Jo'burg

Wow, that was a really long flight. Movies on demand was nice, gentleman in front of me who kept his seat tilted back the.entire.trip. was not so nice. Also, poor Tom shared his space with a man who claimed he was a "special elite" frequent flyer member and took up three seats (and part of Tom's).

My watch tells me it's 7:30 PM Tuesday here, 1:30 PM at home, but I'm so thrown by 20 hours on the plane that you could tell me any time and I'd believe you!

We're staying tonight at the City Lodge - a hotel built at the '
Jo'burg airport for the World Cup. It could be an American hotel, except that the room has two twins beds instead of queen sizes, and the thermostat is in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. Yes, I know this math teacher should be able to do the conversion, but my poor tired brain couldn't remember whether you add the 32 before or after the 9/5...

The key card is funny. I wish I could tell you what that old white woman is


doing with her cat, a computer, and a foam finger, but the caption merely reads, "All I need is a free drinks tab and this would be more fun than the casino."

I walked into our room and turned on the tv. I like to watch local shows, and this one did not disappoint. There was a reality show called Daddy 247 that looked like a Super Nanny boot camp for dads. It was not in English, but had English subtitles. I like to listen for English words, because these are words taken not just from our language, but from our culture. The words I picked up were TV, photo, Barbie, and - repeatedly - overprotective. The irony was not lost on me. :)





I like these safety options, just in case you decide not to be the guy who flees, but instead to be the guy looking for the hose.

Last photo .... I think it's the hotel's corporate campaign, but I really really like it.






Tomorrow we fly to Bylantre, Malawi to meet our hosts. Even thought their ministry is in Mozambique, they live in Malawi because there are English speaking schools. Mozambique was once a Portuguese colony, and so Portuguese is still the official state language.