Welcome back to Africa

It's been pouring rain here for the past 36 hours, knocking the internet out for most of that time. That's why this blog is late, and why my jeans are wet, and why the walk to work was entirely mud. Forecast is more rain the rest of the week, but at least we're not in the middle of the cyclone that's hitting Mozambique right now. So, as long as we don't get washed away, we'll keep working here.

I did make it to church on Sunday, and it was nice to see friends there again. I also recovered from my jet lag, so I'm staying awake now from 5:30am to 8pm, which is good enough for now. I've also managed to load some pictures, so I'll post a few of them from my trip and our visit to the abattoir.

Zurich from the train window. I don't understand German, but I think I may have snuck into first class on this train ride. It was only 10 minutes, and no one checked my ticket, but I didn't mean to.

This is the city street right outside the train station. A lot of cool old buildings. The city is made for pedestrians, even though there are thoroughfares for vehicles.

I walked down the Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich's main street. It's a really cool street, with all sorts of fancy, classy, and expensive businesses and banks. But if you enlarge this picture, you can see a sign for Claire's farther down the street. Sad.

This is another picture of the street. The weather was chilly and the skies were grey, but the city was beautiful.

This is off main street, back in the neighborhoods. Little shops line these streets, which are too narrow for cars. It's the definition of idyllic.

This is the Grossmunster, a church said to have been commissioned by Charlemagne. It was an amazing church, but pictures were not allowed inside, so this is the best one I've got. I'd never been in a church that had been standing for a millenium.

Back in Swaziland, one of our farmers brought her baby in to the office for our meeting. Always good to know who we're helping.

Mbabane. I just thought I'd throw this in for contrast to the streets of Zurich. Interestingly, there are many fewer smokers in Mbabane than Zurich.

Some of the less-bloody shots of the abattoir. This is where they turn the clucking, feathery things into tasty morsels.

Here, our farmers are watching as abattoir workers weigh and wrap boxes of chickens. From here, they'll be frozen and sold.

-Ben