This blog entry finds me in the great country of USA! I have traveled internationally before-farther than Africa, actually… no matter where I go, I always feel a wonderful warm, fuzzy feeling upon returning to this great nation. There are happy tears shed every single time… Honestly, we have much to be thankful for.
I will go back a little over the last couple of days and give you an idea of what I have been up to. The last two days of work were a blur to say the least. Somehow, I managed to get everything done although I literally was working to the 11th hour. We got to the hospital that last day at around 7:45, and we left when I finally finished the last set of materials I had created at 7:15. This trip was definitely not long enough to accomplish all I needed to do there, but I at least gave them a good start. When I went down to the peds unit to give them the resources and say my goodbyes before they all left, they were very appreciative. They told me I need to come back and stay longer next time. They also gave me a lot of travel tips for northern Botswana and Cape Town in South Africa. I would like to see Victoria Falls at some point- if you don’t know what that is and haven’t seen a picture, you should look it up! It’s amazing. Someday I will get there… The nurses and I were talking about PA because they all wanted to know how long the flight was, what the time difference is, what PA is like, and about the weather. *sigh* I told them I would prefer to take the 90 degree days home with me because it’s winter in the US. They said that they know what it’s like because they have winter there too- just opposite of us. Yeah… winter in Africa. I was thinking there is no way it’s as cold there as it is for us, so I asked what their typical low temp is. They told me it’s as cold as -1 degrees… Celsius. For those of you who are mathematically challenged, that’s about 30 degrees F. I said wow… -1 degrees Celsius? Try -1 degrees Fahrenheit! They decided they didn’t like the idea of experiencing that. They also wanted to know about snow, and I told them we have a lot of it- especially the further north you live. They said they can understand why people like to experience the different seasons- a lot of them have never seen snow. : )
In any case, the people really were wonderful, and it was a pleasure to work with/for them. I hope in some small way, I made their situation a little better. Botswana is a great place to visit, and I truly hope I can go back at some point. Speaking of wanting to go back, I discovered a couple of interesting/strange things on this trip that we don’t have/do in the US (that I know of). First of all, for some reason in this part of Africa, they don’t really put a priority on refrigeration. I think I had mentioned the luke-warm yogurt that was often present for breakfast. It was the same with cold cuts (meats and cheeses), any type of deli sandwiches that would usually be in a cooler, some drinks, eggs, and milk! Apparently, they don’t think those things need to be kept cold. It’s very strange. I basically just avoided it all so that I wouldn’t have problems. I also noticed that they don’t have any large quantities of soda anywhere. I wasn’t at one restaurant the whole time where they had a soda machine. They have single cans of everything and bottles of water, and when you order a drink, they bring you one can and a glass with ice. Even when we went to the supermarket, they had single cans- no six packs, no cases. I thought that was so weird. It’s interesting to see the different ways things are done in other countries. I wish I could have brought one of their drinks home with me. It’s a sparkling juice- kind of the same idea as the Welch’s sparking grape juice and apple cider that you have around the holidays, but this is a sparking apple juice. I think the name brand was ceres or something like that. I will have to look it up to try to find some because it was so good! Basically it took my favorite juice and made it even better : ) The simple things in life…
On Thursday night, our last night there, we went out to dinner with some of the gang from the states. We went to a Portuguese restaurant that reminded me of a “ma and pa” Italian place. There was an outside patio with twinkle lights and greenery hanging- very nice atmosphere. We enjoyed some South African wine (I even liked it) and good conversation. At the table behind us were a group of medical students from the U-Penn program where they spend a rotation in Botswana. It was interesting to listen to their take on things- I don’t think they had been there for long yet. The food was good, but the service was pretty slow, so we got back with not much time left to pack. I know this will shock all of you, but I had actually done a lot of it the night before so I would be prepared. Some habits die hard… In any case, Rich and I were up early the next morning to make a second trip to the local game park called Mokolodi before we left on our flight. We stopped on the way to get gas in the new rental car, and I noticed for the first time since I had been there that every gas station still has attendants who fill your tank for you and wash your windows. They will also check your tires and fluids! I didn’t notice the first time we stopped for gas because the girls and I had gone in to buy some snacks. Anyway, the attendants did a good job and had us on the road again in no time. I told Rich my dad had started his working days as a gas station attendant and can still quote his sales pitch line to the customers, “Can I fill it up with super premium, sir?” or something similar. He also tells stories of looking at the pretty ladies through the windshield while he washed it. : ) I appreciated the trip back in time.
We made it to Mokolodi, and this time it was not pouring down rain, so we were able to go on the game drive! We saw some more of the same animals, but we enjoyed ourselves and got a lot more great pictures. The guide told me that she had actually spent a year working at Disney World in Orlando. I learned when we did a backstage tour of Disney that they often make it very worth it to come over from other countries to work there. They offer English classes and other education, they take care of their entire work wardrobe, and they generally offer them a great experience. She confirmed that concept and told me she would definitely return if she was asked. She had worked at the Animal Kingdom as one of the handlers there. (fitting)
Soon after the game drive, we were on our way to the airport, unsure of what security would be like on the way back. It turned out that it was a little more stringent for sure. We spent two hours in Dakar instead of one. I am sure this was mostly due to the increased security for people joining us on the plane. All in all, the trip was fine- no major problems, and I managed to sleep about the same 3-4 hours as I did on the way there. When we made it to Pittsburgh, our dear friends Kate and Bryan and their kids Ethan, Elyse, and Josie were my welcoming committee. They came, complete with signs, to welcome me home. What a great site to see after a long, LONG trip. It was good to be home! This experience has been like no other, and I have learned so much. I hope you feel a little like you were there with me. I look forward to seeing you all and showing you the pictures. Thank you for reading all of this- I know I tend to be detailed at times… For now, I will say goodbye and save the rest of the stories for when I see you! This has been an awesome two weeks… God is good! ~A
Monday, January 18, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Safari #3 and other news
The second drive of the safari was almost as much fun as the first. As I mentioned before, they wake you up a half hour before you are going to leave on the game drive, and that could be anywhere from 4-5am depending on how dark it is. In the summer here, it gets light at about 5am. I think I actually think I got a picture of the clock in the truck saying 5:15 and the sun being completely up. It was interesting to get used to at first. We took off a little after 5 and saw some things on the way that we had seen before, but our target was hippos first thing. We set out on many a narrow road, crashing into bushes and small trees on either side as we went. When we made it to the overlook, we could see 4 hippos lounging in the water below. They were having a floating party that morning- Charles said that when they are mostly on top of the water, it means the air is warmer than the water is. Hippos can hold their breath underwater for about 20 minutes, and they prefer to be in it pretty much at all times whether floating or not. Interesting fact I learned here was that even though hippos are not on the Big 5 dangerous list, they should be! He said more people have been killed by hippos than the animals on the Big 5 list because they get very angry if you get between them and the water. I guess that’s something to keep in mind if you are ever living in the African bush! Oh, and while we are discussing water, I got to see a real-live African watering hole! Some of these things probably sound simple to you, but until you actually see them, you can’t fully appreciate how awesome it is. I have a lot more stories about the animals, but I will just give you one more for now that I think sums up the whole safari idea.
At some point in the morning drive, we came upon some birds that were very upset about something, and Charles said it meant there was a predator nearby. Sure enough, 3 minutes later, we saw a hyena dart out of the bush onto the path and then back in. We continued on the road and literally ran right into a large group of zebras who were grazing. As we stopped to watch them, we noticed another group approaching, and soon we were surrounded by zebras and wildebeests. There were at least a dozen of each, kind of spread out around us. Shortly after that, a couple warthogs stopped by to socialize. It just kept getting better. The icing on the cake for this scene of the African savannah at dawn was the group of 7 (yes, SEVEN) rhinos that decided to join us. I don’t think I can give you enough detail of how cool this was, and my camera batteries had decided to die at that moment, so I decided to just enjoy it instead of rummaging around for new ones. The picture will be etched in my mind for a long time to come. Honestly, it was like something out of a movie. There was still a slight mist in the air, the sun beams were glistening off the leaves that were still wet with dew. There were African birds singing in the background. Off in the distance, we could hear the sounds of impala blowing air through their noses to clear them because they thought they smelled a predator nearby. In front of us, a large assembly of animals, all starting their day together in this beautiful savannah they call home; allowing us, if only for a moment, to participate in their morning, to be part of their world. Amazing… that’s all I can say. Completely amazing.
*Takes a deep breath* I guess when I need to relax after I get home, I will close my eyes and try to remember that scene. I just keep thinking about that verse, “Consider the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more?” I am unfortunately a person who worries. I have gotten better because of Jonathan’s worry elimination training program (that was after his assertiveness training program, which I graduated from with honors), but I still struggle with it more often than not. I guess I need a little more training. One thing this trip has taught me is that God is so much bigger than we allow Him to be. There are so many things He wants to show us, and so many plans He has for us. All we have to do is put things into perspective, remember that He is the same God who made the universe and everything in it, and let Him do what He knows how to do : )
Let’s see… after the safari, we drove back over the border and got back late Sunday morning. Rich went off to the hospital, and I took a well-deserved nap, as I had laid awake all night making sure I heard everything. : ) After my nap, I went outside into the glorious almost 90 degree sun and sat in my bathing suit and shorts to read my book. It was so wonderful to feel the sun on my face, as I am sure I will be going back to near Arctic temperatures. I talked to Jonathan with my international phone that my brother graciously lent me after that, as the internet has still been extremely unreliable at best. In fact, I couldn’t get online at all that day. I basically have given up that quest for the most part and just quickly check my email at the hospital in the morning instead. I decided it wasn’t worth fighting with the computer every night.
The time at the hospital this week has been filled with many things to accomplish. I feel like two weeks wasn’t enough, but I have to focus on all the things I did get done in that time. As far as the latest news, they have opened the outpatient section, but the inpatient part is still waiting for supplies for now. I am not sure what the timeline will be. The good news is that things are going more smoothly, and I think the staff is going to be a great team. Being a part of this project has taught me a lot, even though I have only been a small part!
