Where's Susie?

No endangered or threatened species were harmed in the production of this blog.

the game meat side of the menu

This photo is a candid shot. My brother caught me in an absolutely hypnotized state. MMMM meat.

Hanging with the Hippo.

White Rhino (The name White Rhino is a mistake. It should be Wide Rhino or Wide Mouthed Rhino. It has a wide mouth because it is a grazer unlike the Black Rhino which is a browser)

Zoom was not necessary.

SEE!(I was a wimp. I kept my window up). That lion was licking himself for awhile.

Aren't the little lions cute?

So I'm in South Africa to visit my brother. He's a Fulbright exchange teacher and teaches high school level Math.
He teaches at Mandisa Shiceka High School. Mandisa Shiceka is a Xhosa name....Meaning it has a click in it! Click language! It's pronounced Mandeesuh Shi-CLICK!-eh-ka. It's not the poorest school in Jo'burg, nor the richest. The school surrounded by a tall barbed wire fence. It even has a proper gate keeper. The soil is red and dusty. The students are constantly shining their shoes. My brother's shoes look reddish brown these days because he can't be bothered to shine his shoes anymore. There's a large mural on the wall of the school with a giant condom, and a red ribbon, reading "AIDS IS A MONSTER". The students are all tardy. The teachers are tardy as well. There's not much discipline here. At my brother's school there's a problem with stabbings, and dripped blood. On the week that we visited, a student stabbed another student with the sharp edge of his compass, right in the face. The teachers will ditch their classes as well as students. They go to the local mall, or play soccer right on the school grounds.

My eyes are constantly tearing up. The people burn trash and burn the fields next to the school. The school neighbours a township. Something is always burning in Jo'burg. Burning tires is supposed to be a symbol of public anger and protest. Burning the fields is supposed to bring rain. My eyes and my skin hate it.

My brother teaching his class.

We visited one of my brother's classes. The entire student body was pretty much Black, mostly Zulu. This was the first place where I wasn't greeted with catcalls or whistles (mainly because my brother told them it was rude to do so). South Africa is quite chauvinistic and patriarchal. Many of the men act like a bad stereotype of construction workers. (All of the commercials for cleaning products contain females, I didn't see a single man.) After finishing their review of Completing the square, the students were filled with questions for Tiffany and I. They were concerned with matriculating into Uni. The questions weren't all typical. One boy asked how he could avoid drugs. This is a problem in the townships, even within the family. A girl asked if she could go to university in America, etc. My brother later pointed out an inyanga sitting in the back. An inyanga is a zulu word for traditional healer. Apparently ill people of many religions come to this inyanga. Muslims, Christians, and other Zulus. The inyanga is wearing a green sweater in the photo below. Oh by the way, the Muslim neighbourhood in Jo'burg is one of the nicest in the city. They have their own security force. You'll likely be approached if you get lost there. They know everyone in the neighbourhood, and the area is impeccably clean.

Anyways the students asked if they could have a photo with us. One student asked if I'd marry him. I guess asian girls aren't common in this part of town (Chinatown in Joburg is more like China caldesac). We took a group picture, and then some of the male students proceeded to take cell phone photos of me.

Posing with the students. Can you find Tiffany?hehe

Yebo!= Yes/ Good day
Sharp=Good (and any other word in that category. Generally a good response when you don't know what else to say).
dankie (donkey) = thank you

We flew into Jo'burg on Gulf Air. Gulf Air had the best airline food I've ever had. But I got a really bad impression of Afrikaans. I thought they were impeccably rude.

In my travels throughout S. Africa. I found that my first impression was pretty much correct. White south africans were rude and unnecessarily mean. With the exception of my brother's landlord. We had gained his trust, and he was the nicest man.

On our first day in Jo'burg, we slept off the jet leg for the first couple hours and then went to the Oriental Market. Unfortunately, the Oriental Market only has Indian vendors. But I got myself a nice cheap purse. Then we spent the rest of our afternoon in the African Museum. The best exhibit in the Museum would have to be the photos. It has photos chronicalling, Ghandi, Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela, the Women's Right's Movement, and of the local townships over the years. The townships are essentially shantytowns made of corrugated steel. Black people live in the townships.

Eventhough the Afrikaans were not so friendly, I found the Zulus, the San, Khoi, and the Swazi to be particularly helpful and kind. Plus I think I heard the word Chinese in 11 different languages. No matter what kind of Asian you say you are.......you will always be Chinese in S. Africa.

Lothar Tiff and I went on a four day trip to Prague. A 6 hour train ride there and a 6 hour train ride back. On my last day in Prague my digital camera was stolen on the subway!! GRR! I had my camera bag clipped to my purse since it wouldnt fit into my purse. I was wearing a long chain purse that you wear across your torso. Bit more difficult to steal. Anyways on the crowded loud subway they managed to open my camera case, which has an old velcro closure. And take the camera. I was back at the hostel when I realised my camera case was empty. Everything else is in tact, thank God. I have all my cash, credit cards, IDs,cell phone, passport and other documentation. I dont know how much that camera would be worth on the black market. I had glue all over it. But Im depressed and pissed off that my camera was stolen. Now I have no pictures of Germany or Prague. BASTARDS. I think i'm going to file my travel insurance claim now.

Prague was a bit strange. The food and the booze was cheap, as well as the clothes. Maybe its because they dont use the euro, or they only joined the EU in 2005. The rest of the Czech republic outside of Prague looked a bit dilapidated.

Prague is quite pretty from atop. It definately is the City of a Hundred Spires. You can tell it is a very old city. It looks gorgeous at night. From the ground, the buildings are deteriorating a little. And the city is a strange mix of restaurants, stores and sex shops. The first shop I saw was an internet cafe sex shop. dont you think prostitutes would distract you from your emails?

The public transportation in the city is fabulous.......well except for the theft of my camera. We were easily able to visit all the sites within our trip. I went to the Charles Bridge, Prague Castle, the Senate (which included in the dripping wall), the Jewish Quarter, Old Town, Wenceslas Square, The Lennon Wall (basically a wall completely covered in graffiti again and again. It occasionally has the likeness of John Lennon with a couple Beatles quotes), the Fred and Ginger building (which looks like it is dancing), the Prague market (I found all the locals and the Asians here, it was like the swap meet, so many Dolce and Gabbanna reproductions), passed by the Franz Kafka museum, and the park (which was exceptionally creepy because it had a running carnival, with carnies, but no other people. SCARY SCARY MUSIC).

I enjoyed the Goulash, but since we were there during public holidays many of the Czech restaurants were closed. Tiff wanted to get mexican food which really wasnt too my liking. I try to avoid mexican food outside of the American continents. But Czech Mexican food wasnt that bad. They had all the right ingredients, cooked in the wrong proportions.

On the way back from Prague, on we had to get off the train because they had to repair the train tracks. So we followed this old Czech woman, who spoke no english or German (Most Czechs were very friendly and extremely helpful, even if we didnt even ask for help). Boarded a bus to our next train station. We would've been totally lost without her. The train rides in Europe had me longing to watch Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.

When we finally got back to Lothars place, this required switching trains four times, boarding a bus and a taxi, Lothar's new flatmate had moved in. She's fluent in Spanish and German, and her English isnt too shabby. Her and her friends made brilliant mexican food.

I cant seem to escape mexican food in Europe.

Tomorrow we fly to Johannesburg to see my brother. Which is good because I desperately need to do laundry and I cant seem to find my tweezers. My eyebrows are bushier than ever.