One of the difficult aspects of being a PCV is: what can I do in my free-time? Before coming to Namibia, I projected hundreds of scenarios in which I somehow figured out what to do with myself. The funny thing is - I still don't know the answer. Free-time is one of those things where one constantly rediscovers what to do. Peace Corps would probably tell me to work on my secondary projects once I am comfortable enough with the initial demands of being a teacher in a foreign country. VSN (Volunteer Support Network) and most volunteers would recommend one or more of the following activities: read more (bring a kindle!), exercise (bring running shoes!), lift weights (make them out of concrete and random plastic bottles!), buy phone-credit and call people, learn to cook/bake, write a blog, start a knitting project, learn to play a new instrument (don’t buy a violin and never play it…. *cough*PCV IN BETHANIE**cough*), play hop-scotch with street kids, or start a secondary project.

If you are a future or aspiring PCV, it is impossible to predict how you will deal with entire afternoons or weekends of free-time. I did not know that I would have access to a solar-cooker. I also could never have predicted that I would learn to brew substantial quantities of traditional Ovambo beer and non-alcohol brews like oshikundu.

Here is a picture of the solar cooker on our homestead.



No one knows how or when it got there. I saved it from total destruction when one of the girls on my homestead had no idea what it was, and used the center pot-holder as a CHAIR. I took care of it, cleaned it, and taught the family how to cook using the sun’s heat. Does this count as a secondary project? I hope so.

The final product: lentils, rice and onions in a curry flavored brew

Aside from cooking beans and legumes during my spare time, I also re-discovered the joys of baking. (Don't judge me - this carrot/raisin cake was delicious. Just ask Rick!) Unfortunately, my oven is out of commission; I had to travel to Ondangwa (54km from my village) to use Rick’s.

Carrot/raisin caaaaaake!

I'm pretty sure that 'brewing' does not fall under the category of secondary projects, though cultural integration is an integral aspect of being a PCV. I wrote an article about oshikundu, but it is quite out-dated now. Here is a picture of a fresh oshikundu brew (left) and tombo (right), an alcholic beverage.

Aside from discovering new foods and beverages, I am currently in need of new books as well as the third season of Dexter!

I made it a habit to record my hitch-hiking activities (and regular combi-rides or train-fare) in order to keep track of where and when I travel. The following are notes which were saved in my phone - with comments in brackets [ ] for your reading pleasure. The dates are omitted because I did not record dates until recently.

1 - Namibian police officer driving to Windhoek with his wife and daughter (in a Benz) with Alex, [not free] from Ondangwa to Okahandja (610km or 380mi)

[This was mine and Alex's first hike EVER; It was our way back to training from site visit in September 2011. Our principals gathered around to arrange combi's to transport us, the Ovambo-land volunteers, back to Okahandja, but Alex and I wanted to be gung-ho and get this hiking thing out of the way. When we walked down the street towards the hike point, the taxi drivers harassed us by pulling our bags and trying to lull us into their taxi/combi. Little did we know that the 'real' hike point was 7km away from where we were. Alex's principal ended up taking us and we didn't have to wait too long!]

2 - Daryl (a Afrikaner/Namibian living in Ondangwa) drove Carrie, Chelsea and I from Ondangwa to Omuthiya (81km or 50 miles) for free.

[This was the first leg of the journey to Re-connect in Windhoek, in December 2011. We had already been at our sites for 6 weeks and were anxious (?) to be re-united with the rest of our group. Very happy trip.]

3 - Benz, Meme Hilya's brother. Omuthiya to Otjiwarongo (350km or 219mi) for free.

[This was my third hike ever, and my second hike ever in a mercedes. After 30 minutes of small talk, I mention to the driver that my principal's name is also 'Paulus'. He says "Hmm that's funny; my sister's principal is also Paulus". Upon closer investigation, his last name is the same as my co-worker....because he is her brother. He called her and gave me the phone so I could confuse the bejeezus out of her for a few minutes. We somehow convinced her that we've been friends for years. Towards the last 100km stretch, he fed me beers. I'm very happy with my luck at this point.]

