Hi all! I’m sorry I didn’t stick with my weekly update (I know all of you were just DYING to hear about all of my life details), but things just got a little crazy with a weekend excursion and schoolwork. This time, I’m just going to give a quick rundown of what I’ve been up to, and then I’m going to answer some general questions that people have been asking me through skype, emails, and Facebook.

Not terribly exciting went on during the week last week—just Pendla, classes, homework, etc. I did, however, experience a pretty intense bout of sadness and anger during my senior seminar course. We watched a movie called Cry Freedom, which is the story of Steven Biko (an anti-apartheid leader that was killed by policemen during an interrogation right here in Port Elizabeth). The movie ended with a depiction of the Soweto uprising (Wikipedia it for more info), which basically was a peaceful protest by African schoolchildren that did not want to be taught in Afrikaans (Desmond Tutu coined it as the language of the oppressor). For some reason, the police opened fire and ended up murdering over 700 children and wounding over a thousand. The majority of these children were running away, fleeing the scene, and were shot in the back. (A very famous photo of a boy named Hector Pieterson is from this uprising—that is his older brother carrying him.) I had heard plenty about the uprising prior to seeing the movie, but seeing a visual depiction of it made me physically sick. How can you shoot a child? Much less one that is running away from you? Bleeding, dying children were laying everywhere, while the policemen continued to aim, shoot, and kill. The children were unarmed, defenseless, and posing absolutely no threat to the policemen. I don’t know if it was my mood or something that day, but it really, really upset me to see this. We had a break afterward and I went to the bathroom and just cried for a little bit. It broke my heart to think of the children that were murdered during the uprising (all I could think of were the kids in my class at Pendla), but I also became extremely angry. Why is crap like that necessary? And history just repeats itself. Soweto was only one event during apartheid—there were countless other instances of police corruption, such as the Sharpeville Massacre. The fact that these events happened in very recent years makes it much harder to swallow—it’s impossible to be in this country and distance oneself from it.

Which leads me to my next point (I promise I won’t be such a Debbie Downer after this!)…it’s extremely difficult to distance myself from everything I’m learning in my classes. Virtually nothing we are learning (with the exception of marimba day in jazz class haha) is lighthearted in the least—for example, for literature this week we read a novel about a 13 year old boy on the streets in Cape Town, prostituting himself to adult males in order to survive. Although it was a novel, it was a very accurate depiction of reality in this country. If I were reading it at home, it would be much easier to simply read it, think about it, and leave it. Being in this country however, I read it, think about it, then walk outside and see beggar children down the street. The same goes for everything I am learning in all of my classes—I’ve never applied classroom knowledge so frequently and deeply before. It’s tough to take it all in at times, but it’s honestly becoming the best learning experience I think I’ve ever had. It’s opening my eyes to a lot of things that I don’t think I would be able to truly grasp from the comfort of my apartment back in St. Joseph. On a slightly lighter note, we are moving on to examining the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (restorative justice after the end of apartheid), so I’m learning a lot about forgiveness (shout out to my main man Desmond Tutu). It’s hard to hear stories told during the TRC hearings, but it’s incredible to see people being forgiven for absolutely atrocious crimes.

Anyway, that’s enough of the depressing stuff for now! Pendla was great last week! I ended up teaching quite a bit because Mrs. Ndumi was out and about, which I really enjoy. It’s not quite as chaotic now because the children are beginning to respect me a bit more and I’m gaining an understanding of how to control the class. I just can’t get over HOW CUTE these kids are….and they are so affectionate, I absolutely love it. This first picture is just of some of the kids and i at recess, and the second is a picture with a couple kids in my class. The one hugging me, Asemahle, has been one of my favorites from the beginning. At first, he was so shy that he wouldn't say a word to me, but now he never stops hugging me and is constantly calling me "mom." He is so sweet and I absolutely adore him. :)

Last weekend we had a group excursion to Frontier Farms, which were these huge Afrikaner farms up in the mountains a few hours inland. To save time, I won’t go over all of the weekend’s events, but all you need to know is it was absolutely beautiful, I castrated a sheep, I drank milk from a cow’s udder, I climbed up a basically vertical mountain barefoot, and I went swimming in this beautiful gorge area that usually has a waterfall. It was funny being at a farm because in some ways it was a lot like home, but in other ways it was SO different from home. The mountain area we were in looked like it was straight out of the Sound of Music, so there were several rousing renditions of The Hills Are Alive and Climb Every Mountain while they hauled us around in these big truck things called backies.

This week has been pretty typical so far—Pendla was SO much fun yesterday. I’m hoping to do a separate blog entry solely on Pendla soon, because I have SO much to say about it. Class has been standard, went to rugby for a while on Monday, went to the mall with Kate today….nothing terrible against the norm.

