Back in South Africa

Again... I'm behind this happened about 2 weeks ago...

And I’m back in South Africa- extremely tired. My arrival at the Dallas airport was harkened by the news that my flight would be three hours late leaving because it was flying around a line of tornados (despite the deceiving screen display which said it was on-time.) No problem for me; Julie, Mom and I looked at pictures of Africa and when it got to be a bit much, old pictures of family that I have on my computer. I was not the only one stuck in this predicament, as an elderly lady was also flying back to SA, as she had one day left on her visa. We ended up going through the same hoops in Atlanta, realizing when the gate opened 6 hours after our arrival (and her first burrito) that we actually were flying standby on a full flight… which was quite annoying. I wouldn’t have minded the 12 hour layover in Paris, but a full flight. If I had known, I would have stayed in Dallas a day longer and taken the first flight out, instead of waiting in Atlanta airport for a day, and then realizing that I wouldn’t be leaving. She ended up being able to get on the flight, so after standing in front of an attendant who seemed to think I was irate when I asked her what kind of options I had (she had been typing into the computer for about 3 minutes before I asked) I headed off to my hotel with the other standby passengers, luckily with my laptop and the boon of a free travel kit courtesy of Delta airlines.

I made the best of the showers (running water!!) and the free wireless (I acquired a Hero’s addiction on the other side of the Atlantic) and managed to at least keep my family and Julie up to date.

The next day consisted of me waiting around in the airport- some of the staff at the restaurants even recognized me!- and then boarding my plane to South Africa 24 hours after I should have. Oh well, such is life. If there is one thing I’ve learned from being a Peace Corps Volunteer it is to be flexible… and that it helps to be patient at times.

Again, there is a silver lining to everything, even long-distance flights. Now planes have dozens of movies for you to see, so a movie-starved person such as myself, saw movies I never really thought I’d ever spend money to see (27 dresses, I am Legend, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, an episode of Scrubs, etc.) The free drinks (even alcohol) help as does the refreshment stand in the back, that is… until you are asked to leave. That incident took place on my way to the states, as my neighbor (a Park Ranger going from South Africa to Alaska) and I probably spend a good hour there and then other people wanted to join us. We promptly returned to our seats and began playing a quiz game against each other, the young lady who composes songs for South African television, and some person in seat 41A who didn’t supply us with a name. It was also on that first flight that I met the US Ambassador to Swaziland.

But yes, I’m back in South Africa… and tired. There is a rugby match going on in a stadium just around the block, but I’m too tired to go, which means I’m really tired. Trying to fight jet-lag… good night.