Site Visit Part 2

This is part 2 of 2 of my blog about my site visit. The next day, the 16^th, I left for Rundu to shadow another PC Volunteer. I have to say that it feels as if every rooster and donkey is placed outside my window. I found out as well that my friends and family were getting my letters and postcards I sent around March 13^th. I have to say I’m a bit unhappy that I have only received 5 out of 14 letters that people have sent to me. Anyways, one of my host brothers, Benhard, is going to teach me how to build a hut when I get back! One thing I’ve found out is that using the bathroom at night is freaky; I keep worrying a snake is going to bite my butt. I also found a snake trail leading to where I think a snake lives beneath my hut. It’s funny, people think I look like Justin Bieber, I assume because I am white, have the same color of hair, wear sunglasses, and my hair, loosely interpreted, could be seen as similar to his hair. I’ve also been told that it’s getting around that there is a clever white boy who speaks Rukwangali. 

Anyways, we left on Nam time, two hours late. I met Gio and Bonnie at the school. Then we went to the PC office and used the internet. The open market we ate at had such amazing food! It was so cheap! I had French fries, potato salad, and rice! I am going to eat there a lot!

On the 17^th I woke up with hives or bug bits, quite a few of them. We went to the office to meet up with 5 others. We had lunch at the office again. Then we walked to the Kavango River Lodge to see one of the most gorgeous sunsets I have ever seen overlooking a landscape consisting of the river, a wide expanse of green/brown land, and Namibia and Angola. We went to Omashare Lodge after and had pizza and apple pie. 

The next morning, the 18^th, was our day to head back to training. I was quite happy to get back to see my friends. I was also really itchy.  We went to the transport meeting area and waited an hour for a combi (van) to leave. We got back seven hours later. I counted my bites/hives and found that what was 190 was now 200+. I appreciate things so much more after visiting site. It was wonderful to see my host mother and the house. I skyped my friend Kimberly in the morning. I went to the doctor that morning because I was gaining 2-5 hives per hour. It turns out I have the honor of having the first African disease amongst my group of PC people. I have the Coxsackie Virus. It is caused by ingesting or inhaling something; I was confused about what. The doctor gave me some prescriptions and said that the worst the virus would do was cause fever, which I do not think I will not get. By the end of the day I more hives. This day was really awesome because we mainly got to hang out and talk about all our crazy stories! After that all of the trainers and us went to our favorite café to celebrate all the birthdays we missed or will miss when we move to site.

The 20^th was movie day at Alicia’s. There were six of us in total and it was a wonderful day. We watched Despicable Me and had sliders. I skyped with two of my friends later that day.The 21^st, Sunday, was another movie day, but just with one of my closest friends here, Crystal. It was so good! Our good friend Kaitlynn came over and we had a great time watching movies, playing games, and talking. I am so thankful for them. Today, the 22^nd, was an amazing day! I pretty much started a friendship over with one of my friends here and it was a huge burden off my shoulders. Today was just awesome!

Site Visit Part 1

This is part one my blog post about my last week and specifically, my visit to my permanent site, Mpora Clinic in Kavango Region. I woke up early the monng of the 13^th and skyped with my parents. I was really embarrassed because I had to bring a big suitcase, when I really needed a mid-size one. The car we drove in was really nice! On our way to site we saw warthogs, which was cool! The trip took 5.5 hours. The clinic is beautiful! There will be about 15 people working there by my second month. The thing that struck me was that it was so clean! 

My homestead where I’ll be staying for the next two years is a kilometer away. When I got there I was greeted by the head lady and some others. They danced and trilled when I got there! It was so awesome! We sat for a while and talked. I’ve been so happy that my Rukwangali is really good according to the people I run across in my village. We went back to my supervisor’s place and had lunch and hung out. My supervisor has a pretty nice house out in the middle of nowhere, so I was able to take a shower. Back at the homestead we had chicken and porridge. It was difficult to eat in total darkness so I used my headlamp. The headlamp is one thing I could not have done without at my site. My homestead is great by the way! My hut is not too bad! It has a cement floor, two chairs, a table, a desk, and a bed. Later that night my family pointed out where an elephant was crossing a few kilometers away, although I couldn’t see because it was too dark. 

