BAPworld

Technical Difficulties

2010-02-02T11:00:00.000-05:00

Hi all!

I know I haven't written in a while. So sorry. Last semester of law school and all. If I had known how much I would have to catch up on after going abroad, I may never have gone! Hahaha, okay, not really, but from now until I pass (or fail) the bar this summer, BAPworld and I may be going through separation anxiety. I'll try to post interesting travel items when I can, but since I'm not really reading anything on the internet except research and TelevisionWithoutPity updates (I haven't even watched the finale of Dollhouse yet!), don't count on anything soon.

Thanks for your patience, wish me luck!
k

Nepotism is Good

2010-01-05T15:50:00.001-05:00

I'm down with the French in many ways. I think they've pretty much got wine, cheese, fashion, and arrogance down to an art. I think their art and architecture is hard to compete with. I don't think I'm rocking the boat with these observations. However, there is one other thing that I think the French have down pat. Nepotism. The French think it's honourable, and just good business, to pass a business from father to son (or daughter), to raise children to take over the family corporation, to seat your children on the board of say, LVMH. I have to agree with this mafia mentality. What's family for if not to rely on, to help out, to hire? I am all about promoting mi familia ] . And using them when I need stuff for free. I recognize, of course, that saying this opens me up to future family pandering, but that's what I'm here for. I have certainly mastered the art myself.

I really only said all of that as an excuse for promoting my brother yet again. He actually did start that blog (yaay!) and it's already up to a cool start. If anything, visit and download his free music. Also, check out some of the pictures taken by Bella's mommy. She's a great photographer and a graphic designer in case you need any work done :-P.

9thdimensionmusic.blogspot.com

Have a great first week of January!
kat

When I Grow Up

2009-12-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

When I grow up, everything I own will be bespoke. Bespoke shoes, bespoke clothes, bespoke luggage, bespoke dogs. Everything will be custom made to my exact likes and specifications. Rien de naff pour moi! Along with my fabulous bespoke couches and curtains and linens and chairs I will also have bespoke life experiences of the travel variety. And when I do, I will, in turn, hire Truffle Pig and Black Tomato (that's to-mah-to, dahling) to design them.

Truffle and Tomato are both quite fabulous travel designers. They take your every whim, interest, and desire and mix it with their unequalled travel and luxury experts to create the holiday of your very expensive dreams. After backpacking on a budget for the last six and a half months, I have to tell you, this sounds like the way travel should be done.

One day I am going to get to Antartica (hopefully before it melts), and when I do, I'm going on Black Tomato's Into the Abyss journey. This particular journey to the bottom of the Earth will have to wait until I have an extra $60,000, but I think it will be worth every penny.

Probably before having tea with the penguins, I am going to hire Truffle Pig to go absolutely anywhere. The guys (and possibly girls) at Truffle are smart, witty, experienced, and know how to plan a fantabulous journey. Even their website is quirky, creative, and fun. I imagine their trips to be even more so.

Yes, when I grow up, I'll breed bespoke horses, drive bespoke automobiles, and clone bespoke men to style my bespoke hair. But first, I'm going on a couple of truly luxurious and individualized journeys, just to know how it feels to travel without a backpack.

kat

OC Notes for Christmas

2009-12-28T20:16:00.001-05:00

Hello all!

I hope you had a great Chrismukkah! I had a great Christmas and over the holiday I discovered that my brother who I only see once every few years has turned into quite the busy musician. He's been making all kinds of albums and stuff, which is only different from the past fifteen years or so because people are actually starting to pay attention. To that end, he's got crazy folks making videos to his music on the YouTube (this is one of his own and definitely the best):

Here is his YouTube page so you can see the other stuff he has on there. I just went on there and he clearly rarely updates it: Youtube.com/ocnotes

He even has an album on iTunes!

Lots of his stuff is free though, and it's all available on THEESatisfaction's website. You should all go to iTunes and buy his album and support my niece!! Then go to theesatisfaction.blogspot.com and download his free stuff as it comes along. I'm trying to convince him to start his own blog so it's easier for folks to keep up so if and when he does I'll add links to it here. Yaay for my brother! Buy his album!

Happy holidays!
kat

Pictures, Yaay!

2009-12-12T20:15:00.003-05:00

Finally! Now that I am in the land of the internets, I was finally able to upload a slide show. I briefly considered uploading every single one of the hundreds of photos taking up precious gigabytes on my hard drive, but I finally settled on a "best of" of sorts, a few of my favourite pics from Cambodia and Africa. Enjoy!

k

A Good Year for Black Women

2009-12-11T23:02:00.005-05:00

I just saw The Princess and the Frog!!! I am so excited, I have been waiting for this movie since I was 5 and it was everything that I have always wanted it to be. I loooove that it was set in NOLA (and it looked and sounded just like the Louisiana I used to live in, right down to the occasional Voodoo influences), love that she was absolutely beautiful and played by the inestimable Anika Noni Rose, who did a phenomenal job, love that they finally went back to gorgeous hand drawn animation, and love love love the Randy Newman jazz-Zydeco-Disney interpretations!!

I loved every minute of the film, but what I loved most of all was that in this long, long awaited film, Disney finally dispensed of some of the ridiculous pre-feminist fairy tale dogma that has gotten little girls in trouble since the Grimm Brothers first imagined Cinderella. And I think it's more than a little ironic that it took a Black princess to do it. In this film Disney finally tossed out the "When you wish upon a star" bullshit. Excuse my language. Yes, Tiana (I still like Maddy better) looked to a star for

hope and inspiration, but she counted on her own hard work and ingenuity to finally achieve her dreams. And yes, the frogs went to the Voodoo Queen for magic help, but it was up to them to find the answers. And then, just when it looks like the pretty white princess is going to save the day, Disney pulls the magic carpet out from under your feet and says, "Naw chere, you're going to have to do this one on your own. Those stereotypes are not valid any more" and Tiana and the super cute Prince Naveen have to find their own way. I love Tiana. She has big dreams and knows how to get what she wants. She works hard, she saves money (what an excellent example for little girls!), she's true to her friends and loyal to her own intuition, and in the end she is rewarded with everything she wants, and, more importantly, everything she needs. Disney finally told little girls what they need to hear: Work hard, dream hard, and don't count on anyone to hand you the answers.

2009 has been a remarkable year for all of us, but especially for Black women. We got a Black President, a Black First Lady, and a Black Princess, all at once.

Parole

2009-12-11T23:01:00.002-05:00

I'm un-privating my blog. For several reasons really, mostly because it was becoming a pain in the arse. Also because I'm now back in the USofA so the security breach is no longer an issue. But don't worry, the list is saved so if I have to switch back you won't have to sign in and out again!

Ciaosers,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Coming to America

2009-12-04T11:53:00.001-05:00

Never has a black person left Africa for America so gleefully. I’m finally going home! After being unceremoniously dumped at the airport by my roommate of the last three months, I was in seventh heaven. Every person I have seen in the airport has said, “You’re going to America?” And I can hardly contain my joyful smile. This journey will be far shorter than the one that brought me here. Flying into the nation’s capital will be the crowning moment of my journey. Looking back, I am incredibly lucky. I lived and traveled in two pretty dangerous countries and didn’t even have a book stolen. No crime, no danger, no sketchy cops. As always I came out unharmed. I owe this as much to luck and my grandfather/guardian angel as to the fact that by now I’ve learned how to be a safe traveler. There really is nothing to be worried about in most places if you’re smart and self-aware. Of course, I wouldn’t recommend traveling to Somalia by yourself or anything, but for most places, a girl on her own will be just fine if she keeps her head on straight.

