Friday, January 14, 2005
Day 12 To Jo-burg
14 January 2005
Sorry for the delay, the incomplete thoughts, and incoherent sentences. Moving on?
Good morning Cape Town. Bright and early, post-6:00 AM, we woke up for our final morning in this beautiful city. We quickly ate breakfast and then finished cleaning the residence, Cornerstone College was spick 'n span by 7:00 AM when we left for the airport.
Before we departed, we bade farewell to our ABBA-loving Nigerian friend. Emmanuel was a wonderful addition to our group.
He opened our eyes to an African perspective on the many issues we discussed. He will definitely be missed in Johannesburg.
Our flight to Jo-burg lasted about two hours. I slept the whole way so I cannot say what went on during that time. I do know, though, that we arrived safely and all of our luggage made it too. The only thing that did not come with us to Jo-burg was the sun. It was drizzling as we navigated our way through the big city to the Emerald Guest House Luxury Accommodations.
Our Luxury Accomodations are owned by Nico, an Afrikaner (he talks to us about being an Afrikaner later in the week). Although there is some scurrying going on in the roof and ants in the bathrooms, our accommodations truly are luxury (we had pillows). It is located within a nice suburban area, and the airport is within view from the Guest House. Now the take-off of 747s is our gentle lullaby instead of the sirens, beeping, and drag racing that soothed us to sleep in Cape Town.
After dropping off our luggage, we headed out to the Bruma Market. It was still raining when we arrived, and the Market was near closing time. We were to the only customers for the venders, and as a group of twenty white students we did not blend in well with the scene. We could not escape the coaxing to view their crafts. At every booth looking was free, and all were willing to give this sister a very good price. Most of us found curios we liked and many of you will probably receive some.
We returned to the Guest House for dinner prepared by Nico and his children. It was nice not to have to cook for ourselves. After dinner we celebrated Matt Heun's birthday (38 years of living it up). And there was cake! Grandma searched Africa for cake, and she succeed. We sang, we ate cake, it was a good time. And there are sure to be more good times to come in South Africa.
Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika
peace,
Margaret
P.S. Ernie was busy, but Dawn and I went golfing with Denver. The south easterlies were rough, but we managed a sub-par score.
