Testing...testing...one, two (cough cough)

Is anyone out there? I'm staring at my shiny new blog and realizing that something is not quite right...It's completely empty. While the absence of posts makes the background of the blog much easier to see, I'm assuming that's not the reason you're here. I'm also what techno-geeks would probably consider to be a blogging noob (...a bloob?). So, not unlike the soccer players I'm about to see in Soccer City, I've got to do a warm-up post to get my blogging fingers limber.

I've spent the last three days at Alli's house in San Jose and had a wonderful time. Watching soccer over the past week gets me more and more excited to hit the skies for our trip to South Africa! I'm sure the Sih's will be happy to be rid of my couch-surfing ways. My 7:30 AM cheering sessions have been waking them early, and my red, white and blue face paint has been smearing onto their pillow cases. Needless to say, I'm excited. I originally commissioned Rena and Tariq to create the name for this blog, but they were lazy-pants and didn't come up with one. (With all due respect, Rena was busy graduating. Congrats to my little sis! But Tariq, you have no excuses). So, as I dozed next to the golf course (amid cursing golfers) and the pool in Alli's back yard, I thought, "It'll be nice to catch some Zs before the trip." And there it was that inspiration struck like a lightening bolt. Catchin' Some 'zeys OverSihs was born! So, join us as we embark on our exciting trip to South Africa. Along the way we'll create posts (blog), add videos (vlog), pictures (plog), and thoughts (thlog...ok I'll stop). You'll hopefully hear from all of us. Together we are known as the Eight-Team, a little less creative name that includes all six of the Hamzeys and two of the Sih daughters, Alli and Tiffany.

Tomorrow we're off to DC where Alli, Tiffany and I will spend the full day before a rendezvous with the rest of the 'zeys. From there we'll head to Johannesburg but not without first skipping through Dakar, the capital of Senegal and the westernmost point on the African continent.