monday, march 22nd - 4:56 PM
current weather:
90 degrees, sunny
man, it's quite difficult to keep up with updating a blog. i can never distinguish between days, and everything that happens feels like it happens all in one day. ah... i'm trying my best.
after coming back from work on friday we chilled in pool and sat outside and baked in the sun. every day is pretty much ideal for tanning, there's practically no clouds and the weather's always nice :) but i also decided that i wanted to start working out again. i got my workout email from matt and it was all dryland, since i don't really have any access to a gym or a pool. so then i tried to do a set, but i failed miserably and couldn't finish it. lots of abs and lots of pushups, man i'm getting out of shape kinda fast :(
that night we went back to the cardboard box, because nick (one of the wpi kids) met some other american students who were working in the same department as him and found out that all those kids would be at the box too. turns out that other group has 3 people from clark, that's so crazy. after some mingling i met jenna, who i believe is from new york? she told me about how she was on spring break, and then convinced me to go on a trip to swakopmund and the skeleton cove for the long weekend (since we have monday off from work) with nick and some other groupmates. i totally told them i was in, and they told me to meet them at the bus station at 6:30 the next morning. cool.
so i got back to puccini at around 1 am, packed my stuff in my bag, and then went to bed. i woke up at around 6:34 the next morning to a phone call asking where i was... turns out my alarm didn't go off and i obviously suck at waking up so put those two things together and you can figure out what happened. so yeah, i failed at going on vacation. i felt pretty bad for ditching, but i hope they had a good time without me haha.
but on the other hand, the rest of the wpi crew was already planning on taking a game ride through the okapuka safari, so i went with them instead. we took an hour and a half ride through this huge field on a range rover, and i saw all sorts of animals just chilling out in the wild. crocodiles, springboks, warthogs, vultures, rabbits, giraffes, rhinos, you name it! i saw a warthog from about 10 feet away, and then i watched a rhino eat some chocolate that our tour guide fed them. these animals are huge, it's crazy to see them face to face out in their natural habitat. i took a ton of pictures but my camera died about three quarters of the way through the trip, but hopefully i can upload them soon and show 'em to you guys!
view of the safari fields. amazing scenery.
by far my favorite african animal, the springbok :)
family of rhinos!
family of giraffes!
warthog.
i literally spent the rest of the day napping and making more pasta for dinner. really exciting, i know.
yesterday, march 21st, was namibia's independence day! they were celebrating their 20th anniversary of independence, and the town center was bustling with locals and foreigners alike. there were a few speeches and a long parade, i could hear all of it from where i was staying. after all the festivities we mostly just chilled all day in the shade and then went back out in the sun. i taught cribbage to brittany and dan, and then i learned how to play skat from meghan and jenna. cards are pretty much a staple of our survival here, i also broke out my set deck and we all took turns playing that. we also lounged by the pool and cut down some limes from a tree. we invited BP, a local namibian who we became friends with the night before, down to puccini to chill with us. he stayed for the whole day.
i also ran about 3 miles for the first time since i got here. it was awful, i got winded in about 10 minutes. but the altitude definitely has something to do with it, i'm sure i'll be a crazy runner when i get back to the states. watch out.
yesterday was also steve galucki's 21st birthday! we celebrated by throwing him a barbeque on the patio. we had a grand 'ol group bonding sesh, it was cute.
africans like their meat raw, so we decided to give it a shot.
john showing us the proper way to grill. no hands.
stuffed and happy after a hearty meal :)
birthday boy and his cake! i guess he's only 5 years old.
as for today, it's been a very lazy day. i don't think i have anything planned. guess we'll see...
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