Adventures in Victoria Falls!

           As our way to celebrate the end of the semester, seven of us girls traveled the 20 hour bus trip to Victoria Falls in Zambia. Although we were only in Livingstone, Zambia for two full days, we packed in so many adventures and sightseeing excursions that we were always busy and got to experience a lot of Livingstone in just a short time. In our two days there we went white water rafting on the Zambezi River, went on a sunset dinner cruise on a different part of the River, explored Victoria Falls and got insanely soaked by its spray, I got mugged by a baboon at the Falls, and we all took a bike tour around Livingstone and its surrounding villages. It was quite an eventful weekend and I am thrilled we had the chance to visit such a beautiful Seven Wonders of the World.

            A couple days before we left for Victoria Falls, we all realized our student visas were expiring the day before we were supposed to leave for the Falls. That is not good because Namibia could charge us a fee for staying too late in the country and then not let us re-enter the country from Zambia. We quickly went to the Department of Home Affairs to get this fixed (on the day that we were supposed to depart for Vic Falls) and it took so long we almost missed our bus! We were very clearly freaking out as we sprinted from Home Affairs to the bus station. Thankfully it all worked out in the end, but we certainly cut it close!

            Flying to Victoria Falls is insanely expensive so we all decided to take InnerCape, a bus system kind of like the Greyhound in the States. From Windhoek to Vic Falls, it is roughly 20 hours of sitting in a bus. Quite understandably, it felt like forever! On the way to Zambia our bus broke down so we were stuck for about an hour, but thankfully we were on our way pretty quickly. InnerCape is a Christian company so they played many movies with Christian themes. They played a movie called Son of God which showed Jesus' life and, of course, added some Hollywood flares. It was pretty funny seeing how much we all remembered from church and trying to figure out if certain scenes were "Hollywood-ified". On the way back to Windhoek, we learned about "disease mats" where every once in a while we would all shuffle off the bus and walk over a mat doused in some sort of liquid to get rid of whatever diseases we may have on our shoes from Zambia. It was comical to see all us sleep-deprived people trying to figure out what was going on. At least it was a good way to stretch our legs!

            In Zambia, we stayed at Livingstone Backpackers, a hostel right near downtown Livingstone. It was a phenomenal hostel! We met so many wonderful people who told us of their travels around Africa and where they were from. Since a lot of them were from the States, we got to discuss different current events with them and catch up on everything America. When we went to Vic Falls for the day, some of the guys we met came with us. It was very nice to travel with other people, make connections with random people in a foreign country, and see how small this world really is becoming.

Having a movie night with our new friend :)

            On our first full day in Livingstone, we went white water rafting and got to do a sunset dinner cruise on the Zambezi River. I have never gone rafting in my life so I was pretty nervous about it all. When we got the safety briefing, it actually freaked me out even more, but Kalie told me that this stuff hardly ever happens when you raft. To get down to the Batoka Gorge to start rafting, we had to hike down a pretty steep mountain that had us all wondering when it would end. For about half the hike, it was too steep so workers had built a kind of staircase/ladder thing that we had to walk down. So basically we had to walk on sticks for probably twenty minutes. Once we got to the bottom of the Gorge, the rafting began. Rafting is actually super fun! After I was in the boat, all my nervousness went away and we all had loads of fun. The rapids ranged from class two to four. Since it was high season, there was no real worry of getting hit by rocks so the guides let us all jump in the water and float down some of the calmer waters. The water was not cold at all so it felt great to cool off and jump in. The Zambezi does have crocodiles, but since it was so hot they were hiding on the banks and in the water. So, technically, we actually swam with crocs without even knowing it! Toward the end of the rapids, our raft FLIPPED and we all were thrown out and covered by the raft (our guide had been trying to flip us for a while lol). Once we were all out of the raft all the girls started zooming down the rapids, but I wasn't moving. I guess I was stuck in a whirlpool which kept me in one spot. I swam a little bit and then got picked up by another raft. Although I was scared at the beginning of rafting, I loved flipping and swimming down the rapids. That evening we did a sunset dinner cruise and got to see the gorgeous sunset in one direction and the cloud of mist from Vic Falls in the other direction. We finally saw crocodiles and hippos on this cruise which added to our already long list of animals we have seen in Africa. We met many people from all over the world, including some people from Canada who came over to Zambia with Habitat for Humanity to build houses. I had no idea that Habitat did international work so it was great to talk to the team leader about their work and what they have done in the past.

The crazy stair ladder

After surviving our first rapid!

WE FLIPPED!!!

The beautiful sunset on the Zambezi

               The next day we went to Victoria Falls and saw Livingstone through a bike tour. It makes so much sense now that Victoria Falls is a Wonder of the World…it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We went to the Falls with three of the guys we met at the hostel, John, Gerick, and Dennis. When we first got to the national park we saw sooooo many baboons! They were so cute and the babies were adorable. The other girls made fun of me for calling them cute, but the baboons were just too great. Once we paid and got into the Falls area, we walked on some of the trails to reach the lookout points. When we got to the first point, I was blown away by the Falls and thought that was it. Ha! We had seen just a little snip-it of the actual thing and when we walked a little further we were drenched by the spray of the Falls. The spray and mist from the water ranged from a mist to a torrential downpour and reminded me a lot of Washington. Hearing the water pound down the Falls was incredible and it was even more mind-boggling to see that what we were looking at was only about a tenth of the whole Victoria Falls. I could have stayed and watched these Falls all day long. I can't wait to come back here someday and see them again. We left the Falls to go to the bridge connecting Zambia and Zimbabwe where many people go bungee jumping (don't worry…no one went jumping). We had to go to immigration to get day passes to go on the bridge since it is kind of in No Man's Land between the two countries. Remember how I said baboons were cute and adorable? Yeah not anymore. I forgot that you shouldn't eat food outside because baboons will try and steal it so I took out mine and Kalie's lunch to eat my sandwich. I asked Kalie to hold my sandwich and she said no because there was a baboon coming right at me. She said it so calmly that I thought she was kidding until I saw it behind me. I screamed and kind of run/jumped into the immigration building but the baboon already grabbed my lunch bag. I let it go and the baboon ran off to eat our lunches. So I got mugged by a baboon at Vic Falls! First time for everything? We all laughed so hard and Kalie and I just had trail mix for lunch. Word of advice: do NOT eat anything at Victoria Falls! Baboons WILL take your things! On the bridge we saw the Falls from that angle, looked at the bungee jumping platform (we didn't get to see anyone jump though…), and walked over to the Zim side.

