so sorry i haven't posted. i just got angry with peace corps cuz they yelled at me about a certain way i phrased a sentence, so i stopped writing for a while. but now i'm over it, and you guys are way more important than what peace corps thinks. so fuck it. :) i'm going to do this in 2 parts, cuz there is so much that has happened. here's the first tid bit:
September 17, 2011
Spent my 25th birthday in Botswana. It’s a pretty awesome place to be spending my 25th birthday, with good friends, who I now consider to be my family here. I love them. there was no place else I’d rather be on my 25th birthday. And there are a couple of people in particular that I owe a lot of thanks to for helping me plan and get it together and allowing me to use their places. Just hung out, and braiied. Thank you to everyone that came. And I wish that everyone at home could have been here to celebrate also. Perfect day…as much to my recollection. J Now I’m a quarter century old. L
September 22, 2011
People who know me, know that I can be a bit of a runner. There were a lot of things about LA that I just couldn’t do anymore. But since coming here, I’ve been able to gather a better picture of everything that I had and that I had left behind. Since coming here, I’ve grown to appreciate more of what I have. This was a huge goal of mine that I had for myself when I came here. I had everything in LA, but for some odd reason, I couldn’t pin point why I was so unhappy there. And now I really realize what I have. I have good friends. I have good family. I love my friends and family at home. They care. They are good people. I am a really lucky person to have all these people in my life. Tonight was one of those nights where I just reminisced and really missed everyone. I’ve had a lot of time think out here, and for once, it’s been constructive thinking instead of destructive thinking. I have really good people in my life, here and at home. And don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I didn’t know what I already had. But since coming here, I’ve really began to understand that. So please forgive me for taking so long to get to this point. You guys have always been there for me when I needed you. And you all still are. Thank you for standing by me and being patient. Thank you for being in my life. I’m so lucky to have you guys in my life. I wish I could give you all hugs and kisses right now. *HUGS AND KISSES* I LOVE YOU GUYS! (Sorry for being so corny) J
October 11, 2011
I am curled up in Lisa’s blanket, wearing Jordan’s shirt, and cuddling with Colin’s panda bear. I’m glad I took pieces of you guys.
October 30, 2011
So my 6th month here has been a blast. Can you believe that I’ve been gone for 7 months already?! Crazy…19 more months to go. What do you think? does that sound like a long time to you? I can’t quite decide on how 19 months sounds. Sometimes I think…shit that is a hell of a lot of time. But sometimes I think, that can go by pretty fast. BUT when I say June 2013, that’s when I’m like HOLY HELL that is a LONG ASS TIME from now.
November 21, 2011
Where the hell have I been? Well, kinda just around and out and about southern Africa. J Not gonna lie, there are days here where we wonder why the hell we are here, and what are we doing to make the world a better place. Most the time, it feels like I’m not doing shit. Sometimes I forget the reason why I even joined Peace Corps. But, hey, I’m still here. And it’s times when you get to see the world where it is a good reminder that I still have a pretty fucking awesome life.
First week of October we spent wandering around Namibia. We spent a few days in Windhoek and a few days in Swakopmund. Staying at hostels (but NOT in the states) are pretty awesome places to stay. There were so many others just traveling through Namibia from all over the world. When arriving to Windhoek, you feel like you’ve been dropped in a whole other world from Botswana. The city infrastructure is very similar to Western infrastructure. But also the variety of people that you encounter makes you forget that you are even still in Africa. It’s a lot harder to break the habit of saying mma and rra to everyone. They have large shopping malls everywhere. Cafes! We were so lost the first day we were in Windhoek. Stunned. We just wandered around the mall looking at shoes, eating sandwiches, and oggiling the supermarkets. Found a Hilton and went to the sky bar. Reminded me of the Standard in downtown LA. Realized we had lost all game with men. Paid $60 Namibian dollars for a drink (conversion of 1:8, US:Nam), where Tija’s martini apparently tasted like pencil shavings. We met a man named Brandon that managed to turn everything he or anyone said into a joke. I don’t think I’ve spent such an extended period of time just continuously laughing. We had numerous men fall for one of us, always the same person, multiple men, and she had no idea how it had happened. Apparently African men love her. We ate everything in sight. Luckily, I was on steroids at the time, so I was a bottomless pit (though very unfortunate on my bank account). While is Swakopmund we went quad biking…on fucking sand dunes. It was one of the most awesome things I’ve done. I mean, how many people have gone quad biking on African sand dunes. It was amazing. We looked like we were in Mario kart, and we were the players. I rode up dunes as high as I could, sometimes lost control a bit, but came back straight. Maybe I am a bit of an adrenaline junky. We just biked around the sand dunes for 2 hours. We even went “sandboarding” but really just sand sledding. You find a polished thick cardboard, and slide down huge sand dunes. Unfortunately for me I have never gone sledding before on snow, so i had no idea how to control my sledding. Lol. I ended up flipping around…FACING the dune. Lol. Honestly, just being there made me wish it was my life. To just take people on quad biking tours, and teaching people how to surf. It’s the ultimately bummers dream. Sigh, but no, had to go back to Botswana and attempt to make some sort of contribution to the world. Anyways, on a list of the most awesome things I’ve done, this was second on my list, quad biking on African sand dunes (first, is flying a plane, third, is skydiving…which I’m planning on doing in Cape town for new years. J ya, pretty awesome life).
