I plucked a chicken

Last weekend I plucked a chicken but didn't kill one. That was a part of our Cross-Cultural Day which we spent with our language trainers, fellow trainees, and our host families. This was probably the biggest culture shock I've experienced so far, yet it was a lot of fun because everybody was participating. I watched one of my fellow volunteers slaughter a goat and several more do the same to a bunch of haggard lookin' chickens. Also, plucking chickens is not easy, but after you get over the initial shock its a very intensive process. You can essentially buy a live chicken here for the cost of half a rotisserie chicken that is then deep fried. I know this because I got a half-chicken for lunch the other day and now everyone knows me as that guy in the group. The half chicken was a great idea, and only cost around 2.75 USD. Which is an absurd price considering how difficult it is to kill, pluck, clean, and then cook a chicken. Oh did i mention I also cleaned the chicken I plucked but didn't kill. It felt like an interactive food science lesson.

Alright, this blog post has no focus other than the chicken theme i keep mentioning. I'm only writing this because I just happened to be at an internet cafe while I was downloading a program and figured why not.

Back to life in Namibia. Its awfully strange to think of what a short amount of time I've been here and yet how long that has felt like. I already feel very comfortable with my host family, my language trainers, my fellow trainees, and life in Namibia. Yeah, hand-washing clothes sucks already and I've only done it twice, and yes I hate bucket baths when its cold out but these aren't life altering inconveniences. These remind me of the way people would react to me back home when they found out I was moving to Africa for two years. "Woah, I could NOT do that!" Which makes me wonder, what about life here could people back home not do?

But that gets to a bigger question of what do non-Africans know about Africa. Which can be broken down into categories of poverty, oppression, death, HIV, and hunger. Yet, while those are factors here, they are factors everywhere else in the world. In some places in Africa they are magnified but here in Namibia, some are less than other countries while others are more likely. 

Anyways, someone once said, "Namibia is Africa for beginners." So there, that's my random ass blog post for the day. This country is awesome and I hope I can begin to write more about why I am beginning to love this place.