Today is the final day in South Africa, we started with coffee and tanning, a lovely swim and tan while on the floating lounger, a final Hunters and now we pack up and get ready to leave.
Although these past 5 days were extra they were perfectly perfect. We got to spend more time with the family, there was shopping, eating, driving, swimming, tanning and drinking. It was the perfect way to end.
Shirley and I will be dropped off to meet Jennie and then we are going out for lunch followed by the train to the airport where we will anxiously await a seat on one of the four flights to London Heathrow, chances are looking great right now and I expect it will stay that way. Then we will arrive in London, switch terminals and we'll be off to Toronto, home sweet home, and just in time for Christmas dinner.
As for now I need to finish packing my bag up, the next time I expect to be posting is when I've landed on Canadian soil, so until then,
Merry Christmas to one and all...
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Stranded; Day Three
...Stranded, not quite, but to some people stranded is the truth.
There remain to be hundreds maybe thousands of people stranded in Joburg, and even more in London, Mother and I on the other hand have the kind hospitality of Hayley and Steve. We have been quite fortunate in the fact that we DO have family in Joburg; we haven't had to scour the city for a hotel, or worse, sit in an airport and sleep on shifts so that our luggage remains ours and not someone else's.
Last night we had a fairly late dinner, 9ish I believe? We had potatoes, a lovely green salad made by Christine, and pies from Spar (the local grocery store), Mother and I did halfsies on our pies, half spinach/feta, and half vegetable curry. Oh, also some lovely bread, it had tomatoes and then cheese on the top, delicious!
After dinner Ashley went right to bed and Shirley followed shortly after, followed by me and then everyone else. I was going to try and watch the rest of Bride Wars with Shirley because we didn't finish it the last time, but by the time I arrived in our room she was out like a light.
Today the plan was to shop and get some of the outstanding Christmas presents purchased. I awoke at about 8:30 am, one of my earliest mornings (besides wedding day of course) and eventually wound up outside with everyone else, making a cup of coffee first, essential to the beginning of a good day. We all chatted a bit outside and decided the plan for the day, shopping at Northgate followed by lunch at Dros (a pub that Dean was quite excited to visit).
Something I forgot to mention was that yesterday when we went out we had to take two cars and Shirley was a driver for one, she actually did fairly well. Today was round two, two cars again and therefore more driving practice. We got to the mall, parked, entered and formulated a plan; an hour and a half then we would meet and leave the mall for Dros.
Whilst shopping I managed to get my hands on 4 pairs of sunglasses, all Deadmau5 appropriate, as well as a dress for Emma. Ashley got herself and her two friends some necklaces to bind them for eternity, Dean and Christine accomplished the majority of their shopping and Hayley, who detests shopping, made a number of purchases and seemed successful.
Ashley came in contact with her friend Dominique who happened to be at the same mall as us, and was in fact supposed to be dropped off there later anyways, so Hayley walked her to where they were and Ashley was off for the evening, a sleepover! As soon as Ashley was with Dominique it was suggested that we change our lunch plans and head to Monte Casino, the local Johannesburg casino!
Dean was not too keen on this plan, but the women out numbered him and therefore we headed home to drop off a car, where we almost had a serious issue when the gate began to close on the Honda, but that was dealt with and no serious damage. Then we were off to the slots!
We arrived at the Casino and parked, only to realize as we walked to the elevator that there was a "Gun Safe" floor, this was somewhat concerning, but Christine and I took the opportunity to document this peculiar sign.
After entering the casino I noticed many similarities to Vegas, although obviously on a smaller scale. We made our way to the outdoors patio type area and had dinner at "Ciao Baby" an Italian restaurant. Everyone enjoyed their meals, they were quite large portions and I was only able to finish about half of mine.
Side note, Shirley and I have noticed that food is most certainly cheaper here, today our meal, for 5 of us, with a glass of wine, 2 ciders, and 2 beers came to about 490 rand? Which is about 70$ Canadian. When you think about it that’s really quite good, I mean drinks alone would be close to 30$. We have also noticed that cheese in particular is very cheap, a box thing of Boursin (Yas' fave) was about 22 rand which is like 3$ at home, and normally Boursin is easily 8 or 9 $.
After lunch we made our way into the Casino and began to gamble away. This was my first legitimate time being able to take part in any gambling while in a casino (the first time was in Vegas and we weren't even allowed to stop and watch Robert and Shirley) I ended up being up about 49 rand on my first machine, then I was ready to venture to more machines. This casino has "member cards” and the members have money on those card and insert them into a machine, what I didn’t realize was that there was a card in a machine before I inserted my money. When I inserted 50 rand into the machine beside Shirley a little woman in a white hat came up to me and started getting fairly mad due to the fact that my name was not Elizabeth, and that I had used one of her rands to play a round, so I instantly cashed out and was up 7$ which this "Elizabeth" woman claims was her money, so I paid her 7 rand and got right out of there.
The remainder of my Casino experience was not quite as exciting as that little bit, nor did I "win big", but I sure did enjoy myself.
We returned home and the sun was shining, what a great afternoon. I skyped with my dearest darling sister Emma, who was just waking up, 9:30am her time. Then after my skyping I soaked up the sun, in and out of the pool. Mom, Hayley and Dean went to the store to get a few groceries for dinner while Christine and I switched movies.
After spending a significant amount of time outside it was movie and "clean up room" time, lovely way to spend the evening. Dean had some sort of an issue with the bri, essentially the bbq, so dinner was a little delayed tonight, but it was in fact completely worth the wait, delicious.
Mother and I are finally going to finish Bride Wars tonight and then tomorrow we are doing the "big Sun City shop" at Checkers, a grocery type store, followed by lunch at Dros, something Dean will be eagerly awaiting I’m sure!
It looks like, if all things go well, which they should then we'll be on a flight on the evening of the 24th and home by the 25th, fingers crossed.
There remain to be hundreds maybe thousands of people stranded in Joburg, and even more in London, Mother and I on the other hand have the kind hospitality of Hayley and Steve. We have been quite fortunate in the fact that we DO have family in Joburg; we haven't had to scour the city for a hotel, or worse, sit in an airport and sleep on shifts so that our luggage remains ours and not someone else's.
Last night we had a fairly late dinner, 9ish I believe? We had potatoes, a lovely green salad made by Christine, and pies from Spar (the local grocery store), Mother and I did halfsies on our pies, half spinach/feta, and half vegetable curry. Oh, also some lovely bread, it had tomatoes and then cheese on the top, delicious!
After dinner Ashley went right to bed and Shirley followed shortly after, followed by me and then everyone else. I was going to try and watch the rest of Bride Wars with Shirley because we didn't finish it the last time, but by the time I arrived in our room she was out like a light.
Today the plan was to shop and get some of the outstanding Christmas presents purchased. I awoke at about 8:30 am, one of my earliest mornings (besides wedding day of course) and eventually wound up outside with everyone else, making a cup of coffee first, essential to the beginning of a good day. We all chatted a bit outside and decided the plan for the day, shopping at Northgate followed by lunch at Dros (a pub that Dean was quite excited to visit).
