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I’m here! Staging feels like a month ago even though it’s only been a week. I finally feel like I’m adjusted to the time and we’ve spent three whole days now without flying. I keep waiting for panic to kick in once I realize that I’m here for two whole years, but I’m just excited. I feel so lucky to be here and I’m having an amazing time. I think Kyle was right; this job was made for me.
The group is great. There are 22 of us and we’re all HIV/Health extension trainees. It’s nice to have a small group because we’ve all gotten to know each other fairly well in a short time. We’re from all over the country, though I think California is representing pretty hard. I’m surprised that I’m the one with the most Public Health experience – I was hoping for someone else to nerd out with. This is the group at the Johannesburg airport. We had been traveling for a LONG time, so excuse the haggard appearances. If it looks like I was about to fall over, it’s because I was.
Namibia is beautiful. It helps that we came here during the greenest time of year. It’s sunny and pleasant all day and then thunderstorms at night. Wonderful. I’ve seen beautiful birds and made friends with a 12 week old puppy the other day. No big wildlife yet, but hopefully we’ll see baboons on the road to Windhoek next week. I’d put up pictures of the huge bugs that I’ve seen, but they look tiny on camera. I saw a beetle the size of my fist and a grasshopper-looking thing that was as big as my foot last night. I swear it made eye-contact with me. No big spiders, but I’ve been pretty good about the creepy-crawly stuff so far. I killed a huge roach on my roommates bed this morning – I’ve been walking tall ever since.
We’ve been living in dorm-style arrangements at the training center in Okahandja for the last four nights, but tonight we move in with our host families. I met mine last night and I don’t think I could have found a better match. They are the Hindjou family – Congo, Mara, Kenao, and Rino. Kenao is eight and she lives at home. Rino (the only one I haven’t met) is 16 and attends boarding school in Windhoek. They were so welcoming and Mara gave me a huge hug when she met me. Congo used to play football for the national team and Mara is an English and Otjiherero teacher.
Otjiherero (pronounced “Oshi-herero) is the language I am learning. We started lessons yesterday and it’s going well so far. There are only two of us learning the language, so our classes are wonderful. I get to have class under this grass awning every day.
Rough life, I know.
The language I’m learning gives me a little clue about where I’m going, but not much. I’m pretty sure we’re all going to have electricity and running water. We’re going to get cell phones next week that will have internet. I’m going to be living a pretty cush life in some sense. We’ll see once I get to site, the location of which I find out next week. I could be in a more populated town or I could be thrown out into the bush.
I miss you all and I hope everyone is well.
All my love.
