avelog

It’s almost been a week and things are settling down a bit. Projects at work are coming into focus and I’ve met most of the people with whom I’ll be working. Although we haven’t yet ventured outside Pretoria, this weekend presented the first real opportunities to get off the CSIR campus.

Views of the Entabeni residences

Friday night, my new Dutch aerospace engineer PhD friend, Remko, to tag along with him and a couple of his colleagues as they went to a rugby game. The struggling local team, the Blue Bulls (Bluo Bulle), were playing a home game against the winless Pumas. We were picked up on campus by another engineer and drove fifteen minutes to Loftus Versfeld Stadium, capacity 45 000, and earmarked as a venue for the 2010 World Cup of soccer. Parking was haphazard at best, with cars parked at all angles on any clear space that wasn’t the road itself (sidewalks, lawns, boulevards). One of the tip-based security guys directed us into a spot in front of a massively fortified house, and we walked over to the stadium a couple of blocks away. There were many people scalping tickets or selling Blue Bulls merchandise as we approached the stadium, with Remko quickly buying a big flag. We were frisked on our way in, found our seats, bought some refreshments and settled in for what turned out to be quite the romp, the final score being 63 to 3 in favour of the local team. Because of their recent losses, the stadium was barely a quarter full, but the most remarkable thing about the game was that the crowd was virtually 100% white. Apart from the security personnel and vendors, I saw only five people of colour, all in one group. I knew before hand that rugby and cricket are far more popular among whites, while soccer is more popular among blacks, but considering that South Africa is only 11% white, I was expecting slightly more diversity.

Saturday morning heralded a surprise visit from a gorgeous peacock who wandered right up to our sliding door, and was not frightened in the least when I clumsily snuck out to take photos of it. Although Rebecca, Rob, and I had made plans to walk down to the grocery store together, Remko came by around noon wanting to head downtown for some sightseeing. Having asked a number of people their advice about using the Kombi minibus taxis to get around, we walked twenty minutes down to a major road and signalled for a ride from the first one to come along (index finger pointing up). Public transit in South Africa is in fairly poor shape, and the quickest and cheapest way to get around is via Kombi, although anyone who can afford a car seems to avoid them at all costs, as they follow unofficial routes, are overcrowded, are often unroadworthy, have no seatbelts, and are involved in more road crashes than any other vehicle. This means that the population who use Kombis are overwhelmingly black (haven’t seen a white person aside from us in one yet). Government initiatives in recent years have met with limited success in trying to increase the safety measures and regulation of the industry, and it is therefore incumbent on the user to be careful in chosing a vehicle and driver.

Morning visit from a bold peacock

The four of us had a bit of bad luck in our first choice, and as we piled into the initially-empty minibus (three benches), I noted the rust on the door and torn cushions. It was only when the driver started up again that it became obvious that this was one of the unroadworthy ones: the gearshift was finicky and often took two or three tries to get into gear; the door could only be opened using a wrench, and there was a rusting hole through it; the interior filled with fumes; and the van drifted sharply when the brakes were applied. Careening towards the city centre, we stopped to pick others up on the side of the road until the van was packed, with everyone passing their seven Rands up to the front and change going back the other way.

We arrived safely at Church Street, and us four whities hopped out straight into the lively Saturday markets. Since we’d gotten a fairly late start, we decided to skip most of the market browsing and head instead through Church Square, where thousands of pigeons threatened to poo on the big crowd gathered to watch a street performer near the somewhat controversial monument to Paul Kruger, leader of the Boer resistance to Britain, and president of the Zuid-Afrikaan Republiek (ZAR) at the end of the 19th century. We headed to Kruger House, the man’s residence in Pretoria and now a little museum, and wandered around inside for an hour or so.

Church Square; church across from Kruger House; back porch of Kruger House; Paul Kruger as a menacing bust

Remko on Kruger’s train; various at Kruger House

We took a different route back to the city centre, passing City Hall and a couple of museums, but most places had closed by that time. We stopped for a bite to eat and some groceries before heading for the two-block-long line of Kombis waiting for passengers. We were directed to a particular Kombi by a fellow running up and down the Kombi line. The driver’s father, Fred, sat in the seat beside him and negotiated a slightly higher rate with us for drop-off right outside the CSIR gate. As a result, and contrary to our intention, a few blocks into the ride he asked the other passengers to vacate the van so as to get us there as quickly as possible. He then proceeded to try to form a working relationship with us in order to get our business in the future, and gave us his son Poi’s mobile phone number so that we can in the future call if we need to go anywhere. All-in-all the day was exciting, and the ride back a pleasant experience, as the second Kombi was in good condition, with nice seats, and an excellent sound system over which Poi blasted South African music (it sounded like that of the movie Tsotsi). Our co-worker took us out to Hatfield, home to restaurants and bars, for food and drinks in the evening to cap off the day.

Three housemates in front of City Hall; looking out from City Hall (Remko taking photos

Today was much lower-key, with my first walk to the grocery store (half an hour there), and a run down to the office to use the internet.

I hope that the pictures are interesting even if my ramblings aren’t! I haven’t yet found a source of malaria medication for Rebecca’s planned Kruger Park trip next weekend, but I’ll be working on that early this week as I delve deeper into my projects at work.