Thought and Perspective - Part II

Originally distributed May 2011

Wow, this is the most “replied to” message so far. Either it was the threat or the opportunity to participate. Whatever the motivation, it has been fun getting your responses! Hours of laughter and, occasionally, puzzlement. Most of you would make good teammates for this game, but a few of you I think would be a little too esoteric for my brain. For those of you who tried to guess what my African students said, nice try.

I’ve done some stats, can’t help it with a science background. But don’t worry, there are no p-values or confidence intervals. It’s more like sports stats. Then I’ve included all of your answers in the order I received them. I separated people’s responses by semicolons (;) so if you put semicolons I removed them. I didn’t change anything else.

Your responses

Key word (number of times given)

Saddle – horse (45)

Money – currency (8), buy (16), coins (9), pay/payment (9)

River – water (35), flow/flows/flowing/overflowing (16)

Saddle - the leather seat you put on a horse to help you stay on; made of cow; what you sit on when you ride a horse; what you put on an animal (e.g. horse) to sit on if you are
not riding bareback; the thing you put on the back of a horse so you can ride it, usually made of leather; horse seat, horseback cushion; leather, horseback riding; a device strapped to a horse’s back and designed to safely allow you to hold to and comfort your butt while sitting/riding on it; leather horse accessory, it holds the rider, it attaches the stirrup; seat you put on a horse; it's on a horse, you sit on it while you ride the horse; something you put on a horse to ride so you won't fall off; item used to sit on a horse with, as a verb - what you do to get the horse ready to ride; seat for a horse, donkey or camel that a person would ride on; horse riding, sit on the horse, leather seats for cowboys; what you sit on to ride a horse (or donkey?); horse, leather, blanket, bridle; 1) beneath the rider 2) strapped to the back of the horse 3) leather travel seat; leather seat for sitting on a horse; something you put on a horse before you ride it. The seat for riding a horse; horse; Well we're in Hawaii, I'd ask what road do you need to drive up to get to Mauna Kea. If they don't get Saddle Road, then I'd say... cowboys put this on horses to sit on; a seat on a horse; horse; leather seat with stirrups for riding a horse; a seat you put on the back of a horse or donkey; horse, sit; to be restricted or burdened, a butt protector when riding a horse, an accessory for cowboys; this is equipment made of leather that you put on a horse so that you can sit atop it; the leather seat where people sit on a horse or a bicycle or a motorcycle; _______ is to horse as seat is to car; what a person puts on a horse to ride; horse, seat, leather; horse, rider, leather seat; used to ride a horse, leather, seat on horse; horse seat; horse; what you put on a horse so you can ride it; horse, ride, leather; what you sit on to ride a horse

Money - currency you use in exchange for goods and services; green; what you use to buy things; currency, used to buy products or services, form of payment; the paper that we use to buy stuff; coin, dollar, peso, pound, euro, currency; purchase, buy things, coins; a medium of exchange used to buy and sells goods and services, kinda like bartering. Also used for excessive Western material things like cars and other stupid stuff we don’t need! banks hold this; it can be paper or metal; what you use to buy things; paper and coins, you can trade it for other things, it is valuable; something you use to pay for things such as food or rent; generic term used for item you would use to buy stuff with, name for the item that changes hands in a financial transaction; the manner in which you pay for things or get paid for work done.  Can be paper, coins or could be goods you would trade for services or other things; buy and sell, paper and coins; what you work to earn and use to buy; coin, dollar; 1) unit of exchange 2) that which doesn't buy happiness 3) coins and bills; what you use to make payments, to buy something; currency, thing you use to buy stuff; coins; a million dollars is a lot of what? As a grad student, it was hard to pay rent because we didn't earn a lot of...; the root of all EVIL; gold; currency, name of the local currency [Emalangeni – say that 5 times fast]; coin of the realm; what everyone needs to buy what one requires; cash, pay; something to be exchanged for goods or services, what Michelle Bachmann feels federal government employees have too much of, something you use to gain superficial friends; another name for currency; what you use to pay for the things you wish to buy; _______, yuan, dollar, kroner; used to buy things; dollars, cents, moola; coins, bills, legal tender; currency, bills and coins, used to pay for goods; cash; cash; how you pay for things; wealth, coins, rich; what you earn by working and what you use to buy things

