Netball, Exams, and Sunburns-- Oh My!

Here are some highlights from my life these past few weeks:

Netball Court: The first half of the cement has been poured and it's looking really good! Now the guys are just waiting for the next round of cement to arrive so they can keep going. Here are some pictures of the progress:

Measuring the boundaries and leveling the sand.

The first load of cement/concrete arrives!

A little over half the court covered in cement...now we need
to do the rest!

Also, I made a video to introduce you to some of the players that will be benefiting from the court. Watch the video below to meet them!

We still need your help! Once again, a HUGE thank you to those that have donated, we are so close! If you haven't donated yet, please considering giving even US$10, that will get us one bag of cement closer to our goal! If you don't think you can donate, please share the video with others to spread the word! This is a great cause that will be enjoyed for years to come =) (And just try to say 'no' to those faces...you can't!)


School: Last week we had our last day of classes, and exams are now in full swing. For the last day, I surprised each of my math and science learners with a pen, a pencil, a rubber, a note, a good luck marble (from our points system) to use on their exams. I have never seen kids so excited over office supplies...I took a group photo with each class and many insisted on holding their goodies bags in the picture.

Say 'hello' to 9C! I'm gonna miss those smiles.

Now exams have started which means the school has descended in to a sort of organized chaos (sometimes less organized than others). My math kids wrote their exams yesterday and the results are somehow. I'm trying to keep my head up and count every correct answer as a victory instead of each incorrect answer as a failure. If I stay positive, I think I can emerge from exams relatively unscathed.

Life: With time winding down so fast (less than three weeks, omg!) I'm trying to make the most of every second here. A few weeks ago, I went to a learner's house for the afternoon. She cooked porridge for lunch and then attempted to teach me to do some traditional dances. However, the steps were a little fast for this oshilumbu to pick up, so don't be expecting any dance awards from me anytime soon. I also helped her fetch water and watched in awe as this girl carried a 20 litre jug of water on her head with no hands over uneven terrain. Amazing. I carried 10L on my head with my hands and still managed to spill a bit. Also, my neck really hurt after...


This past weekend we went up to the river with our friends Jan, Johnny, and Otto for one more hike/camping weekend. We had a blast, hiked about 20k, swam in the croc infested river (don't worry, Mom, we were in the fast moving water and totally safe), slept in the sand under the stars, had an AMAZING braai, and got some epic sunburns. (Mine breaks into my top 3, and those that know me know that's saying something...)

View from the top.

This weekend I'm hosting our Namibian Thanksgiving party which should prove to be a great time. Although I'll be seriously missing celebrating Turkey Day with my family (and Auntie Ann's sweet potatoes!), we're doing our best to bring a little taste of home to Namibia.

Oh, and I applied for some jobs, a couple of long-term sub positions around MA, so everyone keep your fingers crossed!

With so little time and so much to do, my mind is constantly in a million places, but I think keeping busy is good-- it keeps me distracted from the plethora of intense and conflicting emotions that are currently swimming around my head. While I'm obviously excited to come home and see everyone (and having a washing machine again will sure be nice), I'm also incredibly sad to leave my colleagues, learners, and friends. I've had such an amazing experience this year, and I'm going to make the most of my last three weeks! See you all soon!

In the meantime, enjoy the adorable piglets that have
taken to hanging out outside my house!

Driving Namibia: Three women, two weeks, one country

Once again, I'm a few weeks late with the updates. Sorry. That being said, I have no idea what format this is going to come out in. Certainly it won't be a detailed, descriptive narrative. More likely a stream of consciousness, story-telling style. Let's see where this goes. Ready? Ok, deep breath:

