November 30th
I hope everyone is doing well! Life is still great here in Namibia! Hot, but great! I just got back from my permanent site and a week of shadowing. We will all stay together as a group for the next few days, then split up again for community based training (CBT) and will live with host families and teach in a model school for a month.
My permanent site is great! I have a roommate, a cute little house, amazing learners, wonderful teachers and a really great principal. The village I am living in is very very rural and small (maybe 500-1000 people). 50% of the people are Damara and 50% are Herero (those are two tribes in Namibia). The village is in the middle of a mountain range and is gorgeous. I am so excited to climb the mountains around me!
My roommate is Colleen and she is also a Miami grad! Funny story…Colleen and I graduated in May, lived across the street from each other senior year, had mutual friends, almost the same major (I was English Ed and she was English Lit), didn’t know each other, and are now random Namibian roomies! Colleen will be teaching at the primary and I will be teaching 8th grade English, Life Skills, Computer and Library classes at the secondary school. We have a cute little house across from the secondary school with three small bedrooms, a sitting room, a kitchen and a bathroom (so nice!). We have cold water (not hot) that works off and on from about 8 or 9 am to around 7 pm most days and electricity. Water is scarce in Namibia and a problem in my little village. We fill up buckets so we can use water when the water doesn’t work or if we don’t have water for a few days.
The village is small small small! It is located between Windhoek (capital) and Swakopmond (coastal town). The only homes that are made of cement are the teacher houses, which the ministry of education pays for. The rest of the homes are shacks made out of tin or scrap metal. It is a very very poor area and the people living there basically have nothing. But while it is very poor, it is a happy place to live. The people could not have been more friendly or welcoming to Colleen and me. Everyone came by to say hi, the choir at my school came and sang to us and my future learners came by our house to keep us company and play cards. I already love and miss it (I will not return until January 9th!)!
Colleen and I both have plans to start an HIV/AIDS support group for the youth of the community and our schools. We want to have peer support groups that would deal with HIV/AIDS and the effects (death, infection, etc). We are also building up the libraries at our schools and starting girls clubs. It is very exciting!! I am just so excited to get started and do not think I could have a more amazing placement!
I do have a phone here in Namibia and can now actually check (but not yet send) e-mail and facebook on my phone (crazy!)! My number is 001264813642881 (in case you want to call or text me!) and my e-mail address is aly.martin4@gmail.com . Thank you so much to everyone that has been sending me e-mail…it means so much to me!! I love getting e-mail (and snail mail!) and would love to hear from you and what you are doing in your life (its hard being so disconnected from everyone!). I promise to write back, but sometimes it might take me awhile to actually be able to write you an e-mail…I still don’t have regular real internet access (although being able to check facebook on my phone is fabulous…if you leave me a message on there, I can definitely send you message back—as long as I still have money on my pay as you go phone!).
December 2, 2007
It is already December! Hopefully I will be able to post this post at the internet café. We are in a larger town right now as a group for a couple of days of training. Then we head off all over Namibia for model school (student teaching) and host families. We will be spending Christmas with our host families, which has caused most of us to be not too excited for our first Christmas holiday away from home. This is the first year that PC Namibia has not had the trainees together for Christmas and we all kind of think it will be a bad idea. I think it will be hard to be away from home for the holidays and it would be really nice to be together as a training group, but I guess we will just have to make the best of the situation. There will be six other trainees with me at my community based training site, so maybe we will be able to get together on the evening of the 25th. Christmas is not a really big deal for most Namibians like it is for us in the States, so it should be interesting to see how they celebrate.
I still cannot believe how gorgeous Namibia is! It is very very dry and hot, but beautiful. Yesterday, a group of us took a hike up the largest mountain in the town. Climbing a mountain is a little harder than it looks, but a lot of fun! And the view was unbelievable. I took a lot of pictures, but they do not do the scenery justice. You look out and see mountains, desert, the bright blue sky and just the beauty of Namibia. There will be mountains at our community based training site, and the six of us staying there want to climb them as well, so this mountain was our little warm up. It also told us that maybe we should start running to get in shape to climb bigger mountains…haha!