River - a large stream; crocodile; flowing water that sometimes has fish in it and is big enough for boats; channel of water; a skinny body of water that flows from one water source to another, bigger than a stream and since you’re in Africa, the Nile; water, lake ocean, Nile, Mississippi, Amazon, Colorado, Yangtze; waterway, rolling, canoeing; one of nature’s natural ecological wonders of water. Full of varying bacteria, biological wonderment, fish and a cool playground for humans in hot weather (aka water parks); what do the Mississippi, Yangtze,  Amazon, and Nile all  have in common; line of water flowing over land towards the sea; snake of water, runs through the ground, you can ride a boat on it or swim in it; large body of water that follows a regular path but sometimes overflows its banks; name for water flowing through the landscape, name for water course in a landscape; the water that runs down a mountain, water that moves into or out of a lake, fish can live in this, where you wash your clothes [someone’s trying to guess the African answer, they’re still way off]; water, Mekong, Nile, Mississippi; the path water takes to reach the ocean; flowing water, big stream, rapids; 1) rain's route to the sea 2) larger than a stream 3) flowing water; flowing water, like the Nile; a large stream of water; water; Waterway bigger than a stream. The Nile. Cry me a...; a place where gambling boats travel; water; big stream, name of a local river; the place of running water where you go to bathe or fish or think; water, flowing, outside; too many overflowing their banks in the Midwest and too few in southern Arizona, a place to go canoeing, a source of drinking water; a flowing current, usually water, contained within a channel or embankment; a flowing body of water contained within banks that provides for drinking, washing, and nourishing crops; _______ big stream to ocean; where hippos hang about; flowing, water, Nile, Mississippi; stream, Nile, Niger, Congo, Amazon, flood, blindness; water flows, big creek, not lake but...; stream; water; body of water that flows, example the Potomac; water, long, Amazon, Nile; a long flowing body of water

Their responses (I swear I am not making this up or leaving anything out)

Saddle – something you sit on to be more comfortable…

            Guesses- a seat, a cushion

…something you sit on to be more comfortable when you’re in motion

            My favorite guess – wheelchair! (I’m still laughing about it. He had to give many more clues until they guessed but he never said “horse” or any other animal)

Money – the reason we are all here at Mlilwane (the park where I’m teaching them)

            They guessed it right away (I was really surprised!)

River – a furrow, the first ditch made by God (he had to give many more clues until they guessed it but he never said “water” or mentioned anything that lives in water)

Thought and Perspective - Part I

This would’ve been really cool to do on the blog because it has a polling feature. So you could’ve entered your answers there. I guess I’ll have to come up with a new poll and try it out.

Originally distributed May 2011

This one is going to be interactive, and here’s why. I’ve been teaching English to the guides at the park where I’ve been staying since last June. One of the activities I did with them last week was playing a game where I gave one of them a word and he had to describe it for his classmates until they could guess it. I was really surprised by what they did and did not say.

In pretty much every case I would’ve given different clues, clues that to me would’ve been more obvious. But then isn’t that one of the hallmark differences between African and western, or at least American, cultures? Westerners/Americans tend to be direct while Africans are quite indirect.

So here are a few of the words I gave them and I want you to reply with the words and phrases you would use if you were playing a game where you had to get your teammates to guess it. Nothing is out of bounds except for the word itself. After I get your replies, I’ll tell you what my students said.

Saddle

Money

River

My Car Has Worms

Originally distributed March 2011

Before we get to the worms, I had an unplanned test of my car alarm recently. It has sensors mounted on the dash below the temperature controls pointing into the cabin of the car. Luckily I was there when it happened so I could shut it off.

I was outside my place eating breakfast when all of a sudden the alarm started blaring! This has never happened before so it must’ve been triggered by something. I put my food down, got the keychain, and pushed the button to silence it. That also unlocked the doors.

