The view from Tara's rockin' place
Our time in Africa ended with a final night in Jo’burg, hosted with the utmost generosity by friend Tara in her awesome digs. Thanks to Tara, we not only had a lovely apartment to stay in, but we got to see parts of Jo’burg we otherwise never would have seen. Tara lives in Yeoville -- a part of the city that, by her own admission, is generally feared as being dangerous. But in actuality it's an interesting neighborhood with a nice mix of immigrants from several African countries, mostly trying to eke out a living, like immigrants everywhere. (Note from Josh: Susan couldn't resist getting in at least one politically correct comment before this blog was done.)
Our last morning we bid a sad farewell to Tara and Africa, and, camped out at the Singapore Airlines departure gate, resigned ourselves to leaving Africa in just a few moments. Just as we were mourning the end of our time in Africa and wishing we had more time, fate, with her ever impeccable sense of ironic timing, intervened in the form of a meek Singapore Airlines employee apologizing for what would turn into a 12-hour delay. Yay, more time in Africa!
During the delay, it quickly became apparent that Singapore Airlines, which customarily has an airtight schedule, had no idea how to cope with hundreds of tired and angry passengers. Luckily for all, the multi-talented Susan Banki stepped into the breach. After it was announced that the flight was delayed indefinitely, and some people could be moved to new flights, Josh decided to huddle down with the carry-on bags and try to get some shut-eye. Mere minutes later, he heard Susan’s voice making general announcements regarding the status of our flight. Given her natural inclination at verbosity and the lack of a handy PA system, the Singapore Airlines staff “deputized” Susan to assist with the scheduling crisis at Gate A1. During this time Susan also got a chance to display another of her many talents, namely a short temper, when she scolded fellow passengers for not paying close enough attention to her previous announcements. You go girl!
(Susan's addition: while it is true that I did roll my eyes at one lacksidasical couple that missed several of my announcements, I do have to mention, in my defense, that Michael the Singapore Airlines guy literally called me a 'godsend.' I'm not kidding.)
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