Mostly Silly

Have my years and years of education taught me nothing?

It's debatable. Grant and I have misread probably every flight plan we have had this summer.

The first, less problematic error was leaving Pretoria. We thought that we had an early morning flight on Friday morning so we decided to try and crash Jo-Burg for an afternoon. We booked a backpacker near the airport that supposedly offered free rides to the airport. Upon getting to the backpacker (an adventure in and of itself) we were greeted by a minorly sketchy middle aged man who basically owns this house that he has set up as a backpacker...The vibe was odd to put it nicely. It wasn't the cleanest of places. It wasn't the most welcoming of places. It was one of the quirkiest places. We then were asked about what time we would like a ride to the airport the next day. Consulting our itinerary we discovered that the flight didn't leave until 8:30 PM the next day. No big deal, we would have more time in Jo-burg to see the highly esteemed Apartheid museum at a leisurely pace which would be nice. That afternoon we wandered around the neighborhood...which was kind of a scary environment. We found a mall eventually after a long, long row of car dealerships and small hole in the wall shops that sold things like used cells and leather. Let me tell you I've never been happier to see a mall establishment in my life. We then feasted at Wimpy's (a fast food like diner...) Another one of those never been happier moments. We were probably in Wimpy's for up near two hours, trying to kill time before returning to our scary prison like backpacker. Luckily when we got back more people had arrived...made us feel a little more secure I guess. The rest of the afternoon Grant and I took pretentious to the highest of heights and kept eachother company with a little Richard the III and Hamlet...We were literally sitting in the same top bunk, reading Shakespeare for protection and escape. We napped then cooked a foul dinner on a propane stove 6 inches under a thatched roof (safe!?) whose makings were bought at a shady grocer down the road (let's just say the bag we bought the rice in was sticky)... We called it an early night...I took sleeping pills so that I could have some semblance of an easy night's rest. Unfortunately from around 4 am on I woke up every hour on the hour...why?!?!?

At 7 we arose...greeting the day ready to be out of there asap. We booked a taxi but then Grant concientiously asked how expensive it would be to get into Joburg and back...the number was a whopping 700 rand. Not really in the budget. Soooo we decided to skip it and just hang by the pool for the day. That was going well until the manager decided that if we wanted to stay the day we would have to pay for an entire day and night's stay...nooooo thanks. So we got in a taxi at around 11 am and hung out at the Jo-Burg airport for 9-ish hours...It's a wonderful place :) highlights include feasting in the airport food court. Nertz at Spur. Naps in the prayer room. waiting in many many lines just to be told that we were too early for our flight. carting around our luggage all day...etc. I crack it up to be a terrible experience, but you know after a summer of relatively easy traveling with no glitches one unexpected day in an airport is really not that bad. At least we were optimistic and in each other's good company.


With this little debaucle behind us we decided to check our flight info home...and true to form these days we had misread that too! We get into NY a day later than we thought and thus into Seattle a day later as well. Bummer. I'm a little stressed about this at the moment, but I'm trying to just relax and realize that it will work out and that I will get home...Mostly I just feel a little incompetant.

Needless to say we were OVERJOYED to be back in Cape Town. It really does feel like home. We're staying in the backpacker for two nights and saying our last goodbyes to the city today and tomorrow. Then we move onto another backpacker a little out side the city, but closer to the people that we'll be hanging out with and working with this week. It's hard to believe we've only got 6 days left. I have been thinking a lot about coming home lately though, trying to get my mind ready so that it's all caught up with my body when I arrive back in the states. There are definitely things I'm looking forward to coming home. So that's a good thing :)

Thanks to everyone who's been reading these updates. It's wonderful to know that there is a connection to you all from all the way around the world :) Much love and we'll be seeing each other soon!!!