Here are some photos of Namibia. Here's the thing, I could say the pictures are from "Namibia", but they can very well just be from southern Utah.
The first is me attempting to be a photographer. Chad was our resident photographer in Namibia. We were in Namibia and I saw this giraffe way out there and birds happened to fly by at the exact time I snapped the photo.
The next is me in the Katatura informal settlement. I had the camcorder viewfinder flipped around so they could see themselves. Susan and Lynn are in the background too.
Dune 7 or the sand dune that sits tall at 1,256ft, proved to be a tall sand dune err, tallest sand dune. This is us climbing up it. It can be like a where's Waldo deal... where's Emily?
Last one is me quading in the Namib. That day was one of the best days in my life. It was a good day! For being a desert, it cools down pretty quickly, especially being on a quad.
As for me right now, the jet lag I think has gone away. Life is good. Terhi the Finn and I have been talking about working on our senior projects together. It's a done deal, we are so going to work on a project together! We are wanting to do something where she comes to the U.S. and I could go to Finland. As Mike told me, "the sky is the limit". I believe that to be true.
These coming semesters I will still be working with the archive. We are set up to do video conferencing and will continue to work together in the next coming months.
I know these emails are relatively short (some of them), but if anyone has any questions about anything, I can try and answer them as best I can to my knowledge. I sort of gave a brief overview of more of the Emily-meets-Africa aspect, but the culture and the people are just amazing. That right there is my best description of Namibia-- amazing!
Enjoy the photos.
Em
Friday, August 17, 2007
emLogs Namibia #12 Jet Lagged but with Clean Laundry - 08.05.07
By all accounts, I do believe I made it back to the U.S. in one piece. We err-- I didn't have any problems at any of the airports. Mike lost one of his pieces of luggage from Windhoek to London. Brandon seemed to red flag every security guard at all the airports.
The layovers were a lot shorter coming back then going there. In true Namibian fashion, they served us yet another bizarre breakfast of potatoes, baked beans, green scrambled eggs and a roll. The roll was tastey.
I did finish Harry Potter 7 and actually finished it as we flew over Provo. Yep, five minutes to spare! Good stuff there. But I won't say anymore than that.
As for my future endeavors, Mike told me, "the sky is the limit". Whether I go back to Namibia, I'm not sure. The Digital Media department requires two senior projects. The DNA Project is one and as for the other, I can safely say a Finn may be involved...
As for this monster jet lag, I am so messed up when it comes to time, it's laughable. I woke up at 5:30am and I am wide awake. But hey, I have clean laundry that smells nice and is soft. I am in a good place right now.
I hope everyone enjoyed these emLogs, because I sure enjoyed writing them and sharing of some of my random adventures. I hope to have more in the future.
Love always,
Em
The layovers were a lot shorter coming back then going there. In true Namibian fashion, they served us yet another bizarre breakfast of potatoes, baked beans, green scrambled eggs and a roll. The roll was tastey.
I did finish Harry Potter 7 and actually finished it as we flew over Provo. Yep, five minutes to spare! Good stuff there. But I won't say anymore than that.
As for my future endeavors, Mike told me, "the sky is the limit". Whether I go back to Namibia, I'm not sure. The Digital Media department requires two senior projects. The DNA Project is one and as for the other, I can safely say a Finn may be involved...
As for this monster jet lag, I am so messed up when it comes to time, it's laughable. I woke up at 5:30am and I am wide awake. But hey, I have clean laundry that smells nice and is soft. I am in a good place right now.
I hope everyone enjoyed these emLogs, because I sure enjoyed writing them and sharing of some of my random adventures. I hope to have more in the future.
Love always,
Em
emLog Namibia #11 Next Stop: Home - 08.02.07
I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I head back to the United States in five hours. I know I did stuff while I was here, but where did the time go?
Last night we had our American braai. Not just some hamburgers and hot dogs, I am talking BBQ ribs and garlic potato wedges. Nothing but the finest! It was so much fun just to have all the students that we had been working with so closely, to just cut loose and have fun.
It was hard to say 'goodbye' to some of the students that we've been working with. The rest of them we will have to do the same later today. Ugh, it's never fun to say 'goodbye', that's why it will just be easier to just give a little, 'see ya later'.
The sleep deprivation is slowly catching up to us. But I did offset that with a long, looooong nap yesterday. At lunch-- which by the way was livers and onions. I cut the liver, I even put a little cooked onion on there for flavor and got it in my mouth. It got chewed half way and then I had to abort that plan. I don't know if it is liver in general or that it was African liver, but ugh, I had just shovel down mashed potatoes to get the taste out of my mouth! Not a fan of liver and onions, give me kudu any day.
Well, Chad and I were pretty dead, so we crashed in the spare room (spare 'oom) for the afternoon. I think all of us, with the exception of Jon, have been running entirely on fumes. All of us I think are ready to get home. I am looking forward to eating ketchup and not tomato sauce. I am also looking forward to saying 'napkin' without getting looked at funny by people. Seriously, I don't know how many embarrassing moments I've had because of that.
The plan for today is do whatever we want, just be back by 4pm. We will be saying our last goodbyes and then head to the airport. After that, it's back tracking to Gatwick in London then to JFK in NYC. We will be dropping off Susan there and then we all head to Salt Lake City.
I think we've all become a lot closer this trip. This was life changing to say the least. I definitely think we will all remain friends when we get back to the states (some more than others *ahem* not saying any more about that).
Well, this is me, signing off until I get stateside. I will do one last email for those who wondered whether I made it back or not. There is an off chance that I will change my ticket to some other spot in the world. I make no guarantees about me making it back to Salt Lake this weekend.
One's thing for sure, I've got this itch to go see the world. Perhaps, Espana...
Walalapa!
Em
Last night we had our American braai. Not just some hamburgers and hot dogs, I am talking BBQ ribs and garlic potato wedges. Nothing but the finest! It was so much fun just to have all the students that we had been working with so closely, to just cut loose and have fun.
It was hard to say 'goodbye' to some of the students that we've been working with. The rest of them we will have to do the same later today. Ugh, it's never fun to say 'goodbye', that's why it will just be easier to just give a little, 'see ya later'.
The sleep deprivation is slowly catching up to us. But I did offset that with a long, looooong nap yesterday. At lunch-- which by the way was livers and onions. I cut the liver, I even put a little cooked onion on there for flavor and got it in my mouth. It got chewed half way and then I had to abort that plan. I don't know if it is liver in general or that it was African liver, but ugh, I had just shovel down mashed potatoes to get the taste out of my mouth! Not a fan of liver and onions, give me kudu any day.
Well, Chad and I were pretty dead, so we crashed in the spare room (spare 'oom) for the afternoon. I think all of us, with the exception of Jon, have been running entirely on fumes. All of us I think are ready to get home. I am looking forward to eating ketchup and not tomato sauce. I am also looking forward to saying 'napkin' without getting looked at funny by people. Seriously, I don't know how many embarrassing moments I've had because of that.
The plan for today is do whatever we want, just be back by 4pm. We will be saying our last goodbyes and then head to the airport. After that, it's back tracking to Gatwick in London then to JFK in NYC. We will be dropping off Susan there and then we all head to Salt Lake City.
I think we've all become a lot closer this trip. This was life changing to say the least. I definitely think we will all remain friends when we get back to the states (some more than others *ahem* not saying any more about that).
Well, this is me, signing off until I get stateside. I will do one last email for those who wondered whether I made it back or not. There is an off chance that I will change my ticket to some other spot in the world. I make no guarantees about me making it back to Salt Lake this weekend.
One's thing for sure, I've got this itch to go see the world. Perhaps, Espana...
Walalapa!
Em
emLog Namibia #10 Final Days - 08.01.07
I can't believe I will be leaving for the U.S. tomorrow. This has been one of the fastest months of my life! What's strange about it, is I feel like I've been gone longer, just because we've been doing so much every day and we've accomplished so much while here.
