Headlines

Newspapers here in South Africa have an interesting marketing strategy. In addition to having people sell the newspapers on street corners (they walk up and down the rows of traffic waiting at a red light), they have cardboard signs on telephone poles and lamp posts.  These signs change daily, showing a new headline from that day's newspaper.  So even if you don't subscribe to a newspaper or get news from the radio, television or internet, simply by driving around the neighborhood you can get an idea of what's going on.  Here's one example:

Of course, the headlines don't give away much (or sometimes they're in Afrikaans...).  Often they are only a bizarre or confusing teaser, meant to entice you to buy the paper.  Whether this works or not from a business standpoint I couldn't say, but the entertainment value is tremendous either way. 

 

For instance, Cape Town has been experiencing an unusually rainy winter this year.  Although many days are beautifully sunny and mild (nothing like a Massachusetts or Vermont winter!), the downpours can be terrible and sometimes last for several days.  Apparently the situation has become somewhat dire, and thus we get today's headline:

 

“We Live in Wet Hell”

Moving Day

The security booth by the front gate:                    And the view out our back window:

After a few delays involving the installation of a proper stove and oven, we were finally able to move into our new flat today.  It's a little bare, but in a way we like that – it makes a relatively small space feel larger since there are possibilities for what to do with it as we acquire furniture.  It's hard to imagine a move with less stuff to transport!

 

Our flat is in a brand-new apartment complex called Rondebosch Oaks.  Rondebosch is the suburb of Cape Town where the UCT main campus is located.  Our place is about 2 miles away from campus, so it's walkable if the weather is good, although the last half mile or so is steeply up hill.  The cost of living in this area is reasonable, but made higher by proximity to the university and by security measures that are unnecessary in the States.  Our flat is in one of several buildings inside a gated area with 24-hour security patrol.  It's hard to know whether the high level of security here is actually necessary or only seems necessary because everyone else seems to have it. 

We definitely feel safe walking around our neighborhood, but we stay on main roads after dark (and we don't walk after dark very often).  Not much to worry about, though, when the walls around our complex even have electric fencing at the top...

Imports

In preparation for moving into our new flat, we have been buying things.  Some fun things, like food, kitchen supplies and curtains, but also a lot of mundane necessities like trash bins and cleaning supplies – the kind of stuff that adds up in cost at a rather frightening pace, but doesn't give you much satisfaction in return.

 

We did have an interesting experience in the process of finding all of these things.  Tucked into a commercial block just a few doors down from the place with sketchy used refrigerators (we looked...) is a little store called “The Happy 5 Rand.”  The name is entertaining, but it closely resembles any dollar store in the States – lots of cheaply made and cheaply priced goods ranging from toys to toiletries* to tupperware. 

 *I believe this is where you find things like the “Crest” toothpaste not actually made by Crest that was recalled for having anti-freeze in it...

 

There is one significant difference between this store and its counterparts back home.  Take a look at the store's sign:

 

This store freely admits, and even advertises, that its goods are made in China, where a similar U.S. store would probably sell dish towels with American flags stitched on them.  There is no deception here, and for good reason – the proprietors and employees are of Chinese descent.  There is even a small television in the store that plays Chinese horror movies.

 

We have been in South Africa for less than three weeks, so we don't want to pretend to be experts on the country's economic complexities, but this store was an interesting piece of the picture we've been getting from talking to people here and reading the news.  As in the States, Chinese imports have decimated South African manufacturing, especially the textile industry.  Working conditions are much better here than in China, but labor is still quite inexpensive.  The factor that tips the balance in favor of China seems to be productivity.  Some people point to the recent history of apartheid and say that under that system of forced labor, employees were unproductive as a form of resistance, and that “work-ethic” has been passed down.  Whatever the reason, South African industries have a hard time competing.

