Megan Goes To Namibia!: 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!