April 20, 2007 - Crocodiles, Sharks, and Pirates...Oh my!

Writing this entry in retrospect, since I obviously didn’t take my computer with me, is something I’ve been dreading and looking forward to with equal abandon. Dreading because there’s so much that we did in one day that I will be typing forever, but looking forward to because there’s so much that we did in one day that I want to share with everyone. So with that opening remark, here for your viewing pleasure is the first of our three days in Durban.

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Awaking to the alarm beeping beside my head at 2 a.m., I reluctantly roll out of bed and begin my morning ablutions. Never having been a morning person, I am seeing this hour from the wrong side. Normally I’d be up until now and going to bed soon, instead of getting up now and not going to bed until God knows when. Finishing packing, I step out my door to note that I have the largest bag to take with. Feeling a bit self-concious (when did I become the girl who can’t go anywhere without her flat iron?) I comment on the fact, and while everyone assures me that there’s nothing wrong with that, it still doesn’t do much to assuage my inner turmoil.

Our rides arrive promptly at 3 a.m., Kenneth and Peter Broli, who with Zwia load us into two cars (there’s no way that the tiny things here could hold all of us and our luggage) and we’re off to Jo-burg to fly to Durban. Alissa and I are situated with Kenneth and while he keeps up the conversation, I’m just marveling at the fact that I’m actually up for a sunrise. Arriving at the airport we head for the domestic terminal of Mango Air. Although it was extremely generous of Kenneth and Peter to drive us to the airport, there’s some concern on my part though in the fact that we seemed to have breathed in petrol (gas) fumes the entire trip and I have the beginnings of a large headache. Confirming that it just wasn’t a figment of my imagination, Alissa stated that she experienced it too.

Checking in and awaiting our aircraft, I’m surprised at just how many people there are traveling from Jo-burg to Durban this early in the morning (5:45a flight), but Rebecca B. reminds me that they may be a lot of domestic business travelers who are commuting between the cities. Making our way onto the plane I’m reminded of a sardine can – our society complains about the tightness in coach seating often enough – but I can tell you that the compact nature of the Mango aircraft was something to behold. Having a middle seat, I barely fit from front to back as my knees were smack up against the seat in front of me. As I don’t consider myself extremely tall (5’8”) I can’t help but wonder what other individuals are dealing with. Luckily the flight isn’t completely full and I manage to switch to another row with a little more room. It’s only one hour in the air and we’re there.

Flying into Durban one is immediately struck by the differences between the provinces that contain Pretoria (more desert-like) and the one that contains Durban (more tropical). Lush vegetation is abundant here and is emerald green in comparison to the autumn-turning tans of Pretoria. There’s also a difference in the air. Durban being located on the coast, the Indian Ocean airs a heaviness of humidity to the air. Oh yeah, by the way, I said the INDIAN OCEAN! On this trip, not only will I have experienced my third continent, but my third ocean.

Making our way to the Budget car rental area, we await our Toyota Corolla which is our run-around vehicle for the time we’re in the city. It having apparently rained earlier in the morning all of the vehicles have their windshield wipers up as the attendants wipe down the exteriors to a polished shine. Rebecca H. and Zwia come out with the keys to our royal blue Corolla. As we’re loading ourselves in I notice that we’re missing a windshield wiper, more specifically the driver’s side wiper, which if we run into bad weather isn’t something we’d want to be without. After the attendant adds the new wiper, we’re off.

Having learned that we’re not able to check into our hotel until 2p and it’s not even 7:30a, we’ve got a lot of time to kill. As we head north to Durban’s center from the airport, we again marvel at how green everything is. Flying in gave us a glimpse of the coastline but driving gives us an even better view. Cruising down the road, we come across an overturned semi for the opposite side. It’s flipped itself is such a way that it lies across all three lanes of traffic causing vehicles to back up for what seems to be ever.

Uncertain of what our destination is to be for the mornings entertainment we pull off the freeway to try and find an information office to get more…well…information. After locating a sign for a tourist office, we then proceed to not be able to find the darned thing. Going back-n-forth through the area several times whilst getting caught up in traffic being re-routed around the accident, we found that we had spent over an hour in the vehicle going absolutely nowhere.

With a final decision suggested by Alissa, we veer the car northward again and head towards Crocworld. Alissa’s ideas for things to do seem to be all animal-oriented: riding ostriches, swimming with sharks, viewing crocodiles. I’m more than happy to go along for the ride though as long as my one item of the vineyard is hit along the way.

With the sun shining brightly we are the first visitors to Crocworld on this warm Friday morning. In fact, we’re so early that the poor cleaning woman hasn’t had a chance to finish sweeping yet! Purchasing our tickets in the curio shop, I ever so briefly consider if I should select a crocodile head as an item for my home décor. Deciding against it because of the high creepy factor, we start out the door and into the croc park. Our entrance is paused for a moment as a male peacock is strutting his stuff right in our way.

Finally walking through, we’re greeted with the sight of multiple crocs and croc types in fenced in areas. And when I mean multiple, I mean multiple. The park stretches over quite a bit of land and when you enter you’re only able to see 3 of several pens. In those three combined, I’m fairly certain that there were 75 to 100 crocodiles…all of whom hadn’t been fed since 3 p.m. the day before.

I’m not all into the whole reptile farm thing, but these are certainly curious creatures. They creep Rebecca B. out a bit because of the slithery feature of their nature, but she manages well. As it’s moving towards winter here in South Africa, the crocs are headed into a more dormant activity period in their penned in lives. So while they’re not moving around a lot, they do keep an eye on those things around them. Ever been followed by a crocodile’s eyes? Not exactly the most welcoming feeling.

Our trip around the park lets us see different varieties of crocodiles from the cuter dwarf crocs to the most deadly variety of those from the Nile. These, apparently, are the ones who take more human lives than all of the other types put together. Reading the boards scattered throughout the park that reveal facts about its residents, I learn that a crocodile doesn’t have sex chromosomes. There’s no X or Y to speak of, and what actually determines the sex of a crocodile is the temperature of the heat during the egg incubation period. See, you can learn something new each day!

Making our way around, it’s become extremely humid, and I’m losing my eagerness to be here. Not being a fan of the humidity due to the fact I get heat exhaustion easily and end up fainting, I slow my pace behind the group. After we’ve made the first rounds, we’ve ended up back at the beginning just in time for the feedings at 11a. An employee with a wheelbarrow full of red raw meat stands just outside the fence. Speaking of fencing, we’re not quite sure how sturdy these things are if a croc were to actually charge at it. The fencing is similar to the type you’d put up in your backyard, so your guess is as good as mine as to it’s capability to keep giant reptiles in check.

Back to the feeding. Just on the other side of the fence a 15 foot crocodile has it’s nose pressed against the links as if he could inhale the meat with just one sniff. His teeth gleam an ivory white in the sunlight as he eagerly awaits his afternoon meal. Surrounding him are approximately 20 or so other crocodiles of various sizes piling one on top of the other, wrestling for the best spot at the table. Figuring that the crowd of people and crocodiles has waited long enough, the employee begins to toss chucks of meat into the pen. The percussive “thwump” of many jaws takes place as each animal tries its best to gain its gastronomical reward. Tossing meat in alternate directions enables the employee to try and reach numerous crocs so that one single creature doesn’t monopolize the whole thing.

Another small fact we learned was that crocs, while being able to catch larger animals once they reach a certain length, aren’t exactly the biggest eaters. While they may catch something large, their trick is to drag it away and hide it so that they can pull the meat from the bones of the carcass as it rots. Thus sustaining themselves for several meals with only one kill. (My apologies to those who are reading this while eating…sorry if I spoiled your appetite.)

After the feeding a guide showed us some of the areas we weren’t allowed into without one. Taking us back further into the park, we were able to overlook the smaller pens where crocs are bred, specifically for their hides. As we passed a smaller building, there were other employees actually stripping the skin from one of the reptiles.