4 - Silver Benz with Joe. Otjiwarongo to Windhoek (250km or 156mi). Free.

[This was after staying in Otji for a night and seeing a LOT of my long-lost group-34'ers. Joe and I walked to the hike point after getting my second (first? I don't recall...) tramazine from the SuperSpar in Otjiwarongo. It was heavenly. The first car that stopped at the hike-point was a mercedes with a woman about our age. She had just finished school, quit her job, and sold her coffee-shop in Otji, and was on her way to the Netherlands to pursue her music career. We caught her in a veeeeery 'free' moment in her life, which was fun.]

5 - Windhoek to Swakopmund (361km or 225mi) with Nora in an SUV with no A/C. N$75 each.

[This ride occurred immediately following re-connect last December. The ride sucked (it was hot, we were antsy) and the guy got pulled over for speeding not more than 10km outside of Windhoek. We had already waited in Windhoek for about 2 hours while other PCVs were getting rides at the same time. We implemented a 'buddy'-system of hitch-hiking since there were 8 of us. We drew straws to see who would get the first hike out. This system failed miserably.]

6 - Swakopmund to Okahandja. Benz. Swakop Golf Academy and Olives. Free.

[This ride was after our escapades in Swakopmund. We were tired from sleeping on the floor; this inevitably happens when 37 PCV's are crammed into two bungalows designed to hold 6 persons each. At the hike-point (which is veeeeeeery far from town) the other volunteers got a ride in the back of a closed bakkie. There was just enough room for me to NOT fit. I waited a bit longer while some other PCV's piled into a bus to Otjiwarongo. I went to the Engen station to get some grub, and I asked a guy in a mercedes if he'd take me to Okahandja. He says sure. He's opening a Golf Academy and has an olive farm. He drives 170-200 km/h the whole way to Okahandja. My hiking record at this point is impeccable. I had traveled almost 1000km (600mi) for free in Benz's. Later hitch-hiking quests to follow!]

One of the happiest things I associate with being a PCV is traaaaveling. Traaaaaaaaveling is like travel, except you stretch it out as far as you can; usually the only limit to one's travels (aside from fatigue - which can be pushed through) is moolah. Money. When you are a PCV, money plays somewhat of a role. When we try to hitch-hike, we throw on our collared shirts and say "we are having no moneys" (which is usually true) and see how far that gets us.

One day I was leaving Karibib with my host brother, on my way to hike approx. 650km back north to O-land. I (randomly) saw Rob, a PCV from group 32, at the hike point. We hopped on the same combi and he conveyed some crucial hiking tips, which I will share with you.

When free-hiking, keep a COLD cool-drink (soft-drink) handy. Tell the driver that you have no money and are a volunteer, BUT you do have this very cold (point out the condensation dripping off the sides of the bottle/can) cooldrink to offer. The immediate satisfaction can sometimes result in a free ride. This doesn't work if you cannot suppress the urge to drink the cooldrink yourself. This also would not work if you are hiking in a hot climate for over an hour or two (i.e. Keetmanshoop to Luderitz or Bethanie... sorry Claire and Brett)

Tip number two: take a small (clear?) plastic ziplock bag with COINS (small). Make sure there are a LOT of coins. If the driver does not accept your cooldrink (whaaaaat?), tell him that you do have SOME money; take out your plastic ziplock bag and count (slowly) the money. Over-estimate after looking confused at some of the types of coins, and say that you only have $10 or $20 bucks. Stress that you are bad at counting (don't tell them you are a math teacher if you are) and really don't know how much money you have in coins, but that you'll give all of it to them if they take you. If you get a ride, sure maybe it will cost you something, but it will almost always be less than normal AND that's some weight off your shoulders (if the driver accepts).

