Flights and Arrival

Well for those of you who know me well you know that sometimes I create needless drama…whether I like it or not…and this trip proved to be no different. I made sure I took everything out of my carry-on bag just in case there was anything there that wasn’t supposed to be (or so I thought). The only thing I left in there was in the smallest pocket. I always have a loose deck of cards in there since I took the bag I use for small weekend trips and stuff. Well when I put by bag through the X-ray machine in customs a small pair of scissors showed up. I started panicking a bit because I was positive I had cleared everything out so I had absolutely no idea where the scissors were or how they got there. The officer came over to me and asked me to pull them out. I said I was really sorry but I had no idea where they were. So we proceed to pull everything out of by bag except the deck of loose cards in the smallest pocket (too bad!!!). Of course he didn’t find the scissors and put my bag through the X-ray again. The scissors still came up. He came over again and said “It seems like the scissors are not in the bag and are embedded in the material somewhere.” I was like… “ummm I really don’t think so.” Now I was really panicking! He grabbed another officer and they took by bag back to the machine. Finally they found the small pair of scissors in between a few cards in the deck. They were really good about it and started laughing at me cuz I guess over the course of a few minutes my face went from normal to really red to white. So began my trip…
The plane ride was really not very much fun…at all. Although both Lufthansa and South African Airways were amazing (everyone had their own personal screen and access to various movies and t.v. shows on demand which was great!) I didn’t sleep on either flight (9 hours Van to Frankfurt, 11 hours Frankfurt to Cape Town) or the 6.5 hour layover in Frankfurt. The second flight was especially brutal as my stomach felt at first like it was tying itself in knots and then like it was going to explode, despite the 6 or 7 gravol I took. I was actually concerned that I had gotten food poisoning and I would spend my first days in Cape Town lying in a bed. As soon as I stepped off the plane into the fresh air however I started feeling better. By the time I had cleared immigration, got my luggage, and cleared customs I was so excited that my stomach pain was gone. I was met by an ACTS driver named Gordon who drove me to where the other long-term volunteers stayed.
I arrived at about 4:20 a.m. Cape Town time, and by the time we were on the road from Fish Hoek (East side of Cape Town) towards Noord Hoek (West side…where I would be staying) the sun was beginning to rise (really…the sun rises in the East?). Cape Town is surrounded by ocean and mountains and actually looks quite a bit like the interior of BC in places. The sunrise was timed perfectly with out ascent up one of the mountains, and was truly amazing. I will definitely be going back with my camera to take pictures.
We arrived at the B and B where I would be staying called The Sandollar (it has its own site online if you want to see more pics than what I got). After about 30 minutes waiting outside the gate for someone to wake up we were met by Danielle (one of the volunteers). She showed me to my room which had a double bed, t.v., mini-fridge, and full bathroom (I was not expecting quite this much luxury). She then showed me the common area which had a living room, dining room, and kitchen. Outside, the patio leads to the small POOL :) and chicken coop where there were some baby chicks (which were pretty much the cutest things I have ever seen). Beyond the B and B property is a marsh full of water and beyond that are mountains along the South border of Cape Town (seriously this place is gorgeous and the pics are going to do it no justice). AND not only is it beautiful here, but we get dinner made for us every night, all our dishes are done for us everyday, and our rooms are cleaned and sheets changed every week (SWEET!!!!!!).
So I had finally arrived in Cape Town and was already so excited about being here. I think that my excitement is the only reason I didn’t crash that first day.