Take a Hike

Hike: A ride back to the village from town with whomever you can find that's willing to take you.

I'm going to take you on an adventure. This is a fairly typical Saturday hike back to the village after morning errands. Ready?

You get in the taxi and tell the driver to take you to Okamini, which someone told you is the nickname of the hike point that everyone knows. Of course the driver has no idea what you're saying. You struggle to explain where you mean until one of the other passengers takes pity on you and chuckles while telling the driver, "she means oka-meenie". Oh, ok. You pull up to the mini-market and haul all of your bags on your shoulder while fumbling for change for the taxi fare. The driver takes off and you amble awkwardly up to the tree outside the market that is the official hike point for your village.
"Wa uhala po" you say to no one in particular, butchering the local greeting.
"Eehh" someone says back, the typical response.
"Anyone going to Onamutai?" you ask the group gathered around the tree.
At this point, usually one of the small boys (any unmarried male) that runs one of the fruit carts will sympathetically tell you that no one is going.

You drop your bags because you know it'll probably be a long wait. You stand there awkwardly, hoping that one of the two bakkies you recognize will pull up soon. They don't. You keep your ears peeled, hoping to hear the word 'Onamutai' amongst all the unfamiliar Oshiwambo chatter, but you don't. People are staring. Some whisper (or shout) "oshilumbu!", the not-exactly-PC word for 'white person', at you. You ignore them.

After about 45 minutes, one of the fruit vendor guys tells you that "that tate is going to Onamutai" while pointing in the general direction of about 3 bakkies. You finally figure out which one and walk over to it.
"Wa uhala po, tate" you greet him "You are going to Onamutai?" "Eehh" "Can I come?" "Eehh" "Thank you."
No one seems to be getting in, so you continue standing there with all your stuff until someone tells you otherwise. Finally people begin piling in and you hop in the back. This is where the fun begins. At first, there are only a few people in the back and their assorted belongings, but this quickly changes. Foodstuffs are being added by the second: a rack of frozen fish, 3 10kg bags of mahangu flour, a giant plastic bag of snack bags, 10 cases of Tafel, grocery bags, and more people. 'We must be going soon, we can't possibly fit anymore in the back of this truck' you think to yourself each time something else is added. And each time, someone shuffles things around to add more while directing you in Oshiwambo. You give them your best apologetic look and try your best not to look like an idiot while everyone else performs this well choreographed dance of rearranging.

Finally, 45 minutes after you first climbed in the back of the truck, with the sun beating down on your pale Irish arms and the bag of cold food tucked somewhere under your legs, the driver gets in the truck and precariously makes his way onto the road. You assume he's taking the new gravel road, since that's the fastest way back, but to your chagrin, he turns down a side street and you know you'll be taking the alternate, longer, sand road home. At the end of the road, you pull into the bar where the driver stops for what he promises will be a "small beer". For a reason unbeknownst to you, he makes you get out of the truck to wait while the others stay in the back and then proceeds to order a 750mL Tafel which he shares with a friend. When he finishes, he motions for you to get back in. You do as you're told.

You take off down the sand road, stopping every 15 or so minutes to let other passengers off. You and the others dig around for a while to find everyone's belongings before setting off again. Eventually you are the last person left, and you realize that the driver probably lived in the last village, and only is taking you all the way to Onamutai because you're white. That also means he'll charge N$15 instead of N$10. He tells you to come sit in the front now that you're the only one left, and you gear up for what is likely to be an awkward last 10 minutes. Sure enough, you're only in the truck for about a minute before the driver, who is old enough to be your father, starts hitting on you. It starts out innocently enough: he asks where you're from, then responds that he's always wanted to go to America, but it soon turns into him asking to come back to America with you, and if you don't have a boyfriend, can he be your boyfriend? You reject his proposal several times and avoid answering his questions of "why not?" You know he's harmless, but it's still slightly uncomfortable. He drives you to your door (even though you never told him where you live-- everyone just knows where the white girl lives) and you thank him for the ride, pay him the fare, haul all of your belongings out of the bakkie once more, and go inside where you promptly collapse from exhaustion. All you did was grocery shop and go to the bank, but it's already 3:30 (despite leaving at 8AM) and you're exhausted. You decide it's time for a nap.

Whirlwind

Dear reader,

My travel companions!

