Pure Cuteness

Yes, I owe more on the S. Africa trip.   Fell off after Day 1.  Not so good.  Just a really crazy, busy week. 

The pictures are almost uploaded and will post soon. 

In the meantime, a quick Olivia update.  A 'treat' for her is to come spend the day with me at work.  So, this President's Day, she joined me at work.  The 'treat' is not always reciprical as she can be a bit distracting.  A joyful distraction, but it's not always my most productive day.  At one point, I had to run a meeting with my team in our conference room and I had to spend a lot of time explaining to Olivia that she was not to come in unless it was a true emergency.  She was set up in my office with things to do and it was only a 30 min meeting.  Olivia was set and I was off down the hall.  About 20 min into the meeting, I had to come get something from my office. This is what greeted me as I walked in.

And, a little girl crossing her legs dancing around my office.  I was so surprised by her ability to actually write this all down, I myself was jumping up and down with excitement.  Olivia quickly reminded me that she really needed to go!!  So, off we went.  I later asked her about the notes and she said she was going to quietly walk into the meeting and hand them to me.  Made me smile so big!  This is one going into the baby book for sure!!  I'm quite certain she won't thank me later.  :)

The First and the Third

Referencing ‘Worlds’ above. So far, in my short trip and brief knowledge of Johannesburg , the start contrast is mind blowing. This is very much a society that has the 1st and 3rd Worlds existing side by side, interconnecting, yet staying very far removed and isolated from one another. South Africa, post-apartheid, is called the ‘Rainbow nation’. I now understand that so much of what you read is shades of the truth.



I’m trying to compartmentalize my thoughts to not belabor my thoughts and observations. But, I have to admit it is difficult.


The Apartheid Museum:


You could honestly spend about 6 hours in the museum. We only had about 3 hours, so touched on what we could and fortunately had a tour guide to help fill in the blanks. It also helped that our tour guide was a 45ish yr old Black man. In S. Africa, it’s ok to capitalize the races. You’re also allowed to say Colored. It is a legal race in this country. And, its far different from the context we know. Here, it means you are of a mixed race. Or Dutch. Or something else. Anything but Black, White and Indian. Those are the 4 races.


Our tour guide – his name was Les. A very kind and gentle man, married with a 12 yr old son. He has been on a plane ride once in his life and it lasted 45 min to a nearby town. He wishes it lasted 12 hours. He hears people complain about long-haul flights and would give anything to be in their place. He’s taking his son to the coast over Easter weekend. He can’t really afford it, but feels his son is at the age where he should see the ocean at least once. The only way they are going is because he got a certificate for a tour of a time share in exchange for 2 nights. Pretty funny if you think about the disconnected marketing plan there. I wish I could be there to see the smile on his face, when he sees the smile on his son’s face. I wish I could’ve given him a ticket to anywhere he wanted to explore. If I were Oprah, I would treat him to the most amazing vacation of a lifetime!


Les’ birth name is a tribal name. I can’t remember what and couldn’t spell it even if I remembered. But, during the apartheid every human being had to carry a passbook. This passbook had to be carried with you 24/7. Police could stop you at any time, for any reason and ask to see it. The passbook declared your race, as if it wasn’t obvious. You could be arrested and sent straight to prison if you did not have your passbook on you. Les’ mom went to the passbook office to obtain them for her family. The clerk declared that she must have proper Christian names for her family and Les’ given name was changed to Andrew. It is quite apparent when hearing Les tell this story, that by this alone, he feels robbed of his dignity and his heritage. He can’t even pronounce Andrew. He speaks 7 languages. 6 of them are tribal languages. Fortunately, he now goes by Les, which is some abbreviated name of his tribal/given language. Although is birth certificate still remains Andrew.


