The race to Halali

After six hours of driving, we finally reached Etosha National Park- Namibia's main claim to fame, and a huge wildlife refuge.  The lodge we had booked, Halali, was in the middle of the park, about 70 km from the entrance.  Both the park gates and hotel gates closed at sunset, 5:30.  At 4, when we reached the park, we felt like we had made it.  We only later realized that we would have to rush on gravel roads to get to Halali before sunset.  This was our first experience with African wildlife, and it was a crazy mix of stressful rush to get to the hotel and awe of wildlife.  Below is just a sample of the day's pictures...in chronological order, because the sights got better and better.  The pictures aren't cropped, so you get a better idea of how close things were.

This was our first giraffe- I spotted it as we were driving, even before we got to Etosha.  It must have been on a game farm.  We turned around to see it again!

Wildebeest in the road in Etosha. 

Springbok crossing the road!  They would soon become commonplace to us, "Oh, it's just Springbok." but that night they were super cool- and the light hits them beautifully. 

Giraffe!  Just a sample, super far away from the road. 

Giraffe (giraffes?) rising out of the ether. 

 There was a giraffe literally just outside my window!

Our first elephant!

The view got better...

Not the best picture, but by the time that I realized what I saw seeing, this zebra was just a few feet away from me. 

Better zebra picture

This is your African sunset. 

Home!

My mom and I (finally!) got home last night.  We had a fantastic time- wildlife viewing and kayaking with seals and driving through the desert and down the coast.  I'll post a sample of pictures soon.

Last day in Ondangwa!

For awhile, I have been trying to make plans to meet my mother in Windhoek when she comes to visit!  I have been excited all trip to finally travel the country and do fun touristy things with my mom.

The trouble is, it is rather difficult to get to Windhoek from Ondangwa- it's 600 km, a 6-8 hour drive.  My host father tried to find someone who was going to Windhoek, but most people come up here on the weekend and work in Windhoek during the week.  He did not want to send me on the "public" buses because I do not know my way around.  He had a cousin driving down, but he said that cousin was a professional thief, so that wasn't a good decision either. We decided that I would fly.

The issue was, we FINALLY (things take time here, and there is no way to politely rush people.  No matter how stressed I am, everyone else is super relaxed) decided that I would fly this morning.  There were no flights left.  Since it's just an hour flight, only a small plane does the route.  Samuel was not worried.  He called a friend who works at the airline (they're from the same village) and his friend told him to call back in 20 minutes.  20 minutes later, "Emilly Summer"  had a seat on the plane.  As Samuel said, "Yes.  It is very useful to have connections."

A cowoker at Dorkambo, who insisted on a photo before I left

NAM-Village

Yesterday we drove to the village where Samuel is from.  This one is a little bit further out, and we took the 4 wheel drive truck because, "If you go to the village without 4x4...you will not arrive."  The sand roads make driving pretty rough.  The video below is probably best viewed muted.  I did not manage to capture the times when we fishtailed or just left the road, but that definitely happened too.  They said it wasn't a far drive, but we drove for at least an hour (mostly on a paved road).  

I didn't take any other pictures this time, because it was mostly the same stuff.  And we were at a funeral, or perhaps a wake is a better term so it didn't seem appropriate.  I don't think the deceased was related to Samuel, but his sister was there, so I think we went to see her.  I did realize that what they call "the village" is really just the country- there are farmsteads or compounds, but they are not close together.

I got my first African marriage proposal- from my host siblings' grandfather, after he offered me some Ovambo moonshine (I declined- my host mother told me to say no, and my immediate host family seems to frown on drinking- Innocent thought one of the ten commandments was, "I shall not drink alcohol.")  Tourchy had to translate, "My granny wants to be your wife."  I know enough Oshiwambo to say no, thanks.

While we were "in the village," we saw three helicopters fly over, and I realized that I hadn't seen any kind of  aircraft since I've been on the ground here.  Samuel said it might be NDF (Namibia Defense Forces- Namibia spends more money than most African countries maintaining their military, but it makes sense once you consider their recent 20 year independence struggle), and then later decided it was NAMPOL- Namibian Police.  I guess in a country as vast and scarcely populated as Namibia is, police need helicopters to respond quickly.

Namibians love putting Nam in front of everything- NAMU (university), NAMPOST (post office), Nam-lish (mixture of Namibian English).


I also killed my first African spider.  On Saturday night, I found this guy on the wall of my room. The picture is zoomed in- the spider, including legs, is only a litter bigger than the rim on a soda can, but it sure looks scarier than a daddy long leg.  I thought it might be poisonous, so I left it alone, but I was worried it might do something.  I'm also super glad that the Lariam I'm on as an anti-malarial did not give me vivid dreams of spiders crawling around on the walls-I've heard horror stories about Lariam-induced nightmares. 

On Sunday night, it was back, so I asked my host mom if it was poisonous.  She didn't know, she told me not to touch it.  I asked her if I should kill it or leave it alone, and she said kill it, but don't touch it.  After some clarification, I tried to kill it, but I never found the body, so I may have only crushed a leg or two.    I'm glad I learned early on to keep the zippers of my bags closed, so I don't get surprise bugs in them!

The Village

Innocent's church clothes.  I just had to take a picture.  And if anyone knows how to rotate pictures on blogger please tell me.

 On Sunday, we went to visit Patrina's mom house- in the village.  The way that people talk about going up north or camping at home, people here talk about going to "the village."  Even though I was sick, I went, because when else do you get to go?  I can't believe I have just two more weeks until mom's here!

Tourchy herding her grandmother's cows into their coral. 

I thought this was a super interesting tree until I realized it's covered by a termite mound.

Donkeys. 

Traditional huts.  

