Metahazeni!

Hello Everyone! First, I would like to thank all of you who have visited my blog and left comments for me! You have no idea how much that means. I'm really sorry I haven't been able to update this as much as I would've liked during orientation. It's been pretty crazy.

I have 13 minutes of internet left, so I have to make this quick unfortunately. We did our teaching practicum last week. We were in a small village teaching random classes at the Eendejo Secondary School. The school is a hostel school and we lived on the school grounds. The conditions were not so great, but I loved it! The kids that we taught were gathered from the surrounding community (because it was their summer vacation). It was truly amazing to see kids come to school all week really wanting to learn when they were on holiday. I had the privilege of teaching Grade 8 boys with a fellow volunteer and we definitely fell in love with them. I brought a soccer ball, or football as some of the kids call it, and that was a huge hit. I even got to play some barefoot soccer (which resulted in amazing blood blisters) and scored a few goals playing against about 35 Namibian children varying in ages from 7-18. I'm improving my JV soccer skills, too. :)

Aaaahhh, I don't have much time left. I could write and write and write! I leave on Saturday morning (8 a.m. Namibia time, 1 a.m. US Eastern Time) for my site and will not have cell phone service there. I will have access to cell phone service on the occassional weekend that I leave town. So, I guess just try to call on weekends and hope that I am in a decent sized town. :)

Oh, and here is a link from the radio interview I did just before I left.

http://www.weol.com/6/6A/morningshowwo122908.html

Scroll down to December 30th and there is a link to my interview. Oh, and it says I'm from Avon Lake on the page (not true, I lived there, but am not from there).

Until next time, much love to you all!

My digits

I got my phone today and here is the number:

011 264 81 419 5846

Those are all the country codes and what what that you need to dial to reach me. Oh, and I apologize for a faulty link in my first blog from Namibia. Here is a better one for calling cards (thank you Samantha):

http://speedypin.com/phone/cards/Namibia+-+Cellular

Remember, it's free for me to receive calls, so hit me up! :) Just remember that I am 7 hours ahead of Eastern Time.

Peace. Love. Respect.

When in Rome...I mean, Namibia

Last night was by far the best "Namibian Experience" of the trip so far. We went to a traditional Herero restaurant named "Otjikaendu Den" (don't ask me how to say that). Anyways, I really wish I could post pictures on here right now so you could see the yumminess that I devoured last night. Instead, I'll just have to tell you that my meal consisted of goat intestines, goat and lamb chops, goat cheek, goat tongue, goat ear, and goat eye (yes, goat EYE. I popped it out and ate it up). It was actually pretty good. You should try it sometime. :)

Alright, that's my super fun update for now. We head to the North tomorrow for a week of teaching practicum. I'm not sure if I will have internet access or not, but I will update as soon as possible.

Sending all my love from Namibia.

HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM NAMIBIA!!

Wishing you a very Happy New Year from "The Biggest Internet Cafe in Africa" in Namibia. :) It has been an amazing first couple days. All 31 volunteers are some of the best people with the most positive, loving energy. We rang in the New Year in "Jo-Burg" South Africa and we definitely rang it in with a bang! :) Good times from day 1.

Right now, as I've been for most of the past couple days, I am fairly speechless about this experience. We just started orientation, and it's going to be very busy for the next couple weeks, but I am looking forward to every bit of it. We are heading up north on Monday for a week of teaching practicum and will also get a chance to go on a Game Drive through Etosha National Park. I'm REAL jacked about that! It's going to be awesome. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures of the giraffes, zebras, elephants, and hopefully a lion! We are going to our sites on Saturday, January 17th and start teaching on Monday, January 19th. I can't wait to get to my site. I DEFINITELY am in the most remote area out of all the volunteers. Everyone else has electricity and at least decent cell phone service. Ha! Who needs that? I am pumped to have the moon as my light and to use the 1 phone in the village at the building with the generator.

Bee Tee Dub (by the way), it's about 90 degrees in Windhoek (pronounced Vind-Hook) today. Also, I went for a run with 4 other volunteers and the owner of the hostel (think muscular running African man and that's him) and nearly died. I joked with the rest of the runners that they were Varsity and I was representing the JV squad (along with another slowy joey like me). I hope to continue this running trend, even if it's the end of me. :)

Alright, I have to go. I only have a few more minutes of internet. I do not have a phone yet, but I will get one in the next couple days. It is MUCH cheaper for you to call me (when I have service, that is). It's actually free for me to receive calls, even from the States). You can get good deals on calling cards on speeypin.com and pinonline.com (i think that's the name).

I hope you're all well and enjoying the new year. This is an amazing start to 2009 and have had wonderful moments (albeit fleeting moments) of true enlightenment on several occassions already. This is really happening. I am still in a bit of shock.

One World.