Hmmm, looking back recently I've been on some interesting mini-adventures. Caleb, one of the PCVs that moved to Tsumeb recently, was drilling a borehole nearby Tsintsabis and invited me to come along and watch. I totally took him up on it because I've never seen a borehole/well drilled before and thought it would be something cool to see. Well, the directions were pretty good except for one part....the first turn. Actually there was really only one turn in his directions, "take a left at the Mangetti West Wheel and go down the path, you'll run into us." Well Turns out it was the left right AFTER the wheel that says Mangetti west. Yeah, I walked down that path a while, I could actually hear them but was on a path parallel to the one they were off of. So I got to explore the bush a little bit in the hot afternoon sun. Tried looking for some shortcuts that would lead me across to their path but didn't really find any...well, any that I felt like taking. Saw a couple game trails, or what looked like game trails, but wasn't to keen on getting myself lost in the bush that particular day. Maybe some other time in the future though, when I have more than just a cell phone and nearly empty camelbak...or perhaps when I don't feel like my body is melting.
That following weekend I went to Caleb and Rachel's house with Quinn to play some board games. It was freaking awesome! Rachel was away at training for group 33 that is about to come in but the three of us had a jolly good time. We played a couple rounds of Pandemic which is a collaborative board game where your group is a team of medical specialists working together to fight 4 diseases and find a cure. Was pretty cool, we won a couple and lost a couple. The game is pretty crazy, it can be over even before you make it a full round of play! After we played Settlers of Katan; i'veheard of this game but never seen it inaction. What a fun game! Took a bit to get my mind wrapped around the game play since I didn't read the instructions but finally got it and really enjoyed it (Quinn won). So our little Tsumeb family had a blast.
I'm glad Caleb and Rachel moved into town. Love Quinn but it'll be nice to have other company around, for him as well. With all the craziness that is Tsumeb, he's got some company now when he needs it, or at least near by. Plus game nights! So cool! It's little hard with just two people.
On the way up to our first game night I rode my bike into town. Was a lot harder than last time but I did it in 3.5 hours this time. Little better because my pack was lighter and I was somewhat fresh from the week. Problem was heading back. We stayed up pretty late during game night and I tried to use the internet in Tsumeb at night (it's about 10 times as fast than my site, think 2G network versus 3G) so I didn't sleep well/much. Going back it took me about 5 hours though in my defense I got caught in some pretty nasty rains. Kind of reminded me of Colorado though: drizzle, sunny skies, drizzle, dry but crazy dark misleading clouds, bright skies, bright skies with a downpour, drizzle, dark clouds with an even bigger downpour, etc. Each phase of course lasted maybe 10-15 min. Was somewhat entertaining trying to find some shelter among trees during the more intense parts; other times I just had to keep peddling through the mess.
We had our Athletics (Track and Field....but just track for us) meet this past Saturday. I ran during practice once and got beat, not badly but it wasn't really that close. I've now become a slow old man. Ugh. Feeling age at 25. Well, I still have my goal of IronMan before I hit 30. During the big meet we had a teacher relay and would've won except the baton got dropped when I was passing it off. Too bad but we get to try again in September so maybe I'll be in better shape by them. Later that evening we had a school dance! Was pretty fun, not too many learners showed up, around 50-60 (we have 400 ish in our school) but still had a good time. They even had all the teachers that attended do a teacher dance. I was pretty tame during this. Towards the end of the dance a couple drunk guys showed up wanting to dance. Our principal let them in because the alternative was that they'd probably stay outside drinking and who knows what could happen then. Keep your friends close, and enemies closer ne? I was taken aback at first because this would have never happened at any of the schools I have been at. They would've been rejected and cops would've been called at the first sign of trouble. Kind of have to deal with your own issues here. I'm sure we could've called the cops (I know the police chief and he's pretty cool and would've helped) but the infrastructure here doesn't allow for rapid response like back in the States; it's just hard with a new country and places beig so spread out.
So I took some alternative methods to trying to help out with dealing with the issue. After one of them made a large show during a song that I swear wasn't going to end (it was like 8 minutes!?), we luckily had some DJ issues because the guy was outside or something. I walked up and was trying to help the guys put some music on and while doing, trying to get some of the guys out there and dance to take the attention away from the guys-who-can't-let-go-of-high-school. Yeah, we all know the type, they're all over the States too. Took some encouraging but finally after dancing myself a little, then telling them to show me some moves (and suprising them with a few of my own...), we got all the kids back out and the drunks were just doing their own thing in the corner with little attention paid to them. Most of the attention was on the crazy volunteer/teacher from America due to the revaltion that teachers actually have lives and may have once been young and reckless too. Guess we could say old and reckless now because after running and dancing I think I tweaked somethign in my butt because the muscles were a little sore. Man, actually having to pay attention and take somewhat care of your body sucks. I need to actually exercise to stay in a somewhat liveable shape. Ugh, I wasn't made for all this resposible hard work. Ah well, spent the past 20+ years in reckless abandonment so I guess I could use a change of pace for a bit....just a bit. Or try find a way to throw the reckless abandonment into something constructive (crazy training for an IronMan sounds about right....). I think I'll choose the new direction for fear of losing my style because we all know you love it even if you won't say so.
Speaking of style: I shaved my head...and did a bang up good job at it too! First I tried to cut as much as was worth while with some scissors the tried using the disposable razor. Those things suck so I took out the straight edge and went at it. Was a little nervous at first but then did what I usually do and got over it. Taking a straight edge all over your dome is interesting. I cleaned up the last bits with the disposable razor, then the straight edge again because it never fails me (just sometimes leaves a few scars in the process). Hmmm, that's an interesting way to think of life. You never fail to learn through experience but sometimes a few scars are left in the process. So if it still isn't clicking from a book or being told by someone, just get out there and immerse yourself. You might get a little bruised but you'll come out stronger and wiser on the other end. It is sort of like all the accounts of people's experience with Peace Corps service. I didn't read any in which someone said they regretted their decision to join the Peace Corps. I did read someone that said they did not enjoy their service and would not do it again but those that said so still stated they gained valuble insight and would've always regretted not making the decision to take part in service. That's how many things in life are: you may not succeed if you try but you definitely fail if you don't. And then you'll always be wondering what if, but I've already prattled on about that before so that's enough of that. Sometimes we do things not to motivate and inspire others but to do so with ourselves, people just happen to be caught in the wake.
