Windhoek Weekends

Tomorrow, we will be leaving the capital and will be heading down to our project in Tses, but it's been a fantastic introductory weekend in Windhoek. Highlights include a tour of the city's townships, a visit to Joe's Beerhouse to sample some local game and a second early birthday party in the hostel. Less appealing was an terrifying encounter with a cricket in the shower and the departure of our partners-in-crime, our fellow volunteers, as they left for Otjiwarango this morning. Photos below are from yesterday's tour of the city.

Soweto Market

Myself, Jake, Caitlin and James try some of the local meat

Someone's lost their trainers.....

Penduka, a project that offers disadvantaged women and disabled people a job in recycling and manufacturing crafts.

The view over the reservoir at Penduka.

The Day After "Tomorrow"

First and foremost, before my nearest and dearest start panicking that the title of my first Namibian blog entry is the same as a famous disaster movie, I feel I need to get a few things straight. No, there were no tidal waves at any point during the journey. No, there was no panic-induced sheltering in public libraries. Essentially, no, our journey did not resemble a disaster movie in the slightest.

After many hours in Heathrow's Costa with James and Jake (two other PT volunteers who will be based in the north west), we finally boarded our flight to Johannesburg and left British soil for the last time in months. The plane was only half full, so we were able to get away quite promptly and spread out a little bit to sleep overnight. A short flight to Windhoek followed this morning, which was no problem, but the process of boarding this flight only served to confirm what we suspected we already knew about African air travel.

African airports are a bizarre business. Where most airports are very strict about each specific plane having a very specific gate to pull in to for its passengers to very specifically end up in the right place at the right time, Africa simply doesn't work that way. Instead, the planes land, find room somewhere on the tarmac, and essentially tip everyone out in the middle of the space - how anyone actually gets anywhere within the airport is left up to a fleet of very dedicated but very squashed shuttle buses. Strange though it may be, it must work somehow, because I'm writing this from our hostel in Windhoek - arrival successful!

Albeit  that I am absolutely sure this country will teach me so much over the next few months, it's already made a real impression. The drive from the airport was quite unlike anything else I've ever seen- flat, dusty bushland contrasts with rugged orange hills and a bright azure sky, with only one straight road that stretches into the horizon. In the city, even the  red and green men on the pedestrian crossings have given up trying to fight with the constant streams of traffic that have little patience for anyone else; the beeping of car horns forms a continuous dialogue, almost like a language in itself; and already, it is quite clear that I have the pastiest, peely-wally-est legs ever known to sub-Saharan Africa. Hopefully the 30+ temperatures and constant sun can do something about that by the next time I update the blog!

Bon Voyage!

That's it. Done. After 3 days' effort, lots of squashing and numerous "oh s*@!$- WHERE'S MY PASSPORT?!!??!!" moments, 7 months has been squeezed into a rucksack and is ready to go. The size of it is infuriatingly deceptive - it's so enormous that I've no idea how I'm going to lift the damn thing, but despite its titanic size, there's still not enough room to hold all my stuff without lots of pushing and pulling with the zips (let alone have space for everything I want to take). Shame. It's too big for the bathroom scales, so I'm just hoping it's under 23kg. Very, very desperately hoping.

I fly to London at 10.35am tomorrow, and will be on the 6.05pm flight to Johannesburg. We'll land in Windhoek, Namibia's capital, at lunchtime on Friday. On Monday, our host from the school will be coming to pick us up and take us to what will be our new home until August.

It seems crazy that after months of saying "January", "January", "January" whenever I think/others ask about it, it's tomorrow. As in, less than 24 hours. It all kicks off TOMORROW. I'd just like to say thank you so very much to my friends and family for all of their support, sponsorship and enthusiasm for what I'm doing here: soppy, I know, but I can't leave without saying so. Thank you dearly, farewell, and I'll post again once I'm on the other side of the world.

Swapping Glaswegian puddles for Namibian deserts

Heard back from my desk officer and representative yesterday, and I'm delighted to be able to say that Caitlin and I will be going to Nowak Primary School in Tses, southern Namibia. It is a school of about 500 pupils aged between 6 and 16, just over an hour north of Keetmanshoop. We will be the first PT volunteers at the project, but there are apparently also some German volunteers there at the moment, which will be very helpful and it will be nice to have extra company. As with Rwanda, we will be teaching English to the students, but their application has also requested that we have a look at teaching staff and other members of the community.  There's also a request for us to work with extra-curricular activities for the students, so I'm really looking forward to the opportunities that that will undoubtedly bring. No idea how I'll manage the 37-degree heat (sunburn and I are old friends), but with a project like this in a country that boasts views like these, I haven't a complaint in the world.