Today was an eventful day. It started out with the African market at about noon (early considering my late night of dancing) and was followed by a mall and Indian food for dinner. The market was nice but bargaining really takes it out of me. It is very different from the Chinatown passive bargaining where they are willing to drop the price if you walk away. The African market requires that you endure the hard sell and then an active bargaining process before finally extracting yourself from the vendor. Oh, and at the same time you have to calculate the exchange rate.
After this we went to the Eastgate Mall. This was overwhelming and I love the mall. I blame it on the altitude. I have a few observations about Joburg and the mall. This is the third mall I have been to in a week. It seems that mall culture is alive and well here in Joburg. What I find interesting is that there is always a supermarket, movie theater and high-end restaurants (Smith and Wollensky). Families will come to the mall and eat as if they were going to a sidewalk café. Unlike the other two malls, the Eastgate mall had a mixed race clientele.
Today was a bad day for the New School group in relation to the Joburg police. Earlier today one of the students was taken into the police station and questioned (the cop would later call the girl and try to hang out). At about eight o’clock this evening a group of five of us went to the Oriental Market area for dinner. After our Indian dinner we called cabs to get back to stay city. The cab I was in was pulled over by the police and there were a few moments where I was sure I was going to have a heart attack. Luckily the driver immediately got out and talked to the cop. When the driver came back to the cab he told us that whenever the cops see white people in the area of our hotel they assume that they are trying to buy cocaine. My first thought: who takes a cab to score coke?
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