Last Days in America....

I haven't written a post like this in awhile.  But tonight is my last day in Vermont before I head to the airport (JFK) to fly to Namibia.

This is the flag of the country which has been independent since 1990.  I'm very excited because independence day is March 21st (1990) and I will be there for the 23rd anniversary of independence.  I know this is a fanciful comparison, but I wonder what America was like in 1799 - 23 years after our independence from Britain.


I know the answer to part of this question.  I'm also not trying to compare Namibia to America or vice versa.  I'm just trying to process that I WILL BE GOING BACK TO AFRICA after an absence of 4 years.  It's going to be a different experience because I'll be living in the "best" neighborhood of Windhoek.  For those of you that may know Windhoek, I'll be staying in provided housing in the Klein Windhoek or Ludwigsdorf section of the city - depending on who you talk too.  I've also heard, that Klein Windhoek is the original settlement, i.e. the entire eastern section of the modern city and then Ludwigsdorf is the actual neighborhood.  Ahhhh Africa!  I'll let you know when I get there.


Some things I'm looking forward to the most about Africa:

-Heat , especially last night after sliding back down to the railroad parking lot by the river.  Man it was cold and slipper.
-Color
-Spicy smells
-Smell after it rains It'll be the dry season. :(
-Cheap, fresh food
-Music
and lastly, MOST important

GETTING ADAM CHRISTOPHE TO AFRICA!!!!!

My next post will be coming from Windhoek.  I love the fact that I am going from weather that's in the 30's Fahrenheit to 30's Celsius.

More soon.

Step by Step

I heard once that you learn with age.

I don't think so!

I remember when I was living in England for the first time.  I had wanted to go visit Germany and some of my friends from my exchange year there.  But my plane ticket back to America was from London so that presented a problem.  I was SO cheap, I wouldn't head back to London before I needed to leave for the USA.  So, I booked a flight from Germany back to London the morning of when I was supposed to fly back.  The catch was that the flight was from Switzerland.  I was in Germany....

So, my friend's mom woke me up at 4:30 and we went by car to Lake Constance where I traveled by boat over the border to Switzerland.  I then forged my EURAIL pass to get on the train to Zurich where I would get to London by plane.  The trip to London brought me to Gatwick and I was flying out of Heathrow.  I had 2 hours to make the transfer and got to Heathrow barely in time.   I was the last person on the plane and happy to be flying over the Atlantic.  I got picked up by Mag at JFK and drove to Connecticut.  This is still my personal record where I went through 4 different countries in 18 hours.  (Germany, Switzerland, the UK and the US)

So now, as I am writing a blog and not writing my capstone proposal, I am questioning my reasoning about accepting an intern position in Windhoek, Namibia so soon after I finish a position in Brattleboro.

I know it will be worth it, but... gulp!

More soon...

Back From The Dead

I'm 30, it's 2013 and I'm in my 2nd year of a Master's Program at SIT Graduate Institute.

Every aspect of that sentence has made me realize how quickly time has gone by.  Many times, when I am talking about Peace Corps, I'll say,  "Oh yes, I just got back...." four years ago.  I realized quickly, I had to rectify that.  Four years away from Africa is just too much time for me. 

Since I have been back, there has been alot going on, but I'm not going to bore you with that.  I'll just start in 2012.  I've been working with the marketing department at my school as an intern for the past 6 months.  The title of my job has been SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR and I've learned alot.  Most of my day is spent monitoring social media feeds and what not online.  It's proven fun and difficult.  Fun because I am learning new things and meeting many people online.  The difficult part is that I am online all day, so when I get home I don't want to be connected and don't do school work.  Thankfully that has changed.

December and the month of January up until yesterday were rough times here.  Long story short, my body realized I am going back to Africa so the thyroid and some skin on my back decided to act up.  I guess it is my way of saying that I can't do anything lightly and really had to ramp up the stress level before I left.  So, with a benign thyroid goiter and a scar from a remove melanoma on my back, I'm leaving for Windhoek, Namibia on January 31st.

I'll be living in Windhoek for 10 weeks and hopefully be getting back to Mozambique before I leave to come back to America.  I've decided to start up this blog again because I'm going back to Africa.  Also, my brother Noel is currently working in Barbuda down in the Caribbean.  So please follow him at www.noelhefele.com/blog as well.

Ate breve,

Ian