 Patrina's mom lives in a modern cement house, but they keep traditional huts for storage of agricultural goods.  Even though they have a modern kitchen, they still cook traditional foods in a traditional outdoor kitchen.  They also keep huts ready in case an elder visits who prefers to sleep in a hut.

Tourchy sifting traditional Mahango flour.

Bluff

Bluff

Tourchy saw that my backpack was open, looked inside, opened a separate compartment, and found my deck of cards.

“Why did you not tell us you had cards?”  Innocent asked. 

We started playing a game they knew.  They dealt out 12 cards to each of us, then laid out six more cards and started making pairs out of matching ones.  When I asked about the rules (in several different ways) they just said, “Play!”  Innocent laid down a 4 on a 2, something else happened with jokers and aces, so I made up my own rules and declared myself the winner.  Innocent didn’t take it well, but Tourchy thought it was funny.

Somehow we decided that I should teach them an American game, so I taught them how to play my favorite card game, Bluff (B.S.).  It took a lot of explaining to start with the ace of spades, and they never really understood that we were going in an order (I lay down aces, you lay down 2’s, you lay down 3’s).  The hardest thing to teach in this game is usually that you have to lie when you don’t have whatever card you’re supposed to be laying down, but for them it was the order and laying cards face down.   And not looking at each other’s cards. 

Innocent also never really accepted that the goal of the game is to get rid of all your cards; he would gleefully call bluff on himself to get more cards.  After two rounds of each of their game and mine, we ended up just throwing down random cards into a pile.  

African Sounds

I’m very tempted to record the sounds that I hear, because they’re so much of what makes things unique.  I don’t have a good sound recorder, so I’ll just have to take notes.

• ·     Tourchy and I were in the garage one day, and I heard a noise coming from the roof.  I don’t know how to describe it- maybe something sliding around, kind of something scuttling or rattling.  Tourchy said that sounds meant there was a lizard on the roof.
  ·         Last night, it rained here.  It rains much more here in the north than in the more desert like south, but I still did not expect it to rain much during the winter dry season.  The sound of rain hitting a tin roof is unbelievable.  It rained for all of 10 minutes, but it seemed intense.
  ·         Yesterday, I was in the office working.  I heard the bleating of goats- pretty close by- and then heard my coworkers shooing them away from the building.  The office/factory is right next to a residential pathway, which means I overhear conversations and the occasional animal.
  ·         I wake up every morning to roosters crowing.  There’s also an occasional donkey neigh (is that what they do?) or a cow lowing. 
  ·         The tv is ALWAYS on in the house, and Samuel listens to the news at a volume that I consider to be way too loud.  Because all of the walls are solid concrete, closing a door doesn’t do much to mute the sound. 

My host family has very different boundaries than I am accustomed to- I guess Americans tend to be kind of private.  They take a closed door as a mere suggestion- my host siblings knock and come in, and only leave if I’m asleep.  If the door is open, they walk in.  They have poked through most of my belongings (even now, Innocent walked in and read what I was writing and said, “You are writing?”) and they often walk into my room and say, “Give me sweets.” Or, “Give me your small notebook.” 

I know that culturally, my host family is much more used to sharing things, and being open with things, but it still annoys me.  I give them things if I feel like sharing, and if I don’t, I don’t.  I can’t decide if they’re just more open and insistent because they are young, or they’re culturally more used to sharing, or if me and my things are just so interesting that they can’t help themselves.   Probably a mixture of all three.  My host parents are more restrained- my host mother will still check on me and knock on my door, but she doesn’t pry.   Anyway, my host siblings are pretty generous with their things- if they have a snack, they get me one, if they have a toy they share it with me, so overall I don’t mind explaining my hair mousse or sunscreen to them. 

 On Saturday, I wanted to sleep in.   At 7:30 (I had decided I would sleep in until 8) Tourchy came into my room and asked me if I was still sleeping.  I told her that I wanted to sleep in, and she said that she would tell Santa, and that I would be in hot soup.  I took that to mean I should probably get out of bed. 

Happy 4th!

I completely forgot to wear red, white, and blue, (I don't even think I packed any), but the sparklers I packed were a lot of fun!  Thanks Mom, for making me pack them.

Patrina said that they do fireworks for Christmas and New Years, but not for Independence Day.  I left some with them to celebrate their independence.  

Settling In

I'm settling in here, getting comfortable, so I have less to write home about.  Last week, I went to the Epandula village in the Ohangwena region of Namibia.  Yesterday, I went to the Omufitugwalwani village (no, I can't say it out loud) in the Omusati region to interview women.  I had to get my translator to write down the names, since I couldn't get more than the first few letters by ear.  Anyway, it's nice seeing different parts of the country- yesterday, there was a lot of wide open spaces with little else besides grass, huge watering holes, palm trees, and a lot of donkeys.  The women showed me around their collective garden, with mango, lemon, guava, and banana trees as well as sweet potato and sugar cane plants.  They gave me a guava, and lemons bigger than my fist!  Unfortunately, it's completely the wrong season for mangoes and bananas here.


Yesterday I went to KFC for the second time, and had ice cream.  The soft serve was super sweet and super airy- it tasted more like whipped cream than ice cream. 

The weekend was really quiet- I just stayed home and played with the kids.  I played Uma with Tourchy- it's a rope game that you play by jumping over stationary ropes at different heights in a specific pattern (one leg in the middle, two legs in, out, etc.).  It has a lot in common with jump rope, but the ropes don't move.  I got time to take pictures of the Sheyanena home.  I can't get a good picture of my room, will upload it when I can.  

The front of the house

Front of the house, continued, with garage

I don't know what to call this- side yard?  between garage and house, where my window looks out

The dining/tv/family room.  They have a huge sitting room built, but it doesn't have electricity yet.

The porch, where we spend a lot of our time

The view from the front porch