Although I was sad to see Michele and Marcee go, I have enjoyed spending the week with Rich. It’s not too often that we spend this much time together, so it’s been great. We had an adventure the other morning that was funny after the fact. I know I have mentioned twice Rich the driving through the mud of the bush and narrowly escaping… Well, the rental car got a workout several times over the last couple of weeks traveling to South Africa and back and spending some time on the trails through the game preserve. It has been a valiant steed (as much as a Toyota Camry can be, that is), but on Tuesday morning, it decided it needed a rest. We were driving out of the hotel parking area, and the check engine light came on. We both thought that was odd, as it had cranked just fine and was not behaving strangely, so we continued on. Traffic that day was rough because we had left later than the day before (7:30 instead of 7), so we sat a little more than usual. We soon began to notice that the car was protesting shifting into higher gears when needed, and it was idling very rough. Many times, it sounded like it wanted to stall. This condition grew worse by the minute until literally, Rich had to keep it in neutral and rev the engine if we slowed down or stopped and then put it back into drive when the traffic was moving and gun it. We stalled once in a round-a-bout and coasted to the side… he was able to get it cranked again, so we kept on. Unfortunately, I don’t think we were really listening to what the car was trying to tell us because although it kept going with no indication that it was overheating, it suddenly just stopped and would not go any further. We coasted to a stop about 5 minutes away from the hospital and tried many times to ask it nicely and crank it, but “No more!” it said. Luckily, we happened to be on one of the roads that actually has a place to pull over or we would have been in big trouble. We called the rental car company, which of course, was still closed. Since we have limited connections here, we quickly went through them to no avail. Rich decided he would call the pharmacy and ask if someone would be able to come get us, but he couldn’t remember the number to the hospital. Oh, but being the resourceful person that I am, I realized that I had taken a picture of the billboard of the hospital ad! I went rifling through my camera and proudly read him the number. : ) Soon after, our knight in shining armor appeared, and we arrived at the hospital late but unscathed. The rental car company of course brought a new car, but they dropped off the keys when Rich was not in the pharmacy and didn’t think to tell him what kind of car it was or where they had parked it. Haha He had to walk around the lot and push all the buttons on the keyless entry pack to find it. We are now the proud owners of an Opel!
Speaking of vehicles, I don’t think I have mentioned the public transportation system here yet. It consists of small white vans they call Com-V’s that basically would seat 9 or10 comfortably. They cram about 15 people in them at a time instead, and I have heard from the locals that the AC doesn’t work in them most of the time. For them, I guess it’s an ok alternative to having a car because they cost the equivalent of a couple of bucks to take. It just seems a little risky as far as safety goes, but that’s certainly not the worst thing I have seen on the roads here.
That’s all I have time for at this point… I will try to write again later. I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to seeing you soon! This trip flew by- I can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks already! Thank you again so much for keeping me company with emails and notes on Skype and pictures and such. Every single note I received meant a lot to me! Love you all… ~A
At some point in the morning drive, we came upon some birds that were very upset about something, and Charles said it meant there was a predator nearby. Sure enough, 3 minutes later, we saw a hyena dart out of the bush onto the path and then back in. We continued on the road and literally ran right into a large group of zebras who were grazing. As we stopped to watch them, we noticed another group approaching, and soon we were surrounded by zebras and wildebeests. There were at least a dozen of each, kind of spread out around us. Shortly after that, a couple warthogs stopped by to socialize. It just kept getting better. The icing on the cake for this scene of the African savannah at dawn was the group of 7 (yes, SEVEN) rhinos that decided to join us. I don’t think I can give you enough detail of how cool this was, and my camera batteries had decided to die at that moment, so I decided to just enjoy it instead of rummaging around for new ones. The picture will be etched in my mind for a long time to come. Honestly, it was like something out of a movie. There was still a slight mist in the air, the sun beams were glistening off the leaves that were still wet with dew. There were African birds singing in the background. Off in the distance, we could hear the sounds of impala blowing air through their noses to clear them because they thought they smelled a predator nearby. In front of us, a large assembly of animals, all starting their day together in this beautiful savannah they call home; allowing us, if only for a moment, to participate in their morning, to be part of their world. Amazing… that’s all I can say. Completely amazing.
*Takes a deep breath* I guess when I need to relax after I get home, I will close my eyes and try to remember that scene. I just keep thinking about that verse, “Consider the birds of the air. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more?” I am unfortunately a person who worries. I have gotten better because of Jonathan’s worry elimination training program (that was after his assertiveness training program, which I graduated from with honors), but I still struggle with it more often than not. I guess I need a little more training. One thing this trip has taught me is that God is so much bigger than we allow Him to be. There are so many things He wants to show us, and so many plans He has for us. All we have to do is put things into perspective, remember that He is the same God who made the universe and everything in it, and let Him do what He knows how to do : )
Let’s see… after the safari, we drove back over the border and got back late Sunday morning. Rich went off to the hospital, and I took a well-deserved nap, as I had laid awake all night making sure I heard everything. : ) After my nap, I went outside into the glorious almost 90 degree sun and sat in my bathing suit and shorts to read my book. It was so wonderful to feel the sun on my face, as I am sure I will be going back to near Arctic temperatures. I talked to Jonathan with my international phone that my brother graciously lent me after that, as the internet has still been extremely unreliable at best. In fact, I couldn’t get online at all that day. I basically have given up that quest for the most part and just quickly check my email at the hospital in the morning instead. I decided it wasn’t worth fighting with the computer every night.
The time at the hospital this week has been filled with many things to accomplish. I feel like two weeks wasn’t enough, but I have to focus on all the things I did get done in that time. As far as the latest news, they have opened the outpatient section, but the inpatient part is still waiting for supplies for now. I am not sure what the timeline will be. The good news is that things are going more smoothly, and I think the staff is going to be a great team. Being a part of this project has taught me a lot, even though I have only been a small part!
Although I was sad to see Michele and Marcee go, I have enjoyed spending the week with Rich. It’s not too often that we spend this much time together, so it’s been great. We had an adventure the other morning that was funny after the fact. I know I have mentioned twice Rich the driving through the mud of the bush and narrowly escaping… Well, the rental car got a workout several times over the last couple of weeks traveling to South Africa and back and spending some time on the trails through the game preserve. It has been a valiant steed (as much as a Toyota Camry can be, that is), but on Tuesday morning, it decided it needed a rest. We were driving out of the hotel parking area, and the check engine light came on. We both thought that was odd, as it had cranked just fine and was not behaving strangely, so we continued on. Traffic that day was rough because we had left later than the day before (7:30 instead of 7), so we sat a little more than usual. We soon began to notice that the car was protesting shifting into higher gears when needed, and it was idling very rough. Many times, it sounded like it wanted to stall. This condition grew worse by the minute until literally, Rich had to keep it in neutral and rev the engine if we slowed down or stopped and then put it back into drive when the traffic was moving and gun it. We stalled once in a round-a-bout and coasted to the side… he was able to get it cranked again, so we kept on. Unfortunately, I don’t think we were really listening to what the car was trying to tell us because although it kept going with no indication that it was overheating, it suddenly just stopped and would not go any further. We coasted to a stop about 5 minutes away from the hospital and tried many times to ask it nicely and crank it, but “No more!” it said. Luckily, we happened to be on one of the roads that actually has a place to pull over or we would have been in big trouble. We called the rental car company, which of course, was still closed. Since we have limited connections here, we quickly went through them to no avail. Rich decided he would call the pharmacy and ask if someone would be able to come get us, but he couldn’t remember the number to the hospital. Oh, but being the resourceful person that I am, I realized that I had taken a picture of the billboard of the hospital ad! I went rifling through my camera and proudly read him the number. : ) Soon after, our knight in shining armor appeared, and we arrived at the hospital late but unscathed. The rental car company of course brought a new car, but they dropped off the keys when Rich was not in the pharmacy and didn’t think to tell him what kind of car it was or where they had parked it. Haha He had to walk around the lot and push all the buttons on the keyless entry pack to find it. We are now the proud owners of an Opel!
Speaking of vehicles, I don’t think I have mentioned the public transportation system here yet. It consists of small white vans they call Com-V’s that basically would seat 9 or10 comfortably. They cram about 15 people in them at a time instead, and I have heard from the locals that the AC doesn’t work in them most of the time. For them, I guess it’s an ok alternative to having a car because they cost the equivalent of a couple of bucks to take. It just seems a little risky as far as safety goes, but that’s certainly not the worst thing I have seen on the roads here.
That’s all I have time for at this point… I will try to write again later. I hope you are all doing well, and I look forward to seeing you soon! This trip flew by- I can’t believe it’s been almost two weeks already! Thank you again so much for keeping me company with emails and notes on Skype and pictures and such. Every single note I received meant a lot to me! Love you all… ~A
Sunday, January 10, 2010
safari tales #2
Before you read this, there is a post below that goes first. I posted them both at once... enjoy!
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory among the heavens! Out of the mouth of infants, you have ordained praise, because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him…?”
Did you ever just feel small? Honestly, when I finished this safari, I had a new perspective about the incredible detail involved in creation and was overwhelmed by the thought that the God who made all of this (all that I am about to share with you and much more) knows my name! He has called me one of His own, and He knows every detail of my life. He has written my story down in His book, and He has great plans for me.
I have to preface this attempt to capture what I saw, heard, and experienced by saying that words cannot describe the incredible experience that this was. I am a writer, and I still am not going to be able to create a clear enough picture for you of just how amazing this was. I am going to try… The first game drive began with a sighting of zebras and warthogs very close to the road we were on. Charles asked if we knew why zebras have black and white stripes, and when our first few guesses were not what he was looking for, he said he would let us think about it for a while. For those of you who don’t know, I will tell you. I came up with a guess later that turned out to be right. The stripes are for temperature regulation. He said that zebras have to eat pretty much constantly because they don’t have a lot of reserves. Because of this, they are eating in the cool of the morning and night, and in the heat of the day. The white stripes are to reflect light and keep them cool in the sun, and the black are to absorb heat and keep them warm in the chilly dusk and dawn. Basically, they are not bothered by any extreme temperature. Isn’t that cool? While we were at the Zebras, Charles got a call on his radio that a pride of lions had been spotted, so we took off quickly to find them. When we got there, we saw them off in the distance beside the road we were on, and I was thinking, “wow, we are pretty close to them…” No sooner had I thought that, and Charles was slowing down and turning into the actual bush, running over plants and small bushes, and taking us directly TO the lions. I am bad with judging distances, but when he parked us, we were literally probably 6-7 feet away from a huge group of lionesses who were napping until we interrupted them.
