Show me that smile again

Well, we made it to Cape Town!

Travel was...long. The flight from DC to Johannesburg was my first time on a jumbo jet (I'm not the type of person to know or care about what type of plane it was; if it's bugging you, let's assume it was a 747), and thankfully I ended up with an open seat next to me. I watched: Ratatouille, The Informant!, an episode of How I Met Your Mother, and listened to Coldplay and Beyonce, all on the in-flight system. I also made the mistake of watching Marley and Me while surrounded by a bunch of strangers. Now, if you know me, you know I'm not an animal person, but I was fighting back tears several times during that stupid movie! I knew what was coming, and it still got to me! Who'd have thought?

I also spent a good amount of time reading "What the Dog Saw", a collection of New Yorker essays by Malcolm Gladwell. Some very interesting stuff, and because each piece is independent of the others it's easy to read one and take a break.

I would like to take this opportunity to admit that I have a problem with Gummi Life Savers: I like them too much. I ate two(!) bags of them in the first 12 hours of travel, and my body hated me for the rest of the day.

And, in news of the random, Joanna Kerns (the mom from Growing Pains) was on all of our flights from DC to Cape Town.

All told it was 25 hours between the first takeoff to the last touch-down. My body does not really know what's going on, but I was able to get 7 hours sleep last night so I think I'm on track.

We spent today taking a tour of Cape Town, mostly focusing on the various Living Hope operations. Such a beautiful city! It's like a combination of the West Coast and Mediterranean, with a random shanty town thrown in for good measure.

Probably the most fun today was spending an hour playing with 5 and 6-year-olds at a preschool near Masiphumelele. We were serenaded by the children and then just got to throw them around the playground. Precious, precious kids, they knew enough English to express their gratitude and excitement with our presence, and it was such an encouragement for me to be able to just spend that time with them.

Tomorrow we are leading a day-long retreat for the Life Skills Educators of Living Hope. These people have chosen to live in the shanty towns, ministering to the children and educating the community on HIV and AIDS prevention and treatment. It is an honor to give these angels a chance to relax, reflect, and be revitalized.

Until tomorrow, further up and further in!