Part Sixteen: Happy New Year! (29th December – 13th January)

The main reason that we were heading to Luderitz was to see Alex, Simona (two project trust volunteers working and living here) and Tyche (another PT volunteer who works and lives in Omaruru who had also come to visit, her partner is Sophie but she had stayed in Omaruru to be with her boyfriend). We had an absolutely horrendous journey down to Luderitz which I have no wish to dwell on but I will just say that we sat in a Combi for 11.5 hours so squished that both my feet couldn’t rest on the floor at the same time and in order for my arms to fit one had to be out of the window!

Luderitz was great fun and very different to what we both imagined. It didn’t feel like Africa at all, in fact it could have been anywhere. It was in the middle of nowhere, absolute nowhere surrounded by sand and sea. After a comforting bowl of butternut squash we all went out apart from Chelcie – explanation in a bit, and they introduced me to all their friends who were lovely. There is a large crowd of 20 somethings who are all white Afrikaans. At first it was quite weird as these were the first white Namibians that we had really met and for the first time we also met some girls! They were all really lovely and I will definitely keep in contact with quite a lot of them. It was also so lovely to be with all the PT volunteers and to be able to catch up with what everyone had been doing and hear about all the projects.

General Luderitz: It was lovely to be able to totally chill out and relax. We spent a lot of time in Luderitz chilling and talking. On our first day we walked to Shark’s Island – I was very disappointed that there were no sharks and it wasn’t even an island! It was actually just some rocks on sand where we just sat and talked which was lovely and there was an incredible view out to sea. We all got very into our milkshakes in Luderitz which were yummy and very good value! One night we went out to supper at an Oyster Bar which was incredible although none of us actually ate Oysters! Apart from Tyche, who doesn’t like fish, we all had Tuna steaks. These were cooked in front of us and were served just as they were with a little dish of soy sauce with a smidgen of mayonnaise and a chilli concoction.  It was absolutely delicious and we were even given a class of champagne on the house which was a great accompaniment! I also acquired a new nickname on my first night in Luderitz: “Dimples” because I have “the most beautiful dimples in the world”!

Chelcie: For someone who claims never to get ill, she gets ill an awful lot...Chelcie had been complaining of a sore throat since just before Christmas and on the 30^th she woke up and her right side of her face was massively swollen, she had a large lump in her throat and she was in a lot of pain. We decided it was time to get checked out by the doctor just in case it was tonsillitis or something needing antibiotics. We couldn’t get an appointment for that day but she went to see the doctor the next morning. I was still asleep at this point...when she returned I knew something was really wrong as she had tears in her eyes and Chelcie always says she has the “emotional range of a teaspoon”. The doctor had told her that she had a paratonsilar abyss – in English an abyss behind her right tonsil which he recommended removing because if they return they can swell up and block the airway. This meant that Chelcie would probably have to fly home as she and her parents didn’t want her to have the operation in Windhoek. Straight away I started making phone calls; first to Gilly, then to Project Trust and hundreds to the insurance people who each time asked me to confirm Chelcie’s name and date of birth...just in case! This was very stressful particularly due to the issues with our visas which would make it very difficult for Chelcie to get back into the country again which would have left me at Otjikondo by myself. Luckily the antibiotics that the doctor gave her started to work quickly and within a few days Chelcie was back to normal although we still had this looming over us. It was organised that she would go to see an ear, nose and throat specialist in Windhoek who would determine whether she would have to have the operation or not. This was first scheduled for the 9^th and then the 12^th.

End of December: I can’t believe that this is the end of the 4^th month and the end of the year. It seems crazy that is now 2012 – not only the year of the Olympics or the year that the world is supposed to end but most importantly I COME HOME THIS YEAR!!! December was a great month that I really enjoyed, it wasn’t what it promised to be but we had a lot of fun never the less. Okay records – I was very lucky and received 21 letters but I sent 31 to you. I win! (However, they were mostly postcards so we might have to call it a draw!) I read eight books and also cried eight times! Also lots of firsts: I put on my first Nativity and Christmas Concert, completed my first term at Otjikondo, I went dune boarding, I met my first Pelican and I survived my first Christmas away from home. Let’s hope that the new month and New Year are good ones!

