Arrival in Africa

I arrived in Livingston on Saturday. It was quite the trip to get here...

I left Philadelphia on Wednesday evening. My father took me to the airport. When I booked my ticket, the agent said to just go to the desk when I check in and pay for everything then. I walked up to the desk, and about 10 minutes later started to worry when the agent got on the phone and asking questions. It turns out that some how my seat from Frankfurt to Johannesburg got cancelled. They said that I would need to contact my booking agent to find out what happened... but US Air is who did my booking!

An hour later, I was still on hold on the phone and had no finger nails left. The agent came back out and said that she was able to fix everything and get me my ticket. It was now less than an hour before my flight left and I was just happy that everything got worked out.

I made it onto my flight and had a good flight to Frankfurt. I read the book "The Alchemist" on the way and arrived filled with a sense of purpose now. My journey was under way.

Frankfurt was pretty uneventful. I arrived at 10 in the morning and had an 8 hour lay over. I decided to go into the city and have a look around. When I arrived in the center of town I was shocked at how empty it was. There was hardly anyone around and the place almost seemed like a ghost town. I ventured through the main park and made my way to a market where there were a bunch of street vendors. I got myself a bratwurst and glass of wine and joined all of the locals to lunch on the street. I then wandered down to the south part of town which has all of the neighborhoods. There were many more people out and about here and it was much nicer. I then headed back towards the river and did a tour of the churches in Frankfurt. Most of them are actually replicas of the originals because almost everything was destroyed during the war. I walked around for a bit longer, grabbed a pretzel and then headed back to the airport to catch my flight.

I arrived in Joberg early Friday morning, grabbed my bags and headed through customs. A quick call to my Aunt Isabel and she was soon there to greet me. We headed back to her house so that I could grab a shower and a nap. A bit had changed since I was last there four years ago. John the gardener was still there and remembered me, but Maggie the nanny got sick and passed away in July. It was sad not to have her there as she took care of me and the family since I was a child.

After cleaning up a bit we headed off to my cousin Mark's house. His wife had three children since I saw them last, a three year old and one year old twins. I spent the afternoon playing with the children. They were adorable. I got offered a job to stay and babysit, but turned it down. We headed back to the house to get changed and pick up my Uncle Brian because we were having dinner at my other cousin Steven's. Since I saw Steven last, he now is married and his wife is expecting their first child in December. Dinner was nice and I got a lesson on the rules of cricket afterwards.

The next morning Aunt Isabel dropped me off at the airport again. The airport is probably the best example of African efficiency. I stood in a line for half an hour to get my bags weighed, afterwards I waited in another line to get my boarding pass. When I got to the desk though, they couldn't help me because I didn't have a ticket. Apparently when you buy an electronic ticket in Africa, you then have to go to the ticketing counter and present your credit card and ID in order to get a ticket. It was now an hour before my flight and I had to go back to the very beginning to stand in line to now get a ticket. I picked up my ticket, headed straight for the first class line, got them to weigh my bags again and then quickly check in. Of course my gate was on the other side of the airport and I had to run over. I made my flight and got on the plane. The plane was quite empty but it turns out that they seated me in between an African couple that probably should have been separated to even the weight out on the plane. After the door closed though I excused myself from their company and grabbed a window seat.

Two hours later I arrived at Livingstone International Airport. It is the start of the hot season and I was greeted by 100 degree temperatures as I exited the plane. Customs were a bit of an adventure because the people don't seem to understand the idea of volunteering. After clearing things up I grabbed my bags and was met outside by Phil and Sofia. They were both volunteers that decided to stay and were now coordinating the program. It was a short drive into Livingstone and to the house.

I arrived at the house and was greeted by nine ladies that were excited to finally have a guy there. I soon realized that I needed to brush up on my Irish, as I could barely understand what they were saying. There were five Irish girls and four Brits. We talked for a while and I told them about my adventure so far and all of my plans. One of the girls, Jemma, decided that she was going to go bungee jumping that day because she was to leave on Monday. We took a taxi ride down to the border and headed onto the bridge. It was my first sight of the falls and it was great to see them again. We watched Jemma jump off the bridge and swing for a bit hanging by that little bit of cord. They ensure that it is completely safe. Like everything else in Africa, they use the best new second hand... it looked a little frayed to me.

After the jump we headed back to town. The girls got in a fight with the taxi drivers because they wanted to charge us 5000 Kwacha more to go back. This is only a little more than one dollar, but it was principal. In the 100 degree heat we started walking back the 15 km to town. Luckily about half way back, Phil passed us in the VW bus and we all got in and headed back. We stopped off at the other house first and I got to meet all of the other volunteers. There were three Americans there and I chatted with them for a while. The other male, Tim got an update about everything that happened in the NFL for the past three weeks. Hopefully I can stay better up to date with my fantasy team.

Back to our house and I was soon a little worried about the living situation, as the girls proceeded to put on the "Ice Princess." If you haven't seen this Disney classic, you really aren't missing much. The most embarrassing part about watching this was that the other volunteer, Daniel, arrived that night to find me with the girls watching this movie. Who knows what he was thinking.

We had dinner together and I got to chat with Dan for a bit. He is a Brit who quit his job as an engineer for a rail company before coming down here. We get along really well and share the room together. I think it is a competition between us to who has the more complex insect net set up... I think he is winning. After a bit more chatting that night, we headed to bed and I was done with my first day in Zambia.