Last Day in London

For my last day in London before heading to South Africa, I returned to Oxford circus to shop. I didn’t have much time between waking up and heading to the airport, so I just made a few quick stops to the places I had missed the times before. It was very nice. There are such cool shops down there that don’t exist in the United States. Those are always the most fun to visit. I also adventured to the post office to send of some gifts and it ended up being a nightmare. I arrived just before a huge crowd came, so you’d think my trip would have gone quickly; of course not! The man ended up taking FOREVER, and then when he asked me how I wanted to pay, he told me they didn’t accept American Visas. In Europe the cards all have this chip on the front of them, and instead of sliding the card like we do, they stick it into a short hole so that only that top portion of the card tall-wise is read. We don’t have that, so I have often found myself in trouble because some of the stores only have Visa machines geared towards European card with this special chip that we don’t have. And of course I didn’t have enough Pounds on me. So, I had to go to an atm machine to see if I could get cash; didn’t work. It was also pouring rain by this time and I was wearing nothing but a thin t-shirt and was getting drenched. I was so worried and couldn’t figure out why the machine hadn’t worked! Since there are cash exchanges on every block, I ran to the nearest one only to find out that they only had Visa machines for European cards. So, I headed to the HSBC bank just around the corner, to find out that they only do cash exchanges with HSBC account holders. Fabulous! I didn’t really know what to do next, so I tried the next two atm machines I found. Atm machines in London are everywhere! They are on the walls of streets on every corner, but they are slightly unsafe because there are no barriers to hide against snooping passer-bys like in the United States; they are just flat on the wall. Both of the next atm machines I tried didn’t work either and that was my last straw. I was soaking wet and had ran up and down the block looking for cash and couldn’t find it anywhere! I finally stuck my card back into the same machine to try to figure out why every one of them was declining me (each had said, “sorry, we cannot complete your order at this time”). I then figured out that atm machines in London only let you withdrawl up to 20 pounds at a time, even though they give you an option of up to 200 pounds to select! If you want more, you have to make your transaction, get your card returned, and start all over again until you finally have the amount you need. That is completely unnecessary and really annoying when you’re standing in the pouring rain. When I had finally gotten my cash, I returned to the post office only to find the worker helping somebody else, which took 15 minutes! I was running so late, and had ALL of my luggage with me; three bags weighing a total of 90 pounds. I could barely walk and it was the worst ever. It took me a very long time to make it all the way to the tube station and then down all of the escalators and to the entrance of my gate. I finally made it and then ran into more trouble at the airport. The check-in lady told me that my flight was full, even though I was booked for that flight! She figured it out for me, and since they had made an error, she found a spot for me on my original flight, didn’t charge me for my extra bag, and upgraded me to first class. I was so happy because I had just went through great ordeals and was about to get quite upset. And of course it couldn’t have stayed lovely; once we were all boarded, the pilot got on the intercom and told us the plane was having some technical problems that were trying to be fixed. We waited on the plane for an hour and a half, only to end up getting unloaded from the plane, which I am currently still waiting for. We were told either this plane will be fixed, or another will be available for our use. They are estimating a four to five hour wait, which is horrible. I am missing my connection flight from Johannesburg to Durban, and am now going to have a very late and long night. I have been sick for the past two days—my body is trying to adjust to all of the smog and pollution in the air here, and it’s not going so well. That’s making me extra tired on top of my jet lag that conveniently started to hit at the same time. I’m just sitting at my Heathrow gate waiting to find out what’s going to happen. Overall, pretty miserable day. I am exhausted and just want to rest already. I am crossing my fingers that something good will happen soon. I am so thrilled to be in South Africa. I am getting picked up by my local coordinator for Durban, Maureen, as well as the escort that will drive us to and from the hospitals each day. In South Africa as a sign of respect, most elders are referred to as aunty or uncle, so my driver is referred to as Uncle Roy. They will both drop me off to meet my host family, the Nxele’s. Zola and her husband Vusi are both school teachers. They have three children, 19 year old Mzamo, 17 year old Luyanda, and 13 year old Minenhle. As I am not South African, I do not have the capacity to differentiate gendered named, so I will find that out when I meet them! I have heard that they are great though, and I am anxious to finally arrive.