Two Russians and an American walk into a Bar (Part 1)

"Two Russians and an American walk into a bar" - no, its not the opening to a hilarious joke I am about to tell you. Instead, I will tell you about my weekend in Cape Town.  I jumped on a plane a couple of weeks ago with two co-workers, Dmitry & Dmitry to explore Cape Town.  Going forward, we will refer to them as D2 (or Dmitry Squared).
Saturday we took a full day tour of the Cape, heading down to Cape Good Hope.
Our first stop of the day was Boulder Beach.  Boulder Beach is famous for being the home to one of 22 African penguin colonies.  Around 1910 it was estimated that there were 1.5 million Cape Penguins but by 2010 the numbers had dropped to 55,000.  If the decline is not halted, it is estimated that the African penguin will be extinct in 15 years.  They believe this is a result of the lack of food as industrialized fishing has become more prevalent off the coast of Africa

Hey, this penguin photobombed me!

Penguins mate for life - either they have been together a long time, or Mama Penguin is a cougar!

After a few minutes snapping photos of the penguins, we headed on our way to the Cape of Good Hope.  The Cape of Good Hope is where the warm Indian Ocean meets the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean.  Actually the Cape of Good Hope is not the southernmost point in Africa.  That honor goes to Cape Agulhas, about 150km southeast of the Cape of Good Hope.

While driving down the highway, the tour guide called our attention to an official looking gentleman on the side of the road.  He is a minder for one of the many troops of baboon inhabiting the Cape.  As my good friend, AW told me "Baboons are assholes".  We received a 10 minute warning on baboons, food and the fact they will attack and potentially kill us if we walk around with a piece of pizza in our hand.  The outdoor seating area at the Cape restaurant was fenced in and there were monitors keeping and eye out for the roaming bandits.

This was as close as I got to the baboons

The first stop was the Cape of Good Hope visitor center where we rode a precarious funicular up the mountain so we could hike up to the light house.  They quit using the lighthouse as a warning to ships after a few crashes.  I can imagine it was quite hard to see way up on that hill!  The view was so amazing, I actually don't have a picture of the lighthouse.  I don't think it occurred to me to take one!

Just in case I don't get backdown to Cape Town to do whale watching, I can say I saw one breach and blow!

Photo of the actual Cape of Good Hope (which I will now hike across and down)

After a quick stop for a baboon free lunch, D2 and I joined back up with our tour group for a 40 minute hike from the visitor center to the Cape of Good Hope.  I was a little worried because Dmitry1 didn't finish his pizza and Dmitry2 only ate half is sandwich and BOTH of those went into Dmitry1's backpack.  Luckily we encountered no baboons on our hike only an Ostrich family.  We received a long speech about fitness levels and fear of heights related to the hike.  I do not like heights at all but he said "you don't have to walk next to the edge", so I figured I would be OK.  Everyone knows I am not a "walk next to the edge" kind of girl.

Me and D2 - they are obviously "walk next to the edge" kind of guys

Crazy selfie takers

The Cape in Panorama

I figured out where the "fear of heights" thing comes in and that is when you have to climb down from the high point of the Cape.  My climb down was steep and terrifying and I was praying I would make it down before the bus pulled away!  I did make it down successfully with enough time to take a couple of pictures at THE SIGN and watch some photographers get an amazing opportunity to shoot the waves crashing against the rocks.

We conquered The Cape!

Boy did I wanna be out on that rock!

After a drowsy bus ride back to the city, the bus dropped us off at the V&A Waterfront where D2 and I enjoyed an adult beverage and pondered our options for the next day's adventure . . . .

(This photo is what we call "foreshadowing")

I'm Moving . . .

Monday morning I will be checking out of Capital 20 West Hotel and moving to a new hotel.  Dorothy, the admin that has made everything happen for me here in South Africa, asked me if I was happy at this location.  This hotel has everything I need.  I could have daily housekeeping service, but the tree hugger in me decided that two days a week is sufficient.  Housekeeping washes my clothes, cleans the kitchen, changes my bed and replaces the towels.  I have a gym that has a couple of treadmills and an elliptical machine.  I have a balcony that overlooks the local water reservoir.  I am really lucky here - the other side of the building overlooks a Shell gas station and a very busy intersection.

