Probably the worst travel experience I’ve ever had:
•Almost missed my flight out of Lilongwe because I wasn’t paying attention.
•Had the middle seat on the 2 hour flight to Joburg.
•The guy on the aisle was all over the armrest.
•Got into Joburg 10 minutes early!
•Stood in the immigration line for an hour and forty-five minutes until my flight said it was boarding on the screen.
•Asked an employee to help me get through because I still needed to get my boarding pass, go through security, and find the gate.
•She helped me but kept asking me to buy her lunch – but not there, only past security where there was food.
•She got me through immigration and dragged me to the check in line.
•She took me to Botswana Airlines, not South African.
•The lady at South African Airways told me I was too late and couldn’t check in. They could book me for a flight two hours later if I paid or put me on the 6:10am flight the next morning for free.
•I’m not paying.
•The lady who got me through immigration took me to security because I still didn’t have a boarding pass.
•She stayed with me past security, to where the food was and kept talking about lunch. “Or maybe just a drink.”
•I left her in the elevator because she couldn’t go any farther.
•Bought the cheapest watch I could find – about USD 28.
•Bought a book I wasn’t really interested in to keep me busy – about USD 40.
•Contemplated getting an airport massage.
•Staked out the best place to sleep.
•Bought dinner, called my parents, called Austin, called Erin.
•Walked around aimlessly.
•Looked in every shop for an alarm clock because my cell was out of batteries and I had to be up at 4am to check in.
•Typed up emails I couldn’t send without internet.
•Tried to sleep but couldn’t. So I read.
•Had some yummy chocolate!
•Finally went to sleep. Slept for a solid two hours, until about midnight, when I woke up shivering. I wasn’t at all prepared for the freezing airport.
•Woke up every 20 minutes until 3:30am, when I decided to walk around until check in at 4:30.
•Finished my book.
•Walked back out through security, where the doors were open to the outside so it was even colder.
•Was told the check in counter didn’t open until 5.
•Shivered for 30 minutes.
•Had a security guard ask for my number, and then email address when I wouldn’t give it to him.
•Checked in and was interrogated as to why I hadn’t flown out the day before.
•Went through security.
•Couldn’t buy breakfast because nothing was open.
•Found my gate.
•Loaded onto the bus that would drive us to the plane and shivered in the wind.
•Found my seat on the plane – a window seat with no one next to me!
•Slept until the last 20 minutes, when I found a boxed breakfast waiting for me.
•Had to take the meat off the croissant.
•Forgot to take my malaria meds.
•Shivered.
•Landed and had to walk through the wind to the airport.
•Filled out immigration papers and got hassled by the lady who didn’t believe I was here to study. She made me show her documentation to prove it.
•Didn’t see my bag on the conveyer belt.
•Checked with the information desk, who pointed me to the SA office.
•The lady told me to wait twenty minutes for the guy with the keys to come, she’d come let me know.
•No one from Pitzer in sight, even though they were supposed to meet me at the airport.
•Thirty minutes later, I returned to the SA office where the lady was eating with the entire luggage staff. I looked through the window and she held up one finger, telling me to wait, and then pointed to her sandwich. “Until I’m done.”
•A man came out to help me, still munching away.
•No sign of my bag, so I filled out a missing luggage form.
•Still no sign of anyone from Pitzer.
•I went back to the information desk to ask about a pay phone so I could call to see if someone was on their way.
•There was no public phone and the women didn’t have airtime – no way to call.
•20 minutes later, a woman walked up with a Pitzer College sign.
•20 minute drive to the place where orientation was taking place.
•I was given 5 minutes to freshen up before classes started.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Malawi Wrap Up
It’s been a ridiculous amount of time since I last posted. But know that it’s only because I’ve been so busy with incredible tasks. Since my last post, we went to the lake, went on safari, went to three more schools, did a one day camp at Dzaleka Refugee Camp (where we went last session too), sent all the volunteers home, finished up the session, and flew to South Africa! Well, the intent was to fly to Botswana but I missed my connection in Joburg and am now spending the night. But that means some unexpected free time to write up a blog! Since so much has happened, I guess I’ll write a few memorable moments.