I opened the passenger door and found the source of the alarm going off. A gecko was trying to steal my car! It was on the gear shift and everything. I tried to catch the thief but it ran into the whatchacallit space below the dash on the passenger side. Ok, buddy. You’re on your own now to find your way out. I hope it did. I’m sure my brother can share tales of finding critters flattened in the inner workings of people’s vehicles.

Now, about the worms. It’s the tail-end of the rainy season here, which means we’re still getting periodic rain showers and the dirt roads turn to mud. Since I drive up and down these dirt roads everyday to and from home, I don’t bother washing my car. This leaves a sprinkling of mud balls on the car, mostly on the runners/floorboards (things short people step on to climb into the car). But yesterday I noticed one in a strange place, and it was smooth unlike the others. It was just below the handle on the passenger door of the car. I found a stick and proceeded to chip it off. To my surprise, a layer chipped off and revealed a bright green scaly ball inside, and it moved! What the heck is that?!! 

I cautiously leaned in to get a closer look. Maybe it’s a baby venomous snake after all. I dunno! I had never seen anything quite like this before. I called over one of the grounds staff. Maybe he knows what this is. He took a look. No idea. Hmm. I got my camera and took pictures. Then he continued chipping and they fell on the ground, bright green larvae of something. I’m asking my entomology friend for ID.* There were about 10 in all, a couple short and fat and the rest long and skinny all curled up together. 

 

Who put that there? And who decided that a car door was a good place for it? How long was it going to be before these critters emerged? And how long had they been there anyway? I’ll never know the answer to all those questions, but when telling the story to some local friends they pulled out an insect book. Luckily there was a photo of a mason wasp cramming this exact same type of larva into its mud chamber, a paralyzed larva serving as food for its own offspring. So eventually what would’ve emerged was a wasp, not a moth, butterfly or other more benign type of creature. But for a while, my car had WORMS!

*They were identified as tomato horn worms.

A Two-Year Comparison

Originally distributed December 2010

Ok, I don’t usually make resolutions because shortly after making them I wouldn’t remember them anyway. But it is interesting to look back on the year and see what’s been accomplished. Now that I’ve been in Swaziland for two years, (hard to believe, I know!), I’d like to compare this year with last year.

Let’s start with transportation. I moved up dramatically in this department, especially since I was finally able to take control. Woo hoo! In January I purchased a 2^nd hand 4x4 and here’s the transportation record.

-number of times car broke down = 0

-number of times I had a flat tire = 0

-number of times I got stuck in the mud = 0

-number of times I had to push the vehicle = 0

I can’t even count the number of times each of these things happened last year! It was beyond ridiculous. So there’s clearly been a major improvement here.

How about housing? Last year I was living in a tent, sleeping on a cozy stack of mattresses, sometimes nestled in two cozy sleeping bags and most of the time everything was dry. Outside of the tent I was constantly shifting from dorm bed to dorm bed and roommate to roommate and losing track of the remaining belongings that had not been lost or stolen.

The first half of this year I lived in an immense house with my own huge bedroom, my own bathroom, wireless internet, a garage space to park my 4x4, maid service, a great roommate and cool neighbors, an unbeatable view of the landscape and a small yard. I only lost a rain jacket during this time and nothing was stolen.

The second half of this year I lived in my own compact and cozy “house” where everything was always within arm’s reach and I had no roommates but an interesting cast of characters as neighbors. My yard was enormous. I had to share the bathroom but cleaning service was included. The kitchen was also cleaned by a maid. There was a hot spring nearby open 24hrs a day free of charge. Security was included and the guards were always interesting to talk to. Miles of hiking trails and biking routes were there for leisurely adventure and discovery. A bunch of supplies were stolen at one point but the landlords replaced them, thankfully. I also lost my umbrella and handy little dish soap dispenser during this time. But I survived.

