My Vacation Plans:

Lusaka (2 nights) -> Lilongwe (2 nights) -> Senga bay (1 night) -> Cape Maclear (5 nights) -> Nkhata Bay (6 nights)

Lusaka and Lilongwe: I wanted to stop by the capitals of both the countries I'd be passing through just to check them out. Capitals are usually different than the rest of the country and can be fun visits.

Lusaka was nice. I kind of had to stay a couple nights anyway since the bus to Lilongwe left a few days later. First night I met a grad student staying at the backpackers and through her a VSO volunteer. Later I went out with them to an Indian restaurant (why I'm jealous of PCVs in countries east of Namibia) and met a bunch of other VSOs. It was a pretty good dinner and night all around. Definitely enjoyed myself. I think that's one of the reasons I like traveling: meeting people. Well, meeting nice, cool, interesting people - I don't care at all for the pushy, rude people I meet along the way. At the Backpacker stops almost everyone is pretty cheery and avoiding the unpleasant folks isn't too hard to do. This held true for Lilongwe as well. Was actually pretty pleasant getting off the bus as I didn't get immediately hassled by money changers or taxis. Funny thing about Lilongwe: instead of shouting "Hey India!" or "Hey America!" at me, they shouted "Hey Israel!" Good to know I can pass for an Israeli person. All in all the capitals didn't hold too much for me. I mostly used them as resting days and sadly the couple sights i did want to see were closed or my schedule didn't allow for a visit.

And, because I could, I went and saw Sherlock Holmes 2. Oh movie theatres, so nice. It was at the mall below...oh the development!


As for Senga Bay: Backpackers place was empty and I got a bracelet from a cool guy named Jimmy.

Oh, and all around Malawi there was a petrol shortage. So you get constant "street petrol" stops along the way such as this:



Cape Maclear: Had a lot of fun at Cape Maclear. Getting there was a little interesting. Took a very long and torturous bus ride but finally arrived in Monkey Bay, the place where you catch a ride to Cape Maclear. Arrived in the afternoon and there was no one around, kind of sucked. A guy offered to take me as a private taxi, no thanks, I'm poor. Sadly there wasn't anyone else waiting to share one, or even a Mutola. So that was a little disappointing because I really didn't want to wait around 8 hours or however long it took to get a ride. After about 15 minutes this guy offered to give me a ride on his motorbike for about three times as much as a mutola ride (and I think about the same as a shared taxi). Count me in. We strapped my hiking pack to the tiny rack on the back, guy started the bike and I hopped on the back. Was a little terrified at first as the bike wobbled like crazy but he finally got it under control. I didn't know Cape Maclear was tucked behind a little mountain pass (well, a "hill" pass), that was fun, especially with it being a dirt road with construction.

I may or may not have looked like this during the ride:



Anyway, made it to Mufasas (where I stayed) safe and sound and exchanged a lovely awkward goodbye with my newly intimately acquainted driver. I stayed at a place called Mufasas and got a discount because I was going to be staying there for 5 days. Was really nice and made me happy, 50% off :) It wasn't too crowded at first but after a couple of days it became fully booked. There was barely any space on the campground which means lot of neighbours!



The second day I was there I got talked into taking a trip out to this island for snorkeling and swimming. At first I wasn't going to go but then the boat guys talked some other groups into it which made it cheaper for everyone, so okay. This is what it looked like:



One of the groups was a bunch of Grad students from the University of Cape Town. They were really cool and a lot of fun to hang out with. And so was the other group which was a family group from Jo-berg. I hung out with both groups a bit afterward. Even went with Langley and his family to Christmas lunch along with another couple from.....Jo-berg? Not sure but Travis and Tori were cool too.