Monday we had the press conference. We had a member of Parliament attend and he gave the keynote speech. It was quite cool to be involved with that. We did make it into one of the newspapers here, unfortunately they called our school "Utah Village State College" instead of Utah Valley University... only in Namibia!
Yesterday (Tuesday), my group went to meet with Werner the director of the Namibian archives to go over our cataloging system. We had no training wheels this time i.e. Mike. We found that our job isn't over just yet. We still need to refine the archivist process a little bit. This is great, because it means our group will continue working on it through this coming semester. We will be talking with Werner too. I'm hassling Mike to get a field trip to the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress!
The other night we also had dinner with Dr Tjevekua and his right hand lady, Dr Neavera. It was fun to see the President of the college in such an informal setting. Dr Neavera cooked springbok for dinner-- yum, oh so game-y!
Last night, Chad, Rodayne, Susan, Mike and me went to Joe's Beer House. It's this game restaurant and yes, bar too. I ate zebra, crocodile, ostrich, kudu and unfortunately chicken. My favorite would have to be the kudu. The croc tasted fishy and the zebra just tasted too gamey. Good times last night! We had a blast just going and kicking back at the ole beer house.
I swung by the Finn's apartment and Teppo named me to help him with his outline for his article. In fact, I had helped Terhi earlier with hers too. I've become a news editor while here.
Today we are going back to the kindergarten in Katatura. We will be doing service work and bringing them some of the supplies that we brought over from the states. I'm going to see if we can't get a soccer game going or something too.
It really is strange that this is our last full day. We kicked off our stay with a Namibian braai (bbq), it's only fitting that we leave with one last braai with the students tonight too. The party starts at 1pm and it will go on until... who knows when! It will be a good night that's for sure.
Good times indeed,
Em
Monday we had the press conference. We had a member of Parliament attend and he gave the keynote speech. It was quite cool to be involved with that. We did make it into one of the newspapers here, unfortunately they called our school "Utah Village State College" instead of Utah Valley University... only in Namibia!
Yesterday (Tuesday), my group went to meet with Werner the director of the Namibian archives to go over our cataloging system. We had no training wheels this time i.e. Mike. We found that our job isn't over just yet. We still need to refine the archivist process a little bit. This is great, because it means our group will continue working on it through this coming semester. We will be talking with Werner too. I'm hassling Mike to get a field trip to the Smithsonian and the Library of Congress!
The other night we also had dinner with Dr Tjevekua and his right hand lady, Dr Neavera. It was fun to see the President of the college in such an informal setting. Dr Neavera cooked springbok for dinner-- yum, oh so game-y!
Last night, Chad, Rodayne, Susan, Mike and me went to Joe's Beer House. It's this game restaurant and yes, bar too. I ate zebra, crocodile, ostrich, kudu and unfortunately chicken. My favorite would have to be the kudu. The croc tasted fishy and the zebra just tasted too gamey. Good times last night! We had a blast just going and kicking back at the ole beer house.
I swung by the Finn's apartment and Teppo named me to help him with his outline for his article. In fact, I had helped Terhi earlier with hers too. I've become a news editor while here.
Today we are going back to the kindergarten in Katatura. We will be doing service work and bringing them some of the supplies that we brought over from the states. I'm going to see if we can't get a soccer game going or something too.
It really is strange that this is our last full day. We kicked off our stay with a Namibian braai (bbq), it's only fitting that we leave with one last braai with the students tonight too. The party starts at 1pm and it will go on until... who knows when! It will be a good night that's for sure.
Good times indeed,
Em
emLog Namibia #9 Down and Dirty With Wildlife - 07.29.07
We got back from Etosha late last night. What is Etosha? It is a HUGE wildlife preserve that we went on safari to. We drove quite a bit in the north west-ish area to get there. The first thing to greet us in to the park was a beautiful giraffe. We then headed around the park and saw herds of zebra, springbok, oryx and silly ostrich.
Our campground was in the middle of the preserve and it was surrounded by a gate. Which was good because about 100 yards from our tent were the lions. We could hear them all night long on Saturday. I wasn't too worried, I figure if they tried to attack us, all I really need to do is out run at least one person.
The facilities aren't bad, there are showers and stuff. At one section of the camp area you can see a waterhole. We sat there for hours watching elephants, zebras and all that come and drink. It was so awesome to see the dynamic between all the animals. Elephants seem to rule the roost there. I saw about 15 elephants there drinking up everything. Two jackals were playing a little bit and that was fun.
One night sixteen giraffes came and drank too. That was pretty cool to see, just because they are so tall and lurpy. What we wanted to see more than all of those animals were the lions. We could hear them want to come to the waterhole, which got the giraffes really spooked. But the lions were late night drinkers, coming in around midnight to 2am any given night. We sat their with blankets and bunkered down waiting for them.
I had my camera out on my monopod waiting for a glimpse of them. Sleep decided to set in and I never was able to see them. Just for the record though, I was up really early and slept lousy, so I was already running off of very little sleep! I know, I know, what would National Geographic say to that?
On Saturday we drove around the park some more and we came across this enormous elephant. He saw us and started to flap his ears and looked like he was going to possibly charge our car. Needless to say, we didn't stay long. Etosha was incredibly flat. At night you can look from horizon to horizon with endless stars. It blew me away at the vastness of this place.
In fact, I thought I've been staring at the southern cross for the last few weeks, then Sam showed me where it was and I really looked at the southern cross for the first time. I hummed the Crosby, Stills and Nash song. But that was yet another thing I can check off of my Emily's Life To Do List.
The ride back was something else. Twelve hours of it were spent on bumpy dirt roads. Too bumpy to read 'Arry Potter and to bumpy to sleep. If I showed anyone pictures of where we were the reaction would be, "You went to southern Utah not Africa!" Seriously though, it looks like southern Utah.
Well, there is much more to tell and it's just too hard to write about. I'll have to do it in interpretive dance, just to do justice to it. Kidding, I figure some Etosha footage will be fun. We have a press conference in about an hour, so I will have to finish more about Etosha later. Ooh, something to peak your interest from my video footage... giraffes fighting!
Much love.
E
P.S. I now believe that zebras are white with black stripes.
Our campground was in the middle of the preserve and it was surrounded by a gate. Which was good because about 100 yards from our tent were the lions. We could hear them all night long on Saturday. I wasn't too worried, I figure if they tried to attack us, all I really need to do is out run at least one person.
The facilities aren't bad, there are showers and stuff. At one section of the camp area you can see a waterhole. We sat there for hours watching elephants, zebras and all that come and drink. It was so awesome to see the dynamic between all the animals. Elephants seem to rule the roost there. I saw about 15 elephants there drinking up everything. Two jackals were playing a little bit and that was fun.
One night sixteen giraffes came and drank too. That was pretty cool to see, just because they are so tall and lurpy. What we wanted to see more than all of those animals were the lions. We could hear them want to come to the waterhole, which got the giraffes really spooked. But the lions were late night drinkers, coming in around midnight to 2am any given night. We sat their with blankets and bunkered down waiting for them.
I had my camera out on my monopod waiting for a glimpse of them. Sleep decided to set in and I never was able to see them. Just for the record though, I was up really early and slept lousy, so I was already running off of very little sleep! I know, I know, what would National Geographic say to that?
On Saturday we drove around the park some more and we came across this enormous elephant. He saw us and started to flap his ears and looked like he was going to possibly charge our car. Needless to say, we didn't stay long. Etosha was incredibly flat. At night you can look from horizon to horizon with endless stars. It blew me away at the vastness of this place.
In fact, I thought I've been staring at the southern cross for the last few weeks, then Sam showed me where it was and I really looked at the southern cross for the first time. I hummed the Crosby, Stills and Nash song. But that was yet another thing I can check off of my Emily's Life To Do List.
The ride back was something else. Twelve hours of it were spent on bumpy dirt roads. Too bumpy to read 'Arry Potter and to bumpy to sleep. If I showed anyone pictures of where we were the reaction would be, "You went to southern Utah not Africa!" Seriously though, it looks like southern Utah.