            Once we changed into dry clothes at the hostel, we started our bike tour of Livingstone. The money from the bike tour goes to a local community school in one of the villages. In Zambia, all forms of school (public and private) cost money so if families can't afford it their children don't go to school. This community school was built to allow children to attend school for free. On this tour we rode through many villages on the outskirts of town, through parts of the city, by the Zambezi River, to a local market, and to the school where our money goes. It was a four hour bike ride and we were all so sore after it, but it was so much fun. It was super funny to see us all try walking around after the tour since we were all sore. Biking through the villages was lots of fun because the kids would run after us and yell Mazungu (I'm sure I spelled that wrong), which means White Person. All the children were adorable and it was great seeing so many smiling faces. Seeing village life was very cool too; each village was very different with the way houses were built, the level of trash in the streets, which people were outside and walking around at the time, and the different schools built in the villages. Many of the houses in each village are built based on the income of the people living there so some houses are simply a mud house while others are created with cement and blocks. When we reached the Cowboy Pre and Primary School, there were a couple church services going on so we were able to listen to them sing as we explored the school. There were so many children around who go to the school and wanted to hang out with us. I kind of nerded out at the school and asked our tour guide a ton of questions about it. The bike tour started in 2001 to start raising funds for the school which then opened in 2003. It began as a pre-primary school and has since expanded to fourth grade. The ultimate goal is to go up to seventh grade and possibly open another location. Right now there are about 250 students, grades K-4, and 7 teachers. Class sizes are about 30-40 kids in each class. It is incredible what they are doing at this school and if I don't get a job in the States, I may just end up there ;)

            This trip, although it was quite short, was incredible and I'm so happy everything with our visas worked out so we could go to Zambia, see Victoria Falls, and learn about Livingstone as a city. We arrived back in Windhoek today at 5:15am and now the packing for going home needs to start! There's so much to do with so little time! See you all in T-minus 2 days!

Exploring Cape Town!

            Hello from South Africa! Thanks to Namibia having a long weekend (because of Cassinga Day and Worker's Day), we were lucky enough to travel to Cape Town, South Africa for almost a week. Man, that city is absolutely gorgeous. I can seriously see myself living there for a long time. The landscape, city, mountains, ocean, people…breathtaking. Five of us stayed at our friend Theo's house in Bellville, a suburb just outside of Cape Town. It was great having the freedom to travel around the city with a semi-local and explore everything. While in Cape Town, we went to the largest mall in Southern Africa, hiked Table Mountain, went on a wine and city tour, saw PENGUINS, experienced Cape Town nightlife, and explored downtown and the Waterfront. The city is so big that I guess I'll just have to come back someday and finishing exploring. 

            On Friday, we met up with the nurses at Table Mountain where some of us hiked up the mountain while the others abseiled down the side of it. Alice, Heather, Kerry, Theo, and I hiked up the mountain. That was by far one of the hardest hikes I've done, but the views were absolutely gorgeous at the top. The hike was all uphill (obviously) and had so many rocks in the trail that it was basically rock hopping all the way up. It was supposed to be about 2.5 hours, but we were able to do it in an hour and twenty minutes. No wonder we were tired at the top! About half way up the trail, a man was playing the marimba and it was great to be serenaded the rest of the way. When we reached the top, we could see everything: Cape Town way beneath us, Robben Island in the distance, the mountains surroundings us, and ocean as far as the eye could see. We took the cable car (gondola) down the mountain since the fog was rolling in and then went our separate ways: the nurses went back to their hotel and we went to Theo's house. That night, Alice and I watched She's The Man (I forgot how amazing that movie is!!!!) and did homework and applications with the amazing wifi Theo had while Eslie, Kalie, Carly, Theo, and Gareth went out to explore the nightlife of Cape Town.

At the top of Table Mountain!

            The next day, all nine of us met up at the hotel to do our wine and city tour. Special shoutout to Bryanna for planning and booking so many of our excursions! On this tour, we drove all over Cape Town and surrounding suburbs, learned about the history of South Africa and how it pertained to Namibian independence, saw Boulder Penguins (oh my god they were adorable!!), toured and hiked at Cape Point, went to a nearby beach, and went to two wineries for wine tastings. The day was jam packed with things to do and it was great to see how gorgeous Cape Town and South Africa are. Our driver told us about living in apartheid times and the shifting of power from the Afrikaans to the blacks, his experience with being deployed in Namibia, and the current xenophobia happening in parts of South Africa. It was very interesting to hear a different perspective about apartheid and shifting power, and especially about Namibian independence. Having first learned about independence from a Namibian context, hearing the other side was very eye-opening about the contradictions in stories. One main example was that from a Namibian standpoint, they were at war with South Africa for independence, whereas from this perspective we heard, South Africans were simply protecting Namibia from evil communist powers. But this is only one perspective that we heard about; I talked to another individual who had an entirely different story about the fighting. Anyway, back to the wine tour! At one of our first stops, we went to see the Boulder Penguins, aka Jackass Penguins because they sound like donkeys. They were adorable! I may have found my new favorite animal. They were simply the best; I could have watched them all day. They live in South Africa all year long so they don't migrate anywhere. Some of them were swimming when we got to their area and it was incredible to see them dart around in the water. They are so fast! The ocean views we saw were breathtaking. The water was so blue and had a very distinctive gradient to it as it got shallower and shallower. As we hiked to the top of the lighthouse at Cape Point, we were kind of on a peninsula so we were basically surrounded by water. It made me realize how much I missed the ocean and can't wait to live near it again. After seeing the Cape, we were on our way to the two wineries, Steenberg and Constantia. I had never gone wine tasting before so it was a lot of fun tasting new wines and seeing which types I like. I bought a bottle of Semillon at Steenberg and can't wait to open it back home. Both wineries were gorgeous! The grape vines went on for ages and everything felt very relaxed and peaceful. We all got pretty tipsy from the wine so the drive home was hilarious. We were so talkative about everything, got into political debates, and then all hung out in the nurses' hotel room for a bit. It was great to be able to spend time with everyone, simply hang out, and make hilarious memories in Cape Town.

