Friday, April 18 - Sunday, April 20 (morning):
I waited around my flat in the morning to see if people were going to show up to work on tearing down the future outdoor theater and then decided to just go ahead and start working. Within a few moments people began to show up and we started tearing at the walls and hauling away dirt and bricks. They had started tearing it down while I was gone and had dragged out a lot of what I considered unsalvageable junk. Rusted metal cabinets, warped wood tables, an oven…etc. I considered the stuff trash but I realize how things are viewed here and so innocently I told them they could take whatever they wanted home. I figured it was better to recycle it then have it sitting in a pile of debris.
After a few hours, we broke for the day and people began to pick up their goods and head home. What I didn’t realize is that one of the nurses in the clinic had called the matron at the hospital in Nankudu and ‘told on me’. Next thing I know, she is sending the security guard to track all the stuff down and make people return it. I thought it was complete nonsense - it’s not like any of it should or could be used in a hospital again.
Later today, Fanuel came to me again, saying the nurse was causing problems and so I decided to confront her. She didn’t really have a logical explanation for what she was doing, ‘cept for the fact that it was ‘government’ property and needed to be cleared before giving it away. I still thought it was bullshit. I called the matron and explained the situation to her and she said the same thing. I was getting really irritated. If it IS government property and has to be checked by them before giving it away, it will sit in our clinic for YEARS before someone drives all the way out here and confirms anything. I tried to call Mr. Sintago in Rundu, but he had left for the day, so on Monday, I have to figure this all out. In the meantime, everyone had returned the stuff.
My neighbor tracked me down and informed me that the dog that I had fallen in love with a few weeks back, was going to be given to me. He’s a beautiful blue/grey dog with eyes like the ocean. I was excited - we were going tomorrow to get him. I spent the rest of the day cleaning up my place, working on Rukwangali, watching a movie, reading, etc.
Saturday, we worked some more on the theater and I apologized to the people for what happened. They were concerned that they were tearing down the building in vain and that when finished, someone would come along and say no, we want that back. I hadn’t thought to get the pastor to sign anything giving us ownership of the space, but now I’m going to have to do that. We made progress and I am getting excited about having movies nights.
The rest of the day I watched movies, did some yoga, read…until my neighbor came and got me to go get the dog. We walked a long way (in the dark) to their homestead, got the dog and headed home. I gave him a quick shower so he wouldn’t stink and then it was time for bed.
Today I was sitting on the veranda petting him (I’ve named him Efuta - Rukwangali for ocean) and felt some bumps on the inside of his ears. I flipped one over and to my HORROR discovered a MILLION fleas nesting there. I began to check him all over and discovered he is COVERED in them. He has more fleas than fur!! It’s the most troubling/disgusting thing I’ve seen yet. The worst part is that I have no flea shampoo nor anyway to get any until I return to site from re-connect. That means, that he and I have to live with it for about a month. I feel so bad, but there is a part of me that wants to give him back because I don’t want to infest my flat with fleas and that’s what’s going to happen. I started picking them off individually with tweezers but it’s not use. I even broke down and sprayed roach spray on some of the densely infected areas, but it’s not working. This is gross. It’s making me sick to my stomach which is kind of stupid but I just don’t want to have to deal with fleas on myself and in my stuff.
Monday, April 21:
The dog dilemma has been settled slightly...I ran into my neighbor and was telling her about the flea situation and low and behold she had flea powder! Expired flea powder, but flea powder all the same. Where the hell did she get flea powder? Lol Anyways, I dowsed the little bugger good and shut him up in the bathroom for about 45 minutes. Then I gave him a thorough bath and about 85% of them were gone. I then took some tweezers and did some scouting. Removing the rest of the dead ones and pulling off a ripe one or two.
I was concerned that he would whine all night and keep me up but he didn’t do have bad. He did throw up in the middle of the night though. Rocks. Yes, he through up rocks. I have NO idea when he ate them but I’m surprised he didn’t seriously injure himself when he did. We made it through the night though.
I worked a few hours in the garden this morning - clearing and burning brush. It was actually chilly today and I wore jeans. I then came back and began working on a proposal to turn my office into a ‘cool’ space for young people. The Ministry of Health is launching a new ‘Adolescent Friendly Health Services’ program and most clinics are converting corners or areas of their clinic into comfortable and private spaces for teens to seek medical attention and advice. My office is perfect because it’s away from the main reception area but not so far as to inconvenience nursing staff.
I worked on a few other things and actually filled the day. Lyambezi’s daughter and niece are staying with him while school is out and they wanted to play with my dog so I planned on doing yoga while they kept him out of my way. Then they asked if they could watch a movie with me and I was going to say tomorrow, but then I got into a long-winded conversation with him and it got late, so we all ended up watching Harry Potter. My super was really funny. He kept asking me if the creatures and things in the movie were real. He could not understand that they were computer generated and not really there. It was cute.
Tuesday, April 22 - Wednesday, April 23:
I decided to go work in the garden a bit since I didn’t have anything else pressing to do. The garden is taking longer than I had hoped it would, but seeing that we haven’ t heard back about our proposal yet, it’s not a big deal. As I was leaving the clinic though, I noticed some of the housekeeping staff working on the grounds and they had a wheelbarrow. I found out it was the pastor’s and asked if I could use it when they were done…so instead of the garden, I worked on the theater.
Lyambezi came out to chat for a bit while I was working and asked why when we reconstruct the wall for the theater, that we don’t just use the foundation to build an actual community hall. For whatever reason it didn’t even cross my mind but once he said, it made sense. I don’t want to wait around for estimates for building the actual hall and postpone the theater…but what I decided we could do was use the money FROM the theater initially, to turn it into an actual building. I mean, we charge N$2 for admission and do the movies twice a week, we should average about N$200 a week, which is about $28 US. I don’t know how much it would cost to build a roof, but cement is N$60 a bag and we can make the bricks ourselves…so we could build the hall slowly, little by little, instead of waiting around for money to do it all at once then waiting around for someone to build it.