 

Here's the irony: about a month ago, South Africans of Chinese descent petitioned and were granted their request to be legally considered “Black”.  This decision has nothing to do with race persay – it has strictly economic implications.  South Africa has recently implemented an affirmative action system called Black Economic Empowerment, or BEE.  The codes that govern BEE mandate percentages of black ownership, and participation in upper levels of management, and other measures of economic advancement and equality.  Chinese South Africans succeeded in arguing that they had been the victims of similar oppression under apartheid and that they deserved similar economic reparations.

 

We are still trying to figure out how this works.  Would a Chinese person (or for that matter a black person) have to prove that they or their parents were actually affected by apartheid (i.e. were in the country at the time) in order to benefit, or could someone from China or an African-American from New York move to South Africa and receive the same treatment?  It seems a little scary that the South African government might be mandating special benefits on the inside to those from a country that is destroying their economy from the outside.

One of These Things Is Not Like the Other...

When we are asked about the differences between South Africa and the United States, one of the first things that comes to mind is attitudes towards race and ethnicity.  Coming from an environment of political correctness, and in some cases an attempt to ignore race by pretending that we are “beyond” it, the frankness with which South Africans discuss this issue can be startling.  We heard someone describe a friend as “of French-Hugenot extraction” as matter-of-factly as one might say that he works in finance or enjoys fishing.

 

Why this difference?  Very simply, the wounds of a racist regime are still fresh – apartheid only ended 14 years ago, so not even a generation has passed.  The transformation this country has undergone in that short period of time is astounding, but attitudes and actions do not change quickly.  Another reason is that racial divisions in this country are reinforced by language.  In addition to English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu and several others are widely spoken.  Many signs in this area of the country are in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa.  Most people that we encounter speak at least two of these, but the difficulty of communicating across cultures is something we understand well!

During class this week, I was the only white student out of about 12.  In the United States, this would be an unusual occurrence, but nothing more.  Here, I was possibly the only one for whom English was a first language.  All of the lectures and course materials are in English, but group work and informal conversations on the side are often in Afrikaans or Xhosa, or switch very quickly between these and English.  I feel awkward, trying not to interfere with the status quo, but also wanting to connect to my colleagues and not be more conspicuously different than I already am as a young, white, American female in that group.

These issues add an extra layer to my experience at U.C.T. so far, which has been a good one.  Transportation is affected so strongly by the legal and political structure that supports and funds it; learning about it in such a different context gives me a much richer knowledge base than simply studying or working in the field in the U.S. would.  A major part of the work I will complete for this class will consist of evaluating the design for a new train station in a poor township south of Cape Town (this picture was taken from the station, looking out on part of the township).  I will have to rely on my classmates for background knowledge of the area (and they will have to speak to me in English to do that!), but in the end I should have a deeper understanding of at least a small portion of this wonderfully crazy country we now live in.

 

 

Unhappy Customers

After struggling for a few posts to write in the plural for both of us, I'll just be Anne for today.

Today was the first day of lectures for my Rail Planning and Operations course, the first of about six courses I will take in the Transport Studies program at the University of Cape Town (see left: walking up the hill from middle campus to upper campus, you pass through this tunnel under a highway and come out in the middle of the rugby fields with a beautiful view up the mountain).  I came into this course fairly knowledgeable about urban and suburban rail systems in the United States on the operational level, but with very little technical background.  Not only am I learning a lot about the mechanics of rail systems, but I get to apply what I already know in a very different context.  For example, here are some of the differences between rail in South Africa and rail in the United States:

1) Rail in South Africa runs on a different gauge than rail everywhere else in the world.  In other words, the distance between rails is shorter here.  This fact has some implications in terms of the operational speed and radius of curves that trains can safely travel, but the main reason I mention it here is because in every conversation I have had so far about the differences between rail in South Africa and the U.S., the first thing I get asked is “Did you know that South Africa has a different gauge?”  

