Namibia Turns 20!!!

On March 21st 2010 Namibia celebrated 20 years of independence!! I was celebrating at the GLOW facilitators training. It really was a great way to celebrate.The country has so much promise in the youth who are motivated and passionate to make a change for the better. At the training they learned about gender balance, HIV/AIDS, team building and leadership. They had some amazing things to say about the challenges people here face and how to help them combat the challenges. I was sitting with a wise old volunteer who made the observation... With people like this leading Namibia into the future it can only get better! Even being here for only a year, such a short time, I can see the development and growth that is taking place. Namibia is such a great, rich country full of culture, history and friendly faces!!

If you have not read up about Namibia since I have been here here are some websites that may help you understand more what a great country this place is ...

Just a simple profile of Namibia -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namibia

One of our popular newspapers -
http://www.namibian.com.na/

An Easter to Remember

This is the first time in my entire life I have not been in a Church on Easter Sunday. I honestly feel I spent it in a place that was so breathtaking and beautiful some would describe it as heavenly. On Good Friday I headed to the South to a place called Sossusvlei. It is home to the worlds largest sand dunes. I went with 4 other Americans. The dunes are STUNNING in person. If anyone comes to visit (hint, hint) I would love to see it again! It should be something everyone gets to see because my pictures can not capture it. We climbed a dune called "Big Daddy". We only got to climb half because the whole thing would have taken 2 hours and it was getting late for us. When we got to the top point we overlooked an area called Deadvlei- I will explain it later- The dunes are such a bright orange because the sand was carried through the Orange River from the Kalahari! It is amazing to think of how much sand had to be moved to make the dunes. When we climbed down "Big Daddy" (too much fun!!) we literally walked into Deadvlei. I loved it and I loved it even more when I learned about it. The trees in Deadvlei lived for over 200 years and have been dead for over 900!! They have not decomposed because there is no way for things to survive so its like a petrified forest! It was beautiful!

We also had some amazing food while we were down in Windhoek. One night we ate at a fellow PCV's host sisters restaurant, Fusion, its a fusion of food from all over Africa. Again, if someone comes (hint, hint!) we will eat there. We had our Easter dinner at a place called Ocean Basket where I got a Publix equivalent sushi roll and a green salad. It was Nam-good for sure! All in all the weekend was very enjoyable and memorable I am SO glad I got the chance to go down there!!

That's right we crossed the Tropic of Cancer!! Next stop Equator than Topic of Cancer... I will work my way up!

We arrived at the lodge just in time to watch the sunset in the mountains... gorgeous!

These are Oryx and the one facing the picture is albino. Who knew they had albino Oryx!

The dunes were huge and it is really hard to capture it in a picture.

This was where we walked up to. The white pan to the right is Deadvlei!

The trees in Deadvlei were so magical.

It was really cool to see the moon out over the dunes.

Day by Day

Life in Namibia is going well. Nam feels more like home everyday, I may never come home! (lets see who actually reads this), but in reality some days suck! When that happens I do a few things depending on the day. I will either a) watch a TV show- I am really into SYTYCD and Friends- or b) read a book or c) sit down and really try to picture what I would be doing at home right now- every time I try I just can't picture myself at home which reminds me that no matter how crappy the day this is where I am supposed to be and it usually makes it better. or I just go to sleep and wake up on a new day!

I am still going to my job everyday - sometimes it really feels like EVERYDAY! There are about 40-50 kids who attend everyday. It is different groups of kids usually. It is exam time so we are just relaxing, playing games/sports, and watching movies. A lot of times my job can get really stressful, but like with anything you can't appreciate the good if you don't go through the bad.

There is a new health group (group 31) swearing in as I write this update. I am excited for them. We have 6 newbies coming up to Kavango. It will be a nice addition. Some of them have shown an interest in EWA so I am excited to get to work - an pass on this job - to one of them! With 5 of the people coming up being girls I foresee a good chance that my Friday wine days might be coming back :)

Sunday I start my April travel for two weeks away from site. I will be going to the capital and the first week getting first aid training and a general work meeting. The second week is GLOW!!!

Saturday is a friends birthday, We are going to do a whole day of celebrating and relaxing it should be a fun time!

I am getting better at my cooking skills... last night I made some banging guac (it is avo season here!) with Mexican beans for dinner - basically I made burrito less burritos!

I have unofficially started training for the half in October. So any motivational words would be greatly appreciated!

Kareni Po Nawa!! (Stay Well)