I have a restaurant and a bar though I have never been to the bar and the restaurant is so slow I resorted to going to the gym then just popping in to order room service to be sent to my room.  After dining in twice and sitting in the restaurant for over an hour, I decided room service was a better option.  An hour is a long time to sit alone in a not very busy restaurant.

I thought, how much better can it get?  A lot better apparently.  I checked out the website of the DaVinci Hotel and Suites.  There is a gym, a pool and a spa!  A bar with a view of the city!  I will lose my balcony but I will be gaining the proximity to Mandela Square (an elevator ride away!) and lots of restaurants and shopping.  I am very excited about being able to take the elevator down to access all the shops and restaurants at Mandela Square.  I drive there every weekend to do my grocery shopping.  The hotel is adjacent to the train to the airport.  There is so much more activity in that area.  Dorothy seemed to think that is the downside to this location.  I am thrilled.  If I am honest with you, I have been a little lonely and isolated at the Capital 20 West.  The prospect of being able to access the shopping after work and walk around among other humans is very exciting to me.

As my move approaches, I realize how much of a creature of habit I am and how much I do not like change.  I think about the cafe in a gas station I pop in every morning to get coffee.  Will I still go there to get coffee?  Will they wonder what happened to the blonde American that used to order a double Americano every morning at 6:15am?  I am a 2 minute drive from my yoga studio.  Will adding another 8 minutes to my drive make me less likely to go?  Will the traffic be worse? (Probably).  How much further to access the highway?  Will there be more intersections?  Intersections are a concern because that is where you could get hijacked (carjacked).

The move is absolutely the right thing for me to do.  I just marvel that having lived in Capital 20 West for a little over a month, I am contemplating so much if I should make this move!

(Yes it is messy, I am in the process of packing!)

It is nice to have such a lovely view from the bedroom

I'll post photos of my new apartment next week.  Now I am busy trying to eat all my refrigerated food so I don't have to move it.  Hummus and carrots for breakfast anyone?

Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!