This is the point where the couple from Holland almost got us killed. Let me create the contrast for you- Rich was sitting quietly, focusing his camera on the scene… I was basically just trying to contain myself- so overwhelmed with awe and excitement that we were so close to them, busy wondering if this was safe, not daring to move or make a sound. (almost not even breathing…) Mr. and Mrs. Holland were talking… LOUDLY about something in Dutch, and just when we stopped, Mrs. Holland decided it was a great idea at that moment to switch places in the truck by standing up and climbing clumsily over the seat into the row behind her. She did not do it gracefully or quietly. She even startled us, so you can imagine what she did to the lionesses who had been sleeping. Charles turned around slowly and whispered forcefully, “Please… do NOT stand up in front of lions… ever! Please, please- you don’t understand. They do not want to see any sudden movement or height in the truck- they will charge. They run at 20 meters per second (about the same as 50 mph), and their claws could rip through the metal of this truck in one stroke. We wouldn’t have a chance. Please, do not stand up in front of lions!!” He repeated himself again a couple times; I think just to make sure nothing was lost in translation, and then turned around again. Meanwhile, several of the lionesses she had disturbed were staring at us with great intensity. My thought was, “Great! They are trying to figure out who would taste the best and who they could get to with the least effort. I’m the closest…” (Charles had already told us at this point that they are very deliberate hunters…) Luckily, they decided it wasn’t worth their time, and they relaxed again after a little while of contemplating. Whew!
While we sat there, I asked Charles (in a very low voice) a few questions about lions. Here is what I learned. In this game preserve, there are 4 prides of lions, each totaling 15-20 lions. In each pride, there are 2 males (brothers)- one dominant one with a darker mane, and the other with a lighter mane who is his assistant. The rest of the pride is females. Since the females do all of the hunting, they spend most of the day sleeping or resting to conserve energy. They are nocturnal animals, and they do all of their hunting at night. The males basically spend their time marking territory, fighting if necessary, roaring (he really said that), and eating what the women provide. Hmmm… sounds familiar, eh? Haha In order to be able to see at night, they have 6 x better night vision than we do, and the white hair that is around their eyes is especially for reflecting light so they can see better. He said any animal with that white hair around the eye is or was at some point a night hunter. He also told us that the black area that is on the back of their ears is used for communication among the group. The way they flash it, how many times, the speed they use- it all is different messages. He said there is one for “Let’s go”, one for “Not yet”, etc… I was thinking, “Yeah, and there’s one for which of the stupid humans should we eat?” haha I also learned that the lion is truly the king of the jungle except where crocodiles are concerned. If they let down their guard while getting a drink at the watering hole or the river, they could be attacked. They lose because they don’t do water- they can’t swim at all. We sat and watched them for quite a while as they dozed, and then we bid them farewell.
We then proceeded to see giraffes, a rhino, an elephant, hyena, wildebeests, warthogs with babies, impala (a type of antelope), and many different birds. What amazed me was Charles would stop the truck, listen to a certain bird call, and tell us that it meant there was something going on in the area… and then, something would happen. At one point, he abruptly stopped, told us to look to the left, and about ten seconds later, a bird flew up and then dove straight down like a missile into the bush. When we asked how he knew that was going to happen right then, he said he heard the mating call and knew it would follow. They call that bird the Kamikaze because it dives like that as part of the courting process to attract attention.
The African sunset was beautiful and happened very quickly. Soon, it was dark, so we donned our fleece-lined ponchos and kept going. Charles started to use his huge spot light to shine on either side of the trails as we drove in order to try to catch the eyes of anything that was nearby. I was thinking that it was probably over, and was enjoying the drive thinking back over what we had seen. Boy was I wrong! This is the part I am not going to be able to do justice to. We came upon a large herd of impala. As we got closer, they did not move off of the road right away, and Charles said that is because they were unsure- aware that something was going on. He said he was pretty sure they were being hunted. Even though we had spent the last 3 hours being amazed at how right this guy was, I doubted that anything would come of this statement. Again, I was wrong. About 2 minutes later, we spotted lions about a half a football field away. They were coming toward us- tracking the impala. Charles let us watch them come for a couple minutes, and then he threw the truck in reverse and took us to an area between the impala and the lions, parked the car, and turned off all the lights and his radio. It was now just us, the lions, the impala, and the darkness of the African bush… Within a minute, the lions were upon us- they started next to the truck, and right before our eyes, crept slowly in front of us one by one… They were literally right in front of the truck and right beside us on both sides- probably 3 feet away, some less than that. We couldn’t really see in detail because it was so dark, but this experience was like no other. We were literally participating in a lion hunt- we watched as they walked slowly, crouched down, listened, watched, motioned to one another, kept still… and waited. I could practically see them licking their lips in anticipation. They knew the impala were there… they knew we were there- they had seen us before we saw them, but they let us watch and be a part of their hunt. I can’t describe to you what it was like to sit there, literally holding my breath, trying not to make a sound, watching lions 3 feet away stalking their prey. My heart just about beat out of my chest- it’s a little dangerous, to be sure, but I knew Charles would not put us into real danger. We sat there holding our breath- not daring to move- for what seemed like forever. Eventually, Charles slowly turned the truck on and backed us out with no lights so we didn’t disturb the scene. He told us that since lions are such deliberate hunters (because they want to conserve energy, they don’t want to try again- they want to get it right the first time), they often wait 60-90 minutes to move in on a kill. Unfortunately, it was not safe for us to wait that long with no radio contact because they would have wondered where we were. It doesn’t even matter that we didn’t get to hear them kill an impala- I can now say that I have participated in a lion hunt. It simply doesn’t get any better than that!! There is only one word I can come up with that describes that experience- Priceless.
We went back after that, had dinner outside, and went to our huts. When I got to my door (by myself at this point because Rich had continued on to his hut), my sliding doors that should have been latched were wide open. I had a moment of panic, followed by a moment of thankfulness for the electric fence that surrounds the lodge area, followed by another moment of panic and wishing that Jonathan was there with me. I realized what had happened was when the housekeeping staff came to turn down the bed, they had closed the door but not latched it. This is a problem in the African savannah because the monkeys have learned how to open doors and steal people’s apples out of their room. I figured I either had a visitor now or had one previously. I cautiously entered the room to investigate and discovered after a brief search that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I quickly latched my door and tried to relax. : ) I took a quick shower with my rain shower head and settled in for the night because the call time for the next morning was anywhere between 4 and 5 am. They call and wake you 30 minutes before you leave on the drive. Sleeping was a challenge because although the bed was very comfortable and it was extremely dark in the room, there were so many sounds outside that were interesting. This is why I am not a good candidate for camping- because I lay there and listen to everything wondering what it all is and don’t fall asleep. (Mom, please tell Larry that I still plan to try, though) In any case, it was nice to lay there and listen, and I managed to doze here and there. Twas a peaceful night in the African savannah…
“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who have set your glory among the heavens! Out of the mouth of infants, you have ordained praise, because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider the heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him…?”
Did you ever just feel small? Honestly, when I finished this safari, I had a new perspective about the incredible detail involved in creation and was overwhelmed by the thought that the God who made all of this (all that I am about to share with you and much more) knows my name! He has called me one of His own, and He knows every detail of my life. He has written my story down in His book, and He has great plans for me.
I have to preface this attempt to capture what I saw, heard, and experienced by saying that words cannot describe the incredible experience that this was. I am a writer, and I still am not going to be able to create a clear enough picture for you of just how amazing this was. I am going to try… The first game drive began with a sighting of zebras and warthogs very close to the road we were on. Charles asked if we knew why zebras have black and white stripes, and when our first few guesses were not what he was looking for, he said he would let us think about it for a while. For those of you who don’t know, I will tell you. I came up with a guess later that turned out to be right. The stripes are for temperature regulation. He said that zebras have to eat pretty much constantly because they don’t have a lot of reserves. Because of this, they are eating in the cool of the morning and night, and in the heat of the day. The white stripes are to reflect light and keep them cool in the sun, and the black are to absorb heat and keep them warm in the chilly dusk and dawn. Basically, they are not bothered by any extreme temperature. Isn’t that cool? While we were at the Zebras, Charles got a call on his radio that a pride of lions had been spotted, so we took off quickly to find them. When we got there, we saw them off in the distance beside the road we were on, and I was thinking, “wow, we are pretty close to them…” No sooner had I thought that, and Charles was slowing down and turning into the actual bush, running over plants and small bushes, and taking us directly TO the lions. I am bad with judging distances, but when he parked us, we were literally probably 6-7 feet away from a huge group of lionesses who were napping until we interrupted them.
This is the point where the couple from Holland almost got us killed. Let me create the contrast for you- Rich was sitting quietly, focusing his camera on the scene… I was basically just trying to contain myself- so overwhelmed with awe and excitement that we were so close to them, busy wondering if this was safe, not daring to move or make a sound. (almost not even breathing…) Mr. and Mrs. Holland were talking… LOUDLY about something in Dutch, and just when we stopped, Mrs. Holland decided it was a great idea at that moment to switch places in the truck by standing up and climbing clumsily over the seat into the row behind her. She did not do it gracefully or quietly. She even startled us, so you can imagine what she did to the lionesses who had been sleeping. Charles turned around slowly and whispered forcefully, “Please… do NOT stand up in front of lions… ever! Please, please- you don’t understand. They do not want to see any sudden movement or height in the truck- they will charge. They run at 20 meters per second (about the same as 50 mph), and their claws could rip through the metal of this truck in one stroke. We wouldn’t have a chance. Please, do not stand up in front of lions!!” He repeated himself again a couple times; I think just to make sure nothing was lost in translation, and then turned around again. Meanwhile, several of the lionesses she had disturbed were staring at us with great intensity. My thought was, “Great! They are trying to figure out who would taste the best and who they could get to with the least effort. I’m the closest…” (Charles had already told us at this point that they are very deliberate hunters…) Luckily, they decided it wasn’t worth their time, and they relaxed again after a little while of contemplating. Whew!
While we sat there, I asked Charles (in a very low voice) a few questions about lions. Here is what I learned. In this game preserve, there are 4 prides of lions, each totaling 15-20 lions. In each pride, there are 2 males (brothers)- one dominant one with a darker mane, and the other with a lighter mane who is his assistant. The rest of the pride is females. Since the females do all of the hunting, they spend most of the day sleeping or resting to conserve energy. They are nocturnal animals, and they do all of their hunting at night. The males basically spend their time marking territory, fighting if necessary, roaring (he really said that), and eating what the women provide. Hmmm… sounds familiar, eh? Haha In order to be able to see at night, they have 6 x better night vision than we do, and the white hair that is around their eyes is especially for reflecting light so they can see better. He said any animal with that white hair around the eye is or was at some point a night hunter. He also told us that the black area that is on the back of their ears is used for communication among the group. The way they flash it, how many times, the speed they use- it all is different messages. He said there is one for “Let’s go”, one for “Not yet”, etc… I was thinking, “Yeah, and there’s one for which of the stupid humans should we eat?” haha I also learned that the lion is truly the king of the jungle except where crocodiles are concerned. If they let down their guard while getting a drink at the watering hole or the river, they could be attacked. They lose because they don’t do water- they can’t swim at all. We sat and watched them for quite a while as they dozed, and then we bid them farewell.
