I AM NOW IN GABARONE! AT UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA!
Gabarone... doesn't really feel like Africa in the same way that Otjiwarongo and Windhoek did. Those had definite signifiers since you could see people hitching rides, they were small enough that you could see how... far from anything else the cities were. Gabarone feels like any city in mid-america just without so many sky scrapers. There ARE people selling things in booths on the road sides and combies (bus type things) that are very typical, but Gabarone has FOUR MALLS. Seriously. four of them. And Riverwalk is within walking distance. (Though it's recommended not to walk there alone because of the high rates of mugging in Gabarone) And there is construction EVERYWHERE. Seriosuly, the whole city is under construction. It is a VERY developed city for africa.
On the subject of mugging, apparently it happens frequently here and it is not recommended to walk anywhere outside the hostel compound that I live in by myself at night. Outside the Uni limits, it’s a bad idea to walk even while a GROUP and thus they recommend taxis or cabs after dark. Which is fine. I have become VERY accustomed to taxis here in Africa. It's dangerous to walk places by myself, so I have taken more taxis here than ever before in my life. (By here I mean Windhoek as well as Gabarone.) Sadly, I am also becoming accustomed to being ripped off by taxi drivers. They see white skin and immediately up the price. But there's not much I can do about it because I have few other options.
The campus here is MUCH bigger than Wheaton. And very confusing., I tried to find my classes today so I wouldn't be lost tomorrow and I UTTERLY FAILED. Well, I found two of them which were in the same central building, which is good because they are the two I have in the morning. But I COULDN'T FIND the other two. I looked and looked and couldn't find classrooms where they should have been! All I found were blocks upon blocks of residential blocks and faculty offices. This place is like a frickin MAZE! D: But I suppose I'll figure it out eventually. I better, otherwise I'll never figure out where my classes are!
Also, two things I REALLY miss about Wheaton already (apart from friends of course) is the laundry facility and Chase/Emerson dining halls. Seriously. There is only one laundry facility and it is NOT in the hostel. It is about three blocks away in the laundry facilities. There are two LONG lines of washers and dryers. They may or may not work and you have to have a token for each washer and dryer you use. The tokens you have to buy at the admin building for 2 pula each. VERY annoying. Also, you can't really leave your stuff and do something else while your laundry's going because petty theft is so common here. So I have to waste a lot of time sitting and waiting. And the machines don't have timers so you don't actually know how much time they take. You just wait till it's done. But I managed to do my laundry and at least I HAVE access to a dryer now, ne? Also, I know while at Wheaton we all complain about Chase/Emerson, but BELIEVE ME. They are heaven. They are five star. They are like the god of food. There are SO MANY choices. And they are open ALL THE TIME. The cafeterias here... are like their antithesis. They serve ONE MEAL at each meal time (which are two hours for each meal) so no options at all. And lunch and dinner are ALWAYS the same exact meal. And it is... disgusting. They serve a choice of beef or chicken (the beef is so greasy as to be inedible (though the chicken can be stomached), a choice of plain pasta or rice with some sort of orange sauce (the rice is dry and gross and the sauce is vaguely spicy), and a choice of soggy, fried carrot shavings or fried, soggy cabbage mix...( they strangely both taste relatively the same... ). So I suppose TECHNICALLY there are two choices, but seeing as everything generally tastes the same, not really. It is LITERALLY inedible. And the portions are HUGE. I have not finished a meal here thus far. This month I have to put up with it because they gave me coupons to use in the cafeteria, but after that I think the meal plan just gives me money and I am DEFINITELY not eating in the cafeteria after that. (They actually do this because MOST international students can't stand the stuff they serve.) I am going to look into renting a mini fridge and buying my own food from Spar. Unfortunately cooking in the dorm is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN so if I want hot food, I'll have to order pizza or brave the cafeteria or something. ugh. For a foodie, this is a freakin disaster. D:
But they school actually looks pretty good overall. I have a roommate, but it's not that bad. There's this huge divider thing in the middle, so I HAVE a roommate, but we can't even see each other's halves of the room. It's pretty cool. Like having a roommate but also your own room. In the room, I have an overhead light, a desk and two shelves built into the wall, a bed and a HUGE cabinet/ closet thing. However, all of my actual STUFF is locked in the big cabinet because it's not safe to leave stuff out that can get stolen. Apparently, people here will befriend you with the intention of eventually robbing you. It's kinda depressing but not everyone will be like that, so it’s okay.
