I’m typing this entry on my laptop in my room at Sr. Fanja’s house. Its… I think its almost 8am here in Madagascar.
Monday the…26, 25, 24, 23rd! Monday the 23rd, I went to the airport in Austin for the 10:50 flight. The airport was literally 3 times busier than my past two attempts (30 minutes in security verses 10), but I made it through, waved to my mom, hustled the 150 feet to the gate and found out…
I HAVE A SEAT! And not only that but it was first class! (ooooh!) First time I’ve flown first class on a domestic flight and it was quite comfortable. I’m still not sure why anyone would pay twice as much money for 2 hours of a little more comfort, but whatever floats their boats. The lady I sat next to overheard me talking to my mom and so she asked where I was going which inevitably lead to the “Oh, so you’re Mormon?” question haha. Turns out her son lives in Salt Lake managing Best Westerns in Utah and Idaho.
Monday the…26, 25, 24, 23rd! Monday the 23rd, I went to the airport in Austin for the 10:50 flight. The airport was literally 3 times busier than my past two attempts (30 minutes in security verses 10), but I made it through, waved to my mom, hustled the 150 feet to the gate and found out…
I HAVE A SEAT! And not only that but it was first class! (ooooh!) First time I’ve flown first class on a domestic flight and it was quite comfortable. I’m still not sure why anyone would pay twice as much money for 2 hours of a little more comfort, but whatever floats their boats. The lady I sat next to overheard me talking to my mom and so she asked where I was going which inevitably lead to the “Oh, so you’re Mormon?” question haha. Turns out her son lives in Salt Lake managing Best Westerns in Utah and Idaho.
Then I read my book (thanks Aunt Bonnie!) The Post-American World by FareedZhakaria (sp?). I borrowed this from my Aunt… probably 8 months ago at the beginning of Fall semester, and never really found the time to read it. Anywho, 17 hours of flying was plenty of time to read it. I highly recommend it to everyone, especially KayAnna and Anne and everyone else involved with MUN or Intercultural Outreach who might be reading this. It’s basically about America’s place in the world in this age of globalization. It’s also a sort of Intro to History of the Modern World 101 so you learn about what America, India, British Empire, and China have been doing for the past 300 years or so and how the “modern world” came into being – which if you’re interested was around 150 to 200 years ago with the creation of modern republics, international finance, colonization (aka forced cultural diffusion), and industrialization. Read it!
We got to Atlanta around 2pm, and I sat in the terminal for around 5 hours. Got my last American meal at Qdoba with Chicken Queso Burrito. I was very skillfully salesman-ed into eating there over the pizza place by a girl named… Shaniquia (I don’t remember exactly, but it was something awesome like that). But her salesmaneering was so professional (although not terribly subtle) that I gave in out of admiration and b/c the quesochicked burrito sounded good. I then ordered my burrito which was assembled by Taffaniyanda and Delanisha (again, the actual names may have been different – but I did actually read their name tags : - ). If any of you are wondering why I’m spending any time mentioning these girls names, then you need to YouTube “Top 60 Ghetto Names” and you will be instantly amused and educated. Moral of the story: its true, lol.
I enjoyed my burrito, and made my way back to the gate. Chatted with a lady from Steamboat Springs (seemed kindahippyish) who was going on a backpacker’s budget safari with her daughter in South Africa and Botswana (shout out to Anne, right?). And then some dude from South Africa (with athick South African accent) who borrowed some quarters to make a phone call, which I didn’t fully understand until after I realized I had somewhat screwed him out of a quarter but by then he had tried to make the phone call and it hadn’t worked so he was down a $1, and I was still confused (as you are probably right now).
We got to Atlanta around 2pm, and I sat in the terminal for around 5 hours. Got my last American meal at Qdoba with Chicken Queso Burrito. I was very skillfully salesman-ed into eating there over the pizza place by a girl named… Shaniquia (I don’t remember exactly, but it was something awesome like that). But her salesmaneering was so professional (although not terribly subtle) that I gave in out of admiration and b/c the quesochicked burrito sounded good. I then ordered my burrito which was assembled by Taffaniyanda and Delanisha (again, the actual names may have been different – but I did actually read their name tags : - ). If any of you are wondering why I’m spending any time mentioning these girls names, then you need to YouTube “Top 60 Ghetto Names” and you will be instantly amused and educated. Moral of the story: its true, lol.