Such adorable little animals!

The view from Cape Point

Constantia Winery

            On Sunday and Monday, Alice and I took an Uber taxi to the Waterfront in downtown Cape Town. First off, Uber is such a great invention! It was so quick and easy and made getting around Cape Town a total breeze. When we got to the Waterfront, we listened to a Marimba band for a while. They were hilarious! The lead singer went up to us and sang to us and they all seemed to be having so much fun. Alice and I ended up buying two of their CDs and I love listening to it now. I definitely spent WAY too much money in Cape Town, but hey, you're only in Cape Town once, right? haha We spent the whole day downtown exploring the five-star waterfront hotels, nearby malls, and a little bit of downtown. We ended Sunday night with the rest of our 5-person group meeting us at the Waterfront and celebrating Carly's birthday at a nice Portuguese restaurant by the water. On Monday before we left for the airport, Alice and I went back to the waterfront to get breakfast at an artisan food market. It reminded us of Granville Island in Canada and was delicious. We had amazing coffee (the barista knew a ton about coffee), some yogurt parfait things, and yummy crepes.

            We were lucky enough to stay with our friend Theo in Cape Town. It was great to see him again and all catch up about everything. On our first night there, we met up with one of Theo's friends, Gareth, and had chicken schnitzel at his house. We all went to a local bar called Stones and they taught us how to play pool. The boys were super good at pool and taught us some tips. For Carly's birthday, we went into Cape Town to celebrate and experience the night life. I didn't feel like drinking so I was the DD. Let me just say, driving on the left side of the road is WEIRD. But I did it! Thank goodness his car was automatic! This week was a great trip and I was so sad to leave such a beautiful city. I will definitely be returning there someday! We only saw a small part of Cape Town and I can't wait to see the rest. Now that we're back in Windhoek, we are finishing up our last week of classes, getting ready to go to Victoria Falls next week, and then fly home the next. I can't believe our time here is finally coming to an end. I feel like we just got here. Time to make the most of these last couple weeks!

March and April Update

Once again, this will be a long blog post… March and April were very eventful months where President Krise and Patty came to visit us in Namibia, we got to witness the 25th anniversary of Namibian Independence and see the third president be sworn in, went on our second study tour during Easter break, discovered the Franco-Namibian Cultural Center, and had many more crazy adventures!

March

            The first major event that happened in March was attending the 25th anniversary of Namibia's Independence. We got to go to the Independence Stadium and sit with all the dignitaries and diplomats (We met an American in line who had an official invite. She said we were all with her so we got to sit with the important people.) We sat a row in front of the king of Damaraland! What?! The third president, Hage Geingob, was sworn in and they had many different celebrations and speeches to commemorate the occasion.

            Two days after Independence Day, President Krise and Patty came over from PLU to visit us in Namibia and see how the program was doing. It was great to tell them all about Windhoek and show what a great study abroad program this is. We were invited to many dinners and events in honor of the relationship between Namibia and PLU. Hopefully, in the future, more Namibian students can come over to the States and attend PLU. On their last night in Windhoek, we had a fabulous dinner at the restaurant Nice, (Namibian Institute of Culinary Education), where everyone who helped make this program happen was honored and we all celebrated this program and international relationship. Just as quickly as the President and Ms. Krise came, they left for Cape Town and we all packed up our bags for our Easter Break study tour to southern Namibia and the coast.

            For our study tour, we traveled to Sossusvlei, Swakopmund, and Damaraland. On one of our first days, we got to climb up Big Daddy in Sossusvei, one of the biggest sand dunes in the world. It was one of the best experiences of my life! The climb was incredible, but definitely one of the hardest hikes of my life. We kept slipping down the sand, but thankfully, it had rained the day before so the sand was packed down which made it easier. The views from the top of the dune were insane. We could see in all directions and dunes surrounded us for as far as we could see. Although it took us about 45 minutes to hike up the dune, it only took about 5 minutes to RUN down. It felt like we were walking on the moon as we launched ourselves into the sand. The momentum we got while running down made our bodies keep leaning forward and we had to basically fall back to keep us from falling all the way down. When we reached the bottom, we were in Deadvlei, a basin with trees that have been dead for about 400 years. Overall, this hike was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to do it again someday.

