There's so much to cover about the last two weeks. I probably won't write it all down because it would either be too much or too hard to explain. We arrived in Windhoek, Namibia yesterday. Thus, I finally have access to some internet. The only problem was that it didn't work until now and it's still a bit sketchy. I'm not going to write much now because we are still settling in, but the experience in South Africa was incredible. We visited the Apartheid Museum, talked with two people directly involved in the 1976 Soweto student uprising, met with the Secretary General of the South African Council of Churches (kinda a big deal), had conversation with someone at the US embassy, went to a one-man play, and stayed with a family in Soweto for last weekend. For those of you that aren't familiar with South Africa, Soweto stands for South West Township and it is the city that whites forced blacks to move into during the apartheid area. Despite apartheid ending in 1994, its legacy of segregated neighborhoods still lives on. Several million people live in this area that is not at all big. The reaction I got from white people when I said we were in Soweto was the same as one that I receive in response to Gary, Indiana. However, Soweto was still amazing and the people were more friendly than I could ever imagine.
One of the most intriguing parts of being in South Africa was the attitude towards us as Americans. Once people learned we were from the US and were not just Afrikaners (a large population of the whites of Dutch descendant), they were so incredibly welcoming. People treat us like royalty and honestly think we might know famous rappers or whatever. When we would hang out with Afrikaners and blacks alike, they would both very proudly introduce us as their "american friends." It's a quite a different attitude than how some of Europe would view us. So much of popular culture here is from the US. As one local put it, "In the US, JayZ is a hero. In South Africa, JayZ is God."
I'll post a few interesting stories that took place, but not right now.
I'm definitely glad that I am here in this program. It's plenty of fun, but it still is very academic as we did meet with some very important people. I almost feel like I'm an expert now on South African history under Apartheid, but I still probably know nothing since this is what I'll be studying all semester. It has mainly just been cool to go and experience this history by going to the places it happened and by meeting the people it affected. We haven't started classes yet (they start Monday), but I've learned more than what 2 weeks of any class could teach.
