Chillin in Rundu

Address update yet again - send ALL mail, letters and boxes to:

Tim and Lindsey Habenicht

P.O. Box 114

Rundu, Namibia

That’s right, send them all to the same address :)

Last Thursday, all of the volunteers in Group 36 (there are 35 of us) were sworn in as official Peace Corps Volunteers. There were several American and Namibian ambassadors in attendance, as well as the host families, and some community members of Okahandja - so there was probably around 150 people there. Many of the volunteers had to leave directly after the swearing in ceremony was over, but we didn’t leave for Mayara until Friday morning. Now comes the funny part.

Lindsey and I have been in Rundu for one week now. We have not actually made it to site in Mayara yet because our furniture and amenities (like a stove and refrigerator) are not quite ready. Last Friday, all of the volunteers staying in the Kavango region were traveling together to our respective sites, and Lindsey received a text message from our principle saying that we needed to stay the night in Rundu - and we have been here ever since. We are staying at this little place called House Bavaria (a lodge owned by a PCV that served in the 90’s. He married a Namibian and never left-pretty interesting), and it has hot showers and a TV; both are things I wasn’t expecting to have for two years. So it has certainly been nice to have a break from bucket baths! I still have no idea how long we will actually be here...... if we don’t get picked up today, then it is highly unlikely that we will get picked up over the weekend (because no one works on the weekends), so it is looking like we will be here for at least a few more days. The whole situation of our huts not being ready is rather laughable, considering that our school has known the exact date that we were supposed to arrive in Mayara for at least 4 months. Luckily, the lodges serves a free, hearty breakfast every morning with eggs and cereal, because that is our one good meal of the day. Since we are staying in a lodge, we don’t have a kitchen and can’t cook anything, so for lunch and dinner we have been eating PB&Js. I have never had so many PB&Js, and hope that I never have to eat so many again haha!

On Monday for my birthday, Lindsey and I went to another lodge right on the Kavango River, and enjoyed some wine with this AWESOME view.

The view from the Kavango River Lodge deck.

We have been relaxing, sleeping in, reading, walking around Rundu, sleeping some more, eating PB&Js, and taking multiple showers a day - not because we need to, but because we CAN!!  That basically sums up our past week. Until we meet again!

-Tim

Almost done with training

HELLO AGAIN!!

FIRST let me tell you about our addresses.

For letters, send all mail to:

Tim and Lindsey Habenicht

P.O. BOX 114 Rundu

Namibia, Africa

For any packages (which of course you would send if you are awesome right?), send to:

US Peace Corps Namibia

19 Nachtigal St

Ausspannplatz, Windhoek

Namibia

Today is September 12th, so we are swearing in as volunteers (right now we are still considered trainees) in just 8 days on the 20th, and then we are leaving Okahandja for good to go to our permanent site in Mayara. It is crazy to think how fast training has gone by! Once we get to site in Mayara, I am anticipating only having internet access once every two weeks, when we travel to Rundu - the nearest city about two hours away - to buy food and check email and whatnot. So if you send an email to Lindsey or I and get no response for a long time, or if you are wondering why you haven’t heard from us through the blog, rest assured that we are probably still alive and just don’t have internet access.

What have we been doing the last few weeks?

Well, we have had a LOT of Rukwangali classes. We have another language proficiency  test next Tuesday, and we have to reach a “Intermediate Low” level, which shouldn’t be too terribly hard to do, considering we both got to “Novice Advanced” after just 9 days of actual language classes. It is definitely hard for us to stay motivated to learn Rukwangali though because once we are done with training, we will probably never speak it again. Then we will get to start all over and learn Thimbukushu - party time.

