So we didn’t go out last night. We hung around the Cardboard Box where we ordered beer and shots at the bar. We sat with the other volunteers at a table over looking the bar and pool area. There was a lot of talk about going to bed early. I watched all the time for Alile and when she passed, I made a small wave in her direction. I sat for a while longer so as to not look so desperate and then excused myself down to the bar.
Alile said something about a volleyball game that we had talked about the night before that we hadn’t played that day. She offered to by me a beer and I bought her a shot in return.
After finishing her shot, Alile went to sit at a table by the pool. There was nothing for it but for me to go there as well. I sat down and was greeted by several other people at the table. Alile’s boyfriend, Jared, was there and I shook his hand. There was also an Austrian man who spoke the kind of English that makes me ashamed of my being an All-American unilingual. His girlfriend was next to him. She is Spanish and is very happy and speaks with her hands and kisses you on the cheeks when she sees you.
I sat with the group and smoked cigarettes. At one point a small Japanese man that is also staying at the backpackers got up and started to juggle clubs about the size and shape of bowling pins. Later, one of the Namibian workers at the Cardboard Box played Bob Marley songs on an electric guitar. Everyone started to clap in time or to bang on the plates or the table or whatever was at hand. We all moved to the music and everything flowed together.
And then, all at once, I was aware of the time. I looked up and saw that the other volunteers had gone to bed. I felt suddenly like I had deserted them and I felt very out of place. I didn’t know how to excuse myself, so I didn’t. I got up casually as if I was just going to the bathroom, and went to bed.
I woke up earlier than I would have liked to this morning so that we could move from our temporary private room back into the dorms. Felix and Sam and I ate our breakfast of Namibian “pancakes” at the bar and then left to go to the mall and to look into renting a car. We stopped first at a tourist info center where we were directed to a travel agent several blocks away.
The inside of the travel agency was very clean and sterile- like a clinic for those with the travel bug. We were pointed to the first desk in a long row where we were helped by a very lovely young lady with a name tag that read “Wilhelmina.” I remember because, well, she was hot, and Wilhelmina just isn’t a name you see in Zambia.
Wilhelmina called Budget and got us a pretty good deal on a car for ten days. Our plan is to drive from Windhoek to Swakopmund and then on to the sand dunes at Sossusvlei and back to Windhoek.
While we were working out the details, Felix got nervous and had to walk away. Sam and I smiled at this, but I understood. I get nervous at these sorts of things as well. It’s a good thing Sam is here to hammer things out logistically.
After the travel agency, we went to the mall where Sam helped Felix and me pick out new clothes to replace our tattered rags for the New Years celebration in Swakopmund. I found my clothes relatively easily. I got a new shirt and a pair of real flip-flops and a new belt. Felix was a different story. He tried on several things that Sam had picked out and none of them worked. While Sam was away looking for something else, he told me that he was worried that Sam would be upset that he didn’t like anything she picked out. When he went back into the dressing room, Sam said she was worried that Felix was feeling that she wasn’t helping him enough. I enjoyed the whole thing immensely. It ended with Felix buying a shirt that Sam had dismissed earlier.
Afterward, Felix and I tried again to find a Christmas present for Sam. We looked at purses, but Felix said that they would be an empty gesture. Then we struck on an idea (both of us at exactly the same time). We would get Sam a picture of the two of us. We found a Shoprite that has a photo center and blew up two pictures from Felix’s camera- one of Felix and me and a second of the three of us. Then we walked through at least five different photo shops before we found a double frame that would hold the right size pictures. Next time, we will get the frame and then the pictures.
At a stationary shop in the mall, we bought felt pens for personalizing messages to Sam on the back of the frame. We went to a restaurant where we could sit down to write our messages. We even bought wrapping paper and wrapped the frame. I’m pretty proud of the whole thing.
When Sam met us for lunch she unwrapped the present and loved it and demanded to know whose idea it was. We told her the truth: we had thought of it, both of us, at exactly the same time.
Tonight, we wear our new shirts to a Windhoek night club.
Alile said something about a volleyball game that we had talked about the night before that we hadn’t played that day. She offered to by me a beer and I bought her a shot in return.
After finishing her shot, Alile went to sit at a table by the pool. There was nothing for it but for me to go there as well. I sat down and was greeted by several other people at the table. Alile’s boyfriend, Jared, was there and I shook his hand. There was also an Austrian man who spoke the kind of English that makes me ashamed of my being an All-American unilingual. His girlfriend was next to him. She is Spanish and is very happy and speaks with her hands and kisses you on the cheeks when she sees you.
I sat with the group and smoked cigarettes. At one point a small Japanese man that is also staying at the backpackers got up and started to juggle clubs about the size and shape of bowling pins. Later, one of the Namibian workers at the Cardboard Box played Bob Marley songs on an electric guitar. Everyone started to clap in time or to bang on the plates or the table or whatever was at hand. We all moved to the music and everything flowed together.
And then, all at once, I was aware of the time. I looked up and saw that the other volunteers had gone to bed. I felt suddenly like I had deserted them and I felt very out of place. I didn’t know how to excuse myself, so I didn’t. I got up casually as if I was just going to the bathroom, and went to bed.
I woke up earlier than I would have liked to this morning so that we could move from our temporary private room back into the dorms. Felix and Sam and I ate our breakfast of Namibian “pancakes” at the bar and then left to go to the mall and to look into renting a car. We stopped first at a tourist info center where we were directed to a travel agent several blocks away.
The inside of the travel agency was very clean and sterile- like a clinic for those with the travel bug. We were pointed to the first desk in a long row where we were helped by a very lovely young lady with a name tag that read “Wilhelmina.” I remember because, well, she was hot, and Wilhelmina just isn’t a name you see in Zambia.
Wilhelmina called Budget and got us a pretty good deal on a car for ten days. Our plan is to drive from Windhoek to Swakopmund and then on to the sand dunes at Sossusvlei and back to Windhoek.
While we were working out the details, Felix got nervous and had to walk away. Sam and I smiled at this, but I understood. I get nervous at these sorts of things as well. It’s a good thing Sam is here to hammer things out logistically.
After the travel agency, we went to the mall where Sam helped Felix and me pick out new clothes to replace our tattered rags for the New Years celebration in Swakopmund. I found my clothes relatively easily. I got a new shirt and a pair of real flip-flops and a new belt. Felix was a different story. He tried on several things that Sam had picked out and none of them worked. While Sam was away looking for something else, he told me that he was worried that Sam would be upset that he didn’t like anything she picked out. When he went back into the dressing room, Sam said she was worried that Felix was feeling that she wasn’t helping him enough. I enjoyed the whole thing immensely. It ended with Felix buying a shirt that Sam had dismissed earlier.
Afterward, Felix and I tried again to find a Christmas present for Sam. We looked at purses, but Felix said that they would be an empty gesture. Then we struck on an idea (both of us at exactly the same time). We would get Sam a picture of the two of us. We found a Shoprite that has a photo center and blew up two pictures from Felix’s camera- one of Felix and me and a second of the three of us. Then we walked through at least five different photo shops before we found a double frame that would hold the right size pictures. Next time, we will get the frame and then the pictures.
At a stationary shop in the mall, we bought felt pens for personalizing messages to Sam on the back of the frame. We went to a restaurant where we could sit down to write our messages. We even bought wrapping paper and wrapped the frame. I’m pretty proud of the whole thing.
When Sam met us for lunch she unwrapped the present and loved it and demanded to know whose idea it was. We told her the truth: we had thought of it, both of us, at exactly the same time.
Tonight, we wear our new shirts to a Windhoek night club.
