New Address!

I now have an address in Opuwo (my permanent site), so feel free to send me letters and packages! It'd be much appreciated :)

Peace Corps Volunteer Alison Proctor
PO Box 244
Opuwo, Namibia

Here are a few tips for sending packages:

•  When you’re declaring the items for the customs paperwork, don’t actually declare the real items, including the real value. If you actually declare the actual value, expensive items will get stolen. And if you’re claiming the real items, like honey (not able to get imported to Namibia) or even batteries, they’ll also get stolen. A safe bet will be to declare the items as less than $20 US dollars and that they’re school supplies, pamphlets, books or religious materials.

• To ship packages, the cheapest way is through USPS international flat rate boxes. It’s the best bang for your buck and is pretty reliable. DHL is very expensive and other companies (UPS, FedEx, etc.) might not even ship to Namibia.

• Reinforce the corners of the box with lots of packing tape. From the US to Namibia, it’s gonna travel a lot and get banged up a lot. Cushion the package too with t-shirts, bubble wrap, etc.

• If you’re sending something of value, hide it among other things. Put it in an empty granola box, among a box of tampons, in between books, etc. Make it so it’s really difficult for someone to unwrap the package and find the expensive items. It’ll be a pain to unwrap, but that’s okay :)

And here are some suggestions of things to send me:

• Granola bars
•  Dried fruits (fruits & veggies are pretty expensive here, so having any kind of fruits will be mucho appreciated)
• Snacks (some kind of trail mix, or anything you think I’d like :) )
• Handwritten letters (snail mail means the world to a volunteer)
• Crystal Light packets (After drinking at least 2 Nalgenes a day, plain water is going to get boring real fast)
• Hard candy (stuff that won’t melt)
• Magazines & newspapers (I miss hearing about what’s going on in the world…so even if it’s an entertainment magazine, that works!)
• SD cards for my camera
• And anything else you feel like sending me!

From what I’ve heard, mail can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months to get from the US to Namibia. So don’t rely on the post office’s timeline of when it’ll arrive. I’ll let you know (with much excitement) when it does arrive :) 

Site Visit in Opuwo

3/25

Today started at 5:15am, but was totally worth it, because today, was the beginning of our site visit. By 6:30am the combi (minivan) picked me up and drove me to the training center to meet up with my supervisor, Sister Shiningwa, and head off to Opuwo. And since we’re in Africa and on Africa time, we finally left by 8ish.

And so the journey with Sr Shiningwa and Elizabeth to Opuwo began. We drove on the B1 (one of the few highways/paved roads running through Namibia) and passed by donkeys, goats, horses, and lots of cows. We even saw a group of giraffe and zebras! The landscape though was breathtaking. It made me miss the mountains of Vermont. For miles and miles, I could see green mountains and hills, lush green fields and tons of trees. Who’d’ve thought that in Africa I’d be seeing this landscape?! Not me! So I soaked all of it in. We passed through Otjiwarango, a larger town, and was surprised to see a Super Spar (think of it as the US equivalent of a “Super” grocery store...but in this case, it’s still sized down for the population of Namibia). A couple of kilometers before we were going to pass through Outjo (another shopping town/larger town), we got a flat tire. Luckily, another car pulled up right in back of us and changed that tire in lightning speed! They were able to put on a spare so we could at least drive to the car garage in Outjo.

When we got to Outjo, we drove to the car garage and happen to see that Michelle, another volunteer in our group, was right across the street. We chatted for a little bit and  then went our separate ways. While waiting for a new tire to be put on our car, Elizabeth and I grabbed some lunch at a cafe across the street. Man, it felt so good just to get out of the car and have a chicken salad sandwich and gulp down a grape Fanta. It’s the little things in life that make me happy sometimes :) During lunch, we also wrote up a grocery shopping list for this week’s food. For the first time since being in Namibia, we would both finally be able to have our own kitchen and cook what we want. But despite all that we wanted to cook, with our Peace Corps budget, in reality, we’d probably be living off of peanut butter & jelly sandwiches and ramen haha.

