Sorry for the past couple days of silence we've been having some technical difficulties and some trouble getting on the wifi around here! I'm currently at the coffee shop next door using and abusing their "free" wifi.
Let me update you on our past couple days! We left NYC on Friday morning. The plane ride to Johannesburg was actually 14 hours and some minutes. Our plane was pretty huge! I took some pictures of it, but it doesn't entirely do this huge vehicle much justice. Our seats were pretty comfortable and we sat together this time around. We also had the two side seats so we didnt have to squeeze in with 2 other people in the middle aisle of seats. Surprisingly, it didn't feel like 14 hours. I guess that's because I watched 5 movies and slept for, altogether, probably 6 hours of the flight? Addison doesn't sleep well on flights so he watched movies and studied for a bit ( yeah, I know... He makes me look like such a slacker on a regular basis..). If you're interested in watching a good movie anytime soon I suggest Big Miracle. It's about whales trapped in Alaska. It's good, but, I will warn you, the last 30 minutes are a mixture of joy and sadness. I had to contain my giddy laughter and my tears so I wouldn't look like a crazy person. The plane had a camera on its tail so we could watch our plane in flight on the tv! It was cool and Addison really enjoyed that. I've got some pictures of that too.
We got to Johannesburg at 7:30 am their time. There was a giant stagnant line at customs, but right when we got up to the line they opened up a whole section and we got through in 15 minutes rather than what looked like it would take an hour. We got our bags and had to wait 4 hours to board our next plane. We got some snazzy little go phones ( think back to the phone you had in 2000 and that's the one we've got. It's pretty much identical to my first phone). We were able to exchange money. The exchange rate is pretty close to 10 USD for 1 rand. I got pretty exhausted while waiting to board our plane to Port Elizabeth and pretty much passed out on the floor. Addison got pictures of that too.
We got to Port Elizabeth at 3:30 or so. We were picked up by a girl that works for the university named Jadey and went to our temporary housing. There was a big rugby game that night between South Africa and England so she suggested we go watch it at a restaurant or bar. Both Addison's and my room mates weren't home when we arrived. We had every intention of going and watching the game, but after taking a shower the jet lag set in and we realized we had no idea where to go or how to get there...so we both passed out around 5:30-6:00 in the evening. I ended up sleeping 14 hours. I only woke up because Addison texted me at 7:15 ish. We knew that all of the Ole Miss people were staying at the same place we were so we tried to figure out where they were. I know a couple of the girls that are on the trip already so I was keeping an eye out for them. We finally saw one of them leaving he house and pretty much ambushed her. I guess I should mention that we hadn't exactly eaten anything since our plane ride from Johannesburg so needless to say we were pretty hungry. We did have some of the snacks my mom sent with me (thank you, mommy) though, but goldfish and Pringles can only do so much sometimes. My friend, Jessica, was able to tell us where the super market was and how to get there. We caught a cab and went a couple streets down to the mall that has a Pick-n-Pay (grocery store) and other restaurants. We went to Wimpy's, like McDonalds, and thoroughly enjoyed our hamburgers and chips (translate: french fries).
The mall is across the street from the beach so we took a little stroll before catching the cab back to our houses. Port Elizabeth is pretty. The beach looks a lot like the beaches you see in California where there are lots of big rock formations on the sand. The water is pretty cold, but there were lots of people out surfing. We also saw lots of people with their puppies (!!!) out enjoying the beach. The plant life here is really interesting. There are lots of tropical looking plants like palm trees, but then there are pine trees and other types of trees that don't seem like they belong next to a palm tree.
When we got back we had to pack to move to our permanent residence for the month. As we were coming back Addison and I were talking about this sign we saw that said to Beware of Monkeys. When we were leaving for the mall I saw this monkey running on the roof of the university. One of the girls with us said that the monkeys will get in your house and steal your stuff if you leave your windows open. As we were walking back to our houses we spotted a monkey in someone's window. We took more pictures then were probably necessary of these monkeys and were probably a little more excited than was necessary too. There were like 2 or 3 monkeys that hung out on the roof and on the trees right by our houses. Monkeys are basically their raccoons and mongooses are their squirrels.
Our permanent houses are pretty nice. I'm rooming with a girl from Ole Miss and some other girl we'll meet today from...well, we don't know. Addison has a room to himself. Side Note: Addison is studying while I'm blogging (....I KNOW..I'll start tomorrow..). We also met the precious little puppy that lives at our new house. Naturally, we're in love. We're staying at this place called Beacon Lodge. I don't know what her name is, but she wears a cone around her head. She has a bad eye and she messes with it so they put a cone on her so she won't touch it. She is so sweet and can not get enough of your loving. She even followed Addison upstairs to his house and sat on his couch waiting for him to pet her. If you don't give her the amount of attention she wants she barks at you to let you know she's displeased. This was her when we got back, she was in a state of complete happiness. It was precious.
We walked on the beach last night with my room mate, Alicia, and a girl named Amanda that is getting her masters and is taking another class, but is from Ole Miss too. We got dinner at this place called the board walk and it was delicious. Amanda is older than we are and has assumed the position of mother of the pack. She is constantly on the look out for suspicious characters and warning us of their presence. If anyone of us gets our stuff stolen, it will be pretty shocking.
Sorry for this super long entry...I promise I'll try to keep my stories short and update sooner so it's not super long! We miss all of you guys! Classes start tomorrow so I'll try to update while on campus and tell y'all all about class!
All my love, Natalia
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