Home Sweet Home Harare

Africa! It's hard to believe that we are finally here. It's only been a week since we arrived in Zimbabwe, but first impressions are of beautiful landscapes and friendly people. The journey was long – 27 hours of total flight time over a period of 4 days, travelling from Maui, to Los Angeles, to Frankfurt, to Addis Ababa, to Lusaka, to Harare. Luckily, Nikki's mom Jacqui came with us to help schlep our 8 checked bags, 8 carry-ons, bulldog, and baby exactly halfway around the world. Needless to say, we weren't travelling light! Incredibly, we experienced few problems – save our stroller being lost in Addis and arriving a few days late.

We already have a number of friends living in Harare, which has made settling in much easier! It was wonderful to reconnect with David and Jillian (our friends from Vietnam), Jean and Ed (from Nikki's foreign service cohort), and Gil and Monica (family friends from Maui). They have been kind enough to show us around town and introduce us to their friends – our first weekend was fully booked with social brunches and barbecues ("braiis"). David has already signed me up for a couple of local soccer teams (we unfortunately lost our first game on Tuesday) and sports seem to be huge here. There are clubs for running, biking, triathlons, tennis, rugby, cricket, golf, hiking, and everything in between. Cultural events also abound. Last night we went to see a concert featuring our friend Comrade Fatso and an absolutely fantastic local group called Mokoomba. It seems our social calendar will be quite full here!

The house we have been assigned is definitely the nicest place that we have ever lived. There is plenty of room to spread out, a pool, and a yard where Hina can run to her heart's content (being a bulldog, she is content with a somewhat limited amount). We are in an upscale, centrally located neighborhood near the botanical gardens and relatively close to the Embassy – which makes our commute to work very easy. We don't have our own car yet, but have been able to borrow one and explore the city a bit. Driving took a little getting used to – hundreds of potholes, lack of streetlights, and of course that whole driving on the left-hand side of the road thing – but we were able to navigate to a few local stores with surprisingly well-stocked shelves. Some items (like cheese) are exorbitantly priced, but we did not encounter the Soviet-style empty supermarkets we had anticipated. The city seems to be generally safe, although our house has a number of security measures and we have been advised against driving at night. On the whole, Harare looks to be a great place to live for two years!

So now we are settling in. Nikki has jumped right into work and I start in a couple of weeks. Jacqui is helping to take care of Ryo while our nanny (Chipo) gets to know her. In the meantime, we are waiting for shipments of all of our possessions to arrive, setting up internet, buying a car, and generally getting acquainted with our new home. Hopefully it won't be long before we have the opportunity to begin exploring this amazing country!