Our whirlwind adventures in the southern most country on the African continent continue. Currently, Gretchen and I are joined by our good friend and fellow seeker of sights, Meredith Monjot. She flew into beautiful PE last Tuesday (September 14th) utilizing the same flight we were on.
And now…the rest of the story…
Kavish, Gretchen and I arrived at the Port Elizabeth Airport as Meredith’s flight was exiting. The best news of this particular part is that her luggage was not left behind in Johannesburg (Or Jo-Burg as the locals call it…I’m telling you, they shorten EVERYTHING)! We greeted her right outside the airport where hugs, warm greetings and smiles were had by all. Her trip was fairly uneventful aside from malfunctioning in-flight DVD players and a man whose priorities did not include hygiene. So, with luggage in hand, we headed back to our flat. As it was around 10:30 pm and she had just had the lovely 29-hour trip we basically turned in for the night. However, before we could get to bed, Meredith came with gifts (totally unnecessary, though, since we were stoked for her visit)! She bought us a game called Bananagrams, which I know many of you are familiar with. For those who are not…familiarize yourselves with it because it is incredibly fun. The gist of the game is that you use tiles that look like Scrabble tiles to create words (but not on a board). The goal is to use all of your tiles first, so it is a game of speed as well as linguistic knowledge. Unlike Scrabble, though, you can rearrange the letters at any point in the game. Enough about that, you can either google it or follow this link!
The next morning, I begrudgingly went to school. For the next six days of school, the students are taking mini exams. My job is to invigilate. Aside from being able to call myself the invigilator, it’s incredibly boring to do. Basically, I walk around the room making sure the students are not cheating. The tests last for an hour, which is a very long time to pace around a room in dress shoes. Each day brings two tests and a 30-minute break in between. As I am the never-relenting optimist, here is the bright side: we get out at 12:00! So, basically, Meredith could not have picked a better week to visit. While she is here, I do not need to stay at the school any later than 12:00 each day…and as a sort of bonus, the vice principal has given me Monday off since I have a visitor!
I started my walk home, so I gave Gretchen and Meredith a call to see if they wanted to meet for lunch or back at the flat. Apparently, while I was pacing around the students of Pearson High School, the whole city of Port Elizabeth was in great peril. The two girls were out for an afternoon walk and decided to take pictures on the rocks on the beach. The tide was coming in and Meredith suggested Gretchen come in as well. Her spidey-sense must have been tingling because she decided to stay for ‘one more picture’. Without regard for her own safety, she blocked a ‘tidal wave’ from demolishing the whole of Port Elizabeth killing all of its inhabitants! Cold, miserable and soaking wet, the two of them trekked back and met me at the flat. We are expecting a call from Stephen Spielberg to arrange movie rights. (I could not stop laughing for quite a bit)
After drying off and changing, the three of us decided to head out to the Boardwalk to show Meredith around and eat with a great view of the ocean. We landed on the Rockside Café. A pretty good meal to start the visit. After lunch we walked around the Boardwalk and made our reservations for the upcoming activities. Here is a picture of us with the Indian Ocean in the background:
Once we got back to the flat, we decided to break out the Bananagrams, and then head to bed. The next morning, I woke up to head off to school. Disaster was in the air. Meredith got incredibly sick and was not feeling well at all throughout the morning. Debates will continue, I am sure, as to whether it was food induced sickness (whether it be the creamed spinach / collard greens or the pizza with spicy tikka sauce) OR a bug. That afternoon (Thursday), we were scheduled to go on a township / city tour. Before the story can continue, here is a side note about townships:
In South Africa it is either feast or famine. During apartheid, there was forced segregation where black Africans were put into these areas. Their houses were built from materials obtained from POW camps of the Anglo-Boar war. In Port Elizabeth, there is a place called the Red Location; which is where our tour took us. It is called the Red Location because the metal brought in rusted from the salty air. When it rained, the ground turned red from the rust…so you get the Red Location.
Anyway, so Meredith is a trooper. Despite being very sick, she pushed through (with a few breaks to sit down and rest) like a champ. Saying that, she was ready when it was time to get home!
The tour started at the Red Location museum. We drove through the township and words cannot describe the destitution we witnessed. At the museum, we learned a lot about their struggle against the apartheid, and read about many of the different individuals who made major contributions to their cause. After the museum our tour guide, THE Mr. Alan Fogherty according to Gretchen, took us through the township and we saw where the people lived. The local children chased the Land Rover and some caught up and jumped on the back. It was an interesting contrast; children happy and having fun against the stark and depressing background.
This first picture is a typical home and there are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of these lined up next to each other. Many of them share walls...
This second photo is of the children chasing after the Land Rover...
After we left the township, we went to see the soccer stadium that was built for the World Cup in 2010. It was pretty cool…but there is not much to say about it. The six of us (Meredith, Gretchen and me along with our tour guide, Alan, and two girls from Minnesota: Kirsten and Molly) went on a tour of Port Elizabeth. Again, there is not much to write about, it was what one would expect from a tour: lots of sights and lots of history. We saw Fort Fredrick, a monument for the woman the town is named after and the town square where business was done during colonial days.
Actually, there is a very interesting story with the monument. Many would guess that Port Elizabeth is named after a woman of royalty; perhaps a queen or princess. However, it is named after a woman who had never been to the city. A man was sent here and his wife, whom he was madly in love with, died en route to meet him. He was so in love with her that he had her heart embalmed to carry with him (they say love, I say creepy). So, he asked the military personnel in charge if the would name the city after his lost love, Elizabeth.
The Monument to Elizabeth
The inscription says "To the memory of one of the most perfect of human beings who has given her name to the Town below"
With that day concluded, we turned in for a well-earned (much needed) rest. Friday, I went to school and finished at 12:00 after invigilating for the day (…ugh…). The good news is that Meredith felt much better. Not great, but much better. We decided to rent a car for the weekend because it would have cost us more to use the safari’s transportation, and who doesn’t like the convenience of having your own vehicle? There were thoughts about sightseeing or going somewhere, but with the current condition of our guest, a day of rest was wise.
Now when we were told we were getting a Volkswagen Jetta, we imagined a sleek luxury car. What we got, however, fell slightly short of our expectations…
We guess that the car is probably from the early to mid-80s. It IS automatic and there IS air conditioning. The radio, however, had to be found in the front yard of the car rental business before being installed. As if that weren’t an interesting sight enough, when Gretchen and Meredith were leaving, the woman asked if it was to be only them. Upon hearing that I too was to ride along, more air was ordered to fill the tires…
Really? I’ll let you ponder that…
Affordable Car Hire gave us their best car, so we had that going for us. It took 10 to 15 minutes to get the car started and we had to use a choke. I have never before heard of a choke on a car, but nonetheless, there it was. So, we decided to name our car Chokey. Here is a picture of us posing with our car.
That is enough for you to read for now, but tune in next time to read of our adventures on an African safari as well as death defying feats and danger around every corner!
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