I love Cape Town

Hey,
I only have two minutes left on this internet session, so this is goign to be short.  I just wanted to let everyone know that Cape Town is an absolutely beautiful city, and I want to move here. So far the highlights have been going to Cape Point (the end of Africa), to Robben Island (the Prison where Mandela was and from wehre tehre's an amazing view of the city) and just exploring the city with friends.
  It wonderful
More later

Windhoek, it's been real

So, it's finally over. I ship out for Cape Town in the morning.  It's been quite the ride, Namibia, and I'm thankful for that.  I sometimes feel like I could have done more, been more proactive about my experience here, but overall it's been absolutely amazing.   I don't think I can even comprehend right now how much I've learned here.  I've tried to milk these last few days. Wednesday we finished our big projects (Laurie, Lauren and I looked at the effects of the alcohol industry on society, and for the creative part, made the Namibian flag our of bottle caps)  Wednesday I went to Katutura to see my homestay family a last time, and had dinner with them, and tonight I had dinner with some members of my rural homestay family who are in Windhoek (one who lives here and I'd only talked to on the phone, and the other being Malakia, my brother from the North, after which I went to temple for the last time and then briefly hit the town.  It was good. I also took a nice walk today around the city by myself. I thoguht that was a good way to finish things off.  This past week or so has been a lot of work, but also a bunch of fun, we've gone out and done fun things quite a bit, and everyone's been getting along suprisingly well.
I'm really really excited to go to Cape Town.  It's supposed to be an amazing city, plus I'll get to see my family there in a week, which is also really exciting.
I'm falling asleep right now, but I think I've said what I needed to say, more or less. Perhaps more in the morning, but definitely more from Cape Town.

It's been too long

It's been almost two weeks.  My bad.  I've been pretty busy, but also, just lazy, so sorry about that. I've still got a lot of work to be doing as the end of the semester approaches so I'll try to keep this relatively short for covering two+ weeks. Also, it's really rainy today, which is very odd, since we're in the middle of the desert.


When we left off it was Halloween.  That weekend was pretty tame, we had a guys' night on Saturday where we just hung out and watched Borat and some soccer (but sam and night are ALWAYS watching soccer) and Sunday night we had a very brief Halloween party, but pretty much everyone dressed up, which was fun.  The Zambia group plus Jess went as the 7 Deadly Sins, and I was gluttony, which was fun.  Monday our intern had to leave unexpectedly due to a family emergency Stateside, so that caused some shakeups here. When we got back from the south, the intern who was supposed to start in January was here to kind of get settled in and be someone to fill that role and stuff, btu she has to go back ot Cape Town this Friday.

So that made preparing for Wednesday a little more complicated.  In our religion class, a group of students "helps to" (and by that i mean "does," the professor is just kind of there, not doing much) organize and lead class. Our topic was "The Contribution of Minority Religions to Social Change" or something like that.  So I organized a trip to the synagogue to talk to Zvi, who serves as the rabbi for the shul, although there's no real rabbi, and the others ogranized a trip to an Islamic Cultural center (it looks weird to spell "center" the right way now) where we talked to a very interesting young Imam. He was a convert, so was very fundamental and had a lot of very critical views of Christianity. It's not anything that I hadn't heard before, but it was interesting seeing the difference between hearing those things in a group of secular religion students at Carleton, who all know a good deal abotu Islam, and a group of students who are less informed about Islam and more heavily Christian. 
When we got back to the class room we were talking about the role that the synagogue has in social action. Zvi had mentioned that due to their numbers they didn't have much organized social action programming, but a lot of them do things individually.  A number of students were extremely critical of this.  Interestingly it was the most Christian of our students.  They basically, in no uncertain terms, said that that was a bullshit excuse.  I felt that they were speaking without understanding a) the nature of the synagoge (yes, there are 60 members, but only a few come regularly and are mostly elderly, so there's not a real base to work with) and b) the nature of charity  in Judaism, which I think is often conceptualized more individually than in Christianity.  I realized that a little more clearly when I explained tzedakah in terms of tithing, and then had a hard time explaining that it doesn't have to go to the synagogue, and you can just give by yourself. Many of us in the non-Christian camp (both myself and some of the secular students) sort of felt as though they were overzealous in their criticism on Zvi and the shul (somebody used the term "Jew bashing" which I think is a little strong, but it certainly felt a little like that) and we wondered how their response would have differed if it was a small church we'd visited.

