Things are starting to heat up here, literally and figuratively. It was blazing hot here yesterday, but perfect beach weather.
Surprisingly, I am going to have a tougher semester here than I did last semester. We have a lot of papers to write for all of our classes on top of our excursions and the tropical weather. It’s not an atmosphere conducive to homework.
Last week we went on safari to Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Private Game Reserve. It was extremely fun. Our guide Bradley was extremely knowledgeable and fun guy. In Addo we rode around in a bus and we saw quite a bit. We saw four elephants, cape buffalo, kudu (antelope like animal), springbok and warthogs. The private game reserve was really awesome. We split into groups of about ten and went out on covered Jeeps to explore. We immediately saw some lions. We also saw Giraffe, Rhinos, and a bunch of other awesome stuff. We saw four out of the “big five” South African game animals during the day (elephant, lion, cape buffalo, rhino, but no leopard).
We also started our volunteering at House of Resurrection AIDS Haven. The kids are absolutely wonderful. There are about 10 kids and we each have our own kid to provide one on one stimulation with. I am sort of paired with two kids, Thando and Denver who are six and eight. Denver is in a wheel chair and has the biggest smile of any kid I have ever met. He got a cut on his leg and the nurse had to come and clean him up. He didn’t even cry and as soon as she was done he went back on smiling. Wow, what do I have to complain about?
Otherwise, the sun is shining today and I will probably take my copy of Long Walk to Freedom to the beach….
Friday, February 20, 2009
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Pictures!
Here are some pics of life here in SA...
My room for the next four months
Needless to say, I go hungry a lot due to this sign...
Enjoying a Martini at a jazz club downtown. I feel so grown up.
The campus of NMMU.
Hard to imagine people still live in winter climates with views like this...
My room for the next four months
Needless to say, I go hungry a lot due to this sign...
Enjoying a Martini at a jazz club downtown. I feel so grown up.
The campus of NMMU.
Hard to imagine people still live in winter climates with views like this...
More to come at some point.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Another warm day...
Another wonderful day…
A lot can happen in one week. We started classes on Monday and it will probably be an interesting semester.
First, the big news in the taxi strike here in PE. The taxi drivers (or combis as they are called here) are angry about the potential reform of the transportation system here for the 2010 world cup. The government promised FIFA an upgrade to the transportation infrastructure and the drivers are not to happy about it. Basically the city doesn’t want any of the combis around the stadium, so the vehicles would bring the passengers to a designated area and they would take a bus to the stadium to keep the roads clean. The drivers decided to strike in protest and everyone has been affected. Thousands of workers from the townships can’t get to work, so it’s been a hassle for us to get to school every day. Drivers are getting harassed and evidently three people were killed (we’re safe though). They also tore up the train tracks and so even more people can’t get to work. Our housekeeper Daphnie had to stay in another flat close by so she could get to work. Many people think the strike is totally unnecessary and it will probably end up backfiring.
On a lighter note, we’ve been doing some awesome stuff. We went to a cricket match last Friday. It took me a while to understand, but it’s actually a pretty exciting game. The PE Warriors had a come from behind victory over the Joburg Lions. Suprisingly though, I got to meet a player from the Joburg Lions. He is friends with a friend of someone on our trip. He’s also kind of a big deal. It was basically the equivalent of going to a bar with Joe Mauer. He was a real nice and down to earth guy. That seems to be the prevailing theme of everyone I have met here so far.
Our classes are going to be interesting. I am taking a SA music course, literature, political science as well as my senior seminar. I am most excited for the political science class because the political scene here is getting crazy. They are having elections in about two months. The ANC (African National Congress) which has been in power since 1994 (also the party of Mandela) is losing its support from many people. The new party COPE (Congress of the People) has attracted a lot of support from people angry with the ANC. The probable new president Jacob Zuma is a huge sleazebag (has 5 wives, on trial for rape and corruption charges). It will be an interesting time to be here.
I’m still getting used to the fact that we have a maid clean up after us. It’s in my nature to be a helpful person (the Scout Law), but I was sort of torn this morning when our housekeeper Daphnie needed someone to help carry our sheets up to the washer. Usually I would be more than happy to offer my services, but is that really my role here? This housekeeping job gives her work, which in turn gives money and a sense of dignity. In the end she got someone else to come help and I’m still pondering over it.
We also start volunteering on Monday. I decided to go to the House of Resurrection AIDS haven to work with the little kids. I figure Andrew and Melanie have given me great practice with my peek-a-boo skills and I could really put them to good use there. There are also adult patients at the haven and I had an idea come to me. I am going to try and do some oral histories of the patients. AIDS is still a stigmatized disease here, so I thought it would be interesting and possibly even therapeutic to have someone just listen to their story for a while. I asked Gary and Vilma about it and they both thought it was a good idea. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Otherwise, this weekend will be fun. Most of the crew is going to Jeffery’s bay, but I am going to stick around and hang out with the few people who aren’t going. We’re going to go to Seaview where you can pet Lion cubs. Again, my apologies for not posting pictures yet, but we have to pay for internet access at our flat and the school net is really slow.
