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

The First Couple Days in Namibia!

Hey everyone! As many of you know, I am in Namibia, Windhoek for the next five months studying at the University of Namibia Windhoek in elementary education! Along with studying at the university, I will also be interning at the Windhoek Pre-Primary in their pre-K and kindergarten classrooms as well as interning at a local after-school program for second graders in reading. These five months will be such an incredible and life-changing experience, and I am so excited to see where I go and what I do.

So after 23 hours of travelling across the world, our group has officially arrived to Namibia and has begun our incredible five month program. I was worried about the flying (we had two 11 hour flights and a 2 hour flight), but it actually wasn't too bad! I slept a lot so my jet lag hasn't really affected me. Thank goodness! On our drive from the airport to the Emona Hostels (where we live), we saw a baboon running alongside the road which was awesome. I've only seen baboons in a zoo so seeing one in a city was mind-blowing. I'm super excited to go on our safari and see more exotic animals.

For the month of January, our group is taking a history of Namibia course taught by an incredible professor who is the department chair for basically everything. She is so knowledgeable about the history of Namibia and we are super lucky to have her as our professor. This country is so different than ours so learning about Namibia requires a whole new schema. She has an accent (everyone has accents! We have accents!) since English is everyone's second language so there are sometimes misunderstandings between what she says in "Namlish" (Namibian English) and what we understand. For example, today a couple of us thought she said paper or pepper traders when she really said perpetrators. It was hilarious when we put two and two together. The history of this country is very interesting and I can't wait to learn more throughout this month.

I'm going to hopefully post a blog every Friday (who knows if that will actually happen haha) so keep a look out for my new adventures in Namibia! I miss and love you all!