Joburg: Thursday, August 28, 2014

Today we did a completely touristy thing. Since we don't have a lot of time, we bought passes for the City Sightseeing bus. Turns out, it gives a ton of information on the city, and takes you through all of he main areas and places you might not get to see otherwise. Joburg got its start when gold was discovered. There is a lot of evidence left from mines throughout history. 

Ghandi square.

The old post office that a fire ravaged in 2009.

We stopped at the tallest building in Africa for a nice 360 view of Joburg. It wasn't that thrilling, but for 15Rand ($1.50), it wasn't anything to complain about. 

The Carlton Hotel. Despite hosting many famous guests, it closed down a few years ago. It houses over 600 empty rooms.

A house in Soweto.

Gold Reef City is home to a theme park, hotel, and casino.

After passing by Soweto and Gold Reef City theme park, we got off at the Aparteid Museum, where all of our cards got demagnetized. You can't go to Johannesburg without visiting the Aparteid Museum. It would be like going to D.C. and not seeing the Holocaust Museum. It has to be done once. It seems so surprising how recent Aparteid was abolished. In the states, desegregation began several decades ago. Here, it is a fairly new thing dating back to the mid-90s when Nelson Mandela was elected. During the tour, they have pictures and videos from the Aparteid. It's truly sad how cruel people can be. An interesting note I found suggested that the nationalist party (who brought in Aparteid) gained a lot of its supporters because of monetary reasons. Those who started backing the party felt their pocketbooks get a bit heavier, as all of the better paying jobs went to whites. It's funny how a lot of things relate back to greed and pride. 

Each ticket is randomly generated to give you a starting point, similar to the holocaust museum. Instead of a passbook with a name, you are handed a card that either says white or non-white. The starting point of the museum is the only part that gives you an experience of what it meant to be segregated. 

They don't let you take any pictures inside the museum. I took a picture of a wall and was yelled at for the travesty of trying to remember the moment.

Then we rode around a it more and tried to go on the SAB World of Beer tour, but we found that our card wouldn't work. So we walked around Newtown until the bus got back. I was a bit frightened because I have noticed that as a blonde, white girl, you get stared at a lot because you are obviously a foreigner. Even though there are plenty of blonde, white girls here. I was so thankful when the bus got back. This is like no city I have ever been. Parts of it are extremely nice. Other parts are scarier than NYC. It huge too. It seems to go on forever. In Soweto alone there are about 3.5 million people. According to different surveys, Joburg boasts a population of up to 12-13 million people. Bramfontein, or the Grove, is the up and coming area. After that is Hillbrow, which is the most dangerous part of the city. 

So very, very bright.

Mandela Bridge.

Hillbrow

Then we went back to our station to go back to the hotel. We grabbed a snack and some much needed rest. We then ran across the street yet again for me to grab some coffee from Motherland Coffee. People seem shocked when I order a small. Apparently because I'm from the US. A hippy girl we met yesterday in the mall was just saying how she wished everyone would get along but people always talk so bad about one another, saying Americans are gluttonous, and so on. I guess this converts to shock when we don't ask for refills (no free refills in Africa), when we don't order the extra large, extra meaty option, etc. Of course, in America a lot of people think Africa is completely undeveloped and everyone wears tribal outfits all of the time. Stereotypes go both ways unfortunately. Moving on.

We decided that since we have an early morning tomorrow, we would grab take always from Steers and Debonair's Pizza. Steers is a fast food burger joint that does indeed have veggie burgers. BBQ sauce must be big here, because the veggie burger I had at Spurs yesterday also was coated in it. Different, but good. Daniel wanted to try the pizza I had yesterday, so that's why we ran quickly into Debonair's. 

The amount of KFCs I have seen here is shocking. There are always long lines too. I only say this because I noticed that the next door KFC to Steers was packed, while Steers was not. By the way, food is super cheap here. Ian (our cabbie from yesterday) said when he went to America for the first time he was astounded at the amount we pay for food, even if it's mediocre. Even if you go to a very nice restaurant here, you will walk out having spent maybe half of what you would have spent at Texas Roadhouse or something similar. Wine is the same way. In the states, you could pay exorbitant amounts of money (if you were so inclined, which I'm not) on a bottle of your favorite vino. Here, almost every bottle costs less than $10 USD. There are only a few that are over that amount. I think it's absurd. 

Moral of this story: while it may take more money in airfare than most other places, hotels/food/most shopping will costs less. Typically you end up spending more money on food than anything else. Not so here. Maybe all trips should be to Africa. As long as you stay away from Ebola and get your immunizations. 

And don't mind extremely long flights.

I'm off. Tomorrow we fly out at 0925 (0325 EST). Two more days of flights. Hooray. 

Abu Dhabi here we come!

Bramfonein, aka the Grove.

Arrival, Joburg: August 26-27, 2014

On the plane from Harare to Joburg, we met a very nice electrical engineer named Guy-Guy. All three of us talked for most of the plane ride. We were even able to give a witness to him. He asked us who the head pastor was in our "church." When we described the governing body arrangement, and how there is not one man elevated above the rest, he seemed truly surprised. He said that one lady had said something to that effect, but he didn't believe her because every church has a head pastor. He had never heard of the Watchtower before, either. I was able to show him the study edition on my iPad and told him that no matter where he went in the entire world on a given Sunday, we would all be studying the same exact thing in our mother tongue. I side noted that all of our magazines were on jw.org in hundreds of languages, even though we go from house to house in our ministry. Who knows how that will turn out, but I hope he gives the website a look!

