Well, I’ve officially failed at keeping this updated weekly—sorry dudes. Things have been really hectic these past few weeks with excursions, a long weekend, and a TON of schoolwork. I’ll try to get through it all, but I can’t guarantee that I will remember all of it—I will do my best to highlight the significant stuff, however….sorry if I seem a bit scatterbrained!

I probably should start with classes. Like I’ve said before, this semester abroad isn’t a piece of cake like I’ve heard about other programs. There is a TON of reading involved (that we actually have to do) and we have a good amount of papers and exams to take care of as well. I had my first political science paper due, which turned out to be about 5200 words…although it was long, it wasn’t terribly difficult to write. It was simply discussing the key parties and negotiations involved with SA’s transition to democracy. Like everything in my classes, it’s fascinating because it is SO recent. It’s cool because almost everything that has happened in this country is still happening, and I’m able to witness it. This is the first time in my life that I really feel like I am living through history, which is a completely novel, unique experience. I’ve now had at least one major paper/exam for each of my classes, so I’m really in the midst of things and I stay quite busy with homework and whatnot during the week.

Pendla….it’s been quite the experience as usual. I absolutely love the kids in my class to death. It’s funny to think about my first few days there when I was completely overwhelmed…I never thought I’d learn a single kid’s name, and I just didn’t see myself having any sort of impact on the kids or on the school in general. Now I know all 32 names of the students in my class (even if I can’t always pronounce them correctly!), along with some names of students in other classes or grade levels. I also see myself having an impact on these kids, even if it is very small. I just hope that in the end, I have a fraction of an impact on the kids as the kids are having on me. Like I’ve said, I’m hoping to do a Pendla entry one of these days where can get into detail about what I do, see, and experience, along with some info about the individual kids in my class.

Group Excursion--THE KAROO.

The Karoo is a very arid, mountainous area of South Africa. On the drive out, we stopped at a cheetah sanctuary where we were able to pet tame cheetahs, lion cubs, and other wild creatures indigenous to South Africa. It was pretty cool, and I didn’t have much of an allergic reaction to the animals like I was expecting—another girl on our trip, Emily, had a pretty bad one and had to deal with a swollen, watering eye for the rest of the day. After a 4 hour drive, we arrived in Graaf-Reinet, a predominantly Afrikaner town in the heart of the Karoo. It was strange entering the town because it was so Afrikaner. The architecture was European, everything was in Afrikaans, and there were white people milling throughout the town. At the same time, however, we experienced a huge amount of hassling and begging, much more so than in PE. There is a township directly connected to Graaf-Reinet (thank you, apartheid’s forced removals), so poverty is definitely prevalent—it’s just been shoved outside of the immediate city borders. I’ll get a little more into that when I talk about our trip to the Valley of Desolation.

On the Friday of the Karoo trip, we really spent most of our day traveling. The cheetah sanctuary was cool, but after that it just got VERY HOT. We went to the Zebra National Park right outside Graaf-Reinet, but we were all so hot that it made us tired and uninterested (for the record, we didn’t even see any zebras—all monkeys and bok, which are everywhere down here). Since we were all so tired, we decided to just lay low in GR for the night….went and grabbed a quick dinner and then hopped in the pool at our bed and breakfast. The pool felt great and was a lot of fun (WHIRLPOOL!), so it was a nice end to a long, hot day.

The next day was actually my birthday…yes, the big 2-1. I woke up early (standard haha) and started my morning by having coffee with our drivers, Shaddly and Henry, which was great—they are SO funny and have lived in SA their entire lives, so they have a lot of insight as to what really goes on in this country. After breakfast, we headed out in small groups to explore Graaf-Reinet and complete a small assignment Sister Mary Jane assigned us. We went to a few museums and learned about the fossils, art history, and the political background of GR (the leader of the Pan-Africanist Congress is from GR). Afterward, Karla and I had lunch at a cute little café and completed our assignment. Once everyone was back to the bed and breakfast, we headed to the Valley of Desolation, which was basically a beautiful high peak on a mountain. Before we went to the real valley, however, we stopped on a mountain to view Graaf-Reinet and the GR township. I am so happy we did this, because it was a way that I could photographically sum up South Africa—there is the Afrikaner town, but then completely separate (yet still attached) is the township that all blacks were forced to relocate to under the Group Areas Act. While one can say that apartheid is over and black people can technically live wherever they want, the division between black and white in this country is extremely apparent—as illustrated in this picture. The big circle is the main town, and the offshoot circle in the upper left is the township. Completely divided—apartheid’s main goal.