I was expecting to encounter ignorance about Judaism from Namibians, but was very suprised by how much there is within this group of Americans. It's just not something I've every really had to deal with before, as Evanston and Carleton both have a reasonably sized population of Jews.  I've been asked a lot of strange things like if we celebrate Palm Sunday (no idea how someone could think that...) and if we were allowed to eat beef (we'd be totally screwed if we weren't!) Despite there being another Jewish person on the trip, I also sometimes feel tokenized as a Jew, either just with jokes, which I don't mind much, and probably encourage, and with being asked to speak for Jews as a whole. It doesn't bother me all that much, it was just something that I wasn't expecting to deal with, and it makes me realize how important interreligious dialogue and education really is, which is good because that sort of validates what I'm studying.


Last Thursday-Sunday we were in the South looking at "sustainable development," and how development relates to the tourism industry,  but really just being on a camping trip, which was awesome.  We had a lot of time to jsut relax.  The guys forewent the idea of a tent and slept out under the stars all three nights, which was absolutely amazing.  We stayed at three different types of campsites to look at the differences between them.  Thursday was a gov't run, or more accurately parastatal campsite, governed by the park system.  You could tell it was in a little disrepair, and it was very obviously operating at a loss. We learned later that it was probably going to be shut down soon.  It was at a big dam, so there was a lake, which was cool to look at, it was werid to see water.  The landscape is very cool in the south, think Mars+South Dakota. The next day we stayed at a community run campsite at the foot of a mountain.  It wasn't much at all. Really just a toilet, and couple places to put tents and make fires. We climbed around the mountain though (couldn't go all the way up, because there was a sheer face near the top), which was fun and very beautiful. The next day, we visited a school in community that ran the campsite, and it was really nice to just be able to hang out with some kids.  One of their teachers helps run the campsite and he told us that they only make a few bucks a month beyond what it costs to pay the one employee, the guard at the gate, so it's very difficult for them to make any improvements. The last night we stayed at a beautiful lodge, taht had some campsites attached to it.  It was part of a group that basically runs private versions of national parks for profit.  They guy who spoke to us there had a lot of interesting things to say about conservation and the tourism industry, the jist of which that private companies are better at conservation than the government, because they can make it so that the profit drives the conservation and vice versa.  Overall the trip was a great time, and a good recharge.  We got to relax in nature a lot--the last night I took a walk by myself around the area underneath the stars, and it was absolutely amazing--and we learned a little bit too, which was a plus


We got back and got right back into the swing of things.  Last week I had one pretty tough day at my internship, and one amazing day.  Monday I had second grade and they were just totally wild, and I had a very tough time controlling them. I left pretty frustrated and pretty dejected about my abilities as an educator.  But on Wednesday, instead of working with a whole class I took out one third grader who's very bright but doesn't really do well in a large classroom setting.  Like all of the kids, he's got a lot of really tough things going on at home and in the community, so he's angry a lot and requires a lot of attention.  I imagine in school he sort of gets left behind, because teachers don't do well with that sort of thing. They probably just hit him with a ruler until he appears to be paying attention.  He didn't want to be separated from the class at first, but once we got into things we did great.  We were working on multiplication, until got a little bored of that, but then he asked me if I could teach him long division. And I did. It was great! On and off, throughout the first half of the day, which was math time, he would want to go back to the classroom, but after break he was really excited to come back and work with me some more.  I had him read O The Places You'll Go.  I'm not sure he really got it, I'd forgotten how abstract it was,  but there are some tough words in there, and he did well with those, and he seemed to enjoy it.  Working with him was really rewarding, and I think he got a lot out of it too. It made me realize that my strengths when it comes to teaching are in small groups or individually.