Something I forgot to mention was that yesterday when we went out we had to take two cars and Shirley was a driver for one, she actually did fairly well. Today was round two, two cars again and therefore more driving practice. We got to the mall, parked, entered and formulated a plan; an hour and a half then we would meet and leave the mall for Dros.
Whilst shopping I managed to get my hands on 4 pairs of sunglasses, all Deadmau5 appropriate, as well as a dress for Emma. Ashley got herself and her two friends some necklaces to bind them for eternity, Dean and Christine accomplished the majority of their shopping and Hayley, who detests shopping, made a number of purchases and seemed successful.
Ashley came in contact with her friend Dominique who happened to be at the same mall as us, and was in fact supposed to be dropped off there later anyways, so Hayley walked her to where they were and Ashley was off for the evening, a sleepover! As soon as Ashley was with Dominique it was suggested that we change our lunch plans and head to Monte Casino, the local Johannesburg casino!
Dean was not too keen on this plan, but the women out numbered him and therefore we headed home to drop off a car, where we almost had a serious issue when the gate began to close on the Honda, but that was dealt with and no serious damage. Then we were off to the slots!
We arrived at the Casino and parked, only to realize as we walked to the elevator that there was a "Gun Safe" floor, this was somewhat concerning, but Christine and I took the opportunity to document this peculiar sign.
After entering the casino I noticed many similarities to Vegas, although obviously on a smaller scale. We made our way to the outdoors patio type area and had dinner at "Ciao Baby" an Italian restaurant. Everyone enjoyed their meals, they were quite large portions and I was only able to finish about half of mine.
Side note, Shirley and I have noticed that food is most certainly cheaper here, today our meal, for 5 of us, with a glass of wine, 2 ciders, and 2 beers came to about 490 rand? Which is about 70$ Canadian. When you think about it that’s really quite good, I mean drinks alone would be close to 30$. We have also noticed that cheese in particular is very cheap, a box thing of Boursin (Yas' fave) was about 22 rand which is like 3$ at home, and normally Boursin is easily 8 or 9 $.
After lunch we made our way into the Casino and began to gamble away. This was my first legitimate time being able to take part in any gambling while in a casino (the first time was in Vegas and we weren't even allowed to stop and watch Robert and Shirley) I ended up being up about 49 rand on my first machine, then I was ready to venture to more machines. This casino has "member cards” and the members have money on those card and insert them into a machine, what I didn’t realize was that there was a card in a machine before I inserted my money. When I inserted 50 rand into the machine beside Shirley a little woman in a white hat came up to me and started getting fairly mad due to the fact that my name was not Elizabeth, and that I had used one of her rands to play a round, so I instantly cashed out and was up 7$ which this "Elizabeth" woman claims was her money, so I paid her 7 rand and got right out of there.
The remainder of my Casino experience was not quite as exciting as that little bit, nor did I "win big", but I sure did enjoy myself.
We returned home and the sun was shining, what a great afternoon. I skyped with my dearest darling sister Emma, who was just waking up, 9:30am her time. Then after my skyping I soaked up the sun, in and out of the pool. Mom, Hayley and Dean went to the store to get a few groceries for dinner while Christine and I switched movies.
After spending a significant amount of time outside it was movie and "clean up room" time, lovely way to spend the evening. Dean had some sort of an issue with the bri, essentially the bbq, so dinner was a little delayed tonight, but it was in fact completely worth the wait, delicious.
Mother and I are finally going to finish Bride Wars tonight and then tomorrow we are doing the "big Sun City shop" at Checkers, a grocery type store, followed by lunch at Dros, something Dean will be eagerly awaiting I’m sure!
It looks like, if all things go well, which they should then we'll be on a flight on the evening of the 24th and home by the 25th, fingers crossed.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Stuck in South Africa.
After trying to program the GPS today, circling around the train station to find the entrance, traveling on the train, waiting in line after line and eating in a rush we've wound up right back where we started.
Let me explain,
We had some issues with the TomTom and its abilities to navigate us to the train station, although finally it began to function and we arrived at the right intersection, passing the station once but making our way back, it was the first goodbye.
Mother dearest and I made our way to the ticket man and got our one ways to the airport, lovely new train system they have, clean, efficient, and quick. After our arrival at the airport we made our way to the first ticket agent and waited in line for about two hours in anticipation, hoping that they would change our present tickets traveling to London into tickets traveling to New York, a flight that was departing with space. After befriending a man behind us who had missed his first flight because of the line up he was in at the time and was now going to miss the next flight because of the present line up, we made some new friends. A couple that had been stuck in South Africa for the past night and would be stuck until the 23rd, their flight cancelled. As we waited in line it was evident that there were some rude individuals butting in line, including a Brazilian travel group who had just been to Abu Dhabi for some event of some sort? Anyways, they were SO obnoxiously loud and annoying. They stood in front of the entire length of the desk, they yelled, so I yelled, they were running around chasing members of the group, so I helped by yelling to point them out. Finally after about 2 ish hours we were at the front of the line and failed in our attempts to get on a flight to New York, on to the next line up.
We moved from our failed attempt over to the South African check-in desk to get ourselves listed on the one outgoing flight to London Heathrow. We didn’t wait as long this time and the woman listed us right away, not that we would be going anywhere due to the backlog of the past days cancellations and the cancelations of that day.
After dealing with South African we wandered over to "Terminal A" (which is just the other half of the airport) to get in line at British Airways and list ourselves on their flight. The line up must have taken about an hour and a half, and we stood right behind these modern day hippies, who hadn’t showered in a couple days, not a pleasant time. When we finally arrived at the desk we re-listed and were asked if we wanted to standby for the outgoing flight, but we knew there was no point, so we just listed ourselves for the 23rd? I think?
After getting ourselves listed on both flights, as well as trying to get onto the wide open New York flight we moved to a restaurant to get ourselves something to eat and drink as we realized that throughout the day all we had eaten was a piece of toast with Cheesy Marmite and some crisps while in the airport. We sat down at about 720 pm ordered our drinks and food, coffee and a sandwich for mama and a latte and chicken burger for myself. Now, over the 4 or 5 hours I had spent in the airport I noticed a few things; line ups, angry customers, not a single seating area, crying children, some angry and some happy agents, and best of all, lots of cute boys. None of the boys were actually worthy of my time to talk to, but they were nice to look at in my hours of waiting.
After we ate we ran back to Terminal B to check with the South African agent to see if we had received seats on the flight to London, no luck, as expected. We then made our way back to Terminal A to catch the train back to Sandton station where we would be picked up. We had to re load our cards with money so we asked the woman and she did so, although I went through the gate a little prematurely and managed to forget my bag, whoops! Thankfully Shirley called me out on it and the woman helped me get it through the wheelchair gate.
On the train home we were two of four in our car and mother and I listened to some well needed Sara Bareilles. We got to the station, got into the elevator and somewhere up the ride an emergency signal went off, I’m fairly certain that my backpack accidentally pressed the button, my bad. We scanned our cards to get out and went upstairs and outside to meet Dean and Steve, our chauffeurs for the night. After arriving back at home I made my phone call to work making them aware that the chances of me being back in London Ontario for my shift on the 24th were not very good. And then having a lovely chat with Kati about her final exam followed by a conversation with Robert about the options we have and how to deal with the situation.
