Photos

strike a pose

view from table mountain

waterfront
from beach



ugliest bird i ever saw
pap and veggies
daytime road block party in the townships

a new look
beach
where i work




ticket.. really good seats

at tha stadium
mexican for worldcup
zakumi
world cup at fan park
tiger
waterfall

elephants

Highlights.. from World Cup to World Peace....

Wooooow such a long time that I haven't blogged. This was due to the no internet factor. When I moved into my new place, I dint have internet access again and I could blog at work because it takes so much time to organise my thoughts and I'd start and then end up having to help someone with something.

So lets see what happened.

My top 5 HIGHLIGHTS:

5.Shock of no showers, only BATH TUBS

4.Being addressed in ZULU and people in shock when they learn that my home language is ENGLISH

3.Cape Town freezing Atlantic Ocean swim

2.Ghana vs Uruguay World Cup match

1.Meeting some really good looking guys.... I think I got a thing for Coloureds

June

Such a monotonous month. This was when I now became comfortable with what we had to do at work. So there the routine began: wake up, get ready, go to work, do the science show, chill at work, go home, watch my soaps, sleep.

I became so engrossed in the soapies there: Isidingo, Generations and Scandal... If I could only find a way to watch them here, it'd be like ah winning the jackpot.

We met up with some Canadians in a cafe one day, some from York, UoT and other schools, all on internships. One guy gave us a number for this guy who happens to have World Cup tickets... How??? I dont know, the guy says that he acquired it for his family who planned to come to SA but didnt come at all... ( hmmmm, I think it was from dodgy sources), anyways the guy gave us a discount, and even though we paid for the ticket via a debit machine in an indian food store, we really dint feel we were being scammed, although all of our colleagues at work seemed to think so. They warned us if the police pulled us aside at the ticket line then RUNNNN.. lol. But we were quite succesful and went to the match quite normally. It was the Ghana vs Uruaguay match. Everyone in the stadium was cheering on ghana..... except dis lil small section who was for Uraguay and when Ghana had to take that free penalty everyone was like yes, thats it, we won; but nope we dint score and had to go into penalty shoot outs.... The intensity was something else and then we lost and everyone just started to walk out the stadium, nobody talking, just a mass of ppl walkin in silence. I was sad that nite and thats when I realised that this was indeed an African worldcup and everyone supports africa

July

This was the month where I was like, OMG I leaving just now, I gotta do everything I haven't done yet. This was the month where I also made the most friends (I dunno if it was because I was leaving *shrug*). I went to Swaziland (Nonto's country, the country right next door) Iwas quite cool and relaxing. I went to the malls, amusement park and other areas close enough to visit. Schools were re-opened and thus this was the busiest month at work also. And once again this was another month that I was sick.

August

After getting permission from our manager that we cud get the last week off (well he told us this in our first week), We headed off to Cape Town for the week. I hadn't been touristy in Johannesburg and now I was finally gettin my chance to be myself, no uniform or dress codes and completely my style. With a full list of places to visit from the work staff, ticket in hand we went via plane (2hrs).

Cape Town vs. Jozi

1. A lot more 'coloureds'. A coloured is basically a mix of black and white (started when the white colonialists raped the black slaves and a baby was conceived). Coloureds are distinguished by their complexion and their ability to speak Africaans (one of the 11 official languages).

2. English is more spoken. There are a lot more businesses dependent upon tourists coming. Thus English is spoken by most.

3. More accepting people. In CT I found that I could be more myself, hairstyle, clothes style and everything, whilst in Jozi I felt like I had to more blend in and not portray my individuality.

Adapting.

So after about a month in the internship things that seemed so different before had started to become so natural. For example, I was learning more of the language, so when addressing people that I dint know I said in their language, so there was no immediate notice of me being a foreigner.

I also started to eat more of the food, and thus became less sick than I was in the beginning, however with less than a month to come back to Canada I became sick again.

With no showers in my appt, I began to really enjoy taking baths (tell me, isnt it economically better to have showers than baths?? doesn't a shower save time and water and heat, etc... thats just what I thought).

