Well, I finally made it to Africa. After a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, a 5 hour layover, and a 2 hour flight to Windhoek (the capital of Namibia), I made it to my destination. My greetings to the country, however, was not one that I expected. Despite an hour yelling/crying saga with the Namibian immigration official, I was only granted a one week visa, not the 6 month work visa that I applied for. How this was possible, I do not know. With entry into the country at least, me and a few other volunteers met our field director and went to the hostel where we were staying. The 30 minute drive was spectacular. From that short drive I was already able to see the beautiful landscape of the country.
That night I met the 12 other volunteers who would be in Namibia, had a quick dinner, then quickly fell asleep from exhaustion. The next morning we began our orientation by going into the city. I exchanged money, got a namibian cell phone, and ultimately worked out my visa situation (so all is good now!). At night we went to the bottle shop (liquor store), and a few of us played Kings and watched the laker/celtics game (from the night before)with a few Namibians, (ha not very different from a night at BU). However, once I travel to my village, the experience will be much different, as the electricity is sparing, the tap water is unsafe to drink, and the area is not developed.
Right now, I am currently writing this from my blackberry (crazy right?)
K, off to start another day of orientation.
Scott
Had me excited for a minute - thought you were going to be home in 6 days!
ReplyDeleteSounds like it is off to an interesting start.
Post some pictures too please.