Thursday, December 27, 2007

my new family, more firsts, etc

pre-post:
-so xmas was a lot of fun. I hope it was the same for you guys as well. went to a methodist church in the morning (i think that was the first time going to a methodist church on christmas...more firsts to come). the service was interesting, the worship time, not so much. but no surprises...we sang the songs ur supposed to sing on christmas and the preacher preached the traditional sermon (tho with a little life (umph, passion, whatever) at the end which is always good.

afterward we went to a braai (s. african for barbeque; also a first) at another friends place. a little plug for the accenture folks: you know when we go to orientation and training and the faculty feed us the bs (uh, i mean, useful info) about how they met people at training from all over the world some 80 yrs ago and they're still great friends with them? well, there's a bit of truth in it, as i have found out. the girl whose house i spent most of christmas at, is one person i met at CAS and now we've hung out a couple times and she's introduced me to her husband, family, and circle of friends (its a small world afterall).

post:
today, i went car shopping. yet another first (as in seriously looking for a car to buy for myself). and i found one. i had narrowed my choices to be an Audi or Toyota (first choice being audi, but only if the price was reasonable enough, as i am also cheap and broke). luckily i had a friend that went car shopping with me, otherwise things could've got hairy. the process actually wasn't that bad at all, and though i don't have the car yet, ive submitted my docs and they'll tell me in the next week if im able to get financing, etc. so i ended up getting an Audi (2001 silver A3 1.8Turbo, 2-door). Its a hatchback (like 90% of the vehicles here) and probably one of the smallest Audi's out there, but thats fine; its my baby (or will be, hopefully). I'm hoping that being a samll audi, it will have a lesser chance of being hijacked (VW seems to be the major target), tho it is still a car and it is still jo'burg, so the chances can't be that slim...

Btw, cars here are ridicuously expensive (and car insurance as well). This tiny pre-owned car (2001 with 85000KM) on it will cost me 105,000 Rand and thats a really good deal. Thats $15,000! Plus i'll have to pay about R1000 ($150) per month for insurance. Plus my interest rate, having no credit here, is going to be something ridiculous (i'm thinking conservatively, 15%). crazy. nothing's cheap here. especially not the car market. anyway, as we were walking out of the dealership, the sales guy said: "welcome to the Audi family". which made my day. i feel proud to belong to such a family!

post-post:
tomorrow, i head off on another adventure to Uganda. I will be there until Jan 8, doing missions stuff, like talking to church leaders, visiting homes in villages, working with AIDS families and organizations, rafting on the nile, etc. this means that for the thousands of fans i have reading this blog, I will be MIA for that period. try not to miss me too much, but I will give a not-so-full-but-ok-enough recount when i get back. holla. peace.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

christmas greetings from the motherland

Merry Christmas everyone; it's ridiculously bright and warm here. I'm really excited that I get to spend Christmas in South Africa with new friends and new years in Uganda with old and new friends. I'm getting ready to go to church in my christmas best, wearing this hideously pink tie my mom gave me and made me put in my luggage (if you're reading this mom, its actually a lovely tie!). Anyway, it should be good times. I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Christmas and new years and enjoy family, friends, and God. Here's one of the best Christmas wish texts i have ever received:

"Mr. f. merry first christmas in south africa! may the blessings of God harrass u & happiness attack u wherever u go. may misery be hijacked from u & may tsotsis (south african thugs) pickpocket all ur worries. Merry christmas."

I wish the same to you all (except for the first xmas in sa part!).

Sunday, December 23, 2007

more 1sts

yesterday was a series of firsts:
-1st night i spent at my new apt
-i got my first apt warming gift
-i used the washing machine for the 1st time, and promptly turned all my whites blue. forreal.

today's new adventure was visiting beautiful Pilanesberg National Park in the northwest province of sa. it was a 2 hr drive (a but more going there, cuz i took th e"scenic" route) there, but on the way got to see some amazing landscapes (mostly mountains/hills). SA has a bunch of national parks and game reserves (something like 600) and pilanesburg is the 4th largest. this was an absolutely amazing experience. think of the best park you've been to, multiply that by 4000, and put the animals in their natural habitat and you get pilanesberg (or many of the national parks in sa, for that matter). We saw, giraffes, crocodiles, hippos, elephants (one actually decided to take a stroll on the path and caused quite a pleasant car jam), springboks, zebras, impalas, buffalos, kudus, and lots of neat looking birds. only sad part is we didn't get to see the king of the jungle; i'm hoping when i go to kruger national park (in a couple weeks), theyll have plenty lions.

