Our 1st Full Day - The Near Imprisonment

On January 3rd 2009 the day started out nicely. We woke up early because in South Africa the sun comes up BEFORE 6am in the summer! We ate breakfast and discussed our plans for the day. It was supposed to be a pretty low key day, or so we thought! We took the morning to get settled into the little cottage, and decided to head to the mall for lunch. We actually ate in their version of an "American restaurant" called Spur. The food was decent, and after a nice meal, we decided that my mom would go back to the house with her older sister, Susan, and her younger sister, Allison, would join them there. Meanwhile my dad, my brother, David, and I would head over to the Flea Market to see if we could find David and Michael some "safari hats".

The Flea Market was busy and full of all kinds of different merchandise, some hand-made, really cool African items, and some completely useless junk, but no hats that either of the guys could agree upon. So we just bought a few authentically African gifts for a couple of people and headed back the house.

Now, here I should note that my dad was driving, and although they drive on the left side of the road in South Africa, he has a lot of experience with driving over there and is a very good driver. However, he had been given some rather inaccurate information regarding one of the traffic rules from a very well meaning person. You see, here in America, when you stop at a red light and you are turning right, if nothing is coming, you are allowed to turn. We knew that rule was not so in South Africa the last time we were there, but that was 7 years ago, and rules can change. So since someone had told my dad that that particular rule HAD changed, he believed them and didn't think twice about turning left on red.

There we all were in the little Toyota Avanza rental car, my dad driving, my brother in the passenger seat, and me and David in the back. We were only about 2 turns from the house when all of a sudden we saw blue lights in the rear view mirror. So we pulled over and an older policeman came over to our car. We knew we hadn't been speeding, and we had just gone through a couple of lights that were definitely green, so we really had no idea why he was stopping us. My dad smiled at the officer and was met with a very harsh, very Afrikaans sounding question, "Why did you not stop at that rrred light?" (said with a rolled "r") A little taken a back by his tone and question, my dad said, "Oh, did I go through a red light? I..." The policeman angrily cut him off and started waving his finger in my dad's face saying, "That answer makes me verrry crrross, because you KNOW you did!" My dad proceeded to explain that he really didn't know he had done anything wrong, all the while apologizing for any traffic violation he may have committed, but the cranky old man would not even listen. While he told us that it was unacceptable to turn left on a red light, his "side-kick", the younger officer, came over as well. The older one asked for Dad's license and registration, and my dad handed him the little white booklet that served as his international driver's license. The older officer turned to the younger and disdainfully sneered, "Look, they're American!" He asked Dad again why he went through the red light, and this time, my dad profusely apologized saying that he did not know that here it was illegal to turn left on red because in America you can turn right on red. The old man was getting increasingly angrier and was nearly yelling now, asking Dad where he got the license and telling him how it was practically useless. Holding the little white booklet between the thumb and forefinger of each hand and starting to make a ripping motion, he said in a VERY thick Afrikaans accent now, "Well if you don't know the RRRules of the RRRoad, then this is no good!" and nearly ripped the international driver's license in half!

It was at this point that David and I both started praying under our breath in the back seat. The officer stopped before tearing the license and asked my dad for his passport which he unfortunately didn't have with him. Dad explained that he had thought it safest to leave with his luggage at the house. Oh, that made the older policeman really mad, and he just said very matter-of-factly, "Then I'm going to have to arrest you. You must have your passport with you at all times, and since you do not have your passport, then I have to arrest you right now." Now we were all getting really scared, and David and I were praying even more fervently in the backseat. Here it was our first full day here, and Dad was going to be thrown in jail!
The policeman proceeded to ask us an absurd question about what happens in America when a foreigner is found without his passport. We all said we didn't know, so the officer said, "I'll tell you what happens. They get thrown in jail and deported immediately!" We knew that wasn't right and thought it really odd that he would tell us that, but we were not in the place to argue. Instead Dad pleaded with the man saying that we were here on holiday and he really did have his passport. It was just around the corner, literally, at the Gunter's house, and if he could just get over there, he would show him. The older policeman began quietly discussing the situation with the younger, much nicer policeman. After what seemed like an eternity, the the older one said, "Ok, if you are really staying just around the corner, we will follow you so you can go and get your passport." Whew! Somehow, God intervened there and we were saved for the moment - at least from jail!
Once we pulled in at the Gunter's, I told my brother to run inside and get Uncle William, who is a pastor and a very good negotiator. My dad went in to get his passport, and David and I stayed outside to explain to the cops that we had just arrived yesterday and had a lovely two week holiday planned, while the rest of the family come outside. Once the policemen saw Dad's passport and realized that we really were staying with Pastor Gunter, they relaxed considerably. A little smooth talking with Uncle William, and they were all smiling and laughing. Dad didn't get thrown in prison and we didn't even get a ticket for "running" the red light! The older policeman was like a totally different person! He just smiled and said, "Enjoy your holiday, and remember to keep your passport with you."
Wow! What a crazy rush of adrenaline and excitement on the first full day!

