My home away from home...

Yesterday we learned who our host family was going to be for the next 7 weeks and what language we'll be learning, so it was definitely an exciting and overwhelming day. I'll be learning Otjiherero, which is a Bantu language of the Herero tribe. The only thing I really know about that tribe and the language, the Herero women wear headwraps like cattle horns. Only one other volunteer in my group is learning that language with me. About 12 people are learning Afrikaans, which is a language spoken throughout Namibia and is a mesh between German, English, Dutch and some other languages. I'm pretty excited by the language I'm going to learn because of where the language is spoken. Since I'll be learning Otjiherero (pronounced Oshi-herero), I'm probably going to be placed outside the capital city of Windhoek or in the North. In the north, there's less of an issue with the apartheid and racism, so I'm really hoping I'm in the north. As long as I'm in a somewhat mid-size village with a grocery store, I'm happy. And the other Volunteer that's learning the language with me and probably going to be living near me seems really nice.

As for my host family, I'm really hoping it turns out to be a good experience. I'm going to be living with this family for the next 7 weeks and until my swearing-in ceremony, where I'll officially be called a Peace Corps Volunteer. My host family consists of a single mother who teaches primary school and her 10 year old son. I've met the single mother and she seems nice, but just quiet and I haven't met the son yet. I move into her house tomorrow afternoon....so here's to hoping!

Other than that, I'm just spending all my free time bonding with other volunteers and relaxing....although there's not much time for relaxing. To give you a timeline of my day, I have breakfast at 6:30am and we start training at 7:30am and finally finish training around 4:30pm. Then sometimes we have things to do at night. It's a long day, but at least we're struggling together! Everyone seems so nice so far, and we're really getting along well. This weekend we're going into Windhoek (the capital) which is about an hour or so from where we are. It'll just be nice to see a different city and get out of the training site for a little bit. When we were driving from the Windhoek airport to the training site, we saw a bunch of animals, so I'm hoping we can see some more this weekend! More updates to come :)

I'm finally here!

Since I haven’t really been able to access internet until now, I will be talking about previous days in Philadelphia and in Namibia. Staging (Peace Corps orientation) was held in Philadelphia then we left for Namibia on 2/18.

In my group (33rd group to have Peace Corps Volunteers in Namibia), everyone is in the health/HIV & AIDS field. There’s about 22 people in my group, although some others may be joining us in Namibia. The majority of the group are in our 20’s and 30’s, but there are some volunteers that are older. All in all a great group!

2/18/2011

Today we finally arrived in Namibia. Boy it’s been a long time coming! We left Philly on Wednesday morning (2/16) at 2:30am and boarded a bus to JFK. Then we took a 15 hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg, South Africa. On the flight, I watched some movies and tried to get some sleep, but probably didn’t get more than a couple hours. 15 hours later, we boarded another flight from Jo’burg to Windhoek, (pronounced Vindhuk), Namibia....our new home for the next 27 months. After we arrived in Windhoek, Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) and locals that would be training us greeted us with signs and warm welcomes. We then boarded a bus from Windhoek to where our training site would be--another 45 minute ride. Finally we arrived at our site where locals sang to us. It was so nice to finally be here! On our ride to the training site though, we saw baboons, giraffe and some cows--so cool! There were a bunch of monkeys just chilling on a fence..I just wish I had taken a picture!

After arriving, we put all our heavy bags & luggage and made our way to dinner. We had some pasta, hamburger (kind of like sloppy joes), coleslaw and this really sweet orange juice/soda thing. When dinner was over, we hung out together for a while just talking and kept thinking how the heck we got to this place in our lives. Peace Corps really is the hardest job you’ll ever love!

2/19/2011

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something.” --Ralph Waldo Emerson

I found this quote attached to a bag of candy on my bed yesterday, and found the quote to be very suitable for my time in the Peace Corps. Definitely makes you think.

Today we met the Peace Corps Country Director, Gilbert Collins. He’s from Milwaukee, WI and has an extensive international background. Let’s see, I’m trying to remember what countries he hasn’t worked in our visited. He also has a Bachelor’s from Harvard and a Master’s from Princeton. Seems like we’ve got the best of the best! He seems really nice and easy to talk to. And since 20/20 just aired a story about a PCV being murdered in Africa, they were really on top of it when it came to addressing safety and security. I hope that’ll reassure my family and friends back home :)

After we met Gilbert, we met all the language and cultural trainers who are all local Namibians. After that we had a brief session about safety & security. Then of course we had a tea break....although the main item of that break was cookies & Nescafe coffee. Nescafe is gonna be something to get used to. It’s a brown powder that looks like hot chocolate but tastes really strong and well, instant...which means a lot of sugar.

Once the break was over, we had a session on medical information. Our PC Medical Officer (PCMO) gave us our medical kit filled with various OTC drugs, bandaids, condoms, ace bandages, etc. She also gave us a medical guidebook & PC Namibia cookbook, which I thought was pretty cool.

In the afternoon, we went for a walk into town. We saw a couple of pretty good size grocery stores, which was surprising for me. Not even Mumbai had a full serve grocery store in some places, and this town had a couple! They had US brands there, which was also reassuring. It’s a good thing to know that I’ll be able to buy regular toothpaste, deodorant, etc. May be for a more expensive price, but still accessible. I just hope my permanent site will have stores like that.