Besides the five of us, there’s a small family on the tour with us, with two little boys and an even littler girl. I’ve noticed that South African parenting is much more relaxed than the US. Children are allowed to wander further and are more free wheeling than those back home. During our short hike the two boys fell a bit behind and I could hear their calls of “ouch” and “ouch!” As I glanced behind me, I saw that they were giving each other “snake bites” – that childhood game of grabbing a person’s arm and then twisting each hand an opposite way thus pinching the skin. Their engagement in the obligatory sibling annoyance of each other made me grin and think back to my own sibling rivalry days of yore (or maybe they're not quite of yore yet, recalling recent trips home).

Passing some smaller animals kept in the park, like meerkats, we arrived at Henry’s cage. Henry is the biggest croc on the Crocworld block, and was the partial star of Prime Evil. Being 2 meters (6 feet) round in the middle, his length was quite impressive. And though he looked harmless enough basking in the sunlight, I definitely wouldn’t want to meet him in any swamp.

Seeing as how we hadn’t eaten yet in the day, we opted for a brunch at the restaurant on site. Situated on a bluff overlooking the ocean, we were treated with sweeping vistas of an expansive blue sky, dancing waves, and the deep green of the palm trees and brush about us. In the distance you could see the storm making its way out to sea, and it had left in its wake a bi-colored ocean, deep blue where the floor dropped off but a murky tan where the shallow bottom sands had been stirred.

After lunch, we made our way into the heart of Durban in search of The Palace, which is where we were to be staying for the duration of our trip. Without comprehensive directions, we relied on the multitude of semi-helpful maps that would get us to the general location but didn’t contain the minute details we were looking for. After cruising up and down several blocks along the shoreline, we luckily found ourselves behind a police vehicle. Zwia flashed his lights at them and they pulled over. We Americans being uncertain of what he was doing were a bit startled that you could simply pull a cop car over. Turns out that Zwia pulled them over to ask for directions. The policeman was quite nice, joking that he could take us to The Palace as long as we didn’t give him a fine. With our official escort, we managed to find the place in no time.

Our attempt to check-in however was not as easy. Although our confirmation stated that we were booked in at The Palace, when the hostess at the desk went to verify the information, it was stated that we were actually to be in the Durban Sands. The Durban Sands had been the original choice for our venue but we had been told that they wouldn’t have room for us for both nights of our stay, hence the reason that we’d been put up in The Palace. Double-checking once more, the hostess stated that the printed reservation was wrong and that we did have two self-service apartments at the Durban Sands for both nights. So it was back to the car and back on the road for us.

Finally locating the Durban Sands, after a brief mistaken stop at the Silver Sands, we checked ourselves in and lugged our luggage up to the 9th floor (hmmm…is that where the term luggage comes from?). It was then that I discovered just how much that Alissa and Rebecca B. disliked heights. Our room having floor to ceiling glass windows and a balcony with a view that lasts forever didn’t give them the same sense of awe that I experienced. It being humid, I was ready to throw open the windows and let the breezes blow through, but being conscious of not wanting to make my roommates uncomfortable, we compromised. With no AC, I turned up the ceiling fan, we did throw open the windows and balcony door, but shut the shades to give the illusion that we weren’t up high.

Perusing the apartment, we found that there was a double bed and two large chairs with fold-out beds in them. Rebecca B. and I opted for the chairs, which left Alissa with the bed. With our keys we’d been given a checklist of items supposedly contained within our apartment to review. Playing the game of “Find That Thing”, I called off each item and Rebecca B. located them so that we could confirm or deny their existence. There were a few things on the list that we weren’t sure what they meant, though the names escape me now, but since we had items unaccounted for, we just checked them off anyway. Another discovery was the European shower in our bathroom; that being the handheld showerhead and no shower curtain. Having experienced these things in Europe we were at least familiar with how to operate them so as to not completely soak the entire bathroom. Something I learned quite quickly while abroad for the first time in Italy.

While we were checking things out and semi-settling in, Alissa made inquiries at uShaka Marine Park about the possibility of arranging an appointment to dive in the shark tank. Uncertain as we were to the popularity of this activity, we were pleasantly surprised when they had an opening for her later in the day at 4 p.m. She booked it and was all smiles.

Leaving perhaps a little later than we should have, we drove over to uShaka, which was only about 5-10 minutes away. A gigantic commercial area, uShaka not only has a Marine Park with daily animal shows, water slides, and aquarium, it also houses a plethora of shops and is smack-dab next to the ocean. In a bit of a hurry to make her appointment, we dashed to the Marine Park area and while Alissa went on he way to the meeting point, the rest of us made our way into the aquarium so that we could see her dive.

This aquarium, by the way, is quite possibly the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time. Designed as a gigantic ocean liner shipwreck, you make your way down through the cargo hold and wander the “halls” of the interior which have surprisingly enough multiple tanks filled with all manner of fish and ocean life.

Locating the shark tank, we settled in for the activity. They’re really quite graceful animals. With a floor to ceiling pane of glass between us the glided around in circles next to some gigantic fish (which was larger than some of the sharks and whose name also escapes me). Some time later, the first individuals partaking of the shark diving experience entered the water in a clear container which was left open on the top. The trick was that you had to bob up and down for air, as all you were given was goggles for your eyes. Even though the lone tiger shark skimmed the surface the entire time, it’s dorsal fin cutting through the water in that telltale manner, there was no time at all that the open top could have been dangerous. The gentleman in charge stated that the sharks would be unable to jump so as long as everyone keep their arms in all would be well.

With her first shark diving experience over, Alissa really needed a change of clothing. We had thought that they would provide her with some sort of wetsuit and towels, as the gentleman in the brochure had, but to no avail. Armed with only her bathing suit and the clothes she arrived in, she had nothing to dry off with. Heading back to the shops we were she was fortunate enough to be able to pick out some new threads.

While making her decisions, discussion led to the inevitable conversation of where were we going to eat. Alissa and I had spotted a placard on the sidewalk whilst heading to the shopping area that had listed a pirate show taking place later that evening at the Top Deck restaurant on the wrecked cruise ship. Mentioning this, all agreed it sounded like a good idea but we needed to check it out. Arriving at the restaurant, we were initially turned away because they didn’t think they had enough room for us and we didn’t have reservations but as we were leaving, the “Captain” of the ship found us and said that they had made room for us.

The total experience was great. There was live music, a dancing Pirate (in a sort of mascot costume), other dancers, and regular pirates who juggled swords and swung these, I can only think to call them maces, that were lit on fire at the tips. A large buffet was available for us to pick from with a whole host of options from around the globe. As the day grew dim, the sky lit up with stars and a crescent moon so clear it seemed as if you could pluck it from the sky. We all had a wonderful time.

Our evenings revelries completely exhausting us, we finally paid the check and found our way back to the hotel. After a very long day, we opted to not get up early for the game park drive the next morning as we would have been too tired to enjoy it, and crawled ourselves into our respective beds to dream of crocodiles, pirates, and sharks…oh my!

April 19, 2007 - Lesson learned

So apparently I didn’t learn my lesson last week with the green tea. I had thought the combination of the meal I had with the green tea is what upset my stomach, but as I found out from last night and most of today, it’s the green tea itself. I’m not exactly sure why because I drink Lipton’s Green Tea Citrus all the time back home. I’m thinking it’s just the brand I’ve got.

I’m disappointed though in being sick. We had plans to attend a choral concert today that was being given on campus consisting of traditional South African music. As a member of veteran of high school and college choral programs I was looking forward to hearing their music. Rebecca H. had stopped back at the apartments to check on me and stated that she would take some pics if they were allowed. I hope that they’re able to.

Since I wasn’t’ feeling my best, I didn’t do anything outside of my apartment today. As my stomach settled, I did manage to accomplish some other things though like quiz prep, ironing, and packing for tomorrow’s trip to Durban. Or should I say this coming morning.

Our ride is picking us up at 3:15 a.m. for the 45 minute trip to Jo-berg. We then have an approximately 1 hour flight at 5:45 a.m. and will arrive at our hotel very early. Since we’re leaving at such a crazy time, I’m gonna be headed back to bed here in about an hour – 6 p.m. That’s because the intent is to put in a full day of sightseeing in Durban once we arrive, and there’s no way I’m going to want to traveling around if I don’t get some sleep beforehand. So with that in mind, this note is going to be very short, but expect big things to be written about in the days to come…

April 18, 2007 - Reagen's Rosetta Stone

Another overcast day brought the blah blues. Alissa is still sick from the day before so it’s just the Rebecca’s and I turning in a full day’s work today.

