Finally found The Haven

Ok, so my internet is working! This is a good thing because I have online coursework to complete as part of my research for my thesis. The online coursework was supposed to be completed prior to my arrival here since internet is terrible, but I was not sent any access codes until a few days after I got here.

It seems as if most of the plans I have in South Africa will be changed or delayed due to obstacles. It's all good though since the obstacles have provided some great surprises so far. The latest since I met with PSU on Wednesday was that we were staying at a nature reserve close to East London in Kei Mouth called Morgan's Bay Nature Reserve. At least I think that is what it was called. We were scheduled to spend two nights there and then travel to Dwesa-Cwebe on Thursday morning. Well, Thursday morning arrived and one of our otherwise super cool Land Rovers was not working properly. This delayed our trip for one day while the one vehicle had to be towed and worked on which was a very long ordeal. The positive side of this is that one of the students brought Phase 10 with her and we played that while waiting to hear the news about our new plans from the profs. I don't know if Ms. Ev is reading this, but props because I won!! I was soooo excited that someone else knew what the game was. There were actually two other people who knew it and we taught a few people how to play.

Now to back up a few days, the flight on Wednesday was fine, no problems. I like the new group, not much to really talk about there. It is definitely a different dynamic than we had last year so I hope everyone gets along for the rest of the time. I am also anticipating Warren and Evan's arrival. They were two students with me last year who were a part of Parks & People 2010. Since they are graduated and graduating respectively, they were hired as research assistants for Dr. Smithwick this year. She is the second of the series of three professors who taught us last year and are teaching this year.

For the three nights in Kei Mouth we used our sleeping bags on cots so I didn't get as much rest as I would have liked. I am glad to finally be here at Dwesa-Cwebe and The Haven.

We left early on yesterday (Friday) morning to get to our final destination and made it in about 6 hours for lunchtime. When we arrived at the Haven, I heard the women that work here cheering and running towards the vehicles, so I hopped right out and ran down to greet them. It was so nice to see them again and such a great welcome because the students followed me and they all got a hug from the staff even though they did not know each other. From there we had lunch and I did some of my coursework. Last night we got to unwind since today was a free day for us to relax (something they specially built in for the students to recharge because we did not have these days last year). I slept in past breakfast since I only got about 4 hours of sleep each of the previous three nights.

Now I am just taking the time to update the blog and do some of my online work. There is nothing extremely exciting that I have to report. I have to take some pictures and hopefully I will soon be able to upload a few. It may or may not work. If there are any picture requests, just write a comment to let me know. I already have a request for what the Land Rovers look like.

Faith Goes to South Africa...and London...and Chicago...

Most of you probably heard what happened on my way to South Africa so I will give a Faith-style brief recap (that means not brief and wordy for those of you who just tuned in).

In Philadelphia my plane to D.C. was delayed and would cause me to miss my connection to Joburg so my arrangements were changed to Philly, Chi-town, London, Cape Town. It was the best they could do and my layover in London was 9 hours. I told the woman who did it for me that it was ok because I figured what the hay, I've never been to the UK.

I had no trouble getting to Chicago and waving at the huge 25 years of Oprah signs that greeted me. (Aside: I felt technologically deficient on this flight because while I was reading my paperback book, the old man next to me was on his smartphone reading a book from some app, the old lady next to him was reading a book on her kindle, and the old guy across the aisle next to her was on his laptop.)

The flight from Chicago to London was fine. The seat next to me was open so I could stretch for a bit. There were two screaming infants and a toddler behind me that made noise now and again, but it was tolerable. I also finally got a chance to watch The Social Network. (Nice recommendation Tia A- I did enjoy it)

London was greeaaaaaat. I had no problems at all and I admit that I was a bit nervous. Everyone I encountered in London that seemed to be from the area was very helpful. I had an informative and freezing bus tour of the city and then made my way back to the airport via train. When I got to the airport, I immediately went to the check-in line and was stopped before I got to the counter because my flight had been cancelled. They scheduled me for the next flight to Joburg and then from Joburg to Cape Town.

Heathrow to Johannesburg was a long flight. It was full of turbulence so I did not get much rest and just me and the woman next to me had faulty entertainment systems. They offered for us to change seats, but only middle seats were available and I prefer to have a window to lean on so I just read and tried to sleep. MY BAGS WERE THERE!!! I couldn't believe it! I had to re-check them to Cape Town.

Finally my last flight was from Joburg to Cape Town. That was a short flight and I slept for most of it and skipped lunch. I picked up my bags and met Patricia. Everything turned out ok in the end. I think the trip was 44 hours with a 2 hour flight, a 7 hour flight, an 11 hour flight, and another 2 hour flight. About half and half waiting time and flight time give or take a few minutes.

Strand has been great. I have just rested and walked around in the area and become reacquainted with the suroundings of the flat. I went to Cheetah for a few hours this morning and had a nice visit with the people I met last year. I didn't really bother meeting with the animals since I will see them in a couple months and I would have needed someone to go in the enclosures with me because I need to redo my clearance.

Tomorrow I will go to the airport and head to East London to meet up with PSU.

It will probably be another week before I post again due to internet availability issues.