How are you? It's been awhile, huh? Whoops, sorry 'bout that. I fully intended on giving you the blow-by-blow of my month long trek around south western Africa, but it was a long time ago, the details are getting fuzzy, and the thought of sitting down to write six more posts has kept me from doing just that. So instead I'm going write one more highlights-only posts of my trip. I'm sure you'll hear more of the details later. So here goes nothing.

Poling on the Delta

Day 3: Maun- mokoro trip. Peaceful, beautiful, nice to be on water again. Went on a game walk and saw a heard of zebras. After lunch, I tried my hand at poling and actually wasn't terrible (Ben-- I think I could take you on at paddle boarding!). Oh, and we almost hit a hippo on the way back. Note to self: hippos are really big. Like *really* big.

Sunset cruise on the Zambezi River

Day 4: To Livingstone- super lucky travel day. Hardly had to wait for anything, and we also managed to negotiate the exact right price for a taxi, despite not knowing the exchange rate. Score one for the Americans.

Day 5: Vic Falls- Zambian side. Words can't describe how gorgeous it is, you'll just have to wait for pictures (and even those don't do it justice. You should probably just book your trip and see for yourself...) We got drenched, but it was totally worth it.








Day 6: Vic Falls- Zimbabwe side. is it possible for the falls to be even more spectacular? Yes, yes it is. Also, got to handle American money again, it was weird. Got photographed for a Zimbabwe tourism website at lunch, and I ate crocodile skewers (all for you, Sean).





(I now take a break from the highlights-only post to go into detail about the craziest thing I did all trip: jump into the Batoka Gorge.)The restaurant was in a lodge, and the lodge (like most in the area) had a booking center where you can book all sorts of adventures and outings. I had wanted to try a zipline sort of thing, so we went over to check it out. I must have been feeling pretty brave, because I ended up signing up for the gorge swing...hey, once in a lifetime, right? Basically, they drove us out to the gorge right below the falls, strapped me into a harness (actually two), brought me out to the edge of the platform and told me to jump. Ok, it was a little more organized than that, but that was the gist. The guy who was on the platform with me told me that after I jumped, I would free fall 70m in 3 seconds, then drop into a pendulum swing. He had heard me say earlier that I was a math teacher and right before nudging me off, he said "quick, what speed will you fall at?" Uh, what?! Sorry sir, I'm slightly preoccupied by the 200m jump I'm about to take, can you repeat that? He told me to think about on the way down and report back. Yeah, ok. Then he gave me a nudge. I had a split second of "oh shit. what did I just do?" before the rush took over and all I could do was grin the rest of the way down. There I was, swinging in a harness with the roaring waters of the Zambezi river swirling 3 meters below me, and what did I do? Start thinking about that math problem of course! Well it was much easier to think about at the bottom of the gorge than it was at the top, and I quickly calculated an average speed of 23.333... m/s (this, of course, is based off of 70m in 3 seconds, which isn't entirely accurate if you actually calculate the acceleration due to gravity, which I did as I was being pulled up...yes, I'm a nerd, I know). When I was safely back on the ground, I was greeted by the impressed looking faces of Matt and Jenn, who handed me a Hunter's. They know me well.

So this happened. (Major photo props to Matt!)

On the crossing back into Zambia, we encountered the worst negotiator in all of Africa. When hyperinflation had reached it's peak in 2009, you could find Zimbabwean bank notes in hilariously high amounts, such as 500 million dollars. Now, they've scraped the Zimbabwean dollar, and are using American currency, but you people still sell the old (now worthless) bank notes as souvenirs. After I refused to pay $10 for 5 worthless pieces of paper, this man tried to haggle with me, but I kept refusing. Finally he said he would just give me one if I wished him luck. Uh, ok! Then another guy on the bridge offered to trade me a one billion dollar note for my shirt. Um, no thanks.

Breakfast view of "the Smoke that Thunders"
from the deck at the lodge.

Day 7: to Ngepi Camp. Took the Intercape Bus back into Namibia. Lots of religious/super melodramatic, awful acted movies blaring right above my head. Awesome. Got to the camp pretty late, but the staff re-opened the bar for us, then we all sat around a campfire while a hippie in dreads played the guitar. Reminded me of my theatre days...

Day 8: Ngepi- basically we relaxed all day and just hung around the camp. It was exactly what we needed.