After our walk into town, we ate (again!) dinner. Seems like every couple of hours we would get more food & a break. Sounds good to me! They were probably figuring that we were still jet lagged...which is definitely true. I know that even from looking at my feet and how swollen they are because of the flight, you can tell I’m still readjusting. Dinner was good. Can’t even remember what we had. Probably meat and potatoes of some sort. After dinner we all relaxed and played cards...and downloaded movies and tv shows. One thing I am starting to learn is that PCVs will watch more American movies & tv shows here than they ever did in the States.

2/20/2011

Today was supposed to be our day off, but since our schedule was thrown off yesterday, we had to do our APCV & medical interviews today. The APCV interview was our supervisor person asking us what kind of placement we want. They interviewed me about if I wanted plumbing or electricity. I told them that as long as I am semi-close to other volunteers, I’d be okay wherever I live. I also said that electricity would be nice, but it’s not a necessity, and plumbing I can do without.

So far it’s been a really great experience. Some current PCVs have said that Namibia can be sometimes called “light” Peace Corps, meaning that a lot of other volunteers serving in other countries have it much worse off than we do. Namibia has 3G internet, cell phone service across the country, etc.

2/21/2011

Happy President's Day everyone! This morning we spent the morning hiking up a mountain in the area. I just wore my Tevas and they still worked out great on the hike, which was awesome! I was looking forward to doing these kinds of outdoorsy activities, so I was really happy to hear that we were hiking this morning. Because of the high altitude, I didn't climb to the top, but I climbed about 3/4 of the way, so I was still able to see the great view. I might be able to post pictures later, but downloading pictures on the internet is really expensive here.

Side note: Calling from Namibia to the US is about $1 US dollar a minute, which is very expensive! And internet is meh, kind of expensive. Right now I'm paying $50 Namibian dollars ($7.5 Namibian dollars = $1 US dollar) for an hour's worth of internet at a cafe. And surprisingly it's an American cafe! There were some Americans that were missionaries in Namibia and recently opened up a cafe in the area. So there are American milkshakes, burgers...pretty much all the American staples that we'll be homesick for :) In the future I'll probably be doing a whole lot more of emailing and blogging rather than calling back home. But luckily there's always Skype!

I'm thinking about you all back home and miss you, but am having the time of my life right now. I am so happy that I'm doing this right now at this point in my life. Such a good decision :) Of course later on in my permanent site, I know that there will be some downs, but hopefully more ups than downs.

And so it begins....

And so it all begins....the last minute errands, packing the suitcases and carry-ons, seeing friends and family for the last time and of course, having some Iggy’s seafood before I leave. Last weekend I visited some of my friends up in Burlington, VT and had such a good time. Every time I go up to Burlington or even Vermont, I keep on wanting to just stop where I am on the road or sidewalk and take a mental picture of where I am. The scenery, the people, the culture....I don’t know how to describe, but I just love being up there. Whenever I come back from being in Vermont, I feel so refreshed. So this past trip up to Burlington was just the thing I needed before embarking on my next journey. Ahhhhh......

And in just about one week, I’ll be leaving for staging in Philadelphia....the beginning of the next chapter of my life. Staging is usually a few days of orientation and also where I get to meet everyone else that’s going with me to Namibia. I’m so excited to meet everyone! Here’s a breakdown of what the next couple of weeks will look like for me....

Namibia Staging:

Tuesday Feb 15: 6pm Official registration as a Peace Corps Trainee

Wednesday Feb 16: Time for vaccines & ice breakers.....oh what fun!

Thursday Feb 17: 2am check out of hotel and drive to JFK airport
10:40am Begin the 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa

Friday Feb 18: 8:40am Arrive in Johannesburg
2:45pm Leave for Namibia
4:35pm Arrive in Windhoek (Capital of Namibia)

Peace Corps Training Schedule:

Week 1 & 2
February 19-26           Orientation
February 24                Move in with host families
February 21- Mar 5    Intensive training (all components)            

Week 3 & 4
March 7- 18                Intensive training (all components)
March 16                    Mid Language Proficiency (LPI) Interview
March 18                    Mid Evaluation by Peace Corps Trainees and Site Announcements   
       
Week 5 & 6               
March 24                    Meet your Supervisor & sessions
March 25                    Travel to Permanent Sites (“Future Site Visit”)
March 25 - 31             On-the-Job Orientation with Supervisor and host organization
March 31                    Travel from Permanent Sites to Okahandja

Week 7 & 8
April 4 - 13                 Intensive training (all components)

Week 8
 April 11                     Final Language Proficiency (LPI) Interview                  
 April 12                     Final Evaluation of PCTs
 April 14                     Swearing-in ceremony / End of Peace Corps Training
                                   Depart to Permanent Sites with Supervisor/host organization staff

During training, I will study one of these languages: Afrikaans, Otjiherero, Oshindonga, Thimbukushu, Rukwangali or Silozi. All of these languages are members of the Bantu family of languages except for Afrikaans.

As long as I successfully complete all of my training competencies, I will be sworn-in as a Peace Corps volunteer on April 14, 2011!

Random Facts about Namibia:

• There’s an exchange rate of 7.5 Namibian dollars to 1 US dollar.

• During this time of year, Namibia is 7 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time (EST).

• Winter is approaching in Southern Africa, so the weather will be cool when I arrive.  Highs may be in the 50’s to 70’s, with lows anywhere from the 20’s to 40’s.  The rainy season starts in November and ends in April or early May. It’s a good thing I’m bringing cute rain boots!

Well that’s all folks! Probably the next time you’ll be hearing from me will be in Philly or sunny Namibia :)