New Years Eve: SUCH FUN! We set off to the beach at around 5 and we went to this place where there used to be an old golf club. The building was deserted and now covered in really cool graffiti which made an amazing background to photos! We built a massive bonfire there and we had a couple of flares and fireworks which were really cool. At about 11 we headed back to town and went to Barrells. This is the place where we went out most evenings, it was a bar/restaurant and really fun. We stayed here dancing until about 5am when a fight broke out which was pretty scary as everyone was getting involved and picking up bottles ... we then set off back to the flat but then we ended up going to someone’s house where we went swimming for hours, and ended up looking like prunes, we were all in our dresses as obviously no one had gone out with their bikini! We then had breakfast and we finally returned to the flat at 8:30. Such a good night

Skype: This is so clever and I still can’t get my head around it. Staighty had been trying to organise a ‘skype date’ for ages and I finally managed to talk to her on New Years Eve in the afternoon. It was so amazing to be able to see her and to properly chat. Letters are great but being able to talk to her was INCREDIBLE and we talked for ages and it didn’t cost anything. I tried to talk to Mummy but we didn’t have any of the right equipment for it to work.....thank goodness for Amazon Express. I managed to talk to Mummy and Daddy – once he worked out that his face needed to be in front of the camera and it didn’t just work if he looked at the camera – all I could see was his tummy! Then on my last day in Luderitz I talked to the whole family, including Peppy but sadly no Orange, and without even realising it we talked for over 2 hours! It was so weird that I could see them all sitting in the Nursery at home and they could see me in Africa even if occasionally I did turn green! It was very reassuring to see all their faces and to see that they hadn’t changed a bit and to be able to show off my watch mark. It was so lovely to have instant communication during the holidays but Chelcie and I both agreed that it would be too hard to be able to have it all the time. However, I am looking forward to the next time I might be able to Skype and see people’s faces or tummy’s again!

Sea trip: One morning we got up early and went out on a boat which was amazing. We sat right in the middle of the boat on top of the roof and admired the view. It was very cold out on the boat but we were given rugs to huddle up in and in the middle of our journey we were given very welcome mugs of steaming hot chocolate. The sea was absolutely beautiful and it was sparkling in the early morning sunlight. We sailed around the edge of Luderitz and we were given lots of information about the diamond ships. Chelcie and I had both been very disappointed not to meet a diamond diver in our time in Luderitz...I had imagined that they would be sitting at bars in their wet suits and flippers, but no such luck. As we were sailing along we saw dolphins and seals which were amazing. When we got to an island we saw PENGUINS....both Chelcie and I thought that penguins only lived in Africa in the film Madagascar....surely penguins live on ice???? However, turns out we were wrong and I saw my first real penguin which was very exciting although they were very small, after watching Happy Feet I thought they would be shoulder height but in reality they were more like knee height! On the way back it was very surreal as you could see the shimmering sea and in the background there were sand dunes....all very bizarre!

Kolmanskopp: This for anyone who doesn’t know is commonly referred to as the “Ghost Town”. Fifty years ago everyone moved out of town due to the wind and sand and now no one lives there. However, the houses are kept up so that you can visit and see what it used to be like. This was one of the things that I had learnt about Namibia before I arrived as Magnus had shown me some photographs which I thought were incredible and luckily Kolmanskopp lived up to my expectations. Some houses just had a thin layer of sand in as they had been recently swept however others you had to duck to get through the door way as there was so much sand deposited on the floor. It was really weird walking around a town where people used to live but now totally deserted.