The remainder of the day was spent working on the Rukwangali text. I was able to add about 5 pages to it. It’s looking really good.
Wednesday meant work in the garden day. I usually wait around for people to arrive and then walk up with them, but today decided to go early. I started clearing brush and pulling weeks and after a few hours, the rest of the crew showed up. The men began working on digging/cutting out stumps, I started burning brush. I have to say. I was really tired and my hands hurt, but I feel like such a pussy. I’m watching these men who are in their 50s, with HIV, and hardly get anything to eat - working their ASSES off and I’m complaining to myself that I’m tired and my hands have blisters. I kept wanting to stop clearing brush (the easier of the tasks) and go help chop or dig, but kept holding back….because I was tired. There was a part of me that was worried that if I start helping and then REALLY get tired and have to stop, that it would make me look bad. How stupid is that? Worried about what they might think of me? The thing is, they wouldn’t judge me at all - wouldn’t even cross their minds. That weird of me, right?
After lunch, I had called a meeting with OVCs because I want to start an after school program or youth group of some sort. I’ve been trying to find a way to work with young people and this was perfect because currently there is nothing going on in Mpungu for them. About 16 showed up, 2 boys, the rest girls. We talked a little about what they would like to get out of the group - tutoring for school, HIV education, emotional support, fun, etc. and then scheduled the first meeting in May when I return from Swakopmund. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun spending time with them and I look forward to the positive impact I can have on their lives.
Thursday, April 24 - Monday, April 28:
Today in English class I introduced the group to pluralization of nouns, reviewed greetings and possessive pronouns/adjectives and briefly went over numbers which they already knew. After lunch, I met with the HIV support group. For whatever reason, they hadn’t really been meeting on a regular basis and it was important to me that we at least meet once a month. I wanted it to be a time where people come together to support one another and talk about issues and difficulties they faced during the previous month. It ended up with them complaining about the same things everyone complains about when we get together - stigma, too many HIV+ people drinking, and no transport.
Well, I’m trying to reduce stigma by all the activities I’m creating for the HIV group. They kept mentioning how we needed to do a workshop. I hate workshops. I think this country is workshopped to death! People only utilize them for something to do and the food - rarely does anyone attend because they are really wanting to change a belief or opinion they have. As far as the drinking goes, I’ve told them EVERY time we meet, to come up with some disciplinary actions around drinking and stick to them. They never do. They just keep complaining about it. Transport will ALWAYS be an issue and those who came from villages far away, I suggested they start smaller support group meetings within their own communities. Most of them didn’t like the sound of that, lol.
Friday I worked a bit on the theater building…tearing down and clearing and then I headed to the hike point to get to Sarah’s. I wondered how it would be hiking with Efuta, but he did fine and we didn’t wait all that long for one. Him making it through the weekend in Nkurenkuru was another thing. He’s still potty training and when he pisses or shits in my place, I spank him and just clean it up. When I’m in someone else’s place (ie. Sarah’s), there is a sense of panic, concern about the other person’s things. Without going into too much detail….it will be awhile before I take him with me again, lol.
Sarah had a visitor - a friend of a friend who is teaching in Swakopmund. Netra was also from Cincinnati, so we had a fun couple of days chatting about our ‘home’. Netra left on Sunday and shortly after, Amanda and Izizza (from Cameroon) came into town. Amanda is from our group and she and Izizza are friends from college. It was very interesting learning about a PC experience in another country. It was nice to realize that no matter where you are, as PCV you are constantly questioning whether or not you are having an impact and what exactly constitutes one? We all came to the conclusion that it is usually the one-on-one interactions where people are affected by you, than the big things like gardens and workshops. I have to completely agree with that. Since I’ve been here I’ve thought that how I engage with people on an individual basis will mean more in the long run than starting a community theater - though that will also have an impact.
On Saturday, Julia (Sarah’s Namibian friend) took us to Angola. We went to the border crossing, showed ID’s, paid a dollar and were ‘canoed’ over to the other side of the river. Angola is not much different form Namibia…except for all the MOTORCYCLES!!! OMG. They were everywhere. It really made me miss mine and trust me, if I am able, I am going to purchase a used one here. It would be great to use to get to Sarah’s and back.
I was introduced to RISK..which I had heard of, but never played. I discovered very quickly that my ‘I don’t like to lose’ mentality, has not diminished one iota since I arrived. It was weird, I thought I had chilled out more than that and it wouldn’t bother me, but it reared its’ ugly head. Why am I like that and why do I not have control over it? I go into the game saying I want to have fun and enjoy myself and the minute I’m losing, I freak out and become an ass. I really need to look at that.
Now that I am back to site (Monday), the residual GB Sunday is hovering around me. After all this time, I still question whether I want to be here. It’s no longer about whether I can DO the job. It’s not even so much about the isolation any more. The bottom line is, is this where I need to be in my life right now? Is it the best place for me? I’m not sure. I know the fact that another one of us just left last week because she missed her boyfriend and wanted to move forward with their relationship doesn’t help the doubts. I still can’t shake the ‘I’m going to be here for 2 years’ feeling OR the ‘am I missing out on something more important back home’ sensation. Those 2 things are clouding my perspective. I really hope that by the 6 month mark I’m in a different place.
Tuesday, April 29:
This was a fairly long and uneventful day. I did meet with the representative from Red Cross to discuss some things in regards to rapid testing and community counseling. Other than that, I studied a little Rukwangali and chilled. I did watch a movie/documentary called ZeitGeist. If you haven’t seen it…SEE it! It will definitely make you think about some things.
