"Old" friends and Familiar Places

When I woke up this morning, I was in an unfamiliar apartment building a bit away from campus (this is my temporary housing until I take over my rental house in a few days). Even though I was dropped off at night and had not gotten my bearings, I immediately knew where I was when I looked out the back window. I was faced with an amazing view of the mountain that is behind the campus, and the Rhodes memorial (photos in my blog from last summer). I could see to the right of that the fields where some large beasts roam (I couldn't tell what they were, but I recall seeing zebra there last year, these were larger things - horse like but with big chest areas). To the left I could see the edge of campus. On the bus to campus I recognized the roads, and knew exactly what paths to take to cut through campus to the physics building. It was a bit like coming home after a long visit. I felt very comfortable and happy.

I got to the physics building just in time for the morning tea, and I walked in to find a friend sitting there. It was good to see a familiar face that was happy and surprised to see me! Apparently he was out of the loop as to my arrival :) Then after my first sip of tea, my good friend walked in and was so happy to see me that joy filled the room. I had brought him a bunch of physics demo equipment for his growing collection, and he unwrapped it there at the tea table, and it was just like Christmas - we sat and played with each of the items! My collaborator had joined us by then, and 5 of us (most of the young physics-teaching enthusiastic crowd) went out to lunch. We went to the faculty dining facility which had the same buffet foods from last year - all of it familiar. It was good because I had been craving their sweet potatoes, but I understood why no one else was enthusiastic about the buffet since it had been the same food for over a year!!

I have now been here two evenings (having arrived last evening), and have eaten at two restaurants I remembered and enjoyed last year. The first night we went full circle and went to Chai-Yo, the Thai place we ate at before taking me to the airport at the end of last summer. It is my favorite Thai place in the world, though I have to qualify that I've only had Thai food in South Africa, USA, and Canada :)Tonight we ate at a gourmet pizza place - I had one with white asparagus (my favorite, and so rare in the US!!!), olives, and sun dried tomatoes. Yumm!! That place had been remodeled, and my friend (having not been there since our date last year) was more disoriented than I was! I wonder why it is that I feel so much at home here - but I think it is because I enjoy being abroad, and I have connections here to people that care about me and that hold a special place in my heart.

Traveling Abroad

There are things I enjoy about traveling abroad that might seem a bit odd. I have the philosophy that if other people can do it, and it doesn't require any advanced skill to be safe (like cliff diving...), then I can do it too. So even though last year when I decided to go to Cape Town alone I was anxious, and I didn't know what to expect - I knew it could be done, and that it would be a positive learning experience for me regardless of the outcome. This trip in that sense was much easier, but there was still room for reflection on who I want to be.

Traveling gives one time to reflect on their surroundings, and gives the time to observe people. It also tests ones patience - 21 hours in a plane is a really long time... I like to test my patience like that - see how long I can keep my mind happy, and keep from being restless. I like to try to see if I can stay in a positive frame of mind despite the troubles. I didn't mind the hotel trouble in Portland - people in line at the hotel were angry, but I was not. I could see everyone's perspective and not get caught up in the fact that there was stress and aggravation. I use travel as a time to learn to go with the flow, and deal with whatever comes along.

I also enjoy being abroad - I enjoy the challenge of adjusting to a new situation. Learning my way around a new place, figuring out the habits of people, figuring out how to get around. I enjoy becoming adjusted to amenities that are not like (or perhaps less than) I am used to. I like to see how other people approach the world - what things they are used to, what they require, and that they can live without. I always come away from my travel abroad with appreciation for the things at home I like, and some adaptation of habits I enjoyed in the new country. Even if little things like my giant bowl-sized tea mugs from France that I still use daily after 15 years...

Cape Town is a major city - there is everything to be found here from extreme poverty to extreme wealth. I could live here without lack of anything. However, I don't ask for special treatment, and I want to be comfortable. This city provides some challenges in that respect - it is not very safe, there is a lot of crime. However, this morning I left my apartment, went out the protected gate, and followed some university students to the bus stop.

It was really my first time outside (off campus) alone here. I was accompanied everywhere last year. I am enjoying my new freedom and confidence. I would not go outside my apartment's front gate at night, and my friend walked me to the gate after parking to drop me off after dinner, but I am happy to be venturing out alone again in the morning, and not waiting for a door to door ride. I hope to get out more, perhaps take dancing lessons, and I will travel to Kruger alone.

