On Friday, I enjoyed sleeping in (such a treat here when most days begin at 5 am) till about 8:45. I then got some delicious breakfast in my PJ's and headed back to my room. After some chill time in the room, I decided to get my swim suit on and head for the pool. I joined the rest of the girls for about two hours of good sun tanning. We are all trying to soak up as many rays as we can before our departure as we have heard there is not 80+ degree weather with sun back home ;)
At 1:30, we were cleaned up and ready for an afternoon out. We got dropped off at the Craft Center where we were less overwhelmed this time than last, and enjoyed searching out some great treasures. I bought some gifts and a sweet gift box. Someone had taken a two liter bottle, cut it down to the bottom third, painted the outside white, and then glued tissue paper on. They then cut slits down about an inch and a half about a half inch wide all the way around. They then folded those down and added a bow on top. It's super cute, and I bought it because I thought it would be a great art project to do with my future students for any holiday such as Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, etc. Super easy but awesome project.
From the Craft Center, we wandered down town to many other shops. We split into two groups so we could cover more ground. I went with Jill and Jessica to many little shops including the fabric store where Jessica bought about a meter and a half of four different prints of sweet African decorated fabric. She has a family friend who said they would make her a quilt if she brought home these fabrics. When we met back up with the other group, it was time to get some dinner. We hit up the The Gourmet Grill and I had some delicious Thai Chicken.
After dinner, Jessica and I ran to one last store to get some Namibian flags (I want to hang one in my future classroom) and some stickers of funny Namibian signs. We all then headed back to Casa for a chill rest of our evening. At one point, there were about five of us hanging out in Molly and my room when the boys from South Africa who live at Casa too stopped by to see what we were up to. They hung out for a while and chatted with us. We talked about different things from our country that we thought would bring up interesting differences. For example, I got out my driver's license and showed them that I had an Idaho state license and explained that when I get back, I will have to switch to a Washington state one. They thought it was odd to have different laws and such in different parts of the country. It's so eye opening to interact with and be around people from different cultures. It makes you realize how much more to the world there is outside the boarders of the United States.
On Saturday, we enjoyed another morning of sleeping in and laying by the pool for hours. By now, many of us are looking quite tan, and are fearing the coldness of our 40 degree return to the states. At about noon a few of us decided we didn't want to spend the whole day at Casa, and wanted to get out to explore some more. So, we called up Grant and had him pick us up at 2 o'clock. He took us to a market that Jan and Paula had told us about, but it was different than we had anticipated. The only thing really to buy there were dresses, hair braiding, and food, non of which we needed. It was interesting to see though as we walked passed many little shops with ladies sewing and ironing inside and many shops with two ladies busy braiding or some man buzzing another man's head. It was a little window into more of the everyday life of some local Namibians. Grant then took us to Penduka which is a place where disabled women are empowered and work by making crafts. We looked around for a little bit at their artwork and each purchased something.
Then we had Grant take us downtown where we shopped a little at the vendors on the hill who were just packing up when we arrived. We got a few things and then headed to the mall. We were told that things closed early on the weekend, but didn't realize that at 3:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon that the mall and post street would be a ghost town. We turned the corner onto post street (which is usually hustling and bustling with people walking around and vendors everywhere) to see no one in sight. We walked through the mall a bit and found nothing open expect for the grocery store Pick-n-Pay (straight forward name). We got a few snacks and then headed out. As we walked down the street, we found a few more little gift shops open where we looked around to kill some time. The plan was for us to walk to the restaurant about a mile and a half away to meet the other girls for dinner at 6:30. Obviously at this point, we had way more time than we needed and not much to do.
We took our time strolling up and down the street taking pictures with random things we found. At one point, three little kids yelled for us from inside the lot of an apartment complex type housing area. We decided to go back and talk with them since we had the time. One of them recognized us from Steenkamp as she was a grade 5 learner there. We talked with them for a bit and then bid them goodbye. We made it to the restaurant, Luigi & the Fish, at about 6:00. We decided to sit down and look over the menu while waiting for the other girls to arrive. Many of us ordered the bomb Game Wrap which consisted of strips of Oryx meat cooked with stir-fried vegetables and wrapped up in a tortilla served with salsa and sour cream. It was so delicious, and we all had enough to take home left overs.
On Sunday, Molly and I got up at about 7 o' clock and got ready to go for the day. We had been invited by one of the staff here at Casa, Johannes, to walk to church with him this morning. He has only been at Casa for about two weeks now, and had been missing going to church. He found a local Catholic church and wanted someone to accompany him, so he asked us and we agreed to go. Jessica tall decided to go with us as well. It was about a half hour walk to church which actually was quite nice. On the way, we discussed different cultural things such as walking places. Johannes was shocked when we told him what short distances many Americans would drive rather than walk. We also talked about bicycles and he was surprised that all three of us could ride one until we explained to him how common a toy they were for children in our country.
We arrived at church to find the previous service was not finished, so we sat outside looking around until it was time to go in. It was a little bit awkward, because we wanted to follow Johannes' lead, but in the culture here, the men let the women go first, so we had to go in front of him. Molly led us to some seats two rows from the front, then when more people came in, we were moved to sitting on the stage (talk about stage fright, the whole congregation could see us). We had to pay close attention to what everyone was doing and follow what Johannes said, so we wouldn't stick out more than we already did. It was a bit confusing at times, but overall we enjoyed the experience. We then walked back to Casa and said goodbye to Johannes for now.
I grabbed some of my leftovers for a lunch by the pool and then hit my room to blog it up. Most everyone else took the day just to chill, and oh yeah, lay by the pool :)
This is the map of everything at Penduka, during the week you can come and see the women working on the crafts, we were bummed that we came on Saturday and could not see them
Dolls made by the women
The information about the cause
I really wanted to buy this one, but it was pretty expensive, so I refrained
I thought this wall was very fun
The Hilton Hotel in Namibia, who would have thought?
The view of the city from our walk
An awesome opening in the clouds with the light shining through
Climbing rocks and wishing I was wearing my chacos
Still walking, it was quite a long walk
Talking with the girls who yelled for us
We made it!
Jill and Jess
And me with some flowers I bought
What was left for left overs of my delicious game wrap
No comments:
Post a Comment