On Saturday, the Medie students were picked up by a bus from Baobab, given a small tour around Gaborone and than met the Baobab students at the KFC at the Game City Mall. All of the students were given a kids meal and than they got a chance to walk around the mall together. It was interesting to see the kids interact with one another. I thought it was cute to see some of the girls getting squeamish when it came to riding up and down the escalators for the first time. At 2pm all the students watched “Gnomeo and Juliet” and at the end all the Baobab students gave the Medie students a small gift before they returned home. Overall the event was a success and Im really proud of my students for fundraising money (we had candy guess that raised over P500!!) and giving back to other students who are less fortunate than themselves.
Namibia: I spent a week in Windhoek and Swapomund, Namibia. I went with 3 other volunteers to celebrate 2 of their birthdays and our ONE year anniversary of being in Botswana. The week was full of fun activities and GOOD food!!
Sunday: Woke up early to catch the 7am bus from Gaborone to Windhoek! There is only one bus company that goes directly to Windhoek and it only ran Fridays and Sundays. Unfortunately we found out that despite the nice appearance of the bus, the seats were TINY and uncomfortable! We stopped about 4x and about 13 hours later we got into Windhoek! We stayed the night at the Cardboard Box Backpackers.
Monday: We got up early so that we could go pay for the brewery tour (which we would be going on when we came back through Windhoek on the way back), figure out bus tickets back to Gabs, and to get on a combi to Swakopmund. The ride from Windhoek to Swakop was about 4.5 hours. We dropped our bags off at the Villa Weise, had lunch down by the beach, explored a little bit of the town and tried to set up our activities for the week. The main reason the 3 other volunteers were going to Namibia was to sky dive and celebrate 2 birthdays and our 1 year anniversary in Botswana. I decided right before we called..that I would jump too! However, we found out that the skydiving companies were closed for a bit due to an accident that occurred; requiring them to re-do their rule/safety books. We were all pretty bummed...but I guess things happen for a reason.
Tuesday: We got up early and were picked up by Outback Orange for our 2-3 hour quad biking and sand boarding adventure out on the dunes! Quad biking was sooo much fun!! Even though I was definitely a little scared and didn’t go as fast or as high as the others...it was still really cool! We would ride right up the side of the dunes and back down again. We got to a certain spot and got off our bikes so that we could go sand boarding for a bit. I really wanted to try the standing kind of sand boarding (like snow boarding) but since we did the combo package with quad biking...only the lying down kind of sand boarding was available). We were definitely nervous since you were so high up on the dune and looking straight down! The boards were like cardboard (but tougher) rectangles and waxed on the bottom. When we went down, we went about 1/2 way up the next dune...and climbing back up was NOT so fun! haha talk about OUT of shape! We were so tired, we only went down one more time. Than we headed back out on our quads and back to our starting point! We ate lunch at a place called the Garden cafe and than hung out at the beach for a bit. Even though we knew the water was freezing...three of us decided to jump in. It probably wasn’t the smartest move since none of us had towels but we just stood in the sun and dried out. That night we went to a restaurant called The Tug, which was SOO good! All 4 of us indulged in some amazing wine, dinner and dessert!
Wednesday: We were picked up early at our hostel and brought to Walvis Bay for our “ocean safari/dolphin cruise.” We saw some really big, pelican like birds and seals. We saw a TON of seals...but no dolphins! One of the wild seals even came up on the boat; and “popeye” even sat on me!! haha by the end of the trip we were feeding them fish out of our mouths! It was my friend, Mary’s birthday so that night we went out for italian food and drinks. I had an amazing calzone that was just about the size of my head!! We kept trying to find night life in Swakopmund, but it was pretty close to non-existent...but we made it our own and had a lot of fun.
Thursday: This was our last day in Swakopmund, and we mostly shopped around and ate food. We found a great cafe type place with good food and great gelato!! haha sorry for the detailed accounts of food...but it was definitely one of the main events of our trip! Than I actually got a massage--which was amazing! (Ive been having some frequent headaches; and I believe its from stress and tension in my neck and back. The masseuse told me I definitely had knots and tension in my back and neck, and recommended I try to get massages more frequently.) After I got my massage, we did some shopping down at the local craft vendors. I got a copper bracelet and a wooden mask...thanks to Rachel who knows how to bargain well!! That night we had our last meal in Swakop at the Lighthouse.
Friday: We took the combi back to Windhoek and made it back (a little late) for our Camelthorn Brewery tour. The tour was kind of lame, but the beer and food was great! It was so nice to have a good quality beer, aside from our black labels in Botswana. It was my friend, Rachel’s birthday so we went to a really nice place called NICE (which was actually a restaurant where students from the Namibian Institute of Culinary Excellence cooked and could get experience at...and all I wanted to do was jump back there and start cooking).
Saturday: We took the day to explore Windhoek a bit and to do some more craft shopping. The lady from the brewery tour told us she would be at a place in the city; so we went and had lunch at a cafe with jazz music and she gave us free beer! That night we just hung out at our hostel--which was bumpin! We met 2 girls from Scotland and England and a couple of Americans; and I also happened to run into the young girl from Germany that I volunteer with at SOS.
Sunday: Woke up around 4am to be on our bus back to Gaborone. Since we all learned our lessons from the ride to Namibia--we all got window seats and found this ride back to be somewhat bearable. Rachel came back to my place that night, once we got back to Gaborone and I had one day till I had to be in Kanye for PST to see the new group of volunteers. And of course-the one day I had it was raining so I had to pack my wet clothes and make my way down to Kanye!
PST: Before I left for Namibia, a new group of volunteers (Bots 10) came to Botswana!! Since I am a PSDN member, I went down to Kanye for their PST (Pre-Service Training) for the past 1.5 weeks. Two PSDN members are present each week of their PST to provide support and answer any questions the new volunteers may have. Its definitely a weird feeling, especially not being the "newbies" anymore and being able to say I’ve been here for a year now. It feels like yesterday that I was the shy newcomer asking all the questions and soaking up all the answers.
The other PSDN member-Parisa and I were there this week for various sessions, their first LPIs, we led the Diversity session, and theyre off to go shadowing this week. The diversity session we planned turned out to be a success. We asked the trainees what kinds of challenges various groups may encounter here in Botswana. This included challenges faced by women, LBGT, black americans, asian americans, married couples, senior volunteers, young volunteers, etc. We concluded our session with a diversity circle, which helped trainees and volunteers discover similarities and differences among themselves as a group.
Im anxious and excited to see where the new volunteers will be placed; but also sad to see the Bots8 volunteers leave! Ive made some great friends and sad that its almost time to say goodbye.
Im glad to be back in Tlokweng after so much traveling...
For the next couple of weeks, I'll be leading 3 sessions of a team building workshop for the prefects and head boys/girls at a primary school in Tlokweng with Mary; having my teen club meetings; getting my 2 JSS libraries ready for the Botswana Book project; and heading to Takotokwane for a team building workshop.
To see more pictures from my Namibia trip: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.997741989969.2511074.7813917&l=a3576c1bba
And more pictures of my events: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.900916723579.2502843.7813917&l=cd2e5f4b5f
Next up: Work here in Tlokweng, back down to Kanye for PST, and before I know it...MST (Mid-Service Training)!!!!