Day 9: More travel. We were hoping to make it to Grootfontein, but we got a slow start and had to wait awhile for a hike out of Divundu. We finally found one in the back of an open bakki, and the guy was booking it. My ears hurt a little... When we got to Rundu, we discovered it was too late in the day to get anything out, so we decided to stay the night. Makeshift dinner of cold focaccia bread from Spar and milkshakes from the bar for desert while we finally figured out what we all owed each other for money. Early bed.

Day 10: Back to Windhoek. I awoke early in the morning on our last day to the sound of birds chirping. I realized that I wasn't cold for the first night of the whole trip, and closed my eyes to sleep for another hour before we had to get up. As I started to fall back asleep, I hear a rustling noise in my tent. Uhhhh. I look down, and see a swarm of fire ants right under my sleeping bag. Yup. I had slept on an acacia thorn that had poked holes in the bottom of my tent, which provided the perfect doorway for a couple hundred fire ants to make their way in. Needless to say, I leaped out of my tent, trying (and failing) to make as little noise as possible. Pulled all my belongings out, spent a half hour brushing everything off, threw out the tent, and took a shower.

Combi to Windhoek. Back to Chameleon. Dinner at Joe's Beer Garden (too kitschy for my taste, super unimpressed with the beer selection), then early bed. Up at 4am for my 7am flight to Cape Town.

So that pretty much sums up the first half of my trip. Sorry for the super abridged version, but I promise to share the full version with everyone when I see you again. I'll post again soon about Cape Town and Etosha with mom.

Till then,
Jamie

48 Hours in Onamutai

After another long, hot drive north and some awkward calls/texts to our principals, we reached Ondangwa, where the first volunteer would be dropped off to meet a teacher who would take her to her village. As we pulled into the gas station, we all had a major “omg this is real” moment. Nervousness was at an all time high as we unloaded her things and said goodbye. My stop was next. We pulled over at the intersection of the B1 and the dirt road that led to my village and awaited the arrival of my principal. Soon enough, he pulled up in his bakki, we loaded up my stuff, and it was my turn to say goodbye to the group. With promises to get together soon, I headed off down the dirt road. My principal, Mr. Tangeni, was very nice as he told me a bit about Onamutai (pronounced on-um-TIE) and the school. He also informed me that the family I was supposed to be staying with had at the last minute requested payment from the school that they couldn't afford, so I was going to be placed in teacher housing with two male colleagues and an older female cleaner. Pretty soon we pulled into the very small village, passed the school (which looked recently remodeled) and then pulled up to my home for the next year. The outside of the house looked exactly like Ted and Jessie's and I was anxious to see what I would find inside. The two guys, TK and Iimene came out to help me carry my things inside, and then they helped Mr. Tagneni put the lock on my door. So far, so good. The house is not in the greatest shape, but it has what I need. My room is pretty good sized with a nice window overlooking the fields and a little seasonal pond. I have a nice bed with a new mattress and a small fridge in my room, as well as a little table that will double as a desk. There is a shower in one room and toilet and sink in another. The kitchen has a couple of counter-top electric cook tops, a convection oven, a mini stove/oven that doesn't seemed to be being used and some doorless cabinets (well two are doorless, the others have doors that are falling off. While the bathrooms/kitchen aren't exactly up to typical American standards, they have what I need, and I hope to be able to clean/brighten them up a little. The common living room area is a little crowded at the moment because the new teacher house next door, where three female employees of the circuit office are living, doesn’t have electricity yet so their fridges are in our living room for the time being.

I began unpacking my things, but soon realized that I needed to get a few organizational items in town before I could really set up. Around dinnertime, the guys said they were going out, and since I hadn't seen the third housemate yet, I was by myself. Despite not having eaten much that day, I wasn't really hungry and certainly didn't feel like making myself dinner with what few groceries I had gotten when we stopped on the way up. I sat around in my room for a bit but then saw that the three women living next door were sitting and finishing up their dinners on their porch, so I decided to pluck up my courage and go and say hello. I had met them earlier in the day when I was first moving in, so I just asked if I could sit with them. We chatted for a little while and they told me a little about the village, which is VERY small. They asked about America and what I was doing here. They seem very friendly, and it will be nice to have some women around my age near by. Around 8 I said goodbye and headed home to get ready for school the next day.