That night, we went to a local restaurant for a lamb dinner. The lamb was a little fatty, but I love lamb so it was a nice treat. After dinner we all just headed back to the B&B, where we just hung out and enjoyed each other’s company. I ended up jumping in the pool completely clothed, so that was probably a birthday highlight. In the end, I got to bed before midnight because we had an early morning the next day.

On Sunday, we went and saw bushman cave paintings. It was SO cool to see paintings that were done 7000+years ago…I can’t believe that a concoction of blood, urine, and other animal bodily fluids could last so long. It offered a slightly different piece of South African history, since most history we are learning is within the past 20 years.

Long Weekend—JOHANNESBURG AND SWAZILAND

Since we had a large paper due Thursday, our poli sci prof gave us the day off. We also had the following Monday off because of a national public holiday (Human Rights Day), so everyone in our group ended up going for a weekend trip. Five girls and I decided to go on a guided trip to Swaziland, with a day trip to Johannesburg. Along with our group of six was Tony, our guide, his daughter Larissa, and his volunteer Noemi (from Switzerland). Tony picked us up at 5am so we could catch our flight to Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. Not only is it the largest and most dangerous city in SA, it’s the second most dangerous city in the world. It has its roots in gold mining…the mines are a huge part of SA’s history, as thousands of black men would leave their families to work endless hours in extremely unsafe conditions, live in tiny little dorms, and oftentimes only be compensated with alcohol. Immediately after leaving the airport, we saw what looked like a huge mountain of gold dirt from the mines—it was pretty cool to see.

We were originally going to try and see Soweto, the largest township in South Africa (and the location of the uprisings I mentioned in an earlier blog), but unfortunately it was not safe for us to do so. There are lots of riots going on there right now, mainly because the World Cup cities are not allowing kombi drivers to transport fans to and from the stadiums during the games. Tony talked to several people he knows from Joburg, and they all said we’d be crazy to try and go there now. Sooo, with those plans aside, we obviously headed to the next best place: SAB’s World of Beer. SAB (I think it stands for South African Brewing?) is a massive company that brews on five continents. For only 25 rand (about $3.50), we got an almost two hour tour, a small beer halfway through (and we got to keep the SAB glass!), and two tall tap beers at the end. The tour was super high tech and lots of the time I felt like I was at Disneyworld. The coolest part of the tour was probably when we learned about how traditional Zulus make beer in their villages, and then we got to try some out of a communal bowl, like they do. It was really gross (especially the white lumps floating around), but it was awesome to experience a little bit of the Zulu culture. The Xhosa culture is so dominant in the Eastern Cape where we live, that we don’t get to learn too much about the Zulus (they live primarily in the Kwazulu-Natal province).

After the World of Beer, we headed to Gold Reef City, which is actually an amusement park. Although there were rides, we went there for a gold pouring demonstration and a trip down into a mine. Unfortunately, the mine was closed for the day- but we did get to see the gold pouring. (I can’t believe how hot it needs to be! God bless the workers down in the mines, there’s no way I could do it.) While we were waiting for the demonstration, we decided to kill some time by hitting up the roller coasters (such a pain,I know ;) ) They were comparable to home, but the big difference I noted was the lack of safety checks and instruction. At home, they check you at least once and always have the instructions about ride conduct playing, but here they only check you once for the big roller coasters…and no instruction. There was one ride, the Tower of Terror, that brought you up in a car and then dropped you vertically down into a mine shaft…SUPER fun. Megan and I were the true ride warriors, riding every time that someone else wanted to try it. J

After Gold Reef City, we needed to start heading to Swaziland so we got to our lodging before dark. We stayed at Old School Trout Lodge (in SA), where we got an entire house to ourselves. The coolest part was the lake in the backyard—it took up the entire backyard, and literally came all the way up to the house. If you looked directly down off the porch, you could see all sorts of fish swimming around in the water. After breakfast, we headed out to finish our drive to Swaziland. Crossing the border was quite an experience. It’s not a busy border crossing at all, so the officers don’t see many people regularly. One of the officers had us write our names on this official-looking document, which we thought was part of the crossing process….turns out he wanted to add us on Facebook. Another officer was joking with us and telling us he was happy we were there because he wasn’t married yet, so we told him he had to pick one of us for a wife….lucky me, I was picked. My border patrol officer husband became kind of an ongoing joke throughout the weekend…crossing the border was really funny and bizarre, but few things happen completely “normally” down here.

