Let the journey begin...

This is an updated version of my journal (I found a USB drive and uploaded an old journal). Happy New Year from Namibia! After 4 flights totaling 20 hours, I have arrived in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. We spent New Year's Eve in a posh hotel in Johannesberg – quite an experience! On the first of the year, we flew into Namibia and took a large bus to our hostel “backpacker” in Windhoek. Our bus driver, Mr. Cassinga, provided us with the fine entertainment of Enrique Inglesias' “You Can Be My Hero”.......on repeat. Apparently he is quite popular here, along with Celine Dion, R. Kelly, and 50 Cent. We are staying in Windhoek for four nights at the Backpackers United with an outdoor pool, shaded cabana and catered food. With all of these plush accommodations, I feel like I am on vacation rather than teaching in rural African village for a year! It will be a rude awakening once I move to my village on January 17th, but I guess this is a nice transition into my placement.

My schedule for the next few weeks is as follows: 4 days in Windhoek for orientation, 5 days in a north central village for practicum teaching, 2 days traveling through Etosha National Wildlife Park and staying in Tsumeb, and then back to Windhoek for the remaining 4 days for finish up our training. World Teach does an amazing job of preparing their volunteers for the full cultural experience teaching in Namibia. We discuss all kinds of teaching strategies – from specific subjects to general classroom management and the Namibian education system – as well as Namibian culture, language training, dealing with culture shock, and much more! In addition to being very educational, this orientation has allowed me to meet so many amazing people. There are 31 volunteers total, which is the most they have ever had. We have only been together a few days and I can already tell the group dynamic is just perfect. It is such a diverse group – in terms of background, age, experience, and careers, yet we all have this common passion for helping others that ties us all together.

Since I have only been here a brief time, I have not been able to experience the Namibian culture, but there are a few things that we have discussed that are quite different from American life. One is the way that you are expected to greet others. Greetings are very important and it is quite offensive if you do not take the time to say “Hello, how are you?” and wait for the other party to answer and reciprocate the greeting. This holds true not only in social situations, but anytime you have an interaction with someone whether you are at the grocery store, eating at a restaurant or running into the post office to drop of mail. There have been a few times where people have been refused service because they failed to greet someone. Wait, they value being cordial and friendly? What a concept! Another big cultural difference is the concept of time. Namibians are very laid back when it comes to time and schedules. Everything seems to move at a slower pace and they do not feel the need to rush through life. In theory, this seems wonderful, but I can see where I will have many challenges, especially once I am teaching and wanting to accomplish so many things. I'm sure I will have many stories about these two big cultural differences in the future.

I am hoping to get to an internet cafe and update my blog as often as possible – maybe 1 to 2 times a month. I would love to hear from all of you – via blog comments, email, snail mail or phone. I will list my contact information below, including my cell phone number. There are a few ways to call me. You can purchase a calling card that allows you to call Namibia. You can only get these cards online. You can use speedypin.com or pinonline.com. It seems a little sketchy (with many hidden fees) but you can't buy them any other way. The cheapest way is through Skype. If you are not familiar with it, it is a free program you can download and use with the internet. It is free to call other people with Skype or you can call cellphones or landlines for a small fee. I won't have internet often to use Skype, but you can call my cellphone on Skype and it is much cheaper than a calling card or anything else.


Here is my address for the next year. I would love to hear from you!

Rachel Manley
Ogongo CS
PO Box 3056
Oshikati, Namibia