Sorry I have not been able to update this as often as most of you would like! Hopefully, once January rolls around, posting on the blog will be a more regular occurrence. If you have any specific questions or want to hear more about what I’m doing here, feel free to e-mail me! My e-mail is aly.martin4@gmail.com I can answer more questions or post more specific things on the blog. Also, I would love to have some pen pals for my learners! So all of the teachers I talked to before I left, I will have about 85-90 grade 8 learners who would need pen pals (I have two English classes with about 40 + learners in each class…very big classes!). If you are interested in doing a little cross cultural learning with your class…send me an e-mail! Also, I would also love to correspond with other classes in the States, even if you don’t want to do the pen pal thing (that might be better if you have an elementary class). One of the main goals of the Peace Corps is to educate and share the Namibian culture with everyone back in the States…so hopefully I will be able to do that through corresponding with you all!
Also, people have been asking what I need over here. Right now is actually not the best time to send packages. All of the mail goes through Jo’burg (think theft central) and Christmastime is their fav time to steal apparently! I have gotten one package (thanks Sarebear!), but it might be best to hold off until January. Also, writing Bible quotes, addressing it to “Sister Aly”, wrapping it like crazy in clear tape, putting tampons in the package and writing that there are tampons and missionary supplies on the outside of the box helps it get here! But at any rate, I will write up a list of things that my school (and I!) need in January. But thank you so much for thinking of me! It means so much!!
I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season! I am sad I won’t be spending it with you, but I will be there in spirit! You all are in my thoughts and prayers always. I cannot begin to tell you how much all of your e-mails, letters and prayers mean to me!
Sorry these blog posts are so long…I don’t blame you if you don’t make it all the way through them! Hopefully I will be able to post something during my host family stay and community based training! Have a great day and I miss you lots, but am still loving it here in Namibia! If you ever find yourself roaming around the deserts of Namibia, know that you will have cute little house in the middle of nowhere to stay in!
Monday, December 3, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
loving namibia!
Hey everyone!
It's Madeline again. Aly hasn't had many chances to get online so she wanted me to give everyone a quick update. She sounds great! Right now she is in a town somewhere between Windhoek and Swakob (sp?) shadowing someone. It's very rural, but there is a grocery with "normal" food which is apparently very exciting. While in this town, Aly is with a small group of girls. She says she could not have asked for better company. Tomorrow eveyone goes back to Windhoek for two days and then parts off again into new villages for a month. In the new village, Al will be living with a host family and teaching summer school.
As far as the permanent site goes, Aly will be teaching 8th grade with 40 learners (students) in each class. From I have been told, the kids are completely adorable and really eager to have the volunteers around. I think she will be well loved :) For all of you teachers, Aly would still love to have some pen-pals for her learners! If anyone wants to email her, teacher or not, her email is aly.martin4@gmail.com. I was told to "send her emails!" The response may be delayed (really delayed), but she loves hearing about what's going on at home so be sure to fill her in!
It's Madeline again. Aly hasn't had many chances to get online so she wanted me to give everyone a quick update. She sounds great! Right now she is in a town somewhere between Windhoek and Swakob (sp?) shadowing someone. It's very rural, but there is a grocery with "normal" food which is apparently very exciting. While in this town, Aly is with a small group of girls. She says she could not have asked for better company. Tomorrow eveyone goes back to Windhoek for two days and then parts off again into new villages for a month. In the new village, Al will be living with a host family and teaching summer school.
As far as the permanent site goes, Aly will be teaching 8th grade with 40 learners (students) in each class. From I have been told, the kids are completely adorable and really eager to have the volunteers around. I think she will be well loved :) For all of you teachers, Aly would still love to have some pen-pals for her learners! If anyone wants to email her, teacher or not, her email is aly.martin4@gmail.com. I was told to "send her emails!" The response may be delayed (really delayed), but she loves hearing about what's going on at home so be sure to fill her in!
