Not too much longer and we’ll have a decent Internet connection. Billy actually bought a wireless device and cell minutes so we can now plug in on our own time instead of our host family’s bill… but he has the laptop at work all day… so my time is still limited for now. But, with our lease signed, we initiated our DSL line today… so it shouldn’t be long before we are all set up. My own computer with my own Photoshop tools and my own internet access… ah, luxury!

We get keys to our house on Monday, and then starts the process of finding good deals on beds and appliances and furniture and bath towels and silverware and soap and spicy mustard… everything! We haven’t been shopping yet because we don’t really have a place to store stuff. Hein and Anita’s garage is stuffed full with our suitcases and boxes already. I think another reason we haven't started shopping yet is that there is a part of me that is freaking out at how much all this is going to cost. I mean, we are talking everything! I wish I would have left our extra bags of clothes behind and packed spatulas and kitchen knives We have the opportunity to perhaps buy some things second hand from a family that is moving back to the States in June. The only trouble is… they aren’t leaving till June. But we’ve let them know we are interested and we’ll see how it works out. For us to get to save so much money just makes sense. It is the obviously wiser thing for us to do. Hand washing our clothes and using a borrowed dorm fridge for two months is the hard side of being wise.

Honestly, there is this enormous part of me that just wants this transition phase to be over. Do you realize that we have been living out of suitcases for three months now? Seriously! The beginning of January! You were there! I want to move in to my new house and drink a cup of tea while sitting on my own couch. I want to set up my own office with my own computer so the kids can do homework again. I want to have a home that is our own… with pictures of you on the shelves next to the kids’ clutter that I am scolding them for leaving. I want to have people over for dinner. I want to cook again. I don’t want an empty house with no appliances or table. I don’t want to move in to an empty house and not feel settled STILL. But then I soften a bit… and I realize that there are a great many people here in Johannesburg… there are a great many people here in my own life… who have never had a clothes washer. Who don’t have electricity to run even a borrowed dorm fridge. We are good. Picnics in the yard because we don’t have a table and chairs are still picnics- and how special is that? What do I need to put in to a fridge besides milk, yogurt and today’s meat anyway? And I will find great solidarity with my friends… and ask their advice on hand washing clothes in the sink for a while. People do it. Thousands of people do it here…every day. And, I’ll be honest, many of them look better than I do on any given day. This is going to be alright. We are good. All this is good.

Yup… we are good. My eyes are feeling a lot better. It is a dehydration issue… probably because of the altitude and the environment here. You know me and my purple nalgine though…I shoudl be good... but I guess I simply need MORE. So here we have bumped up to THREE bottles a day and my eyes seem to be healing. Three nalgine bottles every day presents other problems though. For one, I really don’t even like water. I just drink it because I have to, so I am sick of water… ugh... and for another thing… three nalgine bottles equals about 30 trips to the loo, of which, there isn’t always one available here. I have wet my pants… but let’s not talk about that now.

Emthonjeni community center is closed for this week and next. The kids are off of school, so that program is on holiday as well… but there have been some pretty substantial security issues that need addressed. They (the management team and the leadership team) thought they had a good solution… but it is already Friday, and nothing has happened, or will happen now over the weekend… the new guards haven’t showed up, there is no funding for the fencing we so desperately need, and (because this isn’t just an issue from this week, but that has carried on for a few months, it’s just getting worse) people in leadership are getting super frustrated and discouraged. Billy is kind of getting battle worn by this. He is brand new… technically, this is his second week on the job full time… he’s just trying to build relationships and figure out how this South Africa thing works… or how this community center thing works… and he is already facing a problem that has no obvious answers. This is the stuff that refines you… what is it called? Sink or swim time… huh?