Arriving in South Africa

As promised, here is the 1st post to begin the recount of our recent trip to Southern Africa. Before I forget too much about when and what happened, I will just start at the beginning now and try to get through the entire trip by the end of this upcoming month.

After the little escapade of locking myself in the airplane bathroom on the flight from Greensboro to DC, the next flight was a lot more uneventful. Although it was a very looong flight (16 hours) it was actually rather pleasant. We were not expecting all the technological updates that had been made since the last time we took that trip 7 years ago. The last time I was on that flight was actually on my own after college. I had to bring lots of things to keep myself entertained since they only showed two movies on the whole flight, and if you happened to be sleeping during the time they showed them, then you just missed out. However, this time, the entertainment was on demand on a touch screen in the back of the seat in front of you, and they not only had a large selection of recent movies, but they also had TV shows, and even games that you could play using a hand held controller that pops out of the armrest. So we were definitely entertained on that flight.
Since we knew that when we arrived, we would only have a few days with our family in South Africa before leaving for Swaziland, we had purchased some homeopathic pills called "No Jet Lag" to take during the flight so that we would be able to visit with everybody as soon as we got there without the hindering effects of jet lag. Amazingly on the way there the pills worked great!

We arrived in Johannesburg mid afternoon on January 2nd, and met most of our family there at the airport. We piled oursleves and all of our luggage into their cars and headed to my Uncle Willam and Aunt Susan's place. They live in a little town just outside of Johannesburg, and had just recently built a little cottage in their yard for guests. This was to be our abode for the next few days. It was really cute and had everything we would need - A living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. That first night there we just sat around the cottage and visited with family. It was so great to see everyone again and catch up. We all got a great night's sleep to prepare for the very eventful next day...

We're still here

I will have to start this post off with a big apology to those who were eagerly awaiting a thorough recount of our recent trip. Over the past month I have had many different post ideas rolling around in my head, and it has just seemed like a daunting task to sort through pictures again to add to the posts. Plus it just seems like ever since we got back, we have just hit the ground running and we have literally had so much going on that when we did have a little down time, I just couldn't justify using it to blog, as there were so many other things that needed my attention too. And since we only have 1 computer (we really need to get a laptop...hint...hint :) that David has been using a lot lately to be very productive (so I'm not at all complaining), I just haven't been able to devote the time I know it will take to get any blog posts together.

Ok, all excuses aside, I just wanted to let you all (however few of you that is now) know that we are still here and doing fine. With that being said, my intention over this next weekend is to spend some time on this blog and at least get 1 post written to kick off the Southern African Stories. David will be out of town on Saturday, so that should give me ample time to work on it. So now you have my word. I can't promise there will be pictures, but I do promise I will write a post this weekend, so stay tuned...

Just a Highlight to Whet Your Appetite : )

As you've probably figured out by now, we are back from our trip, and we have tons of pictures and stories to tell you all, but since we didn't have the internet access that we had hoped for during the trip, we'll have to post them a little at a time now that we're back home. I had planned to blog a lot during the 1st couple of days we were back, but I didn't anticipate the tremendous jet lag that would hit me those first 2 days. We got back on Saturday around 10am and I went straight to bed, not to get up til 4pm!! But I did still sleep through most of the night as well. Anyway, enough about my sleep habits. I am finally back to normal and getting readjusted to life back here in the cold USA right now.
For some reason, David didn't have as hard a time with jet lag this time, so he has already posted a web album that we put together just to show some highlights of our trip. Since I am not ready yet to begin really posting all the stories and pictures, I'll just leave you with this link for now.

Africa Web Album

Enjoy!

Quick Update - Limited Internet Access

We made it safely to South Africa. The plane trip wasn't too bad even thought it was really long. My family met us at the airport and we headed back to their house. We are staying in a cute little cottage on my uncle and aunt's property in a suburb of Johannesburg. So far we have been shopping a little at the mall and flea market, to church, to the lion park (where we got to pet baby lion cubs and see HUGE lions up close), to Montecasino (like the Venitian in Las Vegas), and into the heart of downtown Johannesburg (which is pretty run down and scary now) and we also went up the tallest building there to get a panoramic view of the whole city. I did get some great pictures, but I don't have time to post them now. We thought we would have more access to the internet, but unfortunately we don't. We are spending 1 more night here in South Africa, then tomorrow we are leaving for Swaziland (where my grandfather just moved to) from there we will take day trips to see some beautiful scenery and natural wonders and take a couple of real safaris. We are really looking forward to it. We've been having a great time so far visiting with family and seeing the sights of this city.
Sorry I don't have more time to write. I do have some great stories to tell and pictures to show, but they will have to wait until later.