Monday, November 12, 2007
Hello from Namibia!
November 11, 2007
Today is Sunday and I got to talk to my parents for a little bit! It was great to be able to talk to them. I do not have a cell phone yet (not sure if I will be getting one until January), but there is a pay phone at our center that they are able to call to talk. Its funny because family and friends are constantly calling the pay phone and everyone runs to it as soon as they hear it ring and then run to find the person it is for.
This morning a group of us went to a church in the location. We got there about a half an hour late, but the people were so excited to see us. The church was packed and they cleared out the first two rows of people to seat us (we felt pretty bad about that!). Church is a large part of many of the culture. Everyone dresses up (the little girls wear old First Communion shoes) and the children are so well behaved although most of them are on laps and sitting on the floor. The service is also done in three or four languages (the fourth was English for us) because there are many different languages spoken here. Khoekhoe (the clicking language I am learning) was one of the main languages spoken in the service, so it was neat to hear it spoken so fast and fluently. While I am glad that I went today (the singing was also amazing), I am not too sure how often I will be attending as we were there for almost 3 hours and we go there late and left early. I have never been so thankful for our one hour Catholic Masses!
Yesterday, we had a cultural learning day where our trainers (with a little help from us) made traditional food for each of our language groups (there are about 6 language groups I think). We (and by we I mean everyone but me) slaughtered chickens, cooked a smiley (the head of a goat or sheep), ate cow (or some animal) intestines, and cooked a lot of other very interesting animals. I was brave and tried some kind of antelope like animal (I forget the real name). It wasn’t too bad! Everything was cooked over open fire and made exactly as they traditionally (and still do) make it. I actually had the best home made whole grain bread ever!
Well, not much else is going on here. I will know where I will be living for the next two years this Friday or Saturday! Then on Saturday/Sunday I will visit the site for a week. I am very excited (and a little nervous) to find out where I will be!
I miss everyone lots and apologize for not being able to call/return calls of everyone before I left! Send me a letter or e-mail if you get the chance (letters are better because I’m not sure how much internet access I will have in the next two months) and I promise to write back! Miss and love you!!
Today is Sunday and I got to talk to my parents for a little bit! It was great to be able to talk to them. I do not have a cell phone yet (not sure if I will be getting one until January), but there is a pay phone at our center that they are able to call to talk. Its funny because family and friends are constantly calling the pay phone and everyone runs to it as soon as they hear it ring and then run to find the person it is for.
This morning a group of us went to a church in the location. We got there about a half an hour late, but the people were so excited to see us. The church was packed and they cleared out the first two rows of people to seat us (we felt pretty bad about that!). Church is a large part of many of the culture. Everyone dresses up (the little girls wear old First Communion shoes) and the children are so well behaved although most of them are on laps and sitting on the floor. The service is also done in three or four languages (the fourth was English for us) because there are many different languages spoken here. Khoekhoe (the clicking language I am learning) was one of the main languages spoken in the service, so it was neat to hear it spoken so fast and fluently. While I am glad that I went today (the singing was also amazing), I am not too sure how often I will be attending as we were there for almost 3 hours and we go there late and left early. I have never been so thankful for our one hour Catholic Masses!
Yesterday, we had a cultural learning day where our trainers (with a little help from us) made traditional food for each of our language groups (there are about 6 language groups I think). We (and by we I mean everyone but me) slaughtered chickens, cooked a smiley (the head of a goat or sheep), ate cow (or some animal) intestines, and cooked a lot of other very interesting animals. I was brave and tried some kind of antelope like animal (I forget the real name). It wasn’t too bad! Everything was cooked over open fire and made exactly as they traditionally (and still do) make it. I actually had the best home made whole grain bread ever!
Well, not much else is going on here. I will know where I will be living for the next two years this Friday or Saturday! Then on Saturday/Sunday I will visit the site for a week. I am very excited (and a little nervous) to find out where I will be!
