Peace Corps is Namgood

I wrote this post a few days ago but haven’t been able to wake up at 1 for internet before now. So it’s a little outdated but still good, don’t worry.
Hello again! Now that I have internet I can post blogs all the time…so exciting! Don’t get too used to it though because I’m not sure what my internet will be like at site since Kabbe doesn’t get the best cell reception. I kind of have to stand in one corner of my hut to hear anything, which is kind of creepy because I don’t like to stand in my hut in the dark just in case there might be lizards and snakes and things running around my feet. Eek.
Well I’ve been back from site visit for 2 weeks and now I have less than 2 weeks until I leave for my permanent site, which is insanity. On the one hand I’m ready for training to be over because I am starting to get really tired of the sessions. Every morning we have 4 hours of language training which is extremely draining. Then after lunch we usually have some kind of cross cultural or technical session, which are usually terrible because it’s 90 degrees, the presentations are given by Namibians who usually speak quickly and mumble, and they’re on subjects like the history of education in Namibia. It’s a struggle to stay awake. I think I’m going to be really sad when training is over though because I’m really going to miss the other PCVs in my group. I love the volunteers in Caprivi, so I’ll have awesome people to hang out with on weekends, but I’m really going to miss the folks from group 30 who are going to be all over the country and nowhere close to me. Time is really going by fast though! I’ve been in Namibia for 6 weeks already. Only 2 years to go…
For the past 2 Saturdays we haven’t had any training sessions so we decided to free hike down to Windhoek to do a little shopping and eat some great food. We found the best Indian restaurant in Windhoek last week which I am definitely hitting up every time I’m in town, and then we went to the movies and saw Up. I’m going to miss going to the movies once I get to site…it’s one of my absolute favorite things to do. Getting back to Okahandja last week was quite an adventure. We didn’t want to spend money on a taxi, being poor volunteers who just spent about 10 days worth of PC allowance on Indian food and a movie, so we decided to free hike back to Okahandja. We left the mall at around 5 and started to walk to the hike point. We weren’t really sure where we were going so we followed signs to the B1 in Okahandja. We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and then realized that we were going the wrong way. Whoops. So we doubled back and walked and walked and walked some more, and realized we were cutting it pretty close by getting to the hike point so late. So we flagged down a car that dropped us off at the hike point and started attempting to wave cars down. The only ones that stopped weren’t going to Okahandja or were taxis that wouldn’t leave when we told them we didn’t want to pay for a ride (In weird PCV Nam talk: “But we are only volunteers, and we are not having money.”) Finally we started to get a little worried so we texted Raymond, our super dreamy safety and security officer and secret boyfriend of every female PCV in Namibia, for the number for a cab. I guess he got kind of worried that we were in Windhoek so close to nightfall because he asked where we were and said he was coming to find us. Well, the PC policy on free-hiking is “don’t do it” so we definitely didn’t want Raymond to know we were at the free hike spot so we started frantically walking to a spot that wasn’t the hike point, even though we were basically busted because there’s nothing in that part of Windhoek except the highway. As we started walking an open back bakkie (pick up truck) pulled over with 2 very nice drivers who let all 7 of us pile into the back. Well, if free hiking doesn’t exactly jibe with PC policy, riding in an open bakkie is also one of those “don’t do it” rules. We texted Raymond to tell him we “found a taxi” and just imagined what he would do if he rolled up and saw us pulling away in this open bakkie. He would break up with us for sure. PC policy or not it was a great ride and completed an awesome day.
Today the Peace Corps combi was driving down to Windhoek to drop off 2 current volunteers who are leaving in December for their COS (close of service) medical interviews, so we decided to take a ride with them and then free hike back, for no other reason than that we were bored in Okahandja and wanted some more food that’s good good and not just “Namgood.” Namgood is phrase used to describe food that would be mediocre at best in our normal lives in America, but here in Namibia we chow down with gusto. For example, today I stopped at Hungry Lion, a fast food restaurant, to get some soft serve ice cream. A small ice cream cone was N$2.40, so about 30 US cents. And even though it was supposed to be vanilla but it tasted like banana, and it had a texture that was not really akin to ice cream, it was one awesome ice cream cone: Namgood. We have all found that our standards have definitely been lowered. Food like processed cheese slices that we would never eat in the states are now beloved PCV staples, and volunteers even admit to breaking apart chicken bones to suck out the marrow like our Namibian host families. To be honest I think we would eat anything that was put in front of us. And Namgood doesn’t only apply to food. Namibian TV also falls into the Namgood category. Most volunteers have become obsessed Namibian soapies. I don’t even notice the weird dubbing of “Lorenzo’s wife,” and the acting seems really good now. Namgood.
So today we got some Italian food that was even American good. Like I said before as PCVs we eat anything that isn’t nailed down. I eat so much more here than I do in the states, which is ironic because most people feel sorry for you when you go into the Peace Corps and assume you’re going to come back to America emaciated. Not so. But, once I get to my village I’ll be eating nothing but buhobe and fish, which I’m sure I’ll grow to love in a Namgood way, but I won’t have junk food readily available. So I figure I might as well enjoy the ice cream and candy bars now… Oh and speaking of food I made chocolate chip cookies for my host family and they loved loved loved them. So if you ever find yourself baking for a Namibian definitely go for the chocolate chip cookies.