My Trip to Namibia: Namibia Day 20, 21, 22

19^th, 20^th and 21^st of September

Monday started out pretty hectic considering my weekend was not a normal weekend by any means so I felt a little behind on sleep, routine etc. We had our planning meeting today which ended a lot longer than planned. I seem to find a pattern with any type of meeting I have attending in Africa thus far has clearly lived up to the saying “African Meeting.” It’s great though because I truly feel like I am living within the culture when I can relate to sayings like this one! Monday is the day when I moved out of the Greidanus’ flat and into Minnie’s house! I was so excited to get settled in and learning about the area of Eros in Windhoek where I will be living.

All the Positives about my new Home!

-Living with Minnie and her daughter N’dahafa! (having community with Minnie is something I desired right as I met her and especially after Jennifer told me all the great experiences she had living with her, as well as N’dahafa is so much fun and keeps things interesting!

-Great Area! And safe! Minnie said I can even go walking in the morning alone if I feel like it!

-Walking distance to the Eros Shopping Center (600m) which has a grocery store, coffee shop, drug store, video store, Gas Station, clothing store and African decorative store. They even have a lingerie shop called the Perfect Cup! (haha I found this humorous because by just the title alone I would have thought this was the coffee shop, not a lingerie store!)

-Close to downtown

-And so much more!

Tuesday was a very hard day for me. Being that it was Joe’s birthday I wanted nothing more at that moment but to be home and celebrate with him. I attempted to call him on Monday night almost midnight here, but could not get a hold of him and Tuesday since I had just moved into Minnie’s I did not have internet set up yet so I could not contact him until the afternoon here and it made me so sad that not only was I not the first to wish him happy birthday, but I could not even call him on his special day and my gift for him arrived late and he didn’t get his card L! Even though I was super sad about this he seemed very positive and upbeat and never once made me feel like my greetings were anything less than terrific. I am so lucky to have him!

Today was an overall good day with Instant coffee in my system and a good time in the word in James this morning I was ready to take on the day. I got a chance to pray with the kids I helped tutor in the morning. Please be praying for me and my ability to teach some of these children the best I can. A lot of them are in the 4^th grade and are having a very difficult time with spelling and even sounding out the letters in the alphabet. Now I am not a teacher, by profession by any means, but I knew that when I was in the 2^nd grade I was already reading chapter books and most of these kids just have picture books with minimum words on the pages. Now English is their second language and they probably speak Afrikaans as well as their native tongue, which is amazing, but the comprehension with school related tasks in these languages are hard. Just pray the spirit can move my words to help these kids understand to the best of their ability as well as them to be able to grasp my accent because sometimes we have a language barrier as well. Tonight I had the opportunity to use Minnie’s “washing machine” for the first time. I was very thankful that Jennifer showed me how to use it before she left. I believe it was modeled in either the late 70s or early 80s and I had to use the hose to fill it up etc. It was a very interesting experience to say the least! Afterwards Minnie’s Pilipino friends came over for dinner and cooked their native food fish, but not “just fish.” It was a fish cut in half, seasoned with salt, dehydrated then fried (eyes, tail and all!) It was a very neat experience having the treat of Pilipino food in Namibia. Thanks so much everyone for your feedback and continuous support and prayers I truly appreciate it and it gives me the energy to keep plugging away knowing God is at work here and back in the US as he always is!