I spent the rest of my time relaxing and reading Catch-22, hilarious (and sad) book. There is an awesome Tea Shop maybe a 10 minute walk from Mufasa. They had an AMAZING Hibiscus tea which I thoroughly enjoyed. I wanted to try and buy some but they were out of packages - all the tea was brought up from Southern Malawi. I think I went there everyday for the last 3 or 4 days - oh, and they had these really good thin oatmeal cookies too. Sucked me in. After I finished reading Catch-22 I started reading some of the more current magazines they had: The Economist and Food & Leisure. Both of them made me yearn for getting back my old lifestyle. I miss cooking nice meals (now being in a town I do have the opportunity for it...just not the cash), visiting places of the arts, festivals, etc. I did get to explore and climb around on some rocks which made me miss that also. Funny part about that was those rocks were right alongside the lake, made to hop onto another boulder and totally whacked my foot or caught a sandal or something, then went straight into the lake. Backpack, electronics and all. Amazingly every has recovered, so that's awesome. Would've pretty pretty entertaining had I been hiking around with someone. I ended up having a kid paddle me back onto the beach in one of the dugout canoes they use for fishing. Made for a pleasant, active and entertaining day.

Nkhata Bay: This is where I was hoping to do some scuba diving lessons but alas that feel through. Was a little sad but then I got to "live it up" instead the last few days with the extra cash I had budgeted for. I stayed at the Lonely Planet "our pick" place: Mayoka Village.


Not such a great picture since it's a bit fuzzy at night but sweet buttery goodness that place is awesome!! It is built into the side of the bay which is somewhat rocky and steep. Definitely got some exercise getting around the place. But walking around the "village" invokes many feelings of paradise and serenity.



Exhibit 1: My camp spot.

And all of the staff were so helpful and friendly, was nice to just sit down and chat with them. Also the dinners: divine. They were a little more expensive compared to what you can get at a local place, though just about the same as any restaurant, but the meals were huge and SOOOOO good!

I was able to see Kim and Travis my first night there so that was good, I was really hoping to catch them somewhere in Malawi. Also saw Lindsay and Rachel when we went out to dinner so that was nice too. During the end I saw Lorna and her friend too so I wasn't completely devoid of Nam PCV contact during my vacation :) In between the start and end of my stay at Nkhata bay I hung out with a couple Malawi PCVs and a LOT of Zambian PCVs. It's always a blast meeting PCVs from other countries and always entertaining. For the most part I relaxed in Nkhata too, didn't walk around too much and did a bit more reading and playing games, just mingling with other people. Took a boat and paddled out for a hour or two one day but on the whole just nursed my feet.



Oh yeah! So I'm not sure if these were bug bites or infected blisters that broke open but I had some DISGUSTING infected somethings all over my right foot. Okay, well like 3-4 but still gross. They've healed since but I have some shiny spots on my foot now and my right hand has pretty solid scar - or large pink dot with a dark brown circle, your choice. I also met an Australian couple that was really cool. They're on a 4 year or so dream trip. They lived in Sydney and are engaged and were about to get a house but decided to scratch that idea and take the dream trip they've both wanted to. At the end of it I think they're planing to get married in Greece, romantic no? 4 year engagement trip, baller! New Years Eve was a blast too, I spoiled myself with food during lunch and dinner (Beef and Chicken wraps for lunch, Chicken Curry buffet for dinner...probably ate about 5 kilos of food that day...easily) then partied it up at night. We hung around the bar at Mayoka, got in some dance circle action, then headed to a cool place called Kaya Papaya. Had the turnover there and headed back home a couple hours later. A small group of us hung out on this raft they have anchored a little bit off the shore and watched the sunrise come up. It wasn't much because it was super cloudy so that kind of sucked but was fun and the water was still somewhat warm so no complaints. I headed out to travel back to Namibia the next day around noon. Was a little rough not having slept more than a few hours

Arriving in Namibia was nice, though it took a week for my stuff to be moved down from the North. Then after I "moved" to Mariental it took another week for me to get my own place (I crashed at a teacher's house). Add another week for my fridge and stove (at least I have some :P) to show up and I am still waiting on my desk and chair. Not too important but I'd like to be able to work/study somewhere other than my office or bed (the latter I'd like to have not be business related...or would I? zing!).

