I have arrived!

The 14 hour flight from JFK  to Johannesburg turned out not to be as bad as I feared. I had an aisle seat and know one sat next to me. I was able to catch roughly two and a half hours of sleep (with the assistance of Nyquil). I killed the rest of the time with movies, Sudoku, and trying to fall asleep.

My day got a little hectic when I had to transfer in Johannesburg. I went through customs, got my luggage, and wandered for about a half hour with another student trying to make the same transfer. The signage was very confusing and the departure list was hours behind the actual time. We finally found the right counter to re-check our bags when this guy out of no where starts helping me with my bags. He took advantage of the fact that I had no idea what I was doing and was rushed to catch the plane to Cape Town. He charged me way to much but I'm going to tell myself that everyone gets conned the first time they travel internationally alone (I just didn't think it would be before I left the airport).

Regardless I caught the plane to Cape Town and my "friend" got my bags to arrive there. That plane ride was about two hours long. Will, the director of the program, picked me and another guy in the program up from the airport and took us to the volunteer house which is where I am writing this. Cape Town is beautiful. It is about 78 degrees with a cool breeze.Tomorrow I start work wt the school.  

Welcome To The Blog

As you may or may not know I am leaving for Cape Town,  South Africa in four days. There, I will be a volunteer helping disadvantaged kids. My specific program is coaching kids in basketball, however I will also be involved in the health awareness and teaching programs.

Here is a link to the program if you're curious:

http://gapyearsouthafrica.com/

 I will be living in a volunteer house with about 10 other volunteers in Fish Hoek, a suburb outside of Cape Town. I don't know much more about my living situation beyond that but I've seen pictures of the house and it seems nice.  

At the moment, I am gathering what I need for the trip. It's taking a while but, with the help of my parents, I've already gotten almost everything I need. 

The plane ride from JFK to Johannesburg is about 18 hours and I'm still scrabbling to figure out what I can possibly do while on the plane. If anyone has an idea about what I can do, please let me know.

If you are wondering about the title of the blog, one of the travel books I got strongly emphasized over and over "Just don't feed the baboons!" so I figured it was appropriate. 

I am hoping to post on the blog roughly every few days with updates about what I've been doing. 

My next post will be from Cape Town!!