I apologize that this is going to updated fairly sporadically -- internet is more of a luxury here than I expected!
Day 1
Friday
3/3/09
Arrived in Durban today after a long day of travel. In true Julie fashion I almost, but not quite, missed 2 of my 3 flights. Thanks to Ivan's miraculous ability to act rationally when I'm freking out, I only had a minor anxiety attack :). A ton of turbulence on all 3 flights. Luckily, the captain on the flight from Washington DC to Jo’berg was kind enough to comfort us all with, “ladies and gentlemen please observe the ‘fasten seatbelt’ sign. You are in an aluminum tube traveling at over 800 kilometers an hour – anything could happen.” Soothing, right?
I watched a great movie on the flight that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in maternal health, global health, Africa, or HIV/AIDS called “Yesterday.” It’s a poignant Zulu film (with English subtitles) about a young mother in South Africa finding out she’s HIV+ and what she faces within her family and community while she struggles to stay alive until her daughter starts school. I would also highly recommend the South African wine – but that’s another story.
Ron, the driver picked me up from the airport and brought me to my host family’s house. On the way he pointed out to me the different neighborhoods, still segregated by race as they were during apartheid. People are either white, black, Indian, or colored – a term I was surprised to hear! Apparently, if you don’t technically fit into one of the other categories (usually a blend of two or more of them), you are considered colored. He was surprised we don’t use that term; it was challenging to explain that it’s not a hateful term but more outdated and no longer PC.
Then I arrived at my host family’s house and was engulfed by a tornado of girls. There’s the mother (who pretty much kept quiet during all of this), 3 daughters (1 high-school aged, 1 middle-school aged, and one 4 years-old), and an eleven-year old cousin. The youngest is absolutely precious; she only speaks a few words of English but enough to squeeze the teddy bear I brought her and say “I like.” The younger two girls wanted to know everything about the US – do we all have I-pods, have I seen Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, etc. The older daughter was more interested in Obama (whom she says everyone here loves), the weather in New York, and if everyone in America thinks everyone in Africa “lives in huts and wears lion skins for clothes.” This was all after they finished bartering Ivan’s jewelry and the “I love NY” t-shirts I brought. They also tried to teach me some basic phrases – none of which roll off the tongue nor can I remember.
Now, time for bed. Tomorrow’s an off-day, since I technically arrived a day early, so I’m going to try to get ahold of the other 3 also here early and see a little of Durban in the daylight.
Not to forget – thank you to everyone in San Francisco who made my visit and farewell so wonderful!
Much love from SA,
Julie
