This is Africa

Distance Traveled: 1,174 miles
Total Time of Travel: 29 hours
Average Altitude: 38,000 feetSpeed: 500 mi/h

I finally arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa today after 2 long plane rides. The first was 5 hours, followed by a 5 hour stay at the airport in Washington D.C., and the second was 17 hours with a 2 hour wait for refueling in Senegal. I’m so tired of sitting! We got 3 meals, but it felt so weird because I wasn’t hungry at the appropriate time. We left Azusa at 2 am Thursday and arrived here in Africa at 5:30 pm Friday. Throughout those 29 hours I slept here and there, but I don’t think I’ve had more than 5 hours of sleep total, so I’m exhausted, but it was all worth it.

The first thing I saw at the airport was the soccer mania going on in Johannesburg. There’s yellow signs everywhere announcing the FIFAWorld Cup 2010, and there are pictures of soccer balls everywhere. Visa has signs that say, Fans Welcome, and there’s a cool sign that says “Y’elio”. I don’t know what that means yet, but I know it’s soccer-related. The second thing I noticed was that the cars are on the wrong side of the road. I kept expecting to see cars on the other side and freaked out when I didn’t see anyone in the driver seat of a car, but then I realized that was the passenger side.

We had dinner today at a restaurant with a menu including snails, monkey gland sauce, and chips (which are actually French fries….chips are called crisps). While waiting for the check, we learned what one of our local South African leaders meant when he used the expression T.I.A. (this is Africa). Africa is a lot more slow-paced than the U.S. and things go wrong all the time, but people just say “T.I.A.”, let’s just enjoy life. So, I’m tired, confused with the time difference, scared to plug in my computer into the weird electricity adapter they have, and nervous for the months to come, but “T.I.A.”, this is Africa, and it’s going to be a great trip.