Runs and Gardens

So after spending two months here in the Namib, I haven't had any big revelations in the last couple weeks.  The fifth Youth Environmental Summit wrapped up a week ago after a lot of hard work and way too many phone calls.  I suppose I should tell you a bit about what the YES is before I talk about how it went.  Basically the YES is a week long environmental science course for 30 grade 11 learners selected from over 150 applications (many more than we have ever received before) from around Namibia.  Each year we choose a topic based on the interests of our funders.  This year the YES was funded by the Embassy of Finland's Fund for Local Cooperation and the Benefit Sharing Fund for the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (a mouthful).  The theme this year was therefore climate change and plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.  The learners spent the week learning about the scientific process, hearing lectures on the topic, being split into three subtopic groups to do fieldwork, and finishing with presentations involving songs, skits, and posters.  The week went really well overall; the 30 learners were all excellent, everyone had a great time, and the presentations were fun.  Though the week was a success, there were a lot of hurdles that I had to jump over get to the end of the week.  For example, there were only enough buses to transport half the kids at a time, leaving me with 15 kids to entertain before everyone else arrived on the first day, and 15 kids to entertain before the bus got back to take them home on the last day.  Also, all three of my group leaders dropped out, one right before the programme, and one the second day in.  Fortunately I am used to running programs like this, and therefore used to things not going according to plan.  I stayed flexible and positive throughout the week, and even heard from multiple people that this was the best YES ever.  Now that the program is over, I am wrapping up some things like press releases and budget summaries before moving on to the next big project: GTRIP.

YES group at the top of Station Dune

Beyond summarizing the YES, I figured I would use this blog post to talk a bit about what I do outside of work here at Gobabeb.  I work from 8-5 on weekdays, and about every other week or so I have a school group over the weekend as well.  I've started three real hobbies here at Gobabeb to keep myself busy and motivated outside of work.  Right now the sun sets at 5:30ish, leaving me with very little daylight after work, so three hobbies keeps me plenty busy.

The first is running which is taking up most of my free time.  I realized that I need some sort of goal to keep myself motivated beyond work, and since I am no longer playing a team sport (for the first time since I was four), I also realized I need a new way to stay fit.  Therefore, I have decided to run a marathon during my time here in Namibia.  If you had asked me last year if I would ever run a marathon, I would have laughed in your face (just ask any of my teammates).  The two mile running test for soccer was the bane of my existence, warm-up runs around the football fields were my least favorite part of practice, and I remember that one time Heather suggested we run four miles instead of the usual three and I almost turned around and went home.  It may therefore surprise you, I know it surprised me, that here at Gobabeb I soon found myself running six miles every few days.  I found that it is too easy to finish work at 5, sit on the computer checking social media and emails until 6, cook dinner and go to bed by 8, only to repeat the same thing the next day.  I felt so brain dead after doing this routine for a few days that I knew I needed to add something significant to my routine to give myself some purpose.  So, I decided to add a major running goal.  So far I've been doing well in my training plan: I haven't missed a single workout, and am feeling great on most runs.  I learned my lesson today when I headed out for a five mile run at 10:30 and, dying of heat, had to walk the last half mile back to the station.  I will only be running in the mornings or evenings from now on.  My first test will be in November when I will hopefully run a half marathon in Swakup, building up to my marathon in February.  If all goes according to plan and I don't pass out at some point, I might even head to Cape Town to run in the Two Oceans race with Sachi (a Grinnell alum in the Peace Corps here in Namibia) at the end of my time here.  Wish me luck!

In the middle of a long run.

The Gobabeb gym

The next hobby I've picked up is not really a hobby, since I have been doing it as a part of work, but I still count it.  There is an enclosed garden here at Gobabeb, but when I arrived it was totally trashed.  I spent a few days cleaning it up and getting dirty, before I bought some seeds and began planting.  I now have a few pots of maize, mahangu, watermelon, beets, rocket, various herbs, and even strawberries.  I'm not sure how anything will turn out in the end; I think our salty water might affect the taste of things.  All the same, I'm working hard to keep things alive out here in the desert.  It's nice to get up from the desk once a day to walk down to the garden and water.  It's also nice to feel responsible for something, even as small as a plant.

Sprouts popping up in the garden

The last hobby I'm cultivating here at Gobabeb is baking.  It's nice to sit in old house on a Sunday waiting for something to be done in the oven, and it's even nicer to have something fresh out here in the desert.  So far I've made muffins, cupcakes, cake, and a couple loaves of bread.  The bread felt like a big accomplishment, since I've never baked, or even seen anyone bake, anything other than muffins and desserts.  Even better than the fresh bread however, was the chocolate marble cheesecake with an Oreo crust for Robert's birthday.  I LOVE cheesecake, but have only ever eaten it store-bought or in a restaurant (and apparently during Thanksgiving at home, but I seriously do not remember that).  I've never even thought that much about how to make it, thinking of it as some sort of complicated desert only real chefs could make.  Therefore, I felt pretty cool serving up marble cheesecake to my Gobabeb family.  I'm going to try to bake something new every month, just to keep making fresh things, and learning more recipes while here.

Chocolate birthday cheesecake!

So that's about it.  I do other things too, like watching movies and reading trashy romance novels (just kidding...but actually... I mean come on I'm in the desert!), but those things didn't seem that interesting to write about.  The next couple months are going to fly by now that things have quieted down around here again.  Tayler and I are busy planning GTRIP (a 5 month research course for four university students) and I actually won't be around Gobabeb very much.  In a couple weeks Tayler and I will be heading to Windhoek (my first time!) for a week to recruit for GTRIP and get some other work done.  In October we will leave for a dune trip to set up pit traps and identify beetles for a week or so.  Then I will head to Windhoek again with Tayler to do interviews for GTRIP.  Finally, for the last two weeks for October, Tayler and I will be going to Botswana on holiday!  By the time we get back we will have just enough time to finish up GTRIP preparations before SDP (a two month research course for 10 university students and recent graduates) begins.  After that, GTRIP will begin in February, taking us all the way to when the new Grinnells arrive.  So strange to be thinking that far ahead, but it really doesn't seem like that much time when so much is on your plate.

I'll get another post in before we head to Botswana, but I'm sure I'll be extremely busy with work and trying to fill out more grad school applications in the next few weeks!