We have finally arrived! After 34 hours of traveling, we have successfully been on 3 continents, 2 long flights, and I have had a total of 4 1/2 hours of sleep. Overall, getting here was a lot of fun, pretty easy, and really tiring. However, as I sit here in shorts and a tank top, listen to the birds chirp outside, and relax on what is now my bed for the next 2 months, I feel relaxed and excited for all that is to come.

     The flight from Seattle to Frankfurt, Germany, was a long, tiring trip. Although we flew 'overnight' for Frankfurt time, it was not my typical bed time until we were landing. That being said, the company of Jill, sudoku, snacks, and the movies on the plan were great for making the time fly by. During the time on the plan, we successfully made a list of to-do's in Namibia, which include such things as sledding down the dunes, swimming in a rainstorm, seeing giraffes, trying new and interesting Namibian dishes, and walking with wild baboons. All in all, we became the flight just made us that much more anxious and excited to get to our final destination.

     Once landing in Germany, Paula's husband, Steve, who became known as "the man with the plan", quickly lead us down to the train that would take us to Weisbaden, a lovely down town area. The train ride was about 20 minutes, but it was fun to see all the various houses and towns as we passed through. From car lots, factories, rivers, parks, neighborhoods, and more, we got a nice quick look at Germany. Katie was a HUGE help in figuring out the train system, where to go, etc, as she spoke German and had lived in Germany before. However, Steve got a little too excited about getting to Weisbaden, which led us to getting off one stop too soon. After realizing that the area did not seem to look quite right, we went back and caught the next train.

     Weisbaden was a lovely town; it had several gorgeous cathedrals, many little shops, a lot of families out and about, a Saturday market, and some fabulous street musicians around every corner. However, Weisbaden had something else that I had been awfully excited to get rid of for 2 months-crows. There were crows all over town, and they even had crow decorations on their bus stops. That being said, I was very aware and alert of my surrounding throughout the course of our stay in town. After some wandering, we found a great little restaurant to stop for lunch at. Since this was my first time in Germany, and who knows when I will be there again, and with some encouragment from Katie, I decided to get an authentic German meal of schnitzel, potatoes and Fanta. The food was delicious, and the fanta was made with real sugar, unlike American sodas, and was amazing, as well. Some of the great things we loved about Germany were their dogs (they were everywhere...and without any clothes I might add), and all the kids out and about with their parents. The exhaustion of flying and time change then began to hit us, so we headed back to the Frankfurt airport.

     Even with our short trip to Weisbaden, we still had about 5 hours left before our flight departed to Namibia. A majority of our group decided to take naps, as we had now been up for at least 30 hours. However, a couple of us toughed it out and stayed awake to try and get on Namibian time and avoid Jetlag. Random walks around the airport, the great i-pod app of 'Angry Birds', and each other's company helped us stay awake until boarding at 8 pm. Once on the flight, we all began to nod off, then quickly ate the airplane meal before going to sleep. Thanks to the flight not being full, many of us were allowed to move seats and stretch out to get a few good hours of rest.

     On Sunday, January 8th at 7:30am Namibia time, which is Saturday at 9:30pm back home in Washington, we landed in Windhoek. (Originally I thought the time difference was 9 hours. However, Namibia doesn't observe daylight savings time so we are 10 hours ahead.) Even though it was early, the sun was shining, it was warm, and already a beautiful day. After running into a slight hiccup at customs, where we were delayed due to the fact that we said we were 'working and volunteering in schools' causing some confusion, we gathered our plethora of bags, all of which had made it safely, and met our taxi drivers: Grant, Shaun and Rodney. These 3 men would be our taxi drivers for the next two months, both to our schools in the morning and around town when needed.

     The 40 minute drive to our hotel, Casa Blanca, went by quickly as we were all amazed by our surroundings and the landscape. As far as we could see was just dry land and man small bushes. There were some trees and hills every now and then, however a majority of the landscape was just flat, dry land. Driving on the left side of the road took some getting use to, especially at stop signs and round abouts, however, the big excitement of the short car ride was the baboon that crossed the road in front of us. The ride there, although very short, shifted our minds from focusing on the long, exhausting trip we had just taken to the excitement that we had arrived in Windhoek, Namibia, Africa! 

     We are now at Casa Blanca, spending the rest of the day just relaxing and getting settled in our rooms. Due to a huge thunderstorm that occurred last night, the internet is not yet back up and running. Therefore, I am typing up my blog posting so that when it does go back up, hopefully by tomorrow, I can just post it right away. It is GORGEOUS here, with blooming flowers everywhere, our own patio outside our room, and a great pool to lay around and cool off in. We just made our first grocery store and ATM run, which was interesting. Although I was prepared for the stores to have different items than back home, as I had learned this in my trip to New Zealand last January, the store was very small and the prices were very different. Because each American dollar is worth 7 Namibian dollars, it took some time to get used to the price tags. However, it was great to see that a store was so close, only 2 blocks away, and to figure out where the ATMs and the laudromat was. As my roommates and I already unpacked when we first arrived here, I am now planning on relaxing for the afternoon. I will probably sort through my school supplies, and then read, and possibly swim. I am excited for the internet to come back up, not only to post what has happened so far and some pictures, but also to see how the Seahawks did! (And I just checked it/watched the highlights...ATTAWAY HAWKS!!!!!)

     Although it has been a long 2 days, it now seems like it all went by in the blink of an eye. I cannot believe I am actually here, and cannot wait to experience all that is to come.