We have arrived!

We made it to South Africa!  The flights went smoothly, except for our lack of sleep trying to keep Jackson quiet. I do not recommend flying 15 straight hours with a baby. We had roomy first-class seats that I will hopefully get to enjoy on our return trip. Miranda had a great time watching Disney movies and playing her Nintendo DS. We left KC at 3pm and arrived in Atlanta just under 2 hours later. We left Atlanta at 7pm and landed in Johannesburg at 10:30am (5:30pm South Africa time). When we arrived, we got all our luggage, and had 3 people pushing 4 carts with all our stuff, then a large taxi with a trailer took us, our 6 pieces of carry-on luggage, 5 checked bags and 8 cardboard moving boxes to our temporary extended-stay.  It's a nice furnished 2 bed/2 bath apartment with no heaters so we quickly purchased an oil one to put in the dining room which is where Jackson is sleeping.  Miranda is excited to have a tv in her room. 

The first night was challenging as Jackson decided to death-scream from 2-3am. The day was spent in a jet-lag cloud.  We made our way to the local 'Pick N Pay Hyper' which is like a super Walmart; it has a little bit of everything.  Things have different names over here so it takes awhile to figure out exactly what you want.  Don't ask for a napkin, it's a 'serviette'. After much-needed naps, we headed out to dinner at Papacinos, which is a large family-friendly Italian-style restaurant. Miranda got to go to a special kitchen and make her own pizza. I had a flatbread pizza with chicken & mayo, feta cheese, and avacado slices. It was so good!  There is a large playground outside where the 'child-minders' will watch your kids while you eat dinner. Genius! The evening was spent Skyping family.  We are 7 hours ahead of KS time.

Today is Sunday and the night went much better. The jet-lag cloud is beginning to dissapate but I found myself wide awake from 4-6am. We had a nice lunch and visit with one of Rusty's co-workers and his family.  It makes me anxious to get into a house. We went back to the Pick N Pay to pick up a few more things and it was much less crowded, since we showed up 20 minutes before closing time at 4pm. Everything closes early here except for restaurants and movie theaters, so we won't be running errands in the evenings during the week as Rusty will be putting in 10-hour days. I have my international driver's license, but have not driven on the streets yet.  I'm not that anxious to head out on my own, have never driven on the left side before, and the other drivers are a little scary. Plus, people try to sell you things at the major intersections, and sometimes the street lights (I mean 'robots') aren't working.  I am very happy we decided to bring our carseats from home as there are no child-restraint laws here and it is difficult to find a proper carseat.  

It is almost winter here, so the sun is set by 6pm and it projects to the north side of buildings instead of the south. But, the winter weather is lovely; the high was about 65 today with no humidity and clear blue skies. Haven't ran into any crazy bugs yet, but I'm sure it will happen soon since the homes here do not have screens on any of the windows.  I will be heading out Tuesday with our relocation specialist to look for a house. We are hoping to be out of our extended-stay very soon!