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 :)
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 :)
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