Anyway, that about sums up my vacation. Pretty good trip all around.

Pictures to come soon for this and the previous post! need to get a bit done and go through all my photos first. Hoping this weekend!

A little tidbit about the end of last year :)

Okay, so here I am finally getting around to posting something.

Let's try and start where I left off: end of the school year. It went pretty well. I was actually getting a little sad to leave Tsintsabis but I would say that was "goodbye eyes" kicking in. But because of it I did enjoy and relish the last bits of time I had with the kids and I think they did do - or at least the ones that I got close to. Especially a few of the grade 6 kids, I had about 4-5 of them visiting me everyday in the library for hours. It was actually nice and wish they did it earlier on in the year. I am still hoping to see them when I go back to visit this year - hopefully to get them at one of our camps!

We had an end of the year braai (grill out) for all of the teachers. It was really nice and they even surprised me with some going away gifts. They all wrote little notes and the secretary compiled all of them into a scrapbook. Was so cool! And then Maiya (the other maths teacher) got me a clock and a couple cool things for my kitchen for helping her with some of her class work. It was a good time and I'll definitely miss seeing them around everyday.

So am I missing it actually being away from it now? Definitely, but not too much where I want to immediately go back. Work has been going well here. I've been at the office for two and a half weeks now. It's a very different change of pace being in an 8-5 office versus being in a school where my schedule is very haphazard and flexible. It's a lot more relaxing (in ways) and I can take a lot of things at my own pace. We still have pressing deadlines with lab setups, school/library visits, office computers, etc. but I can do a lot of my work in an order of my choosing. School schedules are pretty set so if I wanted put off a class or topic, well, I couldn't. I had to teach that class.

It's also been a lot more clarifying to me in many ways: what I want to do in the near future, what I do and don't want in my life, what battles I'll choose to fight and which ones I'll let go, etc. I won't go into too much detail because it could sound very...harsh or critical, but I feel it's for the best - even if I am turning into a cranky old man. This is partly why I traveled by myself last vacation. When I heard of the travel plans of everyone, and wasn't sure how my move would turn out, I just decided to fly solo. The thought sounded better as time went on and it was something I wanted to do. I wanted to get out by myself and clear my head. It worked and it didn't.

Vacation blog to follow soon soon!

These are pictures of the small end of the year braai. There was SO much meat to cook and it tasted wonderful!

And here's my life here all packed up. Kind of a lot but not really when you think of the fact that's my life. And a lot of that was food/spices/etc.....sadly too appropriate.

A torrent of activity over the past few months.

Wow, it has been a while since I've written anything. Seems like I'm always saying that on here or when I write in my journal. I guess I get really caught up in things then just space out for a week, then repeat.

So why have I been so busy? Well, a lot of reasons but mostly ICT (Information and Communications Technology a.k.a. computers) work. At the end of last term I left a little bit early to head to an ICT conference hosted and put on by fellows PCVs (including myself). Now why would I be doing this? I'm not sure if I've mentioned it (I think I have) but for those that don't know, I'm moving to Mariental in December after the school year ends to take over an ICT position. I'll be replacing Debbie, a Group 30 PCV (what up Deb!). Coincidently from CO as well :) I know I'm not going to come anywhere near filling her shoes but I'll try to do what I can.

Anyway, at our conference we talked about ways Peace Corps could bring back ICT PCVs (they recently cut the program in Namibia). This included training to be offered, how to do it, utilizing PCVs strengths the best we can, etc. I think this is partially why they decided to cut the program, there really wasn't any training going on; ICT PCVs just sort of tagged along with the Education volunteers and then did their own thing. We've working on developing some materials to aid with training and help non-ICT PCVs implement ICT into their projects. There's definitely a lot of work ahead of us (Debbie and Me - even though she's back in the States) but if we can match the need, I think a lot of good things will come from it. We've already started typing up manuals for many different computer tasks and I've been collecting ICT resources from all over. Another added bonus is that this ties in perfectly with a lot of my ideas for an extension. Yep I might try and stay here a third year. So the idea is on the table, no definite plans yet but strongly considering applying for a third year and a PCVL position (PCV Leader). So now you know, more on it later as it develops and I can outline something concrete.

