ngapi

MOROKENI!!

Ngapi nawa?

Rukwangali is difficult, but it’s a ton of fun.

My host family is also exhausting, but fun.

I am living with an 8yo boy and a 10 yo girl and their mother. The father/husband drives the Nam train, and his shift changes. I think he’s working until 8 now, and I’m generally going to bed around then.

I also live with a dog named Taliban. He’s the guard dog. And he barks from the time he is let off the leash at around 7 p.m. until he is put back on, at around 6 a.m.  As my host family has warned, his name says it all. Chico is our pet dog. Apparently it’s fairly rare to have a pet dog here, but almost everyone has a guard.

And yes, I go to bed at 8 p.m.  The sun goes down at like 5, and after a few solid games of Uno with the kids, a meal that I help prepare or clean up after, and an hour of Shades of Sin (Brazilian soap opera that the country is addicted to), I can barely keep my eyes open. I try and stay up to practice language, but I’m not sure that anything sticks. There are a few occasional clicks in the language I’m learning, so don’t worry—I am getting the African experience, even with a TV in my house, my own bedroom that locks, hot water showers, and a washing machine.

Some in our group are taking bucket baths—heating their water on the stove and carrying it to the bathroom to bathe. But they say it aint so bad, and I believe that. There’s a good chance that many of these amenities will not be there when I move to site, so I’m soakin it up while I’m here. Hell, I’m eating Corn flakes with coffee and yogurt for breakfast, and today I had a Gatorade at lunch. Not that it’s all rainbow and fuzzies, but I really really like it here.

Well, I took my Mefloquine today, so I’m off to do some awesome dreaming. Mbwaa! 

tulululu

Today was a big day. Not only did we get our language assignment, but we also met the families with whom we’ll be living for the next six weeks.

Language: I will be learning Rukwungandi, a local African dialect, and I’ll be in the northern area of the country, where 60% of Nam’s population lives in something like 15% of the land. The north boasts a much wetter and hotter climate than the south, and the language varies greatly by area.

Host family: I adore my host parents. The father is a train driver, and the mother stays at home with her 8- and 10- year old son and daughter. They live in a neighborhood near my training center and speak Afrikaans. I was kind of hoping to learn Afrikaans just because of its widespread use and similarity to other European languages, so I’m excited about being exposed to it during homestay. Regardless, the parents speak English really well, and I imagine the kids speak it even better. There will also be water and electricity and I only share my bathroom with the children. Sidenote: they have two dogs—one is a small pet dog named Chico and the other is a large guard dog named…. Wait for it… Taliban. I couldn’t make it up.

Well I’m exhausted (and this episode of Grey’s is ending), so I’m out. Goodnight from NAMIBIA, land of the brave!!!

Arrival/training

Hello from Nam!!



Let me just say, perhaps prematurely, that I love it here.


We flew into Windhoek on Wednesday afternoon, and within an hour we saw wild giraffes, baboons, and springbok. It was incredible.



There are 45 of us in my training group, including 9 who will be the first class to swear in for the business sector for the first time in this country. Their project is mostly within the education system—working with econ and business teachers to develop new curricula that will provide for sustainable improvement. Because roughly 50% of Nam’s population is unemployed, the government is placing a huge emphasis on small business development, so this group’s secondary projects will most likely deal with actual companies. Pretty cool stuff.



Standards in education have greatly improved since independence in 1990, but there is still a lot to be accomplished to get the country’s education standards and teacher qualification up, so the rest of the group is in the education sector (IT, math, science, and English).



My groupmates are from all over the U.S.—including Alaska, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, and a good handful from Texas. Everyone is really great, and we’re all getting along well. It’s been surprising to see our different preferences in site placement, secondary projects, etc.



I am still working on jet lag and adjusting to the time, weather, etc. This winter weather is INCREDIBLE. The days get up into the 80s, and while it’s chilly at night, it’s not unbearable. I seem to be the only one in the group who insists on wearing four layers every morning and night, but what can I say? 50 degrees is cold! I think some of the snowbirds will have a rough time adapting to the summertime here, but I say bring it on!! The climate is extraordinarily dry, so I don’t begin to break a sweat hiking in 85F.



One cultural lesson for today—Namibians are very serious about greetings. If you do not say “Hello! How are you?” to just about anybody on the street, they will remember, and they will be offended if you run across them in the future. However, displays of affection are not culturally accepted. It’s great to say hello and shake hands, but very few people hug in public, and if a male ever hugs a female, it is assumed that he wants something in return. It’s kind of a bizarre adjustment. It’s not that the Nam people are cold, but they are much quieter and it’s a culture entirely based on respect (the population is 99% Christian).



