Long weekend

With a youth group staying at Dieter’s for the weekend and Monday being declared a national holiday, Richard and I decided to head out to the coast for the weekend. During December the temperature inland is like I said before, 36-40 C, but out at the coast it’s quite cool thanks to the ocean breeze. During the holidays everyone heads out to the coast because it’s so much cooler, so Richard and I packed up some backpacks and hitched a ride in the back of a pickup for the 3 hour ride out to Swakopmund on the coast. It’s quite a way to travel, not too cushy on the bottom and be sure to lather on the sunblock, but the open air can’t be beat.

We were hoping to rent some sandboards in Swakop to ride down the dunes, but the only place that has them makes you go on their special tour for N$300 per person, so we decided we’ll just make our own boards before we go back again. We had some renown jumbo burgers from Beryl’s for lunch then hit the beach where we discovered some pretty intense volleyball players. I jumped in for a few games and I must say, playing in sand is FAR different than playing in a gym, but with a few tips I started to get the hang of it. I got a few contact numbers for people that run a club program on Tuesday nights in Windhoek, so hopefully I can join them after the holidays.

Sunday morning we went to Tresford’s church in Arandis where I got to catch up with Pearl and Brenda for a bit. In typical African style, Tresford invited me up to play his guitar completely impromptu, so we sang “Blessed Be Your Name”. After lunch we got to spend a little more time with Tresford before taking Leah, Brian, and Charmaine out to Swakop and the dunes. It was great seeing all our Arandis friends again and sharing news of all the people from back home who’ve been there before. Sounds like I may be back there again within the next couple weeks to help with music for a children’s Christmas program at the church.

This morning Richard’s roommate from Pneumatics, Gilbert, was having his 21st birthday party out on the beach so we joined them for a game of touch rugby and some lunch. I may be a foreigner to rugby but I sprinted past the defense for a score and made a few interceptions. Not a bad showing for the American. Hanging out with that group made me all the more anxious to learn Afrikaans. They were all chattering away and laughing with each other and I had no idea what they were saying. But I was still invited in just like I belonged. Gilbert was quick to remind me, “You’re in Namibia now where you make family and friends easily.” All in all it was a great relaxing weekend and I discovered an awesome new way to travel, hitchhiking! :)