Airplane Choo

May 31
Well, its official… I have jetlag. It’s about 1:30 am in Joburg and 7:30 pm EST and I’ve slept less than four hours, and I’m not tired. Let me tell you about the trip. I woke up at 7:45 Thursday morning and had breakfast with Grandmommy and Ntate Moholo (my mother’s parents) and we finished sticking the last few things I was asked to bring in my roll on. We went by the bank on the way out of town to pick up some traveling cash and some dollars for my parents. My grandparents and I got to the Asheville airport at about 9:45 and I checked in (two hours? Departure time?) I went through security, got a cup of coffee and tried to set up a flight tracker. My first flight was Asheville to Charlotte and we had a mid-sized twin-engine prop plane. That flight lasted a whole twenty minutes. I came into the terminal and saw that I came in right across from the gate my next flight was from. I went and sat at the gate and called several friends to say goodbye. Before I knew it it was time to get on the plane to Washington. This plane was still small, but it was a jet. The lady sitting in front of me was going to Alaska (she had lived there for 18 years) and our one stewardess was from England (just south of London). I was starving by the time we got to Washington, and I had at least a two-hour layover. So… I went to the gate I was going to depart from to SA, and right across the terminal was a Fuddruckers! I had to have a one pounder to tide me over until we ate on the plane (US Airways doesn’t even give out a free snack anymore). But thankfully my puddle jumping flight was with South African Airlines (they have some of the best airplane food I’ve ever tasted). So in DC I ate and read my book, and watched the other passengers. I love watching people, and there’s no place like the airport to watch people interact with others. I listened to a group of hunters talking about their previous hunting trips up to the Arctic Circle killing bear, moose, and caribou. I could tell by the way they were dressed they were going to be met by a wealthy safari company to go hunting zebra and antelope. There was a group of college students from Oklahoma, and at least two groups of mission trips. I liked trying to guess peoples nationality by their dress. I think I was right 90% of the time. We had some Brits, Indians, South Africans, Americans and at least one Frenchman. I’m going to have to finish this when we get to Lesotho. My battery is dying.

The trip went by quite quickly, I watched American Gangster, P.S. I Love You, the Great Debaters, and just for my sister Alifa, Enchanted. SA served us beef roast with mashed potatoes, peas and carrots. Wow it was fantastic. Breakfast was scrambled eggs and fresh fruit. I went through immigration and straight through customs and out into the arrivals area and the wait began. I had no cell phone and I learned about patience... My parents had the wrong arrival time, I arrived early...and I was picked up 2 hours after I arrived. It was a fun experience, one I hadn't had in quite some time. The little kids met us at the baptist guest house, and we went to dinner at a restaurant called mike's kitchen. Then we came back and went to bed... and I started writing this. This morning we packed up the land cruiser and headed south towards Lesotho. We arrived the border around 5pm I got in line for immigration while the rest drove on home. I walked through the South African side and on through the Lesotho side and started walking towards the house. My mom and dad went out on a date tonight while I baby sat the little 4. These are some of the shenanigans we got up to...

Choo spot two

We have a great God. Today I was allowed to share in a God filled situation, I guess all situations are God filled. A friend of mine is traveling to another country and was supposed to fly to ORD and then overseas on Monday. But her visa was denied but just like the servant send to find a wife for Isaac, the prayers were answered before they were even prayed. As it turned out the visa came through miraculously in less than 12 hours (she was told that it was impossible). In my reading I came across a short poem

The thing I ask when God leads me to pray,
Begins in that same act to come my way.

I was reminded of this when I called her this morning on a "whim". Our God is a great God. We seriously under estimate God , for some reason we think that if we can't do it no one can, then there are times that we cant do anything and He steps in and reveals that He was always there.

I also got to SCUBA dive in the Montreat swimming pool today trying to clean out the leaves and twigs from the bottom with a pool vacuum. It was quite frigid. I think I had the first stages of hypothermia it was so cold. I cant wait until I get to see all my little brothers and my sister Alifa, just a few plane rides away!

Choo spot one

It's two days till I leave the country for six weeks... and I haven't started packing yet (all I have in my backpack is my eno hammock). In fact I am about twenty miles away from all of the things I need to pack and today will be going the opposite direction. Procrastination... must be genetic. Oh well... I just talked to me ma and dad on skype and got to see Jack and Isaac. The little boys have been counting the "sleeps" til I get there, and I must admit I've been counting too. I am getting more and more excited. This is my first blog ever and it will probably start out quite ugly, but I hope it gets better as time moves on. Sometimes I may revert to my wog, so some of my words might not make sense right off. My sister Jesse has a cool blog at jldimmock.blogspot.com

Just for those that don't know what woggishness/wogs are:

WAWG-gish-nes, n., Colonial British: the quality of being a wog. This includes a general love of all things African (especially chai, wearing flip flops, speaking with a wog accent, often being dirty, smelly and unshaven - and not minding it, etc...).

(it's kind of like slang from RVA)