2) Urban rail systems  in South Africa were originally built as a cheap way to transport poor (black) workers from the townships to factories and mines.  They were a tool of economic control for the apartheid government.  (In many cases the rail lines were also used as a physical barrier between white and black neighborhoods.)  As a result, they still carry the legacy of that past in many ways – the areas served by rail are still in many cases the poorer areas, the system is heavily subsidized to keep fares extremely low, the trains are overcrowded and somewhat unsafe, and the ridership is about 86% black, 13% colored (mixed-race, South-Asian) and 1% white, compared to about 80%, 11%, and 9%, respectively, in the country as a whole.

In contrast, many urban rail systems in the United States were built to transport middle- and upper-class whites from expensive suburban neighborhoods to jobs in the inner city.  These rail lines might have stations every few miles in the suburbs, but then bypass city neighborhoods and only stop in the central business district.  Passengers today are mostly white, well-educated, and middle- to upper-class, and fares are correspondingly higher.  Trains are becoming more crowded now as gas prices increase, but for the past few decades ridership has been moderate since most potential passengers can drive a private car instead.

3)  When rail passengers in the United States are unhappy with the service they are receiving, they might write an op-ed piece in the local newspaper or call their state representative to complain.  When rail passengers in South Africa are unhappy with the service they are receiving, they burn train cars.  

The College Schedule

Today we enjoyed a luxurious Sabbath of sleep and good food and fellowship at the Bliss' house.  We drove back to Cape Town from Wellington while it was still light and got to enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately, as has often been the case when we have tried to take a Sabbath in the past, work caught up with us and we ended up with a late night followed by an early morning, something we are really trying to avoid here! 

This should be an infrequent case, because we have the luxury of student life without all the activities that kept us so busy during college, and also without the responsibilities of family, work, etc. that burden many people in graduate school.  Coming from a long history of working late at the last possible moment, we are challenging ourselves this year to work in advance, a skill that will be essential for the longer assignments we will both have.

So much of the past few years has been dominated by the "tyranny of the urgent," and we are happy to escape!  Basically, it is the difference between a "product-based" work ethic--where we would cut ourselves off from the world in a mad dash to get things done--and a "process-based" approach that seems much more sane!  

For those of you who saw Andrew hibernating in a computer lab during finals, you will know this is a pretty exciting transition!

 

 

Cozy Mountain Walk-in Fridge

As we write this, we are lounging by a crackling fire enjoying the view over one of the many vineyards located on the outskirts of the Cape Town area.  We are staying in the home of David and Deborah Bliss, long-time friends of Andrew and his family through Park Street Church.  When Andrew spent two months in South Africa in 2003, he was hosted by the Bliss family and worked with their prison ministry.

 

In many ways it hardly feels like winter here, even though we are well south of the equator and stores in Cape Town are advertising “winter sales”.  (One church that we visited is having a “Christmas in Winter” celebration!)  Most days the temperature reaches at least 60 degrees – not the winter we are accustomed to after 3 years in Vermont!  There is one major difference, though – none of the buildings here have central heating.  If it's 50 degrees outside, it's 50 degrees inside!

 

Besides getting to escape from the city and sleep in as long as we want to in the mornings, we are blessed to spend time at the Andrew Murray Centre, the headquarters for David's prison ministry and other outreach programs.  Some of the people that Andrew met his first time here are still around, so he has had the joy of reconnecting with them and seeing how the Centre has developed over the past five years.  We have also finally met the famous Ashley Leimkuehler, also a missionary from Park Street.  (Whenever we had a conversation with someone from Park Street, as soon as they discovered that we were headed for South Africa they asked, “Do you know Ashley Leimkuehler?  She's amazing!”)

 

Which would you prefer: 50 degrees outside and inside, or 25 degrees outside and 65 degrees inside?

Re-leas(h)ed

Andrew will have to forgive me the play on words for today.  I couldn't resist.

Today we signed a lease for our new flat.  It is in Rondebosch, the same suburb as the University, in an apartment block next to the railroad tracks (right or wrong side, time will tell!).  It is very safe and within a reasonable walk of shops and classes.  Pictures to come!

