Holiday Inn Pretoria Transvaal

... because of the crime stories and statistics the country had.<br><br>In Johannesburg we went to the Top of Africa in the Carleton Centre, the tallest office building on the continent and one which I had visited 17 years earlier. The view had not changed much other than a big banner hanging on one building which advertised a mobile phone company. The city centre had mostly stagnated and suffered from white flight and decentralization of businesses, so there was almost ...

... that the flight was supposed to leave as scheduled. I checked in, cleared emigration and waited in the departure lounge until 08:50 when we were to board. We waited in line until about 09:10 when a buzz of conversation ran through the line. I glanced up at the schedule board and saw that next to South African flight 190 to Mauritius was the notice "cancelled." I knew there was a "cyclone;" an Indian Ocean Hurricane named ...

Easy to annoy, even at a distance, it appears my folks don't take kindly to my up-close images of nose, ear and throat! Got to keep them interested though! Here's some pics of their reactions to my Skype fondness for pointing the camera up my nose while we are using Skype! Happy New Year mum and dad!

... any electricity to pass through the power cord to the computer. I had planned to start writing an electronic journal during the afternoon but now I didn't have a way to work on it. So, I went out on the little patio at the back of my room and read my book until it was time for Mike to arrive. It was sunny out there with a little breeze. Notice the evergreen is swaying a little. Here's another picture of one of those noisy water birds. Once Mike ...

So, I failed to get away from Pretoria again last weekend. I did manage to make it to an indoor rock climbing place. Rock climbing barefoot is... less than optimal. Got some cheap shoes today, though, so I have no excuse not to get out there in the future. I am also told that some of the best climbing in the country is by the Hartbeesport dam, which just happens to be a few km from where I work. I did, however, get to take in some more rugby on Saturday ...

... the run up to the regime, from the 1700s, and how the regime was managed, all teh way up to its abolition. There was laods of video footage from news programmes and a lot of it was pretty sad and disturbing. After leaving the museum, 5 of the group were off to the airport to catch their flights, so there were more tears all round, and the remaining 5 of us (me, angela, paul caremn and ...

... We saw Nelson Mandela's cell and the cells of many other inmates. Their stories can be read or, in some cases, listened to. The guide had been a prisoner in one of the large wards which held about 50 prisoners. He pointed out where his bed had been located in the cell. He also explained that many of the prisoners were given study privileges. Since the only light left on at nights was in the toilet, the men would take their books ...

This weekend, I and many of the other exchange students, were invited to a braai outside of the city. I was excited about this for several reasons; I get to leave Hatfield Square (which is where I live and where most of time is spent), it was a bit in the country (which is beautiful), and it was a braai with an Afrikaans family (so I knew that they would do it right). Their house was very nice, also with a pool and a nice ...

... that even until the last mouthful I was saying "mmmm" out loud :) On Monday morning it was time to go and we were sad to leave our chalet which had come to feel like home. But we knew that the delights of the Kruger Park awaited us and we were looking forward to that. We passed through the town of Hazyview and entered the park by the Kruger Gate. Even before we entered we were greeted with the sight of a tree laden with Weaver Bird nests. Within minutes we came across some ...

... and tweens roaming and wrestling in the halls, we got to sleep at about 8:00 and didn't wake up until morning. Interesting side note, French teenagers STINK. Kelly and I couldn't believe that kids could have such bad body odor. The next morning after an awesome breakfast, we went to a mall in Pretoria to buy camping supplies and food for our trip to the Animal parks. The mall was just about like any in the states. In fact, the cities here are very similar to cities ...