Hello again everyone – this time from Malawi, Africa! Goodness, where to start?!

Wanted to let everyone know that we have arrived safely and are getting settled in our new house. The house is amazing! It’s on palace standards here. On several levels it’s like we never left America, on some levels it definitely is African. For example, we cannot drink the water in the house and all of our appliances are from China and so all of our user manuals are in Mandarin. It also takes about half an hour to get water to only slightly boil. We are making do, though. On the flip side, Dave and Elizabeth are such troopers, their spirits never seem to be low and the kids are their usual selves. We also arrived to a partially furnished home – something that was way beyond our expectations. We were able to have couches, a dining room table and beds to sleep in last night. Sleep meds are helping with the 6 hour time change but I still woke up around 3:30 am this time last night and had trouble falling asleep again. Ah, the joys of travel!

It still seems surreal to finally be here, I think it might take a while for it to sink in that this bed is mine, this house is ours, this neighborhood is where we are going to be living and that I should get used to the city pretty fast if I am going to be going any where! Kind of scary still to think about going out alone or even on foot, but we are told it is safe and that it is okay.

As for the civil unrest, it’s like nothing has happened. Granted, we’ve been here only about 24 hours but life seems no different than normal day-to-day living. Elizabeth and Dave are registering us with the Embassy as we speak, so we will have something to turn to if something were to go wrong. No worries, though! Baylor seems to think we won’t need anything of the sort while we’re here – I’m hoping they’re right!

I am doing fine over all. I slept all I wanted and am getting adjusted to this nanny business. Still waiting for a good shower, though! We finally took showers this morning after two days of travel but just as soon as I was going in for mine, the guard informed us that they were shutting off the water to do some routine maintenance of some sort. So, I’m just glad the Fitzgerald clan doesn’t mind a smelly nanny! :) Food and water are expensive here so we’re out shopping around today to pick up groceries, among them being staples like fruit, veggies and water. I think things are on the up and up. If we can just get the girls to eat unfamiliar food, we’d be set! :) Only 7 of our 21 checked bags arrived with us, so after a stop in town then we will be driven out to the airport to see if any more have arrived. Keep your fingers crossed!

We don’t have internet at the house so we have come into town and I am using internet at a cafe so emails will probably not be as frequent as I would like. I will email again when I can and hope that things in America are good and this finds you well! I will be able to receive emails, too, so don’t forget to let me know how you are doing! It’s nice to get on and hear from home. :)

Thank you for all your support and love, friends! I love and miss you all,

your little “mzungu”,

Laura

P.S. “mzungu” means white person in Chichewa.

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