I have officially been in South Africa for one week! The flight over was very long, but I was blessed with a wonderful woman sitting next to me. We had to go through separate gates at customs, but Elisa met up with Rebekah and me on the other side to make sure we had someone waiting on us. What a godsend!
John is the VIM coordinator for the Methodist Church of Southern Africa (MCSA), so he met us at the airport and drove us to the B+B we were staying at. The first night was a little rough, due to jet lag. Then, at 4:30am a bird started making this horrific noise. Rebekah said it sounded like someone was trying to steal a baby. So, of course, we refer to them as the baby-snatcher birds, although we later discovered that they’re called hawdeedaws. In the morning, John took us to the main office, introduced us to everyone, and took us on a tour of the offices. They are all very nice and it was great to finally meet everyone!
The next morning, Bronwen took us to a mall were we got SIM cards, power adapters and went to convert money. Note to self: only one person can walk through bank doors at once. Rebekah and I both walked through the door to see a red light on the next door. We turned around to see a red light on the door behind us. So there we stood. Trapped in a glass box. A woman finally let us out. I wonder how many international people get trapped in the South African Bank box of shame? :) Once we had everything, we started out our journey with John driving a car and KK (the director of the mission unit) driving our car.
Once in Tzaneen, we saw our new home and it’s wonderful. We each have our own room and then we share a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. There’s an avocado and mango tree right behind our cottage. There’s lots of green everywhere and there are a lot of hills. There are moments when it’s hard to believe that something so beautiful really exists.
Our supervisor in Tzaneen is Pierre, who is the circuit’s superintendent. We have been taken in by his family and made to feel very welcome. He showed us around town and his wife told us that the city’s roads were modeled after a bowl of spaghetti. Accurate statement. Now about our car. It’s a disaster zone. The car pumps hot air into it and it randomly honks due to some anti-theft device. Pierre took us on driving lessons and had to drive us out of town to find a flat road without people. That also means it was dirt with a bunch of potholes, yet with a breath-taking view! We both eventually got a hang of the clutch and started to drive back into town. We both managed to get stopped by traffic police (due to random car checks). It was terrifying, but we were ok and now we know for sure that our licenses are ok. This morning was our first time driving alone and we killed the clutch. Our car just died, but will hopefully be fixed soon.
Right now, we’re getting settled and getting a better, more concrete, idea of what we’ll be doing. I’ll share more specifics on that later. If you want to send me mail my address is:
Michelle Wood
P.O. Box 1550
Tzaneen
0850
South Africa
Peace!
