Tsunami Dog: Afrikaner Mullet: The Nuclear Option

Hello All. Things had been moving in the right direction project-wise for me until the time I went to reconnect (mid August). After that, a lot of things got in the way. Two weeks at Reconnect, followed by about 5 weeks of sickness, then a week long power outage, and declining support from the ministry I’m attached to left me feeling like all my work had come to a standstill. However, over the past few weeks, I’ve managed to get things moving again. I will give you all some more details on what I’ve been working on here in my next post, but for now I’ll just say I’ve been busy and all is good on the volunteering front.

So, what’s been going on other than work? I finally got to do some personal travel. Other than a trip to Oshikati (north west) and a couple small trips within the Kavango, I really haven’t traveled much since I started Peace Corps. One of the nice things about being in the part of Namibia that I am is that I’m relatively close (8 hour drive) to one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Victoria Falls. Vic Falls is located near the town of Livingstone, Zambia (as in “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”). Google it. Even though this is the worst time of year to visit due to low water levels, it was still a beautiful site. After having seen only savannah and desert and some nice mountains over the past 8 months, walking through the woods and encountering a massive 360-foot deep crevasse was out of the ordinary. Late in the rainy season, the entire length of the 1-mile long gorge is a roaring waterfall. I’m excited to return and witness that. So, in the pictures below, imagine that entire face is a waterfall. I’ll post some before and after rainy season pix in April. The elephants below delayed our travel a bit in the coolest way possible. The passengers of the car I was in weren’t the least bit happy when I got out to take pictures. I was later given the following warning about elephants, “if one looks at you and waves its ears back and forth, you’re in trouble”.

The city of Livingstone was a blast. Being able to visit nice restaurants, bars, nightclubs, was a welcome change of pace. It was small enough and safe enough that everything was walkable. They even had a gym! The people in the town were all very friendly and accessible. I’m sure I’ll visit this town many times between now and whatever comes after Namibia for me.

I need a haircut. The last haircut I got was in Nazareth, Pennsylvania over 8 months ago. It’s gotten long enough that I now often catch myself reminiscing about my skateboarding days when I look in the mirror. I’ve resorted to slicking it back for work, which is a ridiculous look for me but passable for work purposes. My options in Namibia are pretty much this: 1) shave head 2) hand PCV friend scissors and wish them luck, or 3) Afrikaner mullet courtesy of local barber. The PC NAM35 mullet club is now defunct (you can’t cut the party off and still call it a mullet. no.), so I don’t need to consider the unthinkable option 3. On the bright side, my consultees and attendees to my presentations all seem to still take me seriously. However, I feel that I’m pushing it a little and need to act soon. Maybe by Christmas.

Thanksgiving is coming up. This is a particularly big day for my family back home as we have our yearly family reunion at “McCauleyville” in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. I’ve been to every McCauleyville Thanksgiving since I was 3 years old. I’ll certainly miss it and be thinking a lot about my family that day. I’ll be celebrating this Thanksgiving with some PCV friends in Divundu. We’ll have chicken instead of turkey, but we will have stuffing. Turkey is hard to come by here and expensive when you do. We’ll have a big gang for a river cruise, safari, and a Thanksgiving meal. It’ll be nice to have so many of my PCV family in the Kavango.

I love my country, but I cannot tell you how nice it was to miss an election season in the states. I highly recommend moving far far away sometime in early 2016 and returning, say, sometime after early 2017. Maybe the Peace Corps is right for you?

A final note. I started this blog sitting in my sister Kate’s house in Shepherdstown, West Virginia on November 21, 2011. Just about one year and 34 posts later, I feel like there’s a whole lot more between me and that first post than 365 days. Thank you to those of you who have stuck with me. I know my writing consistency hasn’t been great since I got sick, but life is getting back to normal now (Namibia normal, anyway). I’m hoping my blogging enthusiasm will recover soon too.

That’s it for now. Have a great Thanksgiving and thanks for reading.