4th and 5th days in Namibia

On our fourth day in Namibia, we went for a game drive, which is known in America as a wildlife drive. We saw a lot of cool animals there, and I picked up a lot of the rocks that looked cool. We saw warthogs (below), kudu, and oryx. The rocks I found were all quartz. One was very big, the others were kind of small.

On the fifth day, at 7:30 a.m., I went to my school to take a test to see where I was. Regular school starts at 7:20 and I will get out at 1:40. I was there today for 2 hours for the test. The classrooms are divided in the outdoors in different buildings. Instead of fifth grade, they call it 'year 6'.

The first few days have been very exciting. I have tried a lot of new food and met new kids. The things I ate that were kind of weird were: kudu, crocodile, and some new fruits (pears that tasted kind of weird). The Pepsi Light does not taste the same as Diet Pepsi. They have different kinds of chips. At night, there are barely any cars, so you can sleep pretty well at night. Windhoek is pretty quiet.

The London Eye

We rode London's ferris wheel today (New Years Day) and it is called the London Eye. It is the biggest ferris wheel in the world, and we rode inside glass capsules. It looks like a giant bicycle wheel, kind of, because it has spokes.

The capsules rotate in the holders, so you don't go upside down at the top, although that would be pretty cool! We had about 15 people in our capsule.

When you got off and on, it didn't stop--it was still moving. You had to make sure you stepped over the crack, or you might fall down.

It was fun to go on, because you were very high up. When you looked down, it was a long way down and you kind of freak out sometimes.

There was a long line to get into it, but the line moved quickly.

We also saw the New Years Parade and went inside a big church that had a lot of dead people buried in it. We listened to the church choir. Our feet got sore, because we walked everywhere. We also took the subway.

Japanese restaurant

There are a lot of cool restaurants in London.

On New Years Eve we went out for dinner at a Japanese restaurant. One of dad's students was with us, and she is from Japan. I learned how to eat with chopsticks. They were very messy. I was suprised that I would eat Japanese food in London on the way to Africa.

How I lost my pants

Packing and getting to London was crazy. This is about how we packed and my first day in London.

We packed like crazy. I had to run up and down stairs carrying stuff for my parents because they were busy on packing. Each of us got 3 suitcases. I got to take 2 suitcases for clothes and 1 for fun stuff like video games and books.

My teacher, Ms. Johnson, came to take me bowling because a snow storm made me miss the last day of school that we were going to have a party for me that day. I am really going to miss my friends and teacher.

We flew from Omaha to Cincinnati and from there to London. The first plane we took to Cincinnati, we got off on the tarmack which was pretty cool. On the flight to London we saw two movies. The first was City of Ember and the second was Wall-e. I stayed up to watch all of them until 1 a.m. and then slept until we got to London.

When we got to London we got off the plane and left most of our luggage at the airport in storage. We took two bags with London clothes and got on a train. I slept on that, too. After that, we walked from the train station to our hotel. When we got there, we took a nap in our PJ's. When we woke up, it was time to go to dinner and we put on new clothes. That's when I found out that my dad forgot to put any pants in my London suitcase. My dad is still wondering how he forgot to pack my pants in the London suitcase!

When we were walking to our hotel we walked past some red phone booths--just like in the Harry Potter movies. They are everywhere in London.

We went to dinner at our hotel and I got fish and chips. They were really good. In London, 'chips' are french fries. And, that's my first day in London. It doesn't seem real that I'm actually going to Africa, still.

Namibia scenery

This is what part of Namibia looks like when you are not in town. The people who live in the house that we will live in took this picture too.

I'm looking forward to sliding down sand dunes and traveling.

Namibia is mostly dry. It is similar to Nebraska because you don't find many houses out there.

House and pool

Some people have asked where we are going to stay in Windhoek, Namibia. This is the house that we are probably going to stay in. The people in the picture are living there now, and they will be gone when we come. They took the picture. They are there because their dad, like mine, got a Fulbright too. The pool is going to be very relaxing when it is very hot outside.

Most houses in Namibia don't have an air conditioner and probably ours won't either. And, no furnace. It is very cool at nighttime in their winter.

There is also a BBQ grill and a guest house behind the pool.

Fortune cookie tells all!

My fortune in a fortune cookie this past weekend told me "You will soon find adventure by traveling over desert sands."



We were all shocked, because we'll be going over the desert when we fly to Windhoek in January!