Back in Windhoek

A lot of this week was spent in classes but here are some of the highlights from the past week (Dad, I think you will be very jealous of some of these things):

- We started language lessons on Monday. Since I'll be up in the central

north, the dialect I've been learning is called Oshikwanyama. Our wonderful teacher was Meekulu Ida Maria. It was very much a crash course in the basics, but here are some of the things we learned:

wa lele po - good morning

wa uhala po - good afternoon

wa tokelwa po - good evening

okatoileta oke li peni? - Where is the toilet?

oshebeen oi li peni? - Where is the bar?

oxuxwa oi naingapi? - How much is the chicken?

ondi ku hole unene - I love you very much

Here's a sample dialogue:

Wa lele po meekulu (Good morning ma'am)

Ehee (yes, good)

Nawa tuu? (are you sure?)

Ehee, ove, wa lele po yo? (yes, and how is your morning?)

And so it goes on. This is your standard greeting and it is considered very rude if you don't greet people properly. You have to greet everyone with a hello, how are you.

- On Tuesday night we went to eat at a traditional restaurant called Xwama. They actually forgot that we were coming, but it ended up working out okay in the end. We ate oxuxwa (chicken, and I mean the whole chicken), oshifima (a porridge that is like a cross between grits and polenta) some tripe (not a fan) and then finished off the meal with this drink called oshikundu that was strangely delicious, sort of like drinking salad dressing. The after-dinner entertainment was supposed to be a dance group performance, but they were never booked due to the mix-up so we had to finish up with our own dance circle. It involved dancing solo in the middle of the circle while singing a song that translated to "take it, take it, give it, give it" and then you got out of the circle by going up to someone else and basically thrusting your hips at them.

- Wednesday night was the eve of my friend Kristen's birthday and we celebrated with a lot of South African wine. We rocked an amazing game of pictionary, followed by some thumper, and then evening culminated in an impromptu swim in the pool. Unfortunately, I was nudged into the pool with my cell phone on me...it is now dead. I tried to dry it out the next day, but to no avail. So I ended up giving it to one of the ladies that works at the hostel, not totally sure what she plans to do with it. I got a new phone though, with the same number so all is well.

- Tonight we learned how to play the drums from Moses. Dad, I'll see if I can get him to teach you when you come for a visit! I'll post some pictures tomorrow after I get them off Kyle and Jena's cameras.

Tomorrow we have a celebratory dinner at a local restaurant and then we're throwing a big party at the hostel with all our Windhoek friends.

Etosha!

So this morning we headed to Etosha. We left early, around 7am (the gates opened at 6:30), so we'd have a better chance of seeing some lions. Once we got there one of the guides offered to drive around with us for free for some reason. He warned us that since there has been so much rain recently, causing the salt pans to be really full, that it would be more difficult to see animals. When the salt pans are dried up the animals have limited water sources, making it pretty easy to find them. Pretty much right away we were greeted by a teeny tiny dik-dik and shortly thereafter, a couple of giraffe. So beautiful, but also very odd looking...I wouldn't want to ride one. We also saw: a hyena, water buffalo, oryx, kudu, springbok, birds, lizards, elephants, jackals, zebras, vultures, wildebeasts, more giraffe and some others that I'm sure I'm forgetting right now. No lions were spotted, although we saw some lion tracks that we tried tracking for awhile...but to no avail. I wasn't too disappointed though since I know that I will definitely make it back to Etosha before the year is out. So here are some photos, in no particular order:

Vultures!
Lots of zebras roaming around
No clue what kind of lizard this is, only that it was very large
I love the clouds here, I never get tired of looking at them.
The northern entrance gate

My favorite giraffe picture

Here are some oryx by the salt pan, however, there was no dancing today
A kudu
Highlight of the day for me...hyena picking at a giraffe carcass!

The cutest little dik-dik greeted us as we drove in

Practice teaching in Tsumeb

We are 2/3 through our training after spending a week in Tsumeb. Tsumeb is a town about 5 hours north of Windhoek to the east of Etosha. We came to Tsumeb for 5 days of practice teaching. It wasn't a perfect simulation, since Brent and I only had 5 students, but it took some of the edge off our nerves, since the majority of us have never taught before. From the back left in the picture: Brent, Joy, Monalisa, Mexi, me, Justine, and Alex is crouching in the front. These kids came to school all week just for fun, and I think that they had a good time. At least they kept coming back...

Homestay

Last saturday night I had a homestay with a family in Windhoek. From left: Ndapewa, Punya, Sigo, Peya and Max. I got to eat a lot of good food (including the freshest chicken I've ever eaten), go to church with them and then they took me on a tour of Windhoek. In the picture we are at Hero's Acre, which is like the Namibian version of Arlington Cemetery. All the great freedom fighters are honored here and from the top you have a panoramic view of all of Windhoek. Then they drove me from the wealthy, very beautiful neighborhoods to Katutura. Katutura was started during Apartheid, when the white people in Windhoek pushed the blacks outside of the city. Max told me that it has vastly improved since Independence in 1990. But it is like what you see in documentaries or the commercials asking you to help save children. It's a sea of tin huts. I didn't take any pictures there...it made me feel uncomfortable, like I was exploiting these people. But there were kids and dogs running around playing, many men hanging out at the shabeen (bar)...life was just going on.

Namlish

So English is the official language of Namibia and all instruction after grade 5 is supposed to be in English. However, most students do not speak English at home. At home they might speak Afrikaans, German, Oshiwambo or any other of the multitude of tribal languages that usually start with an 'o'. When they do speak English everybody will use certain terms or phrases that twist our English words around. It's called Namlish and can be VERY confusing for native English speakers. Here are some examples:

Namlish

I’m coming now – I’m leaving, but I'll be back

Is it? – really?

Cool drink - pop

Hot Stuff - liquor

Now - not so much now. maybe in a while or maybe never

Now now - soon

Now now now - now

… and what what – ecetera

use to - usually (So confusing!)

small boy – any unmarried young man

to propose – to hit on

Ringing in 2010 in Windhoek

Here is Moses aka Black Door rocking quite the green suit. It was also his birthday at midnight.
Tangeni, the manager of our hostel cooked us up a traditional braai, or bbq

I made it. Getting here involved a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg where we missed our connection because everybody was telling us to go to different places, so we ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport for about 5 hours. Now I'm in Windhoek settling in with my fellow volunteers who all seem like good people. We spent New Year's eve at the hostel drinking beer with a Namibian musician named Black Door and other friends. The big event was a braai, or barbeque, with lots of delicious beef and boerwoers, or sausages.