Christy in Namibia - Peace Corps

Hi again! It’s been a very nice week here in Okahandja. Last weekend, we went to Windhoek (the capital) for a field trip on Saturday. Last week’s post was long enough, so I thought I’d include it in this week’s! The trip was a ton of fun. We took a coach bus down there and went to the Hero’s Memorial, commemorating the fallen heroes in the battle for Namibia’s independence. This past Wednesday was Heroes’ Day, a national holiday, so they were busy preparing for events that were going to take place at the memorial on Wednesday. We then went to a mall in Windhoek to pick up any items we needed and to eat lunch. The mall was insane ! It was a very fancy indoor mall, largely reminiscent of Northbrook Court (except with stores that were actually affordable). I got a salad for lunch and was ecstatic to see so much green! The salad also had half an avocado on it, which of course made me SO happy! (Side note: I think I almost cried when I first saw avocados in the grocery store here. So h...

Hi all! It’s been a busy week here in Okahandja! I wrote this in pieces over the past week, so my apologies if it’s a bit disjointed! Language Assignment My language assignment is Oshindonga! I’m really excited about this assignment. Oshindonga is “a Bantu language spoken in Namibia and parts of Angola. It is a standardized dialect of the Owambo language, and is mutually intelligible with Kwanyama, the other Owambo dialect with a standard written form. With 281,500 speakers, the language has the largest number of speakers in Namibia. ” (Thank you, Wikipedia!) I’ll be up in Owamboland, the region of the country where Oshiwambo languages are spoken. It’s also referred to as O-land for short! It’s in the north, closer to the border with Angola. I’ll most likely be placed in a rural area in O-land. Check out this map which shows where in the country O-land is! Owamboland-- my new home! Host Family My host family is absolutely wonderful! My host parents are ...

Hello friends and family! Here’s my first blog post from Namibia—sorry for the delay! Things have been going very well here in this first week. We are through orientation week and are about to begin PST (Pre-Service Training) in earnest. During PST, we are all referred to as Trainees and it isn’t until October 15 th , when we swear in, that we officially become Peace Corps Volunteers, or PCVs. There are 52 of us in my training class! This first week was a bit slow going. We had a couple half days with training and some easier sessions. We had been told beforehand that PST would be very intense and exhausting, so that’s what we all expected and were a bit surprised when it was so relaxing! But I know that once we begin language instruction next week, we’ll be longing for the slower pace. Here are some of the highlights from this week: -seeing giraffes off of the side of the highway on the drive to Okahandja -getting a tour of Okahandja and seeing all the different nei...

Hi all! I am so excited for this next adventure to begin-- thank you for all of your support and shared excitement through this long process! I am so excited to depart in a few short days and begin training in Namibia and become a Peace Corps volunteer in October!  In this post, I'm going to answer a few FAQs. Q: Where is Namibia? A: North of South Africa, on the western coast. See map below. Q: What is the capital of Namibia? A: Windhoek. Q: What's the weather like in Namibia? A: Short answer: it varies. Greatly! It can get up to ~105F in the summer (which is during North American winter) and can get quite cold in the winter as well. Overnight, it can freeze in the winter, though temperatures rise during the day. I have been told that the coldest it generally is during the daytime is 55F. (However, no houses/schools have insulation in Namibia, so that means your entire existence is at that temperature-- makes 55 sound a bit colder, doesn't it?)  ...