The Near Entrapment

This morning my parents, brother, David and I boarded a plane from Greensboro, NC to Washington DC, embarking on our long journey to South Africa. That flight was pretty quick, but with the water I drank earlier plus the juice on the flight, I had to go to the bathroom during the flight just before we landed. The plane we were on was pretty small and the bathroom was the size of a tiny broom closet. The flight attendant gave me the ok to go quickly before we landed, so I stepped in and tried to close the door. It was very hard to get closed, and even harder to open as I would soon find out. After pulling and pushing a while I finally got the door closed, only to find there was no light in there. So I forced the door open again and tried to find a light, but to no avail. I grabbed some tissues and decided that I would just go in the dark after closing the door for the 3rd time. So I finished my business and tried to force the door open again, but it wouldn't budge. So I pulled at the slide lock thinking that maybe it was stuck, but as I was trying to force the knob over to the right to be released, the unthinkable happened. I broke the knob right off the lock and now I was really trapped! I had visions of being thrown around in that tiny space as the plane landed and the airplane attendants having to pry me out with a crow bar while the air got hot and stuffy in the little lavatory. There was really nothing to do but laugh at the seemingly impossible situation that only I would have gotten myself into. But I had to try to be practical and find a way out before we landed. So by the dim light of the "No Smoking" sign I noticed that there was a little hole where the knob had come off, and I thought if I could just find the knob maybe I could stick it in the hole and unlock the door. I fumbled around on the floor in the dark and found the knob. When I put it in the hole I realized that it had merely come unscrewed and I hadn't snapped it off with my brute strength. I screwed it back on, forced the lock open, and with the help of the lady in the last row (who by now had realized I was stuck) finally was released from my temporary prison. I made it back to my seat just minutes before the wheels hit the runway. And boy, was I glad to get off that plane for a 6 hour layover here in DC where I am actually writing this post from my iPhone. - Just another quick plug for how awesome they are :)
In 2 hours we'll be leaving for South Africa so I won't have access to the Internet for a while, but I'll be sure to post an update as often as possible.
Happy New Year, everyone!

Two Christmases

This year we just spent 2 hours on Christmas morning with my family (since we are going to be with them for 2 weeks in South Africa), then we drove down to the beach to spend from Christmas evening til this past Sunday with David's family.

We got some really cool gifts for Christmas. I got a great sweater coat from my mom, David got this cool gift in the picture below, and we both got a new camera to capture all the great memories we will have on our upcoming trip. 

On Christmas morning we had a nice big breakfast of omlettes, waffles, bacon and sausage with my family before opening our presents. Then at David's mom's house, we opened our presents there before the annual large Christmas dinner party they had. The food was so good and there was so much of it, I stuffed myself full. I'll really need to work it all off this coming year. After the dinner, we went back to David's dad's house (where we were staying) and openend presents there too. Unfortunately I didnt' take any pictures of either of these events.

The next day, David went to play golf all morning, and I just lazed around the house reading, watching tv, and playing with my iphone. When he and his dad got back, we all went down to a nearby town called Harker's Island. David's dad found this really authentically down-east style restaurant and wanted to take us to experience it. Unfortunately since they had just opened after the Christmas holiday, they had a limited menu, but we were able to go back the next day and get the full experience. The restaurant is called "Fish Hook Grill" and the lady who owns it cooks the food fresh every day. She is also so nice and personable that she'll sit right down with you at your table and chat. The food was delicious - we had fish and shrimp baskets the 1st day, and the next day we had the famous down-east clam chowder with the best hush puppies I've ever tasted. It was a quaint, informal, but wonderful dining experience, and if you ever find yourself down in Harker's Island, NC, be sure to stop in at "Fish Hook Grill" restuarant and ask for Miss Faye.

Moving right along, while we were in Harker's Island the 2nd time, we went to visit the Core Sound Museum. This museum showcased not only the history of the island and surrounding areas, but also many many core sound duck decoys, like the one David won at the Seafood Festival. Here is David and his dad next to a big display of the decoys.

One other thing that I feel is worth mentioning is that the next morning after breakfast with David's mom, we went out for a few minutes to play with the little hunting dog puppies that her husband is training. They were so rambunctious, but very cute too. David was the photographer/videographer for the puppy play session. Here's some of what he took.

We left on Sunday afternoon in time to swing by some other extended family and drop off gifts there on the way home. When we got there, the kids wanted to show me their new present from Grammie (David's mom) - a big new trampoline. Of course they roped me into jumping with them for a while, but no pictures of that either. And I guess that's about it. Once we got home, we had to go into planning/packing mode, and we've been in that ever since.

We are so excited to be leaving in the morning for South Africa. Stay tuned to the blog for the next 2 weeks as I will try to give trip updates as frequently as possible.