We Have Arrived! (and have internet)

We are in Galmi! I thought for now I would just copy and paste a recent email that I sent our parents to update everyone else who is curious about what we have been up to for the past few days. This is a long email but the kids are about to wake up so I don't have time right now to summarize it. :) We had quite a chaotic start to our trip when we found out that our initial flight from Wichita to Atlanta was delayed. They had to bump us up two hours to a different flight to Minneapolis so we could make our connection in Paris to Niamey (otherwise we were going to have to stay a night in Paris). Marc called me at home while I was packing our carry-ons Wednesday morning and told me that we had to make a new flight that was leaving in less than an hour. As you will read, by God's grace, we made that flight and all the rest of our connections as well. We initially thought we would have internet access when we arrived in the capital of Niger, but it seemed to be down everywhere we tried to get access. We did manage to have a local missionary send a brief email out to our parents letting them know we had made it safely. I will try to put up a few pictures tomorrow. We have some fun ones from our little plane ride from Niamey to Galmi with SIM Air! Our internet here seems to be working fairly well currently and we hope that continues.

Hi to our family from Galmi,

Last time we saw most of you we were flying through the airport trying to catch our flight. We were really delayed at the TSA check-point with our liquids. We did not declare them before they went through the scanner (because we couldn't even remember at that point where they are were) so they wanted to test EVERYTHING. Marc knew that we didn't have time so he let them throw away the kids' four apple juice boxes (which would have been of no use to us anyways if they poked holes in all of them) and a tub of peanut butter that they wouldn't allow. They also didn't like our six packages of baby wipes but fortunately let us keep those. The kids and I had run ahead to the gate to see if they would hold the plane, and then Marc eventually arrived about 1 minute after they had shut the door and told us we couldn't board. We took our seats and waited to be rebooked. After about five minutes the airline personnel told us if we still wanted on the flight that we could get on (I think they realized it would be easier to board us than to locate and unload all eleven of our trunks!) and we boarded the plane. 

We made it through Minneapolis fine and got onto our flight for Paris. The kids did exceptionally well on the flight to Paris which was our longest (I think around 10 hours). They both went to sleep close to their normal bed times and woke up just in time to land in Paris. We had lost 7 hours at that point so they were a little tired and grouchy once we got there, but we thought we would have plenty of time to get them situated and fed before getting on the next plane. Unfortunately, after we landed we taxied for nearly half an hour before getting to our gate. We then had to walk (for what seemed like forever), take an elevator and two escalators with 2 kids, 4 carry-ons, and several small bags to get to what we thought was our next gate. Once we arrived we realized we were not at our next gate but at a bus pick-up to take us to the next terminal. At the next terminal we had to go through a security checkpoint which also took a very long time (long line and 3 of our bags searched) before we finally arrived at our gate as they were boarding the plane. When we handed the lady with Air France our boarding pass she asked for our "special papers". We had no clue what she was talking about. She said we had purchased our flight at a reduced rate because we were with a non-governmental organization (NGO) and that we needed to produce a paper to verify that in order to board the plane. This was all very difficult to even understand since she spoke very little English. Her manager came over and Marc gave every piece of paper he owned and she cleared us to get on the plane after seeing his medical credentialing. The Kubacz's did not get asked this at all so I have no idea what it was all about. This was why we had no free time in Paris to contact anyone. 

Our kids did amazing through the next flight as well. Hailey slept the majority of the time and Eli watched videos on the TV on the back of the chair and loved that. His DVD player battery was long gone by this flight because we loaned it out to a 3 year old girl on our last flight who was laying of the floor screaming at 3am. We had no melt downs from either child during any of our travel time. We arrived in Niamey on time and were elated to see that every piece of our luggage was also there. After getting through customs we were greeted by some of the local SIM missionaries that live in the capital. They managed to get all 17 of our trunks, all of our carry-ons, and all of us into vehicles and off to the guest house. Their was another local missionary family who had a warm meal waiting on us when we arrived. We had Shepherd's pie, salad, and bread for our first home cooked meal in Africa and it tasted delicious after only eating airplane food and Goldfish crackers for over 24 hours. We all had some difficulty sleeping the two nights we stayed in the guest house in Niamey. The four of us were in one room and usually awake and unable to sleep from about midnight until 3 or 4 in the morning. We were eager to get to Galmi.

On Saturday we took our small plane ride from Niamey to Galmi. Eli was super excited when he got to see and touch the small airplane in the hanger. He couldn't wait to get on it. I think Marc was most nervous about this leg of our trip, but we had an experienced pilot with SIM Air and we all thoroughly enjoyed our flight. The views are so much better from a smaller plane (even when you can only see desert!). Once we touched down on the Galmi Hospital airport (which is dirt by the way) we were greeted by quite a large crowd of missionaries and their kids. Eli immediately seemed to be at home with all the kids. He is having a blast. 

The people here have been SO welcoming. We have been invited over for dinner the past two nights and have two more meals on our schedule before we will be on our own. We are starting to stock up our kitchen goods, and I am planning to make my first loaves of bread in the next day or two. I will also be learning how to make my own yogurt from milk powder. We had some at a neighbor's house the other day with fresh pineapple and papapya and homemade granola on top and it was delicious. We are going to eat well here. While chicken is expensive, it is somewhat available and there is ample supply of ground beef. Eli is going to be a much better eater when we return. He has been playing hard and getting much hungrier and more willing to try new things. Today at lunch he was eating tuna fish salad by the spoonful and wanted more when his bowl was empty! He would never have even come close to that stuff a week ago. He is also beginning to like peanut butter which is huge change for him. We all slept much better last night being in our apartment here in Galmi. They actually have a really nice duplex being built that is about a month shy of being ready. We will move into one side and the Kubacz's into the other once it finishes. The biggest adjustment for me so far has been not having a water heater! We had hot water in Niamey, and some of the apartments here have one, but ours does not. The kids don't seem to mind at all. I'm sure when the days get hotter it won't bother me either.

We miss you all but hope you can rest assured that we are doing really well. We are excited about what our time here will hold. The kids are doing so much better than I ever could have anticipated (and slept all night last night) but you can continue to pray for all of us as we transition to a new culture. We walked outside the hospital compound today into the village and it was a fun experience. I will be going to market on Wednesday with some of the other ladies to get our produce for the next week. I hope to get some pictures posted on the blog maybe later today. Talk to you soon!

Stephanie