Tuesday, November 22, 2011

8,800 Miles later....

Wow I can't remember when I wanted (or needed) a shower more than I did on Tuesday.. Yuck.  The LHR-JNB flight was delayed and was soooo long.  Painful actually.  One electronic device after another lost power… Everytime I woke up, it seemed like we still had 9 hours to go. 
I was in the immigration line with the Belgian National Cricket team….not a bad start at all J 
Despite the delay my driver was there waiting for me. Thank Goodness because I couldn’t have driven myself .  Exhausted doesn’t adequately describe what I was feeling at that point-- I felt like I was in a trance.  I later rebounded when the US business day started.
The driver was saying that they do tours so I could visit the Soweto township, etc.  Then when I got to the office and was meeting everyone they mentioned that for their holiday party they are going to Soweto for a community service project (like Habitat for Humanity) - so instead of the booze cruise in Boston I will be painting a house in Soweto. Cool!
The buildings (at least in the suburbs we drove through from the airport) look like buildings in Florida (not South Beach glam, but the everyday sort) . A lot of stucco, and *everything* is gated due to crime. The B&B where I am staying is absolutely gorgeous and I am moving to a bigger room with a kitchenette in a couple of days.  I am having difficulties transferring from camera to PC but hope to fix that soon. 
Over dinner it started to rain.  Then the heavens opened up. In about 5 minutes, the little "stream" that flows by the b&b became a raging river-- everyone grabbed an umbrella and went outside to watch it.  The water came up over the bank about 7 feet in 15 minutes.  Then it went back down in about the same time when the rain stopped.  Everyone was enthralled -- after my white water rafting experience in Maine a few years back, I have a healthy respect for water.

No comments:

Post a Comment