I'm officially a Peace Corps Volunteer!

Happy New Year! I can’t believe I have been here for 2 months now. The past few weeks have flown by!

I moved out of my host family’s house on Dec. 23rd and back to the rest camp. It was great to be back with the group and see how much we have grown over the last month. Preparations began immediately for Christmas. Christmas Eve we had a bonfire and sang carols. The bar at the rest camp has an awesome tv, dvd, and sound system, and so we watched movies throughout the night. Christmas morning most of us slept until about 8:30 and decided to watch Love Actually. That afternoon we had a gift exchange. We split up into 3 groups and did a Yankee Swap. I got a mug set with hot chocolate mix. I’m happy because I heard it gets cold in Swakopmund, so I’m excited to drink hot cocoa. J

The next week was back to normal with sessions after sessions. Actually, it wasn’t too bad this time around, because we got to present our Teacher Resource Center (TRC) workshop. Mariel and I gave a workshop on class management for all the PC teachers in our group. The rest of the week we attended a workshop presented by the health group (the healthies!) on HIV/AIDS. Namibia is #3 for HIV infections in the WORLD. I also learned Swakopmund is #2 in the country for infected people. We continued on with our language classes and took our final exam last week. I scored Intermediate High! Ek kan Afrikaans praat!

New Year’s Eve was celebrated at the rest camp as well. The night began with a talent show. I kicked off the show with a little opera aria. It was great to sing full voice again! Some of the other acts were an 80’s dance, Namibian dancing, a PCT Update by Andrew Leahy, a video by our IT guys, and a hip hop dance with myself and 6 others. We ended the evening with a song written about how awesome our IT guys have been. You see, there is 1 computer with internet connection in Omaruru. That just doesn’t work for 58 people who need to write home. Jay and Jason worked it out so that they hook up their laptop and 5 of us connect through wireless. It was so great!!! It was pretty slow at times, so those of you at home who anxiously await our emails, please know that we have been trying to write as much as possible!

The New Year was rung in with lots of dancing and celebrating again with a bonfire. It was great!

Swearing In Ceremony!

On Jan. 5th, we left the rest camp at 6am to go to Windhoek. Once we arrived, we went to our hotel and met with people from the Embassy. Afterwards, we ALL went to this store called GAME. It’s basically like the Wal-Mart of Namibia. Just imagine the feeling of overwhelming anxiety walking into a store that has everything (and some people needed to buy everything!) and only having 2 hours to shop. We looked like we were all on supermarket sweep. Seriously. Then there were a few of us who were just wandering around aimlessly just too overcome with sensory overload. It was pretty hilarious and frustrating at the same time.

Next we were released at the local mall. After walking around for about an hour, a few of us went downtown to find an outfit for Swearing In. At this point, I was feeling pretty terrible. My throat started hurting and body aches began. I just wanted to find something decent to wear and go to bed. Luckily my illness didn’t last too long although I spent the evening at the hotel, while most everyone went out dancing.

The next morning we gathered after breakfast and took pictures of each other looking quite stunning. A few members of some of our host families showed up for the ceremony too. It was great to be together one last time to celebrate becoming a Peace Corps Volunteer. We were given a reception afterwards, then quickly whisked away off to our permanent sites. Everything seemed so rushed at this point…trying to pack and fit our belongings into our Kombie’s. Dan, Erikka and I rode together. Dan is in a small village called Otjibingwe (were several PCT’s had Model School). I’d been there once to observe the teachers, and the road is insane. It’s about 1 hour away from the biggest town on a gravel road. This time it was crazier because the rains have come! We had to navigate through small rivers and dips in the road. When rainy season is in full swing, Dan is pretty much stuck there until it clears up. It is a really beautiful drive though. There are mountains in the distance and everything is turning green. There are lots of donkey carts passing by and a few times we had to stop to let the cows clear out of the road. Luckily Erikka is in his shopping town of Karabib. Karabib is about 2 hours from Swakopmund. So hopefully I can have them both over sometime in the future.

I’ve made it to Swakopmund, and I will begin work on Monday at the TRC. This weekend has been very quiet and relaxing. It’s great to cook for myself and not be eaten alive by 1 million mosquitoes. The weather here is delightful. I have to keep reminding myself that I am in Africa!

Please keep writing….I really miss you all!

Pam