Friday in Development class we vistied a really nice private hospital and the Katutura State hospital, which is public and in the middle of the black neighborhood.  It was hard to believe we were in the same country. The private hospital seemed nicer than Evanston Hospital, while the Katutura hospital (which I'd been to before when my sister was sick on my urban homestay) was exactly what you'd think of when you think of a hospital in a developing nation.  Really crowded, paint peeling off the walls, I stepped on a cockroach.  In the wards there were only big rooms, 8 beds, with people suffereing from all kinds of things. The rooms are pretty open, too, big glass windows facing the corridors, no privacy, no real place for visitors to sit.  Comparing that to the nice, furnished rooms in the private hospitals, with no more than 3 people, and as few as just one, was remarkable.  As was comparing the maternity ward.  It was really hard to see this blatant imbalance, especially when it comes to something as important as healthcare. I've got some more thoughts on this, but I'll just leave it there for now. Ask me if you're interested.

I've spent the past few days procrastinating a paper that's due today. It's due at 5, but I have to go to my internship in the afternoon, so it's really due by about noon, when I have to leave.  The prompt was to talk about two issues in development and how they affect each other.  I was originally going to do education and unemployment, but for religion class this past week we talked about the Church's response to AIDS, and there was a lot of really interesting stuff there, so I decided to write on the Church's response to AIDS, and some of its shortcomings especially in terms of stigmatization, and then how AIDS is in turn forcing the church to change its rhetoric and becoming more of a healing society.  We needed primary research, so I talked to that itneresting woman who I talked about from Development class two weeks ago, the one who was very critical of the church, and also to the head of the health wing at the Council of Churches in Namibia, who spoke to our class on Wednesday.  I was fascinated by how much what they had to say was similar.  Their only major difference was that the CCN guy thought that it was not the Church's place to discuss premarital sex and condom use outside of marriage, and Rosa thought that that was an "excuse."  They came at the issue from very different angles, obviously, but both talked about the need for the Church to change its rhetoric, for them to improve education of pastors about AIDS, etc.  So that was pretty cool. The paper is turning out better than I thought it would, which is good.  As usual, I'm pulling my shit together at crunch time.
Speaking of which, it really is crunch time, so I need to go finish this paper.

So much to share, so much to share

Hey everyone

So, I'm trying out this pictures thing. Seeing if it works.  Anyways, it's been awhile, especailly since I've posted in a lot of detail, and about seven million awesome and interesting things have happened since then, so I'll try to give you a good rundown. I'm sure I'll leave some gaps, so please ask any questions. I was gonna break this into multiple post for ease of reading, but then I accidentally put all the pictures in here, and they took a while to upload, so sorry for the immense length of this. Feel free to skim if you so choose, or just look at the pretty pictures 

PART ONE--THE NORTH

My Rural Homestay family!

So I'll start with a little more detail than I left you with last time about the two weeks in the North. Here's a picture of my host family outside of our house. The littlest one (about 18 mo.), Gabes, is missing because he was being moody and didn't want to be in the picture.  But here you see my meme, Loinde, and the children Malakia (the big one, actually a cousin of some sort, but living with them) and then from left to right  Titus (11), Paulus(13), Cecelia (18) and Ignatus (7) (Ignatus and Gabes are also cousins, and there are some older children as well, but they live in Windhoek)

The homestay, as I mentioned in an earlier post was a really awesome learning experience. I loved being out there in the country and just hanging out with people who I would otherwise never interact with. I do wish I'd tried a little harder to have deep conversations with them--i think I was discouraged by the language barrier a little bit, but some other students did get a little bit more discussion going, although some families spoke better English. It was an awesome experience either way, and I think they got a lot out of it too--they were very excited about my being there, especially my meme, and we did have some good conversations going both ways.  

Me and the Governor of Omustasi Region

Also during the home stay we went and visited a lot of local interesting places, organizations, schools, etc.  Two of the most interesting things we did were visiting a border post with a free trade zone, and a school nearby, where we talked a lot about immigration issues, and a lot of what was said reminded me a lot of issues on teh Mexico US border. Angola is less privileged, and so a lot of them are coming over the border, and Namibians see them as taking jobs and resources from Namibians.  So it was cool to make that connection, and also to hang out with some kids at the school.  Another cool thing we did was going to the homestead of a traditional king.  Namibia, in rural areas, shares governance with traditional authoroties, so this king still had some power, and we got to see how he lives, and therefore how Ovambo royalty has lived for quite a while, which was fascinating. It took us a long time to actually see the king because there are a lot of traiditonal hoops one has to jump through to gain audience with him.  Briefly, other things we did: visit a NGO that raises fish and gives some to local farmers to promote aquaculture, a farm that employs a lot of local workers (although some of their practices are questionable), a lecutre from a local reverend, and talking to the governor of the region. It was my job to thank him and when I went to give him a handshake he gave me a big hug, which was pretty funny.

