Interesting Saturday and lazy Sunday

Not early to bed, but early up, again. After some intensive gymnastics and a fresh breakfast we were ready to be picked up. Accompanying us were women from around Europe, even a Finn.

Our first stop was downtown Johannesburg. The place was eerie. Many of the big buildings were abandoned due to the high crime rate, even a five star hotel. An image that stayed in mind was an abandoned city hall. The massive and beautiful building had big steps of stone in front of it, in which were carved the words “Lest we never forget”, abandoned.

After a shop full of monkey carcases, horns and herbs and playing some “spot the white man” (no points there), we headed for the Apartheid Museum. Some of us had read a bit on the subject beforehand and in not vain, because otherwise the amount of information would have been overwhelming.

The strangest thing about apartheid is how close to this day the things are. You normally associate history to be something that happened to people that have passed on at least a couple of generations ago. Here, those people work in the museums. Like for example Hector Petersons (Google: 16 June 1976) sister, who works at his brother’s memorial museum. Also we went by Winnie Mandela’s house, which she still inhabits in the township of Soweto.

Talking to the locals you get a strange feeling, because they are very willing to talk about the Apartheid era. Some say it was a really safe time, others talk about the oppression, but nobody seems bitter, only wanting to go further ahead at making things right.

The atmosphere in Soweto, at least at first glance, was warm. The people looked happy and the ones we talked to were laid back, easy to approach and polite. Those characters do by the way seem to fit almost everybody in S-A.

We even got an inside tour of one block of steel houses, walking along a dirt road, surrounded by kids and guided by a local player. Well, yes the older kids did ask for money, but only after chatting with us a bit and yes, the guide did make it clear our donations would be appreciated. Altogether it was quite surreal: nice people cashing in on their poverty.

After coming back we were exhausted from all we had seen and even our happy and talkative guide, Kagiso seemed a bit tired. After the drop off we decided to check out the grill at our local minimal. Stomachs full and heads even fuller, we had an exiting adventure walking 3 minutes back home in the dark night. No problems there, but we wont be pushing our lucks like that very often.

Finally a day off!

Sunday was our first day without any big plans. Pool, gym and food were the main pastimes. After breakfast we took off our shirts and took a dive in to the pool. We were jumping silly to the water and taking a lot of splash pictures. The weather was great and kwaito was beating on our laptops. We were also trying to dance to the kwaito videos, but the success wasn’t so good, which also was noticed by our janitor. Well at least we gave him a good laugh:)

These kind of activities are the way to start the day. The only thing hindering our recreation was that the delicious fresh O.J. had ran out and we had to settle for other fruit juices.

After digesting the breakfast in the pool we decided to go pump some iron. It was our first time at Hatfield and we weren’t so sure about the location. We tried to use our local taxi connections, but they were all unavailable. This is normal on Sundays. That’s how we ended up walking to the gym. It took an hour, but the weather was warm and we didn’t even get robbed so the walk was a success. We even got to do the local three move handshake a couple of times, while asking for directions from the locals.

The neighbourhoods of Pretoria are somewhat ambiguous. The beautiful old Jacaranda trees lining and arching over the long straight streets give the better areas a very homely feel. The electrified barbed wire around the lavish houses gives another vibe. It was said that some people put more money into the security than the house itself.

Buying a months membership at the gym wasn’t easy at all. Sure it was on the menu, but the formalities and going through them took so long that even the staff got fed up and let us train for free this time. Bureaucracy seems to be quite popular here.

After gym carbohydrates were enjoyed at Mimmos in Hatfield. The pasta tasted amazingly good after four days of meat. Food in the restaurants has been good and the prices at about a half of those in Finland.

Observing Hatfield from the McDonalds, we came to the conclusion that the South-African people are very kind and beautiful, even though the suburb was not one of the best.

A chill day without meetings and with fun relaxing activities gave us a lot of inspiration and energy.

Sharp, gents!

The Hectic Friday

Early Friday morning, we had to make our way to SAP-offices to make local contacts. So Thursday evening we went to ask to rent the all-mighty Corolla for the day from our Guest House. We had a small chat about the prices of the vehicles, and had few talks about our skills to drive on the left side, but in the end they handed us the keys and we were ready to roll!!