Hope this helps some of you to rack in some free mileage. If all else fails, help to chip in a few bucks for gas. Or offer to buy the driver lunch (I once offered a driver some of my tramazine. They declined and I was ecstatic).

Safe travels!



I don't always give money to people who beg on the street. In Vegas, some people will take your dollar and run straight to a slot machine.... But sometimes people are straight-up hungry. A kid (he's about 15 or 16 years old) outside of game-park in Oshakati always asks me for money. The past 3 or 4 times that I saw him, I didn't give him money. One time I didn't even HAVE money. One of those 3 or 4 times, I asked him how much I gave him last time (nothing)... to see if he remembered me (he didn't). I don't know what was different today. He was pushing carts and I figured this kid really doesn't have anywhere else to go and is willing to work for his buck... so I gave him a dollar and told him he'd better buy bread (and not candy or ... chocolate... <----foreshadowing - different story!) No big deal, right? Two minutes later, he walks out of the grocery store with BREAD (and a newspaper). I can't describe why this was a big deal but it made me very happy. Perhaps he was waiting for that dollar for a while? Who knows? Maybe he was genuinely hungry? Who am I to judge when I have food in my belly? As he walked out of the store, he flashed me a HUGE smile. This made my day.

Moral of the story: you never know where a person is coming from when they approach you for money. Unless they have clean clothes, are 12 years old, and have a chocolate bar handy (this happened today). A boy had the nerve to approach me with his bar of chocolate and ask for money. I asked the boy if he is schooling. He said yes. I said that is good, and I hope he studies hard and does good things in his life and that he might someday become a doctor or a lawyer and NOT beg on the streets. I told him that I'm a volunteer and he should share his food if that's how we are gonna play this game. He offered a piece of his chocolate because I think I kinda made him feel guilty. I accepted the chocolate; It was delicious.

Other forms of heart-melting come from increased exercise (I want to run a 10k in Windhoek in May), the 8 chocolate bars which are currently sitting in my fridge (my heart skips beats when spar has 90g bars of chocolate for sale at N$6.50 a piece, which is less than one USD... the number of bars I get depends on how much money I have in my pocket and/or bank-account, which is not very much), and the movie Armageddon, which I'm trying to not watch because it's going to make me... feel... emotional.

Flavors include: 5 x Hazel Heaven, 1 x Mint Crunch, 2 x Midnight Velvet.

90g x 8 = 0.72kg of chocolate, which will last me 3 days.

Haha, just kidding, 4 days will suffice.

Bring on the zits.

I was recently involved in an utmost ironic situation in life. I live in a small Owambo village north of Oshakati. My village is down a gravel road and as "in the bush" as can be. We sometimes lose our supply of electricity. No big deal - our electricity goes out whenever there is a big storm. Lightning flashes in all directions (but no rain... yet), this seems to knock loose an electrical component or box somewhere. Allll the time. No biggie. It is the beginning of the "real" rainy season, which I have the feeling I have not yet fully experienced.... Sure, there was a flood, but that was over a month ago and they say that it wasn't even that bad. The power has gone out multiple times, for upwards of 7 hours. So that's not really the issue. The issue is that we sometimes have no WATER. I usually giggle at other volunteers when they complain about water (Schadenfreude?). I revel in my ability to run to the tap and get a bucket of water in under a minute. When I was wrote this post, I had no water. I was not giggling.

The irony of the situation coincides with planning for the weekend. It was a good friend of mine's engagement/ birthday celebration (you know who you are!! shout-out!!!) so I was trying to coordinate for a place to sleep in Ongwediva or Oshakati last Friday. Also, I met some German volunteers who will only stay in Namibia for a few more weeks. They wanted to experience Owambo homestead-life. I agreed to host them. As soon as I got off the phone with one of the volunteers, my phone's battery went out/ flat/ dead. I went to get a bucket of water to take a bucket-bath, and our water decides to stop trickling. Immediate solution? Charge my phone using my laptop battery (whoa!), so I can tell a fellow PCV about how I feel her pain for when her water goes out. Except now the cell-phone tower decides to stop working also. Ohhhh I love technology.