We then proceeded to see giraffes, a rhino, an elephant, hyena, wildebeests, warthogs with babies, impala (a type of antelope), and many different birds. What amazed me was Charles would stop the truck, listen to a certain bird call, and tell us that it meant there was something going on in the area… and then, something would happen. At one point, he abruptly stopped, told us to look to the left, and about ten seconds later, a bird flew up and then dove straight down like a missile into the bush. When we asked how he knew that was going to happen right then, he said he heard the mating call and knew it would follow. They call that bird the Kamikaze because it dives like that as part of the courting process to attract attention.
The African sunset was beautiful and happened very quickly. Soon, it was dark, so we donned our fleece-lined ponchos and kept going. Charles started to use his huge spot light to shine on either side of the trails as we drove in order to try to catch the eyes of anything that was nearby. I was thinking that it was probably over, and was enjoying the drive thinking back over what we had seen. Boy was I wrong! This is the part I am not going to be able to do justice to. We came upon a large herd of impala. As we got closer, they did not move off of the road right away, and Charles said that is because they were unsure- aware that something was going on. He said he was pretty sure they were being hunted. Even though we had spent the last 3 hours being amazed at how right this guy was, I doubted that anything would come of this statement. Again, I was wrong. About 2 minutes later, we spotted lions about a half a football field away. They were coming toward us- tracking the impala. Charles let us watch them come for a couple minutes, and then he threw the truck in reverse and took us to an area between the impala and the lions, parked the car, and turned off all the lights and his radio. It was now just us, the lions, the impala, and the darkness of the African bush… Within a minute, the lions were upon us- they started next to the truck, and right before our eyes, crept slowly in front of us one by one… They were literally right in front of the truck and right beside us on both sides- probably 3 feet away, some less than that. We couldn’t really see in detail because it was so dark, but this experience was like no other. We were literally participating in a lion hunt- we watched as they walked slowly, crouched down, listened, watched, motioned to one another, kept still… and waited. I could practically see them licking their lips in anticipation. They knew the impala were there… they knew we were there- they had seen us before we saw them, but they let us watch and be a part of their hunt. I can’t describe to you what it was like to sit there, literally holding my breath, trying not to make a sound, watching lions 3 feet away stalking their prey. My heart just about beat out of my chest- it’s a little dangerous, to be sure, but I knew Charles would not put us into real danger. We sat there holding our breath- not daring to move- for what seemed like forever. Eventually, Charles slowly turned the truck on and backed us out with no lights so we didn’t disturb the scene. He told us that since lions are such deliberate hunters (because they want to conserve energy, they don’t want to try again- they want to get it right the first time), they often wait 60-90 minutes to move in on a kill. Unfortunately, it was not safe for us to wait that long with no radio contact because they would have wondered where we were. It doesn’t even matter that we didn’t get to hear them kill an impala- I can now say that I have participated in a lion hunt. It simply doesn’t get any better than that!! There is only one word I can come up with that describes that experience- Priceless.
We went back after that, had dinner outside, and went to our huts. When I got to my door (by myself at this point because Rich had continued on to his hut), my sliding doors that should have been latched were wide open. I had a moment of panic, followed by a moment of thankfulness for the electric fence that surrounds the lodge area, followed by another moment of panic and wishing that Jonathan was there with me. I realized what had happened was when the housekeeping staff came to turn down the bed, they had closed the door but not latched it. This is a problem in the African savannah because the monkeys have learned how to open doors and steal people’s apples out of their room. I figured I either had a visitor now or had one previously. I cautiously entered the room to investigate and discovered after a brief search that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I quickly latched my door and tried to relax. : ) I took a quick shower with my rain shower head and settled in for the night because the call time for the next morning was anywhere between 4 and 5 am. They call and wake you 30 minutes before you leave on the drive. Sleeping was a challenge because although the bed was very comfortable and it was extremely dark in the room, there were so many sounds outside that were interesting. This is why I am not a good candidate for camping- because I lay there and listen to everything wondering what it all is and don’t fall asleep. (Mom, please tell Larry that I still plan to try, though) In any case, it was nice to lay there and listen, and I managed to doze here and there. Twas a peaceful night in the African savannah…
Refreshing weekend- safari tales #1
What a refreshing weekend! For the first time since I have been here, I had a little down time. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem working hard and being busy (a casualty or strength of being a Type-A personality, depending on the circumstances). Both of my parents have instilled in me desire to use my talents the best way I can and a work ethic that they have shown me by example. For that, I am truly thankful. This past week has been a blur in many ways- working through being homesick for about a day and a half when I had no way to communicate because of the internet, “finding my wings” here at the project, learning about a new culture, reaching out to people who are looking for encouragement and support, teaching for a considerable chunk out of two days, wondering how all of this is going to come together for the opening, and trying in some way to not let the moments pass me by without me taking it all in. Honestly, it flew by, and I can’t believe I have four days left to make a difference here. I’ll keep you posted on that…
I started by saying that this weekend has been refreshing- that doesn’t really even come close to describing it. I will just tell you the story as best as I can and let you find the refreshment in the details or between the lines I type. On Saturday morning, I woke early to hear the sound of pouring rain. Although very relaxing, it was also a little sad because I knew it meant that a game drive at Mokolodi (the local game park here) would probably be unlikely. I drifted back to sleep listening to the peaceful sound of the rain and got up shortly after that a little before 5. We had planned to leave at 6:30, go to Mokolodi and do the game drive, come back quickly to collect luggage, take Marcee and Michele to the airport, and then proceed on to Madikwe River Lodge in South Africa. All of that went as planned except for the Mokolodi part. It was still raining when we got there, so they had cancelled the game drive. We looked around in their gift shop, though, and I found a couple treasures, as did Marcee. Stopped for breakfast on the way back to the hotel, and then headed off to the airport. As an aside, I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the time spent getting to know Marcee while we were here together. She is a passionate, caring, warm, dear person who has an incredible amount to offer in a setting like the one we have been in. I was very sorry to see her go because she and Michele had been a sounding board for me, and they both took me under their wing this week. For the next 4 days, I am flying solo as far as female companionship goes. I learned a lot from both Marcee and Michele during the week. I have promised to email Marcee and give her the play by play so she knows what’s going on… : )
After saying our goodbyes, Rich and I started out to Madikwe. From Gaborone, it is about an hour and fifteen minute drive to the park. We had to cross over into South Africa, and one of the towns we drove through was much more along the lines of what I had imagined Africa would look like. There were roadside vegetable stands, dirt paths, children with no shoes, goats, chickens, and cows roaming free… I should probably mention that we were driving through the agricultural section of South Africa. There was a lot of farm land, and subsequently, many farm animals. When we got to the border, we had to park and go into the immigration building. The process was pretty painless- wait for them to stamp your passport after they check to make sure you are legit. The funny part is that we went to immigration to leave Botswana, and then drove about 500 yards and had to get out again and go into immigration to arrive in South Africa. It’s just interesting since they are so close together. Soon after, we arrived at the gate for the game reserve, and Rich asked if we were able to drive in as they had done the weekend before. (You may recall the story of him being a “bush driver” and narrowly escaping getting stuck in the mud on the way out last weekend- he was wondering if he was going to have to repeat that drive). The woman at the gate called and then came to inform us that the roads were still very wet, so they would be coming to collect us at the gate. As we waited for the truck, a bus pulled up with some other guests for the lodge- four more to be exact. It became clear to us almost right away that they were high-maintenance. All four were dressed to the nines- Ed Hardy t-shirts and Gucci sunglasses, name brand everything, and high end cameras. When the guide pulled up in the truck and saw all of us and all of their luggage, he had to radio another truck to come for their luggage! Rich and I had a small duffel bag each : ) Honestly, I don’t know how long they were traveling for, but they had a lot of stuff.
We got on the truck with our bags in tow, and the rest of the luggage was put into the back of an open-bed pick up truck. I have no idea what it looked like by the time we got there, but the amount of mud that must have splashed up onto it was laughable. The drive to the lodge was an adventure, even in the guide vehicle. There were plenty of times we were bounced out of our seats, and it felt much like an amusement park ride for most of the time. Rich was very glad that we left the car at the gate.
We checked in to the lodge, had some lunch (which was really good), and went to our huts. At Madikwe, your room is a building with a thatched roof- with a sitting area, bed, and bathroom and a private porch/deck. They were really nice and situated such that you felt like you were in the middle of the preserve. Rich said he wanted to take a nap, so I found a book and made myself comfortable on my deck overlooking a pond below. I wish I had a recorder with me to capture all the cool sounds of the preserve- it was so peaceful to sit there and read and listen to nature all around me. High tea was at 4, so we went and had tea and a light snack, and then it was off to our first great adventure.
I have to say a word about our guide for the two drives. His name is Dakora, but he goes by Charles as his “English name” as he says. What an incredible wealth of knowledge he is!! I learned that previous to this job, he spent 15 years living in “the bush” in Africa tracking black rhinos… on foot!! If you don’t know anything about black rhinos, you can’t really appreciate that. I will keep it short for now by saying that they are extremely dangerous to follow on foot because they tend to charge anything they see as a threat. I asked what the greatest danger of living in the bush was, expecting him to say lions or cheetahs… he said the charging black rhino. In any case, this man was extremely experienced and shared his insight with great ease. It was very cool to watch him look for tracks, listen intently to certain bird calls, watch the pattern of animals we saw and their behavior, and use all of that to predict and then show us countless wild African savannah scenes. There is no way I can possibly describe it all.
In Africa, in any safari situation, you will hear people refer to the “Big Five”. These are the five most dangerous animals in the bush, and also the five that everyone wants to see close up. (well, at least those of us who enjoy being slightly afraid) The Big Five here are lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant. Since we were only going to be there for 2 drives, I was preparing myself that I probably would only get to see one out of five- I just wasn’t sure. Charles made it his mission to show me as many as he could, but the coolest part of this adventure was actually a second sighting of one of the big five. This was an experience that I can’t really put into words, but I will try in the next installment of this blog. : )
We loaded up for the first game drive around 5pm- joined by a couple from Holland who turned out to be a little detrimental to our quest for animals and almost got us killed on one occasion. Rich and I agreed that they were nice people to talk to but not people you would want to have in your group on a safari trip. I can’t really explain how wonderful it felt to be driving out of the lodge area- warm wind in our faces and expectations high… I told Rich I felt like I was on a Nat Geo special- living out a dream. I definitely had a moment on that first game drive where it hit me- I am in Africa in the middle of a game preserve surrounded by some of the wonders of God’s creation, and a week ago, I was leaving snowy Pittsburgh. Sometimes, in moments like this, you can’t quite believe it’s all real!