For Halloween, instead of celebrating, we camped and saw rhinos…IN THE WILD. Can you imagine? Rhinos just romping around free to go as they please. They waddle. They are adorable. Apparently, the mothers kick out their elder children to live on their own, once a new one is born. So sometimes the stragglers pair up together and running around together. we were only able to see the white rhinos, but on the premises they have black rhinos too, they are smaller than the white rhinos and way more endangered. Sad I didn’t get to see them, but still pretty cool tidbit. i also saw a giraffe…they walk funny. We saw a lot of types of boks, we saw a ton of wildebeest, a ton of pumbas or warthogs, an animal called the red-hearted beast. Some pretty cool things to look at. The animals that I still want to see are zebras, cats, and hippos. Someday soon, hopefully.
I have spent the last month at site, helping a woman at the NGO that I help at with building her house. More like supervising, but some of my efforts have been put into that wall. I learned how to make a pit latrine and I learned how to plaster. It’s all very interesting. The house is done, and we are going to have an official opening. I guess I should go into the story about this woman. Her name is Ditshego and she is a part of the NGO that I help with. She is HIV positive, a widow, raising 9 children, one which is only 5 months old (I was there when the baby was born, his name is Aeobakwe…I am going to steal him he is so adorable). Her husband had passed or as they say here, her husband is late. She is the chairperson of the HIV positive support group that is held at Home Based Care (the NGO). She is open about her status. Her walls were crumbling, her door was barely attached to the hinges, the windows were all cracked, no furniture, she had no pit latrine, and no running water. It is a 2 room house and in need of much repair. Donations were given by some of the business throughout Bobonong, while Home Based Care has contributed to most of the funds for the house. By the end of project, we have all the walls new plastered, inside and out. She has new tin roofing. She has a pit latrine, that is also painted inside and out. She has a new standpipe for her yard, which means she now has running water for her family. She has new doors and no broken windows. One of the peace corps volunteers that is based here in Bobonong with me put all the funds and the project together. She helped track down materials, workers, funds, furniture, donations. She even helped set up Ditshego’s garden. Ditshego is a very happy volunteer, and very proud of her new house. I do love house building. J
December 1, 2011
8 months here. 18 months left to go! This is what my nights now look like:
1) I come home to take a bath. I fill the tub with warm/hot water…warm/hot because the pipes have made the water hot, and cold water cannot be found. I dump a tray of ice cubes in the bath. And if it’s really bad, I get two large 2 liter frozen water bottles, unscrew the cap, and pour frozen water out of the bottles as it melts. I sit in the bath tub for about an hour or two. And no, even with all that cold water, it is still fucking hot.
2) I’ve stopped eating at night, it is just toooooooo fucking hot to cook anything. So I end up eating crackers or something.
3) I curl up under my mosquito net because anywhere else the bugs are attacking me. Point my fan directly at my head. Gather 3 frozen water bottles, 2 big ones, and one little one. The little one goes in my pillow under my neck. A big one goes around my legs. And I cuddle with the other one. Yes, my life has come to me cuddling with…a frozen water bottle.
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