The next morning, I woke up, got ready for my first day of school and met the guys to walk over. Since the house is practically on the campus of the school, my commute is a very convenient one minute walk (jealous, Kell?). Leaners were milling about oustide as we walked into the administration building where the front office, principal's office, and teacher's room is. The school is like some southern hight schools I've seen in movies, where there are bunch of small buildings and the 'hallways' are outside. It seemed in pretty good shape and I was anxious to see the insides. We were having a teacher's meeting in the teacher's room, so I was introduced to the majority of the 22 teachers at the school. It was a little overwhelming because it all happened at once and I had a hard time understanding some of the names, but since there are only 22, I should be able to learn them pretty quickly! Mr. Tangeni introduced me to the staff and after a few announcements, we headed outside to have the morning assembly with the learners. They were all lined up by grade and sang a song (the national anthem?) before Mr. Tangeni welcomed them, made some announcements and then introduced me. The day was going to be a little unusual because the teachers were still finalizing schedules, so it was a little crazy, but I had been warned about this, so I was ready. Since I didn't really have classes yet, I was introduced to my Head of Department who is in charge of all the math/science/computer science teachers. We went over what classes I would likely be teaching (two 9th grade math, two 8th grade physical science, and three 8th grade computers, for now at least) and then he gave me a tour of the school. I also had the great surprise of discovering that I would have my own classroom which is unusual because here, the teachers usually rotate. My school had just switched to having the learners rotate though, so my math and science classes would all be in the same room, and my ICT (computer) classes would obviously be in the lab. My classroom is pretty nice. Its really bright and the floor is smoother than the one in Omungwelume so I hope that means it will be slightly quieter. I'm excited to start decorating it when I can get my hands on some poster board! I set up my desks in groups, which may or may not work when the chairs are in the room too, we'll see. I was given textbooks, so I spent most of the day trying to plan my first few lessons.

After school, I got a ride into town with one of my housemates to get my Tax ID number and some other things I needed for my room. He was going home for the weekend, but he stayed with me until I got my ID number and had met up with a fellow volunteer who was also in town. My principal was going to come and pick me up whenever I was done, so Erica and I went to a few stores to get some things before the stores closed at 5. I got a fan which made a huge difference in the temperature of my room last night! When I got back, I put a few more things away and made a new list of things I still needed. Luckily my other housemate was going into town again this morning, so I had the chance to get the things I didn't get yesterday. We hitchhiked into town and he showed me around the stores a bit. We met up with another volunteer who is in town by herself. We were both extremely grateful to have Iimene to help us navigate the extremely busy stores. Stores close at 5 on weekdays and 1 on weekends, so Saturday morning is when everyone does their shopping. The lines are massive, and we tagged teamed by having one of us stand in line while the other shopped, then switched. We managed to get the majority of the things on our lists, although I've already thought of more. It's hard because you can only buy what you can manage to carry.

We said goodbye to Mariella, and then Iimene and I made our way to the hike point back to Onamutai. He was staying in the city, but was making sure I got a hike back before leaving. At the hike point, we ran into a woman who was in the car we had gotten a ride in on! Such a small world. She was very nice and agreed to help me get a hike back with her (she was going in the same direction) so that Iimene could leave with his friend. We waited for a long time before a bakki pulled up that was going that way. Once we were in the truck, we waited almost another hour for it to fill up before finally leaving.

Once back at the house, I unpacked more of my things and did some more organizing. I then decided to tackle cleaning my windows and the two bathrooms. With a bucket of soapy water, I managed to get all the dead bugs/dust/dirt off the windows, walls, showers, and toilet. I'm in the process of letting the shower soak in cleaner to get the grime off. Maybe tomorrow I'll work on the kitchen a bit. For now, I'm going to go make dinner and read a for a bit. Thanks for bearing with me through two long posts! They won't be this long once I get into a routine and am not having so many new experiences.

To all my friends/family at home: I miss everyone so much, and hope you are enjoying the winter, particularly those in the snowy northeast! Also, if anyone wants to send mail, my address at the school is

Jamie Long

c/o Onamutai Secondary School

Private Bag 5561

Oshakati, Namibia

Be warned though, things can take 5-8 weeks to get here, that being said, I would love to get mail whenever it makes it!

Till next time,

Jamie