It looks like we're stuck in South Africa until at least the 23rd, but another 2 or 3 flights were cancelled tonight, so that may mean more like departure on MAYBE the 24th. Although the next issue is even if we do get out of South Africa on the 23 or 24th we then have the issues of traveling from London Heathrow to North America somewhere, preferably Toronto, but the Toronto flight we won’t be able to get a seat on until the am of the 26th, with arrival into Toronto Pearson at about 4pm on the 26th, JUST enough time to get ready for Mau5, obviously my largest concern right now, but another issue is the fact that Darryl (older brother) is coming home for Christmas, from Wednesday(tomorrow) until the 26th, I would like to see him for more than 12 hours like the last time he came home!
I am still hoping that somehow we manage to get our tickets switched from London to New York because the flight to New York every day is open, meaning I could be home as soon as tomorrow. I know that Robert is doing everything he can, and I am also aware that Shirley isn't overly concerned due to the fact that she is with her Brother and Sister, which is great and I totally understand that, it would just be nice to get home to MY brothers, sister, father and friends.
As for South Africa, well today the weather was lovely until about 3 or 4? When it started to rain, we went out to lunch and then I read and napped outside. Ashley and I have JUST started "Home Alone 2 - Lost in New York City" and we will watch this until dinner.
Tomorrow calls for some shopping, and all those gifts that I didn't manage to get in the first two weeks of being here, well I guess the third week holds gifts galore, not to mention a letter to Santa asking him for a trip home as my only gift this year.
Let me explain,
We had some issues with the TomTom and its abilities to navigate us to the train station, although finally it began to function and we arrived at the right intersection, passing the station once but making our way back, it was the first goodbye.
Mother dearest and I made our way to the ticket man and got our one ways to the airport, lovely new train system they have, clean, efficient, and quick. After our arrival at the airport we made our way to the first ticket agent and waited in line for about two hours in anticipation, hoping that they would change our present tickets traveling to London into tickets traveling to New York, a flight that was departing with space. After befriending a man behind us who had missed his first flight because of the line up he was in at the time and was now going to miss the next flight because of the present line up, we made some new friends. A couple that had been stuck in South Africa for the past night and would be stuck until the 23rd, their flight cancelled. As we waited in line it was evident that there were some rude individuals butting in line, including a Brazilian travel group who had just been to Abu Dhabi for some event of some sort? Anyways, they were SO obnoxiously loud and annoying. They stood in front of the entire length of the desk, they yelled, so I yelled, they were running around chasing members of the group, so I helped by yelling to point them out. Finally after about 2 ish hours we were at the front of the line and failed in our attempts to get on a flight to New York, on to the next line up.
We moved from our failed attempt over to the South African check-in desk to get ourselves listed on the one outgoing flight to London Heathrow. We didn’t wait as long this time and the woman listed us right away, not that we would be going anywhere due to the backlog of the past days cancellations and the cancelations of that day.
After dealing with South African we wandered over to "Terminal A" (which is just the other half of the airport) to get in line at British Airways and list ourselves on their flight. The line up must have taken about an hour and a half, and we stood right behind these modern day hippies, who hadn’t showered in a couple days, not a pleasant time. When we finally arrived at the desk we re-listed and were asked if we wanted to standby for the outgoing flight, but we knew there was no point, so we just listed ourselves for the 23rd? I think?
After getting ourselves listed on both flights, as well as trying to get onto the wide open New York flight we moved to a restaurant to get ourselves something to eat and drink as we realized that throughout the day all we had eaten was a piece of toast with Cheesy Marmite and some crisps while in the airport. We sat down at about 720 pm ordered our drinks and food, coffee and a sandwich for mama and a latte and chicken burger for myself. Now, over the 4 or 5 hours I had spent in the airport I noticed a few things; line ups, angry customers, not a single seating area, crying children, some angry and some happy agents, and best of all, lots of cute boys. None of the boys were actually worthy of my time to talk to, but they were nice to look at in my hours of waiting.
After we ate we ran back to Terminal B to check with the South African agent to see if we had received seats on the flight to London, no luck, as expected. We then made our way back to Terminal A to catch the train back to Sandton station where we would be picked up. We had to re load our cards with money so we asked the woman and she did so, although I went through the gate a little prematurely and managed to forget my bag, whoops! Thankfully Shirley called me out on it and the woman helped me get it through the wheelchair gate.
On the train home we were two of four in our car and mother and I listened to some well needed Sara Bareilles. We got to the station, got into the elevator and somewhere up the ride an emergency signal went off, I’m fairly certain that my backpack accidentally pressed the button, my bad. We scanned our cards to get out and went upstairs and outside to meet Dean and Steve, our chauffeurs for the night. After arriving back at home I made my phone call to work making them aware that the chances of me being back in London Ontario for my shift on the 24th were not very good. And then having a lovely chat with Kati about her final exam followed by a conversation with Robert about the options we have and how to deal with the situation.
It looks like we're stuck in South Africa until at least the 23rd, but another 2 or 3 flights were cancelled tonight, so that may mean more like departure on MAYBE the 24th. Although the next issue is even if we do get out of South Africa on the 23 or 24th we then have the issues of traveling from London Heathrow to North America somewhere, preferably Toronto, but the Toronto flight we won’t be able to get a seat on until the am of the 26th, with arrival into Toronto Pearson at about 4pm on the 26th, JUST enough time to get ready for Mau5, obviously my largest concern right now, but another issue is the fact that Darryl (older brother) is coming home for Christmas, from Wednesday(tomorrow) until the 26th, I would like to see him for more than 12 hours like the last time he came home!
I am still hoping that somehow we manage to get our tickets switched from London to New York because the flight to New York every day is open, meaning I could be home as soon as tomorrow. I know that Robert is doing everything he can, and I am also aware that Shirley isn't overly concerned due to the fact that she is with her Brother and Sister, which is great and I totally understand that, it would just be nice to get home to MY brothers, sister, father and friends.
As for South Africa, well today the weather was lovely until about 3 or 4? When it started to rain, we went out to lunch and then I read and napped outside. Ashley and I have JUST started "Home Alone 2 - Lost in New York City" and we will watch this until dinner.
Tomorrow calls for some shopping, and all those gifts that I didn't manage to get in the first two weeks of being here, well I guess the third week holds gifts galore, not to mention a letter to Santa asking him for a trip home as my only gift this year.
Travel Update
As of last night we discovered that London Heathrow has been shut down due to bad weather. There must be something about the name London. anyways, due to this we realized that our flight would most likely be cancelled today, true story, South African Airways cancelled both of their flights and British Airways has cancelled one thus far, but their flights yesterday were cancelled so there would be NOOOOO space on the flight what so ever.
So we have been dropped off at Hayley's to sort things out, the plan is to leave here at about 1pm ish and go to the airport to try and get on a flight to Washington or New York and from there we will make our way home.
I have been fortunate enough to spend the past couple hours in the sun, and am presently about to get my life together for trip # 1 to the airport.
