The Boys Are Back In Town

We finally made it home yesterday. After 38 hours of flying and being in airports we are wiped.

We started out with breakfast at Andre and Corné's. It was great to have that before we left. Thank you so much guys. After breakfast, they dropped us off at the Kimberley airport. Faith came to the airport to say goodbye before we flew out. Kimberley to Johannesburg was a short flight. We had a super long layover in Johannesburg. Once again, Mugg & Bean's "Endless Cup of Coffee" was taken advantage of.

On our flight from Johannesburg to London, Kyle was upgraded to first class. We don't know why or how, but we do know that while Mark and I were coach, Kyle was being fanned and fed grapes in his fully reclinable seat within his own little cubicle. He also had three course meals and probably would have been allowed to step outside the plane for a smoke if he'd like. The worst part is, Kyle couldn't fall asleep. He just couldn't. Not really for any reason. Mark says, "I had the same problem, but it was because I was doing this": he's sitting upright and bobs his head up and down as if falling asleep and waking up to plane movement and noises.

After the first main flight and Kyle had told us of all his luxuries, I came up with the bright idea of sneaking into first class on the next flight as we are boarding the plane. Kyle and I get onto the flight after our layover in London. Mark was in a boarding group ahead of Kyle and me, so he had already gotten on the plane when I officially decided to try this juvenile plan. I tell Kyle, "There are two open seats in the back of business class. Let's take those." "I don't know man." Kyle responds. I say, "If we do this and it works, it's a great story; if they catch us, the worst thing would be we get sent to our assigned seats." So we do it.

We claim the two business class seats in hopes that everyone in business class has already boarded. We begin to be waited upon with choices of water, juice, champagne, being handed menus, and given our own pair of Bose headphones. We were living it up. The plane takes flight and we begin to flip through movies that are playing to see what we want to start with first. As this is happening, a flight attendant approaches our row and asks for our boarding passes. We'd been found out.

After fumbling over words and trying to calm the flight attendant, we make the retreat to our assigned seating. Kyle called this, "the walk of shame". Both of us caught Mark having a good laugh at us as we made our way back. At least, we got to enjoy business class for about 45 minutes.

After landing in Chicago and making our way through customs, we had to go to baggage claim so we could recheck our bags for our last flight. Apparently, Kyle's bag didn't make it to the US. It's still in England. At least, that's what we are assuming. Hopefully it shows up with in the next few days.

We are back at Kyle's house. It's 4:20am and I'm dealing with jet lag. So I decided to write this. We went to the California taco truck guy and got dinner. He very well might be from Turlock or nearby; there is a (209) number on the freezer for the ice cream at his shop. The burritos were awesome. Good find Sue and Larry, and thank you for dinner.

Right now, I am sharing a bed with Kyle and he is snoring violently loud. And the snore changes. It's different noises every few minutes. Well, at least someone is getting some sleep.

I guess that's it. The trip is over. We are back to real life. Here's a little outro song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQo1HIcSVtg

P.S. Below are some people we stayed with in Kimberley. We were initiated into their tribe.

P.S.S. Even though this blog is coming to an end, here's one that won't be ending for a long time. Plus, it's great! Click the following link to check it out: JEB KENNEDY

Day 22-26: My Laaste Skryfwerk

The past few days have been great. We've gotten lunch with Mark's friends (Alron, Bean, Dzino, Tshepo, and others), watched the Olympics (one of our favorites being the ball and hoop gymnastics), had a drawing contest with the Parker girls, watched some movies, watched some really weird YouTube videos, had a dance party, and stayed up 'til 5:00am having good conversation and laughs. We've slept in, gone to church, gone to Mark's primary school, watched a soccer game in a township, and had some awesome lunches and linners (as Corné would call it).

We've slept in a double size bed...together, eaten chip bunnies, and bought vacuum-packed biltong (hopefully it passes). We've seen the Big Hole, skated the Maloof again, driven on the left side of the rode by ourselves, and discovered fizzers. Mark dropped in on a regulation size vert ramp, I tried to drop in on a regulation size vert ramp, Kyle laughed when I tried to drop in on a regulation size vert ramp. It's fair though, because I laughed uncontrollably when he destroyed a miniature baby stroller toy. He replaced it.