Also I had to tone down my accent, a Trinidadian accent is pretty hard to understand and with me doing science shows for the general public and teaching in the schools, I had to make a conscious effort to speak without my accent.

Greeting people is the same.., Eating is the same, except for this time when I was eating PAP (check the pics on the link before) with a fork, someone was laughing at me, so since then I ate it with my fingers n proud... I wear uniform so no change there.

I have become quite a good bargainer, I get like at least 20 Rands (thats their currency) off all my purchases, but not in store, at the side of the road. U can get anything at the sife of the road though!! I got my hear combed there and it was such a cool hairstyle for a cheap price...

The deep stuff?

Im a quite friendly person, so if I see you I'll say hi. I basically had to stop being extra nice to people in south africa as people thought that that was an invitation from me to be more than friends or something. This was quite challenging as this is part of me, but I tried not to do it in a way to attract these guys.

I am quite conscious now about wastage, I now take smaller portions of food, so I have no choice but to eat all. I dont throw away food as I know over there peopl go so long without food. I dont buy things that are too expensive because when a simple thing would do the trick, its wasting unnecessary money. I'm not a girl who lives simply for brand names, however, I do have my indulges, and I am trying quite hard to limit these.

Education is quite valued here and I promised myself to try to work extra hard when I return to school. People who want education here some cant afford it, or have to work to support their families. I am priveledged so I will make use of that.

Homeless in South Africa

Did we have a party? Did we come home to late? Did we refuse to feed the cat? Did we break something?
What did we do?

Absolutely NOTHING.
Mis-communication is a hell of a word.

So here's what happened...

*My roomates brother came over.
*We asked the landlord if he could sleep over
*He said yes
*The next day (Saturday evening) he said, this arrangement is not working out..
*Brrr, we say we will look for a place
*Sunday we went to work
*Monday morning before work, the landlord says he wants us out by that night
*We email, call people about prospective appartments. We see one, and take it one time
*We pack our stuff and stay the night by someone from our host organisation Sci-Bono
*We move into our new place the next day after work
A HECTIC STRESS FILLED WEEK.

I still believe we did nothing wrong.

Imagine finding out that you must leave a place within not even 24 but 12 hours..... Damnnn

We got a place, a little bit closer to work (so less money on transport). However its a little more expensive (World Cup here). It is also quite ideal for the two of us as it is fully furnished with everything we need and we do not have to share with a landlord. Its just the both of us and it works for us.

So to all of yall who started off worried. DON'T BE

Bafana Bafana scores the first goal of the World Cup...

Goooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllll......

South Africa 1:1 Mexico
Not to say I dint expect it.... but I really didnt...

On friday, we were given half day at work. So we started our partying as soon as the clock struck 12(midday). My workmates pumped up their music in their cars, opened the doors, formed a circle and were dancing right in front of the work building. Some popping open beers, some getting their face painted, some showing off their dance moves... WOW...

The cheers:
Can u feel it
It's here
Feel it, Touch it, Grab it, Pinch it...
Shapa Bafana Bafana Shapa..... Beat them Bafana Bafana, Beat them!!!!

We made our way to the streets and became surrounded by a mob of people. Everyone singing dancing, cheering. I joined in.. how cud I not? I wasnt the only foreigner. See the spaniards, mexicans, germans etc jumping up blowing their vuvuzelas embracing this new culture...the same that I had been doin, I was happy, I was no longer the only foreigner in 100km radius.
As the gates of the fan park opened up, I could barely feel my arms and legs. LOOK AT PEOPLE....It was a squash to go through security and then into the fan park. The fan park that looked so big days before now looked quite minute as all I could see was a variety of colours from the back of the park to the front of the stage...The cheering, vuvuzela playing, dancing and having fun continued.
The bar being so crowded and me being surrounded by alcoholics made us leave the fan park a little before the such anticipated game. We ended up in a shabeen (a low class bar) where the alco was cheap, the place was crowded and absolutely no-one was speaking english. We stayed there for the first half of the match. It was quite an moving experience to be surrounded by locals for the match. The almost goals, the good saves were felt by everyone, like a mexican wave in the stands of former worldcup matches.
For the second half, we returned to a much cosier environment, an office at work: Sci-Bono with notmore than 10 of our colleagues watching from a flat screen tv. The atmosphere was quite as intense and it was in this half both Bafana Bafana and mexico scored a goal....
Noise Eruptions filled the halls and the streets and I could see the look on everyone's faces. Pure JOY..... I knew it was that because, that was the smae look on mine as well.

