T.I.N. (This is Namibia)

So I love Namibia and my town and I think some of the things that make me love it so much are its little quirks...

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

It is respectful and just a common practice that someone does not walk in your property with out your permission. In theory its a great idea, but in reality you have someone standing out side your fence yelling your name until you answer and allow them to come to your door. I first experienced this when I was with my host family still and my brothers friend came over when I was the only one home. I was sleeping in my bed and I was woken to a little boy yelling "Chief" for a while until I realized that he would just keep yelling there until I went and told him no one was home but me and then he went home. It does not happen all the time if you are family with the person or don't have a fence they just come to your house and knock on the door or yell "Morokeni"(in my experience). I have learned that if someone is yelling for me I will go right away or they will keep yelling at me they will not just leave and go home.

Honking is the new Wave

There are many taxis in town and they are constantly looking for people to get in the taxi. I walk to my school and home everyday and everyday I get at least two horn honks. I used to make the mistake and try to ignore them, until I learned that they will keep honking until they either pass you or you turn and shake your head no. Sometimes it makes me laugh like today a taxi passed me a laid on the horn and I turned around to see a full taxi. So basically he was just honking to be honking!

KIND HEARTS

I think the most special thing in Namibia that I appreciate the most is peoples kindness. You will constantly meet people who greet you or offer to help you. As I said earlier I walk home from my school every afternoon and at least once a week I have someone (private car or taxi) pull over and offer to give me a free ride into town. Then they thank me for working in the schools and drop me off at my destination. It just makes me think when I was home if I saw someone walking and was heading the same direction would I have stopped for them and given them a ride? I like to think I would, but I know I was usually too busy to even stop and look at what was going on around me.

Global Warming?

It is SOOO hot here! Today was a cool day so I am not as worn out as I was before. The Namibia sun is BRUTAL!!! I don't understand when I see kids playing soccer in the middle of the day I try to hide in the shade or by a fan whenever I can. The rainy season is supposed to start in the end of Nov. however I am pretty sure the weather is all screwed up this year. Winter was colder than in the past, the wind didn't come until a month late, and the rain started in Sept. granted its not everyday, but it rained at least 3 days last week. Even some of my co-workers do not understand it ... who knows what the actual rainy season will bring!

All Hail Florida, Hail!

So I have been trying to keep up with the Gator games on my phone...the time difference is a little hard. For the LSU game I set my alarm for 5 am so I could look at ESPN mobile the last few minutes of the game.I basically sit with my phone on the internet refreshing the screen every 30 seconds for the play by play. Not as good as real life especially when I did not know some of the players and I got confused during the Troy game which player was which team, but my sister and brother in law are recording them for me so I can watch when I am home. I am glad the Arkansas game was at 9pm my time because I don't think I could have handled the stress that I am sure all my fellow Gators were feeling that night. I miss the feeling when the boys score a touchdown and I miss tailgating all morning, screaming in the game all afternoon then celebrating all night! I miss singing in the end of the 3rd quarter. I miss screaming the fight song or yelling orange and blue across the stadium. I miss dressing in the most orange and blue I can find in my closet.

Fall is my favorite season of the year. In one season you get the cooling of the weather, pumpkin carving, Busch Gardens Howl-O-Scream (aka night roller coasters!), Candy Corn Pumpkins, Thanksgiving which means great time with family over too much delicious food, and GATOR FOOTBALL!!! How can this not be your favorite time of year???

I must say "Its GREAT to be a FLORIDA GATOR"!!! I can't wait to see what the rest of the season will bring!

To Windhoek or Bust...

This month has been a lot of travel for me. I have had to go to the capital twice now for different meetings. Let me put you in the mind set of a hiker... Your day starts at 5 am when you wake up, shower and eat a filling breakfast then you walk to the "hike point" which is where you will try and flag down a ride. Since many people here do not have cars this is how most of the population gets around the country by depending on the people who can afford cars to give them a lift. So you wait on the side of the road until you can get a lift either to your town or the destination of the driver. There are 3 main towns in between Windhoek and Rundu so it is very likely I will be dropped off in each town and have to do the process all over again. Windhoek is 700km from Rundu so it should take about 6-7 hours to get down, but you have to give your self at least 10 hours. Sometimes you get lucky and get an air conditioned car going 120-140km (maybe more?!?) and other times you get a hike in the back of a truck where a little girl pees on you...all depends on your hiking luck!

