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.