Oh! Another funny thing. There is no toilet paper/ soap/ hand towel or hand dryer in the bathroom. We are allocated a roll of toilet paper a week and I have a bottle of hand soap and hand towel in my room that I bought myself. Basically, I have a bag of toilet stuff under my desk that I grab every time I use the bathroom. Also, there is one shower for the 10 girls in this area and it only has a thin shower curtain, no lock, no door, nothing. And since our actual building doesn't lock, ANYONE can come wandering in while you shower... it's kinda a creepy thought, but I haven't had much troubles with it yet, so I guess it’s alright. Weird, ne?
For all that I complain, the University is quite good. The buildings for class are all shiny and nice; they even have some of the same projectors we have at Wheaton. The library is also lovely and contains A LOT of books. I have internet in my room (though some of the restrictions are annoying). I already bought a hot water kettle for tea. Rooibos tea (my favorite) only cost 12 pula for 80 bags (that's about 2 USD). The international students are all VERY nice and there are about 30 other Americans! I am taking 3 SOC classes and a language class. (ideal schedule FTW!) I only have one class on Wednesday and Friday and no classes before 11AM. Pizza delivers DIRECTLY to my room (the dining hall was closed when we arrived the first night). It’s GREAT!
I also have a phone! Basically here in Africa, you get a phone (they are pretty cheap if you don't need a ton of functions) and then get a sim card for whatever country you’re in. (cost me 10 pula. CHEAP) and then you buy air time. Basically, they are ALL pay as you go phones, but all I did was buy my phone in Namibia, a sim card here, and 100 pula of minutes and it works! No plan, no contract, nothing. And yet I have already texted and called my mum! (well... the call was just once for two minutes... and cost me 12 pula. International calling is EXPENSIVE!)
That’s all for now! Tune in next time to see how my first classes went!
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
The Gala (Of Doom)
Now, I don’t WANT to blog about the gala. I don’t want to think about the gala. I don’t even want to HEAR the word gala for the rest of my life. However, as you are my adoring audience, I will tell you.
It actually wasn’t that bad.
We drove down to Windhoek the day of the gala (last Friday, July 15th) at 6am. It started out pretty badly with too-sweet, gross coffee, car sickness, aches, pains, etc. Luckily, this bit of bad luck was counteracted by the fact that I didn’t have to pay for accommodations as Juan was once more putting me up in his house for the night along with Jess and Rachel. (Well, Cat too, but since they’re a couple it doesn’t really count). So we dropped our stuff off and headed over to the Windhoek Country Club. (VERY posh)
When we arrived… I felt like I was FINALLY doing what I love: directing people and being in charge. Seriously, I felt like I do during a light hang in the theater at school when I’m the master electrician. There were tons of people at my beck and call and I got to delegate and set things up how I WANTED THEM because this silent auction was MY BABY practically. (except that I would never loath a baby with quite that vehement passion). Besides the fact that I had to re-do a billion bid sheets, it was okay. After we finished setting up, we went back to Juan’s place to change.
My dress actually looked quite good with the BRIGHT RED shoes because I was also wearing my bright red watch. It was very interesting to see all the CCF staff dressed to the nines because I usually see them all just rolled out of bed in baggy work clothes often covered in dust or donkey blood. It was fascinating.
When we got back to the auction (and everyone had been to the casino bar to fortify themselves for the evening, lol) our job was your standard meet and greet. I stood at the door, offered to show them to their table, stopped by Juan for their complementary welcome drink, and then led them to their tables… and then I was done. Seriously, that’s it. I didn’t have to watch over the auction, I didn’t have to shmooz, I didn’t have to retrieve auction items (at the end, it was all very TRUSTING how auction winners were allowed to grab their items and go pay), and I didn’t have to clean up tables/chairs/auction tables/ etc at the end. We just gathered up items that didn’t get bid on and table centerpieces and left. It was WEIRD.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the AMAZING breakfast that Juan prepared for us the next morning. We had these REALLY juicy steak things, fried tomatoes, chocolate croissants, passion fruit, cheese, eggs, mamosas, and coffee. It was… HEAVENLY. Like, the best breakfast I have EVER had and that INCLUDES breakfast from restaurants. It was DIVINE.
