3 Days, 14 Hours, 03 Minutes, 45 seconds and counting

I got this cool little countdown widget. It'll let me see how long until I board the plane for Joburg :).

I also sent out out the obligatory, "Keep in touch" email which most of you should have received. (If you didn't, post here with your email and I'll send it along).

As for the more formal blog: Jozi is up! And hopefully all the kinks are worked out. I tweaked it a lot. And so I'm behind on packing. But I'm happy.

Starting tomorrow, I'm gonna do a "Pic of the Day". I thought I start with my horrendous room as shameful motivation to get it all done. Today I pack and hang out with friends and pack and try to finish some web designs and hang out with more friends. What are you doing today?

MLK, JR. Day on Google

Wow, Google is really doing a bit too much with this one. I won't even talk about my take on this racist, white supremacist capitalist nation's veneration of MLK, Jr. except to say that Dr. King sure wasn't talking about his dreams, nor preaching non-violence when he was assassinated. In fact, I believe he'd begun to take a more global perspective on the U.S.'s racial tensions, and began to speak out against capitalism, colonialism and imperialism. Of course, we won't be celebrating that part of King's vision today , will we Amerikkka?

A Poem of Friendship

We are not lovers
because of the love
we make
but the love
we have

We are not friends
because of the laughs
we spend
but the tears
we save

I don't want to be near you
for the thoughts we share
but the words we never have
to speak

I will never miss you
because of what we do
but what we are
together

- Nikki Giovanni

I love you, my friends.

I started this post

then Firefox crashed. Maybe it's a sign.

The ticket has been purchased

the visa is on the way.

Jan. 21 at 9:30pm, I will be lifting off and heading to Joburg via London.

For the accomplished international travelers (you know who you are...), any recommendations for flight comfortability? Anything I should definitely make sure to bring. Anything I should definitey NOT bring?

I'm much more excited now, if you couldn't tell.

Moving on

After much debates and late night IMs, as well as some minimal attempts at redesign, I've decided to start a new blog just for Jozi. Now, Jo, you make a good case, this is already a blog very much bookmarked by my fellow readers. And I love all 7 of you. But I'm about to get an increase in traffic, and to be honest, I don't know that I want members of the Rancho Cucamonga Rotary Club to be privy of my archives here at the blogspot. So I'm moving to my Wordpress blog. Since the update of Wordpress, I find it a lot more fun to use than Blogger. There are also more advantages:

1) A cuter blog (once I re-design)

2) More fun features (check out the avatars, Livesearch, I'm going to implement Live Commenting and fix a couple more bugs)

3) Registering - this will protect me from weirdos reading supersecret journal entries. With password protected posts, I can really let you all know what's going on, without worrying about being potentially stalked by some crazy who falls in love with my avatar (oh how the Scholarship can go to one's head)

4) Hosted on my own sub-domain and archived on my site, it's a bit easier for me to deal with saving posts

5) It's a fresh start, and if anything, I hope this year will be the beginning of something new

Now, my friends, the question I have for you: Do you really want me to keep a separate place where I post the "juicy" stuff, or are you ok with just dealing with the "intellectuatlized" aspects of the Jozi journal? And I promise, this IS a question where I will defer to the majority.

Sorry if this post is weird. I'm listening to Nas' God Son, and I can never really focus cuz I'm too busy singing along (Damn, I wish I took more time to write...in book of rhymes).

Ok, you wanna know where the Jozi place is? http://jozi.nerase.com Please comment, as I'm testing out a lot of the features, and it helps to have the comments to test them out.

I'm opening myself up right now becaue the blog is nowhere near ready, and I'm giving myself the full 2 weeks before it will be ready to go. But I wanted to give you all the treat of watching my progress. I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to comment throughout.

You did good to call.

While I'm a bit more excited about Jozi then I was yesterday, I've come down with the worst cold in the history of mankind. Or at least as I hacked up my lungs last night, it sure felt that way. My dreams were horrible, I kept feeling like I was suffocating and the runny nose and perpetual light-headedness did not help. I'm on the loveseat in my living room now, feeling really sick but ok, emotionally. I've made some good headway for Jozi and I want to start sharing some things with you all, rather than the cryptic ambigous messages I'm so fond of.

