Blair Mosberg is HCEmerson’s Kasteel Well blogger — before she leaves for the Castle, Blair shares her trip to Namibia!
How the desert ground will help me with life in a castle: what I learned in Namibia
There is no doubt that any international travel experience will be of great help for me during my time at the Castle, since the Kasteel Well campus is abandoned on weekends to encourage students to explore all over Europe. But there are some surprising lessons I learned while trekking and volunteering in a third world country that will be very useful when living the (sort of) high life.
For one month’s time I carried a 65L rucksack and daypack. That was it. Needless to say, I had to pack lightly. The only clothes I brought were 3 shirts, pairs of socks and underwear, 2 pairs of pant and fleece jackets, 1 set of thermals, hiking boots and sandals. As it turns out, that was all I really needed.
When I was volunteering at the Primary School, I was actually glad I brought such a limited amount. I found that I could relate to the school children in the sense that I had about the same amount of clothing they did. And when I thought my clothes were pretty dirty and wished I had brought more with me, the kids actually thought my clothes were clean. I remember when I arrived at the school I taught a group of children how to play ‘I Spy’. One girl said, “I spy something clean,” when it was her turn. After about twenty guesses, I gave up. It turns out she spied the shirt I was wearing.
In addition to limited clothing, I also didn’t wear make-up for a month. Now, in the scheme of things that doesn’t sound so terrible. But, what if I told you that I didn’t look in a mirror for weeks at a time? Oh, that’s true. You’d be crazy if you didn’t think I raised the stakes with that last fact. It makes me wonder though, if I didn’t couldn’t look in a mirror for two weeks at the school, then did the kids ever look in a mirror? I guess that’s why they were so obsessed with looking at pictures of themselves on my digital camera.
Vanity aside, my experience gets harsher. I lived on a diet of porridge for breakfast, crackers and cheese for lunch, and a rotation of rice, pasta, or beanfeast (like chili with soy ground beef) for dinner. I don’t even count the potatoes and baked beans because they were inedible. Occasionally, I had an apple or orange for a snack. Eventually, I became used to my stomach growling and the desperation for fruits, vegetables, and water that didn’t taste like chlorine. When I finally got home, I ate more than enough fruits and vegetables. I could feel the nutrients running through my body trying to return itself to normal.
But clothing, a mirror, and good food were not what I would consider most valuable on my expedition. That title goes to running water. The villages had a tank supply and the water in the tank was delivered from nearby towns. When the tank ran out, that was it. My group mates and I didn’t have flushing toilets, and we probably had three showers of trickling water within ten days. For cooking and washing our dishes, we often had to pour a back-up supply of water we stored in a jerry can.
With the exception of my camera and cheap mp3 player, I traveled with no electronic devices. I went to an internet café twice on account that communication with my father was necessary since, my flight home was scheduled to fly into hurricane Irene. However, I didn’t miss the web as much as I thought I would. I actually found it refreshing to have other priorities than what’s going viral. I also didn’t have a phone. Before the expedition I traveled through London for 24 hours by myself without any form of communication. I couldn’t pull out Google Maps when I was lost. I couldn’t look up the train schedule. I couldn’t pretend to text to avoid eye contact from strangers. I couldn’t call my mom to tell her I was safe.
Though while in the Netherlands I’ll always have a roof over my head, a kitchen to feed me, and no rucksack strapped to my back, my time in Africa will serve as a great learning experience specifically for Kasteel Well. I now feel that I’ll be able to survive for 90 days with one actual suitcase and one carry-on of clothing and supplies. This amount of space actually seems generous compared to my rucksack and daypack. I also won’t be so concerned if I can’t get to a mirror to do my make-up, or if my outfit isn’t straight out of the wash, or even if I have to skip a shower for a day…or two. Also, I can anticipate how my body will feel on a diet of boiled food and not a generous amount of fruits and vegetables. It’s a relief to know that I’ll have access to running water for hygiene purposes almost all the time on this trip. However, I know that just because I have access to running water, doesn’t mean I need to use all the water in the Atlantic Ocean when I take a shower, as I’ve learned that with some soap and five minutes of trickling water will in fact sufficiently clean me. As for a lack of technology, I’ll be using basically a TracFone all semester, and the Internet at the Castle might even be worse than EC mobile.
So although princesses live in a castle, I certainly won’t be living like one. And I’m not at all concerned with that being the case.