Three days in Pretoria

1322 Backpackers, Pretoria, South Africa Braai and bar gazebo
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Sunday, 4:20 local time: I was met at the airport by Monique from the 1322 Backpackers Hostel where I will be staying until Thursday. Welcomed by Tim, the other partner of the hostel and was given the grand tour of the hostel. He told me he has arranged two trips for me. One to the Apartheid Museum/tour of Soweto Township for Tuesday and a Wednesday trip to the Lesedi Cultural Village where five different cultural groups are brought to together to display their dress, language of daily life. Kind of a one-stop visit instead of spending the time trying to find authentic experiences from each of the cultures.

Roos, Pima and friends from Gabon around the fire after dinner
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There is a group of Gabonese teachers staying at the hostel for 6 months as they go through English language training. They will eventually teach English at high schools in Gaborone when they return. They say that the government is pushing for English to be taught more in the secondary schools. I also met a very nice Dutch couple (Roos & Pim) who have been in South Africa for 8 months volunteering their time in Limpopo. They are planting some seed money for travel companies to do more business in that region. They are leaving for Holland on Wed. I also met Stefen, also from Holland. He is in South Africa doing field research for his Masters. He was based out of the Garden Route (George, Plettenberg Bay) and is in Pretoria to go to Kruger Park for a 3 day safari.

I don't think my friends from Gabon are acclimated to the cold weather.
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Facilities are simple but clean. I have a private room/bathroom. I plan to go with this configuration at each destination. Not that I am anti-social, but I am set in my ways and really enjoy the privacy and option to go to bed when I want.  Most guests buy food at the local market and cook their own meals in the kitchen. Since I arrived so late, I did not have dinner worked out so Roos and Pim invited me to join them for dinner. The kitchen smells were amazing. Smoke and spice from the dishes that the teachers from Gabon were cooking.

After dinner, we gathered around the campfire and the Gabonese contingent broke into song and dance. They all seem to know the words and moves to the dances (about 2 hours worth). They said that they are taught song and dance as children and it is a huge part of their lives. The songs were in French of course because of Gabon’s colonial past. As I tell my students, music and dance are an integral part of everyday life in Africa.

I also had an interesting conversation with Baboo, a guy from Durban I met tonight. He is an Asian South African and it seems that his grandparents came to KwaZulu Natal from India as contract laborers working on the sugar cane plantations. Gandhi actually fought for Indian's rights in South Africa from 1893-1914. Back to Baboo, his grandparents stayed in Durban and have become quite successful in their own right. He is in Pretoria taking Project management classes. He works in Durban for the South African power company.

Stefan will show me the way to the internet cafe and grocery store tomorrow. He is going to the Voortrekers Monument tomorrow and I may tag along since I have no big plans.