I am also quite proud of how little I have acquired in the last six months. I only packed one suitcase and one carry on when I started and I am leaving with the big suitcase I brought, a very small, very cute teal carry-on size suitcase, a backpack, and the same messenger bag that I came with. I bought a lot less than I had planned, I thought I would be leaving here with a much bigger second suitcase.

The few clothes that I brought (that I’m burning as soon as I get home, I hope to never see those 10 t-shirts again), most of which are so frayed as to be almost unrecognizable, did me well and survived the traveling, touring, and working environments with dignity. Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Ralph Lauren and J.Crew should be proud. As should two pairs of Old Navy ballet flats that have lived to tell a tale worthy of their many cracks, holes, worn down soles and dingy exteriors. The shoes will have to be retired and bronzed as soon as I get to Seattle. My Longchamp le Pliage remains the most durable, reliable, and classy bag there ever was and is currently folded pleasantly in my suitcase, prepared to enjoy a holiday after serving as my only handbag these long months. My MacBook is dirty and cracked and in need of some Genius Bar TLC but is still clicking away, ready for one more semester of law school and whatever else I can throw at it until I can afford a new one. And my little $50 iPod shuffle, bought especially for the journey, is charged up and ready for a long jam session on the many flights to come.
In fact, everything that I brought with me is coming home relatively undamaged, if a little worse for the wear. My Matt & Nat clutch lost its leather wrist strap somewhere in Siem Reap, but it still holds things just fine. My favourite silver bracelet was misplaced somewhere between my many moves in Phnom Penh, but it is easily replaceable and is already in my Tiffany shopping cart ready to be re-purchased as soon as I get a job. My beautiful leather messenger bag has a battle scar in the form of a ripped seam but it just makes it look more hardcore and experienced. It’s still the best bag I have ever seen. And my prescription sunglasses have been sporting the Harry Potter look (except the tape is on the side rather than the bridge of the nose) but the lenses still work and they suit me just fine for driving. Oh yeah, and my swimsuit has seen better days, but it’s not like I’ll be swimming in Michigan anytime soon anyways. Other than that, everything is pretty okay. Not bad for six months of roughing it I say.

Well that’s all for now. The weather has been rainy and awful for two days. I think Africa is trying to mitigate the shock of my return by giving me weather that’s as close to home as possible. How kind.

That’s all for now. The next time I write I’ll be home!!!

P.S. I wrote this many, many hours ago. AFter my already long layover in Johannesburg my flight is now over an hour late. I may never get out of here!!

Ciaosers,
kat

Last Night in Africa

2009-12-03T03:09:00.004-05:00

Hello All!

I know it's been forever since I've written but luckily for me, this is my last day of dead slow internet. I'm going home tomorrow!!! I know, I was supposed to stay in Africa until January, but due to an unexpected fiscal situation (I'm broke), my fam helped me change my ticket so I am actually leaving tomorrow. Honestly, I am so happy to be going home. The last six and a half months have been fantastic. I've learned, seen, and done a lot of things that I never expected and I will never forget the experience. However, I have without a doubt learned that, while I love to travel and still want to see the world, my heart and ambition lie in America, and I feel guilty every minute that I am working to change things abroad rather than at home. This is an excellent revelation for me to have, and at the appropriate time. Before I left I was torn between my dual goals, the same Teach For America vs. Peace Corps debate that I had in college. I didn't want to stay home and not see the world but I knew that while I was out seeing the world I would feel guilty about not working to better things here. This trip was designed to challenge that and help me decide once and for all what I wanted. And it worked. I love experiencing new things but I am not the Jane Goodall I thought I was. I'm an American girl and my future lies in my own country. Now I can go back and very happily find a job and a life at home.

Not that I'm giving up and making it too easy. I mean, I am moving to Detroit. And all by myself with no friends or connections or any idea of where my life is headed. My family will still be far away and I'll still have plenty of challenging work ahead of me. Besides, being domesticated will be a new adventure. I haven't lived in one place for a whole year since high school. In fact, I've had so many addresses in the last nine years that my Amazon.com account has over two pages just for shipping addresses alone! Moving to Detroit means I'll actually get an apartment and sign a lease! This is a novelty for me. The last time I signed a lease for a year a hurricane broke it for me. This will be the first time I have to get a new driver's license since I got a 45-year Arizona one when I was in college (I'm pretty sad about that actually. I love my license that expires in 2048). It will be the first time I actually buy a couch (my last apartment was strictly BYOS- Bring Your Own Seat). Plus it will be the first place I've ever lived without an expiration date (Ft. X until we get transferred, Seattle through high school, Massachusetts until graduation, Louisiana through the Corps years, Michigan until the bar exam...). My whole life has been about moving on. Pretty soon it will be about settling in. Sigh. There's something sad about a girl going from Wide Open Spaces to A Home. But I guess it happens to everyone. And besides, it's not over yet. The Dixie Chicks have yet to sing Bitter End for me!

Tomorrow I fly back to Seattle, to see the 'rents, meet my niece Bella, and get a job to make up for all of the money I've spent this year. I also have two very big papers to write that I haven't even thought about starting yet. And I'll be applying for a lot of jobs. Happy Christmas to me. I hope to get to AZ to see ma grand-mère but we'll see if that works out. Then, back to Ann Arbor (yaay!) for my very last semester of law school ever. Thank goodness. I don't know what classes I'm taking and I don't care. I'm just going to barrel my way through to the end. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope it's not a train coming towards me.

So that's my life in a nutshell. Thrilling, I know. :-/ When I get back I'll add slide shows of the millions of pictures that I took and couldn't load while I was here. I'll also try to put up that post about Robben Island. I wish I had some profound closing thoughts about South Africa but really I'm just very, very worried about where they're going. And so are they, but not enough to change anything. If I have learned anything from Cambodia and SA it's that the world is not as stable as it should be on the verge of 2010. Nations that look precarious are and nations that look stable and modern are often anything but. Everything teeters on the edge of disaster. And it's always the same people who pay.

Happy thoughts to end the post.

Ciao,
k

A Long Hiatus

2009-11-16T01:38:00.003-05:00

I haven't written for a long time, I know. Mostly because there hasn't been much to write about. We've been in the typical work-home-tv rut of any other old married couple. Lill and I have mind melded. We actually just separately reserved seats on a plane that were right next to each other. We're even finishing each other's sentences now. It's a problem.

Other than bonding with my new life partner, there hasn't been that much else going on. However, all of that changed last week, we finally got to visit Cape Town!! Cape Town is a really cool city. Not as aesthetically beautiful as Durban but full of young people and things to do. There are also more white people than Lill and I have seen in a while!