At the top of Big Daddy

In Deadvlei

            In Swakopmund, we went sand dune quadding (it was my first time!) and got to explore tons of sand dunes surrounding the area. After quadding, we got to meet the parrots that lived at the quadding headquarters. We all got to hold them and one even kissed me! haha For our next stop, we went to Damaraland and learned about the culture, saw herds of elephants, camped a lot, and experienced even more of Namibia. We hiked and saw so many incredible rock paintings and engravings that were created so many hundreds of years ago. We saw the "White Lady" painting--which actually is a man, but the name of the White Lady already stuck--and many other engravings with lions, ostriches, giraffes, and other animals. We also went on a game drive where we saw a huge herd of elephants! It was incredible seeing so many of them in one little area. On one of our last days in Damaraland, we went to the Damara Living Museum where we were able to witness the traditional lives of the Damara people. The actors talked to us about the chief of the tribes, different medicinal practices, practices for men and women, and how to play a traditional game (kind of like mancola). They also sang and danced for us which was amazing! It looked like they were having so much fun! One practice that women do is make beads made of ostrich shells. Once a woman is able to drill a hole through the ostrich shell bead, she is then eligible to marry. I drilled a hole in the bead so I got to marry one of the Damara guys. So… I got married in Namibia! Sorry mom! ;) This study tour was a lot of fun and taught us many, many things about the Namibian and Damara cultures.

A huge herd of desert elephants

At the Damara Living Museum

April

            April was definitely a month where we got to explore Windhoek more and get to experience all sorts of its culture and hidden gems. Since we only had about two months left (and we knew they would FLY by), we wanted to make sure we made the most of our time here. After we got back to Emona from our second study tour, we had the opportunity to go to an Easter service in Windhoek. It was incredible! We went to InnerCity Lutheran Church which was so full that it was standing room only and they also had to set up chairs in the lobby area. The singing in that service absolutely blew my mind: the congregation sang in four-part harmony just because they wanted to and they did it a cappella because the accompanist didn't show up for church that day (rumor has it he was too hungover or just overslept lol). Hearing over a hundred people sing so joyfully truly made this one of the best Easter celebrations yet. After the service, we went to Jan's house for an Easter brunch with our "Namibian family." These girls, Jan, and Tony have all become my family away from home and I could not be more thankful to have them in my life. We had a couple of the girls' favorite dishes and celebrated throughout the afternoon.

            The next week, Alice, Kerry, and I went to the FNCC--the Franco Namibian Cultural Center where we had a lovely dinner and saw a Namibian dance troupe do a show portraying gay and lesbians in Namibia and how they are treated. The show was set up in three different stories: the first being about a gay man with AIDS being discriminated on by his community and the nurses at the local hospital, the second about corrective rape where a girl was raped and married off because she was lesbian, and the final one being about a man who contracts AIDS while in prison from a rape. In the two beginning stories, both main characters commit suicide because their suffering is too much for them, whereas in the third story, the man finds peace with what happened in prison and his AIDS status and finds his partner who accepts him for who he is. These stories discussed very deep material, but it is a subject that is current in Namibia and needs to be talked about. The concept of LGBT is not fully accepted in Namibia so I was surprised that this dance company would do a performance on the topic. However, this company's performance was incredible and captured the emotions of the characters in the stories very well. The next Friday, all of the girls including Jan went back to the FNCC to watch Freedom Songs, a concert with many different musical artists from all around Namibia. The music ranged from jazz to singer-songwriter to many more. I loved the jazz music and watching the artists perform because you could instantly tell that they were having so much fun with what they were doing.

            So many more things happened during these two months, including solo teaching my first day of school, going to a Foam Party (so crazy!) and meeting some amazing people, teaching at an after-school program in Katatura, and watching a German Carnival parade with tons of drunk Germans, just to name a few! I can't wait to keep exploring this beautiful city, and I am so sad to be going home soon, but I am also excited to see my family and friends back in the States!

Life as a Transplant Namibian

Wow! This is going to be a long blog post. I haven't blogged in a little over a month and SO much has happened in that single month. How is it we've been here for two months?! I feel like we just arrived here and yet we've lived here a lifetime. But we only have about two and a half months left. Time is seriously going way too fast. Namibia has already stolen my heart and I can't wait to continue this incredible adventure.

                            

School at UNAM and Teaching at Windhoek Pre-Primary

The first day of school is always an interesting event, but this first day was definitely the most interesting and worst day ever. Although it started badly, it thankfully ended on a great note while celebrating with friends. In this first day, we all woke up to find no running water whatsoever in our hostel, I went to my class--and got lost along the way--to find that there was no class at all (it was really a second semester class), and we stood in line for ID cards and to finish registering for two hours and left with no cards because they had the wrong ID card machine. Looking back, it doesn't sound like such a bad day, but when it was happening, it seemed like nothing was going right. The night became much better because it was Drayton's birthday! So to celebrate, we had him over to our dorm for dinner while Eslie, Kalie, and I went to his room to Post-It note and One Direction-ify his door. It looked pretty awesome, and the weird looks we got from his hallmates were hilarious. His face when he saw our handywork seriously made my night and we all had a great night.

We're such great--and weird--friends <3

Classes at UNAM are certainly different than what I am used to at PLU. It is making me learn to go with the flow more often since many classes here get cancelled or change venues on a whim and no one really knows until we come to class to find an empty classroom. For this semester, along with practicum teaching at Windhoek Pre-Primary, I am taking four classes: Inclusive education, Environmental education, Classroom Management/Hub2, and a Literacy/Reading course. My classroom management and literacy classes are being taught one-on-one for me which is pretty helpful. Jan is teaching my Hub 2 class and we talk a lot about my teaching at the Pre-Primary. It is great to debrief with her about things that happen at school and she gives plenty of constructive advice on what I can do to improve. UNAM has a separate campus for education so I have to commute each day to class. I originally wasn't too happy about that, but now I find it as a blessing in disguise. Instead of possibly getting stir crazy at the main campus, I get to go around Windhoek in taxis, learn more about this wonderful city from different taxi drivers, and get off campus to explore the city. I'm actually quite enjoying it now. The two UNAM courses I am taking are definitely a stretch for me, but my environmental education class is growing on me. The professor is very approachable, the students are fun to be around and want to learn, and I'm learning about different development theories and the way kids think. I, unfortunately, cannot say the same about my inclusive education class. The class is huge (probably double the size of any of my education classes at PLU) and many students are disrespectful of the special education topic and of the professor. What is interesting, though, about this class is that Namibia includes many categories in "inclusive education," not just special needs. However, the explanation of the differences could be made clearer since, on the first day of class, my professor said that LGBT people were special needs… Anyway, I will be starting a new inclusive education next week (this was the plan from the beginning) so hopefully that class will be better!