Jimmy somewhere he wasn't supposed to be

We left Outapi for Opuwo where we were to stay for a few days with the Himba people.  On the way we stopped at a dry waterfall along the Angolan border. We may or may not have gone across the border through a gap in the fence. And I may or may not have brought back some Angolan rocks as souvenirs.  Living with the Himba, when we actually got there was really really interesting. I promised some thoughts on the cultural tourism and the clash of modernity and  tradition a couple posts ago, so here are some brief thoughts. This might be boring if it's not your thang, so feel free to skip ahead to more exciting things:

Himbas trying to sell stuff to us

The Himba live very traditionally.  They live in clusters of clan-based homesteads, dress very traditonally--the women, for example, do not wear tops, and they cover their hair and bodies with a red clay and butter mixture.  The men are not usually traditionally employed, and spend their time following grazing land for the cattle.  The women are also not traditionally employed. Usually they run the homesteads, especially in the men's absence, but they also (very aggressively) sell crafts and goods to tourists, especially in town.  We also took a tour of their homestead which felt very intrusive and almost like we were in a zoo. We learned later we had made very detailed arrangments about this tour beforehand with the chief of the village, but during the tour itself, and even afterward still, i felt as though we were being very intrusive and disrespectful to the people.  This really made me question why we were there, and if it was doing more harm than good to the people. Sure they invited us, and sure they were making money off of selling us their goods and renting their campground to us, and sure their kids came and played with us after dinner (which was super fun) but it still seems to perpetuate their marginalization.  It's similar to when Native Americans sell their goods to white tourists who are just interested in them as museum pieces and for the purposes of cultural appropriation. So that's something to think about.  Also, we talked to a Himba man who was telling us about his culture, and how it was disappearing, but how that was fraught, since they were also modernizing and developing in positive ways.  He said education is necessary for advancement but also taht education was contributing to their loss of cultural identity.  So their caught in a very tough position trying to balance tradition and modernity, and neither they nor I have any answers for this, but it's an interesting problem 

While we were in the village, we visited a formerly-mobile school, which used to travel with the Himba when they were more nomadic--I also felt very intrusive there, and  a couple gov't orgs, including the Ministry of Health for the region and the protection of women and children wing of the local Namibia Police.  While we didn't learn all that much directly from the gov't orgs, we did learn a lot about how disorganized the bureaucracy  here is, because trying to actually get them to talk to us (or know what day it was) was a challenge.

We went to Etosha from there and it was amazing, but I described that already. So, on to:

PART TWO--FALL BREAK

After amusing ourselves somehow for 11 hours in Otjiwarongo, and for 20 hours on a bus, we arrived in Livingstone, Zambia.  Livingstone immediately felt a lot more African than Windhoek does, which was pretty awesome, and then we arrived at our beautiful backpackers: Jollyboys, which is the number one rated backpackers' in the country, and pretty much deserves it, and it's only $8US a night.  It really was awesome. (http://www.backpackzambia.com/backpackers.php, I'm just putting the link up because their pics are nicer than mine, and then I don't have to upload any more pics, so you can check that if you want) They helped us plan all of our adventures, and had a lot of really cool people there for us to meet--some students and volunteers, and also a good deal of people just traveling Africa or the world trying to "find themselves." They were all really cool to talk to. Apparenlty not everyone there was awesome though, because some of our thigns did disappear from the room that we shared with 10 other people including my cell phone, Lizz's iPod and some of Christiana's cash. And while that was kinda shitty, it didn't manage to put a damper on our awesome trip.  That does mean however, that you can't call me here anymore, because my phone is now being sold on the Black Market in Zambia, which is kinda cool, actually.

Now, I hear you all crying "What did you actually do, though?"  Well, friends, thanks for asking.  We did a lot of just lounging by the pool which was super relaxing, and also found a couple of fun restaurants to go out and visit, including a Mexican place (who would have guessed?!) which was actually pretty decent.  Monday night (we arrived on Saturday afternoon, and just relaxed til then) we went on a sunset/booze cruise on the Zambezi River which was absollutely beautiful, and we saw a plethora of hippos as well as an elephant just chillin on the bank.  So that was really fun.  

