J.M. Coetzee

When I go to different places, many times I feel like a small child. I ask too many questions, I guess it annoys people sometimes, but at the same time I believe it is a great way to learn many things that otherwise I would never figure out. Well, such was the case with this author, he is very very famous here in South Africa, he won the Literature Nobel Prize. I felt very ignorant because I had never even heard of him! Well anyway, I bought the book and currently am reading it... Actually knowing about the places that he talks about in the book make it even more fun to read. Regardless if you know the place or not, I still recommend this read. The story is about a middle aged man who gets involved with one of his students, and the social problems that come with it. It also somewhat reflects the white reality in South Africa.
The situation between blacks and whites here is quite different than how I thought. The black government is seen as a disappointment (maybe because they had too high expectations) to many people because of the corruption, crime rates are higher than ever, and people expected very much from the new government, kind of the same thing that happened in Mexico, but very different as well. Today, the unemployment rate in South Africa is enormous and because of the affirmative action it is almost impossible for a white person to get a good job. So many people are emigrating to countries such as Australia and some of them still have British passports, or of any other European country so they are leaving to find jobs in other places, but at the same time these people where the ones who invested in the country. Also, for example it is very difficult to get scholarships if you are white, if you want to go to graduate school, it is very difficult to get grants or loans. Also, aids is such a big problem and the worst thing is that the government is not really doing anything! they are actually spending 10 times more on the Stadium for the World Soccer Cup on 2010 than what is spent on the HIV programs. Also, until recently the government admitted that HIV and AIDS where related, they argued that they where two completely different things.