the absurdity of it all

You’d think with all this traveling back and forth between Africa and the United States I would get used to the inevitable “culture shock” on re-entry into the states but still it catches me off guard. Perhaps it was that I was seated next to the “boss” of Aflac (giant “gap” insurance company) for the flight into Greenville, who has recently bought property at the Cliffs (highly exclusive, super expensive private housing up in the mountains) and was coming to play a few rounds of golf for the weekend while reading “Wine Enthusiast” magazine, wearing a Rolex watch that could feed a good size village in Botswana…or maybe it was the stupidity of evening TV as I struggled to stay up to at least 9 PM so that I can try to get over my jet lag as soon as possible (I was jumping between “Dr. 90210” where two sisters were getting breast augmentations so that they could continue to be “hot moms” at 26 and 30 years old and some sort of home shopping network that was selling mascara for $55!) What planet am I on? Because it certainly can’t be the same one I’ve been on for the last 3 ½ months.

we're baaack (but delayed)

Hi all,
Just a quick note from Dulles airport in Washington, D.C. We have arrived safely back on US terrain but have an unfortunate delay in getting to Greenville (just what you want after traveling for the last day or so). Hopefully we'll be in around 11:30 AM (instead of 10). I guess I can't go for even one flight without some type of delay (better here than in South Africa!...or maybe not!).

The last week of travel went well. Students really got into the bush camping and even had an "all bush" fashion show one night where four of the women competed for the best outfit made of only bush material. We also had a great visit to Khama Rhino sanctuary where we saw over a dozen rhinos (when Paul and I were here last time, we only saw glimpses of 2 of them at a distance). We also saw many eland, wildebeest and zebra at the watering holes for sundowners. Paul really enjoyed the "sock wrestling" tournament that broke out on one of our last nights (no I'm not kidding, he even beat a 19 year old! Managed to pull his sock off before his opponent got his...while rolling around in the dirt!).

Feeling a little fried in the brain after the 19 hour flight so I'll cut this short and hope to see you (or at least talk to you) in the near future.
Kristy