Then we packed up and headed uneventfully back to CCF. It’s weird… I have NO IDEA what the heck my job is going to be now that we do not have the gala to work on!
It actually wasn’t that bad.
We drove down to Windhoek the day of the gala (last Friday, July 15th) at 6am. It started out pretty badly with too-sweet, gross coffee, car sickness, aches, pains, etc. Luckily, this bit of bad luck was counteracted by the fact that I didn’t have to pay for accommodations as Juan was once more putting me up in his house for the night along with Jess and Rachel. (Well, Cat too, but since they’re a couple it doesn’t really count). So we dropped our stuff off and headed over to the Windhoek Country Club. (VERY posh)
When we arrived… I felt like I was FINALLY doing what I love: directing people and being in charge. Seriously, I felt like I do during a light hang in the theater at school when I’m the master electrician. There were tons of people at my beck and call and I got to delegate and set things up how I WANTED THEM because this silent auction was MY BABY practically. (except that I would never loath a baby with quite that vehement passion). Besides the fact that I had to re-do a billion bid sheets, it was okay. After we finished setting up, we went back to Juan’s place to change.
My dress actually looked quite good with the BRIGHT RED shoes because I was also wearing my bright red watch. It was very interesting to see all the CCF staff dressed to the nines because I usually see them all just rolled out of bed in baggy work clothes often covered in dust or donkey blood. It was fascinating.
When we got back to the auction (and everyone had been to the casino bar to fortify themselves for the evening, lol) our job was your standard meet and greet. I stood at the door, offered to show them to their table, stopped by Juan for their complementary welcome drink, and then led them to their tables… and then I was done. Seriously, that’s it. I didn’t have to watch over the auction, I didn’t have to shmooz, I didn’t have to retrieve auction items (at the end, it was all very TRUSTING how auction winners were allowed to grab their items and go pay), and I didn’t have to clean up tables/chairs/auction tables/ etc at the end. We just gathered up items that didn’t get bid on and table centerpieces and left. It was WEIRD.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the AMAZING breakfast that Juan prepared for us the next morning. We had these REALLY juicy steak things, fried tomatoes, chocolate croissants, passion fruit, cheese, eggs, mamosas, and coffee. It was… HEAVENLY. Like, the best breakfast I have EVER had and that INCLUDES breakfast from restaurants. It was DIVINE.
Then we packed up and headed uneventfully back to CCF. It’s weird… I have NO IDEA what the heck my job is going to be now that we do not have the gala to work on!
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
MY EPIC SWAKOPMUND ADVENTURE (part two)
SO the next morning was sort of a lazy one. We didn’t set alarms and didn’t wake up particularly early, but eventually the prospect of coffee was too strong and Brittany, Steph, and I got up and went in search of a place to eat since most shops were closed Sunday (unfortunately, this included the Village Café). We eventually found a book shop/ coffee shop called Muschel Books… or something like that. There we leisurely sipped coffee in the sunshine and relaxed while we waited for Margaret and Jess to join us.
After that, we went over to this restaurant called 22 degrees south. It’s an Italian restaurant that had DELICIOUS flat bread pizza and an honest to god LIGHTHOUSE as it’s centerpiece. We ate outside in the sunshine at the foot of the lighthouse. Oh, fun fact from here, Namibian “lemonade” is clear, carbonated and tastes mostly like sprite. Next, we went to the craft market… and my god was that stressful.
These guys REALLY want to sell you something. They will come over and say “hello sister” or something along those lines and then tell you that they will give you a “very good price”. They had all sorts of jewelry, carved animals, bowls, salad spoons, etc. all made by hand in the Caprivi area of Namibia… supposedly. I STILL don’t know if I believe them since they all seemed to have the same stuff. The interesting thing about the market is that all of the guys try to RIP YOU OFF. Seriously. You’ll ask how much for ONE little carved animal and they’ll tell you N$120… that’s twenty American dollars which is definitely WAY too much for the little figures. (we saw them in shops for about N$30). The trick is to haggle them down in price without ripping them or yourself off. It’s difficult. And it was HILARIOUS to watch Brittany haggle. She called them out on their tricks and even told them to back off laughingly enough that they brought out a stool for her to sit on in order to be comfortable while looking. It was HILARIOUS. But beware, if you don’t want to get sucked in, DO NOT STOP. Just walk past. Also, they tried to rip us off less when we said we lived in Otjiwarongo rather than the states.