One of the first and most surprising things that we noticed about Cape Town is that Table Mountain is way closer to the city than we thought. The city is between a rock and a hard place. Or the devil and the deep blue sea... well, it's kind of between a rock and the deep blue sea actually. And, while they could have come up with a more creative name for Table Mountain, they could hardly have come up with a more descriptive one, unless they had called it Flat Mountain. The Kloofers (which is what they call the big group of Mich folks who live on Kloof St.) have an amazing apartment with a balcony on the street and an artificial backyard overlooking Table Mountain. It's incredible. As soon as Lill and I got in we chilled in the Kloofer's backyard with white wine and some delicious sushi.

I managed to get a lot in over the week. I went to the National Gallery, over half of which is being renovated, the Jewish Museum, which is pretty interesting, and the Holocaust Exhibition on the same campus, which is more an educational review of the events of the Holocaust than a museum. We saw Disgrace, the film based on the novel by J.M. Coetzee, one of the most famous contemporary South African novelists, which Lill and I both read when we got here. The film was, of course, set in South Africa so it was pretty cool to watch it while we're here but it's a massively depressing book and movie and mostly made us hate stupid women and black people. Which is probably why most black South Africans think Coetzee is a racist. He's not, but he does depict the unpleasant side of post-Apartheid life for white people, which is something that most people don't want to think about. The truth is that Truth and Reconciliation was a little less of either than it was meant to be and of course, all wounds were not healed just because Mandela said they were. Life for whites in many parts of South Africa is less than pleasant. Besides their own guilt, anger, and sense of betrayal at times, they have to deal with the fact that they now live in a country in which 95% of the people hate them. Plust most of the rest of the world. Not only that, but they'll never get elected to high office and their concerns aren't ever going to be a priority for the ANC. And, of course, they are living with the products of the system that they created, and with the retribution and revenge that the victims of that system feel they deserve. History repeatedly shows us that providing an entire population with a limited education hurts those in power just as much, and sometimes more, as those they have conquered, but the Afrikaaners didn't get that memo. Anyways, it's interesting and provides what I've found to be a valid point of view. I don't think Coetzee's a racist, he just tells another side of the story. I could go on, but I won't.

On a happier note, we all drove out to Simon's Town because Lill was obsessed with seeing the penguins. It turns out that somehow there are penguins in Africa, how or why we don't know, and most of them congregate in this little area in Simon's Town, although there were some on Robben Island too and who knows where else. They're actually called African Jackass Penguins (seriously) and they're tiny little pygmy versions of the originals. It was super cute, like looking at herds of baby penguins, all laying out in the sun. They definitely looked happier than the Emperor Penguins in that awful documentary. No digging for food in the snow for these birds.

Along with the museums and the movies we went to Robben Island, which I'll write about in a separate post, and we ate a lot. After living in a town that only has fast food restaurants it was so nice to be in a city with real food. We ate sushi and tex-mex, and really delicious burgers and tapas and goodness knows what else. It was wonderful. We also went to a spa called the Wellness Warehouse and got really amazing deals on spa packages. Overall, it was quite the wonderful week.

After a week or so in Cape Town we all (all of the Mich folks) went to a wine town called Franschoek, where we stayed at an amazing guesthouse and enjoyed the company of friends we haven't seen in a while, two of our professors, and lots of really decadent meals provided by the good folks at Michigan Law School (and, technically, the exorbitant tuition that we're paying to be here). We also got to go on wine tastings, chocolate tastings (amazing), and basically enjoyed being in one of the most beautiful places in the world, surrounded by mountains and vineyards and basically feeling like we were in the Shire.

The pictures are amazing and you would really enjoy them if the internet would load, but it won't, so you just have to take my word for it until I get back! But we did have an amazing week and are so glad to be back for our last three weeks of work. Almost done!

Ciao!
k

Weekend in Durban

2009-10-28T02:27:00.004-04:00

Lill and I went to Durban this weekend and had a marvelous time. Rather than go through the expense and hassle of driving again, this time we took the bus. There are a few busses that go around South Africa, the SA Roadlink, the nicest but most dangerous of the lines (they kill people on occasion), the SA version of Greyhound, the fabled Baz Bus, which is the backpacker's line but is also maaaad expensive, and the Translux City to City. We took the Translux because it was the first office we went into at the bus station. We got a pretty decent deal on the tickets, R396 which is about $55, much less expensive than the gas we spent on the first trip. Unfortunately, the bus ride is also about 9 1/2 hours. :-/ Oh well, we charged up our laptops and iPods, threw on some comfy clothes and loaded up for a looong ride and fabulous weekend.

Last time we went to Durban we didn't really get to see the city because we went straight to the safari. So, this time we took five days (although two were spent traveling) and gave ourselves time to see a little more. On Friday, while everyone was working, we went to Africare, a fabulous salon, where Lill got her hair done for the first time since I've known her! It was like seeing a unicorn, I had to take pictures so people would believe me. Sadly, I can't upload those or any others because I've been trying for two hours and they won't load! Sorry folks. I'll put up a slide show when I get home.

Then we walked (bad idea) through some mad sketchy parts of town until we got to West Street, one of the main downtown streets where they have a lot of shopping and such, and which is also near the workplaces of the Durban crew. West Street is crowded and dirty and nothing like Fifth Ave or Oxford Street but it is an amazing place to people watch. We sat in McDonald's for a while looking out of the windows at the variety of folks walking by in big wigs, loud clothes, and uniforms of various description. Durban is so interesting compared to East London because it is incredibly diverse and cosmopolitan. All weekend I realized that I was actually surprised to see so many Indians and Coloureds as well as a very large Muslim population. East London is pretty much black/white but KwaZulu-Natal (the province) and especially Durban have always been home to a very large Indian population. Ghandi lived in Durban so there you go. It was really nice to be in such a diverse setting again after getting used to the segregation of EL. It was also nice to have INDIAN FOOD again!!! I missed it so much!

On Saturday there is an awesome flea market a couple of blocks from my friend's apartment. The day was gorgeous so we made the most of it and walked around looking at the artwork, the beaded jewelry, the handmade clothing and everything else that was on display. This was actually the first time that I had seen the handmade African-type goods one comes to expect when touring since I've been in the country and I was glad to see that there is a place where I can get souvenirs! More importantly, however, was the delicious food for sale. I had the most delicious samoosas and Greek doughnuty things that were basically fried dough and honey. Yum. Later on we went to the beach and made a big pasta dinner for everyone. And by we I mean Rob, who is an amazing chef. After dinner we headed out to a club and then a lounge and basically made a night of it. By the time we came in we all just crashed.

Sunday was rainy which was perfect for us as all we wanted to do was chill. We went to Oscar's, a fabulous cafe/video rental store across the street from the apartment. They have an amazing Greek lamb salad and really yummy French toast. Then we pretty much stayed in and watched movies and slept for most of the day. Eventually we roused ourselves and headed out for Indian food for dinner and then went to see Inglorious Basterds. Blood and gore aside, Tarantino is a master storyteller and this was a phenomenal movie. He is the king of dragging out suspense until you can't take it anymore and then taking it a few extra miles, then adding the terrifying music to such a degree that when the moment finally comes, you're so terrified nothing even has to happen and you want to pee in your pants. It was painful to watch but absolutely genius. Plus, Brad Pitt was in it so I was automatically a fan.