If we don't make it out today then we wont even be trying again for a couple days, so it seems that Africa just cant get enough of us...
As for Starbucks, hopefully i will make it back in time for work, but ill know soon enough and if i cant then ill be calling each and every employee begging to take my shift...
As for the Mau5, well i'll be back by then, wouldn't miss him for the world.
updating will occur as there is a new plan!
So we have been dropped off at Hayley's to sort things out, the plan is to leave here at about 1pm ish and go to the airport to try and get on a flight to Washington or New York and from there we will make our way home.
I have been fortunate enough to spend the past couple hours in the sun, and am presently about to get my life together for trip # 1 to the airport.
If we don't make it out today then we wont even be trying again for a couple days, so it seems that Africa just cant get enough of us...
As for Starbucks, hopefully i will make it back in time for work, but ill know soon enough and if i cant then ill be calling each and every employee begging to take my shift...
As for the Mau5, well i'll be back by then, wouldn't miss him for the world.
updating will occur as there is a new plan!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Is all hope lost ?
Precursor, this is a short post and legitimate events will be recapped ASAP.
Today we attended Antony and Kersha's wedding, it was completely stunning, simple, elegant, beautiful and just right.
I'm not one to be very emotional at events such as a wedding, but something about this one really made me wonder.
The past week or two I’ve been surrounded by couples that have found their true love and kept by their sides throughout everything, not to mention at such a young age,
Examples:
Hayley and Steve, met at 14 years old, present status, now married with two Children, Ashley, 13 and Antony 23, married as of today ( to Kersha, 21 years old, just finished her honours degree in psych.)
Dean and Christine, Met when Christine was 18, from my knowledge together since. Lived together for 10 years? Then married about 8 years ago? In a destination wedding (p.s. Uncle Dean and Christine, I apologize if my dates are wrong.)
Side note, Dean and Hayley are twins, and the youngest of my mother’s brothers/sisters.
Mandy and Bob, met in around 1975? And married for about 17 or 18 years now, one child, Daniel, 14 years old.
Jane and Collin met and moved in together at 18? married, two children, Marc, married for 6 years, two children, Jene, one child, Haeden, love of her life.
and, of course,
My Mother dearest, Shirley and Robert, met some time in their later 20's ? Married for about 20 years, four children, Darryl (mama's first born), Myself (Robert's first born), Emma, and Andrew.
What have they all got in common? Everyone met at a relatively young age and has been together ever since, everyone is happy and has managed to establish their relationships to the best of their abilities, and to exactly what they want.
Over the past week or two of being with everyone it's made me wonder, is there really a chance for this generation to succeed with a relationship? And if it is, then when will we know? How will we know? And do we know who our soul mate is without even realizing it? Or, is true love dead?
Today I was reminded that there is a possibility for happily ever after, Kersha and Antony, 21 and 23, not far off from myself. They've known each other for about two years, managed to become best friends and soul mates in the process of growing up themselves.
It's given me some sort of hope I guess, but at the same time, is everything lost? Have I already met my someone and passed them by, or have they passed me by without knowing?
Kersha and Antony looked into each other’s eyes with such adoration and admiration for one another today that it was such inspiration to us all. They've already accomplished so much; on their own, and as a couple. They are destined for such great things and such a loving, and caring relationship ahead of them.
Although I’ve managed to doubt myself and my abilities today, I need to remember a few things;
1. I am still young.
2. Maybe I have met my soul mate, if I have then he'll find his way back, or I will find him.
3. It doesn’t need to happen any time soon.
4. I am constantly surrounded by people that I love, and that love me back.
5. Most importantly, all hope is not lost.
Today we attended Antony and Kersha's wedding, it was completely stunning, simple, elegant, beautiful and just right.
I'm not one to be very emotional at events such as a wedding, but something about this one really made me wonder.
The past week or two I’ve been surrounded by couples that have found their true love and kept by their sides throughout everything, not to mention at such a young age,
Examples:
Hayley and Steve, met at 14 years old, present status, now married with two Children, Ashley, 13 and Antony 23, married as of today ( to Kersha, 21 years old, just finished her honours degree in psych.)
Dean and Christine, Met when Christine was 18, from my knowledge together since. Lived together for 10 years? Then married about 8 years ago? In a destination wedding (p.s. Uncle Dean and Christine, I apologize if my dates are wrong.)
Side note, Dean and Hayley are twins, and the youngest of my mother’s brothers/sisters.
Mandy and Bob, met in around 1975? And married for about 17 or 18 years now, one child, Daniel, 14 years old.
Jane and Collin met and moved in together at 18? married, two children, Marc, married for 6 years, two children, Jene, one child, Haeden, love of her life.
and, of course,
My Mother dearest, Shirley and Robert, met some time in their later 20's ? Married for about 20 years, four children, Darryl (mama's first born), Myself (Robert's first born), Emma, and Andrew.
What have they all got in common? Everyone met at a relatively young age and has been together ever since, everyone is happy and has managed to establish their relationships to the best of their abilities, and to exactly what they want.
Over the past week or two of being with everyone it's made me wonder, is there really a chance for this generation to succeed with a relationship? And if it is, then when will we know? How will we know? And do we know who our soul mate is without even realizing it? Or, is true love dead?
Today I was reminded that there is a possibility for happily ever after, Kersha and Antony, 21 and 23, not far off from myself. They've known each other for about two years, managed to become best friends and soul mates in the process of growing up themselves.
It's given me some sort of hope I guess, but at the same time, is everything lost? Have I already met my someone and passed them by, or have they passed me by without knowing?
Kersha and Antony looked into each other’s eyes with such adoration and admiration for one another today that it was such inspiration to us all. They've already accomplished so much; on their own, and as a couple. They are destined for such great things and such a loving, and caring relationship ahead of them.
Although I’ve managed to doubt myself and my abilities today, I need to remember a few things;
1. I am still young.
2. Maybe I have met my soul mate, if I have then he'll find his way back, or I will find him.
3. It doesn’t need to happen any time soon.
4. I am constantly surrounded by people that I love, and that love me back.
5. Most importantly, all hope is not lost.
Friday, December 17, 2010
South Africa.
The flight to Joburg was delayed due to the fact that they had loaded cargo on to come to Botswana which was then unable to be taken off because the equipment was not available, so we had to wait for insturctions. The flight is only about 30 minutes, but thanks to the terribly annoying children sitting behind us it felt like HOURS, they were yelling, kicking my chair, telling ME to be quiet and fighting with one another, the parents had NO control....
Upon arrival in South Africa we were greeted by Steve, Hayley, and Ashley. Hugs, Kisses, and we were off to the car to head home. On the drive home we were able to see the sun start to come out, what a lovely change from all the rain! Another thing we saw were two horrible car accidents, ones that appeared to be fatal yet, this was normal for South Africa and mainly with the BMW's and Mercedes drivers.
We arrived at the house and moved our bags into our room, which is apparently Ashley's study? or I believe, Antony's old room before he moved out? We quickly threw our stuff down and proceeded outside to say Hello to Dean and Christine (another aunt and uncle who live in Vancouver). After a little hello to everyone we changed out of our airplane clothes and into something to wear to Jenny and Gary's for a christmas dinner.
