I just finished my second full day here. Over the last few days, we have done a bunch of orientation stuff including taking a driving tour of the different areas of Windhoek and observing the (significant) economic inequality between different neighborhoods. We have also had the opportunity to walk around a bit downtown and explore various landmarks, parks, markets, and malls.
This morning a few of us met with one of the leaders of the SWAPO Youth League. SWAPO is the party that was very active in Namibia's liberation struggle (Namibia gained independence from South Africa ~20 years ago) and SWAPO is currently the ruling party in the government. SWAPO is the only major party in the country, but there are a large number of (much) smaller parties (actually, the Supreme Court is currently in the process of deciding whether SWAPO "stole" the recent election, as the smaller parties have accused...the man we talked to was confident that the court would find no wrong-doing).
There is a hostel/restaurant/bar across the street from our house. The group went there today. For pretty much the first time since I have arrived, I saw people of different races socializing with each other. Even though (de-jure) apartheid ended ~20 years ago, there is a still a large separation between people of different races so much so that in some neighborhoods, it is rare to see anyone of a non-majority race for that area.
In other news, the most difficult cultural adjustment so far (at least for me) is trying to overcome the instinct to move to the right when approaching someone who is walking towards me along a sidewalk or hallway...people seem to move to the left, which makes sense when considering that driving is on the left--also, the correct escalator is always on the left as well....
There is an interesting post on NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof's blog today by a former study abroad student in Ghana.....not directly related to my program, but still interesting: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/malaria-a-students-firsthand-account/
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