After our great weekend, we were sad to leave. We were even sadder to leave at 6am, but that's when the bus was heading out. :-( So, we said our goodbyes and hopped on the Translux for another day of rainy traveling. By the time we got home a typhoon (not really) had headed in and all night the house was beat upon by massive winds and rain. They say summer is supposed to be here soon but I don't believe it.

I'm not slowly making it to the end of my term. I have two weeks until I get to spend a week in Cape Town (yaay!!!) and then two or three weeks until we're done. I'm sad but I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to America. However, luckily after work ends I still have a few weeks of hanging out to do. Everyone is staying later so we'll get to see more of Durban and Cape Town, I have to make it to Joburg before I leave, and, depending on money and time (mostly money), I may even leave the country a bit. We shall see.

For now though, back to work!

ciao,
kat

Best day of the year (after July 4th)

2009-10-20T04:11:00.005-04:00

It’s my birthday!!

Yaay! I’m 26! Four years to 30, woohoo!

I love my birthday. Mostly because when we were kids my mom made birthdays such a big deal that I now have a positive Pavlovian response to anything birthday related. I always wake up super early in anticipation of my early morning birthday phone calls (which were not forthcoming with my being in Africa, sadly). And I always play Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday”, even though it’s about Martin Luther King Jr. and not me. But still, I could have a holiday! And then I check my email and open my Hallmark E-Cards from my mom and aunt (they sent me awesome ones this year. Did you know Alvin Ailey has e-cards?). And then I check Facebook throughout the day to see who’s sending birthday greetings on my wall.

As a girl, I feel incredibly lucky that my birthday is in October. Not only because it’s the best month ever, and totally beautiful, but because it’s Breast Cancer Awareness month. Long ago I instituted a policy that anything I buy for myself in the entire month of October is a birthday gift. Note: This is a dangerous policy. Especially in October, when everything is pink and you can buy anything and 10% goes to a charity that is near and dear to my heart (my Grandmother had breast cancer but she DETECTED IT EARLY and is amazing and strong and now she’s fine). So the policy quickly became “Anything-I-buy-in-October-is-a-birthday-present-plus-if-it’s-pink-it’s-for-a-good-cause-too” and that is why I never have any money in October. Sadly, I’m traveling and broke so I couldn’t buy anything for myself. Well, I couldn’t buy much for myself. ;-) But I’m also having a birthday in Africa so I figured that made up for it.

So anyways, today I woke up, listened to my birthday song, and jammed to “I Gotta Feeling” while I got dressed. Then I drove to work (it’s a beautiful sunny day btw) and Mzu had gotten me a beautiful birthday cake! One of his friends made it and it’s the most delicious and chocolatey cake that I have had in a long time. In fact, I had two slices for breakfast and I’ll probably have it for lunch too. And then I’m going to buy vanilla ice cream and have it for dinner. :-/ Yum!

Lill’s birthday is on the 27th so we were already planning on having a joint “do” (last year we went to Orlando with a big group of friends) so this weekend we’re taking Thursday and Friday off of work and going to Durban to party with our friends! We are sooo excited and I think it’s really going to be a great weekend. Yaay!

Anyways, happy birthday to me!

Ciao,
k

Update

2009-10-12T06:12:00.006-04:00

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've written!!

This is not for lack of trying, some days the internet is just too slow or not working at all and it's impossible to get on. Other days I've been out of the office at meetings (or in the office in meetings) that last for houuurrs. African meetings never start on time, and then once they do they go for hours and hours while every person repeatedly tells their life story. They always start, "In the interest of time, I'll keep this brief.." and then, twenty minutes later, actually start talking about the matter at hand. After a three hour meeting or so, they stop in time for lunch. This is the good part, as usually the host organization provides a really delicious meal of several kinds of meat, vegetables, potatoes, and rice or something. I always have to ask for a knife as I just can't bring myself to eat with my hands in the middle of a business meeting...

So anyways, I've had lots of meetings. After a month of not having much to do we're finally getting busy. I've gotten a couple of big projects that are exciting, working on things like educational outreach about Ukuthwala (I think I wrote about that in a previous post) and helping villagers get fair treatment from a coal mine that just opened and things like that.

Other than that, not much else happening. It's a pretty slow life in the small town, we go to work (which I really enjoy, I spend a lot of time hanging out with the other people in the office and they're hilarious), go home, I walk on the beach every night, and then we have dinner and watch TV and go to bed. We haven't gone anywhere since Port Elizabeth, we probably won't until our big trip to Cape Town and the vineyard for our Michigan retreat in November. Planning trips on the weekends is difficult when you have to work. So we'll probably postpone our birthday trips (mine is on the 20th and Lill's is on the 27th so we were going to do something) for another time. We'll have more time after we stop working.

On weekends we most watch TV or go to the mall. We often braai on Sundays if it's nice out. Well, yesterday we braaid (braaied? not sure about the past tense on that one) through the sprinkles because we really wanted bbq! That's about it. We're sort of like two little old women but without cats or polyester sweatsuits. But it's fun and relaxing and I'm getting a lot of reading done and it's infinitely better than being in law school. Realistically, I could be being a lot more productive than I am, I have two papers to write and some other things to get done but the problem with having nothing to do is that it's so hard to get yourself to do anything.

So yeah, that's all. I'll try to update more frequently, even if there isn't anything to say. I was trying to add pictures of the new house but it's taking hours to load so I'll try again later.

Ciao!
kat

A Long Weekend

2009-09-28T05:48:00.003-04:00

Thursday was Heritage Day here in South Africa so we had a wonderful long weekend. Lill and I were going to go back to Durban but disaster struck and we had to stay. The women who’s house we were renting decided to come back from Ireland. This was no surprise to us. The women, however, seemed honestly astonished that they couldn’t find jobs in Ireland because there’s this thing called a recession and this other thing called the EU. They were also shocked (shocked!) that Dublin is an expensive city. Apparently Google doesn’t exist on their planet. (Ironically, the day before they came back Lill and I saw a news crawl that said that Ireland is experiencing their worst emigration in 20 years…). So, they decided to come back and we had a minor tussle over their responsibilities under the lease. Luckily, their mother (who actually owns the house) knows all about leases and while they were still away her husband (who, as a former magistrate, gave me a huge compliment when he said that the email that I had sent them was “elegantly written” and an even bigger compliment when he went on to say that it was “clearly written by someone who wouldn’t be afraid to take legal measures if necessary”, which was exactly what I was aiming for. I generally find that my new found legal expertise comes in handy more in my personal life than in any professional setting. I enjoy the subtleties of behaving in a legal manner more than the exhausting detail of actually being a lawyer.

Anyways, so Lill and I had to stay and deal with the housing mess on Thursday, and then Friday we went to Port Elizabeth. We went to go shopping but sadly the shopping in PE is just as bad as the shopping in East London. They have a bigger mall but filled with the same sad excuses for stores. We’ll have to go shopping in Durban and Cape Town. We drove Noma, the receptionist from work, to PE with us because it’s where she is from and otherwise she would have had to take a Combi. Noma is hilarious and very kindly pointed out everything that we were passing, even if it was more than a little obvious. When we finally got to PE we had to take her to the township and Lill was thrilled to finally get to go into one of those little houses, she’s been dying to see what they look like on the inside. PE was less than thrilling so we braved the terrifying roads in the dark, came home and moved into our new house (until Thursday, then we have to move next door) on Sunday. We ended the weekend with a celebratory braai for two.

