Day 31/32: Birthday party and a new intern

Day 31: Saturday

Saturday started as usual with the sound of my alarm clock. Then quickly get dressed and off to breakfast. The meeting point was the workshop again this morning. From there, we went to a second construction site here on the property. There, too, a German is building a kind of holiday home. Since the house is already standing and the owner will be here again in a few weeks for a week, we started to tidy up the construction site a bit. First of all, leftover steel beams and iron mats had to be transported away. With the help of the workers and a tractor trailer that was actually too small, we got to work. First load up the steel beams and return to the storage area, the workshop, with the adventurous combination.

I found this transport very cumbersome, but the iron mats managed to top it off. With sometimes 6 men, we maneuvered the bulky grids onto the trailer. They got stuck again and again and due to their weight, we needed almost an hour to load the first load (only 6 out of 14 pieces). Then off to the workshop, unloading there was much faster ... With new motivation back to the construction site and load up the remaining grids and then drive them back to the workshop.

Afterwards, we started loading remaining bricks onto the trailer. But luckily it was 12:00 pm and quitting time. Although we will probably have to reload the stones on Monday, for the moment only the thought of the weekend and the free time until Monday counted.

In the evening, the three of us (Jakob, Karsten, and I) went to a neighboring hunting farm. The farmer Jörg, who lives there, has his birthday on Sunday and invited us to celebrate with him. His farm was completely different from what I expected and had a completely different layout than Ondombo. The area around the farmhouse, the dining room, and the guest rooms were all paved and surrounded by a high wall. Everything was very well-kept and furnished in an antique style: large chandeliers adorned the ceilings, old paintings on the walls, and many hunting trophies everywhere. The farmhouse looked very majestic, not least because it was in the shadow of a small observation tower. The dining room already had a long table set with high chairs. You felt a little transported back in time: as if you were a guest at one of the magnificent estates of a wealthy merchant family during colonial times. At the same time, the farm area had something of a small hotel complex due to its clear structure - a very interesting mixture ...

The atmosphere at the beginning was a bit hesitant. The surrounding farmer families were invited, some with grandparents, and a few friends from Kalkfeld and the surrounding area. Fresh rolls were baked in the large oven in the dining room, and there was grilling over a large bonfire outside. There was also an intern on the farm: Richard. Richard also comes from Cologne and has just completed his bachelor's degree in civil engineering there. Together with Richard, we took care of clearing the table after the meal - once an intern, always an intern ...

While the 'older' generation stayed in the dining room, the 'younger' generation gathered outside by the fire. There, we spent a very entertaining evening with Richard, a relatively young farmer, and two siblings from Kalkfeld, during which we also drank the occasional beer or brandy and cola (not really my favorite drink). Gradually, the guests thinned out, and in the end, Karsten and Jörg joined us by the fire. With the alcohol came an appetite and we quickly put some really delicious T-bone steaks on the grill or in the fire. It was already well past 12 o'clock by now, so we toasted to the birthday again ... Suddenly it was already 3 o'clock and Jörg and Richard made their way to bed. While we could sleep in on Sunday, they had to get up early again with their guests tomorrow or today.

It was around 3:30 a.m. by the time I finally got into bed. All in all, a very interesting and nice evening.

Day 32: Sunday

Fortunately, today was Sunday and we could sleep in after last night. Around 10:30 a.m., our stomachs signaled a healthy appetite and we headed to breakfast. Karsten had been up longer but hadn't had breakfast yet. The three of us quickly set the table and enjoyed a relaxed breakfast. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon leisurely until around 4:00 p.m. when Sylvia, Jens, and a new intern named Lars arrived. Lars is 22 years old and also comes from Germany. He spent the last 10 weeks on a farm in South Africa. He has just completed his training as a professional hunter. So tonight we sat down to dinner with 6 people. Afterwards, we had a long conversation with Lars before going to bed around 10:00 p.m.

(Image source: https://www.jagd1.de/magazin/magazin/jagd1/auf-nach-afrika-mit-der-sax-auf-jagdreise-nach-namibia-5525/)