Learning about the City

Hey Everyone,

This week was not overly scheduled with activities.  As I mentioned in the short post on Thursday, I had a few papers due during the week with another next week.  Yes, I am taking classes here and getting an education.  I need to remind myself of that with the ocean view, trips around the country, and general summer weather creating quite the distractions.  I must apologize once again for not having the Shosholoza video up yet again.  I borrowed it from one of my comrades here, and did not foresee this much trouble in getting it online. 

We had an interesting speaker come talk to us in literature class this week.  Her name was Janet Cherry.  She is a white woman that was part of the liberation struggle actively during the 80’s.  She spent various stints in jail, and gave us a bit of information on what was going on in the Port Elizabeth area for the struggle.  We also saw a video where she was interviewed.  It was really cool to be able to see footage of places we recognized and be able to understand the context of what she was saying.

 

On Friday, which was apparently one of the craziest days of the tournament ever, I went to the downtown area with Chris to check it out.  We really wanted to see more of the city that we live in.  It was really great, so much life and energy.  The main stretch of Govan Mbeki Ave is filled with all kinds of shops and stores.  There are also many side stands where people sell fruit or crafts.  I enjoy the South African style.  They wear a lot of vibrant colored polo’s which I plan to get a few to wear.  I am looking to accumulate more polo’s anyway. 

I hope everyone had a nice St. Patrick’s Day.  It is not celebrated here, at all.  Our group wore green and had a nice braai (barbecue) which was fun.  After we finished with the braai, there was a semi-professional rugby player and his dad that started cooking.  His team is from East London and they played a game earlier in the afternoon.  A couple of us had a really interesting conversation with them.  They were very paranoid about the crime in South Africa.  Many of the native white people seem to be that we have talked with.  They would never go to the downtown area because they were scarred of being robbed and jumped.  They were also scarred that the car was parked out in the small lot with no shelter.  They were surprised that we use the Kombi’s to get to school and back.  I have found that many of the white South Africans have these fears about their country.  Much of it is from the unknown.  They just assume the worst about the things they don’t know.  This father and son were great people and we had a great time chatting with them (they laughed at us telling them we grill patties back in the states).  I have noticed that there has just been a certain conditioning here.  There are some really great people here that show great hospitality, but many people are afraid to search for them.  As always there are some great improvements being made at all times with some great hope for the future.  Yes, we have to be vigilant at all times as well.  Being aware of surroundings is needed, but we have a smart group that has not had even one problem yet.

As always thanks for reading.  Next weekend we will visit a farm and learn about the rural life in South Africa with a trip to Cape Town the week after, so there are some fun weeks ahead.

Cheers,

Bobby