So it begins…

Today I arrived in Uis! It has been a long day, starting with getting up far too early to bid a sad farewell to our group members in the north. Then I found out that I would be traveling alone (without the other girls in the Erongo region) to my site, which made me nervous, but things worked out. More specifically, this is a text I sent to a couple other people in my group halfway through the trip: “well my driver walked in on me peeing and my principal won’t be there to meet me when I get there, but there is an adorable small child in my car so it all works out.” Specifically the small child (my driver’s son, his name was Alexander) came along to see animals and we were not disappointed. As the countryside turned from green to desert and we approached Uis along the 120 Km of gravel road, we saw springbok, kudu, donkey’s and goats and at least 20 minutes of the ride was spent with Alexander saying repeatedly “goat! Goat! Goat! Goat!” in africaans. Adorable.
I was nervous to arrive without my principal waiting for me but I was met instead by my housemate (yes I apparently have a housemate) and led to what will be my home for the next year. Sadly, I don’t know her name, but I do know the woman I am living with is a first grade teacher who also just moved to Uis because she received a promotion and is now a department head. She is very friendly and has been incredibly helpful since I arrived.
My house is actually quite nice. I have a bedroom to myself and although it only has a mattress for furniture, the walls and curtains are pretty colors and there is a glass doored closet in the corner which is great because I can put my pictures in it. We also have a sitting room and a nice little kitchen with a small fridge and stove (although no kitchen sink…) and one bathroom with a toilet in it and another with a tub and sink. I can’t get my mosquito net up, but the mosquitos themselves aren’t too big a problem, mostly I just need to be able to not think about the spider I saw in the corner earlier ☺
What I have seen of Uis thus far is mostly that it is small and in the middle of nowhere in the desert. The school where I will be seems really nice, but I'll let you know more about that after tomorrow!
Well I need to go to bed, big first day of school tomorrow, but I’ll probably be updating frequently since things are exciting and I’m going to be a little lonely. I also plan to put up pictures this weekend (internet is free from 1am to 5am so as soon as I can stay up that late!) so hopefully I can take some of my house and town before then. Call or email me please!
Ek mes jou (miss you!)
~Tina