Thursday and Friday were my last two days in the classroom. It was bittersweet as I started saying goodbye to the kids and packing up to leave my host family. My last day was a short one (Fridays always are) and felt like one big farewell. At the beginning of the day, the kids were giving me all sorts of parting gifts – lots of sweets, a South Africa mug, pictures, a beautiful carved wooden giraffe, and endless handmade cards and big hugs. Three of my girls even serenaded me with Celine Dion’s “Because You Loved Me.” It really was the sweetest thing – I wish I had it on tape, but they surprised me. We took a class picture, which I will treasure forever, and I gave the students their individual pictures that I developed. They all wanted me to sign the back, which was very cute – I felt like a celebrity! At the end of the day, the Belvue staff threw us a farewell party, complete with four seats of honor and a delicious meal! The faculty we worked with sent us with their best wishes and presented us with our own Belvue school jackets and framed “The best teachers teach from the heart” photo! I will truly miss all of the students and faculty at Belvue. I could not have asked for a better experience and I hope to keep those connections alive as I continue teaching in Michigan.
On Friday night, our entire study abroad group went to the Western Province versus Sharks rugby game at Newlands stadium! It was a miserable, rainy night, but, luckily we had covered seats – nosebleed seats, but covered nonetheless! Those rugby players play in any weather! It was a fun time, but kind of a confusing game to follow. Even the diehard sports fans had trouble understanding. We were cheering for Western Province – “WP Jou Lekker Ding!” Unfortunately, they lost by two points.
Saturday was our last day with our host families. We were to meet back at Deo Gratia late in the afternoon. Kristin and I spent most of our morning packing and working on assignments for our graduate courses. It was a pretty cold day and it was nice to just sit by the fire and relax. Luckily packing was much easier than it was 6 weeks ago because I had unloaded all of those school supplies! Beverley and her friends took Kristin and I back to Deo around 4pm. We said goodbye to the Valentines, but unfortunately, Chamelle, Andrea, and Seth weren’t home! We were really sad to head out without saying our last goodbyes. Kristin and I were the first to arrive at Deo and quickly claimed our beds in the main house. It wasn’t long before others started to arrive and, although we had planned on a productive evening of homework, most of us ended up chatting the night away. Corvell ordered in pizza for dinner and we had our final group reflection of our teaching experiences.
Sunday was the last full day in Cape Town for most of us. We started off the morning with plans to taste some wines at Ernie Els (where the Bachelor proposed!), but sadly, we arrived to closed gates. So we continued onto our next destination, which was back to Green Market Square to buy our last souvenirs and gifts. We also went to another little flea market and back to the Waterfront for more shopping. We had a delicious “last supper” at Cattle Baron, where we were joined by both Corvell’s and Johnny’s families. Johnny’s five-year-old son was a great source of entertainment – I think the highlight was his dance routine to Shakira’s “Waka Waka” (his favorite song).
Monday was another errand-running and hang-out day. All but four of our group were flying out at some point that day. My flight wasn’t until 11:35pm, so I spent the day packing and walking around the mall (figured I’d have plenty of time to sit on the plane!). Unfortunately, my cold had escalated over the weekend and I was feeling pretty lousy. While everyone else was on the search for last-minute gifts and snacks for the plane, I was all about finding some drugs since I’d been using other people’s for the last several days. Wisely, as the girl who is always sick, I brought a total of two Sudafed pills to get me through the entire trip. Smart. So I finally picked some cold medicine up at the pharmacy in the mall. Surprisingly, it wasn’t an easy thing to find! South Africans are all about the liquid medicine, vapors, and dissolvable drink tablets – none of which I would be able to bring on the plane with me! Finally, an employee directed me to Cold Atak. “Get rid of your cold 3 TIMES FASTER!” it said on the package. So that got me through the plane ride home, although the rest is sitting in my garbage can because it didn’t do much of anything for me. Sudafed is where it’s at. Corvell spent the day driving groups of us to the airport to catch our flights. Michelle was the first to go, followed a few hours later by Lauren, Kristin, Marleigha, and Abby. It was starting to get pretty quiet around Deo – but at least that meant I finally got some work done! My 11:35 group was scheduled to leave Deo around 7pm to ensure plenty of time to get to the airport and check in. Unfortunately, Corvell and Johnny were still stuck in traffic from dropping the last group off and we were all nervous about being late. Thankfully, we were able to leave a little after 7:30, crammed our luggage in one van and all 12 of us in the other, and made it to the airport with time to spare – and it’s a good thing because we had a less-than-pleasant check-in experience!