One thing that did surface during yoga/meditation time today was the realization that I spend way too much time worrying and thinking about what other people think of me. It actually rules my life much more than I have ever given it credit. I can’t figure out why. This is a sucky thing to admit, but I think one of my reasons for joining the Peace Corp. (on the list of my 100 reasons, lol) is that I wanted people to think I was a good person. An altruistic person. I wanted people to look at me differently because I did this. I wanted them to like me. Why do I work so hard to get others’ approval…why isn’t just being me and all that that entails, enough? It just sucks to think that I’ve spent almost 40 years of my life doing what I thought other people would want me to do. Doing things to make people like me. Making decision based on what I thought other’s would think of the results. Where the hell does THAT stem from and how do I change it? Fuck. Another layer peeled back with no clear answer to how to jump the current track. J
Wednesday, Apri 30:
I got up this morning and went for an hour’s walk. I started it yesterday. I decided that even though I hate to ‘run’, that taking a stroll every morning would be good. It’s especially nice in this cooler weather. When I returned, I was going to change clothes and head to the garden to work with the others, but I noticed they were working on the theater project instead. So, not asking questions, I changed my plans and put in a few hours there. I’m hoping we can get it completely cleared by the end of May and then focus on rebuilding.
I then chilled a bit and worked on my English plan for tomorrow. At 2 we had a meeting to firm up plans for National Testing Day next Friday. I’m REALLY disappointed that our first ‘real’ project together is something I have to miss. I am even tempted to leave my camera so people can take pics, but I need it for Swakopmund.
We went over all the details and I re-explained the concept of the ‘raffle’ and everyone seems to be on the same page. I pray everything falls into place. Because tomorrow is a holiday, they decided to move English club up to 9, which is great. I can get on the road sooner tomorrow and maybe Sarah and I can make it to Groot by nightfall.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
The First Few Weeks of April
Sunday, March 30 - Monday, March 31:
The most fulfilling part about today is that I made a deal with the boys at the hostel that if they spent 30 minutes helping me clean up the courtyard at the clinic, that the next time I was in Rundu, I would buy them a new soccer ball. See, the time I helped coach a game a few weeks ago, they popped their existing ball - which hardly had any life in it left anyways. They had asked if I would buy them a new one and I said no, that I did not have the money. I then decided later that day that I would get them one, but they would have to work for it. I refuse to be the white man who just gets everybody everything they ask for.
They worked very hard cleaning and then I surprised them by showing up with a ball. They all cheered and thanked me and it was a success. I’m thinking I could get them to help me accomplish some other things around the clinic.
Today, Monday, I worked in the garden a bit. I also twisted my ankle slightly which adding to the injury from yoga a few weeks back, has left my left foot very sore. I worked on the computer a bit, dropped off some mail at the ‘posa’ and then had 3 girls from the school stop by my office to ask my some ‘boyfriend’ questions. Now I’m watching Casino Royale and thinking that it would be a great movie to show when I get my theater up and running - lots of action and plenty of sports cars - the boys will love it.
Tuesday, April 1:
Worked my tush off in the garden today and then decided to knock off and take it easy. Gideon and Johanna stopped by while I was dozing in the hammock. They just wanted to chat…but what I discovered was that Gideon has some important things to tell me about Fanual, the community counselor. I may or may not have mentioned that a few weeks ago a boy from the school stopped me on the road to say that he wanted to get tested for HIV but has heard that the counselor tells peoples’ status to the community. I had brushed it off but told him to come see me when I returned. Gideon proceeded to tell me something very similar. Now I will have to meet with my supervisor when he returns. I really don’t like being in this position because if Fanuel gets fired, then we are without a counselor and I am without a counterpart. But at the same time, if we have a counselor who is not keeping things confidential, then no one will come and get tested.
Besides that small amount of drama, I took it easy. Part of the culture I am still not used to is that when people stop by your house, they expect to be fed. Gideon and Johanna kept making references to being hungry and that it was almost lunch time. If I am preparing or have prepared food, I have no problem sharing. But I am not going to get in the habit of making food for people just because they stop by. Otherwise, people will keep stopping by when it’s time to eat.
I then got to talk to Dave via Skype and immediately following, got a phone call from my friend Joel. It’s always nice to connect with the states. For dinner I tried to make pap (maize meal) and it turned out okay. I then started creating a photo slide show of all my pics - in preparation for this next Christmas.
Today, overall was really good and I found myself in a really good place. It will be interesting to see how settled I am in 3 months. As I was looking back at pics from when I first arrived, I could attach that desolate feeling I had back then to them. I know I don’t feel that intensely about being here anymore. I guess I am settling in. Whew…
Wednesday, April 2 - Friday, April 4:
Okay, so I haven’t written in a few days but it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except for how much FUN I had today!!! I taught my first English!! It was the most fun I’ve had since arriving here. It was scary and exhilarating and fun and scary and…. It was awesome. I didn’t do a lot of preparation and had decided that the first class was only going to be about 30 minutes long. I ended up doing most things straight from the hip and the class went 90 minutes. People were laughing and speaking English and really enjoying themselves. Okay…I get to teach a 2 hour English class once a week. I cannot believe I am so pumped about something so simple. I can’t even remember what happened over the past few days. I taught an English class. I get to teach an English class. Oh, and Sarah is coming tonight for the weekend, yippee!!!
Saturday, April 5 - Sunday, April 6:
Another fun-filled weekend with my wife, lol. We spent Friday night catching up on the past 2 weeks. We had a LOT to talk about. I had decided that Sarah and I were going to go horseback riding on Saturday and ironically she had gotten a hike with a kid who’s folks have horses. So we were excited about Saturday. She also delivered a package from my acting buddies in Cincy. It was GREAT!!! I got a Frisbee, a hand-held video game, coloring book, suckers, Mike & Ike’s, playing cards, crayons, toothpaste, 4 movies, Listerine and some wonderful words of encouragement. Man is was great! We walked to the store to get Sarah some Tafels and me a cold drink and I showed her the garden area. She was impressed.