We decided to de-stress at the beach. It was only a block or two away after all! Basically, we all put our toes in the water and crowed over being in the atlantic IN AFRICA and then the others proceeded to look for cool rocks and sticks to put in the bowls they bought at the market and I stayed in the water some more. As expected, the bottom of my jeans were soon soaking, but what else is new?
After that bit of de-stressification, we dropped our purchases off (mum, expect a souvenir from the market!), and then we… decided we needed more coffee… and went to Café Anton. I was NOT kidding when I said this was a food tour. THEY HAD THE MOST DELICIOUS PASTRY THINGY EVER. The end.
THEN we went to dinner… after having coffee. I am amazed we were even HUNGRY. We ate at this place called The Lighthouse which LOOKED like a bit of a shabby-ish pub from the outside but was actually pretty fancy inside. I had this burger melt THING that had normal burger stuff, but also a FRIED PINEAPPLE in it. DELICIOUS! The waitress was a bit rude, but besides that we were fine. Then we went back to the Gruner Kranz.
Luckily, the club was closed, but the bar was open! So we went and played pool. It was HILARIOUS. When we arrived, there was this drunk Australian guy who ordered us and the bar tender all tequila shots and then bought us our “first round”. I grabbed a savanna light and we went to play pool while trying to sneakily avoid him. It was great! And then the manager guy that Margaret had made friends with came over and bought us three more rounds of pool and gave us these shots called Springboks which had so little alcohol that you couldn’t even taste it. Delicious!
The next day the shops were open again, so we went around begging for donations and shopping and ate a GINORMOUS breakfast at the Village Café. We had scones, toasted sandwiches, and mochas. DELICIOUS. Just before leaving, we drove down the highway a ways and found a spot on the HUGE NAMIB DESERT SAND DUNES that we could legally climb. We found one and climbed to the top. It was… amazing. On one side was the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see, on the other was an honest to god sand dune DESERT. It was breathtaking.
We then headed back to CCF. It was great to go to Swakopmund, and I would DEFINITELY recommend a visit to ANYONE who comes to Namibia.
After that, we went over to this restaurant called 22 degrees south. It’s an Italian restaurant that had DELICIOUS flat bread pizza and an honest to god LIGHTHOUSE as it’s centerpiece. We ate outside in the sunshine at the foot of the lighthouse. Oh, fun fact from here, Namibian “lemonade” is clear, carbonated and tastes mostly like sprite. Next, we went to the craft market… and my god was that stressful.
These guys REALLY want to sell you something. They will come over and say “hello sister” or something along those lines and then tell you that they will give you a “very good price”. They had all sorts of jewelry, carved animals, bowls, salad spoons, etc. all made by hand in the Caprivi area of Namibia… supposedly. I STILL don’t know if I believe them since they all seemed to have the same stuff. The interesting thing about the market is that all of the guys try to RIP YOU OFF. Seriously. You’ll ask how much for ONE little carved animal and they’ll tell you N$120… that’s twenty American dollars which is definitely WAY too much for the little figures. (we saw them in shops for about N$30). The trick is to haggle them down in price without ripping them or yourself off. It’s difficult. And it was HILARIOUS to watch Brittany haggle. She called them out on their tricks and even told them to back off laughingly enough that they brought out a stool for her to sit on in order to be comfortable while looking. It was HILARIOUS. But beware, if you don’t want to get sucked in, DO NOT STOP. Just walk past. Also, they tried to rip us off less when we said we lived in Otjiwarongo rather than the states.
We decided to de-stress at the beach. It was only a block or two away after all! Basically, we all put our toes in the water and crowed over being in the atlantic IN AFRICA and then the others proceeded to look for cool rocks and sticks to put in the bowls they bought at the market and I stayed in the water some more. As expected, the bottom of my jeans were soon soaking, but what else is new?
