Christmas Without Snow

Homestead

Just cows living a cow life

     This was my first holiday season away from home, and it was interesting.  On December 22 my site mate Brittany and I left for the farm (owned by Brittany's host family).  It was 5 km away from Otjinene but because of how sandy and bad the road was it took us around 1 hour to get there.  When I woke up the next day I took the time to wander around and see what the farm life here looked like.  The family that we stayed with is big so multiple houses were arranged in a semi circle with an outdoor kitchen at the center.  Most of the houses,except the one we stayed in, consisted of a bed and light.  There was a communal bathroom next to one of the houses.  Surrounding the homestead were fenced in pastures for the goats and cows.  Everything was green and there was a lot of space for the live stock to roam.  A few cacti in the middle of one ring made it a little more surreal.  Waking up to the braying of a donkey brought me back home and during my time on the farm I felt really peaceful.  The family is really large and soon there were people everywhere.  Everyone I met was really nice, except for the one guy who was perpetually drunk and never said anything understandable to me.  Every meal was cooked as a group and the days were spent sitting around and enjoying everyone's company.

Peeling onions and trying not to cry

       One of the daughters recently graduated from Med school so they threw a big party on Christmas Eve to celebrate.  This of course meant cooking all day and eating at 10 at night. All of the food was fresh, especially the meat.  Since the family has multiple farms and butcheries the meat was slaughtered that day and promptly cooked.  The party was done in a tent behind the homestead and a whopping 170 people came to celebrate.

Beautiful grass and sky

    Christmas Day was nothing special.  We woke up, ate breakfast and spent the day talking to each other just like the previous days.  This was the hardest to deal with.  I kept thinking about what I would've been doing at the time if I was home.  Thankfully I had some awesome conversations with people and that kept me distracted.  In Namibia the day after Christmas, Dec 26, is another national holiday. That day is Family day.  The way it was celebrated on the homestead was by doing a secret santa with everyone (not the 170 people, just the immediate family). We had given Brittany's host family a large travel thermos. Since Brittany and I were going to Opuwo for New Years we left that day for Windhoek.  However we didn't leave before Brittany's host mom gave us each a gift.  I received a wood chicken that was made by the host mom's mother.  It is currently sitting on my desk providing some color to my room.  Brittany received a homemade jar full of cow fat.

A group of us chilling

Brittany and I at the lodge in Opuwo

    You would not have believed that we were driving through the national capitol by the amount of cars that were on the street, which was zero.  Since getting a ride to Opuwo that day was going to be impossible Brittany and I spent the night in the Peace Corps. office.  The lounge has air conditioning, a kitchen, bathroom with a shower, and bookshelves with books we can take.  The next morning we began our long journey to Opuwo.  Opuwo is in the Northwest and although Namibia is a small country the journey was more than just a little tedious.  The combi we were in left at 10 am.  We were taking the long way there since the cars that left straight for Opuwo left really early in the morning.  We got to Otjakati (might be mispelled) at 6 pm and then after another 1 1/2 hours we made it to Opuwo.

Sketchy bridge

putting the life straw to the test!

monkey!!

enjoying a back massage

View from our campsite

The falls 

palm trees and desert

   Opuwo is drier, and hotter than anywhere I've been.  We spent the next few days at the volunteer's house there and getting used to seeing Himbas walking around.  Himba traditional attire consists of skirts and headdresses, and no shirts.  So I had to adjust to seeing a shirtless woman walking through a grocery store.  We spent the 27th to the 30 hanging out with friends and playing a ton of card games.  On the 30th we left for Epupa falls which was 250+ km north of Opuwo.  Again due to sandy, bumpy roads it took us more than 4 hours to get there.  Driving through desert like hills and dead trees I got really nervous about where we were going.  But as we drove down a mountain palm trees greeted us.  Our campsite was right on the river and the palm trees provided nice shade and there was a nice cool breeze.  We had to cross a little river to get from the main lounge to our campsite or take a very sketchy Indian Jones bridge. I opted for the river most of the times, and only did the bridge once.  Upon arrival we found out that the tap water wasn't drinkable.  Unfortunately most of us only brought one bottle of drinkable water, and there were only 6 tablets of iodine.  So we were sparse with our water.  I, however, found a life straw in the free box at the peace corps office, so I got a chance to try it out.  For those of you wondering what a life straw is, it is a straw that purifies the water as you suck on it.  On New Years we went to the actual Epupa Falls.  While the view of the falls was not the best, sitting in the Jacuzzi like tubs made up for it.  We had a lot of fun there.  The campsite was beautiful.  An outside bathroom meant that you could take a hot shower while looking up at the stars.  Monkeys stole food from our unfortunate neighbors, and the sunsets turned the sky into beautiful paintings.

