We Made It To South Africa!

Waiting at airport (London)

Still waiting at airport (London).

Our new ride. The Airbus A380. Lovely mode of transportation. 

Inside our favorite plane.

Isaiah asleep on the Airbus A380

Asleep again.

Asleep in Dubai.

Emirates airlines rocks. On each flight (this was our Boeing 777 from Dubai to Johannesburg) we were given a hot towel to wipe our face and hands. And, they smelled like margarita. 

A closer view. So professionally dressed and fantastic customer service.  

After Isaiah received his towel, he said, "Could this get ANY better?" 

And then, it did get "even better"--he was presented with tons of goodies. We will need another carry-on to get all his "booty" back home. :)

Whew! Finally done flying for the day. Arrived in Africa. Please note, that shoulder bag Isaiah is stylin' was a gift from Emirates. One of the many. 

So happy to be waiting for luggage. Our bags were the LAST ones off the plane.

Okay, so we found our driver (can't remember his name) at the airport. He managed to get all of us AND our luggage in his little car. Our drive to our place of residence for the time being wasn't too long. We were on a major highway, then some neighborhood roads which compared to the "street life" of any large city, then to a dirt road with big holes in it. Yep, at the end of that road is our new "home" for a bit. We got out of the car and another man came to help with our luggage. By the way, it was totally dark. What a creepy feeling we had. We were then introduced to our chef, Andre'. We were told he could make us something to eat. Dax passed on the offer, but Isaiah and I agreed. Our room looks beautiful, but it took a while to get settled. Limited electricity access, very low lighting (may as well not have any), a sliding glass door is our door (doesn't seem too secure), thatch ceiling and a concrete floor. It has been getting down to 33 degrees at night, so you can imagine the temperature of our floor. 

We do, however, have "heat"--it didn't seem to make much difference last night, but this evening, it's MUCH better. We left it on ALL day today and opened the blinds in the day to let the sun in. So, Isaiah and I sat with our jackets on in a dark dining room with no heat and waited about 45 minutes for our food. It was absolutely delicious. We had chicken breasts and some potatoes and bottled water. At bedtime, we got under a big zebra blanket and a down filled blanket and tried not to get up in the night. The floor was like ice--thank goodness I packed Isaiah's fleece PJs. The zebra blankets are so heavy that you can't even turn over with it on, but it kept the heat in! The creepy feelings last night were due to the following: 1-Being the only guests here. 2-A chef who said, "I am Andre'. I am your chef. I will make you dinner."--and he looked like one of my past high school drop out students--scrawny, pale, dark circles under his eyes, kind of greasy and spacey at the same time. Reminded me of one of the scary episodes of Scoobie Doo or something. 3- Being at the end of a dirt road in the middle of nothing.

 4- Arriving after dark. So, no phone, no car, no other people, the dark, the cold, just creepy. I'm leaving out a lot of little details here--too long to describe, but it has been an enlightening experience to say the very least. I think Isaiah used the term "uncivilized"--however, we are in a really nice place for here. 

Isaiah with his first meal here. 

Some of the wonderful workers here. Andre' is on the left and Precious is the 2nd from the right. I can't remember the other names. Still working on that. 

Isaiah in bed. The red blanket is from Emirates Airlines.

Our KING bed.

Some of the decor. 

We got a lamp for Dax's desk.

Wall decor on the left and our bathroom door on the right. 

Our ceiling.

Wall decor between our beds.

Our view.

More of the grounds. 

The swing.

This morning we woke up to the staff outside of our window 

actually cleaning the windows. 

If we step out of our room door and look down the

 veranda, this is the view to the right. Momi, another staff member, 

mopped this floor two times this morning. 

There are four Rottweilers who live here with us. Of course, I do not have all of their names down yet either. This particular Rott is Isaiah's favorite. She protects him from a young Rottweiler who is a bit too playful for his liking. She even comes and sits in front of our door and waits for him. Wherever he goes, all 4 dogs follow him. LOVE!

This one is worn out from all of Isaiah's play time. 

I kid you not, he played ALL day with these 4 dogs. 

If you walk out the entrance to our place and look to the right, this is what you see. 

More of our grounds. 

Our South African braii area.

Ceiling of outdoor hut.

Isaiah playing a game on my computer on our deck. Note the dog behind him. 

There is also one under his feet.

Family time on the deck. Such a beautiful, sunny day.

Ostrich, on our walk. 

Just returning from our walk with Isaiah's 4 best friends. 

The too playful Rott picking on his tired mother. 

Just down the veranda near the dining room.

The house behind our grounds.

Isaiah leaving to explore with his #1 Rott friend.

Our dinner table tonight. 

The other dinner table. 

Wall decor in our dining area.

More dining room decor.

Dinner tonight. The boys had beef pie and fries and had a delicious dessert. It is called Malva Pudding. It is served hot with ice cream. Isaiah said, "I want this recipe."

My chicken salad. This chicken is seasoned perfectly. LOVE IT.

Just had to share how CRAZY he really is. If anyone had any doubts about Isaiah's craziness level, this should remove them. Yes, he tried out the UNHEATED pool. But then his brain kicked in and said to him, "Get out of the pool." He listened to how it felt, got out and went back to our room to change. Whew! There is NO way I'm getting in that water. :) 

Boy we love that kid. 

Getting ready for bed now.  We had such a peaceful and relaxing day. Tomorrow we have transport to pick up a rental car. So, we will have independent WHEELS! 

Oh my goodness, the adventure begins. Not sure how driving on the "other" side of the road will be. We have been researching road signs and maps and we will be using a local GPS. In the next couple of days we hope to find laundry options and have some day trips. Stay tuned! Oh, and I failed to mention the beautiful sounding birds here. They do NOT annoy me and you all know how sensitive I am to noise. So peaceful.