We are home

I write this email to you from Rochester, Minnesota. It is currently 7:15 p.m. Minnesota time. This is actually somewhere around 4 a.m. on Sunday South African time I believe. I think it is an understatement to say that we are tired and smell pretty bad!

We left our last lodging at 8 a.m. on Friday morning South African time (this is 11 p.m. Minnesota time). We then had an:

• 8 hour van ride to the airport
• 8 hour wait for our flight
• 10.5 hour flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam
• 2 hour layover in Amsterdam
• 8.5 hour flight from Amsterdam to Minnesota
• 1 hour drive from Minneapolis to Rochester

In total, we have been travelling for close to 48 hours. I am not sure when the last time was I changed my shirt or brushed my teeth. I have also had to be creative in remembering my medications as an 7 hour time change is quite substantial.
Our arrival back to our condo wasn't as smooth as I would have liked. First, there was someone parked in our assigned underground parking spot. This has never happened before so I assume it has something to do with the fact that we were gone for six weeks and they are doing garage construction (still!)
Then, when getting onto my computer, I realized we didn't have Internet. This was quite disturbing being as I had set my RLS email to deliver automatic email messages while I was gone. I looked and realized our Internet had stopped working about 5 days after we left! I called Charter. I probably should have waited to call until I had slept a bit. I was a little bit frustrated when the woman told us they had no record of us ever having Internet with their company. Huh? We've had it for FOUR years! Anyways, no idea right now why we don't have Internet. We are currently mooching off of the Jones' Internet as they are still in Bangladesh on their own mission trip. I really liking typing on the computer overlooking the downtown area! Thanks Jones' for being such good friends we had no doubt you would not mind.
I plan, tomorrow, to post some major pictures and details. Tara currently has all the pictures we took collectively as a group on her computer. She is going to put them on her external drive and since I am going to take her to the Rochester airport tomorrow (the girl has a flight to California at 8:30 a.m. Yikes!), I will get all the photos from her then and try, in some way, to reflect back on our trip. I seriously do not know where to start. There is so much, and my posting has been so scattered. Where do I begin?
For now I should say I am sorry that it has taken me so long to post. The last time we had Internet access was on the last day I posted -- April 26th. From there we hit the road and didn't look back! This "road hitting" included a two and a half day safari in Kruger National Park. For those of you that don't know, every person's goal on a Safari is to see the "Big 5". This includes the elephant, leopard, lion, cape buffalo, and rhino. We saw the "Big 4". We did not manage to secure a rhino sighting. (Although Ajit and Tara have previously had a rhino meeting). However, our leopard and lion experiences more than made up for that! We got to see a pride of lions (two females, a male, and four cubs) on two different occasions. We were literally only feet from the lions. Apparently, as long as we stay seated in our open vehicle, they see the people in the vehicle as one object and do not see us a threat. Go figure.
We also spent a half hour watching a leopard! Leopards are pretty elusive and sightings are not common. Our ranger "Andre" got wind of a sighting and broke away from the lion tracking to take a look. At first it was fairly routine. But then, some impala (a type of antelope) wandered over and our leopard, an "opportunistic" hunter, began to stalk. This was amazing!!! The group has teased me ever since because as the leopard stood and waited for his perfect opportunity, a blonde Floridian was rumored to have said, "We should warn them" in reference to the impala. That Floridian was me. I really did feel bad being as I knew that an impala would probably get eaten. Everyone knew it but them!
Good thing for the impala that they got "wind" of the leopard and perked up. In the midst of waiting ever so patiently, a hyena also wandered over, suddenly aware of the our leopard friend's previous impala meal stashed in a tree above. This sent the leopard up into its tree to keep the hyena at bay! It was an amazing scene and one of all of our favorite trip highlights! We also saw tons of zebra, elephant, and giraffes. Tara is a walking Lion King soundtrack! We got to see Pumba and Simba as well as the bird. Tara, what's that bird's name again?
We also took a swing through Mozambique putting our country total at 5! (Nigeria, South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Mozambique.) In hindsight, I could have totally done without this adventure. Getting into Mozambique and especially getting out, proved to be a tad bit difficult and not nearly as friendly as our other stops. By the time we had spent a few hours driving through, we were ready to get out and be done with that part of the adventure. Not my idea of fun. However, we do have a stamp in our passport.
I learned a lot about myself on our six week trip. I learned that I am capable of much more than I ever thought possible. I learned that I am able to take a shower with one bucket of water, sleep under mosquito nets, not have running water, and only have the use of scattered electricity. I am able to give up toilet paper and washing my hands before every meal. I am able to brush my teeth with a water bottle, wash my clothes by hand for over a month, and do without any toiletry items for over a week. I am able to travel to a foreign land and with the help of friends, have an amazing, life-altering experience. I learned that I can travel with three other individuals for six weeks and actually all get along. To spend nearly every waking hour with the same people and not want to strangle them upon debarking, is pretty impressive if you ask me.
I also learned that I have a lot to learn and work through with my anxiety and nervous tendencies. There were many situations that put me in a bit of tail spin. My four travel partners would be laughing and telling jokes and reminding me of the pointless task of worry, while I stewed away. My worry often stemmed from time concerns, confusion in travelling, or unfamiliar territory. This is something, in the weeks to come, that God and I will have a lot of good conversations about.
Oh, and while I am thinking of travel partners, it stunk to say good bye to Kelsey in the airport. She's off to Denver. I LOVE YOU LITTLE SISTER!!!!!
For now, I will say good night. I will now be back more regularly, and will especially be back with pictures and maybe some video tomorrow. Walking into our condo felt very weird. It truly doesn't feel like home anymore. I truly don't know where home currently is.
Until tomorrow ...