Jo-burg!!!

Friday 3/14/08
I took my exam today, and it didn't go too poorly (knock on wood!). There was a bit of a hectic scramble after that to get all packed up and respond to last-minute emails before we boarded our little twenty-two passenger bus (to accommodate exactly 22 passengers) and set off for the border! The trip would have been comfortable had we been 6-9 year-old schoolchildren, but as it was, many of us had neither the leg nor the hip room to sit comfortably. After three or four hours, though, you don't really notice it anymore, and it becomes an adventure!
We reached the border in less than an hour, and proceeded first through the Botswana immigration, where we had to fill out forms and got our passports stamped. Then, we drove to the South African immigration office where we again showed our passports and received a much larger and more official looking stamp. South Africa also required that we send our bags through an x-ray machine, although they never searched our vehicle so it would have been quite easy to smuggle any number of contraband items through (although I can't imagine what those might be other than fresh produce and meat?). We then had to walk across the border while the van drove through and met us on the other side, and it was at that point that we decided that we were in no-man's land because we had passed through a gate to "leave" Botswana, and were about to pass through another gate to "enter" South Africa. Crazy! Whitney and I even played "Patty-cake" on the "border" so that we could say that we played patty-cake in two African countries at the same time!
The drive into South Africa was very scenic, and I was surprised at how quickly the scenery changed. Initially, there is a game preserve to the West of the highway, so we searched hopefully for animals, and did have to slow down to prevent hitting a family of baboons that rambled across the road! Those things are so ugly and cute at the same time! We did see a lot of donkeys and cattle, though fewer actually tried to stand in our way as we passed. The first town we came to came as quite a shock. Whereas in Botswana, where every town other than Gaborone looks very quaint and rural, this town could have been somewhere in America (in a particularly run-down area) minus the presence of South African food chains like Wimpys, Pick n' Pay, and Woolworth's. It was not "Africa" as I have come to know it (though my experience is quite limited seeing as how I've only spent three months in one country!).
Whitney, Alyssa and I ate at a place called Steers, which as it's name might suggest specializes in beef burgers, although I ate a chicken burger instead. The one familiar thing that I did see was the unnecessarily large number of employees behind the counter doing very little (because there was very little to do). The funny thing is, many chains like this have the capital to hire many employees, and with a high demand for jobs, this is a necessary evil, yet it still takes twice as long for the food to be prepared and delivered to your table/packaged to go. It's a system that I have a hard time understanding based on the high productivity levels of fast-food employees at home, but I suppose it has a lot to do with the fact that too many cooks in the kitchen can be detrimental rather than beneficial to matters of efficiency.
As we were reconvening back at the van, the other two CC girls, JJ and Sarah came back with a flier promising a safe and affordable abortion at the number written below. Apparently after the legalization of abortion, the industry has taken off because I then noticed a surprising number of signs proclaiming to have the best and safest abortions in town. Yikes!
We drove on for a much longer period this time, stopping only once to pass through a toll booth (and pay 122 Rand which is close to $15!!), and I found myself loving the scenery. It was very hilly and there was a wide array of different greens in the vegetation, probably owing to the sustained dry periods interspersed with wet periods throughout the year. It actually reminded me of parts of Colorado and the Midwest (US) from far away, although there was something distinctly foreign when you looked closely at the landscape.
Our next stop was at around five pm (we left at 10:30am), at the Pick n' Pay (grocery store) in a town called Magaliesburg. The traffic was surprisingly heavy for what seemed like a small town, and the store itself was overwhelmingly colorful. It seemed to carry nothing but house cleaning supplies and a huge array of junk food. I'm talking six or seven entire rows dedicated to the sale of chips, candy, chocolate, you name it!
Back in the car, we stopped for the first of many times, at a gas station to ask for directions to the hostel we would be staying at. Again, I noticed the over-employment trend in that there were two or three attendants at every pump waiting to fill your tank, wash your windows, whatever you wanted done while you walk into the store to pay and do any shopping you so desire.
Leaving town, I noticed a shantytown that we later mused might be a semi-permanent migrant farm worker settlement, although I did see a rudimentary school with children playing in the yard. I couldn't believe that people can actually survive in those little tin, one-room shacks without water and electricity. It's not that I didn't think it existed or that I've never seen it before, but it still blows my mind nevertheless every time I see it/think about it.
Two and a half hours and three or four gas stations later, we finally reached our destination: the Gemini Backpackers hostel, where we would spend the next two nights. Coming into the city was a real trip because the highway we were driving on, with the huge commercial buildings on either side could have been in California or Florida (those specifically because of the palm trees and other vegetation). I almost thought for a moment that we were back in the states!
The hostel is very nice, and a good low-budget option for young travelers. We met quite a few such people who were backpacking through sub-Saharan Africa and using the very cool bus and hostel system that this hostel was a part of, that would allow them to go all the way up through Namibia. Definitely an option for later in life! My favorite part of the hostel, just because of the ridiculousness of it, was the pool table, which was at least twice as large as a normal pool table, despite the fact that the balls were significantly smaller than standard pool balls! I participated in a VERY abysmal game of pool after dinner that only ended when we abandoned the idea of finding a winner, and then about half the group settled on the couches in the lounge to watch one of my favorite movies, Good Morning Vietnam. The rest of the group took a taxi out into the city in search o a hookah (spelling?) bar and other clubs. For me, the movie was a far better use of my evening (and certainly more cost effective!). I retired along with the remaining movie-watchers at midnight to the girls dorm, and spent a fairly uncomfortable night in a bunk bed (although I wasn't unhappy about being unable to sleep for some reason). I was really excited about the fact that apparently they follow the no-top-sheet system here, like in Europe, because it reminded me of Germany!
Summary of the day: South Africa is a very different place from Botswana! TTFN!

