Holidays

I returned to Rehoboth from the Namibian Coast on January 1st 2011. I had spent two weeks camping in a tent on the beach and my clothes, and myself, were disgusting. But the trip was completely amazing. I met up with my Rehoboth host family in Henties Bay. The following day I rode with them up to the campground at mile marker 72. It is 72 miles north of Swakopmund and only campgrounds along this one road are measured in miles. Everything else in the entire country is measured in kilometers. I spent five days camping and fishing with them. My host dad (and supervisor) Harry caught a 10 kilogram fish. I don’t remember what type of fish it was but it was nearly the size and a person’s torso. They also prepared a delicacy for me called a “smiley”. This is where you eat the face and brain of a sheep. Honestly it didn’t taste bad, except for the brain, which was pretty gross.
On the 23rd I went down to Swakopmund to meet up with fellow Peace Corps Volunteers from my group and other groups. Swakopmund is by far the oddest place in Africa. It is essentially a German town on the east coast of Namibia. The signs for restaurants are in Afrikaans, English, and German. This is the richest city in Namibia and apparently where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie sometimes vacation. It is a complete contrast to everything that I have seen in the rest of the country. Rich South Africans like to vacation there for Christmas because of the mild climate. They also like to talk about how Namibia was better under South African control, and apartheid. Yeah I heard a lot of racist comments over the course of my vacation, but that’s a story for another time. I was happy when I received a call on the 24th (my birthday) from my family and got to talk to everyone for a little bit. It was a short phone call but it was wonderful to hear everyone’s voice.
On Christmas day we exchanged gifts in a secret springbok (secret Santa) fashion. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their gifts even if it was for someone they had never met before. We had a campfire on the beach and most people were received calls from friends and family. It was a good Christmas.
On the 28th myself and 19 others rented two bakkies (covered pickup trucks) and drove north to Cape Cross to see the seal reservation. That night we camped on the beach near a shipwreck. We watched a gorgeous sunset behind the shipwreck and built another campfire. The next day we broke camp early and drove south to Walvis Bay which is the third largest city in Namibia. It is an industrial shipping port and commercial fishing area. We didn’t spent much time in the city, only enough to get great seafood and free crab claws from this little take out place that sold oysters for N$3.50 (about $0.50) per oyster. We then drove a little bit further south to Dune 7, the largest sand dune in Namibia (and maybe the world but I’m not actually sure of that). All 20 of us climbed the dune and that was where my camera got too much sand in it and stopped working. After Dune 7 we drove to the salt mines near there and then back to Swakopmund because we only rented the trucks for 24 hours. I did get to drive however and it was awesome driving on the left side of the road.
Once back in Swakopmund I had a quiet few days, I watched a few movies with friends and ate too much food. I had a quiet New Years Eve because I stopped celebrating New Years a few years ago (long story) and barely made it to midnight. I got up around 7am, packed up all my things, and went to get a hike back to Rehoboth. It was a great trip but after a certain point in every vacation I always feel like getting back and getting to work. I have a few New Years’ resolutions: stop cracking my knuckles and neck, I do it way too often. Start and finish the P90 workout series, which I started today. And learn to play the piano better. I have received a few books from my parents and my school has a piano for me to practice on.