Today after school Aoife and I planned to go to Oshikango to check out the Oshikango Country Lodge and Pisca’s and to check our email at an internet café. We were hoping to treat ourselves to a nice meal and have a couple of beers. We knew that if we had mentioned our plan to others, that they would want a lift to Oshikango or to come with us. Since the plan was to have a restaurant meal, we did not want to bring along others. Even though Soini is from a wealthy family, even she does not have the money (or desire to spend her money on) an expensive meal. Aoife had told Soini that we were going and right after school I told Maria that I was going to head to town and asked if she needed anything. When we passed through the village to pick up Soini, she was waiting with another woman from her homestead and said that she would be going with us. At this point, Aoife and I knew that our plan was in jeopardy.
When we got to Oshikango, Soini needed to stop and buy a large bag of maize meal for her mother and electricity credits. We then took the other woman to the bank. We headed over the use the internet while she went to Pep to get something (it turned out that she bought a hair piece). Disappointingly, the internet at the Telecom store was not working, so we were unable to check our email. Aoife bought a recharge for her phone and then we were going to drop Soini and the other woman at Soini’s sister Susie’s business for a bit. Susie sells car parts in Oshikango. Her business is a truck trailer and (for all practical purposes) a metal cage that are on one of the side streets in Oshikango.
We stopped and got out to greet everyone. The plan was just to say hello (since greetings are HUGE in Namibia) and then Aoife and I would head to the lodge while Soini and the other woman visited. We were going to send Soini an SMS when we were done to come by and pick her up before heading back to Edundja. Apparently, Susie was getting ready to close for the day because she did not feel well – so it turns out that Soini and the other woman were going to come with us afterall.
We headed to Pisca’s. which is a truck stop for people passing through to Angola. When Aoife volunteered here in 1999-2000 she was friends with one of the three owners and went there frequently with Joann, the PC volunteer that lived at my homestead. The owner that Aoife knows really well has long since moved to Portugal. Pisca’s has a really nice outdoor garden in the back with a swimming pool and some exotic birds in cages. There was a decent crowd inside eating and drinking at tables and at the bar. We passed through the restaurant/bar to sit outside. Outside, there were a couple of different tables of Portuguese Angolans. Soini and Aoife went back inside to order, but came out several minutes later and said that we should head over to Oshikango Country Lodge instead. Apparently, they were not getting acknowledged at the bar and attributed it to the fact that we were unfamiliar and not Angolan.
Oshikango Country Lodge was virtually empty when we arrived, but our friend Jaffe was working at the bar. We went outside to check the pool and the grounds before coming back inside to order our beers. During the floods earlier this year, the Lodge was damaged and had to close for several months to rebuild. Shortly after serving our initial round, Jaffe walked over with another round of beers on the house. Just to gve an idea of the price difference between the village and the town – at the shebeens we have been getting what I call the 40oz. size for N$10, at the Lodge a normal size beer is N$10. While were there Aoife and I checked out the menu, knowing that we would not be ordering anything. As we were chatting, I mentioned that I would love to go to a Namibian wedding while I am here. It turns out that the daughter of one of Soini’s cousins is getting married on August 30 and Soini invited me to come. She said that there will be many relatives coming up from Windhoek and that I could get a ride up and back and that I could even stay at Hangala’s if needed. The wedding will be about 30 km from Edundja. The timing fits perfectly with my travel plans – as I have a couple of days to fill before heading to Cape Town and I was not looking forward to spending it in Windhoek. Aoife is going to let Ndahafa, one of Soini’s cousins and her friend, know that I will give her a call in Windhoek and that we should meet up at some point before the wedding weekend. I am so excited to be going to a Namibian wedding! Soini said definitely to bring a camera. After we finished our beers, we left with just enough time to drive back to the village before dark.
Once we arrived, we stopped in the village to pick up the maize meal that Soini had bought (she had put it in her principal’s car to bring back, since it was a 50lb bag and would have weighed down the back of our already low clearance rental car). Aoife decided to stop into the take-away shop to get chips before heading home. While there, Soini ordered a beer, then one of Aoife’s former learners recognized her and bought us a beer, then the Tate that owns the take-away bought us a beer. The former learner turned out to be Jonnah, one of the small boys that has visited my homestead several times over the last couple of weeks, and he wanted to buy another beer for me – I told him that I would take him up on it another day. We had several others stop and have a drink with us or chat as they were coming and going. Oddly enough, the entire time the other woman from Soini’s homestead was with us – she hardly said a word. I assume that she does not speak English, but generally people speak with each other in Oshikwanyama and bits get translated for the benefit of me and Aoife. As we headed out of the bottle store, a Meme asked if we were going to Nghimtina’s, I guess she has heard of me and where I am staying, and wanted a ride our direction. It was close to 7:30p by the time that I got home, which is the latest that I have ever been out at night. In fact, it’s the first night that I have been out after dark in Edundja!
Tonight was Kavari’s turn to cook dinner. Once at the homestead, I heard loud music coming from Kavari’s room and went over to join her, Maria and the kids. I wanted Shangala to dance for me, but she was being shy – so I went to get my camera, knowing that she would love having her picture taken. We all started dancing around and then I taught them to limbo. Kavari and I held our arms out and made the kids limbo under them. I also taught Joe and Shangala how to have a thumb war. Somehow over the past several days, Shangala has stopped laughing hysterically when she sees me and know loves to wiggle her fingers at me as if she is going to tickle me. She has gotten really brave with it and tonight figured that she would tickle my feet. She’s a riot!
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