AHHHHHHH!!! INTERNET HERE IS SOOOO SLOW!

Heya friends!!

It's been a while since I've made a post. Frankly, it's not THAT easy to go on the Net when you're living on a tour schedule. But anyway, today I had some free time! So HELLOOOoOoOooo, my lovelies!

Sigh... wow... Namibia's "winter" is NOTHING like ours. Hah... I see some people walking around with scarves and sweater hoodies and here I am in a tank top and flip flops! Hah... Auntie Jocelyn (my boyfriend's mom) probably thought I was crazy or something... "Aren't you going to be cold in that?!!" NA AH! The weather is beautiful. Today not so much. Still not cold, but a little cooler.

K, where'd I leave off last time. Yes, Windhoek. After that intro, we bussed it down to Swakopmund. Along the way we stopped at an outdoor market place. Ahhh... the African market... where bartering is the name of the game and vendors would try to harrass you to buy their stuff. Thing is... pretty much EVERY vendor had the same stuff! Eeek... how can I say yes to one guy when another guy had the same goods yo?! Ooo... and the women were worse! They were really tough nuggets. They play the guilt trip gotta feed my baby shpiel. They would be holding their child too. Hah... but don't be fooled. They get REALLY clever. Anyway... no major purchases just yet. I wanna browse around and see what else might be in store for me.

Swakopmund and Walvis Bay are like holiday towns, I swear! They have palm tree like vegetation here and like said, the weather is GORGEOUS... most of the time. Yes, there are paved roads here. Lots of them. But also, there are also the gravel roads too. In general, Namibia is quite developed. They have everything that we would have, just with different names. I found that quite comforting :)

First night in Swakop... had a concert with the Mascato Coastal Youth Choir and the Maluti choir from South Africa. It was SO SURREAL to see everyone together again singing our hearts out for each other. Hah... and yes, I saw my boyfriend that day too. Hah... nothing crazy. He did send me flowers during the day while he was at work. And when we actually met up at the concert venue, we hugged... hah... applause included. Sigh... what a lovely evening.

K, so far some highlights...

1. Climbing sand dune #7!!! WOW! What hard work to climb a sand dune!! These dunes vary in sizes. Ours was pretty steep. The sun was high and the sand was SO HOT on my feet. I felt like a frog leg being slowly boiled in sand! Bleh... then I realized the previously tredded paths were the coolest to walk, so I went that way and eventually MADE IT to the TOP!! What a sense of accomplishment I felt, while I was catching my breath and admiring the surrounding landscape.
2. Meeting Garth's mom and Granny Joey... AND Garth's dad, Uncle Titus. Hah... man oh man... I am just throwing myself right in, ain't I?!! It's great to meet his family though :)
   Hah... I paid a visit to his coworkers at the bank that he works at. Man oh man... when I stepped in, all of his coworkers sitting at their desks in the back came up front and formed a line behind Garth's teller window just to stare at me! Ummm... awkward. Hah... but it kinda felt nice too! At least they know I'm real now, and not some kind of imaginary person from Garth's mind! Hah... they thought he was crazy for the longest time!
   
3. Boat tour in Walvis Bay... SEEEWEET and smelly too. Heh... I saw seals, dolphins (bottle-nosed and some other dolphins I forgot the name of), jelly fish (eeeee!), and sea otters. At one point in the tour, we stop at this island full of seals! THEY STINK! Smelled like you were sailing over an ocean of poo! Bleh... but it was still very neat. And as for the dolphins, I never thought I'd have gotten so excited about them, since West Ed used to have dolphins. But somehow, seeing the dolphins jump and speedily dart around in the water gave me such a thrill!! MY GOODNESS... I kept screaming like a giddy teenie bopper! Bleh! Oh another cool thing... sea otters actually came onto our boat!! We got to pet and feed them :) It was so cool to be that close to these massive creatures.
   
4. Went shopping at Mr. Price... cool clothes for the sweetest prices! YAY! I didn't splurge or anything... but 3 items at could've costed me over $100 at home, only costed me $25 here! RIDICULOUSLY AWESOME!

You know... there's just SO MUCH more cool stuff, but so little time left on this computer. AHHH! The days ahead are looking pretty exciting! I can't wait!

But hey, you know what I decided...