For practicum teaching, I am at Windhoek Pre-Primary in the Green class which is one of five Senior (kindergarten) classes. There are 125 senior students and about 100 junior (preschool) students. Education and teaching here are very different so it was a big shift for me to get used to. One main difference is that for most, if not all, students, English is their second or third language so the language barrier can sometimes be a challenge. The majority of the languages spoken are tribal and the teacher is able to speak them. This year, however, we have a Spanish-speaking boy from Cuba in our class. No one knows Spanish except for me (and I only know a little), so I get to speak to him to Spanish and make sure he understands what he is learning. Now I know why I took Spanish for so many years in high school!

The Green Class!

Some of my students

Another main difference is the discipline and teaching style: teachers can be "very harsh" according to American standards. When I first got to school, I was a bit uncomfortable with the discipline styles, but now that I've been teaching/observing for about a month, I now know that these teachers are not being mean or harsh, they are simply teaching in a culturally acceptable way. And don't get me wrong, these teachers absolutely love their students and each classroom has their own community of compassionate, fun, and excited students ready to learn. Since these students are used to this style, I need to adapt to teach this way which is helping me establish my own inner authority as a teacher and keep a well-behaved, managed classroom while also keeping my sweet and compassionate side. A little victory happened today with one of my boys during recess and after school. My student has always been a bit rowdy and tests my limits every chance he gets. Last week we had a little incident, but today he was much better during recess. I pulled his aside after recess (he thought he was in trouble haha) and I told him how proud I was of him and that he did a good job today. He smiled really big, we high-fived, and then he ran back to the class to go home. It was a great day at school. All the classrooms have a heavy literacy influence seen all over the classroom. Everything is labeled to show its name, each student has his or her own symbol to help with identification (if they don't know their name), and each classroom has color-coded wrist bands to help students stay with their specific class during recess or other outdoor activities. I absolutely love all the literary influences in the classrooms and how many symbols are used to communicate with all learners. I will most definitely use many of these concepts in my future classroom.

Meeting New Friends

Now that we've been here for a little over two months, we've started making some amazing new friends. These people have shown us hidden parts of Windhoek and beyond that we never would have known about. I've been lucky enough to meet great people in my education classes who have taken me under their wings and shown me the ropes of education at UNAM. If I miss a class, I can be sure I'll get about five texts from people asking if I'm okay and letting me know what I missed. Yesterday, I was talking to my friend Amelia about leaving school in May to go back to the States and she said that she would miss me a lot because she thought I was staying the whole year. Everyone I have met so far here has been fantastic and has helped make my experiences here even better. Some of our friends at UNAM have their own fitness/bootcamp business so many of our girls have enrolled in their program. We work out three times a week from 5:30-6:30am (I know, it's so early…) to basically do CrossFit. We all complain a ton to our trainer, Simba, but we still have so much fun and know that we are getting healthier one work out at a time.

One of our good friends, Sven, has introduced us to many of his friends so we've been able to meet tons of new people, eat capana (street meet in Katatura which is delicious!), experience night life with the locals, ride in the back of many bakkies (pickup trucks), and most recently go to a rugby game (although Sven wouldn't consider that a rugby game since Namibia lost so badly to South Africa…53-3). To get capana, you go to a big tent thing in Katatura where different vendors are cutting meat everywhere, making salad (kind of like salsa), and where you can buy fat cakes (fried bread). It would never pass health code in the States (there were tons of flies and we saw some mice scurry around), but it was so good we didn't even care. The Fab4 has also gone to different bars/clubs like Chill Out (more of a locals bar), London (more American), Dillon's (KARAOKE!!) and Vibe (very dance-y). It's so much fun to go dance, hang out, and make hilarious memories with everyone we meet. For Valentine's Day, our whole group went out to London to celebrate (Valentine's Day is very big here). We all dressed up in Valentine's colors, danced a ton with all the girls, and experienced our first Namibian holiday.

Our first "rugby" game!

We've also been lucky to meet incredible people at Emona, our hostel at UNAM. Some of them we met in January before school started, and many are from when everyone moved in for school. Our floormates are some of the best women ever and they have made us feel welcome since day one. We have a great community on our floor and many of our friends can be found hanging out on our floor even if they don't live there. This past Sunday, we all had a potluck where our whole floor was invited, plus some of our other friends around Emona. It was great seeing everyone come together, bring and eat delicious food, and hang out for a couple hours. I feel so lucky to have these people in my life and I can't wait to get to know them even more in our last two months here.

The best floor of friends at Emona

Okay, that was insanely long, but I mean, I didn't blog for a month… Anyway, I am having so much fun here and while there will always be struggles and hurdles to jump over, it simply makes this experience even more memorable and special. 

Study Tour to Northern Namibia!

