I'm Here!

7/8/10, 10:43 pm

so i am finally in abuja.  we arrived last night around 9pm after a long day of flying.  the flights were pretty nice with decent food and entertainment.  definitely fancier than any other flight i've ever been on.

i met one of my co-workers during a layover at frankfurt.  it was nice to have the company when figuring out the next steps.  after making it through immigration without any problems, we found the embassy worker who was waiting for us.  we gathered all our luggage (all my things made it there safe and sound, minus one squeezed to death and messy bottle of lotion... not everyone was as lucky as i) and met with the AISA director and elementary school principal.  unbeknownst to us, six or so of our other co-workers were on the same flight who we met shortly thereafter.  our luggage was put on a truck, we hopped in the school's bus, and started the 40-minute ride to our apartments.

while driving, it was slowly beginning to get dark, but we could still see a lot of things.  for example, the lack of lines on the roads, some small villages formed right off the highways, small street markets, and tons of people walking along the roads.  many women were carrying different types of loads on their heads... something i thought that i would always see in books, but never in real life.

while it is only one day in, the orientation & welcoming staff has gone above and beyond.  they supplied us with sandwiches and such upon arrival so we would not have to worry about dinner and also filled up our fridges a little bit!  we were shown our apartments, gathered our luggage off the truck, and began to unpack.  i have a tremendous place - 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, a dining room with a table for 6, a full kitchen, washer/dryer, and what they call boys quarters - a room accessible through, but not directly connected to, my apartment, if i choose to hire a cook, maid, etc. which i am probably not going to do.  the place is really too big for me - i've never lived alone alone and it makes me a little uncomfortable.  one other girl and i have talked about possibly moving into one apartment together, but we'll see how things go after a week or so.  surprisingly i slept relatively well last night in my "king-sized-or-maybe-just-two-twins-put-together" bed.  you can't even tell with the mattress topper and sheets on though so no complaints... although all my co-workers seem to have a single bed!

today was a pretty relaxed day.  in the morinng, the school took us to grand square which is like a department/grocery store type place.  bought a few necessary things, but we'll be visiting some more markets and shopping areas tomorrow as well.  the afternoon was spent cleaning and unpacking and then i had some friend-making to do.  all the other new hires who flew in yesterday with me are around my age which is pretty cool.  we've spent time in one anothers' apartments, and today was our first hang out - it was pretty cute.  we made dinner together and played bananagrams (thanks, sarah!).  then we walked around the complex to meet & welcome other staff members who arrived tonight.  it seems like we all get along pretty well together which makes me happy since the only friends i'll have here will be my co-workers as well.

in such a short time, it has already been a huge period of adjustments - living alone, black&brown outs, working in metrics, new currency, making new friends, no internet, not drinking the water, and the list goes on.  it is constantly crossing my mind that i won't be able to do this for two years, let alone until christmas time... but i suppose i'm the one who got myself into the whole situation.  i am still really excited for this big adventure, but it is pretty scary now that i'm actually in AFRICA.  this is super long.  pictures and apartment tour to come when the internet kicks in.  until then, i'll go figure out what to do with the regulator that i just blew out... oops?