Stay Warm.
A lot can happen in one week. We started classes on Monday and it will probably be an interesting semester.
First, the big news in the taxi strike here in PE. The taxi drivers (or combis as they are called here) are angry about the potential reform of the transportation system here for the 2010 world cup. The government promised FIFA an upgrade to the transportation infrastructure and the drivers are not to happy about it. Basically the city doesn’t want any of the combis around the stadium, so the vehicles would bring the passengers to a designated area and they would take a bus to the stadium to keep the roads clean. The drivers decided to strike in protest and everyone has been affected. Thousands of workers from the townships can’t get to work, so it’s been a hassle for us to get to school every day. Drivers are getting harassed and evidently three people were killed (we’re safe though). They also tore up the train tracks and so even more people can’t get to work. Our housekeeper Daphnie had to stay in another flat close by so she could get to work. Many people think the strike is totally unnecessary and it will probably end up backfiring.
On a lighter note, we’ve been doing some awesome stuff. We went to a cricket match last Friday. It took me a while to understand, but it’s actually a pretty exciting game. The PE Warriors had a come from behind victory over the Joburg Lions. Suprisingly though, I got to meet a player from the Joburg Lions. He is friends with a friend of someone on our trip. He’s also kind of a big deal. It was basically the equivalent of going to a bar with Joe Mauer. He was a real nice and down to earth guy. That seems to be the prevailing theme of everyone I have met here so far.
Our classes are going to be interesting. I am taking a SA music course, literature, political science as well as my senior seminar. I am most excited for the political science class because the political scene here is getting crazy. They are having elections in about two months. The ANC (African National Congress) which has been in power since 1994 (also the party of Mandela) is losing its support from many people. The new party COPE (Congress of the People) has attracted a lot of support from people angry with the ANC. The probable new president Jacob Zuma is a huge sleazebag (has 5 wives, on trial for rape and corruption charges). It will be an interesting time to be here.
I’m still getting used to the fact that we have a maid clean up after us. It’s in my nature to be a helpful person (the Scout Law), but I was sort of torn this morning when our housekeeper Daphnie needed someone to help carry our sheets up to the washer. Usually I would be more than happy to offer my services, but is that really my role here? This housekeeping job gives her work, which in turn gives money and a sense of dignity. In the end she got someone else to come help and I’m still pondering over it.
We also start volunteering on Monday. I decided to go to the House of Resurrection AIDS haven to work with the little kids. I figure Andrew and Melanie have given me great practice with my peek-a-boo skills and I could really put them to good use there. There are also adult patients at the haven and I had an idea come to me. I am going to try and do some oral histories of the patients. AIDS is still a stigmatized disease here, so I thought it would be interesting and possibly even therapeutic to have someone just listen to their story for a while. I asked Gary and Vilma about it and they both thought it was a good idea. I’ll keep everyone posted.
Otherwise, this weekend will be fun. Most of the crew is going to Jeffery’s bay, but I am going to stick around and hang out with the few people who aren’t going. We’re going to go to Seaview where you can pet Lion cubs. Again, my apologies for not posting pictures yet, but we have to pay for internet access at our flat and the school net is really slow.
Stay Warm.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Two South Africas
I’ve seen two very different South Africa’s in the past few days. The first one looks like any town on the coast of Florida. My flat is in a touristy area where I am a five minute walk away from a McDonalds. It’s beautiful, but I might as well be in America. Also, part of our orientation yesterday was at the Green Acres Mall. Nobody was too happy to spend four hours in a place that could very well have been the St. Cloud mall. I was not very happy about it.
Today we saw how most of South Africa really is. We took a tour of the Red Location town ship. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I might as well have been on another planet than where I was earlier today. I saw hundreds of people out on the street, kids waving to us, and numerous people trying to sell us everything and anything. It was dusty, dirty, and well, lively. Globalization had reached downtown Port Elizabeth, but it still hadn’t really touched anyone here. The basic living accommodations were a one room tin shack with a roof. The one consolation was that it was a vibrant community, poor, but lively.
We took a tour of the Red Location Museum. The building is a giant concrete structure in the middle of thousands of one room shacks. The museum opened up two years ago for the purpose of educating people of the horrors of Apartheid as well as to provide a gathering space for the community. In the US we like to think of our ugly racial history as thousands of years ago, but it confronts the citizens of SA daily. I didn’t know of the many bloody events of “The Struggle” as it is called here. I am so fortunate to have grown up in a place where I never have known hunger, much less institutionalized racism. As I walked out of the museum I saw those shacks again and I thought about what my duty is now that I have seen these things first hand. Do I forget and go about my business? Or remember how fortunate I am? We had a power outage last night and it didn’t come back until the middle of the day. People were complaining about this, but after seeing the townships I thought, why should I be complaining about the lack of power for less than 24 hours, when these people may never even have electricity? It was a humbling day indeed.
On some lighter notes, I am enjoying my group and the ocean view from my flat. Let me tell you it is a tough life drinking a Black Label Lager with dinner while watching the sunset. Life is Good.