Side note, Precious is Hayley and Steve's maid, she was only here on Thursday and has now gone to visit her mother and daughter for the christmas holiday. Friday we had another woman come in, but i don't know her name or anything about her really, except that she smelt, and not a good smell.
Jenny and Gary are great friends with Hayley, they've known each other for about 20 years, they have two children, Gemma, who is 24 ? and Liam who is 17, lovely people. They have a dog that looks like a cat, adorable little thing and a huge backyard that Shirley just adored! dinner was wonderful and the wine was flowing.
Side note, I did not have any wine, although i have now been told that they drink "light" wine, which makes sense because i lost count at how many glasses everyone was on, but no one was sloshed. Light wine, good life choice.
Gemma was telling about this cruise that she just got back from, it was sponsored by Miller, and it was essentially a party cruise, just my type right? The cruise was three days long and travelled from joburg to mozambique i think? Gemma said it was literally a 24 hour party, they did have police on board and when someone was too drunk or just being out of line they were arrested and placed in the holding cells in the bottom of the boat.
After we had all taken our time in eating dinner and dessert as well as a few more glasses of wine we drove home, where Ashley proceeded to bed, and the rest of us stayed up and then mother and i decided to call it quits, i watched a movie and fell right asleep.
Friday we were blessed with a LOVELY day, by the time i got up Ashley Dean and Christine had already been for a swim, so I put my bathing suit on and soaked up the sun. The water was still quite cold, but eventually it became necessary to get right in, and so it happened. Not only did I manage to swim yesterday but i also tried "Cheesy Marmite" which ended up being bearable in comparison to the regular Marmite. I also tried Hunter's Cider, a beer somewhat similar to Strongbow, 5.5% alcohol, sweet tasting and fairly delicious. We ate breakfast outside, eggs, toast, baked beans, and some sort of meat? very yummy.
Somewhere along the day most of us managed to catch a little too much sun, but luckily Hayley and Steve are equipped for the situation, they have aloe plants growing everywhere! we just has to pick the leaf and split it in half and then we had fresh aloe, a perfect way to heal the burns (used again this morning).
Mama, Steve, Ashley and i eventually changed and got ready for a mission, finding Ashley black closed toe heals for the wedding. We went to about every shop in Northgate and then had to head off to Fourways crossing where we finally found a pair JUST as they were closing, phew, mission accomplished. next mission was to conquer the grocery list, after hitting up Woolworth's grocery in one plaza we moved to the next Woolworth's in the neighboring plaza, followed by the liquor mart and pick and pay, finally done.
We got home and all continued to lounge around for a bit longer, drank a bit more, talked a fair bit and then Hayley decided to get dinner started, we had a thai type of stirfry, it was absolutely delicious! throughout dinner Hayley and Steve told us a couple stories about Antony, what a funny little boy he used to be ! I wont share the stories in the case that he wanders upon this and i get in trouble :P.
Someone i have yet to have mentioned that is incredibly important to the family is Bird. Bird is a talking bird and sits in his cage, on a swing in the outside patio thing, or on his tree house thing that Steve made. Bird whistles, talks, repeats and mimics noises that he hears (example, the microwave, he makes the EXACT sound that the microwave makes when it is finished heating, when he first started doing it Steve and Hayley thought it was in fact the real microwave, but they soon began to realize Bird had been tricking them). Bird is quite fun and i enjoy his company in the house as well as outside when he joins us there.
Steve and Hayley also have two guard dogs, Hedges and Benson, they are very protective, and apparently necessary as well, the security around the house consists of this; a normal home security system, a gated driveway and around the house, with electrical barbed wire on the top, and the number 7 of their house electric, a gated front door that is always locked, as well as bars on all the windows AND a gate in the hallway between the kitchen and living areas to the bedrooms that is locked at night, and of course the dogs, we are definitely safe in here.
Last night we all went to bed fairly early, once again i got in trouble with Shirley and was unable to blog because in her eyes it was too late, so i put on a movie and did my best to fall asleep. This morning we all got up by 9 am where we then went to the craft market, grocery shopping again and to the mall again. We had breakfast when we were out, it was delicious, i had scrambled eggs with tomato and feta cheese in them, yum. As well as a latte and a cup of coffee, needed for sure. Shopping was rather unproductive, i only purchased a headband, they had these sunglasses that were PERFECT for Justine and I to wear to Mau5, which is now in 8 days ! but the line up went ALL around the store, not worth it.
Now we are all home and waiting for the arrival of Nan, Jane, Collin, Jene and Hayden, when mother dearest and i will move to the hotel and then we will all reconvene for dinner tonight, before the wedding tomorrow morning at 9am ! how exciting !
As for now im going to soak up the sun!
tata
Upon arrival in South Africa we were greeted by Steve, Hayley, and Ashley. Hugs, Kisses, and we were off to the car to head home. On the drive home we were able to see the sun start to come out, what a lovely change from all the rain! Another thing we saw were two horrible car accidents, ones that appeared to be fatal yet, this was normal for South Africa and mainly with the BMW's and Mercedes drivers.
We arrived at the house and moved our bags into our room, which is apparently Ashley's study? or I believe, Antony's old room before he moved out? We quickly threw our stuff down and proceeded outside to say Hello to Dean and Christine (another aunt and uncle who live in Vancouver). After a little hello to everyone we changed out of our airplane clothes and into something to wear to Jenny and Gary's for a christmas dinner.
Side note, Precious is Hayley and Steve's maid, she was only here on Thursday and has now gone to visit her mother and daughter for the christmas holiday. Friday we had another woman come in, but i don't know her name or anything about her really, except that she smelt, and not a good smell.
Jenny and Gary are great friends with Hayley, they've known each other for about 20 years, they have two children, Gemma, who is 24 ? and Liam who is 17, lovely people. They have a dog that looks like a cat, adorable little thing and a huge backyard that Shirley just adored! dinner was wonderful and the wine was flowing.
Side note, I did not have any wine, although i have now been told that they drink "light" wine, which makes sense because i lost count at how many glasses everyone was on, but no one was sloshed. Light wine, good life choice.
Gemma was telling about this cruise that she just got back from, it was sponsored by Miller, and it was essentially a party cruise, just my type right? The cruise was three days long and travelled from joburg to mozambique i think? Gemma said it was literally a 24 hour party, they did have police on board and when someone was too drunk or just being out of line they were arrested and placed in the holding cells in the bottom of the boat.
After we had all taken our time in eating dinner and dessert as well as a few more glasses of wine we drove home, where Ashley proceeded to bed, and the rest of us stayed up and then mother and i decided to call it quits, i watched a movie and fell right asleep.
Friday we were blessed with a LOVELY day, by the time i got up Ashley Dean and Christine had already been for a swim, so I put my bathing suit on and soaked up the sun. The water was still quite cold, but eventually it became necessary to get right in, and so it happened. Not only did I manage to swim yesterday but i also tried "Cheesy Marmite" which ended up being bearable in comparison to the regular Marmite. I also tried Hunter's Cider, a beer somewhat similar to Strongbow, 5.5% alcohol, sweet tasting and fairly delicious. We ate breakfast outside, eggs, toast, baked beans, and some sort of meat? very yummy.