Work has changed dramatically as well, though I have almost as much free time this year as I did last year, which is not a good thing at the moment. Last year I was a quasi-volunteer Volunteer Coordinator doing wildlife research in Swaziland’s nature reserves. Definitely cool. This year I’m the director of a new company and I work with wild life of a different sort, private-school children. Also cool, in totally different ways. This year I have expansive freedom with my work, there just isn’t quite enough of it yet. Hopefully, through continued hard work, creativity and perseverance, company activities will increase. In the meantime, here comes the shameless plug….you can now support my activities by making a donation through the company website. It now has a link to PayPal for making donations, even with a credit card. Unfortunately, such donations are not yet tax-deductible, but they are immensely appreciated! So if you’d like to make a contribution you can go to www.singweecoservices.org and click on the “Donate!” link on the right-hand side. And if you don’t, I still love you J

I hope this year finds you fulfilling some of your life-long dreams.

Medicine For Your Windshield

Unabridged version originally distributed October 2010

I’m not creative enough to make these things up. I get my inspiration from other people. Did you know there was medicine for your windshield? Well there isn’t, but when I took my car to a repair shop in Manzini the guy was explaining the process of treating a crack in my windshield from a flying stone so that it wouldn’t spread. When he got to the part about injecting resin into the glass he was calling it medicine. Ok, if that’s how you see it. Just as long as it makes my windshield “all better,” use whatever medicine you want.

I haven’t just been pelted by rocks lately, it’s been a steady onslaught of things, mostly expenses – work permit fees, car title change fees... So when this rock hit my windshield it was just one more thing I really didn’t need.

During an otherwise uneventful drive on a tar road, the rock came flying at my windshield and left a nice starburst right in the middle. Awesome. And what am I going to do about that? Luckily a Swazi friend told me about a place in Manzini where I could get it fixed. But I’m not in Manzini all the time and I’ve had lots of things to do before I got to this little issue so the crack was starting to spread and then I was having nightmares about having a huge crack across the windshield and having to replace the whole thing. So I went to a place in Mbabane (the capital and about 35 miles from Manzini), because I was already there. They wanted to charge E220. Aaa! Are you kidding?! That’s about $35, which you might think is not a big deal, but it is for me at this stage. So I called my Swazi friend again. He allayed my fears that it wasn’t going to just crack all at once so I’d have time to check in Manzini. Sigh, ok.

So I spent the next week or two getting the title on my car changed and managed to negotiate the associated costs down from E800 to E100. Hurray! After that triumph, I went to Manzini and got the medicine put in my windshield for E150 instead of the E220 they wanted to charge in Mbabane. Whew! Another E70 saved.

Quick Highlights

Originally distributed August 2010

I’ve started a company called Singwe EcoServices (Singwe means Bushbaby in siSwati). I chose this name because I’m a bushbaby myself, after all, and since my services cater mainly to kids, the bushbaby is a very cute mascot/logo.

I’ve hired my first employee, a grade 11 nature camp assistant. Interviewing people can be almost as stressful as being interviewed. And then having to turn people down… agony.

The company offers:

-environmental education lessons to grades 4-7

-nature camps during term breaks for kids aged 9-12

-environmental consulting on development projects

-teacher workshops (once I’ve put them together),
-birthday and other “special day” nature activities

The last item was a parent’s idea. Her son couldn’t attend the camp but his b-day is coming and they’re having the b-day party at a nature reserve so she asked if I can come and do some activities with the kids. That’ll be interesting.

The term break nature camp is kicking off on Monday. I have 7 kids signed up so far and the max is 10, so not bad for a start! And who knows who’s going to show up at the gate on Monday morning wanting to participate.

Aside from starting the company, logo design, website, and everything else that entails, I also bought a caravan in June and have been living in it quite comfortably and happily since then. I now live in one of the nature reserves so I’m back in the bush. It’s the same reserve where I’m doing the nature camps next week, so I won’t have to go anywhere to go to work. Woo hoo!

Elaine vs The Volcano

Originally distributed June 2010

Image credit - http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRH4_yZKoXpTCiDqDypx6HGEGUrpO2INmbBvAe5RU7r9dSOYg3K&t=1

If you feel like you’re having a bad day, this just might make you feel good about it after all. This is the tale of my battle with the Iceland volcano to get to the US for a visit in April-May 2010.