Well, there is much more to tell and it's just too hard to write about. I'll have to do it in interpretive dance, just to do justice to it. Kidding, I figure some Etosha footage will be fun. We have a press conference in about an hour, so I will have to finish more about Etosha later. Ooh, something to peak your interest from my video footage... giraffes fighting!
Much love.
E
P.S. I now believe that zebras are white with black stripes.
emLog Namibia #8 No More Chicken - 07.24.07
Remember how we went swimming in the Atlantic Ocean this past weekend? What I didn't realize is that we were not alone there in the bay. Susan and Charmaine were on the other side of pier and then Susan noticed that there was a shark the size of a dolphin swimming in our direction. It must have smelled the bait the fisherman were throwing. Anyway, she didn't know we were swimming there in the ocean, it was pretty cold, so who would want to? Apparently there was a shark in that bay sometime that month already eating people (hehe). I didn't find out till after the fact, ah well, it made for a good laugh!
These last few days have been non-stop work. Well, that's not entirely true, we've played some too. Monday we went to the national archives to speak with Warner about their archiving/cataloging process. By the end of that session I think my brain completely shutdown. In fact, every time we sit down to work on the naming conventions, it becomes incredibly hard to focus. Maybe it's because it tends to be a boring part of the project. In fact, I'm bored just writing about it.
We have been discussing possibilities of how to properly name and organize a digital national archive. Today we will be writing up a proposal on all that. Now that it's almost the end we have something to do every evening. Next week is the press conference and then Mike will be on "Good Morning Namibia" that same day.
Speaking of press. Deseret News did a little story on us from July 19th I think. Anyway, here is the link for that:
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,695192542,00.html
As for the pop culture side of things, last night Susan, Ella and me went to a dinner and a movie. We decided to pick the perfect movie for a girl's night out--- Die Hard 4! I admit, I liked it.
Before hand, I was really wanting to buy Harry Potter 7. I haven't had time to go look for it and so we swung by the book store and there it was. Unfortunately it is the kid's version, so the cover is kind of stupid. What's most important is the story is the same. This will be my reading material for the plane trip home. The reality is, I will probably be dead asleep the whole 36 hours back.
After the movie we went to the Cattle Baron again. I don't know what I was thinking, chicken?! Why did I order chicken?! I swear, we eat chicken at least for two meals every day. Once I get home, I do not want to see another chicken for a long, long time!
This morning for breakfast we were served cream of wheat and fish sticks. Meal combinations seem to be getting progressively weirder. Ah well, what can you do? I tend to eat more bananas anyway. I probably have twenty pounds of potassium floating around in my body by now.
The rest of the week will be spent working on the project and then we will top it off with our jaunt to Etosha wildlife preserve. I've had a taste of the danger, so now I have this deep desire to see if I can touch a hippo...
Happy hunting.
Em
These last few days have been non-stop work. Well, that's not entirely true, we've played some too. Monday we went to the national archives to speak with Warner about their archiving/cataloging process. By the end of that session I think my brain completely shutdown. In fact, every time we sit down to work on the naming conventions, it becomes incredibly hard to focus. Maybe it's because it tends to be a boring part of the project. In fact, I'm bored just writing about it.
We have been discussing possibilities of how to properly name and organize a digital national archive. Today we will be writing up a proposal on all that. Now that it's almost the end we have something to do every evening. Next week is the press conference and then Mike will be on "Good Morning Namibia" that same day.
Speaking of press. Deseret News did a little story on us from July 19th I think. Anyway, here is the link for that:
http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,695192542,00.html
As for the pop culture side of things, last night Susan, Ella and me went to a dinner and a movie. We decided to pick the perfect movie for a girl's night out--- Die Hard 4! I admit, I liked it.
Before hand, I was really wanting to buy Harry Potter 7. I haven't had time to go look for it and so we swung by the book store and there it was. Unfortunately it is the kid's version, so the cover is kind of stupid. What's most important is the story is the same. This will be my reading material for the plane trip home. The reality is, I will probably be dead asleep the whole 36 hours back.
After the movie we went to the Cattle Baron again. I don't know what I was thinking, chicken?! Why did I order chicken?! I swear, we eat chicken at least for two meals every day. Once I get home, I do not want to see another chicken for a long, long time!
This morning for breakfast we were served cream of wheat and fish sticks. Meal combinations seem to be getting progressively weirder. Ah well, what can you do? I tend to eat more bananas anyway. I probably have twenty pounds of potassium floating around in my body by now.
The rest of the week will be spent working on the project and then we will top it off with our jaunt to Etosha wildlife preserve. I've had a taste of the danger, so now I have this deep desire to see if I can touch a hippo...
Happy hunting.
Em
emLog Namibia #7 I laugh in the Face of Danger - 07.22.07
I'm back from Swakopkund and have about 8 kilograms of sand in my pants and shirt (sorry, I am forced to use the metric system here). Anyway, by my email, I can tell you I am not dead.
First off, I went to Swakopmund which is a beach community on the west and only coast of Namibia. We have to drive through the Namib desert to get there, but eventually after driving on dirt roads we made it!
Friday we went and saw some cave paintings and that was a ball of excitement. We did however get to the coast and went to Cape Cross which is known for the huge sea lion colonies. It smelled pretty bad! But it was so cool to see the atlantic ocean and all the sea lions.There were also Jackals running around and so that was quite amusing to see those tiny little dogs. They're like african coyotes.
We went down to check in to our A-frame bungalows. Those were awesome, I could live in an A-frame house. Preferably at a ski resort. Anyway, Brandon and I had an early wake up call for paragliding off sand dunes. Here's the thing, I thought it was tandem. Nope, T.I.A. (This is Africa) we basically got a flying lesson, he gave us our glider and we hiked to the top of the sand dune and ran off it.
Keep in mind, the sand dunes are the tallest in the world. We went off one that was 20 stories tall. My first landing was a disaster. Basically, I was giving myself a running head start and I didn't time it right and fell flat on my face and basically ate a lot of Namibian sand.
The next few runs went a lot smoother. We flew about 150 feet up, not too high. By my last run, I caught a thermal just right and it picked me up and I had to fly parallel to the dune and navigate my way down. Just because I could end up in the ocean or on the "highway". It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. I want to keep doing paragliding.
Afterwards, we met up with some of the group (5 Namibian students, 3 Fins, 2 guides and the 7 of us) and we went to ride camels. They dressed us up in the Saharan hat garb things. Camels are incredibly irritable. It was still fun despite how bitter of an animal they can be.
To top off the day a couple of us went quading over the sand dunes. We saw a dead sand winder snake. That was surprising, they are only 12-18 inches long, tiny little snakes. They look so big on National Geographic. Anyway, we had the option of riding up a steep sand dune and stuff. Yeah, I did it twice! I was trying to push my luck that day hehe.
We saw the sunset off the ocean from the top of the sand dunes. Today (Sunday) we drove back and we went to the world's largest sand dune called Dune 7. I finally made it to the top, but that took a lot of effort. Such shifty sand. Tehri, Andrisia and me held hands and decided to run down the sand dune. Which was way up there. We made it about five meters and I lost it and took them with me. It was great to see a yankee, a fin and a namib rolling down a sand dune at full speed.
I have so much sand down my shirt. That's okay, I told myself "carpe diem" and jumped in to the atlantic afterwards. Sure, there was a rip tide, but hey, I live to tell the tale! Once it sucked me out there, I was like, ok keep close. Anyway, Chad had never been in the ocean and so Mike, Brandon, Kweyo and me joined him. Good times!
On a more tame note, we saw a ton of flamingoes and on the way back we went to see some Bushmen. They showed us how they do things i.e. make fires, hunt and live. That was pretty cool, but we were all tired by then. It was pretty awesome to see them use their click language. I should have brought a coke bottle and really messed with them **movie reference
All in all, it was seriously one of the best weekends ever. For the record, yes, I did see where Brad and Angelina had their baby. It's this little resort between Swakop and Walvis Bay. The whole area is very sparse and not much around. In fact, if you drove through the southwest and you thought there was nothing out there, this was worse. I was amazed at how desolate that whole desert is.
