South Africa Twenty-seven - Text
This male speaker was born in 1981 and raised in Johannesburg, and is a student. She was recorded by Mark Ingram and his students in November 2005. Edited by Paul Meier on September 9, 2006. Running time 00:03:44.
TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH
It was amazing growing up in Johannesburg. It was interesting, it was…exciting, it was difficult as well. I mean…and…you know I, I was there, I was in grade seven in ninety-four, so that was when our first democratic elections happened and, uh, unfortunately you know a lot of the violence started after that and it was difficult, but (um) it was, I mean, you know, the upper middle classes lived very well in Johannesburg and unfortunately there was just such a huge discrepancy between the classes.
But when since I’ve come to Canada the main thing I’ve been thinking about, mainly like, that I miss a lot during Johannesburg and like, what I like what I remember most in terms of like the senses at least is the thunder storms, like in the summer there’s just these most amazing, beautiful thunder storms every afternoon after it’s been boiling hot the whole day and like lightning and thunder and then it just cools down and you see the steam coming off the streets and it’s just, you can smell the irons in the air, you know, it’s just that’s like the height of, height of thunder storms. You know (unclear) just so beautiful and (unclear) but, but yeah, I mean, yeah (laughs). And it was cool growing up in Johannesburg, and, you know unfortunately there’s no public transport, so, and, although that’s changing I think, I’m not sure, but there was no public transport so you’re very, very dependent on your parents to give you lifts around town and everything. And, yeah, unfortunately, you cou(ldn’t), you know like, because it wasn’t always safe you couldn’t go out like you can in Toronto. But it’s changing, you know, it’s cool, it’s getting bigger and bigger, and it’s developing as a city and…
UNSCRIPTED SPEECH TRANSCRIBED BY ELIZABETH TERREL, ASSOCIATE EDITOR FOR TRANSCRIPTIONS, January 16, 2008. AMENDED BY MARK INGRAM AUGUST 30, 2008.