**UPDATE: The post below was written on January 8^th, less than a week after I arrived here in South Africa. I have only just discovered a temporary Internet solution, so this post is incredibly delayed in being posted. I should have a new blog post with more recent information in the next few days, but at the moment, I’m just trying to play catch-up.   I have also added my mailing address to the Contact page on the blog. **

 

The last few days have been an absolute whirlwind. I have gone from Lynchburg, Virginia to the Venda region (Limpopo Province) of South Africa in a matter of days, and all of those days have merged into one. I only know what the day is because my computer tells me so at the top right of my screen.  Regardless, I suppose I should back this all up and start at the true beginning of this adventure…

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Goodbyes have never been my strong suit and having to bid farewell to my parents at the Dulles airport was a rather tragic affair with many tears on my part. My brother and I had parted ways that morning, so it was just the three of us standing together at the starting line of my 30+ hour race to the South African finish line. Mom and Dad managed to keep it together, but I was another mess entirely. However, once I finally gave my final round of hugs and hurried off to the escalator that would take me down and away from the world I knew so well, I was perfectly fine.  I knew I would miss them all dearly (and still do, of course), but I knew I would be okay.

I found my departure gate without any problems, and the flight out of Dulles was rather uneventful. I was lucky enough to sit by the window with an empty seat between me and the lady on the aisle, so we had plenty of space to move and stretch out throughout the seven-hour flight to London Heathrow. On the other hand, the flight from London to Johannesburg was another story entirely, but now I’m jumping ahead of myself…

The seven-hour layover in London moved along relatively quickly for such a long span of time in a crowded airport terminal. I did manage to find a place that served fish and chips, so I was quite content for that brief 30 minute luncheon.  My Kindle was a welcome addition. I devoured half of an entire novel sitting there waiting for my plane, so it kept me entertained. I had hoped Internet would be readily available, but nothing comes free in Europe. I had to pay 2 pounds just to access a computer kiosk so I could email my family to let them know I had survived the first flight without any mishap.

My second flight called for an array of survival skills long out of practice. Patience does not come easily to me, and for someone who is always on the go and bouncing around, I do not do well in limited spaces. As such, I did not fare so well on the Johannesburg flight. The first sign of trouble appeared after we boarded and had all settled into our seats on the plane.  Only then did we discover that a stewardess had been injured and that a replacement had been called in. Translation: We will all be sitting on the plane for an hour while we wait for the replacement to arrive. Oi. At this point, I was jammed against the window with two men separating me from the aisle, and the man immediately on my left was a kind, older gentleman with an unfortunate penchant for snoring. His broad shoulders had me leaning to the side the entire eleven-hour flight, and his arms commandeered my armrest without any hesitation. I don’t believe he ever once considered that I might have a use for that armrest. Needless to say, I was incredibly relieved when we finally landed in Johannesburg. After that, it was a waiting game

While waiting for Mr. and Mrs. Palmer (my hosts) to arrive on their plane, I met up with another of the volunteers that was meeting us there. I had been told she would be there somewhere, but since I had no clue what she looked like, I wasn’t particularly keeping an eye out for her. As it happened, she found me instead. How, you may ask? Answer: She knew an American would be traveling with at least two pieces of luggage.  Apparently, we are known to be high-maintenance. (And to think I thought I had packed lightly. Apparently not. I simply fit the stereotype of an American traveler.)  We stood for awhile talking before the Palmers showed up, and then it was off to a Baptist missionary hotel ten minutes away from the airport.

We remained in Johannesburg through the next morning (which was Thursday), before we packed up the trailer and the Land Rover and headed north to Venda and the Shayandima School of Tomorrow. The journey took up the majority of the day, but I didn’t mind at all. The view from the car window was incredible. South Africa has a gorgeous landscape. You just don’t find views like this in the States. Sweeping views of verdant hills and mountains with white clouds veiling the mountaintops, while rivers and trees cover the ground in an array of unique patterns and designs only God could imagine and create.

The best part of the journey occurred while entering a toll booth during the last two hours of our travels. Andrea, one of the teachers traveling with us, had just been telling us how she doesn’t like animals and that the only way she wanted to really see one was through a television screen. Just as she finished telling us this, she looks out the window and immediately shouts, “Oh look! There are two rhinos just over there! Seriously, I’m not lying, just look! Two rhinos just there!”  Sure enough, two rhinos were meandering about chomping on the green grass on the other side of a wire fence. I promptly whipped out my camera and started snapping pictures. Mr. Palmer even drove off the road so we could get a closer look. My first encounter with a rhino, and I got to see two of them at once in the wild.  Apparently, seeing a rhino is incredibly rare. There are few of them left in South Africa, so the fact that we saw two was unheard of. Absolutely amazing.

Once we reached the towns, I really got a taste of Africa. People walk everywhere carrying their groceries (sometimes on their heads), and they set up food stands all along the roads selling pies and chips and fruit. Large homes sit next to one-room dwellings with all manner of people traipsing about with red clay and dirt clinging to their shoes and bare feet. White people are scarce in this region, so the locals were constantly looking in our vehicle as we maneuvered around the many potholes covering the dirt roadways.

Like most homes, the mission base and school are located behind a brick wall that spans the entire perimeter. The living quarters are nice and clean with all the singles accommodations in one area while the married couples live in small homes across a field.  I have a room to myself, though there is a spare bed in here. I’ve already decorated it with pictures of everyone back home, and I hope to slowly find some other things in the local towns to make it feel more like a home.

The people here are great, and I look forward to meeting the others. Not everyone has arrived yet, so I’ve only met about a quarter of the people I will be working with all year. There is another American girl volunteering here, which I wasn’t expecting. It is nice to have someone here with a familiar accent and word usage. (For example, I can say “trashcan” instead of “rubbish bin” and she won’t think twice about it.)

In case you are wondering, I have not picked up the accent quite yet. My thoughts have the South African accent, but for some reason, when I speak the accent is still American. I’m slowly getting it, but since there is another American here, she may end up preventing the South African accent from really taking root. Time will tell.

The only problem I have encountered here is the Internet access. Apparently, Internet is harder to come by than I believed. It is not unlimited as it is in the States, so I have to purchase a set amount of “downloads” (can’t remember the proper term) each month. Each page load on the Internet counts toward one of those purchased amounts, so I will be incredibly limited on what I can do online. Skype will be available but only for short increments of time, and these blog spots will be fewer than I had hoped. Possibly once a month, but I will see what I can do. I have yet to organize my Internet service (I am currently typing this up on my computer to be posted online later), but once I get that set up and start to use it, I can judge how much time I will have online and how often I can use it without spending a lot of money. I’m still new to all of this, so I’ll be experimenting in the upcoming weeks.

I hope to have more information for you all soon, including a mailing address. I will keep you all posted when I can, depending on the Internet.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!