polenta

Sorry, another thing.
The word cargo could easily become CAR-GO and it's funny but in Spanish we have the verb CARGAR meaning CARRY and the noun CARGA meaning what is carried or cargo. I suppose the English word cargo comes from the same original Latin word as CARGAR and CARGA in Spanish.

Dragon

I just have always thought it funny that cargo, which sounds as if it should GO by CAR, is sent on ships, but shipping something usually goes by truck and not by SHIP at all.

NADIA

Hallo Guys
I'm so sorry that I didn't answer sooner,but I've had an absolutely awfully busy week,very hectic.So I will try to answer all your questions.I'm not really up to date with all the dates and facts,so I will include a website where you can go search it if you like.

Polenta:About the languages.Our other two basic languages here is English and Afrikaans,which is also a must in our school curriculums.(Hope that is spelled correctly).Not everyone can speak all three of these languages,but at least 40% of the total population is tri-lingual.Just as an after thaught,about the 100 000 whites population, 20% is German and 20% English and 60% is Afrikaans.

As for the German settlers,they arrived after 1907 when the town started developing more rapidly and they started their own businesses here.But that era ended when World War 1 started,and South African troops which came on behalf of Britain occupied Windhoek,this was in 1915.It was after World War2 that the development of Windhoek started picking up again,so They were here before World War1.Here is a Website you can go to just to browse for more info.

http://www.namibia-travel.net/namibia/history.htm

Marius:To answer your Questions now.When I said our Namib,I actually meant Our Namib Desert.
I don't specifically know where the word Namibia comes from,but what I do know is that part of it comes from the word Namib,(Namib Desert),which is the oldest and second largest Desert in the World.Sorry that i can't give you any more info on that one.

The Indigenous Groups,I will include a website for you to browse as well marius.Let's start with the Basters.They live around and in a town called Rehoboth,which is 100km south of Windhoek.They are Decendants of the Khoikhoi woman and Imigrants of the Cape Colony.These people speak Afrikaans and follows Afrikaner Traditions.
Then there is the Nama,they live in the South part of Namibia,and they are also related to the Khoikhoi people.Their language is a Khoisan Dialect,with click sounds.They also stil follow their Traditions.
The Kavango's,live where most of them settled on the south side of the Okavango River.Most of these people came from Angola,and they have their own language.Don't know if they follow a specific culture and tradition.
Then last but not least the Caprivians.These guys live mostly around Katima Mulilo,and they also have their own language.Don't know which customs and traditions they have and if they still follow them.
If you want extra info just go to the site below.

Ok,that was a mouth full.Hope this gives you some idee,but if there is more questions,keep them coming and I try answering them.O yes Marius Windhoek is between 395 - 400 km from the coast.About 3 and a Half hours drive!

Here is the websites for you marius:

http://namibia-travel.net/namibia/people_info.htm

polenta

Thanks Nadia. A little clearer now. Then I understand that there are many groups but there is no real integration among them. They each one keep their language and culture mostly. Do you personally speak German and Afrikaans? I think Afrikaans sounds like Dutch, doesn't it?

NADIA

Yes Polenta,the Indigenous groups don't like to mix much,and sometimes you will find that some of them really hate each other,which comes from past fights over land and stuff.As for me,I understand German but I don't speak the language,my home language is actually Afrikaans and I had English as a second language in High School.

There are certain words in Dutch that sounds like Afrikaans,but other than that it differs alot.
The language that mostly sounds like Afrikaans is Flemish.

polenta

and Flemish was brought by Europeans of what nationality?
I saw on the Internet that Flemish is a Belgian-Dutch language.
Uruguay is a very integrated country and even though most people are of Spanish and Italian descent and in fewer numbers other European nationalities, in fact it works something like this:
A person would say:
-My mother's grandmother was from Galicia in Spain, my mother's grandfather was from Seville in Spain. My greatgrandfather on my father's side was French. He married a Uruguayan and their son married a woman who was half Italian and half Swiss. LOL LOL LOL
It's the first time in my life that I have ever communicated with someone from Africa!!!! Marvels and miracles of modern technology!!!

polenta

What I meant is that in Belgium they also speak French but Flemish belongs more to the Dutch and German line of languages. I've been told that if someone speaks Dutch he could make himself understood although with difficulty by someone speaking German. I mean it's the same branch of languages.

Angela

Thank you Polenta for sharing of yourself.

marius

Nadia - thanks for all your kind answers. I thought I'd already replied (and I had, but forgot to post it)!

