I'm here! As in Urbana-Champaign in Illinois.
Left just before 7am on Thursday morning for Cape Town International airport, to Hannah's sobbing and Jonah's moaning. James was fine. I was so nervous about leaving them that I forgot to say goodbye to Scott! He called me back, saying, "Um, excuse me?" Eek - bad wife.
The travelling was brutal. It took 4 flights and from 9.30am on Thursday, till 3.40am (South Africa time) on Saturday to get here. Insane. I'm now an expert at getting round airports and through security checkpoints.
So far, first impressions are:
- The bookstores are COOOOOL. There are coffee shops right in the shops
and they allow you to sit and drink your coffee and browse books.
- The food and drink portions are huge. I tried to get a small bottle
of water yesterday, which here would be about 340ml. I couldn't get
anything smaller than 591ml.
- The people seem very friendly - quite happy to chat away and help as much as they can.
- We didn't see much last night as we were driving to our apartments,
because it was dark, but as far as I could see, Urbana seems very flat.
Shall go exploring later - if I'm brave enough to go outside in the
minus temperatures.
The family seems fine. Scott's doing an amazing job of keeping everyone in the routine. I've skyped them 4 times so far and they love it, although it might end up being a problem for Jonah - he apparently went nuts the last time I ended the call.
Re: portion size: Is it any wonder why Americans are (generally) struggling with obesity?
Welcome to our fair nation. I hope it treats you well.
Posted by: beck | February 21, 2009 at 06:49 PM
That sounds like a very very long trip to get there! How tiring!
Posted by: Jeanette | February 21, 2009 at 07:00 PM
Hi Janine,
I am an almost neighbor to Illinois, I am in Cleveland, Ohio, ex-South African, so if you need anything in the time you are here, let me know! Enjoy your stay.
Posted by: Isabel | February 21, 2009 at 10:30 PM
So glad you made it there safe and happy. I agree witht he portions!!! When we were there, I could also not get over the sizes. A slice of pizza is as big as a personal pizza here
Posted by: Melany | February 22, 2009 at 02:34 PM
Well done on getting all the way there without any issues. I am sure you are going to have some heart-wrenching moments, being away from the children for so long, but remember that in the grand scheme of things, this is a drop in the ocean of time.
XXX
B
Posted by: Bianca W | February 23, 2009 at 09:17 AM
heh heh... bit of confuion when i wondered where my comment had gone before i remembered it was on mommyworx!
Posted by: angel | February 24, 2009 at 08:29 AM
"Scott's doing an amazing job of keeping everyone in the routine. " Erm. I'm sure he is, but this comment got me thinking: do you marvel daily at the amazing job of keeping everyone in the routine each day? Or do you just take it for granted as Stuff To Be Done, like going to the loo and brushing your teeth? Maybe I'm just going through a prickly let's-stop-treating-men-like-children patch, and I'll get over it soon...
Posted by: Lisa | March 11, 2009 at 02:35 PM