I miss everyone lots and apologize for not being able to call/return calls of everyone before I left! Send me a letter or e-mail if you get the chance (letters are better because I’m not sure how much internet access I will have in the next two months) and I promise to write back! Miss and love you!!
Naked Namibians and Malaria Dreams!
November 5, 2007
!Gai llgoas! That is “hello” in my new language—Khoekhoegowab. And if you are wondering, the “!” in the beginning and the “ll” are clicks! I am learning a clicking language! I finally mastered the four clicks (not easy—trust me), so now I just have to memorize a million greetings, words and syntax. I am sure you can google or youtube the language and hear it…its really cool to hear spoken.
I am great here in Namibia. I absolutely love it. We are just finishing our first week of training (and celebrating our first week in Namibia). We will have one more week of training as a group here, then we will visit our permanent site for a week, shadow another volunteer for a week. Then we live with host families for another 4 weeks. And will finally be sworn in as volunteers in January.
Right now, my schedule is waking up around 6:30 am, taking a shower, breakfast, then we go into the conference room and sing and dance to traditional Namibian songs. It is amazing…we have about 20 trainers (all Namibians) who lead us in the songs. I am positive all Namibians have unbelievable voices; words cannot describe how talented they are. This part is by far the best part of the day! After the songs, we sing the Namibian and American national anthems and go to language classes for 2 hours (there are about 5 languages being taught). After language, we have a tea break, then some lecture or little session on health, culture and volunteer life in general. They are usually kind of boring. After that, we have lunch and more lectures/sessions for the rest of the afternoon until 6ish, when we have dinner. After dinner, we walk around the town, in the desertlike surroundings, talk and play cards.
The food here is OK. It’s a lot of meat. I have actually tried a lot of it (I make myself try one piece of meat a day –they eat it three times a day so there are plenty of opportunities.) I have had fish, chicken, beef, pork, and something else odd that I cannot remember. They also eat a lot of pasta, canned veggies and mayonnaise.
The effect of the apartheid in Namibia is still very much visible. The whites live in the town (center of the region), and then the coloreds (mixed blood) and blacks live in the location—which would be on the outside and very poor. We are located in a town for training, but traveled to the location to go hear a choir practice the other day. It was really hard to take it all in and process. People live in little one and two room shacks—some made only out of tin. There are kids running around everywhere and many people packed into a small area. The choir practice was amazing though. They were so welcoming, had amazing voices and invited us to sing and dance with them (I think they had fun listening to our terrible singing—we sang our anthem—not such a good song to sing for non-singers. They tried not to laugh!).
Today, we walked around town, just to get out of the training center. The town is semi-urban in Namibian standards (remember…there are only 2 million people here. Its one of the least densely populated countries in the world.) There is basically a few clothing/dollar like stores, a couple of groceries and some bars. There are four of us walking down the street, and all of a sudden, a jogging naked man comes right through us! We just kind of looked at each other and laughed! We realized this was not a cultural norm when we saw other Namibians laughing, staring and pointing at the man as well. He did slow down when he saw us though—apparently he thought we were the odd ones.
The cultural differences here are interesting and fun to observe. Here are just a few:
-Men hold hands and are very affectionate with each other in a nonsexual way
-It is normal in some tribes for men to marry and have multiple wives
-You have to greet people and ask them how they are every time you see them—even if you have seen them many times before during the day.
-Hitting learners is illegal but still practiced in many schools
-Students are called learners
-Chicken and fish are not meat here
I have had a lot of shots (and more to come), many lectures on diarrhea and other fun illnesses PC volunteers seem to get, and am taking a malaria pill. The medicine has some fun side effects—hallucinations, vivid dreams, and stomach issues to name a few. Luckily, the only side effect I have seen is the dreams. I actually dream that I see family and friends from home and have long conversations with them! Sometimes I remember them in the morning, sometimes I just remember the people I spoke with or that I had a dream about someone from home. They are the best dreams ever because I feel like I am talking with you all and makes being so far away easier. So far, malaria pills have been great for me!
