Hello friends, welcome to South Africa! Christopher Schram here - your guide as we explore this amazing country.

The journey from New York City to Johannesburg was by far the longest flight I’ve ever taken. Before today, my only international travel experience was to the United Kingdom. After being airborne for about eight hours, I had a stopover in Dakar, Senegal, so that the plane could refuel.

Eight hours after that, the plane finally touched ground at Oliver Tambo airport in Johannesburg. My first step on to the African continent was an excited leap! After passing through immigration, where I got a nifty visa sticker for my passport, I piled into a van with my fellow travellers en route to the hotel.

Driving through Johannesburg, I pressed my face to the car window, trying to take in the city though it was nighttime. I immediately noticed three things: bright city lights, bumper to bumper traffic, and hundreds of houses surrounded with high walls with razor wire. Johannesburg and its surrounding areas have a population of roughly nine million people. This is about equal to my hometown of New York City, though traffic here seems much worse. Johannesburg also has a reputation of being one of the most dangerous cities in the world. However I’m curious if this is true or if the city just has a bad reputation in the media. Like every new place I visit, I will explore with caution and an open mind.

This is my first time visiting a country in which English is not the major language. I want to be prepared to greet everyone I meet in their native language. This will not be an easy task, because South Africa has eleven official languages: Afrikaans, English, Ndebele, Xhosa, Zulu, Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, Swati, Tshivenda, and Xitsonga. Try saying all these three times fast!

I will begin by learning how to say “Hello” and “Thank You” in a few languages before tomorrow morning. Goodnight for now and sala kahle (keep well in Zulu).

Dig In: Get acquainted with some South African traditions.

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