Lisa's Home!!!

Lisa and her luggage have arrived safe and sound - will update this later! Just thought you all would want to know immediately GRIN

Lisa Is Coming Home

Peace Corps Has Lisa's Flight Home Booked

If the airlines, and the weather, cooperate Lisa should be home Friday December 11, 2009 before 10am! She'll be flying from Windhoek to Johannesburg, to Dulles, to Albany. With a few hours in Johannesburg and an hour or so in Dulles.

Now right now the weather here is horrid - almost a foot of snow fell last night and now we have freezing rain, then we're supposed to get rain - most likely to wash away all that lovely white stuff -sigh- Friday looks good according to the weather people so we'll just have to see.

I've got my fingers crossed that Lisa and her luggage all arrive home safely and if possible on time -GRIN- But safety first! We can be patient if we need to! We just hope Lisa's travels go well. Less than 48 hours from when I'm typing this we should be seeing her! I'll blog as soon as she gets home - though that blog may be a very short one - GRIN -

 

Last Few Days In Windhoek

Other than listing movies she was seeing, TV shows she was watching (including some funny cartoons from Jordan) and nice meals she was eating, Lisa didn't say much about the final Peace Corps close of service red tape. So We don't know how the medical stuff went, or if she got a list of health care providers who accept Peace Corps coverage, or any of a million other things we want to know.

But we're cutting her as much slack as our curiosity will allow. She has some major readjusting to do! Leaving a chunk of your life behind is always bitter sweet! And with the future unsure it will be a time of shifting moods for our dear daughter.

It's hard to believe but Lisa will no longer be a PCV "Peace Corps Volunteer" but will magically become a RPCV a "Returned Peace Corps Volunteer" What a difference one word makes - and 27 months of course!

 

So with lots of prayers, good thoughts, fingers crossed, major knocking on wood - my next blog should be very short and very sweet! Till then - dear friends - Take Care -

 

Susan Rothman

Last Week In Windhoek

Lisa Got Into Windhoek Just Before Midnight Friday Dec. 4th

It was a long trek up - the Ministry of Education brought her from Aroab to Keetmanshoop - they had a flat during that stage of the trip, then they took her and some others to Windhoek - where 2 hours out of Windhoek their car broke down and it took several hours to get it towed back to a town to be repaired with all sorts of problems along the way. I gather they had a lot of tools in the trunk but were missing the 1 they needed to fix the car. Lisa said "that's Namibia for you" while I quietly thought "that's just life".

Lisa said it was Namibia's way of telling her that while she'd miss Namibia - there were bits that were well worth missing. GRIN - She'll be in the Janjonker Apkrtments till she leaves for America. Her sign in says she has the room till Dec. 10th but since the person making the room arrangements isn't the same as the one making the flight arrangements she isn't sure if she'll actually be leaving on the 10th. But we can hope!

 

Saying Goodbye

It was hard saying good bye - the school gave her an Namibian Dress as a going away gift - she says it's lovely. And Erna seemed to question why Lisa was leaving so much for Irena the new Peace Corps Volunteer and not everything to her. Lisa says she left Erna plenty and was a bit frustrated at her last interactions with some folks.

I explained how I thought part of the problem was those she knew in Aroab considered themselves to be her friends and Irena to be the "newcomer" as far as they were concerned while Lisa considered Irena to be as the new Peace Corps Volunteer someone she wanted to leave a lot of the basics to. In it's own way it made the leaving easier for Lisa.

 

Final Days

Lisa is near the Peace Corps offices so that will make doing whatever needs to be done easier. I guess there is a long check list of stuff to be done and once everything is checked off she can head home. With luck the flight arrangements will go well. Till that happens Lisa is eating out, seeing movies, and getting used to higher activity levels than she had in Aroab. She's enjoying her final days there. And she's dreaming of a White Christmas and can hardly wait to get home.

My next blog will either be of her imminent plans for departure or will be a joyful description of her arrival home - everyone hold her warmly in your thoughts and prayers till she arrives! Thank you all for thinking of her so often these past 27 months!

 

Susan Rothman

The Final Weeks

Soon Lisa Will Be Coming Home

Called Lisa on Sunday since she had a Brai (bar-b-que) to go to on Saturday. She's been doing non-stop packing and is rather sick of it. It's hard since it involves so much decision making - what to bring home, what to leave for Irena the new Peace Corps Volunteer, what to give to her friends like Erna etc. It's driving her crazy - much harder than packing up at the end of college. Also without a scale she can't really be sure if her bags are under the weight limits etc. Just another little frustration for her -sigh-

 

Thanksgiving and Beyond

Irena's host family had a Thanksgiving Dinner for her and they invited Lisa. Sunday was a Christmas Concert which she wasn't sure if she'd attend depending on how the packing was going. Everything revolves around packing. This is much harder than she expected - every step reminds her how she'll be leaving so very soon. There will be a not so much of a surprise party for her since the kids can't keep secrets very well (GRIN). And it's going to be very hard to say goodbye to everyone.

 

Elections

There were two days of elections in Namibia which I gather went quite well. Now they count the ballots which will take a few days - and with luck the whole process will have gone peacefully and without complications. The locals didn't seem that excited about the elections - they voted for "their guys" and that was more or less it.