After pulling out of Outjo, we saw some more cows, cows and more cows. Oooo and butterflies! It was the weirdest thing, there were so many butterflies flying around. Sr Shiningwa said that the butterflies always come out when it rains, so that’d explain it.

Once we got a little bit past Kamanjab (another town), we started to see a whole lot more animals, but this time they were all over the road. Cows, donkeys and goats were practically every mile on the road. So the car horn was definitely useful :)

And then, finally at 5pm, we saw signs for Opuwo! Our first stop was the grocery store to get some food for the next week. I have to say, I’m gonna have to sacrifice some things in order to be able to afford fresh fruit and veggies. Fruit and especially veggies are so expensive! Nothing like the prices in India :( Looks like I won’t be having my daily pomegranate or mango anymore. It’ll be well worth it to spend money on fruit and veggies, but right now, man it eats up a lot of my budget! After getting the essentials for the next week, we made our way to our housing accommodations. Elizabeth and I will both be staying on the hospital grounds in the town, where the Ministry of Health regional office is. She has a house with a bedroom, kitchen and two bathrooms (yes, there’s really two!) with a couple of toilets and showers haha. I’m about a minute walk from her house and have a flat/apartment. I have a kitchen (without a fridge...they’re supposed to get that for me by the time I swear-in as a volunteer in 3 weeks), a really nice size living room that even has room for a potential couch, a good size bedroom with lots of closet space (yay!) and a bathroom. I haven’t quite figured out the hot water situation yet, so that’ll be something to do this week. All in all, I’m really excited about my own place. I can’t wait to make it my own and “Alison-ify” it :) I’ve been waiting for a project or something to put my energy to and this seems like just the thing. Elizabeth and I don’t have to cook together every night, but it’s nice to know that there’s the option...especially after a long day at work.

Then on Saturday we walked around town with Brian, another Peace Corps Volunteer that lives in Opuwo. I’m gonna head to bed though, so I’ll fill you in on Saturday another time :)

All the little details....

I woke up this morning and was so excited when I remembered that we would hear actual details about our site, our housing and what the heck we’ll be doing for two years. I already knew I was going to be working in Opuwo for the Ministry of Health doing “Special Programs”, but now I know the details :) I’ll be living in a one bedroom house with a “sitting room”, kitchen, toilet and bathroom. (Quick note: Most of the bathrooms in Namibia that I’ve seen so far are separated by toilet and shower/bath, so the toilet is in one room and the “bath” room is in another.) The current resource volunteers who are here this week for our training, Nikki & Lindsey, and also our APCD (Peace Corps Program Director for Health Program) said that water can be unreliable at times though. I might go 2-3 weeks without water. Sooo that means filling up jerry cans (containers that can hold 10-25 liters of water) and leaving them in my house.

Okay, so I’ll have my own house...check :) As for getting my groceries and all that, I’ll be able to do my basic shopping in Opuwo, but I’ll need to get the larger items in Oshakati. They said that for some items, like flour, I might want to get it in Oshakati because you just don’t know how long the bags of flour have been on the shelves in Opuwo. They might have bugs in them. Fun! One of the volunteers also said that I’ll be able to get soy milk, almond milk, powdered milk, etc. in the grocery stores up there. Score! She said that it’s really good for when the electricity goes out because you don’t need it to be refrigerated. Sweet! I’m just so happy that I’ll be able to cook my own food and make healthier things. Traditional Namibian cooking is full of starch--pasta, rice, millie pap (this cream of rice kind of thing except it’s made with corn), so I’ve been craving fruits and veggies ever since I got here. I can’t wait to make some vegetarian and Indian dishes. Yummy!

Alrighty, now onto the important stuff--my assignment. In the Ministry of Health, I’ll be:

• Improving capacity building of HIV/AIDS/TB/Malaria program managers

• Strengthening prevention, care and support programs

• Helping organize health related events (World AIDS Day, National Testing Days, etc.)

• Strengthening awareness activities on HIV/AIDS

My secondary project could also possibly be helping to strengthen the adolescent reproductive health program.

