Cake 'n' Shake

I got exactly what I wanted for my birthday this year... even if it was 2 days early.  Thanks Garden Café!  ;-)

Mmmmmm.....

Harnas

About 2 weeks ago, our colleague friend and I planned another surprise for Kevin for his birthday.  Harnas was where we had originally wanted to go for his actual birthday, but since it didn't work out for the day of the birthday, we figured we'd put the plan in motion for another time when Kevin wouldn't expect it.

The deal with this place is that that they've rescued animals that wouldn't have survived in the wild for some reason and rehabilitate and reintroduce them if/when possible.  Harnas also takes visitors on their daily feedings, which is what we did.

Leopard:

The cheetahs may have been the coolest part of the excursion since we took the vehicle into their enclosure.

The wild dogs were interesting in their own way too.  Unfortunately we couldn't upload the video to show you, but their sound, if you can call it that, is just obnoxious!

I've never seen juvenile ostrich play before, but they were puffing out their wings and spinning around together.  It's pretty adorable!

One of the thorniest trees we've seen yet!  And that's saying something!

Kevin's birthday at Arnhem Cave

Last Sunday, a colleague/ good friend of ours here and I managed to pull off surprising Kevin for his birthday.  He was pretty clueless until we got on the school's bus early that morning to go to the local Arnhem Cave with the top 3 learners from each grade from the secondary school along with the accompanying teachers.

In the video you can hear and see the Namibian birthday song which the learners sang to Kevin as we headed off that morning.

The cave itself was cool, but we also just had a lot of fun swimming and braaing with everyone.

One teacher's 5-year-old found herself a bit attached to me (or actually my hair, which she started braiding), and we ended up playing in the pool together quite a bit.  (One of the grade 11 girls also asked to touch my hair, so it's nothing unusual.)  I also enjoyed reminiscing on my swim instructor days at the YMCA(!) by teaching her some swimming techniques, which was pretty successful because she was just loving the water and being silly getting wet.  Her parents seemed a bit nervous at first (Namibians can be a bit hydrophobic, in comparison with our culture anyway), but then I think they were just pretty impressed by what she could do in the water at such a young age.

(Sister Clara (left) nearly made it, but ended up turning back.  But really I just tell you this because of the image of a nun in a cave which still amuses me.  (Sorry for being immature, although I hope I'm not the only one!))

The secondary school learners also felt they had to take advantage of the opportunity to swim because they just didn't know the next time it would come up again.  For some of them, it had been a couple years as it was.

Also I would like to testify that I don't think my hair color is as light as they seem in the photos, perhaps because the group photos were taken with a friend's camera..!

The day was a treat for Kevin, the learners, and all of us.  Truthfully I think he was happy to share the spotlight for his day.  But one of these birthdays he might not be so lucky, but I suppose he'll have to cope!

And Kevin thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and greetings he had received from home!

Two dozen

18 in Spain.
20 in Australia.
24 in... Lesotho (for the first half) AND South Africa (for the second)!

Aw yeah. :-)

6 months down

Happy 6 month anniversary to us being in Namibia!  It's going fast for us.  How about you guys?  (Kevin would like to add that that is over 1/5 of our total time commitment here.  21-22% in fact.)

(Yeah this is late and I squeezed it in, but we're in Africa ok!)

And lots of Happy Birthdays!  To Dana, Grandpa, Steve, Dad, and I'm sure others.  Also to Ben in the beginning of the month!

Happy Birthday Kevin!

We are 2 months into our time in Namibia and just over a week of our time in Khorixas for Kevin's first Namtastic birthday.

We were pretty limited in what we could do to celebrate since volunteers are not allowed to travel during our first three months in Peace Corps. (The purpose of this is to maximize our available time at site for integrating and adapting… more on this to come.) Our main objective was simply to enjoy the Saturday out of the house and away from disruptive children.

Started off with a nice breakfast of French Toast. (This is a more difficult feat than you would think! We so appreciate nonstick frying pans now, as they are uncommon here, and make it difficult to prepare many American breakfasts involving eggs, pancakes, etc!)

Dinner was more Namibian, as we ate, surprise, meat! It was supposedly extra special, don't know why, but it was tasty! Our family also sang the Namibian Lutheran birthday song to Kevin in that odd nasally way the Damaras like to sing: "Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Let the light of the Lord shine on you, Happy birthday to you!"

Unfortunately I wasn't able to make Kevin a cake with our current limited (and shared.. host family) resources, but I did make him cookie dough! And a PCV in our town promised us Welcome/Birthday cookies… so nice!!

The 3 of us kind of camped out in a shady spot on my school grounds, so Kevin could put a dent in his most current reading endeavor, Nelson Mandela's A Long Walk to Freedom. (I told Kevin he should write a response when he is finished and post it to the blog! So much to learn about Namibian/African culture from this reading experience. If you're in favor, encourage Kevin and comment "I" or "yay"!)

And a nap! A birthday is not complete without a nice nap, right?! (If you're old that is!) ;o)

You'll notice some of Kevin's "birthday presents" in the next few photos. Two in this first one: Patches. Haircut (which I am proud to say is my work of art, even if it did take 3 hours!). (I don't know if Kevin is giving Patches a kiss here or if he is showing us his version of Zoolander's "Blue Steel." ... Have you ever wondered if there was more to life, other than being really, really ridiculously good-looking?)

And Kevin's first pillbox! Kevin feels REALLY old now. This photo contains both of our malaria pill containers, to be fair. Kevin takes the daily pill and still has trouble remembering (Alzheimer's already?!!), hence the gift of a pillbox. Also note his "GERIcare" vitamins, courtesy of the Peace Corps Medical Office. (Again, to be fair, I (and probably all the female volunteers) were given prenatal vitamins… Maybe I can blame them for my heightened maternal instincts… for a dog?!)

With our travel restrictions lifted, maybe we'll have a more eventful, youthful birthday celebration next year..?! Nah, it was a nice day and good times were had by all.

Besides, Kevin doesn't even have "the old man smell" yet, agreed Dave? ;-)

Birthdays!

We celebrated numerous birthdays last week, including 2 fellow trainees (who were born on the same day-- we surprisingly have a few of those in addition to the name repeats (3 Kims, 2 Jeanettes, 2 Julies, 2 Stephanies), our host sister Fatima, and our language trainer- dear, Auntie Martha. You can see her featured in the following photos in traditional Damara dress (for the very special occasion of her 65th anniversary on earth).


What a face! You can start to imagine her personality, she's such a cute lady who everyone just adores. We're so lucky to learn language for 2-4 hours with her every day!

Auntie Martha, Benna (our Training Manager, also a wonderful guy)

And for Fatima, we left notes around the house, which she loved! We assured her not all Americans behave as we do!
Happy Birthday to those at home: Grandma, Dave, Gianna, and more!