The first thing you realize when you land in Atlanta is not the heat(Only because you haven't been outside yet!) but the large, I mean huge amount of Delta planes! I nearly got scared to death. Left, right, all around there is one Delta plane right behind another. Small planes, large planes and weird planes, but they all have something in common... Delta. That made me a little bit nervous, being in an American Airlines plane!
We docked at a gate on the far end of the airport, after going by hundreds of Delta gates. Okay, that's enough about Delta. We got off the plane and found a taxi. It cost us just shy of 50 dollars to get from the airport to our lovely home away from home. Our home in Atlanta is situated near down town in a very nice neighborhood. We fell in love with the pretty houses the first time we saw them. Come to think of it. The houses in that neighborhood looks just like the houses in the American Christmas movies. Now I know why Santa chooses the lovely brick chimney. Its like a front door, everyone has one.
When we arrived, our host gave us a royal Georgian welcome! He showed us all the ropes and made me love Atlanta before an hour had past since we landed. It's always the friendly people that make me love a place. The other stuff are nice, but good people reflect God's character and make you feel loved by Him! As soon as the completed tour of the house ended, we just loved it. Tinus had his own private suite on the upper story with a bathroom the TV and everything! We were amazed at the amount of books, CD's and DVD's they have. He has the whole Lord of the rings and Narnia series and I think he has all books by Clive Cussler and Robert Ludlum.
Ultimately it is a great house and we knew from the moment we walked in that we would enjoy it.
On the 30th of June, as you all ready know, I got baptized and we had a wonderful day with Dr. Bruce.
After that memorable day we were working full steam again. The great thing was that this time we did not need to work on the dinning table. All of us had our own desk and own personal space. The time in Atlanta was very fruitful, everyone of us learned a lot from alot of different things. Although we all had our own desk, we didn't nearly finish all our working goals in Atlanta because of all the interesting things to see. Luckily the mountain cabin proved to have more solitude, thus we finished up everything there.
The first week and a half were still the normal five, waiting for my granny to arrive. We decided to do the Coke museum and Martin Luther King Jr exhibit during that time.
The next thing to write about is obviously the World of Coke and the wonders it had in store for us. My mother and father decide to bail beforehand because it cost a lot of money. Personnally I don't think that was the reason, I think they planned a little alone time... ; )
Forgetting about those that stayed behind, we went straight in and immediately looked up with mouths wide open looking at all Coke had to offer, or so we thought. You see we were waiting in the welcome hall and haven't even gone in ! When we were finally taken in we were first greeted by a wonderful 5 minute cokelicious movie and then we got to go explore the World of Coke!
We were again amazed by all the different manufacturing history and interesting facts. Did you know that 6 billion Cokes are consumed every day?! My eyes were wide open everytime I saw something new, and that was the whole time! I felt like such a tourist but I didn't care. We got grave respect for the businessman who bought Coke at a very early stage. He wasn't the man who invented Coke, but saw potential in the product and took it global. Needless to say, he is a millionaire. It taught me that we should be able to spot potential even though the surface or cover has no indication.
Next in line we saw Coke advertisments from all around the globe! They were all very funny and entertainning. We came to the conclusion that the South African Brrrrrrr advertisment still holds the funny crown. Another success factor of Coke is that they apeal to the common man across any boundries set by civilisation and thus reap the reward.
After that, our time was drawing to a close. We then headed to my favourite part of the world of Coke, the free tasting room. Think about it, if you go to a Coke museum, it's not about what you see but what you have tasted. The tasting room had 60 different Coke products from all around the World! Needless to say we tasted all of them and felt pretty sick afterwards.
After the Coke museum, we still visited some amazing things. We went to the CNN building(world headquarters) and got new respect for news braodcasting. On the way there we walked throught the centenial Olympic park which was also very beautiful. When we went home I felt full with excitement and amazement. During the next few days we went to several Best Buys (Electronic shop) in order to fill Tinus' tech budget. When he was busy looking at merchandise, I played the trial video games. From Playstation 3 right through to Wii. I didn't even feel threatened of being kicked out, because we visited a different Best Buy every day. I saw myself as a professional Best Buy hopper! Enjoying all the free perks without buying anything!
During the week before my Granny came we also visited the Martin Luther King Jr exhibit. This was not only amazing and awesome, but it was inspiring and challenging as well. Walking through the exhibit and reading all the famous quotes, I realised a few important things. We can accomplish any thing through God who gives us strength. Violence can never solve anything and leads to pain and suffering. Segregation takes away our ability to work together which is our most valuable strength. When I saw that the children were secretly crossing segregation boundaries, I understood once more what it is to believe as a child. I could also relate this to my own life. I live, laugh and interact with many friends that are from other cultures and races and we never let that come between us. Take my Rugby team for example. We are a perfect mix, but we are successful because we are able to work together and respect each other even though we have differences. We even joke about our differences and hold nothing against each other based on Skin colour.
Believe me segregation is still a problem all over the world, not only in Namibia. I dare all the adults, with respect, to believe once more like children and look past all these boundaries that set us apart, because we are all God's beloved children. I pray that there would be unity among all people because out of unity there is strength.
After the day at the King Jr exhibit the days to our Granny's arival were few. We were growing more anxious with every day that goes by. Finally we went to the airport to greet our Grandmother whom we love so much. We waited, and waited, and waited. After an hour we sent my dad to the Delta office to report a missing person. They said that they begin searches only after three hours. So we waited and after 30 more minutes she walked through the door. We were so happy to see her and asked her what took her so long. She then told us that she was the first one to go through customs from her flight. US customs - a nightmare for tourists.
We then took her home and started an exciting second week in Atlanta. During this week my Granny treated us to a lot of things. First in line was the Georgia Aquarium, the biggest in the world. Only me and Dawie went and we had the priviledge to explore a whole new world!
I don't remember all the stats, but this Aquarium certainly fits the bill of biggest and most amazing. We could see everything from huge Whale sharks, Manta Ray, Beluga whale to the smallest reef fish and dragon fish(looks like a plant that wanted to be an animal). Out of everything in this huge place we loved the Manta ray the most. Her name is Nandi and she is beautiful. This wasn't our favourite because of it's size, but because of it's personality. It was a free spirit even though held in a tank. It did barrel rolls every two minutes and looked like it didn't have any worries. I think we all strive to that sence of peace. I know, this can only be aquired if we live inside God's will.
Every day in Atlanta we could expereince something totally new and beautiful! Next in line, the day before we went to the mountain cabin we got to see something we were looking forward to for six and a half months. The New Transformers movie! The best thing was that we went to see it on IMAX and my Granny paid for us. I didnt think it would be possible to improve on the first Transformers, but it was even better! All that action, suspense and heroism and Huge High Definition and ULTRA surround sound. We were literally blown away.
Atlanta was closed off with the best possible way. A buffet dinner just before leaving. Definitely one of my highlights!!
So, was it possible to write this blog without the words amazing, awesome, wonderful, inspiring, great, Coke, Manta ray, Delta, Transformers and buffet? No, no it wasn't!
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