Landed in Johannesburg. Really beautiful airport. The sinks in the bathroom were very interesting – no basin, just flat marble slanted away from you into a kind of trough. Pretty ingenious really, don’t have to worry about the drains getting clogged, I guess.
Passed through two security stops on the way to the international transfer terminal. Laurel got patted down by a guard. We didn’t have to take off our shoes or separate out our liquids, which was nice. The bins you put your stuff in to go through x-ray were odd looking. Sort of military issue square blocks.
Bought some water because we couldn’t find a water fountain (something that would become a common theme in our travels). Paid in USD, which was nice, but got change in rand – seriously, what am I going to do with R 4.20? Whatever, they look cool anyway.
We parked ourselves in front of a store selling purses in the duty-free area, and creeped on one of the sales guys because we were too tired and jetlagged to do anything that required intelligent though. He was a giant – probably at least 6’ 4” – and he had on a bright orange sweater that wouldn’t have worked on anyone else, over a turtleneck, so it made his broad shoulders look even bigger. He hovered around every customer that came in, and actually had a pretty impressive success rate in getting people to buy things (very overpriced things, I might add). We dared each other to go in to pretend to buy something, but we were all too lazy. It was fun to listen to the South African accents though.
Finally meandered down to the gate, which was basically one out of a line of little cubbies opening right out onto the tarmac. Buses pulled up at each gate, which regularly loaded up with passengers and disappeared. Chatted with a guy from Seattle at the next gate who was headed… somewhere (I was in the bathroom when the chatting started). He was Mormon and went to BYU, and when we said we were from Penn he said, “Oh, Penn State?” Ouch.
Got on the plane, which could have seated about 60, of which we only had probably 15. I was seated in the exit row, but since the seat next to me was empty, I put my bookbag on the seat. No dice, according to the male flight attendant with arms as big as my waist. I stowed my bookbag and kept my jacket on my lap, with the vague intention of trying to sleep as we puddle-jumped up to Gaborone. Also no go. Sorry, Mr. Steward, for being such a troublemaker. I guess fate punished me by keeping me from sleeping, still.
Landed in Gaborone after only about 45 minutes, during which time we were served not only a full beverage selection, but also an entire snack box, complete with a roll, pasta, asparagus, dessert, and fruit cup. Delta, you have a lot to learn.
The Gabs airport was beautiful, but fairly empty – we were the ONLY plane on the tarmac.
Met Boitumelo, our trusty student mentor, who is about 7 feet tall and one of the most graceful, long-limbed human beings I have met in my life, and Khuong, one of our drivers. Felt super bad that he took my bag for me, but I was too tired to argue. I felt like the Kalahari had replaced my eyeballs.
Went back to the University of Botswana (UB) campus, settled into our rooms and then set out on the walk to Riverwalk Mall (an activity that would be repeated about 1000x over the course of the weekend). Very dusty because there aren’t really sidwalks, but not too hot. Saw a Kumon sign, which I found highly entertaining in my state of semi-comatose. Got money from the ATM, which, even with only three of us, took about 20 minutes on its own. My card got rejected from 2 of the 3 machines, and Olivia’s got rejected by all of them. Very mysterious and frustrating.
Got lunch at Nando’s, a chicken place kind of like Pop-Eyes (not that I’ve ever been to Pop-Eyes at home) which turned into a bit of a fiasco when we asked for separate checks after ordering. Laurel, Olivia and I stared blankly into the distance while Boitumelo worked something out with the waitress in Setswana (something that would also become a common theme). We pretty much all ordered a quarter chicken with either wedges or chips (not actually chips—french fries!) with mild sauce. Suffice it to say, their definition of mild runs along the lines of jabanero pepper hotness. Had appletizer to drink, which is basically a carbonated apple juice. Pretty refreshing, especially since we were all pretty desiccated from the flight.
Shopped for groceries (Pay-less) and discovered some interesting things – the only regular milk that is available is whole fat, otherwise there’s a “long-lasting” shelf-stable milk. Or soy milk, which is much cheaper than in the States. The eggs are not kept refrigerated either. They have Cheerios, and they’re actually multi-grain (and much tastier than our Cheerios, but that part came later). There’s not actually any different “African” fruits or vegetables in the grocery store.
We also bought towels (Mr. Price) and padlocks for our dorm doors (PEP). Once you buy things at one store, you have to “check” your plastic bags at every new store that you go into – we’re not sure whether it’s because shop-lifting is a problem?
Took a taxi back to the dorm, showered, did a happy dance to finally be clean, and passed out by 7:30 pm. No internet, but none of us cared. The beds are gloriously soft.
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