I better get to bed, I am incredibly tired. I have some evidence that I really was there. Since the internet is so annoyingly slow, pics will have to wait.
Hope this emLog was somewhat entertaining. If not, hopefully the thought of me being dragged face first through the sand would be amusing too.
Cheers. Em
First off, I went to Swakopmund which is a beach community on the west and only coast of Namibia. We have to drive through the Namib desert to get there, but eventually after driving on dirt roads we made it!
Friday we went and saw some cave paintings and that was a ball of excitement. We did however get to the coast and went to Cape Cross which is known for the huge sea lion colonies. It smelled pretty bad! But it was so cool to see the atlantic ocean and all the sea lions.There were also Jackals running around and so that was quite amusing to see those tiny little dogs. They're like african coyotes.
We went down to check in to our A-frame bungalows. Those were awesome, I could live in an A-frame house. Preferably at a ski resort. Anyway, Brandon and I had an early wake up call for paragliding off sand dunes. Here's the thing, I thought it was tandem. Nope, T.I.A. (This is Africa) we basically got a flying lesson, he gave us our glider and we hiked to the top of the sand dune and ran off it.
Keep in mind, the sand dunes are the tallest in the world. We went off one that was 20 stories tall. My first landing was a disaster. Basically, I was giving myself a running head start and I didn't time it right and fell flat on my face and basically ate a lot of Namibian sand.
The next few runs went a lot smoother. We flew about 150 feet up, not too high. By my last run, I caught a thermal just right and it picked me up and I had to fly parallel to the dune and navigate my way down. Just because I could end up in the ocean or on the "highway". It was probably one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life. I want to keep doing paragliding.
Afterwards, we met up with some of the group (5 Namibian students, 3 Fins, 2 guides and the 7 of us) and we went to ride camels. They dressed us up in the Saharan hat garb things. Camels are incredibly irritable. It was still fun despite how bitter of an animal they can be.
To top off the day a couple of us went quading over the sand dunes. We saw a dead sand winder snake. That was surprising, they are only 12-18 inches long, tiny little snakes. They look so big on National Geographic. Anyway, we had the option of riding up a steep sand dune and stuff. Yeah, I did it twice! I was trying to push my luck that day hehe.
We saw the sunset off the ocean from the top of the sand dunes. Today (Sunday) we drove back and we went to the world's largest sand dune called Dune 7. I finally made it to the top, but that took a lot of effort. Such shifty sand. Tehri, Andrisia and me held hands and decided to run down the sand dune. Which was way up there. We made it about five meters and I lost it and took them with me. It was great to see a yankee, a fin and a namib rolling down a sand dune at full speed.
I have so much sand down my shirt. That's okay, I told myself "carpe diem" and jumped in to the atlantic afterwards. Sure, there was a rip tide, but hey, I live to tell the tale! Once it sucked me out there, I was like, ok keep close. Anyway, Chad had never been in the ocean and so Mike, Brandon, Kweyo and me joined him. Good times!
On a more tame note, we saw a ton of flamingoes and on the way back we went to see some Bushmen. They showed us how they do things i.e. make fires, hunt and live. That was pretty cool, but we were all tired by then. It was pretty awesome to see them use their click language. I should have brought a coke bottle and really messed with them **movie reference
All in all, it was seriously one of the best weekends ever. For the record, yes, I did see where Brad and Angelina had their baby. It's this little resort between Swakop and Walvis Bay. The whole area is very sparse and not much around. In fact, if you drove through the southwest and you thought there was nothing out there, this was worse. I was amazed at how desolate that whole desert is.
I better get to bed, I am incredibly tired. I have some evidence that I really was there. Since the internet is so annoyingly slow, pics will have to wait.
Hope this emLog was somewhat entertaining. If not, hopefully the thought of me being dragged face first through the sand would be amusing too.
Cheers. Em
emLog Namibia #6 Motorcycle Diaries Africa - 07.17.07
I know it sounds like all I do is play. But I must reassure everyone one that I am working too. First off, what is it that we're doing? Well, we are in the first phase of working on building the digital national archive here in Namibia.
First task is to make sure everyone is communicating and understanding what that all means. We have been working with the Namibian National archive, Polytechnic University, their IT and Media departments, news stations and just about everyone it seems like.
We want to make sure there is cooperation and communication, otherwise this isn't a project that will last long. We have been divided into groups. My group is in charge of the oh so lovely task of archive cataloging. Vicky, Kenjii, Joey and me are working on naming conventions. Basically, creating a user and archivist friendly workflow to store files in. We have the difficult task of creating a file name.
The issue, is that we have thousands of records that are an audio, video, images, photos-- just about everything it seems like. I am writing key people at the Smithsonian and the LDS Archives. They should give us a good direction on how to do it or get us closer to a good solution.
It's difficult, because the archive is going to be for everyone, not just Namibians. We want names that make sense to anyone. We also have to deal with 13 ethnic groups and several languages. Also we have different belief systems like Christian and native beliefs. So there are a lot more elements involved than just dates.
The others are working on templates and getting prepared to actually scan images. We are essentially doing all the setups and presets for the Namibian students for the rest of the year. On Monday we set up the studio and so now they are learning some of the software.
Thursday we will be actually in the National Archive and will be able to go through the boxes. Warner, the archive director will be taking my group through and showing us how they file their names. That could possibly give us a clue of how to best name the files.
On a much lighter note and I will probably get a lecture from my parents, I took a motorcycle tour around Windhoek. I have about 25 minutes of video of me cruising! It was great, Vicky took me and showed me a couple of places not on the tourist route necessarily. We visited where the Miss Universe 1995 was held, University of Namibia (UNam) and then we went to her radio station. She is a regular DJ there.
She let me goof off with the radio equipment and I did a fake interview. I got to watch the DJ Headrush do his ending to his show. Then Noodle did his beginning to his. Very cool, I have never been to a radio station or for that matter, ever road a motorcycle. I can get use to this life. Maybe I will stay here for a bit longer...
As for the cafeteria food, things have been getting weirder and weirder. Yesterday for breakfast we had scrambled eggs and fish sticks. At 7:30 in the morning, I had to pass on the fish sticks.
Well, this is Emily Hedrick with Radiowave 98.7 signing off.
First task is to make sure everyone is communicating and understanding what that all means. We have been working with the Namibian National archive, Polytechnic University, their IT and Media departments, news stations and just about everyone it seems like.
We want to make sure there is cooperation and communication, otherwise this isn't a project that will last long. We have been divided into groups. My group is in charge of the oh so lovely task of archive cataloging. Vicky, Kenjii, Joey and me are working on naming conventions. Basically, creating a user and archivist friendly workflow to store files in. We have the difficult task of creating a file name.
The issue, is that we have thousands of records that are an audio, video, images, photos-- just about everything it seems like. I am writing key people at the Smithsonian and the LDS Archives. They should give us a good direction on how to do it or get us closer to a good solution.
It's difficult, because the archive is going to be for everyone, not just Namibians. We want names that make sense to anyone. We also have to deal with 13 ethnic groups and several languages. Also we have different belief systems like Christian and native beliefs. So there are a lot more elements involved than just dates.
The others are working on templates and getting prepared to actually scan images. We are essentially doing all the setups and presets for the Namibian students for the rest of the year. On Monday we set up the studio and so now they are learning some of the software.
Thursday we will be actually in the National Archive and will be able to go through the boxes. Warner, the archive director will be taking my group through and showing us how they file their names. That could possibly give us a clue of how to best name the files.
On a much lighter note and I will probably get a lecture from my parents, I took a motorcycle tour around Windhoek. I have about 25 minutes of video of me cruising! It was great, Vicky took me and showed me a couple of places not on the tourist route necessarily. We visited where the Miss Universe 1995 was held, University of Namibia (UNam) and then we went to her radio station. She is a regular DJ there.
