Hello, South Africa!

After 32 hours in air travel lalaland, I popped out into blue skies in South Africa. Another 2-hour car ride from Port Elizabeth and I arrived in Grahamstown, my home for the next 7 months. My journey was surprisingly smooth (made smoother with a 6-hour stop at the spa in LHR), and first impressions of South Africa (beginning with personal entertainment devices and actually edible chicken tikka on South African Airways, a decided improvement over Air Canada) were extremely pleasant. It appears to be a beautiful country with stunning coastline and mountains, vast wilderness, and friendly people. I have already seen antelope, kudu, and ZEBRA(!!!) along the highway from Port Elizabeth to Grahamstown!

I was greeted in Grahamstown by Kim, who let me into my apartment in Bertramstraat. Kim is last year’s CBA intern, who decided to stay after the LRC offered her a paid position. She lives a few doors down in the same complex, and her presence has been a constant comfort as I adapt to my new surroundings. I have a cute little loft apartment in the centre of Grahamstown, between New and High Streets and just 50 metres from the LRC office. It is tiny, but furnished and clean (I learned later that the LRC arranged to have it cleaned for my move-in) with electricity (pay as you go), hot water and even a television! I settled in and tried to nap, but was distracted by the setting sun and people speaking Xhosa as they passed my window so I hopped out of bed and knocked on Kim’s door. Off we went for dinner at the Rat & Parrot, a popular drinking spot for students of the local Rhodes University. A cup of rooibos at Kim’s then I crawled into bed at 11 pm, too exhausted to feel any emotion about being alone in a new place – which was probably a good thing.

I spent Sunday at Pick & Pay supermarket getting essentials for my new home (of which I've posted pictures). What I am struck by so far is how much of South Africa feels familiar: products (Pantene, Parmalat, Tampax!), architecture (colonial -- of course), but most of all, multiracial. I feel largely invisible as I walk along the street – no calls of “obruni”, “mzungu”, or “chingchangchong”! South Africa also appears relatively affluent and I can see why some call it the “Europe of Africa”.

However, I know that somewhere and underneath, there is the South Africa that I’ve read and heard about and that I came here to understand. On my flight over, I watched a documentary about Nelson Mandela and a movie called “Tsotsi” about a gang boy in Johannesburg. I think of the photos of the 1994 elections and footage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that I've seen. I have read some of the history behind land restitution claims, which I will likely work on at the LRC. I know I have arrived in a country with profound people and history, that has experienced hopelessness and hope and that still has its struggles – I hope to see and understand this a little over my next 7 months working at the LRC.