Lessons Learned

I've been here for over a week now, so I'm a little behind on the details. With that in mind, I'd like to share some of the valuable lessons I've learned over the past week.

Lesson 1
If you think having a flight cancelled is horrible, things could actually be a lot worse. Try making it to the airport, only to find out that your plane isn't there because the airline went out of business…a month and a half ago!! That's what happened to us in Johannesburg. The only thing worse that seeing no plane is seeing the bare wall where the airline's logo used to be.

Lesson 2
Nobody will ever ask me where I'm from during this entire summer. Every time I open my mouth, I might as well be singing "Proud to Be an American" by Lee Greenwood. In addition, never tell a South African "that dog won't hunt". It takes too long to explain.

Lesson 3
Take three Americans, put them in the back of a taxi driving "on the other side", and watch them fear for their lives at every right turn! It's not as scary now, but that first full day was rough.

Lesson 4
KFC is the Starbucks of South Africa. The KFC-per-capita rate here easily rivals a majority of states in the Southern U.S. I'm still hoping to find a Chili's before Amanda gets here next week.

Lesson 5
Coming to South Africa is a great way to limit the amount of news you hear about the 2008 presidential race. I'm happy to know that the Democratic nomination will be decided by the time I get back. Which brings me to the most important piece of wisdom…

Lesson 6
Building a democracy is hard. As with many countries in the past, South Africa is learning how hard the process truly is. Building an effective democracy - one that all citizens take part in - is also very difficult to get right on the first try. The United States has been at it since 1776, and we're still working out the kinks. South Africa has only had full democracy for a little over 10 years. While the 90s brought happiness to millions of newly-freed South Africans, these citizens are now looking to the government to address education, poverty, HIV/AIDS, and a host of other issues. I believe that major steps toward improving democracy usually come with new generations of leaders, so perhaps it will take new leaders to address these pressing issues. We'll see how it goes.

Welcome!!

Hello Everyone! This blog has been created to record the details of my summer in South Africa. I'll be in Cape Town this summer (or winter, depending on where you are) to work on my International Public Service Project (IPSP), which is a part of my grad school program at the Clinton School of Public Service. Fellow classmates Ryan Lewis and Sarah Argue are here with me as well. I am working with the South African Education and Environment Project (SAEP) to do an analysis of their education program for high school learners. There are also some secondary objectives I hope to check off while I'm here.

• Do an informal comparison of Post-Apartheid South Africa and the Post-Jim Crow Mississippi Delta.
• Go to a Rugby Game.
• Enjoy the great taste of braai (what they call BBQ down here, pronounced "brye").
• Get my feet in the Indian Ocean.
• Be able to say "Xhosa" (click sound included) in the middle of a sentence without having to stop and pace myself.

I will keep you posted on my progress towards meeting these objectives.