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We were up early this morning to all shower and get ready in the morning. Tonya came into our room to say goodbye to us, and Bonnie gave everyone hugs. We went downstairs to say goodbye to Enice and Hazel and that is when the tears started to come down. We gave hugs and Q came over to see us all off. He waited with us for our ride from Lucky Taxi and I was crying so much saying goodbye to him. Every time I looked at Q, I would start to cry, and I just couldn’t talk to him because it made me so sad. He helped us pack our things into the Kombis and he gave all of us a hug and then stood on the curb and waved us as we drove away. Ugh! It made me so sad saying goodbye to him. As we were leaving he told us, “It’s just like you girls are going away for the weekend and you will be back on Monday and I’ll see you then. It’s “see ya later” not goodbye.” He always puts things so nice and makes you feel better about things. The plan is that we will see him again because he is planning on coming to Minnesota to visit hopefully this summer before he gets tired down with things. That would be so much fun…we already started a list of things that we could do when he comes to visit.
We got to the airport in PE and had our bags saran wrapped so people couldn’t break into them, then off we went for checking our bags, I was so worried that my bags were going to be overweight…but I didn’t get an overweight tag and I didn’t have to pay extra money for the bags which was a pleasant surprise! We got through security and we sat in the airport for three hours waiting for take off. On the flight to Jo’burg, I sat with Leslie and Christy right in the middle of the two. The flight was an hour and a half and then we made it to Jo’burg and we made the confusing walk through the airport there. It’s a good thing that we got lost there when we came to South Africa because we knew exactly where we had to be going! We waited to check in with Delta and then we did our Vat tax refund and I got back almost $100 from the taxes that I spent in South Africa. After getting our money we grabbed sandwiches and I got a pepperoni sandwich and it was delicious. We were told that we couldn’t exchange our Rand at the bank in the airport so rather than worrying about it, I did a little more shopping at a few stores in the airport and I spent the exact amount of Rand that I had left! We were able to leave Jo’burg an hour earlier than scheduled. Laura, Kasy, and I sat across the aisle from each other. I sat next to a very friendly man from Juno, Alaska and we talked for quite a while on the trip, exchanging stories about our African trips (he was in the Congo and Botswana) and we talked about nursing and my clinical experience. I learned that he is a writer and his third book was published and released last Sunday and he has interviews all next week in New York. It was neat talking to him about it, and he wrote down the names of his three books for me to check out. One of them is a memoir about his travel experiences in a humorous light. The other two books are about World War II. We were lucky on this flight because we all had personal televisions on our seats! I definitely got my use out of the TV. I watched many movies on the flight to Dakar (Georgia Rule, License to Wed, Hairspray, The Office, My Name is Earl, and I played a game and listened to some music.) I managed to stay awake for the flight to Dakar, only sleeping for 45 minutes. We arrived in Dakar at 2:10am (South African time…about seven hours after leaving Jo’burg). Then we stayed on the plane to refuel and have security come through and we were back in the air an hour and a half later. I took a Tylenol PM for this flight because I wanted to get some sleep. I slept for about three hours on this flight, and ended up watching more movies (I Now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry, Harry Potter IV, Evan Almighty, and part of Surf’s Up). When I was stretching my legs in the back by the bathroom, I was asked by a random man, “Do you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior?” and for 15 minutes I was given a speech about the Bible and religion and his beliefs (he asked me if I knew what the Bible was). Finally the bathroom was my turn and I was able to escape…I was not in the mood for that conversation at 5:00am.
The plane ride was dark the entire time from leaving Jo’burg which was nice because it meant that we weren’t trying to sleep with the sun coming in, and the sun only started to rise when we were coming into Atlanta. We arrived at Atlanta at 7:35am after 9 hours and 20 minutes of flying from Dakar! We got our bags and went through Customs in Atlanta and had a three hour layover. Kasy and I went to get coffee and cinnamon rolls and it was so strange playing with things in American dollars, and seeing prices cheap and not in the Rand! We changed clothes and freshened up in the bathrooms and were on our way on the final of the four flights back to Minnesota! We were told that we are supposed to get a big snow storm tomorrow…and that there is snow at home! It blows my mind tha I am going home to that cold weather! Fortunately, when we took off in Atlanta we were able to see the trees and their colors change, so we experienced Autumn for about 30 seconds!