Somewhere along the day most of us managed to catch a little too much sun, but luckily Hayley and Steve are equipped for the situation, they have aloe plants growing everywhere! we just has to pick the leaf and split it in half and then we had fresh aloe, a perfect way to heal the burns (used again this morning).
Mama, Steve, Ashley and i eventually changed and got ready for a mission, finding Ashley black closed toe heals for the wedding. We went to about every shop in Northgate and then had to head off to Fourways crossing where we finally found a pair JUST as they were closing, phew, mission accomplished. next mission was to conquer the grocery list, after hitting up Woolworth's grocery in one plaza we moved to the next Woolworth's in the neighboring plaza, followed by the liquor mart and pick and pay, finally done.
We got home and all continued to lounge around for a bit longer, drank a bit more, talked a fair bit and then Hayley decided to get dinner started, we had a thai type of stirfry, it was absolutely delicious! throughout dinner Hayley and Steve told us a couple stories about Antony, what a funny little boy he used to be ! I wont share the stories in the case that he wanders upon this and i get in trouble :P.
Someone i have yet to have mentioned that is incredibly important to the family is Bird. Bird is a talking bird and sits in his cage, on a swing in the outside patio thing, or on his tree house thing that Steve made. Bird whistles, talks, repeats and mimics noises that he hears (example, the microwave, he makes the EXACT sound that the microwave makes when it is finished heating, when he first started doing it Steve and Hayley thought it was in fact the real microwave, but they soon began to realize Bird had been tricking them). Bird is quite fun and i enjoy his company in the house as well as outside when he joins us there.
Steve and Hayley also have two guard dogs, Hedges and Benson, they are very protective, and apparently necessary as well, the security around the house consists of this; a normal home security system, a gated driveway and around the house, with electrical barbed wire on the top, and the number 7 of their house electric, a gated front door that is always locked, as well as bars on all the windows AND a gate in the hallway between the kitchen and living areas to the bedrooms that is locked at night, and of course the dogs, we are definitely safe in here.
Last night we all went to bed fairly early, once again i got in trouble with Shirley and was unable to blog because in her eyes it was too late, so i put on a movie and did my best to fall asleep. This morning we all got up by 9 am where we then went to the craft market, grocery shopping again and to the mall again. We had breakfast when we were out, it was delicious, i had scrambled eggs with tomato and feta cheese in them, yum. As well as a latte and a cup of coffee, needed for sure. Shopping was rather unproductive, i only purchased a headband, they had these sunglasses that were PERFECT for Justine and I to wear to Mau5, which is now in 8 days ! but the line up went ALL around the store, not worth it.
Now we are all home and waiting for the arrival of Nan, Jane, Collin, Jene and Hayden, when mother dearest and i will move to the hotel and then we will all reconvene for dinner tonight, before the wedding tomorrow morning at 9am ! how exciting !
As for now im going to soak up the sun!
tata
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Last day in Gaborone.
(picture 1. Calvin, 2. Stitched up Shirley, 3. Nan's lunchtime ear plug invention)
What an eventful night/day,
So, last night we went out for dinner to this plaza called "Riverwalk", in order to get there Collin decided to take us on a detour around the traffic of the normal roads, on a "highway" type road that was under construction, it was literally like off road driving, there were puddles, sinking sand, cows, other cars, sudden turns up hills, quite the adventure.
"Riverwalk" was a cute little centre, best part, a cute boy got out of a car with his parents at the same time that we were getting out of ours. Next best part, they were going to the same restaurant as us, AND sitting at the table beside us. Bad part, I just eye googled him a bit and obviously that went no where, not meant to be.
Dinner was lovely, we all had a wonderful meal, Hayden had eaten before we got there so he had a brownie with ice cream that was played with more than eaten, although enjoyable either way. We had a little trouble whilst paying, Shirley's American Express wasn't accepted, and her Visa wouldn't connect, so she used the cash she had. We finally wound up home and sat downstairs drinking coffee and watching Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Shirley won, and now claims she's a millionaire!
After the show we finally wound up in bed and Skyped with my second sister Kati B. That was a lovely thing, Shirley and I both got to see her and spoke with her a bit about the snow and the expected snow for London, but then realized it was quite late so we needed to get our movie started, which ended up being a movie just for me because mother dearest needed her beauty rest.
After the movie finally finished I still couldn't sleep and therefore I was somewhat surfing the web when I heard something that sounded like a car, quickly followed by lights coming in through the windows. I then began to worry a little bit, Shirley was fast asleep, as was the rest of the house, I had to protect everyone on my own!
My laptop was shut as soon as possible so I could see the lights and car more clearly, which wasn't even possible considering I wouldn't get out of bed because I was too scared, the buzzer rang once, twice, the car made a noise and the buzzer rang again, it was time to wake Shirley up.
There was a loud gasp as I awoke her, but nothing serious, she didn’t believe me that there was a vehicle so she got up to check, low and behold, a truck was outside the gate, I wouldn’t let her turn on any lights as she was going to tell Collin, because if they saw lights they would know that we were here (because they didn’t already?). As Shirley was going downstairs Collin's cellphone began to ring, It was security checking to make sure everything was okay here, they had sent a truck up to check, hence the vehicle outside the gate.
African Break-In Crisis Averted.
Eventually I managed to fall asleep, but not until much later, or earlier? Then this morning I was awoken by the sound of someone telling me it was raining, yet again, more reason to sleep in. UNTIL, all I could hear was Nan basically yelling at Shirley saying something about calling Jane, she would know what to do? Or going to get it checked out? I grabbed my sweater and ran downstairs to find mother sitting on a chair with a towel held to her chin and blood all over her clothing, the foolish woman had fallen off a ladder, and refused to go get it checked and stitched up even though we KNEW it needed to be, I came right back upstairs to start studying as I didn’t want to deal with any bloody situations. I was soon told to wrap Christmas gifts and so I got to work on that, only to look up and out the window to see Jane's car coming home and then leaving again, I could only guess that Nan and mama were with her?
I then heard a knock at my door, figuring it was Patience I said come in, but no one came in, so I got up and checked the door, who was it ? None other than Calvin, now I don’t think I’ve mentioned him yet, but Calvin is Jane and Collin's dog, he is literally part of the family and Hayden loves him. Anyways, Calvin just wanted some attention I guess, so I followed him downstairs and talked to him at the bottom of the stairs, when Patience started looking at me like I was a mad woman, she didn’t realize I was talking to Calvin and thought that I was talking to myself. I cleared that up quickly.
I finished the wrapping, did some studying and then Nan and mother got home, Nan as she had left and Shirley + 4 stitches in her chin.
We made our way to Cannon to meet Jane and go for lunch, Shirley driving standard yet again, she did a fine job on the way there, and parking. We also met Jene but she had already eaten due to the fact we had been delayed by the chin incident. All throughout lunch there was this car alarm that kept going off about every 10 minutes, Nan devised a great invention to deal with the noise (view picture above). After we had finished eating we went into a couple of the shops around the plaza type place and I managed to mis read a couple prices and accidentally purchased two very expensive pashminas, whoops!
