That time I was mauled by a lion! (cub)

Last weekend, Ashish and I went to Jo-burg, but first we had to prepare and present at a journal club on Fri, of which we were informed on Weds. It was a little bit of a bummer to end the week on a stressful note. We presented "Primary INH PPX against TB in HIV exposed children" by Mahdi et al in NEJM 2011. Just in case anyone is interested. It showed that children with and without HIV did not receive a benefit from INH ppx if they have never been exposed to TB, but that doens't really change the way things run at Baylor since everyone has been exposed to TB. I'm curious to see if my PPD converts when I get back!

 So after our presentation we immediately went to the airport, Ashish with all his things, and me just for the weekend. Here he looks longingly at King Moshoeshoe airport, bidding a sad farewell to the Mountain Kingdom.

Our trip to Joburg was easy, we rented a car, got some jams on the radio and headed to Zeitsies B+B, which turns out to be the most beautiful, friendly place in the world. Our bathtub is a good representation of the opulence with which we spent the weekend. Please note the bathrobes. I don't think I can stay in cheap hotels anymore...This trip has ruined me lol

Once we settled in,  it was only 2pm so we decided to start with the Apartheid museum. Here's the entrance way, in the whites only corridor. Our tickets randomly assigned us to be white or non-white, I was white. I had immense white guilt. 

This was a placard next to a very early human skull. 

The museum was very heavy, very dark and stressful. It lacked the emotional connection that Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum in Israel) did though, and no one walking through was tearing, mostly people had looks of horror. I was definitely insufficiently education about Apartheid, and was really aghast that all this happened, and only officially ended in the 90s. It set the tone for a weekend where everyone white person I saw over 30 was suspect moral character in my mind. And every time I heard Afrikaans I felt complicit in great horrors. 

We met someone in the parking lot of the museum that suggested we go to Nelson Mandela square after the museum. So we wandered about a fancy mall and piazaa, and happily found the Peacemakers museum, dedicated to Nobel Peace Prize winners and esp the 4 from South Africa. This was the best possible contrast to the Apartheid museum, and gave us reason to hope again. 

We went back to our hotel for dinner, which was delicious and charming and lovely etc...There are 3 dogs who live there, which only added to the awesomeness. The owner, Elzabe Zeitsies used to be in theater, she may have also lived as a man for 12 years. Either way, she was a very opinionated woman who loves South Africa and was the perfect person to help us guide our weekend.

The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, we went on a Soweto tour with a friend of Elzabe's, Nicholas. Nicholas grew up in Soweto and was very passionate about his township, and offered us amazing insight into being black and young in Joburg today. We did Mandela house, walked outside Desmond Tutu's house...this is the only street in the world where 2 nobel winners have lived. I was pretty into Mandela house because 1) I read his autobiography in 7th grade, and his story still resides somewhere in my subconscious 2) he looks a little like Grandpa Eddie and that makes me fond of him. 

 This was a funny.

 This is Nicholas. He has dreads hidden underneath that hat, which he said he kept covered to prevent police profiling. We told him we thought dreads were great, and he eventually let them down for us. At the end of the day, we pounded it, and he called us real Africans, which was an honor.

Our next stop was the Hunter Pieterson museum, which is a memorial for the Bantu Education Act Shootings, which killed 600+ students and injured thousands in the 1970s when the police ended up shooting into a peaceful student march of 150,000. The Bantu education Act wanted to make Afrikaans the official language in Joburg schools which 1) is not the language these students know- they know Zulu and English 2) the main reason they need to know AFrikaans is if they are going to be house servants in white dutch homes.  Hunter Pieterson was a 13 yo boy who was among the first shot that day. That picture shows him in the arms of the neighbor that carried him back to his house, and his sister crying beside them. 

 This is a Soweto bunny chow sandwich. It is a large slice of a loaf of bread, hollowed out, filled with a pickled salsa, french fries, bologna, a russian sausage and cheese. IT's legit, Nicholas took us "into the walls" of Soweto. It also cost 15 rand (less than $2 USD)

 After Soweto we went to the Lion Park! Since we didn't have time to go on a real game drive, this is the next best thing. It's only 15 minutes out of Joburg, and there are lots of rehabbed and not, animals in this mini safari. Here's ostrich charging the car.

Here's a lion gettin' it on.

The zebras were really stunning. 

It also had Cub World, where you could interact with lion cubs that had been rejected from their prides. This is Ashish being wary of a cub.

See that top cub, the white one? I went to take a picture with it and it swiped at my leg in a playful way.

This is what happened. Ashish has an action shot of claws in my leg, I'll post it when we manage our picture exchange.

After getting some first aid, we went back to the cubs and finally got a good picture with them. 

We stalked this baby giraffe that was led into a pen for the night. It figured out how to stick its head out and we went over and fed it/pet it for a while. It loved me, I got to touch its horns and face...meanwhile it rejected multiple attempts by Ashish to feed it. I think it smelled his fear.

We also watched this adult giraffe jump the fence and wander into the parking lot. None of the staff was concerned though. On our drive out, we met out friend again, who stuck his nose in the car. Oh, hai there!

That night we went to Melville, which is a super hip neighborhood where we grabbed conveyer belt sushi. Afterwards we went back to the hotel and enjoyed the complimentary sherry in our rooms, looked out over Joburg's skyline and listened to some Taylor Swift. This is a view of the B/B's outdoor space the next morning. Our final destination was Arts on Main, a hipster food market that we may have been a little too full from our excellent brunch to enjoy.

And then we went to the airport, parted ways (SADNESS!), I made it back to the cottage without incident and met my new cottage mate, a second year peds resident from Loyala chicago.
And I think Ashish should be landing in Dallas just about now...
I can't believe it's 5 days until I fly out back home!