4th of July

This is Nick and Stewart trying to be cool... Nick got the cowboy hat to try and be a country boy...kind of looks like Tim McGraw, right?!?
What you can't tell is that I am in between yelling at people to play a football game :)
This is Katie she is the other Rundu volunteer...dinners and lots of chatting go on with us
Our Nam 29 4th of July decorations!!

I have been trying to get my PC friends to appreciate the great holiday that is 4^th of July. Normally we celebrate at House Bavaria, but Patrick was out of town at the World Cup so we did it at my house. This year they made it a joke by wearing obnoxious red white and blue…it was very Gator of them (to be as obnoxious as possible)! We celebrated 4^th of July on the 3^rd of July and had about 25 PCV’s in town… We had to have a football game, pasta salad, Freedom Pong and fireworks. Man I love this holiday… I was sitting in my front yard in a chair pretending I am on St. Augustine beach with my family. I even had some Firefly that I had sent special to me ;) YUM! Nick and I even made some really good chicken wings with a very good sauce I must say!It was a great time we all needed a reminder of how much fun just hanging out and relaxing can be. The next big holiday is Halloween I think they will be just as good. I can’t wait until next year when I will really be back on the beach with my family and all the new little kids. I made my kids here celebrate it in their own way. They were to wake up on Sunday and yell HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AMERICA!! When I told them this they came back and told me America is too old to be celebrating her birthday! I told them you can never be too old to celebrate!! It’s true I will celebrate this holiday until I die!

My Purpose...

Work is going great my kids finished cleaning their three schools (I will post pictures soon) and the schools have now implemented a program where if you are seen throwing rubbish on the ground you will get what is like a detention. Really they told the kids to slap someone and tell a teacher if they saw them throwing rubbish down, but I strongly discouraged that behavior. At least the schools are staying clean and the schools are supporting and like it clean!! We are now preparing to take 35 kids to Windhoek for a Sports Tournament consisting of Volleyball, Netball, Soccer and Chess. We are going to be spending the next few weeks training and preparing them. My job is to be the cheerleader and teach them stuff I learned in middle school. I have no idea how to play any of the games so I am just moral support! If you know any cheers please send them my way!!

I just got back from Windhoek for a PC workshop on planning trainings. I have never written/updated/edited so many learning objectives in my life, but it was done to improve training and I think the new groups will have a better more organized training then I did. It was nice to get to hang out with the staff I really enjoy the Namibians that work in the office, I wish I got to spend more time with them. It was a good reason to get out of Rundu even though I don’t really want to leave….I complained the whole way down. We are still trying to get funding for EWA this week I am working on figuring out how to make it as cheap as possible… fingers crossed something works out!!

Sweatshirts in July?!

It is winter time here, imagine a Thanksgiving in FL warm during the day and cold at night, and my toes are constantly cold! I have worn my sweater almost everyday. I am appreciating the winter since I know in summer I will be dying for some cold weather. I even sculpted my dinner to fit the season. Last week I made Lentil Chili… took some lentils, tomato puree and cumin and it was fabulous!! Then my attempt to make chicken soup was a success!! So for a whole week I would have lentil chili for lunch and chicken soup for dinner! I usually just make one or two dinners for the whole week and live off of that until I need to cook something else. This week is peppers, tomatoes and onions over a bit of pasta. I made a ranch dipping sauce. Did you know you could take a ranch flavor packet and add it to plain fat-free yoghurt and it tastes just like the bottle?? Healthy and inexpensive! I am back on my chicken soup dinners. Its so easy and really warms you up. There is nothing like sitting inside after work with a warm cup of soup and a good book. (I am reading Gone with the Wind)

No More Vuzuvelas?!? YEAH RIGHT

Let’s see so the last time I wrote the world cup was just starting…everyone is still watching every game…well they were I am not lucky enough to have a TV in my office where I can just leave and watch work so I have only seen a couple of the matches. I have talked to some people who asked why I was not going. I know I talked about it a long time ago but when it came time to buy tickets I didn’t think I would have the vacation time and money. So I made the choice not to go. I am now planning to go to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil…any one down?!? It was a disappointing loss for the US after a deja-vu loss to Ghana…I don’t think that was a good weekend for us. Everyone keeps telling me I need to switch to the African team now since that’s my home. It’s a good thing I gave up after the Americans got out otherwise Spain may have never won! That’s right the Spanish are World Cup Champions!!I found this out last night as I sit in my bed trying to go to sleep and all of a sudden my entire house was surrounded by honking Vuzuvelas!! When it is just one it does not carry that buzzing noise, but this honking noise I can not get out of my head. It took a few hours but people around me settled down and I got to sleep. So now that the World Cup is over I am interested to see what people will do for entertainment…there are always more football matches to been seen.

Good with Faces. Bad with Names

I have come to the realization that I SUCK WITH NAMES!! There are so many times I have been greeted and I have NO IDEA how I know this person who is so kindly taking the time to ask me how my day is going. I was walking past the post and a friend of mine, Katiku, was talking to a man. So I went up and greeted her and the man. Then he told me “you owe me something, do you not remember” I just stood there because I had not a clue what he was talking about. Finally after what felt like 10 minutes I said “I am sorry can you please help me I do not remember”. Turns out he is a teacher at one of the schools I work with. I felt so dumb I borrowed a dance outfit a month ago! Katiku thought it was hilarious but I was mortified. I have been here a year and I still do not know too many peoples names. I need to come up with a better system!! ANY IDEAS?!?!

GLOW is GONE :(

So camp GLOW went off successfully. It was a fun, challenging week that I will always remember. You can read about it and see pictures at http://glownamibia.blogspot.com

Some New Digs...

About a month ago we moved my office. I am now in a three bedroom house. It’s nice! The kids painted the rooms... it definitely looks like kids painted it! I think it gives it charm. Melanie, my counterpart, and I share an office, she stays in the master bedroom, one room for our supplies and games and the living room where the kids meet and play. Since school starts today I am excited for most of them to come back in and see the new place. We don’t have phone or internet but I like it. There is a big yard with squash and mutete (wild spinach) growing in the back so we are going to make a little garden.

We are going to start our community clean up project as soon as we get town council approval. We are going to clean up the local park and make it a place so people will actually use it instead of just passing through it. I am kind of excited to get back and work in the yard pulling weeds and picking up rubbish. It will remind me of home and all the Saturdays we used to spend working in the yard.

We are also putting together our sports teams for a big KAYEC competition at the end of July. A team from each town (Rehoboth, Rundu, Otjiwarongo, Ondangwa and Windhoek) will compete in a tournament of soccer and netball. I have faith that my kids will do OK. We just need to start training so they can live up to all the crap I have been talking to all the other Youth Officers around the country