May 9th, 10th & Early 11th

May 9th

May I See Your License & Registration Please

So Andre (the GSE Chair in South Africa) got all of us and our luggage in the combie and the trailer and off we were to Ermelo – which is about 1.5 hours from Middleburg (where we were). We were about 1 block from his office and we got pulled over by the traffic police. In South Africa – there are police, who handle crime, etc and traffic police, who pull you over for whatever they want. Both are rather crooked. So he check Andre’s drivers license and told us the tags on the trailer were expired. However they were within the 21 day grace period – we’re convinced he just wanted to pull over a van with 5 women in it.

We were swapped off at Andre’s Law Office and off we went for a 30 minute drive to Ermelo. Once we arrived, I was off with Jaco, who owned a marketing company in Ermelo. We have similar companies in the US – he compiles a business directory and sells adds to cover the costs and make money. Very nice but like a typical non planning male he looked at me and said “What do you want to do today?” Fair enough though – I don’t think he knew I was going with him until right before we left. So we went for lunch, then to his office to hop on the Web and then to the Rotary Club for a beer – it was 1 pm but it was happy hour somewhere. Then Rina, Jaco’s girlfriend, came to the club to rescue me and take me shopping and around the town. I saw the schools, the rec fields, the pools, etc. From what I could gather there are no gyms, YMCA’s and the rec fields are not like our community. It’s just a sports field. We then went to the K9 Police Station in Ermelo – where Rina’s sister works. I got a tour of the station, the “rec” room with a bar and then we went out back to meet the dogs. Certainly not your friendly neighborhood dog- scared the beegeezes out of me.

We sat on the couch watching really bad, old soap operas and then went to a Rotary Dinner, a combination of two clubs, one is the lunch time club and the other is the “night club” as we all called it. Between the two clubs there might be twenty members total. The Rotarians were all great and friendly but I’m learning quickly that they all want you to drink and to eat….

So to date – and it’s only been 4 days, I’ve had dried meat (beef jerkey) but not sure what animal, pap and sour milk, snoke (fish), Chinese fruit – which is like a dried fruit that goes from sweet to sour to salty (yuck) and many other unidentifiable items… And I have many more days and foods to go.

I’m also learning that everyone here has “domestic help” – either on a daily basis or 2-3 times a week. Tomorrow I’m to leave a pile of dirty clothes on the arm chair and the domestic help will wash, dry and press it. I could get used to this ;). It’s also interesting that the place I’m staying is the school dormitory for the teachers. Rena is a teacher and so their apartment is on the school grounds and is basically back to dorm living – with a kitchen and private bathroom. Rena pointed out that if I heard any strange noise past the pad locked door in my bedroom that it’s only the school boys – as my door lines up with their dorm. Very interesting. Kat – maybe you could get DCPS to do that for the teachers ;0

May 10th

Good Clean Fun

So one of the interesting discoveries in Ermelo is the showers in the houses. The tubs are about as big as your hips and there is now shower curtain or nozzle in the wall. There is just a hose with a spicket type thing at the end. So at first I was all crunched up trying to shower without spraying the whole bathroom down with the spicket, then I was trying to wash my hair upside down, then I finally found a way that worked – somewhat and showered with only getting half the bathroom wet. I was happy to find out that everyone had this issue this morning. What a chore…

So after getting the whole shower thing down I came out and the maid was there. She had made my bed, straightened my stuff and was looking for my laundry. I could completely get used to this.

Following a drive around town to the wrong location for the team meeting, we finally all met up at the gas station and headed off to a day care facility for disabled kids in Ermelo. The government and people in South Africa really don’t support the disabled – especially if they’re white. So this woman opened a center in her home. She currently has 12 children for day care – including her son. The children had a range of disabilities and abilities. One of the children was 25 years old but had the mentality of a 4 year old. One of the girls was 22 and had a mild disability and was fluent is 3 languages. Before we left, we asked the woman what her wish list was and out came a huge, lofty list of a new center, horses, a bus, etc. I give her credit, in the non profit world if you don’t dream big and ask big – you usually have no chance of getting it.


Following that, we went back to the gas station and met with Richard, one of the Rotarians sons (who just left a job with a big PRAd agency Olgivy after getting burnt out). We split up into 2 cars and headed to Secunda where Sasol is. Sasol is an integrated oil and gas company with substantial chemical interests. Talk about interesting. I just watched a movie before I came to South Africa called “To Catch A Fire” which was about South Africa and the ANC a very big period of unrest around the area of Sasol (as well as the rest of the country). This coal plant was the biggest thing I’ve ever seen – it’s bigger than some communities I know – about 18,000 employees and almost that much in visitors a day. They take coal and turn it into just about everything power, chemical, etc related (no diamonds though). We weren’t allowed out of the car as we drove by but we got a VIP tour of the place from the cooling towers, to the processing plants, to the transport pipes. The amount of machinery, people, power, water, coordination, etc that it takes to run Sasol is amazing. And they have an extensive community outreach program, ranging from sponsoring plays, to building community centers, to giving to non profits.

On the way from Secunda back to Ermelo there was a fire on the felt (field) and interestingly enough fires down here just burn. It was insane to drive by these burning fields and just watch it burn. From what I’ve been told all the civil services are so under funded and underpaid most of the fire equipment doesn’t work and the police are crooked.

Are returning to Ermelo we went to Luigi’s for dinner and I swear to you – they are trying to make us eat and drink everything in sight. We had a lovely dinner but not without drinks before, during and after. At one point Luigi kept pouring drinks and passing them to me (he doesn’t take no for an answer) – Armulo (which is a SA specialty and is like our Baileys) and Amaretto were the after dinner drinks tonight. Rina and I started to try and get out of there around 9:30 pm – we finally made it at 11 pm. The men had to be men and started goofing around trying to fox the dvd player and cable.

Now I’m used to long days but every one seems like a 7 am to 11 pm day. There is so much going on by the time we get to the afternoon the morning feels like it was weeks ago. Tomorrow is the 6th day and it feels like we’re been here for weeks – not in a bad way though.

May 11th

Friday Morning Ishhhh! (wow)!

A few random thoughts:

- I think I actually managed to shower without soaking the bathroom
- I only have a few pair of pants and one pair almost got left on Ermelo because the maid though they were someone else’s
- There are no trash cans in the house except the kitchen
- No one really has tissues laying around the house
- Living back in the “dorm” setting isn’t fun when the school wake up bell rings at 6:30 am and 6:45 am.
- It doesn’t seem like anyone “works out” down here.
- Everyone thinks you should drink and eat a lot and wonder what’s wrong with you if you don’t. - People in Ermelo thought all American were fat and that we were always eating sweets.
- Rumor has it – the folks in Ermelo think we’re going to be bored in Swaziland.
- Rumor has it – we might meet the King while we’re there.
- Rumor has it – all or nothing could be true.