I was originally booked to fly out of Johannesburg on Monday night, via Munich, Germany, and arrive in DC on Wednesday morning. But because of the ash plume from the Iceland volcano, airports in Germany and neighboring European countries had been closed for days. The situation was constantly being monitored and flights were being cancelled the day of, because, after all, you never know when the winds are going to change.

Sunday – I tried to reroute my flight with South African Airways but because my flight hadn't been cancelled yet they wouldn't let me. They told me to call back at noon on Monday.  The problem with that was I was driving to Jo’burg, which is about 5hrs from Swaziland and my original flight was scheduled to depart at 8:30PM on Monday. With the unknown flight departure time of the reroute how would I know if I’d have enough time to get to the airport before the flight would take off? (Sigh)

Monday morning – The airlines were getting impatient because they were losing money. On Sunday they sent up test flights to see if the planes would be damaged by the ash from the Iceland volcano. They came back saying, “Looks good!” So then they were hounding the government to lift restrictions. Here are a couple of my favorite quotes, “"it is clear that this is not sustainable. We cannot just wait until this ash cloud dissipates." And, “We are asking the authorities to really have a good look at the situation, because 100 percent safety does not exist.” So they want to put my life in danger to make money. Thanks.

Even if it were deemed “safe,” this wouldn’t help me because my flight route was from Jo’burg to Munich, which might be ok, and then Munich to the US, heading west through the ash plume, which was not ok. So that would mean I’d fly to Munich and get stuck there. Great!

Next option, I called SAA again Monday morning. I insisted that they reroute me. They said they can’t until they hear word at noon. But I could go through the company that booked my ticket, which was Orbitz online, or go to the airport in Jo’burg and try to make changes there.

I found a phone number for Orbitz and called via Skype, because it’s much cheaper to call through the computer than through a landline. They said I had to talk to Continental, the “validating airline.” So the nice guy transferred me to Continental.

Meanwhile, my Skype credit was already down to less than $2 before I called. I tried to add credit Sunday night but there was a problem and it wouldn’t let me. Most likely the credit card company was blocking my card.

I was on hold with Orbitz for at least 30min. Then I was on hold with Continental until I almost ran out of credit. I tried adding credit again Monday morning but had the same problem. Geez!!

Then I tried the landline but it’s about $1/min, I can’t afford that! So I tried again adding credit on Skype, this time paying through Paypal. It still wouldn’t accept my credit card. Must be the credit card company. So I called the credit card company, which does have a collect call # for calls from outside the US. After waiting on hold several minutes I got through to someone and we got disconnected. You’re kidding me!! So I tried again. This time I got through sooner, and got disconnected again. I tried several more times with the same result. What the hell is going on?!?!?!

Ok! Ok! So I’m not meant to fly on Monday. I get the message, but what about Tues or Wed or Thurs?

Aside from Continental’s phone line I also tried through their website. When I got to the page where you’re supposed to make flight changes I got this message, “Continental.com is unable to initiate your flight change request at this time. Please contact Continental Reservations at 1-800-525-0280 to make changes to this Itinerary.” Groan…

Meanwhile, my roommate had gone out for a hike and come back. She has Skype as well, with money in her account. She had offered Sunday night for me to use her account if necessary. So Monday morning, it was in fact still morning, I took her up on her offer. So I called the Continental toll free # and it turns out that when you call from Skype the call really is free! So I waited on hold again. Then, while still on hold with them I called South African Airways again and this time they entertained my request to reroute. I spoke to Gerard who was really nice but not so competent. After about 45 minutes he had found a flight for me through Buenos Aires, my suggestion, but he couldn’t complete the booking. He asked if he could call me back or if I could call him back so he wouldn’t keep me on hold. Fine. So we hung up.

About an hour later with no call back, I called again. Now keep in mind all this time I was still on hold with Continental in the US. Yes, still on hold! So I called SAA again and of course got a different person on the line. “Can I please be transferred to Gerard?” “I don’t know Gerard, but I’m sure I can help you.” “Thank you for the offer but I’ve spent about 45min on the phone with him and he was completing a change for me and I’d really just like to finish up with him so I don’t have to wait all over again.” “I’ll be fast. I’m sure I can help you.” “Fine.” So Boy did. Yes, his name is Boy. And he was fast. He made the routing change for me. His speed and ability showed just how incapable poor Gerard was.

