PSA: 40 hours is a lot of hours

Picture of Preparedness

Last pic in America

Well, we left Tuesday and we are finally here, on Thursday!!!!!!! Yes, that is just shy of two days. Almost a day and a half in the air and then some. I have a hate/love relationship with flying. I love it because of where it is taking me as well as the views I get to see. I hate it because it honestly scares me a little bit and blows my mind when I think of the mechanics of it all. Also makes me want Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Things I think about when on a plane:

1. Bridesmaids, the movie. Colonial women on the wing, churning butter, trying to tell us all something. 

2. Fields of clouds. Who tends to them? Does someone make them grow? How funny would it be if there was an angel     who’s job was to water, fluff, and spread clouds all over the sky.
3. How the sky catches on fire when the sun goes to bed. 

4. Playing hopscotch on the clouds.
5. Dying the clouds different colors. 

6. Seeing where the earth meets the sky and how it keeps going and going and going.
7. How, even above the clouds, there is still more unreachable sky.
8. The stars over the sea as complete darkness covers the world like a blanket.
9. That the only place I’d enjoy playing tag is on the clouds.
10. How freaking huge the world is and how there are so many people out there living lives just like me in their tiny cars and tiny houses and tiny pools.
11. How if the he cracked, dry ground were hands would need a lot of lotion.
12. Everything looks like Lego size from a certain altitude.
13. How fluffy the clouds look and how I want to curl up in one and take a nap, but knowing the disappointing truth that I’d actually just get drenched because they are basically floating bits of water.
14. Every time, any time there is turbulence, the thought that I am going to die and I promptly write everyone I care about a letter on my phone in the hopes that the phone will at least make it to the ground (bit dramatic, but that’s where my brain goes). 

Amongst many other, random things I think about, but those are definitely the most common. Clouds are reoccurring though. There’s a seven hour time difference, so as you lot are going through your day, I’ve already lived through the same one. It’s sort of like I can tell the future. But I can’t tell you what happens though or that’ll start a Butterfly Effect, so please just don’t ask. It’s too much responsibility. 

I am literally on the other side of the world. Photo cred: Lucinda. 

I have been blessed to have traveled a good bit in my short life and every time I go somewhere new, I am still awed by all the small things on the way there and the differences I see in people, cultures, and languages. Listening to languages I am completely lost in makes me think of the Tower of Babel and what great confusion that must have been like. For me, I just like all the sounds that are familiar, but put together in such a different way they are almost unrecognizable. Beautiful. 

Next up was our flight to Atlanta. After landing there, we met up with the Ole Miss group who was joining our crew + Harding for this trip. Then came the dreaded 15-hour flight, which ended up not being that bad.

On our fifteen hour plane ride I made a new friend, Rashiba, who is 75-year-old, and speaks Portuguese. She is from Mozambique and wants me to come visit. More precisely, after chatting for a short while, she touched my face only like an adorable grandmother can and said, “You come visit me in Mozambique. I like you. You remind me of my granddaughter.” I said okay. A bit through the flight she wanted to take a picture on her tiny iPhone and we exchanged What’sUp App phone numbers and watched these random funny commercials she had on her phone that were pretty long. We had a fun time. 

Flying from South Africa to Zambia! Last flight!

After finally landing in Johannesburg, we met up with Dr. Weaver aka B-Weave, who took us to our hotel to meet up with the rest of our crew (Harding peeps) and had a bit of a surprise. Originally, we were going to do therapy for our time there and at the end have a fun two days going on a safari and going to Victoria Falls. Well, when we got to the hotel we were informed plans had been flip flopped and that we’d be doing the two fun days first, then going to the Haven on Sunday. 

At first, I was a little disappointed. After all that traveling I really wanted to just get settled and get started working with the kiddos, but it has turned out to be great. These respite days have given us a  chance to recoup from fjet lag and become friends with the rest of the girls we will be working with this summer. 

First off was our safari trip! We got up extremely early, took a two hour bus ride to the border of Botswana, a boat ride across the Chobie River to Botswana, and then to our 3-hour boat safari and then a 3-hour land safari. Both safaris were so fun and a great way to spend the day with our new friends. We saw pods of hippos, herds of elephants, impalas (we named a group of them a “Chevy” :) ) water buffalos, journeys/towers of giraffes, crocodiles, and a ton of beautiful birds. It was so beautiful being out on the water and able to see all the animals in their natural habitat. 

Jess has an overwhelming love for giraffes...love her hahaha

The crew

What are you looking at? 

LOVE.

Elephants swimming/bathing

Elephant butts are always funny

BBC voice: "Here, we see a rare sight of a giraffe racing the safari truck and almost colliding with its friend, Melmin."

Tomorrow we go to Victoria Falls to see it in the day light, then again at night to see the lunar rainbow…which is about as cool as it sounds. So stoked. May I also just say, how amazing the stars are? It blows my mind how HUGE the world is and just how much intricate detail the Lord put into when making it. Like why make two different sets of stars? I have no idea, but I love it. So cool. 

That’s all for now!

Until next time,

Mallory or in Afrikkan, “Mallory”