Being friends with Thembi and Mzukisi has proven remarkably instructional. I have learned so much about apartheid and what it was like for them when they got democracy (which is how everyone says it here, “We got democracy 15 years ago.”) including having to desegregate their schools (they’re not much different than Ruby Bridges and the Little Rock Nine) and getting rid of their Christian names (or slave names as they are often referred to here). It’s endlessly fascinating. It is also fascinating learning about their views and expectations of Americans, especially black Americans, and how differently they view us than we view them. Apparently everyone here thinks I’m Coloured and yet no one can quite describe for me what that means.

Relating with us can be really confusing for black South Africans because they automatically assume that since we're black we all must see them as brothers, the way they see us. I had a long talk with a man at the computer store the other day and he told me all about how they all are so proud of us because of all that we've accomplished and that they see black Americans as family and always root for a black American over a white South African in a race, etc. I talk to Mzukisi about this and about the fact that in black America simply don't look at Africans as though they are related to us at all. The 70's are over and most of us are no longer trying to find our African roots, we're Americans, more so than most, and feel no connection to the Continent. In fact, usually when we speak of Africa or call someone African it's meant derogatorily. Mzu made a good point when he said it would have been easier if Lill and I were white because then they wouldn't have expected us to connect with them, but they simply do not understand being black and not being African. We have had to tell quite a few people that we're actually the minority in the U.S., living in a world of white people is something so foreign (and so unappealing) to them that they can't even imagine it. Mzu said he really wants to go to the whitest part of America (I told him he can go visit my mom in Seattle) and just sit in a coffee shop and stare at all of the white people going by and just watch them be white!!

So, we're not only learning a lot about South Africa but also about black South Africans' perceptions of America and Black America. The longer I am here the more I understand why the African girls in college hated us so much. They must have been so confused. Unfortunately we haven't yet had much opportunity to make friends with any white South Africans (we've only interacted with the house people) so that's a goal. I'm toying with the idea of a gym membership... I might meet people there.

So anyways, things are good. I'll post pictures of the new townhouse when we move to the one next door. But there are no more dogs!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!

That's all folks,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Lions and tigers and... well, none of the above

2009-09-23T03:56:00.007-04:00

This weekend, Lill and I drove seven hours to Durban. The drive through the Eastern Cape and into KwaZulu-Natal (adjoining provinces) is absolutely beautiful. The sky was perfect and it felt like we were driving through a painting. The Eastern Cape is a hilly region and we most drove on a lot of curvy, sometimes pretty hairy roads past rondavels (round huts), hitchhikers, and general village life. Luckily the roads are better than they could be (if you stay on the highway) and it’s just like driving on a country highway at home, except past a bunch of sheep and cattle and on the wrong side of the road.

Durban is an absolutely beautiful city. We didn't get to see much of it because we were only there to sleep but what we saw was gorgeous. Well, not when we first drove in. It was dark when we got there and we were sooo lost and we're pretty sure our friends were trying to kill us because they led us to the HOOD!! And I mean, crack dealers on the sidewalk, bums warming themselves over a roaring fire HOOOODDD. We were not amused. However, in the morning everything looked much more pleasant. Plus, they have actual restaurants and clubs and buildings and it just felt amazing to be in a real city again. It was also really fun to see some of our friends from school. I got really lucky, about seven of the 13 people here in South Africa are people who I hang out with at home so I always have a place to stay in Durban and Cape Town! Another interesting thing about Durban is that the dominant tribe is the Zulu and there is also a significant Indian population. It was fun to see something other than the black/white that we get in East London and Zulus and Xhosas could not look more different. Zulu men are tall, dark, very handsome, and apparently very chauvinistic. Xhosa men are lighter, shorter, and less obviously good looking but so far they have also been very kind and generous and thoughtful. A girl's dilemna...

This weekend we weren't up to see the city, we were going on a safari!!! I can't even begin to tell you how excited I was. However, Latoya and Matt (the friends we were visiting) neglected to tell us that we would have to get up at 4 AM to drive to the site. I wasn't thrilled but the promise of lions and elephants (which were not to be) got me up and behind the wheel. After driving for about three hours through a landscape that changed from Northwest to wine country to, finally, African bush, we drove for another forty minutes on some of the worst dirt roads in history before we finally made it to the Mzuki Game Reserve.

This was a particularly low-budget type of safari, a drive-it-yourself type of deal, a lot like the buffalo farm places we used to go to as kids when we lived in Oklahoma. We paid our 35 rand (about $4.50) and drove through the gates, determined to see some animals. The game reserve was kind of like a zoo with no cages. There were a bunch of animals that were clearly used to seeing humans (they didn't attack and didn't run) and much like a really good zoo, there was so much natural vegetation that we probably only saw about 1/4 of the animals that were there. It was sort of like Jurassic Park before the T-Rex attack.

However, we did see a bunch of deer and antelope (they really look like they're loping, it's kind of cool, except when they're loping in front of your car...), zebras (very awesome), giraffes (which are way more graceful than you would think), a very large African moose looking thing that we couldn't identify, two warthogs that we only id'd because they looked like Pumba from The Lion King, some hippos (apparently some of the group was almost attacked while I was on the other side of the watering hole), and the other car saw an elephant but my car was too far behind :-(. Overall, it was a pretty awesome day. The giraffes and zebras were totally worth it.

We're definitely planning on going on lots more safaris, including one that includes lions, but this one was awesome. When I first got to Africa I was devastated to discover that tigers are not native to the continent. I was just about ready to go back home but now I'm glad I stayed. They may not have tigers but Africa definitely has just about everything else you could want. And South Africa is just so incredibly beautiful. It's no America, but it's close...

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Fort Hare University

2009-09-23T03:37:00.003-04:00

Last week I convinced Mr. P.S. Moreroa to let Lill and Mzukisi and Thembi and I take the afternoon off to go to the University of Fort Hare. Fort Hare is where Thembi and Mzu both went to college and it also happens to be where Nelson Mandela and a large majority of the ANC went as well. For a long time Fort Hare was the only university for black students in South Africa and needless to say, a huge part of the anti-apartheid movement.

The school is very nice and surprisingly peaceful. There are fountains and trees and an unkempt art gallery built by the De Beers (the irony was not lost on Mzu). We especially went to see the ANC National Archives (oh, that’s African National Congress for those who don’t know. They are currently the prevailing political party in SA but from 1912 until they won the fight against apartheid they were the leading anti-apartheid political organization in the country. Mandela was a member of the ANC and eventually became the president and it is because of that organization that apartheid ended. So, needless to say, they’re pretty much unbeatable around here. Which is a problem because Zuma bought his way into the presidency of the party and became president of the nation because the ANC always wins, no matter how corrupt their candidate is. But that's just my opinion...).

