What a Weekend!

2/28/10

Okay. I don’t even know how to explain the Swakop weekend, so I’m just gonna start at the beginning.

The Beginning.
Okay.

So, we left on Wednesday. Um, I had just spoke to Laura on skype, which I loved but I realized it made me miss her more. Wednesday, I was barely ready and packed for leaving at 2pm. We start the drive and I’m almost sad to leave but I’m SO excited to go somewhere different!

We get there and immediately go to the beach which freaked me out because I LOVED it and I HATE beaches! It was a real beach though, with real sand and no glass or syringes. It was hard to explain to people who’d never been to Coney Island why I didn’t enjoy the beach so much.

We went out to dinner at this cute little place where we watched the sun go down and waited a long time for food. We wanted to drink wine on the beach but nothing was open by the time we left The Lighthouse. So we just went to the beach and hung out. I was still a little homesick over Laura and talked some peoples’ ears off about it.

The next morning we got an early start at 8am and went on a tour of the area as well as a couple of surrounding areas. We got to see the school named after our Politics professor, Urbanus B. Dax Primary School and had lunch there. We got to see Passat, our driver’s, house and that night we drank wine on the beach: BEST. IDEA. EVER.

Friday was a little later, 8:30am. The highlight of the speakrer, I think, were the people who showed us around the Fish Factory: hilarious women (one man)!!!!

Then.
We climbed.
DUNE 7.

Dune 7 is one of the highest sand dunes in the world. I didn’t think I was gonna make it to the top because as you climb sand, it comes back down on you. Well, I had a mini-breakdown (basically a little cry) over my body. I’ve definitely gained weight since I got here and I’m not eating as well as I should and we’ve barely had enough time to write our papers, let alone join a gym. So I sat on the top of the dune and cried about still hating my body, for still feeling last if I don’t deserve anyone or anything, all because I’m so incredibly fat (as if that matters to anyone or anything I want in my life!)

It was a good Moment, though, because it reminded me there’s still work to do and I have friends here who are willing and able to help me as I work on it!

Friday night we got Sushi and Cake and then went to bed.

SATURDAY!!!!

Ok, it started by getting up and going to DESERT EXPLORERS, where I QUADBIKED and SANDBOARDED. The quadbiking scared the crap out of me. The sandboarding scared me but it wasn’t as dangerous and I could take breaks in between as I climbed back up the dune to ride it down again. On the way back, we had to go fast because of what we were riding and I kept having trouble turning which kept scaring me and made out tour guide have to come back for me more than several times.

Finally, after almost crying and giving up (to which I said “No. Let’s keep going”), I realized that this was the Big Test of my confidence: “Don’t let the bike control you” our tour guide told me. This was the Moment – the crash course – of believing in myself and taking control of a situation that was overwhelming me. I stuck it out, the trail got a little easier and I screamed for Joy when we got back on the road to the Desert Explorers Headquarters. Had to buy the shirt. Had to get a beer with the crew after – the first sip was like heaven, like being reborn, like a whole new world, life being given to me. I was so happy to be alive.

We hung out at the beach after that, then we went to a restaurant for dinner, went out and partied as if we weren’t going home the next day.

YES YES YES! ASE! Oh baby bring it ALL to me!