After an incredibly restful 4 months back home (so much more could be said here to fill in the 4 month blank, but I'll leave it at that), I took off from LAX the evening of Jan 10th to start the journey back to Cape Town. I had an uneventful flight to London, then on to Cairo for a 24 hr extended layover.
I got in to Cairo around midnight on the 12th, and left around midnight on the 13th. Khaled the driver (for those of you who visited me in Egypt know Khaled well) picked me up so I was met by a smiling familiar face. I got dropped off at my friends Jen and Emily's apartment and crashed hard. I woke up early to the call to prayer from the mosque across the street, had a nice day of going to the gym, my favorite coffee shop, a massage from the Moroccan hammam, my favorite fruit stand, a yoga class, and practicing my arabic and and chatting it up with some of the familiar faces at all of the aforementioned places! I got to meet up with some friends that I taught with later that evening at the ACE club and left from the airport from there. That's where things got a little more interesting!
I was saying my goodbyes at the ACE when my phone rang. It was Khaled. I started apologizing for being late getting out to the front of the ACE, but he interrupted me and said, "No! I'm not there! There's riots on the Autostraud and I can't get there to pick you up!" So, that meant I had to grab a cab from the street, convince him to take me to the airport, and use the meter, and take the Ring Road instead of the Autostraud. It took some frantic arguing with none less than 4 cabs before I was on my way with a driver who was not sure how to get to the airport. Eventually we got there, a bit later than planned, but I made the flight and all was well for flight #3.
My flight from Cairo left a bit late, and landed a bit late in Johannesburg. I picked up my luggage and went through customs. I then had to re-check my luggage (a very large, heavy and awkwardly packed backpack) quickly and get my next boarding pass before my next plane left for Cape Town about 40 min later. I made it through the process and went to my gate. There were very few people waiting there, which should have concerned me. I then heard a final boarding call for my flight and looked again at the empty gate and my boarding pass. I was at the right gate, but...what? the time was wrong, and the NAME was wrong. I am not nor will I ever be Mr. Cotton.
I ran to the gate where my flight was supposed to leave from and explained my situation. The first question they asked was, "Well, who checked you in?" Uh... Their solution was to have my bag taken off of the Mr. Cotton's flight (which I ended up on) and for me to pick it up and re-check it with the same person who checked me in to begin with (retrace my steps from my 20 min sprint through the airport earlier - with a busted Achilles, mind you...), and have him re-check me for the next flight (Mr. Cotton's flight) if I could take care of all that business before the flight actually took off. To spare the boring details, I retraced all the steps and not one went smoothly. The man at the baggage said he would just cancel the order to take the bag off, so pretend I was Mr. Cotton, and the lady at the check in desk (clearly not the man who had checked me in) was having her own issues that day. But, I made it on the Cotton flight and made it to Cape Town! My luggage didn't, but I wasn't surprised. I really was just happy to be where I was supposed to be.
The luggage did get there later that evening - perfect timing when we went back to the airport to pick up another teacher.
Phew!
Monday, January 31, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Old Friends in New Places
One of the greatest ways I have been blessed again and again is by being surrounded by wonderful people. I have an incredible family (with each member quirky in our own ways), and a great bunch of loving, unique friends scattered all over the world. I have had to say bye to people so many times not knowing when or if I will see them again.
In my 2 weeks back in South Africa, I have had the chance to spend some great quality time with 3 great friends from the past (and one new friend).
Exhibit A - Jen and Joe Welsh – Two close friends from my first two years teaching in Cairo. Jen is my go-to definition of hospitality. I don’t know that I will ever meet anyone who can beat her in that category (see my “Steph’s Cairo Life” blog on Christmas in Cairo from 2 yrs ago). She is one of the most unselfish people I know and is so full of love to those around her. We got to be great friends pretty early on in my time there, and I got to watch as she met, dated, and fell in love with Joe, the witty Welshman who was teaching at our British sister-school. They are such a great couple and I loved spending time with them. They got married in 2008 (luckily the wedding was in California and sparked an epic road trip with my friend Sarah to make it there) and moved to Malawi to teach shortly after the wedding. Well, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes moving to one of the poorest countries in the world and a trip to Cape Town to deliver a baby in modern facilities! So, perfect timing – Jen and Joe were in Cape Town for a while to deliver their baby boy, Caleb! Joe picked me up from the airport, and we headed over to visit Jen and Caleb. It was sooooooo good to see them! They took me home (to Bridges) and I got to show them around a bit of the property. Joe left last week to head back to Malawi to teach, but I got to visit Jen again this last weekend and have some great talking time. She is such a good friend. Such a refreshing, honest, real person. I do miss our conversations so much, and am beyond thankful that I had the chance to spend some more time with her in such an unlikely situation. She is heading back to Malawi in a couple days, and I don’t know when or where I will see the Welch’s again, but I know I will. (inshaallah)
Here are some pics of Jen, Joe and Caleb, and of the Cairo crew at their wedding.