The Archives were interesting, mostly a room with a few pieces of memorabilia and a very enthusiastic curator but what was most interesting for me was finally understanding Thembi and Mzukisi’s perspectives. I have been very conscious of the fact that all of the older people who I meet here must have very real and recent memories of apartheid, which has led me to be more understanding of their- to me- prejudiced views. However, that same understanding has not extended to people my own age. Instinctively, I have assumed that they would have the same modern views that my friends and I have. It wasn’t until we were at the Archives and I saw a poster that said Women’s Liberation Movement 1990 that I realized that at the same time that I was watching Clarissa Explains It All and rollerblading around the neighborhood they were going to Afrikaans-only schools, listening to Mandela speak, and living through a revolution. They attended "Bantu" schools and had to go from learning in Afrikaans to learning in English and from living segregated lives to... well... to still living pretty segregated lives. But their entire world literally changed when they were too young to do anything about it but old enough to be very, very conscious of everything around them. Mzu and Thembi both have very different backgrounds and life stories but both are very much grounded in a tumultuous childhood centered around the end of apartheid and the beginning of a new South Africa.

I finally realized that they are my grandmother, or my parents, or maybe the generation in between, and have lived through the tail end of a harrowing experience and the beginning of a revolution and are very much not in the same mindset as those of us who were born 20 years after the Civil Rights Movement. It was very instructive and significantly increased my understanding more about why Thembi hates white people and why Mzukisi gets so passionately angry about the injustices that he sees at the HRC. It’s been 15 years since the end of apartheid and they want to know when justice will finally be done. I'm reading as much as I can about South Africa (I'm listing the books on the side if you'd like to keep up) and watching and learning from everyone but this visit to the University was more instructional than anything.

I like being here. My initial disappointment has been replaced with gratitude. I love the people we’re working with, I love living so close to the beach that I can go every day, and Thembi and Mzukisi are fast becoming good friends. I think we got lucky being sent to East London. I think I'm very lucky to be in South Africa.

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Prepay your life

2009-09-23T03:32:00.003-04:00

South Africa is home to a phenomenon that I have only seen once before, in Houston, Texas, and which, at the time, made me laugh. Out loud. For weeks. In fact, until a few days ago, every time I thought about it, I cracked myself up.

Prepaid electricity.

I know, right?

Well, tonight Lillian and I discovered that prepaid life is no joke.

I woke up in the middle of the night (okay, 10, I was tired) to a constant beeping from somewhere near. I wasn’t sure what it was but when I tried to turn on the lights nothing worked. It took me a second to realize that what had happened. The alarm was beeping because the electricity ran out. Lillian had apparently realized it at about the same time and, half asleep, we were both prepared to wait it out until the morning. I went back to bed and lay there for about 30 seconds before I woke up and counted the many reasons that we couldn’t possibly wait until morning to get the lights back on. So began our adventure.

After luring Lillian out of bed with promises of mayhem in the morning, we headed outside to solve the two problems lying between us and light: the gate and the garage door. I was also terrified that we would get shot, what could look more suspicious than two black folks in sweats and using a cell phone flashlight to walk around a house?

We made our way through the backyard, into the garage and spent the next eight minutes or so figuring out how to unlock the garage manually. We finally spotted the little red switch at the top of the mechanical thingy, pulled it out, and opened the garage. Problem #1: solved!

Outside and using the car lights, we battled the gate for a good 15 minutes before I was ready to give up and call Mandy’s sister but Lill tenaciously worked on. She finally called the emergency number on the side of the electricity box in the garage and the man said there should be a manual override for the gate. 10 minutes later and she found it. Problem #2: check!

Looking as grubby as possible we drove to the gas station, presented our electricity slip, and paid 250 Rand (about $34) for electricity that should last us about 10-12 days. We got back home, I entered the 20 digit number into the box in the garage (where we got the emergency number) and pushed the arrow… ACCEPTED! Light flooded the house and garage and we were home free. Almost.

It turns out that once you manually override a gate and garage it’s almost impossible to get them to latch again and work electronically. After a lot of trying (and some swearing on Lill’s part) we gave up and decided to try again in the morning. We finally made our way inside and to bed. It’s a good thing the next day was Friday because we were wearing jeans while we crawled around on the ground trying to re-lock the gate before heading off to work.

Prepaid electricity. Who knew?

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

And we're back...

2009-09-23T03:27:00.002-04:00

Hello all!

Thanks so much for your patience during the security breach! I've gone private now (but if you're reading this, I guess you already know that) and will remains so for as long as necessary. If you know anyone who would like to read the blog and isn't on the list, please have them email me at kat@bapworld.com and I'll be sure to add them!

So much has happened while I've been away, it will take forever to catch up! I'll start with a story from a week or so ago while I'm trying to upload the pictures!!!

Travel well,
kat

I'm Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Invitation Only

2009-09-16T04:05:00.002-04:00

Due to certain suspicious activity (don't ask) this blog now has to go private, exclusive, invitation only. If you would still like to read about my comings and goings, please send an email to kat@bapworld.com and I will add you to The List. I will be going private in one week. If not, it's been a great year, thanks so much for reading, and see the links on the right for some more great blogs to read.

Thanks so much!

Travel well,

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

The Office

2009-09-10T05:45:00.005-04:00

me at work

Lill at work too!

This is Lill and I at work. We are doing externships at the Human Rights Commission, an amazing government office where any citizen can report a human rights violation and the Commission does what it can to fix it. They can also be proactive and address issues that they see and hear about on their own. Since we are living in the poorest province in South Africa there is a lot of work to be done.

The eight people in the office are pretty fantastic. Mr. P.S. Moreroa (we call him Sully) is the manager. He's hilarious and very passionate about his work. I have started keeping a list of "Sullyisms". My two favourites are "I am not in this job to make money, I am in this job to see that justice is done" (this is when I knew I loved him) and, when we made fun of him for not having explored the town that he has lived in for six months, "I am like a wheelbarrow, you push me and leave me and when you come back, you will find me there." I'll probably be adding more "isms" to the list, he's always saying something that cracks us up.

Aubrey and Loyiso are the men in charge of the two sections in the office. Aubrey is the educational outreach expert and is definitely the one whose job I identify with most. He's all about legal literacy, going out into the communities and teaching them about their rights and responsibilities under the law. Loyiso is the attorney in the office and the one responsible for most of the individual cases that we get.

There's also Mzukisi, he's 24 and a legal intern. He's completely hilarious and a typical guy in his 20s, so he's a lot of fun to have around. Thembi is the other intern, she's 26 and the four of us have already become friends.

Yolo is Sully's secretary and she's incredibly sweet and has a six-year-old son who we're hoping to invite to swim in our pool when it gets warmer. Noma is the receptionist, when she's at the desk. She's really nice and spends a lot of her time walking around the office in pink fuzzy slippers and drinking tea. The last person in the office is Ntosh, the housekeeper. She wears hats and big sweaters and is on a diet because her boyfriend thinks she's fat (she's not).

So that's everyone. It's a small office and we had to bring our own laptops because not everyone has computers. Actually, for a government office it's pretty sparse. They clearly have the tiniest budget ever. This is not the case for the other offices, some of the people from Michigan are working at the Cape Town and Durban HRCs and they have very well-equipped offices. So it's just the tiny ones I guess. Lill and I were upset at first for getting stuck in such a dumpy town but the people are so great that I'm really starting to like it here.

