Tag Archives: namibia

Real Life Tatooine

9 Oct

This actually happened about 3 weeks ago but I’m just posting now so you can just deal. I apologize if it disrupts your sense of time and space.

This magical tale of whimsy and excitement begins as most fairy tales do, with a 6 hour drive along a bumpy African road (during which we saw 7 other cars and had no cell service the entire way). We were going for the weekend to an itsy bitsy coastal town called Swakopmund.  That’s how insanely deserted  this country is.  The nearest town worth driving to is 6 hours away. On the morning before we left, we decided to go sandboarding, which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s snowboarding, on some of the highest dunes in the world. Of course, the hills are made of sand, so they couldn’t very well install a ski lift. This meant trekking all the way back up a big, giant scary hill of sand. Now, as much as I hate walking, I love snowboarding, so I had a pretty enjoyable day. At the end of the day, we got to try something called lying-down sandboarding, which, again, is pretty self-explanatory. Basically, you lay on a piece of particle board, and shoot down a dune at up to 70 km an hour. Honestly, this was one of the most terrifying things I’ve done, and I’ve seen the Justin Bieber movie. Here’s a picture of me being super intense. So you know, like normal.

Going off a jump on some of the highest dunes in the world

Going off a jump on some of the highest dunes in the world

PS: The company that took us was amazing. The instructors were very patient, and they had a photographer documenting the whole thing. Here’s their website: http://www.alter-action.info/web/

BALDERDASH!

13 Sep

So, this is my first time being at a school with absolutely no Americans, besides a German PreK that didn’t count because I’m not sure my mind knew how to do anything other than color and eat Spaghetti-Os. I have to say, it’s been a big change. Trying to explain American culture to them is like trying to explain grammar to Snooki. Speaking of Snooki,  Jersey Shore is not something understood over here. The concept of watching faux-Italians binge drink has not carried over. Some things about America almost embarrass me to describe, for instance, Slim Jims. Now, I myself don’t eat these, as I prefer my meat hydrated. 

“Well, it’s like dried meat, but greasier, and stick-shaped.  And in a clear plastic wrapper.” 

However, I guess there are some good aspects of it as well. If I’m tired, or not paying attention, and I say something wrong, I just claim

“Oh no, see, in America, Thursday and Wednesday are synonymous, so really, when you thought I misspoke, I was correct.”

After I first started realizing this, I decided to have fun with it, and see how far I could go. Sometimes, in conversation, I just make up phrases and claim they’re American.

“Yeah, that test was just bucketbasket. Oh, that? That’s slang for……hard.”

I have to say, my triumph was convincing my friends “balderdash” and “poppycock” were normal everyday phrases people use. I now get to use them at will without getting strange looks. This amuses me more than it should.

 

 

Afternote: On a subject other than taking advantage of other cultures and being a bad person, I put up some of my favorite pictures I’e taken while here. They’re somewhere over in this bar ———————————————————————————————–>

First Post, Posta de la uno?

9 Sep

So,  I’m writing this post, but I don’t really intend on saying anything. I feel like it would be weird to start off with a post with substance, so this is kind of an introductory sort of thing. I’m Molly, and I live in Windhoek, Namibia. I’ve been living here for about 4 weeks, and before this I lived in the Netherlands for four years. Even though I’m American, I’ve spent most of my life overseas. My posts on Walk The World will be mostly travel related, and on things and people I find extremely awesome…and I honestly have nothing else to say. I promise, the next post will be a lot less tedious. Sooner or later I’ll post a few of my pictures.

Pounce

Lion catching a hunk of gross dead animal midair

I’ve decided to add this photo of a lion to up the awesome factor of this post. Please ignore the horrible grainy quality of the photo.

 

 

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