After the match, I left the room quickly for 1 minute, washroom break. When I returned no-one was to be found... I stood there in shock... I went outside hoping for a glimpse of someone I knew but unfortunately I could find no-one. I took thisin stride. It was gettin dark now and I looked for my roomate, but to no avail. I texted her, told her where I was. The reply was that she would be there in 5minutes. 1 hr later. NO SHOW. I was getting worried. She was not picking up her phone. Straight to voicemail it went.... It was pitch black now and with so many people, I needed someone who spoke zulu in order to get home safely. A while later she returned my phone call. She was already close to home, Melville, whilst I was in Newtown....
PANIC.....
PANIC....
PANIC..
How was I to go home? How could she leave without me? What to do?

Luckily, she turned around and came back for me... :) It was quite late by that time and we got one of the last coombis of the night. I was happy to be safely home. It was a good day! First Goal of the WorldCup Bafana Bafana.

Pictures soon come..

Its Ayoba time... World Cup is here + Recap

So it is officially World Cup Fever.

I have been patiently waiting and counting down the days for World Cup, trying to determine if there would be a change. Yessssss there has been, the SA's have been patiently awaiting the arrival of toursist and yip they're here. So imagine a place where everyone is trying to hustle, selling crafts, food, t-shirts of your fave soccer team, macarabas (construction hats that have been painted and decorated with the flags of your fave soccer team)

Ayayayayyayay its here.

The first match takes place this Friday at 3:00 pm. In a city filled with all this excitement, I shall be in work at that very time. :( However as you step outside of Sci-bono, there is a fan park. Here they will show live footage of all the matches on a big screen and everyone who wants to watch it can do so for free. Although I may be at work, when I take a break to stretch my legs, definitely you will find me at the park trying to catch a glimpse of the game and the score.

I can't understand you!

Coming to a place with 11 offical languages is quite tough when you apparently look like everyone else and can't speak any of their languages. For example, people in the streets stop me to ask for directions and I am quite apologetic as 1) I ask them to repeat in English and 2) do not know enough of this place to answer their questions adequately. But I am getting there, some friends I have made here have been teaching me their languages. As it stands I can say some stuff in Zulu, Africaans and Tswana. My vocab is quite limited though as the guys that I have been chilling with mostly say try to teach me swear words or romantic stuff like "I love you".. which I can't remember at the moment although I learnt it in like 3 languages... sigh that brings me to my next point. I have come to the conclusion that my memory does not exist. How can I learn something and forget it within 5 minutes. I really need to fix this before the next school semester starts.

The most common words here are "Eish" and "Neh". So the former changes meaning depending on the context, for example it can meean ooops, ouch, wow, etc... The latter is used as a replacement for "okay". So today I was in a Coombi coming home from work, and this lady was talking to me in a language that I did not understands, however although I could not understand what she was saying, I got the jist of the conversation and could answer her in English. So she was speaking to me in her language and I was answering in English. WOW! Never thought I'd see that... I'm learning words and how to cope with these languages so quickly.

Difficult things 1 month ago, seem quite normal now..

So a month has gone and I remember the things that for me were quite difficult to fathom.... the coombis, the physical contact such as hand holding (I have become quite used to it and like it now :P), the constant tiresome feeling, etc. Everything is coming together. I can just tell that at the end of the 3 months, I would want to stay........

When I wake up in the morning and get to work, there is barely any traffic on the roads, I go from the suburbs to the middle of the city, my workplace Sci-Bono plastered by tall buildings and sky-scrapers in the distance. This city is quite amazing, its like Toronto, the vibrancy the structure of downtown, everything except people are never on time and they do not pass you by, they say good morning, or shall I say Sawubona.

So are we on food now....

