South Africa?

The last week has been absolutely ridiculous. As you may know, the student body was on strike over allowances from the Ministry of Education. Well, on Wednesday, things really got worse. People were throwing rocks and got violent. I was even hit by one and the back windshield of a car next to me was shattered by another rock. Anyways, we were safe since we were whisked immediately off-campus. However, later that day the University was completely shut down and will remain so for all of next week. It seems I will not be having any classes for awhile now...

On a lighter note, that means I can get out and see other parts of Africa. On a whim, Kelly and I decided to book bus tickets to Johannesburg, South Africa for tomorrow morning. Luckily, some other international students here also want to head that way and are on our same bus. The bus from Gaborone to Johannesburg is only about $30(!) which is cheap for an international bus ride. We will be staying for (at least) 2 nights outside of Jo'burg. We want to visit the Apartheid Museum and visit Saweto, where Nelson Mandela did some of his work. After that, we really want to head into the Kingdom of Lesotho, a tiny enclave country hidden in South Africa. It's supposed to be an absolutely beautiful country as I have said before, and what one thinks of as "Africa" with witchdoctors and truly villager lifestyles. From there, we do not know where our journey may take us, but the people going with us are thinking of also visiting Swaziland, which we will join them if they travel there. It will be a very interesting (and probably) exhausting week. I will try to update as much as possible from the road. I will of course take many pictures of all we see. And most of all, I will stay safe, so don't worry.

Hope you all have a great weekend. Feel free to e-mail me, although I cannot promise to respond expediently. School is set to re-open 16 February. Let's hope things have calmed down by then. If not, who knows what will happen. Wheaton Global Ed, in conjunction with the Provost, have told us that no matter what, we will get the credits we need regardless of what it takes. Clearly, the cultural experiences we are having are enough for a class itself!

PS: There were 28 broken windows on just one-side of the dining hall!!