I officially made it to our contact’s house in Sumbawanga Tanzania! Our travel days were long and tiring…we left Sat am went on a 9 ½ hr van ride (first 7 hours were so incredibly bumpy there was no hope for sleep) stayed the night in a hostel, flew 3 hrs from Kiev to Istanbul Turkey, had a 5 hour layover then flew 9 ½ hrs from Istanbul to Tanzania. We arrive at our hotel at 6:30am Monday, slept all day Monday and woke up at 4:30a on Tuesday because we were supposed to leave at 5am. We ended up not leaving until noon. We were supposed to drive for 12 hours and drop of 2 teams at their location then another 6 hours to ours totaling 18 hours….well….it took us 19 ½ hrs to get to their site so we didn’t arrive until 7:30am Wed. Then our bus driver told us he wasn’t going to drive us any farther so we had to get another bus, this time a public bus. Well, that bus was supposed to leave at 10 but didn’t leave til 11.That bus was supposed to be a 6 hour bus ride but that ended up being 9 ½ hrs. Needless to say, travel was exhausting. Turns out all the roads in Tanzania are bumpy dirt roads, not the most pleasant for long travels. But hey, I made it!!
You will be amused to hear that when I walked into my new bedroom I was welcomed by a huge spider no joke almost as big as the palm of my hand! Yes, I freaked, yes I ran out of the room, and yes I made someone else kill it. Then I went to see if the other room was safer but nope, there were 2 in there. I had a choice between a comfy mattress on the floor with spiders freely roaming about or I could sleep in my tent on my sleeping pad. Of course I chose safety over comfort . One of the girls on the other team and I are sharing a tent. Oh, and then last night I went to go use our squatty potty…which is in a creepy lit bathroom…I close the door to find right behind the door yet another spider. So, of course I got one of the guys to kill it for me. Apparently we have another friend living in this bathroom…there is a hole in the corner where the water goes down (we take bucket showers in here) and when one of the girls on the other team was showering a rat ran out, ran over her foot, ran into the door and back down the hole.
Yesterday I watched my first chicken get killed for dinner. Of course as soon as I heard this was about to happen I said “awesome!” and ran to watch. Shortly after, I regretted my decision. Later a few of us went to the market…I thought Central America packed their buses full…well they can get fuller! Fun experience…Casey even had to sit on some ladies lap and Dan’s neck got hugged on by another lady. The market was crazy and definitely a culture shock especially after leaving Eastern Europe. We picked out 2 chickens for dinner and I had the honor of carrying them back into the bus…one laid on my lap the whole ride home…today we ate him for dinner. Well…actually they were both girls because I watched them get cut up today they both had eggs inside them.
Yep…this is my life! Welcome to Africa! It’s all actually really entertaining and so far I’m liking it here…minus the scary spiders. You may think after reading this that I am going crazy that this is my life…crazy part is I really enjoy it! I think it’s hilarious when the crazy things happen. I am so incredibly thankful I get to experience all that I am! Tomorrow we find out when and what ministry is so I’m looking forward to that! I’m so excited to see what God has in store for us this month!
***Support Update***
Less than 1 month (Due July 1) until Deadline!!
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