Up until now Shirley's standard driving skills have been fairly impressive, although leave the parking lot today was NOT her finest moment. I was CERTAIN she was going to hit the car behind us and therefore I caused a fuss and got snapped at, but the man standing near our car wasn't overly confident with her skills either because he decided to come and guide her, thank god for that! We managed to get out unscratched and without scratching anyone else. Phew.
Weather wise we managed to get out in the afternoon while it was not raining and fairly warm in the sun. As we returned home there was still some sun so I quickly got in my bathing suit and moved a lounge chair by the pool, but as soon as I was settled in the rain began again... FAIL.
I got some more studying in this evening before the rain began even more and then it was a full on thunder storm, which for once I wasn’t afraid of. Until the power went out and I realised my laptop was plugged in, now, clearly everything is okay because I remain to be blogging but it sure was a scare!
Shirley made a loaf of bread and a huge salad for dinner, delish.
Nan did my laundry, perfect.
I am almost finished packing for tomorrow, pleasant and unusual surprise.
Overall today was a lovely last day in Gaborone, Botswana; I will miss it, although I am looking forward to what lies ahead in Johannesburg, South Africa. We arrive there tomorrow morning and will be greeted by more family I assume? Then the day will be spent doing who knows what?
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Driving in Botswana.
Christmas Tree's aren't quite the same...
Just a day in the life of a driver.
Beware of moving obstacles!
what a darling little boy. Hayden <3
Day two of Africa,
welllll, I managed to make mama stay up and watch definitely maybe with me on Saturday night and then somehow I awoke at 6am my time, about midnight everyone else's time. This called for some serious conversations and pointless information.
Side note, do not begin a serious conversation at 6am or at 12am, they turn into lengthy conversations that you don't want to be faced with.
Anyways, I stayed up from 6am onwards and chatted away until about 8ish, then Shirley woke up and she disappeared and I began to watch The Great Mouse Detective. Eventually, after 2 cups of coffee and a piece of toast for breakfast I got dressed and we ventured onto the roads of Botswana to make our first trip to the shopping centre. Shirley claims she knows how to drive standard, based on yesterdays driving, I’m a little sceptical about it, but I am alive, so it’s better than I could have done. We were given directions from Jane about where to go but soon began to doubt our memories and used the GPS (who I have yet to have named, but will be doing shortly).
We eventually managed to make our way there and tried to find a currency exchange booth so we could get some poola, the local currency. The first stand wouldn’t take Canadian, the second bank didn’t have any cash on premises, and the third bank Shirley claims took Canadian, but after waiting in line for 15 minutes, and after I repeatedly said they didn’t take Canadian, they didn’t, No where would take Canadian, so we used the bank machine and got the money out, something I had originally suggested.
Side note, 100 poola is equal to about 10 pounds, which is about 15$ Canadian.
The mall consisted of some department like shops, and then a few other shops, nothing incredible, there was one store called Mr. Price where they had this cute dress I liked, but had ZERO sizes, and by that I mean the small was essentially a large, therefore I think shopping might be an issue while I’m here.
We then wound up going to Mug&Bean this "posh" coffee shop where they have not only all types of coffee and espresso drinks but also a variety of food, AND best of all, there were two employees, Vicky and Chris, who Nan knows very well, therefore we were greeted with hugs!
Side note, I've been very confused about Chris because Nan kept calling her, an "it" and a "person"; I guess she/he is a transvestite?
Anyways, we had coffee and muffins, which were served with jam and cheddar cheese, weird!?
After our snack we went to "Game" a walmart type of a store. We wandered up and down the aisles picking up little things we didn't really need (well I managed to throw a bunch of stuff in that was unnecessary, but that some of you will be benefitting from when I get home ). We finally decided to leave the mall and head to the gas station to fill up Collin's Truck, which was HUGE btw, we told the man we needed 200 poola worth of gas, then he told us the truck took diesel, so therefore we got diesel, Nan said we had to tip the man, so we gave him 204 poola
Side note, the minimum wage in Botswana is 15 poola per day, so we basically just added a third to his day.
After we finished there we were off to head home, only to realize that at the light there had JUST been an accident, gas was pouring out everywhere! I obviously took advantage of this and snapped some photos. Apparently that was NOTHING compared to normal Nan assured me.
We were driving in full on traffic, not ideal for someone that was driving standard who doesn't normally, but we did fine and got home alright. Last night Mom and Jane decorated the Christmas tree (refer to pictures), very different than ours, and I napped, dinner was late as usual, we wound up leaving the table at 11pm and mom and I watched 500 days of summer, "what a lovely movie" was her impression. I then frantically Skype chatted with Elyse to make her buy me a Group on for the day as my internet wasn't working properly (hence the late blog post), thank goodness that girl loves me :)
This morning I awoke once and then fell right back asleep, it was raining, again.
I was brought up a cup of coffee and then I started some online shopping, lovely morning. Finally got out of bed at about 2pm and had the remainder of my muffin from yesterday, painted my nails, spoke a bit with patience
side note, Patience is Jane and Collin's maid, she comes Monday to Friday from about 6:50am to 5pm, Patience is about 33 and her birthday is the 22 of June, she has two children, one is 14 and one is 10, a boy and a girl, they live in Zimbabwe which is where she is from, she lives in a little building beside the house during the week.
Read a magazine, talked with Moses a little bit
Side note, Moses is Jane and Collin's handy man? I don't really know what to call him? He comes everyday and handles the garden, and the patio, and does any handy man type of work that is necessary, he doesn’t really come on the weekends unless something is really needed to be done, for example this past weekend when we got here Moses was here fixing the roof. Moses is in his 40's and has been with Jane and Collin for 11 years, he lives not too far from here and is married with one child, who Nan helped name, Hope.
After finishing the magazine mama and I called Emma and chatted a little bit and now here I am, finishing up this post and going to jump in the pool, if it’s not sunny then I’m at least going to swim.
Were going out to dinner tonight, earlier than usual, thank goodness, eating late makes me unable to sleep, and not to mention it’s not very good for you!
Tomorrow Jane is taking the afternoon off of work and we are going to see some animals, I desperately want to see an elephant, but I don’t know if that possible?
I guess we'll have to wait and see!
Sunday, December 12, 2010
London, Winchester, London, Johannesburg, Gaborone
The View from my window
Arrival on South African Airways.
Mama, Nan and Mandy in Winchester
High Street, in High Spirits
So the journey began...
Thanks to London's MASSIVE snowfall my lovely little vehicle was stuck in my driveway, problem #1.
Thanks to the school's being closed libraries were closed, keeping my essay from being written, problem #2a.
Thanks to my complete issue with procrastination my essay was unfinished, problem #2b.
Thanks to my inability to focus I remained unpacked, problem #3.
