Fish Be Cray

Crayfish on the braai. Gonna have to give this a go with steamed crabs.

  "Hey, Jay, what's been going on in your life, lately? You've been sharing a lot of reflections, but not so much the current events." I realize most of my readers must be thinking that lately. So, I guess it's time to share. The main body of this post will be a story from my Easter weekend, but there will be some other stuff as well. One section may include language that will be offensive to some. I will make sure to give you proper warning when I get there so you can skip it.

Not super relevant, but I had to include this,
since it's the first trash truck I've seen in 2+ years

  A month from today I am scheduled to leave Namibia. I'm both sad to be leaving my home of the past two years and excited to begin the next phase in my life. I'd go into more on this, except I'm sick of this question. I'm wrapping up the work I have left, preparing people to take over some stuff, etc. Packing, cleaning, planning my going away braai. Crying a lot. Etc. I'm ready to see my friends and family back home, not ready to leave my friends and family here.

  This past weekend was the Easter holiday. I decided it would be fun to head down to Luderitz for their crayfish festival. What is a crayfish? Well, first of all, it's not the things we get in New Orleans. Those are crawfish, and anyone who calls them "crayfish" is wrong. Not an opinion, a fact.Crayfish, at least the kind I'm referring to, are a type of rock lobster found off the coast in Southern Africa. They look like this:

Our campsite on Shark Island

  Getting there was an adventure of it's own. On Thursday, after work, I made my way to Windhoek to catch a train. It left about 3 hours late. Shocker. It moved slow. How slow? Things faster than a Namibian train include the last 2 minutes of a basketball game, the rebuilding of Iraq, and my learning guitar. We spent nearly 15 hours on the train, enjoying watching some fairly illogical adding of cargo cars. Fortunately, it was a sleeper car. The beds weren't the most comfortable, but they got the job done and I got some rest. Eventually, we arrived in Keetmans, where we freshened up a bit at the home of some PCVs there, got some pizza, and boarded a combi to Luderitz. Shortly after sunset, we arrived. I was staying at the NWR campsite at Shark Island (home of Germany's first death camp). After setting up our tents and putting on some warmer clothes, we went to town to try (unsuccessfully) to find some dinner and meet up with other PCVs. Everything close early, so my fellow campers and I went back to the camp site, showered (unlike my flat, camping in Namibia means hot showers), and went to bed.

View of Luderitz from our sampsite

  The next morning we set out in search of coffee. It took a while and three stops, but we finally found a place where we could get coffee that wasn't too expensive or full. Of course, it took a while, as the coffee shop's coffee machine wasn't working ("tired" was the word they used). Those of you who know me know I was about ready to commit murder at this point, but, eventually, they got it working and I got my coffee. And then, it was time to hit up the festival. A group of PCVs went to Kolmanskop. I decided coffee and seafood were my priority, since I only had one day in town.

Fried up nicely in garlic butter with some epicly delicious muscles.
Not the healthiest, but melt-in-your-mouth yummy

  We started with some calamari, fried in butter. Probably the best I ever had. And then, it was time to start on some crayfish. Fried, grilled, steamed, in what Namibians call paella (and pronounce pie-el-lah), in pasta salads, kabobs, in seafood rice. Add in smoked angel fish, amazing muscles, really good shrimp, fresh shucked oysters (with Tabasco), and soooooooooo much more. And, of course, a few beers and wine. We chilled out there all day, eating seafood and drinking and chatting and hanging. Just a great day, though my face ended up quite burnt. Before dinner and going out for drinks, we returned to camp to change and clean up. I put on my festival t-shirt (I was apparently the only one who saw the lady selling them come by). The wind had blown our tents over (and killed one of my polls). God bless duct tape, we got everything fixed. We went back to town, grabbed some dinner (fish and chips for me because I clearly hadn't had enough fish). Then, we went to a bar to meet up with the rest of the PCVs.

  They had a guy playing guitar, and we drank Urbock (at N$15 each, we cleaned them out quickly), sang, danced, and chatted. As this was my last night in Luderitz and I was planning on leaving early the next morning, the reality that I was saying "goodbye" to several friends for the last time in Namibia hit me when the guitarist played Eagle-Eye Cherry's "Save Tonight" and followed it with Green Day's "Good Riddance" and I had a bit of a break down. Before it got to the point where I couldn't hold it in anymore, I said my goodbyes, and left alone to return to camp.

Sun coming up over our tents

  Got up the next morning before the sun, showered, packed, and, joined by the two other Khorixas PCVs and the Japanese volunteer from Khorixas (and two of her friends), went to grab a combi. We were hoping to get an early ride, because we had a possible free ride from Keetmans. Sadly, that didn't happen, but we did get a ride directly from Luderitz to Windhoek. Took all day, but we arrived. After several failed attempts to find room at various backpackers' lodges, we discovered one of the Japanese volunteers had a flat in Windhoek. It was small, but we were able to cram in. We got some Chinese food, hung out a bit, and the next day we returned to Khorixas, exhausted from travel but with some fond memories.

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  Okay, so, this is a bit unrelated, but there are a few things I have to talk about. Things which have been frustrating to deal with.

  (Note: this paragraph includes some offensive language, so feel free to skip it). One thing I just couldn't get used to has been the way Namibians use the term "nigger". Most of them have no concept of its meaning. They hear it in our rap music. Initially, I tried explaining it to them. Living in the south, I heard it plenty, but it's different here, because of the way it's used. It's basically used as a synonym for "buddy". However, knowing the racial history of Namibia, it still sounds like nails on a chalkboard, and it does bother me when people use it to refer to me. I hide it now (no use in banging my head against the wall), but still.

  Another phrase that annoys me is "This Is Africa". This phrase entered wide use because of the movie "Blood Diamond". However, here, it's largely used as an excuse, not simply an explanation. And people use it to shrug off things like not bothering to show up, people falling through on their obligations, things not working, etc. I won't harp on this too long, but still. Sooner or later, for Namibia to truly develop, they are going to have to get past the TIA attitude.

  "In Africa, we share". This one isn't too bad on the surface. It's more the context where people use it. Generally, it's people wanting my beer, or my food, or my money. Total strangers. Of course, were I to turn it on them, they'd completely blow me off. However, the worst is not that. That one is frustrating. But the most disgusting use is as a "pick-up line". As in, women should be sharing their bodies with any guy who wants it. It ties into an attitude that men have a right to sex. And if this sounds overly broad and negative, please note I'm not saying everyone has this attitude, but it is a widely held cultural attitude, and it's at the core of men saying "in Africa, we share" to women (mainly white women from foreign countries) who turn them down. And until this attitude, and the problems it causes, is recognized, nothing can be done to improve it, and issues like gender based violence will continue to plague this amazing country.

  There's more, but I'll stop there to avoid turning what started as an attempt at simply sharing my experiences gets overly negative. The rest should probably be saved for a less public forum.

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  So, that's what's going on in my life. I should go back to packing, or do something productive, but I just want to lie in bed and just reflect on these last two years and the next few. So, I'll leave everything there. Hope you found this entertaining and educational. See you in a month, America.