Day 6 - Johannesburg Art Museum

Day 6 - Johannesburg Art Museum
Today we had the chance to go to the Johannesburg Art Museum and it was really neat to see some of the things in person that I've studied in preparation for our trip. There are so many cool aspects of these art works that when seen in person are way more impressive than any print in any text I've read.

The gallery presented such a prestigious collection of contemporary and historical work by South African artists and other artists from across the world. it is not really as comparable to a US museum, but in a way ... that's a good thing. Provides a bit of variety and different presentation approaches. Had a great time there and met a great guy at the gift shop who gave me four postcards for free just because he knew I was an American visiting their museum. Felt really great today :)









This afternoon was such an AMAZING day!! I met the famous artist David Krut at his studio in South Africa. It was incredible shaking hands and talking about the potential things that an exchange could bring if we worked together on resources for education. He gave me his phone number !!! OMG :) I can pretty much tell you that I am going to work super hard to get in touch with him. I am not sure in what manner I can be of help to him, but I am going to think think think. I also met one of his assistants who he helped from off the streets to not only become an employed person, but a now recognized artist. His name was Lungsi and he was awesome sharing his advice/knowledge with me. I really have enjoyed getting to meet such genuine people.

David has studio in New York City, New York off of 26th street which he really recommended me visiting during the first week of November. I am going to try soooooooo hard to go with Don if he and I aren't busy. I feel like I just saw a movie star!!! I am smiling ear to ear and I have butterflies in my stomach. WHAT A GREAT DAY !!!



- With all my thanks :)

Location:Johannesburg Art Museum, Johannesburg, South Africa

Day 5 - Apartheid Museum

Got off to a later start today as we ventured to the Apartheid Museum in Southdale, South Africa. The basic principle behind Apartheid is simple - segregate everything. Cut a clean line in the sand and devide everything into black and white. This essentially created the most brutal form of segregation and inequality on the world. We had somewhere around 3 hours to be here and it clearly was not enough. This museum was rich in text and images that caught be off guard. Disgusting is one of the words that comes to mind when I begin to think about what some individuals put others through. My text cannot even begin to shed light on this excruciating battle the African people fought just to earn simple rights. This was a powerful experience.

Couldn't agree more when reading the statement, "Apartheid is exactly where it belongs - in a museum."






Following the museum the day got even more mentally heavy as we then visited three more truly unique places. Soweto, the stomping grounds of every impoverished typical African township. From the richest if the rich, to people living in homes built with old billboard signs this day was a culture shock in the truest sence of the word. Walked throuh a village market and observed an old woman sitting up against a cement wall wearing any collection of clothing she could find that would keep her warm preaching to our guide about the benefit of her medicinal-herbal healing. Again, stories would take me ages to tell it right and accurate.

Next we would walk the streets of Nelson Mandela's old home as it took us to the most well known place of South Africa. June 6th (and you'll have to forgive me because I can't remember the year) a group of 20,000 youth walked the streets in support of their peers who were outreaching to the government on their abilities and rights. When police tried to force the students away they began to protest in anger at the way they were being treated. Some 27 or so CHILDREN were killed and over 120 were injured over this cause which at start was a peaceful march. We viewed a commemorative landmark that shared both story and image in defense of it's victims and told the story about how South Africa defended her people.

Needless to say, this was an exhaustive, but important day to reflect on.

Mellow Yellow assault vehicle during apartheid in SA.





- With all my thanks :)

Location:Sowetto,Johannesburg,South Africa

Day 4 - SA begins to unfold

Day 4 (6-28)
Don Suite Hotel Address:    P O Box 868.  Northlands, JHB 2166

Today we are going to visit the Workers Museum, the MuseumAfrica, and the Bus Factory in downtown Johanesburg SA. Our hotel is a suite with two large rooms that overlooks some of the downtown area near Jan Smut st. 

We will start in the Newtown area at the Museum Africa. It is a multi purpose museum which includes, geology, anthropology, art, public art etc. We will then visit the Workers Museum, we have until 13:00 to wander around then. We will then leave to visit the Bus Factory off of President St.

So far so good, things are really interesting here. The presence of apartheid has obviously not left the minds of South Africa's people ... and rightfully so. So much of this culture has been drastically shaped around this aggressive racism and prejudice. The Workers Museum was really interesting as we walked through it. It almost felt like being in Majdanek in Poland which was concentration camp. Same dark eery feeling.

Have just finished up our visit at Voortrekker which is as our guide said, "the Jerusalem of South Africa." This was really a neat experience because the actual structure itself was breath taking .... literally. I climbed a spiral staircase that was probably close to 6 or 7 stories tall. So I literally stood at the top of this large dome trying to catch my breath because I was so pooped, but let me tell you it was totally worth the effort. The inside from dome ceiling to basement floor had to be somewhere around 75ft from top to bottom and my pictures were sweet :)

Afterwards, me and two friends went on a mini safari through Vortrekker to find the elusive zebra. Sorry to report that all we found were some gigantic blue bison things and some spring buck, but let me tell you those bison things saw us and looked like they were going to start running at us at any minute. This is not a petting zoo like in the states .... noooo no. These guys are running around wild behind NO such fence. Don't worry, I prayed they would stay in theirnplace and had my lovely emergency whistle in mouth so I could scare the brains out of them if they tried cokin my way. Dont really imagine that would have worked all that well, but in my mind I was invicible :)

Ok, long day ... need to get rest because it is 0;28 here (if you don't know what time that is look it up) and I need some treasured beauty sleep. I will be more descriptive with these posts in the future FYI. It's just been insane trying to play catch up with time zones, 50+ hour plane riding, and the inevitable exhaustion that I've been fighting for 3 days now.

Sure love you all

Day 3 - 50+ Hours Later

Day 3 - Final Arrival
We got in and settled into the van around 17:30 today and pushed off for the Constitution Hill where we had a chance to see some art that was really impressive. We also had a chance to visit the Constitution Court Room which was beautiful. Not a whole lot of detailed exploration here because we only had 35 minutes to explore, but still neat.

Jet lag blows ... I am looking forward to getting a shower, my teeth brushed, and a good meal .... mmmm :)

Without question you can expect me to be more detailed in these passages. It is still a little slow on this end because I am so very tired. Look forward to great things !!

Day 2 ... Airport mayhem

Day 2 - Airport running around again
We Pretty much hit every single delay that you could possible imagine. I did the math from the time I walked into Columbus airport to the time we got into the bus to travel to our destination and realized that I was "flying" for over 50 hours. Holy sh*t. Needless to say I am super tired, I smell awesome and I am very hungry. Thank God we are finally here :)

Day 1 - Airport Etiquette

Today was already a tough start. Don and I stopped for a bite at McDonald's where (as if this is by surprise) the tears started rollin because lift off was only a little bit away. I suppose it also didn't help that our landlord was bringing people through the house to try and get new tenants. Boo :( So needless to say the brain hasn't quite got itself together yet. Printed off the boarding passes and an emergency form that came on the top of the printed tickets and swore up and down that I hadn't gotten my passes. Duh. Then walked up to security and told the check in chick who already looked like she wanted to stab someone that I didn't have my boarding passes. Well let's just say she didn't like that. So after taking a minute to wipe my eyes down, I realized that I had all my stuff and just needed to use the brain. Good start Melis :)

Despite all that, it was such a cool feeling to know that in only a few days I would really begin to see what this trip was all about. I have prayed about my experience being incredible and so valuable ... and I know it will be. Now its only a matter of getting there. Waiting for the flight to leave here at 3:23 and then it's go time.

No turning back now :)