I enjoyed my burrito, and made my way back to the gate. Chatted with a lady from Steamboat Springs (seemed kindahippyish) who was going on a backpacker’s budget safari with her daughter in South Africa and Botswana (shout out to Anne, right?). And then some dude from South Africa (with athick South African accent) who borrowed some quarters to make a phone call, which I didn’t fully understand until after I realized I had somewhat screwed him out of a quarter but by then he had tried to make the phone call and it hadn’t worked so he was down a $1, and I was still confused (as you are probably right now).
Anyways I finally got a seat… in coach (sad face) but it was a window and at the bulkhead – meaning no seats in front of me so I could stretch out my legs!I sat next to a very… large couple from South Africa. The wife was quite nice and friendly – they had been visiting their son who lives in Oviedo, Florida just outside Orlando which is where my dad went to high school I believe – small world!
At some point I ate a dinner of beef curry, rice, and spinach with a raw carrot-celery-cilantro salad, some cold couscous, a roll, fruit salad and a very delicious packaged brownie. And then I watched Blind Side(d?) which I also highly recommend. Sandra Bullock plays this very southern-rich-“Praise Jesus!” lady from Memphis who takes a homeless black kid into her family and raises him for a year or so. Based on a true story, and Bullock won the Best Actress Oscar for it, so yeah go see it. Plus Bullock’s character is absolutely hilarious (in a subtle way, especially for people form the South : - )
Tossed and turned for 8 hours (I cannot sleep in an airplane seat) had some dinner-snack thing and watched part of Inside Job – a documentary about the 2008 financial crisis that I believe won an Oscar last year. Landed in South Africa around 5:30pm. Went and bought a phone and called the parents and then Ronel (the lady that runs the hostel where I stayed) came and picked me up.
She (Ronel) asked if I was hungry (which I was) and what kind of food I was in the mood for. I said “South African” food, which she either didn’t think really existed or didn’t like (she explained that there were a few South African dishes, but not really any restaurants) – the most notable thing about South African cuisine apparently is that they eat meat meatmeat. So she took me to a steak place, which ironically was called Spur and was Cowboy and Indian themed – straight out of Texas haha. But the steak was good. Oh and the Sprite! Sprite in South Africa has like other fruit flavors in it – it tasted quite tropical and I liked it a lot. Sadly, no such thing in America : - (
On Wednesday, Ronel took me the grocery store which was also part of a little shopping complex (for you missionaries, it was a lot like the JumboScore in Tanjombato – a grocery store surrounded by a small mall) so I got breakfast at a place called Wimpy. Funny story time:
Wimpy is basically like a McDonalds from what I could tell, but it was built into the shopping center. And there were like 4 worker people standing at the entrance not really doing much, then there was a counter with the sign of food above it where there were two workers. At the counter was a lady with her daughter who appeared to be ordering food. So I kind of stood awkwardly in the crowd of workers while gazing at the sign to figure out what I wanted for breakfast. Then one of them noticed me and gave me a menu yay! So I saw that there were breakfast platters and such and decided on that, so I approached the counter and made my order (a French toast platter, minus the bacon and then an eggs-bacon-toast platter). I had to repeat myself a couple times, and so did they but we got it eventually. So I asked if I should just sit down somewhere while I waited for my food, and they said yes. So I did and watched some soccer game. About 10 minutes later, they brought out my food… in round Styrofoam boxes in a paper bag. Apparently (which I realized as soon as they brought me the food) if I had wanted to eat in, I should have just sat down and one of those gaggle of workers would have brought me a menu and taken my order, but if I wanted to “take-away” then I should’ve ordered at the counter. So I kind of awkwardly took my food out of the take-out boxes and ate at my little table lol. The food was quite good though. Only the syrup was unusual – it was like molasses tasting (but not nearly as bad as molasses, just not maple flavored). I finished my delicious but somewhat awkward breakfast, and was on my way.
