#16
So power is out again. This time instead of being just out for the school area, it's for the whole place, which includes the cell phone tower. Hello isolation! And the last teacher just left 10 min. ago to go back to Tsumeb (where his non-school home and wife are, also where I shop for things). Nothing says welcome back like a 10 hour rain storm and power outage.
It's Wednesday and I got back home Sunday. I was in Windhoek for two weeks for our "Reconnect" (more training). I did a fair amount of preparation for it but feel I could have done a lot more and have some guilt laying around about it. Hopefully that guit can become motivation and I can whip out a bunch of lesson plans (assuming the power comes back on) before I leave for holiday! Sorry if any of you tried to contacr me while I was in Windhoek, I had some phone issues the last few days but should be good to go now (when the tower is up and running again).
Reconnect was fun. It was great to see everyone again. Though while two weeks was not enough for some, it was plenty for others haha. I was able to learn some of the language I should have learned so that was a huge gain. My vocabulary is still incredibly minimal but I can understand grammar fairly well and recognize parts of speech. Got lots of tips for projects, how to start them, grants, etc. and was abe to mix in some fun like hikes and a toga party.
So Monday I cleaned up the house a bit and got resettled. Tuesday I went into town to do a fair amount of shopping and price-checking for things. I found a bike for N$800 that I'm contemplating getting. It's a little expensive and I am hoping for a road bike but it looks decent enough. I want to try and make the bike ride into town in the future to help get me in shape and probably save money in the long run :) Double play! I also have been trying some yoga (rarely but now that I have a mat hoping to do a lot more) and some exrcises I wrote up before leaving. So far I think I'm averaging once a week haha but things have been a little hectic so that'll be my excuse for now. I read in my new book that you have a great opportunity to get in shape while doing the peace corps so I'm hoping to take advantage of it.
I'm trying to get a packing system down so I can easily and quickly pack my bag for trips in the future. My bulky sleeping pad that offers little comfort(so far...) is the big out of place piece. That and I just don't know what to bring in some circumstances. For example, totally spaced bringing lots of water when we went hiking during reconnect. That made things interesting (was able to work things out in a couple ways, thank God I'm overly prepared many a time). I am very excited though to start seeing other parts of Namibia. This will be my first time out sight seeing with friends. Slightly nervous though as I'm told everyone in Namibia heads to where we'll be for the holidays, things might get a little crazy! Tent and sleeping bag are finally going to get some solid use! Ahhh! I'm so pumped. Plenty to do before hand and want to save some of the battery on this thing just in case so I'll sign off for now. Oh, maybe I'll try and put some pictures up later, I've taken a few since last time I put some up.
