Posted 2:48:01 PM by Ben
i realize that this post is incredibly long, but i wanted to get this page caught up.

when i left off, i was on the plane headed for south africa. to make a long journey short, it was a good plan ride and really was not as bad as it sounded. it helped that i was sitting next to other students and i took that time to get to know the other kids on my program, namely shawn and katrina, next to whom i was sitting. i think the most interesting part of the trip was our layover in the cape verde islands on the little, little island of sal. as we found out later, the layover was compounded by the fact that the new flight crew, including the pilot, were told the wrong time so they had to be called at their hotel when we landed and told to get over to the airport. so, that delayed us a little but allowed me to meet some interesting people. standing around in the back of the plane, shawn and i began talking to this guy from alaska who was headed to south africa by himself for the next four months. he had been born in ohio, and moved to alaska after college and was now working on trail building and the like. he was really an interesting guy and we talked with him for about an hour. he exchanged e-mail addresses and we gave him the phone of the b&b we are going to be at in cape town, and we may get together while we are there. he has some interesting things planned and we may join him. while we were discussing malaria medication and the crazy, hallucinogenic side effects of larium, a woman sitting next to us laughed. as it turned out she was headed back to jo・burg with her husband and two little kids. she told us a bunch of stuff to do in the city and then gave us her phone number in case we had any questions. incredibly nice.

once we finally arrived in jo・burg i was tired but ready to go. we all made it through customs without being stopped (i guess it・s only when you go back that us customs go through your stuff, we・ll see) and met our organizers and professor in the airport. shuttled back to the dorms we are staying in and all took some much needed naps. i must admit, i have not been hit with jet lag at all. i was tired that afternoon but after i have been just fine. i・m starting to think that jet lag is a myth. anyway, that evening we went to david・s house, met his wife, had a wonderful dinner and all got to know each other. as it turns out ben, the coordinator, is also very much into indie rock and invited me to his house in cape town to talk about music. what a nice surprise. that evening we also met two students at the university who hung out with us for the next few days. both young africa guys, sweli and zepo (i・m sure i spelled both of those wrong, but that・s the phonetic way). both had grown up in south africa and were great. i had a lot of prolonged conversations with both of them about our town countries, different political and social ideologies and movements. what i was most struck by was the similarities between the social movements of the two nations and the same systemic problems, in many way. after dinner we all went home and crashed.

okay, day 2. after an incredible breakfast here on campus in the dinner hall (all sorts of wonderful juices and fruits and jams and breads, oh man, each day the spread is even better than before) we went around jo・burg by convie. convies are these ：mini-busses； that are all over the city, but we have three rented for the week to get all of us around the city. first we went to this old mansion over looking the northern suburbs. it was located in the neighborhood right near the oppenhiemer mansion and was one of many houses built by the early industrialists. the entire city was literally built on gold, with the massive mines everywhere in the city. all these gigantic homes are the products of the fortunes amassed by numerous robber barons that transformed south africa 100 years ago. next, we went to william kintridge・s house and poked around for 30 minutes or so. he is a famous artists in s.a. and david knows the woman house sitting for him, so we talked with her about her art and the art scene in s.a. the home, like all homes in jo・burg, had a elaborate gate and barbed wire fence all around the perimeter. the first few days we were here it was really odd to see everywhere but it has almost become normal already and i don・t even see the razor wire any more. strange what you get used to and how fast it happens. that night we went to a trendy suburb for dinner and we unleashed to go where we wanted. shawn, gabe, nishant and i went to a portuguese place and had a nice dinner. then we all met up at a little jazz club and spent the evening listening to great jazz.

day 3, sunday. this was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. after breakfast, we all loaded into the vehicals again and went to soweto, a township on the edge of jo・burg. soweto (an acronym for SOuth WEst Township) is one of the most politically important places in south africa. it was established during the apartheid years and was a dumping ground for blacks who were forcibly removed from other parts of jo・burg. it has an amazing history and was the center of a lot of political change. principally, the 1976 student rebellion where over 10,000 students (high school and grade school) assembled and marched against the afrikaan language (and culture) that was being forced at them in schools. during the protest, numerous kids were shot and killed by the police/army. hector peterson was the first to be killed and his image, being carried by another student who picked him up of the ground, is one of the most enduring and powerful images of the anti-apartheid struggle. we visited his grave and the new museum built close by commemorating the student uprising and following struggle. it was a emotion place and reminded me very much of the holocaust museum in dc, at least in ascetic. then we all went to a great restaurant in the township and had a fabulous buffet loaded with potatoes, lentils, pap (a corn meal much like grits) and spongy bread. from there we walked a block down the street, passed desmond tutu・s house and to nelson mandela・s old home. two nobel prize winners on one block. the most amazing thing about soweto were the stark contrast between middle class neighborhoods with modest little homes across the road from literal shanty towns, with tin roofed homes. the abject poverty was startling. the whole experience is hard to put into words. perhaps i・ll try some other time. that night we all went out again for dinner, less trendy this time but also very good.