At the grocery store I got VrystaterBoerwourst (pronounced: Fry schtatah Burr-vurst) meaning Freestate Sausages (Freestate or Vrystater is a province/state in South Africa) so those were somewhat authentic. And I got some South African spices: Bredie and Spicy Rice.
For all you missionaries: shopping in South Africa feels a lot like shopping at Shoprite – I felt so at home! They had the Clover milk (which does taste almost like real milk) and Simba snacks, Ceres juice, and the counter of delicious looking pastries (that in Madagascar at least, are made of pure butter and not actually that tasty lol).
For all you missionaries: shopping in South Africa feels a lot like shopping at Shoprite – I felt so at home! They had the Clover milk (which does taste almost like real milk) and Simba snacks, Ceres juice, and the counter of delicious looking pastries (that in Madagascar at least, are made of pure butter and not actually that tasty lol).
Ronel picked me up and took me back to the hostel where we figured out how I could get 25 miles away to the temple in Parktown. So she took me to the train station, where I caught a light-rail type train to Sandton which appears to be a slightly nicer suburb of Joberg, and then I looked around and caught a slightly sketchy (aka non-metered) taxi to where the temple was (and the taxi driver had to call his buddies and babble away in Zulu or Xhosa to figure out how to get there.
Got to the temple just in time for the 3pm session. One of the workers there was from Madagascar – FrRakotovao – and he was wayyy excited when he realized I spoke Malagasy haha. I sat next to a guy named Pauly (sp?) who’s from the 67Ha Ward who got back from his mission back in July I think and had just gotten married. I didn’t realize how tiny the temple was, but it was nice.
When I was leaving I asked the front desk if there was a bus that went to Sandton, and he looked at me like I was crazy “Uhm, I don’t think there are any buses around here, and if there are any you wouldn’t want to take them” (uh, sketch lol). So I told him my predicament (aka needing to get to Sandton to catch the train to Rhodesfield over by the airport. And a lady who was leaving said Rose…park? (another train station) was on their way home so she kind of offered me a ride. Ends up that Rosepark Station isn’t done yet, so they took me to Sandton anyways. They were really nice and we talked about Madagascar and missions and missionaries and such. Only about a minute before I got out of the car did they explain they were in the temple presidency and then I felt kind of dumb for thinking they were just people who were at the temple. Anyways, their name was Wren or Wrench or something and they (well the husband at least) knows President Donnelly so that was cool.
When I was leaving I asked the front desk if there was a bus that went to Sandton, and he looked at me like I was crazy “Uhm, I don’t think there are any buses around here, and if there are any you wouldn’t want to take them” (uh, sketch lol). So I told him my predicament (aka needing to get to Sandton to catch the train to Rhodesfield over by the airport. And a lady who was leaving said Rose…park? (another train station) was on their way home so she kind of offered me a ride. Ends up that Rosepark Station isn’t done yet, so they took me to Sandton anyways. They were really nice and we talked about Madagascar and missions and missionaries and such. Only about a minute before I got out of the car did they explain they were in the temple presidency and then I felt kind of dumb for thinking they were just people who were at the temple. Anyways, their name was Wren or Wrench or something and they (well the husband at least) knows President Donnelly so that was cool.
Got home to the hostel and made my sausage stew which actually turned out pretty tasty I thought. K, random little story for missionaries from my group (be there any that would read this) do you all remember when we were going to Mada and our final flight got delayed by like 6 hours and we spent all day in the Joberg airport? When we ate lunch/dinner in the airport we all got these sodas called Appletizer? Or Grapetizer or Peartizer? I think the slogan on their can was something like “100% pleasure” lol. Anywho, they sell big bottles of Appletizer and Peartizer at the grocery store so I bought one – yum. The End.
Went to the airport in the morning on Thursday and was directed to no less than 3 different check-in kiosks before I finally found the right one (in America there is like 1 or 2 counter per airlines with 2 people at each counter to check you in. In South Africa there is a bank of literally 50 little mini counters for South African Airways but then some are only for domestic flights and some for international, etc not to mention most of the people I talked to had no idea what they were talking about:
“Where are you flying to?”
