and I am going to bed I think! I had a great trip over. Well as great as 26 hours of travel can be. Really it was not bad at all. The most trying part I think, was when I whizzed through customs only to have to wait for about 45 minutes at the baggage carousel for my bag. In the end a little man had to climb down the hole and haul it out. The last bag. As always. Do you know what it feels like to have traveled half way around the world and to know that your family are literally a few feet away waiting for you..and waiting...and waiting. Torture I tell you, I was ready to bag the bags and go au naturel for the rest of the trip. Lucky for everyone that there was that nice little man to climb down the hole then I suppose.
It is surreal to be here...surreal but nice. The fam is cool. The weather is cool. No really..cool as in...cool. This is not good. It has been raining and stuff and I have one long sleeved shirt. It simply will not do.
My older sister Shona and I spent about half an hour this evening gazing at the security camera at what we were quite certain was the form of a man breaking into a car in the driveway. However either he was making very small movements in his endeavours or he was actually a mere shadow of a man because he remained very still. We did consider that he might be some sort of mime burgaler. We gathered several opinions from various less neuorotic family members. They were in favour of the shadow theory. I just now stood on the bathtub listening out the window upon the insistence of Shona that she could hear blood curdling screams. These it was agreed were attributed to a yelping puppy. She is now deeply concerned about the yelping puppy.
Theis evening when we weren't locking security gates and checking cameras and turning on alarms we had a mock Christmas Eve dinner and present opening fest. Pictures to come of course. It was brilliant. Just like old times..well sort of. People do tend to grow and stuff, it's not that we all got fat I am just loathe to use that ugly A word you know...age...aging and other derivatives thereof that come to mind when you see a teenager at church who you knew as an infant, and you realise you are old enough to be one of those people who say, "Oh my, when I last saw you, you were just a baby" and they smile politely and wait for you to stop talking so they can ask their mom for cash or the car keys or whatever.
I have also spent a good portion of the visit trying to persuade my mother that I am not anoerexic (the fact that I eat ...everything...with gusto does not seem to convince her.) That's been some good times. She has also not held back on informing me how haggard she thinks I look. (Again with the A word)
Since this is not so much within my power to change mom...ummm..thanks for the input? The rest of the family have been backing her up to varying degrees while my younger of sister of similar weight yet more endowed with youthful collagen to plump out her cheeks, stands by completely unharrassed. But really, it's so nice that they care. :I
'Despite all this, it has been wonderful, I have such a fun, funny family. We laugh like mad. And they make everything so beautiful. It is lovely to be in a clean serene beautiful home with fresh roses everywhere and no clutter.
That said, I miss my little munchkins. They stopped irritating me before I left unfortunately. I miss Aaron too but by all accounts they are getting along famously without me, and tell me that they hope I am having lots of fun and they are too, so I do not feel too guilty. I have the best little family ever, how sweet are they? Really.
Anyway I should sleep sometime I suppose. I will have more of South Africa to report tomorrow when I actually venture beyond the security gates to somewhere other then church. Stay tuned-I can't guarantee my computer will not be stolen but I will do my best to update semi-regularly.
Kirsty! What a nice surprise to see a blog posting while you're on the road. I, too, get a little paranoid when I'm in SA (especially JHB)... the security gadgets are an ever-present reminder of the dangers. Every time I go back, the gadgets have become a little fancier and I wonder if that's because the "bad guys" have become more adept at bypassing them. When I was there in 2004, I stayed with a friend who had some sort of invisible (or maybe it was laser) beam aimed across the bedroom windows, and an alarm would sound if something (like an intruder trying to climb in) passed through the beam. It was like those beams you see protecting an object of art in a museum in a movie. They're probably old school now! Enjoy your adventures inside and beyond the gates!
Posted by: Samantha | January 20, 2008 at 08:51 PM
Say hi to Parkview for me! Hope the weather cheers up a bit.
Posted by: Toad | January 21, 2008 at 12:09 AM
Awww...I'm glad you got there safe and sound! Sounds like you are having a wonderful time...nagging included. Can't wait to see some pictures...get on it, woman!!
Posted by: Jessica | January 21, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Glad you got there safely!
At 1:00 today I did 30 minutes of strength training, in honor of yor absence. We miss you here!!!
Posted by: Julie R. | January 22, 2008 at 10:06 PM