The morning came and Michael was the lucky one to fire up the engines first! Ari, the Co-driver on the left (!), was responsible about taking us to our destination in Johannesburg. The ride last about 1,5 hours (only 40 km!) and during that time we got really familiar with the local morning traffic. Also, here´s a good tip for all who want to find their way in South-Africa: don´t believe blindly in googlemaps ;).

After arriving to SAP-offices we were stunned by the looks of the facilities; everything was well maintained and stylish. We were warmly welcomed and soon we found ourselves in the first meeting. During the hectic day we were informed for example about the local business culture and human resource subjects which we found useful for our group dynamics.

The day turned to afternoon and we were happy to find ourselves at a business dinner in a restaurant called Meat Co. in Melrose Arch, J´burg. After a delicious t-bone and nice chit chats with our table company we were ready to head back to Pretoria. Ari and Michael switched seats and the traffic was a lot easier than it was in the morning. The evening and Corolla brought their own challenges; it was a bit more difficult to find back to the guest house in the dark, and it would have been much easier without some mysterious problems with Corolla´s lights…

Excitement raises and the first steps in SA

It’s only a few hours to takeoff and we're rearing to go. We’ve been storming and working with an increasing speed as the project has progressed. Everything is set for an efficient and exotic internship in South-Africa.

We met the others at the airport. Everything seemed fine until the last gate: one of our team-mates had gotten he’s passport broken at the security check and he was refused entry on the plane. What a shocker! Well, the team leader was already on the phone to the travel agency arranging for a new flight. It all turned out fine and we’ll be with a full crew on next Tuesday.

On our stopover in Istanbul we had an interesting

opportunity to make a local contact and check out the Turkish wibe. Sitting with us was a friendly lady coming from a business meeting with Nokia. She was happy to tell us about our possibilities for a short visit to the Istanbul nightlife during our stopover. She even ended up giving us a ride to a nice restaurant nearby. So that’s how we got a chance to make some comparisons with Stadin Kebabbi and Istanbul kebab. No contest, the meat was delicious, as were the sauces. After a filling and spicy meal we grabbed a cab back for the Atatürk airport. The prices at airports seem to be at the forefront of globalism, they were a lot like those at the cafes on Esplanadi in the Helsinki centre.

The longer flight was a gruelling task, as they tend to be, but we managed to keep our spirits high planning and discussing the weeks ahead.

Arriving to the O.R.Tambo airport was a pleasant surprise. Everything was clean, new and quite well organised. Also it was a lot less crowded than we would have expected, it being the busiest airport in S-A. The procedures went smoothly and we were out in a jiffy.

Our pickup was a bit late (2 hours:) which gave us a good chance to get some cash and hook up to the local Vodacom network. We already had experience with Asian prepaids, so we were calling for our car in no time. Eventually we were picked up in style and with a sample of the warm and happy greetings and superlatives often used here: howizzit, excellent, wonderful and amazing.

Since we were a bit late already, we called ahead to Tsakane Bok, our contact at the Finnish embassy. She told us to come when we come, but we didn’t want to waste any time. So we just dropped our gear at our new home and headed straight for business.

The meeting couldn’t have been much more fruitful. We met the Finnish ambassador Heikki Tuunainen and Mrs Bok at the embassy and had loads to talk about. After introducing ourselves and our project, we held a detailed presentation on LearnRoots. Mrs Bok was interested about the idea of making a wikidictionary of the less documented African languages. She had many people in mind that might want to hear about it. The ambassador was also interested on our project and wanted to help our quest, by giving us info and contacts on how to get around in Pretoria.

Unexpectedly we also had the pleasure to meet two young Finnish employees at the Finnish embassy, who were happy to share their experiences on the local scene. After we had finished our official business we headed for a local restaurant with two friendly cabbies that had driven Markus and Kaisa around earlier.

At Crawdaddys the discussion heated up and we got along great. Straight away we made arrangements for a Soweto trip together and some golf later on. The weather was warm and time flew by at the open air restaurant. When the T-bonesteaks and Springbok snails arrived we were already starving, since our last meal had been on the plane. The food was tasty, greasy and at about half the price of Finland. After eating we walked a bit to some nearby shops at the Brooklyn mall.

After a great start we were happy to get to our safe, luxurious and cosy guesthouse in Waterkloof to get some well earned rest after a long trip.