T.I.A. Bru (This is Africa)

This week was the last week of classes and my students have two weeks of examinations before the winter break. Unfortunately, I cannot stay with my class next semester; although the students are still in the same (overall) class, they have to move to a different lecturer. Unlike American university students who are typically encouraged to express their views, ask questions, and even debate in class, I notice that South African university students are much more hesitant to participate (possibly due to the British-style education system?). In any event, I felt that in the last few weeks I had a "breakthrough" with my class. My students were comfortable opening a dialogue with the entire class, participating, and even debating one another. I think it is incredibly important, especially at "varsity" (university), to be active in learning - questioning, debating - overall, challenging yourself.

I spent the latter half of the week working on applications for next year, both from January - August (before London School of Economics) and possible positions beyond the nine months … My overall thought: why not apply? As my grandfather always said, and my grandmother reiterates, "you won't catch any fish if you don't throw out a line."

On Friday night, I went over to Micah's house, a South African who is dating a Johannesburg Fulbrighter (Ryan). He lives in a beautiful, modern home on top of a hill in Parktown, which overlooks the city. It was great to socialize with the other Fulbrighters and Micah's South African friends. Interestingly, Micah's father was a political refugee in Rhodesia during the Apartheid government. Micah was born in Salisbury (Harare, Zimbabwe) and his family returned to South Africa after the end of Apartheid (I blogged about him a few months ago when we went to see the documentary: Robert Mugabe…What Happened?).

I taught on Saturday…"stick shift." Mariann (my fellow Fulbrighter) is renting a car when her friend comes to visit during winter break. Fun side-note: Her friend is on the same flight as Giulia from Cairo to Johannesburg. With manual transmissions being the overwhelming choice in South Africa, it is very expensive to rent an automatic (nearly double the cost of a manual). So, we spent Saturday afternoon driving around Houghton, a beautiful neighborhood near Wits, and the same neighborhood that had the "Hogwarts" looking school that I did my teacher observations. She did really well! We practiced: first to second, third back to second (downshifting), easing up to cars, and even hills (accidentally). I think that we'll have a few more lessons, but she's almost a professional now! Overall, I think once you understand the concept and what you're doing to the car, it just takes practice (and a little bit of confidence). It's amazing to me to think that I've been driving a manual car for nine years! Mariann asked, "so why did you get a manual for your first car?" I replied, "Well, my sister told me that if I was going to be a man, I should drive manual." J I remember the first time I drove manual by myself: I was taking my car off the lot at Yark Nissan. Rather than try to turn left to head to McCord Road, I turned right to go by way of Holland-Sylvania (still nervous to drive manual by myself). Well, I pulled out with my emergency brake up and I stalled at the light (South African: "robot"), only to have a truck-full of construction workers laugh at me (or was it with me?).

Sala Kahle! (Sa-lay Ga-h-lay … "Stay Well") 

A fun South African diversity advertisement (surprisingly, for a fast-food chicken place): http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_R7vu9SuxaQ