Monday, January 2, 2012

I made it!

As far as finding gates and such, so far the voyage has been pretty uneventful, which I can't complain about. My luggage didn't get lost either (there were a few whose had been left in DC).  I first felt the culture change before we even arrived in Senegal.  When I approached the South African Airlines check-in at my gate in DC, I saw several Africans, one in particular that stood out.  He was a tall 25-30 year old man decked out in what appeared to be traditional African dress, complete with a robe-looking thing, huge chunky snake-skin jewelry, and dread locks.  The flights were extremely long but 2 days later I have made it!  I passed the time by watching movies, sleeping, talking with the people around me, and enjoying the complimentary South African wine.  I spoke with a woman who was originally from Zambia, moved to the US by herself when she was 24, and was returning to Zambia to see her family for the first time in 26 years.  A few small things pleased me a bit more than my plane-mates: the music selection before/during/after the flights = great African-style music, and when the new flight attendants boarded in Senegal, they were wearing shorts and tee-shirts--I left wearing sandals when it was snowing in MN, so I was ready for the warm weather!  My first sighting of the ocean was on the way out from Senegal.  What a view!! 

When I made it to the King Shaka Airport in Johannesburg, I was a little nervous because I have heard that it is not the safest of places.  Talking with some of the people around me on the plane, when they heard it was my first time to Africa they immediately responded with, "Oh... be careful.  It is not the United States."  As my dad had warned, as soon as I entered the crowded part of the airport, a man started asking me where I was going next, when my next flight leaves, etc.  He was clearly trying to read the tags on my bags and started leading me through the airport while grabbing the handle of my suitcase.  When I refused to let go of it, he disappeared quickly.  Though he was wearing an airport uniform, I am not entirely sure that he was a worker at the airport because the actual airport workers tended to be incredibly laid-back and did not interfere with you unless you walked up to them.  I can already tell that things move MUCH slower here in South Africa. 

I met my cab driver, Michael, in Durban.  He escaped the war in Rwanda and has been living here in Durban for 14 years.  He told me all about his wedding last year and he was proud to show me pictures of his 2 month old daughter on his phone while he was driving.  We came to a checkpoint in the road on the way to the hotel and the young man taking the money looked at me and said "I have cows."  We continued to drive and I asked Michael what that meant exactly and he explained that when a man likes what he sees in a woman, he will say, "I have cows," or, "I have 10 (or any number of) cows," because in Africa, it is customary that when a man marries, he must pay the wife a certain number of cows.  Michael said that he paid 11 cows to his wife last year for their wedding.

After two full days of nothing but airline food, I am excited for the hotel breakfast tomorrow.

1 comment:

  1. Several people have asked me or Dad if we are preparing for you wedding. They also wonder how many cows we'll be acquiring for you.

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