Friday, September 19 ("Port Duty"/ Namibia): AMAZING! I'm in Africa, again. Namibia was once colonized by the Germans, then by South Africa; this country has only been liberated from apartheid for 18 years. During the diplomatic briefing I learned that Namibia exports a tremendous amount of seafood because the country rests next to the Atlantic Ocean. (sidenote: Also, for those who follow pop culture, Brad & Angelina Jolie vacation in Namibia and recently adopted their Namibian born son; we are docked about 15 minutes away from their vacation home).Namibian Money is called the Namibian dollar (NAD); South African money is called rand (ZAR). Current exchange rate is $1= N$8.264. The Namibian Dollar is pegged to the South African Rand and Rand are accepted universally (in South Africa & Namibia). Also, Namibia is trying to establish English as the national languages, but over 11 languages are spoken throughout the country. From what I understand, about 9% of Namibians speak English, while everyone else speaks Afrikaans and/or German AND their native (tribal) tongue. Before arriving in each country, I want to learn basic words: hello, goodbye, please, and thank you; I feel like knowing these few words will help as I visit other countries. So, in Afrikaans, I will get by with: hello- goeiedag or hallo, goodbye—totsiens, please— asseblief, and thank you— dankie.

Anyway, I spent most of the day orienting myself to Walvis Bay, Namibia. Originally I did not have plans for the afternoon, but Molly invited me to walk into the city with a group of people (Molly, Becca, & Rachel). As soon as I stepped off the ship I could taste salt. Weird, right? I guess it was in the air and wind. When we walked around town I was especially surprised by the landscape: desert sands and palms trees…I'm not quite sure what I was expecting, but I definitely wasn't expecting palm trees and sand. The sun was slightly orange and the wind was gently pushing sand around the pavement; the sand also found its way into my mouth. During our walk we found the post office (need stamps for postcards), grocery store (because I refuse to pay $1 for snack sized chips), KFC (a sign of American capitalism at work-urgh!), and a German bakery, where we stopped to enjoy a few pastries.

Unfortunately, my exploration time was cut short because I had to return to the ship for port duty. Each night while we are at port, one LLC and one Dean are on duty from 20:00 to 08:00 to assist in managing crisis situations. So, despite being in such a beautiful place, I still can't escape duty—dang it! Oh well. When I have to do something I don't like, I just say, "I'm sailing around the world" to get my mind off the undesirable task. Luckily my night was uneventful and I did not have to deal with any emergencies.

Saturday, September 20 ("Swakopmund"/ Namibia ): Today was a good day! Curtis and I met at 12:00 to depart for Swakopmund, a small town about 30 minutes away from Walvis Bay where the ship was docked. We had lunch at this German restaurant, where we both attempted to pretend like we might know the menu. Curtis ended up with pork hock on a bone and I ended up with a Brunswick sausage with French fries, instead of a Bratwurst. LOL.

After lunch we were ready to shop, but many of the stores were closed until late afternoon. We walked around town looking for open stores and ran into other SASers who told us about an open air market on the beach. The market vendors had all kinds of cool, interesting artifacts. In Namibia (Brazil and South Africa too), the vendor tells you a price, and then you throw out a price. They would say, "N$400" and I'd say, "N$200." If they didn't reduce their price, then I would stop bargaining and move to the next vendor. Eventually, the vendor finds you and accepts your price. Curtis thought the environment was stressful, but I enjoyed it. Thank goodness I had a little practice doing this in Cape Town, because I would have otherwise been uncomfortable given that's not how we do business in the U.S.

Overall, I think I'm a good negotiator. In fact, I was able to get a free bracelet while bargaining for a wooden spoon set. Curtis and I met a friendly vendor named Joe. Before arriving to Joe's table, I had purchased one item from Joe's neighbor and Curtis loaned me Namibian dollars to complete the transaction. As I stood in front of Joe's table I said, "If I buy these spoons with my last American dollars & few Namibian coins, you should let me keep the bracelet that I'm wearing so I will always remember you." At first Joe told me to ask my papa (aka Curtis—lol) for money. I told Joe that Curtis was a friend and that I really did not have more cash on me. In the end Joe sold the wooden spoons to me for half price AND I now have a orange horn bracelet to remember him.

PS: tried fresh oysters…yuck!

Sunday, September 21 ("Crazy Mama's"/ Namibia): Banana, bacon, garlic, & cheese equals a yummy pizza from Crazy Mama's Restaurant. You'd never think bananas would be good on a tomato based pizza, but it was quite tasty. After lunch Shalina, Curtis, and I went grocery shopping. Shalina was raving about a Cadburry bar called Flake, marketed as the crumliest, flakiest milk chocolate candy. I thought she was over re-acting. Could a candy bar really be all that good? Umm, yeah! Delicious. Absolutely delicious! We then walked from the grocery store back to the ship. Before we made it back to the ship, Shalina was "pulled in" by a vendor selling giraffes; she ended up buying two floor standing giraffes that Curtis & I helped carry back to the ship.

Much later in the evening Becca, Shalina, and I went to Lazthar's Steakhouse. Now, I have to say that I was asking locals where a visitor eat…what kinds of authentic meals should a visitor have? I consistently received two responses: beef or seafood. No one ever told me the name of a dish, just beef or seafood. A few days earlier I tried oysters and didn't like those too much. A cab driver recommended Lazthar's Steakhouse and I had the most flavorful petite steak, baked potato, and fresh vegetables ever! After dinner Becca and I sipped on amazingly fresh coffee topped with handmade cream. I had the meal of a lifetime for $15 (USD).

