Q & A on the blog

Several people have asked really good questions, so I thought I would create a blog post out of it. If you have any more questions you want me to answer, just email them to my personal email or leave here them as comments.

Josh wants to know if we’ve had any language difficulties.

The official language of Namibia is English, so we really haven’t had too many difficulties. Most everyone that we’ve encountered speaks at least a bit of English (with a few exceptions including the girl who ran with us the other day). As a first language, most Namibians speak a tribal language (including several dialects with the clicking sounds). A lot of people also speak Afrikaans because of the influence of South Africa. But all the schools in Namibia use an English-language curriculum. Also, the people are really nice for the most part and they are eager to help when they can. Yesterday during my walk a man and his wife pulled up next to me in their car and chatted for a bit. It took a little while for the man to get out what he was trying to say, which is: “Can I offer you a lift?” I explained to him that I was out for a walk for exercise, and he and his wife laughed. Everyone here laughs when I say I am “exercising.” I assume it is because the concept of exercise is so foreign to them. Most people walk several miles (probably somewhere between 1 to 10 miles each way) each day to and from work, to the market, to school, etc. Also, even if they wanted to, most people do not have time to exercise. Kids go to school and when they get home they either have to go out in the fields to work or they are in charge of letting the cattle out to graze. My theory on why people run with us sometimes is because they want to get home faster! And if the crazy white people can run somewhere, so can they! Anyway, I kind of got off topic there for a bit, but we have had no language difficulties at all. I had more language difficulties in Montreal that in Namibia!!!!

Amy wants to know what kind of camera we purchased before we left.

It is a Canon EOS Rebel T1i 15.1 MP Digital SLR. It's a really great camera and I definitely recommend it for beginners!

Aunt Margaret wants to know about care packages for kids (aka running shoes).

Well, I read in the guide book that it takes 3 plus months to ship a box from Oshakati, Namibia to anywhere. I assume it takes the same amount of time for anything to get here!