In the few days before and after our ICT conference - oh! I didn't even say where it was. We held it in Luderitz. That place is pretty cool but definitely really far out there. It was really nice though because I got to actually hang out with Kevin and Brad while we're here. Luderitz is 1,305 km (about 810 miles) from my site - so I definitely don't see them, ever. Well, especially now because they're both gone haha but that was a long trip to get there. I'm hoping to be able to make a trip or two there once I move to Mariental as that is possible in a day. Leah and Meagan (two 33ers) are there and a 34 just got placed there so plenty of people to visit.

Okay, so back to the days surrounding the conference. I spent them in Mariental. Was a nice stopping point to and from Luderitz. I visited my new work compound, checked out my future office, hung out with a few people in the office - it was a lot of fun. I'm pretty pumped to be working with my counterpart-to-be, Cornelia's pretty cool. We took a couple trips to Libraries, Schools, etc. to fix/setup some Tech /Na labs (computer labs), get me somewhat acquainted with the area, rediscover some old skills, etc. Was somewhat futile since that was a couple months ago and I still won't be moving for over a month, and then won't start my job until a month later. So I've forgotten mostly everything we did but at least it's somewhat shallow in my memory storage and will come back much quicker (I hope). What a fun way to spend a vacation right?!

So after all of this prep-work/training I spent the rest of my vacation being a camp counselor for Camp GLOW - the GLOW stands for Guys and Girls Leading Our World. I was so worried that I'd be incredibly burnt out, tired, and just an angry camp leader the whole time. What happened was quite the opposite, well, sort of. Campers for GLOW are nominated by other PCVs. What is nice from this is that you get an 80 kid camp that consists primarily of good kids (...you hope). For example: the first day when everyone arrived I asked everyone to be quiet so we could start dinner. I lost my train of thought immediately. I was expecting to shout, ask kids to stop talking, etc. for maybe 5-10 minutes - they were silent in 5 seconds. My jaw dropped. Was so awesome! Only way that happens in a classroom is if I'm slamming books on tables and I look like I'm about to flip some and start throwing some chairs (...this may or may not have happend...kidding! For now.)

Granted, I actually didn't get much sleep during the week but it rejuvenated me from working with such amazing kids. This is another big reason I'm really excited to move. I'll hopefully have the chance to be a part of all the camps that PCVs put on in Namibia. This is definitely where I want to try and focus my energy: into the kids that have the potential, motivation, drive, etc. to succeed. Sometimes all they need is some exposure to the possibilities and show them a path to achieve their goals. I'm just not cut from the selfless mold where teachers come from. I don't have the patience or energy to rein in 3 sets of 35 kids 6 hours a day, 5 days a week; then every afternoon dealing with a typhoon of kids in my library for 2-3 hours. Not me, I don't have that much saint blood/energy flowing through me. Maybe just a little good Samaritan blood or something - I mean, I used to always put my spare change and a dollar or so in the Salvation army Christmas buckets. That ringing bell just sucks me in I guess.

Anyway, camps are awesome. I find myself still desiring to be able to work with such kids but not on such a omnipresent basis. That's why I think starting some tutoring/after school program would be awesome for where I live (when I move back). Or joining some existing organization (I feel one of the worst parts of not-for-profit work is you have SO much competition. Everyone's trying to do what he or she wants, help in his or her OWN way, when really it's the same thing and everyone just undermines each other). This is also plays into my extension ideas and some ideas I want to suggest to Peace Corps Namibia. I think it would be nice to focus more on being a resource for teachers in schools. You still get a chance to interact with the kids, help them out, etc. but being a resource for teachers could have a far greater and more lasting impact on the youth and for education in general. What I want to focus on is ICT workshops for teachers, ministries, organizations, etc. There are a lot of resources here but not everyone knows how to really utilize them. Okay, so there's a little preview of what I want to do.

