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 :)
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 :)
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