The apartheid was legal, government sanctioned segregation and slave labor. The crazy people in office ‘believed’ that by separating the races, they would be more able to grow and flourish among their own. Only, White’s were given privileges that no others received. S. Africa is 80% Black. Under apartheid, Blacks could not own land. They were forcefully removed from their homes/townships because they were getting too close to the other races. So, in the middle of the night, they were forced out of their homes and send to townships elsewhere in the country. The stipulation; the new location must be close to train tracks because that was how they would travel hours each day to get to work. And back. In crowded conditions not suitable for humans. They did not receive medical care or electricity. They were not given furniture for their schools and they were given Black teachers that were uneducated themselves. In immensely crowded conditions. Les, felt privileged because his family was able to afford a chalk tablet in which he could practice his studies. The other kids had to find scraps of paper or trash to write on. Les has a bad back today because he had to kneel on the floor for his schooling and write on the ground.


80% of 45MM people. South Africans. And this ‘ended’ in 1994. I was a senior in college. What were you doing?


The museum donated a large portion, as you can imagine, to Nelson Mandela. He is the closest thing to God for these people. He was not perfect, but his leadership skills are more than admirable. Unimaginable is probably more like it.


Soweto:


It was the largest single township during the apartheid and housed 4MM Blacks in one very small area. Imagine, putting all the people of Miami or DFW into an area that’s about 5 square miles. And, I think I’m being generous on the area size. Today, over 1.5MM people still live there. Most still don’t have electricity. Their bathrooms are outside and they don’t have running water. And, these are the nice places with brick houses and front doors. Mandela was born here. Tutu (anther noble peace winner) still lives here on a part time basis.


Not too far away are the ‘shanty’ villages which are similar to the Sari Sari’s of India (think Slum Dog Millionaire). Remember, the people were ‘flourishing’ in these conditions.


Pictures of all this will be coming when I get back home.


So, I did not describe any of this in a condensed manner. And, I have not touched on the ‘1st ‘ world part. It’s a bit equally fascinating. I’ll try and give a brief update on that tonight.


I’m on my way to Cape Town as I type and I’m pretty sure the differences between what I’ve already seen will just get bigger.

The 'Shanty' part of Soweto

Some 'homebrew' beer we tried in a local Shabeen

Cheers from Joburg!!

Well, I made it!!  A long, long journey to get here.  And, other than almost getting stuck in London due to weather and a fairly bumpy flight over much of Africa....it was uneventful.  A rather smooth 2-days of traveling. 

I arrived yesterday about 7am here.  Got to the hotel, checked in and took a little nap.  It was so nice to be back in a bed!! 

From there, a colleague and I had a 1/2 day tour planned.  I will write more tonight, but all is well here.  I'm very glad that our trip started in Johannesburg.  I think this is a much more realistic picture of Africa and probably a good part of S. Africa.  From what we've heard, Cape Town is very Mediterranean and much like a European town.  S. Africa is comprised of 45MM people and 80% are black.  I don't think Cape Town shares that ratio. 

Yesterday was a bit heart-wrenching.  To just get a glimpse of the apartheid and what happened to the people here is unbelievable.  And, to think that it ended in 1994 is something tough to get your arms around. 

Here's a glimpse at what we toured. 



And, Soweto - from Wikipedia:

As Soweto was counted as part of Johannesburg in South Africa's 2008 census, Soweto's population is 1,3 million [13] recent demographic statistics are not readily It has been estimated that 40% of Johannesburg's residents live in Soweto. However, the 2008 Census put its population at 1,3 million [14] (2010) or about one-third of the city's total population.

Soweto's population is predominantly black. All eleven of the country's official languages are spoken, and the main linguistic groups (in descending order of size) are Zulu, Sotho, Tswana, Venda, and Tsonga.




More tonight!!

Not a necessity for an update...

But, I was kindly reminded yesterday from a dear friend that I sounded a bit extreme on my last post.  Yes, I will make it back just fine.  My parents even said they didn't realize how nervous I was about the trip.  I think I posted at the wrong time yesterday (or the day before?) as I was winding down in the office to get everything together. 