Once I had changed my flight with Boy, he said to call back Tues morning just to confirm that the flight change had been made in the system. I then disconnected the call to Continental, having been on hold with them for 2 ½ hours without ever speaking to a person. So between the first call to Continental and the 2^nd I spent a total of 3.5hrs on hold and never got connected to anyone. Nice.

But the story doesn’t end there. It just keeps getting better. My newly rerouted flight was to depart from Jo’burg at 10AM on Wed, connect in Buenos Aires and get me into DC on Thurs morning. This meant I had to go to Jo’burg Tues and spend the night in order to get to the airport on time for my flight.

I’ve been planning to buy a caravan and live in it since late last year. You can only find new/used caravan dealers in SA. So I figured I’d make the most of my journey and stop at caravan dealers on the way to Jo’burg. But before I left I had to call the airlines one last time and reconfirm my flight change. The folks at SAA told me I’d have to contact the “validating” airline, Continental, and confirm with them. Really?! Well, you remember how far I got with them the day before. So before I left the house to drive off for Jo’burg, I sent an urgent email to my mom to please check that my flight had in fact been changed. Maybe she’d have better luck getting someone to answer the phone!

On the way to Jo’burg I stopped in a town called Ermelo, where they have a caravan place. It’s small and the guy said they didn’t have any 2^nd hands in stock, so he was trying to steer me toward a tiny new caravan instead, saying the larger models would  be “too big for” me. Oh boy. Mr Man, are you trying to decide for me? Not a good move on your part. Thank you, but you won’t be getting my business. Off I went to continue on my trek to Jo’burg.

But there was a slight problem. I was on the N17 and I needed to stay on the N17 heading west, but there were no signs pointing me in that direction. There was the N11 going north and south toward towns I didn’t know, and the N17 going back east, of course. But no N17 going west. Ok…

So I took the N11 due south. First I hit construction stops. In this neck of the woods when they’re doing highway renovations, on 2 lane roads, they close one lane for several km stretches at a time and allow for alternating 1-way traffic. You’re wait time can be up to 45min before your side gets a chance to go. So you pull up and park. And wait, and wait. I hit 3 of these. Joy. Because I had spent the morning making phone calls to the airlines and sending urgent emails, I didn’t leave the house until 12PM. And, because we were heading toward winter, the days were getting shorter and the sun was setting before 6PM. It’s a 5hr drive from Swaziland to SA. They say “Don’t drive in Jo’burg at night” and if you can help it, don’t drive in SA at night. Ok, will do, if I can help it. These construction stops weren’t helping at all.

Because I lost track of the N17 in Ermelo, I meandered north and south in a westerly direction blindly trying to make my way to Jo’burg. No, I didn’t have a map. Stupid, I know. Don’t remind me. I stopped in some small, one-stop-sign town to ask how the heck to get to Jo’burg from there and the guy told me go to this town, then go to that town, then head toward that town, then follow the signs to Jo’burg. Ok… Needless to say, it was dark when I was still at least an hour away. But as the sun set there were swarms of bugs, all of which smashed on my windshield. It sounded like a rainstorm, there were so many bugs pelting my windshield. That reduced my visibility nearly to nil. Then oncoming vehicles had their brights on so I was blinded and couldn’t see the signs through the smear on the glass. I think I was having fun at this point.

I had booked a bed in a hostel in Jo’burg and had written directions down coming from my intended direction. But was I coming from my intended direction now? No. Once I got into the vicinity of Jo’burg everything turned to highways, American style multi-lane divided highways. I followed the signs to Jo’burg until I started seeing signs for Pretoria. I could tell by the skyscrapers I was well into the city by the time I took an exit. Now what? The exit took me into dark, deserted, scary, downtown Jo’burg. Because of the crime rate people are allowed to run red lights at night, especially women. Ok, taking advantage of that loophole!! I was in an area where every intersection had a traffic light. I carried on straight until, by a miracle I saw a tiny green sign mounted on a pole with the route number that would go to my hostel, the R24, and an arrow pointing in the right direction. Halleluja! What luck!

