Hello From Namibia!

Hello...
After what has felt like a long hiatus from internet connection, we arrived in Windhoek at the house today and are slowly creeping along online. I had a very busy and enjoyable weekend in Soweto with my host family. I had my host parents, Jean and Mapule, and then host brother Tshepiso (22), and host sisters Nandi (19) and Thato (8). I absolutely loved them, and it was so nice to be in a nice, warm, comfortable house. They fed me and Anna SO MUCH. They had this belief that I was 'afraid of food' and that I needed to get bigger before I left their house. The food was AMAZING, including the braai (bbq) we had on Saturday night, but the quantity was incredible. It got to the point where I was giving Thato my leftovers on the sly because I couldn't eat everything. I want to post a photo of my family but I don't want to push the internet speed to breaking point.

So aside from eating, Friday night when we got there we went to pick up a cousin, Tshidi, who stayed for the weekend, and that translated into visiting lots of different family members in a part of Soweto called White City. We did more visiting on Saturday before the braai, I loved how welcoming and happy to see us everyone was. Mapule kept introducing us as her 'white children.' Sunday we went to Mass at a nice, very diverse church. Later in the day we went to Mandela's house, which was very meaningful to me because neither Mapule or Jean had been there before. Sunday night we had a HUGE meal that Nandi cooked, and I ate everything! (Exercise is very necessary at this point if only for my mental sanity)

Yesterday we went to Pretoria and saw the Vortrekker monument, and met with people from the US embassy and University of Pretoria. The embassy meeting was the most interesting for me, we spoke to a Political Officer that focuses on Domestic Politics. He talked a lot about what his job involved and what the US' involvement in South Africa is. I asked him how he deals with potentially having to promote and carry out US policies that he potentially doesn't agree with...I think that confirmed I can't work for a government agency! He said that he has faith that as elected representatives, those in government are carrying out policies that are in accordance with the wishes of the US people. Which in theory is true, but I don't necessarily think that the US public is always so active to inform and demand that their representatives carry out what they think is best. Also Julia and I had panic attacks at the top of the Vortrekker monument because of the sheer drop from the top...it was really funny we had to crawl back to the stairs.

Ok, so this is a very long post. Other than all those things I got a cold on my homestay and the air is really dry and so my respiratory system isn't happy. Hopefully that improves soon. As for the house, it is bigger than I thought, though I am sharing a room with 5 other girls. I put some Georgia O'Keefe paintings from Vogue on the wall by my bed so it's a little cheerier. I am sure I will be reporting back on life in Windhoek shortly!
xx hannah