Exhibit B – Sarah Guhrung – Sarah is a friend I met during my first visit to Cairo to coach at Wadi Sports Camps in 2005. We had many adventures together with another coach, Lori, that summer. The 3 of us were a force to be reckoned with. Sarah is from Germany, but was living in Florida to attend college. She stuck around in the US for a bit before moving to... Cape Town! Crazy! Her brothers are also living out here. We actually hung out while I was here a couple months ago, and have met up a couple times since I’ve been back. She introduced me to a great church that I have gone to for the last 2 weekends, and a great beach! Ah, summer in January… It is so good to have an old friend nearby and I look forward to hanging out with her in the months to come!
Here is a picture of Sarah, Me and Lori on top of Mt. Sinai back in 2005
So, the moral of the story (stories?): God is really good. It’s little “coincidences” like this that put a smile on my face, like God is sitting there saying, “Don’t worry. I see you. I’m taking care of you.” A good reminder that I am blessed and that God is bigger than I usually think he is.
In my 2 weeks back in South Africa, I have had the chance to spend some great quality time with 3 great friends from the past (and one new friend).
Exhibit A - Jen and Joe Welsh – Two close friends from my first two years teaching in Cairo. Jen is my go-to definition of hospitality. I don’t know that I will ever meet anyone who can beat her in that category (see my “Steph’s Cairo Life” blog on Christmas in Cairo from 2 yrs ago). She is one of the most unselfish people I know and is so full of love to those around her. We got to be great friends pretty early on in my time there, and I got to watch as she met, dated, and fell in love with Joe, the witty Welshman who was teaching at our British sister-school. They are such a great couple and I loved spending time with them. They got married in 2008 (luckily the wedding was in California and sparked an epic road trip with my friend Sarah to make it there) and moved to Malawi to teach shortly after the wedding. Well, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes moving to one of the poorest countries in the world and a trip to Cape Town to deliver a baby in modern facilities! So, perfect timing – Jen and Joe were in Cape Town for a while to deliver their baby boy, Caleb! Joe picked me up from the airport, and we headed over to visit Jen and Caleb. It was sooooooo good to see them! They took me home (to Bridges) and I got to show them around a bit of the property. Joe left last week to head back to Malawi to teach, but I got to visit Jen again this last weekend and have some great talking time. She is such a good friend. Such a refreshing, honest, real person. I do miss our conversations so much, and am beyond thankful that I had the chance to spend some more time with her in such an unlikely situation. She is heading back to Malawi in a couple days, and I don’t know when or where I will see the Welch’s again, but I know I will. (inshaallah)
Here are some pics of Jen, Joe and Caleb, and of the Cairo crew at their wedding.
Exhibit B – Sarah Guhrung – Sarah is a friend I met during my first visit to Cairo to coach at Wadi Sports Camps in 2005. We had many adventures together with another coach, Lori, that summer. The 3 of us were a force to be reckoned with. Sarah is from Germany, but was living in Florida to attend college. She stuck around in the US for a bit before moving to... Cape Town! Crazy! Her brothers are also living out here. We actually hung out while I was here a couple months ago, and have met up a couple times since I’ve been back. She introduced me to a great church that I have gone to for the last 2 weekends, and a great beach! Ah, summer in January… It is so good to have an old friend nearby and I look forward to hanging out with her in the months to come!
Here is a picture of Sarah, Me and Lori on top of Mt. Sinai back in 2005
So, the moral of the story (stories?): God is really good. It’s little “coincidences” like this that put a smile on my face, like God is sitting there saying, “Don’t worry. I see you. I’m taking care of you.” A good reminder that I am blessed and that God is bigger than I usually think he is.
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