Arrival in Johannesburg!

I have successfully made it from Albany to Johannesburg!

The trip went pretty smoothly- even though I was flying standby, I got on the first flight to Atlanta and then to Johannesburg. The 16 hour flight to Joburg was relatively uneventful, except that I was sitting next to the Worst Man in the World. First of all, he was ENORMOUS (as in he literally SPILLED halfway into my seat, and I was in the window seat). He also coughed this like disgusting earth shattering cough the entire trip, and didn't cover his mouth or anything. He was apparently from Canada and was going to Joburg to hunt innocent African animals with his brother, who was supposed to be sitting in my seat but had missed the flight (he was not happy about the fact that I and not his brother was sitting next to him, although if his brother is anything like him I honestly don't know how they would have both fit). Judging by the conversation he had for 3 hours with the South African woman on his left, which I tried to block out with headphones, earplugs, pillows, you name it, he was also one of the least intelligent people I've ever encountered. He proceeded to ask me about a ZILLION questions throughout the flight [--What is this black thing in a bag they gave me???? -It's a blanket, and it's blue; --Why won't my headphones work??? -Because you have to plug them into the socket in the armrest; --How did you turn on your light??? -You press the lightbulb button next to the light; --WHAT IS THIS??? --It's a sanitary napkin. You use it to wipe your hands; --(after trying to open the handwipe for 10 minutes): HOW DO YOU OPEN IT? --There's a tear on the side and you rip it; --How do you put your seat back?? -You press the button on the front of the arm rest (and then he put my seat up several times even though i kept telling him he was pressing the button that in fact controlled my seat) --(after trying to steal my side of the seat belt about 6 times): How do you know which seatbelt is yours???]. Also, since he just could not for the life of him figure out how to play a movie on the screen in front of him, he decided to just watch my movie (obviously without being able to hear the sound) along with me, which is surprisingly irritating for those of you who haven't had someone do this. To top things off, it took him about 15 minutes and 1,454,984,999 joules of energy to get out of his seat, so that I was basically never allowed to pee (and for those of you who know me...that's bad).

Regardless, I got to the Joburg airport (which is unsurprisingly filled to the brim with World Cup ads & related wares) and hired a private taxi to take me to a guesthouse in Melville (a very wealthy and "hip" part of Joburg) that I naively assumed had a vacancy. Well, they didn't, but my cab driver had been nice enough to wait with me to make sure I got in ok, so he and this random police officer shuffled me around to no less than 10 different guesthouses before we found a room available. I'm not entirely sure what I would have done without their help, but they were pretty much the nicest people ever (and kept calling me "mama" which was kind of adorable), and eventually I was able to get a room at the Sunbury House. It's very cozy and filled with all sorts of cool antique-y looking furniture, and the people who run it are extremely nice. I kind of want to crawl into the lap of the large woman who runs the place, Christine, and listen to her speak Xhosa and laugh.

I slept for about 16 hours last night, which was amazing, and then had a delicious breakfast here at the Sudbury House (cooked by Christine). Then I went out and explored 7th Ave, which has a bunch of really cool restaurants and shops. I've already decided that there's no way I'm going to be able to fit all the things I want to buy while I'm here into the luggage I brought.. so I'm not really sure how that's going to work out. I needed to buy an adapter (unfortunately none of the 7 different ones I brought were the right kind) and a nice man told me where to find a nearby shopping mall (apparently malls are all the rage around here). After a nice walk through the town in the sunshine I found the mall, bought some food goodies at Woolworth's, which was just like a Marks & Spencer (Alie and Mom, you would love it), found adapters at a pharmacy, and bought a fleece sweatshirt thing at a store called "Pick n Pay" which felt eerily EXACTLY like an Old Navy. Then I came back to the guesthouse, and now I'm planning on lounging by the pool here for the afternoon and doing some reading.

Not sure what my plan is for tomorrow, but I have to be at the airport by 8:45 pm to catch my flight to Cape Town. Jim (friend from HLS who is already in CT and is also working at the Open Democracy Advice Centre) just told me he's reserving four scooters for him, David, Hirsh (other HLS friends who are also staying at our hotel in CT) and me for Saturday so we can take a day trip cruising down the Coast. Can't wait to get there!

Love, Cary