Also, it just occured to me that christmas is a couple days away. crazy. hope everyone is enjoying the last minute christmas shopping period. things are pretty dead here in jo'burg, comparatively, which is kind of a good thing because the roads arent as busy. however...the malls aparently is where its at, as those are still, as always, incredibly crowded. this will actually be the first christmas i will be spending away from my family. a bit sad, but a neccesary transition none the less, so i'm looking forward to it. enjoy your holidays and family and friends.

also, i posted some random pics up. check them out here

Friday, December 21, 2007

obama1

2 quick random notes first: (a) i finally caved in a bought a laptop. i guess my will power was not as strong as i thought; i couldn't last more than a couple weeks without one; and (b) everyone raves about the banking industry here in sa, but i must say after going to the bank for the 3rd time today and then over an hour later, being almost done opening a bank account, i would beg to differ. I still have to wait till next week for it to be finalized and then i must pay ridiculous monthly fees to the bank for the privilege of banking with them. dumb.

on to the subject du jour:

up until now i resisted reading barack obama's second book, the audacity of hope. basically i figured it would simply be a partisan, politics book like many others we were force fed in college. also i thought i knew obama's politics enough to find little value in the book. well i was wrong on both counts; his first book, dreams from my father, was a very enjoyable read and the 2nd is just as good if not better.

whether you consider yourself a liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, moderate or communist, i would recommend reading the book. while never hiding or ignoring the fact that he's a staunch democrat, obama is able to discuss issues in an intelligent manner, recognizing that little can be done today without both sides understanding where each other stand and having the ability to give and take (compromise is not such a bad word). the best thing about the book? obama's ability to inspire people from all walks of life. i am inspired by his views and proposals on how to fix america's inner cities (one of the most forgotten and most critical issues in politics and govt today), on how to tackle health care, education, america's tarnished image, the erosion of 2-parent families, values (how they must play a role in politics), poverty elimination, and real, meaningful, and sustainable aid to developing countries.

why is the ability to inspire important? a little over 40 years ago, in the midst of an unpopular, seemingly endless war, severe poverty around the world, an american economy that desperately needed a boost, and a slipping american image both at home and abroad, american's boldly elected an "unelectable" president who challenged, inspired, all americans to be a part of something bigger than themselves. His words: "ask not what your country can do you you; ask what you can do for your country". he asked the nations of the world to join together to fight he "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself", and to "ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you." I think it would have been neat to be around during JFK's time. when i listen to those people that were around, they tell me stories of how that speech and the consequent establishment of the peace corps led them to volunteer months or years of their lives to work in an under-developed part of the world or how there was renewed passion among many to be involved in politics (as a means to help people and bring about change), or policy, or public works. They were inspired. by a man. and a vision.

the peace corps alone not only helped spread the values of benevolence, care, love, common purpose, etc, it also, in business terms, helped spread america's brand and image around the world. america could now be seen not solely as a big bully trying to convert every nation to their brand of democracy, but also (more importantly) as a true city (country) on a hill. the most powerful nation in the world actually cared enough about its neighbors to send its own into the "dark areas" of the world and assist them in anyway they could. whether or not america's motives were that noble, the fact remains that sending inspired young americans out onto the world field to take on non-selfish issues that were bigger than themselves, instilling in their minds the common values that bind us together rather than tear us apart helped heal deep wounds and drastically improve our world image (as well as its image at home), more than merely sending troops, waging in wars, or threatening the use of nuclear weapons to convert societies to democracy.