More research (so tell me, how sick are you of my writing about this?) brought more online travels. Today my ventures were to Fiji, The Holy See (Vatican), Indonesia, and Israel to name a few. In locating and/or correcting contact information for the national libraries for the nations I again wish that the USA had more stringent rules in teaching the nation’s children a second language. My rusty French can help me out when pages of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian pop up but I am lost when a non-Latin based language like Hebrew or Indonesian flashes across my screen. The symbols that make up their lexicon are things that I know are supposed to have meaning but to me are just beautiful scrawls across the page. Running into pages of information in languages I’m not familiar with certainly can put a long pit stop in the schedule of the research race. I need some sort of library Rosetta stone, that has the translations of all of the world languages and whose subject consists of contact information.

We learned today that Peter Broli, Cathy’s brother, who was to be our native chaperone and driver for our Durban trip can now not make it due to other work obligations. There is talk of Zwia, the student who carted us to the Lion Park, going with us. I certainly hope that something can be worked out, because for all my boastings of wanting to drive on the other side of the road, I would not be the best candidate with the lack of knowledge on the downshifting skills.

Another item added to our schedule was the mention of a choral concert being given by the UP Choral group, consisting of several songs in the South African tradition and in several of the national languages (there are 11 total). I’m stoked for that as I always look forward to experiencing all that another culture has to offer.

Rebecca H. and I left a little early to check on the new chaperone details and stated that we would meet everyone to get our laundry. I guess our signals got crossed because while our business with Cathy and Peter was resolved quickly, Rebecca H. and I waited for a quiet a while for the others to join us. In that time, I decided to unwrap a Snicker’s bar that I had brought back from the Lion Park. While shedding it’s wrapper I discovered that my Snickers was crumbling in my very hands. Apparently Alissa and I had selected some bars from the wrong batch and ended up with these crumbly counterparts. Not the Snickers satisfaction I was looking for.

Since there was still no sign of the girls and the closing time of the laundry service was rapidly approaching, I offered to trek over to the laundry place whilst Rebecca H. waited for our erstwhile companions. I was moving a bit more slowly than normal due to pain caused by unbroken in shoes, or rather I should say not-broken-in-enough shoes. Hobbling my way to the Hatfield Square who should I find but Alissa and Rebecca B. already waiting at Le Patt Café with all of our laundry at their feet. I joined their table, and as we waited for Rebceca H. to make her way our direction, I reveled in the sensation of fresh laundry.

While most people complain about having to do ironing and laundry as a chore, I find it soothing. Folding items straight out of the dryer and inhaling that warm soft scent is something that makes my day a little bit better each time it occurs. I enjoy placing clean clothes to their proper homes, and putting fresh sheets on the bed. It gives me a sense of domesticity, something that I don’t always feel I have a lot of. Keep in mind though that this is me doing my own laundry, I don’t know that I’d wax quite so rhapsodic if I had to take care of everyone else’s as well. But for at least tonight I’ll rest easy in that Downy fresh feeling.

April 17, 2007 - Fun & Games with Zeus

Tonight I’ll start with the end. As I sit here composing this, Mother Nature is pouring down buckets of rain. The sky lights up with flashes of lighting and I count…one Mississippi…two Mississippi, CRASH! The storm’s moving closer and closer and I can’t get enough of it. When the heavens bring forth thunderstorms I am overjoyed, as there is nothing I like better. While some people feel their hearts grow light at the sight of a clear blue sky, mine favors the silvery grey of a rainy day. Perhaps this is the reason why I feel that I should make my permanent home somewhere in the UK, where the overabundance of stormy weather cultivates lush green fields.

My window once again open wide, I sit on my bed and stare outside at the gift that I’ve been granted. The city lights cast a golden hue on the clouds passing overhead and people beneath multi-colored umbrellas pass by on their way home. I breathe in deeply and the clean smell of the earth fills my lungs bringing a smile to my face. Tiny rivers of water sluice their way down the pavement of the street below. Thunderstorms always bring to my mind the scenes in Fantasia where Zeus tosses down bolts of lightening hand forged in the clouds above, wrecking havoc on the peaceful scene below. His joy echoes mine own.

To go back to the beginning, today was just another Tuesday. It began as the others have at 7:30a, but this time my trip out the door wasn’t just off down the street to UP. Nope, today was laundry day. But not like any other laundry day that I’ve ever experienced. Having been here a week and a half now, it was time to have things come clean, so our group had been looking for a Laundromat in the Hatfield area. The one that Rebecca H. knew of from her last visit is no longer there as a new housing complex is being constructed on its old premises. Yesterday we stumbled across a great idea. A dry-cleaner that will wash and fold your laundry for you! It’s a concept that still seems a bit strange to me since I’ve been doing my own laundry since about the age of 10. Mom made sure that we all knew how to do that early on. But for R 15 per kilogram we’re able to pick up our laundry all fresh and new less than 24 hours later.

Alissa wasn’t feeling well due to a sore throat so she stayed in bed today. I wasn’t quite ready when the Rebecca’s were off so I told them I catch up. On my way out I slung my blue laundry bag over my shoulder, feeling a bit like Santa Claus, and set off into Hatfield. When I reached the corridor for the cleaners, I saw Rebecca H. waving to me from La Patt café down the way. Apparently we had misread the sign and the cleaners didn’t open until 8:30a so we had a little time to kill; a cup of hot cocoa for me and some time to enjoy the fresh air.

After dropping off my laundry, I stopped across the way to mail off the last set of my postcards. Final count I believe was 53. Messages might seem a bit similar on some but after about 20 or 30 it’s hard to be original and clever. I’m interested to see how long it will take them to travel home. I’ve been on two week abroad trips before and though I’ve sent things within the first few days, they’ve still arrived after I have. I’ve friends all across the US, in Lima, Peru, and Scotland as well, but I think the card that must travel the longest distance will be to Honolulu. Although that may depend upon which way the plane leaves from here.

Work brought more research. After locating information for countries that weren’t on the original list, we’re now working on verifying information for countries we do have but haven’t gotten any response from. You’d be very surprised at the difficulty or ease of some places. For instance, Canada gave me a hard time, locating the correct name, but Estonia was done in two seconds flat. I also found that translating Portuguese isn’t so simple when your French is fairly rusty.

Lunch found us back at our usual spot Café at Burgundy’s. We’ve enjoyed our times there and at all of the places we’ve gone to for lunch and dinner, but our American sensibilities are showing a bit as we’ve grown a tad weary of the leisurely manner in which meal times are conducted. We’re not used to having to take 2 hours per meal, as it seems to me that it’s cutting into our work time. It’s not a bad thing but when one’s hungry it can be a bit of a bother.

We finished up work and then were off to the travel office once again to pick up the final Durban details. With flights, cars, and accommodations confirmed we are officially a go for Friday. I’m very excited. I believe we’re flying on an intra-country airline called Mango so that should be different as well as the fact that it’s supposed to be a prop airplane. That I’m really looking forward to – flying is another thing I’m crazy about. I’d eventually like to have my pilot’s license for planes and choppers but I’m not sure when I’ll be able to take up that dream. I took a one-hour test flight a few years back and it only added fuel to the fire of that passion, so any time I can leave the ground I’m all for it.

Dinner was spent on our own back at the apartments and that’s about where you’re finding me now with the rain in the background. Lunch was later in the day so I’m not tremendously hungry at the moment. So I’ve popped open a bottle of Coke and settled in to write this. The last thing I’ll leave you with for this entry is my endorsement of Coke in glass bottles. Another of my loves (This missive seems to be filled with a lot of love, huh? Maybe I’m channeling more of Eros than Zeus after all.), I feel that Coke can taste no better unless it comes out of a glass bottle. I think my adoration of this particular style stems from my childhood. I remember my dad taking me down to the local gas station where there was a glass bottle pop machine, and my summer camp had all of their canteen beverages in glass bottles as well. Nothing seems to taste better. Fortunately for me, here they have pallets full six-packs of Coke in 250 ml bottles. So between the chocolate milkshakes and the Coke in bottles I’m well set to spend my remaining time here existing off of those. Until next time…

April 16, 2007 - The Electronic Age

Today I have internet that works when I want it to! Rebecca B. having traveled with multiple items for her computer, has taken her internet cord that she brought and replaced the one at the office that had been giving me so much trouble. It was a delightful thing to arrive to.