This whole trip has been more than we could have asked for. We have a few people to give thanks to:

-Tinus and Meisie. For taking us into their home and feeding us.
-Jeff and Lynn. For taking us in and being like parents to us. And making Mark cry with Koeksusters.
-Brent. For letting us crowd your studio apartment for a week and being our personal tour guide. Oh, and not getting mad about the computer.
-Andrew, Michelle, Keren, and Sarah. For taking us in, feeding us, and showing us "The Gods Must Be Crazy" numbers 1 and 2.
-Alron. For letting us crash at your place and steal your food.
-Ronsard. For treating us to some treats (best biltong I've had).
-Corné and Andre. For lunch, linner, desert, coffee, tea, and letting us sleep at your house.
-Faith. For taking us into your home and feeding us and letting us borrow the car.
-Pam Yoko. For finding us accommodation.
-Orbitz. For giving us some decent time layovers in Chicago and London.
-BAZ Bus. For being convenient.
-Moms, Dads, family, and friends. For support and actually reading this.

We are now on our way home. See you soon America.

Day 21: The Gods Must Be Crazy

Yesterday morning, Mark went and visited his old school while Kyle and I hung out at the house. Mark seemed to have a good time visiting. While Mark was gone, Kyle and I ran into a dilemma. Here we were, just being quiet in the room; Kyle was sitting up against the wall in his bed and catching up on the latest movie criticism online, and I was reading Winnie-the-Pooh. All of a sudden I hear Kyle say, "Daniel...Daniel look." I look to my right and Kyle is sitting V-shaped on the floor with his head and upper-back against the wall and his legs held up by the rest of the bed that hadn't collapsed.

Kyle was sleeping on a classic, portable stretcher bed. While he was sitting up against the wall, the legs at the head of the bed had unlocked and folded under Kyle. I began to laugh and asked, "What happened?" while getting out of my bed to help. He said, "I don't know. The legs just folded under." We were both laughing a lot at this point, trying to figure out the bed situation. To add to the laughter, Kyle had been wearing a set of purple, bunny earmuffs most of the morning and was still wearing them the whole time we were fixing the bed.

We eventually got the bed fixed. Mark came back from his old school. We had lunch with the Parker's and then went to the Maloof Skate Park. It's a great park. We met a lot of kids there and had a fun time skating. Michelle even came out with Keren and Sarah to skate.

After a good time skating we went back to the house and played barbies with the girls. Later, we had dinner and watched a movie. We watched "The Gods Must Be Crazy", which was great. The Parkers went to bed while Kyle, Mark, and I stayed up and watched "Speed". Then we watched "The Bourne Identity".

Day 20: Window Shopping and Radioactive Spiders

Tuesday was another chill day. It was so cold that it started sleeting. So we decided to do our activities indoor.

We had breakfast at the house and went back to the mall a little later to do some window shopping. Kyle found some cool shirts and a sweater though. We had lunch there too. The three of wanted to see The Amazing Spiderman, but had to walk to the other mall where the theater was. So we did. It was a cold walk.

The movie was a lot of fun. It was like a comic book came to life but it wasn't terribly cheesy. We all enjoyed it.

After the movie, we met up with one of Mark's old friends, Ronsard, who is a really cool guy. He DJ's, so it was fun to talk with him about that stuff.

When we were done talking with Ronsard, we met up with Martin, another one of Mark's old friends, and Mike, the facilitator/manager of the Maloof skatepark in Kimberley, for dinner. John Dory's, a sushi place, was our choice and it was great food for a good deal. There, we had good conversation and watched the Olympics.

After dinner, Andrew picked us up from the mall and took us back to his house. We went to bed soon after.

P.S. Our clothes were on the clothesline the other day and Kyle noticed that my pair of Superman underwear (a Christmas gift from Ryan Blair) were flapping in the wind.

Day 19: Mark's Hometown

Yesterday was our first full day in Kimberley. We finally made it to Mark's hometown. It is pretty cold here! Better than sweating in America though.

First, we went to the new mall in town. It's small compared to others we've been too on the trip, but there was a cool, little skate shop there that Mark bought a board from. He seems happy with it.

After the mall, Mark took us down memory lane. We went to a couple of the skate spots that he and friends would skate a lot. We went to his old house. He says it's nothing like he remembers. There are tall, grey walls with electrical fencing along the top surrounding the house. We took a peek over the fence and Mark said that the house looks the same, but the yard is different now.

