We left Blantyre, Malawi at 9am on Thursday and arrived in Pretoria, South Africa on Friday at 1pm. I'll write more about that adventure in another post. We went by bus, stopping first at the Malawi/ Mozambique border. Then a few hours later Mozambique/Zimbabwe. We had to buy a $50 visa just to drive a few hours through Mozambique. At 3:30am we were woken up to go through the Zimbabwe/ South Africa border. It was FREEZING! We definitely didn't take into account how much colder it would be in SA. All the African's were looking at us like we were crazy. My response, "This is AFRICA! It's not supposed to be this cold!"
It took a long time to get from the border to Pretoria. The bus was stopped so many times by police to check our passports and make sure there wasn't anyone illegal on the bus. It was annoying and ridiculous.
Our first reverse-culture shock was seeing actual highways with overpasses and center dividers. And NO animals on the road. It was amazing (yes, we probably had lost our minds a little).
From the point that we were dropped, we got on local transport into the city. The first thing I noticed was how FAT these people were. This was the city after all, and it was obvious they all had money. There was a teenager that was really nice and showed us to where we needed to go, in order to change mini-bus (called taxi's in SA) to get to the hostel. We were in awe walking around the city. It was an actual city! We felt like we'd re-entered the civilized world.
The reason we took that ridiculously long bus ride was to visit our friend, Rebecca who is in the same program as Brittni at MIIS. Adding another stamp onto my passport was an added bonus! Rebecca, however does not live in the city of Pretoria. She lives a few hours east, in a village called "Gemsbokspruit" (say it with a very flemmy German accent). On Saturday we traveled to her village by local bus. At the bus station there were lots of "shops" selling food, fruits, and veggies. We bought a HUGE bag of veggies for 20 rand = $3.
Brittni and I were in constant awe of how developed SA was. Rebecca kept warning us that where she lived, in the village it was not nearly as developed. A big problem for Peace Corps Volunteers is that they live in small villages and make a village salary, yet only a few hours away is the big city, with everything modern. One really can't afford McDonalds or KFC on a PC salary!
GEMSBOKSPRUIT
Rebecca lives with a "Gogo" (grandmother), which is the situation for most PC volunteers in SA. One thing was heard constantly was "South Africa is NOT SAFE" (Great....). Rebecca has a room (much like a single dorm room). In a separate house, with a 2 burner stove, electricity, a water spigot outside, and an outhouse. The property is a good size, with a nice green lawn (grass! there is no grass in Malawi!). Gogo's house has all the modern amenities, including a FLUSHING TOILET, bath tub and satellite TV! Most South Africans take "bucket baths" IN their bedrooms. More on that later. We met Gogo's teenage granddaughters, who spoke great British English (American English = BAD) and were hilarious. They were shocked and appalled at the though of having to cook on a fire and not have electricity. Everyone in the village had indoor plumbing and electricity. No way SA can compare to Malawai!
KUUAGGAFONTEIN
(Nope, I can't even try to say that one....) Rebecca too us to that town to go shopping at a shopping center. We had pizza from a "Pizza Hut" type pizza place for lunch. The terrain is so different in this area, compared to Malawi. It is very flat and open- there aren't villages lining all the roads. And the roads are paved.
WITCH DOCTOR
In the evening, Rebecca took us on a walk around her village and introduced us to her friends. We happened upon a ceremony- a goat was killed and the blood from it's neck was spilled onto a woman's feet. Apparently she's now a witch doctor, she was "called" by her ancestors to go to training to become a traditional healer. If you are "called" by your ancestors, you cannot ignore it! There was lots of chanting and dancing. It was really cool! (Minus seeing a goat die from 5 feet away).
SCHOOL
Brittni and I went to visit Rebecca's Junior High School. It was VERY different from Britt's school. For starters, it has electricity! And thus, a copy machine! There was a gated and locked fence all around the school. Someone had to get the key to let us in. I guess that solves the problem of students trying to ditch! English is ONE of the many language spoken in SA, and is the language classes are taught in. I was impressed with how well the students spoke- they showed us around the school and answered all our questions. The students were very loud, wild, and & rambunctious- The complete opposite of Malawian students!
To JO'BERG
In order to catch a bus back to Malawi or in our case, Zambia, we had to go down to Johannesburg aka Jo'Berg to all the locals! We'd heard nothing but bad things about Jo'Berg. All I wanted was for one person to say, "it's not that bad" but instead, we heard stories of car jackings, robberies, and sheer "danger" all over the city. Those stories made me really anxious and gave me a lot of anxiety! In the end, we decided our best option was to stay the night in Pretoria, and then take a 5:30am taxi to the train station, then take the "business class train" down to Jo'Berg. The train was really nice, and full of people in business suits. I felt safe and comfortable. The train took about an hour. We passed lots of shanty towns and shady areas (I was glad not to be near that!). We got off the train, walked up the stairs and were at the bus station! It was great, we didn't have to deal with scary Jo'Berg at all.
