Bathroom Yoga at 35,000 Feet

On my flight to Cape Town I watched The Hobbit 3 times. Besides doing weird yoga in the cramped bathroom to alleviate my swollen legs from sitting so long, it was a pretty uneventful flight. So after a surprisingly short flight of 14 hours (I thought it was supposed to be 20) I was in Johannesburg. Still not really feeling like it was Africa. It felt like an airport. A big airport. I struggled with my cart of luggage and meandered on to my terminal. Sat for 4 hours then got on my second flight. I was asleep within 5 minutes of sitting down. I woke up about an hour later and read my book for a while. Then, the captain came on the loud speaker, "10 minutes til landing" and at that point I saw mountains out the window, and was so overcome with excitement I wanted to throw up. Literally, nauseous with excitement. I was squirming in my seat like a little kid waiting to go play outside. In my head I was hearing really cheesy African music like it was the soundtrack for my African homecoming (Kothbiro - Ayub Ogada, this song specifically). I was bobbing around, dancing, trying to draw as little attention as possible, which I'm sure made me look actually crazy. By the time I got off the plane I was skipping, skipping down the corridors of the airport to baggage. Got my bags and was nascar racing to where ever the hell I thought Caz might be, since I didn't have a phone to call her.


I saw her giant hair before I saw her. She's a foot shorter than everyone else in South Africa but has 3 times the amount of hair in a haphazard bun configuration that stands out like a beacon to people like me who should have gotten a new glasses prescription before leaving. So we ran and hugged, and I met her South African friend Muda, who was immediately overwhelmed by our spastic intensity (jubilance, loquaciousness, gregariousness; we're nuts together basically). Caz and I together is like giving two 4-year-olds caffeine, a bag of glitter, and puppies. Like, WHOA. Despite talking multiple times a day for the last 3 years, we still managed to talk nonstop to catch up since we saw each other 2 months ago.


The apartment is awesome. Cute, small, efficient. Its a one room studio so we're going to go find a bunch of netting or sheets or something to knit together to create privacy. We decided we can do our crafty knitting of fabric walls at the bar. Good; needles and beer, what could go wrong? The bar, Slug and Lettuce, is no joke 50 yards from the door of the apartment. Not to mention everything I could ever possibly need is within a 5 minute walking distance. And the prices here! OH MY LORD. We passed a bar advertising R5 shots. You know how much that is? $0.51... How do they make money?! I had the best lunch of my life today and it only cost $7. It was fresh pressed carrot apple juice and mushroom risotto with greens. I would spend $20 on that here.


I'm also slightly suspicious that this is all too good to be true, and I've been punked. I'm actually in Omaha right now, with a cut out of table mountain being held up by my dad in the background. They just stuck my on a bus for 14 hours and told me it was a plane ride. These are my concerns. Until I climb the mountain again I will remain suspicious of how awesome my life is right now.


Okay so now for technicalities. Everyone wants to know what I'm actually doing here. Until December, I'm doing whatever I damn well please, which is a lot of personal volunteer projects and relaxing. Starting after that is my year long study with Midwife International where I will be working 25 hours a week plus class study at Al-Nisa Maternity Clinic to complete my first year of Midwifery training.

I approve. 

- Mandy