 

We realized after signing that before we left the States, we spent a lot of time and effort getting out of our apartment, selling our cars, cancelling our cell phones, shutting down bank accounts, etc.  The feeling of freedom as we got on the plane was incredible!  Now we have been in Cape Town for only two weeks, and we have spent an incredible amount of effort doing it all in reverse.  We now have cell phones, a bank account, a car and an apartment again, and it feels like a triumph because of all the time and effort on our part that went into them.

 

We were “released” from these things in the States.  Now we are “re-leased” (we signed a one-year lease on the apartment) and “re-leashed” -- tied down to these financial obligations.

 

Most of all we are grateful for God's provision.  These are all things we need in order to do what we came here to do.  Far from being “free” over the past two weeks as we transitioned, we have been quite dependent on the kindness of our hosts.  These “leashes” are not at all bad in themselves.  Still, it is a powerful experience to go from all to none to all again in such a short period of time.

And We'll Have Fun Fun Fun...

It's no “T-bird” -- a '96 Sentra with a whopping 1.6L engine (some sedans around here only have 1.2).  Used cars cost about twice as much here as in the States, but they also retain their value better, so we're hoping to do well on the resale.  Andrew weeps when he remembers the visceral power of the old Jeep Cherokee now sitting dormant in Vermont.

 

But yesterday one of us walked over 9 miles looking at different apartments.  Neither that nor getting rides from our incredibly generous hosts here is sustainable.

 

Petrol here is expensive, but not the worst in the world – about $5.50 per gallon.  We are hoping to find a living arrangement that will allow us to walk to campus and some shops, saving money for our longer sightseeing trips and for Andrew to visit different prisons in the area. 

 

Even if the car itself is not exciting, driving here is!  Neither of us has much if any experience with the left side of the road, plus it's a stick shift.  Some of the controls are reversed, like the turn signal being on the right of the steering column (which lets you signal and shift at the same time).  Others are the same, though.  It's nice to have the pedals in the same place, but the having the same gear setup is a little tricky -- 1^st gear is up and away from your body instead of in close, and it's very easy to put the car in 2^nd gear thinking you're in reverse...

  

Have you ever driven on the left side of the road?  We want stories!

Our Roggebai Club

Really.  It’s ours.  We are keeping it. 

 

These guys are awesome! When I first planned on studying in Cape Town, I anticipated having to stay with friends about ninety-minutes away and commute into the city every day while I looked for accommodation.  The Rotary Club of Roggebai would have none of it!  They met us at the airport en-masse, treated us to lunch, and then two local Rotarians put us up in their own home.  Anne and I felt like VIP’s!

 

I don’t think I realized how much fun a “Civic Organization” could be!  The average age of the Roggebai Club may be growing a bit long, but these guys know how to have fun.  They come together to serve not out of a somber sense of duty, but because they genuinely like each other and want to make a difference in their community. 

 

Perhaps most striking, however, is there sense of responsibility.  This club is involved with more service projects than they have members!  I am starting to get involved with some of these projects, but I thought I would attach a general list here.  

A Draw

Three days in to the cricket match, South Africa was in a dreadful hole – over 300 runs down with England waiting to bat last and quickly erase any small lead they could manage. 

 

Fortunately in cricket there is both a set number of outs (like baseball) and a time limit of sorts.  Your batsmen can keep batting as long as they don't get out, but if both teams don't get to bat twice within the 5-day time limit, the match is a draw.  Thus, even if your team is down by hundreds of runs, you can still hope to salvage a draw by running out the clock.  South Africa managed to make their turn at bat last for two full days, forcing a draw.

 

There have been a number of times in the past few weeks when we have felt that we've dug ourselves enough of a hole that just “staying alive” would be a victory.  Packing up our apartment in Vermont is a good example – we stayed up almost the whole night before leaving, just getting everything out.  Our ambitions of actually packing everything properly in numbered and labeled boxes were long gone.  Once we were in Massachusetts, we tried to organize things before dumping them in storage...but once again, we had to leave some disarray in order to actually get on the plane in time. 

