I Made It!!!

What a wild and crazy adventure it has been…and it’s only been two days (although it already seems like two months!)…

From Austin, Ayla & I boarded a United Airlines flight to DC. After arriving in DC, we promptly boarded our South African Airways plane (an hour and a half before the flight was scheduled to leave! These South Africans sure are efficient!)...Although our plane wasn’t double decker, it was HUGE—it fit 317 passengers with two seats together on each side of the plane and four seats in the middle. Luckily, Ayla & I got a two-seater on the side, so we had easy access to the bathrooms…and if you know how much I pee, Ayla goes just as much! (I think we’re going to get along just fine!) We liked flying on South African Airways so much, that we created a list for your reading pleasures:

Reasons we LOVE South African Airways:
1) Pull out cup holders (don’t have to pull the whole tray down!)…this is amazing because you can enjoy your drink and still have leg room!
2) Gluten free meals (for Ayla) & vegetarian meals (for Ilene)
3) List of highly encouraged seat exercises to do on the flight for circulation, including: heel lifts, foot spins, flex/point feet, and short walks
4) Everyone in economy gets a gift package with: socks, toothbrush & toothpaste, eye mask and it comes in a very stylish bag
5) Your very own pillow, blanket, personal TV (I watched “Love Happens---GREAT grief/loss movie)
However, we did get crop dusted with air freshner when we stopped in Senegal for re-fueling…uhh…never experienced that before! All-in-all I pretty much slept the whole time—thank you Melotonin pills! ☺

When we arrived in Jo’Burg people seemed super friendly and helpful, until they finished carting our luggage (we couldn’t say no, they just grabbed it from us) and demanded a $20 American dollar tip. Sorry! We only have 5 Rand on us…take it or leave it (that equals less than $1). On our way to the hotel, we met some pretty cool people from Canada, Australia, England, and New Zealand who invited us to dinner and out to the casino in our hotel (sorry to let the Solomon family down, but I was WAY too tired to gamble). And randomly the Dutch National Soccer team was at our hotel…hello hotties! The best part was Josh’s Mom’s cousin’s son (that was a mouth full!) came to greet us at the hotel and to check-in with us to make sure we had everything we needed. It’s so comforting to know that you’ve got family everywhere you go!

The next morning we went back to the airport to meet our ride to Botshabelo. We were SUPER productive in the airport & got our internet straightened out…which is actually REALLY complicated: you’ve gotta put airtime on your phone then convert it to MB then put it in this modem…and then, and then and then…trust me: we wrote down the instructions so we wouldn’t forget! Then we met Sue (picture tall, blonde hair, green eyed, tan—like the tan where you’ve spent your whole life in the sun without sunscreen—chain smoker, grandma). She’s super friendly and told us all kinds of interesting things about South Africa and Botshabelo.

South Africa is:
1) SUPER lush!! It’s in the middle of the rainy season now so everything is this amazing green and there are bright flowers along the roads.
2) GORGEOUS!! We’re in the mountains, so all you see is rolling hills that are spotted with bush-like trees. It takes my breath away.
3) British style where they drive on the opposite side of the road! Ayla & I keep going to the driver’s side of the car thinking that we’re getting in the front passenger seat! And they have tea time every day...mid-morning.
4) Known for its steak…so I’m not going to lie, I had a few bites already. Wow. I forgot what red meat tastes like, and for real…it’s good!
5) The country with the most official languages: 11!! Can you believe it?!?! And we complain in America about having to learn some Spanish. Give me a freaking break people! Pretty much everyone knows English, Afrikaans, and a hand full of tribal languages. The most popular tribal languages are Zulu & Xhosa (they click!). At Botshabelo, most of the kids know Tswana…so hopefully we’ll learn some.
6) The country with the youngest language: Afrikaans. Afrikaans comes from the Afrikaner people (think Apartheid…think Confederates of the South in the States) who are of Dutch, French & German descent…and according to Sue, it’s only about 100 years old (correct me if I’m wrong).

We settled into Botshabelo where Ayla & I will be sharing a room (hey hey bunk beds! I get the top!) for the first week that we’re there in an apartment with another woman, Pauline. They took us into town for groceries…where we pretty much bought everything that you would buy at home…and meet some of the kids and staff. They invited us over to Shanna’s (one of the Cloete daughters) house for coffee and to watch the Golden Globes.

So far, Botshabelo feels like home.