Johannesburg or bust.

Hello dear readers,
I created this blog over a month ago after coming up with what I thought was a creative name but never really felt prepared to start it until arriving in Sandringham, South Africa. My arrival was scheduled for 12 noon on Thursday the 13 but when we arrived in Dakar, Senegal (flying from Washington, Dulles) we were informed that due to a fuel shortage we had to go to Ilha do Sal in Cabo Verde (backtracking an hour or so) to get fuel to continue our journey. This meant that I arrived in the Johannesburg International Airport after 2:30 PM and spent 45 minutes going through immigration, collecting my bags and clearing customs. I was met at the airport by Jared Smith, the son of Linzi the women I am working for here, and he drove me the 20 or so minutes to their house. I met Christina, the Smith’s domestic servant and her son Thomas and then headed to the office to get moved in. My bed is in the loft in the office overlooking three desks below.

The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking my stuff, setting up my “room” and getting settled in. Linzi was out working and came back around 5:30 when it was starting to get dark. What a contrast arriving in 60 degree weather in the middle of South Africa’s winter where it starts getting dark around 5 PM having come from the middle of the summer in Portland where it was in the 70s, 80s and 90s and staying light until 9 PM. I made my own dinner as the Smith’s dinner was prepared with meat and me being a vegetarian I am a bit of an oddity here in South Africa. I will be doing primarily all of my cooking on my own. I was tired around 9 and slept in the next morning.

Friday through Sunday I took time to get to know the family meeting Douglas, the father, Roxy, the Smith’s daughter, Stewart another one of their sons and Christina’s other son John. I also went to the grocery store (two to be exact) with Linzi, set up “my” kitchen in the office, watched rugby with Doug and Stewart, watched TV with the Smiths, went for a walk around the neighborhood, played Scrabble with Linzi, Doug and Stewart and got comfy in my new digs. I did a bit of work too reading a 47 page document from Linzi that gave me an overall orientation of ETC's purpose, process and practice.

All in all it was nice to have a few days to settle in, get an overview of the surroundings, practicum (internship) and people I will be living and working with. Tomorrow I start my first full week of my practicum and I will undoubtedly have more stories to tell.