Africa! I'm here!

Well, it's about 4:05 in Africa and we just finished our first day of work...I was just handed a Black Label (the Bud of Africa) as I type this!

My 30 hour travel was as good as a 30 hour jaunt can be. Slept through the 6 hour layover in Minneapolis, was awake almost the whole way to Amsterdam because I was so excited, met two guys in Scottish kilts almost immediately upon getting off the plane in Amsterdam. It was 5:30 a.m. and they were still drunk, but in great spirits haha. Chatted for a bit, kissed them both on the cheek (3x apparently is how it goes there haha) and then got some money converted into Rands and Euros -- $30 U.S. got me 200 RANDS and the same amount gave me 20 EUROS. Pretty much though they are worth the same thing -- here when you buy something that is 25R that really means 2.50 US...I've heard there is great wine here for 30R or $3 US. Something I am looking forward to getting to know better...haha

Then I slept probably 6 of the 10 hour flight to Johannesburg. The food on the planes were a LOT different going to Amsterdam compared to going to Joburg. Hot chicken dinner, rice, buns etc on the way to Europe...on the way to Joburg it was some dill carrot sweet and sour crap with curry, couscous (who serves curry on an airplane by the way, it's smelled up the entire plane and there are what, 5 bathrooms and 300 people on the plane??!!) Anyways, landed in Joburg and was immediately swept up by the country...the air, the people working in the airport, the big welcome signs that display Mandela and Robben Island and Cape Town and Kruger Park. I read Nelson Mandela's the Long Walk to Freedom almost the whole way so despite the fact that I must've looked like such a tourist, I was completely and wholeheartedly inspired to land.

I found Tony & Mary Prince right away after getting my luggage and we were off...oh yes, it's 120KM speed limit here, but as Tony says, the South Africans really use that as "one hundred and plenty"....and there are no streetlights...barely any road paint. I was terrified! haha good thing Tony kept me busy telling me all of the history of the conservation. We got back while everyone was already asleep, so they spent a bit of time telling me about the different constellations that you see in the night sky - the Milky Way, the Southern Cross, etc. I had a really restless night, all jetlegged, but i woke up this morning and decided to go head on into our first day of work. The other 4 volunteers who are here right now have been here for 4 weeks, so they're used to all of this...

Anyways, our first day consisted of taking these huge cages in trucks to southern Joburg who are having problems with "dassies" - they are huge rodents whose the closest relative to an elephant...either way it was bizarre and hilarious. The 5 of us girls got these huge cages into the truck, drove on the freeway through the highway and Joburg and landed in this rich area of southern Joburg. We taught them how to catch the rodents and then they'll call us in a couple days and we'll come pick up the dassies that are caught and free them on the reserve. After driving back and making lunch in the poolhouse here, we drove out into the conservation (standing on the back of the truck) and took the scenic route...we saw wildabeast, antelope, lots of herds of zebras, ostriches and then we drove out to put combat soil erosion with hay and grass seeds. Then afterwards, they decided I should learn to drive the stick shift right away, so I drove back with two girls in the back of the truck. Hahah..I only stalled once and that was when I was reversing. Apparently you have to put the clutch the whole way in. Everything's on the other side too, so the blinker and the steering wheel and the side of the road is just all very bizarre. But - I did it!

All in all, it's been kind of a dream...I'm still not really registering it. It is a huge mix of poor shanti shacks on the highway with children walking in barefeet, to the most normal of cities in Joburg. By far, South Africa is the most civilized country of Africa, or so I'd assume...I am somewhat glad I didn't go right into wartorn country, as that may have been to much culture shock, but I'm loving this so far and am still making plans in my head for Uganda in 2011.

Everyone here seems very nice too. Tony & Mary are sweet, Macy, who is our cook is this short African woman who hates anyone in her kitchen and does everyone's cleaning and laundry, she has an awesome sense of humour. As I write this she's yelling at one of the volunteers here from New York for getting into her curry...hahahah...the 4 girls seem great; however, it's funny because there are only so many personalities in this world and the girl that I'm rooming with, Madelaine from Sweden, I've dealt with many times before...every sentence starts with "In Sweden we..." blah blah blah....then there's a 39 year old New Yorker who I fell in love with, Renee. She reminds me so much of my cousin Stacy from Vancouver, super cool, very straightforward, knows what she wants and who she is. I love you Stacy! There's a 24 year old from Australia, whose father lives in Chile and family lives in England, she's very cultured and very down to earth. Mary is 56 and she's been around the world and back volunteering. She has many stories to tell and although she has no children herself she is very motherly... unfortunately Mary, Renee and Lorna will all be leaving mid monthish and I'll be left with the guys. We have two guys coming - one right away and one mid month - one's from New Zealand and the other is Martin from Germany.

Since we get time off on the weekends and one long weekend, I'm trying to convince everyone to come to Soweto with me and see Mandela's house - him and Desmond Tutu lived on the same street!! We also take Wednesday afternoons off and go into Pretoria to shop and then out for drinks at a place that has $5 T-bone steaks that are apparently to die for. I've told Renee already about wanting to get supplies for ZOTE worldwide and she thinks we can easily do it this wednesday or next.

We get a long weekend too around April 18th - I'm hoping one of the boys will want to go to Durban or Swaizland or possibly Kruger with me. With all of the game around here, i'm not so sure I care as much about going to Kruger National Park as I am about wanting to go into a cultural village and spend some time with a tribe. We will see what the time brings...the long weekend isn't until April 18th so I have some time. If not, I will be booking a backpackers bus tour down there - which since I travelled all this way alone really just excites me now!

Anyways, I'm going to take a shower, head down to the pool and have some beers with the girls. I love you all like mad and will write more later for sure! In the meantime, here are a couple pictures I took today:

This is just a snapshot of the 5000 hectares of land that the conservation covers:

On our way through to southern Joburg, I took pictures of some of the shantis that were there; however, Renee told me that apparently the Government is going to build houses here that will be free to live in and will have electricity and what not, so I don't think it's as bad as it looks:

While standing in the back of the truck today, I took this picture of a zebra. A whole herd of them ran along us for a little while...

And this was the cage we drove on the Joburg freeway with...haha