Beach disaster: On the 7^th we all decided to go to the beach for the day and after numerous transport difficulties we finally made it. After a braai of cheese sausage (a very weird food which strangely tastes neither of cheese or sausage but  is very yummy...), a walk down the sea and just general relaxing the boys decided they wanted to play some rugby. We carried on talking until someone came running over saying “Ian has just broken his leg”....I thought this was a joke and that he might have pulled a muscle or something but it wasn’t. It was very clear from how he was lying and the amount of pain that he was in that he had broken his right femur. Luckily we had a buggy with us (a truck with an open back) and after strapping his leg with a car mat (the only thing we had) the guys managed to lift him onto the back and then a couple of us headed for the hospital. There are a lot of speed bumps in Namibia so the journey to the hospital was very slow and very painful for Ian. I found the whole experience at the hospital very shocking and very difficult to deal with. When we arrived at the equivalent of A&E there was one nurse around. Luckily the guys were able to lift him onto a stretcher and we were shown into a room to wait. After putting a drip in his arm and giving him a small amount of morphine (he couldn’t have much as he had drunk alcohol) we were left to wait and then wait some more. They rang the doctor and after a while he arrived and explained that the operation would have to be done in Windhoek as they couldn’t do it in Luderitz. He wanted to fly Ian there but that would have cost $60,000 (£6000) money that wasn’t unavailable and he had no medical insurance. We were waiting for him to have the x-ray to show where the break was and how bad it was – he was given one pillow to rest his knee on but for the 3 hours or so we waited for the x-ray Ian was holding up his thigh where it was broken. When it came to moving him for the x-ray the Nurses were so cavalier with him, moving him from one bed to another to a table and so forth. He was in agony and it was horrible to watch. This actually made me cry as it all seemed so barbaric. The x-ray confirmed that it was a very bad break and now we just had to sort out the details of getting him to Windhoek and into hospital. In Namibia you have to pay for everything up front otherwise you don’t get the treatment. The doctor decided that I was the only one who wasn’t panicking and therefore told me all the information and left it up to me to persuade Daniel (Ian’s younger brother) to make the right decisions. The choices were paying for a private hospital with a private doctor, going to a state hospital and using a private doctor or going to the state hospital and using a state doctor. Obviously if you had the money you would go private, private but this wasn’t an option but we managed to settle on using a state hospital with a private doctor. He also had to pay upfront for the ambulance which cost $4 per km – it’s a long way to Windhoek from Luderitz. We all stayed with Ian while everything was worked out and then he left for Windhoek at 3am on Sunday in the ambulance.

Back to Windhoek: On Monday we decided to head back to Windhoek, we needed to be there for Chelcie’s appointment on Thursday and we wanted to visit Ian as no one could go with him as everyone had jobs to go to. Simone came with us as she was bored of being in Luderitz and we had a really lovely couple of days. We even went to the cinema in Africa....! We watched “New Years Eve” which was absolutely hilarious although Chelcie has sworn she will never ever go to the cinema with me again as I was often the only one laughing out loud and everyone knows how loud my laugh is! On Wednesday we were joined by Luise who has come to Otjikondo for 3 months. She is our age and is from Germany. Tyche also joined us from Luderitz and we all went to Joes for supper as that is where we went on our first night in Namibia and we feel it’s a right of passage.

Visa scare: When we were in hospital with Ian we got a text from Tyche saying she had bad news about visas but would tell us later, obviously we wanted to know straight away! Sophie (Tyche’s partner) had been in contact with PT who had told her that there was a 50% chance that our visas wouldn’t be sorted ever and if so we would be flown home straight away. This was pretty crazy and obviously we all panicked. Not that any of us haven’t wished for a quick weekend at home – like an exeat but there is no way I want to leave Namibia. I absolutely love Otjikondo and I’m having the most incredible time. Luckily after our parents talked to Gilly we were calmed down and reassured that our visas will be sorted and we won’t have to leave. At this point and time they haven’t been sorted yet but we are “reassured” that things are being done....

I have been told off for my excessive amount of exclamation marks in my Blog entries....my excuse is that everything that I am doing or seeing is so incredible and exciting. Therefore in my eyes it merits an exclamation mark but I apologise to any grammatical lovers who view the amount as unwarranted! (Yes, that one was put in on purpose) Also according to Zim, I have very special spelling abilities....I know that I’m special as my parents always tell me that and I also realize that I have slightly dodgy spelling talents HOWEVER I’m using spell check so I fail to see what I’m spelling wrong.....please enlighten me?!

After an incredible five weeks or so of travelling around it feels incredible (and safe!) to be back here at Otjikondo. I did feel as if I should be heading home after the holidays but that is still a way off! I hope that everyone is enjoying the New Year and I’m sorry that this has taken a while to be written

Lots and lots of love

Ottilie xxx