All in all, I’m really happy. It’s just what I wanted to do. I’ve really enjoyed doing activities and programs with youth about HIV/AIDS and comprehensive sex education, so this assignment is great! I was already looking forward to site visit and actually getting in the field and being a Peace Corps Volunteer, but this just tells me even more so that this is where I’m supposed to be in my life right now. So happy.

Tomorrow, we meet with our supervisors and have a workshop with them from 8:30am-1:00pm--so not too bad. Then we’re done for the rest of the day. On Friday, bright and early in the morning, I’ll be leaving with Elizabeth (the other volunteer from my group that’ll be living in Opuwo too) for Opuwo. It sounds like it’s about a nine hour drive so hopefully I’ll get there before dinner on Friday. A 9 hour drive though means lots of reading and sleeping :) And hopefully I’ll be able to talk with my supervisor about my job and just life in general in Opuwo.

From what our APCD has said, it sounds like they haven’t found or secured a host family for me so right now, I’ll be living in my own house for next week. Yes! If they happen to find a host family later on, then after the swearing-in ceremony, I’ll just live with them for the first 6 weeks or so. If not, well it looks like I’ll be moving into my house for good then!

That’s it for now folks, I gotta get some sleep and get ready for a busy week ahead of me!

Rara nawa! (Sleep well in Otjiherero)

Next stop: Opuwo!

3/18

Today has been a very long time coming. We finally found out our site information and where we’re gonna be placed for the next two years. After we met with a training staff person to talk about our mid-evaluation, we waited and waited and finally were told where we were going. When the Peace Corps has important news to tell you, they don’t just tell you, they make it an activity and a big event, which I think is fun. In order to find out what language we were going to learn, we had to make the noise of a certain animal and find other people with that animal noise. So it was only fitting that in order to find out where our sites were, we made it a big event.

Benna, our training manager, brought us to a gravel area near the center, and we saw that there was a giant map of Namibia drawn out with string. The places where we were going to be were marked with rocks. So as Benna read our name and where we were going to be placed, we went and stood where our town was on the map. It was really cool to see where everyone was going to be, by where everyone was standing. Then, they called my name and said that I would be placed in Opuwo. Honestly, I was quite shocked! I thought that one of us would be placed in Opuwo and another might be placed somewhere else, like Herero land, but I guess not. Either way, I’m so excited! Opuwo itself sounds awesome. It’s definitely more of a traditional African experience, with the Himba tribe living there. Opuwo is in the northwest corner of the country and is close to the Angolan border, the Skeleton Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. I don’t think there’s a close access point to the Skeleton Coast or the Atlantic Ocean near me because there aren’t any paved roads connecting Apuwo to that part of the coast, but if I were to travel further down the coast, then I’d be able to go see the Skeleton Coast. Himba women (traditional Herero women) wear this type of red paint that’s made out of the soil on their bodies to protect against the sun & mosquitoes. Supposedly it also acts as a natural perfume because of the herbs they put in it. Pretty cool!

I haven’t done much research on the area yet, but from what people have said, there’s a regular grocery store there and a few other stores as well--yes! If I need to buy other things for my apartment, I’ll need to go shopping in a larger town, but at least I don’t have to go there for groceries!

As for my job, all I know is that I’ll be working for the Ministry of Health doing Special Programs--whatever that means. We were supposed to find out our job descriptions, who our host families were going to be for the first 6 weeks that we’re at our site, and all the other details about our placement today, but they hadn’t finalized everything, so we’ll find out everything else on Wednesday. Hey, at least we know our sites! I’m so excited!! It seems like everyone is pretty well spread out across the country, so it’ll be nice that I can stay with other volunteers when I travel. There’s some people right on the coast, which is pretty amazing! I’m so jealous! And then there’s people kind of near Windhoek (the capital), near Botwana, near South Africa--all over! So awesome! It’s like Christmas....in March :)

Language, language, language

3/17

When I get home at night, I find it so hard to journal every night. It’s not that nothing has been going on--in fact, I may be to a point where so much is going on that i don’t have time to process all of it. In a weird way, sometimes I feel like time is at a standstill and other times I can’t believe I’ve already been here for a month. As I write this, the windows in my bedroom are open and the rain is pouring down outside. The weather is already reminding me that the seasons are changing. I think almost every day and night this week we’ve had some kind of rain storm.

