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June 04, 2008
South Africa!
I'm in Cape Town, South Africa, this week for the World Economic Forum on Africa. It's part of my Big Idea work, although I have to admit that I feel like a bit of a fraud in getting paid for this trip when I would have gladly provided my services for the cost of the plane trip.
Speaking of the plane trip, getting here was no mean feat. I went from Washington, DC to Doha, Qatar (pronounced, I am reliably informed by the people of that country as "Cuttar") to Johannesburg, South Africa and then finally to Cape Town. Total time in the air + layovers: 32 hours.
On the other hand, I have to hand it to Qatar Airlines--they have the BEST in-flight entertainment system EVER. I got all caught up with my movie watching (PS - I Love You, The World Is Not Enough, Barefoot in the Park, There Will Be Blood, Dan in Real Life) and even watched four episodes of The Office--all of which I had seen before, but the combination of sleep deprivation and office humor made me laugh hysterically throughout each of them...I think the guy sitting next to me was slightly worried.
Other observations: Qatar is hot and dusty (reign in your surprise!), the security line at Dulles on a Saturday night is ridiculous (and in my overly-sensitive liberal way, I suspect the decision to screw over everyone traveling overnight to the Middle East is somehow racially motivated), Cape Town doesn't really count as Africa (as I've been repeatedly told at every opportunity by the people here), and M&Ms taste best at 2:30 a.m. when jet lag is at its worst.
So far, I've spent most of my time working on Big Idea assignments related to the WEF, but I'm having dinner tonight with a colleague from my alumni network who went to school in Sweden a year after I did. We're meeting at an "authentic Cape Town" location, which in her words means "awesome atmosphere, but don't bring a handbag because it will be stolen". And if all goes well tomorrow, on Friday and Saturday I'll have some time to myself to explore the city properly.
Comments
Yay for SA! I want a full report about Cape Town. Heed the advice about the handbag.
Posted by: Elizabeth at June 4, 2008 10:55 AM
