#South Africa

The seasons are turning and my second summer is about to begin. It’s still cold at night and in the early morning – especially in a house without central heat – but it’s warm enough for shorts during the day. Today was especially perfect. Crystal-blue sky and about 70 degrees in the sun.

Just before dusk yesterday, we went walking in Westcliff – an old, wealthy neighborhood adjacent to Melville. We tramped over a bridge along a busy road as rush hour traffic whizzed past. Then we crossed the street and entered another world.

Yesterday I visited Johannesburg’s two poles.

Unemployment is about 30% in South Africa and new numbers this week indicate it’s on the rise. Joe is working on some stories related to that. We left mid-morning and stopped to photograph two men pushing a cart of recyclable trash up a steep hill. These men scratch out a living sifting through garbage (or rubbish, as it’s called here) for plastic, glass, and metal that they exchange for money.

I’ve gotten ahead of myself. I should say a few words about this place where I’m living.

Johannesburg (Joburg, Jo’burg, Jozi, JHB) is the largest city in South Africa and the fourth-largest in Africa. Interestingly, South Africa has three official capital cities but Johannesburg is not one of them.

I’m in Pretoria, South Africa’s administrative capital, about an hour’s drive from Joburg. I’m sitting on the terrace of the Sheraton Hotel, sipping a double espresso and watching the action across the road.

It’s my second full day in Joburg. I’m sitting on the deck of my new house in Melville, soaking up the late winter sun, admiring the small purple flowers on the potted rosemary plant, and listening to a chorus of bird calls. There’s a neon-yellow weaver making a nest at the back of the garden – it’s a bouncy ball of green leaves suspended from a vine hanging off a tree branch.