We Made It!!!

We made it to west africa! I must say it was an adventure in itself. Everyone working in Africa met at JFK and we ended running into each other some in charollete and other at the airport or while waiting to get boarding passes. From JFK we had a long flight to Casablanca, which consisted of screaming children and some not so nice flight attendents (we all agreed on that). We had a thriteen hour layover in Casablanca and they had arranged for us to go to a hotel for the day to sleep and stuff. Well the directions were not clear and we spent two hours in the airport tring to find the office to tell us which hotel to go to and once we found that we drove about 45 minutes to our hotel. We were all thankful that we were able to sleep and shower. We decided to go to this market about three blocks away from the hotel. Needless to say it wasn't the most fun adventure. Lack of sleep mixed with huge crowds and people staring at you for being white doesn't make for much fun. A group of us didn't stay long at the market. Where we were was definitely not a toursist location but where people actually live and we had no knowledge of the language. We boarded our plane and finally took off at 2 in the morning and I was able to take a decent nap. We landed in west africa and went to our orientaion location where we were able to take a nap and rest before starting orientation. Day one was pretty easy we went over basic things and all were in bed by 8pm. Day two jetlag really hit me and I was barely able to stay awake when a local pastor was talking with us. The afternoon nap definitly help.
Where we are staying for orientation is a very poor country. People make about 200 dollars a year. When we were driving we passed homes made out of straw and thatched roofs and tarps but we also passed some houses that were made of mud and concrete. Trash litters the road and ground and people walk freely and we have found the lines on the road and stoplight are complety optional and really have no use. Our compound is nice and we are staying near the american embassy and another embassy. It is dry looking here with browns and tans colors making up the landscaping but it is the rainy season so it is humid. This is more of a conservative culture so all skirts must go to your ankles and you must wear short sleaves. This is defintily different then where I am going to be working in but a good experience. This is country that is 99% muslim.
We are taking turns going to the market and pharmacy to learn how to get things. The market was bigger then the last one I went to and was much more crowded and definitely more cars. Venders flooded the market selling potatos, vegatabes, shoes, spices and a whole lot of other things. Of course being white the vendors try to sell you everything thinking that because we are white we are rich. We are learnign to barter and later in the week will have to go and buy something from the market with little help from our translator. I will say it was a little overwhelming going to the market, maybe for the amount of people there or the massive amoutns of flies, and the smell is something different. I must admitt that my attitude so far hasn't been the best. I am ready to be at my final location and it is hard when they are telling us things and then specifying that it probally won't relate to us in jo'burg. I think the whole traveling process being frustrating and being jetlaged has really taken a toll and I did have a better attitude today after getting a whole nights sleep. I am trying to keep an open mind and positive attitude as we continue orientation and I think the more sleep I get and getting on a sleep pattern will help. Plus someone is here during orientation for a few days that knows more about what I will be doing and the area we will be working in so I am really looking foward to that. Thank you so much for your prayers during our travels and while we are here. I am looking forward to being in jo'burg and the oppurtunities that we will have there.