The Rebecca’s had headed to work early today to catch up on e-mails and such as we had had the weekend away from the internet. Our reliance so much on technology now for everything scares me a little and I wonder how we would ever cope if things changed and we lost those convenient electronics that we so desperately rely on now. Take for instance the cell phone. I only bought one myself about two years because I was moving around so much and it was easier to keep track of myself that way. Traveling here, I left the thing at home and haven’t bought a calling card at all. I left instructions with the family that no news was good news, so that they would only hear from me if something went very wrong. And I can tell you flat out that I don’t miss the thing at all. I tend to chuckle at those people who panic when they’ve left their cell phone at home. It wasn’t so long ago when you couldn’t take your phone with you, and frankly sometimes nowadays it’s a pain to be reachable all the time.

Most of the day was filled with small things, turning in a Organization of Information exercise (which I’m hoping I did correctly), knocking out more postcards, figuring out what laundry to send off, and an evening back at the News Café so that Rebecca H. could experience the delectable deliciousness of their cuisine. With nothing high on the revelation scale, I’ll leave off for now. A small entry for a small day.

April 15, 2007 - The Mane Event

You finally will get to read something more stimulating. Today was our day to venture out and about. Knowing that the market hadn’t been open on Saturday, we hit the square at 10a, and each went our separate ways. A rabbit’s warren of tents, one is able to meander at their will discovering a new trade or craft at each turn; everything from the faux Gucci and Fendi purses to hard-carved ivory tusks and woven baskets.

My purchases were only a few, a gift or two for the folks back home and something for myself. Souvenir shopping for little ol’ me is a bit harder nowadays than it was when I traveled when I was younger. I now no longer yearn for that cool t-shirt which will only be worn for a little while. Now I search for something tangible that can be displayed and enjoyed for multiple years to come. Seeing as how I’m quite into giving every new place I live a homey feeling, I’ve started collecting décor items in my travels, so that the objects I surround myself with have meaning. With that particular explanation in mind, I picked up a hand-carved wooden mask to hang in my hallway. I have a similar one from Ghana, a gift from someone a while back, so this will fit right in. I’m still hoping to locate a painted cloth that I can frame as artwork. Although there is a superfluity of cloths available, no one in particular struck my fancy. Perhaps I will fair better in Durban. A quick chocolate milkshake at a local café and then we’re headed back to the apartments to meet our ride for the Lion Park. (Tangent: South Africa has the BEST milkshakes – they’re just so incredibly smooth!)

Cathy was able to hook us up with a UP Radiology student named Zwia, who uses his car on the weekends as a sort of taxi-service to make money for school, so he was our appointed driver to Lion Park. Because Rebecca B. still had some homework to do and she’s a more diligent student than I, she opted to stay home and finish up some more projects. So it was just Rebecca H., Alissa, and I.

Zwia is a nice guy who took us a little round about in the city before we departed for the Lion Park. Driving us up to the Union building we were able to look down over the whole of Pretoria, which was quite the impressive view. A few seconds later we were whisking our way through traffic and onto the interstate towards Lion Park.

Along the way we saw settlements of people who have put up corrugated steel shacks. Not formal towns per se, although you could tell where road and yard deliniations were. It’s quite the juxtaposition of worlds. Where traveling one way out of Pretoria you see a flush economy with giant stucco mansions completed with ice blue pools and in another direction lies abject poverty where the homes are battered and covered in rusty tin with no running water. It’s not limited to one area either, these settlements were scattered all along the way we traveled. We passed people walking along the side of the roads that were looking for work or headed to the nearest store for supplies; that nearest store being a few miles away.

One thing to do here in South Africa that we won’t be seeing is to travel to the town of Soweto, which has similar conditions to the places I mentioned above. It’s become a destination of choice for people visiting here from other countries, but I for one am glad we’re not going. While I feel that the experience would be one that would be important, I would also feel strange making a tourist trip out of someone’s neighborhood and home, especially since I’m so well-off in comparison. Perhaps if I was part of a larger mission bringing help, maybe, but my comfort level would not be so good otherwise.

Our arrival at the Lion Park was fortuitous as Zwia dropped us off just in time to make the latest guided tour. Climbing into a khaki-colored safari truck, we find ourselves in a covered cage. Our guide, Phillius, spoke about the history of the park and its original parameters. Although it’s called Lion Park because the lions were the reason that it was established. It has expanded its boundaries and now houses cheetahs, hyenas, springbok, antelopes, zebras, ostriches, giraffes, and oh yeah…lions. The tour took roughly an hour or more. We navigated our way through the open lands where the ostrich, zebra, and antelope play to begin with, and then venture further into the park for a glimpse at some hyenas and cheetahs. Unlike Kruger or Pilanesburg national parks this is more of a preservation area so the animals aren’t allowed to just roam freely amongst each other. Areas are cordoned off so that each species has its space. The hyenas were next on our tour, but seeing as how they had just been fed (evidence left at the front of the cage confirmed the suspicion) they were more than happy to just lounge about inside their dens and not perform for the strange humans in a cage. The next area was designated to the cheetahs. They too had just been fed, but Phillius let himself into the area to try and get them to play a little. His swinging a dead chicken around didn’t do too much but when he made his way their direction, they decided to get up and move about a little. Keep in mind that these animals have been raised in captivity so they’re used to human presence, but one must still always be cautious.

The main event (or mane event if you prefer) consisted of four separate areas where white lions and regular African lions roamed freely. They were amazing to see and with the digital camera I could get close without actually getting close. Most of them were content to gnaw on their horse legs

I must tell you that not only could you take a guided tour but if you so chose you could drive your own vehicle on a self-guided tour through the park. This is great for most as you’re basically at eye-level with the cats and they’ll walk right around or next to the car. Specific instructions are given not to exit the car, roll down the windows, or do anything to aggravate the animals. However, some people aren’t exactly the brightest crayons in the box, and were being quite loud and obnoxious, calling out to us from their vehicles such things as “Are they feeding you?” and “Do you get to leave your cage?” They were startling the cats to know end and although it may not have been charitable, I thought it may serve them right if a lion had taken a swipe at them. Have them get a little of that whole “reap what you sow” thing.

Overall, viewing the big cats up close was really cool. They seem such placid animals lounging around and lapping at the water-hole, but the tightly coiled strength lying beneath their tawny coats is something that I would not want to experience first hand. Another plus with the digital camera is that I didn’t have to worry about how many shots I had left and could click away at will. Viewing them both with the naked eye and through a lens, they truly are magnificent creatures. Back at the main site, there were smaller areas that you could walk to where the younger lions were being held. We even managed to go inside an area where you can play with baby lions. Although calling them babies would be stretching it. Even at 4 months of age, they had tremendous strength. I was able to pet one for a little while and their fur is much rougher than I thought it would be. Perhaps when they grow larger their pelts grow softer, though I’m not willing to find a larger specimen to test that theory at the moment. Nonetheless they are completely adorable.

We wandered around trying to locate the giraffes, but they were no where to be found. I can’t imagine how a giraffe could just disappear into thin air but that seemed to be the case. I was hoping to get some good pictures for my younger sister who requested that I bring her back an actual giraffe from my travels, despite my constant reminders that a giraffe, even a baby one, could not fit in my suitcase. She’ll have to be content without.

As we arrived at 1p and were to be there until 6p when the park closed and our ride arrived, we had some time to kill. There was a kiosk with snacks, where I won the Snickers treasure hunt – Alissa always brings her dad back a Snickers from a foreign country and we were having trouble locating some. A quick perusal through the gift shop and we were done fairly early. With an hour or so to kill we had supper at the restaurant there and finished just in time to meet our ride.