Saturday came and went and the horse guy never showed. We decided to take a hike and at one point thought we had gotten lost in the bush. We found a trail and just kept following it and made our way back. It took about 2 hours….fun! For dinner we enjoyed Velveeta Shells and Cheese and taco seasoned lentils compliments of my sister. Then we settled in with ‘No Country for Old Men’. Today we worked on the puzzle, read a bit, played Frisbee with some local kids which was a blast and then I walked Sarah to the hike point. Just like always, we waited for about 2 hours and when we had decided she would just stay until Monday and headed back to the clinic and of course, she got a ride then. All 3 times she’s been out here this happens…from now on I’m just going to tell her that we walk to the point and immediately head back…that way she is guaranteed a ride, lol. Overall, today’s GB Sunday wasn’t all that bad. I’m now watching the first Godfather and then it’s off to bed.
Monday, April 7 - Friday, April 11 Morning:
I’m writing in my journal 10 days past due, so I’m really stretching to remember the past week and a half. Monday and Tuesday I spent some time working in the garden in the morning time and just working on the Rukwangali textbook out of my flat in the afternoons. On Wednesday I headed to Nkurenkuru to hang with Sarah before heading to Outjo on Thursday. She had planned on making dinner for Scot, Lindsey and I but ended having to meet with people so I did the cooking. Dinner was quiche and French fries - which wasn’t so bad if I do say so myself.
Let me backtrack a little…Lyambezi finally returned and I got to show him the garden - he really liked it - along with my idea about an open market in Mpungu. I then worked for an hour there and on the way back ran into Gideon & Johanna, who informed me there was a meeting, one of which I didn’t know about. We had scheduled one the day before to plan for National Testing Day, but no one showed up.
So, stinking and dirty, I helped them organize the day which includes a raffle, testing incentives, contests with prizes, a parade with songs and a prayer by the minister. It should be a very good day - I just won’t be there because of re-connect. I’m actually mad cause it’s our first big event as a group and I”d LOVE to take pictures.
So on Thursday, after breakfast, Sarah and I headed to the town council’s office because she had snagged us a ride. He was waiting on a fax so we walked to the hike point and ended up catching a ride with a teacher that I knew in Mpungu. We got to Rundu, met up with Chris, had lunch at the car wash and then he and I headed to Engin in hopes of catching a free hike to Outjo. SCORE! After onlya bout 20 minutes we landed a ride in a BMW with an Afrikaaner named Donnie. I had not ridden in an actual car since arriving - needless to say, I fell sleep in the air conditioning. We had been listening to various CDs on the way when suddenly Alphaville starts playing and he asks me if I know the group??? Lol. I started laughing out loud - here I am hitchhiking in Namibia, riding in a BMW listening to music from my high school days! Can you say tears in my eyes?
Donnie took us as far as Grootfontein where we then had to find a ride to Otjiworongo. By the way, before we landed a ride with Donnie, we met 2 American missionaries from Indiana! We caught a ride with a Namibian family travelling for a funeral. I had originally turned them down because there were way too many people in the boot but then the mother gave us the front seat. It sounds snobby on my part but I get car sick if I am crammed into the back with too many people.
We made it to Otjiworongo just before night fall, went to Super Spar for some dinner and then walked towards Outjo in hopes of a ride. We ended up cramming into the back seat of a small car with 2 other guys - all speaking Damara. Damara is the ‘clicking’ African language. It made the last hour of our journey to Amanda’s very interesting.
Amanda lives in an old folks’ home for Afrikaaners - none of the residents speak to her. This is the only town left in Namibia that still feels like it did before Apartheid. It’s dangerous, racist and there is a clear distinction between blacks and whites here. They don’t speak to one another. I’m so glad I live in the north where the racism isn’t so apparent.
Friday, April 11 Evening - Sunday, April 13 Afternoon:
I’m sitting on the balcony of the Jon Janker holiday apartments in Windhoek, shivering, wrapped in a comforter. I never expected to be caught ‘shivering’ at any point while in sub-saharan Africa. The last few days have been a blur and though there is a small fear that this dose of reality will make it more difficult to return to site, I believe it may have been the ‘recharge’ I need to continue on.
Friday we got a small tour of Outjo from Amanda and then caught a ride to Ojti with Jeff - the guy who gave us our hike the night before. We met up with Dave from Tsumeb about an hour later and spent a couple of hours trying to land a free hike to here. Just as we had found a guy who would hall us for N$50 each, I snagged a free ride in the back of a truck with some HIV workers.
We squeezed into the back with all our stuff and theirs with barely room to move and headed out. We made it about 20k north of Okahandja when as we crested a hill and going 140kph, crashed into a car that was stopped dead in the middle of the road. They were German tourists who had stopped because baboons were crossing the road and they wanted to take pictures. In hindsite the experience for me was somewhat comical - at the time, it was terrifying. I have not been in a serious car accident before. What I remember is this…my back was to the front while everyone else was sitting side to side. We were all talking about something or other when Amanda looked up with shock in her eyes and said something about ‘we’re going to hit the car’. At the same time, I was looking out the back and saw a baboon cross the road and commented on it. Then Dave and Chris looked forward - terrified - and the breaks were slammed down hard. With no visual awareness of what was going on, all I could do was brace myself and wait for impact. Upon connection with the car, all three of them were thrown into me - fortunately I had 2 backpacks behind me that I had pushed myself into and they broke any kind of injury I could have sustained.
We all made it out of the situation okay, including the 3 people in the front and the 2 tourists. I don’t want to think what would have happened if there had been a car following us at the same speed. I probably wouldn’t be typing this right now. The funniest thing about it was the completely unscathed avocado on our windshield that had originally occupied a space in the back of the other car!
I flagged down another car to get us the rest of the way - there was little we could do for the people there. We landed a ride with a family of 4, arrived in Windhoek, checked into our deluxe accommodations and headed to the mall for some shopping and sushi. Yes, sushi in Namibia. Now, in the states I was never a big fan of hanging out at the mall - Mark will attest to this - but here, I welcome the opportunity to experience civilization. We caught up with Katie and Brooke and ventured on. I bought some board games - Scrabble and Pictionary - for Sarah and I, some other essentials, we had sshi - which wasn’t half bad - got stuff for breakfast, then headed back to the rooms to sleep.