For the last week of January, our group went on a study tour around northern Namibia. We visited Otjiwarango, Oujo, Opuwo, Epupa Falls, Etosha (Dolomite, Okaukeujo, and Halali), and Kourixas. It was a ton of driving, but well worth it because we saw so much of Namibia and had unimaginable experiences. Otjiwarango was our first stop of the trip where we were able to visit the Cheetah Conservation Fund. CCF is an organization that helps educate Namibian farmers on safe farming practices in relation to cheetahs and other big cats, nurses injured cheetahs back to health, breeds farming dogs that protect herds from predators, and is home to about 12 cheetahs. While there we got a tour of the grounds and saw some of the cheetahs during their feeding time. They were so fast! They can go eight meters in ONE second. After seeing the cheetahs, we got to see some of the farming dogs. These dogs are HUGE. CCF breeds and sells them to farmers to protect their herds from cheetahs and other animals. The dog is very protective and typically can simply scare off the predator with noise. We got to meet a little puppy who had a leg abnormality which means he has to stay at CCF. He was teething so of course I had to let him nibble my hand and get all slobbery. Sorry parents haha We also met Dr. Laurie Walker who is the founder of CCF. In fact, she's giving a talk at the Santa Barbara Zoo on April 16 about cheetah conservation and sustainability if anyone is interested! One of our girls, Carly, is interning at CCF from June to August so it was nice seeing where she would be staying for those months. I'm very jealous! After our tour, Laurie and a couple other workers brought two cheetahs out for us to take a picture with. Unfortunately, we could not pet them because it is illegal to touch big cats in Namibia, but I did get a pretty awesome selfie with one of them. J

Our next stop was at Opuwo where we stayed for three nights and saw so many incredible things: Epupa Falls, a mobile school filled with children grades 1 through 4, a traditional homestead, and many sweet Himba/Thimba women. Epupa Falls lines the border of Namibia and Angola so we got to see Angola. I really wanted to swim across the Falls to reach the other side so I could say I've been to Angola, but it was crocodile season… Not a good idea. We did, however, go in some little pools by the Falls. It was super hot so the water was absolutely perfect. The next day we visited a mobile school and our driver, Uanee's, homestead. The mobile school was nothing I ever expected. We had to drive off-road in mopani tree fields for about half an hour over bumpy, rocky terrain (we thought we were going to murder our van…) until we finally reached the school site. There were three large tents for grades 1-3 and one large one-room school building for grade 4. A little ways away were small hut houses for the teachers to live in. These schools were set up to cater to village children who do not have access to city schools, be it because of distance or tradition (for example, Himba women/girls are traditionally topless so it goes against tradition to dress in a school uniform). We first visited the grade 1 classroom which had children ranging from 6 years to 12 years. Students have to pass a test each year to enter the next grade so if they don't pass, they have to repeat the grade which explains the difference in age. In the grade 3 and 4 classrooms, they sang a song for us and we sang one back. It was breathtaking to hear such wonderful music filled with harmony and joy coming from these kids. Definitely made me (and some other girls) cry. After they sang for us, we taught each classroom the hokie pokie! They laughed so hard and had lots of fun watching us look like weirdos. We were able to visit with the children for a while after visiting the classrooms. Even though they can't speak English, we were able to communicate through pictures and gestures. They LOVED taking selfies with us and then seeing the pictures afterward. Leaving them was so hard. I really hope I can come back one day.

The Grade 1 classroom

After leaving Opuwo we entered Etosha National Park, one of the largest game reserves in Namibia. Let's see, we saw loads of giraffes, kudu, zebra, springbok, wildebeest, ostrich, three or four elephants, four or five rhinos, two lions, and many more! We went on an twilight game drive where we got a flat tire. One of Etosha's rules is that all cars need to be back to resorts by sunset or else guests may get fined and no guests may get out of cars for safety reasons. Because of our flat tire, we got to stand around the road waiting (thank God there were no lions around! Lol) and were behind schedule and had to race back to Dolomite. We thankfully got back in time which made for a great adventure and night. Dolomite was absolutely gorgeous! Each room was a large tent-like structure and we had balconies looking out onto Etosha. We could see zebras from our hotel room! The next day, we went on another game drive and then spent the rest of the day at the pool. It's an infinity pool overlooking the plains so we had a view of everything, including some giraffes. I could have stayed in that pool all day long looking at Etosha's vast beauty. At Halali, our next stop in Etosha, we went on a night game drive where we saw a good amount of animals. It was gorgeous to be out at night in the wild looking at the bright stars and hidden animals. As we left Halali and Etosha the next day, we finally saw what we had been looking for during the entire trip…LIONS! We saw two lions hanging out by some trees and bushes and they were mating. Lions mate for about 24 hours so we could watch them for quite some time. It was pretty awesome to watch them in the wild.

Our view from our hotel room

Our last stop of the study tour was our two-night rural homestay outside of Kourixas. I had been looking forward to this for the entire study tour and was so excited to visit our families and live with them for a few days. When we drove up to the village, I was a bit taken aback because these houses were 2-3 rooms made out of dung, mud, and water. After seeing where we would be staying, I started looking at the people hosting us. They seemed to be so excited to have us staying with them and their excitement instantly made us feel more comfortable and ready to have fun. I roomed with Kerry for the homestay and our family was second to last on the drop-off so we were able to see many of the other houses where our girls would be staying. As we drove up to our house, we saw two little children curiously look out at us and then run back to the house. These two kids were so much fun. Hope was 3 years old and Ricardino was 4 years old. After we met our family, said to goodbye to Jan and the others, and unpacked our things, all the families met up to play games, get to know each other, and watch a hilariously cheesy telenovela (which our host families took very serious). Our hosts sang us the Namibian national anthem and we sang them ours, we both taught each other different games, and many of the girls played and spoiled the little kids with us. When we went back to our house, our Oumas (grandmas) finished our dinner (bread and peanut butter) and our family ate around the fire as we talked about our lives and looked at the incredibly bright stars. After dinner was finished, Kerry and I went to get our gifts for the family. We got gifts for both the kids and the adults: a puzzle and playing cards for the adults; and cute sunglasses, markers, and glow sticks for the kids. My church also donated ten Unite to Light solar lights for me to give while in Namibia, so each pair of students was able to give a light to their host family. When we gave our Ouma her solar light, her reaction was priceless. It was a mix of disbelief, pure joy, thankfulness, and something I can't even describe. The next day we got to herd the goats, milk cows/goats, have freshly killed chicken for lunch (which I helped gut!), play more hilarious games, make fresh bread, re-plaster a wall with dung, and bond even more with these incredible new family members. Oh! I also got to take my first bucket bath and become an expert at going to the bathroom behind a tree since there was no running water. haha That night we talked more with Mutago (the Oumas' niece) and the Oumas about their lives and where Mutago lives, but we were so tired from the long day that we cut it short to sleep. The next morning was so hard to say goodbye to our hosts because even in such a short time, we bonded with them so much and had so much fun. Leaving the kids was the hardest part for me (of course lol), but I'll always remember them! We drove about four hours home to Windhoek and then unpacked to get ready for our first day of school at UNAM.

