First Impressions

Well, I've arrived.

The guesthouse in Namibia was great, a cook-for-yourself job. Tim, Tom and I headed into Windhoek to explore and buy the ingredients for a basic spag-bol. Windhoek has given me food for thought - it seems that I like our home comforts in ultra-developed UK, and I like places like Lubango and Chiaquelane (Mozambique), but enjoy in-between places less. I can't really explain why, because the airport was fine, taxi driver very nice and helpful etc. Maybe it's just because I haven't spent much time in such a place yet.

The last leg of the journey was "interesting". I have never known a flight so turbulent (the lunch tray fell off the seat in front and landed on me), nor one where, on landing, many of the passengers screamed before breaking into applause. Comments around us ranged from, "That was a great landing, we didn't go off the end of the runway!" to "Next time, we go on foot!"

There's a great Angolan guy called Bentinu (probably entirely the wrong spelling) and his wife Yolande who are sharing some of the weight on Dagmar's shoulders by taking us short-termers under their wing a bit. I'm sure you'll hear much more about them and Dagmar, who is giving us tremendous support, in due course. His English is very impressive, but ever since meeting us at the airport he's been doing a great job of teasing out more and more Portuguese. I still feel quite lost in the language - I can understand a LOT more than I can say (even more of a contrast than with the other languages I know), but I guess it will come in due course.

I'm getting used to our accommodation. So far I've found out how to work the cold taps, but not the shower. I don't really know how the water works, but it seems to be better when there's electricity. We've gone to bed by candlelight each evening so far, but the Internet cafe (about a 20 minute walk away) has its own generator, so I should be able to keep in touch. And I've been drinking lots of water from our double-filtered supply.

There is much more I want to tell you about what has happened so far, but no more time to say it now - other than untold amounts of thanks for your support.

Points for prayer:

• thanks for God's protection on our journey and our safe arrival
  
• these early days are always tough - at times I have been laughing so hard with everyone and thoroughly enjoying every minute of my Angolan experience, at others the combination of tiredness, the heat and the newness of everything have led me to feel quite homesick
  
• that my ability to speak Portuguese will rapidly catch up with my understanding of what is said
  

• thanks for Tom's brother Joe's discharge from hospital - just about the time we were taking off from Heathrow; his sister, Hannah, will have a small operation next month
• Avril in Uruguay continues to be in pain and is undergoing a series of tests - possibly kidney stones rather than appendicitis is the latest; give thanks for the high level of care she is receiving.