As we traveled back to Pretoria, the sun was setting over the hills casting a fiery glow onto the earth and setting the sky ablaze with colors. Traveling on tiny lights would appear across the land like fireflies marking homes and cities settling in for the evening. Arriving back home, we thanked and generously tipped Zwia who assured us he was available again whenever we needed his assistance. Knocking on Rebecca B.’s door we regaled her with the day’s escapades and then each turned in to our own little worlds. The abundance of fresh air breathed in over the day brought sleep more quickly than usual and I fell into a deep slumber to await the dawn…

April 14, 2007 - Whistle while you work...

This entry will be fairly short. Rebecca H. had left at 4 a.m. this morning for the Mpumalanga region with Cathy and Peter. As for me though, it was nice to sleep in and not have a set schedule to be worried about. Once up and showered though, I turned on the iTunes on my computer and set to work to at least start some of my major projects. Sometimes it will take me a while though, as I need that hook to get me in and writing. Rebecca B. and Alissa headed to the school to work on the computers there because of the internet access. As I had my laptop and felt that the internet would’ve been too much of a distraction, I just stayed in my apartment.

Midway through the morning I decided to venture down to Hatfield square to see the crafts at the market. Much to my dismay, I discovered too late that the market is only open on Sundays. So instead of trucking right back to the apartment, I tooled around in the shops for a while and then went back home.
At roughly dinner time Rebecca B. and Alissa ventured back home and we went out to dinner. I offered the option of Herr Gunter’s as we hadn’t tried that place yet. However upon sitting down in the outside seating, we learned that it was strictly a bar and didn’t serve food. That meant a change of location since we were starving. Strolling down the street we came upon the News Café, another place we hadn’t tried yet. Again, we were able to sit out on the terrace.

Being outside was great for people watching. This particular street is always busy with the car-parking guys (whom you tip to help you find a spot), students doing their shopping or dining out, and tourists taking in some local color. This evening though, it was exceedingly busy. The Pretoria rugby team, the Bulls, had a match that evening and had won, so that meant that cars galore were traveling up and down the road with Bulls flags flying and horns-a-blaring. And remember, these are the little European car horns so they’re that cuter high-pitched tone. It seemed like every other person had a jersey on and was celebrating. That coupled with the fact that a benefit concert for animal rights was taking place in the square behind us made for a very entertaining evening.

The News Café in itself had the best food I’ve yet to experience here. I had a chicken and bacon wrap with this honey-mustard mayo dipping sauce, chips (remember those are French fries) and a whiskey-sour to drink. I’m not normally a drinker, but on rare occasions I’ll have one or two, with the whiskey-sour as my choice. Particularly because I like it well enough to finish the thing, but not so well that I’ll down it and want another. It came to the table a little differently though. Instead of it being fully mixed together, I received a tumbler of ice, a shot of whiskey, and a shot of sour, and then had to mix it myself. Not quite the same as at home, but still good overall.

The three of us also indulged in a rarity. On the drink menu, they had Absinthe available. A beverage that many may know is illegal in the States because of its supposed hallucinogenic properties, but it’s not illegal here in S.A. I’d read about the drink in many books over time and it plays it’s part in movies I’ve seen as well. Knowing that we may not have the opportunity again, we saw fit to take advantage of the time here and ordered a round.

The result…let’s just say it’s not something I’ll need to order again. If you adore black licorice then this may be for you, but the small amount I had was more than enough to satisfy my curiosity. It’s served in brandy glasses and the fumes and liquid itself are extremely potent, but the only way you’re going to experience that drug effect that they say it has is if you consume a gigantic amount. And frankly, if you can drink that stuff copiously then you may already have a problem you need to worry about. But as far as experiences go, that’s another I can check off my list.

The final homework score came to Reagen – 0, classes – 3. That’s right, I didn’t complete any one thing in particular but I did complete most of them a good ways through so that finishing them shouldn’t be too hard to do. Until next time…

April 13, 2007 - Roam if you want to...

Friday is my malaria day. Okay, so it’s not my contracting malaria day but is the designated day that I keep up with my dosage. Lucky for me I’ve got this stuff called mefloquin (spelling is probably wrong), so I only have to take a pill a week. Some of us have these daily pills that don’t sit so well. Fortunately, none of us has even remotely been near any place where we could have picked up the disease.

More research ensued today. Over the span of the week we’ve found almost all of the missing countries contact information, except some of the Saint _____ islands, but those shouldn’t take to long. We’ve slowed down a little considering once we’ve located all of these, we will have run out of work until our next assignment. Retha, who is currently on vacation, is our go-to-gal for information on the project, and will be returning on Monday.

We did cut out early from work today as we needed to meet up with Cathy in the travel office to solidify travel plans for next weekend. Cathy and her brother Peter run the travel office there and because we’ve discovered that they both are on the loquacious side we e-mailed them what activities we wanted to partake of whilst in Durban. Our intinerary will then be drawn up. So far I know that we’ll be taking the early flight (and I do mean early – it’s at 5:45a!!!) from Jo-berg to Durban on next Friday morning and have all of Friday and Saturday to explore Durban and the surrounding area, then we’re renting a “mini-bus” and driving back to Pretoria, so that we can take in the countryside. It’s going to be about a 7-8 hour drive but we’ll be traveling through the Drakensburg Mountains, which I’m looking forward to. We’ve been in the city since we arrived so I’m excited about getting the chance to explore more of this place.

Discovered that the street sign that’s an S with the red circle and slash over it means “No Stopping”, so I was right to begin with. There are other things that I’ve yet to discover though. Such as, there’s this bird on campus (I’ve not seen but only heard it) that when it sounds off makes a noise that’s a cross between a monkey’s “ooo, ooo, ooo” and a pigeon cooing. Until I find the real name of the thing I’ve dubbed it the Monkey-bird. Not original, I know, but at least I’ll know what I’m talking about. There are also a couple of trees here that I need the actual names of. One has branches and leaves like a regular ground fern and the other looks like it has a curly aloe plant at the end of each branch. Again, my cleverness knows no bounds when I dub them Fern-tree and Aloe-tree. (Please note heavy sarcasm here).

This weekend though is not without its activities. The Hatfield Square market is supposedly taking place all weekend so we have that to do, as well as on Sunday we’re going to venture out to the Lion Park ½ hour outside of Pretoria to see some of the wildlife. Cathy has graciously offered to take us to see the Mpumalanga (a really fun word to say) region of South Africa which has some of the most breathtaking scenery to found anywhere on the planet. Apparently there’s one point called God’s Window where you emerge from a trail and the view in front of you stretches on forever, appearing literally as if you were watching from God’s window. Rebecca H. decided to take her up on the offer, and as much as the rest of us wanted to, we had too many paper’s and projects to work on, especially if we were to be gone all of the following weekend. So with much regret, we opted to not go but made Rebecca H. promise to take lots of pictures.

April 12, 2007 - Stomach, stamps, and a small town newspaper...

This morning was not so good. After I woke Alissa up at 7:30a (Tangent: I’m the only one with an alarm clock here so at the time stated I make my way across the hall to knock on doors) I had to tell her to relay the message that I wouldn’t be joining them. The night before, I was very sick. I’d eaten Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner and had some green tea later in the evening and I think for some reason, the combo of the two didn’t sit so well in my stomach. So after a late night of praying to a porcelain god, I wasn’t really in any shape to be going anywhere early in the day.

I awoke later to the sounds of the maid trying to get into my room to clean. Oh yeah, that’s another perk we have here. Since we’re in “visiting scholars” housing, apparently that’s something that they receive. It was a surprise to us that they come in on a daily basis. We knew that we’d receive fresh linens each week, but not the full clean package. They even made the beds and washed the dishes of some folks! After I let her know that I didn’t need any service that day, I went back to sleep to try and calm my stomach.

At about 11 a.m., I finally felt well enough to get up and go off to work. I took the round about way to the university as I wanted to stop in the Hatfield shopping district at the post-office for some stamps, seeing as how the building closes at 4:30p and we’re never out of the office before then.

I’ve refreshed my 7 x’s tables in my head so now I’m able to roughly calculate the costs of things here in South Africa. It’s so inexpensive for many things! In trying to plan extra travel or tickets for things, people keep warning us of the cost and once I translate it into dollars, it’s always much less that I was estimating. It’s going to be hard to go back to the US where your one entrée will cost more than an entire meal (including dessert and a tip) here does.

