As I got on the train to leave Windhoek I found that the car was very crowded (unusual) and not one bunk area had a door (fabulous!!!).
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As I am meeting “new friends” on the train a woman kindly approaches me about my safety and informs me “You don’t need to be worried miss, no don’t be worried I will sleep with you tonight, in your blanket, with you.” (Um, ok you are now the only one I’m worried about on this train, not the angry drunks, the old men looking at me and my stuff in odd ways, ONLY YOU MISS).
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Holy crap it’s cold. Beyond cold, I can see my breath every second I’m on the train.
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Well my bright yellow “Stop TB” is kinda stained with black dots thanks to a washing machine and permanent marker and now I was wondering what on earth would I wear everyday. Luckily Namibia is awesome like this and I received a bright neon green “Drink Responsible” shirt, problem solved, thanks Namibia!!!
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I woke up in Outjo this Friday freezing. Seriously after a hot bucket bath and walking to work I was still freezing. After a few hours and a game of volleyball I finally got some warmth restored to my fingers, really Namibia who knew July was going to be so freezing, worst thing since I have no way to warm up, ugh.
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Razor wire fence ZERO – Amanda 1 (before our Drink Responsible Celebration as I was putting flags on our new fence)
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Razor wire fence 1,0000 – Amanda 1 (after taking the flags down, 1,000 alluding to the number of cuts on my hands)
You win razor wire fence, you win!
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An Afrikaner carnival in Outjo – of course! An Afrikaner country singing duo making an appearance, I’ve never seen a bigger Afrikaner crowd in Namibia – EVER! Wow, who are these country singing brothers?
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To celebrate America’s independence I thought about going to the Afrikaner carnival but settled on sitting in bed watching 3 seasons of the television show Weeds, something that displays America at it’s finest!!! Happy Independence America!!!!!!!!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
oh technology....
Dear Macintosh Corporation,
Did I do something to you? Why do you insist on ruining my life? I have always been a Mac user and supporter but lately you have me questioning if you are out to get me. Yes, I was sad when my old iBook died the day I arrived in Namibia but I understood it was old and well I was lucky to have it as long as I did. I totally looked past when my brand new iPod kept screwing up and constantly needed to be restarted after freezing up every week. I have also begun to forgive you guys for the sadness caused when the shuffle my mom bought me (for safer running in Africa) didn’t work, straight out of the box. I mean that was sad, she was so excited to have bought it and put a message on it and I receive it in Namibia in it’s Apple packaging and it’s a dud. But, that’s life I guess. It’s just now my brand new MacBook, literally less than six months old is acting up and yesterday a DVD got stuck in it and broke the lens so I have to replace the entire CD/DVD drive, wtf? Hey, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer which means one, I’m trying to do some good in the world, two, I live on about 200USD a month and three, my computer is my life here. I cannot afford to keep getting Apple products fixed, especially when they are brand new and I’m trying to take super good care of them. You don’t have a store here and the only shop which sells anything Apple or could fix anything Apple is not exactly close. I mean this is getting ridiculous. So please whatever I did to deserve this forgive me and lets go back to the loving relationship we used to have before I joined the Peace Corps, SERIOUSLY!
Wishing for better luck with Mac products in Namibia in the future,
Amanda
Did I do something to you? Why do you insist on ruining my life? I have always been a Mac user and supporter but lately you have me questioning if you are out to get me. Yes, I was sad when my old iBook died the day I arrived in Namibia but I understood it was old and well I was lucky to have it as long as I did. I totally looked past when my brand new iPod kept screwing up and constantly needed to be restarted after freezing up every week. I have also begun to forgive you guys for the sadness caused when the shuffle my mom bought me (for safer running in Africa) didn’t work, straight out of the box. I mean that was sad, she was so excited to have bought it and put a message on it and I receive it in Namibia in it’s Apple packaging and it’s a dud. But, that’s life I guess. It’s just now my brand new MacBook, literally less than six months old is acting up and yesterday a DVD got stuck in it and broke the lens so I have to replace the entire CD/DVD drive, wtf? Hey, I’m a Peace Corps volunteer which means one, I’m trying to do some good in the world, two, I live on about 200USD a month and three, my computer is my life here. I cannot afford to keep getting Apple products fixed, especially when they are brand new and I’m trying to take super good care of them. You don’t have a store here and the only shop which sells anything Apple or could fix anything Apple is not exactly close. I mean this is getting ridiculous. So please whatever I did to deserve this forgive me and lets go back to the loving relationship we used to have before I joined the Peace Corps, SERIOUSLY!