A Typical Day and a Few Random Musings

I am behind on updating you with my weekend adventures to the Elephant Sanctuary and Cape Town. Lest you think this is a 4 month vacation for me, I thought I would give you an example of what a typical day for me is in South Africa.
I get up around 5:15 though if I am honest it is closer to 5:33 after I let myself hit snooze twice.
I usually walk out the door between 6:00-6:10.  Yes, AM.
Dave, the guy driving me to work the first week, told me that this Shell Gas Station near my apartment has really lovely coffee so I typically stop there in the morning and get an Americano coffee.  I am not a "I MUST HAVE CAFFEINE!" person, but I like the ritual of drinking a cup each morning.  After 15 visits to the cafe within a gas station the guy I see every morning FINALLY asked me "Double Americano?"  I teased him and said "I wondered how many blonde Americans you have that come in and order a double americano every day".
I am usually at my desk around 6:30 logging into my computer and enjoying my coffee and my Wooly's gluten free blueberry muffin.  I am currently devastated because I have been to two Wooly's this week and they are both out of all of the gluten free baked goods.  I have really cleaned up my eating since I arrived and have basically eliminated food out of a package.  My one treat is my GF muffin each day.
I have peace and quiet from 6:30 to about 9am.  I spend this time working on the emails I have received from the US since I shut down my computer from the night before and working on different projects.
9am is when the meetings start in South Africa.
Meeting
Meeting
Meeting
Oh my gosh, the meeting ended 15 minutes early, let me check my email before the next meeting
Meeting
Meeting
Oh, crap, I missed lunch.  Good thing I have this bag of almonds with me
Meeting
Meeting
Did I go to the bathroom yet today?  I should drink more water!
Meeting
Meeting
I leave the office anywhere between 4:30 and 6pm.
3 days a week I try to go to yoga - Saturday, Thursday and one other day.  As much as I joked about having to walk past the gym in my apartment to get to the elevator, I find it very hard to drag myself down to the elliptical machine after spending almost 12 hours at the office.  I am giving myself the rest of the week, then I am really going to commit to going even if its just to do 20 minutes.  I want to get into the habit of working out before I head back to the US where the gym isn't just steps away.
I usually watch a couple of hours of TV just to decompress.  On a good day I have the options of BBC Earth, Discovery Earth, National Geographic and CNN.  On Monday, BBC, Discovery and Nat Geo had disappeared and instead I had the Disney Channel.  This is a bad day.  I did learn that Descendants 2 is coming out.  Kadie will be very excited.  The highlight of my week is Tuesday when Expedition Galapagos comes on BBC Earth
Then I go to bed to start the whole thing over the next day.
I didn't realize how much socializing I did after work in NY until I moved here and had absolutely nothing to do.  I found the yoga studio because the I was bored to death of the elliptical and bored to death of my own company (as an introvert, I don't say that too often!).  I needed to get out of the apartment for something other than work.
Saturdays I go to the grocery store and stock up for the week.  In Park Avenue, we have a cafeteria so I was spoiled by having easy access to food.  South Africa has a small restaurant in the office park but my experience my first couple of days here is it takes forever to order and get your food.  Since I usually have meetings through lunch, I typically pack a lunch from home.  I am also cooking in the apartment or snacking for dinner.  I have been to the grocery store more times in South Africa in 1 month than I think I have in all of 2017 in New York!  I did find a local Italian restaurant that delivers and and has gluten free options.  I've had their pasta and will try their pizza next time.  There is no Delivery.com or Seamless here.  How did I find the restaurant you may wonder?  I see a delivery moped almost every day on the way home from work so I repeated the name to myself over and over (Andaccio24) until I could get my phone out and google it.  (#resourceful)  The best thing is they have a location in the same building as the yoga studio so I may be having that pizza tomorrow night!
So yes, I am working a whole lot but I have been learning quite a bit and I hope that I am helping bring more process to the team and a different perspective on how to look at the business.
One of the amusing things about driving in South Africa is the random things you see laying in the middle of the road.  I mentioned the mini-buses in one of my previous blog posts but in South Africa if you have a Brat truck/car hybrid (yes, the same one from the 70s), you can also operate a taxi service.

I imagine when you are crammed into the back of a pick up truck, things may fly out onto the highway.  I see random shoes, hats, lunchboxes, etc.

Yesterday it was rather cool post our monsoon storms on Sunday and Monday.  Sunday there was baseball sized hail.  Everyone at the office was talking about the beating their cars took.  I saw some CRAZY photos.  Said storm led to a delay in my flight back from Cape Town and thus the delay in blog posting.  Anyway, yesterday on my drive to work I saw an exhaust pipe laying in the middle of my lane.  It was still smoking - whether from remnant exhaust or due to cold weather, I am not sure, but there is definitely a mini-bus driving about sans exhaust pipe right now!

Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!

Everything you wanted to know about cheetahs and a couple of other animals

Today I broke out my new best friend, Garmin, and went on my first adventure.  I am totally a Waze girl, but I have to admit, the newer GPS devices are awesome.  She tells me exactly what lane I am supposed to be in, she shows me a split map - one side shows exactly what the lanes look like while the other gives a broader picture of the map.  Waze is great if you know generally where you are going.  When you are in a totally new environment, I vote Garmin.

I drove about 1 hour north of Sandton to Harbeespoort Dam.  That's a lake to my friends in the Americas.  I visited the Ann Van Dyke Cheetah Center.  The center opened in 1971 to help preserve the cheetah population and has expanded to help grow the population of a few other animals.  They have about 100 cheetahs now.  Cheetahs did not breed well in captivity until the early 80s.  Since 1981 they have produced more than 800 cheetahs and introduced many back into the wild.

The day started with a cheetah run at 8:00am with a couple of the "cheetah ambassadors".  These are cheetahs that have been raised around humans and have good tempers.

