In a way this has nothing whatsoever to do with my trip to S.A. Yet this day was pretty much caused by all that, so I'm going to tell you about it. Forgive me for waxing a little prosaic here.
I had a long night last night, and it's a long story, but suffice to say it made getting up as early as 8am somewhat difficult. Neverthless, I was ready to be picked up at 9:30 to go see my campus chaplain Nate get ordained as a Deacon.
Got back to my dorms around 1pm and hooked up with my friend Heather because we had a major shopping trip planned. I was in serious need of certain items and she had volunteered to advise me as only a woman can.
Our first stop was to the haircut place, where I got the mop I'd been growing for three months lopped off. I am now fresh and sexy as God intended me to be. We then went for delicious vegetarian food, at which point we realized Heather couldn't drive anymore until she got her glasses, so she handed me the keys and we came back to SMU. We also picked up another friend Josh (a male perspective was also needed.)
And off we went to the mall, fighting crazy Saturday Christmas traffic. Just as we get to the parking lots... I notice a strange noise that may or may not be emitting from the car. Shortly after this we know for sure, as there is also smoke billowing from the hood and the engine temperature has rocketed. We had to pull over, much to the chagrin of EVERYONE, and discovered a coolant leak. The fire department was called.
Luckily things were not too dire. We managed to cool the engine enough to get it safely to put some more coolant in it and get it to an auto shop down on Ross/Greenville. This is where the fun begins, because now the three of us are somewhat stranded...
So! With a boundless spirit of adventure we make our way down[up] Greenville (which alternates between interesting areas of shopping and restaurants, beautiful houses, and really scary neighborhoods) on foot. We stopped once at a Starbucks to rest, but otherwise we pretty much went straight from the autoshop to SMU, which is a good solid three miles...
After which we promptly got into Josh's car and headed BACK to the mall... several hours later than intended. Basically we didn't arrive until after 7pm (verses the 3pm start time).
Almost IMMEDIATELY, and I mean the second we found a parking space, Josh got a flat tire. It was incredible. We left it, and just went to take care of our business.
Now, understand, none of us are particularly "shopaholic". In fact, Josh and I usually can't stand it. But I needed some really decent dress clothes (despite being on a $200 budget). We ended up scouring Macy's, and let me tell you this is some hard bloody work, especially finding clothes that actually fit my tiny frame.
Most of the people we talked to were very unhelpful; in fact that "expert" of the department told me I wasn't going to find anything and basically to forget it. Fortunately a fantastic guy named Arden came to the rescue, and an hour and a half later I came away with a wonderful Calvin Klein suit, two shirts, and an all-purpose tie, all for under my budget.
Then we needed to get our blood sugar back up at the food court before making an attempt on the world of dress shoes. Let me sum it up for you: four stores, and I still don't have any. I figure they have bloody shoe shops in Africa, right?
After all this we still had to get out and change the tire, which took awhile (especially since I'm an idiot and didn't put the handbrake on all the way...).
Basically this whole day should have destroyed us all, but somehow, I don't know if it's because of our friendship or what, but we actually managed to enjoy ourselves and come out on top.
Except they both need expensive fixes on their cars now. I feel awful about that.
Also, I've somehow got to survive for a month in Africa on about $400... At least $100 of which is already reserved for "touristy" things. I honestly thing that a vast amount of time is going to be spent working on scholarships and other paperwork... Kind of silly, don't you think?
It was traumatic, I can tell you, but the experience... we did some serious bonding, I can tell you.
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