The trickiness of internet and wonder of podcasts

Internet is tricky business here in Namibia.  It's expensive. If you go to an internet cafe, they charge per hour, and their computers tend to be slow so you end up paying more than you thought because you couldn't do your interneting in a timely manner. If you get broadband in your house, it's about USD$50/month, and it's slow. If you use a 3G stick or your phone as a modem, the going rate is N$1 (that's about USD$.15) per MB of data uploaded/downloaded.  Imagine your average high quality photo is about 2 MB. Using the 3G stick/phone modem, you either pay alot of money, or do only basic things like email, and always with images turned off. MTC, the mobile provider, offers a Happy Hour from 12am - 6am where the internet is free, but you have to pay $10 (about USD$1.30) per week for it. It's also not so pleasant to have to wake up in the middle of the night just to use the internet. While I was pretty good at it for a while, as time's gone on I've had more and more trouble keeping middle-of-the-night Skype dates and completing internet to-do lists.

All that changed when they brought the wonder of the interwebs to my school.  In the states one of my guilty pleasures was reading quilting blogs. I love seeing what other people are doing behind their sewing machines.For the last month or so I've been obsessively catching up on back blog posts, admiring the beautiful things people are making, feeling inspired, and really starting to look forward to a reunion with my sewing machine.   It's been glorious. One of my favorite bloggers, Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson published this book recently, which I will promptly and happily be purchasing, along with this book, as soon as I have the funds.

I've also been catching up on food porn.... I mean vegan food blogs.  I'm starting to really look forward to being in a city with vegan groceries - Cape Town, Baltimore, Denver - any one will do.

I'm also a big fan of podcasts.  Just before I left for Namibia I was introduced to the The Dirtbag Diaries, a podcast featuring stories about climbers, skiers, and other outdoor adventurers.  I brought all the episodes to date of my departure for Nam with me, but as time marched on and I wasn't climbing, listening to them - to all the stories about people doing all these amazing things I wanted to do but couldn't - just made me hurt a little inside. Ok. Alot.

Since the beginning of June, when Caitlin and I found other climbers and got back on the rocks, I've been devouring episode after episode. They're about 30 minutes long, the perfect length to listen to on my walk home from school. And they're inspirational. Listening to others' words have helped me find my own, and have helped me to appreciate the experiences that I'm having here, both on the rocks and off.

Thank you, Fitz Cahall, for helping to restore my sanity with your fabulous podcast.

I also admit to a growing addiction to Radiolab, Stuff you missed in History Class, and a variety of NPR shows. Listening to podcasts is great for lots of reasons, but mostly because I can do other things while I'm listening, as opposed to watching TV shows and movies on my computer.

Speaking of vegan food blogs, I've got a post ready to put up about being vegetarian/vegan in Peace Corps Africa, special for all those people out there muddling through the application process - or thinking about applying - who might have doubts about their chances of survival being non-meat-eating. Check back in the next couple of weeks for that.

And speaking of books....  I bought one of these.  I figure I don't want to be carrying book around while I'm traveling, and I have TONS of ebooks already.  More about the Nook next time.

A parting shot from my walk home yesterday.  The 3 small children are actually huddled around a fire which you can't see so clearly, it's hard to say how the fire got there or what they were doing with it.  And as you can see, it might be time for a new camera.....

Thanks for reading!!