South Africa 1

It’s funny how sentimental music is for me. Actually, how sentimental everything is for me. A certain someone told me recently that I am the most nostalgic person they know. I think I miss things too much when they’re over. For instance, South Africa. We listened to a lot of new music while I was there, and now when I hear it, I want to go back. I mean, SA was cool in general, but I think the experiences with the people and the places and the music and the food and the cape town couch surfers and the hiking and the dancing has created a certain wistful desire to return.
On Thursday, the 6th, I took the train to London and then the tube to Heathrow. Just in case you ever have the intention to take the tube instead of the express bus from London Paddington to Heathrow airport, make sure you have an extra hour and a half to spare. It’s a long journey. But it’s also only £4.50 as opposed to the £13 bus. Just sayin. Checking in, going through security, and finding my gate were not problems at all, and the only unfortunate thing was that when I got to Paris, my plane was delayed for about an hour, and we sat on the plane for that long. The problem with that was I only had about two hours between my connecting flights once I arrived in Johannesburg to go to Cape Town. So it was sort of imperative that I didn’t have a delay. Anyway, the flight was long, and I read my book (The Reader) and watched Sherlock Holmes (excellent movie, by the way) and New Moon. In Jo-burg, it took forever to get OFF the plane, and I only had about an hour before my flight (so 30 minutes to go through security, get my bag, and re-check my bag before the 30-minute-bag-check-prior-to-departure would screw my chances of making my plane to Cape Town). I pushed my way through people, and asked about four very accommodating individuals in the customs line to let me cut in front of them. Basically I weaseled my way unfairly through about 150 people to the front of the line, got my passport stamped, and thankfully, my suitcase was one of the first ones I saw once I got to the baggage reclaim. I sprinted, yes sprinted, through the airport, and a South African guy asked me where I was going and if he could help me get to where I needed to be…if I paid him. I agreed under the stress and pressure, and he grabbed my suitcase and took off running beside me. He knew exactly where we were going and I got to my right counter 1 minute before the 30-minute limit. He took my bag, directed me to my gate, and I gave him £6 in coins. I don’t know why I gave him so much. It's ridiculous. He looked like he would have accepted £3. I was just really grateful. Anyway. On the plane, I talked to a Christian lady next to me who was from Arizona and a big fan of the new law in Arizona where immigrants now have to carry their papers with them in case the police get suspicious. I didn’t even know about the law (surprise, surprise) until this flight. I also didn’t decide if I agreed with it or not until I talked to Philip about it later and saw both sides. I don’t agree with it.
I arrived in Cape Town to see a sign with my name on it held up by Philip’s good friend Ryan. He greeted me very warmly and gave me a hug. Apparently, it was the first warm, sunny day on the western cape in a while (it's technically almost winter in SA, so it is often rainy and chilly all the time), so we enjoyed a happy drive to Stellenbosch, windows rolled down. Ryan told me all about the townships around the area and a little about South African history. He and I got along immediately, but I feel like I, being myself, let on to my extreme ignorance to most major historical/political/common knowledge events in the world, and he may or may not think I’m an idiot. It’s ok. I cleaned up a bit at Philip’s little apartment, even shaving my legs with lotion because I wanted to not seem like I had been on a plane for 15 hours. He got in and we hugged for a long time, and I couldn’t look at him directly for a moment because it was so surreal and all I really wanted to do was hug him. We talked for awhile, I met his girl friends, we got a ride to town, and walked around the city in the sun. We ate gelato and mostly just hung out before going to a friend’s 21st birthday party that night at a bar in town. It was decade themed, but I both had not brought a wardrobe for such an event and didn’t know everyone well enough to deck out in my finest. It was a fun night, but it took me awhile to open up and chill and be fun. We had a few drinks and went dancing at Catwalk (a club) and then chilled at Philip’s. End of day 1.