Our fantastic host family minus Mutago (who took the picture)

The Week of Many Firsts

This past week was such a busy, and eventful, week! A group of us were constantly doing things and had adventures every single night for the past 11 nights. Of course, now I'm incredibly tired, but it was so worth it! Some highlights from this past week were all the pool parties we went to, visiting Midgard Country Estates with the besties, having drinks and saying goodbye to Theo at the Hilton Rooftop, and visiting SWAKOPMUND.

This past Saturday, our ladies got invited to a pool party at a friend's house. We later learned that in Namibia, a pool party basically means there is a pool at the house of the party; no one really swims. A couple of us decided to change that and went in the water! It was so refreshing and a couple little kids joined us too. It was a blast swimming with (and teaching) the kids to swim around the pool.

On Sunday, Theo, Carly, Eslie, Kalie, and I drove out to the Midgard Country Estate for the day to relax, swim, and get some sun. Midgard is kind of like a resort outside of Windhoek that has numerous pools, giant chess, German bowling, and many more things. It was so nice to get away for awhile and relax with some amazing friends. Kalie and Carly brought their water guns so we definitely became kids again spraying each other around the pool. While swimming, we noticed that a troop of baboons had come onto the grass below us. Seeing so many baboons, including some babies, was awesome! Later on we saw a group of warthogs with their babies too in the same area. It was so eye opening to see such different animals in an area that reminded me of home. We stayed at Midgard until about 7pm when we had to drive back to Windhoek. Since it was twilight, many animals were coming out and nearing the road we were on. During this daytrip, we saw hartebeest, baboons, oryx, dick dicks, guinea fowl, warthog, water bucks, kudu, porcupines, blue wildebeest, rabbits, jackals, and spring balk. The best animals we saw, though, were giraffes!!! As we were driving down the road, I saw two giraffes by the side of the road so we stopped the car. While we were looking at those two, we later discovered a whole group of giraffes! There were nine total. There was a game fence separating us from the giraffes, but we were able to get about 10 meters away from them. We were even able to hear them BREATHE! It was, by far, one of the best experiences of this trip.

The giraffes at sunset!

On Wednesday, the four of us girls with Theo and Drayton went to the Hilton Rooftop Bar as a kind of going away party for Theo. He goes to university in Cape Town and was at the Emona hostels for an internship. When we visit Cape Town, he'll have to show us all around. J The view from the Hilton was absolutely gorgeous. It was in the main area of Windoek so we were able to see all of downtown and beyond. After the Hilton, Theo took us to Andy's, a local German bar. We learned some awesome German drinking chants and had lots of fun in our last night. We ended the night at Lover's Hill, the lookout over all of Windhoek. We've been here about 3 or 4 times and it never gets old. The views are breathtaking. I would love to see it during the day time.

Between Thursday and Sunday, our group left for Swakopmund, a sleepy little German beach town. This little vacation was a much needed time for us to reboot and relax before our semester officially starts. Our house we stayed at was a block away from the beach and the ocean air was so salty. It reminded me a lot of Santa Barbara and made me miss home a bit, but it was very nice to have that ocean as a reminder of home. On Friday, we went on a boat cruise around Walvis Bay right outside of Swakopmund. We saw giant white pelicans, cormorants, seal, and some heavyside dolphins. Some seals have been tamed so they are able to climb onto the boat and hang out with the passengers. Nanie, one of the teenage seals, climbed on and hung out with us for awhile. It was awesome! A couple hours into the tour, we had lunch with sherry, champagne, and oysters. I have never had oysters before and these were fantastic. Namibia has many oyster farms and they are all very successful because of the temperature of the water. For example, it takes some oysters about 2-3 years to grow to their full size, whereas it only takes 8-10 months in Namibia.

Nanie, the cute seal. We all were in love with her!

On Saturday, seven of us went to Ground Rush Adventures where we did SKYDIVING! It was the best experience ever! I didn't tell my parents until after I landed (you're welcome lol) because they definitely wouldn't have been able to sleep until they knew I was alive. Anyway, after we signed our life away on the dotted line, they drove us out to the desert as we were all freaking out. Kalie and I were partners so once we had our Top Gun jumpsuits on we climbed into the plane and got an awesome scenic tour of Swakopmund before jumping. Jumping out of the plane was such a crazy feeling. My instructor flipped us out as we free fell so I could see everything. I'm pretty sure he went deaf because I screamed so much. Free falling was the best part as you felt weightless and could see everything. As we landed, we came in super fast. We skidded to a stop for about 10 meters. Even though it was a tad pricey, I want to do it again so badly! I think I might be addicted now.

SKYDIVING!