I love you all!! Chapter 2 of this adventure in the bush later…
I started by saying that this weekend has been refreshing- that doesn’t really even come close to describing it. I will just tell you the story as best as I can and let you find the refreshment in the details or between the lines I type. On Saturday morning, I woke early to hear the sound of pouring rain. Although very relaxing, it was also a little sad because I knew it meant that a game drive at Mokolodi (the local game park here) would probably be unlikely. I drifted back to sleep listening to the peaceful sound of the rain and got up shortly after that a little before 5. We had planned to leave at 6:30, go to Mokolodi and do the game drive, come back quickly to collect luggage, take Marcee and Michele to the airport, and then proceed on to Madikwe River Lodge in South Africa. All of that went as planned except for the Mokolodi part. It was still raining when we got there, so they had cancelled the game drive. We looked around in their gift shop, though, and I found a couple treasures, as did Marcee. Stopped for breakfast on the way back to the hotel, and then headed off to the airport. As an aside, I have to tell you that I really enjoyed the time spent getting to know Marcee while we were here together. She is a passionate, caring, warm, dear person who has an incredible amount to offer in a setting like the one we have been in. I was very sorry to see her go because she and Michele had been a sounding board for me, and they both took me under their wing this week. For the next 4 days, I am flying solo as far as female companionship goes. I learned a lot from both Marcee and Michele during the week. I have promised to email Marcee and give her the play by play so she knows what’s going on… : )
After saying our goodbyes, Rich and I started out to Madikwe. From Gaborone, it is about an hour and fifteen minute drive to the park. We had to cross over into South Africa, and one of the towns we drove through was much more along the lines of what I had imagined Africa would look like. There were roadside vegetable stands, dirt paths, children with no shoes, goats, chickens, and cows roaming free… I should probably mention that we were driving through the agricultural section of South Africa. There was a lot of farm land, and subsequently, many farm animals. When we got to the border, we had to park and go into the immigration building. The process was pretty painless- wait for them to stamp your passport after they check to make sure you are legit. The funny part is that we went to immigration to leave Botswana, and then drove about 500 yards and had to get out again and go into immigration to arrive in South Africa. It’s just interesting since they are so close together. Soon after, we arrived at the gate for the game reserve, and Rich asked if we were able to drive in as they had done the weekend before. (You may recall the story of him being a “bush driver” and narrowly escaping getting stuck in the mud on the way out last weekend- he was wondering if he was going to have to repeat that drive). The woman at the gate called and then came to inform us that the roads were still very wet, so they would be coming to collect us at the gate. As we waited for the truck, a bus pulled up with some other guests for the lodge- four more to be exact. It became clear to us almost right away that they were high-maintenance. All four were dressed to the nines- Ed Hardy t-shirts and Gucci sunglasses, name brand everything, and high end cameras. When the guide pulled up in the truck and saw all of us and all of their luggage, he had to radio another truck to come for their luggage! Rich and I had a small duffel bag each : ) Honestly, I don’t know how long they were traveling for, but they had a lot of stuff.
We got on the truck with our bags in tow, and the rest of the luggage was put into the back of an open-bed pick up truck. I have no idea what it looked like by the time we got there, but the amount of mud that must have splashed up onto it was laughable. The drive to the lodge was an adventure, even in the guide vehicle. There were plenty of times we were bounced out of our seats, and it felt much like an amusement park ride for most of the time. Rich was very glad that we left the car at the gate.
We checked in to the lodge, had some lunch (which was really good), and went to our huts. At Madikwe, your room is a building with a thatched roof- with a sitting area, bed, and bathroom and a private porch/deck. They were really nice and situated such that you felt like you were in the middle of the preserve. Rich said he wanted to take a nap, so I found a book and made myself comfortable on my deck overlooking a pond below. I wish I had a recorder with me to capture all the cool sounds of the preserve- it was so peaceful to sit there and read and listen to nature all around me. High tea was at 4, so we went and had tea and a light snack, and then it was off to our first great adventure.
I have to say a word about our guide for the two drives. His name is Dakora, but he goes by Charles as his “English name” as he says. What an incredible wealth of knowledge he is!! I learned that previous to this job, he spent 15 years living in “the bush” in Africa tracking black rhinos… on foot!! If you don’t know anything about black rhinos, you can’t really appreciate that. I will keep it short for now by saying that they are extremely dangerous to follow on foot because they tend to charge anything they see as a threat. I asked what the greatest danger of living in the bush was, expecting him to say lions or cheetahs… he said the charging black rhino. In any case, this man was extremely experienced and shared his insight with great ease. It was very cool to watch him look for tracks, listen intently to certain bird calls, watch the pattern of animals we saw and their behavior, and use all of that to predict and then show us countless wild African savannah scenes. There is no way I can possibly describe it all.
In Africa, in any safari situation, you will hear people refer to the “Big Five”. These are the five most dangerous animals in the bush, and also the five that everyone wants to see close up. (well, at least those of us who enjoy being slightly afraid) The Big Five here are lion, leopard, cape buffalo, rhino, and elephant. Since we were only going to be there for 2 drives, I was preparing myself that I probably would only get to see one out of five- I just wasn’t sure. Charles made it his mission to show me as many as he could, but the coolest part of this adventure was actually a second sighting of one of the big five. This was an experience that I can’t really put into words, but I will try in the next installment of this blog. : )
We loaded up for the first game drive around 5pm- joined by a couple from Holland who turned out to be a little detrimental to our quest for animals and almost got us killed on one occasion. Rich and I agreed that they were nice people to talk to but not people you would want to have in your group on a safari trip. I can’t really explain how wonderful it felt to be driving out of the lodge area- warm wind in our faces and expectations high… I told Rich I felt like I was on a Nat Geo special- living out a dream. I definitely had a moment on that first game drive where it hit me- I am in Africa in the middle of a game preserve surrounded by some of the wonders of God’s creation, and a week ago, I was leaving snowy Pittsburgh. Sometimes, in moments like this, you can’t quite believe it’s all real!
I love you all!! Chapter 2 of this adventure in the bush later…
Friday, January 8, 2010
Gaborone... a wonderful city
Catch up time. I'm sorry this is so sporadic- it's just that I don't really have much down time. We are really busy here. The time I do have in the evenings is limited, and I fight with the internet a lot instead of relaxing. Tonight, I decided to give up and write a little. I hope you are all doing well! I am enjoying my time here and every day, there seems to be something new.
I am trying to remember what I have told you already, so if I repeat myself, I apologize. Before I came here, I had never been to Africa. I had gone to several places in Asia, but none here. I really didn't know what to expect other than the pictures and things you see on TV. I obviously have not seen all of Botswana (not even close), but I can tell you about the city of Gaborone (oh, and they say it like it's an Italian word "HabaRONay" like Mascarpone cheese) which I think sounds way more romantic. *smiles* The people here are warm and friendly. They are extremely appreciative of the help we are offering, and they work hard in their positions. They value family, and they seem to just generally appreciate life. Gaborone as a whole is a nice little town- plenty of shopping centers, good restaurants, and many random highway animals as I like to think of them. Goats... horses...donkeys...cats... you never know what you will see while driving. It's unique to say the least. If I were to be asked if I would come back, I would say definitely. It's a very interesting country. Believe it or not, they are a democracy here, and from talking with some of the people, they seem to love their current president. The presidents here serve 5 year terms, and they can be re-elected once. The conversation I had today with one of my nursing friends gave me insight into why they like him so much. He said that the president is a forward thinker, and he is African but makes decisions like an American. He said that they feel the country will prosper under his direction. It's pretty cool to see democracy alive and well somewhere other than America!! More proof that the system works, so we shouldn’t mess with it. I did hear something today about the taxes being like 26%, so I will have to find out more about that.
Traveling to another country always leads to interesting food. Breakfast here is included at the hotel, and it's basically yogurt (which may have been sitting out for a few hours), granola of some sort, fresh fruit (it is SO good!), and toast. There are different juices like guava and mango and passion fruit- it's always fun to see what will be out. We did go grocery shopping the other day, and I got some of my own yogurt to keep in the fridge in my room to take along and some extra crunchy PB to put on my toast. (Aww…Stephanie, it’s just like being at work with you!) We eat every morning at 7am outside on the veranda, and it's lovely. It's usually about 70 degrees and peaceful that time of the morning.
Lunches have been a little more of an adventure. At the hospital, they generally have rice, some type of vegetable soup/gravy for the rice, two kinds of salad or vegetable, and two kinds of mystery meat. Today, for example, they had rice and the gravy, some type of beef and chicken, and cole slaw and squash as sides. I have discovered that if I tell them I want rice and vegetables, they will ask me 3 times if I am sure I don't want meat, but then they give in and fill my plate up with veggies and rice. That’s great news for me. I don't really want to do the mystery meat- I have been warned against it from those who have gone before me ; )
Dinner every night has been great- we eat out, of course. Every night we have eaten outside, and it's glorious at the end of a long day. Last night, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse which was very cool. They bring big skewers with hunks of meat (that's the highly technical term) to your table and ask if you want some. Then, they slice it off for you. We had lamb, beef, chicken, and pork ribs each in different varieties with sides, and it was quite good. The chicken wings were excellent. Tonight, we went to a pizza place, but their oven was belly up, so we all ordered pasta instead. Mine was a spinach, tomato, basil, and garlic dish with a light white wine sauce. Very tasty indeed. I have enjoyed the meals we have eaten so far.
Oh, and tonight while we ate outside, we watched a very cool lightning storm off in the distance. I am assuming it was heat lightning because it was very warm today- in the 90's. I'm sorry for those of you who are shoveling snow... I will be a mess when I get back.
I forgot to mention this before, but Gaborone has not discovered the irritating world of water saver shower heads yet. For those of you who travel a great deal, you can appreciate this. The shower in my room is pretty much like a torrential downpour. It's wonderful! You have to appreciate the small things in life- if you don't, you miss out on simple pleasures.