Students lining up for the morning assembly

Two weeks ago, the Peace Corps set up a model school for all of the volunteers that will be teaching. The students, here in Okahandja, had a two week break from school, and the Peace Corps essentially “bribed” them to come to school for a week, with the promise of receiving a new notebook, and a free lunch everyday at 11:30 AM. There were probably about 150 students that showed up everyday, and they were split up into normal classrooms, which we then taught. The whole idea was to give us actual teaching experience in a Namibian classroom in a “no pressure” environment (it was a “fake” school day anyway right?). That was certainly the first time I have ever tried to teach a group of students anything, so it was certainly a useful experience. We have been told multiple times by all of the other volunteers that Lindsey and I are both “super enthusiastic” about everything, so hopefully that will rub off on the students.

Things in training are switching to the wrapping up mode, and we are spending the majority of the day practicing Rukwangali and listening to Peace Corps required presentations. Next Wednesday, we are all taking a trip to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, to shop for whatever we might need at our site. So luckily for Lindsey and I, we essentially get double the money of what everyone else gets (Ok, so we don’t actually get double - we both get paid the same as everyone else, but since there are two of us then it is short of like double, because it doesn’t cost THAT much more to feed just one additional person. That is my theory at least.....) , and that goes for our monthly salary as well - so we are hoping to be able to live of one of our salaries, and save 100% of the other to use for travel. Will it work? Only time will tell. We still have no idea how much it costs to survive in a rural village. Either way, it is literally impossible to spend money on anything in our village (because there is nothing to spend money on) so the only money we will be spending will be in Rundu on groceries and other necessities.

Last Sunday we all went to a nearby resort for a day at the pool and good food, and we will be going again this Sunday. It probably will be the last time we will see any short of “luxury” for a very long time. Next Saturday, we are having a cultural day for the Namibians (they did the same thing for us - that is when I killed all the chickens) where we will cook American food for them and show them some of our traditions. Apparently Lindsey and I will be showing off our very limited Aggie Wrangler moves - but hey, everyone here has seen us dance and thinks we are rockstar two-steppers from Texas - so I’ll take it!

All of us volunteers hanging out at a nearby resort

Oh, and our brand new mud hut is still yet to be complete, although we are supposed to move in, in just 9 days..... Another PC volunteer nearby went and checked on it, and she said all they have done is knock down one of the walls........ hopefully they will be fast workers so we actually have a place to move into when we arrive. T.I.A right? ALSO, man I almost forgot this, a dumb dog bit me on Saturday and I had to be rushed to a hospital to get a rabies shot. We have already had three rabies shots - but I guess there are actually 5 shots  total that you need, and you don’t get shots 4 and 5 until after you have been bitten. I was the first one of the volunteers to be bitten by anything, and luckily the day before we had just has a session on rabies and what to do if you are bitten by an animal. I know you are probably thinking, “OMG! Tim, you were attacked by a dog! Are you OK?” Yes yes, I am fine. It was more like this - I was standing there and a dog laid down right behind me and I stepped on him, which of course he yelped and nipped at my heal (I had sandals on), causing a minor scratch - this story of course grew among the volunteers and soon everyone thought I had been mauled by a rabid dog.... but no, just a scratch. Also, the dog probably doesn’t actually have rabies, but it did have a gapping wound in the side of it’s head, so better to be safe than sorry.

I would imagine this will be the last blog post for quite a while, unless I think of something important to let you all know about before we leave to site. Please continue to keep us in your prayers, as we will yet again go through another huge adjustment phase when we move to site.