Saturday began our first day of VSN training and it was great. I knew a couple of hours into it that it was the perfect fit for me. We went through coaching exercises and regulations throughout the day. At lunch Jay, Chris and I headed out to eat and check some prices for external hard drives. We ended up running into a parade - a big parade - for some Afrikaaner celebration. Surreal moment #47! All these fat, drunk Afrikaaners on floats throwing candy at the crowd. We never were able to figure out what it was all for.
I found an inexpensive hard drive and headed back for more training. The afternoon flew by and we came back to the apartments for some Pictionary before dinner. It was great fun! We ate at an Italian place where for the 3 hours there, we could have been in any major city, anywhere in the world. I had ‘La Mussa’ pizza and a grilled chicken salad with assorted veggies including broccoli. Broccali!!! I haven’t eaten THAT since landing here. It was heaven on a bisquit. I also got a little hammered on some iced tea concoction and flirted with our waiter. Everyone seemed to find it hysterical and the brief amount of one-sided flirtation alleviated a miniscule amount of built up SF.
Sunday, April 13 Evening - Thursday, April 17:
Our final day of training and I was pumped. We worked on our program for re-connect, broke for a great lunch at the café attached to the Namibian Craft Center and then headed back to Jon Jonkers to chill before dinner. We discovered that the Indian restaurant was closed so we headed to Spar to grab something quick. It was also closed so we headed to Spur. This place was American Native Indian themed and WAY over the top! Beyond gawdy! Dave, Amanda, Katie, Brooke and I could not stop laughing at everything. I got some great video of it. We headed back for some more Pictionary which was great fun but the sore loser in me kept rearing its ugly head…and yes, my team lost.
Monday we checked out, said good-bye to the people hiking and Chris and I dropped our stuff at the PCV med flat with Kami and Shayna. We had made the decision to stay another day because of a PC ride heading to Rundu on Tuesday. We walked ALL over the city. We just needed to find a place to sleep that night. We called the guy who works for the Embassy who lets people stay with him, but he was full. I was then going to try Drew, someone Sarah had met but I hadn’t, who has a guest house there. Chris was going to try Heather (another PCV), because her college roommate lives in Windhoek now. It all sounds so weird doesn’t it? Just trusting our lives to strangers and them, their homes to us. But I’ll say it again, when in the PC most people open their homes to you.
I went to meet with Linda at the American Cultural Center to try and snag some English books and dictionaries for my English Club. Within 5 minutes of conversation, she invited Chris and I to stay with her and her husband. Her husband, as it turns out, is the previous director of Peace Corp. Namibia. What the hell? Such a small friggin’ world. She took me to the store room which was fairly picked over, but I did find some geography books and simple readers. No dictionaries though - I’ll have to figure out something else on that end.
Chris and I walked Kami to another mall so she could buy a laptop cooler/fan thing, then headed out to find the office of the Rainbow Project. It’s the LGBT resource center for Namibia. I had a great meeting with the director Linda and now Sarah and I are satellite counselors of sort for the organization. They had just had, the week before, a family travel 700k to meet with them because their son had tried suicide because he was gay. They travelled from around where I live. I could have saved them a trip…but now, Sarah and I are ready to be there.
Chris and I went to Fruit & Veg for lunch - which is somewhat like a Jungle Jim’s. We then went to find the InterCape office to buy a ticket for Paul. We then went to the movies. Yes. I finally got to sit down in an actual theater and watch a flick. Horton Hears a Who - to be exact. Movies in the states were always my drug of choice. They helped me escape. And here, for almost 90 minutes…I forgot where I was. When the movie was over, I actually cried. Guess I just got a little homesick from the experience.
We met up with some 26ers and had dinner at Taal - the Indian restaurant. I opened the menu and the first thing I saw was ‘chicken tikka’. I instantly began to tear up again (it was definitely a day to let it all out, lol) and left the table to call Mark. Ya see, that’s what he always ordered when we went to Baba in Oakley. I talked non-stop for 60 seconds just to tell him I was thinking about and that I loved him…then went to order. We all got something different so we could share and it was amazing.
Chris and I got a cab to Linda and Jeff’s, hung out and chatted with them a bit before heading to bed. A real bed. With a real mattress, lol. I slept like the dead. In the morning we hung out with them a bit, had some breakfast, then Linda dropped us off at the med flat. Oh…I spotted my first scorpion! Inside their house!!
We finally left Windhoek around 9:30 and after 8 hours of travel arrived in Rundu. Oh, and I saw my first school of meerkats on the way. I had hoped to make it all the way to Sarah’s before dark, but since that wasn’t happening, I crashed at Patricks. There was a big package waiting for me there! Kim and Becky from back home sent me a TON of stuff and I’ve been eating girl scout cookies and PoppyCock for the last few days. Thanks guys! You have no idea how much I appreciated it and how much I miss you both.
Wednesday morning I was waiting for Stanley the driver (I had left some yarn I purchased in Windhoek in the back of the vehicle), but then decided I wanted to get on the road. I got a cab to Engin, waited a bit, then caught what I thought was going to be a ride with some guys. They said they had to go pick up 5 other people. I jumped in the back with my stuff and on we went. When we got to where the others were supposed to be, they weren’t there so we left. Then I discovered I was being dropped off at another hike point because NOW the guys weren’t taking me since it was only ME, lol.
I ended up taking the Venture and had to wait about an hour before it was filled enough for us to take off. There was a family who teaches at Scot’s school in Nkurenkuru and they were traveling with their 5 year old son David. Now David truly is the CUTEST kid I’ve EVER seen! He’s beautiful! And he climbed into the front seat with me and NON-STOP asked me question after question. What’s that? What color is that? How many cars are there? 1 question after another. It was GREAT fun and I was thankful that my earlier ride had changed. He ended up getting tired and I rubbed his head until he fell sleep.