The next day we decided to go visit the Zambia side of Victoria falls (the falls span the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe, they're almost a mile long!) Which was really pretty.  Now we'd heard of this pool at the top of the falls called Devil's Pool, and after we'd had our fill of looking at the falls' beauty were ready for some adventure so we sought out a guide.  It turns out that going to Devil's pool is really expensive so we found a guide who we'd met at Jollyboys, who's name was Jimmy, by the way, and he took us along the top of the falls to some places kinda like Devil's pool but a little less intense.  We had to climb thorugh the river and over a bunch of rocks to get there, but it was worth it.  Along the way, we sat on the edge, and took some pictures

Here's the group, on the brink!

Me on top of the falls

 

Me in the falls, don't worry I'm being held up

 

I thought that this would be scary, but I was actually a lot more calm than I expected. And we were to go a lot more crazy shit before we would leave Zambia.  After that, and after swimming in  a pool that was near, but not quite on, the edge like Devil's Pool is, we stopped at a small cataract on the way back.  On the hike over their I'd put my flip-flops in the water bottle holder of my backpack.  I heard a plop and saw a flip flop floating towards the edge. I snatched it up, thining the other one was safe in my bag, only to see the one I thought was in my bag still floating over the edge of the falls. So that was pretty itneresting.  I guess I had to sacrifice a shoe for our safety--a sacrifice I was more than willing to make.  Anyway, we weren't completely clear on where we were going, but then our guides stopped at a small cataract, much like many of the others, and told us to hop in. Now this was right on the edge of the falls, and they was a very tiny pool where water collected before going over the falls at a very fast pace.  Then they told us we were getting in.  That was a pretty scary idea.  It didn't help all that much that there was a deeper part where you could "safely" stand, and that one of the tour guides held you in by your feet.  It was still terrifying.  But once you get in it's absolutely amazing.  You can't tell from the picture very much, but the view from there is stunning.  Looking down is terrifying, but also really, really cool.  On the way back to our hostel, the cab that 5 of us were crammed into got a flat.  The perfect end to a very African day of adventure

Wednesday, we just had a chill day, although the power went out a few times at the hostel, which was kinda cool.  We needed the relaxation, though, because Thursday was to be what we called out "Jumpy, Scary Shit Day. "  Before you freak out, no, we did not go bungee jumping.  But we did do some things that were remarkably close.  The day started off relatively mundanely, for a day of jumpy scary shit, as we repelled down to the bottom of the gorge (not quite at the Falls, but in a gorge created by them.  It was really beautiful despite not being able to see the Falls themselves).  It was still pretty scary having to put yourself over the edge though, but it was pretty fun, and certainly relieving when you got to the bottom.  Unbeknownst to us, though, going to the bottom involved a pretty intense hike back up, but it was really really beautiful in the gorge, so it didn't matter much at all.  We then did what is called the Flying Fox, which is where they harness you in to something a lot like a zip-line, and then you just run and jump off the edge and fly like Super-Man and/or Peter Pan across the gorge until your momentum stops and they reel you back in (see below left).  This was one of my favorites because it allowed you to really stop and look at the scenery, once you got over the fact that you were dangling a few feet over a gorge. We did that a couple of times, and then we went back to the repelling area, and did that again, but there was a catch.  This time instead of doing it the normal way, you faced down and bounced perpendicualr to the wall. Kind of like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible, climbing down that wall. That was pretty terrifying.  It's one thing to repel down a cliff when you can face that cliff, and a completely different thing when you face your impending doom the whole time.   After another long hike, they told us that it was time for the Gorge Swing.  Now a gorge swing is different from bungee jumping in that it ends up with you swinging Tarzan-esque, as opposed to flying upwards at a high velocity and with lots of snap, but it is similar to bungee jumping in that it involves, well, stepping or falling backwards over the edge of a cliff to fall for 53 meters before the swing actually kicked in. Both times I did it were equally the scariest things I've ever done.  Standing on the edge of a cliff and someone counting to three until you have to step off is an experience unlike any other.  I only knew that the fall lasted the 3.5 seconds they said it was was by how many expletives I got out on the way down. Apparently I was flailing like  something that flails an inordinate amount (what flails a lot?) on the way down as well.  Despite, and probably due to the terror of the fall, the actual swinging, especially as you slow down and have time to just (literally) hang out and enjoy the view was some of the most serene I've ever felt. After you finish swinging and sit there for a minute, they lower you down the rest of the way to the bottom of the gorge.  So after the first fall we hiked our shell-shocked butts back up the gorge and had ourselves a delicious lunch which they provided for us, before preparing to hurl ourselves over the edge again.  This time, despite the fact that I thought it would be a lot scarier than going forwards, I decided to do what they call the "death drop" and basically just lean backwards over the edge (see bottom right)  While initially this was scarier, especially when I was still at the top, I think the fall was if not more manageable, at least more fun. Probably because I'd done it before.  But it was just as big a thrill ride for certain, and still probably the craziest shit I've ever done.  So after one last hike up the gorge we decided to end our day with another round of the Flying Fox, and head home exhausted, sore, and still reeling from our preposterous adventure. 