She let me goof off with the radio equipment and I did a fake interview. I got to watch the DJ Headrush do his ending to his show. Then Noodle did his beginning to his. Very cool, I have never been to a radio station or for that matter, ever road a motorcycle. I can get use to this life. Maybe I will stay here for a bit longer...
As for the cafeteria food, things have been getting weirder and weirder. Yesterday for breakfast we had scrambled eggs and fish sticks. At 7:30 in the morning, I had to pass on the fish sticks.
Well, this is Emily Hedrick with Radiowave 98.7 signing off.
emLog Namibia #5 Don't Feed the Starving Missionaries - 07.15.07
Since today is Sunday we decided to check out the local LDS church. First off, Mike said it was "three blocks away". Riiiiiiiight. I don't know what freaky blocks he was referencing but it was a lot further than three blocks.
I can confirm that the church is the same in Namibia. The chapel is a nice little chapel and the members are few, I would say around 200 members. Everyone was so nice to us. There were four sister missionaries, six Elders and a senior missionary couple. I asked how the mission work is going.
They said everyone has been so nice to them. It is a lot different than the people in South Africa. It's hard to make contacts there. So Namibia has been a lot more receptive. She said some of the members feed them. You can tell they are itching to go out and see some of Namibia. I think I made them feel bad when I told them we were going to Swakop and then to Etosha.
One of the girls was from Littleton, CO and the other was from Provo, Utah. They were really happy to here American accents. One girl sort of picked up a weird accent, I wanted to tease her.
So here is my cafeteria update. Every meal has improved. I found some Heinz ketchup here because their "tomato sauce" sucks so bad. Jeremiah accidently left it on the table and the next day the lunch ladies have been placing it on our table for us.
Here's the thing, they set up our table with white table clothes, arranged silverware and the food is on silver platters. Now that the students are back in the dorms because school starts tomorrow, we all feel a little uneasy at the hospitality. We feel like ambassadors or something. We told them that we would eat like the rest of the students and it wasn't necessary. We do tell them how grateful we are and all that. They said they really enjoy doing that for us.
We will be eating on metal trays and eating without the fancy linens tomorrow. We can blend in with the rest of the cafeteria goers. We are going to see if we can't eat with the other students in there too. We like to mingle with the others and get to know everyone. We feel a little exclusive at the other table and we didn't want to look unapproachable to everyone.
All in all things are going smoothly. After some hassle with DHL the equipment arrived today. It was supposed to go from SLC to Chicago to Frankfurt and then Windhoek. Chicago messed it up and it got sent to Luxembourg and they didn't know what to do with it and it ended sitting in Joberg for five days. Ten days late it arrived here.
Well that is the latest from down here. Tomorrow we will start getting assignments to what we will be doing for the next few weeks. Basically doing what our skills and interests are. I hope that doesn't mean I am stuck on database work. I like archiving, but not to be stuck labeling things. We'll see.
Ciao for now.
Em
I can confirm that the church is the same in Namibia. The chapel is a nice little chapel and the members are few, I would say around 200 members. Everyone was so nice to us. There were four sister missionaries, six Elders and a senior missionary couple. I asked how the mission work is going.
They said everyone has been so nice to them. It is a lot different than the people in South Africa. It's hard to make contacts there. So Namibia has been a lot more receptive. She said some of the members feed them. You can tell they are itching to go out and see some of Namibia. I think I made them feel bad when I told them we were going to Swakop and then to Etosha.
One of the girls was from Littleton, CO and the other was from Provo, Utah. They were really happy to here American accents. One girl sort of picked up a weird accent, I wanted to tease her.
So here is my cafeteria update. Every meal has improved. I found some Heinz ketchup here because their "tomato sauce" sucks so bad. Jeremiah accidently left it on the table and the next day the lunch ladies have been placing it on our table for us.
Here's the thing, they set up our table with white table clothes, arranged silverware and the food is on silver platters. Now that the students are back in the dorms because school starts tomorrow, we all feel a little uneasy at the hospitality. We feel like ambassadors or something. We told them that we would eat like the rest of the students and it wasn't necessary. We do tell them how grateful we are and all that. They said they really enjoy doing that for us.
We will be eating on metal trays and eating without the fancy linens tomorrow. We can blend in with the rest of the cafeteria goers. We are going to see if we can't eat with the other students in there too. We like to mingle with the others and get to know everyone. We feel a little exclusive at the other table and we didn't want to look unapproachable to everyone.
All in all things are going smoothly. After some hassle with DHL the equipment arrived today. It was supposed to go from SLC to Chicago to Frankfurt and then Windhoek. Chicago messed it up and it got sent to Luxembourg and they didn't know what to do with it and it ended sitting in Joberg for five days. Ten days late it arrived here.
Well that is the latest from down here. Tomorrow we will start getting assignments to what we will be doing for the next few weeks. Basically doing what our skills and interests are. I hope that doesn't mean I am stuck on database work. I like archiving, but not to be stuck labeling things. We'll see.
Ciao for now.
Em
emLog Namibia #4 Off the Beaten Tourist Path - 07.14.07
Today (Saturday) was our tour of seeing the beautiful city of Windhoek. It wasn't the typical tourist route. We went way off the beaten path and visited the locals and their neighborhoods. I would think a chronological account would be the best way to approach this.
We started out at the Old Location. No really, it is called Old Location. It's a cemetery for fallen Namibian heroes from the 1959 enterprise (I will get the exact details later). The cemeteries are different from ours. The Namibians believe that the dead should not be disturbed. And so their cemeteries don't have grass or flowers on gravestones. They want the dead to rest.
Next we headed to Katatura which is a suburb of Windhoek. The homes reminded me of Argentina some. They have actual walls and some really low cost living. They were so inviting and we of course stuck out-- you know, large group of white people walking around taking photos.
Which by the way, kids loved to pose for us. Even some of the men would do some rapster pose for us. Things got a little sketchy when we were walking down this passage between homes. People would wave to us and say "hello" and welcomed us to Namibia. Where it got sketchy, was when people started to come over to us and swarm us a little. We quickly went to the open market across the street. The guide told us that locals get a little uneasy, so it was best if we didn't stay too long in one place.
In the open market there were little shops and there were these huge slabs of beef. Further down you could see them grilling them and getting ready for the locals to get them for lunch time. Seeing them hack away at that meat kind of made me consider being vegetarian. Then I realized that's crazy talk and I ate a piece of what they were grilling.
Afterwards we went to Paduka. This is a place where disabled women make crafts and have made a living off of those. It's a nice compound and they export some of their crafts to Norway. They take used glass bottles (beer, coke, sprite etc) and break the glass and melt it down into beads. They then use them for necklaces and things.
It's amazing the stitching they use on their table clothes, hand bags and napkins. Oh, by the way, Jon made this mistake. He asked someone to pass him a napkin at lunch. Namibian's refer to napkins as a product females need at certain times of the month. They're called serviettes.
Afterwards we went to the informal settlements. That is a nice way of saying shantytown. The homes are very small, like the size of a master bedroom. They are made of corgated tin and have wood posts to act as frames. There is fresh water there. They are these water spouts that are regulated by a key card that is government issued. People take these large water jugs and fill them up and carry them back to their homes.
I was amazed how large of an area these shantytowns cover. I would try to put an acre reference, but we would go over a hill and there would be more homes and then more after that.
The people were so welcoming to us. If we weren't the center of attention already, our cameras took the show. I pulled out my camcorder and i flipped the viewfinder around. The kids were in awe of seeing themselves on camera. They mobbed to all get a look of themselves! They sang for the camera and the songs they knew were Christian songs.
I would be down and taping them and they would push each other to get a look at themselves. I had a couple of kids touch and feel my hair to see how it felt. I showed them how to high five, but they were gentle and just wanted to touch my hand. They said for some, we were the first white people they have ever met and spoken with.
They made us a traditional meal and that was very humbling. We had carrots, beans, spinach, mystery sausage and porridge. The porridge was a cornmeal but seemed very gritty. I had to swallow that one down. Usually followed by a swig of coke.
