I have managed to secure a successor. The one problem, he has never touched a computer. Computing 101 as taught by Professor Woodruff. This could be interesting. Tomorrow’s lesson: The Parts of a Computer. Anyone have any lesson plan ideas?
Tree Sleeper
The Tree Sleeper campsite is located in Tsintsabis which is about 60km north of Tsumeb. A fellow volunteer has been responsible for rehabing the site and I have to say he has done an excellent job so far. We arrived and setup our tents…Mark and I shared a tent…looked pretty small, but was a breeze to setup. We all retreated to the tree stand and shared some libations (gin and tonic) and sang some tunes…apparently the drinks are a useful way of avoiding malaria I am told by my british vols…it’s somewhat true. Dinner that night consisted of much better local food than we were served earlier in the week. We had some Kudu (basically some form of antelope type animal), some Pap (corn meal porridge), vegetable stew, breadsticks on actual sticks, roasted corn and some bananas with chocolate. All was excellent this time around…one form of Kudu kind of tasted like that beef jerky stuff you buy in a tobacco tin…both great in theory but not so much in practice. The rest of the night was filled with frequent trips to the men’s room and sneaky farts…did I mention I love camping?
The next day was great because I was the last person to wake up by about an hour and everyone had already eaten. Hurried cleansing and breakfast led to the Bushman’s Hike…this is where I shine. Well…it wasn’t exactly a hike as more of a walk…well…a five steps and listen trip. My initial impression was not the best, but when they taught me how to snare chickens in the wild I was sold. This was followed by how to catch elephants and how to tell the difference between a nice lion and one who wants to eat things that rhyme with me. As Dylan pointed out…just have to run faster than the guy next to you. Traditional fire making skills were shown…very cool.
Next was a tour around Tsintsabis. Little known fact…it’s in the middle of nowhere. Another one…9 out of 1800 people have jobs in Tsintsabis proper. Last one…some bearded guy in dirty pants loves orange soda and hanging out with tourists. It’s hot in the sun here so shade is appreciated.
The trip was finished up with my purchasing overpriced souvenirs and eating tuna fish sandwiches which I never eat, but for some reason they sounded good…they were. I realized I never purchased anything Kenyan while in Kenya so I decided to buy some stuff and at this rate I should have roughly 2 tons worth of useless crap after 6 months…hope you all like Namibian trinkets in your stockings.
JB Learns some Swahili
Habari za jioni? Good evening. The Swahili studies are going well and I’ve found it’s been fairly easy to learn the basics in just two days of study. The remainder of our orientation will be dedicated to learning some practical skills for working in the country as well as some safety and health practices. I just want to know how I can join a football club and start getting some exercise…I don’t think it’s possible to just go running down the streets here.
We’ve been able to leave the training compound to go to the pub down the street at night to grab some national Tusker beers…pretty good…no alcohol in the Methodist guest house. Speaking of which, I woke up this morning to some singing outside where a group of people were being baptised in the pool…yes, Kenya has swimming pools.
Everyone around us have been helpful in practicing the language and learning about the culture and politics…so far, most people say things are fairly corrupt. I think I’ll stay out of those conversations for now.