some of my friends are serious activists who believe change happens at the grassroots level; other friends are more of the institutions type, adhering to the belief that real change must come from the top-down. both groups are wrong. fierce in their beliefs, but nevertheless, wrong. change cannot happen without equal efforts from both the grassroots level as well as from the top (what i call a 2-pronged approach). the civil rights movement, the end of apartheid, the independence of formerly colonized states, all would have never happened without the "2-pronged approach." My point here is that some leaders have grand plans, but if they are not able to inspire individuals, to move people to mass action, to well coordinated grassroots organizations, those plans will never succeed in bringing about a real difference in the lives of americans and our world neighbors. this ability is what jfk had; and although his zeal for social improvement is often compared with robert kennedy's (and not john's), i believe that obama has this ability as well.

obviously, i am a fan of obama's; however, i am not necessarily writing this to advocate for people to vote for obama (tho i dont see why you wouldn't!). what i am advocating is that people pick up his book and read it. i think you will be inspired not by his politics or views necessarily, but the way in which he frames his positions on issues. he challenges and inspires readers not to simply take the traditional conservative/liberal stamped positions, but to examine what core values and beliefs shape our arguments. by taking this one step back, we are able, not only to develop our own positions on issues, but to understand the positions of opponents (which is critical if we are to reach compromise and actionable results on today's issues). president or not, i think obama will continue to be a strong and active leader in politics for the next several years. we have the opportunity right now to create a generation that is remembered years later as the generation that was inspired, in the midst of an unpopular war, a slipping US image, and a bad economy, to help solve the problems in our inner cities, to help those in need all around the world. to aspire to something bigger than ourselves.

ok, for the 2 of you who actually read all this, thanks much; i hope it wasn't a complete waste of time, tho it turned out to be more of a ramble..

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Apt search ended

Firstly, searching for an apartment here was the most crazy experience; so far, anyway. i also found out that most people leave jo-burg for most of december and january so that made it even tougher to find a place. that being said, i finally got one.


you know when you see something and most of your rational sense is telling you not to get it and that you probably don't need it, but it just seems too good to be true and too tempting to pass up? that's how i would describe this apartment. it's a 2bedroom, 2bath, which is larger than i was looking for; its also more expensive than i was budgeting; its also further away from my work place than other areas i was looking at (and could take me up to an hour to get to work if i leave at the wrong time, even though its probably less than a mile to work). so, why did i get this place, you ask? well, in-spite of all the negatives, it comes FULLY furnished with REALLY nice furniture and appliances (a huge plus for a lazy bach like me); it comes with a washing machine and air con (a rarity here); its in a great location; and it comes at a huge discount (for some reason the owner decided to shave off a "few" bucks and rent it out for under market value). with all that it became extremely difficult to pass up. 2 more pluses: i now have an extra bedroom and lots of space (its actually not that big) for all of you to come and visit; and if i find someone looking for a place to live (and to split rent with), it makes the place the cheapest and perhaps best value you'll find in SA.


So, move-in day is tomorrow. it will be really sad to leave the hotel. they really like me (who can blame them), and i like being catered to. but i think i'm getting sick of the "sir"s and "would you like a chocolate for turndown service to add to the mound of 13 other chocolate bars you haven't eaten"s...i'm officially inviting everyone to come visit.


finally, every once in a while i will digress in this blog and talk about something not too related to my sa adventures. so i'm giving you a heads up now. the first such topic will be barack obama (not surprising i would guess for those who know me). I was planning on posting the blog today, but i don't have the time or the patience (this comp is extremely slow), but its something to look forward to. enjoy the pics of my new place (i can't really see the photos well, but i'm thinking its this crappy monitor).





Thursday, December 13, 2007

the real jo'burg

This week, I actually went on a tour to see parts of jo'burg that I haven't seen yet. I went to downtown jo'burg (the "cbd"), Soweto (one of the townships, where the old aparthied gov't hoarded all the blacks/coloured), and the apartheid museum. This was such an experience and i'm not completely sure that i can really do justice to it in this blog...you really just have to experience it on your own (thats a plug to come visit!).