Saturday 3/15/08
Today was the main day of "touristy" adventures. We began with breakfast at eight am (but which wasn't actually served until 9:30am), and then departed in our van with our guide Eric, for the apartheid museum. It was raining and surprisingly cold, and our warmest clothes were not sufficient to keep out the chill, particularly since part of the apartheid exhibit is outside. Irregardless, the museum was really amazing. It was a ton of information, and I definitely felt a little word-weary when I left, but the integration of informational plaques with videos and pictures made it very comprehensive and powerful. I bought a few postcards spouting the wisdom of Nelson Mandela before we were ushered back into the bus to go to lunch at... you'll never guess... McDonalds! It was quite a strange event considering it has been several years since I've even stepped foot in a McDonalds. It was not particularly delicious, but was a bit of a nostalgic reminder of home and my childhood when chicken nuggets were a coveted treat.
After lunch we embarked on a tour of the Soweto township, a trip that probably dispelled the most significant misconception that I have had about Africa so far. Rather than the dilapidated, poverty-stricken collection of shacks that I expected to find, Soweto is as (or more) diverse socioeconomically as any large town in the U.S. There were mansions, rich suburbs, middle-class suburbs, and the government-sponsored hostels which serve as the low-cost and subsidized housing in the township. There was certainly a visible degree of poverty in the town, but in driving through some of the neighborhoods, I was transported out of the national geographic depiction of Africa, and I truly understood why South Africa is the "UK" of Africa (according to one of our recent globalization authors). We stopped in several locations, including Nelson Mandela's home-turned-museum where we saw many of his accolades including honorary doctorates from over 100 universities in the U.S. and other European countries! We also visited the Hector Peterson memorial museum that was a tribute to the students that perished in the Soweto uprising. It was a very sobering experience watching videos and hearing the stories of these students who are my age and younger, who stood up to authority, and were gunned down for it.
It was pouring again by the time we left the museum, and our last stop was rushed, but that didn't diminish the impact that it had on me. The place we went to was a shantytown called Elie Moltswedi, named after an important apartheid revolutionary, and it is home to over twenty thousand people, all living in one-room make-shift tin shacks. There are 120 (unreliable) water taps and no electricity for the entire community, and over 80% of the residents are unemployed. We met up with one resident who was to act as our guide, and he told us not to give money to anyone that asks because they had set up a system where the guides collect money from tourists and then use it to benefit the entire community. I see the logic in it, but it didn't make it any easier to tell the little children that followed us around the whole time that we couldn't give them money. The guide kept telling us to take our pictures and the last part of the tour included him ushering us into one of the houses where two young boys were attempting to do their homework. It wasn't clear whether or not we had permission to be there, and the whole thing felt very wrong. When they asked us for money, I felt like the worst person in the world not giving it to them. It was important for us to see the shanty-town to remind us that people are subjected to those conditions in our world, but I felt that going into their house was completely inappropriate and unforgivable. I still haven't really been able to forgive myself for what happened, but I suppose that it strengthens my resolve to orient my life so that I am doing everything I can to help people in those kinds of situations.
The rest of the evening was a bit somber for me, but many of the students decided to go out, I suppose to relieve some of the tension that had built up from our long day learning about oppression and poverty. Once again, I curled up on the couch with Alyssa and a few others to watch "Mean Girls" and part of "Good Morning Vietnam", and was able to relieve some of the day's tension before heading to bed.