Our hotel hired a taxi driver to pick us up from the airport. Ian told us so much about Joburg on our ride to Rosebank. Rosebank apparently is situated between the old city and the newer suburbs of Sandton. He does day safaris in Kruger National Park. If we had had more time, I'm sure we would have booked one then and there. He advised us not to go alone, or after dark, into the Hillbrow neighborhood. We arrived at our hotel, the Courtyard Rosebank, safe and sound. Apparently you can only get wifi free for one hour per day. That's ok, we have been without our phones and everything for most of the time we have been over here. 

Here is the coffee situation. In all hotel rooms that I have been to outside of the US and Canada, there is only instant coffee. Which is not coffee. However, if you go to a coffee shop, or a restaurant, you get finely brewed coffee. Better than I have had in the US. Sorry not sorry. We mad our first stop at Morherland Coffee and then shopped around for a bit in the Rosebank mall, conveniently located right across our hotel. Here, they are getting out of winter and going into summer. So, all of their winter clothes are on sale. I cannot express how perfect timing this is! We then hopped on the Gautrain (pronounced houh-train, give it a German flair and you have it) to go to Sandton Square. I won't lie, we got a bit turned around and walked for a very long time. Turns out if we had just turned right out of the station, we would have been right there. We got some frozen yogurt at Smooth. Then shopped. It's called Sandton City and it has 2 grocery stores at least inside. You can imagine how large it is. I don't think we bought anything other than food. But we got some local wine at Checkers and went back to the hotel.

At our stop, there is a store called Game. Think of it like the South African Wal-Mart. It has everything. We bought a couple of local beers Ian said to try and then ordered some pizza at Debonair's Pizza. It was so so delicious. Maybe just because we were hungry. Side note, Diet Coke is called Coca-Cola Light here. 

Day 7 Harare: Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Today we all got some much needed rest, and ate our breakfast slowly. It was so nice to have an extra cup of coffee before having to be somewhere. Since our flight wasn't until 6:45 pm, the 6 of us left got taxis and went to the Avondale Market. We were warned to haggle, as they will try to cheat you. Haggle we did, and we got some awesome deals! There was a small eatery in the corner, which we were adventurous in eating. No untensils, you had to eat with your hands. Maria was grossed out by all of it and claimed we were all going to get food poisoning. At least we would have a good story to go with it! They gave us chicken, a gravy mixture, greens, and sudza, plus 2 drinks for $6. Sudza is similar to grits, but has more of an actual taste. It also can hold a form, as you roll it into a ball and pick up the greens. Yum. Unfortunately for Maria, we didn't get food poisoning. After our morning at the market, we had to head back to the lodge and pack. I didn't want to leave. Anna came by to say goodbye, and thus started some tears. Then we had to say goodbye to the rest of our mini family and Niel took us to the airport. We picked up a couple of brothers who were leaving as well. A sad time. I hate to leave, but I'm glad for the friendships I have made. I know they will be ones I keep in touch with through the years. At the airport, I had some coffee and a yogurt parfait. Then we boarded our plane to Joburg. 

Ryan and Misty having a feast.

Jessica digging in.

Maria in her disdain.

Goodbye lodge :(

Day 6 Harare Part 2

After we explored the Lion and cheetah Park, we were taken to Kuimba Shiri Bird Sanctuary. We did a bird walk, had lunch (which had 3 different meats, so Daniel was happy), and watched a bird show. I got to hold one of the owls! It's on video, but I didn't get pictures, sadly. There are 12 species of owls in Zimbabwe. Most of the birds housed here are injured or deformed and wouldn't survive in the wild. They do take in injured birds that can recover and set them free after they have. The owners are all studying the Bible with the Witnesses.

One of the hawks was trying to defend his territory. He was in the cage, but I guess he didn't want us taking anymore pictures. Too bad these turned out to be my favorites. He would probably peck my eyes out.

This one loved people, she stuck her head out to be close to us.

Mean, evil bird. There is a double fence in place and the trainer said he would never go in there by himself. He would take at least 2 more. The bird right next to him (none of my pictures turned out well) would give leaves and sticks to females as a sign of kindness. This one would give leaves and sticks to see if you take it. If you did, he would attack. See? Evil bird.

Wild horses and an eagle defending his territory.

Not sure if the fire was purposeful or superstitious. The owner and the guide said it could be either. Superstition is rampant here, as well as witchcraft. Most of the superstitions are to keep the witches away.

Black swan.

We found another playground!

The horses came to see if they could eat our food.

This is one of the owls I was able to "catch." There are 2 that are similar coloring, and they are brothers. Both are named Oscar. There feathers are so soft. A design that makes them unable to be heard. Owls have ears that are "cock eyed," this makes them able to triangulate the preys exact location - so they can hear the mice scurrying, but it can't hear them.

There are many superstitions surrounding owls. A lot of people kill them to keep them from 'going to the witches and telling them where they are.' It's ridiculous, but locals believe it.

After our outing, we headed back to the lodge. With such a small group left, we were able to convince our driver to let us stop at the grocery store to get some fruit, cheese, bread, and veggies. It was delicious. We had some local Zimbabwean beer, which was pretty good! Then I started to pack, since our flight is the next evening. 

I tried to capture the beautiful sunset, but this didn't turn out too well.