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Thus far my airport experiences for this trip haven't been all that great, but I got to the airport in Johannesburg hopeful that this would be different. Hah!
After getting lost and hitting traffic, we finally made it to check in. Unfortunately, the group and I had the very wrong impression that you could have two bags weighing 50 pounds each, probably because this is what South African Airway's website listed. Really, you could have a total of 70 pounds, which was a big problem for some of us (mainly me). This, the long security line, and a group member falling down the escalator held us up until about 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to take off and that may not have been so bad if we just had to make it to the gate. Fortunate for us, you have to make it to your gate and then take a bus to the plane, so we got a quick workout in and sprinted for the gate.
We made the plane and as usual the accommodations on SAA were wonderful, but we weren't safely in Namibia yet. We found out the night before that our student visas had not yet been approved. Instead we would apply for a 3-month travel visa and wait until we got the other ones. This seemed reasonable until the customs officer asked to see our flight itineraries. Then unsatisfied with these, he wanted our tickets. After much confusion and waiting, we made it to a SAA information booth and they printed tickets for each of us, but when we took them back to the customs officer he neither believed that we were just tourist nor was willing to overlook that our flights left later than our 3-month travel visa was valid. Not sure that we would even get into Namibia or whether or not we would be sleeping in the airport that night, our group sat down to play some euchre.
After promising to change our flights so that we would only be here for three months (lying) we were admitted into the country. It was worth all the trouble—Namibia is beautiful! It's dry here, but the shades of grey and brown are surprisingly very pretty. On the drive to Windhoek, there were mountains in the distance, different types of trees everywhere, and we were out in the country so the sky was open and huge. The windy roads reminded me of home and it felt so nice to relax and stare out the window.
When we got to the house, things got even better. The house is really big for our small group of eight, but having the space is nice. There's a pool, barbecue, and balcony outside and the neighborhood is nice so the view is decent. It's within walking distance of downtown and we have already done some exploring. There are a lot of great cafes and restaurants. I ate at a German cultural center and it was delicious, then, met up with some other group members who were having Nutella crepes! We checked out some art studios, theatres, parks and local malls too. There's a backpackers hostile right across the street with a bar, pool, and fast internet (its best selling point). We met some fun locals there and I think it's going to be a regular hang out of ours.
We've also toured a township called Katutura which is comparable to Soweto in Johannesburg. This was much more enjoyable, though. We were shown around by a group of students our age (The Young Achievers) that run a program called the Kasie Tours. The group is awesome. It is solely student run and they aim to empower youth through setting educational and professional goals. They have several branches around Namibia, set up conferences, have done international visits, and even show around U.S. senators and ambassadors. All of this is organized, funded, and implemented by student volunteers—it's amazing!
There is still so much to see but I think it is going to be quite easy to call this place home for the next four months.
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