Introducing our new home!

Mark with Kambinda, Pepe, & Mateo

As you may know from one of our previous blogs we moved to Ndama village to live in community with the people we have been getting to know.  The community that we are living in is awesome. There are 5 couples in our housing group, Paul and Elizabeth, Jaime and Veronica, Kativa and Secilia, Kawende and Fernanda, and Ferciano and Emilie. There are also a number of children: Tani, Kina, Pepe, Masela, Easy, Eliza, Paul, Zeka, Kado, Mateo, Jeferino, January, Shika, Fati, and Kambinda.  Each of the families have a home or group of homes.  Mainly the houses are for sleeping and cover from the rain. There is not to much activity done in the house during the day, mostly because it is always blazing hot inside the houses due to the metal roofing.  Everyone usually retreats to the coolness of the shade found under a nearby tree.  On most days there is some type of breeze that keeps us cool.

Our New Home! (You can also see our "stove" and shower!)

Pepe and Eliza

Since moving here we have really been expanding our Luchazi language knowledge. When we lived in Tutengeni we practiced language however, it is a lot different practicing the language and truly needing to learn the language to talk to people.  Only a fraction of people that we interact with on a daily basis in the village know English.  We do have a secret weapon that has been helping us a great deal, Pepe. Pepe is now in 12^th grade and knows English very well so he has been our translator when we want to talk to someone more then just greeting them.  We are learning a lot and will hopefully pick up more of the language soon.

The children are a lot of fun to be around. At first they only called us Chindale (Luchazi for white person). They would yell it whenever they saw us coming.  After telling them only a few times what our names were, they replaced chindale with Marco and Julia... I think that is a good compromise. The children love teaching us Luchazi and learning English. We spend a lot of time pointing at things and saying what it is in both languages, or writing words out in the sand. We found out that language learning can be a tricky thing sometimes and you need to be careful to pronounce words just like they do. Julie was learning the word for chicken the one day and just pronounced the ending a little off and ended up saying the female reproductive part, Oops!

Washing clothes by hand is a challenge and so far Julie is the only one that had the pleasure of washing our clothes.  One thing we didn't expect while hanging our laundry out to dry is that you must beware of the donkey cart that comes through daily. If your clothes are unfortunately hanging when the donkey cart comes through the donkeys will rub against your clothes making the clothes much dirtier. Lesson learned!

I must say that my favorite thing about getting around Africa is being able to ride a bicycle everywhere!  I got my bicycle soon after we got here from an orphans project that has bikes donated to them and fixes them up to sell.  The sales produce money for the orphans project to keep running.  As soon as I saw the bike I got I knew it was meant to be...a red Specialized (reminds me of home).  Sure the seat is falling apart, the tires are worn, and I recently blew out the rear hub but in African standards I have a sweet ride.  Julie's bike is nice also.  It is very rugged looking with red spray paint at spots.

Valentine's Day Dinner in the Making...

Who would have thought that they celebrate Valentine's day in Africa?  I didn't think they did.  Well, I was wrong.  They even have plastic flowers in the store to give to your loved ones.  My Valentine's day gift to Julie was to cook her a meal over the fire!  I knew it would get some strange looks since no man is supposed to cook when their wife is willing and able.  I must say I think I did a good job besides burning the rice and spilling the lentils into the fire not once but twice.  There was a small crowd to see what I would mess up next but all in all it was a Valentine's day gift I will not forget anytime soon...I hope Julie won't either!

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

At Least I Haven't “Fallen off the Calendar” Yet!

Turning 30 in Africa was something I've been thinking about since we celebrated Mark's 30^th the day before we left for Namibia. I learned while being here that people refer to being old as when you “fall off the calendar”... as in when you turn 32. If your birthday can be found on a day in a month on the calendar (1-31) you are still a young-en and don't need to worry about a thing. SO, in African standards, I've got another 2 years to be considered young... :)

Myself with Alysse, Laura, & McKenzie!

We started off the day with our weekly Bible study in a mud church in the village in the morning. Afterwards, we biked into town to splurge on an ice cream cone and Mark even bought me a new shirt! (My first frivolous purchase since getting here!) That night Mark and I got together with our friends Laura, Alysse, Mckenzie, & David to celebrate at a local lodge. I ordered an amazing “fillet” steak and ate looking out at the stunning Kavango River over sunset. It was so nice to have a relaxing night out with friends. I even got a few gifts... a head wrap, some chocolate, and 2 homegrown zucchini! Turning 30 in Africa was simple and fun... just the way I like it! :)