Well, I think I am going to go to bed! Sorry this is so long…there is just so much to say! I have a lot more, but I am sure you are bored/have not finished this entry. Hopefully, once I really start learning how to click and interact with Namibians, I will have some more fun stories and spice up this blog! Not sure when you all will be reading this, since I am typing it up tonight and will be going to the internet café sometime soon. But I hope you have a great weekend…I think of you all often and appreciate all the love and support you have given me! I am loving life here in Namibia…it really is a great country! And by the way, the stars over here are unbelievable!
!Gai llgoas! That is “hello” in my new language—Khoekhoegowab. And if you are wondering, the “!” in the beginning and the “ll” are clicks! I am learning a clicking language! I finally mastered the four clicks (not easy—trust me), so now I just have to memorize a million greetings, words and syntax. I am sure you can google or youtube the language and hear it…its really cool to hear spoken.
I am great here in Namibia. I absolutely love it. We are just finishing our first week of training (and celebrating our first week in Namibia). We will have one more week of training as a group here, then we will visit our permanent site for a week, shadow another volunteer for a week. Then we live with host families for another 4 weeks. And will finally be sworn in as volunteers in January.
Right now, my schedule is waking up around 6:30 am, taking a shower, breakfast, then we go into the conference room and sing and dance to traditional Namibian songs. It is amazing…we have about 20 trainers (all Namibians) who lead us in the songs. I am positive all Namibians have unbelievable voices; words cannot describe how talented they are. This part is by far the best part of the day! After the songs, we sing the Namibian and American national anthems and go to language classes for 2 hours (there are about 5 languages being taught). After language, we have a tea break, then some lecture or little session on health, culture and volunteer life in general. They are usually kind of boring. After that, we have lunch and more lectures/sessions for the rest of the afternoon until 6ish, when we have dinner. After dinner, we walk around the town, in the desertlike surroundings, talk and play cards.
The food here is OK. It’s a lot of meat. I have actually tried a lot of it (I make myself try one piece of meat a day –they eat it three times a day so there are plenty of opportunities.) I have had fish, chicken, beef, pork, and something else odd that I cannot remember. They also eat a lot of pasta, canned veggies and mayonnaise.
The effect of the apartheid in Namibia is still very much visible. The whites live in the town (center of the region), and then the coloreds (mixed blood) and blacks live in the location—which would be on the outside and very poor. We are located in a town for training, but traveled to the location to go hear a choir practice the other day. It was really hard to take it all in and process. People live in little one and two room shacks—some made only out of tin. There are kids running around everywhere and many people packed into a small area. The choir practice was amazing though. They were so welcoming, had amazing voices and invited us to sing and dance with them (I think they had fun listening to our terrible singing—we sang our anthem—not such a good song to sing for non-singers. They tried not to laugh!).
Today, we walked around town, just to get out of the training center. The town is semi-urban in Namibian standards (remember…there are only 2 million people here. Its one of the least densely populated countries in the world.) There is basically a few clothing/dollar like stores, a couple of groceries and some bars. There are four of us walking down the street, and all of a sudden, a jogging naked man comes right through us! We just kind of looked at each other and laughed! We realized this was not a cultural norm when we saw other Namibians laughing, staring and pointing at the man as well. He did slow down when he saw us though—apparently he thought we were the odd ones.
The cultural differences here are interesting and fun to observe. Here are just a few:
-Men hold hands and are very affectionate with each other in a nonsexual way
-It is normal in some tribes for men to marry and have multiple wives
-You have to greet people and ask them how they are every time you see them—even if you have seen them many times before during the day.
