Sunday, June 17, 2012

Simple Pleasures


**Written in Kalaba Village, May 6, 2012**

I think one of the best things about living in a village is that it makes you notice simple pleasures. When people ask me what I did this past weekend I could really say is Laundry and Paperwork. However the things I noticed that made it a great weekend in the village are smaller and to some may seem inconsequential. For example in my mind yesterday I spent a good part of the two with my two favorite kids, Agnes and Ngandwe. We spent a good part of the day in my hut on a hunt for a scary hairy spider that I found when cleaning under my bed (a chore that I try to avoid at all costs). When I was telling this story to my parents their reaction was “Aren’t you used to spiders by now” and most things of the creepy crawler distinction I am used to. I can handle wall spiders, biting ants, lizards, rats and even small snakes but this thing was tarantula looking and I was not going at it alone. So after moving of my furniture, lots of squealing (mostly on my part, not on the 10 and 12 year olds part) Agnes stabbed the spider with a small stick and again a 10 year old was my hero. That adventure was the highlight of my Saturday. That paired with playing with bubbles with my kids after the hunt had concluded. I think it was a quote from Knocked Up when Paul Rudd says, “ I wished I loved anything as much as my kids love bubbles” Well I love watching my kids love bubbles. I would do it for hours if I didn’t get light headed from the loss of oxygen it takes to blow the bubbles. I am sure someone in America has probably made up an invention that doesn’t require breathing for bubbles to fly away but we are in Zambia and all we have is me for now.

That brings “Sunday Fun Day” or me to Sunday as some refer to it in my previous life. Again not “eventful” by most peoples standards but pretty perfect by mine. I went on a beautiful run past my favorite dambo that looks like every beautiful picture you have ever seen of Africa but happens to be in my backyard. Then I treated myself to breakfast burritos (I must say my tortilla making skills have gotten quite good). The rest of the day was mostly spent reading and doing paperwork for this Malaria Net project. However it ended with my kids drawing on my porch and then two cute girls playing a laughing game with each other on my porch for hours. Just listening to them laugh at nothing was enough to make anyone smile. Now it’s the end of my weekend and I get to write this journal entry while listening to “new” (at least by PC standards) country music that my neighbor gave me and watch the sun turn from the brightest yellow to a light orange and finally the most beautiful pink. Two years ago when I arrived in the village I would be counting down the hours until the weekend was over so my American Monday workweek could start. Of course there are still remnants of that neurosis left, but very little. The longer I am here the more I enjoy the simple pleasures especially because as I write this entry my time here is slowly ticking away. However for today, right now, I just get to watch the Zambian sunset and listen to little girls’ laughter. I honestly can’t imagine a better Sunday. 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Namibia!!


If I had to describe Namibia in one word it would be sand, or sidewalks. Ok so I guess I had to describe it in two words. But let’s back up a bit and start from the beginning.

Over this past Easter/Passover Vacation myself and 5 of my closest friends decided to venture out of Zambia to our neighbors to the South, Namibia! However first we had to get there. We started from Luapula and did our normal day of hitch hiking down to the capital Lusaka. From Lusaka we rested for a day (hitch hiking is surprisingly tiring) and then got on a bus to Livingstone where the famous Victoria Falls can be found. However we weren’t even able to get in the falls this time because we arrived in Livingstone around 3 pm and we were suppose to get on a bus to the border down at 1 am.  So we stayed up or tried to keep each other up and headed to the bus in the middle of the night. We waited. And waited. And waited. Then we were told the bus is going to be 3 hours late and we weren’t having any of that. We had to get our vacation started! So we convinced a man with a nice large van to take us to the border (sounds much sketchier in America thinking. Think Zambia. Totally normal to get in a strangers truck and let them drive you through the night to the border). We arrived at the border and slept in this nice mans van until the border opened at sunrise. Then we got stuck behind THREE bus loads of teachers coming from Zambia at immigration and lets just say it got hectic. However after some interesting discussions we made it to the other side! Immediately it was clean. The road was paved, the building was clean, people formed LINES, it was like going into another universe. It was officially vacation. But we were still quite a bit away. So then we found a mini bus, which also was the nicest mini bus I have ever been on, and were on our way again, only took another 17 hours on that mini bus to arrive in Windhoek. So it ended up taking us 4 days to get to Windhoek but let me tell you, it was worth EVERY MINUTE!

Windhoek, as the majority of Namibia that I saw was something straight out of a European postcard. Namibia was a german colony and so there are still a LOT of germans and german influence everywhere you look. My friend Katie and I went on the run the first day and just couldn’t believe what we saw. Number one we hadn’t seen sidewalks in two years and number two where were all the people? It seemed shockingly quiet and serene for a capital city. Then we realized that’s because there are only 2.1 million people living in a pretty massive country. However even though we all knew this fact we still couldn’t seem to get over it the entire trip. But then our vacation had officially started and it was off to do what we do best and rarely get the chance to do, eat, drink and shop! We immediately gorged ourselves on delicious seafood and draft beer while shopping for some goodies for the trip. Windhoek was beautiful but we really were itching to see the Ocean. I hadn’t seen it in two years and I was nearly about to burst. So the next day we headed to Swakopmund, the coast!!

Swakopmund was the cleanest, nicest beach town I have ever been to and I have been to my fair amount of beaches. It had a beautiful boardwalk that went down miles along the beach, the streets were swept (sidewalks again of course) and there seemed to be no trash anywhere! Swakopmund is not only known for its beautiful beach but also it’s the extreme sporting. The first day we arrived we decided to go and check out the dunes. Namibia is known for its incredible sand dunes and it didn’t disappoint. They were absolutely beautiful dunes that we just sat on all day taking up the view of the ocean. The desert backs straight up to the Ocean and its one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen. It honestly felt like you were in Arabian nights. You took it in and it was one of those moments where I really thought life couldn’t get any better.  The next day we decided to do it up and go ATVing.  Most of us had never been so we were all looking forward to it and we were not disappointed. We ATV’d all throughout the dunes for an hour and a half and I can honestly say it was some of the most fun I have ever had. It was the mixture of a roller coaster and bumper cars. It rocked. The next day was just as amazing as it was time for Sand boarding or should I say sand sledding? My friend Natalie was the only one among us brave enough and experienced enough to actually sand board. The rest of us got to basically ride down these huge dunes on a made up sled that was a waxed down. It was so much fun and we got up to 60 km/hr on some of the fastest dunes! It was also a pretty ridiculous workout because as fun as it was to sled down the huge dunes, once at the bottom there was only one way back up and that was you walking in the deep heavy sand!  Again we were able to spend the day on the beautiful dunes and what more could we have asked for. Swakopmund was everything I could have asked for. It was serene, majestic and just a lot of fun. Sadly, our time was running out and it was time to go back to Windhoek for one more good beer and better meal.

Luckily this time our journey back would only take three days rather than four, but one included 24 hours on a bus. However at this point, we can basically travel on anything so the bus was a pleasure! How do I sum up my time in Namibia? Well I guess I just attempted to but there isn’t enough time in the day to really go through it all. Although I must say with all of the great activities, food, beer, sidewalks, etc, what really made this trip incredible were the people I was traveling with. It was an amazing group of 5 girls that came to Zambia at different times but all have this connection that is undeniable. For me and two of my friends it was our last vacation as PCV’s for my friends Mollie and Nia it was her first. However the time we spent there traveling, exploring and enjoying was some of the best time I have had in my service. I love Zambia and even more so I love the work that I do here and everything I have gained from it. However every once in a while it is nice to get out and treat yourself to a sidewalk and some sand.