Day 5 & 6

What long days! Our Friday morning was much needed. As we didn’t need to be anywhere until 11:00 am, we had the entire morning to ourselves. The breakfast at the hotel was amazing- fresh omelets made right in front of you, every cereal you can imagine, eggs, beacon, sausage, and freshly made crapes. It wasn’t possible to sample all of what was there without eating too much.

After an uneventful trip to the airport, and a very bumpy but successful two hour flight to Windhoek, we got on busses to head to a local camp. It was at this point that the airplane food that I had (until then) been mildly impressed with began to disagree with my stomach. It was all I could do to keep my composure as I pleaded with each turn in the road to be the last. As time has just about as much relevance in southern Africa as internet access in America (ubiquitous and just expected to be there), Waldo’s constant chiming of “just five more minutes” annoying in a friendly way. It was when we slowed down and started to turn off the road that I finally saw and end to torture. A premature assessment. Yet another ten minutes of off-road, bumpy, down and through dry river beds with large tourist buses, road. As soon as we did finally arrive at the camp, I bolted off the bus and took care of business. Just the sort of story you were expecting, right? Well if you think not, you should know that no PeaceCorps story is complete until diarrhea is addressed.

The camp in Windhoek, which was well outside of town, was wonderful. I saw the following animals on the bus trip in (despite my waning attention): Springboks (a dear-like skinny thing with a white tail), Warthogs, Ostriches, Wildebeests, and several little ground squirrels. In camp, we also saw hens and way too many roosters, peahens, and a peacock. The camp was built next to a large water hole that attracts all sorts of animals each day. All the main buildings were roofed with straw and looked really cool. There was even a small pool!

We had a great buffet dinner then spent most of the night playing a game called Mafia. Without going into the rules, it’s a role playing game for large groups, and involved a great deal of accusations and yelling. But fun.

We would have enjoyed the rest in our quaint bungalows had it not been for the roosters’ insistence that 4:00 AM was indeed, morning. There was some other sort of animal that wondered around camp screaming short and very loud bursts of “Ahhhh!!!” which at first most of us thought was a girl. More than half of our group was up and out of bed at 5:00, and a small group of us walked out into the watering hole (mostly cracked mud) to watch the sunrise. It took a while- 6:10.

Breakfast was alright, after which we met for a short training. DK, our training supervisor, went over the details for the next 8 weeks. We will spend the first week (next week) doing general training and introductory language here at camp. Week 2 is spent at each PCT’s (PeaceCorps Trainee) site (some people will be more than 8 hours away!) meeting the people and looking into housing arrangements. Week 3 we start home-stay, where each of us will live with a host family. We will be given rides to our families each evening, but are expected to find our own transportation to class every day (trial by fire). Everyone is supposed to be within 30 minutes of camp. After week 8, we are tested, and if we pass, sworn in. Then we spend three months testing the waters and getting started at our sites, after which we come back to camp for two weeks for additional training. Then finally, sometime in April, we should be completely done with training and fully on our own.

We then got a great anti-motivational speech from the country director. He made it clear that the job is not easy, and there are many challenges. He said three PeaceCorps volunteers have died in Namibia since 1990, two of which were auto accidents. Waldo pulled us back into good moods with a positive perspective on the good work we have signed up for. And before we knew it, it was bus time again!

The busses this time seemed very… African. Without accusing our hosts of procuring what looked like mechanically questionable vehicles, I assume that transportation options are somewhat limited. My suspicion was confirmed when, after two hours, one of the busses broke down. Luckily, the driver of our bus (there were two) was a mechanic and got it working again after 30 minutes. The rest of the trip was passed with a game of hearts and many winks.

Finally, we come to what I really want to write about: our arrival in Omaruru. The camp we are staying at is close to town and pretty nice. When we arrived, a local secondary school choir greeted us with traditional African songs while the PeaceCorps staff welcomed us all. It was quite a welcome and it nearly brought tears to my eyes. I don’t know if it was finally being at a place we would stay for more than a night, or knowing that we were really here, in Africa, or if it was watching these exuberant youth sing with passion wonderful songs in chorus and beat, but it got to me. We were all impressed and appreciative.

We had a late lunch, and then endured a short medical orientation before settling in. We received mosquito netting, a comprehensive first aid and medical book, a huge med kit with more bottles and bags than I currently know what to do with, and finally a typhoid shot.

The rest of the evening was devoted to R&R and the start of interviews. The interviews are a chance for us to express what we are expecting in terms of work and living conditions. Then, they will find a suitable assignment for us. We will be placed in language groups based on the assignments we are given. The IT interviews will take place tonight, and everyone else will interview tomorrow, which means I get the whole day to do whatever I want! A group of us are already planning on going into town.

I’m hoping to find an Internet café tomorrow, because all this camp has is an old Pentium 133 with a dail-up which they charge N$20 a half an hour (about $3.50). I think I’m the only one who will be posting tonight.