Cheetahs are sprinters - they stalk their prey then when they feel like they have a good shot at taking the prey down (in this case a red and white plastic pompom), they go for it.  They can only run about 400 meters or so.  After the kill, they need about 10 minutes to catch their breath.  If another predator comes along during this recovery time, the cheetah will give up their kill.  Cheetahs are fast, not strong.  And they have a preservation mentality, so they are not going to go toe to toe with a lion or hyena.

How fast are cheetahs?  They are the fastest land mammal.  They can run up to 120 kilometers per hour.  They can accelerate from 0 to 100 in 3 seconds.
(By the way, none of these things have been fact checked - I am just taking the guides word for it.  Please don't harass me if it is factually incorrect)

The South African Air Force uses cheetahs to keep down the bird population on their air strips.  Maybe this would be a good idea for JFK?

Cheetahs make 11 different sounds.  I just thought that was cool so wanted to throw that in.

Cheetah cubs have long grey hairs running down their back when they are born.  This is to mimic the honey badger.

Honey Badgers are nocturnal so this is all I got

Honey badgers are bad dudes.  If you haven't watched "Crazy NastyAss Honey Badger", stop reading right now, go to YouTube and watch it.  I'll wait.  OK - Here is why predators stay away from the Honey Badger.  Honey Badgers will grab a lion by the scrotum and rip it off.   This is why lions and other predators steer clear of the crazy, nastass honey badger.  I think cheetah cubs disguising themselves as honey badgers is pretty smart.  No lion is going to mess with them.

We visited the meerkats.  They only have 4 of them - mom, dad and the two kids, Stumpy and Mischief.

Stumpy was born with half of a tail

Heathcliff is a king cheetah.  They originally thought these were a different species but discovered the different spots were caused by a recessive gene.  If any king cheetahs are born in captivity, they will not release them into the wild.  Hunters would kill (literally) to get a king cheetah skin.

Barney is a caracal.  He is going to be eating a snack of a baby chick so you may want to look away for a minute.

This is a Cape Griffin.  Cape's are #2 on the Endangered Species list (which one, I am not sure - there seem to be so many of them)  Most of these birds at the center were poisoned by poachers.  When rhino poachers made a kill, the vultures would circle the area and this would alert the wildlife authorities something fishy was going on.  Poachers caught on and decided to go in a couple of days in advance and drop an animal carcass filled with poison to kill off the birds.  These birds did ingest poison but they were able to flush their system with water and save them, but still they are unable to fly.  Their wings can no longer hold their body's weight.  

This Cape Griffin is 60-80 years old

The center takes most of the eggs laid by the Cape Griffins to a university where they are incubated and hatched.  They introduce the bird into the wild and the baby cape griffin is adopted by another cape griffin family.  Everybody wins!

These water birds were hurt badly during a hail storm.  Most of them had part or all of their wings amputated.

The female hyena has 2X the testosterone of a male hyena.  She grows a "she-penis" which covers her own genitalia and swings quite a bit lower than her male counterpart's own member.

sorry, no photo of "she-penis" but you can google it

Our last animal to visit on the tour was the wild dog.  It is the 2nd most endangered carnivore in Africa - behind the Ethiopian wolf.  According to our guide, you don't hear anything about the endangered wild dog because no one gets excited about seeing a wild dog.  Everyone has dogs at home.  They want to see lions and cheetahs.  She wants us to raise awareness of the plight of the African wild dog. So here I am, raising awareness.  Send the African wild dog some love!

When we entered the enclosure the dogs started "hunting" us because they could smell the food on the jeep.  (we could too, it smelled like Alpo).  They darted back and forth between the two jeeps barking and yelping.  I'll post a video on Facebook because it was CRAZY!  That is a diversion tactic developed by the dogs to confuse their prey.  It really did sound like there were more than 4 dogs in all the confusion.

Our last stop on the tour was to do a final feeding of the cheetahs.  There are 5 males in this enclosure.  I was able to get a good shot of 4 of them.