As for what I’ve been doing in training this week, I honestly can’t remember the specifics. The highlights though have been the LPI and site announcements (which is happening on Friday). The LPI is the mid-training language test. All week I wasn’t too worried about the test but more annoyed of what was expected us in such a short amount of time. Every day we have two hours of language. And everyday, we learn at least 50 new vocabulary terms. We may be learning new vocabulary words, but because we’re not learning that many verbs, we still don’t know how to construct many sentences. Despite all of that though, I got an intermediate low on my LPI. My goal was to get a novice (beginner) mid, but I got a much higher level than that! I had to tell the tester what time it was, today’s date, yesterday’s date, tomorrow’s date, days of the week, what we’re doing here in Namibia, descriptions of our family here in Namibia (host family) and in the US...and I’m sure some other stuff. I’m happy with my score and what I’ve been able to accomplish so far. Gotta reward myself for every little success!

On another note, I gave in and bought a Kindle. With all the books I’ll be reading, it’s gonna be a nice to have all my books in one little nifty gadget. I remember when I went to India, I was practically buying a couple of books every week! I must’ve read about 25 books in just four months, so I can’t even imagine how many books I’ll read when I’m here. I’ve already started a list of books that I want to read while I’m here, but I think I also want to start a list of books that I’ve finished reading.

And last but certainly not least is the announcement of our permanent site tomorrow! I’m soooo excited for tomorrow. This day has been anticipated for over a year! I just remembered that a year ago today I was having my Peace Corps interview in Cleveland. So weird to think how fast the time has gone! It’s scary to think how fast those next two years are gonna go by.

You've got mail.....

I just realized that I haven't posted my address, in case you want to send me a letter or package (hint, hint :) )

 

My address is:

Alison Proctor

Peace Corps Office

P.O. BOX 6862

19 Nachtigal Street

Ausspannplatz

Windhoek

Namibia

My address will change once I get to my permanent site, but use this one  for mailing packages and letters for now. Peace Corps doesn't allow me to use this address my full 2 years in Namibia because of customs issues. But once I get to site, I'll either buy a PO Box or use my organization's mailing address. Feel free to use this address until I tell you that it's changed. 

 

FYI: Mailing time can range anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months from the US to Namibia. Also, if you want to send me a package, use the international flat rate boxes...they're the best deal. The smallest box is about $15 for shipping and the largest one is about $55 for shipping. Just a heads up.

Fresh chicken & fried worms

3/12

Today was Namibian cultural day. I woke up wicked early and was at the training center by 6:30am to prepare for the day. Once we got to the training center, we started to get all the food out and tables and chairs set up for the day. Groups were set up by language so I was going to be cooking with my Otjiherero language group. Our group was making bread in a cast iron pot over the fire, fat cakes (similar to fried dough), porridge (like cream of rice) and beef & onions. Sooo, lots of carbs. It was really interesting to see all the other language groups preparing their food too. One of the rites of passage if you will for some of the groups was to kill some chickens for their meal. That was unbelievably hard to watch. It seemed like the chickens pretty much knew what was coming because after being startled out of their cardboard boxes, they just sat on the ground and waited. And this is what would make me a vegetarian. I understand that when you don’t know where your next meal will come from, you’re happy for any food or animal that comes your way---but it’s still hard to process. Another staple at some of the tables was fried worms. Surprisingly, they weren’t too bad. The worms had a fishy/meaty kind of taste with some crunch and grit to it. I probably won’t be polishing off a bag of worms in the near future, but hey, I can say that I’ve had worms now!

After the fat cakes were made, worms were fried, and the feathers on the chickens were plucked, it was time to eat. It was really great that we were able to try all these foods from various cultures and tribes in Namibia. Although they all had different flavors and dishes at each group’s table, the predominant food was still meat and carbs. And luckily for everyone, the rain didn’t start until the food was all eaten and the day was ending.