After that bit of de-stressification, we dropped our purchases off (mum, expect a souvenir from the market!), and then we… decided we needed more coffee… and went to Café Anton. I was NOT kidding when I said this was a food tour. THEY HAD THE MOST DELICIOUS PASTRY THINGY EVER. The end.
THEN we went to dinner… after having coffee. I am amazed we were even HUNGRY. We ate at this place called The Lighthouse which LOOKED like a bit of a shabby-ish pub from the outside but was actually pretty fancy inside. I had this burger melt THING that had normal burger stuff, but also a FRIED PINEAPPLE in it. DELICIOUS! The waitress was a bit rude, but besides that we were fine. Then we went back to the Gruner Kranz.
Luckily, the club was closed, but the bar was open! So we went and played pool. It was HILARIOUS. When we arrived, there was this drunk Australian guy who ordered us and the bar tender all tequila shots and then bought us our “first round”. I grabbed a savanna light and we went to play pool while trying to sneakily avoid him. It was great! And then the manager guy that Margaret had made friends with came over and bought us three more rounds of pool and gave us these shots called Springboks which had so little alcohol that you couldn’t even taste it. Delicious!
The next day the shops were open again, so we went around begging for donations and shopping and ate a GINORMOUS breakfast at the Village Café. We had scones, toasted sandwiches, and mochas. DELICIOUS. Just before leaving, we drove down the highway a ways and found a spot on the HUGE NAMIB DESERT SAND DUNES that we could legally climb. We found one and climbed to the top. It was… amazing. On one side was the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see, on the other was an honest to god sand dune DESERT. It was breathtaking.
We then headed back to CCF. It was great to go to Swakopmund, and I would DEFINITELY recommend a visit to ANYONE who comes to Namibia.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
MY EPIC SWAKOPMUND ADVENTURE (part one)
Okay, so this trip was OFFICIALLY to pick up items for the gala, WHICH we did. Unofficially, it was a vacation/ food tour. Which in my opinion is the best combination there is!
We woke up at 4am to leave for Swakop on Saturday morning. It was dark, our electricity was out, and it was rather cold. Surprisingly, I was wide awake! Which I’ve noticed is the norm if I wake up before the sun rises here. Fortunately, I have no idea (well some idea) how to drive stick, so I ended up squashed in the back of a tiny car with three other girls, but I had the option of sleep. Of course, I was so excited by the beach trip that I didn’t sleep AT ALL. Well, that and I was petrified that we’d hit an animal in the dark. There is a REASON that it is advised NOT to drive at night in Namibia.
Anyways, it was a 5 ½ hour car ride to Swakop and we only stopped for coffee and bathroom once. It actually was surprisingly good. The view was interesting as the sun was coming up and as we approached Swakop, there was this… WALL of fog starting at the mountains. Also accompanying the fog was a change in scenery: from scrubby, Idaho-esk scenery to BARREN DESERT OF DOOM. Seriously. So we drove into this fog and kept expecting one of us to vanish into thin air, stolen by the fog like some kind of horror movie. Basically, we all had the hysterical giggles for half an hour.
Before we went into town, we stopped by at Laurie’s friend Susan’s house to pick up some prints. She had this adorable house in the middle of a plot that used to be a riverbed that seemed REALLY DESOLATE. Like, seriously, I was getting depressed driving through her neighborhood. (which consisted on four or five houses in the sand) She had these three ADORABLE dogs who were SO excited to see us. She invited us in for coffee and we sat down and talked about which places in Swakop may give us donations. She was… a bit of a miser. Every place we mentioned we were going (which had had STUNNING reviews from people back at CCF) was met with a frown and weariness. Basically, she told us the best restaurant in town was a rip-off and that the beach bar we were going to was… not a nice place to go… Yeah, we didn’t take a lot of her reviews seriously. But we left in high spirits after fending off her over-enthusiastic dogs.
When we rolled into town 20 mins later, the fog was still there and everything was a bit cloudy and dreary… this did NOT bode well for our trip, but we put on a smile and found our hotel. Well, backpackers lodge called the Gruner Krantz. Yeah, I TOTALLY didn’t realize that this place was a lodge, bar, and NIGHT CLUB. TOOOOOOOTALLY missed that. But it was cheap (40 USD for to nights!) and we got a LOCKED dorm room to ourselves, so we figured we could get over the noise.