By this time it was 7:30PM. I turned on the R24 and called the hostel to ask how to get there from where I was. The guy had no clue so he told me to stop at a gas station and ask for directions. Ok, stop my car in Jo’burg, at night… and get out of my car, in Jo’burg, at night, as a single woman. No, I’m not scared at all. Why should I be scared?

I quickly found a gas station and a lady customer there, at the gas station shop (yes, they have convenience stores at the gas stations, just like they do in the US) told me just keep going straight for several km. The road will change names but just stay straight. Ok!

So I followed her directions and all the way down the R24 it was like a city or suburban street with stop signs and intersections. After several km I started looking for my turn. I got to an intersection where I couldn’t see the name of the cross street. Of course, as the light turned green and I went through the intersection I saw that it was in fact my turn. No problem. When I get to the next intersection I’ll turn around. Except there was no next intersection. Right after that one it turned into a highway. I’m not kidding. My heart sank. So I drove on the R24 highway until it came to another highway. I exited onto that highway, except in the wrong direction. Instead of taking the exit that would cross over the R24 I took the opposite direction that went away from it. Then I had to exit off of that one. Luckily that was onto a street so I was able to cross over the highway and get back on it going back toward the R24. When I got to my R24 exit the ramp was blocked by concrete barriers. I’m not kidding. I wanted to shoot myself. So I carried on to the next exit.

By this time, after 8PM, in a haze of frustration and exhaustion, I ended up off the highway and knowing I was somewhere in the vicinity of the hostel. But otherwise, completely lost.

During this time, my mom called and said she spoke to Continental. They said I needed to cancel my flight and rebook. Are you kidding me?!! No way!! No way! A new ticket the day before a flight from Africa to the US will cost $4,000, at least!! I exploded. My poor mom. Thank God she knows how to handle me. She let me rant and rave and scream and curse without ever saying “Calm down,” “it’ll be ok” or any of those other nonsense phrases that she knows won’t make any difference to my temper. She managed to remain calm and sane while I exploded. I seriously wanted to tear my hair out at this point. I had been through so much and now I was lost in Jo’burg so I could fly home the next morning and Continental was telling me “You should’ve just stayed home because we’re not giving you your flight”? That’s why people go postal. So I told my mom to call them back and tell them “no way, they have to reroute my flight.”

Now a sobbing mess, I was pulled over in front of some restaurant. I went inside, not caring one iota that I looked like I had just seen a train wreck, and asked for directions. The waitress kindly ignored my state and pointed me in the right direction. Then I had to stop at a gas station to get further directions. Finally, at 9PM I arrived at the hostel. I had managed to pull myself together enough to get there, but once I was there I fell apart again. I couldn’t go inside. I stood on the balcony and cried. I was so exhausted and frustrated and frazzled that’s all I could do.

The hostel manager on duty, Lechelle, came outside and put her arm around me as if she had been my best friend for years. She offered me a cup of tea. It was the best cup of tea I’ve ever had. And it helped a lot. Once somewhat calm again I checked in and got settled. My mom called back at 10PM and explained that she had spoken to someone at Orbitz. That lady said they had my flight booked to Buenos Aires. And then? There is no “and then.” My mom said, “She’s not going to Buenos Aires. She’s coming home!” So after at least 1/2 hr on the phone with her, my mom got that straightened out and told me she finally had my flight fully rerouted through Buenos Aires to DC. Whew!

I went to bed that night and slept with the dead. I needed it. My flights got me through to DC without further incident, thank goodness! At least 1/3 of the people flying at that time were also battling the volcano and had horror stories of their own. I know my situation could’ve been worse and you’ll probably be surprised to hear that I am grateful for what it was. At least I was stuck at home.

Once on US soil, my mom confided that in the wee hours of the African morning, she got on the phone one last time with Continental, around 7PM east coast time, to confirm that my flight was changed. Little did I know, I slept like a baby. Thanks Mom!