I'm finally Here....and WOW!!

Wa lala po? (Good morning)
It's me, Brooke, taking over Ryan's blog to share our experiences since i've arrived on Saturday.

Goodbye Cold London, Hello Hot Namibia!

So, the adventure began when my plane touched down on the scorching runway last Sat (16th). Ryan welcomed me at the airport and drove us 40 miles into the city (Windhoek) where we stayed for the night.

On the hot ride in we ran into our first little snag as the car stopped on the side of the road in the middle of NOWHERE......but......10 min of patience and Ryan's baby was 'purring like a kitten' (as he says) and we were headed for our luxurious 'home' (see pic) ......kidding.....this is the very nice resort we stayed at for the night - fully loaded with air conditioning, TWO beds and full free breakfast (American style). That evening after dining on zebra, kudu, ostrich, chicken and crocodile we we straight to bed in preparation for our 7 hour journey up north (home, Ongwediva) the next day.

7-hour journey turns 10-hour journey with loads of excitement ---- 'baby' decides to stop again (only for 15 min) and then the roadside police decide we need a ticket....the border patrolmen ask us if their relative can hitch a ride with us the rest of the way ('of course'), as we continue our journey dodging donkeys, cattle, warthogs, (you name it)....we finally approach Ongwediva where it's actually started to rain (very rare). Just as i start to get frustrated I've lugged the 'London Rain Baggage' with me, I find out this is actually good luck and the sun replaces the rain very quickly. Overall the trip (although long) was a beautiful, adventurous ride up to 'home'.

The past week (my first) there's been loads to do between getting the house 'pretty' (aka: the compound), playing tennis with the local kids, meeting everyone (people feeling our hair and getting to see people relieving themselves 'roadside') and of course, having Thanksgiving as 'American-style' as possible.

We did our very best to improvise - chicken instead of Turkey,

interesting sweet potatoes which taste like porridge,

stuffing with leeks instead of celery (a very tasty dish by chef Ryan),

cake instead of pie, and great new friends.

We cooked dinner with another American volunteer, Leah and invited 3 friends from Ongwediva over to stuff themselves with us. In good custom we stuffed our faces, listened to some 'good ole' American music (Johnny cash) and honored the tradition of offering up what we are all thankful for. The holiday, although very unique, was very celebratory and nice on our end. Hope it was a very nice day for you all.

Today (Friday) I was introduced to the entire school (900 students) where they giggled and laughed at my 'hello.' Everyone has been so welcoming and sweet to me and I'm doing my best with the 'Owambo' langauge, the handshake, handwashing my clothes, setting spiders free from our home, etc.....

Miss you all and hope all is good in the Western World. xxooox0

Where's Waldo

A friend of mine, Hofni, friend just a had a baby and decided to celebrate. I was invited to partake in the events. There was lots of food, beer and just hanging out. It was very nice to come into someone's home and see what traditional celebrations are like. I felt very welcome and everyone was just as nice and loved teaching me a bit of the local language Owambo. At the end of the night, they decided to take a picture with the dad, all his friends and the baby. I tried to stay out of the photo but they made me get in.

Google Maps

Google Maps give will you an idea as to where I'm are staying, working, etc.

The first red roof on the left is the grocery store and if you go up the main road by pulling
down the page you'll see a few things of interest.

On the right is the new water park where the antelope live and further
down on the left is my school. You should be able to tell what it
looks like from the building layout.

My house is the last house on the left after the main buildings. You
can also see the basketball court and the sand soccer field by the
buildings. All are close to me and in the school zone.

This will get you started: http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&time=&date=&ttype=&q=Ongwediva,+Namibia&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.042042,70.488281&ie=UTF8&ll=-17.783333,15.764083&spn=0.002646,0.004302&t=k&z=18&iwloc=addr&om=1

Having Issues!

Problems uploading the photos but hopefully I should have it sorted soon. For now, here is a picture of me at the new water park just down the street from where I live. It really is an oasis in the desert. As I mentioned before, there are wild antelope living there!

OCE - Cultural Festival

This week was Ongwediva College of Education's annual Cultural Festival. 7 days of traditional fun! Highlighting the week was food, dancing, traditional outfits and my favorite Mr. & Ms. OCE. This pageant wasn't to be missed.

It's not all play and I've done some good work this week. Setting up "computing basics" training courses for various teachers, getting the visual impaired students into the computer lab finally and starting to work with on keyboard and Windows in general. I've also been visiting other local schools in the area and assessing their needs and trouble shooting along the way.

Brooke's finally getting here this coming weekend and I can't wait!!! I know she'll love everything here and is dying to get into the sun. I hope she doesn't mind we have no TV or AC or washing machine.

I'm currently in the process of uploading some photos and will post the link later tonight.

For now, just a little teaser.....

Settled

Sorry for the posting delays. I've had every intention of updating things much more often and I promise to do a better job now things have calmed down a bit.

I now have some free time after this morning's assembly. Every Monday and Friday the school gets together to talk about all the school past weeks’s activities before going off to class. Singing the school's anthem opens the meeting and singing of the national anthem closes the event. I was lucky enough to be introduced today to over 900+ students and asked to say a few words. None of them could understand me I hear, must have been my southern draw...

I've been in Ongwediva now for 5 days. It's a very small, quiet but crazy place. I think only about 10,000 people live in this community but it's the most up and coming place in Namibia. Their already a new hospital, trade center and pool (with antelopes living inside). Plus many things other things in the works. However, you still get the occasional cow or goat crossing the road so you must watch out for them.

The school I'll be working at is called Gabriel Taapopi Secondary School and I'm also living here as well. It's a nice school from what I know of schools in Africa and the students seem to be behaved on the most part. The ones who do get in trouble are subject to raking and cleaning trash out my yard (Yes, I did ask to have my yard cleaned by them). On that same note, I also have a maid once a week and paying her with my volunteer wages, which are nothing. I'm not sure how that works out....

As you can imagine, I'm very busy fixing pcs, teaching teachers and students how to do things and become pc savvy. Mostly my times been spent getting all the student pcs up and running and connected to the internet. Hopefully next week I can start developing some type of objective.

Other things of interest. Let me think...I went last night to play volleyball and have pizza. No net or ball so it was just pizza. Next week I think I might go to Zula dance or drum lessons. It's also cultural week in the town. Who knows what that means. I think there is also going to be a crowned Mr. & Ms. Ongwediva.

Some pictures of the town, students and one of the visual impaired students I am working with.