Friday, January 30, 2009
I arrived safely to Port Elizabeth today. Leaving Minnesota and arriving here felt like “the longest day ever.” The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was about eight hours but four of us sat together and I occupied the first half of the flight by playing Caveman (like pac man). After winning ALL 25 levels I have felt quite accomplished (when I went to Australia in the summer of 2004 I had tried to accomplish every level and was unsuccessful) so I decided to leave the Congratulations on the screen for the rest of the flight! For the rest of the trip I played pass the pig, talked and slept.
In Amsterdam airport we walked around and we stopped at a little coffee shop. The lay over was only about 3 hours so it was not too bad.
The next flight to Johannesburg was l0 and a half hours. It was long. We did not have personal TVs like on the previous flight but they did show movies. I slept for quite a bit, journaled, colored and read but the highlight of the flight was towards then end when they showed High School Musical 3!
In Johannesburg we had an overnight hour layover. We couldn’t check our luggage because we were one of the last flights to come so everything was closed down. We should have been sleeping because it was night in Port Elizabeth, but sleeping on the linoleum with all our luggage proved rather difficult. I was successful for about 20 minutes though J So we talked on Talkie and played Kings in the Corner and Catch Phrase. We also met a young man from Iowa who played games with us.
It felt like forever to get our tickets and bags checked in on the flight to PE. But the flight was nice and short and I could see Africa out the window! We watched a short cartoon video about safety features and it was very entertaining, much better then the one showed in the states. Then they had a silent video for our viewing pleasure, but I think it would have been better with sound. We arrived, got our bags and met our director Gary and Vilma who brought us to Langerry.
Gary had us go grocery almost right away. It was a bit overwhelming because we only had a half an hour and no idea what we wanted to eat. It’s also weird because I am not moving into my own room until Saturday. In the meantime I am living with five other girls whose fifth roommate isn’t arriving until then. I like that I am not living by myself but it’s a bit frustrating since I am not able to move in and unpack.
We walked around the beach and I went for a run with Amy, enough time for me to get sunburned, but thankfully not as sunburned as most other people. I took a short nap and started this journal. I also found out that we do not have unlimited internet access as the flats like they had last year and we had anticipated this year. It is like $6 an hour so, unfortunately I will not be on facebook or skype nearly as much as I thought, so I would love some snail mail! But if you do facebook or e-mail me, don’t expect an immediate response.
That night we all went to dinner together and I had sirloin and calamari. The exchange rate here is amazing though – all 14 of us ate for under $150! After dinner we stopped by Toby Joe’s a place where they hung out a lot last year but it closing down on Sunday. However, it is rumored to re-open in a new location in about a month. We came back and went to bed early.
I arrived safely to Port Elizabeth today. Leaving Minnesota and arriving here felt like “the longest day ever.” The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was about eight hours but four of us sat together and I occupied the first half of the flight by playing Caveman (like pac man). After winning ALL 25 levels I have felt quite accomplished (when I went to Australia in the summer of 2004 I had tried to accomplish every level and was unsuccessful) so I decided to leave the Congratulations on the screen for the rest of the flight! For the rest of the trip I played pass the pig, talked and slept.
In Amsterdam airport we walked around and we stopped at a little coffee shop. The lay over was only about 3 hours so it was not too bad.
The next flight to Johannesburg was l0 and a half hours. It was long. We did not have personal TVs like on the previous flight but they did show movies. I slept for quite a bit, journaled, colored and read but the highlight of the flight was towards then end when they showed High School Musical 3!
In Johannesburg we had an overnight hour layover. We couldn’t check our luggage because we were one of the last flights to come so everything was closed down. We should have been sleeping because it was night in Port Elizabeth, but sleeping on the linoleum with all our luggage proved rather difficult. I was successful for about 20 minutes though J So we talked on Talkie and played Kings in the Corner and Catch Phrase. We also met a young man from Iowa who played games with us.
It felt like forever to get our tickets and bags checked in on the flight to PE. But the flight was nice and short and I could see Africa out the window! We watched a short cartoon video about safety features and it was very entertaining, much better then the one showed in the states. Then they had a silent video for our viewing pleasure, but I think it would have been better with sound. We arrived, got our bags and met our director Gary and Vilma who brought us to Langerry.
Gary had us go grocery almost right away. It was a bit overwhelming because we only had a half an hour and no idea what we wanted to eat. It’s also weird because I am not moving into my own room until Saturday. In the meantime I am living with five other girls whose fifth roommate isn’t arriving until then. I like that I am not living by myself but it’s a bit frustrating since I am not able to move in and unpack.
We walked around the beach and I went for a run with Amy, enough time for me to get sunburned, but thankfully not as sunburned as most other people. I took a short nap and started this journal. I also found out that we do not have unlimited internet access as the flats like they had last year and we had anticipated this year. It is like $6 an hour so, unfortunately I will not be on facebook or skype nearly as much as I thought, so I would love some snail mail! But if you do facebook or e-mail me, don’t expect an immediate response.
That night we all went to dinner together and I had sirloin and calamari. The exchange rate here is amazing though – all 14 of us ate for under $150! After dinner we stopped by Toby Joe’s a place where they hung out a lot last year but it closing down on Sunday. However, it is rumored to re-open in a new location in about a month. We came back and went to bed early.
YAY randome people from Iowa :-D
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