*I don’t know when I’ll actually post this (I’m typing in Word), so for the record it was WRITTEN on Friday, August 26th.*

We’re in Namibia! So far our experience has been: exhausting, exciting, a little nerve-wracking, awesome, confusing, and familiar.

Let me explain.

Exhausting – We left home Sunday morning to go to our “staging” event in the States. On Monday, we took a bus to JFK, waited around there for about 5 hours, took a REALLY long and horribly cramped overnight flight to Frankfurt, waited there for 9 hours, then took an even longer, but more pleasant, flight to Windhoek, arriving in the airport IN THE DARK at 5am on Wednesday. Whoa. But it didn’t stop there. We got on a bus for 2 hours to our training site (which I can’t name for security reasons), arriving there around 8am, and started our training sessions by 9:00!! No food, no nap, just dropped our bags off in our rooms, used the bathroom, and walked to the training hall. We did some name mixers, which were really hard to think through in the state we were in, but it did keep us up and moving. I’m kind of struggling to remember what else we did…got a binder of stuff (including our schedule, which I’ll get to later), talked about security, got a shot at the end of the day (which wasn’t until 4 PM!), took a tour of the town we’re in… All I know is by dinner time I was unable to follow conversations, had no idea what I was eating, and seriously thought I might pass out if I didn’t go to bed soon. So by 7:15 I was dead to the world, curled up on my bed under my mosquito net. Dylan somehow managed to stay up for another 2 hours playing cards, but I think our whole group was in bed by 9:30. I got TWELVE hours of sleep that night, and felt much better the next day.

Exciting – In the midst of all that craziness we got our first glimpses of Namibia and of Peace Corps. SO great! We were greeted at passport control by the Country Director (CD – you’ll have to get used to acronyms), the Peace Corps Medical Officer (PCMO) and the Administrative Officer (I don’t know her acronym). They all shook our hands and welcomed us to Peace Corps. Then we left the baggage claim area (all bags arrived fine), and there were several Peace Corps Volunteer Leaders (PCVLs) and trainers waving a banner and singing for us and videoing us as we came out. That was good for waking up a little! Then when we arrived at the training site we were greeted by all the trainers singing and dancing in two lines we got to walk in between. Later in the day we took a tour of the town we’ll be in for the next two months of training. There’s actually several grocery stores, a few banks, a post office, a hardware store, several internet cafes (yay!), and some other things. It’s a decent size town. Oh, by the way, it was FREEZING when we arrived in the morning (literally, 30 Farenheit) and HOT (80 Farenheit?) by the time we took our tour at 2:30.

Nerve-wracking – Mostly because we still don’t know where we’ll be going after these next two months. We still don’t have cell phones. We don’t know the Peace Corps system very well. We’ve been told that training is the HARDEST part of the whole Peace Corps experience. We haven’t started in depth yet, but we had a long day of sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, then placement and medical interviews today. Just think how busy we’ll be when we really get started! We’ll find out early next week what language we’ll be learning. A couple days after that we move in with a host family. And about 2 and a half weeks after that, we’ll finally find out where our permanent site will be! We’re all trying to practice patience…

Amazing – We have a great group of people. It’s been constant getting to know each other since we arrived, and I can tell we’re getting closer. When we have free time in the evenings, people gather to talk or play cards or chill and read. We’re all very much in the same boat so we have a lot to talk about (and have done a lot of speculating about those sites we’re patiently waiting for). There are no cliques, everyone hangs out with whoever’s around. Our PCVLS are current volunteers so they’ve shared a lot of their experiences with us. We’ve also gotten psyched up for the next two years from our info sessions and meeting language trainers and all that good stuff. We’re even excited just for this weekend – we’ve arrived on a holiday (August 26 is Heroes Day) and there’s a big celebration near our town tomorrow that we get to go watch!

Confusing – For all the information we have gotten, there’s a lot we haven’t gotten and some things that everyone tells us we’ll learn about later in training. So I feel like I’ve gotten partial bits of information on a lot of topics, and not necessarily the whole picture in anything. Also, it’s already been a little up and down. Especially on Wednesday when we were so tired – first I was excited with all the dancing and stuff, then I’d get really sleepy, then excited to meet someone, then really sleepy… A little glimpse of how up and down things will be for the rest of our time here.

Familiar – Okay, for one thing we still have running water and electricity here. That may change when we move in with our host families next week, but right now we are all enjoying the hot showers! The food hasn’t been too weird, usually rice or noodles with some kind of gravy sauce and a meat (I think we’ve had chicken beef and goat so far). They are definitely big on meat here. Also, we can drink the tap water! Not just here, but in almost the whole country. Where else in Africa can you do that? Other than that, I’ve really enjoyed the sense of being back in Africa. So many things remind me of Rwanda – the way the Namibian trainers kind of ramble on during their sessions rather than hitting a few main points, the fact that none of our sessions have been on time yet, the walk down a dusty road between our sleeping quarters and the training center, the fact that we have a tea break every morning, etc. The landscape reminds me more of Kenya. It’s very African, and I’m glad to be back in Africa.

