My bus to Houston departed in the
afternoon, and so I began the longest inter-state commute of my trip, 45 hours
and counting.
As you can imagine, there isn’t much
I can say about a 45-hour bus trip except that it was long. Thank goodness the
great people at Greyhound provided me with WiFi and plug points on board, and
thank goodness my great friend Caroline provided me with her Netflix account
information or I think I would have gone crazy!
I didn’t get much sleep, and when I
did, I was often woken up for middle-of-the-night type of bus changes.
One thing that can be said, however,
is that on this kind of commute the People-Watching is at its prime. I saw
every type of person that you can imagine, and was forced to interact with many
of them. One guy I sat next to whispered to me and asked if he smelt like
marijuana and another lady discussed all of her boyfriend problems with me! It’s
amazing how open people can be in that kind of setting…
I, on the other hand, was polite and
listened but hardly opened my mouth. All in all, it wasn’t as bad as I had
prepared for, which was a really nice surprise!
I was met at the bus station by my
second cousin Connie, who up until now, I had never met before. She was very
nice, as I knew she would be, and in no time we were trading unheard family
stories.
I learned a great deal in my few days
with Connie, so much about my family before my time and I particularly loved
hearing about her uncle and my grandfather whom I never had the pleasure of meeting
as he passed away before I was born. She left South Africa before I was even
talking but somehow, Connie had me feeling close to my family so far away from
home.
On our way to her home, Connie
informed me that she had no “fun food” as she put it, so we stopped at Walmart
and she insisted on buying me any “fun food” I laid my eyes on! I tried to slow
her down but she was so persistent and so hilarious as we moved from isle to
isle, loading our cart will all the goodies we could get our hands on—I was
only staying for 5 days!
We left with all of our spoils, and
headed home to settle in. I had my own room with my own bed, my own bathroom,
and best of all my own shower… I was set!
A new day dawned and brought with it
a new activity: Connie had left her bicycle in the kitchen and a note saying
“have fun!”. Well, it was clearly a day for a ride…
I grabbed a balanced and nutritious breakfast
of Cap’n Crunch, Lil’ Bite Muffins, a pack of sugar cookie flavored Pop Tarts,
and a banana (yes you heard me) and hopped onto my bike for the day.
Thank goodness that riding a bike is
something you cannot forget how to do as it had been awhile. Off I went, armed
with nothing but my water bottle and a screenshot of Connie’s house location on
my phone.
I rode around the neighborhood and
got a little brave with how far away I traveled from anything I recognized; you
may have called me lost but I wouldn’t have admitted it! I rode with a
confidence that could only have been developed from growing up under the Texan
sun, and I believe that it was that fake confidence alone that got me home at
the end of the day!
Speaking of the Texan sun, that was
something I hadn’t accounted for on my little adventure, and as a result I had
run out of water pretty fast, luckily I rode through a public golf course that
weaved its way through the town and found a little water fountain—whew! It was
so hot and so humid it rivaled my weekend back in Florida at the tail end of
summer, I was shocked!
I made it back home, sweat rolling
off of me, before Connie came home from work and with just enough time to
shower before heading out to dinner. We found ourselves at a little Mexican
restaurant and we stuffed our faces full of nachos and burritos and enchiladas,
till we couldn’t take another bite! The food was so rich and delicious, and as
hard as we may try, you cannot find Mexican like this back in South Africa. Our
night was brought to a close by watching The Voice on TV with a cup of tea and
ever so many laughs and jokes about our day, Connie could not believe that I
had gotten lost and she was even more surprised I had made it back!
I woke with the sun the next morning
and went into the heart of Houston with Connie. Now she had to go to work but was
kind enough to drop me at the information center where I picked up pretty much
every map and tourist flyer I could carry, and asked the people behind the
counter a hundred questions before unleashing myself on the town.
I walked up one street and down the
next, basically seeing what there was to see, my only objective for the day:
find the underground tunnels.
It gets so hot and so humid in Texas,
that in Houston they developed a series of tunnels, beneath ground, that link
many major buildings together across the downtown area. It’s genius!
I found an entranceway in the lobby
of a major banking building, in the form of a descending escalator, which I
jumped onto excitedly, wondering what I could possibly find down there. I was
expecting a semi-darkened passage way, with plain walls, a pumping AC, and
maybe a person or two every so often.
Boy was I mistaken.
The tunnels were alive with the
hustle and bustle of city folk, making their way to their next destination.
Almost everyone was in a hurry, with the exception of a few here and there who
were ambling on at their own slowed pace. The scene reminded me of an airport
terminal on a week day: full of people in suits, talking on their cellphones,
carrying briefcases, keeping their eyes down with their mind full of lists of
goals to have achieved by the next day, traveling to some important business
meeting or associate breakfast which would surely hold the key to their next
promotion.
The tunnel was decorated with neat advertisements,
framed of course, and the walls were broken inward to allow for shops and cafes
to nestle their way into this sub-ground city. It felt as if I had discovered a
sunken town where I had everything I needed for survival, however it was apparent
that I was late to the party, as hundreds of people seemed to have found it
first.
One thing I didn’t expect in the
slightest, was just how confusing it was to try and navigate these tunnels. I
admit, I didn’t have a destination in mind, however, if I did, I can promise
you there is almost no way I would have gotten there. It felt similar to the
Subway in New York City or the Underground in London in the sense that the maps
looked like spilled spaghetti to an outsider, and clear as day to an insider. The
maps were displayed all over the tunnels in a very unique way; the aboveground
road map was essentially superimposed on top of the image of the tunnels to
give the reader a sense of direction. Helpful to some I’m sure, but even more
confusing to this spaghetti viewing foreigner.
