Last American Holiday

Happy Memorial Day to everyone! This marks my last American holiday before labor day. It will be weird being abroad for the Fourth of July. It has not been a big holiday full of fireworks and BBQ since I was a young child, but I've always been able to see and hear illegal fireworks being set off around the neighborhood. I probably won't give this a second though when I am abroad, since Fourth of July falls on a Sunday this year - it's not like I will be working that day or anything.

Although I am missing the Fourth of July, I will be in South Africa for three South African holidays. Youth Day takes place on June 16th - this is a national holiday to honor all of the young people who lost their lives in the struggle against Apartheid and Bantu education. The holiday has its foundations in a June 1976 student uprising in Soweto (in Joburg) against the introduction of Afrikaans (currently one of South Africa's 11 official languages, it originated from Dutch settlers during the 1600's) as the official language of school instruction.

The second holiday is South Africa's newest holiday - Mandela Day on July 18th. This holiday was declared by South Africa's current president, Jacob Zuma, in 2009 as a national community service day of sorts. Since President Mandela spent 67 years of his life in the political realm, Mandela Day calls on people to dedicated at least 67 minutes of their day doing something useful within their communtities, especially among those who are less fortunate.

Finally, during the last week I am there, South Africa will celebrate National Women's Day on August 9th. This day is dedicated as a reminder that women make to society as well as the advances in women's rights and to acknowledge the problems that women still face. Like Youth Day, National Women's Day also has its roots in protest. In 1956, approximately 20,000 women marched on the government buildings in Pretoria (the Union Buildings, which are fairly close to where I will be living) to protest a law that required black women to carry passes.

It will be interesting to see how South African's practice these holidays and compare them to our national holidays. I'm not sure if I have work on Youth Day since I will be working for the government - I'm not sure if they close government functions like we do for national holidays - but if not, I hope there is a local celebration to go to. Mandela Day is on a Sunday, so I will not have work that day - maybe I can find some way to contribute to the community...I'll have to ask my supervisor and the place I'm staying about that.

This week is going to be a bit crazy, but crazy in a good way. I still have quite a few people to see before I leave and a few things to gather together so that I can go. However, after all the stress I had to deal with in getting my passport, I'm extremely relaxed about it all. I am going to try to post more this week, but may not get a chance until Saturday afternoon and maybe only a quick post then.

1 week until South Africa; 2 weeks until I start at the Commission

Key To A Whole New World

Finally! My passport arrived today! What a relief! I knew that I would be able to go even if it didn't arrive - I was going to find a way - but now that it is here, I don't have that unnecessary stress. Having a passport just makes this trip that much more tangible - it's my key to a whole new world of experiences that I cannot wait to have.

Edit: Funny mom quote: "It's so pretty. Why would anyone want to mess it up by putting stamps in there?"

Accommodations - CHECK!

Finally got my housing situation squared away. I am going to be staying at a B&B in the Brooklyn area of Pretoria that was recommended to me by my travel book. It will be about $500 a week, but it includes breakfast every morning, a newspaper (I'm interested to see how South African news coverage differs from the coverage here), free internet, satellite TV, and free laundry services. It is also close to the University of Pretoria and about a mile away from the soccer stadium where some of the World Cup games will be played. I could not have asked for a better place to be.

OW OW OW!

Travel shots - check!

I only received 2 shots today - typhoid and a hepatitis B booster - I was immune to everything else that I would need. I usually joke about shots hurting, but this time I'm not kidding when I say that the typhoid shot hurt like a mother! It feels like I got stung by a bee, then slugged in the arm, and then got a cootie shot from an grade schooler. Why do shots have to hurt so much?

Maybe I just wanted to have something to complain about since things are going so well lately? I had the option taking typhoid in an oral form - 4 doses every other day over 8 days - but the pills had to be refrigerated and I could not take the pills with "too much" water or food. The pills also lasted 5 years versus 2 years for the shot. I opted for the shot because I thought that the whole chilled pill with water, but not too much, over 8 days was way too much work. I was told the shots would hurt, maybe I should have listened. Next time, I will opt for the pills.

So if anyone else needs to get immunized from typhoid, take it from me. That shot HURTS! Opt for the pill with the encyclopedic restrictions instead.

Book A Flight - CHECK!

After struggling with my computer and becoming infuriated at the Virgin Atlantic website for about an hour, I was finally able to book my roundtrip flight to South Africa. I was originally planning on booking a one-way flight there now and a one-way flight home once I decided what my post-SALRC travel plans were, but it turns out that booking a one way flight is almost as expensive as booking a roundtrip flight.