Another year older

        I had my first birthday in Namibia on the 13th.  It was kind of a big deal for me because it was the first time I wasn't able to celebrate with my family.  With my sitemate gone to visit another volunteer it was up to me to make the best of my day.  I started it off by waking up and reading for about an hour.  After an exhaustive Insanity workout I bathed and went on my way to find me a good lunch.          
          My town was hosting a soccer/ netball tournament so there were a lot of extra people in town that weekend.  Of course that meant more opportunities for me to be harassed.  I got the usual calls of " I love you", "Hey baby" and " I want to marry you" as well as an extra call of "Princess".  After navigating the seas of men of who need to learn to keep it in their pants I went to one of the few restaurants in town for a good lunch of fish and some kick ass chips ( seriously the best chips I've had in Namibia...no joke).

Netball practice

       After eating a really good lunch and shooing off someone asking for food by constantly reaching for the food on my plate I went over to watch the tournaments for a bit.  I watched a game played by teenagers and the skill level that they showed was astonishing.  The goalie made some unbelievable saves and in the end the score was 1-0.  I went to the netball court to watch some netball but the teams were only warming up.  It was still interesting because this was the first time that I've seen a netball uniform.  Netball, for those of you who haven't already read about it, is a sport played only by females.  The court is similar to a basketball court but smaller in size.  The object is to score as many baskets as you can.  Of course it is much harder than basketball because there is no back board for you to bounce the ball off of, there is only a hoop made of wire attached to a pole.  The players wear a uniform similar in style to female tennis players.  When playing you can't move when you have the ball, it is similar to ultimate frisbee.  I can't recall how many players are on the court at one time but it's either 5 or more.

A time out during the game

     Once I had my fill of soccer and sun I went back home and prepared for some awesome conversations with the family and the boyfriend.  I started by facetiming the family.  It was taking a really long time for them to answer my call so I was afraid that they weren't ready or I had messed up with the times.  I was greeted with a piece of cake? with a lit candle and my family singing happy birthday to me.  It was honestly one of the sweetest moments ever.  I kept tearing up and I had a hard time hiding the fact that I was crying a little bit.  It was really perfect because I had been feeling slightly depressed about not being home for the holidays or for my birthday.  I got to talk to my dad which was really nice, whenever I facetime home he is usually at work.  It was nice catching up with them and hearing the latest gossip and family happenings ( my little sister started in her first basketball game!! woot woot!!).  When I logged onto facebook I noticed I had a video of everyone at my parents christmas party (that happened on my birthday as well) singing me happy birthday.  It was really awesome and I really appreciated it.

Cows chilling by my school

Some fans at the game

     I finished my conversation with them and then proceeded to facetime my boyfriend.  Seeing his face and hearing his voice always makes my day and after talking to my family talking to him was the cherry on top!  We had a great and lengthy conversation.  I love talking to him, and we never run of things to say.  I really appreciate having someone like him in my life.  There are some people whose support is one of the only things keeping me here and sane.  Among them are my family and him.
    Overall it was a great day.  Sure I may not have been able to celebrate it like I normally do, but this birthday will definitely be one I remember.  As for future endeavors....I got my timetable for next year. I will be teaching 9th grade math, 9th grade english, and 11th grade computers.  I really look forward to start teaching even though in the beginning I will have no idea of what to do.  I just painted one of the walls in my flat with chalk board paint.  Since the wall has the door way in it I intend to turn one side into a to do/ grocery list, and the other into inspirational/ favorite quotes.  I am also hoping to expand my household in January.  I recently spoke with a pet store that will be selling kittens and have put my name down to become an owner.  I'm hoping to pick up a male kitten in January.