Wishing for better luck with Mac products in Namibia in the future,
Amanda
"This is Namibia, you need at least two spares"
To give my parents a real taste of Namibia I had decided that we would be traveling on the back roads of Namibia, which are mainly dirt roads and not all are maintained regularly. We had left Sossusvlei early in the morning in order to get to Luderitz by early afternoon. An hour or so after leaving we were in the middle of a canyon trying to make our way out of it on the rough dirt road. All of the sudden we hit a sharp rock, twice, the front and back right tire. My father shared a few swear words and my mom just kept saying things like “Are you serious?”. We got parked the car on the top of a hill and walked the 500m to the last farm we had passed. I tried to ask the guy for help but he kept saying, “White man not here”, thanks buddy. Luckily it’s National Immunization Day time and the Ministry of Health is out driving to all the farms to immunize all children. They saw our car and stopped to help, unfortunately they were not going in our direction. The did however help us flag down a nice Afrikaner couple who with the help of their worker took the tires off our car and flagged down another car, a Dutch tourist couple to drive me the 50km to the nearest town to try to repair the tire. I left my parents in the middle of the Namib Desert, somewhere in a canyon with little water, food, no cell reception and a nice car with our entire luggage – this must have been the highlight of my parent’s trip! At the nearest town I was saddened when they couldn’t repair the tire and instead I had to buy a new one, problem they didn’t have the exact tire. I took what I could get and prayed it would work and then sat on the side of the road for 3 hours waiting for a hike back to the canyon. The elderly Afrikaner couple finally showed up at noon and drove me back and luckily the tire worked, using the other spare we were finally up and running.
Seeing how we didn’t have another spare, we drove very slowly to Luderitz (it’s official my mom hates dirt roads by now). We got there in the evening and luckily were able to buy new tires the next day. I felt horrible. I mean it’s really common but you never want your own parents to experience real Namibia. Luckily Namibians are super helpful. Every car that passed my parents offered to help in whatever way they could, giving water and what not. My gratitude goes out to the older Afrikaner couple that really went above and beyond in our situation. My poor mother stranded in the middle of nowhere for more than four hours, I’m surprised she survived with how worked up she can get as a worrywart. Luckily we were ok and everything turned out ok but my favorite part was one guy who stopped told my dad “This is Namibia, what were you thinking, you need two spares to travel here”, lesson learned. TIN
Seeing how we didn’t have another spare, we drove very slowly to Luderitz (it’s official my mom hates dirt roads by now). We got there in the evening and luckily were able to buy new tires the next day. I felt horrible. I mean it’s really common but you never want your own parents to experience real Namibia. Luckily Namibians are super helpful. Every car that passed my parents offered to help in whatever way they could, giving water and what not. My gratitude goes out to the older Afrikaner couple that really went above and beyond in our situation. My poor mother stranded in the middle of nowhere for more than four hours, I’m surprised she survived with how worked up she can get as a worrywart. Luckily we were ok and everything turned out ok but my favorite part was one guy who stopped told my dad “This is Namibia, what were you thinking, you need two spares to travel here”, lesson learned. TIN
Last taste of Africa
Normally goodbyes at the airport can be very sad but not today. As my parents were checking in they where informed that their bags were overweight and needed to pay around $150USD. Um, no I don’t think so. First off their bags where much heavier getting here then they were departing (they had brought tons of stuff for me, heavy stuff) and secondly my mom didn’t really have a carry on so some luggage could have been given to her. The airline was being very difficult and acted like the only option was to pay. No, I simply informed them that we would not be paying at all and that if necessary they needed to get my parent’s luggage off the plane and allow them to move some things around (why the heck would they load my parent’s bags without them being completely checked in, stupid). So after 30 minutes of waiting as they tried to locate my parent’s bags (yes, my worry-wart of a mother is freaking out at this point thinking she is going to miss her plane, there are tears involved) they bring us the bags and we move things around and my parent’s finally get checked in. Silly, all the luggage was still going on the plane, what’s the difference between the weight being in the overhead versus the luggage compartment, I just don’t get it. So all the stress and frustration of my parent’s boarding fiasco took away from the fact that I would not be seeing my parent’s for about a year and a half. Thanks South African Air for taking away my goodbye, hope it was worth it. I’m just bummed that my parent’s last impression of Africa was this miserable; I mean seriously what a horrible way to leave this wonderful country.
