15 Days pre-World Cup

Today was a long day of travel!  I left my apartments at 3am (2am SA time) and set off for Joburg.  It was quite exciting to see that the main road towards my apartment has been fixed...and by fixed I mean they have added huge piles of dirt and smoothed out most of the giant potholes!!  


En route to the airport I realized that the data on my BB was not working - this is not too surprising as I am pretty sure that the network is down between 2am - 6am most days.  I had a smooth check-in and by 430 was half asleep on the plane waiting for take-off to Nairobi.  We arrived just before the sun came up but parked really, really, really far from the terminal.  This mean a 15 minute wait on the plane while waiting for the stairs and then a bus to arrive.  I had a quick run through the NBO airport and then sat down to wait to board the next flight.  It was another smooth flight but much longer and there were no tvs (personal or overhead) which was probably good so I could get some more rest.


As we approached Joburg I began to get excited - not only to see the prep for the World Cup but also to be in a 'real' city!  The difference is noticed almost right away - when getting off the plane you don't go outside.  That being said shortly thereafter I was brought back out of my bubble and realized that yes - I am still in Africa.  The power went out!!  This caused all sorts of issues from people not being able to get their bags (luckily I had only carry-on) to not being able to change money to not being able to exit the parking lot!


For me it all worked out and by shortly after noon I had arrived at the hotel and was ready to head to Nelson Mandela Square and the Sandton Mall for a little bit of shopping.  While there the exhaustion from the early flight set in.  I wandered in search of a Football Jersey as that is the attire for the lunch I am attending on Friday.  I had decided if I was going to spend close to $100 on a football jersey it had to be a team that would make it to the second round (not knowing much about the teams I assume the US won't make it so ruled them out!).  I also wanted a nice colour and this ruled out South Africa and Brazil as I didn't want to be in fluorescent yellow.  I decided to try on England, Spain and Argentina jerseys and decided to support England because it was the best fit!!


I was once again reminded about the kindness in Joburg today - in my state of exhaustion I left my passport at the place I changed money - shortly after my return to the hotel I received a call from them to come pick it up!!  I am not even sure they knew exactly where I was staying but they found me!!  I am lucky:)