Interesting Adventures

I have finally arrived!! Pretty much as soon as I stopped writing my last post, we were able to get back on the airplane and head to Johannesburg. I didn’t expect to arrive to another disaster, however. I had missed my connection flight from Johannesburg to Durban by quite a few hours and was expecting to just be put on the next flight out. Not how things work here! A man that worked at the airport offered to help me with my bags, and directed me to go visit the South African Airways desk. But, SA Airlines told me they couldn’t help me because I didn’t have a valid ticket any longer. I was directed to visit their ticket sales office, where I was told I needed to buy a new ticket. Missing my flight was completely in the hands of British Airways, so I had to go see them to get my ticket paid for. At first, B.A. told me that I would simply have to buy a new ticket, and I refused because I shouldn’t have to pay for their mistake. The guy who told me this was in training and apparently didn’t know that they had to fix everyone’s connection flight because they were the reason we missed them. The airlines in Africa use very old computers; they were typing in codes to get to the right pages. This took forever! By the time I had my ticket worked out two hours had already gone by. It was long enough having to visit so many different places to get this fixed, but as I was told, African time is very different than American time. They work very relaxed with no rush; I am not adjusted to this slower lifestyle yet. And, my flight wasn’t for another two hours! There was so much waiting today! My feet and ankles had swollen A LOT from the long flights, plus I had a huge bruise on the top of one of my feet from dropping my 50 pound suitcase on it, and a blister on the top of the other. Instead of walking onto your plane from the airport like we do, in Africa you are taken in a bus to a place on the grounds where the airplane is parked, and then you climb the stairs to get into it. I met the nicest couple while waiting for the plane, and found out that coincidentally enough, they were also seated right next to me on the plane. They taught me some Zulu, the native language of Durban besides English, and I found out that we had many similarities. Her husband was a University teacher and also worked through the government. He has been to every state in the U.S. and has taught at over 20 Universities across the country, including UCSD, Yale, and UW. He now teaches at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where I am also coincidentally ‘enrolled’ during my stay as to have access to the medical library and facilities. It was a good introduction to South Africa for me. The flight was very quick, an hour at the most. Marion and her husband were waiting there for me; Uncle Roy couldn’t come anymore because of how much later I arrived than originally planned. The sweet couple I met embraced me goodbye and told me to contact them if I needed anything at all. Miles, the other UW student on the internship with me, was arriving only 30 minutes later, so we waited for him at the airport. The drive from the airport to both of our home stays was five minutes, and our houses are very close to each other. I got to meet Miles’ host family, who are very nice, and then I was dropped off at mine. My family is great as well. Zola’s children are all boys, and they all look exactly the same, with the same humorous nature. The whole family was so welcoming, which made me feel so much better; this has been a really emotionally challenging week for me. The father, Vusi, welcomed me ‘home’ and told me to let them know what they can do to make me feel comfortable. He told me to beat up my ‘brothers’ if they give me trouble. I think I will have a great time here. I have been here for 2 hours and am amazed at the vast differences I have already noticed. I am so tired from all of my travels, but will expand more along with my happenings tomorrow. Sala Kahle! (Zulu used for departing, meaning go and stay well)