Wake up super early on a Saturday, hike into Ondangwa. Find a taxi to Tsumeb, wait three hours for it to leave. Get to Tsumeb, Rachel is running late. Wait for her in a cafe, drink iced coffee (iced coffee here=coffee+ice cream+chocolate sauce). Meet Rachel, get car, drive, pick up hikers, drive, meet Jenn in Omaruru, drive. Night at Jenn's place in Omajete. Dinner and playlist making, sleep. Up early, drive. Brandberg-Namibia's highest mountain. Hike to the famous "White Lady" rock painting. Lunch at the base (apples/carrots/peanut butter/crackers/cheese: our staples for this trip, also known as "delectables"). Drive. Spitzkoppe for the night. Hot shower. Climbing on rocks, watching the sunset with a bottle of wine. Bed. Wind so strong it literally blows our tent away when we get out of it. Breakfast, more climbing. Pictures. Drive. Swakopmund. Water. In the air. (My hair was not happy). Mexican, Margaritas, and dark beer. (My tummy was very happy). Drive. Drive. Drive. Terrible, long, washboard-y gravel road. Cross the Tropic of Capricorn. Stop in Solitare for some pie at a bakery. Almost passed the campground (luckily the American flag alerted us!) Swim in the pool (cold). Simultaneous sunset/moon rise from the deck. Breathtaking. Dinner, shower, bed. Up early. Drive to Soussevlei. Climb some dunes. Take a million photos. Explore the vleis. Ice cream treat on the way back, more dark beer. Wake up, happy birthday to me. Drive. Breakfast pie at the bakery again (called Moose McGregors, very fitting). Drive. Drive. Drive. Lunch in Walvis Bay. Jelly fish the size of a hubcap. Flamingos. More coffee/desserts (we dubbed my birthday the "day of desserts", but it's ok, because we had real salads with lettuces for lunch, so clearly it balances out, right?). Walk back to the car. Dead battery. Lucky for us a Botswanan middle school cricket team was in the parking lot and gave us a push. Drive to Swakop. Rare sunset on the surreal road with ocean on side and dunes on the other. Food shop, get some treats (pesto, gnocchi, and chocolate covered almonds!) Also Amarula. And ice cream. Crash on our GIANT bed. Decide we're too tired to cook and fully embrace the day of desserts by eating ice cream with Amarula while snuggling in bed and watching Stardust. Birthday=success. Lazy next morning. Drive to Henties Bay for the fish festival, which in true Namibian fashion had more meat than fish. More iced coffee. Browsed the vendors. Bought hummus! And more pesto. Back to Swakop. Pizza and more dark beer. Early(ish) bed. Wake up at 3:30, drive. Drive. Drive. Oh, did I say drive? 12 hours to Luderitz. (Bravo, Rachel, bravo). Arrive at the same time as Mariella, Taylor, Kristin and Emily. Check into the hostel. Search for dinner. We heard Luderitz is dead after the sun goes down but we're determined to find a dance party. Dinner at a quiet cafe, then we search for the Yacht Club which we heard was a popular hangout for the "young folks". Can't find it. Wait, guys, might it be that building that's shaped like a boat and has a Heineken sign out front? Yup. Drinks, meet some really cool locals who invite us to a braai the next night. More drinks, random pizza, dancing (yes, we managed to find dancing. Only us). Bed. Kolmanskope Ghost Town, lots of sand. In the houses. Like filling the houses. So cool. Back to the hostel. Braai is starting now, so we still have a few hours to nap first. Braai with new friends, more drinks, more dancing. Good times. Learned the "Cups" thing. Out till wee hours. Sleep. Till 1. Yeah..."Breakfast" at a cafe, more iced coffee (So. Much. Iced Coffee. I'll seriously miss this.) Drive to Diaz Point, aka "Imperialist Point". Ocean, catch on the beach with a crazy dog and my tennis ball (and they laughed at me for bringing it...), exploring the awesome campsite, where you can actually sleep in an old boat (really, Lonely Planet, you're not going to include this?!). Snacks at the cafe. Amazing sunset (and the dubbing of me as the photomonger in addition to being the keymonger, and the gatemonger). Early bed. More driving. Drive to Windhoek. Meet up with Bret for Indian food. Crash on his floor. Jenn and I run errands in Windhoek while Rachel picks up her friend from the airport. Drama. Where's Hannah? We don't know. Cancelled flight. Will we miss Etosha? Finally get Hannah, decided to try to make it to the gate before sunset. Perfect timing, 30 mins to spare. Lady at Etosha remembers me. Gnocci and pesto for dinner.  Meet up with Abby and co. Wine and watering hole. Lions! And rhinos! Bed. Drive through Etosha. So many animals. WE SAW A LEOPARD! And an adorable elephant family. And got THIS close to a rhino One more night. Early bed. One more watering hole. Narrating the lives of some animals. Drive to 'Kati. Zebros for lunch (duh!) Urbock (rare winter-only beer). Up to Onamutai. Home at last, but this vaca isn't over yet! Homemade hummus and some Dr. Who. Crash for the night. Off the the trade fair with Kristy! Busy, but fun. Lots of things to buy, but I manage to exercise some serious self control (until December at least...). Back home, then out for the night to Paulson's. So. Many. Men. Paulson let us stay behind the bar. (Thanks, dude!) Home, bed. The trio leave early the next morning and I attempt to prepare for school the following day.