Whoa my parent’s in Namibia
First impressions: “There is nothing out here” – so true
First meal: kudu pie – someone told my mom not to find out what a kudu actually looked like cause then she should eat it, haha
First morning: freezing cold shower – welcome to Namibia : )
First day: no credit cards work properly so relying on a Peace Corps salary – welcome to my life; lots of men with guns, small boarder control rooms, a variety of African body odor – I’m sure my parent’s were thinking why did we come here?
Yeah, my parent’s trip got off to a great start needless to say. To me it was funny cause this is my life but I can understand and appreciate their concern. Our first adventure was Victoria Falls, which was so beautiful. So loud and so wet but wow amazing. We spent that night in Katima where we did a Zambezi River tour and went looking for hippos, a nice relaxing night and we got lucky with a few hippos. From Katima we drove to Tsumeb stopping in Rundu where Justin a fellow PCV showed my parent’s a traditional Kavango meal. We ate lunch at a shack with a goat hanging from the wall preparing for the next meal. They gladly ate their pop (porridge) and random meats. It was wonderful.
Etosha was amazing we saw so many animals; a herd of like 25 elephants crossed the road right in front of our car. Many times we had to stop as the giraffes, zebras, springbok, elands or gemsbok got out of the road. It was really cool. In the evening we did a night game drive where we got to witness a territorial struggle of rhinos, a pride of lions and a spotted hyena. Seriously without seeing a leopard I still left the park completely satisfied.
Opuwo was great for my parents to see the traditional Himba life, yes it’s a little awkward doing one of those touristy Himba tours but I’m glad my parent’s got to see one of the very traditional people of Namibia. It was also nice to show my parents around the Kunene Region, my home basically, Outjo, Kamanjab, Opuwo and Khorixas and the fellow PCVs in those areas. After Khorixas my parents got their first taste of dirt roads as we went the long way to Swakopmund, for a few hours there was nothing or no one in site, I mean it was really us and the desert.
From Swakopmund we saw the giant red sand dunes of Sossusvlei, which brought great entertainment as my mom attempted to climb the sand dune. After the dunes we headed to Luderitz to see the penguins and the diamond ghost town and finally back to Windhoek. Overall my parents got an amazing look at a large majority of this beautiful country. It was a lot of road time but hey this is a big place it’s kinda what you have to do if you want to see it.
First meal: kudu pie – someone told my mom not to find out what a kudu actually looked like cause then she should eat it, haha
First morning: freezing cold shower – welcome to Namibia : )
First day: no credit cards work properly so relying on a Peace Corps salary – welcome to my life; lots of men with guns, small boarder control rooms, a variety of African body odor – I’m sure my parent’s were thinking why did we come here?
Yeah, my parent’s trip got off to a great start needless to say. To me it was funny cause this is my life but I can understand and appreciate their concern. Our first adventure was Victoria Falls, which was so beautiful. So loud and so wet but wow amazing. We spent that night in Katima where we did a Zambezi River tour and went looking for hippos, a nice relaxing night and we got lucky with a few hippos. From Katima we drove to Tsumeb stopping in Rundu where Justin a fellow PCV showed my parent’s a traditional Kavango meal. We ate lunch at a shack with a goat hanging from the wall preparing for the next meal. They gladly ate their pop (porridge) and random meats. It was wonderful.
Etosha was amazing we saw so many animals; a herd of like 25 elephants crossed the road right in front of our car. Many times we had to stop as the giraffes, zebras, springbok, elands or gemsbok got out of the road. It was really cool. In the evening we did a night game drive where we got to witness a territorial struggle of rhinos, a pride of lions and a spotted hyena. Seriously without seeing a leopard I still left the park completely satisfied.
Opuwo was great for my parents to see the traditional Himba life, yes it’s a little awkward doing one of those touristy Himba tours but I’m glad my parent’s got to see one of the very traditional people of Namibia. It was also nice to show my parents around the Kunene Region, my home basically, Outjo, Kamanjab, Opuwo and Khorixas and the fellow PCVs in those areas. After Khorixas my parents got their first taste of dirt roads as we went the long way to Swakopmund, for a few hours there was nothing or no one in site, I mean it was really us and the desert.
