Freedom Day

On April 27th 1994, South Africa was freed from the clutches of aparthied. Today is the 11th anniversary of this historic event and Johannesburg is alive with energy. Where ever you go there are people wearing South African flags and in an upbeat mood. On the radio, the announcers are more lively than usual promotion various Freedom Day specials. Myself, I feel very fortunate to be able to experience this event. At the same time, I have found it hard to really join in the celebration because I was not around before freedom was declared. I did not endure the same hardships that many here have. But still, I feel lucky and excited on South Africa's day.


">

Soweto

This past Saturday, me and three of my roommates decided to take a trip to a nearby township called Soweto. Soweto is about 40 minutes east of Johannesburg. As I mentioned, Soweto is a township. For those who don't know about African townships, they can be a bit of an eye-opener. In a typical township, the standard of living is much worse than in the suburbs or even cities. The typical house is one or two rooms, no plumbing, heating, or usual amenities. Along with the low standard of living comes a high level of crime and poverty. As well, within the townships are usually squatter camps. These camps are a series of one room shacks composed of only four walls. When it rains, these camps are destroyed. Soweto is no exception.

However, over the past ten years Soweto has turned into a tourist attraction because of the former houses of Nelson Mandella and Desmond Tutu. Since we were with two native South Africans, one from Soweto, we got the entire tour. When we pulled up to Nelson Mandella's house, there was quite the crowd of both whites and blacks. We decided to walk up and see if we could get in. In the middle of the site, there was a larger mass of people with cameras. When we came in to see what the fuss was about I could not believe my eyes. In the middle of the crowd was Mandella's second wife who stopped by to see how things were going. I reached over and grazed her jacket. WOW. I could not believe it!!!

With each tourist stop we made there was a common theme - craft markets. The traditional African crafts at these markets were incredible. But even more incredible was the fact that they were all hand made by the people selling them. These people were very warm and vibrant when ever someone approached them. I found this to be a common theme in Soweto. Where ever we visited, the people were extremely inviting. In this rough looking township, the spirit and enthusiasm was like I had never seen before.

Arrival in Johannesburg

On the way to Jo'burg, I got seated right in the middle of a Scottish family heading down to a family wedding in Pretoria. Apparently, Scottish weddings are quite the celebration, so they began the flight by partying. I am not one to break tradition, so I joined in. This lasted for a couple of hours, before they all went to sleep. Luckily, I slept for the rest of the way to Johannesburg. By the time we reached the city, I was wide awake to see one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen.

From the plane, I noticed a few things. First, the discrepancy between rich and poor. Some communities were composed of opulant mansions with swimming pools and other amenities. Second, I immediately noticed how gated everything was: houses, shops, and schools.

The airport was no different, the customs and immigration officials were anal to say the least. At the baggage claim, they had dogs inspecting everyone's bags for banned goods and drugs. It was funny because the dogs were not big german sheppards, but beagles. I reached down to pet one of them and the very stern African lady informed me not to. This is quite different from the Kamsack bus depot ;).
On the ground, I was blown away by the city's beauty accented by walls and razor wire. But, that is manor in which they are accustomed and it's not that bad. In the parkade, there were many foreign cars like BMWs and Fiats. When we were walking to our car, I noticed a beautiful Fararri. I could not beleive it but I did not let on because I did not want to look like a shock Canadian. However, all the people recieving me had the same reaction because these cars are not that common. At 8am the tempurature was only 17, but it felt like 25. South Africans drive on the left-hand side of the road, this was one of my first shocks...I was jumping the whole ride home thinking we were going to crash.

Touring the University of Jo'burg was also a bit of a shock the nature outside was very impressive, but the building itself was primarily concrete and very high security. Not like the UofS. The rest of the day, I toured some shops in a nearby district called Melville. I thought that I was about to experience my first mugging when an old guy came up to us with his hand in his pocket. As he began to speak, he quickly pulled his hand out of his pocket. I jumped because I thought it was a knife; however, he was only trying to point to something I could not understand because he was drunk. I composed myself and we kept walking.

In the evening, one of their trainees was leaving so we went out to a traditional Indian restaurant. Some of the best Indian food I have ever eaten.

London - Heathrow Airport

I left Toronto Sunday night for London. The flight was quite turbulant so I could not sleep. On the flight, I watched the movie Spanglish and Ocean's 12. Spanglish is about a spanish woman coming to America to be a maid for a rich obnoxious woman. The rich woman's husband is played by Adam Sandler, who is great in it. Over all the movie is quite good.

When I arrived in Heathrow, I was quite exausted. Due to this, I decided not to venture downtown. I spent the entire 11 hours touring the massive city of an airport and sleeping. The airport itself was a bit of a culture shock to me because of it's size and range to people. Where ever I went, there were people speaking various languages such as German, French, and British;). In order to travel between the 4 terminals, you have to take a bus which drives on the left-hand side of the road.

One funny character at the airport was an asian gentleman with the funniest form of turrets I ever seen. Instead of blurting out random noises or swears, he made sounds like a cat. From hissing to meowing. At first, I thougt there was an actual cat behind me it sounded so real. Crazy.

My flight was scheduled to depart from Heathrow @ 6:55pm, so I kept checking the screen for my gate number. While I was having something to eat, I noticed the flight came up at gate 30. I finished up my meal and began walking over to the terminal with enough time to go. When I arrived at the terminal, I found that the flight was South African Airways, not British Airways that I was supposed to be on. I asked the attendant where my gate was and she informed me that it was at the opposite end of the terminal...a 30 minute walk. It was 15 minutes before my flight was to take off! Needless to say, I sprinted across the entire terminal. Thankfully, I made it just in time as they were a bit behind. Fun times!

Preparation in Toronto

This is my first time in Toronto when the weather has been nice. The city is really alive! I am here doing some preparation for my job in South Africa. I am here for the weekend and then I am off to London, England. I will be in London all day Monday were I will get in as much of the city as possible. I leave London Monday evening for a ten hour flight to Johannesburg, S.A.

Yesterday I spoke with Saratu, the person who I will be working with in S.A. She told me I will be staying in a house with 8 other people from Germany, Estonia, Kenya, and South Africa. This will definately be an adventure for me. Right now it is winter in most of Africa, so the weather will not be too unbearable. The tempuratures will range from 5 - 25 celcius. However, the houses do not have central heating so the nights will be cold. When I spoke with Saratu she told me when it is 5 outside it is -6 inside. Funny joke.

That's all for now, more when I get to Jo'burg.