Phew. It was a crazy, adventure-filled two weeks that I will never forget. Thanks for a fabulous time L^3 feat. Hannah Montana =) 

Here, enjoy some pics! To see the the full facebook album (even if you don't have facebook), click here.

"White Lady" whose actually a man...

Spitzkoppe

I swear I actually took this

Hanging out under the rock bridge.

An dessert oasis in the desert

Sunset on the deck.

Moonrise

Deadveli

Kolmanskope-- inside an abandoned house

Sunset over Diaz Point

LEOPARD!!

We were THAT close! And this boy was huge!

So may squees.

Peace out

Camping on the Kunene

Ok, it's been another busy couple of weeks so I'll post a few blogs about them, starting with two weekends ago when we went camping along the Kunene River on the Angolan boarder. So here goes:

View from the pool. How cool is that?!

A friend of the one of the volunteers has a house on the Kunene River up near Ruacana Falls, so on Friday, we all met in Ongwediva at their house there, packed up all our gear into their bakkies and headed out for the two hour drive to the river. It was a nice ride (we were in the king cab of the roomy, air conditioned truck-- luxury!) and the landscapes were beautiful. There was one moment where you go up a hill and on the other side, instantly, the entire landscape changes from mostly flat with the occasional tree to hills and hills of greenery. It was really quite spectacular.

Anyway, we got to Jan's house on the river and then drove up a very steep hill (making your driveway look like a bunny slope Christina!) the ridge of the mountain where we were able to enjoy the amazing view from the POOL! On the ledge. Wicked awesome. When it started to get cooler (and our stomachs started to grumble) we went back down to the house to start the braai. Of course, braaiing takes about 4 hours, so we didn't actually eat until almost midnight, but it was well worth the way because it was, as usual, delicious. We passed the time while the guys cooked by playing a travel version of Apples to Apples where you actually have to come up with the nouns/adjectives that start with the letter of the die that you rolled instead of getting them on cards. It was a lot harder than it sounds. We did help with dinner a little-- if you were ever wondering how many Americans it takes to make a Greek salad, the answer is 6. When dinner was over, we set up out mattresses out on the huge porch which overhangs the river, hunted for crocs in the water with a giant spotlight (we could see their eyes shining on the opposite bank, but no actually sightings) and then fell asleep under the stars.

I've decided to transport this
bathroom back home with me

The next morning, we had a nice breakfast, again cooked for us by the guys (they really do spoil us) and then we began to pack up our things and drive a little ways up the river to Johnny's camp where we would drop off some things, and pack up others for our hike. The camp was beautiful, and as odd as this sounds, I fell in love with the bathrooms. They had a really cool outdoor-shower-y feel (probably because they were...) and I took a picture because I sort of want the bathroom in my future home to look like it. There was also a really cool bar area made out of really large tree trunks. The area around the camp was a striking mix between desert and jungle.

Lots of tall trees with twisting branches and vines hosted a handful of monkeys that were swinging around the campsite, doing their best to hide from our view, yet the dry sand and thorny brambles were a vivid reminder of just how dry this country is. We relaxed for a bit at the camp, killing time until the hottest part of the day had passed. After divvying up the supplies, we hoisted our packs on our backs, were handed homemade walking sticks from Johnny's crew, and we embarked on our 4 hour hike along the river.