Peace to the Core,

Tim

The Kavango River, Mayara, and Mud Huts

Traveling To Site

The journey to Mayara from Okahandja was certainly a long one. We left on Saturday morning at 7:30 AM, and showed up in Mayara around 5:30 PM, so it was a solid 10 hour trip. If you are wondering what it is like to drive in Namibia, picture this - the whole country is connected by like 8 roads (literally), so the roads between cities are long, straight, and surrounded by game reserves. They are in excellent condition - I think mainly because most people don’t have cars, so the traffic is very, very light. The roads that are paved are called “Tar Roads”, but they are normally referred to as “The Tar Road”, because there is really only one paved road in any city or village. In Mayara, we are about 5 km away from the tar road, out in the bush. Once you enter the Kavango region, you pass through a security checkpoint known as The Red Line. Directly after crossing The Red Line, the scenery changes dramatically. It changes from game reserves and bush on both sides of the road, to homesteads, cattle, and mud huts. I had a miniature panic attack as we drove through thinking, “Oh no......what the heck did we get ourselves into?” Of course, that thought left pretty quickly, but the initial shock of seeing how we would be living for two years was definitely an eye opener. I guess that is why the training staff told us time and time again to throw all expectations out the window, because no matter what we think our area will be like, we will be completely wrong - and I definitely was. But don’t worry, we are definitely excited.

Meeting The Headman

Our first morning at site, our future principle and another teacher took us to meet The Headman of the village. What!? A Headman? Yes, every village in the Kavango region has a headman, who is the decision maker and needs to be informed of any important happenings. I guess Lindsey and I coming to the village was at least important enough to let the headman know. We walked along a super sandy path, passing many huts and even a church service going on under a tree, until we came to a homestead. We sat outside and waited under a giant shade tree in silence. Then, the headman appeared from his homestead, followed by his two wives of course, and came out to greet us. When you greet anyone in Mayara, you clap your hands together three times, reach out your right hand to shake theirs, place your left hand on the forearm of your right arm, and then bow your head in respect as you shake hands. Greetings are VERY important here. Anyway, that was a pretty cool experience to meet the headman, and I have never met anyone with more than one wife haha.

A Sunday morning church service

Homesteads and Housing

I mentioned the word homestead earlier. Everyone that lives in a village in the Kavango has a homestead. Each family has an area that is surrounded by a grass fence (like really tall bush grass), and that area has several mud huts in it, depending how many family members live in that one homestead. So each family has their own homestead with their little mud huts inside. Lindsey and I will actually have our own little homestead. I could post of picture of what our hut looks like now, but that is not accurate of what it will look like. They said they are going to knock out one of the walls, double the size, and replace the sheet metal roof with a nice thatch roof. I was anxious to see what a mud hut was like, but they are actually pretty nice on the inside. The mud is more like adobe brick, so it is hard like cement. Ours will have an actual cement floor, and they are going to run an extension cord over to us so we have electricity. No running water or anything, so we will have to take bucket baths outside behind a privacy fence that they will build for us. The true African experience right?

Our School - Mayara Combined School

Oversized termite mound? Yes.

Every Monday morning, our school has a morning assembly in the front yard of the school, where they all sing a few songs and eventually sing the Namibian national anthem. They sang two welcome songs for Lindsey and I, where Lindsey cried of course, and we were introduced to everyone by the principle. Then the principle asked me to greet everyone, so I started by saying “Good morning everyone. My name is...” and then the students erupted in laughter before I could say anything else. I looked at our principle and was like what the heck, why are they laughing, I didn’t even say anything funny.....  but she leaned over with a smile and said, “They are laughing because they like your English”. Most Namibians don’t even refer to English as English, but rather - Nambish. It is a joke of course, but Nambish is essentially very improper, poorly structured English, with an incredibly thick African accent. So for the students to hear an actual American use correct English, well, I guess they liked it.

The Kavango River

We are about a 20 minute walk from the Kavango River, and it is beautiful. The area of the river by us is surrounded by bush that is like 10 feet tall, but there is sugar white sand along the shore. It is crazy that Angola is just on the other side of the river. Unfortunately we didn’t see any hippos or crocs, but the other teachers said that you see more of them during the rainy season, which is October through February. Right now, Maraya looks like a desert. There is almost no grass, and sand is everywhere. But apparently, during the rainy season, it rains A LOT, and grass grows straight up out of the sand to 3-4 feet in height. Pretty crazy if you ask me! We are moving to site on September 21st (tentatively at least), which is just before rainy season, so it will be interesting to see the change from desert to lush fields/forest. Good thing we packed those ponchos right Mom?