on monday we finally began classes, kind of. we went to the main campus and had class for about and hour and a half. in this time we talked about what the trip to kruger would entale in great detail and it made me more excited than ever. we・re going to be going on walks in the bush, camping where no one else is allowed, going on night drives to see lions and staying right next to hippo ponds. i know cape town is going to be great, but a part of me just wants to get right to the park. again, like everything, we are going to have access to the park unlike anyone else. tourists (of which there are 1 million every year) are not allowed in many of the places we are going, but david is making is all happen for us. i can・t wait! after ：class； we went to the mall to get supplies. i needed a power converter so i could charge my battery for my digital camera. after shopping we were invited to go into the one of jo・burg・s most cutting edge radio stations, Yfm, a relatively new station devoted mostly to hip hop and kwito (local hip-hop, kind of). we went into the booth as they taped, hung out with the dj・s, one guy in our group was on the air for a few minutes and then we talked with the station・s director and some other people. all in all, another jam packed day.

that brings me to yesterday, our first low key day. after an actual class, 3 hours, we spent a part of the afternoon on campus, eating lunch and trying to find an open computer lab so we could all check our e-mail. it・s incredible how dependant we have all become on the internet for communication. the highlight of the day was when one of the members of the new constitutional court (similar to our supreme court) came by and talked with us for almost two hours. he is a interesting man. openly gay and living with AIDS, he brought a bunch of interesting issues that we all discussed, including the new s.a. constitution and they way they have chosen to confront homosexuality in this country. in many ways, the s.a. constitution and court system is far more progressive that what we have in the u.s.

this morning we went to the site of the new constitution court that they are building on the grounds of the old fort. It・s a chilling place because it also houses ：#4,； the most notorious prison in the country. as david said, this was ground zero for apartheid and the atrocities that went with it. we were able to walk through the remains that have been largely untouched since the prison closed in 1987. they are fixing the entire site and are going to eventually open it to the public, but we got to go in because, again, david got us access through one of his friends. the most visceral moment for me was to look up and see the skyline of jo・burg and realize that the prisoners saw the same thing. this place of terror was not a relic of some distant past, but rather the shell of a system that only very recently collapsed. The prisoners in the camp saw much of the same things that we could. after the tour we had another short class and then we are going to go back to the dorms tonight for the evening. tomorrow we are all going to pretoria, the capital of south africa for the day. once again, should be great.

i think that about gets me caught up through today. i don・t know how much internet access i・ll have in cape town, or at least how often i・ll be using it, so there may be a few more long posts like this, but i・d like to keep them more often and more casual. we・ll see. overall, this has been an tremendous time already and i can・t wait for what・s ahead.

Posted 2:40:45 PM by Ben
hi everybody (think dr nick). sorry that i have not posted until now, but i have not been able to get to a computer lab until now. as it is, we only have a few minutes here before we have to go back to the dorms, so i'm going to write until i have to go. there has been SO much going on in the few days that i have been here it is unbelievable! i'll run down some basic info first about where i am and then i'll try and fill this in. if i don't finish, i'll add more of the back log the next chance i get, possibly tomorrow.

first, the time zone here puts me eight hours a head of the midwest. i am in johannesburg right now and will be here until friday when the entire group flys to cape town here we will be living in very posh bed and breakfasts for the next 7 weeks. then, we will fly back to jo'burg and then go to kruger national park where we are going to camp out for 8 nights, seeing every possible amazing animal i can imagine. then i will return home to chicago/milwaukee on march 14th.

this trip has been absolutely amazing so far. right away, we have jumped in, spending full days running from one place to anther, wich each things that we see more interesting and thought provoking than the last. i'll try and go in somewhat of an order beginning tomorrow when i have more time, but for now i'll just point to the highlights.

first off, the coodinator of the program in jo'burg is a guy named david bunn, who knows some professors in chicago, thus this program. he is a professor here at the university of witwatersrand in jo'burg and has incredible access to things all over the city. he's a great guy and just spending a little time with him has been powerfully educational. he grew up in south africa, was a member of the anti-aparied movement and seems to know everyone. we went to william kentridge・s house the other day (a famous south africa artist who just had a big show in chicago last year) because david is friends with him. david knew steven biko and was telling me how biko's funeral changed his life. tonight we are meeting with a member of the south african supreme court over dinner, and thursday we are going to pretoria (the capital) to visist one of the countries foremost guitar players. we are able to do so much and meet so many people that tourists and other students just would not be able to. i consider myself very, very lucky. all the people running this program and the ones that we have met have been amazing. ben williams is our direct coordinator, a 28 year-old from chicago (a northwestern grad, unfortunately) who has been in the country for the last 10 years, another great guy. he has been responsible for getting us from place to place, organizing meals and generall making sure everything goes well. and has it ever.

okay, maybe i should add a few experiences as well. i'll start with the plane ride. after making it to atlanta from chicago and meeting up with about half of my group on the plane, we all settled in for our 18-plus hour journey to south africa. the itinerary was simple: we flew from atlanta to one of the cape verde island off the western coast of africa, refuled, and then to cape town, refuled again, and then to jo'burg. all of us on the program (24 in all, but 12 on this plane) we group together more or less deep, deep in the coach section of the plane. narrow seats and no leg room made for a slightly uncomfortable ride for me and a terrible ride for those that were tall. andy, you would not have liked this one bit. besides that, the flight was not bad. i flew south africa air, and the place was actually really nice. we had mini-televisions in the back of every seat with movies, video games and television shows all at our disposal. i read and slept mostly, but i did watch "one hour photo," the new creepy robin williams movie, which i recommend.

okay, i have to go now. i'll try and get back at this more tomorrow. i know this whole thing is a little impersonal, and for that i'm sorry. hope these entries are not too boring. i have some amazing stories to tell, already. this is going to be a fantastic 10 weeks.