At first we were walking through lots of open fields in the hot sun, but eventually this gave way to more of a rocky gorge along the river. It was scorching hot, and the footing was a little precarious  but it felt sooo nice to be getting some exercise and enjoying the views that we didn't mind at all. Pretty soon our water bottles were empty, so we stopped at a place a long the river with some swift moving water to fill our bottles and take a dip without worrying about the crocodiles. We had to anchor ourselves on some rocks so as not to be swept away by the current, but the water was nice and refreshing, and I was reminded of swimming up at Livermore.

Our camp site.

We eventually had to get out, dry off, and move on so that we could make it to our camp site before sunset. After another couple of hours hiking, we found a little beach-y area along the river that we thought would make a perfect resting place. We filled up our water bottles again and began to gather firewood and set up our sleeping gear.

Mosquito nets + rope = perfect sleeping
under the stars

Instead of bringing tents, we each brought our mosquito nets and we tied a long piece of rope between two trees to hang them from. We cooked another delicious braai over the fire and then spent another night sleeping under the stars and listening to the rushing of the water over the rocks.



It was so cool to wake up the next morning, on a beach, looking out over river to the Angolan mountains on the other side.

This is what I woke up to.

After a nice breakfast of fruit, coffee, and left over meat, we packed up the campsite and headed out for the last (short) leg of the hike to where we would meet one of Johnny's workers who was bringing the truck to drive us back to the camp site.

Oh hai there little guy!

As much as we enjoyed the hike, we were all thankful not to have to hike back in the midday sun. We arrived back and Johnny's camp and explored a little while the guys cooked lunch. I got to snap some photos of the monkeys and Kristin decided to be adventurous and take the little kayak (with a broken rake as a paddle) into the croc infested waters.
After another amazing meal, we packed up the trucks one last time and drove back to Oshakati to prepare for the week ahead. Luckily, it was going to be a short week due to the long Easter weekend and we all had our Swakop adventure to look forward to. That's all for this post. Check back soon for "Swakopmund-- aka: "Is this still Africa""

Love from Namibz,
Jamie

Also, for more pictures, check out the whole album here.

Is This Real Life?

That is the question that I continuously asked myself this weekend, because if it weren't for the bumps in the back of the bakkie or the hot sun beating down on me, I could have sworn I was dreaming. Yes, it was that incredible. Let me back up and start from the beginning.

A few weeks ago, the other Oshana girls and I decided to go visit the three volunteers in the Kunene region, in a town called Opuwo. I was really looking forward to a trip out of Oshana and to seeing the other volunteers, especially after a tough week at school. Friday came and I was anxiously counting down the hours until school ended so I could hitch a ride into town and meet up with the girls. We still didn't know how we were getting to Opuwo (about a two and a half hour drive) but just as school was ending, I got a text from one of the girls saying that if we could all get to Oshakati by 3:30, we had a free ride! It turns out a friend of Ashley's was driving back that way and offered to wait and take us in his bakkie. Cue the start of our incredible luck. We all made it to Oshakati on time, Louis pulled in, and we piled in his truck (along with the cement mixer he was transporting back- is this real life?).

Kristin in the back of the
bakkie with the cement mixer.

View driving into Opuwo.

Luckily for us, it was a fairly overcast day, so the sun wasn't burning us as we drove. We made it to Opuwo in great time, and our lovely driver even stopped at a China shop to buy us some pillow to make the ride more comfortable. When we pulled in to the parking lot of the OK Grocer in Opuwo, we were greeted by our friends, and by some Himba women selling jewelery. For those that don't know, the Himba are a traditional tribe in Northwestern Namibia famous for their traditional (bare chested) dress, and the ochre mixture that they cover themselves in to protect them from the sun. We then went to a restaurant next door owned by a South African couple that the girls had become friends with.
We had a lovely meal and chatted about all that had happened since we had departed to our sites. The girls told us that although they had hoped to take us to Epupa Falls the next day, our ride had to work, so it looked like we wouldn't be going. We were bummed, but knew it just meant we would have to come back. After eating, we walked through Opuwo to the Abba guest house where we would be spending the night. The guest house was really nice, and also owned by friends of Ashley, Taylor, and Mailin, and they gave us a great rate on our rooms. We dropped our stuff off and got changed, and then piled back into Louie's bakkie to go to the Opuwo Country Lodge for drinks. The lodge was incredible; situated on top of a hill that over looked the mountains, it had an infinity pool that offered a fantastic view. We had a great time hanging out, and got to know a few more friends that the girls had made in Opuwo, as well as a Peace Corp volunteer that knew another PCV that had come with us. We also found out that Louis had offered to take us all to Epupa the next day. Our good luck strikes again! We had a few drinks, looked at the most incredible night sky I have ever seen, including a full view of the Milky Way, and then went to bed.