In summation: I'm lucky and I know it. If you have water and/or electricity and/or cell reception on a daily, non-interrupted basis, you are also lucky. Be grateful!!

Scorpions: Yes, the scorpion - which I found in my room over a month ago - is still alive. I think his name sould be Frodo (or Froda?) for being a nomad and for wandering into the depths of my earthy african lair. He eats caterpillars, and I watch excitedly during feeding time. Apparently, scorpions don't drink water - they save the water from their prey inside their exo-skeleton and can go for several weeks/ months without food. I don't know how long I will keep Frodito; I have no idea why I'm keeping him/her in the first place. Actually I do. I love learning about animals.



Frodo with Lunch and/or Dinner.

Rainbows are amazing, pretty things. Double, full-arch rainbows are more grandiose IMHO. I honestly didn't know these fabled double-rainbows existed before I saw my first two in less than a month time. The other morning during assembly, some of the learners probably wondered what was wrong with Mr. V; I was looking at the sky and smirking with a far-away, glazed-over look. I was probably dimpling - that's how happy I was. It was a full-length rainbow with the second rainbow barely visible above it. It made the walk to school seem like a distant memory (barefoot, mud, rain).

... begins with begrudgingly rolling out of bed after snoozing for upwards of 30 minutes. There is a relatively 'ordinary' breakfast of bread with butter and jam. Twenty minutes later there is a staff meeting in the faculty room. Mundane stuff. Class is also kind of mundane, except for the fleeting (yet somehow very powerful) "a-ha!" -moment which is the realization that at 8:30am, all of the grade 8 learners are REALLY zoned- (zen'ed- ?) out and fully absorbed in their math assignment. Immediate result: a glimpse of happiness. One class later in the faculty room, a very intensely happy emotion arises which is accompanied by the mental phrase: 'I enjoy teaching'. The afternoon consists of cancelled classes due to the "sports day" which was supposed to take place earlier in the week; too much rain prevented said sports day until now. Ever get upset about cancelled classes? Nope! Not me! Children are running around, yelling and being merry. Comraderies are flourishing, a healthy competitive spirit is enabled and is enveloping the school. Not too bad for a work day.

It wouldn't be one of "those" days unless it consisted of extreme bouts of randomness. Chasing donkeys out of the mahangu fields felt kinda random. SMS'ing friends to share news of being excited about said donkey chase: random. Climbing in a tree after donkey chase to read a book and sharing news of being in a tree to friends: random. Sharing said news again in German; you get the picture.

It was the kind of day in which you randomly find a swarm (read: thousands) of dragonflies hovering over your house. No wonder the mosquitos aren't biting today! The dragonfly swarm entices you to run in to grab a camera; documenting random dragonfly swarms can be fun and exciting.

Woes about starting a secondary project? No problem! Not if a random tatekulu (old dude) walks up to you and asks you to type his CV (resume) on the computer, and your response is "I won't type it for you... but I will help YOU to type it". Result: computer literacy class #1, and the beginning of a potentially fun experiment.

Then there is one of "those" runs where everything feels right; you haven't ran in a while and just gotta pull a Forest Gump and start runnin'. One of "those" runs (when it happens to take place on one of "those" days) means that you don't care if everyone is still staring at you for being weird and running. You wave at these people because hey, you are running and it feels wonderful. They wave back. You smile. Everyone is a winner today.

In one of "those" runs, your 9th grade learner drops her hoe, leaves her family who is busy cultivating, and runs with you for the next 2km or so. You become aware that you will forever see this learner as "the girl who dropped her hoe and came out for a run with her maths teacher". Her neighbor accompanies us on a bicycle; her friend joins the run as well. We laugh at their being tired. They laugh at my shoes (Vibrams). The people who waved earlier are laughing at the slightly larger group of runners. They wave again. They are drunk, because they've been at the Kuka shop all afternoon. Who cares? You giggle at the randomness and wave again. Everyone is smiling, because everyone is a winner today.