Some highlights:

• Watching the vibrant red of an African sunset over the bush.

• Wild giraffes on the side of the road.

• Malaria medicine dreams.

• Herero festival.

• South Africa vs. New Zealand in Tri-Nations rugby, live, at a local bar over a cold Windhoek draught beer (and seeing guys wearing springbok jerseys in town during the match).

• Learning that some of us will be learning the local click language.

• Talking to/ playing with Nam kids in town.

• Tea time, twice daily.

• Hot showers, a warm bed, and potable water.





Basically, I hit the Peace Corps jackpot. I’m very excited for the next two years— meeting my learners, moving into a settled arrangement, traveling around southern Africa, etc. I hope everyone is doing well, and don’t forget—SEND MAIL!! I’ve taken to writing letters, so be looking out, or give me your address if I don’t already have it!!



Julie Gerdes, PCT

U.S. Peace Corps

P.O. Box 6862

Windhoek, Namibia

A lil game

We're going to play a little game for my friends and fam. It's called "What I Know."


What I know:

• I will have a cell phone.
• I will have Internet access.
• My skype name is julie.gerdes.
• My address from August-October 15 is 

               Julie Gerdes, PCT
               Peace Corps
               PO Box 6862
               Ausspannplatz,
               Windhoek, Namibia

                              If you have a silly postal office worker, it might help to write "Africa" at the end. 

• I will be teaching English for 70% of my work time. 
• I will work in a primary or secondary school.
• I will be doing some kind of HIV/AIDS awareness and education.
• I will have shelter.
• There are 13 provinces in Namibia.
• For the first 3 months, I will be staying with a host family and working with other PCVs.

What I don't know:

• What my cell phone number is.
• How often I will have Internet access.
• How often I'll be on skype. 
• What my address will be after October.
• Where I'll be living after October.
• What I will do for the other 30%. 
• What grade(s) I will teach, how many students I'll have, or what specific subjects I will teach (lit, grammar and vocab, ESL, etc.)
• What kind of HIV/AIDS education program I will be running or working with.
• What kind of shelter I will have.
• Which province I will live in (desert? grassland? oceanside or landlocked? Angola or SA border?)
• How many Volunteers will be in my town (prob just me), where the next-closest PCV will be, who I will live with after the first 3 months.

Application Process

I've seen this on numerous Peace Corps (PC) blogs, and it's helped me out a lot; besides, I'm tired of answering questions about it:

Spring 2009: Attend PC informational meetings, begin seriously contemplating service.

May 2009: Graduate, decide to apply to PC.

July 15, 2009: Finalize electronic application, including recommendations, essays, transcript, etc.

August 10, 2009: Interview in ATL. Nominated that day for English Education in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), departure date of Sept 2010

January 2010: Mail entire health packet in after numerous appts (dental with xrays, physical with labs, even eye exam and glasses frame measurements)... took a while what with no health insurance and all

Online toolkit updated to read that basically the Office of Medical Services (OMS) has received everything but will not look at it unless I'm nominated to leave in the next four months. So I wait.

Last week of April 2010: Update! The OMS is currently reviewing my file!

May 26, 2010: Contact my recruiter and the OMS-- gently ask how long I can expect medical review to take. They reply that OMS mailed me a letter on April 26. Never received it, so they fax it. It's requesting a secondary simple lab.

June 3, 2010: Get lab done and results faxed in that day.

June 21, 2010: Medically cleared! Letter in mail and email from Placement Officer (PO) to confirm. I am told that I can plan for an invite to come 6 weeks- 4 months before departure.

July 1, 2010: Send updated resume and list of volunteer activities from the past year.

July 6, 2010: Receive letter from Education Desk, asking for my availability for a program that leaves in mid-August for an English-speaking country in Africa. Immediately check out the wiki and narrow it down to, probably, Namibia on August 16.

July 7: Reply that I am available and willing to leave earlier than my late-September nomination.
July 9: Receive invitation packet: Namibia, August 17.
July 11: Officially accept invitation.
July 12: Send updated resume, aspiration statement.
July 15: Last day of work in SC.
July 24: Move home to VA.
August 15: I will leave ORF for Philly; staging lasts two days, then I'll head off to Windhoek for three months of training, during which time I receive my official site location for the following two years.