Another thing about being abroad is the lack of "stuff" that normally infuses my life. As much as I miss my dog, I don't have her to walk, or feel guilty that she wants to play with me non-stop. I don't have dishes to do, or piles in my office to clean - all distractions are removed. In short amounts of time at work I am able to be very focused and productive because there is nothing to take away my attention. In fact, even internet is limited. I think in my time here last summer I fully acclimated to no TV, and I got used to silence at home. I am currently loving itunes since my full CD collection is at hand on my laptop, but I am enjoying the peace of a quite apartment with nothing to do but my work.

(To give you an idea about the focus issue - I got to work in time for tea, then ate lunch, then spent 2 hours sorting out my ID card and internet access. I only started working around 4pm, and then at 6pm I left for dinner with my friend, not to get back to my apartment until nearly 10pm. It's now nearly 1am, and I've completely drafted a paper for publication that I started today!!)

For me, traveling is a challenge to adjust, find peace, adapt, observe, and in some ways, really live free. I miss home (I miss my dog!!), but I love being here.

The Journey

My troubles from the journey started immediately after my last blogpost. I had 2 more hours on the shuttle before I was to reach the Portland Airport - so I thought plenty of time to find a hotel room. However - that was not to be the case. Call after call, I came up blank - no vacancy. I finally found a hotel room - $120 for the night, no shuttle to the airport and a 6 mile taxi ride. It sounded do-able. I made one more call - found a room for $200 with a shuttle, and decided to keep my prior booking to save money.

Turns out that may not have been the best decision... It cost $60 round trip for the taxi ride (though it was quite fast and I didn't have to wait around for it, so that was good), and the hotel I stayed in was booking out rooms that had maintenance problems because people were desperate for rooms! I ended up with a room that didn't lock from the outside - so I could bolt it from inside, but not leave my stuff inside securely. Not a big deal - I was only there to sleep.

Apparently there were no rooms left in Portland by the time I got there, and people were paying full price for rooms where the shower didn't work! I've never seen anything like it. I was happy to get my 5 hours of sleep, though a bit shocked that I was paying $180 to get it!

I'm sure the sleep was worth it - I woke up reasonably refreshed, did my morning exercises and felt pretty good for my 5+ hour flight from Portland to NYC. The landing in NYC was rough - lots of turbulence. People were not dealing well with it - and I was very glad to be back on the ground. I had to call my parents, and grab some food, and find lunch, and make it to my far away gate for the flight to Cape Town - with little time to spare since my previous flight landed a bit late. I barely managed! Fortunately a bunch of people did not manage (many flights were late due to the storms), and the back of the plane was nearly empty. I had two seats to myself, which was a welcome relief since it's a bit easier to sleep on an overnight flight when you can stretch out a bit.

Unfortunately the relief didn't last long, as we ended up sitting on the runway for 3 hours. Our 18 hour flight, was now extended to 21... I have never spent that long on a single airplane before! We refueled after 8 hours in Senegal, but we were not allowed off the plane. I had not anticipated that. It was a very long haul... Senegal looked like I would have imagined it would with concrete block housing, and lots of brown dirt. I was surprised how much coast the town had (it juts out a bit into the ocean) as well as how flat it was. I could see a range from shacks to middle-class housing, to beautiful ocean-side villas. I wondered what place my sister stayed, and where she had gone while there.

(COMMENTS ADDED BY MY SISTER: in Senegal I was in a small house, very comfortable, but the gardener lived in the garage and the cleaner/cook came and went each day. beautiful garden. colorful clothes as well. ocean nice, flat, flat all around. saw plenty of the corregated tin shacks, and diversity of living.)

We had to sit on the plane while they did a safety check, which included removing the seat cushions and looking under all the seats - I had never seen under them before, so that was kind of fun to watch - though it seemed an inefficient process! The best part of the plane "refreshing" was the literal refreshing - someone came through and sprayed liberal amounts of air freshener!! It is needed after a few hundred people sleep in a small confined space!! I felt pretty yucky by then. It was another 9 hours to Cape Town from there - a fairly uneventful flight, and mostly over the ocean, so not much to see.

Our arrival into cape town was amazing - a totally clear day, we could see all of cape point, table mountain, the further mountains that I know are near the wine region, all the beach-side towns, and the harbor. I could make out the places I had been before, and it was a welcome sight to be coming to a city I had come to know and love.