After skydiving, four of us went to the ocean and got to swim. The water currents are very strong in Swakopmund so they recommend you only swim in the cove. The cove was very calm and had lots of people swimming. We met some cool people on the diving platform in the middle of the cove and had fun doing tricks and jumping off the platform. Kalie and I were by the platform when we saw a couple jellyfish floating nearby so we decided to get out. Right as we were leaving the ocean, I saw a seal head pop out of the water so the rest of us had to go explore. The seal was very friendly and we got super close to it. When we come back to Swakopmund in March, we'll have to go swimming there again. This week has been a blast and I'm excited to go visit northern Namibia this next week!

City tours, Nightlife, Hikes, and more! What a week!

Wow, this week was a whirlwind filled with adventures every day! Even though it was just only one week, it feels like we've been in Namibia for months. Each day is filled with new things to do and new places to explore, and I can't wait for the following weeks.

Last Friday, our group did a city and township tour where we learned about Namibia's history through visiting different sites. The first site we visited was "The Old Fortress" where the German soldiers stayed and also where the first concentration camp was built for the Herero/Nama genocide. Between 1904-1908, the German soldiers set up concentration camps to imprison Herero and Nama people because of the resistance movement led by the Herero tribe. The Hereros were unhappy with the way the Germans were treating them and their cattle so they attacked them which led to a war. In the end, the Germans won the war by exiling/killing the Hereros and collecting the rest in these camps. Learning about the history of Namibia is very interesting and it is helpful taking an actual history class surrounding these topics. It is nice learning about this history in class and then seeing it in real life during the tours. During the Windhoek tour we also drove through Katatura, a local township where locals were relocated to during South African rule. Windhoek has many different areas within its borders so it was eye-opening seeing the different areas in the tour.

Later that night, Drayton and Theo (some friends we met at Emona) took a group of us out to see the Namibian nightlife. It was awesome! We took Theo's car which should only hold five people, however we fit all eight of us in it. It was quite the clown car. First, we went to Joe's Beerhouse where we talked and had some delicious drinks. We met this one old (and quite drunk) guy at Joe's who loved Americans very much. He is from Kurdistan and was very thankful for all the things that Americans have been doing for his country. He kept coming back and talking to us (basically just saying that he loved us a lot haha) and actually bought our first round for us. After Joe's, Theo and Drayton took us to an overlook where you could see all of Windhoek. It was absolutely gorgeous! The stars and city lights were so bright. Looking at the city lights, we were able to find UNAM and some other places that we would go in the future. You don't realize how big Windhoek is until you see if from that far away. Once we were finished at the overlook, we all went to London, the biggest club in Windhoek. This was one of the last weekends of summer before school started up again, so it was packed. Our group danced and danced and danced and had so much fun. Everyone thought I was Afrikaans so they spoke in Afrikaans to me and I got so lost. I hope I learn some of that language while I'm over here! That night was definitely one for the books.

Later that weekend, our group went to Daan Viljoen, a game reserve and resort that has some good hiking trails. We went on the 3k hike where we saw a wildebeest, kudu, ostriches, and geckos. It was super dry, but still very pretty. It was there that it hit me that I'm in Africa. Like, what?! I was walking around these trails that looked somewhat like the dry Santa Barbara trails when we would see an ostrich or a wildebeest. It is still hitting me that I will be living in this amazing place for the next five months. Hopefully in the next couple weeks, we'll be able to go hike the 9k and see zebras, giraffes, and more gorgeous scenery.

Since summer is Namibia's rainy season, there have been plenty of torrential downpours this past week. The rain here is not like Washington whatsoever. It's not gray for a week and drizzly all day long. It'll be 85-90*F and sunny, then pour rain for about 30 minutes, and go right back to being 85 again. I absolutely love it! The rain cools the temperature down just enough so we're not too hot, but it never gets cold enough for a jacket. On Tuesday, Jan gave us a quick tour of UNAM where we saw where certain building are and met certain faculty members that will be resources for us while at the university. While we were walking over from the hostels, we saw clouds and rain on the horizon so we hoped we'd be back before it started... But, the rain definitely had other plans. So right as were about to head back home, it started to pour. We tried to wait it out for a bit, but in the end decided to embrace the rain and walk home in it. The walk to the hostels is about 5 minutes, but even in that time we all got soaked. The security guards and Drayton laughed at us when we got back to Emona. We all were very wet, but it was so worth it!

Our friend Drayton is also part of a fitness program at UNAM (he's the marketing person). Seeing that a lot of us girls go on runs, he asked if we wanted to do this fitness program. So on Wednesday morning at 6:30am, six of us got up and did a trial work out for an hour. Oh. My. Gosh. This workout program is basically like Insanity and it kicked all of our butts. I'm STILL sore from it, but I can't wait to do it again!

The rest of the week was filled with dinners with professors and meeting our future professors at UNAM. We were lucky enough to go to some of Jan's friend's houses (who are also UNAM professors) for dinner on Thursday and Friday night. Their hospitality was so nice and we all had a fantastic time. On Thursday, we went to Juanita's house (who is also one of education professors) where we made pizza and watched the gorgeous Namibian sunset from her lookout patio. On Friday, we went to Trudie's house (another professor at UNAM) for a braai and pool party! A braai is basically a BBQ and it was absolutely delicious. The food here is stellar! The pool was amazing since it was still about 85* outside. We made lots of slo-mo videos of us jumping into the pool and flipping our mermaid hair. It was such a blast and I'm so happy we were able to visit and meet these incredible people.

This week was packed with amazing experiences and I can't believe we have only been in Namibia for less than two weeks; it feels like we've been here for months! Here are some pictures from the week. Enjoy!

 This is the Old Fortress. This monument is a memorial to all the lives lost in the war.

 The lookout over Windhoek! It was gorgeous.

 The hike at Daan Viljoen

The after-picture of us getting caught in the rain!

The amazing Namibian sunset at Juanita's house