As far as how things are going, I think they are going as well as they can for what we are up against. I did a lot of teaching over the last 2 days, and I would have done more today, but they had other things they had to do to prepare. I have also spent a lot of time planning other things to teach if the opportunity does arise, although next week will be very busy and they will be rotating staff on 12 hour shifts. Most of my work next week will be observing on the unit and working on a huge project of a week’s worth of peds specific orientation presentations for the new nurses. They have not developed that yet at all. The author will be none other than… Aylea P. There is much to do, as I have probably said before, and next week will be a lot of long hours. It's good work, though, because I feel like when I leave I will have done something to better these nurses’ lives in a small way. That always makes it feel worthwhile. The experience itself is a blessing, and I know that it will give me a wealth of things to take home with me. God has truly given me a gift by allowing me this chance of a lifetime.
Tomorrow morning, we are going to Mokolodi game park right outside of Gaborone, and we will be doing a game drive at 7:30am. For those of you who don't know, game drive is like a mini safari where you go out in a 4x4 vehicle with a guide and try to track down animals so you can see them in their natural element. Basically, it's going to be great! From there, we will drop Michele and Marcee at the airport, and Rich and I will continue on to a much larger game reserve in South Africa, and the name is escaping me at the moment. It begins with M too, and I can't keep the two straight. We will do that Sat, spend the night, and come back on Sunday. I am so excited because I am a nerd who loves to watch the animals on Nat Geo, and now I get to see them for REAL! I can't wait to tell you stories about this adventure.
Ok- off to bed. The power has gone off several times as I have been typing, and I would rather just drift off to sleep and not have to worry about turning my flashlight off and on. Just one of the many "quirks" of the Falcon Crest Suites. Lovely place, though. For now, I will say goodnight even though it's 3:30 in the afternoon for you as I write this. I love you all, and thank you once again for the emails. pictures, and messages on Skype. Those of you who take time out of your busy lives to make me feel more “at home”, you keep me smiling. You have no idea how much those things mean to me! I can’t always reply, but just know you have warmed my heart and made my day better.
~A
I am trying to remember what I have told you already, so if I repeat myself, I apologize. Before I came here, I had never been to Africa. I had gone to several places in Asia, but none here. I really didn't know what to expect other than the pictures and things you see on TV. I obviously have not seen all of Botswana (not even close), but I can tell you about the city of Gaborone (oh, and they say it like it's an Italian word "HabaRONay" like Mascarpone cheese) which I think sounds way more romantic. *smiles* The people here are warm and friendly. They are extremely appreciative of the help we are offering, and they work hard in their positions. They value family, and they seem to just generally appreciate life. Gaborone as a whole is a nice little town- plenty of shopping centers, good restaurants, and many random highway animals as I like to think of them. Goats... horses...donkeys...cats... you never know what you will see while driving. It's unique to say the least. If I were to be asked if I would come back, I would say definitely. It's a very interesting country. Believe it or not, they are a democracy here, and from talking with some of the people, they seem to love their current president. The presidents here serve 5 year terms, and they can be re-elected once. The conversation I had today with one of my nursing friends gave me insight into why they like him so much. He said that the president is a forward thinker, and he is African but makes decisions like an American. He said that they feel the country will prosper under his direction. It's pretty cool to see democracy alive and well somewhere other than America!! More proof that the system works, so we shouldn’t mess with it. I did hear something today about the taxes being like 26%, so I will have to find out more about that.
Traveling to another country always leads to interesting food. Breakfast here is included at the hotel, and it's basically yogurt (which may have been sitting out for a few hours), granola of some sort, fresh fruit (it is SO good!), and toast. There are different juices like guava and mango and passion fruit- it's always fun to see what will be out. We did go grocery shopping the other day, and I got some of my own yogurt to keep in the fridge in my room to take along and some extra crunchy PB to put on my toast. (Aww…Stephanie, it’s just like being at work with you!) We eat every morning at 7am outside on the veranda, and it's lovely. It's usually about 70 degrees and peaceful that time of the morning.
Lunches have been a little more of an adventure. At the hospital, they generally have rice, some type of vegetable soup/gravy for the rice, two kinds of salad or vegetable, and two kinds of mystery meat. Today, for example, they had rice and the gravy, some type of beef and chicken, and cole slaw and squash as sides. I have discovered that if I tell them I want rice and vegetables, they will ask me 3 times if I am sure I don't want meat, but then they give in and fill my plate up with veggies and rice. That’s great news for me. I don't really want to do the mystery meat- I have been warned against it from those who have gone before me ; )
Dinner every night has been great- we eat out, of course. Every night we have eaten outside, and it's glorious at the end of a long day. Last night, we went to a Brazilian steakhouse which was very cool. They bring big skewers with hunks of meat (that's the highly technical term) to your table and ask if you want some. Then, they slice it off for you. We had lamb, beef, chicken, and pork ribs each in different varieties with sides, and it was quite good. The chicken wings were excellent. Tonight, we went to a pizza place, but their oven was belly up, so we all ordered pasta instead. Mine was a spinach, tomato, basil, and garlic dish with a light white wine sauce. Very tasty indeed. I have enjoyed the meals we have eaten so far.
Oh, and tonight while we ate outside, we watched a very cool lightning storm off in the distance. I am assuming it was heat lightning because it was very warm today- in the 90's. I'm sorry for those of you who are shoveling snow... I will be a mess when I get back.
I forgot to mention this before, but Gaborone has not discovered the irritating world of water saver shower heads yet. For those of you who travel a great deal, you can appreciate this. The shower in my room is pretty much like a torrential downpour. It's wonderful! You have to appreciate the small things in life- if you don't, you miss out on simple pleasures.
As far as how things are going, I think they are going as well as they can for what we are up against. I did a lot of teaching over the last 2 days, and I would have done more today, but they had other things they had to do to prepare. I have also spent a lot of time planning other things to teach if the opportunity does arise, although next week will be very busy and they will be rotating staff on 12 hour shifts. Most of my work next week will be observing on the unit and working on a huge project of a week’s worth of peds specific orientation presentations for the new nurses. They have not developed that yet at all. The author will be none other than… Aylea P. There is much to do, as I have probably said before, and next week will be a lot of long hours. It's good work, though, because I feel like when I leave I will have done something to better these nurses’ lives in a small way. That always makes it feel worthwhile. The experience itself is a blessing, and I know that it will give me a wealth of things to take home with me. God has truly given me a gift by allowing me this chance of a lifetime.
Tomorrow morning, we are going to Mokolodi game park right outside of Gaborone, and we will be doing a game drive at 7:30am. For those of you who don't know, game drive is like a mini safari where you go out in a 4x4 vehicle with a guide and try to track down animals so you can see them in their natural element. Basically, it's going to be great! From there, we will drop Michele and Marcee at the airport, and Rich and I will continue on to a much larger game reserve in South Africa, and the name is escaping me at the moment. It begins with M too, and I can't keep the two straight. We will do that Sat, spend the night, and come back on Sunday. I am so excited because I am a nerd who loves to watch the animals on Nat Geo, and now I get to see them for REAL! I can't wait to tell you stories about this adventure.
Ok- off to bed. The power has gone off several times as I have been typing, and I would rather just drift off to sleep and not have to worry about turning my flashlight off and on. Just one of the many "quirks" of the Falcon Crest Suites. Lovely place, though. For now, I will say goodnight even though it's 3:30 in the afternoon for you as I write this. I love you all, and thank you once again for the emails. pictures, and messages on Skype. Those of you who take time out of your busy lives to make me feel more “at home”, you keep me smiling. You have no idea how much those things mean to me! I can’t always reply, but just know you have warmed my heart and made my day better.
~A
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Days 1 & 2
Starting again with days 1 & 2 at the hospital. This is overdue because there have been many, many problems with the internet and technology in general. I reached the point of frustration last night and just finally gave up. Tonight (1/5), I am sitting here in the dark because the power is out. I think God is trying to teach me something, but I am not quite sure what it is exactly. No power again means no internet… so, I am hoping this problem rights itself. The lesson I have learned so far is not to hold on to anything too tightly when I have NO control over it (although I am still learning that every day)… and the other probably more important lesson is that family and friends are more valuable than anything in this world, and while it is very easy to take them for granted, it’s times like these where things are put into perspective.
Thank you all for your prayers, support, encouragement, and for just being you!!
Ok, so here are a few things about what it's like here that I must mention before I start to tell you the details of the hospital. First of all, the stars here are incredible!! (Bryan, you were right!) When it is clear at night, you can see so many, and it is breathtaking. I wish I could capture it somehow to bring it home. Just one more thing that proves there is a God who loves us enough to provide intricate details like that just to make us smile.
This really is an interesting place- more so than I may have imagined. There are a wide variety of cultures contained in this hospital staff, and it is interesting to see how they all work together. Whoever said that English is the primary language was wrong, though… They do typically speak at least some English, but when they have conversations, it is generally Setswana. I have to remind the nurses to try to speak in English when I’m around so that I don’t have to wait for interpretation : ) The other thing is that it is often very difficult to understand their English. It gets easier the more I hear them talk, but it still requires a lot of concentration. We have discussed that probably it is just as hard for them to understand us, so I am also trying to speak slowly and clearly. Language barriers are an interesting challenge to overcome, but this one is at least not a complete barrier.
For those of you who have been asking about the weather, it’s been a mix. It’s their rainy season here (summer), so it generally rains once or twice a day. However, unlike Pittsburgh, when it is done raining, the sun comes out!! The temperature has been high 70’s- 80’s and usually a breeze blowing. We have eaten dinner outside every time so far- it’s wonderful. I wish I could enjoy more of the sun during the day, but the hospital is lovely too haha
DRIVING… what an adventure! First of all, they drive on the left side of the road here instead of the right, and they are also on the opposite side of the car. That’s pretty common in foreign countries, right? Well… here in Botswana, it is more of an adventure. The road typically is slightly wider than a one way street in the US, and there are always (and I mean always) people on both sides of the “road” standing or trying to cross- waiting for public transport or walking. There are also times when the car or bus in front of you will pull over on the “side of the road” (there is no such thing as a side of the road here) and you will have to go around them by driving half in your lane and half in the oncoming traffic lane. Sounds like fun, huh? You can pass pretty much everywhere too- there are many dotted lines because it’s flat and straight, so that adds to the drama of driving. I have some good pictures of the traffic and roundabouts they have here. There are also goats randomly roaming the street, and apparently, they do not believe in getting hit by a car- they think they are invincible. Some of the roads are under construction because they are still dirt. Those of you who know me well know that I love to drive, but here I am quite content to leave the driving to Rich because he has mastered the art. In fact, he even boldly made it out of the nearby Mokolodi Game Preserve last Sunday morning in order to pick me up at the airport. They had stayed there for the weekend. This was after a several hour torrential down pour that caused the dirt “paths” through the preserve to turn to mud/quicksand/holes/waterfalls/rivers. Marcee and Michele both said it was quite an adventure in a non 4 wheel drive vehicle- a Honda coupe to be exact. We are calling him the bushman driver these days. The car was completely covered in mud when they got to the airport. Oh, and after they told me that story, they told me my surprise for the trip is that Rich will take me to Mokolodi this weekend after we drop the other girls off at the airport. We will go on Saturday- out on an afternoon and a night game drive, and spend the night. Sunday morning, there’s another game drive at 4:30am (you have to get up early to see the animals!!), another one Sunday afternoon, and then come back after lunch on Sunday I think. I am beyond excited- you should see how close you get to some of the animals! I have only seen pictures up to this point, but soon I will be there!! Hopefully, the weather cooperates a little better for us.
