thoughts

Hey guys. Today was a crazy day that is kind of hard to explain. We had some teaching time and some surreal time walking through a real life shanty town. I don’t really know how to explain it or how to express anything about it eloquently, so I thought I would share an excerpt from a free write that we were asked to complete post outing.

Poverty. Today I saw poverty. Teaching with 3 kids and trying to ensure each one succeeds. Little kids, big kids, tin roofs, cardboard walls, rocks to hold the roof. We complain of mosquitoes and moths while they smile and say Happy New Year! I don’t want to feel BAD for them. Sympathy. Us vs. Them. Black vs. White. Everyone says hello! Lucas comes to school in a clean shirt and jeans after waking up there. I was in a movie. Felt not really there. I could smell it, touch it, say hello to it, but was I really there? Why am I there? I don’t belong there. Do I walk into their yards and expect them to speak in English? Would that ever happen to me? I believe in education, but struggle with the American “I know best” complex. I want to be here. I KNOW that. I want to teach these kids and have them teach me in return. My soul is here. My body just doesn’t always know what to do. Awkward. Feeling guilty for being who I am and coming from where I do. We can’t help it, but we also can’t help those feelings. Save the world. What are we saving? Have we asked if they want saving?

Not sure what else to say about that…it is something that I will continue to process throughout my journey here.

On a lighter note, a truly Namibian thing happened to us today. We were all riding in our little mini bus to get to the shanty town I mentioned. Our field directors were in a rental car behind us since they weren’t sure of the directions and needed to follow the bus. At one point, a fellow volunteer received a phone call from our field director saying that she lost the bus and asked us to ask the driver to turn around and meet her back at the school. We promptly told the driver who said “ok” and continued on his merry way. We all said, “ we really need to go back NOW. Jocie is lost!” He continued to say “ok” and keep driving. At some point he realized that we were kind of freaking out and said “Oh!! You mean Now Now Now?” Silly us. We forgot that in Namlish (Namibian English), now means sometime in the future (or maybe never), where as Now Now means soon, and Now Now Now really means… well, now. Once we said “turn around now now now!” he whipped us back to the school.

Ok, enough for now. More teaching tomorrow. Love and miss you all!

h

p.s.

i have a phone now! if you have skype, google voice, or a phone card of some sort, totally call me! incoming calls are free, so i would LOVE to hear from you! here's how to reach me:

011 264 81 679 8446

hope to hear from some of you soon!

~h

happy new year!

Hello 2011! I have to admit, I wrote a pretty awesome blog on NYE, but unfortunately it would not upload…I am hoping this one will work! The gist of the post was delicious meat, beautiful weather, more delicious meat, dance parties, and, did I mention, delicious meat? How did you people let me be vegetarian for so long? Obviously you can see that the braii (barbeque) was fantastic. The meat was so fresh and seasoned to perfection. I could write an entire blog about it, but I won’t J

Today was another beautiful day…probably our hottest yet. We had the morning free, so a few of us decided to take a walk into town to get a few more items we needed. Windhoek is a cool place, but (I think I mentioned this before) not always the safest for travelers out alone. If you take the necessary precautions, you are fine…you just don’t want to set yourself up for anything. Because of that, we decided not to take any purses/bags or anything else that might draw attention to ourselves. We did, however, need to be able to bring a few choice items: money, phones, etc. Via our field directors’ advice, we (the women in the group at least) decided to pull the old “money in the cleavage” routine. Cell phone in the cleavage doesn’t work as well…depending on the cleavage that is. Anyway, our trip was extremely successful and we got to see some places we hadn’t seen yet. I tell you all of this because of what just happened to me about 15 minutes ago. It had been a kind of sweaty day, so I decided to take a shower before getting ready for bed. As I got myself into the room with the shower, put my soaps on the ledge, got my towel situated, I start to take off my clothes. As soon as I pop my bra off, what do I find? A ten Namibian dollar note! The note went somehow unnoticed for 8 hours! It was like Christmas all over again. I think I am gonna like this money in the cleavage business.

Tomorrow we are leaving out hostel in Windhoek to venture north to Tsumeb. There we will be staying at a hostel (with a pool) and running some summer sessions at the local school. We are partner teaching with another volunteer, running two hour sessions Tuesday through Friday. I will be teaching around grade 8 math with a really wonderful Canadian volunteer, Tanya. It has been really fun and exciting to plan lessons again…I really had missed it. When the weekend comes, we will all head to Etosha National Park for a little mini safari. I’ve got my binoculars and my sun hat all ready to go. I will definitely take pictures and try to post them soon!

So as you can see, it’s a big week coming up! I am really really enjoying all of your emails, calls!!, and messages. Keep em coming!

Write more soon,

h

planes, trains, and automobiles!

After a 2 hour flight to D.C., an 8 hour flight to Senegal, an 8.5 hour flight to South Africa, a 2 hour flight to Windhoek, and a 45 minute drive to our hostel, I have finally made it to Namibia. My ass will never be the same. I think part of it is still asleep. Phew. Luckily, all of my baggage arrived at the airport and nothing was tampered with (that I have noticed at least).