It is nice to hike with other volunteers because then you can take turns talking to the driver or watching your bags in the back of the car when one person goes to the bathroom. I have debated when I come home if I will get a car or just try to free hike it across america!

Playing Catch Up

So it has been a while since a post. I have been here for 6 months! I keep hearing how fast it goes after you reach a year and that scares me because it is already going so fast. I have moved out of my host families house and I am now staying in a flat on my own. It is a little far from the school but the walk everyday is good. I am just working on my tan walking about 15k in the middle of the afternoon. I bet come the middle of the summer I will be singing a different tune. My kids are in the middle of taking their exams so they are pretty busy. Today we are going to study for their English exam which is on Wed. They will get a two week break and then go until Oct. or Dec. There is a rumor going around that schools will close in October to prep for the Presidential elections. This is a Namibian rumor and I will not believe it until I see it happen.

I was given a puppy, Kavango and I passed him onto another volunteer with the promise that they will come see me a lot. Two kittens will move in with me soon!! I am currently living with out any appliances, but I do have a bed!! My Gator flag is flying on the wall so when you walk in it is the first thing you see!! I have warm running water and yellow curtains in my room... what more could a girl want! Some of the volunteers in the town are going to come over to my house for our Wed night dinner, well they are cooking at their house we are just going to hang out and eat the finished product at mine.

I just got back from vacation ... IT WAS AMAZING here is a recap with some pictures (DISCLAIMER: below is just a copy of the email I sent out)

RECONNECT:

This was awesome... Our group (20 volunteers) were all together for the first time since swearing in. It was great to see everyone. We spent a lot of time just hanging out or watching movies and sharing some of the crazy things that have happened to us while we are at site. This was a great prelude to the real vacation just relaxing and enjoying some time with great people

Jess, Ashley and Me sitting by the fire #1 after a day of sessions!
This is my attempt to cut Clay's hair... We got to shave it afterwards!
Me, Jess and Clay blinded by the smoke from the Fire Night #2
Me and Ashley watching the Night Rise and listening to some amazing guitar playing
This is how me and Nick train for the marathon... I stretch and pick out good music and he smokes a cigarette! The sad thing is he still kicked my butt!!

PART 1: Kasane, Botswana – Chobe National Park

We started out going to Kasane in Botswana. We arrived around 11 o’clock in the morning and checked into our campsite (PS this was my first REAL camping trip, not Balaguer style with a TV and vacuum). We booked our 5:45 am game drive for the next day and the sunset boat cruise and then we went to a nice lodge and had a good margarita before we went back to the camp and cooked dinner. It was a good night with some good liquor…note to travelers: don’t start out the trip my mixing your cocktail in your Nalgene bottle… the smell of rum and coke just does not want to come out

This is the girls hanging out around the fire… I don’t really remember what we cooked but it was yummy. So the next morning came around and we were regretting the decision to wake up at 5:30 in the morning.It was cold and we were all a little hungover. IT WAS WORTH IT!!! Right when we got into the park we saw a family of giraffes (my favorite animal of ALL time)! It was too dark for the pictures to come out so this is just something that I will get to experience but we saw a ton of elephants, hippos and baboons and even a lioness. At one point we were surrounded by a family of elephants. It was a little scary since there was a baby elephant in the group and we kept being told how protective the moms are.

This is a Baobab tree ... they are all over Botswana and in some parts of Namibia (my region and Caprivi) they are stunning to see in person!!

This is the sunrise over Chobe National Park

This was on the boat drive they were fighting/cleaning each other in the water. Did you know elephants can swim? Learned that as we watched the big one swim across the river.

The hippo was a little pissed that we were floating in his water. These things are HUGE I was waiting for him to charge the boat!

This picture does not do justice to the sunset... guess you will have to come visit to see it yourself

This picture does not do it justice either. In fact none of these do it was one of the most beautiful, serene things I have ever seen!

We did not get too much time in Botswana I think we were really excited about Livingstone so we just spent our extra time chilling at the pool.