The next morning, we got up early and went to the grocery store to get supplies for the weekend. We bought some food, and had breakfast back at the restaurant, including the first real cup of coffee I've had in over a month. (This shouldn't make it as high up on my highlights of the weekend list as it does, but I know at least some of you understand!)  We loaded all of our camping supplies into the truck and piled in once again for another bakkie ride.

About to embark on the ride out to
Epupa!

Our beautiful campsite. See those mountains?
That's Angola.

This time the sun was beaming and the road was considerably more bumpy, but we at least had pillows and bed rolls to cushion us a little. However, sun, wind, and dust, is not a great combination either for my hair (which basically turned to dreads), my stomach, or my skin. When we arrived at the campsite 3 hours later, we were all more than ready to get out of the truck. We found ourselves in a beautiful campsite right on the river, with Angola just on the other side! We unloaded the things, set up the tents and then took a much needed swim in the pool. Yup. A pool. A really nice one with a cabana bar. We were in absolute heaven. After swimming for awhile, we walked to the falls.


There really are not words to describe how absolutely incredibly beautiful they are. Not even the pictures can do it justice. Kids were washing clothes and playing in the pools that gathered off to the side, the blue sky, red sand, and green grass created a gorgeous backdrop to the sound of the water roaring over the rocks.

We climbed around, snapping pictures and just soaking it all in. I sat on a rock in the middle of the falls, with mist spraying my hot skin, just looking and listening to everything around me, and once again had to ask "is this real life?"  I could have stayed there forever.

 Eventually I removed myself from my perch and walked back toward where the kids were playing. Erica had met some and was busy taking pictures of them at their request. I walked over and said hi and started talking to some of the girls. Then they were pointing to my hair and asked me to take it out of the ponytail. I did, squatted down, and immediately was encircled by a flock of hands who all wanted to braid my hair. I sat there laughing as 6 pairs of tiny African hands pulled my hair into random braids. Soon, everyone started heading back to the campsite, so I managed to get my head away from their hands, thank them for their handiwork, and walk back, sporting quite the 'do.

The line of falls from the lookout point.

We went back in the pool for a while (the only relief from the burning sun) and I noticed that despite the copious amounts of sunscreen I had applied, I was still getting pretty burned. My stomach also wasn't feeling great so I decided to sit in the shade for a while with a few of the others. Ashley and Louis had gone to the Himba village to buy some fresh bread and when they go back, we got back in the truck to drive to a lookout point on top of a hill where you can see the sunset and a view of the whole fall line. We got out of the truck, with the sun setting behind us, and looked down the orange hill to see the Kunene River crashing over rocks with Angolan mountains in the background. Is. This. Real. Life?! When the sun had dipped behind the mountain and we had taken every possible picture we could, we headed back down to get started on our braii.

Louis had gotten some meat from a butcher (the restaurant owner's husband, who we found out had given us the meat for free!) and he and Ashley cooked us an amazing braai. We all helped by making braai sandwiches, veggies, chutney, and cheese on the fresh rolls that get cooked on the fire. Between those, sausages  and steaks, we were stuffed. We sat around the fire eating, drinking, talking, laughing, and looking again at the incredible stars (seriously puts NH to shame, and NH has good stars). It was such a perfect day. Although we all would have liked to stay up forever, we were exhausted and had to get up early to get back to Opuwo and catch a combi back to Oshakati. I climbed into my mesh tent under the stars and once again had to ask, is this real life?

