Injury Time

Injury time is the phenomenon that happens in soccer and rugby whereby there is extra time that has been allotted as a result of stoppages in play over the course of the half. I am in injury time now. If all goes well, 24 hours from now I will be in Joburg airport with my luggage checked and my tickets for the flight to Amsterdam secured. I ama bit worried about Amsterdam -- Dutch KLM has me catching a flight that leaves just 50 minutes after my flight from Joburg lands. If you figure that we might be even ten minutes late, that it takes more than 10 minutes to debark, and that international flights close a half hour before takeoff, well, you can get a sense of why i am a bit anxious.

It has been a wonderful productive trip. I was able to immerse myself in Southern Africa again, not only in the archives, but in my favorite part of being here -- the day-to-day. As much as I have learned in my scholarship, coming here helps me understand what I read and research that much more. And as someone who buys into full immersion -- politics, pop culture, sports, food -- I can safely say that this was another brilliant experience.

Next week I will wrap up with little capsule analyses of where South Africa is in terms of politics, sport, music, and the like. For now, I have one last day in Cape Town. It is yet another unsurpassable day and we have a braii and a pub crawl planned. Somewhere in there I need to pack. All of those books and the music and gifts that I bought? My guess is that they will lead to luggage overage. I can safely say that it was worth it.

Tomorrow and Monday's 43 hours of travel will be extra gruelling because not only will today be the last gusto day, but also because the Pats game kicks off at 8:00 in the east, meaning at 3:00 here in South Africa, and just like last week, the Thunderstick will be texting me throughout the game. Go Pats!

Since I have 12 hours in the Joburg airport tomorrow, if I find an internet cafe, I'll give an update. Otherwise, when next you hear from me I'll be back in the USA.