Anyways, we settled into our hotel and then went to the Village Café to meet with Laurie’s OTHER friend Leen. This one was MUCH nicer and reminded me of some sort of cool grandma. The village café was ALSO awesome and barely had room to fit us! Their coffee was delicious and the whole place was a hodge-podge of decorations and witty quotes. I had a M’offee (some sort of malt and coffee drink) and a bacon and egg brotchen. (BAAAAASSICALLY a sandwich-roll thing…) it was delicious! Then we wandered around town to the shops that Leen mentioned. It was a right shame though, because all of the shops apparently close at noonish on Saturdays! So we didn’t do much shopping, but that was okay. After that, we headed towards the Tiger Reef pub that sat on the beach overlooking the ocean. By this time the sun had come out! So I grabbed a Savanna Light (cider thingy) from the bar and relaxed on the deck. I was SLIGHTLY jealous when the other girls got chips (eg French fries) that were FANTASTIC. But I wasn’t hungry, so I abstained. It was all VERY relaxing. And Swakop is VERY gorgeous in the sunshine.
After that, we headed back to the room to change for dinner. (We were eating at a fancy restaurant) It was a tad chilly but nothing we couldn’t handle. I wore that mostly-pink outfit that makes me look adorable. (rolls eyes) and my hair was wavy and lovely from when I had it up in braids the day before. It felt nice to wear non-work clothes. We went over to the pier and took pictures from there for a while while the sun was starting to set. Then we went below deck to the SUSHI BAR at the end of the pier! Unfortunately, one of the girls didn’t like fish, so we weren’t actually EATING there, but we bought drinks at the bar so that we could sit out of the wind (it WAS rather gusty) and watch the sun go down. African sunsets are AMAZING no matter where you are. I got a champagne/ cherry concoction that was OK but which I ended up sharing with the other girls. But it was nice and fancy.
After that we went over to a restaurant called The Tug which was ALSO right on the beach. We spent the whole meal practicing table manners and giggling a lot. This was MOSTLY because when the waiter brought Margo and Jess their wine, he held out the bottle for Margo’s scrutiny and she GRABBED IT OUT OF HIS HANDS…. LOL! She’s never been to fancy restaurants before and so she didn’t KNOW that she was supposed to just nod at it like she knew it was a good vintage or something. LOL! And so Brittany and Jess spent the meal periodically dropping tidbits from their manners classes. (Apparently those exist in COLLEGE…)
After dinner, we went back to the Gruner Krantz and found, to our dismay and amusement, that the Gruner Krantz is the loudest place in all of Swakop on Saturday nights. Wow. Loud. But we gamely joined in on the party and danced for a VERY long time. Margo made friends with A LOT of people, but most notably the DJ/ MANAGER. And that was a very good idea. She got some free drinks and he let us dance behind the DJ booth. Which was good because it stopped people from spilling their drinks on my skirt. I MUCH prefer dances in which alcohol is not an integral part of the dance floor. Lols.
AWAIT PART TWO!!!!
We woke up at 4am to leave for Swakop on Saturday morning. It was dark, our electricity was out, and it was rather cold. Surprisingly, I was wide awake! Which I’ve noticed is the norm if I wake up before the sun rises here. Fortunately, I have no idea (well some idea) how to drive stick, so I ended up squashed in the back of a tiny car with three other girls, but I had the option of sleep. Of course, I was so excited by the beach trip that I didn’t sleep AT ALL. Well, that and I was petrified that we’d hit an animal in the dark. There is a REASON that it is advised NOT to drive at night in Namibia.
Anyways, it was a 5 ½ hour car ride to Swakop and we only stopped for coffee and bathroom once. It actually was surprisingly good. The view was interesting as the sun was coming up and as we approached Swakop, there was this… WALL of fog starting at the mountains. Also accompanying the fog was a change in scenery: from scrubby, Idaho-esk scenery to BARREN DESERT OF DOOM. Seriously. So we drove into this fog and kept expecting one of us to vanish into thin air, stolen by the fog like some kind of horror movie. Basically, we all had the hysterical giggles for half an hour.
