Well, for the most part we had an uneventful trip. (Praise God!) Other than a slight downpour during our layover in Ethiopia where our bags got soaking wet, all flights were on time, all luggage arrived, we made it to our apartment, we got some shopping done, & finally we slept for 13 hours, so I'd say we're doing much better!
Funny thing, we got to the airport in Cincinnati only to realize that one of my suitcases was 14 lbs overweight & the other was 18 lbs overweight! Yikes! So, thankfully at the last second I had thrown an old suitcase into my Mom's car to take just in case. Well, thankfully I did that (definitely just God looking out for me). For my overweight suitcases to come it was going to cost $210 PER SUITCASE! But, to add an additional bag it was just $150! So grateful. Of course, Stacey packed 3 suitcases, 2 of which were exactly 50 lbs & 1 that was only 53 lbs! I'm notorious for overpacking. Although, I don't really feel like I overpacked, since we're here for quite sometime. I think what made my suitcases way overweight was that I used vacuum packs, which although it is great for space conservation it also allows you more space to pack which adds weight.
I have taken lots of random pictures of our apartment so you can see where we live. Pre-decorating & post-decorating. We brought a few items from home to help make our place a little more home-like. We love our kitchen tablecloth, it's very girly but also very colorful (& our apartment definitely needed that!).
We have met our landlord, she lives directly below us. She's very nice & thankfully her children speak English so we are able to communicate with her. She has cute little grandchildren. I'm sure we will be loving on them soon. However, I met Natianela today (her 3 month old granddaughter) & realized I wasn't totally ready to start loving on those children yet. Gave me a big lump in my throat when I was talking to her, I miss my Mary Emily like crazy! The day & time will come when I am ready for that but having only been here a little over 24 hours I'm not there yet. The other good thing about where we live is that directly next door to us is a teacher that works at the same school that we do. She's currently in the U.S. for summer break but will be back at the end of August. We're excited to meet her. Our bathroom has been interesting, there's no rod for a shower curtain so it is currently draped across the room using sticky tack & a push pin. Check our my FB soon for some interesting/innovative things we've done since coming here. Something we've had to adjust to is, outside of our window at night we can hear a Muslim worship service. We're not sure if that's just during Ramadan (sp?) or not. Reminds me of Haiti, except there it is Voodoo.
We also met a guy at the airport that we quickly became friends with. He is here with the University of Minnesota working on a project to eliminate blood born pathogens (I think!?!), he is the country manager. He has spent time in Tanzania before, except in Arusha. He is now in Dar (the same city we live in) for about a year. He does however live in a different part of the city & because of the traffic & bad roads we are about 2 hours apart.
We haven't had much of a problem adjusting to the time change. We got here Thursday afternoon (Thursday morning in the U.S.) & we did a ton of shopping, set up our internet & a few other quick things before making it to our apartment. It was totally dark & early evening before we made it here. So, after unpacking a few things & showering we slept for the next 13 hours. Then, today we got up & got to it with other things. So, the transition went quite well.
I must say, I'm so thankful that I came with a friend. Having Stacey here has helped a lot with the transition. We are able to do our shopping together & get our house in order together. She even made a yummy spaghetti dinner tonight! Otherwise, I'm not sure I'd be coping as well. Especially considering upon arrival we found out our apartment does not have air conditioning or hot water. Ugh! What a bummer but so far we have managed. We are buying additional fans for our rooms but it has actually been a bit chilly here at night. This is their "winter", summer will not be until December or January.
We will hopefully see our classrooms on Monday. We have not been to the school yet at all, but we also haven't really had time. I'll update you on that soon. We have gotten to meet a couple of people that work at our school & they have been very kind. In fact, one is coming tomorrow morning (Saturday) to take us shopping again! We've been told tomorrow we are going to the "Wal-Mart of Tanzania". I'll let you know what I think. Haha! Our school did not have a moving allowance, which we were somewhat disappointed about, but after arriving we are able to see why. They purchased brand new beds, mattresses, double hot plate (we don't have an oven), & refrigerator for us! We were also each given $200 upon our arrival to use to purchase household items (mainly kitchen items as our kitchen had nothing in it). So, they have been very accommodating and helpful since our arrival.
I'll post pictures soon! Please keep the prayers coming that things continue to go well here. :)