On Jan. 22 I'll be leaving NYC and heading to Johannesburg, South Africa (a.k.a. Jo'burg, Jozi, City of Gold, the Big Apple of SA). I received a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship and I'm being sponsored by the Rancho Cucamonga Rotary Club of USA, and the Morningside Rotary Club of SA. While I'd like to imagine I acheived this accomplishment all by myself, the truth is that my good friend Nsekuye, put me on to this great scholarship. I remember my sophmore year watching her prepare for the scholarship and thinking: I want to do that. The Ambassadorial Scholarship is a little bit like the govermment funded "cultural exchanges" such as the Fulbright, Watson, Rhodes, etc., except its a little less well known and it's not government funded (obviously). I won't go into too much detail about the scholarship, so if you're really interesed, just read about it at the provided link.

Intially, I wanted to study in Kingston, Jamaica. I'd wanted to return to the Caribbean to continue studies I'd begun while living in the Dominican Republic, and I specifically wanted to link Caribbean studies between those abroad and those who migrate to NYC. However, upon further research of the programs at UWI (University of West Indies), I wasn't too impressed with their course selection. Add to the fact that since I was getting a scholarship, I should probably go as far away as possible, I transferred my location to Jozi.

Sonja did her program in Durban. One of the coastal cities, well known as a tourist hotspot (featured in Ludacris' Pimpin' All Over the World video), Durban is well known for it's beauty. Capetown, on the southern tip of the island, also near the water, is another pretty well known tourist destination. So naturally, I gravitated towards the inland, dry and oftentimes overlooked city of Jozi! (Overlooked in terms of tons of tourists and vacation spots) Don't get me wrong, Jozi gets visitors, especially since it's near gaming lands and safaris (gotta pick up those spears before you leave the Dark Continent). However, Jozi is also known as the biggest city, the Big Apple of SA, and is at the center of cultural development. It's home to Wits, near Soweto, carries the history of Sophiatown. Jozi is where I knew I'd go.

I want to attend law school when I come back, so I wanted to study something semi-relevant. While in college, I didn't study economics, globalization or international relations as indepth as I wish I had. I don't regret it, because I don't think Pomona was the place for me to learn about international relations, given the demographics of the professors and students. However after visiting the IR section at Wits, the courses looked amazing. So I'm enrolled in the MA program in IR. After speaking with JoAnne, a nice lady who did her Rotary in Jozi (Sonja again hooked this up), I decided to stay in the Uni until I can scope out my area and find an apartment off campus. Right now I have housing in the West Campus Village (not too shabby, eh?). I called today to find out if I'd be able to move in when I arrived and I spoke to a nice gentleman who took my information and said that he'd have a room waiting for me. "You did good to call", he told me. That was good to hear. My counselor in Jozi, Joanne, has been emailing me back and forth. I sent her a pic of me so she'd recognize me since she's picking me up from the airport.

Next up: securing the plane ticket and Visa.

FYi, I'll be deleting my posts as I get closer, so that I can start fresh. I'll archive them somewhere else for you all, maybe.

Can you keep a secret?

I'm not that excited to go to South Africa. And furthermore, I seriously think I might scream if one more person asks me "When do you leave for South Africa?". I'll tell you when I leave. Relax. Stop stressing me. Damn. When do YOU leave for South Africa?

No, I still don't have my ticket. Yes, I hope I still have housing and yes, the South Africa consulate is on some bullshit saying that I need to give a $800 deposit for repatriation of remains (that's basically the fee to bring my remains back to the US if I die in South Africa). I already have insurance, what is that deposit for? Are they really trying to come up on some money that they'll "refund" when I come back. What!?! Of course, my scholarship coordinator says that the $800 isn't needed. So I have a feeling I'm gonna have to get beligerent or at the least, insistent when I go to get my Visa. Hopefully, that won't slow down my process as a consequence. I'm gonna need all full 10 days.

Oh, I'm a spoiled brat? Millions would love this opportunity? You can't believe I'd be so crabby about such an amazing year I'm about to have? Bite me?

Anywho, shout out to nsekuye for bringing some Paris love to the blog (that's right, I moniter my site stats now). Hopefully I'll get a blog up dedicated specifically to Joburg. I have one I paid someone to do, foolishly, since I'm not using, nor do I like the design. I want to do something new, but I have NO ideas. Do ya'll have any ideas of what I can do as far as a design for my SA blog? Should I have a separate blog for SA? Does anyone care? Right now, I sure don't.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!, originally uploaded by nerase.

Start it off right!