It took a long time to get from the border to Pretoria. The bus was stopped so many times by police to check our passports and make sure there wasn't anyone illegal on the bus. It was annoying and ridiculous.
Our first reverse-culture shock was seeing actual highways with overpasses and center dividers. And NO animals on the road. It was amazing (yes, we probably had lost our minds a little).
From the point that we were dropped, we got on local transport into the city. The first thing I noticed was how FAT these people were. This was the city after all, and it was obvious they all had money. There was a teenager that was really nice and showed us to where we needed to go, in order to change mini-bus (called taxi's in SA) to get to the hostel. We were in awe walking around the city. It was an actual city! We felt like we'd re-entered the civilized world.
The reason we took that ridiculously long bus ride was to visit our friend, Rebecca who is in the same program as Brittni at MIIS. Adding another stamp onto my passport was an added bonus! Rebecca, however does not live in the city of Pretoria. She lives a few hours east, in a village called "Gemsbokspruit" (say it with a very flemmy German accent). On Saturday we traveled to her village by local bus. At the bus station there were lots of "shops" selling food, fruits, and veggies. We bought a HUGE bag of veggies for 20 rand = $3.
Brittni and I were in constant awe of how developed SA was. Rebecca kept warning us that where she lived, in the village it was not nearly as developed. A big problem for Peace Corps Volunteers is that they live in small villages and make a village salary, yet only a few hours away is the big city, with everything modern. One really can't afford McDonalds or KFC on a PC salary!
GEMSBOKSPRUIT
Rebecca lives with a "Gogo" (grandmother), which is the situation for most PC volunteers in SA. One thing was heard constantly was "South Africa is NOT SAFE" (Great....). Rebecca has a room (much like a single dorm room). In a separate house, with a 2 burner stove, electricity, a water spigot outside, and an outhouse. The property is a good size, with a nice green lawn (grass! there is no grass in Malawi!). Gogo's house has all the modern amenities, including a FLUSHING TOILET, bath tub and satellite TV! Most South Africans take "bucket baths" IN their bedrooms. More on that later. We met Gogo's teenage granddaughters, who spoke great British English (American English = BAD) and were hilarious. They were shocked and appalled at the though of having to cook on a fire and not have electricity. Everyone in the village had indoor plumbing and electricity. No way SA can compare to Malawai!
KUUAGGAFONTEIN
(Nope, I can't even try to say that one....) Rebecca too us to that town to go shopping at a shopping center. We had pizza from a "Pizza Hut" type pizza place for lunch. The terrain is so different in this area, compared to Malawi. It is very flat and open- there aren't villages lining all the roads. And the roads are paved.
WITCH DOCTOR
In the evening, Rebecca took us on a walk around her village and introduced us to her friends. We happened upon a ceremony- a goat was killed and the blood from it's neck was spilled onto a woman's feet. Apparently she's now a witch doctor, she was "called" by her ancestors to go to training to become a traditional healer. If you are "called" by your ancestors, you cannot ignore it! There was lots of chanting and dancing. It was really cool! (Minus seeing a goat die from 5 feet away).
SCHOOL
Brittni and I went to visit Rebecca's Junior High School. It was VERY different from Britt's school. For starters, it has electricity! And thus, a copy machine! There was a gated and locked fence all around the school. Someone had to get the key to let us in. I guess that solves the problem of students trying to ditch! English is ONE of the many language spoken in SA, and is the language classes are taught in. I was impressed with how well the students spoke- they showed us around the school and answered all our questions. The students were very loud, wild, and & rambunctious- The complete opposite of Malawian students!
To JO'BERG
In order to catch a bus back to Malawi or in our case, Zambia, we had to go down to Johannesburg aka Jo'Berg to all the locals! We'd heard nothing but bad things about Jo'Berg. All I wanted was for one person to say, "it's not that bad" but instead, we heard stories of car jackings, robberies, and sheer "danger" all over the city. Those stories made me really anxious and gave me a lot of anxiety! In the end, we decided our best option was to stay the night in Pretoria, and then take a 5:30am taxi to the train station, then take the "business class train" down to Jo'Berg. The train was really nice, and full of people in business suits. I felt safe and comfortable. The train took about an hour. We passed lots of shanty towns and shady areas (I was glad not to be near that!). We got off the train, walked up the stairs and were at the bus station! It was great, we didn't have to deal with scary Jo'Berg at all.
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