Week 0

Sunday, March 16th (12:52pm Namibian time and 5:52am CST)
Yes folks this last week was not even counted as one week of training as this past week is week zero. I only have 9 weeks of training instead of the possible 12weeks, so that is nice. I will do my best to explain this past week. You may notice that my post time is different than the time I write and that is so I can type my message and then go to the nearby cafe that has wifi and just post. Most everything is closed on Sundays here except the nearby grocery store, Spar. This past week feels like just one long day.

Monday, March 10th: Staging
My staging or orientation was in Jamaica, NY. For future volunteers, our training laid out as follows... 1-2pm was registration check-in, 2-7/8pm was orientation. It was mainly just a overview on the goals and expectations of Peace Corps and some tips. We got one short break as we wanted to power through. PC gives you a debit card to pull money from for food and travel expenses. They do not organize dinner and you WILL be hungry. Eat lunch, bring snacks and maybe even dinner! The Sheraton in Jamaica does not have any nearby restaurants. There is one inside the hotel, walk to a convenient store that has a Subway, or order food. So I guess there are options, but after a long orientation you are hungry and tired from traveling. P.S. You check out of the hotel between 6-6:30am the next day.

Enough complaining, you also get to meet all your fellow volunteers and become an official PCT (Peace Corps Trainee)!! There are a total of 19 health volunteers in Group 39, 14 girls and 5 boys. People are scattered from across the US, no one knew each other previously, but all are friendly.

Tuesday, March 11th 2014
So, what I forgot to mention is that I volunteered to be one of four leaders for our group to organize us through the traveling process. My specific role was to get everyone out of the hotel and onto the buses and ensure that hotel staff got tipped. I should never have volunteered because I have no clue about traveling and I am always the last one out of the house. So, everybody self-organized and I believe I came down right at 6am and one group was already getting on the first bus and leaving. Regardless, we did all get to the airport just fine. I was one bus #2. Bus #1&2 both got dropped off at the wrong terminal. We all got the the right terminal @7:30am, checked luggage opened at 8am and out flight at 11:15am.

I survived the almost 15hr flight with hopeful attempts at falling asleep and watching three movies (Mandela, Frozen, and Diary of a Wimpy Kid). There was a 6hr layover in Johannesburg then landed in Windhoek around 4-5pm on Wednesday, March 12th. The airport is outside the town and surrounded by land. Volunteers and trainees greeted us after customs with shouts of joy and maybe even a little dancing. Hot cakes and refreshments awaited us once we got to the car. Then another hour car ride to Okahandja. On the way there I did get to see what I call weedsatch that grew into trees, giraffes in the distance and the aftermath of a car wreck (not too bad of one).

We arrived at our home for the next 1.5wks at the Kukuri Center. More PC staff greeted us in song from a variety of Namibian languages including a click language which made me so happy to hear as I do find languages with click quite interesting. We ate a splendid meal then rested.

Group 39 Upon Landing in Namibia 

Thursday, March 13th
I am in a hostel-like set up and I am in one larger room with 6 other girls. I am on the top bunk of one bed. We had to set up mosquito nets with duct tape so slowly my corners fell on me and eventually I just turned on my stomach with my whole net resting on me and slept a couple hours longer. Today we had a couple more in-depth overview sessions with a rabies injection. We get tea breaks which consists of tea or coffee, a Kool-Aid like drink, and a small snack like muffins or sandwiches.

Friday, March 14th
Today is a short learning day. We only had an introduction to what to expect with our host families, and a bucket bath and clothes-washing demonstration. Then we were free to do whatever. I had a tour of half the town and stopped midway to watch the regional elementary and secondary school track meet. This was a lot of fun and brought back track day memories. From what I could tell, all the same events ,that would be in the states were thee except pole-vaulting. I got to watch a few longer distance races. All the children were barefoot, except for the white children that went to private school. The races were divided by boy/girl and two age groups 15+yrs and under 15yrs. There were over 10 schools competing and whoever wins qualifies for the national meet.  I got sun-burned, butwas able to watch the race by the time-keepers. One of the trainees was quite worried about my skin...she was right.

Saturday, March 15th
Trainers informed us that this would be our last free weekend for the nest couple of weeks, so I took advantage of this and did not do too much. I did learn and lose at the card game monopoly deal which was a good time. I forget to mention the food. I have not come across anything I did not like, but I also know that we are not eating the most traditional meals. I have eaten pork, beef, lamb, chicken, and fish that I know of. Friday I also got to eat a variety of wild jerky meat which was delicious and probably my favorite thing I have eaten so far.