Now, I am sitting on the plane typing away and counting down the minutes until I am home in Minnesota and able to see my family! Mom and Dane are going to be at the airport to see me and Marcus is going to meet us at home when he is done with classes. We are going to go out for Mexican at Pablos tonight for dinner because I have such a craving for Mexican food…I haven’t eaten it since the night before I left for South Africa! I can’t wait and I am so darn excited! Only an hour and a half left on this flight and I’ll be home! I am so excited right now. But is’ strange because I’m sitting in the window seat looking out at the towns below and seeing American soil, but I am listening to my South African music….you can take the girl out of South Africa, but you can’t take South Africa out of the girl I guess. I am over the sadness of leaving SA…it’s just that I am going to miss Q and all of he other people I met so much, and that is what made leaving so darn difficult! But we have internet, Facebook, and all of the other wonderful ways to communicate! That’s about all that I have for right now…Minnesota, here I come!
I woke up at 6:30 this morning and I couldn’t fall back asleep, so I read my book for an hour and finished it! I started another book (seriously I have been getting so much reading done on this trip…I love it!). The sun was shining, so I made my way down to the market to get my things from Cassius and the animals were fantastic! He is so creative and artistic! I can’t wait to show people what I got on this trip! I said goodbye to my Rasta friend Chris who I bought too many paintings from! When I got back from the market I went straight to the roof to tan and the weather was B E A U T I F U L ! ! ! I was able to lay out for two hours, then grabbed a quick lunch of yogurt and granola and then went back to tan for another hour. Warren stopped over and he invited us for a drink at Captains so we all got dressed and met him and is friends for a drink at Captains one last time. On the walk back, Christy and I went down to the beach to take pictures and walk in the sand and in the water one last time. The water was so warm! When I got back to the flat we had a manicure station set up and Laura painted everyone’s nails and gave hand massages! It was wonderful! Around 6:00, Q came over and we all hung out for a bit, he helped me make a video for when I do my presentation at St. Wence. He demonstrated the clicks and talks in Xhosa for the camera! At 7:00 the five of us girls took Q out for dinner and we went to Leonardo’s for pizza. Q had never been there and it was delicious! We all had a great time sharing four pizzas and drinking sangrias! We came home and said bye to Q on the doorstep and he promised that he will be awake to send us off in the morning. We watched a movie on TV and did our last bits of packing. It’s not time for me to go to bed on my last night in South Africa. It has been such a strange day because it doesn’t feel like I am leaving PE and SA. I am going through the same feelings that I had when I was leaving the States and coming here…I felt like it wasn’t happening until I got on the airplane, so right now, I am in denial and pretending that I am able to stay. It’s not so much the going away and leaving the country that makes me sad, but it’s the saying goodbye to Q and the other friends that we have made here. Tomorrow I am sure that I will be all tears when we say goodbye to him. Its such a strange emotion trying to explain my excitement to come home and see family, give out my presents, and find the perfect place for all of my decorations yet at the same time I want to bring home the other things that I am going to miss, like the sound of the ocean at 4:00 in the morning when there are no cars and no people out on the streets (which lasts about five minutes, but it is still worth listening for the crashing waves from the flat), the walk to Captains for Thursday Night Trivia, Q coming over just to sit around and chat, and being surrounded by my eight new best girlfriends. That is probably going to be the most difficult to give up because we won’t be living together anymore and it is going to be so strange not having them all around…not sharing rooms with, meals with, kombi rides to class, going to class and then coming home and everything in between. Ugh! It’s so bittersweet. But I am going to go to bed before I start to cry and not want to leave! I can’t wait to see everyone! Love to all and I’ll be home soon!
Today we spent some time on the roof when the sun finally came out. It was crummy and windy in the morning, so the market was closed and I needed to go there to pick things up from a guy who was making a special order for me of bead animals. Hopefully it will be nice tomorrow and I can get it then! We tanned on the roof until the sun disappeared behind the clouds and it started to rain. Leslie and I went to Captains for lunch and we were the only people there! It was strange seeing the place empty! Lunch was great and we will have leftovers for dinner! I packed my suitcases today and everything fit which was a huge surprise! I couldn’t believe that all of my clothes and gifts could fit into my suitcases! We watched movies before going to bed as a group…and Leslie and I made an ice cream run one last time!
It was raining today…bummer! Actually the weather was really wacky today because it would be overcast, then sunny and hot, then the wind would pick up, and then it would pour down. This weather cycled continuously throughout the day today. Leslie and I went down to the market but it was too windy so our bead guy wasn’t there to give us the statues that he made for us. Bummer! I hope that he is back tomorrow. Laura and I walked to the boardwalk to use the internet and of course the CSB site didn’t work. So that was a waste of money! Oh well, we took a Kombi back because it was raining (our last ride of the trip). We all sat in the flat today and watched movies, worked on videos, and just hung out. Q came over and spent the afternoon with us just talking. We went out to dinner at Mediterranean with Tonya and her family (Bill and Bonnie)! It was very yummy (as usual). We had a fun dinner and the conversations were funny! Overall, it was a good night. When we got back from dinner, Q came over again and had a beer with us as we sat in the living room watching a really bad movie with no plot and we talked. We tried convincing him that he should come to Minnesota to visit us next summer!