Since I had gotten up at 5:15am that morning, I was definitely ready for a nap after. Since being in Namibia, I haven’t had a lot of “me time”, so it was really nice to just read a book and relax the rest of the afternoon. I know that when I get to my permanent site, I’m going to be overwhelmed by all the silence, but for now, it’s very welcoming :)

Homesick.....for India

3/5/2011

Latest news from Peace Corps training in Namibia.....let’s see, well I’ve started to watch the soapies (soap operas) with my host brother and mom and they have been pretty interesting. There’s one soapie that is called “India: A Love Story”. The acting in that show is hilarious. They’re definitely not the best, but it’ll do. I think they also originally film the tv show in another language dubbed in English. So the dubbing sounds nothing like an actual conversation--just sounds like someone reading from a script. The latest episode took place during Holi (the festival where you throw colored powder on people) and it made me miss India so much. In between each segment, they show clips of India and I just go “sigh, I just wanna go back!”. I wonder if in a couple of years I see something from Namibia if I’ll have the same reaction that I do for India now. We’ll see!

Within the last couple of weeks, I found a new mountain to climb and challenge.....quite literally! This past Sunday, I went to hike up one of the mountains in the area with some volunteers. Although I had just done this same hike a few weeks ago, it was still nice to just get out and breathe the fresh air. A little bit into the hike though, we noticed that it was starting to rain, so we had to turn back. We probably only made it about 1/3 of the way before we had to head back. I’m hoping I’ll be able to hike up the whole mountain at some point during pre-service training, because there are amazing views at the top!

3/11

And finally it’s the weekend again! This week has been filled with some language, sickness, language, language and more language. This week I was sick for the first time since being here and boy, it was not fun. When you’re sick, it never feels good, but it’s a whole other sensation to be sick in someone else’s house and in another country. I have to say, after being sick here in Namibia I can really appreciate being sick at home (in the US) now. Luckily after two full days of the stomach flu (or whatever I had), it was out of my system. Those meds in our medical kits that we’re given do the trick!!

On another note, our mid-training language interview is coming up next Wednesday. Boy, it seems like the days are going by fast but the weeks are going by slow. And Friday was no exception. We started our day with language (again!) and that was the last place I wanted to be. Every morning we have about two hours of language before starting on cross-cultural sessions. This morning, it just seemed like vocabulary and verbs were being crammed down by throat...especially in preparation for the mid-training language interview. The mid-interview though is luckily just a check in to really see how we’re doing with the language. It’s the final language interview that I have to be worried about. For the mid-interview, I think I need a beginner’s middle and for the final interview, I need an intermediate low.

After language, our PCMO (PC medical officer) talked with us about TB, malaria, waterborne diseases and all that good stuff. We’ve probably already had a few sessions on TB and all the other common diseases in Namibia, so that was a tad boring.

The next session though was pretty interesting. I might not have thought that food security and sustainable gardening was interesting before this session, but the way that the presenter did it was. The presenter was a returned PCV (PC volunteer) who is currently working for Peace Corps in Tanzania in the environmental program. Rather than just talking at us for an hour, we went to a local farm that was growing organic vegetables, herbs and flowers. It was amazing! I didn’t realize how much I missed fresh fruit and veggies until I saw this farm. Of course midway into our tour, it started to rain. Oh Namibian weather! So we ran underneath an outside canopy area that had a roof and just continued talking. I’m really hoping that I can have a garden when I get to my permanent site, because I’m not in India or the US anymore. Being back in this tropical weather has really made me miss India. And also living with a host family here has reminded me of my amazing host family back in India. In India, I was able to walk to the corner store to get fresh bananas, pomegranates, mangoes, and so many other types of fruit. I remember chowing down on at least two pomegranates a day and knowing that it wasn’t breaking the bank. Here though, it’s all about meat and carbs---very different. It’s just so funny that I studied abroad in a culture that praised vegetarianism and now I’m doing Peace Corps in a culture that praises meat. Two very different extremes.

After that, we quickly ate lunch and then migrated over to our next field trip, this time to the hospital. Although I had no expectations for the local hospital, it was really hard to see the moths on the ceilings, windows wide open--and I didn’t even see any nurses or doctors wearing masks, scrubs or gloves. Very interesting. Factoid of the day though? We learned that University of Namibia just started to have a medical M.D. program last year. Before that, there were no programs whatsoever to train doctors. So all the doctors who worked at the hospital were either not trained or they’re funded through the CDC (Center for Disease Control & Prevention) program and come from different countries.

