Like this:

so, i’ve been in jozi for about a week and a half.  it’s been raining for a couple hours and the lightning is pretty intense–sharp, quick, intense flashes on the horizon.  that also means that it’s cooled down immensely, not that it was all that hot before.  the hottest it’s been is probably 85?  no humidity and breezy (which is, what i’ve been told, uncharacteristic for the present season).  the coldest it’s been is 60?

enough about the weather (boring).  i am on the mend with the sleeping!  what’s the theory?  the time difference is how many days it takes to recover?  i guess that’s about right, maybe shy of a couple days.  i think the nights cooling down helped in the best way.  my battle against the mosquitoes is very real and apparent, though.  i’m pretty positively losing with the count this morning at 56 bites.  brenda, the main hostess of our cute little b&b, suggested i pick up some citronella and i think i reacted like she invented the wheel.  i mean, they’ve got tylenol pm and kfc and apple stores, so c’mon mol, really.  (update: the citronella, or sitronella as it’s spelled here, is working so very well.  the oil is so potent, but it’s really been keeping the bugs away–huzzah!)

brenda graciously let me accompany her on errands the other day and she was telling me about some of the guests who pass through.  my favorite (and hers i gathered) was about a tourist group of about 4 from new orleans who brought “something like 20 bags between them” full of linens and towels and cutlery–any modern convenience–because they thought they’d just be without everything in africa–it was just an assumption that everywhere in africa would be like those donation commercials.

but don’t get me wrong–it’s still africa with africa problems.  like the fact that the plan for this hospital doesn’t include HIV/AIDS even though something like 12% of south africa’s population is infected.  like how high unemployment is (26%?).  like how ‘corrupt’ the general administration of things is.

‘corrupt’ because i think it’s not an unfair term, but an unidimensional one.  it’s one of those words we use that leaves no room for humanity–corrupt just means you’re scum, that you’re bad, that you’re a coward.  i imagine that we can thank the dark knight for that one.  my impression on the situation here is that the majority (black Africans) fought rightfully so against the unfairness of the ruling minority (white Afrikaaners) and now it’s time to get theirs.  when i’ve heard (second hand, i’ll grant you) of ‘corruption,’ it’s an entitlement issue, an ‘i’m allowed to take this, be it medical supplies, money, food from orphans, because of what i’ve been through, what we’ve been through.’

one of our more well-connected people came home with this news and everyone was pretty discouraged.  it seems to color everything.  i don’t think it’s right or justified, but i don’t think it’s the whole picture, either.  my anthro guts know there’s more than just greed or hubris–it’s a symbolic means to an end, a way of communicating.  there’s a lot of wronged persons here and the hits just keep coming it seems.  maybe it’s just in johannesburg (it is 3:1 Africans to Afrikaaners), but i think the society here has some acute PTSD and it’s showing.

on a more positive note, the sun’s finally out again.  it rains hard here, but the sun always finds its way.

 

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