs to clutter things up. No pictures yet, though I will post some as soon as that becomes possible (I have to install some software on Carmen's computer). The other volunteers are all great, and we seem to be getting along just fine so far.
When I went to Austria last year I was somehow unaffected by jetlag. Slightly different this time. I fell asleep at 10:30 last night, then woke up at 2:30am. I couldn't fall back asleep, but neither could some other volunteers, so we just hung out watching weird animal documentaries. The US to Namibia dollar exchange rate is basically 10:1. This is good news. And items only cost maybe 3 times as much in dollars. Very good news.