We've just about finished week 3, because of the many and varied issues most of our students have with visas means that we don't start tutorials until this week. It's been strange waiting this long to get to know my classes. Tutes began and so now I have 50 or so new faces to get to know. I realised last semester that I recognise people regularly by their hairstyles, which doesn't work so well in a population that about once a fortnight changes the hair extensions, corn rows or other designs of their hair. But I'm slowly learning - the names are getting a little easier.
Some of my students have awesome names - Mwazvita, Naa-Odaaley, Lwamainsa, Bonang, Zwakele and Ditso. I, of course, absolutely mis-pronounce and otherwise do violence to their given names, which usually have lovely meanings. Still, I'm trying. I have managed to get my head around Thokozani and Sibongiseni, so things do get easier. And now Nthabiseng and Sibusiwe are walks in the park!
The strangest part about my life here, which I'm slowly coming to recognise, is that I'm actually not exposed to much of 'Africa' as it is sold in the tourist books or novels. I was told about the Shona hierarchies and kinship regimes the other night and it struck me that I really am having a very urban and western experience here. I don't know of or hear of or experience life outside of a very middle class, urbanised, Westernised worldview and framework. Obviously, living in Jozi means that going along to traditional ceremonies is not really on the cards, but it feels like my communication here is one way, and that is less than satisfying. Of course, that's not entirely a bad thing, but I really need to make an effort to experience something other than that which I could have anywhere else. I'm going to Zandspruit this weekend to do our community engagement programme at Masakhani Primary, so I'll at least see some of what 'real life' is like in the informal settlements.
PS. My internet is still "intermittent" which at the moment means not working at all, but as soon as it's up and running I'll post some pictures!
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Friday, 13 March 2009
In praise of pavement
Unlike my other friends who have been doing this for a really long time, I'm not very good at consistently updating my blog.
So what's been going on in the last few months? I've been to Australia, to Malaysia and am now back in Jozi.
It's a strange feeling returning to the place where your life is taking place, even if you emotions around that place are ambiguous. I love it here and I hate it. There are things about this city, and my life in it, that I like very much. There are also things that make me angry, really angry on a daily basis.
I always though tPerth drivers were awful, the ones here are many, many times worse. Most people complain of the Taxi drivers, they drive Toyota mini-buses and are the main method for most people who can't afford a car (which is most people) to get from a to b, to work and home again. The taxis are often overcrowded and the drivers can and do stop basically anywhere - freeway, highway, busy street. Part of the problem behind this is the lack of regulation that goes on, or at least that is how it seems to me. Plus the lack of infrastructure and the explicit denial by developers to include taxis in their civic planning. There are almost no taxi ranks, that is safe places off of the street where commuters can wait for their ride. The most common way of catching a cab is to hail it with a hand signal (which deserve a study in and of themselves!) on the side of the road. And we're not talking about suburban streets here, but dual carriageways or worse. The congestion that comes with taxis randomly stopping, and the danger it puts other road users in is insane. But that's only one part of the problem, the fact that the drivers have to do a set number of runs means that they literally take their (and their passengers and anyone else on the road) lives into their hands. They do things with a mini-bus I didn't think were possible without a turbo charger! I admire them their dexterity and tenacity. I dislike the carnage that occurs on an almost daily basis.
Before I left Joburg, in the weeks leading up to my flying to Perth, I saw three dead bodies on the roadside. I don't own a car. I borrow one from my very kind and generous boss's wife on occasion. So I drive to and from work with another incredibly generous colleague, and that's about it. I don't spend hours on the road each day, so to see three dead people is, well, saying something.
Pedestrians regularly get run over, and not only by taxis. I have seen the most discourteous and downright dangerous driving here, more so than the streets of Naples, more so than the hoons in country WA. Here, to take a corner blind, which turns directly onto a dirt road, at 80 km an hour seems the norm, the driver got annoyed when we beeped at her for nearly taking us out. In fact, by comparison, the taxi drivers are safer, at least you know they're going to be crazy!
That said, and the rantings are much easier to express than the things that make me smile, things here are not so bad. In fact, that I am so upset by the occasional driver who is rude, dangerous or simply shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car, says to me that by and large, things aren't so bad. They are the exceptions rather than the rule.
I just wish they'd put in pavement for pedestrians. So much could be fixed with 1.2 metres of concrete slabs on one side of the road.
Anyway, I promise nothing, but I'll try to update more, and with pictures. Next time.
So what's been going on in the last few months? I've been to Australia, to Malaysia and am now back in Jozi.
It's a strange feeling returning to the place where your life is taking place, even if you emotions around that place are ambiguous. I love it here and I hate it. There are things about this city, and my life in it, that I like very much. There are also things that make me angry, really angry on a daily basis.
I always though tPerth drivers were awful, the ones here are many, many times worse. Most people complain of the Taxi drivers, they drive Toyota mini-buses and are the main method for most people who can't afford a car (which is most people) to get from a to b, to work and home again. The taxis are often overcrowded and the drivers can and do stop basically anywhere - freeway, highway, busy street. Part of the problem behind this is the lack of regulation that goes on, or at least that is how it seems to me. Plus the lack of infrastructure and the explicit denial by developers to include taxis in their civic planning. There are almost no taxi ranks, that is safe places off of the street where commuters can wait for their ride. The most common way of catching a cab is to hail it with a hand signal (which deserve a study in and of themselves!) on the side of the road. And we're not talking about suburban streets here, but dual carriageways or worse. The congestion that comes with taxis randomly stopping, and the danger it puts other road users in is insane. But that's only one part of the problem, the fact that the drivers have to do a set number of runs means that they literally take their (and their passengers and anyone else on the road) lives into their hands. They do things with a mini-bus I didn't think were possible without a turbo charger! I admire them their dexterity and tenacity. I dislike the carnage that occurs on an almost daily basis.
Before I left Joburg, in the weeks leading up to my flying to Perth, I saw three dead bodies on the roadside. I don't own a car. I borrow one from my very kind and generous boss's wife on occasion. So I drive to and from work with another incredibly generous colleague, and that's about it. I don't spend hours on the road each day, so to see three dead people is, well, saying something.
Pedestrians regularly get run over, and not only by taxis. I have seen the most discourteous and downright dangerous driving here, more so than the streets of Naples, more so than the hoons in country WA. Here, to take a corner blind, which turns directly onto a dirt road, at 80 km an hour seems the norm, the driver got annoyed when we beeped at her for nearly taking us out. In fact, by comparison, the taxi drivers are safer, at least you know they're going to be crazy!
That said, and the rantings are much easier to express than the things that make me smile, things here are not so bad. In fact, that I am so upset by the occasional driver who is rude, dangerous or simply shouldn't be behind the wheel of a car, says to me that by and large, things aren't so bad. They are the exceptions rather than the rule.
I just wish they'd put in pavement for pedestrians. So much could be fixed with 1.2 metres of concrete slabs on one side of the road.
Anyway, I promise nothing, but I'll try to update more, and with pictures. Next time.
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