I made it to Sarah’s town, had a quick bite to eat with her, then got a ride to Mpungu. On the way we passed a smashed up truck which I found out later had contained a new teacher in Mpungu - a guy who just graduated college. He died in the accident. Damn. Life is SO fragile here. They had tried to pass another car at night and just lost control. This is why I don’t like traveling at night!
Upon arrival to Mpungu, everyone was glad to see me, sorry to hear about the accident I was in and I headed to my flat to rest and prepare for Thursday’s English club. Today, I worked some more on my lesson for the day. It went off without a hitch! Everyone seems to be enjoying my class so much - ME included! I had lunch, then met with the people in charge of making posters for National Testing Day. With that accomplished, I returned home to watch the rest of ‘Jesus Camp’, do some yoga, and have dinner. It’s taken me about an hour to type and catch up with my journal, so I’ll certainly not slip on that responsibility again!
The most fulfilling part about today is that I made a deal with the boys at the hostel that if they spent 30 minutes helping me clean up the courtyard at the clinic, that the next time I was in Rundu, I would buy them a new soccer ball. See, the time I helped coach a game a few weeks ago, they popped their existing ball - which hardly had any life in it left anyways. They had asked if I would buy them a new one and I said no, that I did not have the money. I then decided later that day that I would get them one, but they would have to work for it. I refuse to be the white man who just gets everybody everything they ask for.
They worked very hard cleaning and then I surprised them by showing up with a ball. They all cheered and thanked me and it was a success. I’m thinking I could get them to help me accomplish some other things around the clinic.
Today, Monday, I worked in the garden a bit. I also twisted my ankle slightly which adding to the injury from yoga a few weeks back, has left my left foot very sore. I worked on the computer a bit, dropped off some mail at the ‘posa’ and then had 3 girls from the school stop by my office to ask my some ‘boyfriend’ questions. Now I’m watching Casino Royale and thinking that it would be a great movie to show when I get my theater up and running - lots of action and plenty of sports cars - the boys will love it.
Tuesday, April 1:
Worked my tush off in the garden today and then decided to knock off and take it easy. Gideon and Johanna stopped by while I was dozing in the hammock. They just wanted to chat…but what I discovered was that Gideon has some important things to tell me about Fanual, the community counselor. I may or may not have mentioned that a few weeks ago a boy from the school stopped me on the road to say that he wanted to get tested for HIV but has heard that the counselor tells peoples’ status to the community. I had brushed it off but told him to come see me when I returned. Gideon proceeded to tell me something very similar. Now I will have to meet with my supervisor when he returns. I really don’t like being in this position because if Fanuel gets fired, then we are without a counselor and I am without a counterpart. But at the same time, if we have a counselor who is not keeping things confidential, then no one will come and get tested.
Besides that small amount of drama, I took it easy. Part of the culture I am still not used to is that when people stop by your house, they expect to be fed. Gideon and Johanna kept making references to being hungry and that it was almost lunch time. If I am preparing or have prepared food, I have no problem sharing. But I am not going to get in the habit of making food for people just because they stop by. Otherwise, people will keep stopping by when it’s time to eat.
I then got to talk to Dave via Skype and immediately following, got a phone call from my friend Joel. It’s always nice to connect with the states. For dinner I tried to make pap (maize meal) and it turned out okay. I then started creating a photo slide show of all my pics - in preparation for this next Christmas.
Today, overall was really good and I found myself in a really good place. It will be interesting to see how settled I am in 3 months. As I was looking back at pics from when I first arrived, I could attach that desolate feeling I had back then to them. I know I don’t feel that intensely about being here anymore. I guess I am settling in. Whew…
Wednesday, April 2 - Friday, April 4:
Okay, so I haven’t written in a few days but it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters except for how much FUN I had today!!! I taught my first English!! It was the most fun I’ve had since arriving here. It was scary and exhilarating and fun and scary and…. It was awesome. I didn’t do a lot of preparation and had decided that the first class was only going to be about 30 minutes long. I ended up doing most things straight from the hip and the class went 90 minutes. People were laughing and speaking English and really enjoying themselves. Okay…I get to teach a 2 hour English class once a week. I cannot believe I am so pumped about something so simple. I can’t even remember what happened over the past few days. I taught an English class. I get to teach an English class. Oh, and Sarah is coming tonight for the weekend, yippee!!!
Saturday, April 5 - Sunday, April 6:
Another fun-filled weekend with my wife, lol. We spent Friday night catching up on the past 2 weeks. We had a LOT to talk about. I had decided that Sarah and I were going to go horseback riding on Saturday and ironically she had gotten a hike with a kid who’s folks have horses. So we were excited about Saturday. She also delivered a package from my acting buddies in Cincy. It was GREAT!!! I got a Frisbee, a hand-held video game, coloring book, suckers, Mike & Ike’s, playing cards, crayons, toothpaste, 4 movies, Listerine and some wonderful words of encouragement. Man is was great! We walked to the store to get Sarah some Tafels and me a cold drink and I showed her the garden area. She was impressed.
Saturday came and went and the horse guy never showed. We decided to take a hike and at one point thought we had gotten lost in the bush. We found a trail and just kept following it and made our way back. It took about 2 hours….fun! For dinner we enjoyed Velveeta Shells and Cheese and taco seasoned lentils compliments of my sister. Then we settled in with ‘No Country for Old Men’. Today we worked on the puzzle, read a bit, played Frisbee with some local kids which was a blast and then I walked Sarah to the hike point. Just like always, we waited for about 2 hours and when we had decided she would just stay until Monday and headed back to the clinic and of course, she got a ride then. All 3 times she’s been out here this happens…from now on I’m just going to tell her that we walk to the point and immediately head back…that way she is guaranteed a ride, lol. Overall, today’s GB Sunday wasn’t all that bad. I’m now watching the first Godfather and then it’s off to bed.
