The real thing..

So we have finally arrived in namibia..I'm not going to shoot for proper pronunciation or grammer in this text, I only have a few minutes at this internet booth. The time seems to count down quickly on this internet connection.

Anyhow, we arrived yesterday. When we were flying over South Africa, the ladscape was beautiful. Alot of open and vast spaces. Cities aren't as prevelant and there was lots of sand and brush. I love that sort of setting. When we flew in to Namibian airspace the change in topography was immediatly apparent. I started to see more red clay, and mountains and the sorts of things that you expect to see when you think of africa. I can't get over how big the sky is here. It's so difficult to describe, but out in the bush you can see for miles...the sky is extremely blue and cloudless. This might have something to do with the fact that it is winter. No rain in sight for miles. The sky is absolutly incredible.

We landed about 30 km. from Windhoek (the capital) because the mountains are too large and random to land closer to the city. The drive from the airport to our lodging was about 45 min, although it seemed longer because we got held up in the airport. There was a minor problem at immigration with our visa's. As I am learning I need to be extremely flexible here. Things just tend to move differently. In any event, on the way to our lodging, it was interesting to see gazelles and other animals on the roads.

Today we actually had a meeting with USAID, UNESCO and the U.S ambassador to Namibia. I'm, glad I had on some clean clothes because I was seated right next to the ambassador. I had no idea I was going to sit next to her until I was seated according to the chart. A wonderful woman, we had a really good conversation about issues that affect the Namibian population. I was amazed to hear that out of a population of 2 million, 20% is known to have AIDS or HIV. That is a staggering number and it truly is of epic proportions. I also had a conversation with the Minister of Gender Issues and Education, she was also seated next to me and we discussed how this rate of infection is affecting the teachers as well. As they are not immune to the virus, the more teachers that die the less kids that can be taught in this new country. New is relative, the country has been in existence for 18 years. So many problems are affecting this country, and I believe I will be back here to do as much work as I can in the future.

Today has been an eventful day, it's not often you have dinner with an ambassador and other governmental officials...especially me.

We drive to northern Namibia tommorrow, we'll be leaving at 6am, and we arrive at about 5 or 6 pm. It's a long drive.

We also officially start work in the field the day after that, up until now our time has been spent in meetings.

I probably won't have a chance to update this blog when I get up there, we'll see what the internet connection looks like when I get up there. Until then..