The school is a simple school. The woman who runs it is in need of supplies. She goes to local businesses and asks for their paper that they throw away. That way, the kids can use them to draw or do their ABCs on. She is in need of tables for the kids to work on. They work on the floor, and so something simple as a table would be incredibly helpful.
It's amazing that only $70 American dollars can help out 89 children. Needless to say, we are going to see what we can do about getting them basic supplies like paper, crayons and pencils.
What's funny is that with the people that genuinely need it, there are those that would take advantage of us. I had a woman ask me, "My daughter cries because I can't afford to send her to kindergarten, what should I do?" (it costs $50 namibian dollars a month to keep theschool running-- $7 US) She wanted me to give her money of course. You have to be careful, because there are some that would abuse this and buy alcohol instead of tuition for their child.
We all want to do a service project for this kindergarten. We found out later that the woman running this school is a widow, it's amazing how she is helping shape these children's lives. We were extremely touched by their hospitality and this whole experience today.
Despite their meager circumstances, everyone is so gracious and respectful to us. They are open and generous and I was continually honored to be in the same room as them.
Tomorrow, we may get to visit an LDS church. There are two congregations here. A 9 o'clock session and an 11 o'clock session. I am hoping to do the latter (I need a good nights rest).
Cheers and goodnight.
Em
We started out at the Old Location. No really, it is called Old Location. It's a cemetery for fallen Namibian heroes from the 1959 enterprise (I will get the exact details later). The cemeteries are different from ours. The Namibians believe that the dead should not be disturbed. And so their cemeteries don't have grass or flowers on gravestones. They want the dead to rest.
Next we headed to Katatura which is a suburb of Windhoek. The homes reminded me of Argentina some. They have actual walls and some really low cost living. They were so inviting and we of course stuck out-- you know, large group of white people walking around taking photos.
Which by the way, kids loved to pose for us. Even some of the men would do some rapster pose for us. Things got a little sketchy when we were walking down this passage between homes. People would wave to us and say "hello" and welcomed us to Namibia. Where it got sketchy, was when people started to come over to us and swarm us a little. We quickly went to the open market across the street. The guide told us that locals get a little uneasy, so it was best if we didn't stay too long in one place.
In the open market there were little shops and there were these huge slabs of beef. Further down you could see them grilling them and getting ready for the locals to get them for lunch time. Seeing them hack away at that meat kind of made me consider being vegetarian. Then I realized that's crazy talk and I ate a piece of what they were grilling.
Afterwards we went to Paduka. This is a place where disabled women make crafts and have made a living off of those. It's a nice compound and they export some of their crafts to Norway. They take used glass bottles (beer, coke, sprite etc) and break the glass and melt it down into beads. They then use them for necklaces and things.
It's amazing the stitching they use on their table clothes, hand bags and napkins. Oh, by the way, Jon made this mistake. He asked someone to pass him a napkin at lunch. Namibian's refer to napkins as a product females need at certain times of the month. They're called serviettes.
Afterwards we went to the informal settlements. That is a nice way of saying shantytown. The homes are very small, like the size of a master bedroom. They are made of corgated tin and have wood posts to act as frames. There is fresh water there. They are these water spouts that are regulated by a key card that is government issued. People take these large water jugs and fill them up and carry them back to their homes.
I was amazed how large of an area these shantytowns cover. I would try to put an acre reference, but we would go over a hill and there would be more homes and then more after that.
The people were so welcoming to us. If we weren't the center of attention already, our cameras took the show. I pulled out my camcorder and i flipped the viewfinder around. The kids were in awe of seeing themselves on camera. They mobbed to all get a look of themselves! They sang for the camera and the songs they knew were Christian songs.
I would be down and taping them and they would push each other to get a look at themselves. I had a couple of kids touch and feel my hair to see how it felt. I showed them how to high five, but they were gentle and just wanted to touch my hand. They said for some, we were the first white people they have ever met and spoken with.
They made us a traditional meal and that was very humbling. We had carrots, beans, spinach, mystery sausage and porridge. The porridge was a cornmeal but seemed very gritty. I had to swallow that one down. Usually followed by a swig of coke.
The school is a simple school. The woman who runs it is in need of supplies. She goes to local businesses and asks for their paper that they throw away. That way, the kids can use them to draw or do their ABCs on. She is in need of tables for the kids to work on. They work on the floor, and so something simple as a table would be incredibly helpful.
It's amazing that only $70 American dollars can help out 89 children. Needless to say, we are going to see what we can do about getting them basic supplies like paper, crayons and pencils.
What's funny is that with the people that genuinely need it, there are those that would take advantage of us. I had a woman ask me, "My daughter cries because I can't afford to send her to kindergarten, what should I do?" (it costs $50 namibian dollars a month to keep theschool running-- $7 US) She wanted me to give her money of course. You have to be careful, because there are some that would abuse this and buy alcohol instead of tuition for their child.
We all want to do a service project for this kindergarten. We found out later that the woman running this school is a widow, it's amazing how she is helping shape these children's lives. We were extremely touched by their hospitality and this whole experience today.
Despite their meager circumstances, everyone is so gracious and respectful to us. They are open and generous and I was continually honored to be in the same room as them.
Tomorrow, we may get to visit an LDS church. There are two congregations here. A 9 o'clock session and an 11 o'clock session. I am hoping to do the latter (I need a good nights rest).
Cheers and goodnight.
Em
emLog #3 Cultural Learning of Namibia For Make Benefit of Yankees - 07.12.07
First off, my cockroach Chaco ran away. I am now alone once more. The weather has also decided to cooperate and be at a steady 62 degrees. In fact, today has been the first time I have seen a cloud here. It's always the most blue skies from horizon to horizon.
Last night was an interesting night. A bunch of us had toured a mall with Ella who is a professor at the college. She is this classy american teacher that got her PhD at Ohio State. She had an itch to go see the world and found a volunteer job in Namibia. She is now a professor here at the university. Anyway, I saw that they are selling the last Harry Potter book here and gave me hope that I would have a chance to read it while here.
So last night she came to the podcast workshop we were at and asked me if I wanted to go see the new Harry Potter movie! She and her friend were going and she remembered that I liked it. We grabbed a taxi and I met her friend Davie at the theatre. It's funny, they don't have movie trailers. So if you are running late, you miss the first bit of the movie.
It was great, Ella hooked me up with a popcorn and coke (yeah I haven't given up the stuff) and she kept feeding me chocolate during the movie. Needless to say I was in heaven. Half way through the movie the reel just stopped. It was intermission! We had a five minute break and then the movie started up again.
The theatres are pretty decent. They have stadium seating but they don't have the surround sound like we do. The prices are about the same as we pay, maybe a dollar cheaper. For the record, I really did love the movie.
Afterwards we went to this restaurant and I had a pizza. We sat there for two hours and we talked about everything. Davie is from Indonesia and works at the Indonesian embassy here in the capital. She had just flown in yesterday from Jakarta. It was pretty cool to get their perspectives on Namibian culture. Definitely a highlighted evening in my life.
The weird thing was when we went to Davie's car in the parking lot. A guy was walking rather close to us and I whispered to Ella, "This guy is really close, should we be worried." As it turns out there are mall guards that walk you to your car and keep a watch out for you and your vehicle. You give them a few coins as a tip. I didn't see that one coming!
We drove past the American embassy and that was well guarded. We may get a chance to visit while were here. This morning (Friday) we have been in lectures to learn a brief history and cultural study of Namibians and the world around them. Very enlightening stuff.
I found that Namibians are very concerned how the world views them. Only because they know that there exist scary places in Africa and they want to be known to the outside world as very modern and progressive for Africa. They have made huge leaps in that direction too; at least in my mind. They have a very clean city and the people are very friendly.
We went to the Namibian Parliament today and we learned how their government works. Interesting tidbit: A BYU helped write the Namibian constitution. When we were in the National Assembly's room, I went and sat in the speaker's chair. There is a lovely picture of that.