So in my time here I have learned that I tend to “jump to conclusions” as Nick and Clay like to point out to me. I just start doing something right away or assume something… yeah sounds about right. Well on the last night in Kasane, Botswana we had to go to the store to get food and beer. They sent me to get the beer (BIG MISTAKE) they told me to get enough for 5 people for one night. I come out $300 later with 48 beers!! In my head I was thinking that we could just finish them through the week not thinking we are going through two borders (Namibia and Zambia!) Well it is not too funny when I write it down but it was pretty dang funny while I was sitting with 48 beers on my lap in the car. Lesson: Kim plans ALL the parties!! PS- We drank 9 beers that night, but come Friday afternoon they were all gone!!

PART 2: Livingstone, Zambia- Victoria Falls

We got to Livingstone on Wed morning, checked into our hostel, Jollyboys backpackers (AMAZING!!) and we decided since we weren’t going to go rafting until the next day we should go see the falls. The guy at the desk told us to hike to the Boiling Pot and see…Supposed to be a great view. We go thinking that we will have a small hike and see a pretty view… we hiked to the bottom of the Gorge!! I was not ready for this I was wearing a sundress and my reefs!! On the way down the thong of my flip flop broke so I finished the hike down and the killer hike up barefoot. This is what we hiked over after the hike down the gorge!! This is also the exact spot that we jumped in the next day for our rafting adventure
This is the bridge that connects Zambia to Zimbabwe!!
And this is what we got to see after we hiked down. The falls are right in the middle, Zimbabwe on the Left and Zambia on the Right (yes that is what we hiked down). We passed a ton of Baboons on the way down. It is amazing to see so many animals in their natural habitat.

“Go Hard or Go Home”

On Thursday, Nick, Jess, Ashley and I decided to go White water rafting down the Zambezi. We had perfect timing since the first half (the hard part) opened on Monday and we rafted on Thurs!This might have been a crazy idea especially because we were rafting Class 5 rapids (Class 6 is considered commercial suicide). IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! We had the four of us and one brit and one irish guy plus our guide, Steve. Steve was a drill Sgt. For sure. He went down the one class 6 rapid by himself, head first in our raft while we walked around it (on the Zimbabwe side). He also told us the week before he was going down and showed us the rock where he hit and got his front tooth knocked out!! When we got in the raft I asked if he was a go for it guy and he told me his favorite motto was “go hard or go home” so the whole day we were the first to go down and he made sure to take us on the hardest path.

Going right through the middle :)
This is the rapid where Nick got flipped out (it was a class 5 called Gullivers Travles) he was out and under the water for a really long time… it was scary at the time now its funny becasue we have pictures of him floating down the rapid and we even have it on DVD!! However, Right after Nick fell out we flipped our boat… completely capsized!! We think he flipped us on purpose because we messed up the rapid that Nick fell out on. We were supposed to go down the center but we went down the right side between two rocks Our crew kicking butt going down the river... I am in the back left corner!

The scenery was beautiful there was a lot of down time the second half of the day to relax the harder rapids were in the morning before lunch.

Friday we spent the morning to go see the falls from the top. This is a view at the edge. We could not walk any further the other side is Zimbabwe. People Cliff jump off of this!!! Crazy Right??
Our group shot in front of the falls. Take note this is the ONE AND ONLY group picture we have together (L-R: Me Ashely, Clay, Jessica, Nick and Victoria Falls!)
This is just one of the amazing views we got to see ... it is the start of the dry season so they are not as full as they were a month ago when there was just a white blanket of water coming over the falls.

So that was our trip! I have found a new love for being outdoors ... hiking, camping and rafting. I don't think I have ever been so calm or at peace. It was a great feeling. It was a lot of fun and I am sure there are so many stories but I can’t remember them all and I am sure you don’t want to read them so you can just wait until I get home to tell you or you can come experience it for yourself J

I will leave you with this one story (as told by a rafting guide):

There were two Japanese tourists who took the rafting trip. They could not speak very good English so the guide put them in the middle behind two Brits. He told the Japanese tourists to do whatever the Brits did (ie paddle forward, get down, etc.). They came up on one rapid and it knocked the two Brits out and the next thing the guide saw was the two Japanese JUMPING out of the boat!!! Silly Tourists!!!