 

School is Almost Over

The 8th and 9th  graders were allowed to leave school last Thursday - Lisa was glad she brought their Christmas cards to school with her - this way she won't have to ask anyone to get the cards to the learners after she's gone. The 7th graders and younger learners may end up being there till the end of this week - but Lisa may well be gone by then. It's all so bittersweet for her. She wants to come home so very much (27 months away is a LONG time!) but the good byes are so very hard.

The last contact she had with the Ministry of Education indicated that they would get her next Thursday and bring her and her stuff to Keetmanshoop. Then Friday she'll head to Windhoek either on the train or with someone from the Ministry of Education. Getting exact plans from them seems as difficult as getting straight answers on healthcare reform. Once in Windhoek she'll deal with her final medical stuff and sometime after her end of service date of December 10, she'll come home. We all can hardly wait to see her!

 

I will keep this blog going till Lisa comes home - then she can continue it or end it - but it will be her baby then! Till next week -

 

Susan Rothman

Didn't Get To Keetmanshoop

Lisa Was Planning To Go To Keetmanshoop Saturday

But the driver of the town's van was tired and he didn't feel like going so he canceled the trip. As Lisa said - you couldn't get away with that in America - if a local bus driver or AMTRAK driver was tired and tried to pull that he/she would likely soon be jobless. Oh well. There were a few things she wanted to get but she said she'd manage. She's good at managing. GRIN

 

The Adventure Of Coming Home

I gather the most recent information Lisa has about the steps in her return include the Ministry of Education providing her with a ride from Aroab to either Keetmanshoop (where she'd catch an overnight train) or to Windhoek on either December 3rd, 4th or 6th. Isn't it nice they can be so precise! GRIN

She knows that once she gets to Windhoek she'll have to have more blood tests - to check for Schistosomiasis and to get her prescription to have her ganglion cyst checked out when she gets home. And she has to actually sign up for that after Peace Corps healthcare - Corps Care (they haven't been able to do so so far because the new forms and info hasn't been ready -sigh- ). But she has no idea how long that stuff will take.

Some days we think we'll really know for sure what her travel plans are when we get a phone call from the Albany Airport saying she's home. Anything more specific is just speculation. Double Grin. Several Peace Corps Volunteers took the travel home allowance as cash and planned to make their own travel arrangements - hoping to save some money on the deal - but they're discovering making such arrangements from Namibia is more complicated than they expected.

Lisa knew from day one that she wanted Peace Corps to deal with it all since she still doesn't have reliable Internet access and right now it's hard to access her e-mail. So that's one set of hassles she can avoid.

 

School

Exams end on November 30th, and at the present moment they are expecting to have to keep the learners in school till that Friday - December 4th. But that may change - the teachers hope so - since after finals the kids will really have nothing to do - and unoccupied learners are rambunctious learners!.

Lisa doesn't think she'll miss teaching - but she will miss at least some of her learners - GRIN. I know she'll miss Aroab and Namibia, many of the friends she's made, and just being in the whole different world that is Africa. Coming home will be strange for her. But Computer access, the Internet, and cable TV will help bridge the gap!

 

Odds and Ends

As her time to come home grows closer Lisa is more and more interested in what's going on locally. She sort of wishes she could really get caught up an 27 months in a flash. We on the other hand have to try and remember which restaurants closed and which opened since she was last home, and what other changes occurred - ie we have a new polling place to vote, some stores have closed, people have moved away, etc. Small changes we probably mentioned when they occurred but which she doesn't quite remember. All the little things that change when you come home again.

Lisa's thinking more and more about what comes next - work or grad school - or both. It's an odd feeling after having a job for two years - even though it had its challenges - it was a known quantity - now it's the unknown again. Funny how Peace Corps made being in Africa seem like a comfortable known quantity.

She's been reading a book she picked up in Windhoek a while back - Richard Wolffe's Renegade : The Making Of A President. It was so funny - she said that as she read it she kept wondering why she missed all these aspects of Obama's campaign for President - then it hit her - she had been in Namibia for most of it! A Duhh moment for sure! GRIN

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Will update next week!

 

Susan Rothman

A Party

Omu And Opa Held A Birthday Party

It was for Lisa and Erna - and was held this afternoon. Lisa's Birthday was the 11th and Erna's was the 13th. Irena the new Peace Corps Volunteer was there among others - and they had cake. I gather having cake is a big deal for Namibians! GRIN All in all they had a good time.

 

Lisa Can't Wait To Come Home.

She's counting the days till she leaves Aroab - since she doesn't know exactly when she'll be flying home she can't use that for a countdown. Double Grin.

