From the first minute I arrived, it's been an adventure. So far, only the police and the driving scare me, and then not too much at all. Things have been much more comfortable than I could ever have imagined. Each volunteer I met at the orientation camp (held at a tourist resort complete with pool and bar) is a total gem, there are eight of us, Mette and Katerine from Denmark, Alex from England, Simon from Germany, Alma from Iceland, Lina from Sweden and Dougie from Canada. And everyone is happy, laughing, joking, jovial, kind, willing to help, to tell you the truth, I was not expecting to have this much fun!!! It may sound cliche, but it's true. My host family is great, my two little brothers are very kind and interesting and funny, they love my guitar, and my host sister a bit spoiled but very fun. I don't know much about my host parents yet, they've been away most of the time, but the brothers (Benito and Franz) take care of everything. My house has a bathroom with a toilet, bidet and bathtub, but no running water most of the time, so we operate on a bucket system. :) lots and lots of buckets. There is a tv (i saw Popeye yesterday!!!), stereo, and gas stove.
Things are much more expensive than I had hoped, either comparable or or only a little bit cheaper. Food, especially since I dont know the proper prices for items, so Im sure Im getting over charged. But aside from that things are great here, though Im dying for a fan.
I miss you all tons and hope to hear from you soon, either email me allie.unisus@gmail.com or drop me a post on facebook or right here on this blog.
Love,
Allie
Allie,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Africa.....Red earth, humidity, seeming chaos, that will eventually sort itself out. Yeah, just about the time you're ready to leave things will BEGIN to make sense. And fans...AH. The second thing we bought were two Chinese fans. the first thing were treated bed nets. You will be charged more because you're a "ferriner" but try to haggle like mad anyway. tell people you've been in the country long enough to know what the real price is. that usually works. here, it's business as usual...first semester grades ae in and roughly 1/3 of all frosh in our classes had F's or D's..that should tell you all you need to know. Ah well. Say hi to Mama Africa for me.
geno