Well, it's that time again folksâ¦Time for you to sit back and read about the interesting (and possibly not so interesting) tales, trials and tribulations of recently graduated Grinnellians spread out across the globe. Having been one of those who read the previous fellows' reports, I know it can take a serious time commitment to read through the entirety of all of them, so I'm going to make it easy for youâ¦Each little tale or topic will have a heading, some tales will be more exciting/entertaining to the readers while others are just complaints/observations I have made in the last 3 odd months. If you have the required 15 minutes you can read them all, but if you only have 3 minutes, just choose the most interesting heading and read onâ¦Here's to hoping that your reading experience is enjoyable, no matter what the length. :
Heat waves and sandstorms and flooding, oh my!!!
When they said that the weather here is variable, I now know that they were not lying. Up until now, the weather has been fairly consistentâ¦always nice, always sunny, only a few clouds if any in the sky, and while there may be fog in the morning, it usually clears up by mid-day. Well all that changed. During our big Information Weekend (don't worry you'll get more stories about that in this instalment) everything went off without a hitch except for one thingâ¦the weather. The day before it was scheduled to start we noticed a change in the wind direction, to an east wind. For those of you that don't know, the easterly winds are known for being very dry and warm. We hoped against all hopes that it would stop, but did it? NO. In fact, it got worseâ¦By the middle of information weekend, it was a scorching 45.5 degrees Celsius; the hottest EVER recorded temperature at Gobabeb. H-O-T, hot, hot, hot.
But that wasn't it for strange weatherâ¦Just a few days later we noticed what looked like a dark storm cloud gathering in the northeast. We watched in fascination for over an hour, as the cloud got larger and larger and larger. It was a sandstormâ¦noâ¦a sand WALL heading our way. It was something out of a cheesy horror movie as the cloud descended upon the station, covering everything with darkness, and not to forget, sand. On that day the sun set for the residents of Gobabeb at 3:30 p.m. In its wake, the "wall" left sand and dirt in every crack and crevice, and we spent the next week cleaning it out.
Even that wasn't the endâ¦Just two days later we had an event that I'd been waiting for since I arrived. The river flooded! Let me say that againâ¦THE. RIVER. FLOODED!!!!!!!!!!!! It is without a doubt the most amazing site. Just imagine if you will, gigantic red-orange sand dunes standing like giants cut right through by a flow of dirty, muddy-brown water. Everyone at the station was so giddy during the three days that the river flowed that it's surprising that any work got done. In fact, I'm sure that little did. : Now after these three events, I will never say that the weather here is boring or predictable.
Too-much-information weekend.
To let everyone know, the title of this section is taken directly from Doug Cutchins, from e-mail he sent me regarding my last month's report. Just thought that I'd give you the credit, Dougâ¦Now on to the story. One of the big events at Gobabeb every year is the Information Weekend that is held in the first weekend in February. Information weekend consists of important visitors, such as major funders, ministers, and representatives from the different embassies, coming out to Gobabeb to learn all about what we actually DO here.
Joh decided that, being the last formal year of the SDP programme, the "theme" for the weekend should be "Training for Sustainable Development." What did this mean for me?? Well, besides making sure that all of the displays from every sector (training, research, partnerships, sustainable technology, and SDP) were organized and ready to go, preparing brochures on training and the DEGREEE project, re-doing the displays at the main station, writing 5 articles for the "Gobabeb Update", helping to prepare press packets, keeping up correspondence with the schools visiting in the next few months and the intern applicants, I also had to lead one of the main workshops for the weekend. What this meant for me is that, starting just after our vacation in January, I spent from 8 in the morning to 10 or later at night in the office. Work, work, work, work, work, was my motto. At points, when the pile was getting exponentially larger and I felt I wasn't even making a dent, the task seemed impossible. But I made it.
By the time the weekend came, I'd spent the last remaining night trying desperately to catch up on all the lost sleep I'd had to make sure I was cheerful the next day. Information weekend went off without a hitch, and everyone enjoyed the weekend (including the highest ever recorded temperature), but to me it will always be the weekend of "too-much-information."
A vacationâ¦of sorts:
If you had arrived at the station on the 28th of December this past year, you would have had quite the welcomeâ¦by one person. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE decided to take a vacation over the New Year's break. Josephine and Roxy went to Rundu, Thomas and Petra went to Germany, Martina and Florian went to Austria, Nico went to Windhoek, and Gerald and Inke and I went toâ¦Swakopmund. Yes! A vacationâ¦of sorts.
Gerald and Inke and I had been sitting around a few weeks earlier, complaining about how we never get out and go anywhere and that we should do something fun over New Year's. We thought about the fact that we didn't have a car, didn't really have money to spend, and couldn't be away from the station for too longâ¦that meant that our "vacation" had to be convenient, somewhere we could easily go to and get back from, and didn't take us the whole time to get there, and we'd have fun going to. After a long, hard decision, we came up withâ¦Swakopmund.