Most of our day was sucked up by traveling, but we arrived to Mlilwane, Swaziland in time to have a nice dinner with live music and then head to House on Fire, a club for local Swazi entertainment. I’m not going to go into detail about House on Fire for time’s sake, but it was a VERY unique experience. After House on Fire, we headed back to our backpackers, which was actually on a game reserve. We were staying in these little two-person huts (Madiba huts according to Pehler and I, since they looked like the hut Nelson Mandela grew up in) with animals roaming around everywhere. Literally. There was this big cow thing lurking outside our hut door at night, an ostrich joined us for breakfast, and warthogs ran around like common household pets.

The next day, we headed out to do some serious crafting. Swaziland is known for their markets and crafts, especially candles. I got a lot of souvenir shopping done, so that was nice. The markets were incredible, and they don’t attack you like the markets in PE. Probably the most notable part of the market was my conversation with a local man that was just hanging around. It ended up being the strangest experience I’ve had so far in Africa…it started out with him saying he wanted to pray for me, moved to him trying to put ash on me to make me his wife, and ended with him telling me that Bill Clinton is his lawyer and America and Africa are the same now because we have a black president. It was all pretty comical, but we was getting quite a bit of attention—at one point, a European tourist was taking pictures of the whole ordeal. After a long day of crafting and shopping, we headed to SwaziTrails for the highlight of the trip—caving. It was SO COOL. We hiked 45 back to the caves, where we ended up descending 80 meters into the earth. It seriously was like Indiana Jones…Tony said that he has done a lot of caving and spelunking and this was by far the best. There were so many times in the caves when it seemed impossible to get through a hole or get up a boulder, but our guide, Darron, was so helpful and made sure we were all safe. We all felt really accomplished when we were done, and rightfully so I’d say—it was pretty intense, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Turns out I am highly allergic to something at the bottom of caves…surprise surprise, there really isn’t any escaping my allergies on this planet.

Sunday was spent exploring the game reserve (mountain biking and horseback riding), visiting this museum about the king of Swaziland, and then just chilling at a different backpackers we decided to stay at. That was actually a ton of fun…we met people from England and Germany, had a braii, and played the longest game of BS ever. It was a nice, relaxing way to spend our last night in Swaziland. In the morning, we packed up and headed to Ngwenya Glass Factory and some other shops in the area—I didn’t purchase anything, but it was cool to look around. Finally it was time for the long drive back to Joburg and the quick flight back to PE.

Nothing too monumental has happened this week—this weekend and the next couple weeks are what I’m looking forward to. Tomorrow I’m going to an Elton John concert, which is a pretty big deal because nobody ever tours down here. Saturday our whole groups is going hiking and snorkeling at our lit prof’s house, then we head out for Cape Town on Monday! After Cape Town we have a week off for break, so I think I will be heading to Durban for that. It should be a fun couple of weeks…hopefully I can do small updates so it’s not one massive update like this. I miss you all terribly and I hope everything is going great back home!

Until next,

Logie

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!

Hey everyone! Here’s the weekly rundown.

Monday—Pendla was pretty normal on Monday. It was extremely hot, so the kids were all worn out and tired. In the afternoon, our jazz class went on a “field trip” to the private high school that my professor also works at. The place looked like a country club (couldn’t contrast any more with Pendla)—I felt like I was in the midst of South African gossip girl. There, we heard 11^th and 7^th graders play the marimbas—they are SO GOOD. It was so much fun to hear! They did lots of popular songs (everything from Andrea Bocelli to Coldplay to Black Eyed Peas), and then we got to try them out. I learned a part on the bass marimba, and then we all came together to play a mambo. During our “cool drink” break, I asked one of the students to show me how to play Just Dance, so I now know how to play Lady Gaga on the marimba. I also talked for a long time with another student—she is 17 years old and seems to be smart beyond her years. She was really curious to know what life is like back in the states, so we had a really good conversation about how we each grew up.