An elderly lady (Jason Katz's grandmother) from across the street noticed we were peeking over the fence and told us to stop because she was afraid that we'd get electrocuted. The lady ended up knowing Mark's parents and Mark had a short and sweet conversation with her.

We headed towards the other mall in town and spent the rest of our day there at a Mugg & Bean since it was so cold outside. Kyle and Mark got endless cups of coffee, and we watched the Olympics. Two of Mark's childhood friends, Michael and Alron, came by and hung out for a while. We just sat, talked, and watched more of the Olympics. Gymnastics was on. It was intense.

Alron gave us a ride back to the Parker's (the family we are staying with), and we were greeted with a delicious meal. We met Michelle, Andrew's wife, and their two daughters, Keren and Sarah. They are a really nice and hospitable family. We had good conversation over dinner and later, tea.

The Parkers went to bed a little later and left Kyle, Mark, and me in the family room. Most of the time we just sat in silence. Mark was surfing the web for snowboarding equipment, Kyle was reading Winnie The Pooh, and I was writing for the blog. I actually think we are doing the same exact thing right now. Well, Mark was taking pictures.

Day 18: Traveling to Kimberley

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Arnold's. I know you're thinking, "You guys ate with the former governor of California?" No, we didn't. He wasn't at his South Africa house, he's too busy doing stuff like, "The Expendables 2". We just raided his kitchen. It was a good breakfast.

Afterwards, we drove up by table mountain and enjoyed the view for a while. Then we were off to the bus station. We gave Brent's car another push and weren't able to get it started. Some guys working up near table mountain had to help us get it going. I tried to film what I could of the situation.

On the way to the train station, at a stop sign, the car died. Again, we had to get out and push in the middle of traffic. Luckily, it started right away. We made it to the train station, unloaded our luggage, and said our thank you's and goodbyes to Brent. Already miss that guy.

We got our tickets, got on the bus, and were on our way to Kimberley. The ride consisted of:

-Coffee
-Cookies
-2 Crying Babies
-and 4 movies: "She's The Man", "Daddy Day Care", "Speed 2: Cruise Control", and "17 Again" (They couldn't play the first Speed movie since it had to do with a bus).

We arrived in Kimberley at about 1:30am and were picked up by Andrew, a family friend of Mark's. He took us back to his family's home and we went straight to bed. The family has been great to us by the way.

Day 17: Last day in Cape

Saturday we woke up, got ready, and were out of the house by 10:00am. We went down to Kalk Baai (Bay) and Mark met up with some old family friends. Brent, Kyle, and I did some shopping at local stores along the coast there. The places had really cool things. A lot of antique shops. It's too bad we can't bring a lot of stuff back with us.

It was another chill day. Mark met up with us later and we finished moseying through the different shops. We also stopped and listened to some live music. I paid a few rands and filmed them, but the wanted me to pay them a R100. They told me that I was going to enjoy it later, so I should pay more. I said, "You guys are getting free promotion when I share this, so we're even."

After shopping, we left and Brent asked us if we wanted to get ice cream by the beach. We all were hesitant, partially because of my lactose-intolerance, but he said, "We're going anyway." So we had some of the best ice cream I have ever had...on the beach...and Brent took pictures of a little kid (with the parent's permission).

We went back to Brent's flat, made lunch, laid around, and talked. Mark slept. After being lazy for a few hours we decided to go back into town for one last dinner with Brent. We went to a pizzeria called Rafiki's which was very good. We watched the Olympics for a while and just talked and goofed.

We had a really nice time at Rafiki's, on our second double date of the week, and decided to call it a night. Like I said before, at this point we've had to push start Brent's car every time he'd turn it off. So, here we go for another push. We get it going down a fairly steep hill with about 100 yards in length to get it started. Brent is not able to get it going, so Kyle, Mark, and I began to chase him down the hill because the road levels off to a stop sign. Finally, we catch up to Brent at the stop sign and are laughing hysterically. We began to push him again through an unavoidable, very busy street and are still laughing because we are holding up traffic pretty badly. We thought we were done and there was no way the car was going to start. Luckily, after about 30 more yards of pushing the car, Brent never gave up and got it to go. We all hopped in and went home.

P.S. I don't think I will ever eat a whole bunny chow in one sitting again. Ever.

P.S.S. We also saw a rugby player with no pants.

P.P.P.S. Below is a picture of all the food we took on the day of the shark dive.