Week 2 Jo'burg.

Another week has flown by and the adventure continues. We are both really enjoying our work, this week Dipa has changed classes at the School for Children with Learning Disabilities to work in a class for children with moderate to severe disabilities. Many of these kids also have medical conditions that make learning even more difficult and they need more one-on-one attention in class. She's really enjoying helping in this class because it feels like you can really make a difference and it helps the class teacher who is alone with 25 children. Jonny has ended up staying in the Department he is in as he has been really enjoying it and has had plenty of opportunities to get involved in procedures.

We decided to have a long weekend to make the most of the sites in Johannesburg and close by. On friday we went to the Apartheid Museum, which was brilliant and really thought-provoking. It's hard to believe how recent alot of the history is in this country and visiting the museum really helped us to understand how the mixed cultural identity of South Africa has come about. We were really craving some Indian food and managed to find a Swaminarayan community in Jo'burg running a pure vegetarian restaurant. The area looked like a township and we weren't sure whether to get out of the car, but we walked in and realised that this is where all the Indians were hiding, including lots of Masis so we knew that the food would be good. After stuffing ourselves with thalis and dosas we headed to an area called Mellville, which is quite a bohemian hippy suburb of JB with some cool shops and artists and clothes designers. Dipa has also found an amazing bead shop where she could spend at least a full day, it's so big! She has been spending her spare time during the week for jewellery-making which has been great for relaxation.

On Saturday we went to a great food and craft market in Bryanston, which was like the best farmers market and craft store thrown together (thanks to Cherisse for this great recommendation) - we could have spent hours there looking and eating, next time we'll go with very empty stomachs! In the afternoon, joined by Humbu, we went on a 4 hour bicycle tour of Soweto, taking in the local sights as well as a shebeen (traditional drinking house) and a traditional restaurant (for cow-head and pap). Soweto is full of contradictions, there are some quite affluent areas right next to absolute slums and it covers quite a large area. We saw the houses where Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu lived. We enjoyed doing the tour by bike as it meant that we could interact with the locals in a more relaxed way and we spent time outdoors in the sun. It was really worthwhile and we would recommend it to anyone. It was good for Jonny to see where all his patients are coming from!! The cycling was great fun but we were both a little saddle-sore after so long on a bike (good job have been going to the gym for the last couple of weeks).

On Sunday we woke up at 6 o'clock to go to a cheetah sanctuary for 8am. This is the time that they exercise the animals and so we got to watch them run at full speed. We then had a game drive around the park and saw lots of cheetahs, wild dogs and vultures. One of the cheetahs, "Byron", is so docile that you can stroke him and have photos taken with him. We then drove around Haartbeespoort dam (terrible traffic!!), which is pretty with a backdrop of mountains. We visited a nearby monkey sanctuary, which was Jonny's highlight of the day and is highly recommended. It has a 3km elevated walkway through a natural forest, where you come face-to-face with all the monkeys. Jonny made friends with Api the cappuchin monkey and ended up carrying him around for half the tour.

We can't believe that we are half-way through our time in Johannesburg. There is still a lot that we want to see, so the next couple of weeks will be very busy...!