When We Arrived

When we arrived in here at the airport, it was such a relief to just be here! As a requirement for our arrival we had to fill out cards with personal information, which is normal when you travel to another country.  What was unusual about these cards was the nature of the questions.  They were all health oriented.  They are being extremely careful about people coming in with any symptoms of sickness as they are trying to keep an eye on the Ebola situation.  I heard a rumor that they will not let anyone pass the border that has been to one of the heavily affected countries, but I'm not sure if that is accurate or not.  Anyways, they are being very cautious.  Many of our friends and family have expressed concern about us being in Africa during this time, but take comfort in knowing that I, who am very sensitive to anything I consider affecting me and my little bubble am not concerned about it. Plus, the affected countries are FAR FAR away.  Africa is enormous.  It's a 5-6 hour flight to those countries from here,  that's how far away they are. So don't worry, we are as safe from that as our friends and family back home are.

Another awesome thing is that all of our bags made it here.  Yup.  All 8 duffel bags came out like clockwork.  We, or rather, Matt loaded them onto 2 trolleys and we made our way to the arrivals hall. I couldn't really see over mine but I could see Matt's head so I just followed him.  I was also thrilled to see that there was a kind brother waiting for us.  It is soooooo nice to have someone ready to take you to your new home after all that travel time.

The guys loaded our bags up.

Being a girl is so good in these situations.  All I had to do was get myself and my backpack in the car.  I feel a teensy weensy bit bad, since Matt has traveled the same as me and then he has to lift these bags when we get there, but I do enjoy all the chivalry let me tell you. And I did say thank you. So.

When you drive, or rather, ride, through a new place when you first arrive it is so interesting to watch your new surroundings.  Normally I just soak it in.  I was kind of in a daze this time though and so I just have this impression of muted colors.  Muted compared to other places I've been anyways.  It seemed at first like the houses and hills just blended together.  The rains haven't really started yet so the earth is brown and red. And the houses and buildings seemed to all either be stucco or brick, in similar colors.  At home most houses are stick built so they are painted many colors.  Anyways, that was my initial impression.

We pulled into Bethel, which was thrilling for me, you can do street view on Google Earth and see what it's like to come up to the gates, which I did before I came here.  The brother took us to our room and he and Matt unloaded our bags.

This room was just temporary however, our real room wasn't ready so we were here for the first few days.  It's in the modular housing down at the front of the property and this unit has another room with kitchen and bathroom in between so we shared with another couple at first.  We have since moved and I will share pictures of our current home later.  Its up in the main Bethel Residences.

We had a knock on our door after a little while and Joel and Vanessa (who we had connected to through our buddies in Florida;) came to check on us and invited us for dinner to their home.  They hosted us through the first weekend and made sure we could get to the dining room and to the commissary.  Reading between the lines, to the food sources!  After a nap we went to their place. We had a really nice time with them, the gave us our first taste of South African meat, Matt was thrilled.  They showed us some pictures of their past adventures, and we had a nice visit.

Then it was time for more sleep.  Lots of it. :)