Exhausted

After 24 hours of travel, we have made it to Port Elizabeth, South Africa. I am absolutely exhausted to say the least but it is far too early to go to bed. By the time we got to our hotel and freshened up, it was 3pm so we walked around for a little while. As soon as you walk outside of the hotel, you can see the ocean, which is just gorgeous. The boardwalk is right across the street, which is a shopping district with several restaurants. We walked along the beach and boardwalk and found a place to exchange our currency. We were all hungry and tired so we had a very early dinner at a steak house at the boardwalk. 

I haven't gotten to see much of the city so far, but a few things have stood out. First, all of the locals that we have talked to are enthralled with our accents and have been very friendly. Also, as we drove to our hotel, we noticed that a lot of neighbors and buildings had brick walls and barbed wire fencing on the top. Some of use immediately thought that perhaps we were in a high crime area of town. When asked about this, we were told that they served as a visible reminder of apartheid. When apartheid ended in 1994, many wealthy whites built these elaborate walls in fear that black Africans would "invade" their portion of town and cause problems. Now, it is almost a symbol of affluence. The "haves" build walls to protect their belongings safe. We have not encountered any "have nots" yet but we will tomorrow and I've been warned that it is vast difference from our current surroundings.

It is only 7pm now and I intend to go to bed shorty. We will be leaving the hotel by 7:30am tomorrow morning to head to the Emphiani Primary School where we are to observe classes during the morning. I am look forward to seeing a different learning environment than what I am used to.