We all met each other for dinner downtown on Monday night. I didn’t get a chance to talk with everyone, but I’m so glad we had an informal setting to get to know each other. The delegation seems like a great mix of people from across the county. It consists of seven people: three Republicans, two Democrats and one independent. Two state legislators, two campaign and government staffers, one employee of Boeing, and me. Our escort is an alum of the program, and faculty member from DePaul University in Chicago.
On Tuesday, we started at the ACYPL offices with a conference call with the folks from the embassies, and an overview of our itinerary from ACYPL staff. And because Minnesota is one big small town, I ran into Chas Anderson (ACYPL alumna) at their offices. She recently escorted a group to Vietnam. Note to self: become lifetime member of the organization immediately upon return. Escort possibilities are very enticing.
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| Our cohort at the Ghana Embassy |
After ACYPL, we were off to meet with the Ghanaian and South African ambassadors. We actually shared an elevator with the South African ambassador without knowing it was him. He was so down to Earth, joking with us. When we got to the meeting room, he formally introduced himself and he launched into very intimate stories of his country, including his time in jail during Apartheid. Linda Rotunno (ACYPL) also shared very personal stories about South Africa, and I have a sense this will be the key to understanding its history and current struggles.
In our final meeting of the day, we visited the State Department to be briefed by many officials who work in Africa. Then it was off to Dulles for our “direct” flight to Johannesburg.
What followed was 19 hours of confusion, half sleep, and bad movies. As it turns out, the plane had a stop over for fuel in Senegal. I had just fallen asleep when we started to land, and I woke up cranky when the flight attendant tore the blankets from my lap. I felt like a child who had just fallen asleep in the car, only to have the warm cocoon of sleep ripped from me, feeling disoriented and annoyed.
When we took off again, I found the perfect recipe for sleep: Eat, Pray, Love. I’d like to thank Julia Roberts for helping me find a blissful sleep state almost immediately.
Two representatives of the Embassy met us at the airport and took us by van to our (swank) hotel in Sandton, a (very safe) suburb of Joburg. We were briefed about our schedule in country, and ate dinner in the hotel. Tomorrow we start our adventure. For now, it’s BBC news and sleep!
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