We woke up early, stumbled out of bed and managed to get everything packed up and loaded back on the truck. We were a little worried about getting back on time, but our wonderful driver pulled out the best back road driving and managed to get us back to Opuwo in time to get a ride. (He obviously wins the MVP award for the entire weekend). We got a ride with a man who was driving back, and Nora (the PVC with us) used her haggling skills so we only had to pay $115 instead of the $140 a combi would have cost. We bought a bit more food at the grocery store, said goodbye to the couple that owned the restaurant, (promising to come back and try their pizza from the pizza oven they were installing that day!) and piled into the car for the ride back. It was long, but at least we were in a covered car, so no wind or sun to deal with. Aside from a pair of ostriches crossing the road, the ride was fairly uneventful. We had him drop us at the grocery store so we could do a little shopping. We thought that this store was open later than the usual 1:00 closing time, but it wasn't and it was 1:06. Our luck struck again though, and they people at the door let us in anyway. We scurried around grabbing what we needed, then said our goodbyes and headed to our respective hike points to get rides back. I jumped out of the bakkie, went into my house, and collapsed on my bed. The first thing I did was to take a shower. I had to shampoo my hair three times and condition twice just to get the texture to resemble hair again, and not straw...

Once I felt my plans for the next day were solid enough, I collapsed into bed, exhausted, but also energized for the week from the fantastic weekend. It's amazing what a good weekend can do for your spirit, and we decided that we would try to do something fun like that at least once a month if we could. It was so nice to seem some of the other volunteers again, and to see a new part of Namibia. This country is so beautiful and diverse and this weekend just made me more excited to see the rest of it! I wish that I could bring you all out here and show you, but I guess the pictures will have to do.

Hope everyone is enjoying the snow (you have no idea how jealous I am) and any days off it may have given you! Till next time,

Lots of love,

Jamie

Namibian New Years

Wu uhala po! (That's 'good afternoon' in Oshiwambo!)

Well I made it to Namibia safely! After a short flight from Boston to NYC, I spent Saturday night getting to know other volunteers and enjoying the last of luxuries such as TV, fast  internet and hot showers. We then got up early on Sunday, made our way to the airport, and with no major incidents, made it onto our flight to Joburg. Fifteen (very long and uncomfortable) hours later, we landed, then had to sprint to the other side of the airport to make our connecting flight to Windhoek. As it turns out though, we needn't have sprinted- we waited on the bus to take us out on the tarmac for another 15 minutes. First lesson in African time I suppose. Our flight to Windhoek was a comparatively short two hours. We landed at the much-smaller-than-expected airport, made it through customs, and then were delighted to find that all of our luggage had arrived! We met with Bret, our Field Director and stepped into the hot Namibian sun for the first time. We took a van into the city though the gorgeous countryside. Namibia is much more hilly than I would have expected. In a way it reminds me of southern NH, but all the trees are only like 5 feet tall so you can see over them and way off into the distance.

Once arriving at the hostel, we met with the rest of the volunteers who had come the day before and settled into our rooms for the next few weeks. We had the first of our orientation sessions on introductions/the basics and then took a run to a store to buy beer for the night! I was thrilled to find that they have a really good brand of cider from South Africa called Hunters- still not Woodchuck, but really good. I also managed to get some peanut butter (phew!). We came back and hung out for awhile, then had our first Namibian braai (BBQ) which Bret and his friends cooked for us. It was absolutely delicious, and I now have no fear of not eating while I'm here! By this point it was about 10PM and I was determined on making it until midnight, even though I hadn't really slept in about 36 hours and was exhausted. A group of us played some games to keep us up, and then turned on the TV to see how Windhoek does New Years. Let me tell you, it is no Times Square. There was a musical group on stage who we later found out was Namibia's most famous group, but you would not have known that by looking at the audience. They were still and silent- no dancing, no singing, no cheering, nothing. The act consisted of some rap, and the singers basically just taking their clothes off. Then some girls in bike shorts and sports bras came out and danced with them. It was all quite interesting. A few minutes before midnight, the guy that owns the hostel invited us outside to countdown and for a champagne toast. I rung in the New Year by dancing and drinking with new friends in a new city.

More to come (hopefully with pictures) at a later date. I miss and love you all so much! Thank you once again for all the support you have all given me, I would not be here without it. Happy New Year everyone!

Love from Africa,

              Jamie