First Shabbos!

This past friday I went to the Windhoek Hebrew Congregation for Shabbat services. It is a short ten minute walk from my house, and is a cute little sort of hidden building that I walked past (on my way to the mall) several times without ever noticing it. Two friends from the house (one who is not jewish and one who identifies with Judaism on some levels) borrowed some frummy clothes, and came with me. We had no clue just HOW orthodox it would be so we prepared for the most, which was unnecessary. It seems to be a pretty modern orthodox shul, with about 40 members, 30 of which are Israelis here temporarily for the diamond industry mostly. There were 9 guys and 2 women (in addition to us) that came to services, so we didn't manage to make a minyan. the services were lead by an Israeli man filling in for the Hazzan who was out of town. Services were disappointingly short and to the point with almost no singing and definitely no Carlebach tunes!! Anyway that was sort of a let down, but maybe when the hazzan returns it will be better, or at least I really hope so! But the people were super nice, after services there was a mini oneg, and everyone was super nice to us! Two of the Israeli guys that were attending services invited the 3 of us to go back to one of their homes for dinner. The other two girls declined, and another of the men we met drove them to the house so they could meet up with our housemates to go out. I decided that shabbos dinner with real families would be fun, so I went! (Everyone at the shul new eachother, and the leader gave them directions as to how to get me back to where I live!) so it was totally fine. So, I went back to his beautiful home with an amazing view of the city, and met his family, and had a lovely dinner. They were so wonderful and kind! They fed me so much, and told me all the things I should do on my visit to Namibia, and they gave me a ride home. They were even nice enough to offer their phone numbers in case I needed anything, and the 15 year old daughter offered to give me her pink pepper spray! It was so nice! But, we managed to get lost on the way home, luckily a we were driving around we saw a group of kids standing outside of a bar, and I realized it was my friends, and I knew where we were! So, they dropped me there and I went out with my friends. We went out dancing, and had a blast! It was the most fun I've had in a while. So, all in all, a very fun and exciting first shabbos in Namibia!