Ok- so here’s the hospital scenario. I really can’t go into the amount of detail it would require to completely fill you in, so I will just give you the basic rundown.
They started to build it in 2007, and I am told that the first 3-4 months of “construction” basically involves using huge compactors to press the dirt down and form a viable foundation. They have to do that for so long because the soil here has a very high sand concentration. (The Kalahari Desert may have something to do with that…) In any case, once they finally felt it was compacted enough, they started to build. I believe the project was finished in October 2009, and the staff started moving into this building and out of their crèches (as they called them) around that time. The building is two floors, and there is staff housing on site. There is an ED, OR, Outpatient clinic, Urgent care clinic, a couple of med/surg wards, OB, Peds, Chemo, Dialysis, Radiology, Lab… I’m sure I am forgetting something. It’s a very nice facility as far as the building goes- there is an interior courtyard set up similarly to Mt. Lebo (for those who have seen the high school). There are a lot of outdoor seating areas, which is really nice. There is a cafeteria for the staff and hospital guests and a small café in the reception area.
Now, for the bad news. If you walked in here and just looked around, you might guess the hospital will be opening in 3 months or maybe 2 months. There is very little done as far as stocking the clean utility rooms, the medication rooms, and the wards in general. In fact, most of them are completely empty except for furniture. There is a lot of equipment missing- vital equipment like EKG machines, cardiac monitors, oxygen tanks, suction equipment, OR instruments (yeah, unfortunately that is a true statement), crash carts, and the list goes WAY beyond what I have mentioned. I don’t really know where the break down in ordering occurred, but pretty much the only part of the hospital that is ready to go when we open on Monday (1/11) is… the pharmacy!! I know, it’s shocking, isn’t it? The only reason they are ready to go is because Rich has been here.
If we are all honest, we would say that it will be interesting to see how things go on Monday, but that it not up to us. All we can do is try our best to educate, help, train, implement, and listen…
Things in the Peds unit are good. The nurses for the most part seem to be open to teaching, and engage in conversation and group discussion. There are a few who sit there with arms crossed, but oh well. I haven’t actually done formal teaching yet because there has been a drill going on for the past two days which obviously took up the staff’s time. It also split them between shifts, so I would only be able to teach 6 at a time or whatever. I am hoping to teach tomorrow and Friday and then next week spend the time circulating on the floor (if we do open) and creating a complete unit-specific for pediatrics orientation plan. It is as exhaustive as it sounds, unfortunately. All of these things are invaluable experience even though it is a lot of work. I am optimistic about developing more of a relationship with the nurses and hearing from them what they think should be included in the orientation for the newcomers. I have already had a couple of them ask me to leave my power point files here with them (on their personal flash drives) so they can use them to review. : ) I have made friends with one of the pediatricians on the unit (there were only two until today, and they rotate day and night shifts, so she has been here with me). She and her husband are Americans from Michigan originally, and they have been here for quite some time. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who knows about things in the US.
We’ll see how things go. I am really not sure at this point what next week will bring. I will try to write again in the next couple of days, but again, there are no guarantees. Thank you again so much for the encouragement and the prayers. This has truly been a once in a lifetime experience so far, and I have a feeling there is much more to come. I hope you are all doing well- please hug Jonathan for me if you see him! Love to you all
~A
Thank you all for your prayers, support, encouragement, and for just being you!!
Ok, so here are a few things about what it's like here that I must mention before I start to tell you the details of the hospital. First of all, the stars here are incredible!! (Bryan, you were right!) When it is clear at night, you can see so many, and it is breathtaking. I wish I could capture it somehow to bring it home. Just one more thing that proves there is a God who loves us enough to provide intricate details like that just to make us smile.
This really is an interesting place- more so than I may have imagined. There are a wide variety of cultures contained in this hospital staff, and it is interesting to see how they all work together. Whoever said that English is the primary language was wrong, though… They do typically speak at least some English, but when they have conversations, it is generally Setswana. I have to remind the nurses to try to speak in English when I’m around so that I don’t have to wait for interpretation : ) The other thing is that it is often very difficult to understand their English. It gets easier the more I hear them talk, but it still requires a lot of concentration. We have discussed that probably it is just as hard for them to understand us, so I am also trying to speak slowly and clearly. Language barriers are an interesting challenge to overcome, but this one is at least not a complete barrier.
For those of you who have been asking about the weather, it’s been a mix. It’s their rainy season here (summer), so it generally rains once or twice a day. However, unlike Pittsburgh, when it is done raining, the sun comes out!! The temperature has been high 70’s- 80’s and usually a breeze blowing. We have eaten dinner outside every time so far- it’s wonderful. I wish I could enjoy more of the sun during the day, but the hospital is lovely too haha
DRIVING… what an adventure! First of all, they drive on the left side of the road here instead of the right, and they are also on the opposite side of the car. That’s pretty common in foreign countries, right? Well… here in Botswana, it is more of an adventure. The road typically is slightly wider than a one way street in the US, and there are always (and I mean always) people on both sides of the “road” standing or trying to cross- waiting for public transport or walking. There are also times when the car or bus in front of you will pull over on the “side of the road” (there is no such thing as a side of the road here) and you will have to go around them by driving half in your lane and half in the oncoming traffic lane. Sounds like fun, huh? You can pass pretty much everywhere too- there are many dotted lines because it’s flat and straight, so that adds to the drama of driving. I have some good pictures of the traffic and roundabouts they have here. There are also goats randomly roaming the street, and apparently, they do not believe in getting hit by a car- they think they are invincible. Some of the roads are under construction because they are still dirt. Those of you who know me well know that I love to drive, but here I am quite content to leave the driving to Rich because he has mastered the art. In fact, he even boldly made it out of the nearby Mokolodi Game Preserve last Sunday morning in order to pick me up at the airport. They had stayed there for the weekend. This was after a several hour torrential down pour that caused the dirt “paths” through the preserve to turn to mud/quicksand/holes/waterfalls/rivers. Marcee and Michele both said it was quite an adventure in a non 4 wheel drive vehicle- a Honda coupe to be exact. We are calling him the bushman driver these days. The car was completely covered in mud when they got to the airport. Oh, and after they told me that story, they told me my surprise for the trip is that Rich will take me to Mokolodi this weekend after we drop the other girls off at the airport. We will go on Saturday- out on an afternoon and a night game drive, and spend the night. Sunday morning, there’s another game drive at 4:30am (you have to get up early to see the animals!!), another one Sunday afternoon, and then come back after lunch on Sunday I think. I am beyond excited- you should see how close you get to some of the animals! I have only seen pictures up to this point, but soon I will be there!! Hopefully, the weather cooperates a little better for us.
Ok- so here’s the hospital scenario. I really can’t go into the amount of detail it would require to completely fill you in, so I will just give you the basic rundown.
They started to build it in 2007, and I am told that the first 3-4 months of “construction” basically involves using huge compactors to press the dirt down and form a viable foundation. They have to do that for so long because the soil here has a very high sand concentration. (The Kalahari Desert may have something to do with that…) In any case, once they finally felt it was compacted enough, they started to build. I believe the project was finished in October 2009, and the staff started moving into this building and out of their crèches (as they called them) around that time. The building is two floors, and there is staff housing on site. There is an ED, OR, Outpatient clinic, Urgent care clinic, a couple of med/surg wards, OB, Peds, Chemo, Dialysis, Radiology, Lab… I’m sure I am forgetting something. It’s a very nice facility as far as the building goes- there is an interior courtyard set up similarly to Mt. Lebo (for those who have seen the high school). There are a lot of outdoor seating areas, which is really nice. There is a cafeteria for the staff and hospital guests and a small café in the reception area.
Now, for the bad news. If you walked in here and just looked around, you might guess the hospital will be opening in 3 months or maybe 2 months. There is very little done as far as stocking the clean utility rooms, the medication rooms, and the wards in general. In fact, most of them are completely empty except for furniture. There is a lot of equipment missing- vital equipment like EKG machines, cardiac monitors, oxygen tanks, suction equipment, OR instruments (yeah, unfortunately that is a true statement), crash carts, and the list goes WAY beyond what I have mentioned. I don’t really know where the break down in ordering occurred, but pretty much the only part of the hospital that is ready to go when we open on Monday (1/11) is… the pharmacy!! I know, it’s shocking, isn’t it? The only reason they are ready to go is because Rich has been here.
If we are all honest, we would say that it will be interesting to see how things go on Monday, but that it not up to us. All we can do is try our best to educate, help, train, implement, and listen…
Things in the Peds unit are good. The nurses for the most part seem to be open to teaching, and engage in conversation and group discussion. There are a few who sit there with arms crossed, but oh well. I haven’t actually done formal teaching yet because there has been a drill going on for the past two days which obviously took up the staff’s time. It also split them between shifts, so I would only be able to teach 6 at a time or whatever. I am hoping to teach tomorrow and Friday and then next week spend the time circulating on the floor (if we do open) and creating a complete unit-specific for pediatrics orientation plan. It is as exhaustive as it sounds, unfortunately. All of these things are invaluable experience even though it is a lot of work. I am optimistic about developing more of a relationship with the nurses and hearing from them what they think should be included in the orientation for the newcomers. I have already had a couple of them ask me to leave my power point files here with them (on their personal flash drives) so they can use them to review. : ) I have made friends with one of the pediatricians on the unit (there were only two until today, and they rotate day and night shifts, so she has been here with me). She and her husband are Americans from Michigan originally, and they have been here for quite some time. It’s nice to have someone to talk to who knows about things in the US.
We’ll see how things go. I am really not sure at this point what next week will bring. I will try to write again in the next couple of days, but again, there are no guarantees. Thank you again so much for the encouragement and the prayers. This has truly been a once in a lifetime experience so far, and I have a feeling there is much more to come. I hope you are all doing well- please hug Jonathan for me if you see him! Love to you all
~A
Sunday, January 3, 2010
The Adventure begins...
