Nampula Arrival

Culture shock hit us immediately in the face. We stepped off the plane (it is one of those planes where the door has the stairs on it and it folds out and you walk off onto the concrete) and then walked behind everyone else towards the building. We walked into a small dark room where we went through the nice immigration man’s station and then on to the “not as friendly” customs men’s station. They detained us for a short time. Then our new friends, Billy and Sara Turner and the journey-girls Sally and Jessica, came in and helped Lee talk to them. They let us through after Lee showed them a letter on his laptop stating we were really moving to Africa.  They thought we were bringing all this in to sell.

We loaded up in the trucks and headed to the mission house. This is the house that we will live in after language school and it was really cool to get to see it and stay in it for a while. We are all staying together in the house with the Turners until they take Sally, Jessica, and all of us McDaniel’s to Quelimane on Monday.



This beautiful Bouganvilla vine grows beind the house.



Temporary resting place for our trunks

It was Thursday at 1:30pm when we arrived in Nampula. I can’t remember too much from that day or Friday. Jetlag hit me hard! Shock hit hard, too. All of us were a bit out of sorts. Thursday night all of us were very ready for bed by 8:30, yet all up at 1:00am. Meghan and Lee went back to sleep within an hour, Emma, Lilly and I were up for several hours. All of us were hungry and not sleepy.

On Friday, Billy and Sara took Lee, Meghan, and I to get a few basic cooking supplies to take with us to Quelimane. We went to 2 different stores to purchase them. I wish I had taken my camera so you could see what they looked like. Think the size of PetSmart, but looked like Costco or Sam’s on the inside. We found so many things that we thought we could not get. They had pasta, canned veggies (even Baked Beans), toilet paper, and cocoa powder! They even had coffee, which was almost $90 for about 2 lbs. (We will not be buying that!) Friday night we all slept better. I left a small snack for the girls in their room so that they could eat a bite in their room if they were starving and then quickly lay back down and hopefully go back to sleep. It worked!

Lee and Tracy's room

Meghan, Emma, and Lilly's room

Saturday morning we took the girls out to shop a bit. Emma and Meghan got some cute flip-flops at a tiny roadside shop and then we went to some fabric stores. I am excited to get to make things with all of the beautiful fabrics that you can find here. Our last stop of the morning was at a very busy shop that is similar to Dollar General. After that we had had all the culturing we could handle for the day!

There are 2 great things about the house in Nampula, a tiny kitten that the Turners have nursed back from the brink of death, named “Rickets”, and an awesome tree house.

Emma, Lilly, and journey-girl Jessica

"Rickets" the cat

Tracy