Here are a few more photos from my adventure today:

Cheetahs have to sit before they can get their reward.  This smart cheetah kept "catching" the prey in a ploy to get more food

Zora gets to visit schools because she doesn't view humans under 4ft as dinner.  Notice her laser focus on the treat bag

Hanging with the cheetahs!

 No this isn't dinner, its Chew-baaah-ka and Darth Vader

Lining up for the cheetah run

I'm not sure this bag would be any help if something happened during the cheetah run, but she went and got this bag specifically for that event.

Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!

She's Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road!

As you know, I took on the challenge of driving myself to work this week.  The adjustment wasn't as hard as I expected it to be.  There were only a couple of times that I found myself confused as I was turning, or pulling out of a parking lot.  I did manage not to cause any accidents and no one "hooted" at me, so that is success in my book!  Also, almost exclusively using the turning signal now instead of the windshield wipers!

I did figure out a few interesting things.

Not surprising, but the slow lane here in South Africa is opposite the US.  It has been really hard for me to drive in what I have always known as the passing lane.  To remedy this, I stick to the middle lane as much as possible!

Parking spaces are tiny!  I have a really small car - a Toyota Tercell.  I feel like I am barely squeezing into the parking spaces.

As a solution to lack of public transportation, there are minibuses that run certain routes.  Many people rely on these for transportation to and from work.

Many of these buses are in horrible disrepair.  There appear to be 10-15 people piled into each bus.  They will stop anywhere and everywhere.  Seriously.  You can be driving down the highway at 100km/hr and the bus will swerve over to pick someone up on the side of the road.  Rule number 1 from Dave during my driving lesson, was try to avoid following a minibus, and if you have to be in the same lane as the bus, leave plenty of room.

I ventured to the mall after work.  I also learned that you need to pay for the parking BEFORE you leave the mall.

It says CARWASH!

There are some ways that South Africa seems so far ahead of the US.  The reason I went to the mall is because I get an electronic voucher for the per diem of my living expense sent to my cell phone.  I visit an ATM and enter the voucher code and the last 4 digits of my phone number and cash is dispensed.  Now I am getting used to paying for as much as possible with cash.  I cringe thinking of all the AMEX points I am giving up! 

Counterpoint to this advancement, they can only send whole Rand amounts.  My stipend is not a nice round number.  They wanted to round up and have me go to someone in the office and pay them R12 to make up the difference.  That is $0.90 folks.  When I called to ask for my money this week (yes, I actually had to do that), I told them we can just let those odd amounts ride and we could settle up at the end of the month.  Second counterpoint, either the bank or the office (I'm not sure which one) had sent their max funds for the day so I could not receive my electronic voucher until the next day.

We also use biometric sensing to access the office and enter through the security gates into the office park.

You place your finger on the pad and you are granted access to the office park grounds.

I had my fingerprint captured the first day I was in the Colgate office.  Last Friday I had lunch plans with a new co-worker and she informed me after lunch, we would go to another office to get my biometrics done for the entrance through the security gate.  After lunch, we meandered over to the security gate around 1pm.  I was informed that the biometric sensing was only done on Friday between 11:00-12:00.  I had just missed it.  When we got back to the CP office, I told the office admin that the window was 11-12 only, she said she knew that but I had lunch plans with said co-worker.  AARRRGGHHH!

Today, I set my calendar and promptly marched over to get my finger sensed.  When I arrived, I was informed I was at the wrong gate.  Huh?  There is ANOTHER gate where the biometrics were taken.  They didn't mention that last week when they sent me packing because I had missed the window.  I found the second gate and learned the gentleman had been delayed and would not arrive until 11:15.  I have been in South Africa just shy of 2 weeks, but I have already learned about "African Time" so I didn't plan on going back until 11:30.  I walked back over at 11:30, there were 10 or so people hanging out waiting at that point and the gentleman had not yet arrived.  

Around 11:40, biometric man arrived and began processing the masses.  I was back at my desk around 12:00.  A most unproductive hour out of my day, but now I can come and go as I please!

It's hard to see, but yes, he is packing heat!

