Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Day 10 A-Gas
12 January 2005
Lazily the twenty of us awoke at our own pace this morning. After such a luxuriously long night we had the pleasure of not having to be ready for anything mandatory until 10:30AM, which was Kaelyn's rousing speech on industry and sanctions in South Africa.
We then left for a tour and braais at A Gas which was wonderful, hot, and educational. First they gave us a tour of A Gas and showed us a bit of what they did. Summarizing it up for you folks back home I'll just say they take gas from a big imported tank, make sure it's all good, repackage it into smaller and much smaller containers, and then sell a more manageable quantity of it for profit. One fact I found interesting was if they miss a shipment to one of the mines, it can take up to two whole months to cool it back down so people can start working again. Yikes! That would be one serious mistake. Following the tour was our braais which I'm guessing Danielle told you about what that was in yesterday's posting. It was delicious, and even if parts of it wasn't we wouldn't tell them that. The main difference from yesterday's supper and today's lunch was today we ate on top of boxed-up gasses and yesterday we just ate at picnic tables. As we finished up lunch, Rob (the owner) stood up and introduced us to Grahame who was a WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestant) guy who grew up during apartheid, knew English, and played cricket. He brought us through his life and where he is today. Even ventured a guess as to where he would be in the future and how he felt on all the political movements as they happened. Next we were introduced to a black man named Lulamani who told us about his experiences and culture. He is engaged and told us of wedding preparations including how he must pay for his bride through cows. To me, I'd think just providing for her would be enough, especially in a country with so much need. But tradition is tradition. Not something to be disposed of. That was about it at the gas factory, and after our inquisitive group put our hosts through a gauntlet of difficult questions, we parted ways.
A small lesson we learned today, and I shall pass onto you is the great gift of hospitality. That is what we indirectly studied at A Gas. They not only allowed us to tour their place, but they also framed our college logo and put it in their lobby, paid for and made our lunches, prepared and rehearsed what was going to be said, let most of their workers have that part of the day off to help us, and then to top it off gave US a nice South African book to say thanks for coming. Yeah, not so much of that happens from where I come from.
Back here at the home, several of us wandered about doing whatever contented our hearts while the shoppers and cookers got to work. Supper was served, then two hours later, supper was served again.
Our friend Emmanuel who accompanies us most places we go made us mass quantities of food. We had already eaten, but it was good, and who can say no to such hospitality? Not us, so we ate up. Had our meeting over at his house, and most people are still over there (almost midnight). That's that, and the countdown continues. This was the second to last full day here in beautiful Capetown.
On a small side note Joe Byker has chosen today of all days to part with his beard of three years. Yes, this is true and here's the proof.
-Janae Stout