May 31

Yesterday was not the best day on this trip. Traveling takes a lot out of me, even when it’s a short plane ride of almost 3 hours. When we arrived in JoBurg, we had to gather into a large group once we’d collected our luggage before heading to the coaches. Once loaded onto the coaches, we went to a conference area where we had to hae a briefing on the Muti Market. Now, the faculty advisors have already made a couple of comments about people sleeping through the presentations, so even though I was worn out from the travel (and yes, I admit, my carousing), I was careful to pay close attention. The Muti Market is a market where Sangomas (similar to shamans) can sell their wares and services. They use traditional medicine consisting of teas and concoctions made from roots and wood chips and animal bones or hides or feathers. There is a lot they do that I won’t really go into here, but suffice to say, I was very excited about going.

Unfortunately, our flight had been delayed and we were late into Joburg, and then traffic was slow and we were late to the next phase of the day, so we had to cancel the market for yesterday afternoon and move it to this morning.

Honestly, I was glad. I was so sapped of energy, and my legs were in excruciating pain. So, we came straight to the hotel from the conference center and checked in, with enough time left for a short powernap before we were expected back into the coaches for dinner.

Dinner was at Gramadoela’s. The ‘gr’ is not pronounced as grizzly, but rather as a throaty ‘h’, and the ‘oel’ is pronounced as ‘el’. They did a buffet of traditional African dishes and it was delicious. However, I was so tired, I could barely get the fork to my mouth. And my legs were hurting worse and worse as the night went on. I never thought to bring Aspirin because I don’t generally take it, but sure enough last night I needed it. And no one else had any either. By the time I made it back to the hotel, I was in bad shape and had a good cry in the bathroom once I was in my room. Jennie helped me get my feet elevated and then let me have a little while to myself to pull it together.

When Jennie came back to the room last night, she suggested I think about not going on the excursion today to give my legs a chance to rest, and I did consider it but this morning when I got up, they were much better, so I went.

We toured another Township today. It was Soweto, and we saw where Winnie Mandela lives. Soweto covers 10 hectares and has 4 million people living in it. As you can well imagine, in an area that large, there are good and bad sections. We visited a monument built in Hector Pietersen and all the other students that were killed in the student protest marches back in the 60s (?). Then we had lunch at Wandie’s Place, which is a bed and breakfast in Soweto. The food, again, was African food, and it was gooood. There is this thing they call porridge and it’s made from maize meal, I think, or mealy pop, or I’m not sure what. I just know it was so very good. There was lots of other stuff to, but the porridge was my favorite. After lunch we went to the Nelson Mandela museum. Living in Memphis, I’ve been to the Civil Rights Museum. I have studied the Civil Rights movement. But I was not prepared for the gut deep sorrow that was waiting for me in the museum. It was intense. I can’t talk about it right now… but I’ll blog about it when I’ve had a chance to process the experience.