First Day

20 minutes before landing in Johannesburg

It's been a long day!

From the Boston airport...

Stef: Hey! That's weird, one clock says 6:03 and the other says 6:02! I wonder which one is right.

Lindsay: Maybe 6:02a means 6:02 AND one minute.

Stef: Uh...

Lindsay: Oh! Or maybe...

Stef: Yeah it definitely means 6:02 am.

To the Heathrow airport in London...

Lenore: A world without Velcro. Amen. T

To the Johannesburg airport...

(Little boy with adorable accent, talking about Rylan): Mummy that man sounds like a cowboy!

In the Johannesburg airport, my group warily retrieved luggage, and those of us who needed to exchanged some of our dollars for Rands. We were met by a woman named Desiree, who will be working with us throughout our stay as she works in the education office. She and her husband guided us to the parking garage with 3 attendants helping us the entire way. In the garage, the attendants came right up to us to ask for their tips even though Bev had said it would be taken care of. I said no and walked away, but some of my friends were cornered and hassled and I started to get worried about how they might get taken advantage of this trip. I've already learned my lesson unfortunately, when traveling through Southern Spain with my high school chorale. In Granada, there are some street gypsies with very bold and quick fingers. It's ALWAYS important to travel safely... pick-pocketing happens in America too!

I was struck by the contrast between the modern interior of the airport building, with polished and shiny stone surfaces, stunning paintings, etc (all very up to date and new looking) and the exterior landscape around the airport; dusty and red and spacious. I'm accustomed to buildings being grouped so close together that when one is in a complex, it's common to lose sight of anything natural. But the landscape is visible in much of this region, spanning between various neighborhoods and buildings. At first I thought the only reason I noticed this demographical difference was because in Massachusetts, the spaces between buildings would be made more subtle by trees and forests. But I think it's more than that, I think there isn't a sense of need for everyone to be on top of each other in this area- a sign of luxury? Those who have cars and money can afford these big houses with large properties... but if this country has 25% unemployment rate, where is everyone else?

Every one else is in the cities and their suburbs... Later I saw in Pretoria that where the lower classes reside, they had to live crunched together in complexes that offered little isolation or privacy, while in wealthier suburbs, walls and yards and space itself were all affordable commodities. It made me reflect on space and land for a while, and resources you need to have the privilege of privacy. You need: a.) Transportation to get you to work, to stores, etc. b.) Security - whether it means money for walls and guard systems, or living in a crime free neighborhood. c.) If land is fertile and one wishes to farm, tools and skills are needed. d.) Money to own land, to build on it, to buy resources for living comfortably e.) Some sort of employment that allows you to do a-d. I think all of us students are surprised at the prevalence of Afrikaans- I thought it was a white language only and didn't imagine its daily usage would match English, Tsulu, or Tswane in South Africa. Why is the language of apartheid still a language of power?

I've been pleasantly surprised by the friendliness of black students at the Groenkloof Campus of the University of Pretoria, specifically in the girls' residence, Zinnia (Tinker's all excited because Zinnia's mascot is Tinkerbell). The reason the friendliness of black students surprises me here stems mostly from my experience back home. UMASS can be segregated in certain aspects, and my hall mates who look like American minorities have been subjected to some pretty ridiculous prejudices back home. I expected the racial divide to be much more severe on the campus here and could not believe how warm some of the black students were despite the fact that none of us from the five colleges were black. Would EVERY student feel as comfortable with us? Are we different because we're Americans? I don't think of this as a "minority experience". My white privilege is still present in South Africa, which is why being a "minority" here is completely different from the idea of the American "minority" experience.

I was also surprised by the ingenious of some of the people working the streets. To charge people for watching your parked car?? I mean the people who do it are competitive and brash. They run out to flag you down, wave your car into a spot, and then ask for money (which a wise driver doesn't pay until before they leave when their car is still in one piece). It's service that drivers want for safety, and the service also gets money. Mutual benefits...