Monday, April 7 - Friday, April 11 Morning:
I’m writing in my journal 10 days past due, so I’m really stretching to remember the past week and a half. Monday and Tuesday I spent some time working in the garden in the morning time and just working on the Rukwangali textbook out of my flat in the afternoons. On Wednesday I headed to Nkurenkuru to hang with Sarah before heading to Outjo on Thursday. She had planned on making dinner for Scot, Lindsey and I but ended having to meet with people so I did the cooking. Dinner was quiche and French fries - which wasn’t so bad if I do say so myself.
Let me backtrack a little…Lyambezi finally returned and I got to show him the garden - he really liked it - along with my idea about an open market in Mpungu. I then worked for an hour there and on the way back ran into Gideon & Johanna, who informed me there was a meeting, one of which I didn’t know about. We had scheduled one the day before to plan for National Testing Day, but no one showed up.
So, stinking and dirty, I helped them organize the day which includes a raffle, testing incentives, contests with prizes, a parade with songs and a prayer by the minister. It should be a very good day - I just won’t be there because of re-connect. I’m actually mad cause it’s our first big event as a group and I”d LOVE to take pictures.
So on Thursday, after breakfast, Sarah and I headed to the town council’s office because she had snagged us a ride. He was waiting on a fax so we walked to the hike point and ended up catching a ride with a teacher that I knew in Mpungu. We got to Rundu, met up with Chris, had lunch at the car wash and then he and I headed to Engin in hopes of catching a free hike to Outjo. SCORE! After onlya bout 20 minutes we landed a ride in a BMW with an Afrikaaner named Donnie. I had not ridden in an actual car since arriving - needless to say, I fell sleep in the air conditioning. We had been listening to various CDs on the way when suddenly Alphaville starts playing and he asks me if I know the group??? Lol. I started laughing out loud - here I am hitchhiking in Namibia, riding in a BMW listening to music from my high school days! Can you say tears in my eyes?
Donnie took us as far as Grootfontein where we then had to find a ride to Otjiworongo. By the way, before we landed a ride with Donnie, we met 2 American missionaries from Indiana! We caught a ride with a Namibian family travelling for a funeral. I had originally turned them down because there were way too many people in the boot but then the mother gave us the front seat. It sounds snobby on my part but I get car sick if I am crammed into the back with too many people.
We made it to Otjiworongo just before night fall, went to Super Spar for some dinner and then walked towards Outjo in hopes of a ride. We ended up cramming into the back seat of a small car with 2 other guys - all speaking Damara. Damara is the ‘clicking’ African language. It made the last hour of our journey to Amanda’s very interesting.
Amanda lives in an old folks’ home for Afrikaaners - none of the residents speak to her. This is the only town left in Namibia that still feels like it did before Apartheid. It’s dangerous, racist and there is a clear distinction between blacks and whites here. They don’t speak to one another. I’m so glad I live in the north where the racism isn’t so apparent.
Friday, April 11 Evening - Sunday, April 13 Afternoon:
I’m sitting on the balcony of the Jon Janker holiday apartments in Windhoek, shivering, wrapped in a comforter. I never expected to be caught ‘shivering’ at any point while in sub-saharan Africa. The last few days have been a blur and though there is a small fear that this dose of reality will make it more difficult to return to site, I believe it may have been the ‘recharge’ I need to continue on.
Friday we got a small tour of Outjo from Amanda and then caught a ride to Ojti with Jeff - the guy who gave us our hike the night before. We met up with Dave from Tsumeb about an hour later and spent a couple of hours trying to land a free hike to here. Just as we had found a guy who would hall us for N$50 each, I snagged a free ride in the back of a truck with some HIV workers.
We squeezed into the back with all our stuff and theirs with barely room to move and headed out. We made it about 20k north of Okahandja when as we crested a hill and going 140kph, crashed into a car that was stopped dead in the middle of the road. They were German tourists who had stopped because baboons were crossing the road and they wanted to take pictures. In hindsite the experience for me was somewhat comical - at the time, it was terrifying. I have not been in a serious car accident before. What I remember is this…my back was to the front while everyone else was sitting side to side. We were all talking about something or other when Amanda looked up with shock in her eyes and said something about ‘we’re going to hit the car’. At the same time, I was looking out the back and saw a baboon cross the road and commented on it. Then Dave and Chris looked forward - terrified - and the breaks were slammed down hard. With no visual awareness of what was going on, all I could do was brace myself and wait for impact. Upon connection with the car, all three of them were thrown into me - fortunately I had 2 backpacks behind me that I had pushed myself into and they broke any kind of injury I could have sustained.
We all made it out of the situation okay, including the 3 people in the front and the 2 tourists. I don’t want to think what would have happened if there had been a car following us at the same speed. I probably wouldn’t be typing this right now. The funniest thing about it was the completely unscathed avocado on our windshield that had originally occupied a space in the back of the other car!
I flagged down another car to get us the rest of the way - there was little we could do for the people there. We landed a ride with a family of 4, arrived in Windhoek, checked into our deluxe accommodations and headed to the mall for some shopping and sushi. Yes, sushi in Namibia. Now, in the states I was never a big fan of hanging out at the mall - Mark will attest to this - but here, I welcome the opportunity to experience civilization. We caught up with Katie and Brooke and ventured on. I bought some board games - Scrabble and Pictionary - for Sarah and I, some other essentials, we had sshi - which wasn’t half bad - got stuff for breakfast, then headed back to the rooms to sleep.
Saturday began our first day of VSN training and it was great. I knew a couple of hours into it that it was the perfect fit for me. We went through coaching exercises and regulations throughout the day. At lunch Jay, Chris and I headed out to eat and check some prices for external hard drives. We ended up running into a parade - a big parade - for some Afrikaaner celebration. Surreal moment #47! All these fat, drunk Afrikaaners on floats throwing candy at the crowd. We never were able to figure out what it was all for.
I found an inexpensive hard drive and headed back for more training. The afternoon flew by and we came back to the apartments for some Pictionary before dinner. It was great fun! We ate at an Italian place where for the 3 hours there, we could have been in any major city, anywhere in the world. I had ‘La Mussa’ pizza and a grilled chicken salad with assorted veggies including broccoli. Broccali!!! I haven’t eaten THAT since landing here. It was heaven on a bisquit. I also got a little hammered on some iced tea concoction and flirted with our waiter. Everyone seemed to find it hysterical and the brief amount of one-sided flirtation alleviated a miniscule amount of built up SF.
