11 From the airport to my home for 11 days. Yes, it deserves its own post. (11022009)

First of all, a set up for what is going on: I flew in last night to the horn of Africa, and was picked up by a friend of mine and a friend of hers that I would be staying with at the airport (AFTER a two-hour wait through the upon-arrival visa line and passport control). We drove back to the house and even the drive was crazy: huge bumps and holes all over an uneven, unmarked ground (only paved right outside the airport and on the main street) to drive on that is really made for people, not cars. You'd think (or at least I thought) that at least at night people wouldn't be out and about everywhere, but that was not true.

People were EVERYWHERE, standing on the side of the roads, walking in front of our car, sitting on the side of the road or in dark alleys (remember, this is night time that all these people are out), following us, just everywhere. And, I have quickly found out: this is just how things are. It was just wild for me since it was the first time I saw it. We drove a couple miles to our house and they drove up to a big large steel door that seemed to block a community. These big doors are in a lot of places. They block the nice housing compounds. Within a gated area can be a house or a group of living units like townhouses or even a large house or courtyard with several rooms off of it that are rented. Lots of options. Well, we honked the horn and pointing ahead, I said: "This door looks like we are entering Oz and someone should poke there head out of there." Right as I said that, part of the big steel door opened to a local man behind the wall peeking out. He had a huge wrap around his head to stay warm (it is cool at night here... even though it’s Africa) and when he saw us, he pulled the steel door, which split in the middle, open to both sides. He is their security guard. We drove in and parked.

My friends that I have over here, set me up to stay in a townhouse behind the steel door with four American girls in their 20s. I like them all a lot. I came in, one of them gave me macaroni and cheese (who said I couldn't eat American food here???) ...so you know I really like her, and the 5 of us stayed up late talking about Africa and life here and how each of them came to be living in Africa. After awhile, we went to bed... after climbing marble stairs to get to my room that I am sharing with one of the girls. (Marble is really cheap here so it isn't so much a status sign here as it is in the States.)

And, I think that just about does it for my first night here. I'll be staying with these four girls for 11 days and visiting back and forth with my friends that I knew before coming to Africa. Each day, I am being introduced to new parts of the city and country and how life is here. I will get to see what each of the four girls do and also visit lots of other people and projects... more details later, of course. This is about all even I know for now!

The most unreal part of all of my arrival was that I felt like I was driving into one of the poorest, dirtiest, shadiest areas of any town I have ever been. About the same time that I was thinking this, my friend said, as if it were just another part of the welcome tour: "And... this is one of the nicest neighborhoods around here."

What a worldview change I'm about to experience.

Thank you for reading,

Laura