Excitement raises and the first steps in SA

It’s only a few hours to takeoff and we're rearing to go. We’ve been storming and working with an increasing speed as the project has progressed. Everything is set for an efficient and exotic internship in South-Africa.

We met the others at the airport. Everything seemed fine until the last gate: one of our team-mates had gotten he’s passport broken at the security check and he was refused entry on the plane. What a shocker! Well, the team leader was already on the phone to the travel agency arranging for a new flight. It all turned out fine and we’ll be with a full crew on next Tuesday.

On our stopover in Istanbul we had an interesting

opportunity to make a local contact and check out the Turkish wibe. Sitting with us was a friendly lady coming from a business meeting with Nokia. She was happy to tell us about our possibilities for a short visit to the Istanbul nightlife during our stopover. She even ended up giving us a ride to a nice restaurant nearby. So that’s how we got a chance to make some comparisons with Stadin Kebabbi and Istanbul kebab. No contest, the meat was delicious, as were the sauces. After a filling and spicy meal we grabbed a cab back for the Atatürk airport. The prices at airports seem to be at the forefront of globalism, they were a lot like those at the cafes on Esplanadi in the Helsinki centre.

The longer flight was a gruelling task, as they tend to be, but we managed to keep our spirits high planning and discussing the weeks ahead.

Arriving to the O.R.Tambo airport was a pleasant surprise. Everything was clean, new and quite well organised. Also it was a lot less crowded than we would have expected, it being the busiest airport in S-A. The procedures went smoothly and we were out in a jiffy.

Our pickup was a bit late (2 hours:) which gave us a good chance to get some cash and hook up to the local Vodacom network. We already had experience with Asian prepaids, so we were calling for our car in no time. Eventually we were picked up in style and with a sample of the warm and happy greetings and superlatives often used here: howizzit, excellent, wonderful and amazing.

Since we were a bit late already, we called ahead to Tsakane Bok, our contact at the Finnish embassy. She told us to come when we come, but we didn’t want to waste any time. So we just dropped our gear at our new home and headed straight for business.

The meeting couldn’t have been much more fruitful. We met the Finnish ambassador Heikki Tuunainen and Mrs Bok at the embassy and had loads to talk about. After introducing ourselves and our project, we held a detailed presentation on LearnRoots. Mrs Bok was interested about the idea of making a wikidictionary of the less documented African languages. She had many people in mind that might want to hear about it. The ambassador was also interested on our project and wanted to help our quest, by giving us info and contacts on how to get around in Pretoria.

Unexpectedly we also had the pleasure to meet two young Finnish employees at the Finnish embassy, who were happy to share their experiences on the local scene. After we had finished our official business we headed for a local restaurant with two friendly cabbies that had driven Markus and Kaisa around earlier.

At Crawdaddys the discussion heated up and we got along great. Straight away we made arrangements for a Soweto trip together and some golf later on. The weather was warm and time flew by at the open air restaurant. When the T-bonesteaks and Springbok snails arrived we were already starving, since our last meal had been on the plane. The food was tasty, greasy and at about half the price of Finland. After eating we walked a bit to some nearby shops at the Brooklyn mall.

After a great start we were happy to get to our safe, luxurious and cosy guesthouse in Waterkloof to get some well earned rest after a long trip.