I’d brought a sampling of the postcards I’d finished with and affixed postage to mail them off. After dropping them in the red box, I wonder just how long it’ll take them to arrive at their destinations. When I’m abroad I try to send postcards early enough so that they arrive back home before I do, but it doesn’t always work out that way.

I mosey (that’s the speed I walk – it’s always been the speed I walk) over to the university and join up with everyone else. Luckily my internet decides to work right away and I’m off and away trying to find libraries or something similar for many tiny islands in the South Pacific like Niue (which is now an entry on my list of places to go before I die). Many of these islands have great websites for tourism but don’t have a lot of information about the extras like their government or education items.

During our time in the office, we open the windows wide and let the fresh air in. It’s nice to be able to have windows without screens – there’s no worry of bugs on a regular basis here – so there’s nothing inhibiting the view. The odd thing today was that although we could see white marshmallow-like clouds and a clear blue sky from our vantage point, we heard the pitter-patter of rain drops on the rooftop above us (we’re on the 6th and highest floor of the building).

Mid-afternoon we were still awaiting possible travel excursion information. During our visit with Cathy, she gave us the name of a local student, Marius, who puts together package deals for visitors to South Africa. We had e-mailed him with our times and dates and a rough idea of what we wanted to see and were awaiting confirmation on the material. Eagerly so, because we are trying to go to Capetown tomorrow, Friday. A bit later, we finally heard from Marius but apparently he had mistaken our message. He’d sent us a 6-day guided safari tour of Kruger National Park with no pricing information! Knowing that that wasn’t going to work for us, we popped over to see Cathy again about other possibilities. She worked her travel agent magic to let us know the cost of traveling/staying in Capetown for the weekend. Unfortunately the entire thing, not including meals or entrance fees to do things there, was more than any of us could afford ($500+), so that put the kabash on Capetown. I was thoroughly disappointed as the big things I wanted to do were all there: Robbin Island, driving along the coast, wading w/African penguins, visiting a South African vineyard, etc. With that trip out of the running, I wasn’t sure what else we could go and see.

The mention of Durban came up. Flights to and from there totaled $85 and the housing was reasonable as well. We knew there was a marine park called uShaka Park where Alissa could do here cage-shark-diving but that was about all. I take that back, I’d also heard that it was a more touristy theme park-type city versus the culture/history travel that I prefer so I was a bit leery of planning an entire weekend there without knowing anything about it. Cathy and her brother (another travel agent) let us know of other great options, like the possibility of driving there and back to see the countryside, there’s a historical value just north of Durban along the coast where the Zulu nation is based – lots of culture to see there. As we weren’t sure of everything, we girls needed to pow-wow to figure out what our final decision might be.

Heading back to the office, so that we might look up some information about Durban via the internet, I was able to locate a lot of extra things there. There’s a vineyard close by, some cultural museums, a crocodile farm, rickshaws, and the hotel we may stay in has a sea view if we wanted. I also found a castle that we could tour! (I have a thing for castles) Feeling better about Durban’s prospects we decided that we would go there next weekend and try and do a few things around Pretoria this weekend. I loved this plan because having more time this weekend for finishing projects or at least getting them almost finished is something I was afraid I wouldn’t have.

With that settled, I checked my e-mail and other news sources one last time before I left. There I learned, according to my parents, that the article my hometown newspaper wrote about my trip here made front page news (tells you a little bit about how small our community is) with a picture I’m not too fond of from when I graduated college. Makes me wonder why I had to shoot 20+ pics of myself with my digital camera to find one that I liked to e-mail my parents so that they could forward it to the newspaper. But what’s a girl gonna do…

April 11, 2007 - You are my sunshine...

I don’t feel as if I have as much to report for today. More research was the main order of the day. Of the four computers in our room, I believe that mine is a teenager because the internet service (of which it’s fully connected to) decides to work only when it wants to and not a moment before. And normally not before 10:30a. Luckily for me, there are plenty other things to keep me busy.

The sleepy little neighborhood that I thought Hatfield was is no more. We arrived during a holiday time so that meant that all of the students were away. Now they’re back in abandon and they fill the campus and the roads with their little cars. They’re also all very stunning looking. It’s sort of odd to me, but there isn’t a bad looking bloke or bird amongst the bunch. It’s also a little intimidating, me just being an average American. I asked the others in my group if they saw what I saw and all agreed – South Africa is full of beautiful people!

When lunch rolled around we went back to the Burgundy Café and this time were able to sit outside. Unbeknownst to me though, the table we sat at had my sit in the full limelight of the sun, which is not my favorite thing. Discussion ran to my aversion to it’s rays and Rebecca H. said that she would be more than willing to sacrifice herself to the sun’s beams on my behalf in the future. An offer I’ll most willingly take her up on.

We wrapped up our day at roughly 5p and headed off to the shopping district of Hatfield. Being a group of avid readers, we were looking for more material to support our habit. I’d brought two books with me and had all but finished the second one. At a type of drugstore, I was able to pick up a Kathy Reich novel. If you know the show BONES, then you may be familiar with the fact that she wrote the books that the show is loosely based on, about a forensic anthropologist. I got into the subject a few years back when I read a true story tale by Clea Koff entitled The Bone Woman, about her time spent in Rwanda and other 3rd world nations identifying the victims of genocide. I’d highly recommend it, but definitely don’t read it while eating or soon after. Let’s just say she describes things very well.

I also hit the postcard jackpot at the drugstore and picked up another 30+ cards to send, although I still find myself short 4 or 5. I’ve brought the addresses with me and am trying to complete a couple each evening and morning so that I’m not trying to write the whole lot at once.

Dinner was at a restaurant in the shopping center called Just Friends (with a FRIENDS TV theme). A few of us had been craving cake so we indulged with a Strawberry cheesecake and Chocolate mousse.

Forgot to mention that the other day when we met Cathy, Rebecca H. told a story of one of the students who came with her here to S.A. two years ago. Apparently this student extended her stay, went to Capetown, and eventually married a man she met there, all within a couple of weeks! Cathy, while surprised, told us that that could happen. Her words were that most South African’s want to get into our country and get a green card, so they’re willing to marry us Americans. She basically stated that if we wanted to go home with a husband, all we need do is start talking (they’d hear our accent) and we’d be given offers of marriage. Alissa thought this was funny and has now figured on marrying me off to someone here. I keep informing her that impetuosity is not something I partake of, and I didn’t feel like rocking my friends and family’s take on reality. She has other candidates in the Rebeccas though.

As stated in the beginning the day was fairly regular so this entry will be short. Until next time…

April 10, 2007 - A secure life...

The one thing I’ve noticed most about this country is their devotion to security measures. All of the houses and buildings I’ve seen are behind locked metal gates with spikes topping their posts or electric fences bordering the top. The apartments we stay in have a brick security fence along the outside perimeter with metal pedestrian and car gates that require a key or code to enter. Along the top of the brick wall is attached a metal spiked strip and then above that is about a foot of electric fencing wires. I have a key for my burglar bars, one for the door, one for the bathroom and 2 for the closets.

I mention the security thing because even the University is fenced in. Students (or in our case visitors with passes) must swipe their cards to go through a rotating metal bar door – for both going in and going out. Also, when entering the department you must swipe your card to gain entry. And I’ve noticed that no one here leaves their office open unless there’s someone in it. Even the printer/copier room has a code to gain entry to it.

In writing this I’m not trying to say that this much security is a bad thing or that we’re in danger most of the day. Far from it…the people that we’ve met have been nothing but friendly and accommodating. I’m just commenting on the differences between how life is back home compared to here. I wonder what visitors from here to the US think of all of our open yards and doors. I may show complete ignorance here, but I wonder if all the security measures that are in place are from a mentality leftover from the many years before South Africa became a democratic state. It does seem as if their transformation took place overnight but all of those years spent before had to have taken their toll.

