Day 8

Can you see the beautiful scenery of this carepoint? Everywhere you go you see big beautiful mountains!
I’m loving it here. Sure there are things that are different and strange, but I am having my great adventure!
Electricity and internet are fickle. They just kinda work when they want to. So far it hasn’t been too big of an inconvience. But the internet is soooo slow it makes me want to cry. Pictures are very hard to load onto blogger, so check back every few days to see if any are up there.
I’ve also started driving that past five days. Teresa has an automatic, so I’ve been practicing getting from here to there with her guidance. It’s going well, I think. She’s still riding with me, so she must think so too.
It’s tricky at first being on the opposite side of the car and road. And every time I try to turn right into a parking lot I feel this urge to contort around and look over my right shoulder, thinking a car will be coming up behind me. No matter that I can see oncoming traffic on the right side, just habitual instinct I guess. Sometimes I try to turn on my blinker and turn on my wipers instead.
I drove back from Manzini today, about a 25 minute drive up the mountain. The slow lane is on the left, which feels weird, you drive 120 (that’s kilometers per hour), and there are no speed limit signs (at least not where you expect them. They are all on the left instead of the right.) Oh those tricky Swazi! Some have said I am brave for trying to drive so soon. I don’t think I’m brave, it’s just a necessity of life.
Another aspect that is new is this whole concept of “Swazi-time” Americans plan meetings at 1 and they begin at 1. My 1 o’clock meeting started at 2:45. (or perhaps I should say my 13:00 meeting began at 14:45.) My 9am ride arrived at 10:15. I’ve been told that it takes 10 times longer to do anything in Swaziland. If America runs at 100, Swaziland runs at 40. So far this has proven true. It takes forever to get anything done! What can I do? I need to learn to chill out and accept it (“shaka”, as the Hawiians say.) It’s suggested that I take book where ever I go. (Hmmmm…..Maybe the internet works on Swazi-time)
I went to see my house the other day. It’s very cool, but I don’t want to post pictures of it yet, simply because it’s empty and I want to make it feel like home before I do. Remember as I was doing my fundraising, I had a budget of $4000 to furnish my house and get set up? I thought to myself, hmmmm. This will be nice. $4000 for towels, sheets, and dishes will be great. Oh no! I had no idea that houses don’t come with appliances! I kid you not y’all I had to by a refrigerator the other day! It’s super tiny and when I found that the men had delivered it to my porch, I simply slid it into the kitchen. I am lucky to have a stove in my house but need to buy a microwave, washer and dryer as well as all of the furniture.
I’ve picked out my bedroom furniture but they do delivery a bit different here. You pay for it, and they put it in a truck and drive to your house. I just haven’t had time for that yet! And I don’t exactly have an address. Charles said I need to give directions like this: “I live at Derek Hopf’s house” (Apparently my land lord is a well know architect and with this small town feel, most people would know where he lives.) Or I could say, “I stay in Fontayne, on Mseni road. There is a purple fence with a black gate.” And that will do it.
But in spite of all of the newness, I love it.
Ps- I’ve been sleeping better and no more maggots.