I went to a meeting at the Ministry of Education with Jesse, one of the founders of World Camp. We met with a few different people, just checking in on what they expect from WC and what direction we can go in the future. I was disgusted at the piles of old computers in the hallways of the Ministry. They were no longer being used in the building and were being saved to be sent to schools. But they weren’t stacked neatly; they were literally thrown on top of each other. It’s amazing none of the screens had broken, or maybe the broken ones had been thrown out. Tires were piled up to the ceiling in another hallway on a lower floor.
Another surprise at the MOE: there’s a new school calendar being implemented in 2011 with a break that spans the three months we’re in country. On first thought, a nationwide break would make it hard to teach classes. But, a new idea is to just run “summer camp” like classes. That way, we have free reign to teach how we want. It might be a little more difficult to get students to come in though. A plus? The new calendar takes farming and religious holidays into account. The harvest season is a break, and days are off if there is a popular religious holiday (both Christian and Muslim).
Safari was, of course, wonderful. We saw elephants, hippos, monkeys galore, giraffes, cervils, hares, lions, and 2 leopards together, which is incredibly rare since they’re normally solitary animals. I was completely frustrated and literally had to bite my tongue when some of the volunteers asked to leave as we were watching the leopards. They were bored and only wanted to see lions. Our guide said we had to stay until another car came and was able to pick up the cats. Once we found the lions, we watched for a few minutes and the volunteers were ready to go again. Why not sit and enjoy looking at such incredible animals for a few minutes? Sunset was incredible. By far one of the best ones I’ve seen. But, since the guide had been pestered so much that we just wanted to see lions, we had our sundowner drinks on the go as we drove on to find the big cats. Then the volunteers complained they hadn’t been able to enjoy the sunset. ARGGG. I just wanted to scream.
The next morning, the six volunteers were going to go on a drive on their own. The plan was for them to make their own breakfasts from the food we’d brought before their drive left at 6. Turns out there was an elephant in front of the room with our food and they couldn’t eat. I would’ve been excited… how many people can say an elephant stood between them and their food? But no, these guys complained. Then they complained because their drive started at 6:30. But that complains legit and completely my fault.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my volunteers. Sometimes I just forget they’re in high school. I certainly hope I was never bored when my parents took us on safari a few years ago!!
Since I was with Y2Y, I only spent one night at the lake this time. That was probably a good thing, because their attention spans are sometimes a little short. I just wanted to relax for the weekend, but they wanted to do stuff. Since they can’t go anywhere without a coordinator, I walked down the beach in both directions. Of course, it was with two different groups because they can never decide to do anything at the same time so it’s only one trip for the coordinators. I also took a small group into the trading center. That was fun, since it’s certainly different than the villages that aren’t close to Lake Malawi. I also went banana boating with three of the girls. Originally, they were going to go on the banana and I was going to ride in the real boat and take pictures, but when one of them was happy after two rides, I happily stepped up. The first night, we preordered a vegetarian meal for all. It was a full loaf of bread. The middle had been cut out and it was stuffed with a delicious bean and vegetable stew. Only one person finished.
And now it’s on to Botswana! I’m still not very sure what to expect. We were all supposed to arrive Aug. 10, but I’m obviously a day late now. I should get in around 7:30 am though, so I don’t think I’ll ruin plans too much. I think we have a few days of orientation in Gaborone (the capital city, pronounced Hab-or-o-nee) before heading out to the village for our first homestay. I think I’ll have internet the first few days while we’re doing orientation, but then don’t expect to be online for at least 5 or 6 weeks. I’ll be getting credit for four classes total: Setswana language intensive, Contemporary Socio-Cultural Issues in Botswana, Field Work Methodology in Botswana, and a final research project.
There’s a Levine family reunion going on in Tahoe this weekend.... Hi to all my family! I know you’ll all have a wonderful time!! Make sure an extra hand of bridge is played for me!
