Dumb Questions

The Farming God's Way training which I attended this past weekend was in Bloemfontein about four hours drive southwest of Johannesburg. As I flew in I noticed that it did not look all that much different then the great plains, especially eastern Colorado, Wyoming and western Nebraska. Bloemfontein is a major agriculture producing area in the central plateau of South Africa. It has extreme temperatures like the Great Plains and the major economic activity is farming wheat and corn. As we approached the eye could see large circles where the central irrigation systems made their path. A man in the seat in front of me was visiting South Africa doing articles for the BBC. He commented on the central irrigation systems, pivots we call them in Nebraska because they move around a pivotal point in the center of the fields and water the crops, making large circles on the plains. He was incredibly fascinated by these systems and had never seen them before. This was quite interesting to me since they were almost a natural part of the landscape where I grew up, almost to the point that it might be worth considering putting them in those National Audubon Society books that help identify wildlife on the plains. I can see the description: "Large, multi-legged animal that has a habit of running in circles, though is not very fast. Mostly lives on the ground but will occasionally spend time of climbing houses or grain bins. Largest preditor is migratory thunderstorms and tornados." This all reminds me of how diverse the world is.

On arriving to the airport, which is getting a make over for the FIFA World Cup next year, I sat down to wait my ride which was on it's way from Lesotho nearby. I happened to overhear the neighbor lady talking in Portuguese. English, which is one of the official languages of South Africa and many of our other neighboring countries, I was actually a little surprised to hear Portuguese spoken.

I said hello in Portuguese and said, "Where are you from? I did not expect to hear Portuguese spoken in South Africa."

"I am from Brazil. The Brazilian soccer team came in yesterday for the FIFA Confederations Cup and you will hear a lot of Portuguese spoken here," she replied.

In Southern Africa where soccer is king, I realized my question was like asking why people are wearing red in Lincoln on Husker game day. I ended the conversation there and realized I need to pay attention to the news.

Needless to say, while I will not be able to attend the games it has been a joy to watch teams like Brazil, Egypt, USA, South Africa and Italy play on TV here in South Africa and to feel like I am almost there.