Don't you miss your family and friends?

A couple questions I’ve been asked regularly are “is it hard to be away from your family?” or “Don’t you miss your friends?”. Or often I’m asked what’s the hardest part about being in Peace Corps? Well of coarse its being away from loved ones. In my short seven months of service, back on the States side I’ve had one of my longest known friends get engaged to her high school sweetheart and they have been together over 10 years! I’ve had births enter the world. My niece Savannah (who is my everything) had her very first volleyball game, where she also made the team captain, and though I once made it a priority to be at every game I possibly could, I was now on the opposite side of the world. And though it hurts, I also lost people. I’ll be honest, yeah; it is hard to be away from your family.

            Call me lucky though, because even through the nostalgia, (not to mention an ocean and vast distances of land) I don’t think I could feel any closer to people back home. Where I once went many days with out talking to family, we now make it a point to talk once a week. Don’t get me wrong, internet isn’t always reliable, but the fact that we each put in the effort is priceless. I have friends I hadn’t seen in months or years sending letters. Any volunteer can tell you, getting mail is one hella good feeling.  I’m even more beyond fortunate to have a supportive circle shooting me messages on Facebook or email saying “hey girl what can we do to help, is there anything you need”. A couple times some of my learners or host family member have been able to be featured in FaceTime and Skype calls, and boy does it turn into talk of the school for a week. Yeah, I miss my family and friends, but I’m also with my family and friends.

            See nothing can every replace friends and family from “home” but one of the greatest gifts of service is the relationships gained while serving. Today my host mom (who is a member of the school board) and toddler niece had to come by the school I’m teaching at. Well, when I walked back to the offices for my free period my host niece saw me and with a huge cheesy 4-teeth smile and wobbly steps came at me. My heart seriously melted. Some of the friendships I’ve made both in the network of volunteers and locals are relationships I could never forget.  I get eager to visit my Bunya host mom telling people, “yeah this weekend I’m going to visit my mom”. My host sister is seriously one of my best friends. Just as my sister back home is. This, this is magic. There is a certain amount of sacrifice with serving in the Peace Corps and living over seas, but the rewards that come along with service are incomparable. 

A Namibia Christmas

What is it that makes Christmas, well Christmas? The days leading up to my first Christmas in Namibia didn’t really have the “Christmas Spirit”. I chatted with friends who felt similar, trying to solve this puzzle. Was it that we were here in summer hot weather because it is summer here and we’re in Africa? Was it nerves being that it was many of our first Christmases away from family? Perhaps it was the lack of Christmas trees, lights, decorations, carols and egg nog. 

Back in the summer before embarking on this adventure I decided to leave a little surprise for my family back home. I like making jewelry and collages. I was definitely on a budget saving up to leave, but for me leaving gifts for my family was important. They wouldn’t mind the slightest bit if I didn’t get them anything, but I love giving surprises. I enjoy the smiles people get when they receive surprises. So I decided I would make some jewelry and collages, wrap them in Christmas wrapping and hide them at my parents' house where they store their Christmas decorations. This was a mission to say the least. I had a small 4-week job to save up some money over the summer and would spend every single break making this or that. The tricky part being that many of my co-workers were good friends of my mom or had previously worked with either her, my dad, or my sister. Santa Fe is small. They were all in on the secret though. Two of my good friends would help me sneak things to their house to wrap and helped supply wrapping paper. My best friend helped me move a huge bookshelf and venture through storage items so that I could hide the box of presents with my parents' decoration. Over the summer my dad had an injury/surgery so he was off from work, which made it a bit tricky when it came to having time to hide the gifts. I figured if I hid the gifts with my family's decoration they would find them when it came time to decorate… which they did a few weeks ago.  The secret mission was a success.