To change the tide of thought, we started work at the University of Pretoria today (locally called Tuks). We met Professor Theo Bothma in the Departemente Inligtingkunde (Information Science Department) who is heading up the IFLA project that we’ll be working on here. He’s an extremely friendly fellow who insists on us calling him Theo, although I’m not able to and stick with Professor Bothma. (It’s this respect-your-elders thing that I’ve got, I still call friends parents by Mr. & Mrs. Just because I feel funny using their first names.) He went over in detail the work that we’ll be performing, which is basically a lot of internet research. So far, they’ve sent out e-mail surveys to the known National Libraries or Library Associations for 170+ countries so as to try and get information back from on the state of freedom of information and access in their country for three separate topics: 1) HIV/AIDS awareness information, 2) information access for women, and 3) anti-terrorism legislation and information access. They’ve received a couple back but not as many as necessary yet.

Our main task to begin with will be locating new contact information for those countries where the original didn’t work or locating any contact information for those countries who weren’t even on the list. Before you think that this is too simple a task, keep in mind that trying to find library information for some of the lesser known countries like Nagorno-Karabakh (a smaller independent territory within Azerbaijan that’s working their way towards becoming a full-fledged country) isn’t easy. Also, sometimes I’m able to find all sorts of random information on the country but not exactly what I’m looking for. For example, I was able to locate the national strategic plan for the Marshall Islands (a way for them to improve their country from 2003-2018), which was amazing to read, but nothing pertaining to their libraries.

We’re fortunate in that we have an entire room to ourselves to work on the items. It’s normally a research assistants room. It contains 4 desks and chairs, 4 computers with internet access and a whole lot of space. We’ve each got our own keys for access as well. (Oh, forgot to mention, we’ve even got keys for the bathroom!) Once we’d gone over what had been done, we 4 sat down and devised a plan of attack on the material we’d been given. A division of labor and we were off. Being the info savvy individuals we are, a database for cataloging what had been completed including color-coded data had been created within the first ½ hour.

When noon rolled around, Prof. Bothma took us on a small tour of our area of campus, enough so to familiarize us with the different things we might be interested in. Since it was lunchtime, he pointed out the plethora of options we might have available to us. We settled on eating at Burgundy’s café which is basically a full-scale restaurant in the middle of this part of campus. We each had a great meal (mine was a ham & cheese quiche with chips [French fries]) and got to relax a little bit.

After lunch we stopped into the UP Bookstore for some shopping where I picked up some souvenirs for family/friends and a new nation patch to go with the others I have on my bulletin board at home. Then we popped over to the Travel Agency they have here on campus to speak with Kathy about different sight-seeing options. Rebecca H. had known Kathy from the last time she traveled here 2 years ago. This woman is quite the character and has an amazingly cool accent! She also offered up a ton of suggestions for us for our weekends. Too many in fact, since we don’t have enough time here to see everything. I’m thinking that we may be off to Capetown this coming weekend as there are lots of options there. Alissa wants to go cage-shark diving, I’ve offered to help feed the sharks so that there will be action for her to see but I’m not getting off of that boat. There’s also the possibility of us driving along the coast, visiting Robin Island where Nelson Mandela was held, visiting a vineyard, and I hear of a place for some mega bungee-jumping. We’ll have to see about all that though.

Back to work, most people in this department leave at 4:30p but since they arrive here at 7:30a, that’s completely understandable. We keep looking for those random country addresses until about 6p. Prof. Bothma dropped by earlier to let us know that we shouldn’t work so hard. We also met a few of his colleagues here, and they mentioned the possibility of sitting in on a class here, which we think would be great!

I recall that today is my brother, Jeremy, and his wife's, Tiffany, birthdays as well as anniversary, so I send them good thoughts and hope that they received the gift I mailed home for them before I left for here. It must be kind of nice for them to have only one day to remember, but then again, if one of them forgets that would be massive considering all of the important occurances at a singular point in time.

Our journey home took us in a round about way so that we could stop at the grocery in Hatfield for more supplies. I was a good student and read through the articles and slides for this upcoming week so that I could try and keep up with the folks back home. And then it was sleepy time to dream of subject vocabulary and African safaris…

April 9, 2007 - Man v. Beast

Today we set off on our first touristy thing, the Pretoria Zoo. With only myself with an alarm clock we got on our way at about 9:30 or so and had Rixi Taxi come to take us to our destination. Like most foreign countries they have the smaller cars here, and not the gigantic gas-guzzler’s that we American’s take pride in purchasing. The driving here is also a little intimidating. I keep thinking that we’re turning into the wrong lane every time we go right or left, but obviously we’re not. There’s one sign in particular that I’ve yet to decipher. It’s a black S with a red circle and slash on top of it. Kind of like a No Parking sign but with an S. I’m thinking it’s a No Stopping but other suggestions were offered up such as No Scuba-diving, No Sashaying, No Sleeping, etc. I’ll let you know when I learn what it is.

I’m paying closer attention to the roads now as there’s the possibility that we may be driving here for one of our excursions. I don’t think I’d have too much of a problem as long as the car was automatic (I’ve yet to learn a stick-shift, something I’m longing to do) and I had someone to help me remember which lane to turn into on the corners. It’s also a little scary because apparently they’re not the most cautious drivers here. The news this evening stated that over the Easter weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) that over 180 motorists were killed in car accidents due to the holiday traffic. That’s an insane number! Especially in three days. It averages to roughly 56 people per day as fatalities. So unfortunately not exactly a happy Easter for all.

On a lighter note, the zoo was really cool. It is gigantic as I stated it might be. We saw Kudu’s, which I believe is the official animal of this country. They’re a type of deer. I also got some great shots of the bigger animals…lions, tigers, rhinos, elephants, etc. And I was right, they didn’t have an American animal there! A Kodiak bear was our U.S. representative, though he wasn’t very lively. The zoo is deep within the city, so it’s a sort of oasis in the urban desert.

In one section there’s an aviary with all of these fabulous African birds, including these crazy pinkish-red things (not flamingos) which I never could find the name of. Alissa somehow managed to get attacked by this crested crane while she was trying to take a picture of him. She managed to get off a shot at the same time so the photo is hilarious, and she wasn’t seriously hurt. Maybe he didn’t think she was getting his good side…

The trip there ended with a stop at the Zoovenir shop (and no I didn’t make that up) where I stocked up on postcards to send home. Alissa also managed to have some difficulty with the Coke machine. For some reason it wouldn’t take her coins or the coins I’d switch with her but when I used it everything was fine.

The evening ended early with each of us crashing in our own apartments. Since we had groceries from the day before, we were able to fend for our own dinner. As the air cooled and clouds moved in, Pretoria experienced their first rain in a long time. According to some locals, we just missed a major heat wave that had been taking place here a few weeks earlier and now the weather is starting to turn to autumn. As the thunder and lightning crashed above me, I settled in to watch a few soccer matches on TV. Perhaps by the end of my trip I may understand that sport, possibly even cricket too!

Hoppy Trails to You - April 8, 2006 - Easter

Despite my thinking that I would sleep until 2 p.m., I find myself awake at 7:30 a.m. to the morning sunshine. Knowing that the group has tentative plans for breakfast at 9 a.m., I roll out of bed and proceed to settle in. While unpacking I hear the ringing of church bells and the harmonious voices of the congregation across the street. Their joyous refrains remind me that it is Easter, and I send out silent well wishes to those I have left at home. I had somewhat forgotten about Easter, as there is none of the commercialization and marketing here of the holiday as there is at home.

I pull back my shades and open my window wide. Opening the door to my apartment helps to create a wonderful cross breeze. The burglar bar gate has been left locked though so no random individual can wander in. Yes, we have burglar bars on our apartment doors. They require a key for both entering and exiting, and when the four of us are conversing with each other in our doorways, it seems very much like a scene from some prison house movie, although I don’t believe that we would be the most likely candidates to be behind bars.

As I sit here writing this, I wonder what the rest of the day may bring. Knowing that it is Easter and Sunday, I’m assuming that in following the European model, many places will be closed for most if not all of the day. But no matter what the day may bring I welcome it. Because for the first time in many months I have time working for me instead of me working for time.