2nd star on the right and straight on 'til morning

Bombs away!

Lots of water

So on Friday we went to the Zimbabwe side of the falls, which was absolutely stunning.  You can see much more of the actual falls from that side and it was just beautiful.  To the left is a picture of what could be an astonishing waterfall in and of itself, but that's really just a small section of Victoria Falls, albeit the most watery part at this stage of the dry season.  Also, what you can see is probably only about 2/3 of its height. So, we could definitely see why it's one of the Natural Wonders of the World. Also, there were monkeys there, and that made me happy because I like monkeys
Saturday we went on an absolutely amazing safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana. It included both a river safari and a driving safari and we saw tons of animals on both.  So many hippos and elephants which were right there in front of our faces--if you're so inclined, remind me to tell you sometime about the elephant with the "extra" trunk...  Also crocodiles, warthogs and a bunch of antelope.  We also saw two dead elephants (probably the worst smell ever smelt on Earth) One of whom was being eaten by  vultures, and we were so close to it that you could hear the vultures biting it.  So that was pretty amazing and was a wonderful capstone to our trip.

We got back on the bus Sunday afternoon with a bunch less money and a few fewer items (for some of us)  than what we started with, but we returned to Windhoek after three whirlwind weeks having gained an enormous amount of amazing experience and having three new stamps in our passports (and rocks from a fourth country, to act as substitutes for stamps we didn't bother to get...)  So I"ve now been to six Southern African countries which is pretty awesome. The busride was fine, and didn't seem like the 21 hours it lasted, which was a plus.

This week in Windhoek has been pretty mundane. Pretty much the usual stuff, a bunch of little assignements, really shoddy internet, hanging out by the pool.  It's not a very difficult life--which still kind of disturbs me every time a stop and think about it, but I think I'm just not going to think about it that much, at least right now (is that okay?)  We did have a really itneresting speaker today who had views we hadn't really heard before, both from the radical feminist perspective taht she was speaking from, and from her very very critical views on religion and the Church, which is definitely not something you ever hear in Namibia.  It was refreshing to hear a new viewpoint on things, even if I didn't agree with everything she said.  It was also refreshing to have a speaker who I really enjoyed and respected who was a black Namibian woman.  So far I'd felt bad because the two speakers I'd been drawn to most were both white Western-educated men (although they were both from the region) and that had unsettled me a little bit that those had stood out to me most. So I enjoyed that presentation on a number of levels
Had a good night tonight.  Went to temple, then out to a bar, and then home for a quick dip in the pool and some skypeing with Ethan and Adrienne.  Now I think it's time for some much needed rest.

An Awesome week

Don't have much time on the internet here. I just wanted to let everyone know that I had an absolutely amazing week in Zambia, did some aweosme things, and had the time of my life. Although I do enjoy the program, I'm really sad to be leaving here and going back. I'll tell you all all about my adventures here as well as in the north when I get back to Windhoek and am no longer paying for internet. Also, I've taken a lot of pictures since Etosha, and so have the other memebers of my trip, whcih we're all sharing (other people have most of the pics of our crazy adventure activities....i'll leave you guessing as to what those are for now) so hopefully I'll figure out a way to get some of them up here once in windhoek.
hope all is well at home
Jimmy