The run culminates with a sprint home to grab the camera. The sky is about to be on fire and the clouds are beautiful today. There is an AMAZING flower that looks like it is also on fire. Result: a picture of the flower (which looks like it's on fire) against the sunset-lit sky (which also looks like it's on fire). In the meantime, my body is on fire (due to the running), and I happened to bring a bottle with ICE in it and melted ice-water. Score. Win? Whatever.





One of "those" days ends quite peacefully. A bucketbath under a full moon, perhaps. Maybe a BOMB meal consisting of lentils, rice and potatoes, which was prepared the day before. An abundance of fire-flies, which haven't been around very often. An email from a friend containing new music... (you know who you are). The day ends with the realization that tomorrow could also be one of "those" days; fatigue has set in, lets try to not give ourselves a reason to snooze for upwards of 30 minutes tomorrow morning. Wouldn't wanna miss out on some prime randomness.

Oshikundu is one of my favorite things aside from raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. According to my host brother Immanuel, Oshikundu has been around for hundreds of years. Immanuel is a 15 year old Owambo native, which makes him kind of an expert. He knows what's up. It is a drink made from crushed millet seed which is fermented for less than a day. The result is a carbonated beverage which - when mixed with sugar - makes a sweet, fizzy drink! Almost all of my co-teachers in Endola drink Oshikundu on a daily basis. I do too, and it makes my co-teachers think i'm a weird, integrated Oshilumbu (white person). The content of Oshikundu closely resembles what many of you in America can find in most grocery stores and health-food stores, Kombucha. Kombucha is made by fermenting tea using a SCOBY- (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast). You can make kombucha at home but would need a previous generation of SCOBY "mushroom", or culture. Another drink that is very similar to Oshikundu and Kombucha is Rejuvelac, which is made by sprouting whole wheat grains, then soaking the sprouted grains for 48-96 hours to cause fermentation. Contrary to popular belief, neither oshikundu, kombucha, nor rejuvelac can get you drunk... bummer? The alcohol content is less than 0.5% (beer contains upwards of 4%, wine contains 12% or more of alcohol content by volume). The result: a sweet, fizzy drink which contains a ton of beneficial bacteria which aid digestion and improve well-being.... or something like that.

The interesting thing about Oshikundu is how different methods of combining ingredients cause a wide variety of tastes. For PCV's in Namibia, buy a bag of Oshikundu mix (Meme Mahangu brand, it contains millet flour and a small bag of sorghum flour for added taste). The instructions on the bag will say to mix the flour with a small quantity of boiling water (enough to make it "wet"), and let it ferment for 24 hours or so. Then add a specified quantity of water and/or sugar for taste and further fermentation. The Owambo's add boiling water to the flour at night, and also add a little bit of the same-day's Oshikundu to facilitate the overnight fermentation. In the morning, more water is added along with some sugar (which speeds up fermentation).

During PST, i experimented with home-made oshikundu and failed miserably. I thought that the fresh flour would ferment overnight if mixed with boiling hot water. It does not. The result was a flour-ey drink which made me (and Renee too, probably) feel rather ill. After living on an Owambo homestead for quite some time now, I am learning to perfect the ways of the old-school Oshikundu masters. Call me weird but I drink it at school every day and do not feel satisfied without it!

- eat peanut butter and margerine sandwiches

- use 3 slices of bread per sandwich and think that 2-slice sandwiches are weird and inefficient.

