A New House Guest

September 20, 2011

We have a new house guest that is in transition from South Africa to China.  This however is not her first time to Shanghai, but she is returning to a new job.  It is Emma Durr… remember the post about the trip with Hanne to have lunch that took forever to find… that was Beau’s Cousin, Emma!!  She completed her University studies here and went home to Johannesburg only to be hired by a company that is sending her back here.

It will be nice having someone else in the house although she is gone during the days.  Today is her first day here in the China office!

Her return trip was quite the adventure.  The flight was from Johannesburg to Hong Kong, but due to weather conditions, it was detoured to Macau.  They were held on the tarmac for 3 hours before the decision was made to ferry the passengers across the bays to Hong Kong.  The ferry ride took a couple of hours, then transferred to buses to the airport where they waited again.  Then when it was determined they could not find flights for them, they were bused to a hotel somewhere around 1:30am… only to be picked up at 5am to be taken back to the airport.  She got an 8am flight to Shanghai and arrived here at the apartment around noon.  What an ordeal!!!

But she arrived here with a smile and was happy to have made it.  We got her settled in and a chance to relax for a while. We chatted most of the afternoon and got caught up on what has been going on.  She had left for South Africa before I left for the US so we were not at a loss for lots of stuff to talk about.

She brought us the most lovely gift from South Africa.  It is a Beisa Oryx crafted from wire and beads.  It is handmade and very detailed.  Even the bag, handcrafted from fabric, made by her Mother, was beautiful.  Now we have a piece of South African culture too.

Not sure how long she will be with us, but there is no need to hurry.  She will be apartment hunting on the weekends until she finds the right place for her to make a home here. 

Everything happens for a reason and in its own time so we will enjoy the time and wait to see how this unfolds.  Until then we will be a port in the storm for her until… as my Momma always put it… she gets her wheels under her!