American Football, Namibian Chick-fil-a and a Spanish Telenovela

Happy 2008 to all of you! I hope your new year is starting off well. I spent the first days of the new year watching college football on ESPN International. I did not get to watch all the games I would have wanted to, but I got my fill of college football all the same. In addition, we had a tailgate party at the training center featuring BBQ chicken and the Redskins vs. Seahawks. I also got to watch the Steelers lose to Jacksonville. Bummer. On a happier note, the Peace Corps took us all in to Windhoek, which is the capital of Namibia, for a field trip. We saw the Peace Corps offices then they dropped us off at the mall. Yes, you read correctly, the mall. It was surreal to walk around a mall in Africa. It was as if I was in any mall in America. I had mixed feelings about it. I did almost cry when I ate a chicken sandwich, fries and a soda. It was like African Chick-fil-a. I also bought some fudge, which I ate within a 24-hour period. The purpose for the Windhoek trip was to buy things to furnish our homes at our permanent sites. I did not buy anything because I doubt I will need much for a two-room hut. I did enjoy Windhoek, though.

I officially became a Peace Corps Volunteer on January 9th. Thinking back, it does not seem like it has been two months. It feels more like ten. But, I have created some amazing friendships and I will miss those individuals as we all head off to our permanent sites. I will not see most of these people until April when we attend what is called reconnect. At the top of the “miss list” are my five roommates at the training center. We have named our small group of girls the CATJAR, which is simply the first letters of all our names. This is juvenile, I know, but when you are bored to tears your gauge of what is unique, interesting and age-appropriate shifts dramatically. Each reminds me of my close family and friends in some way. The CATJAR offers me support and a humorous outlet when things are tough. We get hours of laugher from various things including the abnormal-sized creatures that fly around our room. One in particular is the moth we named “both” (pronounced like “moth” with a “b”) because we are convinced it is a cross between a bird and moth. It’s huge. We also eat lots of chocolate and pastries together, and talk endlessly about this adventure we signed up for. Outside of my CATJAR, I have created relationships with other volunteers. Three in particular are Griffin, Jeff and Jay. Griffin and Jeff will be working as teachers in the same region as me. Jay will be teaching in another region, but shares a love for college football. We have spent late nights in front of the TV catching whatever televised bowl ESPN International happens to show. Anyway, an interesting thing happened at our talent show one of the final nights of training. Griffin and Jay sang the theme song to Gardener’s Daughter, which is a Spanish telenovela that is wildly popular here in Namibia. They both speak Spanish and dedicated their performance to me, which was highly embarrassing because I had no clue that was going to happen and the whole room turned to see my reaction. Despite my red face, it made me feel kinda special. One of the best parts was when Jeff came out wearing a dress and sang with them. It was a classic moment. I loved it.

Right now, I am at a hostel in the town closest to my permanent site, which is about 60k away. We left the training center, where I have been much of the past two months, at 4:30 am and arrived here at 6pm. It was a brutal trip, yet we have to pass through a game preserve to get here and we saw a handful of elephants. It made the marathon sitting session easier to tolerate. I will stay here until Sunday when I will finally spend my first night in my home. School begins for teachers on Monday, so I will dive right in to work at that point. I am excited to finally settle in to a relatively normal routine. Stay tuned for exactly what relatively normal means in a small African village.

I miss you all.