debbieann | Entries tagged with joburg

I had a great time in the US, but wow, it is so different from my regular life, now I am finding it strange to be on my own all day - we are in Johannesburg again, after being away for six months. I'm surprised how the people at restaurants, and museums, and coffeeshops all remember me! I'm back to watching movies - there are actually more art house film choices here then there were in Singapore. On Tues I saw A Late Quartet and Behind the Candelabra - both were good, not great, but enjoyable. I finished reading The Manticore, I'm halfway through Bad Monkey and I'm also reading Granta -the travel issue. So lots of time to read, not as much time online currently. We come in to the office when we want unlimited internet.

I'm transitioning back into life in Joburg, happy I stayed on all the mailing lists. I've seen two excellent photo exhibits. We're in a hotel in Braamfontein, but a different hotel - bigger rooms - we even have a living room- location is a little less convenient to most things, but it is great for Gautrain and good for the Constitutional Court. I'll start going to the court on Nov 4 - they are sitting 4 days a week for most of November, so I'll have lots to do when that starts.

Back to South Africa for a bit - here is what I've been doing - today we say an art show called Making Way - Contemporary Art from South Africa and China. It was excellent. lots of video art. I really like a lot of contemporary Chinese Art. Then we had high tea at the Westcliff hotel, which is very nice, and the high tea was fun. We went w some of C's co-workers.

On Friday I saw two short dance pieces at Wits University - one was good and one was really great - and only 10 rand which is about $1! Not going to find that in Perth (we will arrive there March 5). My only complaint is that it is almost impossible to get in to the university campus. The guard had to make an exception for me and use his card key to get me in - and then you can't get out either without a special card! I don't know any University in the US that is locked down as much as that. I want to go to some more dance performances next week, but not sure I want to deal w getting in and out. If the guard doesn't take pity on me then I have to go a few more blocks and sign in and get a guest pass.

Next week we will go see Mies Julie at Market Theatre - it has been getting rave reviews.

My other new found joy is going to Constitutional Court (free!) - I have now been twice, it is walking distance from our hotel. The first case is fascinating - a woman refused to pay her property taxes because the municipality was not delivering services, and her electricity was cut off, even though she had paid her electric bill, because the municipality can bundle it all together. I'm sure there are other details - like there is an electricity act that says you can't turn it off if the bill is paid, but there is a Systems act that authorizes termination of services. Anyway, I thought the justices asked GREAT questions of both sides - they asked the municipality how an ordinary citizen can remedy the situation if services aren't provided, and the municipality was unable to come up w a better answer than protest in the streets! but then the justices asked if people can pick and choose what they pay for - if you have no car, you still pay for roads.

I'm thinking of also going to South Gauteng High Court, but for now, Constitutional Court is easy. You can read about forthcoming cases here:

http://www.constitutionalcourt.org.za/site/home.htm

I also watched a lot of African countries play soccer and read a few books, and went to the library.Also heard live music at Lucky Bean - Derek Gripper and Tony Cox.

Just finished Purple Hibiscus, which was good, but not as excellent as Half of a Yellow Sun. Not sure what I will read next - the choices are -

Liar's Poker- Michael Lewis
The Hare w Amber Eyes- Edmund de Waal
The Land Within-Alistair Morgan
Two Ravens Came Tapping- Friedrich von Kirchhoff

I also ordered Cutting for Stone to take w me on our trip - speaking of which - still no visa, because I still need an invitation w a copy of a Ghanian passport. I'm a little anxious about it. Have to apply by Dec 10. Have to pack everything up here by Dec 15.

Last week we went to two photo exhibits and a concert in Sophiatown. The concert was in a museum which had photos and artifacts about the history of Sophiatown. We also saw Skyfall and found good croissants.

This coming up weekend we'll go on another tour of Johannesburg w Gerald Garner - his love for Johannesburg makes his tours the best tours -
http://www.joburgplaces.com/tours/index.htm
Also coming up - dinner at Cube, which has been on our list for awhile.
We are also going to hear Abdullah Ibrahim and Ekaya and the play The Miser.

I've been listening to lots of podcasts - today I listened to Decode DC, Moth, Radiolab and 99% Invisible.

We've been having daily thunderstorms.

The Ghana visa is more difficult than I imagined. We have to have a letter from someone who is living in Ghana inviting us to Ghana! I also had to ask a local person here to get us postal money orders, since you need to have proof of address. It is amazing how many favors I have asked for in order to get a visa. All the other countries we are going to will be easier. I did enjoy taking the train up to Pretoria - we really haven't spent any time in that city and it is only 30 min away, so perhaps we will explore there a bit - we are running out of weekends though - we leave on Dec 15, but then we will be back in Joburg from Jan 9- Feb 7 or 8. When I get the Ghana letter I will go back up to Pretoria and hopefully get the visa. It takes 3 days for them to process it, which means I'll have to go up to Pretoria again to collect it.