On my second day of work we were already invited out on a site visit. After a four hour drive (we passed Nelson Mandela's house on the way!) with Mzukisi, Sully, and Loyiso we landed in Mthatha, at a school that is one of the embarrassments of a nation as wealthy and developed as South Africa. The fact is that despite the advanced state of its cities, many South Africans are still living in huts and shacks in townships and rural villages all over the country. This is especially true in the Eastern Cape. Our mission on this particular visit was to bring media attention to a school with no building.

Due to a few tornadoes and a lighting strike, the round huts that made up the school were all destroyed and the children are now being taught outside. I will admit that I reacted rather callously at first. Having just left Cambodia, where many students learn outside, I had a sort of "what's the big deal?" attitude. However, there are a million reasons why I was wrong, starting with the fact that no students should have to learn outside. Also, Cambodia is a very, very poor country and having no school building is the norm in the provinces there. South Africa is not at all poor and there is absolutely no excuse for the children to be learning and eating outside. The weather gets cold in winter and they have had three teachers die in the last few years from exposure to the elements. Needless to say, attendance has also fallen to less than half.

outdoor classroom

We were lucky to meet the extraordinary woman who has been the principal of this school for over ten years (they've been outside for about 5) and Sully gave an interview to SABC which showed on the news that night. The Department of Education had promised tents and plans to build a new structure but they were not forthcoming, which is why the HRC brought in the media. The DoE still hasn't provided the tents they promised (and the weather has been cold) but after the news segment a private company called and said they would build temporary structures until the DoE builds a school! I really like the fact that this office is a government commission because they can get things done that private non-profits never could. People are actually afraid of them.

So anyways, this is a really interesting place to work, even if there isn't always a lot for us to do. They are dealing with a lot of interesting issues, like the Xhosa tribal custom of Ukuthwala, kidnapping and forced marriage, that is a big problem in this area, a coal mine that is killing the people in the town where the mine is (people who they're not hiring to work at the mine either), lack of water, shelter, and education in a lot of the rural areas, and the many, many problems that a large population of unemployed and uneducated citizens can have. I'm sure I'll have lots more stories soon.

Travel well,
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

The House

2009-09-09T08:56:00.004-04:00

East London is a very small town sort of in the middle of nowhere. There are about 700,000 people and very little industry. It's very much the Detroit of South Africa in that the auto industry was one of the biggest employers in the Eastern Cape (the province that East London is in) until that all went to crap a million years ago. So the data now says that approx. 160,000 people are employed, 100,000 people are unemployed and approx. 400,000 are "not economically active" which we learned in a meeting yesterday means that people are either unable to work or not looking for work. So that gives you an idea of the demographics.

The lack of an economy here means that there also aren't many people who can afford to buy real estate so the rental market is almost impossible. Lillian had absolutely no luck finding an apartment before I got here and we got incredibly lucky when she met two women looking for someone to watch their house and dogs while they look for work in Dublin. They have a great house and gave it to us at a really good rate and one of the women's mother even had a car (an automatic, impossible to find in South Africa, and a Mercedes, which is fun) that she threw in for much less than we would have gotten it in the rental market. So we totally scored.

The house is in one of the white (read: safe) areas of town, Beacon Bay. It's a really nice area, like everywhere else in South Africa every house is guarded by high gates and secured walls (the walls were one of the first things I could see from the plane in Joburg) and there is also a mall (with all SA or British shops), a small casino, a movie theatre, about four coffee shops, a few restaurants and a couple of "retail parks". Our house is also only two blocks from the beach which is my favourite part!

The house itself is really nice. There are three bedrooms, but one is just for the dogs (seriously), two bathrooms, one with a huge jacuzzi tub and one with a beautiful double shower, a big kitchen, and even a swimming pool. The puppies are really cute, there are two Yorkies and a surprisingly friendly pitbull. There are also walls and barbed wire around the entire house (the wire is to keep the pitbull in, apparently he can jump pretty high) and alarms, gates, etc. It's terrifyingly safe. We also have very, very, very slow internet and cable TV which is awesome. Overall, we lucked out.

Here are some pics! Sorry, I would have posted more but it took me two days just to load these (the internet is realllly slow):

the pool!

the living room

one of the pups in bed (yes, they have a bed)

the puppies' bedroom (yes, they have a bedroom)

Travel well,

kat

Next up: The Office!

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Journey to Africa, Part II

2009-09-08T02:38:00.005-04:00

South Africa Air is not awful but not glorious either. I was lucky and had a two-seater aisle to myself. Also, I’m short so the lack of legroom is never as big a problem for me as for others. Other than that, it’s a normal airline. Gross but passable food, free alcohol (most international airlines have this, what’s wrong with the US??), relatively new movies on the view screen, etc. I popped a couple of herbal sleeping pills and restlessly slept for about 10 of the 13 hours. Finally we were in Johannesburg. I looked out the window and saw Eastern Washington.

I had a three hour layover in Joburg during which I had to pick up my bag and check it again. The Johannesburg airport is a conundrum. It’s big and looks like it could be new but it’s impossible to tell because it is the most sparse, badly organized, and badly planned airport in history. The signs mean nothing and I walked around forever trying to figure out where the hell I was supposed to go. I finally found my way to the domestic flights area and the gates are separated in a weird numbering system according to which city you are flying to. I found my way to the East London gates and proceeded to get cheated out of $30 (they tried for $50) by the people checking my bag. I was furious and didn’t want to pay anything but I knew that if I didn’t I would never see my bags again. Bastards.

Furious and hungry, I made my way to my gate and decided to get something to eat. In my mind it was dinner time so I was surprised when the waiter gave me a breakfast menu. I then realized that I never changed over to Rand because I have been living in a country where everyone takes dollars so I asked the waiter where I could find a currency exchange office. As he stroked (yes, stroked) my leather messenger bag he told me there was one outside on the second floor. That didn’t make any sense to me (why would the office be outside?) but I decided to walk around and look anyways because I couldn’t do anything with dollars (I figured that even if they took it the exchange rate would be obscene). So, I made my way around only to discover that there is no second floor. Seriously, the elevator goes from 1 to 3 and the stairs only have a platform between the two floors. Argh!! I couldn’t find a currency exchange or anything and there are barely any stores or restaurants in the airport so I just decided to wait it out for the three hours. I sat at my gate, under a sign that said, “Wifi Hot Spot” and decided to go online. It turns out that the wifi isn’t free. Where they get the nerve to advertise for unfree wifi at the airport is beyond me, but they did. I was mad but I had to pay because I had to check my email to see if Lillian had emailed me about where we are staying, airport shuttle, etc. I paid the lowest amount (about $6 for 30 minutes) and checked in. She had emailed, so, satisfied, I sat at the gate and read my book until it was time to go. Finally, I boarded the small plane, flew an hour, and landed in East London.