 

Here in Cape Town we have not had time to dig ourselves any holes...plus we are able to give our full concentration to getting ourselves settled.  Still, there are very few situations where we emerge victorious.  Each one is a learning experience, so we are hopeful that within a few weeks we will experience more tangible success.  In the meantime, we'll take a draw.

 

Are you intrigued or bored by what you've heard so far about cricket?

Sherry Hour

This morning we attended St. Michael and All Angels Church in Observatory, a neighborhood in between where we are staying now and the downtown.  The service that Sonia and Humphrey normally attend is a high mass (Anglo-Catholic) with lots of sung liturgy, but today there was unfortunately no organist, so it was a sort of high mass without music (unless that's an oxymoron...).  Liturgy that is based around Scripture, as this one was, has a beautifully unifying effect – regardless of any number of denominational, cultural, or demographic differences, we are all speaking and praying God's Word together. 

 

Inside the church were two amazing stained glass windows.  The creator of both is named Gabriel Loire, a 20^th-century French artist whose windows are quite modern – rather than the typical church window with details painted onto larger pieces of glass, these windows were made of many smaller pieces that formed a subtle picture without painting.  The effect was similar to an impressionist painting.  It took a few minutes of looking at a scene before the story emerged, and the details seemed to pop out one by one.  Andrew especially enjoyed studying Loire's technique.

 

Here are some pictures, first of the window showing St. Michael slaying the dragon (can you see the spurting blood?  Can they do that in church?) and the angels worshiping Jesus, and then of the window portraying Psalm 150, praising the Lord with all kinds of music.

 

After the service, during what our home churches might call “Coffee Hour”, members of the parish served not only coffee, but sherry!  We wonder how to get churches in the States to adopt this practice of “Sherry Hour”.  

Baby Triumphs

The problem with baby steps is that when we succeed at one, we feel more successful than we deserve. 

 

Today the South African rugby team, the Springboks, beat the top-ranked New Zealand All Blacks in New Zealand with some brilliant last-minute heroics.  We've never heard sports commentators be so unabashedly biased, even in Red Sox Nation.

 

What did we do?  We opened a bank account.  That was it, we were so relieved that we did no more work for the rest of the day.  Rugby, cricket, naps, playing with the kids next door...we felt like we had earned it!  Honestly, if we told you what we had to go through to get it, you would probably agree, but international banking law is probably not the most exciting thing we could talk about here.  Suffice to say that the phrase “Simple pleasures for simple minds” seems apt.

 

Overall, is it helpful or distracting to celebrate small triumphs?  Discuss.

A Farmer Always Makes a Plan

Today felt like a typical day back in the States, and not in a good way.  For about a month before we left, we spent our days in a state of moderate frustration as we tried to get all of our paperwork, travel details, packing, etc. done in time for our imminent departure.  Nothing seemed to work the way it should, or as quickly as we needed it to.  Now, we need to set up all those things afresh, and it has not been a pleasant process.  Our pain, recast for your amusement here:

 

Yesterday we laughed about the small amount we were able to accomplish in three hours.  Today we spent almost as much time and accomplished nothing!  We tried to open a bank account and ran into endless roadblocks.  Here is a condensed version of our conversations with the banker:

 

Andrew:  I would like to open a bank account.  Here is my passport, visa, letter of introduction, proof of acceptance to UCT, and letter from Rotary committing funds.

Banker:  Do you have proof of residence?  A lease, or utility bill?

Andrew:  No, we don't have an apartment yet.  We are staying with some friends temporarily.

Banker:  They can sign an affidavit certifying that you are staying in their residence.

Sonia:  I will sign for them.

Banker:  I need a utility bill proving that you live at your address.

Sonia:  I have an account at this bank, so you already have proof that I live at that address.

Banker:  That doesn't count.  It could be from a different bank, but not from here.

