3.2 days

day one

really no words to describe today. i harshly describe it as being punched in the face. reeling from the vast differences in culture and the fact that i am here today. very much my desire, but so very different from the life i had just days ago. i am anxious to be busy and full of activity and to make friends. no man is an island. 

the flight was not emotional or sad or even exciting other than all the hours prior saying goodbye. it just full of God’s grace and i just seemed to think about the frozen meal in front of me and the next movie i was going to watch as i counted down the 15.5 hours to johannesburg, never fully focusing on the reality of what i was about to do. just sitting dutifully in seat 41J. 

i arrived here yesterday and immediately started to unpack and get settled in my room. it is a small space but brand new and nice and tidy and cleanliness is a greater blessing than space any day. AND i have a view of the ocean. it is a massive blessing. i don’t have a chest of drawers or a rod in the closet so unpacking was a little pointless but i did it anyway. i have a low wooden twin bed and a large grass rug. i brought a soft yellow striped curtain i got at pottery barn in 1997 and have never used and hung it to cover the closet, it fits perfectly. my roommate tanya very graciously had put a three tiered made in china plastic shelf in the bathroom for me to sort my overstocked toiletries. robin stepped right in and helped me unpack and measure and determine what items i would need to organize the 6x12 room. i found my sheets in the bottom of my backpack that laura gave me, and made up my bed. i stuffed the cluster of pink silk dahlias i had splurged on in my green Wellies in the corner of the room for lack of a vase. i stacked my empty journals and assortment of Portuguese dictionaries, Bible and a hardback book by my bed. laura, the neighbor came over and invited me to a birthday dinner celebration for the ministry director, Rolland. transportation here makes me feel like i am a contestant on Survivor, you must make alliances or else you will not survive. i don’t have a car and i have to rely on the kindness of missionaries who do. i found a friend who graciously agreed to take me to the party. we bound down the familiar road to the Baker’s house and i found myself a little shocked at how normal it all began to feel so right away. 

i walked into the party and was hugged tightly around the waist by Olga, an 11 year old girl who lives at our center. Olga befriended me when i came here considering coming full-time back in 2009. if you got my Christmas card, she was on it. we spent days cooking, coloring, playing cards, singing, dancing, walking on the beach. we hung out. i spoke about two words of Portuguese at the time and even spoke those two quite poorly. i was actually able to talk to her in Portuguese and ask how she was doing and tell her that i was here to stay and for the first time was proud of myself for enduring all those weeks of those horrid Portuguese lessons. a few other missionaries shouted, “here comes the newbie” and i was welcomed by my new family. we sang Happy Birthday Mozambican style to Papa Rolland, with praying and singing and then Heidi thanked Jesus for the food, for Papa Rolland and for sending me to them. i thanked Him too. Olga saved me a seat and handed me a warm bottled soda and we ate our rice and cabbage together and made plans to get together on Saturday. i can’t wait.

day two

i fell fast asleep and was awakened by my neighbor Zelinha calling my name. my maid had arrived and i was dead to the world.  i had no clue where i was or who i was. i woke from such deep sleep and have been in so many places for the last few months that i was completely disoriented. Zula came and cleaned the house and did my laundry. (thank you May and Fay). Robin and i walked down to the beach and soaked in the beauty of the Indian Ocean. i walked down the hill and was able to get on the internet but it is as slow as i feared it would be. Iris had a special event tonight with the kids, handing out new shirts and ice cream to all the kids. ice cream is a rare treat that the kids usually only get once a year, at Christmas. they all got hugs and kisses and temporary tattoos. 

now i am back in my little room. the light is out and i have the solar lights Dad bought me charged up illuminating my bed as i write you. they both just went out the second i wrote about them. oh well. they worked perfectly last night and i was excited to be able to use them as a night light. 

the weather is unseasonably cool, with a breeze. wondering just what tomorrow may bring.

day three

well, technically it is day three. it is 3:00AM and i am wide away. that breeze i wrote about went away and the electricity went off. without a fan blowing, i am hot and unable to sleep. there are dogs barking in the distance and an occasional rooster crows but for the most part it is silent. the air is still. i have been spoiled by atlanta’s pre-fall weather. this is nothing. it is going to get much, much hotter. i took a melatonin and am waiting on it to kick in. i was wide awake talking to all of you in my head anyway so i decided to just get up and come here and wait out the insomnia. 

i made a list of things i needed to do today. they all seem like mundane tasks and would not fill an hour in my previous life, but here things seem to take longer. communication is difficult, i am new and this is Africa. rolling with the punches is an understatement. at the moment, i need silly things, like the screen on my windows replaced. they were slashed and now i am fully exposed to the elements, and by elements i mean malaria ridden mosquitos. also, my net is in storage on the other base. i brought one when i was here in April and left it in storage. i need to find the guy with the key. and i want to get a rod for the closet installed so that i can gather all these little piles of clothes off the floor and tidy my room. i also will need to do a little Admin. Gena Cauthen has found us more technical training curriculum! even though i assume it will be in English, it could be vital to instructors and our visitors and missionaries coming to teach various skills training. i want to introduce her to our curriculum director, Travis so that they can coordinate getting the curriculum here and determining what we need here. that is going to be half the battle, determining what training will be most effective and needed here in this culture. and then i want to make curtains. robin is a curtain expert and has agreed to lead this project. i can’t wait! 

for now i am apparently jet lagged and hungry and have not been to town to get groceries. i have 13 granola bars in my possession. i don’t want to waste one. i should be sleeping. now someone is yelling or chanting in the distance and dogs are barking. it is still way quieter than Atlanta ever was. 

someone is walking outside my window. i think it is a guard. i hope. he had on shoes. you could tell. the electricity must have come back on in town as i hear the chanting from the mosque. something is burning outside. must find sleep.