So that is pretty much vacation. GOOD TIMES will have to do that again.

!

Getting to Know the Town

So I am sitting in my office not feeling so well today... I think it was a long weekend coupled with a lot of cheese. I never eat cheese anymore (very expensive) and then this weekend we make Macaroni and Cheese, Cheese Bread, Cheese Doritos and Pizza... ugghh can you tell I am training for a half marathon?!?

This weekend was a lot of fun but its nice to know that tonight when I get off work I will be able to go home and relax. I have been working with a group of learners and this week is when the program actually starts so it will be fun and interesting to see how it goes. My job is working with kids at an after school program to give them a place to go. One of the problems here is that there is not much on the entertainment side. Most people just sit in their homestead and drink. The kids do what they can but when they are not helping their parents cook dinner they have nothing to do but entertain themselves.

I will try and paint a picture of most of the kids homes that I work with...
They live in a home stay which is a cluster of mud huts if they are lucky they have a boar hole which means they do not have to walk to the river to get water. Usually this is divided by women on one side men on the other. The kitchen in on the women's side. They have to walk 30 minutes to school everyday where they are in class from 730 until 1pm. They usually have porridge to eat. Porridge is a traditional meal made of maize meal and water that you cook over a fire. There is not much taste or nutritional value to it, but it fills you up and gets the job done. During school the kids are taught in English,their second language, which they barely understand but they try. When they get out of school they will either go home or try to do something to keep themselves busy. It is hard to have a ball to play with 1. because they are expensive 2. they pop because of the thorns and broken glass everywhere. So they take plastic bags and make a small baseball size ball and play with that. They have to get their homework done before it gets dark because a lot of people do not have electricity. They come home and if there is enough food the kids will get a meal. In the culture it is respectful for the older people to eat and if there is not enough for the kids they will not eat. A lot of people have dogs, but not like we do. They are there more for protection not companionship. There are dogs everywhere!

I live in a town so it is different for me, we have modern amenities like grocery stores and electricity, but there is still a lot of development that could be done. We have two tar roads in town and the rest are sand.

This weekend a lot of volunteers came in town from all the groups to prepare for a conference I am helping with. It was also a volunteer from my groups birthday so we spent Saturday at the Omashare Lodge having a cool drink and relaxing by the pool then watched the sunset over the Kavango River and went home and made a yummy birthday dinner. It was very nice and I enjoyed getting together with them. I am starting to forget how to talk. Since English is most peoples second language I have to talk slow and short. This is very hard for me but I am getting better at explaining what words mean to a lot of people. The shorter the better.

I am starting to get to know people. The other day I was walking around town and I got stopped by a few people just to say hello. It is different living in the town because we have a lot of people come in from the villages especially at the end of the month (pay day) so when I see someone they are usually family, a teacher, or another volunteer. It is a great feeling when you walk down the street and you hear your name and turn around and someone recognizes you... makes you feel more like your at home! I have a great support from the volunteers who are here also most of them have been here for over a year so they are really used to a lot of things and help me understand and feel more comfortable.

The search for my permanent housing is still going hopefully it will happen soon so I can be sure I have a place to live for the next two years.

I am offically a volunteer!