We started off by going to Soweto (South West Townships), the largest township in SA, i believe. It was such an interesting place. Its actually not that depressing; the guide showed me some millionaire houses in the township, but we also saw some "squatter" houses, which are where the poorest people live (those who can afford somewhere to live at least). These squatter houses are made of tin and have pretty much no access to clean water, indoor plumbing, or much of any kind of basic necessity. The government has "tried" to provide some help to these township and aid them in building houese and fences, etc, but most of the houses are what they call "matchbox" houses (the size of a matchbox) and typically do not include indoor bathrooms. As with many africans, families are large here so the ones with a bit of money have tried to extend their homes a bit. The guide also interestingly pointed out that crime is not really the most dire problem in the townships, rather its the access to clean water, and lack of jobs. Of course, he probably conveniently forgot that rape is a crime and happens a lot in the townships. Also, most of the crime he attributed to immigrants and foreigners (like nigerians!), which, i'm learning, is really a scape goat (as it is in the US and all over i guess; blame it all on the immigrants!).

Next we went to the Hector Pieterson Museum, also in Soweto. Many of you have probably seen Hector Pieterson, but don't know its him. If you've ever seen a picture of a boy carrying a wounded younger boy with his a girl alongside, the boy being carried is Hector. (I have some good pics, but those have to wait until I get a comp and can upload them). This picture came to depict the apartheid struggle: the boy was shot during a peaceful protest by school children on June 16, 1976 against the apartheid policy that all schools must teach in the Afrikaan (minority group) language. The students were holding hands and chanting and the policemen (several of them black) did not know what to do so they started firing shots and one of the first casualties was Hector. The girl in the picture was his sister (she is now the administrator, or head lady, at the museum). The boy carrying him, I don't remember his name, but he disappeared and hasn't been back. Hector died hours after that photo was taken.

There was a tape in the museum, recalling the policeman that wanted to finish off hector as he was lying on the floor. A random girl stood between Hector and the gun being pointed and informed the policeman that if he wanted to shoot Hector he would have to shoot through her. The confused policeman averted his gun and shot into the air.

We also went into Nelson Mandela's first house and by Winnie Mandela's and Desmond Tutu's houses. South African's are very proud of the fact that they not only have 4 nobel peace prize winners, but also that 2 of those lived on the same block (Vilakazi street). They also still very much love winnie and refer to her as the mother of south africa. I suggest you all wikipedia it to learn more about hector pieterson, etc.

On a lighter note, I finally got some south african soul food. we went to this popular restaurant in Soweto call Whandie's. south african food is a lot (and i mean a lot) of meat, pretty much.

After soweto, we went to the Apartheid museum which is also an amazing experience. You could easily spend half a day there. From there we drove to the CBD, or downtown Jo'burg. Downtown jo'burg is depressing. most businesses, except for a couple banks, have completely left the place, leaving street vendors and informal shops lining the streets everywhere. this is where a majority of the crime happens (murder, theft, armed roberries, rape, drugs; most blamed on immigrants, of course). Also you will not find a single white on the streets of the cbd. ok, i counted 3 white people, walking rapidly to their cars. there were also few indians and coloured people too (btw, coloured are sort of what americans would call mixed; one day i will understand south africa's vast/complicated race situation). We went to the top floor of the tallest building in africa (so they claim) and saw the whole city. again, it was really depressing just how deserted the downtown area is. the buildings have been left for ruin, things are falling apart everywhere, and yet people still live (whether lawfully or not) in these former office/apt buildings with all broken glass windows, no electricity, no water, etc.

As we were coming back the guide pointed out to me the one place that i still have the visit shortly: Alexandra, another township. This is actually where he lives. Interestingly, you call look out from Alexandra and see Sandton (the extremely rich suburb where all the money has moved to); however, in Sandton you cannot look out and see Alexandra...

Why am I here?

