Apartheid Museum .... and a living legend

Yesterday we got to spend the day in Jo-Burg. (Okay, well outside the city in the safe parts.) It was the same 3 hr drive back into the area... but really cool to do the drive in the daylight. SA is crazy because it is so diverse. It is considered a 2nd world nation because it is full of both 1st world and 3rd world regions. The drive to Jo-Burg shows you pieces of both. We also drove along the "Danger! Lions Region" where double electric fences lined the interstate. Kind of creepy.

Our main stop was the Apartheid Museum. Some of you might know the history and some of you might not... Apartheid (separation of whites and blacks) ended here in 1994. There is still a ton of separation and racism that exists here, and it is very evident in the stories we hear from locals, personal interaction, driving through towns, etc. There's black areas and there's white areas. Black people are really surprised and excited when we are friendly and ask how they are doing.

The museum was huge. (It took us 2 and a half hours to go through the 60's-80's time period. We didn't even get to the end.) Very interesting stuff, and I'm not normally the captivated type at museums. ;) About a half hour into things, I noticed our group was slowly gathering in a circle of "oh my gosh. no way. get out. are you serious!!" So I'm thinking there's more than just a cool picture to look at. I walk over to find out someone has overheard Nelson Mandela is in the building. And he is. Actually, just around the corner in a golf cart with security guards. Turns out there was a hush-hush honorary dedication of a new exhibit at the museum. We started a small pauparazzi with the 10 others at the museum and I got video of him driving by in his cart. So yes, we got to see Nelson Mandela. How crazy is that!!!

Tonight is our last night here at the farm for a bit. Tomorrow is our first day "on the field" and the end of our training. We're driving a few hours to an orphanage where we will be spending the next week. I'm so excited to start interacting with the kids here. I will probably be out of internet for a week or two now, so I will send out an update after that! Thanks for your notes everyone, it is so great to hear from you!!

Two Sidenotes. A monkey went through our room during dinner tonight, it ate some pretzels and left a small present. Earlier today I was proposed to in Autozone (yes, they have those here too). It was very romantic. Our team found it quite humorous that the only thing I could think to say was "oh, um, maybe next time". We always stay in our groups, so no worries, it wasn't going anywhere beyond an innocent question. But it sounds like it is not uncommon for Americans to get marriage proposals here, so we are practicing our no thank you's.