Finally, on my drive home, I decided I was up to the challenge of multi-tasking.  Driving and listening to the radio at the same time!  I realized I don't know any radio stations so I thought, I'll just check the pre-sets.  Usually people set those in the rental cars - I know I do.

If you have presets . . . 

My rental car is pretty basic . . .

On deck for tomorrow?  A massage and mani/pedi at a spa near my apartment.

Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!

Week 1 in South Africa

My first week in South Africa was quite busy.  Lots of meetings and meeting people and trying to remember names.  And these are names that I have never in my life heard.  It's not like trying to remember Tom or Susan.  I hope no one give me a pop quiz on pronunciations or spellings!

I had my security briefing on Tuesday.  Against my better judgement, I did leave the hotel again on Wednesday morning.  Seriously, the security guy sent me 15 pdfs containing all the ways I can be swindled, robbed or sold into human slavery.  It was a reality check when he described a basic conversation to me and told me all the ways bad people could use that information against me.  I told him that conversation sounded like every conversation I have ever had with the person sitting next to me on an airplane.  (Where are you going?  Business or pleasure?  etc etc).  He said he does not speak to people on airplanes.  My take away was, act confident and be very suspicious of anyone you don't know asking you questions.

The week was pretty boring - lots of trips to the gym in the hotel/apartment and watching nature shows on BBC Earth and Nat Geo.  Robyn, Stacey and Carol - I saw a program about Skye and they took the turntable ferry that we took too!

I did make it to Mandela Square and one of the large shopping malls in Johannesburg.

I have been told that the many shopping malls in Jo'burg popped up post-Apartheid as a way to create cultural inclusion, aka  "Mall Culture".  A couple of google searches did not turn up much but I am going to keep digging to see if I can find more information on this.  The black, white and colored people (yes, it is OK to say those terms in South Africa) had been kept apart for so long, they wanted to be together,so shopping malls were one way to bring together all the cultures and races.

Just in case you were worried I would be missing too much food from home, in Sandton Mall / Mandela Square, they have a Hard Rock Cafe, McDonalds, KFC and Krispy Kreme.

This weekend was kind of a bust.  I came down with a stomach bug on Friday night and ended up laying on the couch and groaning for the majority of the day.  Fitbit seemed to think I was sleeping the whole time.  I actually watched some very interesting programming about the airport in Dubai and about people trying to smuggle drugs through the airport in Colombia.  I did not hit my fitness goal running to the toilet and back.

Sunday shaped up to be a better day.  I made a 2nd trip to Mandella Square via the hotel shuttle to stock up on some fresh fruits and veg at Woolworths, or Woolys as it is called.  Woolys is the Whole Foods of Jo'burg.  There is a Pick&Pay by my hotel that I will be doing most of my shopping at.
Dave had been shuttling me back and forth to the office every day.  He decided it was time to push his little birdie out of the nest.  We met up at 2pm for my second driving lesson (the first being Friday during rush hour).  We drove from my apartment to the Colgate office 4 times.  I still turn on my windshield wipers 1:2 ratio with my blinker.  I feel certain this will get better since Friday it was a 1:1 ratio.  He went over what lane I need to be in, what landmarks to look for, he told me when I did certain things that people would "hoot" (honk) at me.  After I completed the journey to his satisfaction we were done.  At 4pm.  Which is the same time all of the shops close up.  My plan to go back to the grocery store close to my apartment after the lesson was foiled.  Dave told me the stores stay open late on saturday.  "Late" being 6pm.  It is going to be hard to come from the city that never sleeps to the city that rolls up it's sidewalk at 6pm.  Not that it would matter, since I am not supposed to drive after dark and right now, sunset is at 6:10pm.

Here's Dave and I both looking relieved after my driving lesson.

I found a Yoga center down the street from my apartment I may give a try this week.  The elliptical and treadmill are getting old.

Next weekend I am going to a Cheetah Rescue (rescheduled from today) so I hope my post will be a little more exciting!

Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!

So what's it like to travel for 25 hours?

To begin my South African adventure, I had first had to get here.  This involved 25 hours of travel time.  I left my apartment at 1:30pm on Friday and I arrived in South Africa at 9:30 on Saturday night.

