final post!

In case anyone's still reading, I am back in the u.s. of a. I had a great last stop in London where I stayed with my wonferful long-lost cousin Elizabeth (who's actually not that long-lost since she is my mom's 2nd cousin).

I really liked London (despite the fact that it is a more expensive ny with ruder people), and saw the majority of tourist things.: changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace (obviously overrated but I'm glad I went); the British museum; millions of places with "square" at the end; the Tate Modern; Big Ben (ony from the outside, i was not paying for that tour); the Globe Theare.And I saw my first opera, with Elizabeth! It was about Ganhi in South Africa, so that was a nice full-circle thing.

And I had a lovely time with my friend Yuxing, who's spending a quarter in London, and she took me on the Notting Hill movie tour and ate bangers and mash and Indian food (not together). We also went to pubs and met library students who told us about how the dewey decimal system is outdated.

The flight home was kind of awful and included an already unnecesarry layover in D.C. that became 8 hours. But then I got home after an incredible journey. And now I'm on a mini-vacay in Chicago. And in a week I enter the real world

Some days are like that, even in South Africa

I'm in Cape Town for a few days, staying on the couch of my friend Deepa, who's on TM and living on Long Street. This morning I woke up to gross weather, (killing my plans to go to the beach). I had an interview with an important source but I didn't want to take the train and since Deepa owns every episode of Gilmore Girls I said somewhat jokingly, "I kind of want to just stay in and watch Gilmore Girls." Be careful what you wish for.

Deepa left the key for me downstairs, but the maid took it, thinking it was left there by accident. And of course my cell phone wasn't working. So I stopped a stranger and asked to use her celll to call Deepa and cancel my interview. Then the cell phone started working. But I was out of minutes on my cell phone. So I took my chances and gave money to a stranger to buy my airtime. But then the airtime wouldn't work. So I watched an episode of Gilmore Girls. But then it did, so I called Deepa and she gave me the number of the landlord who let me out.

So I got out, rescheduled the interview and even got to sit in on a TAC court hearing. So all is well in the world.

I leave for London tomorrow! I'm ready.

hi from Zambia

Our journey to Livingstone, Zambia was long. Very long. On Thursday Tina and I arrived at Johannesburg International Airport a good hour and a half before our flight (because I wanted to) only to learn that our Zambian Airlines flight to Lusaka had been canceled. The budget airline kulula.com we booked through never informed us of this. So we waited at the airport until 6pm when we could finally board the plane. We hung out with a Zambian guy who offered us a ride from Lusaka to Livingstone, and while we initially accepted, realized that he would be awkward to ride with , so just never called him once we got to Lusaka.

Once in Lusaka (after a horrid flight with the most annoying children EVER surrounding us) we arrived at our hoste at about 9:30pm. Lusaka is the biggest city in Zambia, which isn't saying that much, and it's definitely not a tourist city. Nonetheless, these Zambian guys at our hostel took us out and I had probably the most fun of any night here. Zambians are SO friendly, and mostly in a good way. They pride themselves on being the "friendliest people in Southern Africa" and while I have no way to quantify if that's true it makes sense. I actually enjoyed dancing which is odd for me. The guys wanted to take the bus with us to Livingstone, but because of issues with what they had to do in Lusaka they couldn't. This was just as well. One of the guys was kind of in love with me and it could have been an awkward situation.

Friday at 10am on the dot we arrived at the bus station to take our coach bus to Livingstone. Silly us. We forgot about Africa time. They waited for the bus to fill up (in the mean time dozens of peopel came on to try to sell things and one guy came on to read the bible) and we didn't leave until noon. Tina and I thoguht we'd each have our own row so we didn't sit together and I was squished in with a son and father coming from school in Lusaka to home in Livingstone. I was one of three white people on the bus and Tina was the only Asian. THe drve was pretty ok. I enjoyed seeing the countryside, since Zambia is how I imagined Africa looking in my imagination.

By 7pm we arrived in the hostel, which is quite nice. Again, how I pictured hostels being in my imagination. This is the first time we wer in a hostel more than one ngiht too (other than Cape Town which was not a good hostel experience). There is a pool and lots of outdoor couches and everyone is really friendly and social. All for $8 U.S. a night. We are in a dorm with 8 beds. The first night was awful because there was a man who snored the loudest of anyone I've ever heard in my life. Since his friends weren't correcting the problem, I got out of bed and politely asked Snorer to turn over.

