I spent Christmas with another volunteer, Sinthu, and her coworkers. We did all the obligatory Christmas tradition things, like watching Elf and Home Alone. Well really those are the only traditions I care about, so they are the only ones that had to happen. It was wonderful to be with another volunteer for the holiday, but my struggle with homesickness was real. I wanted to be Nae Nae-ing with my niece, poking my sister's pregnant belly, and eating my Nini's ham then stuffing my face more with her chocolate pie. But I conquered my first Namibian Christmas with a minimal amount of tears, so I'll consider that a win.
After Christmas, I traveled to Swakop again to spend New Year's with my favorites (Kevin and Stephanie). I arrived around 4pm and just in time to change quickly and get to a braai with a whole bunch of other volunteers. As we indulged in good music and a game or two of beer pong, it felt more like I was back at home. This is probably exactly what I would have done with my friends back in Austin and it felt right. A few hours before midnight, we went to a local dance bar and proceeded to take over the dance floor. At midnight, we cheers-ed with a shot of tequila and immediately regretted that decision. Or maybe that was just me. But I left the bar sweaty and ready for bed, so I'll call it a successful night.
On New Years day, I sat on the beach and absorbed the ocean breeze while some of the guys played football. The only thing that would have made that picture complete would have been a Dirty Arnold Palmer. But that's #poshcorpsproblems. The next day a group of us packed up and prepared to go camping at Spitzkoppe. After driving for what felt like hours trying to find the right campsite, we finally found a little alcove that suited us just fine. I enjoyed the sunset on top of on of the hills (is that even the right term?) all by myself and really had time to reflect on my life. My thoughts- I'm in Namibia, watching a spectacular sunset, surrounded by a landscape that looks like a scene from The Lion King. Who am I???
A few days later, I gladly returned back to my site aka 'home'. I missed my cat, I missed a real bed, and I was refreshed and ready to get back to work. It was a hard holiday as far as homesickness goes, but I'm glad I had every single moment of it. It was a once in a lifetime holiday, as I will probably be back in the states for vacation next year at this time.
When I think about my service here in Namibia, it just keeps feeling shorter and shorter. If you asked me a year ago, I would have told you that two years would feel like a lifetime. Now I'm 9 months into my service and realizing that as many of my experiences here in Namibia are firsts, some of them are also lasts. It's crazy how fast time is moving.
No comments:
Post a Comment