Shopping in Windhoek and heading to Kalkveld

June 4- June 8
I stayed at Auntie Sylvia's again. What a beautiful home and wonderful woman.  Even though she was not feeling well she was a wonderful hostess and she and several other people took me shopping!

For those of you who know me, you know that shopping is on my least favorite things to do list.  So it was good to have people who could help me so much in getting prepared to move to Kalkveld (where unfortunately, years ago, the one grocery store and gas station closed).  Thank you to Auntie Sylvie, Jimmy, Frank and Jenny for taking me to the grocery stores, phone store, mall, households stores... it was a shopping and buying frenzy.  I was exhausted and I am sure I exhausted them!

How do you shop for all the household things you need?!  How do you shop for four years (now I will be back to Windhoek eventually, and Otjiwarango is only 50 miles from Kalkveld, but for someone who hates shopping...)  I realized what it might have been like for the original missionaries that made three week trips by ox cart to the city and stayed for a couple months "provisioning" for their life in the bush for a year or years or more at a time.  I am so glad I am not them.

There are NO pictures of shopping.  I was just too overwhelmed by the trip to take pictures.  (Sorry you shopaholics you're gonna have to wonder what shopping and the malls are like in Windhoek!)  Okay, here is a picture of a mall going up, it isn't quite ready inside, but looks like a shoppers' Disneyland from the colors!

And here are the men trying to stuff my things into the trunk.  I sent two of my large suitcases with a man who was heading out yesterday.  But we still have one large suitcase, one small suitcase, my computer bag and one carry on.  The men on the left are going up to work on the outdoor ministry building and have their tools and bed rolls.  The men on the right are Frank and Chris respectively, the Mission Convener (Mission Chairperson) and Treasurer of the Namibia Synod.  

And here is the rest of the stuff they need to fit in- just the bags really.  The freezer is Sylvie's.  Eventually it was decided the five of us and the stuff would not all fit and we got another car and off we went.

The only thing we saw on the trip to Kalkveld that I hadn't gotten a picture of on my trip here in April before was a warthog.

I was so excited when I got to Kalkveld I forgot to take any pictures of the place or the people.  But they had everything ready for me. You'll see in the next installment...