We officially have “Day NINE” under our belts. Wow. If you don’t object, we’ll just pelt you with tons of random updates and little known facts about life here...
-Steph’s first day at the Children’s Cup office was today. He spent the morning trying to get his feet wet a little with construction and logistics, and the better part of the afternoon attempting to get our electric, water, phone and internet applications in process so that when we move into our house on March 7th, hopefully we’ll have one of the four services (things take quite a bit longer here!).
-I DROVE for the first time this evening. I am a driver! Because we have one vehicle at this point, I had planned to take Steph to the office this morning and practice on my own, but I just didn’t have peace about it. So, when Steph returned tonight, I tackled it... and came away unscathed. If you haven’t driven on the “other” (I won’t say “wrong”... it’s just different!) side of the road, it’s quite the experience. Twice I went to signal, which seems so very foreign, and I ended up turning on the wipers at full blast. Even though I’m a lefty, shifting with the other hand is more difficult than I realized! But, it all went well, and I didn’t run anyone else off the road, nor did I get any crazy stares... this time. What a blessing!
-The kiddies are doing just great. The jet lag is behind us, and they sleep so very soundly at night. During the day their main focus lately is catching lizards. Today Iliea caught one and cuddled it a little too much -- its tail fell off but continued to wriggle detached from its lizardly body. Finally, I think the lizard gave up and took its last breath, although its eyes were still open. Iliea was convinced that it was either sleeping (bright-eyed), or playing statues. Avery loves to wow and charm the nationals with his learning of SiSwati, and he’ll bust it out for anyone. He’s playing lots of baseball and “crack the egg” on the trampoline, and Ellie just loves to run, squeal, and get a piggyback ride from anyone willing to let her hop on. Africa is such a great place for kids, and they are so happy here. In fact, Avery told Grandma Prince tonight that he doesn’t want to leave Africa until it’s time for him to go to college. :)
-The weather is gorgeous. Mbabane (the capital of Swaziland) is at a higher altitude (about 4,500 feet), and the African skies are just amazing at any time of the day. Storms roll over the mountains... you’ll see them coming in, and the rainbows are so vibrant and beautiful. We’re nearing the end of summer -- our temperatures are ranging in the upper 80’s during the day, and right around 70 in the evening. The open air is so incredible -- never thought I would be a girl that wouldn’t have screens on the windows, but so far God has other plans for me. We did bring over two rolls of screen so we may use them once we move into our home -- I guess it just depends on how big the creatures are that make their way in.
-We ate dinner at Nando’s tonight -- any of the past Swazi global team members can insert their mouth-watering here... especially Justin Mack. It was fabulous -- and very fun to take our kiddies there and share the Nando’s experience with them. Hands down, they have the most amazing ice cream!
-Grocery shopping has been really fun -- of course, I always enjoyed it in the States. There are many differences here, but just a few of note: Eggs are always stored at room temperature, and milk does not need to be refrigerated until it is opened. You won’t find the preservatives here that you would in the States, so everything tastes amazingly fresh, but also has a very short shelf life. The fruits and veggies -- so awesome. Can you imagine having a revolving fruit bowl every single day of the year, with fresh plums, peaches, paw-paw (papaya), mango, bananas, grapes, kiwi... everything? It’s just incredible. Who needs Doritos when you can have fresh anything? Oh, that’s right... Stephen does. And yes... he’s already found them here and has a stash. Imagine that.
-For those of you familiar with Children’s Cup CarePoints (especially those from past Global Project trips), we’re taking over two! They are Madonsa (mah-done-sah) in Manzini and Mvutjini (em-voo-chee-nee) in Ezulwini. We’ll be visiting both of them within the next week or two, along with visiting Mbekelweni, the Global Leadership Academy, on Wednesday.
Well, that’s about it here -- love you all. Siyabonga kakhulu (thank you very much!) for loving us, for partnering with us, and for being such an encouragement across the pond. And, if you’re interested in a lizard game drive, I’m sure Ave could hook you up. All you need to do it get here. :)
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