June 9-15

I got a good night’s sleep and had cookies and pancakes for breakfast. I left for the office early and watched youtube all day. It was so much fun. I had left over raisin bread for a mid-morning snack. I left with my ride at 4pm and had pasta and went to bed.

The 10^th was soooo cold. It is not fun to use the bathroom in the middle of the night with the freezing wind. It was an awesome day! I was so productive! I went to my office and planned a lot: community mapping, needs assessment, appreciative inquiry, youth questions, seasonal calendars, daily activity schedules, meetings, observations, youth projects, etc. It was the first day I worked all day! Lunch was really good. I stayed at the office late and watched Green Street Hooligans. I smsed some good friends too. I was so excited when I got a hold of a friend from grad school. It was exciting because she wants to go into PC or work in Africa for two years and then get her PhD, just like me! I never find people who are that like-minded. I also started talking about vacation ideas with my friend Kellie. It got me really excited too! Walking home from the office in the dark was stressful. I’m not afraid of the dark. I could not see how close to the highway I was with the glare of the cars’ headlights blinding me. Then, when I went off into the bush, I had animals follow me, although I didn’t know what kind they were. They were both dogs and the first one almost attacked. Not a fan of that. Anyways, I got home and ate some really really sandy porridge and spinach. Then I played an addicting restaurant game on my computer until 9:30pm.

The morning of the 11^th was so cold; it was miserable. I may have to buy another blanket. I wore my winter sweatshirt. I gathered my laundry and took it to the lady I pay to wash my clothes. Then I wrote my blogs for the two prior weeks. We finally got our HIV Rapid Testing equipment. We should have had it two years ago, but at least we have it now. I was very excited. It took a while to set up, but we finally finished. We had a number of prisoner’s show up with the police who needed to see the nurse, and when they saw the rapid testing stuff, they really wanted to get tested, which was very exciting. I had lunch and then went back to my office. We also got a new nurse today named Grace! She had just graduated from Rundu State Hospital. I had a really good talk with her. It was nice to be a “veteran”, although I have only been here a little more than a month. A little bit later, I was told a cow ate part of my blanket. I could have been upset, but I decided I couldn’t do anything about it, and just go with the flow. I also realized it sounded pretty funny. My best friend here finally got my letter! After work, I went home and had dinner. Then I went and watched an old college football game on my computer and played solitaire until 9:30pm.

Last night wasn’t nearly as cold as the nights before. It was really nice. My family gave me bread for breakfast. Then I walked to the primary school. I met some teachers and observed a class. We are so fortunate in America. There was one teacher and 52 students. They had to share one book between four people. There weren’t enough chairs so they sat on anything they could find. It was crowded and the classroom needs many repairs. I was very impressed that the students (called learners here) were really quiet, although this could be due to the teacher being the principal J. They talked about plants and the sea. After the class I waited for the 40 minute break to be over, then I met the Lifeskills teacher. She was so great! We talked about a lot of things and she said she’d love to have me help out or teach some classes. I went back to the clinic and ate a lot for lunch. My peanut butter jar that  had just bought that week is already half eaten. After work I went and showered at my supervisor’s then relaxed and watch some tv shows on my computer. I picked up my laundry and went home. I went to my hut early to read. Then I went to bed.

The 13^th was the beginning of one my most frustrating days I’ve had in Namibia and in my life. My host brother woke me up the night before saying I had a ride to Otjiwarongo at 5am the next morning! I was so excited because I didn’t have to hitchhike the 5 hour drive. He woke me up later saying it was going to be at 6am. I woke up and got ready really early. I checked with my host brother about the time and he said he’ll be here by 7am. 7am passed and he said 8 or 9. I decided to go hang out at my supervisor’s place at the clinic. I started to get frustrated around hour 5 of waiting. I kept smsing my host brother asking him where the guy was. He said over and over “he is coming.” Finally, I became absolutely furious as 1pm rolled around. My supervisor called my host brother and asked where the guy was and he said the guy would be around 3 or 4. The anger I felt was something I had felt few times before. I was furious because I could have hitchhiked 9 hours earlier and been at my destination about 7 hours earlier. I am also not supposed to travel after dark so I was angry that I might have to. I was also furious because several PCVs had to pass by my clinic on the way to the workshop I was going to, but I rejected their offers to pick me up because I thought I had a guaranteed free ride. I was okay with 5 hours of waiting because this is Africa time, but 9 hours was bad, even for Africa time. I ate so badly while I was waiting because I was stressed. I started walking down the highway and waited to be picked up. I was so thankful when a man pulled up and opened the door. I was so relieved to finally be on the road. He worked for the Regional Council and was on his way home to Mariental, very far south. We talked for a bit about his family. I was really impressed. All his daughters are brilliant and doing ambitious things such as studying in Russia to become a doctor. I loved that he was in a hurry because he majorly speeded (sped?). I got to Otjiwarongo in a very short amount of time, by 5:15. I was so relieved to get there and happy to see people. However, for some reason, I got really down. I’m almost positive it was due to the major roller coaster of extreme emotion I had gone through. I started to feel better. Dinner was good and it was great to eat in a nice place, at a table, with friends. By the way, there were about 25 PCVs there. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and hung out, talked, and relaxed. Then we went to bed.

I woke up pretty stressed on the 14^th. But the morning got better. The breakfast was awesome…except for the mystery meat which turned out to be liver and left a horrible aftertaste. I ate soooo much. Then we went to training. The training was on computers and information technology. It was awesome and really interesting! Tea time was great. We hadn’t seen the conference center in the day time, and it was beautiful! We had meatpies, juice, tea, and coffee. I made some new PCV friends. They are awesome! We ended training early and had a good dinner of giant meatballs and rice. The room we ate in was beautiful! After dinner I had a really good talk with my best friend here. The fun continued as we wait for the cars to come pick us up to take us back to the hotel. We watched people play Settlers of Catan and other games. I didn’t feel good the rest of the night and went to bed early.

On the 15^th, I woke up to an sms from another PCV who was throwing up every two hours from the food. I was really sad she was going to have to stay back and miss the training. However, breakfast was amazing again! This time, I got there first. We went into the dining room and I got bread, jelly, cornflakes with sugar, fish stix, sausage, and more…just before we were told our group had been moved to another dining room. I was stoked that we got to keep the food though! Training was amazing again, and I got a lot of awesome new software from different people. Tea time was good; I ate four sandwhiches. The weather was beautiful too! At the end of the day we did group presentations about what we had learned. It was pretty simple, and it went well. We finished 3 hours early and walked back to our hotel. On my way back I went and spent quite a bit of money buying food for my friend who was sick. I had so much fun doing it! I went back to her place and we hung out for the next four hours, watching movies and eating. I missed dinner because of it, but it was worth it. Another Group 37 PCV and I met with the Information and Communication Technology Committee because we were interested in joining. It was extremely exciting. Dave and I were the only new possible recruits, but I am definitely interested in joining. He and I talked for a long time with another PCV about the huge potential we saw in Namibia. It was an awesome day, and I went to bed quite content.