I chose Virgin because it was the cheapest out of all the airlines and even they wanted about $2000 for a one-way ticket. I tried to book a flight that would have had me arriving in South Africa on Wednesday, June 9th and returning August 14th, but as soon as I got done entering all of my info, Virgin told me that the flight on the 9th was no longer available. So, after trying both the 8th and then the 7th as my arrival date, I was able to book a flight out of LAX on the 5th that had me arriving shortly after 8am on the 7th. However, by the time I got that part of the trip booked, the 14th was no longer available, so now I am leaving South Africa on the 15th and returning the 16th. The price of the flight is only about $35 more expensive than the initial one I attempted to book, however, with the added expense of 3 more days in South Africa the total cost jumps to about $250 extra. I'm not going to complaint though - it gives me more time in a beautiful new country and I intend to make the most of it.

I've never been a fan of flying - maybe I've seen Final Destination one too many times. There is just something about it that makes me uneasy. Maybe it how cramped and crowded planes have become post-9/11. I remember flying as a child and having whole rows to myself to lay down in or to stretch across. Now it seems like every flight is packed and overpacked. It makes a person feel like they've been reduced to cattle - sometimes it's hard to resist the urge to let out a deep "MMMOOOOO!" Maybe I'll do that someday and see what kind of looks I get. But then again, maybe not - especially not on a 11+ hour transatlantic flight...that would be a long time to have someone pissed off at you because they think you were mooing at them specifically.

But there is something unsettling about planes, especially the take off and the landing - probably the take off more than the landing. When you land you just want to let out a "Thank God!" and run off the plane and kiss the ground - you're just thankful to be safely back on terra firma where man belongs! The take off is terrible though. Feeling the plane defy the inviolable law of gravity just seems wrong. I need to find a stress ball to put into a vice grip during take off for this long trip, perhaps that will help ease some of my anxiety about messing with gravity.

Fear of take offs and landings aside, I do feel pretty confident that nothing will happen to my flight. I'm flying on one of the new double decker planes - you know, the ones that LAX had to build a new terminal for so that they would be able to handle them. That's going to be pretty cool. It will be an interesting experience to fly on one of those. The only other large plane I flew on was a Boeing 747 when I went to Hawaii after my senior year of high school. I believe that one had 3x5x3 seating. This one is just as wide but has 2x4x2 seating on the bottom level and then the top level is uber posh suites for the really rich travelers who want to be able to have a room to themselves. It might be fun to fly like that when I'm really old - just to be able to say that I've done it - but for now I am content to fly in economy, just so long as I get there safely.

Amazon Shopping Spree

I'm quite excited about my little purchase today. I've recently become enamored with Amazon.com. It's one-stop-shopping for everything under the sun. The best part of it is that there is no sales tax, items are already cheaper than they would be in the stores, and free shipping! So, today I bought 2 travel books by Lonely Planet. The first one is on travel writing, so that I can entertain you all with better, more insightful blog posts (and who knows, maybe I can get something published while I am abroad) and a travel photography book. As many of you know I am in love with photography, so this trip will provide me with an endless array of new scenes and events to capture.

I also bought a new watch, since my old one needs a new battery and if I send it in now I definitely won't have it back in time for my trip. I ordered a Citizen Eco-Drive watch. It may end up being the coolest piece of technology I own (maybe even better than my cameras or my Mac - that's saying alot!). It runs completely off solar energy! I'll never have to buy another watch battery ever again. Once it's charged it's supposed to be able to last for 6 months in the dark before it needs to be recharged. How they test that and why it needs to last for 6 months in total darkness is beyond me - they had me at solar powered! So, as a duty to the Earth, I bought an environmentally friendly watch. (Who knows what the actual carbon footprint is of my watch, but it's nice to think that its close to zero because its solar powered).

So, along with my Mandela autobiography, I now have 3 books to read before or during my first week in South Africa. And along with my Rough Guide to South Africa, I'm taking 4 books with me. My backpack is getting heavier by the day.

Homeless in South Africa

It's about a month before I am supposed to begin working for the SALRC and I still do not have a place to live. Considering that most things are either exorbitantly expensive or completely booked, I'm relatively calm about the whole matter. I'm confident that I will find something - it may not be the most affordable option, but at least it will be something.

Yesterday, I sent out an email to a few places in Pretoria and filled them in on how long I will be staying and asked them to not only inform me of any vacancies they had, but to also let me know if they know of any other places that they would recommend. So far, it looks like I have quite a few options. Some are more affordable than others, but they all seem to be in decent areas of the city. Once I book my flight I will be able to finalize my housing. I need to do that soon though because the longer I wait the more expensive the flights become and the greater the risk of quality accommodations disappearing.

