We've Arrived (Safe and Sound)

We survived what some would classify as the impossible. We traveled for 24 hours on an airplane with an 8 month old and survived to tell the tale. In fact, he did extremely well. For anyone contemplating such a feat in the near future they have bassinets for international travel for babies that are less than 24 pounds (Cian barely made it) and they hang in front of your seats in the bulkhead (first row of the economy class). They are really great and allow your kid to stretch out and allow you to have a glass of complimentary red wine and give you a few hours of free lap time (which is incredible).

We arrived in Cape Town at about 9pm and after Cian's hysterical giggles in the passport line we were taken to our apartment on Long Street. It only took one step out of the airport, one breath of that air, and it was amazing how fast I was transported to 8 years ago. There are countless differences between South Africa and Malawi - it's almost like comparing North America to Malawi in some ways - but the smell of the night air, I wasn't expecting that to be so similar and in its own way, comforting. Comforting too was the blackness of the night - the night is thick in Africa, it's different than anywhere else I've been, and even with all the citylights of Cape Town that was unchanged. Our apartment is lovely and on the 11th floor with a beautiful view of Table Mountain. It has a cute little kitchen with a combination washer and dryer (why don't we have these in North America!?!), a huge bathroom, 2 bedrooms, WiFi...it's very different than any of my previous accomodations on this continent. We'll post pictures soon (once I figure out how to do that :P)

We spent Saturday mostly sleeping, doing laundry and finding groceries. That was really an all-day affair. I'm always amazed at the amount of laundry we have now considering that Cian constantly pukes on his own clothes, Keith's clothes, my clothes and anything he can hit within a 2 foot radius. It's amazing that he's getting so big considering how much emanates from him in cascading waves of fluid. We finally found some groceries at a small little hole-in-the wall store and then found a ... 7-11. We're serious it was actually called 7-11 and it had wine, chicken, rice, fruits and veggies and we made an entire stirfry dinner out of food we got at 7-11. Keith says it's fitting seeing as how we live in Slurpee-toba now. We had our first African casualty that day as well. We would like to take this moment to remember Mortimer. He was a good stuffed animal and was always there for Cian to prop up a bottle, to cuddle or to have his face/ear/tail chewed. Somewhere on the streets of downtown Cape Town he jumped out of the stroller and although I'm far more distraught about it then either of the boys Keith tells me to think that maybe he's making a nice South African boy happy now. (Note: If Auntie Francie has another Mortimer in her back pocket or wants to tell me how to get one I would be forever grateful). That night Karen and Andrew Suderman came over for drinks and it was nice to see them and here about their life thus far. You can buy a bottle of wine for about $5 so South Africa and I will get along just fine :).


Today (Sunday) we registered for the conference and did some errands. We stumbled into what we can only guess was a shoot for a South African commerical. It was awesome cause they did numerous takes of a group of over 100 people breaking into random dance at the mall. It was one of those random misadventures that make you smile. Tonight we went to the Opening Ceremony of the FIGO 2009 symposium and it was amazing to see all these people from every corner of the world descend upon this conference to support women's health. Cian's favourite were the Indian women in their brightly-coloured saris (trying to convince him not to touch them was another matter :P). I know I'm a giant nerd but I'm really excited about the conference and can't wait to tell you guys all about it (I'll try to mark the nerdy medical parts so people who don't want to read them can gloss over them to the parts about Cian).