So on the 27th of December, Gerald, Inke and I piled in the car with Helen and Hartmut (who were also going to Swakopmund on their way to Spitzkoppe) and headed off on our adventure. We dropped our stuff off at the backpacker's and headed out to meet Devan McGranahan, who was in Namibia doing research for his Watson, at the annual bakkie-races. Quite a sight to behold, hundreds of bakkies (or pick-ups as I know them from home) doing different events in the sand dunes, and more people than I'd seen in the first six months combined!! It was a great start and indicative of how the week was going to go.
For the week, Inke, Gerald, Devan and I spent time relaxing, meeting new people, going out to different events, eating good food, not getting enough sleep, and generally having a great week. Even though we only went 130 km for vacation, it was enough for to forget our work at Gobabeb, and it seemed like a lifetime away. But I do have to say that by the end of the vacation, we were all ready to head back to the quiet and peacefulness of Gobabeb.
Where have all the students gone??
While we get a month off of school at Grinnell for winter break, I know that most schools in the states, including elementary and secondary schools, don't have that luxury, and thought Namibia would be the same. I was wrong. I wasn't expecting to see a marked absence of student visits around the holiday period. After my last group (which was actually from the U.S) in the second week of December, I didn't have another group scheduled until the first week in March. What was with this???
I was told that starting in the second week in December, students get time off of school, often until the first or second week in February. And not just schools, but many businesses, government offices, and practically everyone take off at least 3 weeks off for the holiday season. What?!? Almost a month off every holiday season? Why can't we have this all the time in the States? All I know is that the station was particularly quiet during this time (well, except for the SDP students that were at the station late January and early February). So what did this mean for my work and me?
Well, this was the perfect opportunity for me to look over the curriculums of all the programmes and make changes to the structure and content. I also had time to brainstorm and do research to come up with new ideas for out-door teaching and new activities for students to do. Also, if I'd had to do all on the "to-do" list for too-much-information weekend while having students visiting once a week, I REALLY would have gone crazy! : Luckily, that was not the case.
One thing that did happen that was unexpected was the funny feeling I got around the last week in Januaryâ¦I was feeling lonely and like I hadn't talked to anyone in awhile even though I'd just seen my co-workers a few minutes ago and I was feeling a little aimless and unstructuredâ¦. What was this? I had work to do and things to fill up my day, but the feeling was still thereâ¦I realized it after the first group visited after the holiday break. I missed the students. I missed seeing the sea of visiting faces coming to learn about conservation and ecology and the great Namib Desertâ¦I MISSED the teaching. It was then that I realized that this really was the best job I could have chosen for the year.
German, German everywhereâ¦.
Ok, I really try not to complain too much about life out here, I mean how can you really complain about a place where you live in relative quiet and safety and peacefulness, you work at something you love with people who are as interested in the environment and conservation as you are, and you have the MOST beautiful scenery imaginable, but there is something that irks me. The Germanâ¦German all day, all the timeâ¦Ok. I know its arrogant and self-centered to expect everyone to speak English around me all the time, but even I have my limits.
For those of you who don't know, 90% of the people who live here are either from Germany or speak German. For the last few months, it has been me and one other resident at the station, Claire, who are the only non-German speakers. I (and Claire as well) would enter a room and hear German spoken, and sit and wait patiently until someone would realize and change to English (to try and be polite to the people finishing their conversation) and we'd sit and wait, and sit, and wait, and sitâ¦And finally I would make a little 'ahem' sound, and then, MAYBE, they'd decide to change to English. Frustrating to say the least. This has happened several times and in several occasions, and for awhile, it was at the point I wouldn't spend time in social settings after work, because I didn't want to have to sit there and listen to people speak a foreign language like an idiot.
Now, I know you're saying, Natalie, why don't you just learn some German?? In fact, several people at the station asked me that, and here's what I have to sayâ¦.No. I thought about learning German for a while and then realizedâ¦wait⦠German isn't the language that everyone OUTSIDE of Gobabeb in this country speaks. If I learned another language while I was in Namibia, I should learn Afrikaans, or Oshiwambo, or Solizi, or !Nama, or some other language from this country. And so that's what I'm doingâ¦for the last month or so, I've slowly been learning Afrikaans. I know that it may not be as good as learning a tribal language, but it's the most wide-spread language besides English in this country, and most people here are happy that I'm at least trying another language. But the German still follows me everywhereâ¦It's like a whispered conversation that's being said at full volume, or the equivalent. And I guess it always will be for me.
The endâ¦
Well, I hope you enjoyed the sections you readâ¦Some happy, some a little funny, some complaining, but all about life at Gobabeb and Namibia. And now I'm off to start working on the next report (I promise, Doug, that the next one won't be late, I PROMISE). Well wishes to everyone back home, and to all of my family and friends who read this report faithfully, I'll see you all soon!!!
