I awoke at 5:00am this morning to the brightness of day leaking around the curtains in our room. We are less than three weeks from the longest day of the year here in the southern hemisphere – Durban’s December 4 is our June 4 in York. I was still a bit groggy at this hour– we didn’t get to bed until about 1:00am after a very long day + of travel – so I decided to close my eyes for a few more minutes. I awoke with a start and slight panic at 10:45 – missed breakfast! Breakfast is served from 7-10, it’s my favorite meal of the day, and I was really hungry. “No problem.” The hostess at our B&B showed the South African hospitality we are slowing becoming used to… “what would you like for breakfast?” Fried eggs over easy, baked tomato, bacon (shouldn’t but it was really good), fresh fruit, great bread…nice start to the day even though it was already closing in on noon.
Our #1 task for the day, get our UN credentials. We made a street-side hire of a people-mover minivan. This is a low-cost means of public transit in which a minivan has a specific route. People gradually arrive at the van and climb in, but it doesn’t head out until every seat is filled. It was a slow Sunday morning so the driver agreed to take us to the conference center for a set price; about $18, fair deal for the driver and the five of us.
“What’s playing on the radio,” Matt – our student blogger from Carnegie Mellon University – asked as we about half-way into our trip. “”Zulu gospel music,” came the reply. It was very…ahh, very African, and spiritual. We are clearly immersed in a different culture, one that has become surprisingly blind to racial, ethnic, and religious difference in spite of their historical domination by white Africans until the democratic election of Nelson Mandela. Social rest still exists, but it is related more to economic disparities than to other forms of prejudice.
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