I thought that I would stand out like a sour thumb in Jozi (nickname for joburg), but everynow and then someone in the street tries to talk to me in Zulu and unfortunately I cannot respond. South Africans are so diverse that almost anyone can fake the funk:) Everyone I meet seems to have their own business. Since the ending of apartheid the government has established an affirmative action system similar to the system in the US that provides opportunities for Black South Africans to have their own businesses. If businesses are Black owned, or buy from black owned they gain points towards obtaining government based incentives. So many interesting parallels with the US. Someone mentioned that the main challenge for South Africa is that it needs to balance both first and third world issues as they relate to social/urban develoment. On top of that you can add issues of class and race.
Went out to this really great house party/40th bday party for a friend of Mandla (to the right of me). Everyone took their star trek costumes VERY seriously. Some of us just tried to look as alien as possible. A dash of silver face paint, some black clothes and voila! Instant star trek alien!We ended the nite with the electric slide which is a bit different from the US version.....maybe a little bit of Zulu style has been thrown in:)
My new found friends here took me to see Pretoria, the political capital of South Africa. Beautiful city, especially because it has a suburb that shares the name of one of the greatest places on earth! BROOKLYN!
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