Sawubona!
I am here in a very crowded internet cafe in pietermaritzburg and aside from my dutch room mate sitting here next to me I am the only white person. I can't say that I mind it, it is just different being the minority (that is population minority because whites here are very wealthy.)

Anyway we landed last night in Durban after some 30 hours of traveling. We were picked up by the project coordinator's husband at the airport and he brought us to our house in Pietermaritzburg which is about an hours drive. It was our first experience driving on the left side of the road and it was a bit disorienting. Unfortunately it was dark so we really couldn't see much of the scenery. You would not believe the number of new BMW's and Mercedes on the road though. It was not what I would have expected. So we arrived very tired but had trouble falling asleep because of the time difference.

This morning we got up and showered (yes it was hot water) and had a small breakfast (peanut butter toast, nothing exciting.) The project coordinator Sally came over and met with us told us we would be working in a drop in center for youth and that we would be starting monday. So I suppose we have the next couple days to get adjusted to the time change. We unpacked our stuff and got settled, met a couple people who work next door and hung out with our two room mates from Holland, Anne and Rose. I am the only guy in a house with three other girls now and there is another on the way in a couple weeks. I can't say that I know when next there will be a fellow male around but oh well. I guess all my female friends prepared me for this. Anne and I went to a store which could have been a store like anywhere back home and then we came here to get on the internet.

Our house is not too bad. It is very old with the highest ceilings I have ever seen. One story, there are three bedrooms a kitchen, living room/dining room and a very large bathroom. I will post some pictures next time maybe if I get the chance. Mom, I found Mike Gleason's picture in the hallway, it was kinda funny.

This part of south africa looks alot like California too me, so it doesn't really feel like I have even left the country. Although I have now discovered that I am something of a novelty to the locals here because there really aren't many whites in Pietermaritzburg. They like to talk to us and are very friendly. A man in the gorcery store attempted to teach me some Zulu. Lucky for me, everyone here knows english and although they will talk to you in Zulu, I can answer in English for now.

Well, I am off to the "big" grocery store now to do our shopping for the week. Talk to ya later.