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

It's Fall-ish!!!

The rainy season is over and the sand is beginning to get looser and tougher to walk through. Like the sand on the Tampa Beaches EVERYWHERE!! The only thing that makes this OK is that the weather is PERFECT!! We are slowly coming into winter, not really looking forward to winter because I have to wear socks around the office. Right now I am enjoying the weather as much as I can. There are many benefits to it cooling off outside! I don’t use my fan anymore when I sleep and if I sleep with the windows open I get too cold. I don’t sweat walking around town as much which means my clothes stay cleaner longer so less laundry days! Walking around town is enjoyable and since I am not miserable I am nicer to the men who try to hit on me just because they think they will get a free ride back to America. I think this change in weather really benefits everyone. I will say that with the weather the way it is I keep thinking that it is September not May so I keep thinking I can go to ESPN. com and read the football scores, that disappoints me every time!

May is the NEW holidays

May is a good month full of holidays!! Every week I have had at least a 4 day week because of national holidays that close my office. I blame that to my excessive laziness when it comes to working. It is hard to stay motivated when I know I can go home and read a book or watch the latest episode of Glee! This month we celebrated:
Cassinga Day on the 4th
Ascension Day on the 13th – it was very hard for people to get that at home we don’t get off for the day Jesus went to heaven after rising from the dead!
Africa Day on the 25th – we should have a North American Day!!
The best part is they all fell on Tuesday’s or Thursday’s so the office gave off the day before or after to make it a long weekend! I am getting back into work and staying in my office more and more. I have had a lot of errands around town for other PCV’s or the things I am planning so it may seem that I am leaving the office at 2 but really I am walking all over town until 6!!

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.