Nearly two months in ...

Sawabona China - or “Hello Good Friend” South African-style,

It’s hard to believe that Jeff and I have already been here for nearly two months! We arrived in Pretoria, South Africa on September 29 from east coast USA. We exchanged what I was told to be a gray and wet New England fall for sunny, warm S. African spring days. After months of preparation, it was good to finally get here and officially begin our Rainbow Nation Safari. ("Safari" means "long journey" in Swahili).

Pretoria, also known as the Jacaranda City, is 50 minutes north of Johannesburg and is the de facto capital of South Africa. Jacaranda trees line the city’s streets and throughout the month of October we were able to enjoy their fragrant lavender flowers. It is a much larger city than I recall from our first visit in February when much of our time was spent on the University campus. Wikipedia tells me it has a population of 2.5 million - 75% black, 13% white (mostly Afrikaners of Dutch and British decent), and the rest Asian and Indian. It's a busy city complete with traffic congestion, garbage-littered streets and shopping malls galore. These people seriously like to shop.

We found a place to live – the home of a professor taking a 13-month sabbatical in British Columbia. We move into his nicely furnished unit in a secure, gated complex in the Garsfontein (pronounce the “G” like “har”) neighborhood on 12 December. Until then we’re shacked up in University housing. The pros are that it’s clean, free and right next to campus. The cons … it’s noisy, small, completely lacking in character and we each get our own tiny twin bed. The place in Garsfontein will be the worth the wait. It’s a beautiful home with a large landscaped garden full of flowers, tropical plants and cacti – all kept up by a weekly visit from the gardener.

The garden’s taller trees and shrubs have the dual effect of creating privacy while hiding the electrical and barbed-wire fences surrounding the unit and the complex. Everything here is gated, alarmed, monitored, secured and locked-up. We hear about crime everyday and the need to be cautious. Don’t walk alone at night – in fact just don’t go out at night in many areas, keep valuables out of plain site, and put your things in the boot (trunk) instead of on the car seat beside you due to the high incidence of “smash and grabs”. We even had to get a special protective coating on our car windows to prevent thieves from “smashing” them in while stopped at a traffic light and “grabbing” whatever’s in sight. It sounds terrible, but it really hasn’t been that limiting. I still feel like I can walk around during the day alone and drive around town. I’m just exercising a bit more caution which is good no matter what or where.

We bought a car – a sporty little white Nissan Tiida – and we’re both pretty comfortable driving on the wrong side of the car and road at this point. The worst thing about driving here is being the first or second car at a robot (stop light). That’s prime position for propositions by the much less fortunate. These guys – women and children too – can be downright heart breaking. Makes me appreciate what I do have – feel guilty for it even. The worst I’ve seen is when they get on their knees outside a car window and give these pleading eyes while they point from their mouths to their stomachs and cup their hands in a prayer. I’ve never felt like such a fortunate soul … sitting in my air-conditioned car with a boot full of freshly purchased groceries. That’s tough. Others try to earn their change rather than just begging for it. They’re either selling some kind of useless, cheap junk or they’ll force some kind of service on you like washing your car windows while you’re saying “No, thank you. Thank you, no. NO, THANK YOU!” And then there are the self-appointed parking attendants These guys choose a street block and work it by pointing out the empty parking spaces – not a difficult task on your own mind you – but they then expect a tip for their assistance. Apparently this form of work can be dangerous too. On day 3 we saw a dead man lying in the middle of the two right-hand lanes with a blue tarp placed over his head while the police took photos of the car that we assume hit him. It stunned me that they made no attempt to hide this man's body from the hundreds of people driving by in the adjacent lane. A stark reminder that we're not in America anymore.

Jeff has started his position at the University and seems to be enjoying it more or less. I think it’s been a bit stressful and after his first day he already felt like he was way behind so he’s working 6 days a week, all hours of the day/night, to get to the right place. He’s advising two students so far – one from Ethiopia and the other from Zambia. The group he’s working with – the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute – is quite an international group. There are people studying and working there from literally all over the world which makes it a pretty exciting and interesting place. We had dinner the other night with people from South Africa, Norway, Chile, Uruguay, Thailand, China and Cameroon – and we represented the North American contingent.

Speaking of dinner – the food here is GOOD. The fruits and veggies are all locally grown and they taste like they just came out of the garden. They use lots of curries, chilies, spices and then they add little sweet surprises like banana or coconut. They also serve a lot of meat – beef, yummy spicy sausages, springbok (a tasty little antelope), lamb and ostrich are the most common. One very common South African thing is the braai (pronounced “bry”) which is basically a pumped up version of a bbq – only they don’t do hamburgers and hotdogs. They do serious cuts of meat and sausages (the sausage is served as an appetizer sliced open with a squeeze of lemon and a couple of drops of hot chili sauce – YUM!) Another typical, delicious South African dish is called Bobotie. It’s a sweet and spicy ground beef casserole and for those who are feeling adventurous I’ll get you the recipe.

I'm on the job hunt and have had a little luck. I had a job interview today with the Univ. of Pretoria Alumni Relations Director and my resume is in for another position which I really want with the American International Health Alliance as a Program Assistant in their HIV/AIDS research, education and support center. The job would be a step in the right direction career-wise and would require a bit of travel around Southern Africa (Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and S. Africa). Keep your collective fingers crossed for me. I've also been helping a woman who is putting on cooking classes in her home. It’s been fun and I’ve learned how to cook a mean leg of lamb which I’ll be testing out on my own on Christmas Eve.
We’ve met some REALLY nice people here. They’ve been amazingly warm, welcoming and helpful and we feel really lucky to have found such a lekker (nice) bunch of new friends.

Well, that about does it for now, but more to come. Happy Thanksgiving and please know that we're thinking of you and miss you all! Much love, Corena and Jeff