August 23-30
So I’ve got a little time to myself as we transition from the conference we’ve been staying at to our host families for the next 6-7 weeks and I thought I’d write a broad email to fill in anyone who is interested. I don’t think I’m going to have the time or internet resources to blog so this will have to do. (editor’s note: until now!)
We arrived in Namibia after roughly 50 hours of traveling (that may an aggressive estimate but it sure as hell felt like that). The time spent in JFK and the Frankfurt airport did not fly by. I managed to sleep a little on both flights but not nearly as much as I did when I flew to New Zealand back in the day. We touched down at about 5 AM to flat darkness for miles and it was COLD. By the time we went through customs and got our bags, it was light outside and a little warmer. Current PC Volunteers and Staff met us at the airport, singing songs and waving a PC banner (ed. note: it’s funny to think about how we had no idea who this people were and now I could tell you who every single person was). We then were given our stipend for the next 2 weeks of “walk around money” (I haven’t felt the need to spend much money as our meals are provided and we are able to bootleg some internet from next door every now and then, but some people are going to be tightening their proverbial belts next week as they’ve spent entirely too much money). They put us on a coach bus that went 45 minutes west to Windhoek and then about an hour and a half north to Okahandja, where we are training for the next couple months. We got settled at the conference center we’re staying at and then began introduction and orientation sessions. We are all pretty exhausted and I think I fell asleep at about 7 PM Namibia time.
Most of the staff is Namibian and every week we get a new set of a couple Resource PC Volunteers to hang out with us. People who can answer most of our questions surround us but I’d say 75% of the time our questions are met with “it depends” (ed. note: so true now that I’m at site). We’ve fallen into a schedule that includes sessions on medical issues (vaccinations every other day and Malaria medication every week), technical (in my case, English education), language (for me, Afrikaans), etc. We open every day with Namibian or South African songs along with the Namibian and American national anthem. Breakfast at the center is at 7:30 AM which means most of us get up a little before 7 – quite the change from my “roll out of bed whenever I want” regimen in DC. We do have some time to ourselves, which people use to walk around town, read, journal, or generally hang out. There are some low mountains that look over Okahandja that we’ve hiked a couple times. The second time we did this hike, we were guided by a handful of kids who knew the path well and led us at an unreasonable pace…without shoes. Pictures to come from this excursion.
The PC experience is about to get a little more real when we move in with our host families. Till now, 38 Americans have been hanging out and going to class. Now we’re going to be on our own for half the day with a Namibian family that has adopted each of us as one of their own.
In terms of the people I’m with, we are Peace Corps Namibia Group 34. There are people from all over the country, mostly recent college grads like myself but also two 40+ folks and two married couples. I think the breakdown of assignments is 30 Education Volunteers and 8 SEED Volunteers (Business). There’s nobody from Georgia or Boston but a few with DC/Maryland connections and one other SAE. In the short time we’ve all known each other, I think I’ve been pegged as overly competitive and willing to eat large amounts of any food.
That’s all I can really think of for now. I’m sure there are stories or aspects about my experience thus far that I have forgotten.
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