Weekend Fun in Joburg and Pretoria

I used the weekend to see and experience as much of Johannesburg and the surrounding areas as possible. After a few drinks with IMD classmates and our new South African friends on Friday night we headed home early to get plenty of sleep for a busy Saturday.

Saturday morning the school had organized 5 different activities for us to choose from: cooking, dancing, creating fine art, visiting a natural history museum, or a visit to a center that taught traditional African healing. I chose to go to the dancing, and it was really interesting. We went to a community center in Soweto township, where a group of professional dancers performed for us and then taught us a contemporary African dance and two traditional songs.

We got back to the hotel around 2:30 in the afternoon, and almost immediately I jumped in a taxi with some friends to head to the Apartheid museum. We only had two hours to explore it before it closed at 5pm, but we tried to make the most of it. One of the more interesting parts was that when you buy your ticket you are randomly assigned to be either "white" or "non-white" and you have to walk through separate entrances based on what you were assigned. The museum was big, and had enough information to easily fill 5 or 6 hours, so I will have to return at some point in the future.

After the museum we jumped in a taxi again and headed to Pretoria, 45 minutes away, to go to a rugby game between the Blue Bulls and the Cheetahs.

That night when we got back to the hotel at 10:30pm I really wanted to head to a bar to experience Joburg nightlife but I was just too completely exhausted to even consider it, and went to bed instead.

Leaving downtown Joburg.

Heading towards Soweto township.

Arriving in Soweto.

A typical street in Soweto.

Typical houses.

This was one of the nicer streets.

The community center where our dance class took place.

Waiting to begin.

We were in an old gym.

The dance troupe performing for us.

My teacher was Sboniso.

Arriving at the rugby game.

The Blue Bulls against the Cheetahs. Luckily we sat in the blue section.