-Hitting learners is illegal but still practiced in many schools
-Students are called learners
-Chicken and fish are not meat here
I have had a lot of shots (and more to come), many lectures on diarrhea and other fun illnesses PC volunteers seem to get, and am taking a malaria pill. The medicine has some fun side effects—hallucinations, vivid dreams, and stomach issues to name a few. Luckily, the only side effect I have seen is the dreams. I actually dream that I see family and friends from home and have long conversations with them! Sometimes I remember them in the morning, sometimes I just remember the people I spoke with or that I had a dream about someone from home. They are the best dreams ever because I feel like I am talking with you all and makes being so far away easier. So far, malaria pills have been great for me!
Well, I think I am going to go to bed! Sorry this is so long…there is just so much to say! I have a lot more, but I am sure you are bored/have not finished this entry. Hopefully, once I really start learning how to click and interact with Namibians, I will have some more fun stories and spice up this blog! Not sure when you all will be reading this, since I am typing it up tonight and will be going to the internet café sometime soon. But I hope you have a great weekend…I think of you all often and appreciate all the love and support you have given me! I am loving life here in Namibia…it really is a great country! And by the way, the stars over here are unbelievable!
Thursday, November 1, 2007
D.C. to Africa!
Hey everyone!
It's Madeline, Aly wanted me to post for her since she hasn't had time to get to a computer.
While wrapping up her first few days as a PC volunteer, Aly seems really excited about the whole thing. Monday morning, she flew to D.C. for her staging. From my understanding, this includes some information sessions, getting to know people, and waking up at 5am to get a lot of shots! From the mouth of Al, she "is having a lot of fun" and that "everyone is really nice." (I feel like I have heard her say that before...anyone else?) There are two girls from Miami in the group and Aly seemed really excited about this. Now, she is finally on a plane to Africa. Can you believe it?! Be sure to send her copious amounts of mail :)
It's Madeline, Aly wanted me to post for her since she hasn't had time to get to a computer.
While wrapping up her first few days as a PC volunteer, Aly seems really excited about the whole thing. Monday morning, she flew to D.C. for her staging. From my understanding, this includes some information sessions, getting to know people, and waking up at 5am to get a lot of shots! From the mouth of Al, she "is having a lot of fun" and that "everyone is really nice." (I feel like I have heard her say that before...anyone else?) There are two girls from Miami in the group and Aly seemed really excited about this. Now, she is finally on a plane to Africa. Can you believe it?! Be sure to send her copious amounts of mail :)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Almost There!!
Aaaahhhh! I leave in only a few days! It is so crazy to think about. I remember getting my invitation almost three months ago and thinking it would be forever until I would finally be at this point, and now its here and I cannot believe I am leaving!
I have been pretty busy lately visiting friends and family and trying to get everything into order before I leave. I finally packed tonight (with the help of my super folder/organizer Mom of course). It is amazing how much stuff weighs...especially when you are trying to squeeze two years of toothpaste, floss and toothbrushes (I kind of like to brush my teeth) into your bag. I think I kind of went overboard on some things (I have a ridiculous amount of toothbrushes) and maybe should have packed more of others. But I figure I won't mind not having that extra pair of socks when I am loving life in NAMIBIA!!
I still have a lot of running around to do before I leave on Monday. There are things I have forgotten to buy, papers to fill out, and just those little things that need to be taken care of before I leave. Hopefully, I can knock all that out tomorrow and have the weekend to relax! My going away party is Saturday...if you are in town, please swing by (its at 7pm at my house!).
Here are some pictures from the past two weeks!
Visting my sister at Purdue!
With Ande at Homecoming saying goodbye to CJ's
On a Homecoming-Best Friend-Double Date
With my Sara at Homecoming!
Dinner with Grandma!
With Aunt Aloyse!
I have been pretty busy lately visiting friends and family and trying to get everything into order before I leave. I finally packed tonight (with the help of my super folder/organizer Mom of course). It is amazing how much stuff weighs...especially when you are trying to squeeze two years of toothpaste, floss and toothbrushes (I kind of like to brush my teeth) into your bag. I think I kind of went overboard on some things (I have a ridiculous amount of toothbrushes) and maybe should have packed more of others. But I figure I won't mind not having that extra pair of socks when I am loving life in NAMIBIA!!
