I'M HERE!!!

Hi Everyone!

What a whirlwind! I left my house in Indiana a little after 12pm EST on Wednesday to head to the airport and was in transit until roughly 12pm SA time on Friday. It was definitely an adventure! I had to recheck my bag at every airport. Pittsburgh was obviously easy since I'm so familiar with it. After that I went to JFK where I had a 14hr layover. I think it's the largest airport I've ever been too. After going to baggage claim I had to take the AirTrain to the international terminal, but it was too early to check in. I spent the night in the food court. There were a few other groups there. It was busy, noisy, and very, very bright. Way too much stimulation to sleep! I ended up staying awake the entire night, through check-in, then the last of the layover, and even the first part of the flight. After they fed us 'dinner' at lunchtime for EST they dimmed the lights and put us to sleep so we'd wake up on African time, which was really really nice.

I woke up early as we were flying over Liberia and there was a fantastic lightening storm - of course we were watching it from above the clouds. It lit up the entire horizon on the left side of the plane (I had a window seat) as far as I could see and took us over 10 minutes to fly past. We landed in Johannesburg and had to get to baggage claim, which was interesting because it was not marked as clearly as it would be in American airports. We eventually found it and then rushed off to get our passports stamped. It was a large room with lots of people and no fans, so the air was stagnant and felt muggy. Once that was taken care of we went down towards customs, when I got to that counter they actually directed me to a different counter. Luckily, I just had to follow the stairs and found a bag boy eager to help. It would not have been an enjoyable experience without him! I would have had no idea where to go!  I showed him my boarding pass, he took my checked-bag and starting rushing through the airport. It definitely sped up my time through the airport. The customary tip is 40Rand which is less than $5, so in my opinion it was $5 very well spent! I had some time to relax before my final flight. I brought a filtered water bottle with me that I filled up at airports after passing security, so I took the time to find a fountain and the bathroom. My final airport was Kruger and it was like nothing I have ever seen!  Lots of foliage and probably similar to what you would imagine an African airport to look like.

Two of the Hands volunteers, Marj and George, picked me up and it was so nice getting to spend some one on one time with them. Almost immediately after leaving the airport, we passed a herd of impalas along the side of the road! They tried to point out various things on the way back to the Hands Village, most of which I will probably forget sooner than later. When I made it to the village, the Hands at Work Board was having a meeting, so I met people that aren't normally in South Africa which was exciting. I got set up in my room and had some free time before the other volunteers showed up, Joe from the UK was the only one who arrived before me. There was no power because of a massive storm the night before, so we ate dinner by candlelight in a large group. It was a potluck partly to welcome our intake group, but naturally, a good way to use up some food that would otherwise go bad. We played a game that Kristy taught us until it was late enough to go to bed. I felt okay, but we were all staying up to go to sleep on African time and reset our clocks right away. I slept well and feel rested. The birds here are amazing, and the sun is bright. It's a big contrast from being in Pennsylvania just a few days ago!

Power came back on this morning, but it's a lazy day here. Our orientation doesn't start until Monday. I am still troubleshooting a few things in the meantime. Overall, South Africa is amazing (it looks like I'm living in Jurassic Park, minus the dinosaurs) and everyone is welcoming! I'm using battery power at the moment, but I will hopefully get the power situation figured out and be able to check in again soon! Things are working out, not always as I was expecting, but working out nonetheless. Thanks for praying!


***Edit***
My clock and battery charger aren't rated for the voltage here, but my camcorder, laptop, iPod, and phone charger should be fine. I'll be able to get some batteries when we venture out shopping tomorrow. My roommate is the newest arrival to the Hands base, and now we're only waiting for one more who will show up Sunday evening. We're all settling in and getting more comfortable. It's amazing how a place can be so different yet the same compared to places back home. Orientation starts Monday so it will be a busy, hectic week, but it's amazing hearing each others' stories of how they got here, so I have no doubt that it will be an amazing, difficult, eye-opening, and fun journey for the eight in our intake class! Hopefully since power is back on all of us will get into a rhythm of working with and around each other, internet included.

Of course I had to bring tea with me, and everyone at the village is loving it.
Now it's time for movie night: we're watching the Hunger Games.
I'll try to update you all again soon!!!