1 month down. 23 to go.

First off, just want to say sorry about not posting in a while. The reason being is that I feel like there hasn’t been all that much happening as of late. Work has been slow and static for me. For my coworkers, it has been frantic because they’ve been working on the quarterly reports and I haven’t able to help them with that because I’ve really only been here for a few weeks. If they needed help with a quarterly-quarterly report, then I may have been able to help out. But they didn’t. So I haven’t really done anything on the work front yet, but I’ve been told that I’ll be getting down to business this week.

I’m still living with a host family at the moment, even though I was told I’d only be here for a few weeks. Now, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my host family. They’re great and I really mean that. But after being told that you’d be moving out in 2-3 weeks, and a month later you haven’t, it makes it a little challenging to truly settle down and adjust. However, I have finally found a flat to move into, and if everything goes accordingly, then I should be in my new place this Saturday (but remember, in Namibia, plans fail to materializer). 

For this blog post, I thought I might as well write about my current living situation before I move on to my new abode. At the moment, I live with my host-mom, her sister, sometimes her husband, sometimes a couple of boys and sometimes a couple of girls. It honestly changes by the day and I never know who’ll be sleeping in the house on any given night, which I don’t mind at all. I enjoy meeting all sorts of people. Oh yea, three puppies also lived here for a few days, but now they have been banished to the village life. I got to name one of them. I named here Lola, after the telenovela show ‘My Heart Beats for Lola’. Gotta love them soapies that they constantly have playing here. The other two puppies were named Danger (a girl) and Fluffy (a boy).

Now as for my family, my host-mom Luanda and her sister Nunu (quick note- I’ve got no idea how to spell anyone’s name here, so everything is just a shot in the dark) are both great people. They always enjoy a good laugh and do their best to encourage me to speak their language, which I’m failing at miserably because I just don’t use it enough on a daily basis.

Morning  and Kambushe

This is Morning and Kambushe (remember, I’ve got no idea how to spell these). These two girls are adorable and are constantly giggling. They are both very intelligent and speak great English. They enjoy watching movies with me. I had an awkward moment with them the other night while we were watching Finding Nemo because in the opening scene *SPOILER ALERT* Nemo’s mom gets attacked by a barracuda. The next scene is in the future and Nemo’s mom isn’t there. Kambushe asks me “where is the mother’. Then we have an awkward pause and I reluctantly tell her that she got eaten… Yikes. Kambushe looked devastated and I actually thought she was going to cry. At least they enjoyed the rest of the movie. Luckily, the girls weren’t as distraught last week when we watched Mufasa die in the Lion King, but they saw that one coming. Besides watching movies and being ridiculous, the girls are constantly cleaning up the house and doing chores. It’s non-stop. I feel bad at times but they seem very used to it and I think it’s just a part of the culture here in Namibia.

Kowko with Lola and Junior with Fluffy

Changin' lives, for better or worse

Kowko being Kowko

These two kids are Junior and Kowko. These fellas are even more ridiculous than the girls. Kowko can be very quite at times and usually while I’m reading in the living room, he would sit in the chair opposite me and just stare at me. I’d laugh and ask him what he’s looking at, and he’d keep staring without cracking a smile. It amuses me. Other times, Kowko is showing me his cartwheel skills or doing dances that resemble a drunken monkey. Strange kid haha. Junior is a little older and also speaks good English. The first time I met him, he seemed very sweet because he greeted me with a hug even though I had no idea who he was. Now, every time he sees me, he says “Give me your phone”. No please. No thank you. Just “Give me”. By the way, that seems like a very common thing here in Namibia, regardless of age, and I think that’s because they don’t have a word for “please” in their language. I don’t see the constant demanding as rude anymore because I realize that its just part of the culture. Anyways, besides Junior’s obsession with the games on my phone, he’s a really nice kid and is constantly intrigued by what I do, whether it’s reading my kindle, working on my laptop or playing my guitar. Whenever he sees my guitar, he says “I’m going to practice now” and then he begins to thwack my guitar. At least he seemed generally interested by the guitar because from what I’ve gathered, no one plays a musical instrument in this country!

A part from my family, the other kids in my neighborhood are really nice. Ever since they saw me ride my bike home from work, they are always riding around my area with their bikes too. Also, the neighborhood kids are just as demanding as Junior. Some would say “let me ride your bike now” or “give me your bread” while I’m eating bread in front of them. I’ve gotten used to it and I just give in now. 

So, that’s basically been whats up lately and I’ll try to keep y’all updated once I move into my new pad next week… hopefully.

 

All the kiddies, and yes... the boys are wearing vampire teeth...