Typical houses in town

 

Theft and Turkey

I know it has been a while since I posted, but to be fair nothing really exciting has happened in between the previous post and this one.
     Last week I had Reconnect.  Reconnect is a Peace Corps. conference with the purpose of talking about our experiences at site so far and providing us with sessions about what to expect in the upcoming months.  I left on Nov 14 with my site mate Brittany and headed to our shopping town Gobabis. We spent the night at a fellow PCV's flat there and headed back to Okahandja on Saturday. I spent the night with Brittany's host family from training.  They were really nice.  She has a ton of host siblings and they were so welcoming.  Within an hour I had the younger ones cuddling me as we watched TV and the older ones asking me questions about myself. Her host mom and dad were so nice to let me stay (especially since they found out we were coming the night before) and didn't ask me why I wasn't staying with my old host family.  I spent that night watching TV and chatting with the family.  I got up to date on the soapies and was able to sleep in the next day.

the kick ass room

    Sunday we left for Windhoek with 2 other PCV's from our group.  Once we got into the car we realized that neither the driver or the PCV's (including myself) knew how to get to Greiter's Lodge, the location of our conference.  Well you can imagine the slight anxiety we all felt.  So we used our network of people to get the lodge's phone number so that we could get directions.  I texted my awesome APCD Waldo, Brittany texted a PCV with internet and between all of us in the car we got the number.  We got directions and began our journey.  I knew the lodge was isolated from PCVs who had been there before but I didn't really register the meaning of isolated until we turned onto a dirt road that seemed to lead straight into the mountains.  The poor car had to go up and down so many times that I was afraid we'd run out of gas.  There were many times when I thought the car wouldn't make it, but it always managed to putt on.  Then we came to a part of the road that was tar and finally the car decided it had enough.  No amount of begging, pleading, or pushing could convince this car to continue on.  So the four of us got out of the car, paid the driver and continued on foot.  It was about a 15 minute hike up a very steep part of the hill and then a 10 minute walk up a flat ish part to the lodge.  However I had my huge hiking back pack on so every journey seemed to last forever.  We were the first group to arrive at the lodge so we got to choose our room.  I took one of the single rooms.  My room had a beautiful view of the mountains, a huge bed, an awesome shower with hot water, a hot water boiler, and tea!

the view from the lodge

            The lodge was really nice and I loved seeing everyone again BUT the sessions we went through were bogus! Everyday Monday through Thursday ( got ended early, read on to find out why) was about best practices on teaching.  Now for those of you who don't know what best practices are, it is exactly what it sounds like.  We talked about ways to teach a multileveled classroom, how to manage a classroom, etc.  While these are very important topics, everything said during those sessions was said during training.  So why did we have to go over them again?  There was one session that was actually interesting.  That was the session on grant writing.  I'm hoping to renovate the soccer field by my school and in order to do that I'm going to need money so grant writing will be in my future.  Along with the sessions we had language classes everyday.  I did learn some useful things during those classes, like how to say that thing over there, or this child, etc.

the conference room

        The best parts of the conference was the food, which was amazing, and the down time after sessions to hang out with people and catch up.  The worst part was that 3 people were robbed and another 2 had their rooms broken into.  The first time it happened was when a PCV was taking a shower and left the door unlocked for his roommate. Someone came in and stole two backpacks that had laptops in both.  Thankfully only one wallet was stolen.  Then it happened again...but this time two people left the door unlocked but were sitting on the bed talking.  The guy (probably the same guy) came in, dropped the two rocks he was carrying, grabbed a back pack and ran.  He was chased through the lodge area and ran into the bush around the lodge.  After the first time it happened "extra" security men were added to the roster but they clearly did nothing since it happened again.  And before the guy went into the room with the people talking he broke into another room and had to be chased out.  Needless Peace Corps. was not happy about what happened and on Thursday we were all sent home.  The lodge's insurance supposedly covered the stolen items, but I'm not too sure about that.  One of the wallets was recovered, and everything but the cash was intact.

a beautiful sunset

some of the thanksgiving group

After leaving Reconnect on Thursday we headed back to Gobabis to prepare for an epic Thanksgiving meal. A lot of people came.  We had 7 from my group (Group  40), 3 from group 39, 1 from group 38, 2 from group 35, and 3 locals.  Cooking happened from 9 in the morning Saturday until 5 pm.  We had a real turkey (small, expensive, but so worth it!), apple pie, strawberry/peach pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cream of spinach, chicken, mac and cheese, guacamole and chips, and soda.  It was a lot of fun getting to know new people and eating.  I was also able to buy some stuff that I needed for my flat.  Or rather I bought a ton of stuff, some of it needed and some of it not.