(Pause while we leave the bank and go to the office of Sonia's investment firm, which gives her a letter.)

Sonia:  Here is a letter from my investment firm certifying that I live at my address, signed and notarized.

Banker:  That won't count.  We need a utility bill.

Sonia:  What if all of our utility bills come in my husband's name?

Banker:  Then he will need to sign the affadavit.  Also, he will need to bring his identification card.

Sonia:  His identification card was stolen three years ago.  Can he bring a passport?

Banker:  No, just go to the police station and have them give him an affadavit.

You get the idea.  The moral of the story today, and for the last month, and probably from some time to come, is “ 'n boer maak altyd 'n plan” -- literally “a farmer always makes a plan.”  The idea is that rather than sitting around being frustrated, we should be resourceful, think outside the box, and find a way no matter how long it takes.  As people who believe that God cares about every detail of our lives, we hope to make prayer an integral part of this process, not just an afterthought after we have tried everything else.  So tonight we will pray for a way to make this all work...and then we'll talk to our lawyer friend.

Baby Steps (Or...”I'm baby-stepping! I'm baby-stepping! I'm not a slacker.”)

Considering that today was our first day in a very new place, it was remarkably uneventful (probably a good thing).  We were met at the airport by a wonderful group of six Rotarians (one of whom is a fellow scholar), and they are taking good care of us.  We need it too!  Cape Town is a car city, and the suburbs where we are currently staying are even more spread out.  We can see the University from our hosts' house, but we are still reliant on them for rides.

 

The area is as beautiful as we had been told.  We had a wonderful view of the mountains as the plane was approaching, including the “tablecloth” -- a thick cloud sitting on top of Table Mountain. 

Our hosts for the first few days, Sonia and Humphrey, have been wonderfully welcoming and made us feel right at home.  They even explained cricket in a way that we could understand!  A match lasts 5 days, and at it is still possible to end with no winner – Humphrey calls it a sport with “a high degree of subtlety.”  Andrew started gnawing on his hand.  

Having so much help during our first few days makes us wonder what people do without it, for even with their assistance we feel like we are taking baby steps.  For instance, today we accomplished the monumental tasks of buying electrical plug adapters and getting cell phones, and it took about three hours and lots of driving.  We hope that everything won't be as difficult, but we also appreciate the opportunity to learn to be patient, to accept help graciously, and hopefully to be attentive to other people's needs when we are in a position to help.  It is especially ironic that all the things we rushed to close down in Vermont--like phone plans and bank acounts--now need to be reopened.

The highlight of our day?  We wanted to buy our cell phones as cheaply as possible, so we asked where to buy used models.  Humphrey suggested a store called (no joke) Cash Crusaders.  Sonia asked, “Isn't that where all the stolen phones get resold?”  Humphrey responded “No love, that's Cash Converters.”

 

What aspect of moving to a foreign country would you most want someone else to take care of for you?

"Why South Africa?"

People are often shocked that I would want to come to South Africa to study.  Isn't America supposed to have all the answers?  Unfortunately, I have experienced this reaction in both countries.  There are several unique reasons to study prisons in South Africa.  Even more importantly, there are lessons to be learned in South African prisons that are desperately needed in the States.  Ultimately this stuff will be the focus of my Masters thesis, but here are a few highlight:  Sorry if there are no clever anecdotes about surfing, but it's my blog so I can inflict socio-political ramblings at will!   

 

n  Post-Apartheid Transition:  Prisons are always the last thing to change in a society.  One reason is that prison doesn't tend to attract the progressive, “change the world” sort of employee.  Another is, “why bother?”  If society has a very narrow view of prisons as a warehouse for undesirables, the basic technique for this type of social control has been in place forever.  Guards have been hitting prisoners with sticks since the beginning of time.  Why change a winning formula? 