Then, Luke got sick and I was up every hour with him.  So, a knock back to reality.  Then, Olivia broke out head to toe with the hives about 8 hours before I left.  Two sick kids, two trips to the pediatrician's office and I'm definitely back to reality.

All is good.  I'm in London right now.  Last night's flight was nice and uneventful.  A little bumpy over the Atlantic, but surprisingly didn't bother me.  Right before take off the pilot came on and was talking about the weather in the UK.  Apparently he was in Lithuania the day before and it was -20c.  I figured if he made it from there to Miami just fine, we were in good hands. 

Now, wrapping up the last few hours of the long layover here.  The weather is getting worse here between today and tomorrow, so I'm just keeping my fingers crossed there are no delays. 

Shortly after arrival tomorrow, a co-worker and I are taking a 1/2 day tour of Soweto and the Apartheid (discovered it's correctly pronounced 'apart-hate' not 'apart-height') Museum.  Soweto, during the Apartheid, was one of the largest inhabitants of Blacks (in S. Africa, there are 4 races, Blacks, Coloreds (mixed race), Whites and Indian).  It's a relatively small village and at one point, it housed 4 million Blacks.  Should be a very eye-opening and fascinating tour.  Will hopefully update tomorrow night. 

Aaaaack!!!

That is what's going on in my stomach right now.  The BIG trip is right around the corner....literally.  As I told Kyle the other night.  I know I'm excited.  Don't have to worry about that one.  Thank goodness.  Because, I'm worrying about everything else too much!  The 22 hours of flying. The 8 days gone, 3 nights on a place, 2 cities in S. Africa.  Etc, etc, etc.  It will be amazing.  I just want to get there.  Which is SO far away (literally and figuratively) I can't get my arms around it. 

And, the planning involved in being gone that long.  Yes, Kyle is by far one of the most capable and competent people out there for managing the house/kids in my absence.  In many cases, more organized and pulled together than me.  But, I'm still a Mom and I still worry that Olivia will miss a gymnastics class, show up at the bday party without a gift, not turn in her girls scout cookie money on time, or they won't have meals planned for the week.  Or, God forbid, they forget their mom.  So, I have goodie bags with notes for each morning, I have video's taped of me telling them good night (7 hour time difference.  I will most likely miss all of them) and the 36 hours I'll go without speaking to Olivia at the end of the trip because of my flight times, her being in school and the time difference. 

Just give me a valium and a glass of wine now.  I'll need a good 22 hour nap by the time I board my plane. 

Onto the rest of our life.  As, fortunately, it does not all revolve around this trip. 

We had a VERY big milestone this Christmas.  I told myself everyday I was going to write about it, but as you can see, blogging more regularly did not quite make my New Year's resolution list. 

Kyle celebrated his 10th Anniversary of being 'Cancer Free'!!!  Like most big milestones out there, he got a watch.  :)  It's amazing that it's been 10 years.  Time flies.  I wish all of our family and friends would've been around for a big fiesta.  So many crazy memories to rehash.  Despite the severity of it all, I think in some weird way, it's good memories for us both. 

As for the kiddos, they are doing well.  Growing like crazy and I wish time could stand still.  Luke is funnier than ever.  A complete ham.  He makes me laugh on a daily basis.  I need to video his 'looks'.  He uses his eyes to tell stories like I've never seen before.  And, he knows he's funny too!  Little rascal.  Olivia is becoming a kid more and more each day.  I can see the teenage years right around the corner and I'm scared to death.  Trying to protect her while I still can.  As I learned in a recent parenting class at church....I'm the 'authoritative' person for another year....then on to the 'arbiter'.  But, my travel girl.  She's ready to go anywhere with me and I'm dying to take her anywhere we can go. 

I will do my very best to update this during the trip.  I would love to take pics, but don't think the ones on my blackberry will do it justice.  I'll post what I can, but know that many more will be posted upon my return. 

Hugs and Kisses to everyone!