Language, Flights, & Africa Time

This is from yesterday, when I had no internet:

June 1, 2012

Today for the first time I flew on an airplane not operated by a US or British company.  It was different.  For one thing we got one of those darling half sized planes where the large carry-on items had to be loaded in baggage areas.  For another, I was the minority.  I was the only white female on the plane.  There were a handful of older European men, a handful of African women, and a plane full of African businessmen.  It wasn’t an awful feeling, just different.

One thing really amazes me here though, so many people can go from speaking their native tongue to English and back without skipping a beat.  I also met a woman who spoke at least three languages fluently (German, English and something African).  I want to be that cool.  How badass would it be to switch from English to Spanish to French to Arabic without pause? 

The other huge difference I’m noticing is that time is considered very differently here. For those of my friends from Nowhereville, USA, you know those old timers that set around and figure things’ll get done eventually?  Everyone here is like that.  Even the businessmen are patient.  It’s incredible.  For instance, my flight from Jo’burg got in over an hour ago and my flight to Maun leaves in about three hours.  Check-in still isn’t open.  So I’m killing time again.

Another thing, the workers (at the airports at least) are always singing or humming or drumming their fingers.  Music just seems to flow from them all.  And the ones that are from the same area seem to all know each other and exchange greetings and news, switching between native and English at will. (I will not get over this soon.)

Now for one more thing, the food.  Admittedly all I’ve had in the way of food so far consisted of standard plane food.  On BA, we had pasta, muffins, a lovely chicken curry, and a traditional English Breakfast.  On Air  Botswana, we were given three little plastic packets.  Well, me being curious and fairly hungry, I consumed all three.  There was a pack of Ritz meets Cheez-its, and two more interesting packages.  One was Marula berry nuggets which were quite tasty although with that much sugar it’s hard not to be.  The other was Botswana’s beef jerky, botslingo, which is not at all the same as we get in the states.  For one thing, it tastes funny (duh!).  For another it is considerably drier and fattier.  But still all in all very tasty.

Africa Time:

In South Africa this morning I got a taste of Africa Time.  I killed hours and hours in the waiting area this morning and thought I’d experienced this “slowness” Africa moves at.  I was wrong.  Compared to Gabarone, Jo’burg moves at warp speed.  When the volunteer coordinator warned me that delays of several hours were common, I thought, “Surely not.”  And the trip was going so smoothly I foolishly believed, “Not me!”  Ha.  Hahahaha.  Lies.

My flight was to leave at 5, but now it’s not expected to leave until 8:30 pm.  Now that’s a big difference to an American.  Here it barely warrants a phone call.  Now, usually I’m a go with the flow kind of gal and I would be here to, if there was something to do.  Alas, there is not even public wifi.  For a person attached at the wrists to her computer, that’s not fun at all.  So I can’t post this, I can’t check Facebook and can’t reassure all of my worried friends and family that I am alive, I am safe, just bored out of my mind.  I am trying terribly hard to remember that Zac Brown song and that I ain’t in no hurry.  But this fool always worries and I want to be there already.  It’s all I’ve been saying all day.