Tonight Susan, Lynn and me went to a steakhouse with the Fins. It was so much fun talking with them about Finland and getting to know them more. They are so awesome. I really like them and I think they will be around us a lot these next few weeks. For dinner I had a fancy hamburger. It was good but a little strange. It had bacon, cheese and banana in it. I may have to try that when I get stateside again.
Oh the open markets here are an experience by themselves. These people expect you to haggle with them. Instead of giving you back change they negotiate with you to just buy something else. That's probably how I got talked into buying a second spoon. Yeah, I bought a wood bowl and a spoon so I had something to eat my breakfast in. Not that it matters a whole lot, my refrigerator is fussy and my milk is a large ice cube.
Well, I better be off. Talk to everyone later!
Em
P.S. For two days now, the internet has been so ridiculously slow that I can't send a pic or two. I may have to wait till we get back to have a visual version of these logs.
Last night was an interesting night. A bunch of us had toured a mall with Ella who is a professor at the college. She is this classy american teacher that got her PhD at Ohio State. She had an itch to go see the world and found a volunteer job in Namibia. She is now a professor here at the university. Anyway, I saw that they are selling the last Harry Potter book here and gave me hope that I would have a chance to read it while here.
So last night she came to the podcast workshop we were at and asked me if I wanted to go see the new Harry Potter movie! She and her friend were going and she remembered that I liked it. We grabbed a taxi and I met her friend Davie at the theatre. It's funny, they don't have movie trailers. So if you are running late, you miss the first bit of the movie.
It was great, Ella hooked me up with a popcorn and coke (yeah I haven't given up the stuff) and she kept feeding me chocolate during the movie. Needless to say I was in heaven. Half way through the movie the reel just stopped. It was intermission! We had a five minute break and then the movie started up again.
The theatres are pretty decent. They have stadium seating but they don't have the surround sound like we do. The prices are about the same as we pay, maybe a dollar cheaper. For the record, I really did love the movie.
Afterwards we went to this restaurant and I had a pizza. We sat there for two hours and we talked about everything. Davie is from Indonesia and works at the Indonesian embassy here in the capital. She had just flown in yesterday from Jakarta. It was pretty cool to get their perspectives on Namibian culture. Definitely a highlighted evening in my life.
The weird thing was when we went to Davie's car in the parking lot. A guy was walking rather close to us and I whispered to Ella, "This guy is really close, should we be worried." As it turns out there are mall guards that walk you to your car and keep a watch out for you and your vehicle. You give them a few coins as a tip. I didn't see that one coming!
We drove past the American embassy and that was well guarded. We may get a chance to visit while were here. This morning (Friday) we have been in lectures to learn a brief history and cultural study of Namibians and the world around them. Very enlightening stuff.
I found that Namibians are very concerned how the world views them. Only because they know that there exist scary places in Africa and they want to be known to the outside world as very modern and progressive for Africa. They have made huge leaps in that direction too; at least in my mind. They have a very clean city and the people are very friendly.
We went to the Namibian Parliament today and we learned how their government works. Interesting tidbit: A BYU helped write the Namibian constitution. When we were in the National Assembly's room, I went and sat in the speaker's chair. There is a lovely picture of that.
Tonight Susan, Lynn and me went to a steakhouse with the Fins. It was so much fun talking with them about Finland and getting to know them more. They are so awesome. I really like them and I think they will be around us a lot these next few weeks. For dinner I had a fancy hamburger. It was good but a little strange. It had bacon, cheese and banana in it. I may have to try that when I get stateside again.
Oh the open markets here are an experience by themselves. These people expect you to haggle with them. Instead of giving you back change they negotiate with you to just buy something else. That's probably how I got talked into buying a second spoon. Yeah, I bought a wood bowl and a spoon so I had something to eat my breakfast in. Not that it matters a whole lot, my refrigerator is fussy and my milk is a large ice cube.
Well, I better be off. Talk to everyone later!
Em
P.S. For two days now, the internet has been so ridiculously slow that I can't send a pic or two. I may have to wait till we get back to have a visual version of these logs.
emLog #2 Adjusting to Namibian Life - 07.10.07
Just for the record, I am working on one of the school computers and need to update my contacts and so not everyone is getting these lovely emails. That would make them the lucky ones muahahaha!!!
Anyway, we have been without internet and its been hell to say the least. No cell phone, internet and a regular size bath towel. It's tough to be cold and wet coming out of the shower and not being able to tell anyone about it. Crappy hand towels.
Life is good down here. I am in the capital of Windhoek (prounounced vin-took) and its about the size of Provo-Orem. It's a pretty clean city and everything is within walking distance, which is handy. The landscape reminds me of southern Utah, right around the Cedar City area. The tip off of us not being in Utah would be people driving cars like they do in South Africa and England. Speaking of England, you will get my emLog #1 on me invading London. Wow was I a pathetic tourist! Love it!
The other thing is you know how there are deer warning signs to not hit them? They have those here except they are warthogs and kudus which are large gazelles. There are wild baboon things around and people look at them as vermin. I hate monkey-type animals so I may get to shoot one (kidding, sort of).
The food here is pretty good. The cafeteria food is bad, the restaurant food is pretty good. I love the fruit drinks here. I had a guava drink yesterday. Very fresh fruit and meat. The ketchup or tomato sauce is not thick like heinz. Its making the guys grossed out by how runny it is.
The people are extremely friendly. No matter where around the city you are. We have had people come up to us especially on campus and introduce themselves and want to get to know us. They think we are Europeans and we have to explain to them that we are from the US. I try not to explain where Utah is, not even Americans have heard of Utah hehe.
I stay in the female dormitories and there are two guards that guard it 24 hours a day. They overly protect the females, I was told it was a cultural thing. Ironic, since we got a big presentation on HIV/AIDS yesterday. They are some sad statistics and their campaigns here have to be very graphic on how to get their point across.
They tell us to be careful to not walk around alone even in daylight. Which I have no problem with, I feel more comfortable in larger numbers. It's not a scary place, but there are a lot of places where we could easily be targets if we were alone.
Yesterday we went to the National Archive. It was how I pictured the LDS Archive to be, but wasn't. File cabinets full of documents, rooms with folder stacks of letters etc, bound books and film reels in tins. The archive here is so backlogged its crazy. We found some amazing treasures in about six rooms. I read a memo written from the SWAPO in Namibia pleading to the UN about the horrific measures South Africa took in squashing their desire for independence. It was dated from April 1980 (independence gained in 1990). I then found some pictures actually showing this. Very violent and tragic.
We will be spending three more days in the archives, taking template sizes and sorting through what they have. Since the Germans occupied Namibia till WWI we found a lot of records in german. I also found a book that was dated 1711 or something close to that. It was in dutch. I also found amongst the pictures a portrait of Hitler, that I thought was an interesting find. I can't imagine what else we are going to find.
Today and for the rest of the week we will be doing the workshops with students and really anyone who is interesting. I teach in about 20 minutes on open source software. I plan to denounce the use of Microsoft Office-- kidding, sort of. I hope to not bombard some of your email accounts with all my whimsical Emily-meets-Africa moments, at least not too much. But I plan to get a few little logs on this a week. Some of the guys in my group blog. Call me crazy, but I like the email thing more.
Feel free to write me if you have any questions or requests on things here. Oh I befriended a cockroach in my flat (dorm room thing). His name is Chaco, but he scared the crud out of me when I left my room the other day and I haven't seen him since. Alas, I am roommateless once more :( So remember, don't rely on a cockroach to be your friend, they will just disappoint you.
Em
Anyway, we have been without internet and its been hell to say the least. No cell phone, internet and a regular size bath towel. It's tough to be cold and wet coming out of the shower and not being able to tell anyone about it. Crappy hand towels.
Life is good down here. I am in the capital of Windhoek (prounounced vin-took) and its about the size of Provo-Orem. It's a pretty clean city and everything is within walking distance, which is handy. The landscape reminds me of southern Utah, right around the Cedar City area. The tip off of us not being in Utah would be people driving cars like they do in South Africa and England. Speaking of England, you will get my emLog #1 on me invading London. Wow was I a pathetic tourist! Love it!