Throughout the day I asked folks to meet at 08:00 to head into Swakopmund to continue exploring the town. I managed to get a group of eight people together to share cab fare into Swakopmund; Curtis and I really enjoyed the town and feel like we were only able to see a small portion of it, so going back tomorrow.

Monday, September 22 ( "Sally"/ Namibia): Everything seemed new and exciting today! I had enjoyed Swakopmund so much I wanted to return, but I was torn because I also wanted to go on a seal & dolphin encounter. As people were gathering, I told Cindy that I was interested in joining the seal & dolphin group. Cindy encouraged me to do it since I had already gone to Swakopmund. I was debating what to do when Becca came out, so we flipped a Namibian coin to decide: heads up, Swakopmund…birds up, seals. Interestingly enough, heads flipped up, but I still decided to go with the seal & dolphin encounter. Everyone else headed to Swakopmund.

Why did I have one doubt about the seal & dolphin trip? Sometimes I find myself over analyzing or over thinking a situation. I should have read the trip description and trusted that it would be what it was intended to be. I had such an outstanding day and I truly enjoyed myself on the three hour trip!! Seals came onto the boat (see pictures) and the whole experience was sooo, sooo, soooooo cool.

Our guide, Billy, shared stories about all the seals who visited the boat; none of the seals are trained, they just trust him. We met Sally (a female seal he saved who refuses to come onto the boat), Google (a baby seal), and Casanova (an overweight seal who waits patiently for food). After seals, we played with dolphins; several students sat on the front of the boat and stretched into the water to touch the dolphins. Oh my goodness, the dolphins were absolutely amazing and a lot of fun too! Billy was a fantastic guide and in the middle of telling a story, around 10am, he offered everyone Brown Sherry. My new excuse for everything is: you only live once (or I'm sailing around the world). So I tried two shots of it…not bad. Then, to round out the encounter, Billy lured pelicans to the boat by throwing fish to them. It was the most stunning site to see pelicans and seagulls in their natural environment. Also, Billy could call Sally to his boat with the sound of his voice. Professor Kesho's seven year old daughter, Mizzie, started calling Sally and she would come to the side of the boat; Billy was impressed. At the end of our encounters, Billy served oysters, champagne, and other snacks. I wasn't feeling well because the diesel gas was so strong and we were rocking back and forth, back and forth…

After the tour with Billy, I intended to take a quick nap. Of course as soon as I fell asleep three students called me because I was looking to purchase a discounted ticket for a 4x4 trip on Tuesday. I wanted to buy a ticket for $100, or less. Score. I found a student who was willing to sell his trip ticket to me so he could go on an independent trip.

I spent my evening with three faculty: Erika, Scott, & Christine. We met at 6pm to head out to the sand dunes and watch the sunset. We had to wait a few minutes for a taxi driver. Then Scott decided he wanted to stop to pick up wine up the dune. Albert, our taxi driver, took us to dune 7 because it's the perfect place to watch the sunset over Walvis Bay. Between waiting for the taxi and stopping for the wine, we lost time to watch the full sunset. About half way up the dune, not only was the sun quickly fading, I felt like my heart was going to explode. Each step forward meant two steps back. Albert told us to take off our shoes to make it easier. Erika & Scott couldn't handle it either, so we plopped down mid way up to rest and enjoy some wine. Christine insisted on climbing to the top with Albert to the top despite the fact that the sunset was over; they made it to the top. We chatted for a bit about our personal and professional lives; given my collateral assignment, it's good to have a few connections within the faculty ranks.

Albert sat with us, then dropped us to dinner at The Reef, a perfect place to eat outside on the water. The temperature has dropped drastically since we left Brazil and Namibian weather was extremely cold, so we weren't able to enjoy the outdoors. Although we couldn't be outside, it was good to hang out with a few new people and have nice conversation, food, and fellowship.

Tuesday, September 23 ("4x4 Adventure"/ Namibia): Namibia's natural landscape is absolutely beautiful! I was able to go high up on the sand dunes today. (see pictures). The trip was designed to demonstrate that animals live in the desert. Umm, can I just say it was outstanding, educational adventure! Our guides, Tommy & Franssa, drove us around in huge 4x4 trucks and taught us how to "read" the dunes. We were able to see a gecko, a chameleon, a side whinding snake, a white dancing lady spider, and a sand diving lizard in their natural environment.

I tried to slide down a sand dune, but I ended up with sand cushions in my shoes and sand in my pants, pockets, and other random places (yeah, even as I write this, I can still feel sand between my toes). About mid-way through the adventure Tommy set up lunch of orange juice, chips and oysters.Now, I've officially tried oysters two times in Namibia, and can confidently say I don't like them. Namibia probably has the freshest oysters I could ever have, but I just can't handle the slimy texture and bland taste. At the end of our 4x4 adventure, Franssa turned off the engine allowing us to coast down the side of a steep, scary dune. It was simultaneously awesome and frightening! As we coasted down the dune, we could hear the dunes roaring…it sounds like a roar from high altitudes.

The 4x4 trip was supposed to return early, but our guides were having a good time with us and decided to show us a few more creatures. This, in turn, meant that I had to rush to pick up more postcard stamps and return for a meeting by 4pm.

At 5:30pm, 670 people were on board, which decreased LLC workload as 6:00pm (on ship time) approached. The rest of my evening was uneventful…