Thursday, September 25, 2003

Happy Spring!

We had the first day of spring last Friday and temperatures have already reached 29c last weekend. I’m starting to accept the fact that it’ll only get hotter as we near February. Everything here seems to work in reverse, which I first found when I attempted to take over my supervisor’s driver side of the car when she picked me up at the Johannesburg airport! But I keep forgetting to observe the toilet when I flush it here. I promise to give a full-length detailed report with annotated bibliography when I witness the phenomenon.

Security Issues

Something I noticed living here is the fear of security problems. I hear about hijacks that happen and muggings, break ins, etc. The fear manifests as bars on windows and heavy gates with barbed wires on top of fences. My office has a gate in front of its door. People in bright yellow vests parade around the streets are security guards. There are two doors in banks. The first one opens and then closes when you walk in. The second door will not open unless the first door is completely shut and you push a button to open it.

Hollies!

It was Heritage Day yesterday (Sept. 24) in South Africa, the equivalent of Canada day and I would think that in Pretoria - being the capital of the country- everybody would be running around with SA flags around their necks and war paint of the SA colours. Most locals here engage in the exciting activity of staying at home to watch all the festivities on TV! We went to attend a free concert by the Union government building and watched a local group called Mafikizolo. Other live music we’ve heard so far consisted of a badly remixed version of “Ice ice baby” at a local pub in Hatfield! I look forward to many future South African musical adventures.

Don't know much about politics. . .(or geography)

I’m having amazing conversations with locals here. Their history and socio-political situation is such an integrative aspect of their lives that they know so much about their own country than most Canadians do in Canada. Their history is rich and full of struggles, triumphs and losses. Despite the sad history, I am inspired by its many freedom fighters that fought to bring South African to its present post-apartheid state. It's not the epitome of equality now but there has been much progress along the windy road. The biographies are touching and I’m learning so much. I want to learn about the first nation’s struggle in our own country and continent. I’ve been told that the apartheid state was influenced by how Canadians treated their own indigenous peoples.

Currently I’m reading a biography of Steve Biko by Donald Woods. The movie Cry Freedom is about his life.

My friend Ayanda who lives in the same guesthouse as me is Zulu and he’s from Durban on the south east of SA. In Pretoria, there are more people who are Tswana. More Zulus live in Jo-burg and in Kwa-Zulu Natal (where Durban is). I didn’t know much about African geography but I’m starting to get a grasp of this the longer I stay here and learn about it.

During Apartheid, different Native African groups were segregated to different parts of the country. These areas were named "homelands" although many of its people had never even visited those parts before. Some of the languages are much more similar to each other than Afrikaans is to English. (Africaans was developed by the Dutch when they first colonized the country. Even though there is a blend of German, English, African and Malay in the language, it is still a predominantly White colonial language.) But, the Afrikaaners and English speakers were not displaced.

Language

I am slowly learning South African lingo. Many people speak African languages and Afrikaans around us which we try to decipher and perhaps when I come back I will be fluent in the nine official South African languages.

A lekker site to visit: http://www.wavescape.co.za/bot_bar/surfrikan/slang.html

Happy Autumn to those in the North!!!