Thimbukushu

In training, we are learning Rukwangali, but guess what? They don’t even speak Rukwangali in Mayara. They speak Thimbukushu - not cool. Lindsey and I are the only volunteers that are in a village that speaks Thimbukushu, so they are teaching us Rukwangali because it is more common throughout the Kavango. We will have to learn Thimbukushu once we get to site. Bring it on!

I think this is Rafikee's tree.

Side note: We stayed with our principle in teacher housing, and there was definitely a bat infestation in the roof. All night I kept thinking, “Man, I am glad we got those rabies shots....”

Where are we going for 2 years? Good question.

We just found out we are going to a small village called MAYARA! It is right on the Kavango River in the northernmost part of the country.


Ignore Lindsey's finger, it is by my finger. I'm not sure what she was pointing at....

So in the rural villages in Namibia, it is very common for the teachers to actually live on the school campus in teacher housing. A majority of the students also live on campus in hostels. We were told we will have one half of a duplex type house, and will not have running water, but will have "access" to running water and electricity.... so I don't know if that means we actually have electricity in our place or not. We were specifically told that we will not have running water though. I don't really know that much about the village as of now, but I wanted to let all of you know where we are going. We have been told it is in an AWESOME location, and it is definitely in one of the prettier parts of Namibia. Again, we are going for a site visit later this week, so I will be able to give much more detail.

On Saturday, all of the trainers and trainees got together, and the trainers cooked a traditional "dish" from their region. NOT the best food I have ever had - cow stomach, cow tongue, goat head, and cooked worms just to name a few..... uhhh, it was a little rough on the stomach. Have you ever wondered what the inside of a cow stomach looks like? Well, it most closely resembles a coral reef and is rubbery like squid. Oh, and it tastes like death. Ha, but I did get to slaughter a chicken. See below.

Oh, this was before the blood started gushing.

One of our little host sisters.

Our walk home everday at sunset.

Rukwanganli, giraffes, and... bucket baths?

Ngapi Nawa! (How are you?)

The last few days we have started off each morning with about 2-3 hours of language classes. The language we will be speaking and are currently learning is Rukwangali (Rue - qwan - gal - ee). It is spoken in the Kavango region of the country, which is essentially a state in the northern most part of the country. While it will be hard to learn a completely new language, the good thing is that the spelling of the language is entirely phonetic. If you now how to make the sounds (which are pretty straightforward), it is incredibly easy to read.  Another factor that will help is that our host family is fluent in Rukwangali and are from the Kavango region! We have a LPI test (Language Proficiency Interview) next Tuesday already, and have to be at a “Novice Advanced” level. Crazy, considering we will have only had language classes for 10 days when we take the test. We have to learn fast!!

 We moved in with our host family last Tuesday (7/31/2012) evening. They are super nice and seem to think that Lindsey and I like to eat 10 pounds of food at dinner, because the mom is constantly stacking up food on our plate. They have 3 kids, but their two cousins and the mom’s brother are also staying here - so a total of 10 people in a house that was smaller than our apartment in Fort Worth and has one bathroom. I guess this is what it feels like to have a huge family? We have to take bucket baths in the morning, which really isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. They have running water but don’t have a hot water heater, so the water would be absolutely freezing in a shower right now anyway. We have to boil water in the morning on their stove, and then pour the water into a bucket and mix it with colder water - we have mastered the art of getting the perfect water temperature for a bucket bath. Nawa unene. Plus, we will probably have to bath in a bucket for the next two years so we might as well get used to it now. But really, it isn’t bad. It has been freezing here for the past few days. We have a nifty little clock/thermometer (thanks Mom!), and our room is usually between 55-60 degrees, and it has been around freezing every night outside. So, it is pretty cold to get out of bed in the morning......