The Adventure Begins…
Hi from Botswana (or I guess I should say Dumela!) I arrived safely here in Gaborone at about 10:30 local time today. What a trip! I think I will just start at the beginning, but I wanted to pause to thank you all for your prayers for safe travel. I made it through without any major tragedies. : )
I left Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon with a few tears (Jonathan was damp by the time he left the airport) and made my way to Dulles. When I checked in for my flight to Dakar, Senegal, the nice lady gave me a ticket to the Virgin Airways lounge- I had no idea what to expect, but I was soon to discover it pays to be “somebody”. The lounge was so nice- comfortable seats, plugs for charging all my electronics, real food for free, internet access, etc. I promptly located a little spot and ordered a Caesar salad, which was very good. Shortly after, the nice front desk lady called me to board the plane, so I packed up and moved out.
When I got on the plane, I quickly realized I was not in Kansas anymore. Prior to this, I have only ever flown economy class, including my other overseas travels. Wow. What a difference… You can’t fully appreciate the comforts of Business (first) class on an international flight until you have endured the cattle car that is economy. Haha In order to briefly explain, I had a two seat section to myself, so the seat next to me was vacant and the seats on either side across the aisle from me were also vacant. I kept waiting for more people to come, but all in all, I think there were about 20 of us in 60 seats. It was really nice. The chair was extremely comfortable and the actual seat portion fully reclined into a flat bed. They also give you a pillow and comforter. I loved the design of the chairs because the actual base stays stationary, and the seat does the moving. In other words, you don’t end up with the person in front of you in your lap or anything even close.
I have to give a shout out to my husband here- Jonathan, you would have LOVED all the buttons to press. I was feeling sad that you weren’t there to test them all out. The seats alone had all different directions, foot rest, lumbar support, massage (!!), and recline or flat. That aside, there was also a personal TV with a remote for all my audio stuff, and an LED reading light with a dimmer button. This would have kept you busy for quite a while, babe. : ) In your honor, I played with all the buttons to see what they did.
I had a small moment of panic when I thought my plug didn’t work for my computer, but the nice man across from me and over two seats helped me figure out the adapter and explained that they don’t turn them on until we are in the air. Whew! I had a lot of work to do with only a 2 hour battery life. Disaster averted.
The food was very good, and I won’t bore you with details, but I have to say that it was a 4 course meal that included a CHEESE PLATE. Those of you who know me well are smiling now. Yes, I had Emmenthaler, Comte, Roquefort, Gouda, Fourme d’ ambert, and Camembert between dinner and lunch the next day. How fun! Alright, so what’s wrong with getting excited about the little things in life? : ) I also got a cute little travel bag with Clarins skin products, lip balm, toothbrush and paste, a foldable hairbrush, eyemask, and airplane socks!! Those of you who have not flown internationally won’t appreciate this, but I’m so glad they still give you airplane socks.
I didn’t sleep much (if at all) for the whole roughly 19 hours on the plane just because I am not great at sleeping in situations like that, but the seat was very comfortable for resting, at least. When we stopped in Dakar, they didn’t do anything major security-wise because no one new came into business class. We arrived at Johannesburg about 30 minutes ahead of schedule and no one knew we were coming, I guess. We taxied to the gate, and we couldn’t get out of the plane! The ground crew wasn’t ready, and they have to give the flight attendants a code to open the door and connect to the bridge thing. We didn’t have a code, so we were literally locked in the plane.
The whole airport experience in Jo’burg in general was a lot of “hurry up and wait”. The luggage took a long, long time to get there, and the conveyor belt moved the slowest I have seen yet. At this point, I had been up for about 28 hours or so, and I was ready to shower, talk to family, and sleep!! Made it to the area where you take shuttles to hotels, but I have no idea how I got there. I just kind of wandered and tried to follow signs while dragging my 60 pound suitcase and carry ons. Shuttle to the hotel had just left, so I waited the 20 minutes for the next one and was on my way. Checked in without a problem, purchased internet, and only had a minor tragedy with the plug adapter sparking. Everything else was fine. Room was very comfortable- I have never been so happy to see a bed before! Skype worked great to talk to my honey, although, I don’t think I made a whole lot of sense…
Slept well except waking up here and there to wonder what time it was and in my confused/delirious state at one point had only been asleep for about an hour, and I thought it was morning. These time changes are confusing when you haven’t slept in so long : ) This morning was the adventure at Jo’burg airport with 50 million of my closest friends who happened to ALSO be traveling today. Yikes! It took me over an hour to check in, get through security and passport-ville, and get to my gate. Thankfully, I did not get stopped or searched or anything.
Made it to the hotel thanks to Rich and Michele, and got settled in my room. It’s really nice- very elegant furniture, lovely French doors out to the veranda and pool area, fridge, tv, wireless internet (when it works), huge bathroom, fireplace…
There’s even an emergency light that works for 30 minutes when the power goes out (which according to Rich is frequently). Rich is off to the hospital to do some drills with the staff, and Michele and I will be going shopping/roaming with a lady from the hospital they know. Wanted to get this post done before we left, and I succeeded. Thanks for reading- more later! For now, I’m glad to be back on land. God is good.
I Samuel 7:12 “Thus far, the Lord has helped…” And if He has thus far, He can handle this trip! (**Thank you, Mom!!)
Love to you all
~Aylea
Hi from Botswana (or I guess I should say Dumela!) I arrived safely here in Gaborone at about 10:30 local time today. What a trip! I think I will just start at the beginning, but I wanted to pause to thank you all for your prayers for safe travel. I made it through without any major tragedies. : )
I left Pittsburgh on Friday afternoon with a few tears (Jonathan was damp by the time he left the airport) and made my way to Dulles. When I checked in for my flight to Dakar, Senegal, the nice lady gave me a ticket to the Virgin Airways lounge- I had no idea what to expect, but I was soon to discover it pays to be “somebody”. The lounge was so nice- comfortable seats, plugs for charging all my electronics, real food for free, internet access, etc. I promptly located a little spot and ordered a Caesar salad, which was very good. Shortly after, the nice front desk lady called me to board the plane, so I packed up and moved out.
When I got on the plane, I quickly realized I was not in Kansas anymore. Prior to this, I have only ever flown economy class, including my other overseas travels. Wow. What a difference… You can’t fully appreciate the comforts of Business (first) class on an international flight until you have endured the cattle car that is economy. Haha In order to briefly explain, I had a two seat section to myself, so the seat next to me was vacant and the seats on either side across the aisle from me were also vacant. I kept waiting for more people to come, but all in all, I think there were about 20 of us in 60 seats. It was really nice. The chair was extremely comfortable and the actual seat portion fully reclined into a flat bed. They also give you a pillow and comforter. I loved the design of the chairs because the actual base stays stationary, and the seat does the moving. In other words, you don’t end up with the person in front of you in your lap or anything even close.
I have to give a shout out to my husband here- Jonathan, you would have LOVED all the buttons to press. I was feeling sad that you weren’t there to test them all out. The seats alone had all different directions, foot rest, lumbar support, massage (!!), and recline or flat. That aside, there was also a personal TV with a remote for all my audio stuff, and an LED reading light with a dimmer button. This would have kept you busy for quite a while, babe. : ) In your honor, I played with all the buttons to see what they did.
I had a small moment of panic when I thought my plug didn’t work for my computer, but the nice man across from me and over two seats helped me figure out the adapter and explained that they don’t turn them on until we are in the air. Whew! I had a lot of work to do with only a 2 hour battery life. Disaster averted.
The food was very good, and I won’t bore you with details, but I have to say that it was a 4 course meal that included a CHEESE PLATE. Those of you who know me well are smiling now. Yes, I had Emmenthaler, Comte, Roquefort, Gouda, Fourme d’ ambert, and Camembert between dinner and lunch the next day. How fun! Alright, so what’s wrong with getting excited about the little things in life? : ) I also got a cute little travel bag with Clarins skin products, lip balm, toothbrush and paste, a foldable hairbrush, eyemask, and airplane socks!! Those of you who have not flown internationally won’t appreciate this, but I’m so glad they still give you airplane socks.
I didn’t sleep much (if at all) for the whole roughly 19 hours on the plane just because I am not great at sleeping in situations like that, but the seat was very comfortable for resting, at least. When we stopped in Dakar, they didn’t do anything major security-wise because no one new came into business class. We arrived at Johannesburg about 30 minutes ahead of schedule and no one knew we were coming, I guess. We taxied to the gate, and we couldn’t get out of the plane! The ground crew wasn’t ready, and they have to give the flight attendants a code to open the door and connect to the bridge thing. We didn’t have a code, so we were literally locked in the plane.
The whole airport experience in Jo’burg in general was a lot of “hurry up and wait”. The luggage took a long, long time to get there, and the conveyor belt moved the slowest I have seen yet. At this point, I had been up for about 28 hours or so, and I was ready to shower, talk to family, and sleep!! Made it to the area where you take shuttles to hotels, but I have no idea how I got there. I just kind of wandered and tried to follow signs while dragging my 60 pound suitcase and carry ons. Shuttle to the hotel had just left, so I waited the 20 minutes for the next one and was on my way. Checked in without a problem, purchased internet, and only had a minor tragedy with the plug adapter sparking. Everything else was fine. Room was very comfortable- I have never been so happy to see a bed before! Skype worked great to talk to my honey, although, I don’t think I made a whole lot of sense…
Slept well except waking up here and there to wonder what time it was and in my confused/delirious state at one point had only been asleep for about an hour, and I thought it was morning. These time changes are confusing when you haven’t slept in so long : ) This morning was the adventure at Jo’burg airport with 50 million of my closest friends who happened to ALSO be traveling today. Yikes! It took me over an hour to check in, get through security and passport-ville, and get to my gate. Thankfully, I did not get stopped or searched or anything.
Made it to the hotel thanks to Rich and Michele, and got settled in my room. It’s really nice- very elegant furniture, lovely French doors out to the veranda and pool area, fridge, tv, wireless internet (when it works), huge bathroom, fireplace…
There’s even an emergency light that works for 30 minutes when the power goes out (which according to Rich is frequently). Rich is off to the hospital to do some drills with the staff, and Michele and I will be going shopping/roaming with a lady from the hospital they know. Wanted to get this post done before we left, and I succeeded. Thanks for reading- more later! For now, I’m glad to be back on land. God is good.
I Samuel 7:12 “Thus far, the Lord has helped…” And if He has thus far, He can handle this trip! (**Thank you, Mom!!)
Love to you all
~Aylea
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)