Our venture our for breakfast proved fruitful. A brief breakfast took place at a local café, where the waitron (they use this here and I like it much better than waiter or waitress) mistook my request for a bagel and “cream cheese” to mean a bagel and “cream and cheese”. So I was given a little bowl of shredded cheddar and cream, like the kind you might use in your coffee. Needless to say I didn’t try the new combo on my bagel. From there we checked the hours for the local grocery store (MKE will get a kick out of knowing that it’s called Pick-n-Pay; for those not from MKE our stores are called Pick-n-Save), and the internet café called 4 in Love. Alissa figured out that it sounds like “foreign love” which we believe is what it’s supposed to be, although not written that way. We then hit Pick-n-Pay to load up on some basics to keep back out our apartments. Apple juice, milk, rice and soups that can be mixed with water, yogurt, cereal (my snack food), and the obligatory bar of chocolate made up my list. We also picked up power adapters. Though I brought 2 full kits with, neither was equipped for the plugs here. It’s this massive three-pronged thing, and I’ve yet to see a kit from America that does contain the right element. Since the day is gorgeous, I took a few shots of the building, my room, and the view so that I’ll be able to show the folks at home.

Back at our humble abode and with things all put away the girls decide to head back to the internet café. As I had nothing major to communicate I elected to stay behind and review more articles for my 550 research proposal. With most of the precursor work done, I’ve just to write the darned thing. You may be thinking, “Good grief girl! You’re in South Africa…put down the schoolwork and go explore.” To you, I say that I will, but modify the phrase “Time and schoolwork waits for no man.”

Forgot to mention that the Hatfield flea market was open today with crafters galore. As we just arrived I didn’t feel the pressing need to purchase anything quite yet, but browsing gave me some definite ideas for the future. Tomorrow (Monday) is a holiday so we won’t start work until Tuesday and I’m not quite sure what our plans are yet. Perhaps we’ll venture further into town and see the Union building (Pretoria is the capital), or wander over to the University to get a sense of where we’re going.

The evening’s meal took us to Roman’s, a pizza place where you can get 2 personal pan pizzas for the price of 1. Everything is so cheap here compared to the States! With 7 South African Rand to every 1 dollar, I think that my entire meal cost maybe $6.00. We strolled next door for some ice cream and then back home where we chatted to each other from our respective “cells”, like inmates in some really upscale jail.

I discovered two things about my bathroom this evening. One great and one odd. First, it has AMAZING acoustics. My renditions of Dream a Little Dream and Come Rain or Come Shine have never sounded better. Now if I only knew that Figaro song… The second odd thing is that there’s this tiny interior window that opens into a bricked in nothingness. We’re figuring that it’s some kind of ventilation system so I leave it open when the shower’s in use.

Talk over dinner ran to free time options for Monday and the rest of our trip. A safari tour to Kruger or a local wildlife park to try and see The Big Five is a possibility. Rebecca H. also made mentioned of the multitude of things to do if we wanted to fly down to Capetown. Somewhere in there she mentioned swimming/wading with penguins (yes, they have African penguins!) which would be amazing. I’m up for any and all. Who knows when I’ll be able to travel again so the more memories I can create from this trip to sustain me, the better.

We decided that we’re off to the Pretoria Zoo tomorrow. Since Pretoria is the capital, it’s supposed to be the largest zoo in S.A. I haven’t been to a zoo in ages but still love them all the same. I wonder if they’ll have animals like “The American Mustang” the way that we have African elephants and lions back home? We’ll just have to see.

The journey begins... April 6, 2007

Well, we’re off…leaving the chilly climes of Wisconsin for the balmy 70° of Pretoria. I’m running on little sleep, 5 ½ hours to be precise, but am refreshingly alert. I am on my way to a new place! I’m at the moment on a coach bus traversing my way down the grey ribbon of highway that cuts through the land between Milwaukee and Chicago. This part of the earth is on the cusp of rebirth. The deadened winter grass slowly turns from brown to green as the rays from the sun work their photosynthetic magic. It’s funny to think that I won’t get to experience a full spring this year but will instead have another fall. Not that I’m complaining mind you, for fall is my favorite season. I will also ring in Easter in a new country. When I was 16, I traveled to Italy for 2 weeks over New Year’s and was able to see first hand the Italian Epiphany Festival with the Christmas witch. It was strange to wander the streets of Venice and see old Italian men dressed up as Ol’ Befana. I wonder what new visual delights will await me in South Africa?

The lack of sleep is catching up with me…we had hoped for a sugar jolt during the layover in IAD but they went from no boarding call to final boarding call in the blink of an eye. The way I figure it, United owes me one Ben & Jerry’s Dublin Mudslide shake, as I had to take off just as I put my order in. So much for one last taste of the States.

The flight from IAD to JNB was surprisingly full of bodies on South African Air. Before now, I guess I hadn’t really realized how many people travel to this part of the world. Pure lack of knowledge on my part. The flight, though long (15 hours), provided great service and entertainment. Owning to the fact that I couldn’t sleep (TANGENT: Did you know that flights turn up their heat when they want their passengers to fall asleep and turn it down again when they want them to wake up? This has the unfortunate opposite effect on me.) I was able to catch up somewhat on recent blockbusters like Rocky Balboa, Dreamgirls, Happy Feet, Ms. Potter, and a documentary on the history of chocolate. A lot of film you might say but when you’re trapped in one seat for that long they help to pass the time. I figure I got a little bit more smart as well seeing as how Ms. Potter follows the life of Beatrix Potter, a children’s author whose stories I delighted in as a child. And w/the chocolate documentary I decided that there should be a chocolate-lover’s travel guide/tour of some sort. They have Italian cooking vacations and Irish pub-hopping tours, so why not provide something for the proud holders of the Chocoholic title.

Landing in South Africa I find that my immediate impression of my new landscape is how similar it is to my old landscape. The area just surrounding JNB undulates ever so slightly and is blanketed with golden corn stalks awaiting the autumn harvest, very much like the Midwest. It’s such a strange feeling of familiarity that causes me to do a double-check that I’m actually in a new country. As we move along though I am struck by the sound of the Afrikaans language that fills my ears. It’s melodic beat makes me think that I’ve just misunderstood what they said rather than just not grasped an entirely new language.

Moving down another grey ribbon highway (this time on the LEFT side of the road) a ridge finally gives way and the earth breaks into a multitude of dips and swells the color of fiery red and wheat. Houses begin to appear and one is definitely able to see the European influence on the architecture here. One short ½ hour later and we’re in Pretoria.

Our destination is the neighborhood of Hatfield. A brief 10 minute walk from the University of Pretoria and 3 blocks from the grocer, post office, and shops. Our arrival at the Cum Laude Apartments is a blessing for we can finally rest after our 2 days journey. Much to my delight our accommodations are significantly more that I expected. We each receive a multitude of keys and open to what amounts to a small studio apartment (they call them bachelor apartments). A quick tally of it’s components and you have a desk, table and 2 chairs, mini-fridge/freezer, toaster oven/hotplate, dishes, pots and pans, iron and ironing board, a single bed, and 3 lockable closets. We each also have our own bathroom as well. The plugs are different than I expected so I’m not sure how I’ll charge my laptop for schoolwork but that’s minimal. At most I was thinking we’d receive shared dorm rooms with a communal bathroom, so this is definitely above and beyond. My room faces the outside to I have a view of green palm trees, blue sky, and tiled rooftops.

After a quick break, where I really do nothing more than lie on my bed, stare at the ceiling, and will myself not to fall asleep, we venture our for dinner. We settle on McGinty’s, an Irish pub, mainly because it’s the first thing someone suggested and none of us are really in the state of mind to care. Our meal takes place during a televised soccer match between Manchester United and Portsmouth. Many of the locals are here and when large cry (cheer) goes up when Portsmouth scored a goal, I’m thinking that they’re the favored team of the bunch.

After dinner it’s back to the apartments, where all I manage to unpack are my towels, shampoo and conditioner, and pj’s. After a long awaited shower, I climb into my pj’s and begin this entry. I manage to make it until 9 p.m. before sleep overtakes me. I fall asleep not to the sirens and college partiers of Milwaukee but the blissful silence of a cool breeze.

In one piece...

This is just a note to let everyone know that I've arrived in one piece after a VERY long 15 hour flight from IAD to Johannesburg. It's beautiful here and I'm writing copiously in my journal. I don't have time to transfer over anything at the moment but I will soon. We start work tomorrow as it's a holiday today. Hope all is well with everyone no matter what corner of the world you may roam.