Sunday, April 13 Evening - Thursday, April 17:
Our final day of training and I was pumped. We worked on our program for re-connect, broke for a great lunch at the café attached to the Namibian Craft Center and then headed back to Jon Jonkers to chill before dinner. We discovered that the Indian restaurant was closed so we headed to Spar to grab something quick. It was also closed so we headed to Spur. This place was American Native Indian themed and WAY over the top! Beyond gawdy! Dave, Amanda, Katie, Brooke and I could not stop laughing at everything. I got some great video of it. We headed back for some more Pictionary which was great fun but the sore loser in me kept rearing its ugly head…and yes, my team lost.
Monday we checked out, said good-bye to the people hiking and Chris and I dropped our stuff at the PCV med flat with Kami and Shayna. We had made the decision to stay another day because of a PC ride heading to Rundu on Tuesday. We walked ALL over the city. We just needed to find a place to sleep that night. We called the guy who works for the Embassy who lets people stay with him, but he was full. I was then going to try Drew, someone Sarah had met but I hadn’t, who has a guest house there. Chris was going to try Heather (another PCV), because her college roommate lives in Windhoek now. It all sounds so weird doesn’t it? Just trusting our lives to strangers and them, their homes to us. But I’ll say it again, when in the PC most people open their homes to you.
I went to meet with Linda at the American Cultural Center to try and snag some English books and dictionaries for my English Club. Within 5 minutes of conversation, she invited Chris and I to stay with her and her husband. Her husband, as it turns out, is the previous director of Peace Corp. Namibia. What the hell? Such a small friggin’ world. She took me to the store room which was fairly picked over, but I did find some geography books and simple readers. No dictionaries though - I’ll have to figure out something else on that end.
Chris and I walked Kami to another mall so she could buy a laptop cooler/fan thing, then headed out to find the office of the Rainbow Project. It’s the LGBT resource center for Namibia. I had a great meeting with the director Linda and now Sarah and I are satellite counselors of sort for the organization. They had just had, the week before, a family travel 700k to meet with them because their son had tried suicide because he was gay. They travelled from around where I live. I could have saved them a trip…but now, Sarah and I are ready to be there.
Chris and I went to Fruit & Veg for lunch - which is somewhat like a Jungle Jim’s. We then went to find the InterCape office to buy a ticket for Paul. We then went to the movies. Yes. I finally got to sit down in an actual theater and watch a flick. Horton Hears a Who - to be exact. Movies in the states were always my drug of choice. They helped me escape. And here, for almost 90 minutes…I forgot where I was. When the movie was over, I actually cried. Guess I just got a little homesick from the experience.
We met up with some 26ers and had dinner at Taal - the Indian restaurant. I opened the menu and the first thing I saw was ‘chicken tikka’. I instantly began to tear up again (it was definitely a day to let it all out, lol) and left the table to call Mark. Ya see, that’s what he always ordered when we went to Baba in Oakley. I talked non-stop for 60 seconds just to tell him I was thinking about and that I loved him…then went to order. We all got something different so we could share and it was amazing.
Chris and I got a cab to Linda and Jeff’s, hung out and chatted with them a bit before heading to bed. A real bed. With a real mattress, lol. I slept like the dead. In the morning we hung out with them a bit, had some breakfast, then Linda dropped us off at the med flat. Oh…I spotted my first scorpion! Inside their house!!
We finally left Windhoek around 9:30 and after 8 hours of travel arrived in Rundu. Oh, and I saw my first school of meerkats on the way. I had hoped to make it all the way to Sarah’s before dark, but since that wasn’t happening, I crashed at Patricks. There was a big package waiting for me there! Kim and Becky from back home sent me a TON of stuff and I’ve been eating girl scout cookies and PoppyCock for the last few days. Thanks guys! You have no idea how much I appreciated it and how much I miss you both.
Wednesday morning I was waiting for Stanley the driver (I had left some yarn I purchased in Windhoek in the back of the vehicle), but then decided I wanted to get on the road. I got a cab to Engin, waited a bit, then caught what I thought was going to be a ride with some guys. They said they had to go pick up 5 other people. I jumped in the back with my stuff and on we went. When we got to where the others were supposed to be, they weren’t there so we left. Then I discovered I was being dropped off at another hike point because NOW the guys weren’t taking me since it was only ME, lol.
I ended up taking the Venture and had to wait about an hour before it was filled enough for us to take off. There was a family who teaches at Scot’s school in Nkurenkuru and they were traveling with their 5 year old son David. Now David truly is the CUTEST kid I’ve EVER seen! He’s beautiful! And he climbed into the front seat with me and NON-STOP asked me question after question. What’s that? What color is that? How many cars are there? 1 question after another. It was GREAT fun and I was thankful that my earlier ride had changed. He ended up getting tired and I rubbed his head until he fell sleep.
I made it to Sarah’s town, had a quick bite to eat with her, then got a ride to Mpungu. On the way we passed a smashed up truck which I found out later had contained a new teacher in Mpungu - a guy who just graduated college. He died in the accident. Damn. Life is SO fragile here. They had tried to pass another car at night and just lost control. This is why I don’t like traveling at night!
Upon arrival to Mpungu, everyone was glad to see me, sorry to hear about the accident I was in and I headed to my flat to rest and prepare for Thursday’s English club. Today, I worked some more on my lesson for the day. It went off without a hitch! Everyone seems to be enjoying my class so much - ME included! I had lunch, then met with the people in charge of making posters for National Testing Day. With that accomplished, I returned home to watch the rest of ‘Jesus Camp’, do some yoga, and have dinner. It’s taken me about an hour to type and catch up with my journal, so I’ll certainly not slip on that responsibility again!
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