So I am starting week 3 as a volunteer and I am very thankful that I have things to do. There is not much but I am making it. My site is good it is absolutely beautiful in this region. My first day here I got to go to the river and look at Angola. I am starting to get really comfortable with my new host family. They have really welcomed me in as a daughter. I got to go to a wedding this weekend with them... SO much fun!! It competed with my sisters wedding...Africans know how to party (sorry Jenn)! The bride and groom kept telling me that they wish they were having a village wedding so I could see the differences. I thought it was really nice I met them on the pre wedding party on Thursday and I spent the whole time with the wedding party and my sisters. I forgot to mention that the bride was my aunt (who is my age!) which made my weekend even better because I met a lot of people around my age so I am excited to get to know them and hang out! A lot of them are teachers too so that will help me at my job! The schools are out so most of the volunteers are taking their vacation which is fun for them, but not fun for those of us who have to stay at site. It is VERY good for adaptation! I did notice that I do not like being around large groups of people. This past weekend was a 4 day weekend and pay day so town was SWAMPED! I was going to buy some groceries but I turned around and went back because I could not handle all the people. Looks like I will not be going to NYC and I will be living in a small town when I come home. I have no problem with that.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to every single mom I have ever had... I hope you guys enjoy your day of rest. I know my mom will be enjoying herself at TPC sitting on hole 17 with her second favourite daughter and son because her first favourite hasn’t mailed her mothers day’s card yet. I will put it in with Jenn and Raijas birthday card! (Come to think of it I haven’t mailed any letters yet) I have some written and I will send them soon. They say when you come into the Peace Corps non readers become readers, readers become writers, and writers go crazy! I can honestly say I am behind on my reading I have only read three books and I haven’t written in my journal in a month! I am just a slacker. Its funny back home all I ever wanted to do was just sit and do nothing now when sometimes there is nothing to do I can’t sit still I just leave work and walk around town because I don’t like sitting on a desk.
This weekend me and my brother decided we are going to run a marathon (I will do half and he will do the other half) it will be interesting to see me train for that but it gives me something to do and give me a reason to take a weekend beach trip to Swakop and Walvis Bay!
You may be wondering how my language is going... its scary how my mind is not working like a sponge! My mom greets me every morning and I can never remember what to say! A lot of the kids I am working with don’t speak good English so they will force me to learn I guess. I will try that is the most I can promise!

He A-ROSE!!

Happy Easter everyone!!! Easter was different this year… no eggs to dye, no new spring dress to wear, no massive feast at my Aunts house, but it was a good holiday. I got up went to church for 4 ½ hours , came home and ate lunch with my family. It will be the last weekend I have here. Next week I move to my permanent site and I will officially start my two years of service. We have our swearing in ceremony on Friday where I will not only have to read a thank you letter in Rukwangali but also the oath thing will be in our target language. It’s a good thing I am now a master in my language and I am tested at an intermediate low. I am just hoping that my language skills do not go down over the next two years.

I will miss my host family here so much…they let me help cook and clean really I just get up and help otherwise I think they would wait on me hand and foot. Today I got home from school and my mom was still feeling sick so I offered to help so she could go sit down. I cut an onion WITH OUT crying and I peeled a potato with a knife. These may seem small to you but they are huge for me.

Every night we watch this show called Camila. It is a dubbed Spanish soap opera. Its absolutely horrible but so good at the same time. I will not lie I think I have gotten addicted. Here are the highlights… Camila is a widowed fiancé. Two men made a bet that one of them would take her virginity they bet half a million dollars. Then you meet Alejandro who is the love of her life and they fall madly in love, but because of this loser guy who has the bet about her the two love birds never seem to make it work out… hopefully soon they will get together and it will all be happy!! They keep getting close but there is always something that happens. It is totally a Chinese movie where the peoples lips don’t match with the words.

I have found that some people in Namibia, our trainers, like to play jokes on people. It was completely fine on April Fools Day when one of them sent me and Anika to Spar looking for our TM and then we waited for about ten minutes before someone told us it was April 1st. However today I was sucked into believing that they extended training for a week!! Do you know how horrible that would be, I mean I love the other volunteers and I will miss them SO much, but to have to wait another week to be sworn in … horrible!! So now I will have to question almost everything they tell us.

I have met some great people and hopefully I will not lose touch with them when I move away, but I am excited to work. It seems there are so many people in the community who want to help the youth here. I don’t think it will be easy but it is reassuring to know that there are people out there who will do a lot to help the kids.

We went to church on Sunday and I took my camera so I could video tape the childrens choir and the adult choir. They sound so great I only hope that my camera captured them the way I hear it. Everyone here is so talented musically because they can just hear the songs. I am hoping that I will pick up some of that talent and bring it home!

There is a commercial that comes on TV that has a catchy beat and a woman singing in it. Everyone you ask has seen this commercial. The funny thing is my year old sister, no matter where she is will come waddling into the room and start dancing to the beat of this commercial. Tonight she was sleeping in my dads arms and she heard the commercial, woke up and cried to be put down so she could dance and sing to the music. After it was over she walked back to my dad and fell back asleep… it was really cute and I am not doing it justice right now!

Happy Easter Everyone!!