“Madagascar.”
“Oh we don’t fly there, only AirMadagascar does.” … wrong.
“Oh where are you flying to?”
“Uh its SA flight 8252 to Madagascar”
“Oh go to kiosk 78”(I found 78 was for domestic flights…wrong.)
and then I realized SA Airlink (a subsidiary of SA Airways) has their own counters, so yeah it took a while.
“Where are you flying to?”
“Madagascar.”
“Oh we don’t fly there, only AirMadagascar does.” … wrong.
“Oh where are you flying to?”
“Uh its SA flight 8252 to Madagascar”
“Oh go to kiosk 78”(I found 78 was for domestic flights…wrong.)
and then I realized SA Airlink (a subsidiary of SA Airways) has their own counters, so yeah it took a while.
Got through security and down to my flight checked in and on the bus (you take a bus from the terminal out to the tarmac to board the plane) and as I’m standing on the bus, guess who gets on? If you guessed The Queen of England, you’re wrong.
O’Day! I thought he was going to Mada on the 15th, but it was actually the 25th. So that was about the craziest coincidence ever.
O’Day! I thought he was going to Mada on the 15th, but it was actually the 25th. So that was about the craziest coincidence ever.
Flight was non-eventful except that we flew over a thunderstorm, and they served us a snack lunch which was a surprise and moderately delicious.
Side note: I’ve kind of realized while typing this up that I kind of measure time by food. I can almost always remember what I ate and when I did something by when it was in relation to the last meal I had. I never really thought of myself as super food obsessed (either in a eating lots of it, or thinking about it a lot) but I’ve realized recently that I do really cook a lot and pay attention to food and I’m always interested in trying new food (unless its made with peppers or raw onions, and then I’m not really keen on it).
Side note: I’ve kind of realized while typing this up that I kind of measure time by food. I can almost always remember what I ate and when I did something by when it was in relation to the last meal I had. I never really thought of myself as super food obsessed (either in a eating lots of it, or thinking about it a lot) but I’ve realized recently that I do really cook a lot and pay attention to food and I’m always interested in trying new food (unless its made with peppers or raw onions, and then I’m not really keen on it).
Got to Madagascar – yay! Sr. Fanja picked me up at the airport and we took a taxibe to her house which is like maybe a ½ kilometer from the airport.
We chatted for a while (a long while) and then I got credit for my phone, and we went to the market to get ingredients for dinner (henakisoasy petit-pois – pork with peas).
We chatted for a while (a long while) and then I got credit for my phone, and we went to the market to get ingredients for dinner (henakisoasy petit-pois – pork with peas).
I slept pretty well.
I woke up around 7am which was nice. The bed was nice, I got a good amount of sleep, and it was quiet when I woke up.
There is something about waking up in another country that is very… unique. When I woke up I could instantly tell I was in Madagascar. It’s hard to explain – but it’s a combination of the sounds and the smells, the way the light looks and something about the air. I’ve only spent 4 nights in South Africa (2 during this trip and two with the family back in August) but I recognized the same kind of thing when I woke up at the hostel – something about the sounds and the smells and I could tell I was in South Africa.
There is something about waking up in another country that is very… unique. When I woke up I could instantly tell I was in Madagascar. It’s hard to explain – but it’s a combination of the sounds and the smells, the way the light looks and something about the air. I’ve only spent 4 nights in South Africa (2 during this trip and two with the family back in August) but I recognized the same kind of thing when I woke up at the hostel – something about the sounds and the smells and I could tell I was in South Africa.
Today we bought my ticket to Mahajanga (leave tomorrow at 8am, arrive sometime at night – probably 8pm) and got ingredients for dinner tonight – the missionaries are coming over!
I would write more, but its already getting kind of late. There’s a few things I’ve left out of today and yesterday, so maybe I’ll add those in during my next post.
My apologies that this is such a long and rambling post, but I only have internet and/or time to type something up every so often so my posts my be kind of sporadic. Ive have some pictures to go with this post, but I’m afraid they’ll take too long to upload so I’ll do that later.
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