So, here I am, at a lovely little hostel in Windhoek with my new 11 friends. I am sleeping in the top bunk in a room with 2 other girls. This place is really great…there is a separate kitchen with open doors and windows that WorldTeach has stocked with food for us to make breakfast and lunch. I can’t describe how incredible it feels to be walking around in a skirt and sandals at the end of December. Thankfully, we missed the ungodly heat of last week and came just as the rains were beginning to cool things down. We got in late last night and basically just went to bed. The pre-orientation meeting and the flights here were much more fun because of the company of the other volunteers. It is all 20 somethings, trying to do something to contribute. It is definitely nice to have someone in the exact same shoes as me. I am thankful we have each other for the next few weeks before we are separated into our respective sites. Speaking of amazing people, I cannot say anything that will come close to expressing the brilliance and kindness of our field directors here. Both they and their Namibian husbands have done everything imaginable to make us feel comfortable and welcome in this crazy place. They are really some of the most incredible people I have ever met. They give me hope in the human spirit and the ability of humans to be kind and compassionate…it is kind of easy to give up on those ideals.

Anyway, after a very pitiful attempt at a night’s sleep, I awoke this morning to the sun shining and some very loud dogs barking. We had a few sessions on safety (mostly in Windhoek) and some basic expectations of us during this orientation process. Unfortunately, Windhoek is becoming an increasingly more dangerous city for tourists and residents alike. It is mostly petty theft, but definitely not something I want to get involved with. The field directors are amazing and are always ensuring that we are 100% safe. With some new information on our minds, we all went into town (in Windhoek) so we could pick up some of the bigger supplies items we might need. I got myself a pretty sweet cell phone (I have to say, Meg, the cheapest Namibian cell phone looks a little better than the jukeJ ) and a 3G modem so I can keep in touch with lovely people like you! I’ll get you the cell number in my next update…my box is all the way across the room and I am nice and settled on the top bunk (and yes, I am lazy). We also got to exchange some money for Namibian dollars and have a lovely lunch together. For about 9 of us to eat, it was $630 Namibian dollars…kind of hard to get used to a salad costing $42…obviously with the exchange rate it is only $6 US, but I think dividing by 7 will take some getting used to. Just like in America, the table sent the bill over to me and had me figure it out…some things never change J Walking around Windhoek was odd… obviously we all have an idea of what “Africa” is going to look like. Windhoek did NOT fit my picture. It is small, but still a pretty hoppin metropolis. Lots of people and stores…you can pretty much get anything you want. I will not be close to Windhoek in a few weeks (which I am excited about), but it is nice to have all of the amenities here for a while. After our urban excursion, we came back to our hostel and had one more session and then some Chinese food. It was a pretty awesome meal for me because I got to chat with, and practice my Oshindonga with, my field director’s husband, who happens to be one of my favorite Namibian artists, Black Door. After watching his music videos and listening to his tunes, it was really awesome to have a conversation with him. He is a really awesome guy…and his new CD drops next week!

After dinner, we all played some games…hearts, apples to apples, spoons, and drank some Windhoek lager. Pretty good stuff. I am trying to hit it early tonight since I am still jet lagged and must stay up until midnight tomorrow! We are having a braii (barbeque) and hopefully a dance party tomorrow evening to ring in the new year. Since I will be ringing it in 8 hours ahead of you guys, I’ll let you know if anything crazy happens. And yes, I am 8 hours ahead for those of you still confused on the time difference.

So there is my first update…nothing too exciting except for the fact that I am in freaking Namibia. Whew. I am doing ok, but really love love love getting emails/messages from you guys, so keep em coming!

Talk soon,

h

Happy Holidays

Dearest friends and family,

Can you believe it is already Christmas week?? Yes, I like to have an entire week to celebrate Christmas. Especially this year since in exactly one week, I will be on a plane to Namibia. I can't really express all of the feelings going through my head right now, but I sure can say that I have some wonderful friends and a spectacular family. You might notice that I have removed the link that takes people to the page to give money. That is because with LOTS of help from you guys, my trip is paid for. I know this is extremely cheesy, but ya'll really helped me remember the generosity of everyday people. I am so lucky to know each and every one of you.

I hope that whatever you do this holiday season is wonderful and that you get to spend some quality time with the people that matter most.

Happy holidays,

h

gracias

hey ya'll,

i just wanted to thank the few of you who made it out to my house tonight to say farewell. i know you had to brave the weather and the sunday night blues, and i want you to know i really appreciate it.

so thanks.

~h

season's greetings!

Hey ya'll!

Happy almost Christmas! Hope everyone is getting in the spirit and not just getting pissed off that it is freezing cold and you practically need ice skates to get around. Just wanted to update everyone on the fundraising...I know it says $5,000 over to the right, but that is somewhat of a fallacy. I have gotten sooo many wonderful donations, but the $5,000 includes the money that I have put in towards the trip. I am obviously happy to do this, I just didn't want my total to deter anyone from giving!

If you have ever even thought about giving me a Christmas present this year, please please give in the form of a donation. I would appreciate it more than anything else, I promise :)

For those of you in the area, hopefully I will see you at my place on Sunday the 12th. If not, I will most likely be leaving Chicago in about one week, so let's see each other! I want to ice skate, see zoo lights, drink lots of holiday brews, and see some music before I go, so let's make it happen!

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and don your gayest possible apparel.

xoxoxo

h