Yesterday Tina and I went on an all-day canoeing trip down the Zambezi river. It was quite fun. Since Tina and I lack at paddling they matched us up with two buff British guys who were the chief rowers. Tina and here guy hit a tree. Me and my guy saved Tina but unfortunately we couldn't save her sandal. My camera unfortunately somehow got wet but I'm hoping it will work. We saw elephants! We sort of saw hippos! The buff British guys left so I was in a boat with the tour guide (Potato is his name) who basically did all the paddling. Life's hard. Tina too, went in a big boat and got to be the Queen of Sheba as well (they also saw giraffes)

Potato and the other tour guide Jonathan took us out to dinner where they explained how men need to give a woman's family cattle in order to marry her. The only two other white people at the restaurant were the people from the bus. That's waht's cool about Livingstone, even though it's really touristy, most thigns are still populated by locals (except for blatantly tourist things).

Snorer and friends left and things have since gotten better and we made friends with 6 of the 8 people in our room. We all hung out last night playing cards, going out and staying up late talking. These people are a British guy and girl who are nursing students finishing observing a peer education program in Zambia, a British guy on the first leg of his year long travel around the world and a Canadian guy doing a 6 month trip from Cape Town to Cairo who met British guy in hostel in Cape Town. There's just such a comfort level with peopel who are of the same culture.

Today tour guide Jonathan took Tina and I to buy cheap crafts so we wouldn't get ripped off as Americans We finally have a non-sketchy Zambian friend! The craft market was prettty overwhelming. Even though I think I got good deals (the exchange rate is also good for us here) I definitely bought things I didn't need just because peopel kept pressuring me. But in total I spent 8 U..S. which isn't bad. Then we went on the hostel bus to Victoria Falls. Jonathan came too and our little group included the Canadian from the dorm room. Vic Falls is BEAUTIFUL. We got very wet and also climbed down to see the falls from a different angle. Amazing. The only downside is my camera is still wet, so I'll have to rely on Tina's pics

After Vic Falls Jonathan took us to see the luxury hotels in Livingstone. They are amazing. At $400 a night there are tame GIRAFFES and ZEBRAS just roaming the premises.

So, yeah, I really like this trip. I've met great people and it's just such a cool country. I like the feeling of being in Africa as stupid as that sounds. SA is awesome of course, but so Western. This is more mixed.

I'll be going back to Lusaka tomorrow, then Cape Town then London then home. wow.

Rent-a-wrecks and AJCs

All's well in Johannesburg. Steph left for Cape Town, which is sad, but life goes on. Today Tina and I went to Nkosi's Haven in Hillbrow, this group home for HIV-positive women and their children, as well as orphans of HIV positive women. We "volunteered" to use the word as loosely as I've been using the word "research." Basically, we played with adorable children. Tina set a no-camera rule, which I followed and she very much didn't, so we do have pictures of cute African children. We picked out the AJCs, Angelina Jolie Children- a word I just coined, to mean the most adorable child in a group of underprivileged children. Basically, the ones Angelina would have taken from the bunch. We accompanied the mothers and children to a church program, where I had a sleeping child on my lap which was a good way to get out of professing my love to Jesus. The kids were adorable and volunteering here wasn't very different than any place I'd been to in the States. I'm just always struck in these environments how differently these kids grew up then I did- with lots of other children around, but not so much individual attention. I always wonder how they will be when they are older.

In other news, we are on our THIRD, count 'em third, rental car in 5 days. Granted we rented from a company called Rent-a-wreck (since we needed an automatic car, which is quite rare anywhere not in the U.S.) so a normal rental car would have been way expensive. But the first car had engine troubles, the second didn't accelerate, and now there's this one which is adequate. And I really hate driving/getting lost which happens all the time here. Someone told me J'burg reminds them of L.A. the way it is a drving city which I hate.

Last night, after having a lovely dinner with Tina's Cameroonian friends who goes to Wits and his nice friends and relations, Tina and I went out (with friends we met at a Jolly Rogers, a local bar! who we promptly ditched when we got to the club since one of the guys was the most boring person EVER! we're bad people!) and then got lost on the way there AND the way home. le sigh. The club itself, Manhattan, was pretty ok, though I counted THREE non-service people black people. I'm so conscious of race here, I'm going to keep counting when I get back to the states.

Also annoying about driving in J'burg? You have to pay car guards, unpaid people who "watch" your car. Occasionaly they are helpful, but sometimes they are worthless. Yet I feel bad, sicne there are so many poor people here and I'm so rich. People I d0n't feel bad for? All the people who try to get bribes. I forgot to get my ticket stamped after an interview and a guy tried to get me to pay 25 rands ($3.50) instead of the usual 7 rands. I said no.

What else? Steph and I did a tour of Soweto, which is a booming former township where Nelson Mandela once lived and Desmond Tutu and Winnie Mandela still do. It was interesting, and we had a great lunch, though I was very uncomfortable with the whole part which is "look at the poor people like it's a zoo." Not uncomfortable with it? The bratty British family who was part of the tour. The daughter reminded me of that girl from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. After the tour me and thsi French woman I met walked around down town and went to the Johannesburg Art Gallery (pretty good) and the African Museum (pretty bad). Coincidentally, this woman who's 26 and went to Stanford was staying with her friend in Joburg who's from Briarcliff Manor (the town next-door to Ossining). I didn't know him, he went to Hackley (which means he shoudl have gone to Ossining schools, prob), but small world.

