I swear...

Well peeps, it's official!  I am no longer a trainee but a Namibia Peace Corps Volunteer.  We had our swearing in ceremony last Thursday and it was definitely bittersweet.  I am so excited to be done with PST but am so sad to have to say goodbye some really great friends (for a few weeks, that is). 

I said goodbye to my Okahandja host family and will miss them dearly.  I have grown really attached to my host sisters and the neighbor girls.  I spent my last week painting their toenails and playing cards with them.  I love them!

 This is KJudy... my married couple friends KJ and Rudi. They are amazing and I am so sad they do not live closer to me.  The wonderful woman in the Damara dress is Kyla, she is amazing as well and will be greatly missed until reconnect in December.

On our trip up to Owamboland our caravan was lucky enough to drive through part of Etosha National Game Park.  Etosha is one of the best safari parks in Africa.  These are actual giraffe and zebra at a water hole, I saw them and instantly started singing the circle of life from the lion king. So cool. We saw tons of giraffe, zebra, deer looking creatures (big and small, sorry I don't remember the names), and we also saw two hyenas!  AWESOME!

I had more pictures to post but my internet was being crappy so I am now in our local PC office finishing this blog. 

Site is amazing.  My new host family is awesome.  They definitely make me feel at home!  :) 

School is pretty boring so far but will hopefully pick up.  All the learners are preparing for their end of year exams so there isn't really too much to do. 

Namibia is amazing and I really love it here.  The bugs, not so much.  They are huge and don't just die when you smash the crap out of them, they come back to life about three more times before calling it quits.  I however am a champ when it comes to flicking them off of me or not freaking out when they are on me.  Though the crunch they make when they collide with the bottom of my shoe still grosses me out pretty bad, I squeal and run away after I smash them, then come back for clean up duty.  Rainy season is on it way.  We have a had a few showers but mostly its just clouds and HEAT!!! I am constantly sweating here.  Oh well, I live in Namibia. :) 

I love you all and will update again soon!  Peace out, girls scout!

Is it?

This is usually how people respond to things here.  I reply with "it is!" and it throws them off, I find it fun.  :) 

So, life is about to change again... crazy fast!  I'm pretty nervous and excited, mostly excited.

Training ends pretty much tomorrow.  We swear in as official Peace Corps Volunteers on Thursday, woot woot!

As for this last week of training:
We had my final presentation for our small business partners last week and it went really well.  I had such a great time working with the most loving women who happened to be my counterparts at my SME (Small/Medium Enterprise).
Yesterday was my last LPI (language proficiency exam) and today I received my results!  I passed!!!!  You must score an Intermediate Low to pass and not have to retake the LPI in a few months. I received.... drum roll please.... Intermediate Mid!!!! I feel like I have learned quite a bit in just 6 short weeks.  I love the feeling of being able to piece together a sentence in Oshindonga, it feels great!  My only downfall is my OshiSpangLish.  Yup, its totally a language!  It's Onshindonga mixed with Spanish and English.  It's quite funny when you are making a sentence and you throw in a tango or a por favor.  Hahahaha.  My language trainer just looks at me funny and then I explain to her what I said in Spanish.
Today (Tuesday the 18th) we will tie up all our lose ends of PST before our swearing in ceremony tomorrow (Thursday)! I can't believe how fast the past two months have flown by. I can't believe I have lived here that long and that short as well.  It feels like we have lived in Namibia for 6 months or really forever, I have definitely adapted to PST life.  (PST-Pre Service Training.)
I move to site on Friday.  :)  I am a bag of mixed emotions.  I am sad to leave my current host family but am excited to meed my next.  I will be living with my next host family for the next two years of my service.  I have never met these people and hope I make a great connection with them.  I am hoping for either parental figures or people that I will feel at home living with.  Pray all goes well.
Here are few of the highlights from my PST

10- My host sisters and I frantically swatting at the monstrous insects flying around my room... HILARIOUS!

9- Kukuri Center where we all stayed for our first week in Namibia.  It feels like we were there for so long and that is was light years away, but in reality it was only a week or so and it was only 7 weeks ago.