I was due to leave London Ontario Wednesday December 8th, after I finished class at 2:30pm, which was also after I had worked that morning from 5:30am-10am, a usual Wednesday for me. Thanks to living in the snow belt we were dumped with approx 4 ft of snow and due to that school had been closed all week long. My car had not been moved since Sunday night when I drove home from work, bad life choice. My car rendered stuck in the driveway, but more about that in a little. The school being closed caused more issues than just no class, it meant the libraries were not open, meaning I was going to be forced to work on my essay at home, something that is virtually impossible. Monday morning there was an insane amount of snow, but Ivey went on, meaning I was awake to help Elyse (the roomie) get out of the driveway with her car, school then got cancelled at 1030am, but not Ivey, they continued on.
I spent my morning not working on my essay that was due at noon, but shovelling, making breakfast, catching up on Brothers and Sisters and trekking over to 196 Huron to dig them a path so they could get out of their house without being waist deep in snow. While I was at 196 it was discussed that we go out that night considering we would all have had the day to complete any work that we wouldn't have normally had the time to do, great plan right? no.
I ended up spending the day doing ANYTHING BUT my essay, making a great roomie dinner, and deciding to go out, making my way to the girls house and then barely surviving the cab ride to the bar. Monday night Jacks never seems to fail and therefore Tuesday turned into a write off as well, I made it into work and then walked home thanks to the busses ceasing service at 3pm. To bed early on Tuesday because Wednesday mornings call for Starbucks at 530am. After a fairly uneventful work morning I was home to pack for my long journey which was ahead.
Janey was a big help in my packing efforts and Robert arrived just as I was finishing zipping up the 5th bag of stuff. The drive home went fairly smooth, no major issues, besides almost getting stuck once after leaving Kati's house.
Arriving in Mississauga made me miss the snow and London more than imaginable, it was completely bare, and that was depressing. Due to the fact it was completely ridiculous to bring my 5 bags with me to Africa Emma helped me re-pack and we ran some last minute errands before having to leave for the airport at about 9pm, 11:05pm flight.
Mamma bear and I got to the airport, and checked our bags only after the agent told me I didn’t look like I was ten, the fool couldn't do math and thought that being born in 1990 meant by 2010 I was 10 years old. bah! We walked to our gate and I bought a lovely book that was found in the self-help isle, and would help me deal with my issues. Once my essay was completed of course. We boarded the flight and found the luxury of full bed seats in first class, thank you father bear. I prepared myself for the 6 ish hour flight by arranging all of my essay research and lap top around be, but after dinner I somehow managed to fall asleep watching Eat Pray Love, which I didn’t find as amazing as everyone has been saying it is. I woke up and packed my life together as we were almost at our arrival in London England.
In London we claimed our luggage and went to purchase our "coach" (bus) tickets to Winchester, where we would be meeting my Aunty Mandy. after sleeping the entire hour and a half to Winchester we arrived and dropped our luggage in Mandy’s car then spent about 2 hours on High St. their shopping street, we met up with Mandy again at Starbucks, which was completely the same as ours, besides the teas being called different names, and they didn’t have the caramel brule latte, they features a toffee nut latte in stead. also, everyone seemed to use mugs and take the time to sit and enjoy their coffee, we then went to see Winchester Cathedral and the Ice Rink that they have in the courtyard. After the lovely afternoon we wound up back at Mandy’s where I locked myself in the bedroom and wrote about 300 words on the essay, not acceptable, I fell asleep too...whoops. We ate a traditional English dinner of fish and chips, or for the veggies pasties and chips, delish! dessert was coffee and sweets, also lovely, but during the conversation over dessert I started to dose off, so it was bed time for me.
The next morning, Friday the 10th, I got up had some coffee, wrote another 300-500 words on the essay and then packed up again to catch the "coach" back to Heathrow. Mom and I made sure to leave enough time for the flight, maybe too much time, 4 hours, oh well, I read a mag and we had a sandwich which reminded me of Belgium, mozza tomato and pesto. After waiting all that time we finally got seats on our flight and had to book it through security, I took my time after the xray machine and sat down to put on my boots and re pack my bag where as Shirley (mother) awkwardly put her boots on while standing and packed her bag in the air, I looked at her to make sure she knew where I was although as I got up from finishing packing she was obviously NO WHERE in sight. I started to walk towards the shops, then decided going to the gate was the wise idea, as I was walking to the gate an announcement came on to say that final boarding for my flight was occurring! that is when the running and stress came in, I then realised to get to my gate I had to take an underground transport thing, fathers help was needed. I made the long distance call to basically cry to him saying she lost me and I didn’t know what to do, should I get on the flight? Not get on the flight? What to do? he said go to the gate don’t get on it without her, a man beside me in the subway thing told me it would be fine and she would be there (insert Yas and Vic here, this is where all I wanted to do was have a panic attack, but clearly this man couldn't handle it, I needed you both). I got to the gate, low and behold there was Shirley waving at me. I was furious and therefore rude to the gate agent, I apologize to him now, that was rude of me. I yelled a little bit at her and then we got to our seats, together, with no plug so that I could work on my essay. This TEN HOUR flight to South Africa was going to be all movies and sleep, after dinner I put on a movie of which I can’t recall and ended up falling asleep, I awoke once in the night to Shirley telling me if I went back in the cabin they would give me cookies, I was asleep, why does she think I wanted cookies? I then awoke way too early with about 2.5 hours left of the flight and watched Killers, not a horrible movie.
We got off the plane in SA and claimed our bags then wandered around the terminal to find out where we checked in for the next flight, after waiting for an hour and a half on the ground we got seats and made our way to the gate where everyone stood in a line for about 15 mins with no movement, finally boarding the flight and finding out it was only 33 mins I obviously fell asleep as usual. 33 minute nap later we were in Gaborone Botswana, 32 degree weather, in my boots, leggings and sweater, HOT.
Bags claimed customs cleared and family found, finally here.
Uncle Collin and my Cousin Jene and her son Hayden met us at the airport we then drove back to their house and spent the afternoon playing with Hayden and doing some essay writing, also, having a nap. Then waking up and more essay writing as well as socializing with the family, Collin and Jane having returned from their work xmas parties now.
side note, Elyse and I were told that in Africa they celebrate Kwanza, that’s what the woman in Michael's told us, she was wrong, Kwanza is in fact an American Celebration of the African Americans and it runs for a week starting on December 26th.
After spending a significant amount of time procrastinating I came upstairs and finished up the body of my essay, only leaving the intro and conclusion. This morning I was awoken by mother telling me I had 40 mins to shower and we were going to the airport, my answer was, no. I decided I was staying here and conquering my essay, which I successfully did, YAY, it was also somewhat rainy this morning so it’s not like I missed out on any great weather, where as now that it is like 4 or 5 pm its perfect weather to sit outside and read.
Which is what I am about to do, learn how to change my ways and rid myself of procrastination.
Hopefully tomorrow is more interesting; I think were going on a mini safari or something at some point this week?
We're here in Gaborone until Wednesday or Thursday, then we head to Johannesburg to stay with Aunty Hayley before moving to a hotel before the wedding on Sunday.
side note, I have reassessed my packing this morning, and it doesn't look like I was that smart, we'll see how the week goes I guess?
Best of luck on upcoming exams, and for the ones that have already been completed I’m sure they went amazingly!
Xo
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