2 Weeks In

I am still at the guest house at the center; yesterday we went to the house we will be living in to do some cleaning and it was very overwhelming at first. It is two small, empty rooms, a small blocked off backyard and a blocked off "bathroom" or hole in the ground. There was an infestation of ants and a chicken had found its favorite place to lay her eggs- right inside the window, so they were rotting and it smelled awful. It is cement floor with vinyl laid on top. One of the girls from our compound came and decided to help us which was such a blessing. She brought her African broom and got it done in half the time it would have taken us! She even went out back and cleaned up the all the debris that had collected. We washed the walls and got them ready for a paint job and fumigated. We hope to paint this week, we are also getting the local carpenter to make screens for our windows so we don't have any more eggs laid in our room and a cabinet and chest to store some of our things. Then hopefully it will be ready to move in! After seeing the potential I am excited to move and be part of the compound.

So far most of what we've done is language study. We have about 2-3 hours in the morning learning phrases etc and then we go out and practice for a few hours. We just walk all around the village and talk to everyone we see. I'm starting to remember some names but it's really difficult, the names are so different. But now most of them know our names now.

When we went into town last week I had my first experience with a guy who wanted my number so we could be "one love." He was so annoying, and I couldn't get rid of him. I'm not looking forward to that happening often.

Some days it hits me all over again that I am really living in Africa. Things are so different, it's taking a while to get adjusted and settle in. But the people are so friendly and welcoming, they really love that we're here. I love the kids who just follow us around and hold our hands.