Update: Oops. I guess it was only chronic idiopathic urticaria brought on by taking my malarial pills for 3 times longer than is medically indicated. Thanks a million Uncle Sam!!!

Tour of my homestead in Kahenge

Well, I’m here now, and it’s starting to feel good. It’s starting to feel more and more like I couldn’t have made a better decision for myself at this point in my life. I really enjoy living this way. I have no electricity. I have to draw water into a basin which I use for everything. Shaving, bathing, washing my hands, and yes, sometimes even brushing my teeth. I’ve come to be somewhat staunch in my minimalism. When other people, sometimes even other Peace Corps people, tell me about all the lights and things and amenities I need to buy, I just smile and tell them I’ll look into it. Then when they leave I just go on using the matches and candles and my hands. Saying this, I am reminded of the story of Diogenes seeing the boy drinking water with cupped hands, and then throwing away his own cup.

I’m teaching at a school in a little village called Kahenge which has nothing. Well, nothing is a bit of a stretch. There’s the school, and a bunch of homesteads that people live on. Then, there are approximately 15 or so cuca shops, which where I live tend to be thatched roof huts selling huge cups of tombo or another local brew for N$1 (10 cents US). Sometimes you get lucky and they serve it in a traditional manner out of a gourd. I’m told that people used to find gigantic gourds and store beverages in them and that, in this way they would be kept very cool even in the heat of the day.

You might be wondering what a Namibian homestead is. Well, it’s a little hard to describe. It’s usually a fenced collection of 5 to 12 (mas o menos) thatched roof huts. Different people of variously different relationships to the owner of the homestead tend to live there, usually one or two persons to a hut. On some homesteads, although not mine so much, people tend to rotate in and out quite regularly, so that you find yourself living with different people every week.

It rains a lot. I mean, a lot. I’m not used to this much rain, and it can kind of disrupt your life a little bit at times. I left my umbrella in the post office or the back of a truck, I can’t remember which. Luckily, today I just received my mother’s package with a very nifty and expensive looking umbrella! Thanks mom! I stored up a lot of Karma points back in the States and so usually if I just wait a bit, everything just happens perfectly.

There’s a lot of good, cheap marovu (that’s Rukwangali for alcohol) here, so people tend to consume a lot of it. It’s kind of like HCFS in the US. I guess it’s kind of a problem. I see a lot of old men in my community walking around and saying random things, I guess to themselves. There’s one dude that comes to my homestead with a huge 1.5L bottle of soda filled with tombo asking for food. Those are conversations I really enjoy having. He can’t really understand why I don’t speak Afrikaans. I don’t really understand it either. It’s pretty shameful to speak only one language. My Rukwangali I feel is just getting worse, but I’m trying to work on that.

I find the cuisine here to be much to my liking. I’m eating all my meals with the family that’s hosting me. Breakfast is usually tea (which they amusingly call coffee despite my repeated attempts to correct them) and bread, perhaps with a bit of jam and/or butter. Lunch and dinner are almost invariably yisima (explained below) and some meat item. The meat item can be chicken, fish, pork, or beef, although there’s a duck that’s been walking around on the ’stead that I’ve been eyeing for some time now. In accordance with my belief that every good man who eats meat must be able to kill and prepare an animal, I have begun asking my host family to assist me with this part of my education. I have killed and mostly prepared a chicken. I am not confident I can do it on my own, so I’ll need to do it again a few times. I have also shaved a pig. This is done because they do not skin pigs here. They simply cut them up and cook them with the skin. I myself do not eat the skin, but I think Namibians do. I can’t always tell as it is sometimes quite dark when I’m eating.

So, yisima. Yisima (or Oshithima if you happen to be unlucky enough to not have ended up in Kavango like me) is a thick (I would say it’s much more solid than liquid) porridge made out of either maize meal or mohangu. It is the staple grain consumed by the people I live with and I think probably most people in Namibia, though I really only know about the north.

The learners here are quite a bit further behind than American students are. I’m trying to rectify this, i guess because it’s my job, but progress has been, and I predict will continue to be, very slow.

I have not yet firmly identified any projects that the community can get behind, but when I do, I’m sure they will ask me to ask you all for money, and that’s going to make me feel really bad and uncomfortable and I might not do it. If I do, though, you’ll hear about it. I have started to become more convinced that projects that require very small amounts of money (maybe $200 US) are where it’s at. I don’t really know, though. I guess it just depends on what your community needs and what you’re going for.

I’m trying to put together a media package which will include lots of photos and videos, charts and graphs explaining everything Namibian, and a whole lot more. I will send it to my mother. Maybe then you can see a lot of these things for yourself.

So, I’m taking a trip to Spain in May. Namibia has year-round school with 3 trimesters (I know, that’s redundant) and our first break is April 27 - May 26. For better or worse, the Peace Corps is taking much of this first vacation away for a Reconnect thingamabob, which will last until May 9. After that, it’s off to Spain. Godwilling, Ken and I will be competing in the 14th International Computer Olympiad in the Kriegspiel category. First, I’ll be taking a bus to Cape Town, then I’ll be flying to London. From London, I’m going to hop on another flight to Bilbao, where I will take ground transport to Pamplona. On the return, I’m going to take a 2 day, 2 night stopover in Dubai. It’s going to be really awesome and I’m really excited about it. Being over here in the Western/southern hemisphere definitely has some travel advantages to it.

I don’t really know what the future holds. Maybe I’ll see some of you in the Winter if I come home for chistmas. Otherwise, I’m sure we’ll all meet again someday. Like I said, I may or may not blog again soon, it’s difficult to document when you’re so busy living, but I’m going to make more of an effort. Ta ta for now.

Here is a picture of a church viewed from the training center we are staying at, right before the rain:

A picture of my rand:

A picture of Emily:

Here are some videos (you’ll need a free FLV Player to view them):

Namibia from above 1/2

Namibia from above 2/2

Jo’burg Hotel Lounge

I have met one fellow Namibia PCV, my roommate Parker. I will meet the rest of the group this afternoon.

Here’s a picture of pretty leaves from my Holiday Inn window which does no justice to DC:

Also, speaking of DC, I recommend you listen to The District Sleeps Alone Tonight and everything else by The Postal Service.

My plane leaves at 7:45 for D.C. tomorrow. Here’s a complete itinerary:

03 NOV 08 - Monday

Leave Laredo, TX 7:45a — Arrive Dallas, TX 9:05a

Leave Dallas, TX 11:15a — Arrive Washington D.C. 2:50p

05 NOV 08 - Wednesday

Leave Washington D.C. 5:40p

06 NOV 08

Arrive Johannesburg, South Africa 4:05p

07 NOV 08

Leave Joannesburg, South Africa 2:30p — Arrive Windhoek, Namibia 4:30p