I Miss Dirty Rap Music

Since this is my first post, I need to put a disclaimer: The views expressed herein are not those of Peace Corps, they are my own.

Necessary background information: For those of you who don't know, I've been in Africa for the past two months. Phase 1 of Peace Corps is training, which is what I just finished.

Some things I did in Phase 1:
- Ate crazy stuff! Warthog, sheep 'testines, donkey, various goat parts, and mopane worms, to name a few. Check my facebook if you want to see pictures of a goat getting slaughtered.
- Encountered a questionable (=rabid) dog in a classroom
- Shadowed a current PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) in a small village for 5 days
- Taught boatloads of children how to wobble
- Lived in a neighborhood with so much history that it's almost a crime to write so little about it

So that's a really small list of things that stick out. The truth is, if I tried to document the 350ish hours I spent in training with my group, this blog would be a mile long. With that being said, through those (literally) hundreds of hours, I've started to make myself a nice little home here with some cool people. After all, I'll be here for 2 years.

Anyway, I swore in on Thursday and officially became a volunteer. I had to give a speech in the language that I'm learning in front of my group, each volunteer's supervisor, my APCDs (Associate Peace Corps Directors) and PC Namibia's Country Director, as well as the U.S Ambassador to Namibia. I will never forget Ambassador Nesbitt shaking my hand and telling me how well I did on my speech. Badass.

Now I'm in Phase 2, which will last until December. For me, that essentially means observing Namibian teachers at my permanent site, helping with projects, getting to know my community, and so on. My school seems really supportive of having a volunteer, and are excited to work with me. It looks like I'll be helping out with the computer lab and the library for now. The computer lab is nearly up and running - another volunteer has done a great job on it so far. The library, like any library, could always use more books. Right now, I'm looking at different ways to beef up our book supply and encourage kids to check out books.

...This is a horrible transition, but, I really miss 2 Chainz. That's actually what prompted me to get off my ass, then sit back on my ass and start a blog. I needed the world to know. There are other things I miss, don't get me wrong (small things like family, friends, Knob Creek, and Wal-Mart.). However, as my people can attest, Lau loves her some horrible dirty rap music. One of my biggest concerns is coming back to the states and finding out that I've missed two years of horribly awesome rap videos and dance moves. I heard Trinidad James or whatever the hell his name is at a party last weekend and...I kind of got teary-eyed because I didn't know if he had any more hits after All Gold Everything. Is that weird, Blog? You should stay tuned for the next random thought I have.