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!