The next day was a great day! I did not sleep well because I, stupidly, left the plastic covering on the mattress and slept without a shirt. My mosquito net also was not set up so it was just lying on top of me. One huge positive is that there were no mosquitos! I practiced language that morning and then went to Catholic church with my supervisor and co-workers. It was amazing! The music was acapella and awesome! It lasted three hours and I  had to get up to introduce myself to the entire 150-200 person congregation. After church we went to the main city, Rundu. My supervisor showed me where to buy everything I need. Then we went to Rundu Beach. It was awesome! The water was so refreshing, even though the river is known for crocodiles and hippos. Right across the river, a few hundred yards away, was Angola. We then visited a clinic and had some juice and watched some soccer. That night, back at the homestead, we had roast beef and porridge. I took my first bucket bath too! It was pretty good actually!  One thing I have learned is that my feet will be perpetually sandy.

The 15^th was a Monday and it meant we would spend the day at the clinic. I had a good night’s sleep, and used the restroom in a hole I had to dig, which was challenging. I have found that boiled water is not my favorite because it tastes metally. I went to my clinic and it was nice to meet some patients. My supervisor threw me into the fray right away by making me lead a pregnancy counseling session. It was a bit scary, but I loved it and learned so much! The rest of my time at the clinic that day was great! I also went to the school to introduce myself to the teachers, principal, and students.

On a side note, it has been awesome here because no one judges in the usual way. They don’t care if my hair is messed up. They also think I look much older than I am. I have decided to not cut my hair or facial hair for 3 months because of this! I don’t know when I’ll ever have a chance like this.

 
I had a great evening at the homestead; my host mother, the head lady, had walked quite a distance to buy me a huge Coke!!!! I felt so special! I showed my family pictures on my phone and gave them key chains and postcards from San Francisco. It’s amazing how they were so amazed! They just kept saying “wow”, and “it’s so beautiful.” I was shocked they had never heard of Disney, which I thought had as much brand recognition as Coke does. I can’t wait to introduce them to Disney! I couldn’t sleep well that night because of the Boston Marathon attack. I kept getting texts from friends and I woke up at 12am, 2am, 3am, 4am, and 5am.

Fiesta Night to the Day Before Site Visit!

Sunday was an awesome day! Four of my friends came over to my house and we ended up watching The Road to El Dorado! It was the first movie I watched with other people in a group! Around one we went to Alicia’s for Fiesta Night! The cooking took forever, but was well worth it! Alicia made tacos, Mexican rice and beans, and chips and salsa! It was so scrumptious! We also had a piñata and the eleven volunteers who came had a great time relaxing and enjoying each other’s company!

Monday was the day before the Language mid-term. Everyone was definitely stressed, but I really wasn’t. I realized that I could only say what I had been taught. Although we needed to get Novice-high, I thought I would get Novice-mid. Anyways, Alicia and I went to her family’s farm and took pictures with the lambs and puppies! Then we went back and watched Ice Age 4. It was a great evening!

I am proud to say I dreamed in my Namibian language, Rukwangali. I woke up very early and studied. I did a through practice language interviews with friends and became extremely confident because I did so well! I took the oral test and it was a cinch! It was actually fun! I was even sad when the tester didn’t push me to the next level!