What was also interesting was the HIV/AIDS program. All family planning items are free--meaning birth control, condoms (male & female), IUDs, etc., which is awesome! Medications for HIV/AIDS clients are also free here. I was wondering how Namibia felt about contraception because on the one hand, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is huge here, but on the other hand, it’s a conservative Christian country. I’m so happy to learn that at least in this hospital and in the local clinic as well, condoms and birth control are given freely.

When I left the hospital, I immediately thought about Medwish. Medwish is a non-profit based in Cleveland, OH that takes donations from U.S. hospitals and allows it to be used in hospitals and clinics around the world. Donations could range from surgical equipment, x-ray machines, gauze pads, hospital beds, etc. The local hospital could definitely benefit from this program. The x-ray machines that a hospital in the U.S. has may only be two years old before they think the equipment’s out of date and new technology comes in. But for hospitals around the world that don’t even have an x-ray machine, the newest technology doesn’t even matter.

Tomorrow is Namibian cultural day. All day long we’ll be cooking local food from various tribes in Namibia. The main attraction of the day will be the beheading of several chickens. It’ll be interesting!

Immunizations, shopping and cows' heads....

Well, I tell ya, if I become a pro at anything while here in Namibia, it’ll be at taking shots/immunizations. Since being a Peace Corps Trainee (not officially a Volunteer until after training), I’ve had yellow fever, rabies, meningitis and there are more to come. Surprisingly, I haven’t had any reactions to the shots except for the meningitis one. Earlier this week, we had to get the meningitis shot, which I knew was going to be the difficult one for me. After the PCMO (Peace Corps Medical Officer) gave me the meningitis shot, within a couple of minutes, I was already seeing spots and feeling feverish :( In a weird way, I’m glad I’ve had a reaction like this before to shots because then I know how to deal with it. This time around, I sat down in a chair and just waited out the spotty vision and sweats. Finally about 15 minutes later, I was feeling a little better. Sigh, I just hope I’m not going to get another reaction to shots like this for a while....it’s no fun!

In another news, life here in Namibia is going well. Every morning at the start of our training we sing a couple of Namibian songs, then the Namibian National Anthem and the American National Anthem. I really have started to like singing the Namibian Anthem every morning. It just helps me to fully remember that I am here in Namibia for the Peace Corps. Every so often, I kind of just need a reality check that I’m living in Africa....such a weird feeling sometimes. I still don’t feel like it’s quite hit me that I’ll be living here for the next two years. I have a feeling I'm going to be readjusting to life here in Namibia for quite some time.

After our morning singing, we break up into our language groups. I’m learning Otijiherero with one other person, which really allows me to have a personal language trainer to learn the language. Throughout this past week, we’ve been learning the basics....vowels, consonants and informal/formal greetings. The alphabet is primarily the same but there are different sounds for the letters, like tji is shh and when you see “n” with an accent mark on the bottom of the letter, it means you have to use your tongue more to pronounce the letter. Even though these beginning lessons are easy, I wanted to make sure I had it down pat because pretty soon we’re going to be learning much more complicated grammar and vocabulary and it won’t be of any use if we don’t know the basics.

During our other training sessions, we usually have different people come in to talk to us about various topics. In the past couple of days, we’ve talked about Namibia’s history and how the country became independent, safety and security issues, HIV/AIDS, STDs/STIs, and just some practical knowledge sessions.

This past Saturday, we took a trip to Windhoek to do some shopping and touring of the city. In the morning, the bus dropped us off at the mall in Windhoek (about an hour from where our training is) so we could buy cell phones. Even though Peace Corps doesn’t give us a cell phone allowance until swearing in, I just felt so much safer with a phone. Then when they give us the allowance, I can exchange it for US dollars and save it for when I want to buy a visa to another country. (Side note: If I wanted to get a visa to another country, it will be much easier to just pay for the visa in US dollars, so having US dollars on hand will be a good thing.) So I bought a fairly cheap cell phone and an internet stick so I can Skype and go on the internet. I’m just so happy that I can go on the internet from 1-5am for free and email everyone--and possibly Skype if they’re online and if the internet connection is good. I’m not homesick yet, but it’s nice to know that I can “see” people and email for free, because that’s 6pm-10pm (I think) EST, which is perfect!

