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
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