Now onto the onslaught of questions I’ve received from all of you crazies! I think for simplicity’s sake I will just bullet point the different items below.

*Port Elizabeth is a city of about 1.1 million people. It’s in the province of the Eastern Cape and is in the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality. The municipality is actually the only place in South Africa that Mandela allows to use his name, so everything here is named Nelson Mandela something or other. They love the guy here, which is great—side note, you should all read his autobiography, a Long Walk to Freedom. It’s an incredible story, and everybody should read it at some point.

*My university, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, has about 25,000 students. My classes take place at the main campus, South Campus (old UPE), which is always bustling with students. It’s a beautiful campus (filled with monkeys everywhere by the way), and I really like being at a large university for a change.

*Some have asked if I’ve experienced any culture shock since I’ve been here. I didn’t experience anything like that for almost the first month while I was here (which is apparently normal—they told us that culture shock doesn’t usually come until the initial “high” of the novelty is over), but I actually have experienced a little bit now. It mainly comes from the fact that some things just take forever to do here, and it’s just frustrating once in a while. For example, getting into the computer lab, getting online, and printing are all these multiple-step processes that just seem unnecessary. Don’t even get me started on the bussing system haha. It’s not too bad the majority of the time, but it definitely has been a culture shock.

*The AIDS rate in the New Brighton township (where Pendla is) is approximately 33%. There’s really no way for me to tell what kids in my class are affected, but it breaks my heart to know that some of their lives are going to be cut short.

*Safety…it’s all just a matter of watching your back, being aware of your surroundings, and taking the precautions necessary to protect yourself. People get very wound up over the large number of muggings etc that happen here, but often it’s just a matter of making good decisions. For example, a few international students a couple buildings over from us got mugged at knifepoint not long ago—people freaked, but then we found out that they didn’t have a guy with them (big no-no), they were walking on the path closest to the beach at night (bigger no-no), and they were carrying purses with them (biggest no-no). In the time that I’ve been here, I’ve become SO much better at knowing how to read people, getting a feel for when things are sketchy, and getting myself out of any area or situation I need to get out of quickly.

*The question I get the most is if I’m loving it here…of COURSE I am! It’s amazing, incredible, magnificent, fantastic. And SO much fun! I’ve met so many awesome people, which is one of my favorite parts. It’s going to be extremely difficult to say goodbye to this place! So yes…I am indeed loving it. J

*A couple people asked who exactly the Afrikaners are. Afrikaners are basically all the white people down here (whites make up about 9% of the population). They are of Dutch descent and speak Afrikaans, which is this totally weird language that is kind of a combination between Dutch and English. It’s really hard to read and pronounce correctly because it’s not phonetic at all (seriously, I think I could master Xhosa before I could begin to speak Afrikaans). It’s everywhere on signs and newspapers and everything, and I hear people speaking it all the time. I have learned a tiny bit and can tell people my name in it, mainly because it’s basically the same as English haha (mai nom es Logan).

*Food…they are big meat eaters down here, but I tend to eat a lot of vegetables, eggs, and bread. The overall types of foods are relatively similar to back home, but there are definitely some differences. Everything besides fruit and veggies tastes a little different than it does back home in the states—it’s slight, but it’s definitely different. This is most apparent in restaurants, because they tend to use a lot of different sauces and whatnot. It’s really good though and I like the food a lot….the only thing I’m having a hard time acquiring a taste for is the mayo (it’s tangy and tastes quite a bit different than at home). Other differences….when you go to the grocery store, the milk is warm, in a box, and just sitting out on the shelf. Same goes for eggs. I also refuse to eat the lunch meat down here (it is sooo sketchy-looking!), so it’s a good thing I love cheese and tomato sandwiches. Restaurants usually have some sort of ostrich option, which is really very good! I had crocodile a few weeks ago as well, which was great.

*For those concerned that I’m going to be eaten by a shark, the beach outside my flat is quite safe, and hasn’t had a shark attack for many years. Don’t feel dumb, Shark Week had me worried for a little while too. J

*The weather….it’s hot. SO hot. The amount of time we all spend sweating far outweighs the time we don’t. Apparently this has been a really hot summer for South Africa, which has made for plenty of beach time! Sunscreen is essential every day…I currently look like Michael Jackson during his transformation from black to white because my face is peeling and it’s all spotchy…pretty cute if you ask me. It’s so wonderful being in this weather, especially knowing how cold it is back in Minnesota.

Well, this is getting terribly long, so I should probably stop there! I hope all is well for all of you back home and you’re staying warm! Cheers!