A Quick update from Otjiwarongo

Hey, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm alive, and having a good time.  I'm currently in the middle of a ten hour layover between when our CGE group dropped us off in Otjiwarongo on their way back to Windhoek, and when the bus to Livingstone comes to pick us up.
The homestay was AWESOME. It was so cool to live out in the country, and to interact with people from a compeltely different background than myself. It was also cool to communicate without really understanding eachother. Only my brother, Malakia (who was actaully a cousin of some sort, the relationships were really confusing) spoke enough english to hold a converstaion, and my meme, Loinde, spoke almost none. We had a really cool night where we just stood out in their field under the stars until like midnight and she would ask me questions about America in Oshindonga and I'd answer in English, with Malakia serving as the translator. It was really interesting, and really indicative of how much in their own little world the people in the older generations are--she asked me if we had the sun in America. But they don't need to be in touch with anything. Their world is almost compeltely self-contained, and thats really cool
We spent the next couple of days in a village with Himba poeple, who live very traditionally, but are somewhat involved with the whole cultural tourism industry, which is really problematic, and on which I have a lot of thouhgs which I'll recount later. But it was really amazing when their children woudl come to our campfires at night and just hang out (and also eat some of the extra food we'd made for dinmer). Those moments reallty made me realize that Iwas in Africa
Speaking of which, we just got back form Etosha, which was amazing. We pretty much saw every cool safari animals, Lions, Rhinos, Elepahnts, all sorts of antelopes, a million giraffes, a bunch of Zebras, etc. Our campsite was right near a watering hole, where you could go and watch the animals. Wednesday night I saw a herd of 6 rhinos, and 2 herds of elephants totalling about 20 drinking right there in front of me. I also at various times saw hyenas, kudu, springboks and impalas. It was absolutely phenomonal. On our way out of the park, we saw our first papa lion, just chilling under a tree a ways away. So amazing. I have pictures of lots of animals, although not of the night-time watering hole, because it was obviosuly too dark
Looking forward very much to my next leg of the journey. Hope to update sometime in Zambia, but I don't know if that will be possible. Not as much looking forward to the 15 hour bus-ride with Jesus movies that it will take to get there.Now off to find things to do for the next 7 hours in Otjiwarongo.
Hope all is well with everyone at home.

1.5 Fortnights of Silence

So, barring miraculous Zambian internet, you won't hear from me for three weeks. While I'm gone you can marvel at this brief summary of what I'm going to do
 We're headed up to the North early tomorrow morning where we spend 6 days with host families. In the mornings we'll do programming--speakers, lectures, etc, and then spend the afternoons and nights with our families, doing whatever they do--farming, building things, taking the cattle to watering holes. Good old African stuff. From there we're spending a few days camping in a nomadic tribal area and learning about their culture, and then over to Etosha, the game park.  It's then fall break, when myself and 5 other people will be heading directly from the North to Livingstone, Zambia to hang out at Victoria Falls and be generally touristy for a few days. I'll be back on the morning of October 25.
Here's a little bit more detailed information for those of you who are interested:
The homestays will be near the town of Outapi, just south of the Angolan border, roughly center on the east-west axis, there we'll be until Saturday afternoon. I know a little bit about my family. There's a mom (maybe a dad too?) and 5 children. 4 boys 7-22 and a 13 year old girl. They have a lot of livestock including cattle, goats, chickens, and pigs.
On Saturday we head out for Opuwo, which is where the tribal people will be (they're from the Himba tribe, if you wanna look that up). That will take us through Tuesday the 12th.  The next two days we're in Etosha.
I'm taking the 10pm bus out of Otjiwarango to Livingstone on Friday the 15th, and the bus back from Livingstone to Windhoek overnight on the 24-25 October.
For all of this, but especially the home stay, I'm very excited but also really nervous. It's going to be just unlike anything I've ever experienced before, and that's nerve-wracking. I'm especially concerned about the language barrier. But it will also be an excellent thing to have experienced, and I'm sure will be a very very educational experience.
I'll try not to get Malaria, mauled by a lion, or fall off the edge of the waterfall. Otherwise this blog would get very boring very quickly, and we can't have that.
So yeah, if I can get on the Web in Livingstone, I might post. But I don't know how likely that will be.
I hope you all have a good three weeks!