December

Hello,
It's been a while... The reason being time away from Rundu travelling with friends and family.
I will start from the beginning sharing my vacation in Western Cape, South Africa, and Namibia.

It started with a long (longer than normal) bus ride from Rundu to Windhoek where I spent the night in a backpacker with Jorgen and Sverre. The next day we continued our travel towards Cape Town. We took the InderCape, and it took us about 20 hours. In Cape Town we met up with the other volunteers from Norway (and Nanna from Denmark) at University of western Cape for a week of lectures about sports development and alike. During this week we had a Christams party Norwegian Style, we saw the musical Cats, went to The Killers concert (!!!!!) and spent some time shopping and going to the beach.

After this week of fun everyone parted and went off. Soem went to Norway, some to Tanzania and Zanzibar, and some to Botswana. Lisabet, Lise, Hilde and myself stayed in Western Cape for about 10 days before we also parted. We did wine tasting in Stellenbosch, Dolphin and seal kayaking in Hermanus, and skydiving, and Robben Island in Cape Town.

After I left my friends in Cape Town (they went to Norway, Uganda, and Tanzania) I headed back to Windhoek to meet my dad, his girlfriend (Kari) her children (Ingrid and Klaus), and Njaal. They came a day late because of snow and cold in Europe, so I spent a day being lazy and recovering before they came on Dec 22. From Windhoek we headed towards Otjiwarongo. We sated there a night at a beautiful lodge and went on a leopard safari. We continued the next day to Etosha, a National Park in Namibia. At a lodge just outside the gate to the park we spend Christmas eve. (Thanks to tante Lene & co, tnate Anette & co, mormor, bestemor og bestefar, mamma, pappa, Kari, Klaus, Ingrid, Njaal og Thea for the Chriatmas gifts!!!!) In Etosha we saw lions, rhinos, zebras, girafs, and may anilopes, birds, and so on. From Etosha we headed to the desert in Damaraland. Here we saw desert elephants. Very cool :) the Skeleot Coast and Cape Cross was our next destination. Here we met a seal colony of about 250 000 fur seals. The biggest in the world or something. The next day we headed to Swakopmund Oystein, one of the SCORE volunteers is working here). This is one of the biggest cities in Namibia, and it is just like being in Germany. Here we did some shopping for souviners. In the evening my brother and I met up with some Norwegians that I met in Windhoek earlier, and we had a braai (BBQ). Next day we headed on to Soussesvlei on gravel road. Not something my dad enjoyed... In soussesvlei we walked the sand dunes, and took some amazing photoes. This is were we spent our New Years Eve, and the staff at the lodge made our night very fun by cultural dancing and singing. Our last stop on our way back to Windhoek was in the Kalahari desert. By this time we were tired so we just hung out at the lodged and played some botcha with some germans. I was a close game, but they beat us by a hairs langth! Thanks to Pappa and Kari for a wonderful vacation and experience!!!

After saying goodbye to the family, I checked into the backepaker again and met up with Oystein. We spend the day looking for somethig to eat, but everything is closed on Sundays! The next day Jorgen and Sverre joined us and soon Marte showed up as well. It was time for Mid-term evaluation. so all the SCORE volunteers in Namibia got together with the staff to evaluate and talk about the way forward in the communities. It was a nice week, and I was sad to say goodbye to everyone at the end.

After a fantastic December vacation I am now back in Rundu ready to continue my duties as a volunteer.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Stine