My first week as a Namibian

Greetings from Windhoek, Namibia!

Ted and I arrived here on Sunday afternoon with five other volunteers (we are seven hours ahead of all of you folks on the east coast) after a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, a 6 hour layover, a 2 hour flight to Windhoek, and a one hour bus ride to our hostel in the capital.

The second half of the volunteers arrived on Monday evening after enduring an equally painful voyage here, and now we are all officially settled into our temporary housing here.

We are currently staying at a Backpackers Hostel in the outskirts of the city until this Sunday, when we depart to begin our teaching practicum in the northern region. Ted and I are lucky to have our own room here, but are still adjusting to sleeping in two separate twin beds, haha! The hostel is really charming though with a nice outdoor area for our meetings, a shared kitchen, small pool, and HOT SHOWERS!

On Monday we began our training, which so far has been really quite wonderful. So far we have been talking quite a lot about dealing with culture shock, acceptable behavior in our new communities, and what our expectations are for our new job/ what our jobs will expect from us. Today, we had our first lessons in Oshikwanyama I am learning so much already, and I'm feeling really excited to see how much I can evolve and grow over the next year.

OK, so... first impressions of Namibia...

...flying from J'burg to Windhoek we were in the final stages of our descent, maybe only 1,000 feet above the ground. I had a window seat, and I was attentively screening the landscape, trying to figure out where in the world this pilot was planning on landing this plane. All I could see for miles was low brush and rather large mountains and one road. Not a single car or animal or human in sight. For a brief moment I was sure that the pilot was making an emergency landing somewhere because there was just NO WAY that this was Windhoek. Well, I was wrong. It turns out that the airport is about a 40 minute drive from the downtown area, which made me feel a bit better. Anyway, the lack of population here is really remarkable. Even in the city center, the streets are not crowded, the traffic is non-existent. Windhoek is a really beautiful city with lots of German influences (all of the street names are in German). I am most amazed at how immaculate the city center is... there is no trash whatsoever, no cigarette butts littering the streets. It is really pretty neat.

I am also really amazed by the already contrasting landscape. While my airport experience may lead you to believe that I'm in the flatlands, the city is built in the middle of these beautiful mountains (I will get back to you with the name of the range, I'm not quite sure what they are).

Food.... We had our first braai (BBQ) on New Year's Eve which was really neat. So far, I can see that no one was kidding when they said that Namibians love their meat. We are in for some trouble on this front for sure. Also, food wise, I learned that "salad" doesn't mean what I think it does. "Salad" here is either pasta or potatoes or rice smothered in mayonaise and sliced hot dogs. Yes, this is my greatest nightmare.

People... The people here are wonderful so far. There is an interesting mix of Europeans, South Africans, and natives among the city-dwellers. Today in town I saw my first Himba woman. She stunned me with her beauty.

...So many unfamiliar plants and birds and vegetables that I am excited to study

...all while trying to learn how to be a teacher, how to deal with my new identity as a Namibian, how to fit into my new community.
We began our language lessons this week which are pretty intense. Oshikwanyama is the language of our village, which is going to take me quite a while to get the hang of. All of it is hard for my English-speaking brain!

Anyway, we are enjoying ourselves so far, and trying to soak in all that the city has to offer and orientation can teach us before we depart for our site. I know that we will be living in a remote location so we have to take all we can get!