Good Ol' Bureaucracy

The United States government never ceases to surprise me. I hope to serve in national office some day; on the top of my to do list will be to draft legislation to reduce ridiculous bureaucratic nonsense.

While I was still in Maryland, the Department of State sent me a letter informing me that my passport application needed to be supplemented by additional documentation. For some unknown reason, my California birth certificate and driver's license were not sufficient. I called the 1-800 number for the passport agency, and they were not able to tell me why my application was flagged - I will probably never know why. There are only two possible reasons that I can think of.

First, all my documentation says California, but I applied in Maryland. I don't think that should rally matter though. A passport agency is a passport agency; why should the government care where you apply? The standards for an application are the same for everyone, regardless of what state they are from or where they apply.

Second, if you've ever seen my California driver's license picture, you know that it looks nothing like me anymore. The picture was taken when I was in high school - I think it is the picture that was on my learner's permit. I had the opportunity to take another photo when I turned 24, but I dread the DMV. The DMV is the 7th circle of bureaucratic hell. There are not enough people working there, everyone is miserable for having to be there and would much rather be doing something else, and I venture to guess that most actually do have something better to be doing with their day.

So, while not knowing why I need to provide all of this extra documentation, I started working on what documentation I could provide. I must say though, California's certainly get screwed in the amount of documents that they are able to provide. For example, one of the documents the passport agency accepts is voter registration cards, which California does not issue or require. Moreover, a lot of the documentation is very specific, such as welfare cards, professional licenses, and union cards. And then there is some documentation that they requested, which I found downright comical - high school yearbooks, newspaper articles, and publicity features. Really, a high school yearbook? I can only imagine a bunch of passport issuers sitting around the office having a drink flipping through old yearbooks at a bar and giggling about people's hair styles or clothing. Maybe they turned it into a drinking game - every time someone has a bad mustache you have to take a shot. Or maybe if the person was voted the class clown they have to tell a bad knock-knock joke. There can't be any good reason for requesting the yearbook.

It will take me a few days to figure out what to send them, but for now I'm just in shock that my "required" documentation wasn't enough. Has anyone else ever heard of someone having this problem?

32 days until I start work in South Africa.

Paperwork

Today, I met with my professor about the trip - things that still need to get done and who to send paperwork to as I finish it. I also met with the person responsible for handling my W-9 that I need to fill out for my grant. I still have much left to take care of, but I'm pretty relaxed about it. I'm just excited and ready to fly home tomorrow for a 3 week break before South Africa.

In addition to doing concrete things to move me closer to getting to South Africa, I also went to Borders and bought Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. I'm not sure if I will have time to read it much before I go, but my goal is to finish it before leaving South Africa. There is also another book that I want to read while I am there - Dark Continent, My Black Arse by Sihle Khumalo - but I need to buy that in South Africa because it won't be printed in the United States until October. It's about a black South African man's journey from Cairo to Cape Town via public transportation. It should provide an interesting perspective on the country.

35 days until I start work at the Commission.

GOT IT!

This afternoon I received an email from Professor Edwards (once of the professors of my Comparative Public Policy and Law Reform course and the person who set up my position with the SALRC among other things) informed me that I was selected to recieve a School of Law International Externship Grant for $5000 to support my summer with the SALRC. The grant money is designed to help cover transportation and lodging costs associated with my trip.

Words do not begin to describe how excited I am for this grant! It saves me from having to take out a huge loan to be able to have this wonderful experience this summer. Thank you to the law school, Dean Haddon, Prof. Edwards, and the International and Comparative Law Program Committee for choosing me to receive the grant!

New Assignment

Today, I received an email from the coordinator at the SALRC informing me that, in addition to working on the Hindu marriages project, I will also be working on the project relating to adult prostitution. I also received the various policy and methodology documents so I can be prepared on day 1 to start working on these projects. I'm excited for the opportunity to work on two projects and delve even further into a foreign legal system than I would have already.

I also heard about the dress code for the commission. Monday through Thursday men dress "smart casual." This means suit, but no tie. And on Fridays I can wear jeans and a t-shirt. The only time I will have to wear a tie is if I'm going to a meeting or a conference. That's my kind of dress code! (Anyone who has had to wear a tie can tell you they aren't the most comfortable things in the world. And while ties do look nice, I don't know anyone that would choose to wear one if they did not need to.)

I'm still working on a place to live and waiting for my passport to arrive.