8- Dr Shit (please excuse my language, but he was awesome) He ran the Habitat Resource Center in Windhoek and was hilarious and innovative.  He recycles everything and has the most beautiful facility.

7- My awesome SEED group. I don't think any PST group has laughed as much as we have.  There are only seven of us, but we are an awesome group of seven!  We have the best APCD and Tech Trainer, I am sooooo lucky!

6- AMAZING friends.  I cannot believe we have only known each other for 8 weeks!  It seriously feels like we have known each other forever.  We have endured some crazy hilarious moments as well as some crazy weird ones together, the great news is that we have made it!

5- Host family.  It is really a great way to learn about a new culture quickly.  I have only lived with my host family for about 6 weeks and I have grown to love them. 

4- Skype dates with the people I love back home. So blessed to have an awesome family and awesome technology to not only talk to them for free but also to see their faces.

3- A good head on my shoulders. I am so happy to say that I am pretty strong and confident in who I am. That is a great feeling. :)  Of course I am still a work in progress but I think I am moving in a pretty great direction.

2- My site visit.  I get to work with two amazing supervisors at site and am going to be blessed with all the people and children I get to work with for the next two years. I am so excited.

1- Realizing that this is exactly where I am meant to be at this point in my life! Incredible feeling! I have made it! 

I am so close to finishing my training, I can see the finish line.  I can happily say, I have survived 8 weeks of emotionally draining and intense training. I have made so many memories and learned so much. 
Next step, living as an actual Peace Corps Volunteer!

Cheers to Group 34! 
We truly are the exception, not the rule.
Is it?  It is.

"Back to school, back to school, to prove to dad, that i'm not a fool"

Only 9 days more until I am no longer a Peace Corps Trainee and am sworn in as a Peace Corps Volunteer! Woohoo! Where has the past seven weeks gone?  Next week I will move up to Ondangwa and that will be my permanent home for the next two years. Crazy exciting!

Namibia is beautiful, and amazing, and hilarious.
Being a larger white woman makes me the cream of the crop here in Namibia.  That is, once people realize I am an American and not an Afrikaner.  People here believe that being an American woman who is not skinny is very rich and very beautiful, so I receive quite a bit of attention from the men around town.  I usually just ignore them or laugh.  I have no doubt that if they were to confront me I will show them my serious side.  :)  For most people that know me or at least have met me, might find this a little hard to believe.  I am a very easy going person who smiles a lot, and giggles a whole lot more.  But rest assured, I can be mean and hold my ground when I need to.  A local kid, who I have named "Bossy-pants" learned this the hard way.  Lets just say he will no longer be threatening my fellow female volunteers to play soccer with him. :)

Housing at site is still a mystery to me.  I had a house arranged for me but due to some circumstances I had to be assigned to an alternate home in the same community. Once I know more about that home, I will definitely post pictures and details.

As for mail anyone is wanting to send my way I have a new address to start sending stuff to.  :)
Sister Melissa Nicks
c/o Oonte OVC Org
P.O. Box 1022
Ondangwa, Namibia
Africa
Its good to put 'sister' and bible verses on packages because it is less likely to be tampered with. :)  Also, on most care packages you are asked to list what is in the box, please don't list valuables... maybe put that you are sending books and magazines or stuff that people wouldn't want to steal as much as valuables.  :)  The bible verses will be nice to read as well.

This past Sunday I went to church with one of my friends and it was a great sermon. There were maybe about 20 of us in the church and the pastor was nice enough to do the sermon in both Afrikaans and English so we would understand his message.  It made me miss Sandals church a ton!   My host family here at training doesn't really go to church so I have to find people to take me with them to their churches.  The good news is that my supervisors at my permanent site are Christians and are very excited to take me to church every Sunday with them. :)  I am excited for the next few weeks but nervous as well. 
This next week and a half will be pretty stressful.  I have classroom observations and co-teaching for entrepreneurship, a group presentation for our SEED small business partners, and my final LPI (language proficiency exam) on Monday.  It's all drawing to a close.  It's very bittersweet.  I will miss all of my new American friends but look forward to my adventure starting.  :)