You live in a very interesting place. Wish I could visit. Did look at the website you provided - very interesting about the Indigenous groups. I'm curious about Indigenous people because I have quite a few friends who are American Indians and they are really funny when they talk about their history. They feel that most people don't understand them and think they are all the same. Well, I kind of thought that. They said to get that idea out of my head and to think of the American Indian Tribes like I think of the different countries in Europe. So, Italians and French are Europeans, but that does not make them the same. Okay, I understand that.

My history is pretty bad so I had no idea what Afrikaans language was. Looked it up on in the Internet. Is there a site you could find, a video or something, so we could hear how it sounds? I love to hear other langugages!!!

Anyway, thank you for answering all my questions. Now I have more. I want to know about the climate and weather where you live and, also .... Polenta has shared a lot of information on foods and what are common foods in Uruguay and it's fascinating, so would you want to share about foods where you live? Maybe you have fruits or vegetables that aren't common here? And, do you have McDonald's restaurants? (I'm laughing here - but it seems they are building those everywhere.) Thanks, I'll look forward to your answers.

marius

And yes, I agree with Angela - Polenta you are a gem, sharing all you do about Uruguay! Have enjoyed reading about your country, especially the food parts. Yum! : )

polenta

Where's Nadia?

marius

She's in Namibia.

marius

Sorry, polenta, I couldn't stop myself from typing that.

It's my spouse's fault because he is *always* answering me like that. Ahhh - blame is removed and this smart alec is cleared from reproach. (giggle)

PS Tried to get a story about Irony in here - but no luck.

polenta

I know she's in Namibia but she doesn't seem to be on Think Draw every day. She comes here every now and then.

Login

LOL! marius ... always the clown.

NADIA

Good Morning guys.Lovely hot summer day in Windhoek,with a temperature of 30 degrees celsius.I know that I'm not always available to talk to you guys Polenta,but with the time diffrence between us,and the fact that my home computer can't sustain a Internet line at the moment complicates it alot.When you guys are active and drawing your picture's here,then it's the middle of the night where I am.
So I have to wait until the next morning to answer you and then you are probably asleep.
Time to answer your qeustions Marius.Let's see, Our climate is like I said hot summer day (About 30 degrees Celsius),we get a little toasty here sometimes were our temperatures can rise to 40 degrees,but you learn to live with it.From November to February it gets HOT,but we also have our rainy season now,and sometimes we have light summer rain and on other occasions we get dark thunderstorms,(We had one on Thursday).You would love Windhoek on a rainy day,then it looks like cape town with the mist on the mountains all around the town.Some days and especially in August we get bad winds and then you can't see the mountains,that's how bad the dust swirls around here.Off the 365 Days in the year we have about 300 Days of Sunshine.To go camping in the feld or to go to our Namib Naukluft Park,the best time would be between April and June when our Rainy season is over and the feld looks all green and colourful,and all the rivers are full of water,then our day temperauters rises to 25 degrees and the night times are cool.
Hope that gives you an idea of the weather here Marius.Then If you want to here some sounds of the afrikaans language you can go to this site:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8hoys_learn-afrikaans-colours-for-free-wit_school.

Th ere they pronounce some off the colours in Afrikkans,maybe you can listen to that and if you like I will see if I can find some other sites with more video's for you.

Ok let's see,we Don't have a Mc'Donalds here,the only fast foods we have are Nando's and Kentucky Fried Chicken and we have a Steers,but that's about it.About the fruits and Vegetables:
I' don't know which one's U have.So I can't actually tell you if we have special Veggies or Fruit,Not very good in that department.But there is someone I can ask,she knows alot about these things.So I will get back to you on that one.
So,I hope I've answered everything,but I like this tread alot so hopefully we will cover all the ground in the future.

polenta

Nadia, I've heard the colors. I studied some two years of German many years ago and they sound very similar to German. Is Afrikaans what you speak at home of is it English?

NADIA

Hi there,yes Polenta afrikaans is my home language.Grew up with it,so for me it comes natural.Sometimes I have to check myself or I would answer you guys in Afrikaans instead of English.
I love my home language,you can express yourself so nicley with it!

schnuggie

Hi guys. This is a Afrikaans sentence saying that I love ThinkDraw and everybody I meet on it. "Ek hou van ThinkDraw en almal wat ek hier leer ken."Try to say it, it is a lot of fun. Afrikaans is also my home language.

Dragon

Looks a lot like Dutch when written out. That was really cool schnuggie!