Day 0: Preparing for Namibia

So here I am, at my kitchen bar in Brooklyn, 12 hours until take-off to Namibia.

I will be staying in a safari guest farm for four weeks, volunteering to teach English to the staff and their pre-school children, helping a staff member learn computer skills, editing documents, and doing marketing for the owner. Afterward, I'll take a week for a camping tour of northern Namibia.

Five weeks. By myself. In a place no one can find on a map. A guy at work calls it "Nambia." The people at my credit card companies don't know what continent it's in. I had to look it up myself when I found it on ecoteer.com.

Am I prepared? Not at all. What was I thinking? Would I back out if I could save face? Um... YES. This is the kind of thing I would do if I was the person I want to be, not something I would do as the person I am. Fortunately/unfortunately, the person I wanted to be booked the trip months ago and now I'm facing the consequences.

So, here I go... armed with some Xanax, a netbook, one bookbag, and one carry-on, not quite ready for the challenge that awaits me...