And Grandpa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Tionana!!!
Karen
I went to a meeting at the Ministry of Education with Jesse, one of the founders of World Camp. We met with a few different people, just checking in on what they expect from WC and what direction we can go in the future. I was disgusted at the piles of old computers in the hallways of the Ministry. They were no longer being used in the building and were being saved to be sent to schools. But they weren’t stacked neatly; they were literally thrown on top of each other. It’s amazing none of the screens had broken, or maybe the broken ones had been thrown out. Tires were piled up to the ceiling in another hallway on a lower floor.
Another surprise at the MOE: there’s a new school calendar being implemented in 2011 with a break that spans the three months we’re in country. On first thought, a nationwide break would make it hard to teach classes. But, a new idea is to just run “summer camp” like classes. That way, we have free reign to teach how we want. It might be a little more difficult to get students to come in though. A plus? The new calendar takes farming and religious holidays into account. The harvest season is a break, and days are off if there is a popular religious holiday (both Christian and Muslim).
Safari was, of course, wonderful. We saw elephants, hippos, monkeys galore, giraffes, cervils, hares, lions, and 2 leopards together, which is incredibly rare since they’re normally solitary animals. I was completely frustrated and literally had to bite my tongue when some of the volunteers asked to leave as we were watching the leopards. They were bored and only wanted to see lions. Our guide said we had to stay until another car came and was able to pick up the cats. Once we found the lions, we watched for a few minutes and the volunteers were ready to go again. Why not sit and enjoy looking at such incredible animals for a few minutes? Sunset was incredible. By far one of the best ones I’ve seen. But, since the guide had been pestered so much that we just wanted to see lions, we had our sundowner drinks on the go as we drove on to find the big cats. Then the volunteers complained they hadn’t been able to enjoy the sunset. ARGGG. I just wanted to scream.
The next morning, the six volunteers were going to go on a drive on their own. The plan was for them to make their own breakfasts from the food we’d brought before their drive left at 6. Turns out there was an elephant in front of the room with our food and they couldn’t eat. I would’ve been excited… how many people can say an elephant stood between them and their food? But no, these guys complained. Then they complained because their drive started at 6:30. But that complains legit and completely my fault.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved my volunteers. Sometimes I just forget they’re in high school. I certainly hope I was never bored when my parents took us on safari a few years ago!!
Since I was with Y2Y, I only spent one night at the lake this time. That was probably a good thing, because their attention spans are sometimes a little short. I just wanted to relax for the weekend, but they wanted to do stuff. Since they can’t go anywhere without a coordinator, I walked down the beach in both directions. Of course, it was with two different groups because they can never decide to do anything at the same time so it’s only one trip for the coordinators. I also took a small group into the trading center. That was fun, since it’s certainly different than the villages that aren’t close to Lake Malawi. I also went banana boating with three of the girls. Originally, they were going to go on the banana and I was going to ride in the real boat and take pictures, but when one of them was happy after two rides, I happily stepped up. The first night, we preordered a vegetarian meal for all. It was a full loaf of bread. The middle had been cut out and it was stuffed with a delicious bean and vegetable stew. Only one person finished.
And now it’s on to Botswana! I’m still not very sure what to expect. We were all supposed to arrive Aug. 10, but I’m obviously a day late now. I should get in around 7:30 am though, so I don’t think I’ll ruin plans too much. I think we have a few days of orientation in Gaborone (the capital city, pronounced Hab-or-o-nee) before heading out to the village for our first homestay. I think I’ll have internet the first few days while we’re doing orientation, but then don’t expect to be online for at least 5 or 6 weeks. I’ll be getting credit for four classes total: Setswana language intensive, Contemporary Socio-Cultural Issues in Botswana, Field Work Methodology in Botswana, and a final research project.
There’s a Levine family reunion going on in Tahoe this weekend.... Hi to all my family! I know you’ll all have a wonderful time!! Make sure an extra hand of bridge is played for me!
And Grandpa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
Tionana!!!
Karen
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