In all seriousness, however, there is no country that has seen its prison system undergo such a dynamic, rapid transition as in South Africa.  Practically overnight they saw an institution stripped of its purpose (political control by a white minority) and most of it's administration (white bureaucrats).  The whole designation of a “Maximum Security Prison” was now moot, because these had been reserved for political prisoners.  Such a radical transition creates quite a strain on the system, but it makes for a fascinating place to study!

 

n  Willingness to Question:  One of the many advantages to flow from this transition is a willingness to question what prisons are for.  Prisons are designed to fly below the public radar, so this is a rare thing.  Especially in the States, politicians keep funneling money into the prison system without ever assessing what it is good for.  This is incredible, considering 80% of the prisoners who get out of jail are reincarcerated.  If any other aspect of society failed 80% of the time, we would at least have a conversation about it.  In South Africa, this conversation is actually happening.  It might even restore my faith in government. 

 

n  Innovation:  Many prison systems throw together the occasional committee to study various challenges in the penal system, but this is half-hearted at best.  In South Africa, innovation is happening at breakneck speed.  It's a matter of survival!  Granted, some of this innovation takes the form of corruption, but the Department of Correctional Services has been forced to think creatively by nature of the extreme over-crowding and lack of resources.  Western prisons with lush operating budgets just don't have the same incentive!

 

n  Community Involvement:  Many of South Africa's current leaders spent a significant amount of time in prison.  Contrast this with the States, where many of our leaders won office by frightening the middle class with the spectre of black crime!  This has led some South Africans to be less quick to buy into the stigma of prison.  As a result, there is a stronger bond between community organizations and the prison system.  The involvement of NGO's and charities in prison is by no means unique.  What sets South Africa apart is that the government is excited about this!  In the States, volunteers—and rehabilitation programs in general—are viewed as a nuisance.  

Three Continents in Three Days

The trip from Boston to South Africa is a long one no matter how you do it, but the Rotary travel agency, in the process of getting us the lowest possible fare at the last minute (which we greatly appreciate), sent us a particularly long way: Boston to Chicago on Tuesday night, Chicago to London overnight, a full-day layover in London on Wednesday, and then London to Cape Town overnight, arriving Thursday morning.  Nothing like going West when you want to go East, and then going North when you want to go South!  

As arduous as that might sound, and we were certainly dreading it, the trip has been remarkably pleasant so far.  The last few days in Massachusetts, and really the whole last month as well, have been incredibly fast-paced, so even though we are not lying on a beach or sleeping in our bed at home, we are relaxing.  Anne's mother commented before we left that in a way our itinerary was good, because  air travel can be disorienting when you go so far so quickly that your brain doesn't quite register the distance.  We have felt that way on other trips, but not on this one!  When we finally arrive in South Africa, we will know that we have traveled far.

When we first found out that we would be have 10 hours between arrival and departure in London, we were excited.  It sounded like just enough time to leave the airport, take a train into the city, walk around in the fresh air, eat a good meal, see a few sites, and return for the evening flight tired enough to get some good sleep on our way to Cape Town.  Oh, we had grand visions.

Unfortunately, London is sometimes like this:

 

A grey, cold day would not have dissuaded us in itself, but the aforementioned overstuffed “carry-ons” are, well, heavy.  Getting wet isn't so bad if you can dash inside to escape serious downpour, but we weren't going to be doing too much “dashing” with those bags.

So we decided to stay in and explore our own little corner of London.  We observed the local flora...

We sampled local cuisine...

We discovered local marvels such as book vending machines...

Heck with the Tower of London; we found a wonderfully quiet spot just outside the El Al King David Lounge to call home for the day.  The VIP's inside probably had luxurious accommodations, but we were pretty excited by our benches that didn't have arm rails.  We spent a good portion of the time sleeping in relative comfort – resting in the courts of the King. 

 

Overall, it would be hard to find a better 10-hour airport experience.  Have any of you done better?  What is the best way you have found to make the time in an airport go by quickly and enjoyably?