So as the days leading up to Christmas approached feeling just as any other day a few volunteers decided to get a group of us together to rent at a hotel in Rundu so we could all spend Christmas together as a Namily. A decent sized group all arrived to the Bavaria House the morning of Christmas Eve and the celebrations began. For myself it was a bit of a different Christmas experience. My family was always big on celebrating Christmas Eve and more so relaxed on Christmas Day. On Christmas Eve we socialized about what we have been doing during our break since the All-Volunteer conference in Windhoek. School has not been in session the entire month so we’ve been on “holiday” with lots of time on our hands. Christmas day we jammed some Christmas carols, all made a dish of some sorts, and celebrated with a White Elephant gift exchange. I won was some MTC phone credit, which I was excited about.  I did intend on spending a portion of the day with my host family, but unfortunately when my host brother was in town and offered to drive me to our village I was smack in the middle of cooking my dish and couldn’t leave.

From what I hear a traditional Christmas is spent with your family enjoying drinks and a large feast. Prior to leaving to Rundu I saw that my family had purchased 3 goats to enjoy for the holiday. This was interesting for me to see what would be Christmas dinner sitting in the back of my host dad’s truck. I was told it came out very delicious. Traditionally, the other dishes served along side meat (goat being a local favorite) are potatoes, macaroni, and rice. Definitely not a low carb kind of meal.

Over all it was a nice Christmas. I got to spend it with my Namily and had a lot of fun. I also got to FaceTime with my family back home while they celebrated Christmas Eve, which of coarse brought a smile to my heart. I was able to take some time to meet with my Bunya host mom and sister to give them a little gift I made for them as a Christmas present. I really do care about them.  I’m very much looking forward to giving current host sister the gift I made for her. I feel like I'm lucky to call her my host sister. In Namibia giving Christmas gifts isn’t very popular so it will be great to give her a little Christmas surprise and a taste of American Christmas culture. 

Nom Nom Nom! On the menu Kavango Cuisine

Grubs! Slimmy, yet satisfying :)

Actually I have ate some worms since my Namibian adventure has began, but that is more traditionally an O-land delectable. Personally, I like them dry, but I believe they are suppose to be cooked. I have a thing about textures of food so chewy grubs hasn't been something I enjoyed being in my mouth. 

 So first off a bit of background. As you may have read before I am serving in the Kavango region of Namibia. Namibia its self is split into many, extremely unique regions. As you can see on the map (or may already know) Kavango region is on the top of Namibia near the Kavango River which serves as a border between Namibia and Angola.

Depending on the region's location, its menu of traditional foods shift. The one common love amongst all regions is meat. Any get together with Namibia almost  always involves meat. I don't think I have experienced a single weekend with out walking across, into, or being a part of a Braii (the Namibian word for BBQ). Fast food may be closed, but its guaranteed that you can find some AMAZING "street meat" or "Kapana meat" being braiied on the side of the road or in front of a bar. Let me tell you it is so good that its yummy-ness will never grow old. Its also fun to see the different spices, or seasonings the sellers have out to dip your meat into if thats what you choose. If you haven't had the chance to read my blog "The Wild Game" these two go pretty hand in hand because that one is about the types of game hunted. In that blog I also referenced being unsure on how its possible to hunt (or even butcher) giraffe. Well I must of either a) seen the future coming or b) spoke a few days too soon because not long after that posting giraffe was what was on the table. 

In my region we eat a lot of fish. It is with out hesitation that the fresh fish caught in the river and salt fried or boiled that is commonly served is the absolutely best fish I have ever experienced in my life. I enjoy seeing how fish varies even with in the region. When I was living in Bunya for CBT (Community Based Training) my host mom would typically fry fish. I must admit, her friend fish has probably been one of my favorite dishes in Namibia. Now that I am living in Kasote for my 2 years of service I live with a new host family, and they typically boil the large red belly fish, which is also great. Prior to living here I would eat fish if it was what was served, but didn't love it. That has definitely changed now. I love Love LOVE fish both boiled and fried. 