So on realising that I have not been eating properly, or shall I say eating in general since I've been here, I began a quest for healthy and filling meals. The major foods here stem from corn, they have pap; it looks like mashed potatoes but the texture is quite dry. They eat this pap with everything, so I assumed that it was a replacement for rice, ITS NOT. It also was so weird that I have not had more than a spoonful. I really am not sure what it is and I haven't lived vicariously enough to try more of it. They also eat Cow Head, Ostrich, etc which I am also not accustomed to. Who knows, in the next two months maybe I'll try it ehh... but not yet.

sooo I have come to eating lots of sandwiches, fast food and restaurants.... Yess mummy I know is bad but say what there's no one here to cook for me and the food I try to make here doesnt taste like it should soooo I need alternatives. So on goes the quest for healthy food that tastes good.

BMW: Be my wife

So on chatting with my work colleagues, we were speaking about marriage (OMG this is such a popular topic, I have this at least once a day). So here, when a guy wants to marry a girl, he pays lobola to her parents which is a dowry(monetary and/or cattle). So a normal price people deem fair is 15 cows and R20, 000. So when I say where I come from you do not have to do such a thing people get excited and say Ohhh they want to go there because if they marry me it would be for free. An issue some people have with the lobola stems from when you pay money for a woman you tend to treat her like she's property whilst the rebuttal tried to confer that you were so happy to obtain the privilege to marry this woman that you want to show your appreciation (lobola) to her parents. I have decided that even if I am from the west, I will make it on my husband list of must do's that he pays lobola for me and gives my family some cows... Who knows where they will keep them, but I think thats a culture from here that I will indeed make my own.

So you're married then what?

Did you know that you husband can take as many wives as he wants as long as he can afford them... Brrrrrrr... If my husband can take a next wife, then I want to take as many husbands as I want. I cannot support polygamy if my husband does not support polyandry.... In this discussion I always bring up this point. However the men say, the ratio of women to men are not equal, how can you be so selfish. But I strive for equality between the sexes and I believe that anything you can do, you should allow me to do. So, I will definitely not be getting married and take part in polygamy. Hmm this soo explains the high HIV rate here.

Until later.....

Chap

What's going right??

So its been a while now since my last post. Its quite hard to think of stuff to write when there is a lack of inspiration. I have been in Joburg for 3 weeks and it has become very casual, like I've been here for like 3 yrs or so.

The first week that I was here was the only week that I was in as perfect health as I left Canada, I have been sick with so many different things that I jus wonder what the ailment for this week will be.

I have had more misunderstandings in Coombis due to the language barrier.

I have had my wallet with my important cards stolen.

SIGH!

I'm uninspired to write BUT that does not mean that there aren't good things going on. Well there are magnificent people around at work and people who I've met otherwise and the one thing that I do look forward to right now is work.

The environment is such a relaxing one, which makes me function at my best. When there is no stress on having specific start/stop times, not a specific job to do every single day but depending on the time, day and your mood you can choose what you want to do. This is really good for me as my mood can definitely enhance a specific task that it appeals to. Last week I was involved in putting on a science show to some of the government officials that came to our science centre for the launch of our 'Science of soccer' exhibit. Gotta tell u that was amazing.... :D and everyone loved it too...

So the country is HYPED for the world cup. Flags on all the cars. Everyone wearing their country of support. Its gonna be amazing. The South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana, has had some practice matches which they have won, This is such a rare occurrence and everyone is so excited. Woooooo, less than 2 weeks to world cup. I have 2 SA soccer shirts.

I havent said the best part. Every friday is called football Friday and you can wear a shirt/jacket for any soccer team you want. No work uniform required. YESS!

No affection please...

So today ends my 2nd week in Jozi. This week has weirded me out the most causing stress and nooooo its not because of the job but the people.

FROM holding my hand a little bit too long TO interlocking fingers TO a kiss I didn't ask for TO a love song I din't want to be dedicated to me TO asking me out on a date.
All these acts from different people, people who I have to work with for 3 months. Let me rely on the key: Professionalism; to solve this problem promptly.

Other than that I am alive and well.

Bye.