Back in South Africa!

I’m going to do my best to back up and capture the last week of school and my three week vacation back home, but for now I will just say that I flew into Johannesburg last night, landing at 6:30 PM. I left Newark Sunday night at 8:50 PM. It was a 14 1/2 hour flight on United and was very pleasant.

I had three large bags plus my carry-on and personal item, having packed an entire suitcase and a half full of books and games for my students, lots of shoes, and my winter clothes. I also brought refills of things that I can’t get here.

My Uber driver was awesome and we had really great conversations about politics and both our countries. He is a widower raising two children on his own.

I came home to find that my beautiful neighbor, Sue had left groceries for me on the counter. It was so sweet! I was starving so I made myself a sandwich. I then plugged in my digital picture frame and sat for at least 15 minutes and watched it cycle through, over and over. I was missing home and my people.

Finally, I carted my suitcases upstairs and began the great unpack! I got a second wind around 10:45 and worked until 2 AM! I was delighted by surprise after surprise in my luggage, despite me being the person who had packed these bags! That’s one good thing about a foggy memory! It felt like Christmas morning!

I hadn’t slept much on the plane, so I had a good night sleep and slept in this morning. After bringing in all of my house plants that the gardener had tended to outside, I got dressed and headed to the grocery store for my favorite dirty chai latte and to fill my fridge and cabinets. I bought the Fixin’s for an everything but the kitchen sink soup, plus all my regular items and a few more plants and pots!

Finishing getting everything organized, I put the soup in the crockpot and some laundry in the washer and headed out to do some other errands.

I couldn’t resist stopping to see my zebra buddies at the park before heading home!

I used my solar dryer for the two loads, had some dinner and went out for a walk. It was so nice seeing the guards in the guard house.

After dinner, I was relaxing and opened a card from my friend. She sent me with a whole stack of them in September, with instructions on what kind of day to open them. Inside was a word search all about us! It was so sweet!

I quickly looked at my lesson plans for tomorrow, picked out my outfit, and I’m now going to wrap the night!

Some photos…