At least I think it's Friday in our present time zone. We're somewhere over the Atlantic, less than four hours from landing, which seems like a very short while now. Our flight is packed full -- we started with maybe 20 in Capetown and loaded another 300 in Jo'burg. After 12 hours, we stopped to refuel in Cape Verde, though neither time were we allowed off the plane. I stood up as long as possible while we were on the ground, just to try to rid my legs of all the numbness, but it doesn't help for long once I sit back down. I'm terribly jealous of the guy in the row behind me; he's got the end seat and no one is in front of him. So his legs are flung all over the floor space next to me, and I have to hurdle over them each time I want to go to the bathroom or retrieve my bag from overhead. Speaking of the lavatory, it's the first time in my life I've found a full selection of skin care products in there, available for passenger use. I just used the face wash and moisturizer and now I feel fresh as a daisy!
I met a nice young man in Capetown while we were boarding, who had just completed a training course at the YWAM base north of Capetown. We immediately connected when he said YWAM and spent a while chatting about missions and such. He's a few seats across from me now -- we were both hoping not to get seatmates, but we were not so lucky. My seatmate has been rather interesting. This 60-ish Indian woman sits next to me, and I feel like she's practically my shadow. I believe she came in on a wheelchair because the walk was too much for her. I've helped her open water bottles, get her bag up and down, and I've tracked down 2 attendants trying to get her a blanket since hers disappeared and she refuses to take mine. I've also noticed she wakes up whenever I do, goes to sleep when I do, watches my movie screen even though she has her own - she even puts her feet over into my floor space most of the time. I've never experienced anything quite like it. I guess you could say that about my entire time in Africa! This is just the postlude.
Africa Journals