Map of the Downtown Underground Tunnel System
I immerged from the tunnels about 7
blocks down from where I thought I would pop out, and giggled to myself at just
how hopeless my below-ground navigation was; hopefully I would be a little more
successful now that I had the sunshine and the horizon line to help guide me
again.
Connie and I had agreed that she
would pick me up at the end of the day in the park known as “The Discovery
Green” at the bottom end of Downtown, and so I decided to get my bearings and
slowly make my way in that direction.
As I meandered through the city, a
familiar image caught my eye: a Springbok. Are you surprised? So was I.
For anyone reading this who is unsure
of the significance of this image, the Springbok is a little antelope found in
Southern and Southwestern Africa. It is particularly significant in South
Africa as it is seen in many nature reserves, is a large town in the Northern
Cape Provence, and perhaps most importantly, is the image and name associated with
the National Rugby team!
To see this Green and Gold beauty in
one of the more unexpected environments was so exciting I could have cried! I
had to investigate. The Springbokkie was actually the body of a sign for a new
South African restaurant that had only recently opened on the street, and below
the sign stood a sheepish young waitress with a menu in-hand, and a list of the
opening specials. Naturally, I went to speak to her and ask about the place.
She noticed my accent, and when I informed her that I was from SA, her eyes lit
up and she asked half excitedly, half panicked “Could you help me pronounce some
of the meal names?!”
We both laughed, and began to dig
though all of the strange words on the menu such as Bobotie, Koeksister,
Rooibos Tea, Slap Chips, Biltong, Boerewors, Braai Broodjie and so on, all the
while silently giggling at her confused expressions, yet infinitely impressed
by her will to learn and her respect for SA culture. She called the owner over
for a chat, and we reminisced about Home for a few minutes, before he sent me
on my way with a “totsiens” (goodbye in Afrikaans) and a friendly wave.
I then made my way to the Chase Tower
which boasts a Sky Lobby on its 60th floor which was open to the
public. I took a never ending elevator ride up to this magnificent observation
deck, and was greeted by the tip top of most of the skyscrapers that resided downtown.
The view was gorgeous and somewhat humbling. There is nothing quite like any
vast image to make one feel small, in the best way. I sat on the floor for a
while, surrounded by glass walls and clouds, then slowly and reluctantly made
my way back to ground level.
After my day both below and above
ground, I found myself in the Discovery Green where I walked around looking at
the many sculptures before Cousin Connie found me. I drove home with an entirely
different opinion of Houston, and feeling like quite the little explorer.
The following day, I felt as if I had
a rather firm grip on the ins and outs of Earth and that is way time to move onto
bigger and better things. Where better to take in something better than at the NASA
Johnson Space Centre?
I arrived before the Centre had even
opened in pure anticipation to see some cool space-stuffs! My mother affectionately
calls me “the coolest nerd” she knows, and in this moment, I could not deny my geeky
side! When opening time finally came, I rushed inside quicker than all the
small children surrounding me, something I’m only moderately proud of, and entered
the building.
The entranceway opened up into the Space
Centre Plaza which was filled with many different exhibits, of which I looked
at every single one. After acquiring every available piece of knowledge about
space suits and space rocks and space orbits and just space in general, I made
my way to the Tram Tour, which I had heard nothing but god things about.
The tour too us by tram from the main
building of what was essentially a museum, onto what was more accurately describes
as NASA property, and toward Building 9 for our first stop. It was on top of
this building that an American Flag flew high, which our tour guide informed us
meant that there was currently one or more American astronaut in space. Cool!
In the building were more detailed
displays of different parts of multiple spaceships, as well as the historic
mission control, the actual facility used when NASA monitored 9 of the Gemini
and all of the Apollo space missions. Mission Control looked like something out
of a retro movie, with all of the technology seeming box-like and oversized.
Rows of computers were arranged is concentric semi-circles, all facing a
wall-sized monitor on the far side. We sat behind a large opening covered by a
sheet of glass, and in the seats which the VIP guests would have used to
observe the missions in the past. I felt pretty important, although I supposed
so too did the other 20 people sitting beside me, including a toddler and a
teenager who never took out his headphones, and I suppose so too did the
hundreds if not thousands of other tour-takes before me. Still, it felt nice.
It’s never a bad feeling to have something
in common with others, so if we all felt important as a group, so be it. I bet
another thing we all had in common was the inherent need to say the famed words
“Houston, we have a problem,” however it felt impossible to say just meters
away from where those words were first heard.
There were a few other stops on the
tour, however the most notable has to be the visit to Rocket Park where many
different spaceships were kept in massive warehouses. We were allowed into the
home of the Saturn V which had been displayed to show how different parts of
the ship would break away during its launch. I was blown away by the size and
complexities of The Saturn V, and I know I could never possess the vocabulary to
describe what I saw that day.
We returned to the Space Centre where
I was just in time to attend a talk by an astronaut who has spent some time on
the International Space Station (ISS). I thoroughly enjoyed his speech which
was accompanied by some of the most amazing pictures I had seen of the planets
beyond our atmosphere. There was something special about the amateur nature of
the photographs he had taken that made them so real and unique to see.
One of my favorite things he
mentioned was the multiple sunrises and sunsets he would see within a 24-hour
period on the ISS, and how it obviously differed from those we would see on
Earth as our day and night periods are entirely unique to our own planet. Genuinely,
I was blown away. This was something so obvious once it had been said out loud,
yet something that truly would never have crossed my mind if I hadn’t crossed
paths with this gentleman. Lesson officially learned; life is subjective and
based on perspective.
I left with a cool new sweater and an
opened mind, ready for anything coming my way next on this grand adventure I got
to call mine.