After class, we had our first taste of a thunderstorm here in PE—they need it like crazy, there’s a big water shortage because they are in the middle of the worst drought in 88 years. However, it only last a few minutes and there was a big rainbow over the ocean afterward. J Since the weather cleared up, a few of us headed to campus for the varsity rugby game. It was SO fun! There were tons of people there, and student section cheered and danced and sang the entire time. There also was a group of guys that were just like the Rat Pack, so that was fun too. Getting home ended up being quite the process because none of us there had a phone and the only cab number we knew wasn’t picking up…but it was totally worth it.

Tuesday—Again, Pendla was pretty ordinary this day. My favorite little guy (Awonke) got the ear-pull from Mrs. Ndumi and a letter from the principal, so that was sad to see (especially because I have no idea what he did!), but on the whole it was pretty standard. This picture is of a few of the boys in my class--Awonke is the second one from the right. SO CUTE.

After class, we went to a pancake dinner at the church a block from Langerry. I’m really happy we went. First of all, the food was great (pancakes here are actually crepes), and secondly, I got to talk to some cool people. I sat at a table with a couple of moms and their kids, so they were telling me about their world travels and the schools they go to. Afterward, I walked out the back door of the church and about 10 kids were there playing with a volleyball—naturally, I had to join them. I absolutely love the kids at Pendla, but playing with the Afrikaner kids at the church was a nice change for a bit. At Pendla, there are always 20 kids hanging on me at once and it’s always mass chaos; with these kids, I was actually able to talk to and play a game with them. The fact that they spoke English helped as well. J Like I said, I would never trade working with the Pendla kids, but it was just nice to get to play with kids in a setting more like home.

Wednesday---In the morning, we had our second community service learning lecture. I found out that lots of people have not had great experiences at Pendla, mainly because of the teachers. It made me really grateful to be with Mrs. Ndumi. Also, after hearing from the people at the House, I’m much more confident in my decision to go to Pendla.

Wednesday night, some of us went and saw Valentines Day at the boardwalk—it was really fun to get to a movie in the theater. It actually made me a little homesick for the first time (a couple other girls felt the same way!) because I felt like I was at home during the show. It faded pretty quickly though, so no worries. J

Thursday—Nothing too exciting on Thursday. I absolutely love going for walks and runs on the beach early in the morning here…so that was probably the highlight of my day haha.

Friday— I headed to the pool again for the late morning and early afternoon. I LOVE that place, so it’s soo wonderful. Sunburn city though, my Minnesota skin had a little too much of the African sun. In the evening, our entire group went to the PE cricket match versus Cape Town. It was so much more fun than I thought it would be! It was packed (15,000 people), the Castles were cheap, the crowd was crazy, and the weather was perfect. It actually felt like a Twins game, but outdoors (whaddup Target Field!). This coloured guy (still feel weird saying that!) sitting next to me was extremely helpful in explaining the game to me so I actually knew what was going on. He and a few girls he was with also told me a little about the coloured population down here, so that was interesting to hear.

Saturday—Jeffrey’s Bay! We crammed 14 people into two compact cars for the hour long drive to Jeffrey’s Bay, one of the best surf towns in the world. It is SO BEAUTIFUL there! I absolutely loved it. The ocean waves are massive, the beaches are a beautiful white, there are tons of sand dunes, and there are mountains on the outskirts of the city. It’s not huge by any means—it’s actually relatively small—but that is part of what gave it a really cool feel. I felt like there should be speakers everywhere in the town blasting Jack Johnson. People with surfboard are everywhere, and it’s just super chilled out. Billabong hosts their annual surf competition in JBay, so there is Billabong stuff everywhere (we definitely did a little damage at the factory outlet store). There were lots of cute little ice cream shops and whatnot, so it was a lot of fun to walk around town.

Unfortunately, the ocean was too rough and choppy for us to try surfing. Instead, we got some lunch, explored the town, shopped a little, then headed to the beach outside our hostel (Surfpackers) to climb on the rocks and search for seashells. For dinner, we went to this AMAZING place on the beach called Walskippers! Expensive, but worth it. The floor of the restaurant is all sand…you can just walk around barefoot. It’s lit by candlelight lanterns, and you can see everything being cooked—a great atmosphere! I had crocodile and calamari (yes mom, I voluntarily ordered seafood), and it was sooo so so good. Jake and Lauren split a meat platter that had everything from springbok to bone marrow (yes, bone marrow), and Jedlicka and Kenefick split a seafood platter…I’ve never seen so much food on one plate in my life.