No no, I'm not starting to dislike South Africa or question my move...yet. But today I realized that I have to come up with a better elevator pitch as to why I decided to move to SA. I went into the Accenture offices today and met several people (including the country managing partner) who asked me that question and i kept trying to make it sound nice, but i don't think its good enough. I should just start telling people that, yes, i'm here because i thoroughly enjoy slashing my income, paying more in taxes, and suffering through not knowing anyone and anything in my surrounding. I'm only joking though (for those who take what i say too seriously!) about that last part being my reasoning. I'll take suggestions as to my 2-3 sentence elevator pitch.

By the way, so far I've met more people than i expected at this point. Of course I'm mostly an introvert, so i'm not the kind that goes out to the bars or goes in the middle of the street alone and yells out really loud so that everyone knows that i'm an american...or something like that. But interestingly, i've met up with friends of friends of friends, etc. and its been really neat to get their perspectives and see different parts of jo'burg with them.

random shoutout #8975: congrats tory! she's the new ceo of tory, inc.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Recap of weekend

So I think i short-changed you guys a bit on yesterday's post. My first weekend in jo-burg was actually a pretty fun one. Friday, i met up with a friend from chicago who was visiting someone else here; went to montecasino for a late lunch. montecasino is this huge place that has a casino (obviously), shops, restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. it was almost overwhelming, but really fun. i had oxtail, which i thought i'd never eaten before, but then realized that my mom cooks it all the time (my mom wasn't too happy when i told her that. heh). That night we also went to a club around here called Manhattan's. That was also fun (as fun as clubs can be i guess). Company was nice; the music selection was...interesting. anyway, fortnately or unfortunately, i think some pictures have popped up on facebook.

Saturday, I met up with a guy whose family and my family used to be good friends back in Nigeria. even though we went to sandton city (the big, annoying mall) it was still nice to hang out and chat. we got the most discgusting lunch i've had here so far (it was advertised as chinese), but we also got to watch a Man-U match.

Sunday was my trip outside of sandton which was exciting. Went to the flea market at Rosemont, drove around a couple interesting neighborhoods, and had a really nice convo with this guy (one of those friend of a friend of a friend-type). he's from singapore, but has been here for several years and had an interesting perspective on a lot of issues.

lesson #387: south africa is still very much racially tense. and i'm not talking about how it is in the states. things may be pretty bad in some areas in the states, but in sa, institutionalized racism/segragation/discrimination just ended 14 years ago, so there is still quite a bit of divisions. of course, like in the US, you can ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist, but if you dig deeper into why some things are the way they are, race is very much at the bottom of it. (this was another reason why i enjoyed venturing out to the more diverse places on sunday)hopefully these are times of "growing pains"...sa is such a melting pot of different types of people that if it works, it would truly be a thing of beauty.

Resolution #0542: take more pics...i've hardly taken any.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

Venturing out

Finally made it out of the west county (st. louis) or lake forest (chicago) of johannesburg...actually got to see diverse groups of people walking, biking, running around and having a nice sunday morning/afternoon brunch. it was definately a nice break from where i've been the last week. i'd love to live around there, but i also have to think of the proximity to work, so we'll see. this week is devoted to finding an apt.

also made it to another mall type area called rosebank. this was also a much nicer mall than the one around here in sandton. loads of people, flea market type places, coffee shops of course, etc...they actually turn an entire parking garage into a flea market every sunday; its huge. i'll definitely be going back.

so much for spending most of my sunday watching football games and following up on my fantasy players. definitely missing that right now. i can't complain too much tho, i'm enjoying all the soccer and rugby here.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Likes

What i like so far:

-friendly people... (of course someone pointed out to me rightly, that most of the people i've met are paid to be nice to me...)

-nice front desk agent...he pretty much plays the role of front desk and concierge. knows everything/everyone, and keeps smiling when i ask about 12 questions at once.

-very very firm bed...i mean really firm.

-accents...im a sucker

-soccer...yes, they call it soccer, not football or futbol, but everyone's crazy about it.