So after everyone got their phones and/or internet sticks, we walked around the mall. Just like any other mall, there was a food court, internet cafe, clothing stores and a tattoo shop. It’s awesome to know that all these stores are at my fingertips for when I do need to buy random things. They even have some American stores, like The Body Shop!

After our morning at the mall, we drove to the Herero Acre, which was a memorial for all the Herero people killed while Namibia was fighting for independence. The tour guide said that there was space for over 100 graves, but right now there were about 9 graves there. We then took a group picture and went on our way to the next stop.

Our next stop was to another memorial in Windhoek. On December 10, 1959, there was a massacre in Windhoek. I think the police were telling the blacks to move out of the area so the whites could live there. The blacks weren’t too happy about that, so they rebelled by throwing a bomb at a police car. And from that action started the revolution and massacre.

Our last stop was to a meat market to sample some meat called kapana. It’s a type of meat that’s grilled and seasoned really well. Don’t even ask me though what kind of meat it was....it was just “meat”. One thing I’ve learned since being here is that you don’t ask what kind of meat you’re eating because they could either not know what animal it came from or if they did tell you what animal it was, you might not want to eat it. At this meat market, let’s just say that there was a cow’s head on the ground, flies everywhere and every piece of meat you could imagine, on a grill. Hey, at least it was fresh! It was....interesting. I tried a piece of meat that they gave us to try and it tasted pretty good. But because of the the surroundings that I saw, I didn’t reach for a second piece.

On our way back to the training center, we passed a bad section of town, so that we could see a comparison of how we’re living and what else is there. Almost every house was a shebeen (a bar)  or a car wash. The shebeens here though are some place that you never want to enter. Not a safe place at all.

On Sunday, after the long day in Windhoek, I rested and just relaxed the entire day. Sooo nice :) In Namibia, Sunday is truly a day of rest. The china shops (stores selling cheap Chinese items or just cheap items in general) are closed, the banks are closed--everything but the local grocery store is closed. So needless to say, there wasn’t much to do. But I have a feeling that as the weeks go on, the other volunteers and I will go for another hike or think of something else to do.....or just go to a 4 hour church service!

And on Monday, after language class, we spent the rest of the day talking about HIV/AIDS--something that’s right up my alley. After spending so much time on learning new things, it was refreshing to talk about something familiar. Helps to ground me. First off, we had a guest speaker who works with Peace Corps in Namibia, the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), and PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) in Namibia. Pretty cool! He talked about the HIV prevalence rate in Namibia (13.3% of the population has HIV/AIDS, which is about 204,000 people) and other statistics. We also talked about the key reasons was HIV has spread so fast in Namibia....alcohol use, low & inconsistent condom use, multiple partners, etc. What got me though is that Namibians are taught what HIV is and ways to prevent it from a very early age, but it’s difficult for them to actually implement the various prevention strategies. Knowledge is half the battle though!

Oooo I forgot to mention lunch! Every day for lunch, we are given a budget of $25 Namibian dollars for lunch ($3-4 US dollars), which doesn’t seem like a lot in US standards but surprisingly you can get pretty far with that budget. Today for lunch, a bunch of us went to Spar (the local grocery store) and I got a chicken salad sandwich for $11 Nam dollars and niknaks (kind of like Cheetos) for $1 Nam dollar. I did pretty good today! Despite the kind of high prices on fruit and veggies, I have a feeling that in the future I’m going to save up some of my allowance/lunch budget and get a piece of fruit rather than these Niknaks. I’m just excited for when I go to my permanent site because then I’ll be able to plan out all these healthy meals and even bike ride around town, since Peace Corps gives us a bike allowance. Yay! This whole Peace Corps thing is turning out better and better every day :)