I have been in Swaziland for almost
three months now; I can hardly believe that it has been that long! The first
weekend in July I moved into my apartment! Some of you may have read this as a
status update on Facebook, but here is the official notice. I am now renting
what is known as a servant’s quarters which is fixed up nicely. I bought an
oven, which has its own story and I also bought a car. All of these things have
been a process and I’m glad that they have finally come together.
My house, ok, so I have lived in an
apartment all of my adult life and I have always called it my house. I now live
in a single room with a bathroom attached to the garage of my friend’s (Marius
and Jodi, also with AIM) house, but it is still my “house.” My house is small
but cozy, Jodi and Marius fixed it up nicely before I moved in, painting the
walls and tiling the floor and shower. When you walk into my house the stove is
immediately to the left, it is a four plate stove and oven, but only two plates
work and only one when the oven is on, see I told you there was a story to the
oven. Next to the oven is a counter and sink with two cabinets under the sink
area. Over the sink is the geyser, the hot water heater, does anyone know if
that is why we call old men old geysers? Continuing around my room you will
find the door to the bathroom in the middle of the far wall. Nothing all that
special about the bathroom, just a sink, toilet and a shower. Behind the
bathroom door is my chest of drawers, which doubles as a silverware drawer and
a bookshelf. Along the side wall directly across from the front door is a small
table and a chair which can be used as a desk or a counter when extra space is
needed when cooking. My bed is in the middle of the space that is to the right
of the door with teaching books and supplies in the left corner and my
refrigerator to the right. I also have some cute end-tables, which had flowers
on them when I moved in.
Outside my front door I have a
little flower bed on each side with stepping stones around them and some potted
flowers and trees on either side of the door. It is a very nice home and I was
glad to finally unpack and have a space to call my own.
In other news I also bought a car!
I can now also get around Swaziland by myself. The D-Team (our Swazi
Discipleship Team) laughed at me one week when my prayer request was that I
would not get lost and remember to drive on the correct side of the road, which
by the way is the left side of the road.
It was a long journey from
Birmingham to Ft. Lauderdale, through Johannesburg, South Africa to Manzini,
Swaziland, but I am glad to finally be HOME!