- take bucket baths twice a day

- drink fermented millet on a daily basis, and not feel satisfied without it

- spend as much time a day listening to music as I do now

- speak (read: *attempt* to speak) Oshiwambo

- know that the Owambo languages existed in the first place

- teach kids that speak little else than Oshiwambo

- rely so heavily on the courtesy of strangers to travel/get around

- ride in the back of pickup trucks with at least 10 other people on a weekly basis

- enjoy chances to use public restrooms

- share food eaten by hand, on a daily basis

- see as many shooting stars, rainbows, or dragonflies

- read as many books

- have to walk through mud (barefoot or with toe-shoes) to get to school

- teach in a classroom with goats, pigs, and donkeys grazing less than 100 yards away

- feel comfortable hitch hiking in lorrie's (semi- trucks)

- eat worms (and enjoy them.. you know, for the loads of minerals they contain)

- eat half as many donuts as I do in Africa (JUST KIDDING!... this is *highly* wishful thinking and day-dream-ey and not good for my sanity.)

- be so aware of the location of my cheap bic pen

- be in Africa

- look forward to the part of the day in which I get to climb trees

- make so many children believe that I know Kung-fu or martial arts (because I'm obviously "a china".)

So last night was interesting. This little guy shows up after dinner, IN MY ROOM (which is a bit disconcerting). I really wanted to take a picture (not-squished beforehand) so I found a jar and managed to coax it in there. It's still in there now... So... This afternoon I will attempt to catch baby crickets or perhaps even an earthworm(?) to give to the little critter.

It's funny how a small scorpion can make me feel like I'm really in Africa - more so than oshifima (millet porridge).

Today marks an exciting day in the history of my 'Peace Corps Experience' in the 'Namfam'. Today, my Grade 8 learners received exercise books! (Read: school started last Tuesday... Today, Monday, my learners receive school supplies)

Also, this is my first blog post (ever). I know - it took me a while to jump on the band wagon. Less than 24 hours after meeting my PC group for the first time, we sat down for lunch at a Philly Sandwich place in Philadelphia. Someone asked the table of roughly 10 volunteers who had started a blog; I was the only one who did not raise my hand.

A recap of the first(/last) few months of my Peace Corps experience in Namibia:

-Training: Informative, long, draining.

-Reconnect: Not as informative as training, not too long, not too draining.

-Swakopmund Vacation/O-land Christmas/Luderitz New Years: Not long enough, refreshing to the senses, fun, over 5000+ km of travel (3000+km hitch hiked?)

- Pictures taken: several hundred? almost a thousand perhaps?

I - along with the rest of Group 34 - have been in Namibia for over 5 months now! After training and vacationing together, we find ourselves in the situation which we originally signed up for: to teach. (Except for SEED, the business people... they are special in their own way :-) My learners are squirrely little buggers with (mostly) clean and fresh-pressed clothes. I will be teaching grades 8 and 9 Math. Most of my learners act as if they don't understand me. They probably don't. This worries me.

This weekend was amazing yet seemingly uneventful. Friday night I washed clothes (by hand, duh), Saturday was spent in Oshakati with Tate. He tends to go on 'small' detours to get things taken care of. The guy has a TON of errands to run. Alex, Cena, and Gio will back me up on this fact. Tate Amakali is a pastor, which means he knows EVERYONE AND THEIR MOTHER (literally). I finished my shopping in less than an hour. I spent the next four hours walking with him and waiting for him to stop fraternizing with every third person we met in Oshakati. To top off the stress of a visit to town, it was pay-day for teachers on Friday, so EVERYONE was in town getting their money and groceries. Sunday morning at 5am I ran/biked with Immanuel, my 15-yr-old host brother. I am training (attempting to, at least -) for a marathon which will take place in Swakopmund in May. Immanuel decided to train with me, which is nice because running partners are nice to have. We have a system in which one person rides the bike and the other person can run their pre-determined distance (8km) at their own tempo. After said distance is run, we switch. Later on Sunday, I went to church, then proceeded to lounge/do absolutely nothing for the entire day. It was glorious and refreshing. That is all!