Howzit?

I am currently sitting in my sister Elna's living room watching MTV and drinking rooibos tea. This wasnt quite how I pictured my 2 weeks of freedom in Africa.  I was thinkinng along the lines of stumbling around Pretoria with a map and camera and exploring every inch. But reality set in. South Africa for one has not got a reliable transport system, unless I dared to go on a taxi and cling to the seat for dear life. As well as that there also the minor problem of crime. I guess I am just going to have make the most of it. Don't get me wrong, I havent just sat like a lemon infront of the tv, on the contrary, it has been fun.

Yesterday, we went for a wee adventure to Jo' burgh, with the 'gautrain' or the 'gouetrein' as it is nicknamed. For everyone else in the world a train is part of the daily routine but not in SA. South African tend to drive from A to B. They wouldn't dare to commute with a bus or train due to A) it being unreliable B) It's safer to drive (just). Its a bit a of novelty really.  Each train passengers is issued with a gold car which works like a ticket.... I would go into detail  about this but right not I dont think can actually explain it too well. The station in Rhodesfield (I think that was the name) is very modern... its like a every other startion I have encounter really thought there was secuirty guards on every corner, not a daily encounter your likely to experience in  bonny Scotland.  We wait for 10 minutes for the train to Santon. It was odd to witness people taking photos of themeselves in the station, of the trains and the surrounding environment. Odd because I was so use to trains and it was clear by their actions that they were not. Though I have to make it clear I was also snap happy, its not everyday you catch a train in SA! The journey wasnt that long, 20 minutes max and the view not that intresting.  It was cool though. I would love to say I went on some big adventure in Santon with El but to sum it up we went to Nelson Mandela's Square, looked around the shops, ate and than hopped on the train back to Rhodesfield.

After the adventure in Santon, we went to Boksburgh.Boksburgh isn't really a tourist destination as such but it is the place where my 'Pa'  grew up.   We drove to the house where he spend his childhood. It was nice to see.... though that said I couldn't exactly relate to this house whatsoever. I had no memory of visiting my 'Ouma' here. After that, we drove to 'Turton' street, which was just round the corner. I have heard of this famous street before in snippets from my 'Pa'. The story is is that it was named after my 'Oupa', for what, I am not quite sure of...but its pretty awesome!


The rest of the day was spend reading and eating. And it was good!

Totsiens! Au Revoir! Goodbye!