We're finally here!

We are finally actually in S.Africa! :)

We arrived yesterday to Durban S.A. at 10:00am after being 30 hours in the air. A few members of the church met us at the airport, then Kim and Veon drove us to their home, where we are spending the first 4 weeks here in Hillcrest. It’s a beautiful home, Tuscan style, with an awesome garden. I am looking out the window at it now. J I must say, the Lord placed us in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. I’m really serious.

So, after being here a total of 24 hours, these are Kim and Clint’s top 10 things that wouldn’t happen in LA. These are totally superficial things, but I thought it might be fun for you to experience the first “little differences” that you notice when you first go to a different country, so here it goes…

1. In the airport, standing in a mob (not a line) to get through to the passport check station, there were two Brits standing behind me talking about the differences between California wine, and South African wine, saying that SA wine was better cause “those Americans are severely lacking brain cells” I don’t know what that has to do with our wine, but I did not give my opinion as I slowly hid my American passport.
2. The sun rises at 4am here. No joke. It looks like its about 10am at 5 in the morning, and the sun sets at like 7. I asked why they don’t do daylight savings, and someone told me that there is no way the whole country would be able to switch the time back and forth like that. People would just arrive to work late an hour until the time switched back to normal.
3. The door handles are on the opposite side. So in LA you the door handle is on the right side of the door, but here its on the left. I found that out at 2 am groping for the bathroom door handle. J
4. Yes, the toilets do flush the other way.
5. Everyone here is into indigenous plants. So if you complement them on their garden, they will often say that “yes, it grows so well cause its indigenous…. grass, flowers, trees” or whatever. I would have no clue what is indigenous in LA, besides maybe orange and palm trees?
6. There is no need for alarm clocks cause these birds called “Haw-dee-daas” (literal translation) say “HaawwdeeDAAHHH” in the morning to wake you up. J
7. People here drink fruit juice that is amazing. It tastes like your actually eating the fruit. And food here is generally healthier.
8. Yes, people put up Christmas trees for Christmas. And the stores and malls are all decorated for Christmas, but like Jesse said, there is no cheesy Christmas music, a definite advantage, especially after last Sunday’s Sharky’s cheesy music experience.
9. The hot and cold faucets on the sinks are separate. So one faucet pours out hot water, and one pours out cold, so they don’t mix. I haven’t quite figured out how to wash my face without burning it, or freezing it yet. I just move my hands back and forth real quick between the two.
10. This is totally “only in Africa”…. We walked around our neighbourhood this morning, and opened a bank account, (which I found out I can’t open until a year from now until I have permanent residency) and anyways, right outside the bank there are pay phones. Pretty normal, right? But… right next to the pay phones, there is a card table, with a person sitting behind it, and on that table sits a regular land line phone. People are selling phone calls from their land line for a few cents cheaper than the payphones. And there are like 4 tables of these phones with people manning it, and there is a line to use these phones, but the pay phones stand empty. So funny.

Anyways, sorry no photos yet, but on dial up it just takes too long. Soon though.

Please be praying for us as we have to make a lot of financial decisions (i.e. we need to start buying things like a bed, a fridge, etc.) and they seem to be rather pricey, so we want to make the wisest decision that we can with what the Lord has given us. The Lord has abundantly blessed us with where we are staying, we’ve already had awesome conversations with our host family, about the Lord and his work on their lives, and in the lives of the church. Praise Him! Please email us to let us know how you are doing. –K&C