The EL airport is tiny, so tiny that not only did we have to get off the plane and walk across the runway, but the baggage claim carousel is OUTSIDE. And not just outside, but about as podunk as you can get. Seriously, I laughed for like five minutes. It’s basically a bunch of pieces of rubber glued together and thrown on the cheapest piece of equipment they could find. The porters drive our bags the 10 yards from the plane to the machine and toss it on there. Then we have to roll it through the tiny airport and out the door. Luckily Lillian had called the airport shuttle for me so I was met by a very nice young man who took my bags to the big red van. I stopped at an ATM on the way and got enough Rand to last me a while.

I was so excited to get to Africa and sadly my first day was disappointing. After getting cheated at the airport I was hoping that I would like East London. However, as we drove through it I was surprised to find myself in Dayton, Ohio. East London looks just like any crappy, broke down city with cheap electronics shops, fast food (KFC is big here too) and random people selling goods and services (including relaxers) on the streets. It’s dirty, small, unsafe, and extremely unpleasant. Needless to say, my initial reaction was less than thrilled. Thankfully, Lillian had found a really lovely bed and breakfast and I was able to find refuge at the Coral Reef Lodge. David, the owner, has lived in South Africa his entire life and is super nice and the guesthouse is beautiful. Great linens.

That was basically my first day. David drove me to the HRC office where Lill had started working on Monday and she showed me around and introduced me to some folks. The manager of the office, Mr. P.S. Moreroa sat down and talked to us for a long time about his goals for the HRC and the work that they do and have been doing. We really liked him and felt that he was sincere but more on him and the office later. Lill left for the day so we could have lunch and talk about finding an apartment, etc. I decided to start work the next day because there really wasn’t anything for me to do in town so we just hung out and walked around a little and then I crashed early.

Welcome to Africa.

Travel well,
kat

Next time: My first site visit and we find an awesome house!

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Journey to Africa, pt.1

2009-09-07T04:30:00.003-04:00

hello all!

Sorry it’s been so long since my last post, my transition to South Africa took some time. But I’m here, I’m in Africa!!! Now that things are settling I have so much to write about so I’ll have to do it in a series of posts.

First off, the journey from Cambodia was long but not awful. I flew from Phnom Penh to Bangkok on Sunday with plans to see the city on Monday morning. I checked into the airport hotel and during the night there was a huge storm. The bad weather continued the next day, plus the hotel was really nice and I was in desperate need of a rest between my continental adventures so I decided to just chill in the hotel and check out late. Here are a few things I noticed are different about Thailand vs. Cambodia from the airport/hotel/road between:

They use their own money
They have change (no coins in Cambodia)
The signs are in Thai first, English second
The airport is super luxe
Starbucks!!! (sorry Khaldon, I couldn’t find any Bangkok mugs)
They drive on the wrong side of the road
You don’t have to pay $25 to get out of the country and you don’t have to pay anything to get in either.

I checked in and next to me was a Thai couple checking like six boxes with “FARGILE” written in huge red letters on the side. It took everything I had not to laugh out loud.

The BKK airport is beautiful. It just opened in Sept 2008 and they really paid attention to every detail. There are huge golden murals in baggage claim, temples in the hallways, every luxury brand you can imagine, and even pictures of gods sketched into the glass in the gates. It’s beautiful. However, it does not have free wifi so I hate it. While waiting for my flight I sat at a Starbucks watching movies on my computer. *Note: BKK airport has a lot of Boots drugstores in case you are in need of some last minute items. They also have a Burger King and I was soooo happy to have my first Whopper Jr. and fries in a long time.

I flew Thai Air to Hong Kong and had quite a nice flight. Below is a list of reasons I heart Thai Air:

Free alcohol
Man walking down the aisles with tray of cognac after the meal. Yes, in coach
Real tea with fresh milk. After three months of condensed milk which results in cakes like buttery bricks, coffee like sweet sludge and bottled water with breakfast, I finally had real tea (no Lipton grossness) and FRESH MILK. Hallelujahs people, hallelujahs.
George Clooney featurette

2.5 hours later I landed in HK with about an hour to catch my flight. Purportedly the HK airport is bigger than Hong Kong itself (slight exaggeration) so I was unsure about my chances. It didn’t help that I only got a ticket to HK at BKK, I didn’t understand why I hadn’t gotten boarding passes all the way through. I got off the flight with a plan:

Step 1- find gate number
Step 2- run

Coming out of the runway I saw people with signs, which I thought was odd since limo drivers don’t pick you up at the gate. Turns out they were people holding signs for people with close transfers and one of the signs said, “Calvin, Miss Kat. Johannesburg”. Woohoo!! A remarkable and incredibly tiny woman hurried through the gate (she was hurrying, I was following at a leisurely stroll- she had small legs) and led me down the long hallway to the train. She then gave me directions for where to get off and hurried back. I got on the train, went down one stop, and got off at what turned out to be the transfer gate.

Apparently everyone in HK who is transferring flights has to go to a special gate for their boarding passes. It is beyond stupid. I waited in line as my flight time tick tick ticked away and eventually it was my turn. I got my boarding pass, ran down another hallway, went through- I swear on all that is holy- the slowest security checkpoint in history, ran up the stairs, past the super swank duty free line, saw my first black person in weeks and knew I must be getting close to South Africa Air, and found my way to gate 22 with ten minutes to spare. Just enough time to take advantage of the free wifi to tweet about the free wifi and email my mom. Yaay to the yaay. HK is awesome at having escorts if you’re running late but sucky at not making you run late. I would bet good money that everytime unemployment gets high they just build another checkpoint at the airport and hire 50 people to run the foreigners to their gates. Whatevs, I made it and I was finally going to AFRICAAAA!!!!

Next up: Arrival.

Travel well,

kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!

Bangkok Hotel

2009-08-30T08:10:00.005-04:00

I'm in Bangkok! The flight was only an hour from Phnom Penh (sooo much faster than the 15 hour bus ride I was contemplating) and everything went smoothly in the airport. I found my way to the hotel airport shuttle and checked in to an absolutely gorgeous hotel. The new BKK just opened last September and the hotel is modern and beautiful. It is also very expensive but I didn't want to be wandering around Bangkok in the dark looking for a place to stay and all of the hotels that send shuttles are equally as expensive. So, I figure that this is going to be the one luxurious splurge that I'm allowed during this sojourn. It's actually quite appropriate, it's the one night that I'll have in between the two parts of my journey and after Cambodia I really need a beautiful room with beautiful sheets and room service and one of the most gorgeous swimming pools that I have ever seen to relax and rejuvenate. My only dilemma is that I may not want to leave the hotel tomorrow to see the city... We'll just see what happens. I'll only have about six hours to explore Bangkok anyways so I may just enjoy my late checkout and recharge for the next part of my journey. Or, I may take a bus into town and see what's what. I'll let you know.

Here are a few pics of the room but they don't do it justice. Also, this is a great place to be a maid's cart klepto, the bathroom is filled with tons of goodies that I'm going to have to find a way to fit into my carry-on!

Travel well,
kat

My Last Day in Cambodia

2009-08-29T23:43:00.002-04:00

It's finally here! It's my last day in Cambodia and I'm having breakfast at a rooftop cafe in BKK1. Then I'm hoping on the back of a tuk-tuk and heading to Bangkok!!

Travel well!
kat

Like this post? Subscribe for more travel tips, stories, and reviews!