Mail and Visits

I would love to receive mail from you! Email is great, but letters are wonderful. Or download WhatsApp on your smartphone and we can send talk or text messages to each other over data.

I have no expectations for packages because they are so expensive*, about $90 for a 10 pound package and they can take 4-6 weeks for delivery. If you send me a package, know that I will greatly appreciate it. Many people have asked for items that can be sent, so I will include a list below.

Please note, as a teacher, I can only take vacation during school holidays. You can come but I can’t tour around with you. Also Peace Corps has mandatory in-service training and various workshops that I may attend so please check with me before scheduling. The 2019 school holidays are:

  • March 21-22, Independence Day
  • April 16-May 8, Easter/Fall Break
  • NOTE:my brother is visiting in April 21-May 1 and I will spend that time with him.
  • NOTE: My daughter and grandson will visit July 16-23, during the second term
  • NOTE: I went to the US from July 1-Aug5 for ER family leave
  • August 13-August 30, Winter Break NOTE: my old neighbor visited me for a week in Aug
  • December 4-January 6, 2020, Christmas/Summer Break NOTE: met my niece for Christmas in Germany, then extended my vacation to visit my Mom in FL after she had a ball fall
  • 2020 Tentative HOLIDAY schedule
  • March 20-21, Independence Day
  • April 5-May 3, Easter/Fall Break
  • NOTE: School closed due to covid-19 on March 13
  • NOTE: March 16, Peace Corps called for global evacuation of all volunteers. I arrived home on March 23. My service ended, close of service (COS) on March 20

The following is no longer applicable for me….

  • August 13-August 30, Winter Break
  • December 4-January 6, 2020, Christmas/Summer Break

The Gondwana Collection and Namibia Wildlife Resorts (NWR) have great accommodations and tour packages. I used these during my brother’s visit. Gondwana is higher quality and a little more expensive but both were more than acceptable and reasonable $$. Full disclosure, as a temporary resident of Namibia, I get significant discounts at both sets of properties.

Here are links

https://www.gondwana-collection.com/about-us/

Home

Items you can send:

  • Tide stain remover sticks
  • Boxed mac and cheese or those grain/rice blends
  • Nuts (pecans,cashews, pistachios, almonds, and peanuts) or trail mix (I like the ones with nuts, raisins, and chocolate pieces)
  • Crackers (Wheat Thins, Triscuits, Cheeze-It’s) [generic versions are fine]
  • Starbursts, Skittles, Twizzlers, Hot Tamales, bit o’ honey, M&Ms, Reeses pieces
  • Crafts from the dollar store or Target’s dollar spot (crayons, markers, colored pencils, adult coloring books, crafts, etc.
  • The ziploc bags here are low quality but I don’t need boxes of them. Just put some of the items in various sized bags. For example, take the mac and cheese out of the box and put it in a ziploc bag along with the label/directions. Or put the nuts in ziploc bags rather than the original container.
  • Food should have “use by” dates that are far into the future. Please bag anything that could escape its packaging.

My address:

Ellen Bishop, PCV PO Box 7216 Otjiwarongo, Namibia Africa

*Use United States Postal Service (USPS) because it is the cheapest and most reliable for delivery. Do not pay for faster shipping because everything takes 1-2 months no matter what they tell you. Also, I may have to pay additional fees upon arrival with anything other than USPS. Throw in used pens, pencils, or other small education supplies and write “used education supplies” to discourage the package from being opened or simply using a ton of tape.