Keeping up with this blog is becoming harder work than I imagined! It's not that easy to post everyday. For reals, the internet can be SOOOOO SLOOOOOW! I spend most of my hour on it just WAITING to sign in!! SOOO... friends... I think I'm going to cut my blogging adventures short. Hah... I'm spending too much wasted time in an internet cafe, when I could be walking the streets of Namibia! Hah... BUT as you can see on your left, there's a link to my choir's africa blog... "kokopelli africa blog." It is MUCH MORE detailed! Please refer to that site for consistent updates of our journey. I'd appreciate it greatly! Thank you for visiting though! Wish you could stay longer! Wished I could stay longer but I'm looking at the timer... and it's almost OUT!!!

AHHHHH K... yea... gotta go now. Please DO feel free to email me whenever! I will still check my email occasionally if you have questions or want to know about my happenings in particular.
PEACE OUT, gang! I miss you!

Happy belated CANADA DAY!

WOW! These past couple of days have been a blur! I mostly found myself sitting either on a bus or a train or an airplane! Yep, and I got the kinks in my back to prove it. Oh well, all that matters is that we all made it to Africa safe and sound!!

But let me start at the beginning...

We all boarded the bus to Calgary at 8am on Saturday, June 30th, to catch our flight to London. From Calgary to the London Gatwick airport, I don't recall much except SLEEPING. Hah... I am a PRO when it comes to snoozing! I can even lean against a pole and fall asleep! Ooo... can't say the same for some of my poor friends... talk about sleep deprived! Heh... most of my peeps are catching up on their zzz's right now.

Anyway, we had a 13-hour layover in London on Canada Day. So a few of us sported our Canadian paraphernalia and roamed the streets! YAY!! Me and 3 of my girl friends opted for double decker bus tours. That way, we got a taste of all the main attractions! We saw pretty much everything that could be spotted on a typical London postcard and ain't some good ol' fish n chips for Ye Olde London Pub.

Heh! I'm am such a goofball! I asked the lady what the soup of the day was and she said "TO-MAH-TO"... British style. But sheesh... I must've been tired and I didn't catch the "TO-" part so I just heard the last two syllables. For some reason, I replied with a VERRY Asian accented "WON-TON??" Because I was fo' sho appalled that an English restaurant would serve wonton soup! Heh... MY BAD! I just got a weird stare for the waitress and some slurred corrections from my friends. Oh boy, we were all pretty pooped! It was a full day o' fun though! Check out the pics here!

It was so exciting to finally board the Air Namibia flight!!! My recollections of that flight were... stale air (lots of people in one place + body odour and smelly feet = major gaggage!!), SLEEP, dinner and breakfast :) Yea... it was our longest flight! I think over 9 hours or something? But just this morning, July 2nd, 2007... WE LANDED IN NAMIBIA!!! Yessss! Windhoek is the capital. We're staying overnight and then will be heading to Swakopmund (4-hour drive) tomorrow morning. (YAY! I get to reunite with my boyfriend!)

So far, my impression of Windhoek, Namibia is a pleasant one. The people are friendly and curious. They look at you when you're walking on the streets. I just say, "HELLO!" (with a British accent... haha... I think my excursion in London had an impack on me tongue ;p) and they say "Hello" back! How jovial :)

We're staying at this inn called the Roof of Africa. It's BEAUUUTIFUL! Heh heh... I lucked out and got the luxury suite! SWEEEEET! Check out pics here! It seriously reminds me of a resort. There are even palm trees here. And to complement the beautiful accommodation... the weather is GORGEOUS too!

Welps, besides checking in, I went to the supermarket (5-min walk away) and bought some toiletries. HOLY COW!! I bought a tonne of name brand stuff (e.g., Nivea, Clean & Clear...) for CHEAP YO! What would've costed me over $60 back home only costed me about 100 rand... which equals to about $16!!! Crazy nuts eh?! Yep... fun fun fun! Ooo... and the smoked pork sandwich the deli lady recommended to me was delicious as well!

Heh... people drive on the opposite side of the road here. Kinda a trippy. AND PEDESTRIANS DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT OF WAY apparently! So watch before you step. Heh! The sidewalk alternates between sand/gravel to stone and then to pavement. We're not residing in the downtown area, so I'm not sure how the city centre looks like. Hmm... but I'm guessing it'll be quite developed. According to some choristers who went on the Africa tour the first time, a lot of the buildings I see today were not existent 3 years ago.

Sigh... right now I am just maxin and relaxing in the internet room of the inn. Bleh... minus the kinks still in my back, all is well :) I have choir practice in an hour! Aight... I should go freshen up s'more! Heh... my director wants us all filled with energy and ready to go! WEEEEE!

MUAH!! I hope all is well in O Canada!