So far so good

Sooo, it’s been a little while since I last updated my blog, but a lot has happened over the past week since my arrival in Namibia. Since so much has happened, I think the best way to summarize my journey would be through incoherent bullet points, so here it goes…

• Last Monday, I met my fellow Peace Corps Trainees (PCT’s) at staging in Philadelphia. I’m lucky to have an awesome group of people heading out to Namibia with me.
• We arrived in Windhoek after many hours of traveling through NYC and Johannesburg. Although I arrived to my destination, my guitar wasn’t so fortunate in reaching Namibia with me, as it was apparently left behind in Johannesburg (however, we were eventually reunited a couple of days later)
• From Windhoek, we got a bus to Okahandja, a town about 1.5 hours away from the airport. On the way to Okahandja, we got our first exposure to the Namibian wildlife, which were basically lots of warthogs and one Oryx spotting.
• When we arrived at the training center in Okahandja, we were greeted by a group of singing Namibians. It was a pleasant welcoming to start off our time in Namibia.
• The meetings so far have basically been a run down about the Peace Corps, an overview of the training, an introduction to the Peace Corps staff in Namibia, Medical Sessions, Safety and Security Seminars and Cross Cultural Training.
• I’m still unsure about what my primary project will be as a SEED volunteer, but after meeting the SEED director, I think I might be doing something based on marketing development. Will have a better idea in a couple weeks.
• I’m also still unsure about where I will be posted, but I found out that I will be learning Oshindonga, which is an Ovambo dialect, which means that I will probably be posted somewhere above the Etosha National Park, which is awesome.
• The meals here have been surprisingly great. I was warned that Namibians tend to eat a lot of meat, and that is certainly true. It’s been non-stop meat since I’ve gotten here and most of the time, I don’t even know what kind of meat I’m eating, but it’s all been delicious nonetheless.
• We went on a popular PCT trek to Pride Rock the other day (will get photos up soon). Half a dozen entertaining Namibia kids accompanied us. During the last half hour of the trek, a couple of the kids were trying to pressure me into proposing to another volunteer during the walk. I left the kids disappointed.
• Met my host family yesterday for the first time. This is the family that I will be living with for about 7 weeks. My host parents are both police, so I’m glad that the chances of me being robbed should be slim. I’ve only met my host mother because apparently my host father tends to be gone during the week because he works in Windhoek. They have two daughters. One is 15 and the other one is 23, but she is going to university at Windhoek at the moment – and apparently, she is a Ms Namibia contestant.

Needless to say, the past few days have been jam-packed with activities and so far I’ve been having a great time. I couldn’t ask for more at the moment. I’m doing the Peace Corps with a great group of other volunteers, I’m in a unique country, I’m learning a cool language, I’m with a safe family and I’m sure it’s all going to continue to get more interesting.

It starts...

The time has come. I begin my Peace Corps journey tomorrow morning and I thought now was a good time to start a blog. This is my first time blogging, so apologies all around if my posts don’t meet your expectations. Regardless, I thought this would be a good way communicate with family, friends and also any future Peace Corps volunteers (PCV) out there who wants to get the inside scoop of life in Namibia.

Before I go any further, let me just go over what I will be doing in Africa for those of you who have no idea. I am about to head out to Namibia for 27 months to serve as a PCV. Much of what I’ll be doing there is still to be determined, however, I will be a Small Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) volunteer. This means that my job title will be Small Business Advisor and/or Entrepreneurship Teacher Trainer. My tasks and duties are still unknown but I’m sure I will have a much better idea of what I’ve gotten myself into in the coming weeks.

The next couple of days are going to involve quite a bit of traveling. Tomorrow, I’ll be getting a train to Philadelphia for staging, which is a brief orientation for us PC newbies. Then, we’ll be busing to New York during the wee hours of Tuesday morning and then flying to Windhoek via Johannesburg. That rounds up to about 21 hours of traveling, excluding the long layovers!

Anyways, I must continue to pack and get some shut-eye before the big day tomorrow.

Later!