MPLS, MN to PRETORIA, AFRICA

6-1-06 Candi and I had a send off
party at the MPLS airport. My
mom, and sister and Candi's fiance'
We got to D.C. just fine and after walking like 30 J terminals we finally reached the boarding area. I found Reb right away and we got on just fine. The stuartess from Mpls-DC was hilarious! Candi and I had a great time with her.

From DC-Frankfurt a group of very tall, big boned, husky, cute guys got on behind us. One was in the seat next to Candi so we struck up a conversation. Turns out they are the U.S. Water Polo team and they are traveling to Croatia to play. Pretty cool! As I mentioned before they are all quite large. Candi was practically in my seat bc the kid was so big. So switched seats with her (figured Ben and Joe (Reb's bf)) wouldnt appreciate the girls hovered over by a muscular, friendly, very attractive guy. What a sacrifice I made!! LOL Anyways, Candi fell asleep on my shoulder and his extremely large shoulder made for a pretty good pillow for me. He has a girlfriend, dont worry.

We arrived in Frankfurt Thursday morning. We had a 10 hour layer there, which we were pretty stoked about exploring. We checked our bags into a locker place and set out to exchange currency and get a train pass. This was my first experience, well lesson, in saying exactly what I mean. So I walked up to the Welcome desk to ask what the guy recommended we do since we had "10 hours to kill." Seemed like a good question to me until he said "kill!" really loud and 2 security guards rushed over. The man preoceeded to talk very swifty to me in German. Politely I said, i didnt understand as Candi and Reb were saying, "to wait" "to waste" "a layover" " a train ticket." We then were directed to the train station with still no idea of what we were going to fill our 10 hours with. We got on the train and headed for downtown, where all the shops are. After walking to entire shop section we decided to get some food. We walked into a shop, had no clue how to buy, how to ask, they didnt speak english, and is that raw meat for sale on a slice of bagel? We also realized that we didnt have enough euros for us all to eat. As we stood there pondering and discussing a very well dressed man asked if we were Americans. He proceeded to buy us lunch, call his secretary and find things for us to do, offer us money for a train ticket and give us a small tour (dont worry mom we were leary and very careful). Turns out his family owns one of the 10 companies in the world that sets up the sponsorships for all the big events like the superbowl, olympics, and World cup (since that starts in a few days in Germany). The rest of the day we got a very good tour of the German railway, tried to buy a souvenior with euros and a little bartering with American cash, and picked out any American we could hear in a crowd. It was funny, I felt deaf all day because I couldnt understand, but when I heard english it was like I could hear again, We were in the crowded subway and we could pick out an English speaker many rows back. We were kind of lost and walking to a museum when we met "Texas" and "Shakopee." They were two 21 year olds living in Germnay for the summer doing public relations. We didnt spend 10 hours in the city, to be quite honest, Frankfurt is boring, so we went back to the airport and tried to take a nap. German people stare and German airports are messed up. We got kicked out of the terminal "for our safety." They were about ready to unload an airplane from China, what are they going to do trample us? I tried to ask the guy why, and he gave me the German blunt brush-off. We, along with many others moved to the next terminal. About 5 mins later we all get kicked out of that terminal as well. We were confused so I tried to ask the lady why. She tried brishing me off with the same attitude but I persisted, "where would you like us to go? We have a layover here and this is our terminal!" She pointed to the hallway or offered the lounge upstairs. So we packed up again and headed to the hallway. There were way too many chairs for all the people waiting and the lounge upstairs was for business executive only so we laid out our kyped blankets from United Air and Reb and Candi tried to sleep while I read. Its funny how many people wouldnt just glance, they wouldnt look and when you returned to eye contact look away, but they would STARE! After Reb woke up we made a fun time of it (well it could've been lack of sleep, but we got some good lauhgs). The layover turned out to be very good for the 3 of us to learn about each other, relax, and depend on each other. This summer is going to be great!! I overheard English again and asked a group if they were Americans. Yes, and they were working Swaziland building churched for 2 weeks. The man convinced the lady at the counter to let us sit in the terminal (they have 13 people with them and had been traveling from OK City, OK since Tues morning. They invited us to join them. About 10 mins later we were all kicked out of the terminal again to be checked and let back in.Wow! Their system is very confusing. We got on the plane and headed for South Africa (SA) By this time we were all exhausted and all out before the first snack/drinks were being served. We woke up for dinner, them Candi and Reb were out again. I think I read 3 chapters of American Gov't, I couldnt sleep. Pretty sure I drove the flight attendants crazy. We landed in SA, had no problems in customs, and found the Zaks right away. We drove back to their house, unpacked a little and got a short nap. Then we ate lunch, had another short nap and went to Youth Group. Mr Zak (Kevin) spoke about sanctification, it was very good.
South Africa - you wouldnt believe it! Almost all the kids were white (Afrikaans) and most had cell phones. The city of Pretoria is just like a mini Chicago. It also boasts the veterinary clinic that did the first animal heart transplant. This was not the mission field I was anticipating.

At youth group we made ice sculptures and played foosball. The kids are very close,hand, putting their arm around you, hugging...one girl Candi talked to is 15, plays for the SA nat'l soccer team and both of her parents are dead so her older brother takes care of her sister and her.

After youth group we headed home, had soup (Mmmm it is so cold here! Seriously!) and tea. Then off to bed.

Day 2 - We were up at 5:45am and on the road at 6 am to run a 5k race. (Mr. Zak ran the 15k) We all got metals!! Oh so Candi and I walked most of the way because I sprained my foot awhile back and it was bothering me and Candi's foot got run over at the airport by a luggage cart. We still got metals! :)
Then back home to eat breakfast. The sun was out today and I even broke out the capris and T-shirt. We hung out with the kids and relaxed. At lunch we went to the mall (just like home), ate at the first Subway in SA, exchanged Rand (6 Rand=$1.00), got groceries for the gang and headed home. Then we jumped into the car and headed for Soutpan. This IS what I was expecting. Tin shacks, garbage, dirty kids, poverty. We dropped off stuff for their church tomorrow, met a few people and headed home. The ride was pretty somber. Then we made dinner, ate and now I am off to the intiation meeting.