Touch Down S.A.

A little more than 24 hours after we set out to begin the journey to Africa we find ourselves in a nice little hotel just outside of downtown Johannesburg. First, a brief overview of the past couple of days:

Tuesday the 18 - all day orientation to the details of what the next few months would look like, packing last minute things together, saying farewell to those who did not come, pulling an all-nighter...(good idea?)

Wednesday the 19th - Walked to the east Campus trolly stop at 3:15 AM. Loaded and boarded a bus while saying farewell to those who woke to see us off, set out for LAX, arrive at LAX to check bags and get through security without a hitch, first flight = roughly 5 hours, two hours in Washington DC before boarding another plane bound for Africa.

Lost in time change 19th or 20th - First flight over the atlantic lasted about 7.5 hours, touched down in Dakar, Senegal where some left the plane and some remained (our group and a few South Africans heading home). Sat on the ground there for about one hour before taking off again for JoBurg (as it is called).

Lost in time change 20th? - last flight for this leg of the journey was roughly 8.5 hours. Got off the plane and collected an endless amount of luggage marked with bright orange tags from the terminal, made it nicely through customs and found our lovely South African family. Loaded onto a bus and made it to the hotel.

So far the landscape looks only slightly different than a typical big city in North America, besides the fact that driving is opposite and the earth is red. JoBurg is the largest city in all of South Africa and we were told that is why it still has that first world feel to it. Tonight as it is something like 7 or 8 PM locally (10 in the morning back on the west coast of North America), we have each been given mere minutes to send off an email letting people know we have made is safely, that is the point of this blog. To let as many people know is as short and convenient a way as possible. That is also the overall reason for blogging rather than trying to Facebook everything.

I will close by saying that we have all safely arrived, all but one piece of luggage - I think - has made it, a piece which will be delivered to the hotel a little later. Showers after 30 hours of traveling is amazing, and the prospect of spending time lying vertical on a real bed for some real sleep is very exciting right now. But hey, T.I.A no worries!

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Today, the 22nd, as we sit back in the airport again there is a group of nursing students and a few others who have decided to break out in a workout...I am not going to lie, this is one of the most entertaining things that have happened so far.

Soon we will be on a plane heading 55 minutes into Durban where we will get on a bus and head to P-Burg. Many of us are looking forward to getting into a place where we can settle and unpack our things, up to this point it has felt more like some kind of a vacation, especially in some of the areas around JoBurg where things are very developed and not all that different from what things might look like back home. I am looking forward to digging in to the things that we will start learning on Monday, two days from now.

Yesterday we went into Soweto (South Western Townships) where blacks were forced to live and to work as laborers in the Gold mines which made JoBurg into the thriving place that it is. There were tin huts next to small two room homes next to multi-level town house-type buildings.

Many of us have yet to get a full night of sleep and so the weariness keeps me from being able to put down some of the thoughts I have about the things we learned. We were able to see much of the history of the country through our short time at the museum for Apartheid and we got to drive through the streets of Soweto where riots happened and where Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived. That part was very interesting.

I really hope that once things slow down a bit I can put in some more thoughtful blogs, for now I just wanted to get something out there for those of you interested.

More blogs to come, stay in touch!

P.S no real wildlife sighting so far. ;)