On the drive to Walskippers, we passed the most run-down township I’ve seen since I’ve been here. We all were shocked to see such terrible conditions, but the real shock came about 30 seconds after we passed it—all of a sudden, we were surrounded by these unbelievably huge, extravagant homes. There was even a moat going around the estates (not kidding). It was just a really clear illustration of the political and social climate in this country.

After dinner, we went back to our hostel and hung out with some guys from Argentina that were also staying there. We were going to head into town, but we were having so much fun that we decided to just stay at the hostel! We just played games, talked, and had a blast. One of the Argentinans (is that what you call them?) taught me how to salsa, so that was a lot of fun. (Anji—they were very impressed with my knowledge of Spanish songs! They even knew david bisbal—we sang ave maria. YES.)

Sunday—We all got up early because some of us were going sandboarding and some of us were going horseback riding. I was in the horseback riding group, which I was really excited for because I had never ridden a horse before. My horse, Baby, was pretty good—she would buck around a little bit but stayed pretty calm for the first half of the ride. The scenery was BEAUTIFUL! We started up at the base of a mountain, overlooking the ocean…went through the sand dunes (I felt like I was in the desert and should have been riding a camel or something)…and ended with a long beach portion. Baby went CRAZY when we got to the beach, and it was soooo scary. I could handle it when she trotted quickly, but on the beach she launched into a full-blown gallop. Pulling the reins didn’t work in the least, so I just held on for dear life and prayed that my brain didn’t hemorrhage. All in all, it was a good experience, but the horses were a little crazy. A couple people got thrown off their horse, and one girl’s horse decided to launch into a full-blown sprint in the opposite direction. It all makes it more of an adventure though, so I’m really happy we did it.

So, here I am, back at Langerry for another week of classes. This week is going to be crazy on the homework front, so I doubt there will be anything too terribly exciting to blog about next week. Until next time, cheers!

This week will mark my one-month mark in South Africa—I can’t believe it! The time has flown by so quickly. I’m settling into a routine, which feels good.

Last Sunday evening, I went to a student worship service at the university called Livewire. It was absolutely wonderful. The music was great, the speaker was charismatic and engaging, and there were SO many people there. For the next few weeks it’s actually going to be at the Boardwalk, which is only a 10-15 minute walk from my apartment, so I’m excited for that.

Classes were really good this week. On Monday, we learned traditional Xhosa music and the national anthem, and it was SO fun. Their national anthem is actually made of four different languages: Xhosa, Zulu, Afrikaans (very hard to read and speak by the way!), and English. It’s a beautiful song, and I hadn’t actually heard it before. We also had a blast learning “The Click Song.” It’s a traditional children’s song that has about seven million clicks in each word, hence the title. We got the hang of it though, and by the end we were out of our seats and incorporating the dance too, so it was a lot of fun.

Yesterday during political science we had a guest lecturer that came to talk about the four main players in the South African political scene (the NP, ANC, IFP, and PAC). What made it interesting however, was that he was a proud Afrikaner member of the National Party. It was possibly one of the most biased lectures I’ve ever heard, but it was interesting to hear from someone of the NP. Virtually everything that I’ve seen or read paints the NP to be the “bad guys” and the ANC to be the “good guys,” and this guy was definitely trying to change that view. It was very frustrating at times to listen to, because he was SO defensive of the NP. He skirted questions and only told us good things about the NP and bad things about the ANC. He tried to justify a lot of the really crappy stuff the NP did during apartheid, and that was a little frustrating as well. He also made a couple of outlandish statements—for example, saying that the apartheid police murdering 69 people in just one massacre wasn’t a big deal because in the four years after Mandela was released from prison, there were 20,000 black-on-black murders. All in all, even though it was biased, it kept me engaged for the whole lecture.

This week has been pretty chilled out. We had another group potluck last night, which are a lot of fun—we go out on the roof and enjoy the food, view, and company. Today is Katie Brown’s birthday, so this morning a few of us went to have breakfast at Tiffany’s (yes, there are pictures of Audrey Hepburn all over the place), then we went to this beachside pool that is about a 2 minute walk from our flats. It was so fun (we got creative with the waterslides there), and the view of the ocean waves made it even better. Most of my group (that didn’t leave PE this weekend) is out celebrating her bday right now, but I decided to sit this one out to have the flat to myself, relax, and get a couple things done (like this blog). But it was such a fun day at the pool and everything, we decided to declare her birthday a national South African holiday, to be celebrated every year. J

