Last night we went to Lesedi Cultural Center. It is a visitor’s center that features South African history and a walk through four interactive exhibits highlighting Zulu, Basotho, Xhosa, and Pedi cultures. We got to see the differences in living quarters, dress, social habits and language of the four tribes. Then we saw a demonstration of dance and had dinner.
We enjoyed the dinner and tasted all different types of food. Much of it was what we would have in the U. S. – salads, fruits and vegetables, and breads – but we did get to try some different things such as ostrich and chicken feet. Our kids were offered dry worms, which are like candy for the kids here, but we couldn’t get anyone (including adults) to try them.
Today we went to see Witwatersrand University, my daughter Tiara’s school. Everyone here refers to it as Wits. It’s a beautiful campus with very nice architecture and a lot of grass and open spaces. It looks much like our colleges, but instead of baseball and football fields in the intramural areas, they have cricket and rugby fields. Wits has about 27,000 full time students but they are on winter break right now.
We had lunch there and the food courts featured fare from several different cultures. Of course, with our little kids we had to find the hot dog and hamburger stations. We’re learning a lot about the different words South Africans use (I found out today that a traffic light here is called a “robot”). Our kids now know that French fries are called “chips” and ketchup is “tomato sauce”.
After lunch we went to Mandela Square which is a shopping mall, office space and condos built around a beautiful courtyard with fountains and a huge statue of Nelson Mandela. It was an upscale shopping experience with many of the shops we have, but also a lot of African art and specialties. I think the ladies enjoyed this a little more than the guys did.