Last Saturday our training class (there are 35 of us) took a trip to Windhoek (the capital of Namibia) to get Namibian cell phones. We saw several herds of giraffes, baboons, warthogs, and gemsboks along the way - which was AWESOME. It is pretty cool to see wildlife actually in the wild, instead of a zoo. On Sunday, we went to church with our host family from 9 - 12:30. They definitely don’t mess around when it comes to signing and dancing. It is almost like a competition to see who can sing the loudest haha, so it was a great time. We also went to a funeral last week for a 5 month old baby (it was the baby of our host mom’s brother). While a rather somber event, it was interesting to see an African funeral service. It was in an army tent in the sand with a campfire in the middle. Literally, I think Africans are born knowing how to sing and harmonize perfectly - they certainly love to sing here, and they sing often.

We also had to wash our first batch of clothes on Sunday, by hand. Our host mom helped us, so it went a lot quicker than it would have if just Lindsey and I would have attacked it. But dang, she really went to town on my socks..... after she rung them out, they were practically twice their original size haha. But no worries, the sun here is strong and shrunk them back to 1.5 times their normal size. Lindsey keeps insisting that ringing out and scrubbing our clothes will be a good “weekly stress reliever”. I don’t know if I believe her.

The Peace Corps will tell us our permanent site on Tuesday, and we leave for a 5 day site visit on Thursday - so we are very excited about that right now. Sorry, these pictures actually should have gone with the LAST post - I am just happy that they actually uploaded. We are going to get a internet USB stick that connects to the internet through the cell phone signal, so hopefully we will be able to upload some pics then a little easier. Right now, the only place in town is sold out because the other volunteers bought them up! Until next time.

Kareni Po Nawa,

Tim & Lindsey

PST - Pre Service Training

We made it! So let me give you a rundown of our little journey.  We flew from DFW Airport to Pennsylvania for staging (basically a Peace Corps introduction deal with the whole group that came to Namibia) at 6:30 AM last Monday morning, after about 3 hours of sleep. We were at staging for the entire day, and all got on a bus at 2:30 AM to drive to JFK for a flight that was at 11:15 AM after about an hour of sleep - no bueno. After a 15 hour flight to Johannesburg, South Africa, a 5 hour layover, a 2 hour flight to Windhoek, Namibia, and a 2 hour bus ride, we FINALLY arrived at our destination of Okahandja, Namibia.

Total travel time = 40 hours. Ouch. Good thing I took 3 Benadryl on a first flight.

This week has been more of an introduction week than anything. The training staff said they didn’t want to give us too much information yet because we wouldn’t retain anything due to the jet lag. So NEXT week is the week where we have intensive, 8-10 hours a day, of language and cultural learning. We will also move in with our host family this Tuesday (right now we are living at a hostel), which we are both pretty excited about. The training staff has been having interviews with all of the other volunteers this week to try to determine where they would be the best fit in the country for the next 2 years after training. Apparently, since we are a married couple, they picked the exact location of were we are going to before we even accepted the invitation to join - pretty cool. While they are not telling Lindsey and I exactly where will will be (to be fair because no one else knows yet), we were told that it is in the northern part of the country by a river with lots of crocodiles and hippos - relax parents, I will only play hungry, hungry hippos if the hippos ask me to :)

Erens, the man that told us where we are staying also said “In my opinion, it is the most beautiful part of all Namibia.” We were excited to hear that! Since it is in the north, we will most likely not be in a desert, but we will give you guys more information about that when we know because right now everything is more of an assumption.

The town Okahandja, where we are staying and where our training will be for the next 2 months, is pretty interesting. There is a large tower in the middle of the city that was used in the Apartheid era (segregation of races) that was used as a watch/sniper tower. Apparently, there used to be a curfew in effect for all blacks and they had to be out of the city by 8 PM every night, unless they had very good reason for staying. All the whites lived inside the city which was referred to as “The Town”, and all of the blacks lived outside the city in what was referred to as “The Location”. The majority of the blacks still live in The Location and walk into the city each day for work, except now they don’t have to be afraid of the sniper in the tower in the centre of the city.