-indian south african guy from durban...met this random guy while having lunch at the hotel yesterday. awesome person. apparently was very involved in the apartheid struggle; still very sensitive to all the issues, as is the entire country. no kidding. if u think the US has race issues, come to SA and its starkingly much more obvious (beginning to trend to social class issues, but even that is centered around race). had a very good convo with him and apparently he know a lot of people in the consulting world and generally in sa. he may not know it yet, but i'll def be hitting him up sometime for random info...

seems like a short list, but i really do like this place so far. worries include fidning a place (the lady i just called said there was nothing available :o), finding a bank, finding a car, finding people to do a safari tour with me, going on a safari to kruger, and watching my back...u know, the usual stuff. till next time.

Dislikes

Don't worry, the next post will be my "likes"...

Things I don't like about SA so far:

-Business hotel...yes, i'm technically here on business too, but everyone here is business-y, no real tourists

-Left side business...seriously, almost everything is left side oriented. even walking. im used to taking the right hand side when i walk past someone, but that gotten me into some interesting clashes so far

-Mall culture...everything here revolves around the malls. i got a little heads up about this from a good friend and she was completely right. particularly in the suburbs, you can't really do anything without going to the mall. i hate malls. possibly even more so here than in the states.

-Unpacking my bags...my bags were so perfectly, tightly and beautifully packed (thx sis) and now i have to unpack them and repack them when i leave the hotel. rough life, really.

-5 bees...yes, i opened up my windows today to get some fresh air and i had to kill 5 bees that made my room their home. i gave them a proper death and burial, tho. feel free to call me tarzan, or something like that.

-no computer...i thought i'd be brave and go a month w/o a computer (longest ever). it has been 5 days and i'm starting to regret that. this is also the reason why y'all will not be seeing pictures until around january, when i get a laptop.

thats all i can think of now. i'll update as i continue the adventure.

Monday, December 3, 2007

in the motherland

I'll try to keep this short and sweet, cuz i'm tired.

well i finally made it in with few thrills and shrills. this place is simply and absolutely beautiful; a good mix of african culture and european life. everything seemed to go by so quickly. i had a 5 hour layover in washington dulles airport and was dreading that, but after talking to some people on the phone, reminiscing on good old times and how much i'll miss the US, it was already time to board the flight to SA.

the flight was OK. i sat next to a ghanian-american woman coming to see her son, his wife and kids. she was very lovely and kind of reminded me of my mom (actually she called me her son at the end of the flight). also, south african airlines, in addition to the 3 channeld of bollywood movies, a lovely/free packet of extra socks, toothpaste, and toothbrush, made a conscious effort to bring you food/drink almost every hour on this 14+ hour flight, it seemed. I was so full by the end of the flight, and im not that big on airplane food so i tried to be careful.

customs was easy and after over-hearing a convo on how horrible johannesburg airport was, i tried to be a little more cautious. i gotta say, if south africans think this is terrible, they should pay a visit to the Nigerian airport in lagos. the airport experience was not a big deal (no one trying to jack my stuff (well maybe they tried but didnt succeed), no security guards asking what you brought home for momma/daddy (i.e. bribe), no nothing). my driver showed up after about 7minutes and we were off. nice guy. funny: i got in the car getting ready for a new experience in a new place, he turns on his radio and the first 2 songs i hear are chris brown's latest and a remake of one of N Sync's songs. sweet.

hotel is even nicer than i thought. i asked the front desk guys loads of questions and told them i'd have more later. i do. i'm not really too hungry right now (tho i've already had a taste of one of the sa beers, castle, and it was delicious), but its 8PM now and i realized i haven't really slept in a long time, so i'm gonna grab light dinner and head to my room. i don't expect much craziness to be happening in the next few days, but i'll let you know if anything comes up.

i simply can't thank God enough for how seemless and peaceful the whole travel experience was. Even tho i had to drop some clothes off at the stl airport cuz my bag was too full, all-in-all i've never had an international trip go this well. I guess i can also give a plug to accenture for the preparation work on their part. anyway, i'm here, im good, and im ready for whatever is next--possibly fighting off some lions...stay tuned.