My host family, the Valentines, were there to send me off at the airport – just like my American family had on the way there! The whole gang, minus Tyrone, was there. Even Seth in his pjs and robe! I was so happy to get to say goodbye to Chamelle, Andrea, and Seth since we hadn’t seen them on Saturday. They stayed for quite a while, making sure I was taken care of (read below), and then we gave our final hugs and goodbyes. They were such a great family to live with and Kristin and I had a blast getting to know them for the last month. I am forever grateful for their welcoming hearts and all that we learned while living and interacting with them. Andrea’s already talking about coming to America when she’s older – so maybe I’ll get to reciprocate by hosting her : )
Checking our luggage at the airport was a little bit chaotic. I packed exactly the same as I had for my trip to Cape Town, but my bags were a little lighter because of all the supplies I had unloaded. So there were no problems with the weight limit for my two checked bags and I had my small suitcase and backpack to carry on. Unfortunately, we were flying with KLM and not Delta – KLM was the CPT to AMS flight, Delta was AMS to DTW. Well, unbeknownst to us, KLM has a different carry-on policy than Delta. You are only allowed one. Backpacks do not count as personal items unless it only has your laptop in it. Stupid. It was all just very confusing because a few of us had been told different things, allowed two carry-ons, had our bags approved, etc. Finally, we went to talk to the manager and staff who checked us in, who explained the policy. We were still confused about why we were told different things at check-in, but they (particularly one MEAN employee) insisted that we would not be allowed onto the plane with two bags. She said she would be the one at the gate and we wouldn’t make it past her. MEAN! We were told we would need to pay to check another bag. Fine, I thought. It’s not a big deal, my small suitcase was well-packed, I would just check it. Wrong. Note to future KLM travelers: checking a third bag costs 200 U.S. dollars.
So, we went back to the group to try to figure out what to do (since there were only about three of us with this problem). We were talking about sending things with the group that left the next day, repacking our things so everything fit into one suitcase – it was stressful. Then, someone noticed that the KLM meanie wasn’t at security! We should just go now and see if they’ll let us through – it was genius! We said quick goodbyes to the rest of the group and Corvell and headed for security. To my surprise, we made it through without a hitch! I was sweating bullets and probably looked like a criminal, so it’s a miracle they didn’t stop me! Relieved that we all made it through, we found our gate, browsed through some of the stores, and then… realized we still had to make it through the boarding gate. THAT is where the meanie meant she would stop us! Ugh what a pain. Now, Corvell and the rest of the group were gone and I was sure the KLM lady was going to arrest us as the boarding gate. We staggered ourselves in line, thinking we’d draw less attention, and hoped for the best. We sound like criminals, right?! They had two lines at the gate and 3-4 KLM workers, so I stayed as far from the meanie as I could. Luckily, I had sneakily managed to get ‘approved’ tags on both of my carry-ons before security, so I had an out, but they really weren’t both supposed to be approved. I was so nervous as I got closer to the counter. There was a really tall woman in front of me, so I literally hid behind her, with my backpack turned away from the meanie. Praise the Lord that KLM meanie was distracted when I got to the boarding desk and I handed my pass to the worker, who didn’t give it a second look, and practically bolted down the gate and onto the plane. All of us got through without any trouble – go figure. We literally collapsed into our seats and waited for our hearts to stop racing.
Once we took off, it was smooth sailing. Ironically, one of the movies offered was African Cats – the Disney nature film! I had been wanting to see this since it came out, so Megan D., Kayla, and I watched the film as we flew away from the place it was filmed (technically it was filmed in Kenya, but South Africa’s on the same continent, at least). It was a really good movie, by the way. Other than that, we attempted to sleep for most of the first flight (11.5 hours to Amsterdam). Unfortunately, like I said, that Cold Atak medicine did next to nothing for me, so I spent most of the flight sniffling, blowing my nose, coughing, and chilled. Kayla and Megan were troppers for sitting next to me. I used all of Megan’s Kleenex and at one point asked the flight attendant if she had more. A few minutes later she returned with a stack of 30+ paper towels – well, I guess that will do.
We had a very short layover in Amsterdam, ran into no trouble there (I love Delta), and boarded our final flight to Detroit. I had intended to work on my computer and finish the last of my assignments, but I was literally in so much pain from my cold. Flying with a cold is a bad idea – avoid it, if you can. I thought my head was going to explode from the inside out. So I spend about 30 minutes doing work and then slept and watched movies for the rest of the flight – Country Strong and Soul Surfer this time. Both good picks. I definitely recommend Soul Surfer, but I’m glad I watched it AFTER shark-cage diving, rather than before!
We finally arrived in Detroit around 3:45pm on Tuesday (22 hours after our departure). It took some time to get through customs and get our luggage, but my parents were there waiting when I finally got to the waiting area! It was good to see them, but I was so sick and exhausted, I pretty much dumped my luggage on them and fell asleep in the car at the first chance. I had dinner and unpacked a little bit when I got home, but I literally couldn’t keep my eyes open, so went to bed early. Unfortunately, the next morning, I had to drive up to Lansing to clean out last year’s apartment since our lease was up that day! After that, things finally calmed down and I’ve been resting up ever since! That cold of mine quickly turned into a sinus infection, which I am still battling a week and a half later : ( But hopefully, I’ll be back to normal soon – I’m ready to show my pictures and see everyone I’ve missed this summer!
The past six weeks were truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I learned a lot about myself as a person and as a teacher and know this experience will continue to benefit me throughout my career. I made a lot of connections in South Africa that I hope to maintain and gained a lot of new friends on the trip. They are some of the greatest people I know and I can’t wait for all of the laughs and stories we’ll share at our next reunion. I owe a huge thank you to my parents and everyone else who helped support me on this trip. Your confidence and encouragement was heartwarming and helped me feel closer to home. I loved getting all of your emails, even if I didn’t respond to every one. I am so thankful to have all of you in my life and am lucky to have been able to share this experience with you!
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