I am reading Absolution by Patrick Flanery - it took awhile to get into it, but I am about halfway through and enjoying it.

Last weekend we saw Cloud Atlas, which was ok. This week I want to see Bullhead, a film from Belgium. I am lucky that foreign films play at Rosebank. There are actually two big cinemas at Rosebank, so it is easy to spend the day there.

I also have been watching youtube videos of a dance that comes from Ghana - Azonto!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZE8p9LqinHo&feature=related
I had never heard of it before.

saw two films yesterday -

Beasts of the Southern Wild - better than I thought it would be, a POV/story that doesn't get told, beautifully filmed, imaginative, maybe a little sappy/corny

Monsieur Lazhar - filmed in Montreal, a quiet drama in many ways, about an Algerian man taking over a class because the teacher killed herself, dealing w issues of immigration, death, children - I liked it.

also visited four galleries and spent a couple of hours at the library. Took two books out of the library - Crow Country by Mark Cocker and Thin Blue by Jonny Steinberg (the unwritten rules of policing South Africa).

The malls all have post offices which I find very useful - mailed off my ballot. I can really only vote in federal level offices, so I voted for president and senate/house of reps. Would have loved to vote on CA getting rid of the death penalty (yes!), but I didn't.

We had dinner with someone that my sister met in Claremont - and got along great. small world!

We spent a great Spring day at a free outdoor concert at Zoo Lake. I put some photos up on flickr. I loved the people watching, the music was ok, and we walked there from Melville, which I really enjoyed. It was a wonderful weekend filled w people and good food. We went to a braai at a co-worker's house and that was lots of fun. There was a hot tub and a St Bernard and a pool and a big grill. After that we went to a concert, which was in a downtown warehouse space. Doors opened at 8 pm, but the main act (Little Dragon) didn't start until 1130 pm, which was a bit late for us. We have tickets for a dance event coming up called Moffie and also a concert by someone I know from the well (Carl Stone). The first ten days in Sept are part of a big Johannesburg art festival, so there are a lot of cultural events available. I think it would be easy to be busy every night.We are even getting to know our way around Joburg without the GPS, though I must say GPS w turn by turn directions is pretty great.

I'm reading Rian Malan's first book called My Traitor's Heart. It is good. I think he is very honest about the intense mix of feelings growing up liberal and white in SA during apartheid.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/rian_malan>

I'm also working on getting our visa for our trip to China in October. We might do a small trip in Sept to Swaziland. It is great to have a different country be only a 5 hour drive away and not require a visa. That can't really happen in Australia.

Current Location: Melville

Life improved greatly once we got out of Sandton and Rosebank, and if any of you ever gets here, I would suggest getting out of those areas. Also, a car is pretty much essential here. I like the guest house we moved to:
http://www.12stars.co.za/
It is in a great neighborhood called Melville. During the day it is pretty comfortable to walk around Melville. I found a great little bookstore, some wonderful cafes, and a place to do laundry.

I've been reading a lot, just to try and learn about South Africa. I finished a book called Young Blood
http://www.argief.litnet.co.za/cgi-bin/giga.cgi?cmd=cause_dir_news_item&cause_id=1270&news_id=91110

and now I am reading Welcome to Our Hillbrow
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welcome_to_Our_Hillbrow

We also spent a half day at the Apartheid Museum and will definitely going back. It does a great job of telling a complicated story - I've already learned a lot.
http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/

I also saw a film that takes place in an area of Johannesburg called Fordsburg. The title of the movie is Material and it is about a family of Indian Muslims. I enjoyed it - in part just because it has a different context than most films I see. I was happy there was at least one SA film being shown in the cinemas - otherwise it is mostly mainstream US films like 21 Jump Street.

This easter wkend we are going to drive to Kruger Natl Park.

and I'm typing this in a great little cafe called Love&Revolution. Free wifi and a pot of rooibos tea. Other people are sitting here typing away on laptops. Yesterday there was someone struggling through turbotax. It feels hard to remember our Australia life - but we are still working on perm residency and even had a 6 am call about it this morning. We have a deadline of trying to get our paperwork in by the end of June. I've done most of the parts that are under my control. The US seems so far away too.

Most of what I have seen of J'burg seems very different than any other place I've been. There are high walls and electric fences everywhere. Day time rules and night rules are very different.

Current Location: South Africa, Johannesburg

Had a great trip around Australia w my parents - went to Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Hobart. Then we spent a week in Wellington NZ - and then I flew directly to Johannesburg South Africa! I think I am still recovering from jetlag and the 14 hr flight. And just getting used to life here which revolves around cars, shopping malls and security. We started in Rosebank, moved to Sandton and may move again. I found a library, cinema, grocery stores. It is hard to get used to the level of security - I have to use a fingerprint reader to get in and out of our apt building. Nobody walks at night. Some people don't even go out at night.