To be honest, I had every intention of regularly maintaining this blog since its inception during my baby years of 2013 but a combination of laziness and not entirely knowing what direction I wanted to take it in kept me from doing so. I'm more realistic now so I'll be honest and say I don't know when my next post will be :)))))) BUT a lot of friends have asked about my trip & what I did because they want to visit SA so I decided to consolidate my thoughts into a post.
So first, why South Africa? I was initially hesitant to visit because I knew that the effects of apartheid are still overwhelmingly apparent and I had personal ethical dilemmas with being a tourist where that was the case (I think about the political space I occupy when being a tourist & think it's important to be conscious of that. Turkey (Kurdish occupation) & Israel (Palestinian occupation) are the highest on my list of places to boycott) but post-visiting, I saw that South African politics/society are actually extremely parallel to US politics/society and I was able to relate to South Africans on a very personal level. I really learned from every conversation I had with my South African pals so I encourage those of you who will be going to have them too.
