July 6, 2013

July 6, 2013

I am still suffering a bit from jet lag – I was awake this morning at 4:00 and could not fall asleep!!  Some of the reason, though, might be because I fell asleep last night at about 8:30.  

I woke up this morning to the sound of music drifting through the trees.  When I asked the Lukens what is was for, they told me about the initiation of South African boys.  The year a South African boy turns 14, he goes to the mountains for 2 months.  This means at this time, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of young boys out in the wilderness.   This is the way that the prove that they are men.  However, it is in harsh circumstances.  Since it is winter, it is cold.  As well, a more recent trend is for the uncles to bring alcohol and cigarettes to these boys.  This will be their first exposure to both of these, and so this also hurts them.  It is never reported how many die, but this year it is said that 126 have died.   Now the two month period is up and the people are looking forward to the men coming home.  That is the reason for the music.  

Joke invited me to go along shopping with her in Pretoria. Pretoria is a bustling city about one hour away.  As I went along, I watched the traffic carefully – I hope to rent a car next week and so I need to be prepared.  One thing I noticed is that they use the shoulder (when there is one) as a lane.  If someone wants to pass you, instead of them passing you in the opposite lane, you move over onto the shoulder (not changing your speed) and they pass you.  They will then flash their blinkers at you as a ‘thank-you’.  The main highways are in good shape and the secondary ones are decent as well, although they don’t have lines marked clearly on them.  As well, in most locations, stop signs are more yield signs (except for one location, where I was told I must stop or there would be a good chance of me receiving a ticket).  As well, at night time, it is recommended that you don’t stop at the stop signs.  I hope I don’t have to drive that often at night. 

In Pretoria, we went to a home decorating store and to a grocery store.  As this is a main city, there were many white people there, however, they do not speak a familiar language and so I still felt confused J .  However, other than that, the stores looked just like they did in Canada.  I also went to a mall and that too, reminded me of Canada.  The clothing prices were really cheap – shoes were $10, nice shirts were $5. . .  For lunch we stopped at Macdonalds – yes they do have McD here as well.  I bought a combo for $5 so that is cheap as well. 

Once I arrived at home, I made supper and went and chatted with the Lukens. 

Oh, and something I forgot to put on yesterday’s page was that you say Kwamlanga something like Kwamshla.