I’ll post pictures soon, but the internet costs R60 (about $6) for 40 minutes and I am trying to conserve the minutes.
Today we saw how most of South Africa really is. We took a tour of the Red Location town ship. It was one of the most humbling experiences of my life. I might as well have been on another planet than where I was earlier today. I saw hundreds of people out on the street, kids waving to us, and numerous people trying to sell us everything and anything. It was dusty, dirty, and well, lively. Globalization had reached downtown Port Elizabeth, but it still hadn’t really touched anyone here. The basic living accommodations were a one room tin shack with a roof. The one consolation was that it was a vibrant community, poor, but lively.
We took a tour of the Red Location Museum. The building is a giant concrete structure in the middle of thousands of one room shacks. The museum opened up two years ago for the purpose of educating people of the horrors of Apartheid as well as to provide a gathering space for the community. In the US we like to think of our ugly racial history as thousands of years ago, but it confronts the citizens of SA daily. I didn’t know of the many bloody events of “The Struggle” as it is called here. I am so fortunate to have grown up in a place where I never have known hunger, much less institutionalized racism. As I walked out of the museum I saw those shacks again and I thought about what my duty is now that I have seen these things first hand. Do I forget and go about my business? Or remember how fortunate I am? We had a power outage last night and it didn’t come back until the middle of the day. People were complaining about this, but after seeing the townships I thought, why should I be complaining about the lack of power for less than 24 hours, when these people may never even have electricity? It was a humbling day indeed.
On some lighter notes, I am enjoying my group and the ocean view from my flat. Let me tell you it is a tough life drinking a Black Label Lager with dinner while watching the sunset. Life is Good.
I’ll post pictures soon, but the internet costs R60 (about $6) for 40 minutes and I am trying to conserve the minutes.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Let’s set the scene for you. It’s 85 degrees, sunny and a slight breeze. I can see the Indian Ocean from our front porch and I get woken up at 7:00am by the sound of honking cars. I’m in Port Elizabeth, Africa.
I made it here at about 9:30 on Sunday night. I was a little scared for the flight, but surprisingly everything went smoothly. All of my flights were on time and I got my luggage in PE. My flight from DC to Johanusburg was about 15 hours, but I was lucky enough to get my own personal TV set. (How did people every do these flights even five years ago?) I met a man from Joburg who was in the states with a chemical company, a woman who worked at the Joburg zoo and another woman who was doing a week long trip to PE. Everybody was super nice. I almost had a snafoo through customs when I forgot to pick up my suitcase at the luggage claim. A man stopped me and brought me back through because he said I needed to re-check it in. Suprisingly, he was right and there it was on the luggage claim. I think he was sort of implying that I give should him a tip, but I was fairly tired and gave him a nice American “Thank you very much.” I felt bad once I was walking away, so I gave the next guy who carried my luggage to the check in counter a $20 tip (it was all I had). Hopefully that brings good karma for the rest of the trip.
This week is orientation week with lots of fun activities planned. We hit the beach yesterday, I’m thinking of about some surfing lessons in the near future. With my pale Midwest complexion I think I would make a great surf bum (don’t worry mom, I’ve put on lots of sunscreen every day). We took a tour of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University campus today. It was huge, much larger than either SJU or CSB. My favorite part of the day was the “Do Not Feed the Monkey” signs. We’re going to have one class a day, so I’m going to be very, very busy....
Otherwise, life is good. Great company, wonderful food, and the city has a relaxed atmosphere that I could definitely get used to, the 85 degree weather doesn’t hurt either…
Till next time… I'll post pictures soon.
I made it here at about 9:30 on Sunday night. I was a little scared for the flight, but surprisingly everything went smoothly. All of my flights were on time and I got my luggage in PE. My flight from DC to Johanusburg was about 15 hours, but I was lucky enough to get my own personal TV set. (How did people every do these flights even five years ago?) I met a man from Joburg who was in the states with a chemical company, a woman who worked at the Joburg zoo and another woman who was doing a week long trip to PE. Everybody was super nice. I almost had a snafoo through customs when I forgot to pick up my suitcase at the luggage claim. A man stopped me and brought me back through because he said I needed to re-check it in. Suprisingly, he was right and there it was on the luggage claim. I think he was sort of implying that I give should him a tip, but I was fairly tired and gave him a nice American “Thank you very much.” I felt bad once I was walking away, so I gave the next guy who carried my luggage to the check in counter a $20 tip (it was all I had). Hopefully that brings good karma for the rest of the trip.
This week is orientation week with lots of fun activities planned. We hit the beach yesterday, I’m thinking of about some surfing lessons in the near future. With my pale Midwest complexion I think I would make a great surf bum (don’t worry mom, I’ve put on lots of sunscreen every day). We took a tour of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University campus today. It was huge, much larger than either SJU or CSB. My favorite part of the day was the “Do Not Feed the Monkey” signs. We’re going to have one class a day, so I’m going to be very, very busy....
Otherwise, life is good. Great company, wonderful food, and the city has a relaxed atmosphere that I could definitely get used to, the 85 degree weather doesn’t hurt either…
Till next time… I'll post pictures soon.
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