distractions.

I didn’t so much ditch the last half of school today.. As much as I fled.

Fridays are my favorite day of the week. Not only because of the obvious. All of my classes are within the first four periods of the day.

Which means I’m done by 9:40am. Three solid hours of work and class time, and my obligation has ended for the week. I’m free to beg off and bolt.

Today, instead of heading home, I made for the government(ish) office in my little village in the middle of the bush. They have wi-fi. Mostly, it works..

Here’s the thing about our little arrangement on my borrowing their broadband..

I refuse to sit in the office.  They offer, nicely, every time I stop by..

This is the government(ish) office where the four other persons who could be referred to as pale in my village are frequently found (well, at least three of them). They manage the cattle ranch which employs the vast majority of the population in this odd little cattle region..

Except for the clinic nurse, myself, and the other teaching staff at school (and most of the 386 learners); everyone in my village is employed by the ranch.

It might not make sense, but something just feels wrong treating those offices as if they were my own personal space, to come and go as I pleased... Even when I’m given leave to do so...

Anyway, I’m off early.

And since the internet – the real internet, not the achingly slow connection provided by my 2G USB adapter – is a rare treat, I had things to download, update, and install. Pressing things. The constantly warn you the digital apocalypse is about occur if you don’t update your operating system alerts, because you’re still working a few versions or plug-ins back.

And did I do any of that before my computer died?

Nope.

Like an impressionable child distracted by a shiny object within their field of vision, I was distracted by skype. How funny to have a video chat on the lawn as people are streaming around you. An unexpected treat for this Friday.

Sixty some days till Malawi?

Sixty days…

Lake Nyasa, Nhkata Bay, Malawi

this is africa, ne?

It doesn't always feel like I live where I live.

Despite the mud huts, the donkey carts, and epic tracts of sand traversed..

It’s surprisingly easy to forget..

Yet, something about wading amid deep hippo footprints and elephant
dung, pushing aside papyrus looking for a private spot to piss, on an island in the middle of the oKavango, really does trigger a realization as to one's current locale.

The weekend was spent near the mouth of the Zambezi [Caprivi] Strip around Divundu.

A couple of nights sleeping next to the oKavango River in an old hulk of an RV camper, with the sweet grunts of hippos as a lullaby through the night.

It was beautiful.
The icing, though, was the boat ride, piloted by an experienced guide, and an abundance of wildlife.

Palms | Kavango River

African skimmers | Kavango River

Bundled papyrus | Kavango River

Carmine bee-eater | Kavango River

Look closer, they're shy.. A lesser jacana. | Kavango River

Kids fishing | Kavango River

Pod of hippos | Kavango River

Crocodile | Kavango River

Fish Eagle | Kavango River

That shadow there? Its an elephant. | Kavango River

African skimmer eggs | Kavango River

Fishing | Kavango River

Bird in flight | Kavango River

Goliath Heron | Kavango River

Lily | Kavango River

vultures, and eagles, and parrots, oh my.

Well. Just when I thought I'd be spending a lazy day in the capital...

I found myself, instead, on a birding adventure at NARREC — a non-profit organization whose primary focus is to provide professional care and rehabilitation facilities for injured, orphaned and misplaced wildlife in order to facilitate their release back into the wild. 

We showed up a little later than we anticipated.. According to the directions on their site, take every unmarked left... They meant all but the third (fourth?) one, one could assume, as we found ourselves in the hills at a dead end originally. 

There are a host of birds currently at the centre; among them, various eagles, falcons, vultures, owls, parrots, as well as a number of mammals and reptiles... My favorites were two birds in particular. One, an injured White-backed Vulture, was a sweetie that would swoop over to the fence for a nuzzle. The second, a rescued African Grey Parrot, was capable of throwing its voice to sound as if it was speaking Afrikaans, which was a little jarring at first. Ek praat nie Afrikaans nie. But then we realized he was just trying to convince us to stay longer at their enclosure. I admit, I'm a sucker and stayed for a while with this last flirt. There may have been an Eskimo kiss or two.. Nose to beak. He was a spunky bugger. I considered thievery briefly. 

Visiting Windhoek? Check out the NARREC site for more information. Also, more here.

White-backed Vulture | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

Cricket or Grasshopper? | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

Black Eagle | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

African Grey Parrot | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

Flora | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

Deceased Fauna | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

King of the Ants | NARREC | Windhoek, Namibia

places to go.

It’s been 14 months abroad. One year of service. They even gave us a certificate, making it official. I tucked it away and it ended up crumpled… I kind of shrugged and tossed it aside. A piece of paper.

The only thing that it signified to me was this: Shit. You've got to start figuring out a plan of action.

First off, what do I really, truly, want to accomplish at my site for my final year?

Can I make achievable goals, and be satisfied with the notion that I may not see my plans come to fruition, or, at least, that any tangible result might only be visible long after my departure?

And what of my departure? What are my plans?

These are variations of the same questions asked of me my senior year of high school.

And I know it’s absurd that high school and peace corps should equate.. But there is a bit of the same virtuous, idealist nature resonant in both domains.

Anyway… I’m at this place again.

What to choose next?

Jacarandas in bloom.. | Kavango, Namibia