One traditional food for tea time is breaded, fried fish which many love, but due to my celiac I have not tried. Yes, you read that right. I did say for tea time. One of my favorite features of Namibian culture in all regions is "Tea Time". Every day, usually around 10:00am is tea time. Tea Time is meant as a break for the day and tends to last around 30 minutes. In some occasions tea and/or coffee along with a snack such as the fried fish (pictured to the left), bread and butter, or fruit is provided. Other times you are responsible for bringing your own refreshments and snack. Another traditional yummy treat consumed for tea time, or any time of the day for that matter is a goody known as "Fat Cakes".

Unfortunately I have not been able to try these either, but people who have really enjoy them. They are balls of dough with extra butter and sugar mixed in and cooked by being dropped into a pot of boiling oil. In my opinion they seem similar to doughnut holes, but I don't know exactly. Once in a while you can also find them spruced up being drizzled in syrup or rolled in powdered sugar. The name fat cakes couldn't be more fitting. 

Now, for a fun Rukwangali lesson. "Yisima". The one food which is consumed pretty much every single day. Seriously I'm pretty sure "Yisima" is what is served 6 out of 7 days of the week. It can be used for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. "Yisima" is also known as "pap", but in would be better understood as porridge in English. For lunch or dinner the "Yisima" is hard and rolled into a ball which also serves as your utensils. Who needs spoons and forks anyways? When the "Yisima" is served for breakfast it is watered down with milk and extra sugar is added. The breakfast "Yisima" has a similar taste to Cream of Wheat which brings back some childhood memories. <3 What I find most intriguing is how it is typically/ "traditionally" cooked. It is cooked with either maize (corn) or mahangu (millet) flour in a cast iron cauldron on top of three stones and over an a fire. This is known as "ediko" in Rukwangali. 

The "Yisima" is usually accompanied with .... take a wild guess! If you guessed meat then you are right! The other popular pairs for "Yisima" is ekovi (cabbage), mutete (dried spinach, it can also be fresh though), or soap (soup). No matter what your fancy may be it is rather tasty. 

Little fun fact, macaroni is enjoyed here in Namibia just as it is in many parts of the world. In America, I automatically think macaroni is served drowing in yummy, gooey, cheesy wonders! However, in Namibia macaroni is served with mayo and ketchup. I can't say I've experienced that either  though. Darn you gluten for limiting my food options!!! Even with some (very) limited access to gluten free pasta, mayo and ketchup are a bit wild for me. I know, I know, I'll eat grubs, bats, donkey, and doves, but not mayo or ketchup right? I tell you its a texture thing.

Another traditional treat here in "Eguni" also known as a Kavango orange. It has a hard outer shell that needs to be cracked on a rock, or if your a pro with your elbow. Once you have it cracked open it is filled with little seed like fruit that kind of tastes like bananas. Your suck the fruit off the seed and spit out the see pits.

Namibias sure do know how to cook, I think that is one of the many things I really enjoy about living with a host family. Yes feeling like a member of their family is on the top of the list, but right behind it comes the out of this world meals that only a Namibian can create. Trust me, Ive tried mimicking some of the delicious recipes and even though they aren't bad, they are much better made by the hands of the ones who actually know what they are doing. I'm very excited to see what food-ventures will come to be explored in the years to in Namibia. 

*This was also a request made in the "Talk to me" section (located in the right hand tool bar). I would love to hear more ideas on what you would like to know about so let me know! 

Movie Monday! Fun under the Bunya Sun: CBT Slideshow

Hi everyone!! Thank you again for checking out my blog. I decided this Monday called for a little movie. Myself along with the other volunteers I had CBT with in Bunya during the month of September decided to collaborate our pictures. Here is a fun slideshow video I was able to make of our amazing time in Bunya. Just follow the link below and enjoy!!!

Follow this links to view the video of our time in Bunya for CBT

https://youtu.be/Bq_yr9SmWpA

Also please subscribe to my blog if you can! Its simple, just enter your email in the box to the right.

oh ya!! And I added a page on the right column for Question and Requests. I would love to answer anything you throw my way, and post anything you'd like to see. Have something you'd like to see in my village? Great, just leave a comments and I'll snap a photo and tell you more about it. Happy viewing :)


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