From Swakopmund we saw the giant red sand dunes of Sossusvlei, which brought great entertainment as my mom attempted to climb the sand dune. After the dunes we headed to Luderitz to see the penguins and the diamond ghost town and finally back to Windhoek. Overall my parents got an amazing look at a large majority of this beautiful country. It was a lot of road time but hey this is a big place it’s kinda what you have to do if you want to see it.
Nothing but time
A lot of thought went into this decision. First, my grandfather had passed away a few days before and he loved trains as a way of transportation. I thought it would be my way of saying goodbye or to honor his memory, or even my own type of remembrance since I would not be at the funeral. Second, I’m terrified to ride in cars in Namibia. Seriously I get an anxiety attack when I’m in them. Third, my hospital said to leave early cause I wasn’t my normal bubbly self since my grandfather’s passing and there wasn’t much for me to do at work. So in the end, I boarded the train from Otjiwarongo to Windhoek, a mere 300km distance.
No shocker the train was late. Real late. After my fellow PCV and I boarded the train we quickly got situated foolishly thinking we would be leaving soon. Three hours later we had fallen asleep. Well into the night I finally felt our train move, oh false alarm we only moved back and forth on the tracks in the train station for a few more hours. Once we finally got moving I couldn’t sleep because I thought the train was going to jump off the tracks, seriously I didn’t know trains made those movements or noises, I was so scared. Somehow throughout the night and morning I nodded in and out of a semi-awake sleep. Sometimes I would only sleep when the train wasn’t moving (which happened a lot). Around 7am we awoke and the train wasn’t moving. We were supposed to arrive in Windhoek at 6am so I was a little concerned. I could tell by the mountain range we were not anywhere near Windhoek and I was more concerned when at first not a single person on the train seemed to be moving, what was going on? Two hours later someone informed us that the driver had been off the clock around 7 so he stopped the train and got off and we were waiting for another driver to show up, we were somewhere in between Okahandja and Karibib. When finally arriving in Okahandja I was hopeful that we’d be leaving to Windhoek since there were no passengers and we were already way behind schedule. For thirty to forty-five minutes we moved back as forth on the same tracks in the station and then eventually made our way to Windhoek.
As we approached the Windhoek station all the workers were laughing and waving yelling, “Oh, just a little late” or “It’s about time”. We again did the back and forth thing in the Windhoek station and then around 1pm finally departed the train station. The whole adventure took about 18 hours to travel a distance that can be done in 3 hours in a car. In the end I decided that we had moved backwards more than we had moved forward and we had also been stopped more than we were moving. Oh TransNamib…well I guess it’s fine when you are like me and have nothing but time but thank goodness my parent’s had rented a car.
No shocker the train was late. Real late. After my fellow PCV and I boarded the train we quickly got situated foolishly thinking we would be leaving soon. Three hours later we had fallen asleep. Well into the night I finally felt our train move, oh false alarm we only moved back and forth on the tracks in the train station for a few more hours. Once we finally got moving I couldn’t sleep because I thought the train was going to jump off the tracks, seriously I didn’t know trains made those movements or noises, I was so scared. Somehow throughout the night and morning I nodded in and out of a semi-awake sleep. Sometimes I would only sleep when the train wasn’t moving (which happened a lot). Around 7am we awoke and the train wasn’t moving. We were supposed to arrive in Windhoek at 6am so I was a little concerned. I could tell by the mountain range we were not anywhere near Windhoek and I was more concerned when at first not a single person on the train seemed to be moving, what was going on? Two hours later someone informed us that the driver had been off the clock around 7 so he stopped the train and got off and we were waiting for another driver to show up, we were somewhere in between Okahandja and Karibib. When finally arriving in Okahandja I was hopeful that we’d be leaving to Windhoek since there were no passengers and we were already way behind schedule. For thirty to forty-five minutes we moved back as forth on the same tracks in the station and then eventually made our way to Windhoek.
As we approached the Windhoek station all the workers were laughing and waving yelling, “Oh, just a little late” or “It’s about time”. We again did the back and forth thing in the Windhoek station and then around 1pm finally departed the train station. The whole adventure took about 18 hours to travel a distance that can be done in 3 hours in a car. In the end I decided that we had moved backwards more than we had moved forward and we had also been stopped more than we were moving. Oh TransNamib…well I guess it’s fine when you are like me and have nothing but time but thank goodness my parent’s had rented a car.
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