Blogs from Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa, Africa - page 15

Finally, after a maze of airports (Will Rogers- OKC, DFW-Dallas, JFK-NYC, Dakar- Senegal, and Johannesburg-SA), 36 hours of leg-cramped travel, and the occasional mind-melting B.O. we reached our destination of South Africa. We met our hostess, Renee, at the airport shortly after our arrival. Her accent was peculiar and sounded to me something of a mix between British and Australian, yet her appearance was distinctively Scandinavian (relatively tall, fair complexion, light eyes, auburn hair). My progressive fascination and curiosity with world languages has taught me to look to the history books for my answer. This richest country of the African continent was originally established in 1652 by the Dutch as a supply post for ships sailing around the southernmost tip of Africa to the East. Therefore Afrikaans (a derivation of Dutch) and English are the primary ... read more

Got a bit more of a tan this week..yes!!!! A friend who me and Kelly have made called Louise surprised us yesterday and took us out of Pretoria.thank God and she wanted us to see some townships. this was full on with shacks upon shacks, rubbish everywhere but the bizarre thing was that the people who lived in them looked clean and well dressed - i don't know how? Its crazy that you get so much poverty in one part and then all of a sudden 2 mins down the road there are well off people and gorgeous houses...can't quite get over that! Had a lime milkshake yesterday- it was stunningly lekker (nice) had never tried one before. the weather here is mad with huge raindrops one minute then glorious sunshine the next and massive clouds ... read more

Hey everyone! I made it safely and am having an awesome time. The sun is shining which is sooo cool. I haven't seen that much of Pretoria yet as i have only been at the house of where i am staying and at the church and airport, although what i have seen is so beautiful. This is just a quick one to let you all know that i am well and having a fantastic time already. must dash but will update very soon wiht lots more detail. Lots of love xxx... read more

September 25, 2005 Pretoria, South Africa Hello again everybody, time for my second Africa journal installment. We’ve been living in Pretoria now for almost 4 months and it is amazing how a different perspective and experiences change one’s attitude. Security. For example, we are much less uptight about security. When looking for an apartment we were overwhelmed with the realtor’s concern for a “safe compound” and cautioned not to walk anywhere. The place we found has a security system, but not with armed response. It has a night safety gate at the top of the stairs, which theoretically you should lock at night (which we don’t bother with), the idea being that if someone broke in at night they could burgle freely, but not be able to reach the bedrooms where you would be, no doubt, ... read more

We stayed at a great new backpackers in Pretoria where I watched a very poor Champions League game - Italian football can be so dull... and then we caught a bus to Bulawayo Zimbabwe the next afternoon. I had a bit of a cold from jumping in the pool at midnight at Sondzela I think, but we weren't doing much apart from buses now anyway. ... read more