Our time in the capital city quickly revealed to us how different things were in this part of the world. Some of the first things that we had to learn were what NOT to do. Do not drink the water un-filtered; do not be careless in interaction with others, especially with the opposite sex; do not expect normal traffic patterns; pretty much, do not expect it to be like home! [There are a lot of interesting things about the culture, good and bad. We will write more on this in a later post.] None-the-less, we were enjoying being students and guests of the new culture.
Our time in the capital started at a local house with like-minded friends. We spent a couple nights there simply resting and relaxing. Not much to report. Afterwards, we moved across the city to a house of other like-minded folks. We were to stay there for a few nights for a country/culture orientation.
The orientation was very informative. The first day addressed some family/community, social, and cultural elements. We heard a bit about the history of the country. It was really good stuff. The second day was s bit different. We skipped the morning session because it was not very applicable to us since we were moving to another city. Before we were able to make it out to the afternoon session, we received a call from a friend who said we were on “lockdown.” This was because there was an “incident” in the city and a sister lost her life.
Because of the news, they ended up canceling the rest of the orientation course. So, we moved back to the first house and spent the rest of days relaxing some more, intentionally trying to really rest up so we could arrive in our final city ready to go. Thanks to Dad, it worked! October 23rd came around and we were rested and ready to go!
So, off to the airport we headed again, but this time at 5:45 AM. After 3-4 security checkpoints (of loading and unloading our luggage) and receiving unsolicited assistance from 10+ people (handling our bags and subsequently asking for tips), we managed to get all our bags there and on the plane.
As we waited in the terminal, it was crazy to think we were really almost to our new home. It had been such a long journey, but we were almost there. Even amongst the early morning fatigue, the excitement was mounting. Not so long after, a shuttle bus picked us up, we boarded the plane and took off.
Less than three hours later, we walked into the door of our new home…
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