Well, we are finally here! After a long couple days of traveling, we have arrived. Our flight landed in Cape Town at about nine in the morning. Gathering luggage, moving along through customs, and finding our rental vans took up most of the morning.

Two large vans awaited us to take us on our upcoming adventures. We carefully jammed all of our luggage in. Driving was definitely an adventure as they drive on the left side of the road here. We even need to be more mindful when we are walking in order to avoid being hit by the cars that come from the opposite direction than we are used to. It took about twenty more minutes of traveling by car from the airport until we reached the seminary at which we will be staying for the next week or so.

We were greeted with open arms by the staff. The students are all on summer holiday, so we pretty much have the place to ourselves! Shortly after our arrival, everyone scattered to check out their rooms, and most importantly, the much needed showers! The ratio of about one shower to every six people may be a bit of obstacle. Everyone quickly changed into their shorts and t-shirts! I apologize to all of you freezing in the Midwest.

Today was a low key, relaxed day. A group of us went shopping at the local market for lunch food. We utilized our math skills to convert the prices over from Rands to dollars in our heads. After lunch, Annie?s presentation, and a few name games, we headed out for dinner at Marco?s African Place. This African restaurant is one of the few owned and run by native Africans. We have officially named the adventurous people in the group as the ones who tried the ostrich, deer, or seafood soup.

After a fun night on the town, we headed back to crash for an early night as we are still recovering from our jetlag. Miss you all!    

January 2, 2007

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Today was refreshing since we finally got some fresh air as we have been stuck inside for quite a while. After getting through customs as quick as we could, most of the group took the couple hours we had to enjoy London. Out time basically consisted of breaking up into a few groups and running around to take as many pictures as possible. Jet lag effected most of us at some point today, but hopefully we can take advantage of this 11 hour flight since we get into South Africa around breakfast time. Because of London?s nature, the best way to tell about it is with pictures, which you will all see, I'm sure. There will be more to tell once we reach our destination and begin to experience South Africa.

January 1, 2007

Monday, January 01, 2007

The day has finally come. Today marked the beginning of our journey to South Africa. Some arrived at Calvin, while others met the group at the Detroit airport. Getting our luggage checked in and receiving our tickets posed no problems and we were soon ready to leave. We had plenty of time to kill at the Detroit airport and it was spent eating dinner, walking through the terminal and riding the tram from one end to the other. Also, while waiting to take off, the fun of learning names and getting to know others in the group began. After having a quick group meeting and snapping a few group photos we were boarding our flight on schedule to Heathrow airport in London. The plane ride was spent watching in-flight movies, eating a few meals and most importantly, trying to sleep off the festivities from the previous night, New Years Eve. Despite some early morning turbulence it was a smooth flight and most were able to get some sleep.

Pre-Departure Preparations

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

At this point, we’re probably all busily packing for the upcoming month. I thought I’d post a photo of the type of plane we’ll be flying on.

I also received word that we’ll be unable to access the internet at Cape Town Baptist Seminary until 8 January 2007. We’ll try our hardest to find a place to upload weblog entries, but don’t be surprised if we can’t post anything for a few days.