Arrival in Kitwe!

Hello, beloved friends and family! We arrived safely in Kitwe at about noon today (about 6am Eastern Daylight Time) and were met at the airport by Brent & Erin Raska (2009-2011 GMFs). We've just returned from a lovely dinner out with them and are now in the TEEZ office using the internet.

Our last day in New York was pretty hectic, getting the last of our stuff packed up, cleaning out our apartment and office. I think Molly pulled an all-nighter; I got about two hours of sleep.

In the morning, we scrambled to get the last of our storage boxes packed up and into the storage space in the church's sub-basement. About an hour behind schedule, Bob Louer (2008-2010 GMF) gave us a final push out the door and into a taxi, and we were on our way to JFK. Thankfully, there was no traffic and we made very good time, with plenty of time to check in, check our luggage, and go through security.

The flight from JFK to Johannesburg was 15 hours long, the longest plane flight of my life so far. The flight itself was pretty uneventful, except for an approximately four-hour-long patch of turbulence stretching from the coast of Western Africa to the coast of Namibia. Molly slept through it. She had me buy some melatonin, a natural sleep aid, but it didn't seem to work for me--it made me feel groggy and exhausted without actually knocking me out. Yuck. I should have stuck with NyQuil (my usual go-to sleep aid for long flights). I ended up getting sporadic bursts of low-quality sleep over the course of the flight, but it definitely felt like 15 hours.

When we got to the Joburg airport, we had to go through passport control, check-in, and security before we could board the flight to Ndola, Zambia, and we only had an hour layover! The young woman at the check-in desk looked at our boarding passes, made a face, and said to her colleague, "Yeesh. They're going to Ndola at 9:00." My stomach sank. She typed something into the computer and finally said, "Okay. You're alright. But the flight is boarding at 9, which is...like, now, so you're going to have to run a bit." We got through security with only minor questioning about the huge number of pills we were carrying, and literally ran to our gate. Fortunately, we made it in time.

It was a (relatively) quick two and a half hours to Ndola, where Erin met us at immigration with our work permit receipt. We got through immigration and customs with no problems, and all of our bags were accounted for. Brent drove the 45 minutes to our home in Kitwe, where we saw a bit of the campus where we're living, had lunch at the Raska home, met the staff at the TEEZ office, and were left at our place to take a nap. Afterward, the Raskas came by to pick us up for dinner. We went to Mukwa--a combination Indian and Portuguese restaurant in town. We all had Indian. It was delicious.

We're still kind of in shock that we live in Zambia. It's been a long but good day. We're off to bed now. Good night!

Me after arrival at Ndola Airport