Before we went into town, we stopped by at Laurie’s friend Susan’s house to pick up some prints. She had this adorable house in the middle of a plot that used to be a riverbed that seemed REALLY DESOLATE. Like, seriously, I was getting depressed driving through her neighborhood. (which consisted on four or five houses in the sand) She had these three ADORABLE dogs who were SO excited to see us. She invited us in for coffee and we sat down and talked about which places in Swakop may give us donations. She was… a bit of a miser. Every place we mentioned we were going (which had had STUNNING reviews from people back at CCF) was met with a frown and weariness. Basically, she told us the best restaurant in town was a rip-off and that the beach bar we were going to was… not a nice place to go… Yeah, we didn’t take a lot of her reviews seriously. But we left in high spirits after fending off her over-enthusiastic dogs.
When we rolled into town 20 mins later, the fog was still there and everything was a bit cloudy and dreary… this did NOT bode well for our trip, but we put on a smile and found our hotel. Well, backpackers lodge called the Gruner Krantz. Yeah, I TOTALLY didn’t realize that this place was a lodge, bar, and NIGHT CLUB. TOOOOOOOTALLY missed that. But it was cheap (40 USD for to nights!) and we got a LOCKED dorm room to ourselves, so we figured we could get over the noise.
Anyways, we settled into our hotel and then went to the Village Café to meet with Laurie’s OTHER friend Leen. This one was MUCH nicer and reminded me of some sort of cool grandma. The village café was ALSO awesome and barely had room to fit us! Their coffee was delicious and the whole place was a hodge-podge of decorations and witty quotes. I had a M’offee (some sort of malt and coffee drink) and a bacon and egg brotchen. (BAAAAASSICALLY a sandwich-roll thing…) it was delicious! Then we wandered around town to the shops that Leen mentioned. It was a right shame though, because all of the shops apparently close at noonish on Saturdays! So we didn’t do much shopping, but that was okay. After that, we headed towards the Tiger Reef pub that sat on the beach overlooking the ocean. By this time the sun had come out! So I grabbed a Savanna Light (cider thingy) from the bar and relaxed on the deck. I was SLIGHTLY jealous when the other girls got chips (eg French fries) that were FANTASTIC. But I wasn’t hungry, so I abstained. It was all VERY relaxing. And Swakop is VERY gorgeous in the sunshine.
After that, we headed back to the room to change for dinner. (We were eating at a fancy restaurant) It was a tad chilly but nothing we couldn’t handle. I wore that mostly-pink outfit that makes me look adorable. (rolls eyes) and my hair was wavy and lovely from when I had it up in braids the day before. It felt nice to wear non-work clothes. We went over to the pier and took pictures from there for a while while the sun was starting to set. Then we went below deck to the SUSHI BAR at the end of the pier! Unfortunately, one of the girls didn’t like fish, so we weren’t actually EATING there, but we bought drinks at the bar so that we could sit out of the wind (it WAS rather gusty) and watch the sun go down. African sunsets are AMAZING no matter where you are. I got a champagne/ cherry concoction that was OK but which I ended up sharing with the other girls. But it was nice and fancy.
After that we went over to a restaurant called The Tug which was ALSO right on the beach. We spent the whole meal practicing table manners and giggling a lot. This was MOSTLY because when the waiter brought Margo and Jess their wine, he held out the bottle for Margo’s scrutiny and she GRABBED IT OUT OF HIS HANDS…. LOL! She’s never been to fancy restaurants before and so she didn’t KNOW that she was supposed to just nod at it like she knew it was a good vintage or something. LOL! And so Brittany and Jess spent the meal periodically dropping tidbits from their manners classes. (Apparently those exist in COLLEGE…)
After dinner, we went back to the Gruner Krantz and found, to our dismay and amusement, that the Gruner Krantz is the loudest place in all of Swakop on Saturday nights. Wow. Loud. But we gamely joined in on the party and danced for a VERY long time. Margo made friends with A LOT of people, but most notably the DJ/ MANAGER. And that was a very good idea. She got some free drinks and he let us dance behind the DJ booth. Which was good because it stopped people from spilling their drinks on my skirt. I MUCH prefer dances in which alcohol is not an integral part of the dance floor. Lols.
AWAIT PART TWO!!!!
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