Wow, it has been a while

Sorry everybody,
I have been in a communication black hole for the last couple of weeks, but we have recently arrived back into civilization (ha who knew civilization existed in Namibia?!) and I have a chunk of time because today is one of those rare study day rest days where we have absolutely nothing to do but study and rest! Thank goodness.

I can't believe I left you off at elections, our group was overjoyed at Obamas win, especially because while sitting in the consolate generals house we were priveleged enough to see that blacks, whites, coloreds, Africans, Americans, and Europeans alike were all tearing up at the prospect of a change in the U.S. I can fully apreciate seeing our country take a step twoards overcoming racsism because South Africa has such a recent, and present history of it. To see a whole room of completly diverse people cheering twoard a common goal was absolutely uplifting. I was so proud that entire day to say I'm from the U.S (despite the fact that days ago I wanted nothing more than to camoflogue into the streets to avoid the stigma of being, arrogant, selfish and promiscuious just because I'm American, its rediculous what the world thinks of me because of my nationality). In fact someone stopped us on the street declaring "are you aware that you have a new president," we replyed yes of course we know, and they immediatly broke into smiles saying "How do you like it." It was a new experience for me. A year ago a barely knew what apartheid was, and here people in South Africa were studdying the U.S elections. Hmm...

Alright so after that we left South Africa and got a new stamp in the passport to Namibia.
Namibia is deserted, the majority of the place is covered in the Namib sand desert, the coast is so dry that it is completly unihabited but for some desert dwelling lions and elephants, but the desolation and dry heat holds a stange type of intimidating beauty. Also Namibia is Hot. It is the kind of hot that saps your energy, you can get burnt just walking from your campsite to the bathroom, you sweat even in the shade, and a hot truck of 23 girls holds no relief when the wind rushing in your window is disapointingly steamy. Night is a relief for everyone. It is also dry, your lips crack withing a few minutes if you dont drink enough water. We are no doubt in the desert.

So in the heat we made out way to the orange river that separates South Africa and Namibia to go on a 3 day stunning kyak trip. We paddled hard all day in two person fiberglass kyaks, and proudly counquered class 2 rapids even though they were barely white water. Me and my partner flipped out kyak the first day while trying to splash one of our guides named Roary. Roary took to wearing 2 different colored crocks, and a pink apron over his bare chest while cooking, yes, you meet some ecentric people while in Africa. Everyone loved the kyak trip, despite the heat, relief was only a hopp out of your kyak into the orange river. We slept right on the ground with no mats, cringing at the prospect of a scorpion crawling into bed with us and... even worst stepping on the Cape Cobra Roary had seen earlier the evening when going to a bathroom at night. It was bonding like all camping trips are, and I will never forget how great it was to just be out on the river all day free of the normal Traveling School stress (despite the fact that we had classes at every rest break). We sadly ended the kyaking trip, saying goodbye to the beauty of the orange river and the prospect of having a river to constantly cool down in, the next river we will be seeing is the Okavango Delta in Botswana.

Time is flying, since the kyaking trip we have seen wilf horses (feral desert dwelling horses) that have adapted over time to live in the desert enviroment and they regaly roam the sand dunes as if they own it. Also we have seen wild ostiges, gemsbok, zebras and we have eaten kudu sausages. Along with the beautiful critters we have also seen the nasty, namely two scorpions, one under Maggies sleeping bag (she, I and a bunch of other girls usually sleep outside) and one under someones tent, and some large white spiders. Other than that we have just been enjoying the beauty.

So this is one of the best parts. You know when you are little and you catch a discovery channel documentaries (ok so maybe you werent an oddball child like me who liked to watch documentaries) and you get a climps of rolling hills of sand that seem to stretch on forever and ever, just like the ocean. You think, wow that is amazing but I will never see that. Well we did. we woke up at 5 A.M to Japhet (our driver) yelling "wakey wakey sleepy sleepies" enthusiasticly, and we all piled half awake into our truck to drive to dune 45. Dune 45 is an enormous sand dune of beautiful red sand, and from the top you can look over and see a sea of sand dunes, stretching onto infinity in the sunlight. We got to the top just in time to catch on of the most breath taking sights I have ever sceen, the sun rising over the desert. It was undescribable. After catching out breath, we decided to have some fun on the sand dune, rolling, jumping and sumersaulting down like 5 year olds, giggling rediculously, and getting sands in some...ugggh awkward places--- try getting sand out of your ears, your nose, your underwear and a giant mane of tangled blonde curly hair... I think I still have some in there.

Oh and we visited a German castle in the middle of the desert, it was fun, but I kind of live in a castle ( Emma Willard), still it was very cool to learn the history.

Now we are in Swakupmund and have internet acess, a place to do laundry and phones~! And the best part.... we have BEDS, not that I don't miss sleeping under the stars but beds are nice every few months or so haha. We are all staying in little pink A frame houses and they are like our own little apartments, it feels good to a have a tiny bit of freedom for once. Tomorrow we are going sand boarding ( I think) where we get to either sand board, or sand sled down a sand dune... yea way cool. But I think I'll stick to lying down on a sled, I think most of you can picture what it would be like if I got onto a sand board..... not pretty.

Allright this is where I leave you again,
hopefully we will have another chance to acess the internet,
but in the meantime, I absolutely love Africa, I'm having the time of my life,
keep me posted on home
Love Melissa

Oh and I try to do a good job in explaining things, but Grace has a way of words the I just can't manage, here blog is stunning, xanga.com/boiledmango haha shes gonna kill me for giving everyone that
shhhhh... wasnt me
shes way too modest, but she can write things like no one I have ever met, youll see her writing someday when shes famous.