Turkey!

       Being back at site is a little weird.  I miss being with Americans and not sticking out.  However school ends for the learners today, so it will be quiet at the hostel until the new year starts.  I still haven't finalized exactly what I'm teaching but I need to do that soon so that I can start with my lesson plans and what not.  Last night I saw a mouse in my room.  Never having dealt with that before I was a bit anxious and clueless about what to do. BUT since several PCV's have a puppy I'm considering buying a cat.  I just need to make sure that I'm actually allowed to have one.

My plate!

3 months gone in a blink

It's strange to think that I've been in Namibia for over 3 months.  So I figured I would talk a little about my what my life has been like through lists.

  Things I can't believe:

            I'm in Africa

           That it's just starting to be summer here

           There could be this much sand

           Thorns could go through your shoe

           Red meat is really cheap

           Chicken is expensive

Things I love

            The people

            The weather

            That I'm in Africa

            The resources my school has

             How curious everyone is about why I am here

             The bread

Things I dislike

             The constant, tiring marriage proposals

             The bugs

             The assumption that I speak Africaans

             All of the down time I have right now before teaching in January

             Fellow Co-worker actions

Things I've done

             Eaten goat face

             Jumped off a dam

             Moved to a new place

             Learned (more like learning) a new language

             hitch hike to my shopping town and back

Things I want to do

            Go sand boarding

            Start a computer lab

            Go to traditional events

            Join Peace Corps. committees

            Have American holiday parties when I teach

            Start a pen pal system with an American school

           Start a girls club

           Adjust my schools punishment system

Places I want to visit

           Cape Town

            The beach in Cape Town where I can swim with penguins

            Caprivi Region

           Etosha National Park

           Swakomund

           Zanzibar or Madagascar

           Victoria Falls (again)

           Chobe National Park (again)

Things I miss

           Chinese Food 

           Cook Out

           Lemonade

          Washing machines and dryers

           Running hot water

           Cable

           Seeing movies at movie theaters

Things that are surprisingly difficult to buy in town

            Tomatoes

            Cheese (can't buy it at all in town)

            Peppers

            Fruit

            Water

Things I do in my free time

             Read

            Watch movies/ TV on my laptop

             Work out 

             Make friendship bracelets

             Cook

            Walk to the store

My life here is good.  I'm slowly making this place feel like home.

  

           

      

Walking around naked...except not really (aka my flat)

So on Friday I moved into my flat.  My bedroom is really simple.  There is a table and 1 chair, a bed, and a wardrobe.  Since my kitchen doesn't have any shelves or anywhere to put my food, I use half of my wardrobe for my food and cooking stuff.
         The kitchen is small too.  There's a sink, a fridge and a hot plate.  A hot plate is just the top part of a stove and many people use a hot plate in place of a stove and oven.  My kitchen is also the happening spot for all the local bugs.  At nights they are everywhere.  It's usually cock roaches (they're not nearly as big as the ones in the states) and some really small bugs.  But I avoid them none the less.

My bathroom

       My bathroom is split into two parts.  The toilet (missing a seat) is in one room and the bath tub and sink is in the other.  Since my bathtub has neither a shower head or hot water I take bucket baths.  What that entails is turning on the faucet scooping up the water with my hands and pouring it down my body.  I have a bucket that I could fill up and dump on me that way, but I don't have a shower curtain so I don't use it in order to control the water.  Once my body is all wet I wash my hair first and run it under the faucet to rinse it out.  Then I wash the rest of me.  All of this is done standing up with my hair in a bun (after it was washed) to prevent it from dripping on me.  I usually use cold water because it takes a while for me to heat up water and it's usually pretty hot so the cold water is refreshing.

My bedroom

     The  kids here are all very curious about me and my flat.  If I leave my door unlocked they will knock.  If I don't answer they will walk in.  I have been making them go back outside, knock and then wait for me to answer in order to help them understand how I want my space to be treated.  But once in they are mainly just interested in how it is set up.  They'll watch whatever I am doing and then leave.  I had many people come and greet me while here.
    It is loud by my flat.  My flat is in the middle of the 8th grade girls' blocks so they usually hang out around my windows.  I'm a really light sleeper so I'm going to have to get used to all of the noise.