I love Jozi

Except I can't call Johannesburg Jozi, since I'm not from here and am just a tourist. And love's a strong word, but I definitely like Jburg a lot. It's no Cape Town, but what is? And I definitely feel safe, especially in the posh suburb of Parkhurst we're staying in. Our accomodations are AMAZING, kind of thanks to me. Well, really thanks to my long-lost cousin whose daughter's best friend Di, the coolest woman ever, is putting us up. I feel like I'm in a B&B, complete with washed towels and tea in the morning. Tina and Steph are staying in the cottage (which is normal here, supposedly) and I even have my own room which is nothing short of incredible. And while my longlost cousin said money was tight for Di, it's loose enough that she has a maid, who did my laundry, to my awkwardness.

We rented a car from a company called Rent-a-wreck, so the car is about as nice as it sounds. This is actually our second car since the first one was a bit too much of a wreck. I finally drove on the left side of the rode! Since my driving skills are often lacking, the prospect of this scared my, no joke, more than bungee jumping. But it's actually not that hard and kind of fun.

Jburg is definitely a big city, and we need to be alert, but it's definitely much less scary than everyone in Cape Town said. It's kind of like if you ask people in San Fran about L.A. their reaction contains much more hatred than appropriate. We drove through some of the sketchier parts, and it didn't seem worse than some parts of New York or Chicago. I take for gratned being comfortable with big cities the way a lot of people aren't.

Last night we went with Di, and my long-lost cousin's daughter Christine to see Soweto Story, which is Romeo & Juliet set in Soweto, a large township outside of Jburg. It was a blatant rip-off of West Side Story, but worse. We've only gone out once to a "college night." Unfortunately, college night was more like high school night with the average bargoer being about 14.

bungee jumping and more

So I've been a negligent blogger, and probably will continue to be for the rest of the trip, a heads up. We just got back from driving the garden route, a BEAUTIFUL drive in the Western Cape. Our friend Sarah joined us and we rode ostriches (weird but fun), went wine tasting (cheaper than Cali, but not as good an experience), zip lined (again, super-fun). Coolest of all: Sarah and I went BUNGEE JUMPING! Bungy Jumping Garden Route which is the highest bungee jump in the WORLD! It was super-scary, and didn't actually stop being scary. I had to go first, since I was one of the fatter people and they were doing it by weight which they marked ON MY HAND. Anyway, after swinging and swinging UPSIDE-DOWN I didn't realize a guy was supposed to come down and get me so I thought I did something wrong and he was rescuing me.

Other stuff happened. I will maybe write later.

some more Cape Town

Just to clarify last post...It's ot that there are only white people on Long St., far from it. We've met tons of black and colored (NOT a racist word here) in Cape Town But a lot of restaurants and bar tend to lean touristy and/or white, especially a lot of the restaurants we go to. I totally admit to living the western tourist lifestyle here.

March 29 (continued)

Mama Africa was sort of underwhelming, although ostrich meat was quite good (like steak, not chicken). The we hung out with the Medill kids interning here at their super-posh apartment and at a bar on Long St. THEN I was tired (from the hike, you might remember) so I went home early , and went to bed around 1am. Shortly there after when I was trying to fall asleep a man and his girlfriend (who I'm going to assume are German unless I hear otherwise) just WALKED INTO MY ROOM! They just started going on the balcony only accessible by my room. ummmm, not ok. I told them this and the man explained "it's the only way to get there." I told him it was not ok to walk through my room, and kindly suggested they use the public balcony. "It's too noisy there" he said like that was ok. Later they climbed out the window of their own room to get to the balcony. ugh, some people are so rude.

March 30

We woke up early and took the train to a beach in Muizenberg. Public transportation here is suppoosed to be horrific but the train wasn't worse than the L in Chicago (though that's not saying much). The water was warmer there, though it was still a little cold.

At night we went out with the son of a woman Tina knows in Joburg. He goes to University of Cape Town (UCT) and he and his friends were very nice and nerdy (in otherwards, people we'd hang with at Northwestern). We went to Cubana (different than the other one we went to- apparently a chain) where there was drinking and dancing, thoguh the Cuban food is more like Mexican.

I'd like to note that I ask people here a million questions about their culture. Yet people here know so much about the U.S. their questions are hyper-specific and really just clarifying what they've learned from the media. Per example, one of his friends, who was black and quite well-off himself, asked me if black people in America are as spoiled and materialistic as they appear on tv, particularly music videos. I said no, some people are spoiled and materialistic of course, but rap videos don't speak for everyone.