Not What I Expected

Sanibonani! (Hello!)

After 3 sleepless nights, 6 hours in the JFK airport, 15 hour plane ride, and 5 hours on a bus ride to Swaziland—I have finally made it! I have never slept so well in my life. Thank you to everyone who was praying for me during my travels. Nothing was lost or stolen… this is a great success since Johannesburg Airport is known for being one of the worst places for “missing bags or items”.  

I can tell that the next two years are going to be some of the best times in my life, (not that I ever doubted it), due to the amazing people I’m traveling with. About a month prior to the meeting everyone, a lot of us had already made a group on facebook. Many of us have already had conversations and knew a lot about each other. When all 41 of us (that’s officially how many are here) met, it was like we had already known each other for a while. The dynamic of the group is amazing! The majority of the people here are around my age, 24. The average PC age is 28, so we aren’t far off from that number. We have 3 older people and 2 married couples. Girls definitely outnumber the guys, 31 girls- 10 boys… but that’s also average in the PC. All of us have a college degree; majority of the fields being some sort of International something or another, psychology, and social work. A good number of us have studied abroad, and almost everyone here has traveled overseas. We’re a pretty cultured group.  Oh. I’m also the only one from Ohio… or Virginia.

So enough about the group for now, I’m sure I’ll be writing about them a lot on here. Let’s talk about first impressions in Africa. It wasn’t until our lunch break (5 hours after arrival), that I realized I was actually in Africa. Granted we flew into Johannesburg, it still had a very Westernized culture—except for the fact that they drive on the left side here. The highways, the buildings, the cars… it all looked the same. When we finally got closer to the Swazi border, could one see the differences, (i.e. roads, buildings, and obviously people). Even now while I’m staying the PST (pre service training) hostels, I feel sheltered so far. We have electricity, running HOT water, toilet paper, good meals, and nice comfy beds. It won’t be until Monday (one day from now when I move in with my host family), till I actually get a real taste for Swazi culture. The only real glimpse of Swazi lifestyle that I've seen is watching a youth soccer league play on the other side of our fence, and hearing the church service outside in the next yard over, playing through the big speakers sitting on the back of the truck. Just realized I can’t hear them anymore… I guess after 6 hours of church outside, they got a little cold…. Don’t forget its winter here!

Sala Kahle (good bye)