Sunday 3/16/08
It rained all night on the wooden roof and it was a lovely sound. The next morning we went on a bus tour of Johannesburg, and it was too rainy to see much, but definitely gave me the impression that I was in a nondescript cosmopolitan city. I would like to come back and spend a little more time at certain attractions, like the apartheid museum, and I've heard the nightlife is very exciting if you know where to go. After the city tour, we ate lunch in Jo-burg and then headed home. The trip back was uneventful and we were home in less than six hours!
Happy nine month anniversary to Anthony and I! Yay!

Monday 3/17/08 - Thursday 3/20/08
Life was back to normal at UB. I'll be honest, I love Botswana and I'm happy to be here, but I am definitely getting a bit restless. We've seen most of the cool things we are going to see and now it's just crunch time for my independent research, finals and buying souvenirs. I did manage to get hold of a few key people in the Department of HIV Prevention and Care, the Ministry of Health, and BOTUSA (Botswana-US Center for Disease Control) to interview for my research. Our outlines are due in two weeks and our presentations in three!! Yikes!!

Friday 3/21/08
Today was the first day of Easter break (no class yay!), and we spent it in a very break-like fashion. This morning Alyssa and I got up to run, and since the track was closed (again), we went on the trail the runs alongside the Gaborone Game Reserve. It was a nice run, and on the way back we met some very curious creatures. As we were rounding a corner on the dirt road, two vagrant warthogs trotted into view, and Alyssa and I both stopped having heard stories of the "vicious" nature that warthogs are know to exhibit. It seems they had wandered outside the reserve grounds, and the only thing we could do was wait until they had moved across the road and into the bush a bit. We walked past to avoid startling them, and had a bit of a staring contest with one as it turned around to assess whether or not we were threats. Luckily we were allowed to pass and continue on with our run. Exciting!
After running, Alyssa, Whitney and I walked to Riverwalk where we planned to spend a majority of the day. Our first stop was PicknPay to do research for Globalization on the product sourcing of dairy products in the store. Not surprisingly, most of the dairy was imported, and most of it came from South Africa, or was routed through South Africa.
Most of the shops were closed because of the Good Friday holiday, so we went to find out whether or not the movie theater was open, and sadly it was not. This ruined our evening plans of dinner and a movie, but we decided to have a long lunch and do some shopping at the stands instead! After a nice soup and bagel lunch at the restaurant, Linga Langa, and spending WAY too much money on gifts for people, we headed back home where I spent a good hour laying out all the gifts out that I had bought, and figuring out who I had bought them for! I actually have quite a lot, contrary to my earlier belief, and I only have a few more select items to purchase.
This evening is going to be a chill one, as we decided to postpone dinner and a movie for tomorrow. TTFN!