Tuesday was also site announcement day! I was honestly dreading it because I don’t put as much stock in a place as I do the friends I have made. They could put me any place and I’d be fine. The way they announced the site placements was by drawing a giant map of Namibia in the dirt and then placing us on the map. My site is awesome! I think, by far, that I have the most stereotypical African experience out of the volunteers in my group. It’s so crazy that every time someone brings up something that they have to do without, they all just say “compare yourself to C.J.’s site.” I take this as a badge of honor. I am an optimist, and this is one of the reasons why I think they placed me at my site. It was bit of a shock to find that I was actually getting what I had asked for. Here is the list of things I don’t have, then I’ll put why it’s awesome. No shops except 60 miles away, no internet, no electricity, no water except 30 minutes away, no bathroom, no toilet yet, cooking outside, mud hut, outdoor bucket bathing, no fence, no gate. Closest volunteer is 16 miles away. Also, according to my supervisor, there are a LOT of snakes, especially cobras! Okay, the positives now. I view all of this as affirmation that I am where God wants me to be. I also feel affirmed because the people in charge believe that I can do it. I am thankful that I live a few kilometers from the main highway. Most of all, I will grow in so many ways that I would not grow if I was in an amenity filled place. I will be working at Mpora Clinic. I will have many projects, yet to be determined. I will be living at the Village Head Lady’s homestead. These are definitely exciting things, but also challenging. Being a Christian, I believe that I have someone on my side who can overcome ANY challenge; this is why I believe I will do this; although it will be difficult.

I woke up at 2:30am because of bad dreams about snakes. I woke up feeling very tense and stressed. I decided to Skype with my parents. I think that everything hit me at once and definitely shed some tears in front of my parents. I don’t ever do that, but it definitely hit hard. My parents are amazing and know how to comfort me, by just letting me shed my tears and by listening and advising. It’s weird because the reason why I cried was not about the challenges of my site, but that I was crushed that I am so far from my closest Peace Corps friends. I have grown sooo close to some of the PCVs. Another weird thing was, even when I was crying, I was sooo positive and optimistic. It’s just who I am. Positivity and optimism are something I almost always have. I couldn’t even cry and be sad at the same time. Some people wonder why I am so positive; the reason is that I have Christ in my heart, and I know He will take care of me and that I am saved. I have NO fear because of that fact. There are worries of course. I quite positively believe that I will be hurt in some way at my site, mainly due to my inexperience in a village environment. But it is what it is. At school on Wednesday, we got our language results. I was shocked that only 7/18 people met the requirements. I was one of them!!! I was so happy. Later, I called the volunteer I will be shadowing on Tuesday and Wednesday. We had a great talk. Unfortunately, he is a business volunteer so the shadowing may be more fun than extremely helpful. We got some tips about transport from the trainers too. 

Thursday and Friday were supervisor workshops. I met my supervisor and almost instantly knew why they paired us up; she is a huge extrovert and seems very happy! We share some similar likes! Anyways, I am blogging early because I will not have internet again until next Friday. I will be staying at my site for 3 days, and shadowing a Peace Corps Volunteer for two days. I will be leaving at 6am on a 9 hour drive to the north. I should have lots of stories when I get back! I definitely feel fortunate to be in this situation. I am just praying it will go very well!   

Pride Rock and Other Adventures!

Week 3 was such a good week! On one of the days we had an awesome lesson with Compost Pete, as I call him. He taught us to make compost and garden. I loved his presentation because it was content rich and practical. He used theory in a way that was abstract, but very meaningful in practicality. One could apply it to other things in life. It reminded me of the rich discussions I had in grad school; I miss it a lot! One of my favorite times of the day is tea time. Every morning we have a thirty minute break and food is provided. PBJ days are awesome as well as cookie days. We also have Rusk, a biscotti like cookie, and cheese and crackers. 

We had several things to do for class this week. We played puberty charades, as well as many other games. A lot of our work involves learning activities to facilitate when working with youth. We got to practice our skills this week with youth at a school and at a non-profit called Kayec (HIV/AIDS Prevention). I helped lead two sessions. The first session was okay, but I let someone else take the lead because I am not a particular fan of the activity we did. It was a good learning experience. One note, we had almost no time to prepare on the first day. We were thrown into the mix and had to improvise. As a result, I met with two of my co-leaders the night before the next presentation to plan. I am so glad we did because I felt very confident. Our presentation went extremely well. I was proud of how I interacted with the kids because it is an area I need to grow in. 

