what is happening in lugano

im drowning in school work, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that i do a lot of things outside of school. lots of hikes, concerts, skate sessions, etc.



spring has sprung. yesterday i had class outside. the other three students and i sat in the grass while our professor instructed us from a swing- all overlooking gorgeous mountains and a lake.


im going to start taking a lot more videos of daily things, like certain walks i make, just to give people an idea... if anyone has any requests to see certain things, pictures or videos of something you might be curious about, just let me know. you can leave a comment on the post if you have any thoughts (if you dont have an account you can still do it anonymously).

miscellaneous namibia

if you remember the picture of the caterpillar from the animal post... they eat them a lot. pretty chewy and gross.


namibia hates roller bladers.











bushman perfume. they stuff scented herbs in the shell, then wear it as a necklace

im pretty i was going like 50mph. one of the guys had a speed check, but i cant remember exactly what it was. either way- really fast.

thas whas up

(copy and paste)

http://maps.google.ch/maps?q=metro+club&hl=de&cd=1&ei=TCnTS9zYJ8fD_gaUxu3NBA&sll=46.003591,8.953397&sspn=0.121384,0.307961&ie=UTF8&view=map&cid=2498219163477486098&ved=0CBgQpQY&hq=metro+club&hnear=&ll=46.022366,8.95986&spn=0.000948,0.002406&t=h&z=19

lights till ten and warm weather...

ANIMALS

some of these were on huge nature reserves, some of them were along side the road or close to our camp grounds.









inside of a reserve. we drove around in these safari trucks for a while looking for them.







also at a reserve. this leopard can never live in the wild due the human interaction it had as a pup. they leave bits of meat out for it so it comes by pretty frequently.













seal colony















smelly













scratching ears





bird nesting communities












































the conservatory caught this one for treatment






these things were everywhere on one of my hikes so i couldnt walk too fast since their webs weren't very easy to spot. more than a few times i walked into them and knew i was too far in to back up, so i'd just sprint through and start jumping a bunch in case one was on me.

i'll miss it here

Namibian Residents

some traditional cuisine- included on the menu: caterpillars (photo under the namibian animals post) and some kind of homemade beer!



she is the leader for her tribe in the city. the first woman to do so.







a scientist working for sustainable food production methods. here he was talking about growing mushrooms.






himba dance circle











so heres a quick rundown. the himbas are spread around a lot of namibia. this tribe was maybe a 3 hour walk from a small town. the men go out with the grazing livestock during the day and nap. the women do absolutely everything else (and when you are practically self sufficient living in africa, that entails quite a lot). the men go to town much more often than the women and there is not much school for the kids (i've seen pictures of places set up for himba kids but this tribe had none).



status for a man depends on how many wives and children he has. the chiefs have the most, this tribe leader had 8 wives and 40 or so children.








due to old traditions, all the kids have their two bottom front teeth knocked out with a stick as soon as the adult teeth set in. so if you see someone in a city with missing bottom front teeth it means they came from a himba tribe - some chiefs say this is because there used to be an issue with disease in this part of the mouth, some also say in slave trade days it tricked captives from taking them since it would be an indicator of poor health.



all of their jewelry represents something. mostly to due with marriage or kids







so. at some young age, the women put on the red paste and start with the scented herb smoke baths twice a day. after that they never shower for the rest of their lives! they they do smell pretty umm strong, but that's due in great amount to the untreated goat skin they wear. it's a very pungent leather. 












we spend some time volunteering in an orphanage with some chores and playtime.




just noticed the kid catching the tennis ball with his head in the beginning



































from a nature reserve. getting rid of mites.