I actually did get a chance to talk to some Peace Corps - Namibia staff members about this (why am I all up in everyone's business now? When did I ever do that?). A few weeks after I got back, well, maybe even 1 or 2, I headed back to Windhoek for our Mid-Service medical exam. There actually wasn't much done. We just listed out all the problems we have had (which records already exist for) - mainly just let them know if anything was bothering us. I didn't have anything going on so it was pretty quick. Dentist visit went well, nothing bad just that I need to floss more (like always). It was actually pretty amusing because apparently Gretchen (one of the PCVs in my group) laughs hysterically at the dentist's office for whatever reason. Definitely kept us entertained. During my last day or so there is when I met with some staff members. Was really nice; I finally was able to sit down and chat with Dan Rooney, our new Programming and Training Director (or has a title something like that). He's way cool and was really helpful with a lot of the topics we discussed - we chatted for 1.5 hours or so. I'm pretty excited to have the chance to work with him, well a chance. I don't think I'll have too many direct projects under/with him but you never know!

Back to school the following week then I think the weekend after was the big event: my half marathon! And by big event I mean something I did not train for ( I probably hadn't ran since December) but decided to do since I said I would. I got there Friday and had the whole day to psyche myself up for the event. The race was set for 7am Saturday morning. We did the whole big pasta meal beforehand, and had our group of runners hanging out the whole time. There was also a fun "morale" group tagging along with us for "support". I was super nervous the day of. The fact didn't really hit me that I was running 21km (~13mi) until we were a bit in to the race. I started out with Lindsay (another PCV of course) and we stuck together for about 9-10k. I was actually pretty impressed with the pace we kept and think my 10k time would've been pretty awesome. But sadly that's when my body started to really complain and I feel very behind. I quickly realized running a half marathon when you don't have a set exercise regimen, one that is sporadic at best, is not a good idea. I realized soon after that I was only half way. Half way! I'm all pumped about how well I'm doing, thinking my body is going to pull out one of its crazy tricks and just slam this race when it dies and I have to repeat exactly what I just did. Ugh. Anyway I finished, my time was about 2 hours 15min. I think my 10k would've been in the 40's because I was definitely dragging my feel and barely moving after that 10k but still didn't have a horrible time (not good, I know, but not horrible). Either way it's a PR!! Score haha! Next year another PR! Going to train and rock that thing! So excited for it!

So after that crazy fun I had to buckle down and try to finish some ICT presentations for the new group. I was so excited that we were approved to give an ICT presentation! The topics were: "ICT and You," "What You Can Expect in Namibia," and "PC Namibia Resource Project." Definitely not the most exciting topics but on the whole I think it went rather well. We were able to give the new group a heads up on how hardware does here (gets destroyed) and plant the seeds for potential ICT projects in their communities. I think I even recruited some of them to the cause so hopefully this will become less of a solo project and more of a group project. There's definitely a lot of potential, now I just have to get my butt in gear and work hard to fulfill it.

So that brings us up to now, more or less. Group 30 PCVs have started to wrap up their service and move on. I'm definitely sad to see them go, I really liked a lot of their group. I've tried to meet up and hang out with a few before they leave, attend going away parties, chat a bit, etc. That's life though, chapters finish, new ones start. Just have to enjoy opportunities while you have the chance.

For what lies ahead, I'm just going to finish up teaching. We only have classes for another month or so then exams start. So I'll be busy closing any open business here and at the same time begin preparing for my work in Mariental starting next year. And in between the two I have vacation! I'm going to try and explore a few parts of Namibia I haven't had a chance to see yet and then maybe try to make my way over to Tanzania/Zanzibar, Malawi, or both (if I have the time and money). Hopefully I'm more punctual/consistent about my updates as well!

!Gaise i re!! !Gaise ha re!