I have had some wonderful times with people this week. The conversation has been amazing. I have cleared up misunderstandings with people. I have become more comfortable with people, which has increased my friendship bond with them. I LOVE texting my PCV friends here. They are so awesome. I also love being able to text people back in the US via Whatsapp. It’s been wonderful to keep in touch even though I am so far away. 

On Saturday, I hiked to Pride Rock (yes, like in the Lion King), with four others. It was amazing! We saw baboons! I loved the little kids who led us there! They would just come up and grab my hands and walk with me and speak excitedly. I had heard the hike was hard, but I thought it was still pretty easy, also very enjoyable because it still provided a bit of a challenge. I am tempted to speed hike it because it was so much. When we got to the top you could see for miles and miles and miles. It was devoid of people, but for the town below us. I took a lot of pictures and video. We also did Gangnam style at the top because the kids were singing it on the way up. Nay, our Cambodian PCV, also likes doing it! Definitely a good memory! I carried two of the kids on the way down because they wanted me to. It was a workout, but still fun!

After the hike, I went to Alicia’s place and we had a wonderful time hanging with her/my family. We played games, read, ate, talked, and hung out. Then we went to one of the daughter’s beauty pageant. It started 1.5 hours late and I had to leave early to Skype one of my best friends in the US. Anyways, today is Fiesta Night! We are having Mexican food and hangout time with just the Volunteers and Alicia’s and my families. I’ll blog about how it went in my next post! Should be awesome!   

Windhoek, Cultural Day, Cell Phones!

I had another great week! On Saturday, March 23, we went to Windhoek for the day. We visited the Heroes Acre, a huge memorial to those who died in the independence struggle. Then we went to the mall, which ended up being quite frustrating because the cell phone clerk did not know anything about the phones. Another friend and I ended up giving up and decided to wait to get a phone. The rest of the day was a blur, and I missed out because I got into a really discouraged mood. We went to a lot of great places, but it was also a VERY long day. I found that my moo was also negatively affected by dehydration. I had some water on the bus ride home and my mood perked right up!

My buddy, Alicia and I, are planning a Fiesta Night at her place coming up, so we have been looking at costs of making Mexican food. I also had a few bbqs this week (they are called braai’s here). I love the Afrikaans braai food. We have lamb, roosterbrodt (bread with garlic butter), vooroborsche (sausage), and salad. All my spellings of the names are wrong by the way. I love mine and Alicia’s host families. They are related so we are always hanging out together. I call her family my family and vice versa. 

The big event this week was Cultural Day. All of our host families came to the training center and we cooked and ate food all day. It was definitely interesting and fun. We started cooking early and the food took several hours to make. I took a lot of pictures and video. This sounds bad, but the best part of my day was learning how to kill the chickens. Apparently, I did very well and it was not bad at all. The girl after me prolonged the cutting and I had to yank the head off to put it out of its misery (gross, I know). After that I felt very accomplished, as if my day’s work was done. The rest of the day was spent hanging out and cooking. We were organized into language groups. After all the groups were done cooking we went inside and set out the food. There was A LOT! I have to say that I would rather slaughter almost any animal they asked me too, than eat some of the things I had. I don’t like meat on the bone very much. But I was proud of trying most things, although I almost lost my food twice. Here is the list of what I had: Mopani worms (my trainer knowingly gave me raw ones; they weren’t bad), turtle liver with fat, beef jerky, porridge, donkey, goat ear, chicken, pigs feet, fat, cakes, spinach, and tiny fish.

The next day we went to a really pretty resort called the Okahandja Country Hotel. We relaxed there for several hours and ate. We had some really good conversations. One of the things that is weird is that I don’t feel I’m going through all the stages that the other PCVs are going through. We are together so much that it only makes sense that people would become more irritable and emotional. However, I haven’t felt that at all. Granted, I do feel it around me, and am definitely on the receiving end of some of the stuff. However, it seems to roll off me much better here than it would have in the States. Maybe it’s personal growth? I hope so! 

I forgot to mention that I got a cell phone and can now text and call! I also have this app called “whatsapp.”It’s amazing! It lets me use data to send texts anywhere in the world. I have been texting friends around the world since I got the app!