The kitchen

    I am very excited to be living on my own.  It means that I have to cook (or rather learn to cook), but I like being in charge of what I do, where and when.  I am close enough to the school that I can usually get some wifi during the day to check my mail and talk to people.  However, the wifi isn't strong enough for my ipod to pick it up so I can't use apps like facetime or viber.  But once at school I can use those.   I was given permission to paint my flat so the next time I am in Gobabis I am going to pick up some chalk board paint and maybe another color as well.  

my picture wall

     I have been very bored during school.  We're not suppose to teach during this time which limits the things that can fill up my time. I have explored my school quite well and spent a decent time in the library.  I really like my school library. It has a lot of technical books ( even a discreet math book!) but is lacking in the fiction department. So I'm going to try to get some more fiction books.

Another picture of my kitchen

Homecoming...ish (aka moving to my site)

So I know it's been a while since I posted but I have been trying to figure out a schedule and make time to actually post.  Since I swore in on Sept 25 I have been busy...kind of.

Me and all the stuff

         That Friday Brittany and her supervisor as well as me went to Gobabis which is my shopping town.  We were suppose to stay there until the next Tuesday, but we actually stayed until Wednesday.  We stayed with Brittany's supervisor and simply lounged around. I did some serious shopping and bought almost everything I thought I would need for my flat.  Also while in Gobabis I got to explore the Ministry of Education there and got to meet the Director there (the head person for my region).   Gobabis has one major street, but has a lot of shops.  I was very happy to see a Mr.Price (a cheap clothes store), and a Wimpy (restaurant).  There are multiple grocery stores, and china shops.  There are a lot of languages spoke there.  I heard Otjiherero, Africaans, KKG, and a little Oshiwambo.  There are a lot of different tribes represented in that one town which is pretty cool.

My school

           On Wednesday we piled multiple suitcases, 2 hiking back packs, 2 green trunks, a ton of shopping bags, and ourselves into the back of a closed pick up truck and took the 1 hour journey to Otjinene.  The journey wasn't unpleasant because we had a mattress to sit on, and there is a tar road that leads to Otjinene. In order to properly picture Otjinene, think of the smallest town you know, and then divide it into 4ths.  That is Otjinene.  All the roads are sand, and there is one fuel station.  There is a store where you can buy necessities like cool drink (sodas), bread, milk, eggs, canned foods, toilet paper and what not.  There is a butcher shop where you can buy meat, and a bakery.  There are 2 take away places, and 1 china shop (to my pleasure).  There is a standard bank ATM, and even a small post office.  There are 3 schools here, which I think is a bit unnecessary.  There is a primary school (grades 1-5) a combined school (1-7) and 1 secondary school (8-10, soon to be 8-11).  Brittany the other volunteer in my town will be working at the primary school and I am at the secondary school.  Omaheke is considered cattle country and so there are cows EVERYWHERE, just kind of roaming.  Everyone here is very nice and always curious about who I am and what I am doing here.  I thought that me being here wouldn't be too big of a shock since they had a volunteer that left last year, but I was wrong.

Donkey pulled cart

         I have been staying with a host family for a few days until my flat at my school is ready for me.  I am actually hoping to move in today.  The house is small.  There are 3 bedrooms, and only one has a working light.  There is 1 light in the rest of the house that is in the kitchen.  There is one sink in the house that  doesn't work.  The family is really nice and I have already learned 2 new card games from the kids.

One of the classroom blocks at schoo

One of the classes. The kids "needed" a picture

        My first day I went to the car wash with my host mom.  A car wash and hair salon are 2 of the most common businesses you can find in a town  because they don't need a lot of space.  While there I met a lot of the community.  I have never been called "white person" as much in my life as I have in that first day.  People would tell there friends to "come meet the white person".  Of course this was all said in Otjiherero so they didn't know that I understood what was being said. At first people see me and assume that I speak Africaans.  They would ask me how I was, and I'd respond in Africaans ( greetings are pretty much all I know in that language), and then I'd have to switch over to English. To that extent I have been using my language everyday while here.  Usually just to greet people, but I have slowly been integrating phrases and words that I learned.  Everyone is generally amazed and happy that I know even a tiny bit of Otjiherero.  My listening skills have increased ten fold because of all the eavesdropping that I have been doing.