We went on a hike this morning (Sunday) to the top of a mountain called Pride Rock. It is obvious that Disney’s limits know no bounds! It was definitely a hike in “the bush”, and I realized I definitely need to know what poop goes with what animal. “Tim, why do you need to know that?” you might find yourself asking..... Well, when you are walking along a trail in Africa and see several different types of poop, it is good to know if it is a predator, or just a donkey or something, especially when you see a carcass. Our two guides Antony and Franze, who were 14 years old, assured us that they hadn’t seen a lion in “a while”.  We saw several baboons off in the distance (too far to photograph) but their poop was EVERYwhere. Fun stuff right?

 That is the update for now. Lindsey and I will have way more information about where our permanent site will be and what language we will be learning in a few days. Keep us in your prayers, but right now, it is smooth sailin.

BUT ACTUALLY, I wrote this a few days ago but I haven't been able to upload it because the internet here is ridiculously slow, which right now, means no pictures because they never upload. Hopefully we will be able to figure this out, so sorry for no pictures yet because we have some good ones. SO, there are more updates, but to keep you on the edge of you seat..... you will have to wait :)

-Tim

Peace Corps Eh? Welp, see ya later

Sooo...I’m sure some of you are wondering or at least wondered sometime or another - the Peace Corps, you guys must be crazy??? It all started with Tim and I wanting to travel. A month or so after we were married, we wrote out some of our goals for the next 3 - 5 years, and one of them was to travel/live in a different country for an extended period of time. We started researching the Peace Corps, and thought it sounded like a perfect opportunity - we could travel and live in and experience a different culture while doing awesome and meaningful work, basically for free. After a lot of prayer we felt called to pursue the Peace Corps full heartedly. Once the looong loooong application process was over, God put us exactly where he wants us to serve, Namibia, Africa!

No joke, (this is kind of weird by the way, but I thought it was really cool ha) Tim said he looked at this every day for the past 2 years at work in the bathroom stall on the tile floor (I told you – weird haha). And everyday he thought “Ummmm, that looks like Africa” – or something like that… who knows what he really thinks. And guess what? It looks exactly like Africa and the little black spot is exactly where Namibia is. What are the chances? So the next time you happen to be looking for an answer, take Tim’s advice and look no further than the bathroom floor tile shapes. Divinity? I think so.

Anyway, we are super excited and anxious to see what the Lord has in store for us. The Peace Corps required us to right an Aspiration Statement (basically the reasons why we want to serve). It’s crazy that my statement and Tim’s turned out very similar! They are kinda long, but if you are interested……

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Lindsey Habenicht

Namibia

July 25, 2012

  

A.  The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspirations you hope to fulfill, during your Peace Corps service.

During my Peace Corps service in Namibia, I plan to use my knowledge gained as an Interdisciplinary Studies Major, as well as the experiences I have had working with children in and out of a classroom setting. I hope to empower the students I teach, inspiring them to learn to the best of their ability. I hope to foster an eagerness for learning and a desire for achievement. I want to develop a positive relationship with my students, co-workers, and community members, teaching them a different perspective on life while in-turn learning a new light on mine.

B.  Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs.

In order to work effectively with host country partners, I plan to remain patient and flexible. I know that the education system in Namibia is much different than what I am used to in America. I could be faced with limited resources and an unstructured setting. By having patience and flexibility with these differences in the education system, I will be a more effective teacher at my school.  Respecting these differences will also improve my teaching skills and communication with my Namibian partners. While it is important to remain flexible, I also plan to be assertive and persistent with my teaching plans and projects.

C.  Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

One of my strategies will be to remain open-minded, always embracing new ideas and views. I realize the Namibian culture will be much different than my own, and sometimes these differences will cause frustration. However, if I remain open-minded, I will be more eager to learn from my community and develop relationships with my fellow Namibians. I will invest myself whole-heartily into these relationships which will present the opportunity to discuss, bond, and learn from one other. They will give me a deeper understanding and appreciation for the Namibian culture, as well as help the natives understand the culture of the U.S.

D. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best serve your future community and project.

I hope to learn as much as I possibly can about the Namibian people and their culture. I know that by understanding their customs and way of life,  I will be more effective in my teaching and be better able to relate to my students. I also hope to learn and become a proficient speaker of the native language. I believe this will be an essential tool in transitioning into the Namibian culture, and will help my ability to form close relationships with the people. After reading the welcome packet, I realize that I may be teaching classes as large as 50 students - which is rather large by U.S. standards and much bigger than I am used to. Therefore, I also hope to gain valuable skills in classroom management during PST.

E. How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

I believe that serving in the Peace Corps will positively change my life forever. Thinking about the uncertainties of serving for two years and anticipating the challenges it may bring is somewhat scary; however, I know that this small fear is a good thing. No one can ever grow in character if they don’t face their fears. I know that serving in the Peace Corps will make me a stronger individual. It will give me the ability to influence people I come in contact with in all aspects of my life (personal and work related) because of what I have learned from my experiences. I also expect that serving in the Peace Corps will give me a new perspective on life, teaching me a new appreciation for things that I take advantage of now.  I look forward to growing and becoming a better person because of this experience.

ASPIRATION STATEMENT

Tim Habenicht

Namibia

July 25^th, 2012

A. The professional attributes that you plan to use, and what aspiration you hope to fulfill during your Peace Corps service.

I have never been a paid teacher before, but I know how to teach – especially math. I have taken more math classes than most people in the world, and I had excellent professors at Texas A&M who taught me unique and effective learning techniques. I hope that I can teach my students the basic and advanced fundamentals of math in a way that excites them about the subject.  But even more than teaching math, I hope that I can empower the students to dream. If I can plant a seed of knowledge in the students in Namibia, then there is no end to what they can achieve later in life. Empowerment is the only real solution to poverty and lack of higher education, and my goal is to make the students believe in themselves.

B. Your strategies for working effectively with host country partners to meet expressed needs.

My main strategy for being effective in the workplace in Namibia is to work everyday with persistence and patience. There is no way for me to know exactly what to expect when working in Namibia, so I will be fully ready to embrace new ideas and styles of teaching different from my own. I will try my best to conform to the teaching standards set by the region I am in, and I will model the other teachers in the school to help display consistency to the students.

C. Your strategies for adapting to a new culture with respect to your own cultural background.

I am incredibly excited to learn about and become part of a new culture. I believe the most important fundamental about adapting to a new culture is to not constantly compare the new culture to your own. When I was in Mexico, I sadly did that often. I compared nearly everything to what I was used to back in America, and it kept me from fully enjoying and embracing the new culture because I was so focused on the differences between the two. While sharing respect for both cultures is important, constantly comparing the two is not needed and actually slows the adaption process - and that is a valuable lesson I learned in Mexico.

D. The skills and knowledge you hope to gain during pre-service training to best service your future community and project.

I think the most important thing to gain from pre-service training is learning the native language. I don’t want to be average at the native language – I want to understand and speak it, fluently. While I expect English to be used often, I know that learning and understanding the language early on will help reduce frustration and will help me better integrate into the community. I want be able to speak plainly with someone who may not know or have little knowledge of English. I don’t want to have any sort of language barrier between the community and myself. As Nelson Mandela so wisely said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language - that goes to his heart.”

E. How you think Peace Corps service will influence your personal and professional aspirations after your service ends.

I know that serving in the Peace Corps is an experience that will change my life forever. The new friendships, trails, and leadership position I am in will build character in me that very few people have, which will be incredibly useful when I come back to the United States. I imagine that this experience will change, or at least influence, everything that I will want to do in the future. My goals, my dreams, and my passions – they could all completely change for the better. I will learn about teamwork, patience, and humility to a degree that most can only dream. I don’t know where the Peace Corps will take me, but it will change my life down to the very core.

-Lindsey & Tim