9h45 min SFO to LHR
8h10 min layover at Heathrow
1 hour delay
10h20m LHR to JNB
5h15 min layover
1h45 min JNB to UTT

And I’ve arrived. In the same clothes I left San Francisco in on Saturday night. And it’s now Monday evening. My co-workers pick me up at the airport. Hugs abound. I’m so excited to be in Africa, in the country, the real, rural country, true Africa country, ready to see our projects.

We have dinner and there is nothing more than I want than to take a hot shower and crawl into bed. Into a warm, soft bed to ward against the chill of the winter-turning-to-spring frigid night air. I let the water run to warm it. It’s ice cold. I switch the lever on the tap – I’ve discovered often it is installed backwards. A minute later icy water is still streaming from above. Oh. Oh. Oh.

How badly do I need a shower?

I’ve been in the same outfit for 39 hours and 15 minutes. The majority of that time was spent sitting in a small confined space in recycled air on an airplane.

I need a shower pretty bad.

I steel myself. The cold water numbs me. I get wet, then turn off the water to lather my hair and soap up. I turn the water back on to rinse. My head aches where the stream of water pelts my head. And then it doesn’t. Pelt my head, that is. The water has dwindled from a solid stream to barely a drizzle. The water completely stops. No! No! No!

I’m not a princess. I can rough it with the best of them. When I’m expecting it. Tonight I wasn’t. At all. Let the adventure begin.