I still have a lot of running around to do before I leave on Monday. There are things I have forgotten to buy, papers to fill out, and just those little things that need to be taken care of before I leave. Hopefully, I can knock all that out tomorrow and have the weekend to relax! My going away party is Saturday...if you are in town, please swing by (its at 7pm at my house!).
Here are some pictures from the past two weeks!
Visting my sister at Purdue!
With Ande at Homecoming saying goodbye to CJ's
On a Homecoming-Best Friend-Double Date
With my Sara at Homecoming!
Dinner with Grandma!
With Aunt Aloyse!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
3 Weeks!
Three weeks from tomorrow (Monday, October 8th), I will be on a plane heading to D.C.!
I will spend October 29th-31st in D.C. for what the Peace Corps calls "staging". Staging is a brief orientation all Peace Corps members go through. I will be there with the whole group of people going to Namibia with me (I have heard there could be up to 70 of us!). I will celebrate Halloween with my first round of shots at the PC health clinic, then we head to the airport for a 15+ hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We will spend the night there and then arrive in Namibia on the 2nd!
We will spend the first two weeks in "technical training." I think it is a lot of language classes and maybe some "how to teach" classes as well. Then we find out where we will be living for two years (yay!). We spend the third week in our future home sites. Our fourth week is spent shadowing another Peace Corps volunteer. Then the rest of the training, I will be living with a host family and working in a model school (I think it will be like student teaching.) Then, on December 28th, I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps volunteer!
Right now, I am just kind of trying to get everything ready ("kind of" and "trying" being the key words here!). This week is my last week at work, then I have Homecoming this weekend (so excited to go back to Miami!) and then I will really need to kick the packing/preparing to leave for 2 years into gear! So much to do!
Oh, and I also have my address in case you want to write me letters! They say the best way to send is a letter is to address it to "Sister Aly Martin", write in red ink and write Bible verses and holy phrases ("Jesus is watching"; "God bless you", etc,). I guess they are very religious/supersticious and won't mess with your mail/packages if it is religious (who would want to take a nun's letter?!?!).
"Sister" Aly Martin, PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 6862
Ausspannplatz,
Windhoek, Namibia
OK. I am going to bed! Only one more week of work....yay!!
I will spend October 29th-31st in D.C. for what the Peace Corps calls "staging". Staging is a brief orientation all Peace Corps members go through. I will be there with the whole group of people going to Namibia with me (I have heard there could be up to 70 of us!). I will celebrate Halloween with my first round of shots at the PC health clinic, then we head to the airport for a 15+ hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. We will spend the night there and then arrive in Namibia on the 2nd!
We will spend the first two weeks in "technical training." I think it is a lot of language classes and maybe some "how to teach" classes as well. Then we find out where we will be living for two years (yay!). We spend the third week in our future home sites. Our fourth week is spent shadowing another Peace Corps volunteer. Then the rest of the training, I will be living with a host family and working in a model school (I think it will be like student teaching.) Then, on December 28th, I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps volunteer!
Right now, I am just kind of trying to get everything ready ("kind of" and "trying" being the key words here!). This week is my last week at work, then I have Homecoming this weekend (so excited to go back to Miami!) and then I will really need to kick the packing/preparing to leave for 2 years into gear! So much to do!
Oh, and I also have my address in case you want to write me letters! They say the best way to send is a letter is to address it to "Sister Aly Martin", write in red ink and write Bible verses and holy phrases ("Jesus is watching"; "God bless you", etc,). I guess they are very religious/supersticious and won't mess with your mail/packages if it is religious (who would want to take a nun's letter?!?!).
"Sister" Aly Martin, PCT
Peace Corps
PO Box 6862
Ausspannplatz,
Windhoek, Namibia
OK. I am going to bed! Only one more week of work....yay!!
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