It's funny how she's wavering between knowing she'll be delighted by everything at home - and wondering how she'll actually feel. She thinks her home base may seem different and she's unsure about that. I sort of went - ahem "most kids go through that when coming home from college - you never felt funny about your returns you always fit right back into the routine - so all these funny feelings most go through earlier - they are typical!" She sort of went "hmmm - I guess"

In some ways she's always been a late bloomer - from walking to talking - she developed at her own pace and has done rather well (if a Mom can say such things -grin-). She's been very mature in some ways, and has seemed to avoid a lot of the terrible tweens and teens GRIN. So it took 2 years in Africa for her to see herself as separate from her nuclear family. Which is a good thing. It's one thing to always feel welcome when you're home - for as long as you need to stay -  it's another to never leave the nest. Ahh philosophical twinges from Mommy world. See what happens when your Mom writes a blog for you! GRIN

 

Speaking of Philosophical Musings

We spent most of the conversation talking about how best to help those less fortunate no matter where they live. We all sort of concurred that many of the best programs encourage the active participation of those who receive aid (Habitant For Humanity, Heifer International) or they deliver the aid directly to local folks in need who are part of the community (food banks, Meals on Wheels, City Missions)

Lisa discussed the tremendous boost you get from helping someone who appreciates it - (especially the learners who came for extra help and tried so very hard in class) vs. the frustration of working with individuals who don't seem to care no matter how hard you try to help them (some learners who couldn't seem to be motivated no matter who tried to help them - and only seemed to see Lisa as a potential source of food - especially candy!). Challenges most teachers feel at times no matter where they teach.

 

Odds And Ends

We discussed how the world was supposed to end in 2012 - the end of the Mayan calendar - and how it's tricky to snatch up one bit of an ancient religion out of context, and how many contemporary Mayans are less than thrilled by this notoriety.

Lisa mentioned she's done a lot of reading since exams are spread out and there are times the paper work isn't available to be done (but when it is - it will be in avalanche form!) So she hit book number 123 - for this calendar year! (nice pattern! - don't think 1234 will be hit for quite a while GRIN) - and she may be getting booked out. I think a few weeks home catching up on the computer and zoning out watching TV in between writing job/grad school applications will get her back to a more reasonable reading pace. Although, both her parents have this addiction so dominate or recessive it's showing up in the next generation!

 

Will write more next week - but as time winds down the info from Namibia seems more philosophical, as medical info pops up and travel plans firm up I'll be glad to list them here. Lisa should be home by Christmas  - and we can hardly wait!

 

Susan Rothman

Happy Birthday Lisa

Called Lisa At 10:30 Last Night

Which was 5:30 this morning for her. Since she leaves for work about 6am that was the only way to slip in a call on a weekday- GRIN -

She opened the small packages we sent her earlier. We sent her a card indicating a gift made in honor of her Birthday to Heifer International - of "A Basket Of Hope" - and two small packages of edible treats. We have more gifts at home for her to unwrap when she gets back in December! Then we chatted till she had to leave for school.

 

Peace Corps Medical Update

I gather PC called and told her that her blood work came up positive for schistosomiasis but since she never swam in fresh water while in Africa they think it may be a false positive. They'll do more blood work in December before she leaves and if she indeed has it she'll be given a prescription for meds for it. I gather it's very common in southern Africa. Ahh well - just another issue to deal with.

 

School

As I said in my last blog - the 10th grade learners are gone but all the other's are in the midst of finals - they spread them out over several weeks. Which makes things easier I guess.

Her Entrepreneur Class got an unexpected break. She had gotten through all the chapters with her class already so while she was at Peace Corps for her medical stuff she assigned them the practice exam in the back of the text book as review.

As it turns out - the exam sent to the school looks a lot like the practice exam. Lisa figures they never expected the classes to get that far - grin - but since the practice exam was right there for any learner to go over she doesn't feel bad about assigning it. Of course she realizes that being exposed to most of the test won't make a big difference - the learners that study will do well those that don't study won't. Sigh - no easy way to reach all the kids all the time.

Speaking of exams - I guess when the state exams come in the teachers have to go over them and check the answer keys to make sure everything is correct. The joys of paperwork!

 

Irena

The new Peace Corps Volunteer is settling in with her host family - and even though she isn't supposed to - she's teaching already, monitoring exams etc. According to Peace Corps she's just supposed to be observing things. Yeah right - when a school gets a teacher it's impossible to keep them from putting her to work! GRIN

Lisa is surprised how similar they are - Lisa was a bio major, Irena a chem major. They both seem OK being on their own away from other English speakers or other Peace Corps Volunteers (very necessary when you're placed in Aroab!). They're both from the northeast - Lisa from Schenectady, Irena from Long Island. They both have Jewish Fathers and Catholic Mothers . They both like to read in a heavy duty way. And of course they both chose to be Peace Corps Volunteers in Africa. Small world.

I think she'll be very happy to inherit Lisa's stuff when she moves into Lisa's house in January - Peace Corps wants her with her host family till then. But she visits Lisa a bit since she can use her electricity, phone charging, water etc. and it's on the Hostel's nickel - whenever she uses water or electricity in her host home (one of the local Minister's and his family) she's aware of how much is being used since the Minister must go into town and buy more. Something I hadn't thought about before since Lisa didn't pay for electricity or water directly - it was just part of living on Hostel grounds.

 

Odds and Ends

Lisa finished reading her 120th book of the year.

 

Will update again this weekend - Take Care one and all - and

Happy Veteran's Day

 

Susan Rothman