We're here (2 weeks after arriving)

First off, WE'RE HERE! Sorry about the delay in posting, but it's been a little busy... The first few posts will be the massive emails Jen has sent to the fam, so they should give you a good idea of what has been going on. We're in the process of video-ing the school and the house, and I think we're getting a car on Monday, so we'll be able to show you a lot more.


first off, there is no need to worry about anything. we feel very safe and everyone here at the school and around our house have been so friendly.
when we got here: russ and paul, the 2 men that hired us were waiting for us and the new principal of elem school and her daughter. they picked us up in a small bus and took us straight to our houses. when we got there we were introduced to our gardener and housekeeper. then we were left there to relax and settle in for a minute. the manger of all the houses came by to go over everything with us like the generator and alarm system and such. then we were picked up a few hours later to go over to the director paul's house and have pizza and meet all the new teachers. there are many young couples that are new and wonderful people.
about the house: we are about a 2 minute walk from school. you come out of our gate, take a left and walk right about a football field length and you are at the back entrance of the school. it's great. we have a wall all around our house with a working electric barbed wire on top of it. we have an electric metal door that opens up to the driveway and a metal door to walk out of to walk onto the street. we have an alarm system but probably won't use it much (i'll explain in a minute why) AND a panic button in case of an emergency. so i think we are set.
our house is very old and outdated. the yard is huge and beautiful and our living room and bedroom is nice, but the kitchen and bathroom are more outdated than my decatur house bathroom. we will adjust though. grant tried to make breakfast this morning and burned the eggs. he tried and it was still good. they had some food set up for us in our fridge and cabinets until they take us to the store today. very nice. you basically leave the windows and doors open all day. it's perfect weather with a perfect breeze. it will take some getting use to the old house. we slept terrible last night. no sound machine, just silence. grant woke up at about 10:45 thinking it was 4 in the morning and watched reruns of the jersey shore on his ipod for hours. We both had intense and aggressive dreams where our life back home and where we are here were overlapping. It was weird.
Rosemary and benson are our lovely couple who live on our property and take care of our house. They have a 1 yr old boy who is attached to the back of rosemary at all times with a blanket and an 8yr old daughter. She is in 2nd grade. They are the cutest family and have lived on the property since 2000 and we are the 3rd family to live there with them. Benson works so hard on our HUGE yard all day and on the pool. Rosemary works in the house. We got a list of cleaning stuff she will need from us to clean the house. Weird. And grant and I woke up this morning to rosemary cleaning the kitchen. Apparently she has a key to get in the house which is why we probably will not be setting the alarm at night. It was funny b/c grant and I were like “should we get up and go talk to her?” after breakfast, she cleaned up after us. This will take some getting used to. I feel bad just dropping off plates in the sink and leaving it there. But she was patiently waiting.
Grant asked her what she did for fun this morning and she looked at him like “what?” she looked at me and asked what he meant. I don’t think fun times is in her vocabulary. She told him she goes to “shash” on Saturdays. Grant said “is that the market?” she was saying church. It was funny.
So virgin lost one of my bags with all my undergarments and bathing supplies so I am patiently waiting for that. It’s hard not having a phone. I’ve had to rely on other people to find out about my bag. They also lost grant’s backpack. BUT, there only redeeming quality at this point is that when we were checking for our 11 hr flight to jo-burg, I jokingly asked to be upgraded to the funny lady when we were getting on the plane and she said done! So grant and I sat premium seating on the plane. It was heavenly.
Patience: so lastly, apparently we won’t be getting our boxes for possibly a month so all our things that make us feel a little more comfortable will have to wait. They gave us temporary sheets and towels but it certainly is not comforting. At this point it isn’t euphoric, but more the mentality of ‘do what you have to do’ and get through the day. At least we have each other though and we’ve been laughing at stuff a lot. I think it will all get a little easier when we start work on Monday.
So tonight we will eat at one of the administrators house a ‘true zimbabwian meal’. Tomorrow they will take us to the market where we will use our 2500 dollars in cash they gave us to buy things for our house and dinner we are on our own. Then Sunday they are taking us to a reserve to check out some African animals.
We will try to update our website soon with video of London and our house.
I miss you all very much but once we get to work I will be able to communicate with you all a lot more frequently. It looks like we can skype from our classrooms so that’s cool.
The school: we walked down here this morning and walked around. We saw our classrooms. They are big and nice and windows all around with a skylight. So cool. Everyone who works on campus has been so friendly and nice. The campus is very green and beautiful. There are peacocks everywhere on campus which is weird. Baby peacocks are ugly. We walked up to my classroom and of course all the peacocks are chilling on the bench next to the door of my class. Not cool.
Okay so I think that’s it for now. I love you all so much and miss you!