First stop at the airport was to pick up some light reading.  I already had 3 books and 1 other magazine in my bag but I always have to have options.  Sadly, I have subscriptions to Vogue, InStyle and Vanity Fair but because I forwarded my mail to my office, there appears to be about a 2-3 week gap before you start receiving mail at your new location.  I received my first piece of mail this week and I put in the forward notice on August 21.  Luckily I was able to put my magazines on hold until the first of the year.  A few stragglers will come in over the next month or so.  I will owe our department admin a nice gift for dealing with all my mail for the next 4 months.

Second stop was Shake Shack.  I was busy running errands before the flight (nothing like waiting until the last minute!) so I needed sustenance.  I will assure you that I was nervous, scared, excited, insert any other adjective that gives you butterflies in your stomach so I seriously considered the bottle of wine.  I won't tease you with the photo of my meal but will tell you it was absolutely delicious!

Normally you don't need a visa to visit South Africa but since I will be working there, I had to go to the SA Consulate to apply for one.  After a little back and forth due to some paper work issues, I was finally able to pick it up on Thursday.  And they are already tracking me!  My boarding pass indicates I need a visa to visit.

The first leg of my flight was JFK to Amsterdam.  I settled into my seat, grabbed a mimosa and checked out the Business Class swag.  This comfort kit is to help make your flight less painful.  It comes with an eye mask and ear plugs, toothbrush, lotion, etc.  The hoarder in me gets excited because this is something else to store stuff in.  You can use these to pack things inside your suitcase or backpack like electrical cords, jewelry, pill bottles, etc.

 (included a 15% off 1 full price Tumi item)

The 7.5 hour flight to Amsterdam was pretty uneventful.  The most exciting thing was watching Wizard of Lies.  This is the HBO movie about Bernie Madoff staring Robert Dinero.  One day last July, a ran out for afternoon coffee and they were putting up a Christmas tree in our office lobby.  I thought it was a bit early but didn't think much else about it until leaving work that day when we were funneled out through the loading dock because the movie was being filmed in our lobby.  It was maybe 5 seconds in the movie.  Crazy!

 Landed in Amsterdam at 6am.  I walked around and killed time until my 10:30 flight.  I put about 5000 steps on my FitBit.  Took the typical selfie in front of the Amsterdam sign.

The flight from Amsterdam to Johannesburg was almost 11 hours.
Here's the KLM swag bag.  They have peach colored for women and dark green for men.  I swapped with the guy next to me so he could give his as a gift.  I wanted to call him a cheapskate but I wanted the green bag more so I kept my mouth shut.

I drank a lot of water to stay hydrated.  I read a couple of my magazines.  I watched the movie "Baywatch".  I felt like a dirty old lady admiring the amazing physique of Zac Effron because all I could think about was High School Musical. But, I googled it and he's 30 so its all good.
"Snatched" with Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer was cute and heartwarming.  The only problem is the premise.  They travel to Ecuador and Amy meets a cute guy at a bar at their resort and he ends up being part of a plot to kidnap them.  Where am I going in February?  Ecuador.  Guess I won't talk to any cute boys at the bar!

At the end of the flight KLM presented each of us with a blue and white Delfts house with Dutch Genever.  According to the website there are 96 different houses.  I tried to pick one that reminded me of my trip to Amsterdam - the typical dutch house.  Here you can read all about the tradition.
https://www.klmhouses.com/houses-history.html

Finally I arrived in Johannesburg around 10pm.  I was picked up by Dave.  Everyone at CP loves Dave.  He has ferried me around Johannesburg on each of my 4 trips.  It is very comforting seeing that familiar face waiting for you when you come out of customs.  Sorry, no picture of Dave -remember, its been over 24 hours since I have showered.  He talked to me about driving in SA, pointed out where the office is related to my hotel / apartment and delivered me safely to Capitol 20 West.

That is the not-so-exciting story of my trip over to South Africa.  I hope everyone had an amazing weekend.  Until my next dispatch from Jo'burg, totsiens & mooi loop!