After 40 total hours in transit, I'm finally in South Africa!
The flight itself was calm and quiet. A little bit of turbulence here and there, but honestly, the ride to JFK in the car was bumpier. (Good job, Devery.) I was so tired that I slept through takeoff...I can imagine what I looked like when the flight attendants walked by...an unkempt, drooling hot mess. And with all the comments about airline food that I've heard over the years, I must say this time around the food was actually very good; though I may be biased since I love love LOVE Indian food.
I landed, picked up my bags, and expected to see just my father waiting for me; instead there was an entire party there, consisting of my sister Faith, her husband, son, daughter, and nephew, my sister Jackie, and my brother Vusi and his wife and daughter. It's a good thing they recognized me right away, because let me tell you, I would have not known to look for that many people!
The last seven days have been quite interesting. First of all, it's quite a task to get used to a sleeping in a time zone that's six hours ahead of what you're used to...let's just say thank God for Tylenol PM. Then of course there's the weather...a week ago I was literally melting away, and now I'm pulling out the sweaters, scarves, and gloves. It doesn't seem to get terribly cold here; I'd say it's equivalent to Autumn in the US.
Then of course I have to get used to thinking in South African Rands and not dollars; Celsius instead of Fahrenheit, and a bunch of metric measurements that I previously thought of as, well, useless. I have conversations with people and then realize that I have to translate all of these things to terms they'll easily understand. And speaking of tranaslating....
This country has 11 official languages. Yes, eleven. Seriously. Everyone I've met so far does speak English, but it's funny when people walk up to me, expecting me to be able to speak Zulu (which makes sense, since I look like a native), and I have to say, "No, no; English, please; I'm from overseas." i should soon be able to start picking upon Zulu pretty easily though. In the meantime I'm learning new words for things--traffic lights here are called "robots," for instance.
It's a bit scary to see people driving on the (wrong) left side of the road. I'll be sitting there in the passenger seat (on the [wrong] left side of the car) , just looking out the window, and turn my eyes back to the road suddenly, and think "OMG that car is going to HIT us! OMGOMGOMGOM...oh wait, never mind." Once you get past that, though, the traffic laws are basically the same.
It is interesting to be here, though, since the political climate is growing and adapting almost everyday. This is a relatively young democracy, so it's a privilege to be here while it's taking shape.
Upcoming events include: getting identity papers sorted out, opening a bank account, getting a driver's license (after taking multiple courses to ensure my adjustment to left-side driving), finding my way around, adjusting to cooking on a Celsius scale, and starting work.
This week, started off with a bang. The 16th of June is Youth Day in South Africa, commemorating the same day in 1976 when high school students in the township of Soweto protested for better education, and memorializes those who lost their lives in the struggle against apartheid and inferior education. Similar to the American holiday of Memorial Day, rallies and celebrations are held across the country, and families and friends visit the nations parks and game preserves and have braiis (barbecues--see? I'm already sounding like an African). So my father and I met up with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, and two nephews (who are 17 and 18, respectively--kinda weird having nephews only a few years younger than yourself) at the Suikerbosrand Nature Reserve. It was a beautiful, relaxed day of food, fun, family, and national history. Later on in the afternoon, after eating and playing a few games, we decided to take the scenic two-hour drive through the park, which was beautiful (pictures at the end of this entry). There weren't many animals out and about during the day, since there were so many people around, but I did get to see some baboons, zebras, and gazelles. As it got darker, and people started leaving, the gazelles drifted towards the road. Naturally, I and my nephew took pictures, but between the flashes of the cameras and the car headlights, I think we angered one buck (male gazelle). We were driving along later on, maybe about 15 minutes, when I happened to glance out the window, saw a flash of fur, heard my nephew scream in the backseat, and felt an impact on the rear of the car--the same buck had apparently hunted us down, and hit us! We were told it was mating season for the gazelles, at which point they become extremely territorial. Thankfully no one was hurt except for the car, but still--yikes!
The rest of the week was spent riding around town with my father to his various QuickBooks clients and helping them sort out their problems. Apparently his regular customers have heard all about me, so it was fun to actually be there in person--a face and an American accent to match the stories. WE even sampled some of the local cuisine, which is surprisingly diverse. But of course, there's still McDonald's, which, ironic as it might be, actually makes me feel a little bit more at home.
So what did we learn today, Yati?
You can travel halfway around the world, but eventually, a deer will still hit your car, and eating McDonald's will still land you in the bathroom all afternoon.
Picture time!
The view from my window on the plane:
My father and brother-in-law:
Sunset/Scenery at Suikerbosrand!
The beast that hit us:
The Damage:
