US. after missing my connection in joburg and dealing with
unhelpful, sometimes rude airlines employees I had to stay overnight
in Joburg. my guardian angel was this girl about my age who was also
trying to make the flight to windhoek. we shared a room at a
guesthouse run by nice, old ladies and had pizza for dinner -- not
bad for being stuck in joburg, but still both of us wished we had
made the flight to windhoek. after being hassled a bit a passport
control going back into namibia, i arrived at the baggage claim to
find that neither of my suitcases made it. my luggage had spent the
night in the joburg airport basement, the last place that i would
want to leave my belongings, but i was not allowed to claim them the
night before in joburg because "it would take too long". i was at
the point of oh-well-what-else-can-go-wrong.
a friend was supposed to fetch me from the airport and then take me
to the bus later in the day for mariental. I sent him as sms saying
that i was still figuring out my luggage situation and would be out
shortly. when i finally came out into the arrivals area at the
airport i didn't see anyone that i recognized a first and then...jaco
came out from the crowd with a big smile on his face. at this point
i just started to cry. i had missed him so much and didn't expect to
see him until that night when i got off of the bus! what a fabulous
surprise after a not-so-fabulous trip! we drove to a lodge down the
road from the airport and enjoyed coffee while catching up and
watching wildebeast, ostrich, springbok, and warthogs come up to the
watering hole. this part was a really nice welcome back to
namibia :-) when we went back to the airport my luggage came on the
next plane and everything turned out fine.
as much as i enjoyed being in the US and seeing so many family and
friends, i also really missed namibia and my life in namibia. i have
six months left and much to wrap up in that time with projects
through the TRC and the girls club.
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