Windhoek (1-2-16)

After 40 hours travel—door-to-door, with layovers in Dubai and Johannesburg and waiting for others at the Windhoek airport—I arrived at our hostel in Windhoek Monday evening. As we drove to the hostel, it was exciting to see our first view of Namibia—dry desert, distant mountains, rainstorm. Unfortunately, one of my bags didn’t arrive from Johannesburg. Thankfully, it was delivered to the hostel on Tuesday.

Our WorldTeach group consists of Rachel, the country director, and five volunteers—four women and one man. The others range in age from 23 to 28. We four women are in one room with two bunks and a single bed, which is mine, and not much floor space. The room has a bathroom, and there are two common bathrooms around the corner. We quickly worked out a system for using our limited space, and the four of us get along well.

Orientation started quickly, as Monday evening we had a brief meeting. The rest of the week, we had sessions from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM. These included information about the Namibian education system, culture shock, and teaching and lesson planning. I was so out of it that it didn’t matter that some of the information was not new to me. We also have 1.5 hours of language—Oshindonga—each day. These are taught by a local woman, Willbedone. She is pretty unorganized and her lessons are impromptu, making it challenging to get a sense of the language, but I did. Remembering it is another thing, but it’s good to have this basic introduction. We all share the responsibility for cooking dinner. Rachel cooked this first week, and pairs of us will prepare the rest of the meals.

After the first few days, my morning routine included a walk around the neighborhood before starting our sessions. I enjoyed going up a hill to see the view of the city and the distant mountains. Windhoek is surrounded by mountains in most directions. 

I also enjoy the trees, both familiar and new to me. 

One tree I was attracted to turned out to be a disguised satellite tower that blends in with the local scenery very well. 
















Since the altitude of Windhoek is a bit over a mile, it took a few days to be able to walk up the hills at my normal speed. The other adjustment was sleeping. For the first several nights, I slept only three hours consecutively, read for a while, and then slept for another 1.5 or two hours. As a result, I was sluggish most of the time. Fortunately, by Saturday I was able to sleep for six hours, but I was still tired overall.

Tuesday we all walked to the nearby mall, about twenty minutes, to buy SIM cards and personal items. We were instructed to purchase a sheet, towel, and pillow to take to our practicum next week. Like in Asian countries, only fitted sheets are used. Blankets are used as the top cover. I’ll purchase some fabric to use as a top sheet. (I should have brought the one I had in Thailand and China.)

Thursday was New Year’s Eve. For dinner, we had the special Namibian barbecue, our featuring chicken, beef, and eggplant. It is called braai, which is the name of the special seasoning on the foods. 

Later we walked to a free concert that was just past the mall. On the main street there were Christmas decorations on the light poles featuring a lion, a manger, an angel, and a native woman among other things. 

The concert featured several popular groups. Rachel was surprised—and disappointed—that no one was dancing, as they always dance at concerts. It was fun to hear the music, which I liked. 

At midnight there were a few fireworks. Nothing like Chinese displays, though, but fireworks are always fun. We left to return to the hostel shortly after midnight—no big partying for us, but it was fun to be there.

Friday we went to a restaurant, Xwami, which features local food. Willbe went along to order and to teach us how to eat Namibian style. The dishes were chicken, dried spinach that was reconstituted and cooked, fried caterpillars, and millet porridge and bread. 

The fried and seasoned caterpillars were big and fat and were quite tasty. The porridge is firm. You take a bit and make a ball that is used to scoop up other food—like the spinach. You eat with your right hand only, unless you are left-handed and announce to the group that you are left-handed so they know why you are eating improperly. Before the food arrived, the server brought around a pitcher of water and a bowl so we could wash our hands. After eating, this was repeated. No napkins are used.

After dinner, the sun was setting and we had a nice view of our first Namibian sunset from the upper level of the restaurant.

Money: Both the South African rand and the Namibian dollar are used interchangeably. ATM machines give South African rand.