That’s a rough summary so far. We’re really glad we’re here, still glad we signed up for this (although I wasn’t so sure on the plane ride over). It’ll definitely get harder from here on out, but I know we’ll still be glad we did it in the end.

We met our group for the first time yesterday and did some orienting with the stateside Peace Corps staff. Now we're doing final packing (i.e. trying to make our bags lighter) before we get on a bus, then on a plane, then on another plane, with a lot of airport in between.

We're on our way!  (Posted by Mom)

3 days and counting...

It's hard to believe it's finally here. After starting our application in May 2010, continuing through our year in Egypt. and making final preparations this summer, we're going to be on our way to Namibia in just a few days! 

You can probably imagine some of the things we're feeling - excitement at meeting lots of new people and experiencing a new country.... nervousness at meeting lots of new people and experiencing a new country. Of course right at the moment there's a lot of anxiety over what to pack. Will we bring the right things? Will we regret not having this or that? Do we have enough warm/cool clothes? I think all my stress is pouring into packing simply because that's the one thing I feel I have control over. Everything else will be out of my hands once I get on the plane!

At times over the last few days I've felt really ready to go. We've been so fortunate to get to stay with my parents this summer and largely relax and visit with people we love all over the US. But we've been here since mid-June and that's a lot of relaxing. It's just like the end of summer break when you're secretly glad to be going back to school because you've had enough time to get a little bored with the easy life. We're ready for a challenge, ready to be productive again.

At other times I've felt myself clinging to all the comforts I'm going to be leaving behind (not least plumbing and electricity!). Right now is not one of those moments so it's hard to put words to it, but.... Good food, hot water, a big house, a car to get around in, all this free time. It's hard to give up, knowing that had I made a different choice or taken a different route, I wouldn't have to. At the same time, I feel privileged that this a choice for me, not a necessity. In a book I read recently (Terry Pratchett actually) there was a character described as  "so rich that she could choose to live poor." I feel like that's kind of what I am. I'll be returning to all my stuff, and all the comforts of America, two years from now. 

I've been surprised to hear a couple people say to me something about how they're glad I'm living my dream, doing what I always wanted to do. That makes it sound like this is what I've been working towards my whole life and I'm finally doing it. I guess I'm already looking beyond that though. This is just a step in the journey to me, not an end. It's just what I'm doing next. There will be another next after that and after that. Yes, this is a big deal, but in some ways it's also just another trip in another country. That's what my life has been made up of. I feel like this is the only logical continuation of how I've lived so far and how I expect to keep living and working in the future. I guess that's a good place to be in?

Usually I don't write much about my family, but leaving them for two years is a big part of this process. One of the hardest things I'm doing is saying goodbye to my grandparents, all four of whom are in their 80s and in varying degrees of health. I know this sounds silly, but it's hard to say goodbye to my almost 8-year-old dog (our old dog had to be put to sleep when he was nine). Some things I know I can't count on being here when I get back in two years. My brother is currently in Afghanistan, as is Dylan's dad. Dylan's mom is still in Egypt and my parents will be here in Fort Wayne. Dylan's brother will be graduating from college while we're gone, and his sister will be a junior in college by the time we get back! Although we've both done a lot of travelling with and without our families, we are used to seeing them at six month intervals (summer, Christmas, summer, Christmas...) so this will be a new experience too.

Please keep us in your prayers as we leave on Sunday for a brief orientation in Philadelphia followed by the long trip to Namibia on Monday-Wednesday. Good health is my primary concern for the first part of our stay - I remember being sick when I arrived in Rwanda and it made my life so much more miserable those first two weeks. Also, please pray for us to form some strong relationships with our fellow volunteers as the time while we're in training is the only time we'll all have together before being spread around the country. Peace Corps is not a Christian organization and I'm guessing a large percentage of the volunteers are not Christian. Since we're going to a country that's 80% Christian, our mission field may be more our fellow volunteers than our national hosts. =) If you still have time after praying for those things, it would be nice if our luggage all arrived on time and in one piece (or rather, four pieces). =)

Thanks! We have every intention of continuing the blog from Namibia although our posts may not be as frequent. Keep checking!

Dylan's sister, Abby, joined us in Fort Wayne for the week leading up to her departure for Wheaton. We dropped her off yesterday for the Passage wilderness orientation program - the same one Dylan and I met on 6 years ago, although it was called High Road then. Everyone has warned Abby to be careful about choosing her seatmate for the bus ride home! =)

Some highlights while Abby was here include going to Science Central, a children's science museum here in Fort Wayne that I remember from when I was little, visiting the Swiss Heritage Village and seeing the musical Heidi during Swiss Days in Berne, seeing the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre production of Hairspray, and of course, the final trip to Wheaton to see her off.

Dylan and I agreed we felt kind of old sitting in the student/parent meeting with all those freshmen. We considered raising our hands when they asked who was sending their first child off to college, but didn't as most people thought we were going off to college too. I was reminded how much I love Wheaton College when the last thing we did before the buses pulled out was pray over all the students leaving - closing witht he doxology. Go Wheaton!

Here are some pictures from the last week: