Day 2 in Cape Town

We arose early and had breakfast again just before our tour guide from Thompsons Africa met us in the lobby. Michael Raa was an exceptional tour guide and he hurried us off in the shiny new Thompson’s van for a tour of the coastal area.

Our first stop was Hout Bay, a center for commercial fishing, primarily of Yellow Fin Tuna. We loved this area when we lived here before, so it was great to come back. We took a boat ride out to a seal colony on an island and took pictures before returning. I couldn’t find Susan so I asked Michael if he had seen her. His comment was that the last he saw her she was walking into the jewelry store. Needless to say, I ran to the store to get her out before he put something expensive on the American Express card! Luckily, she had only gone in to use the restroom. Whew! However, Clay and Erin, Greg and Reese all shopped and made purchases while we waited.

Next was a trip down to Cape Point, the furthest Southwesterly point in Africa. I had been here multiple times before, but the spectacular beauty of this place is beyond compare. We also saw some Elands (largest antelope species in the world that are the size of American elk), baboons, and wild ostriches coming and going.

After that we went up the other side of the peninsula to Simonstown. We had a beautiful lunch by the sea and afterwards went down to a penguin colony there. They are just the most adorable things on earth and hilarious to watch! They call them jackass penguins because they bray like a donkey. After that we saw False Bay where you have seen all those photos of great white sharks breaching the water to grab seals in their mouths and eat them. Remind me not to ever go swimming anywhere near there!

By the time we returned we had seen all that beautiful scenery the Cape has to offer. We were exhausted and so we lazed around before heading out to dinner in Camps Bay. We had a wonderful dinner on the waterfront with lots of fun along the way. Clay was hilarious and kept the entire restaurant in stitches (think ugly American who is loud and boisterous). We didn’t leave until midnight, but the weirdest thing of all is to see a restaurant in Africa will all white people inside. We lived here during Apartheid, but the new South Africa is much more like Brazil with all kinds of colors and hues of people who get along quite well. For Greg it was a shock because he is used to living in Burkina Faso, which is much more undeveloped and he is in the minority by far. With our Native American heritage and my Grandfather growing up in Reservation schools, we detest any sort of discrimination be it racial or ethnic or religious.

Day 1 in Cape Town, South Africa

Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast at 09:30, which was weird because back home my Sunday is playing tennis from 06:30 to 9:00, then going home and cleaning up for church at Cedar Park. We all ate well and then headed out to the Waterfront Wharf, a really nice collection of shopping mall, restaurants, curio shops, specialty shops and tours. We browsed, got some money at the ATM, ate some traditional English fish and chips, then headed back to the hotel for an afternoon nap. It was heavenly!

For dinner we went back to the Waterfront to a Greek restaurant in a private room with a flat screen TV where we watched the finals of the tournament here in South Africa for soccer. The irony was that it was being played where we lived from 1979-1981 (Johannesburg), and the match up was the USA (where we are citizens and live) vs. Brazil (where we lived from 1999-2001). It was really fun, and even though the USA did not win, losing to the Brazilians is never a reason for shame! Although the final score was 2-3, it should have been 2-4 as one bad call by the referee took away a goal for the Brazilians.

By the time the game was over and the great dinner was consumed, we headed back to bed and collapsed!

The Flight Down

The Super Shuttle picked us up at 04:40 AM for our 07:30 flight. Believe it or not, we were all ready and packed and waiting! We had reserved one for ourselves as we had 8 pieces of large checked baggage and 6 carry-on luggage between us. Reese may be moving off to Asia to teach English from here in August and I am staying for at least six months to complete the initial research phase for my Ph.D. dissertation, so I had a lot of cloths and things as well.

Our flight was just over 5 hours from Seattle to Washington D.C., and I can assure you that we all slept most of the way there. Not only were we exhausted by early rising, but we had all been furiously preparing for our trip for the past couple of weeks. Our layover in Washington Dulles was pleasant, uneventful, and only two hours. We had time to grab a bit of dinner before our flight. As it turned out, our flight to Dakar, Senegal was only about 7 hours or so. We all slept except for Clay, and the lay over there was just about an hour. From there we had an 8 or 9 hour flight to Johannesburg where we were met by the Thompsons representative before passport control. He quickly hurried us through passport control and on the other side where another Thompsons guy took control of our luggage and passed us onto our flight to Cape Town.

As soon as we got out of customs there was our long lost son, Greg. He has just completed a half marathon at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, then went on a 5 day climb to the summit (over 19,000 feet above sea level). He has a certificate for reaching the highest peak, and a trophy for coming in #1 in his age group. Greg is a consummate athlete and played mostly soccer and tennis through high school, and then played all four years of varsity tennis at college. His goal is to run a marathon on every continent (they have one in Antartica, believe it or not!), and he will probably try to climb more mountains. He has reached the summit of Mount Fuji while living in Japan.

So, we took the 2 ½ hour flight to Cape Town together sitting across the airplane in row 19. We were all very happy to be together and see each other again that we talked all the way there. Upon arrival we were met, again, by the Thompsons people who greeted us and got us off to our hotel.

We checked in and all immediately fell asleep in our separate rooms. It has been a long couple of days traveling, and we were all exhausted! We’re back in South Africa again!!!!!

And , we're off!

Final Day in the States

Today has been another whirlwind of a day... running around like a madman attempting to get everything set for the big trip that departs at 04:40 tomorrow morning. Today was an early rise, took my coffee intravenously (kidding of course) to get my heart kick-started and into gear. There is much to organize that can only be done today, so I did some of that and basic packing (which, of course, I have done and redone to get everything to fit). Then it was off to my last Issaquah Chamber Board Meeting.

We met, as usual, at Lombardi's (owned by Diane Symms and Kerri Lonegran) for our monthly meeting. It is always an enjoyable affair as I truly enjoy everyone there. Today we were voting on my leave of absence so I wanted to be sure and be there. I am so pleased with the work of Matt Bott, the new CEO of the Chamber! He has really added a big boost to our Chamber and is doing some great things. It's too bad we didn't have him a year ago, but such is life. At least we have him now. I slipped by with my leave of absence in a highly contested vote (well, Leon Koss voted "no", but he always does because he is ex-officio and his vote doesn't count). I got to say my farewells to the group and move on to fill up the car at COSTCO so my brother-in-law and sister-in-law will have something to drive when they get here this weekend. Then it was off to REI to pick up yet another pair of shoes for Greg, then to Walgreen's for some toiletries, and then to the bank.

Upon my return it was cold meatloaf sandwiches and stale chips. It seems Susan has made all of our edibles off limits so Joy and Jerry can have the best when they get here. Speaking of which, she breezed through her packing a couple of days ago and has been cleaning the house non-stop to get ready for her sister's arrival. Today was an all out cleaning that would make the Maid Brigade proud. Too bad she didn't have time to prepare my last dinner... but she is pretty excited about the prospect of having "Sissy" come to stay. She did take some time out to get her nails done, take the dog to the kennel, and then go to the club for a massage. Massage? I NEED A MASSAGE!!!!!!!

So, it's back to the salt mines of packing and rearranging yet again. My packing is a little more complicated because I will be gone at least 6 months and I will need all my office stuff to go with as well as all my dissertation research to date (which is about 2 feet high and weighs about 35 pounds). And there are the priorities like tennis racquets and shoes to come along with me.

Tomorrow morning at 04:00 will come mighty soon, so I am hoping to catch about 4 or 5 hours of shut-eye before the 41 hour marathon journey to the promised land!

Wild and Wooly Wednesday

As you can tell from my photo circa 1980 on the blog homepage, I fancy myself an adventurer and always have. Heck, my surname, Ishmael, means either "social outcast" or "wild donkey of a man who wanders from here to there." Hence, I was destined to be a wanderer. HOWEVER, preparing for MY BIG AFRICAN ADVENTURE takes a lot of organizing and thousands of minute details. As our departure looms, I am starting to freak out!

A perfect example was loading my my motorcycle with all my gear and then riding it to the BMW dealership in Tacoma where it will be prepped and crated for shipment to South Africa. I had to find a crate that worked and then a shipper, etc. This should have happened two weeks ago, but getting the time to do it all just took longer than anticipated. So, I dropped it off and am one stage closer to having it as my main mode of transportation in Africa.

I also took my Subaru to the dealership to get my 21,000 mile service. It used to be a pleasant place to sit and wait for your car to get repaired with free coffee and soda, wireless, etc. However, the old dealer went bankrupt and the new one is not concerned about such creature comforts, so I did the Customs Declaration for exporting my bike to Africa (funny since it was imported from Germany in the first place that we have to get an export permit!). With that accomplished it was time to head to Costco.

I also had to organize malaria medicine for our trek into the bush while on safari at Sabi Sabi. That created some hoops because we all see a different doctor. I then had to sit at Costco while all the prescriptions were filled and, naturally, had to buy some supplies for the trip. As I write Susan is preparing goodie-bags for each of us on our journey to Cape Town. Apparently, the SAA flight has accessibility to over 35 movies and periodic announcements to get people to stand up and walk around to keep from getting blood clots in their extremities. This is going to be a LONG journey! I also organized for the Super Shuttle to pick us up and take us to the airport on Friday. Our flight is at 7:30 and they pick us up at 4:40 AM! When you consider we don't get into Cape Town until almost 10 PM on Saturday and take out 9 hours for time zones, the whole trip will be 41 hours of sitting in airports and on airplanes!

This afternoon I was working with Joan Probala, City Council candidate for the Issaquah City Council, along with David Irons and her campaign manager, Jen Jedda, on getting her organized for the upcoming elections. Joan is going to win this one because she is very well known, well respected, and more rational than her opponent. I only wish I were going to be here to see Joan and Nate Perea win their seats on the Issaquah City Council in November!

Well, it is back to the salt mines... much to pack and I desperately need sleep after our dog jumped up on the bed about 25 times last night and just panted over our heads. I think we took him out 3 or 4 times thinking he had to relieve himself, but it turns out that he is just neurotic and knows something is up (he heads to the kennel tomorrow afternoon for 3 weeks). How is it that they know something big is about to happen that involves them? Pray for a pleasant night of sleep for all of us tonight!

My Last Tuesday in Seattle

Today started in the usual manner.... playing tennis at 6:15 am until 8 with Robert Williams, Allen Gear, and Dick Shimer. This is mostly bang-bang tennis and it is a good workout. This past Sunday I managed to win all 3 sets with partner, Tim Kosnoff, but today Allen and I lost the first set by 8-6 and were tied in the second 5-5 when we ran out of time. It was a lot of fun and I do enjoy playing with those guys. They're really good friends, very competitive but very good sports and gentlemen. I'm going to miss them a lot.

The rest of my day was continued grading and preparation for my last class in Issues in Management for this period. Tonight the class had their big class presentations and they did a stellar job! I have seen MBA presentations that did not measure up to these adult learners, and I mean that. They had to develop a unique strategy for Starbucks using specific management techniques (BHAGs, Hedge Hogs, and SWOT) and each team took it in a different direction but each was thoroughly thought out and outstanding in its own right. I hope my future classes are this smart, committed and creative. They are from Italy, Romania, Ethiopia, India, and other places so it was multi-cultural as well, which added to its interesting nature.

The final presentations were made and we wrapped up just before 10 pm. These folks really deserved the good grades they earned and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching them. Somehow they found out yesterday was my birthday so they brought two chocolate cakes and some brownies and sang Happy Birthday to me... all very touching. I told them the first class that I could be bribed with food, so they came through in style. The new building we are in as of this last class is very nice with all the latest technology for teaching... overhead digital projectors, document camera, DVD player, computer, internet, etc. Very cool and very nice modern building.

I got home about 10:30 and am now starting to crash. There is much to do tomorrow, including shipping my BMW K1200LT in a crate to South Africa, sending some boxes of my school supplies to myself down there, and getting some things out of storage (mainly suitcases). It is now a full on sprint to the flight at 07:25 am Friday morning to Africa via Washington D.C.!

My 57th Birthday

I woke up this morning to birthday wishes from all my loved ones. It was a wonderful way to wake up. Most people are not nearly as happy as I about having another birthday, much less a 57th one. But, birthdays are special for me.... and should be for everyone! It is the one day a year when you get to celebrate you, pamper you, do the things you want to do, watch the programs you want to watch, eat the foods you like to eat, etc. Birthdays are crucial to one's mental health, and this one has been great for mine!

I met today with Dr. Gillespie, Department Chair of the Business Department at Northwest University. It was a great meeting and we did some really creative brainstorming so I enjoyed that. The University has been very supportive of my continuing education in pursuit of my Ph.D. and I really like working with Teresa. It has, and will continue to be, a wonderful working relationship. Planning courses and that sort of thing is a lot of fun and gets my creative juices flowing. I got back to my office to continue grading papers from my "Issues in Management" class, which is not quite as fun as teaching, but still very engaging.

On my Facebook page I received quite a few well wishes for my birthday, another great tool for networking. It is so gratifying to receive so many posts from friends from all of my present and past adventures, and I do feel that, aside from family, friends are the greatest gift one can have in life.

This evening was a special treat. We met the Zintels at Las Margaritas for Mexican food and conversation. If anyone is like family, it is the Zintels. They have been our friends here for more than 20 years and our boys have grown up together. We've gone through all those things that best friends go through and have shared them together. Now Stan (nicknamed Stash), is suffering from brain cancer. He is a real trooper and has been fighting this disease for over a year and a half now. I'm very proud of him for continuing to work as an architect while fighting this daunting foe, and I'm very pleased to say that he is tumor free for the moment due some really good medical care he has been receiving. He is a real hero to me for how he has accepted this challenge in his life. He remains the same funny great guy that he has always been. When I found out I had a couple of mild forms of skin cancer (related to walking on the beach in Rio without sunscreen), I freaked out and thought I was going to die. Not so, Stash. He has battled it with certainty and dignity and strong belief in God.

So as you can see, it was a wonderful birthday, and my best present was getting to share time with my friend, Stash Zintel.

Father's Day 2009

Today is a very special day for me. There is nothing I have done as well as bringing our 3 boys into the world with my wife, Susan (Francie). I am very proud of all three of them for different reasons because they are all three very distinct in their own way. I love hanging out with them as grown men, and I loved having them sleep on my tummy when they were babies, and almost every moment in between (I could have done without the teen years), but otherwise, they are the best sons ever!

This is also the day that I honor my dad, Ken Ishmael. He is my hero, my mentor, my confidante, and my best friend. At 88 he is still all those things to me, although he is in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Dad is incredible.. winning several golf tournaments as an adult (he won his club's golf championship two years running... when he was 64 and 65, and winning one with a final round 69.). As a young man he was an all star athlete in baseball, basketball and football. He has more integrity than 100 men (we have driven back 38 miles while on vacation because the gas pump guy gave him 32¢ too much change). He was a federal law enforcement officer for many years. When his parents were so poor they could barely get by, he sent them 10% of his paycheck every month to help out (the only one of his 7 siblings to do so). I just cannot imagine having a better father than my Dad!

So, before I leave for Africa I called my dad on Father's Day to wish him the best. All he could talk about is how he wished we lived closer together all these years. I'm really going to miss him over the next 6 months while I'm gone. The computer I bought him does have a built in camera and he has Skype, so we'll be in touch as often as I can... at least every other day.

Later today I will be headed out to Claim Jumpers for a late lunch with Clay, Reese and Susan (Francie) to celebrate at our favorite family restaurant. That is always fun and is a tradition we set several years ago. The only one of my sons who will not be there is Greg. He is busy running a marathon in the village of Kilimanjaro, Tanzania today. Tomorrow he heads up to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro, a five day endeavor. When he lived in Japan he summited Mt. Fuji, and his goal is to run a marathon in every continent (even Antarctica has one!). So, we will all be together again next Saturday in Johannesburg as we fly there from D.C. and Greg comes down from Kenya. I can't wait.

The preparation for our trip continues. There is much to do and not enough time to do it in.....

Getting Ready To Leave

This is my last Saturday in the States for the next six months and I'm enjoying not having anything planned for the day. That doesn't mean that I am doing nothing, however, as there is much to do to prepare for our departure on next Friday, June 26th.

Getting all the normal details of wrapping one's life up for six months is not easy, and there are a lot of loose ends to tie up. Reducing the cable bill (wife, Susan, does not watch much television so she won't be needing all the channels I have), cutting down on the rate plan for my cell phone (again, Susan doesn't talk much on the cell phone), and that sort of thing will reduce my spending footprint here while increasing it South Africa as I must find accommodation there. I am shipping my motorcycle to Cape Town, so that will provide me transportation in a country that drives on the left side of the road.

I'm wrapping up my Issues in Management Class at Northwest University, but will have final papers to grade on the 30+ hours of flying we have to endure to get to paradise. I have really enjoyed my teaching there and love the students in my class. They are all quality people and have earned my respect. I hope that they, too, will be following my blog during my Larry Ishmael's Big African Adventure (not to be confused with PeeWee Herman's Big Adventure).

This trip will be the first time we have returned to Africa since leaving in 1981. We've promised the kids we would take them all with us someday, and that time is now. Clay and Erin are expecting in October, so once the grandkids start coming there is not going to be any time when we can all get together again like this for a big trip. Our son, Greg, is going through a divorce and needs to be surrounded by family, and Reese is a recent college graduate and is getting ready to set out on his big adventure as well.

There are a lot of changes coming in the Ishmael family, and I hope you will stay tuned to find out how it all develops. But first, we need to get to Africa for the next three weeks! We'll arrive into Cape Town, then on to Durban for Clay and Erin's anniversary (and Clay's 31st birthday), then on to Sabi Sabi for safari, then to Johannesburg to visit our old haunts from when we lived there (and where Greg was born), before leaving for Botswana and Zimbabwe for more safaris and visiting Victoria Falls.

Thanks for following our lives....

Larry