10/28/09: Johannesburg, South Africa
Today was our first full day of officially being on our own since we arrived in Africa. We have been so spoiled the last several weeks – someone tells us when to wake up, when to eat breakfast, what we’re doing that day, when to go to the bathroom… Since we didn’t think it was healthy to mope around in our dorm room all day, and partly out of pure habit, we didn’t sleep in but got up bright and early to have breakfast. Miraculously, we found a bakery that had delicious croissants and brownies and other yummy goodies and went there for breakfast. (Without Marietjie telling us where to go!)
Rest assured Mom and Dad - no brownies for breakfast for us
We managed to go to the post office and send a couple of packages of souvenirs home. (All by ourselves! Ok fine, we went with a few other girls from our tour.)
Successfully having sent off our boxes, we take a triumphant photo in front of the post box
We even found a place to eat lunch at the mall by our hostel. (By ourselves!) AND, we went and saw a movie! (By ourselves!) We saw Up, which I had wanted to see before leaving on our trip but just had never gotten around to it. Guess how much it cost to see the movie? 15 rand each. That’s TWO DOLLARS EACH! Granted it didn’t have the armrests that raise up (but a lot of other movie theaters at home don’t either) and it smelled a little bit like smoke (couldn’t figure that one out, we were the only ones in that theater and there were no ashtrays) and there wasn’t any movie trivia at the beginning (luckily I don’t care that much about what movie Jim Carrey first starred in), but it was only TWO DOLLARS! It was wonderful. The movie was pretty good too.
After the movie, we went back to our hostel to relax and immerse ourselves in the bliss that is being all by ourselves (in a dorm room housing 16 other people). Eventually, Carol, Garry and Zoey from our old Zambezi truck arrived, and we showed them around like the seasoned travelers we are.
It’s funny – Kevin and I keep talking about how we’re now really on our own, but ever since we got off Kavango yesterday, we’ve still been surrounded by people we know. Almost every meal we’ve had has been with people from one of our old trucks. Mark and Lindi gave us recommendations for restaurants and things to do. So really, we haven’t been on our own at all.
I guess I’m just a bit nervous about how that’s going to change when we finally really and truly are on our own, but I’m ready too. I mean, with Kevin carrying my bag (and me if needed), how hard could it really be?
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Puzzles for Postcards
When Tenzig Falls Behind Anagram
Trust Even Moe
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Pictures of the Day: It’s too late, Kevin. You’re stuck with me.
Mount Everest
Tough loss in fantasy this week. We could’ve moved into a tie for first by beating Shak, but we lost by less than two points. Once again, Shak and us were the top two scorers. All three of our losses have come down to Monday night games where we were favored going in, but then got disappointing efforts from whoever was left. This week, the Johnson’s both had decent games for their teams, but only one TD between the two and only 4 receptions total. We’ll just have to make our run in the playoffs I guess.
Ooh! Ooh! When you go to Japan please make sure to watch the game shows! They’re amazing!!
Btw how was up? I watched it twice and it’s still good.
No matter how far you travel you are always with somebody, especially at a hostel. That is the great thing about traveling by yourself or a couple.