I have been here a week now, and I love it! Katutura, where I am staying is a poor section of town, but great people, food, and kids. It is so different here from the US that it is almost shocking. Although the food isn't super different, especially when you are cooking for yourself (I am going to try zebra and sheeps head while I am here :)), the culture, way of life, and driving are very different. To begin with, the culture in this neighborhood is very relaxed. There are so many different cultures mixing, along with the ones that came and settled here in the first place, that one sees German influences, some other western influences, and many different African ones. I have seen some traditional dresses so far, and they are gorgeous. The hats are interesting, they are sort of a triangle shape, with a roll on the front. I'll make sure to get a picture at some point.
The house I am staying at is absolutely amazing, and there are currently four other students staying here, 2 who are also working at the BNC with me. The other 2 are English and are working with a soccer league. The owner of the house is a great guy, who just got us wireless! So I can update this more often!! Yay!
The driving, the main focus of this post, is extremely different from the US, and especially from Maine. It is more Boston/NYC than anything else, with a splash of France and Italy thrown in! The first thing I noticed about the driving is that approximately 60% of the cars are painted white. Since I hardly ever see white cars in Maine, I thought this was interesting. If they are not white, they are black, silver, or dark blue. There is nowhere near the range of colors that we have in the US (or maybe I just haven't found the colorful cars yet!). The second thing is that they drive on the other side of the road from the US. I am just now getting used to this, as poeple just stroll across the street in front of cars, dogs run up to cars and people don't stop (the dogs don't get hit), and everything is just very close. They also don't wear seatbelts (for the most part), and people ride in the beds of pickup trucks. Standing up! And, I have seen up to about 15+ people crammed in the back of a pickup! So different! But it all seems to be quite safe, even though at first look it may not look, or feel safe. Also, rather than deer or moose crossing signs, they have warthog and a springbok crossing signs!! So much fun!! Well, more will come later this week, about the braai that we had, and about my work at the BNC!