The other thing is you know how there are deer warning signs to not hit them? They have those here except they are warthogs and kudus which are large gazelles. There are wild baboon things around and people look at them as vermin. I hate monkey-type animals so I may get to shoot one (kidding, sort of).
The food here is pretty good. The cafeteria food is bad, the restaurant food is pretty good. I love the fruit drinks here. I had a guava drink yesterday. Very fresh fruit and meat. The ketchup or tomato sauce is not thick like heinz. Its making the guys grossed out by how runny it is.
The people are extremely friendly. No matter where around the city you are. We have had people come up to us especially on campus and introduce themselves and want to get to know us. They think we are Europeans and we have to explain to them that we are from the US. I try not to explain where Utah is, not even Americans have heard of Utah hehe.
I stay in the female dormitories and there are two guards that guard it 24 hours a day. They overly protect the females, I was told it was a cultural thing. Ironic, since we got a big presentation on HIV/AIDS yesterday. They are some sad statistics and their campaigns here have to be very graphic on how to get their point across.
They tell us to be careful to not walk around alone even in daylight. Which I have no problem with, I feel more comfortable in larger numbers. It's not a scary place, but there are a lot of places where we could easily be targets if we were alone.
Yesterday we went to the National Archive. It was how I pictured the LDS Archive to be, but wasn't. File cabinets full of documents, rooms with folder stacks of letters etc, bound books and film reels in tins. The archive here is so backlogged its crazy. We found some amazing treasures in about six rooms. I read a memo written from the SWAPO in Namibia pleading to the UN about the horrific measures South Africa took in squashing their desire for independence. It was dated from April 1980 (independence gained in 1990). I then found some pictures actually showing this. Very violent and tragic.
We will be spending three more days in the archives, taking template sizes and sorting through what they have. Since the Germans occupied Namibia till WWI we found a lot of records in german. I also found a book that was dated 1711 or something close to that. It was in dutch. I also found amongst the pictures a portrait of Hitler, that I thought was an interesting find. I can't imagine what else we are going to find.
Today and for the rest of the week we will be doing the workshops with students and really anyone who is interesting. I teach in about 20 minutes on open source software. I plan to denounce the use of Microsoft Office-- kidding, sort of. I hope to not bombard some of your email accounts with all my whimsical Emily-meets-Africa moments, at least not too much. But I plan to get a few little logs on this a week. Some of the guys in my group blog. Call me crazy, but I like the email thing more.
Feel free to write me if you have any questions or requests on things here. Oh I befriended a cockroach in my flat (dorm room thing). His name is Chaco, but he scared the crud out of me when I left my room the other day and I haven't seen him since. Alas, I am roommateless once more :( So remember, don't rely on a cockroach to be your friend, they will just disappoint you.
Em
emLog Namibia #1 - 45 Hours later and Feeling It
We got off the ground from Salt Lake City just fine. The JFK airport in New York was a bit of an issue. We had rain and so the airport officials decided to keep open one runway. Once we were set to leave we were something like 40th in line to take off. Two hours later we finally got into the air.
We arrived into London a little late, but we ran like crazy to go see stuff. Oh and flying in to Gatwick was a funny experience. It was so green and all that, we were looking for Frodo in the shire. We jumped on to the tube (hehe) and each of us split off from the group. I went with Rodayne (Head of the Dept) and we went to the Tower of London. We saw some lovely torture devices and some cool military displays. They had some amazing displays of medieval weapons and armor.
Of course we went and got some fish n chips at some local restaurant. I liked the chips, but the fish was a little um, fishy. They leave the skin on the fish and then fry it. I ate it and it still was pretty tastey. Just for the record, Coke tastes pretty good in London. I guess they get it from the Coke plant in Germany.
We spent about 2-3 hours at the Tower of London and we still had about 1-2 hours to get back to the airport. I wanted to see Westminster Abbey and so we hopped on to the tube and got down there (not that it was far). When we got out of the subway, the first thing we saw was Big Ben. For how big it is, it really snuck up on us!
WE ran over and saw Westminster Abbey and the Parliament building. Since the Tour de France is starting there in London all the streets were blocked off. We quickly ran through St James Park and then got to Buckingham Palace. I really thought it was bigger. Ah well, the Abbey blew me away if anything. It was so huge and ornate!
Rodayne talked me into going to Trafalgar Square. My feet were killing me, booking it another couple of blocks really wasn't in my best interest. Buy hey, we did it anyway! So we went and saw a giant monument (even though they are everywhere). Then we headed back to the tube. It was great because we just barely made our connection from Victoria Station to the Gatwick Airport. The train guy was blowing his little whistle really loud at us. I wanted to stuff that miserable whistle down his throat. But I didn't think it would reflect well upon the school.
We made it to the airport and everything was just fine. I think customs is worse in the U.S. but that could just be that the London attitude was a little bit nicer. Or their accents make their demands seem a lot more polite. Typical flight though, we were stuck on the runway for an hour and a half. I didn't really notice because I was completely dead asleep.
We arrived the next morning with no problems at all. From SLC to Windhoek with the crap delays it was a total of 45 hours. They don't have a fancy airport in Windhoek like everyone else. We walked down some stairs and sort of on the runway. I got some illegal footage of that. Like South Africa, they drive on the left side of the road and have the steering wheel reversed. We have caution signs for deer in Utah. They have caution signs for warthogs and kudu (like a large gazelle).
We went out to a seafood restaurant that serves you family size platters. We had plates of prawns, calamari, oysters, mussels, fish, chips and rice. I liked the prawns a lot, but they don't take the heads off. So it made me a little uncomfortable having it stare back at me. So I ripped its head off and places on the other shrimp carcasses hehe. Mike introduced us to the soft drinks, which are very tastey by the way. I also had some brown water that was pretty weird; I think the woman said it was called tep or wap water. Some brand I'm sure hehe.
I went to bed Saturday night and slept for 12 hours! I was dead tired. For my birthday I woke up freezing cold. It was 53.7 degrees this morning (I have a temp on my alarm clock). We all met at the Foundation House, where Mike, Rodayne, Susan and her husband Lynn are staying. The Namibian Polytechnic people met up with us and we had a giant barbeque called a Braii (pronounced "Bri"). We ate lamb, chicken and pork. I also ate this kabob and it was lamb, onion and I thought it was some sort of weird fruit. Not it was fat, I ate season fat.
They sang me "Happy Birthday" and were so nice to me (not that they wouldn't be). Everyone is extremely friendly anyway. They kept coming up to me and hugging me and telling me "happy birthday". There happened to be a cake there and I had ice cream- very creamy stuff. It was a good day.
For the record, my dormitory is pretty decent. Since there is no centralized heating because it is a desert; it has tile floor and is really made to stay cool. I guess this is the coldest winter they have had in a long time. It was probably Brittany's fault for bringing the cold to Africa from Colorado. There are two guards at the college's entrances, then there are two guards guarding the girl's dorms. I have two locked doors into the dorm rooms. There are two bedrooms, with two beds in them. I have the bedroom with the private bathroom. I have a stand up shower and a large water basin sink. Just your standard dormitory room.
I do have a roommate, he's a cockroach I named Chaco. I saw him last night and then this morning he scared the crap out of me when I walked in to the hall. He's not very big, an inch or so. I was going to kill him, but since it was just us, I thought if I start talking to myself it won't be so strange if I was talking to something else. Oh and the dorm advisor is across the stairwell from me. I'm not in bad company, I've got the cockroach.
This is my catch up for the last few days. I know it's ridiculously long. But hey, there was a lot of cool that have happened. I think the video version maybe slightly more exciting. Seeing as this isn't very fun reading, I feel sorry for you poor saps that have to watch it. It's still Sunday here, since we can't get internet till Monday. After that I will be able to check my internet regularly.
Talk to you soon enough.
Em
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