This morning was absolutely gorgeous! We put on the swimsuits and tank tops and hit the market! I was only going to buy a few more things, but I bought two more paintings, a beaded bowl, earrings and a finger piano. Oh well, that will be the last time that I get to go there and I wanted to make sure that I had everything that I wanted and needed! When we got back to Langerry, we hit the roof for 2 ½ hours and we got very tan (and a tad burnt). This was pretty much the extent of our day and night…just being lazy because we are on vacation!
This morning I was up and ready for another lazy day. I spent the morning working on my video and reading my book. The car people came and picked up the car and I had a few things to tell them about their services in regards to miscommunication and their lack of explaining things to their clients. But it was all sorted out, and even better the sun came out! Leslie and I went up to the roof and the other three came up to join us. We spent two hours soaking in the sun, reading, and sleeping while tanning. The five of us got all dressed up for dinner at Blue Waters. I actually ordered something different than the chicken stir fry…I had the venison stroganoff and it was delicious! We came back to the flat to put our leftovers in the refrigerator and we hung out for a bit until Q came over and said that he would come out with us for a bit! Today in PE in the bay was a big music festival and there are people all over the streets jamming to music in their parked cars, and crowding the streets to get into the bars and clubs. We went to Virtual Sports and sure enough Kyle and Mava were there. We danced with Kyle and Q for quite a bit and then we saw our German friend there too (I still have yet to learn and remember his name!). We danced for a few hours and shared too many laughs about one girl who just hopped from guy to guy dancing! Warren was also out, so we had to take a bunch of pictures as a group since it might be the last time all of us are together. When we were out on the outdoor patio, Q and I were talking and he put his arm around me and said, “Lady Leah, when you get back home to Minnesota, you are going to find the most perfect guy and you are going to fall in love. And he is going to be so nice and treat you so well and when you find him, you will think of me and what I’m saying right now. You have such a great personality and you are so beautiful and you will be so happy. I know that it’s hard for you to be around all of the girls when they talk about their boyfriends and get to see them when you get home, but it will happen for you.” Seriously, I am going to miss him so much…Tusie is such a lucky girl! By 1:30, Christy Laura and I were tired and we walked back home. I called Dad to tell him about the Durban trip and Q cam back with the girls and we all talked for a bit. It’s now 2:30am and I am calling it a night! I am very excited for tomorrow because it is the last market day! I hope that the weather is nice!
I slept in until 10:00 this morning! It was absolutely fabulous! It was a bummer that it was raining though and we couldn’t sit out on the beach…I was hoping for sunshine the rest of the trip to get as tan as I possibly can before coming home. Rather than going out we stayed in and were really lazy. At 12:30 Christy and I drove the other three girls to go and get their hair done, and while they were getting beautified, we went grocery shopping and to the internet café…which as so slow, I waited 15 minutes and my email couldn’t even open up. We bought some food and ingredients for spaghetti casserole and salads. We also stopped at the bakery and we bought cake for the Langerry staff to enjoy as a thank you from all of us for all of their help during our stay here. At 3:00 Christy and I went back and picked the girls up and they looked so darn cute! All of their hairstyles were different than when we dropped them off and they looked so pretty! It made me really excited to go and get mine done when I get home…I can’t wait! The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on my journals and watching movies with Christy. We watched Rent, Pretty Woman, and one with Denzel Washington. I made dinner for everyone and we had a “family” dinner together! I was able to call home and talk to mom and tell her about my trip to Durban and now I am going to go to bed because I am exhausted!
We were up early this morning to all shower and get ready in the morning. Tonya came into our room to say goodbye to us, and Bonnie gave everyone hugs. We went downstairs to say goodbye to Enice and Hazel and that is when the tears started to come down. We gave hugs and Q came over to see us all off. He waited with us for our ride from Lucky Taxi and I was crying so much saying goodbye to him. Every time I looked at Q, I would start to cry, and I just couldn’t talk to him because it made me so sad. He helped us pack our things into the Kombis and he gave all of us a hug and then stood on the curb and waved us as we drove away. Ugh! It made me so sad saying goodbye to him. As we were leaving he told us, “It’s just like you girls are going away for the weekend and you will be back on Monday and I’ll see you then. It’s “see ya later” not goodbye.” He always puts things so nice and makes you feel better about things. The plan is that we will see him again because he is planning on coming to Minnesota to visit hopefully this summer before he gets tired down with things. That would be so much fun…we already started a list of things that we could do when he comes to visit.
