welcome to south africa...

so after 19 grueling hours including a layover, im happy to say that i arrived in joburg in one piece! i flew with KLM (a dutch airline) and my seat wasn’t the most comfy, so needless to say my body was achy..i was the last to leave customs because i decided to freshen up in the ladies room and luckily for me 3 security dudes would not let me leave until they checked my luggage. they had this machismo attitude from the get-go and would talk in a militant manner without even looking at me. they made me feel a little uncomfortable because i was the only one there and it was late. one of the guys was fascinated by a bag of canadian souvenirs that i had so i offered him one, then the other guys..and next thing i know they’re letting me pack up and I find my way out the door. i don’t want to call it bribery, but more of a gesture of canadian hospitality if you will.. hehe.

my friend thisile was there outside waiting for me THANK GOODNESS! he was worried and wondering what the hell happened to me. i told him the story and he was apologetic on behalf of those dudes. thisile and his 2 friends picked me up in their car and i was feeling pretty wonky. it was the time difference, the warm weather, how they drive on the right side, in awe of being in africa, body aches, security rattling me, and then thisile telling me to watch out for the lions and giraffes that sometimes run amok on the highway. i actually believed him for a split second. he’s such a joker but i really needed to laugh!

anyway, i arrived alive at thisile’s place where he lives with flatmates including some guys and some girls. it’s a spacious transient house where people come and go. the people i met are so friendly and all gave me a warm welcome. im staying in a gated area in a suburb called fourways where there are electric fences and its uber safe. it’s a very nice and peaceful place.

they warned me of places not to go alone and the two are: alexandra and diepsloot. these places are townships. townships are equivalent to the ghettos, shantytowns or favelas where a lot of shiet goes down. i take note and then next thing i know i'm invited to go for a beer run and told in the car that im going to diepsloot. i was kind of freaking because they were saying that they burned a guy there because the residents were xenophobes, but said it was ok for me because i was with them and the dude they killed was black from another country in africa.

they didn’t like him because he posed as a threat, as they see foreigners stealing jobs from them. regardless, that did not make the situation okay for me. my intuition told me to stay in the car; making sure all doors were locked, crouch down and hide my face with my hair. the reason why we went there was because the legit beer shops close at 8pm and the townships sell beer around the clock and it’s much cheaper. they wanted me to see what the township was like and listening to the blueprint 3 blasted in the car just made the sitch even more surreal.

later that nite, we went to thisile’s friend’s pad. his name is nhlanhla. his name is apparently very common, yet so hard to pronounce. there was a group of us where we drank beer, listened to music and danced a bit. nhlanhla's musical catalogue includes jay-z, the dream, kanye, lil wayne, drake, r kelly, chill house music, kwaito (south african house kinda style –which I like) & michael buble (which really threw me for a loop!!) we were just chillin’ and it was wicked because i felt like i was hanging out with an african version of my friends from home where we more or less do the same thing.

i was still getting my bearings since my system was still trying to adapt. i kept telling myself to get over it. i was happy to be there and tried the best i could to enjoy! i did, even though i was super tired. thisile and his friends saw that i was exhausted and took me back so i could sleep. they’re all mad cool and i feel grateful that they’re good people. i felt so good that i was able to have a good nite’s sleep where i was able to stretch out my legs and not feel like a pretzel. my first nite in joburg wasn’t so bad to say the least..and it’s only the beginning….

btw, here is a link to some pics i took already (i hope you can view): cricket