Back from South Africa

After 38 hours of conescutive travel time (flights, layovers, car rides) I am back from S Africa. It was a long trip, so I will try to give you the Reader's Digest version:

Day one and most of two: The first flight
From Salt Lake to Denver to Washington DC, than a 15 hour direct flight to S Africa. The plane was arranged with 2 seats together on either side and 4 together in the middle. Eric and I had the 2 together, but because Eric is 6'5" tall he left me for an exit row seat. It is completely amazing, but I managed to fold my 5'10" self up onto those two seats and was able to sleep horizontally most of the flight.

We had a wonderful dinner after our arrival at what had to be the loveliest home in all of Johannesburg.

Day three:
Shopping, sleeping, eating.

Day four:
First day of conference. I am presenting a class with two projects designed by Retha van der Walt who has a store in Johannesburg named Scraptifity. Let's just say that the first class was a bit rocky as the computer wouldn't work at first, everything is done in centimeters instead of inches, I am still jet lagged and not quite into my groove. But, as the day goes on each class gets better. South African scrapbookers are very daring, talented and not easily intimidated. By the end of the day I was feeling like we were all friends.

Day five:
Second day of conference. Classes are rockin' at this point. We are having a lot of fun. I have learned a little about the culture and the language. Although we both speak English, at times you would never guess it. Here is my American to S African English dictionary:
Traffic light = Robot
Ketchup = Tomato Sauce
Chips = Crisps
French Fries = Chips
Swimsuit = Costume
Emergency Room = Theatre
Give me a call = Give me a tinkle
Go night night = Go doo doo
Flashlight = Torch

Day six and seven: Madikwe game reserve
When we get there we see four elephants 30 feet from our room cooling off in a mud bath. While on the drives, we see two lions eating an antelope, lots of elephant, two rhinos, zebra, giraffe, a lion pride with 6 lions, buffalo, hyenas, kudu, impala and more. We decide we need to broaden our vocabulary when it comes to words like amazing and awesome.

Day eight:
Travel to Capetown

Day nine and ten:
Capetown! We collected sea glass on Clifton beach, did some shopping, took a boat ride, went up to the top of table mountain and saw dolphins, whales, and penguins.

Day eleven:
The thirty eight hour journey home. I actually washed my hair in the Dulles airport bathroom with pink hand soap for shampoo.

I will update this blog with photos a little later!