The Start of Something New

Friday night I left on a plane from Toronto to Frankfurt, Germany. I was sitting on the aisle in the second row of economy class. The man across the aisle was on a connection from Winnipeg and Air Canada had already managed to lose his family's dog!

I watched a couple movies and then we were served dinner around 11:30pm. Afterwards, it was late and I was tired enough to try to get some sleep. Sitting upright trying to fall asleep on a crowded plane was just as uncomfortable as anyone could imagine so I sat up again around 3:00am and went back to watching movies.

The plane landed in Frankfurt around 6:00am EST but 12:00pm local time. The airport seemed very large so I wanted to find my gate. Little did I know that I had to go through security again to get there so once I went through there, I couldn't go back to the busier part of the airport with all the shops. A flight left from the same gate I would eventually be at, leaving myself and a few employees as the only people in the area for the next couple hours.

I read the only English newspapers I could find which were USA Today and a British paper. After reading the papers I took a nap, using my backpack as a pillow. I slept for a while and then went for a walk around the gate area, looking in the duty free and taking a couple pictures as something to do to stay entertained. Out of complete boredom, around 5:00pm their time I took another nap for an hour. People started arriving for our flight by 7:00pm and after 10 hours of waiting alone, I boarded the plane  en route to Johannesburg.

The plane was a Lufthansa operated airbus 380-800 which is a huge double decker plane. My seat number was 90H so I thought I'd be stuck in the middle somewhere but it turned out that of the 550 seats onboard, there were only 220 passengers and I ended up surrounded by several empty seats. The whole back section of the bottom floor that I was sitting in was full of people from the Netherlands, save for me and one other Canadian. The four flight attendants assigned to our section were really fun and called the plane the party bus. Once the flight started, people all spread out and I ended up with three seats to myself.

We were first served dinner and the food on Lufthansa was nothing short of spectacular. Of all the flights I've been on, their foods is the best, bar none. After eating dinner while flying over Sarajevo, Bosnia, I got into my sleeping bag liner and made a bed with the pillows from each of the seats I occupied. I ended up with a pretty comfortable bed for the long haul. In the end, I got about seven hours of sleep, for which I was very grateful.

During the night I woke up once, looked out the window and saw nothing but darkness and stars so I checked the flight path tracker on the TV to see where in the world I was. Turns out, we were crossing the Nile River. When I woke up in the morning I checked again to see where we were and I ate my breakfast while flying over Harare, Zimbabwe.

The plane landed in Johannesburg around 9:00am. I had to pick up my boarding pass to get to Cape Town from a ticket counter. I had to go through customs since it was my first point of entry in the country. The customs officer didn't speak English to me, stamped my passport, asked no questions and let me go on through. A porter in an orange shirt, who I was told on the Lufthansa flight was "safe", harassed me to take my bags through the airport until he had both hands on it, pulling it away from me. He walked to the check-in counter and then demanded at least $20USD. I was angry to give him that much but relieved to get him away from me and the few belongings I'd brought for my trip. I was happy to get to my gate and board so soon thereafter because I didn't feel comfortable in the Johannesburg airport, even by the staff who were supposed to be there to help.

The afternoon flight to Cape Town was on South African Airways. I was sitting in the aisle of the last row beside an American girl who went to school in Germany and had been on the same Lufthansa flight.  The flight only took two hours which seemed particularly short after two long flights.

Upon arrival in Cape Town, I went on the bus from the tarmac to the terminal to pick up my backpack. I was supposed to meet a GVI driver but I was actually met by a coordinator, Jane from Ireland, and a fellow volunteer, Iris from Texas. The driver we had, Mary, is also from Ireland and took us from the airport to our new home in Fish Hoek, South Africa. The beach on the drive down looked so pretty and the mountains that surrounded this area are incredible. It was raining when I arrived in Cape Town but it had subsided by the time we arrived in Fish Hoek.

At the house on Kinrae Drive, Jane introduced us to the other volunteers and coordinator, Brian. Jane and Brian went over a risk assessment with Iris and I. Then, the coordinator, Holly, and volunteers from the other house in Fish Hoek on Erica Avenue came over and we all did introductions. For dinner we had salad, pasta and leftover meats from the braai they had the previous Friday night. Even though it was Easter, it certainly wasn't like any Easter I've ever experienced before. We all went for a walk down to a main road, which is literally one house away. We went to a grocery store, Spar, which seems small in comparison to ones at home but the store is comprehensive; you just get one version of each item rather than your choice of multiple brands. I noticed in the grocery store that they don't keep eggs in the fridge here; you can find them on the shelf in the same aisle as cereal. After dinner and the walk, we went to a bar called The Vic for our welcome drinks. I can't say I've been to a bar on Easter before. The walk there and back wasn't too far and the houses on the side of the mountain, when lit at night in the dark, look like houses in the Hollywood Hills. In the light of day, these houses look nothing alike.

At The Vic I ordered a Castle beer because I was told by Brian that it was the best beer around, and if I could find it again at home, I'd certainly have another one. We played a bunch of getting to know you type games and got back to the house around 11:30pm. Some housemates stayed up to watch a movie but after such a long day and having not seen a bed in a couple days, I was happy to sleep.

Today is a bank holiday here for Easter Monday so the volunteers didn't go to project. The weather has been raining on and off and it has been a little chilly but I've still been wearing shorts and flip flops. Iris, Jodie - the other new volunteer, from Wales - and I went to the Erica house with Brian to meet Holly for our orientation. Holly was really sick so Brian gave us the training then took us back to Kinrae for lunch and the rest of our training. We had some afternoon training with Jane and then project specific curriculum training with Kim, a teacher from New Hampshire. Kim actually lives in Paarl right now, tying up loose ends on a project that recently finished after meeting all their goals.

When the training was finished, we all went back to Erica for lesson planning, where I was supposed to work with Holly but because she was still sick, she briefed Brian and we walked back to Kinrae to go over the medical project and learn the ropes together. Brian ended up leaving to take Holly to the hospital so I worked and talked to Iris and Kate, a volunteer from England. Once all the other volunteers had returned to Kinrae, we made dinner together.

Tonight we had dinner late since it was supposed to be Brian's turn but he'd been gone with Holly and we made our own dinner for each other once we realized he'd be gone for a while. We are watching a movie after dinner and I'm anxiously awaiting my first day on project tomorrow.