Traffic Jam

So. You may notice that I am somewhat behind in my blog entries. This is because I have become intensely busy in the last week. On Friday I tried to meet with a research participant for the third time (she didn't show up the first two times). On this occasion she did in fact turn up, only to inform me that she had to leave within 15 minutes. It was worth the wait though because she gave me the name and contact information for something called the Bright Site Project.
When I paid the Bright Site Project only an hour later I was surprised to find out that the coordinator thought that he could secure 100 research participants for me within a week which was amazing, but totally overwhelming. I also had arranged to travel to Johannesburg on Tuesday (today) to meet with members of Congolese civil society who I originally mentioned 2 weeks ago.
So I spent my weekend preparing for the week ahead, purchasing both a printer and a bicycle (its a schwinn, possibly the nicest bike I have ever owner and its even better when you find out its used so it was dirt cheap) and printing. Note I also had time to go to a screening of a movie put on by a french couple who spent 3 years walking from South Africa to Israel and go to a nature reserve which I will post pictures from later.
Monday went off mostly without a hitch, I had 20 research participants and they responded positively to my research. The only downside was the 80 minutes of bike riding after 15 minutes of running which proved to be a bit too much for me and the slight problem that I could not locate an ink cartridge for my new printer which means I am not ready for the next set of participants.
Today however did not go quite as well. F, the fellow from Congolese civil society who was supposed to meet with me today in Johburg showed up half an hour late and we then proceeded to spend the next 2.5 hours driving around PRETORIA dropping his brother and wife off at school and work, picking up someone else from the organization, making a quick stop off at the bank and waiting. Finally at 11 we hit the road for Johburg which seemed ever so promising and then we got stuck in an hour and a half traffic jam. When we got to Johburg we had to meet an additional person, F got lost and we didn't arrive at the office until 1. I still was optimistic thinking that it would all be worth talking with 8 Congolese civil society members. However when we got to the office it became clear that the only person I would be interviewing would be F who did an hour and a half of work before and after talking to me, leaving me to do nothing. On top of everything else F didn't adequately respond to my research questions, seeming to not really be listening to what I was asking. When we finally left there was of course another giant traffic jam and it took us another 2 hours to get back to Pretoria, during which time F offered to find me a husband in Congo and couldn't understand how my future fiancees family wouldn't have to pay labola (a dowery) to my family, to have me as his wife. He also kept taking both hands off the wheel to talk on his cell phone while driving at 110km/hour, in the dark and rain in heavy traffic. The worst part of it was that I could have conducted the interview in Pretoria which would have taken an hour and a half of my time and I could have got some of my work done. But instead I spent my day doing this! Arg.
In any case I owe you guys a couple of updates which should follow within the next week. I would like to end this segment with the sentiment that gridlock is exceptionally bad in South Africa.

Good night