Impressions of the trip

This is another look at St. George's Cathedral.

Here are some more impressions of this journey.

It was often the small things that were so disconcerting, too. I don't think I ever fully adjusted to driving on the "wrong" side of the road. I got used to it, but driving took effort. The Rand goes in our favor when we travel from the US but I am just starting to get a sense of what some of the coins are. I never stopped staring at the townships next to the highways. The extent of the housing needs here is staggering. I never got used to the people who walk beside the highway everywhere. Even more dangerous are the frequent occasions when people cross the major highways running in between traffic. I don't blame the folks who do this but it seems part of the housing problem and the challenges of the poverty that townships have been built on either side of the highways and this custom, though dangerous, is widespread. And as this is my first trip to the southern hemisphere, it seemed there was something wrong with the sun - like it was inthe wrong place, or came up too late in the day and left too early. It is odd how much our experiences are shaped by the simple rhythms of the sky.

Often the best moments also took me by surprise.
The elephants playing in the road at the big game reserve seemed unaware that some humans were sitting nearby in small vehicles, rapt by their exuberant play.
The sound of singing. This African singing is so joyous, and so often spontaneous. The rhythm is so wonderful and it gets into your body. So many people sang easily and well: AIDS volunteers formed a choir; Sunday school children used their hymnals for percussion; School girls gathering for chapel in Inanda were singing at 7:30 a.m. It made me see that singing is such a natural and life-giving thing to do. It was never a performance, but a part of life - like breathing.

Susan