The only fuel station in town

      My school is nice.  All of the buildings are green and white.  The school is set up into blocks and all of the classrooms lead to outside.  There is a computer lab with 30 laptops, a home ec. classroom, an science lab, and a library. I was told that my school was the 2nd best school in Omaheke last year so that would explain the renovation that was done then.  The hostel is right next to the school and hosts most of the students.  Each room has 4-6 bunk beds where the learners sleep and 1-2 dressers.  A bunch of the windows are broken so I'm sure it gets cold at nights.  All of the learners were very excited to find out that I would be teaching, however they were disappointed when I said I would only be teaching come January.

my town under construction

      My flat has a kitchen that leads directly into my bedroom. I am going to put up a curtain because there is no door between the two.  My kitchen has a sink, a fridge, and either a hotplate (top part of a stove) or an actual stove (still working those logistics out), and racks that looks like it could hold shelves.  The bathroom is right next to the kitchen and has a bathtub and sink in one room and the toilet in the other.  My bedroom has a bed and a wardrobe.  I am hoping to find a table that I can use as a desk.  All of the walls in my flat are cement.  It is small but will work perfectly.
   All and all I like Otjinene. I think it should a good place for me to stay in.  There is not much to do but I am sure I will find ways to entertain myself.
               

   

Goodbyes...for now (aka Swearing in)

        Tuesday and Wednesday we had a supervisor workshop. Pretty much every supervisor and volunteer met and then attended workshops that focused on roles, expectations, and what Peace Corps is.  My supervisor did not show up.  BUT my friend Brittany's supervisor did show up and she is the principal of the primary school of my town so she was able to give me some information about my school.  For example, my school has just been renovated and has a nice computer lab.  My school is relatively small (around 400 kids) and there are no more than 15 teachers. I will be able to move into my small flat by the hostel and I'm going to have to buy everything for my apartment.  However a few of the workshops focused on discussing in private the role of the volunteer including what classes they'll be teaching and what not.  So unfortunately I wasn't able to discuss that with my supervisor.
      Today we swore in as volunteers.  I borrowed a traditional Herero dress from one of my host mom's friends.  It was a bit tight around the chest and I couldn't quite snap myself without help (my chest got in the way of seeing where it was suppose to snap into) and my host sibling helped me.  I wore a single petty coat underneath the dress.  My host mom went on to say that she usually wore 6 underneath her dresses.  The dress was then completed with a belt and the tradition hat that refused to stay on my head.  It was really emotional taking pictures with my host family because this was one of the last things we would do together.  As I walked to the center where the ceremony would take place in I got a lot of comments and looks.  I think most people were just really surprised to see a white girl in a Herero dress.
   The ceremony started at 10 ish (good ole African time).  The youth choir sang in the beginning and then we walked down the aisle to our seats.  It was a lot like graduation except I was in a huge dress.  The ceremony started off with the singing of the national anthems.  We sang the Namibian one first (the recording was a lot faster than we were singing), then the African Union one, and lastly the American one.  Our group was introduced by a training staff member.  We then watched this really awesome video that showed what our PST life had been like.  Our training director then gave opening remarks and asked the Country Director to accept the 47 trainees who had completed their training to swear in.  Then our Country Director "accepted" us and gave a really great speech about how we define ourselves.  She spoke about how she doesn't know us all individually but she knows we're "adventurous, selfless, courageous" and a whole lot other words.  She talked about how she felt like our surrogate mother and how she was really proud of us.  She then passed it off to a special guest the acting ambassador for the U.S.A who then gave a speech.  Then we said two oaths.  One was saying we would serve the U.S.A and the next pretty much saying that we would serve as a volunteer.  After this a business guy gave a rather dull speech about the importance of volunteers in Namibia.  A youth choir then sang a really cool song.  Then each language group presented something.  Africaans and my language both gave a speech (my friend adam gave the otjiherero speech).  The Kavango region did a dance.  The Oshiwambos sang.  And the KKG's and Zambezi's said a poem.  After this the national anthems were sung again in reverse order.
    I can't believe that I am finally a volunteer. I am really excited to begin my service.  I can not wait to meet my students and get started.  The next few months are considered phase 2.  Pretty much we will be observing classes, getting to know our schools and communities, and working on integrating.  Then in December we all meet up for a conference known as "Reconnect" where we talk about phase 2.  FINALLY in January (the beginning of the school year) I start teaching.

My host family and little neighbor

My friend Rachel and I 

The 3 out of 4 of us Herero women wearing our dresses

The people I walk to training and back everyday with.