Introductions

Moving to a new place will mean lots of introductions.  New people, new currency, new geography, new weather, new educational system, new constellations...we hope to introduce them to you as we meet them.  But first, we need to introduce ourselves a bit, or rather what we're doing and why.

 

This is Andrew.  Andrew's connection to South Africa goes back to age six, when a missionary named David Bliss spoke to his Sunday School class at Park Street Church.  Despite being a generally high-energy/low-concentration kid (about the only other thing he accomplished in Sunday School was making catapults out of Linkin' Logs!), Andrew was captivated by David's stories, and his interest did not fade.  About twelve years later he interned with the chaplain at Essex County Correctional Facility in Middleton, Massachusetts.  Two years after that, he spent a summer working with David Bliss in prisons through the Andrew Murray Center in Wellington, South Africa.  He saw firsthand what he had heard about for so long – the transformational power of God working in the lives of society's outcasts, bringing freedom from addictions, reconciliation in families, and restoration in communities.  Ever since that summer, Andrew knew that he wanted to return to South Africa to continue working and learning.  This year, the opportunity came.

 

This is Anne.  She is married to Andrew.

 

Just kidding.  Anne is excited about South Africa as well, although she has never been inside a prison before.  She loves traveling, being a student, and facing new challenges, though, so this adventure suits her well.

 

About two years ago, Andrew applied to the Ambassadorial Scholarship program through the Rotary Foundation.  After many interviews, applications and negotiations, his proposal to study at the University of Cape Town and research prison rehabilitation programs in South Africa was accepted.  This was the opportunity he had been awaiting for years – a chance to return to South Africa, advance in his studies, and have someone else pay for most of it!  We were to leave at the end of June and start classes in Mid-July.  So why aren't we there already?

 

African Bureaucracy.  It is a fact of life that must be accepted and dealt with, but can be a  formidable opponent if time is not on your side.  Suffice to say that both the university and the visa application processes took much more time and effort than they should have, sometimes involving 3-a.m. phone calls in a desperate attempt to reach a human being on the phone and be able to do something with the needed information before all of their offices closed (at 10 a.m. our time).  Finally about a week and a half into June we got our acceptance from the University and an extension from Rotary that enabled us to leave in July.

 

So we're on our way!  Once we arrive, we will be busy getting the basics (phone, bank account, apartment, car, etc.) set up while registering for classes, which start on the 21^st.  We are hoping to settle in quickly so that wherever we are feels like home rather than a temporary settlement.  A year is not very long to get accustomed to a new place and culture, so we want to dive right in and make the most of our time!

 

For the moment, though, our time is being spent in airports and on planes.  More on that tomorrow!  In the meantime, another question for the masses: how do you like to introduce yourself?  What is something you like people to know about you right away?

Stuff

What does it look like to go to a new place taking only what you can carry with you?

We don't know. We don't think we could carry everything we're bringing all at once. But close enough...two 50-pound duffle bags each (or approximately 50 pounds, thanks to a nice airline counter employee who didn't bother to check!), plus an over-stuffed “carry-on” and a sizeable “personal item” each. How did we get down to so little?

We didn't. We packed seemingly endless boxes of books, papers, kitchen supplies, household décor, etc. into our parents' attics. An interesting process – 100 pounds each sounds like a lot when you start out and feels like a lot when you have to carry it in the end, but in between it seems scant. Do I need this? Will I miss it? Will I be happy to have everything back again when we return, or will I be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of it?  

(Andrew thinks the logical alternative to all of this is a big fire.)

Despite managing to cut ties and leave, we are not living the simple life. The number of electronic toys and gadgets that we are bringing certainly attests to this. However, we hope to be good stewards of these by using them to keep the ties that we could not and will not cut. It is in that spirit that we begin what we hope will be an interesting, worthwhile, and maybe even insightful series of reflections on our travel, our studies, a new culture, and life in general. We hope you will keep in touch as well and respond with your thoughts.

So to start off...what is one thing that you would make sure to fit into your 100-lb. Limit, even if it meant leaving more practical things behind?