Pendla was absolutely chaotic this week. My first day was normal—I’m starting to really get to know the kids in the class now, which is great and makes that experience SO much better. I’m learning some names too, which has been quite the battle! Luxolo (yes, that x means a click), Kolekha, Khanya, Awonke, Asemahle, Zola…they’re much different from the Mallorys, Clays, and Paiges I hang out with at home, so it’s a little hard to remember them—but it’s coming, slowly but surely. I have a really hard time with Luxolo because of the click and Asemahle because there’s this really weird sound that I just can’t make my mouth produce. They think it’s hilarious though, and LOVE to laugh at me trying. Awonke cracks me up SO much—he is kind of a little jokester and is always trying to trick me. When he laughs, he gets the funniest look on his face—it’s kind of scrunched up with his eyebrows raised....when it's mixed with his absolutely massive head and his lack of front teeth, it's pretty adorable.

The second day was the crazy one. The grade 1 (and apparently one of the grade R?) teachers were not there that day, so we ended up with 30+ additional 4, 5, and 6 year olds on top of the 30 grade 3 kids. All in all, there were 63 children in the room for the entire day. Megan Buermann was in the class with me that day, because she works in one of the classes without a teacher. All of the little ones sat on the floor in the back while Mrs. Ndumi tried to teach her normal lesson. Essentially, my only job for the day was to keep the little ones under control and relatively quiet—not an easy task when they don’t speak a world of English and the only Xhosa word I know is hello! Eventually Mrs. Ndumi just had Megan and I take the kids outside, which became SO stressful. Some were running away, some were fighting, and about 10 of them were hanging on each of us at all times. It was really hard for us to communicate anything to them because they speak no English and they did not pay attention to any nonverbal attempts. At one point, one of the kids had another kid pinned to the ground, strangling him. I pulled him off and wanted to at least talk to him and let him know that it’s not ok, but it was a lost cause. Eventually, we were able to get them doing races, and that kept most of the mob under control for the time being. The day ended back in the classroom, with Mrs. Ndumi, Megan, myself, and all 63 kids marching around the room, singing different African songs. Even though the day was stressful, it was a really nice way to end it.

I haven't really experienced much homesickness or anything so far--how can i in such a cool place?--but i have heard that usually it doesn't hit until you've been here for a longer period of time. Even though I haven't gotten homesick, of course I miss my family and friends! Love you all. Working with the kids at Pendla reminds me of the kids I work with at home, so they are missed as well! Jasmine’s mom wrote on my Facebook wall the other day, telling me that Jazzy told her new PCA that she might have to fire her when I get back from my ‘field trip.’ Things like that, I miss! But it’s hard to think about those things for too long, because I’m in such a great place and doing so many great things.

We were going to be heading to Jeffreys Bay this weekend, but we’re actually going to postpone it until next weekend. It should be a blast—lots of surfing and hoseback riding on the beach (romantic, right? J). I’m not sure what’s on the agenda for tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll find something to do. I want to find a cage diving place to do a shark dive! We’ll see where the day takes me. Until next time, much love from under the African sun.

hi all!

I have one week of classes under my belt, and whoever said abroad classes are super easy LIED. I literally have hundreds of pages to read for this week—so it’s a good thing most of the classes seem interesting haha. I’ll just give a quick bit about my classes so I can move on to something all of you might care about a little more.

Mondays: South African Jazz. This is absolutely going to be my easiest class. The prof is SO high strung and scatterbrained—but in a good way. She seems really funny and very approachable, so I look forward to her class. Monday’s class was about traditional Nguni music—not exactly the jazz I thought we were going to be looking at, but fascinating nonetheless. We listened to different traditional instruments and types of singing—one of which sounds like an extremely low frog croak. Probably the weirdest sound I’ve ever heard come from a human being. Cat and I were having a hard time keeping the laughter locked up. I also learned how to do the different clicks of the Xhosa language, which I loved! There are three main types: against the palette, against the front teeth, and with each side of the mouth. I can hope that it will help me a little bit with the kids at Pendla, but we’ll see. J

Tuesdays: Senior Seminar. I guess I wasn’t expecting to have tons of work for this class, but we were assigned a LOT of reading. Sections of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography alone are about 300 pages each class period, which is addition to all of our other readings. Although it’s a lot when thrown on top of our other stuff, most of the readings are really interesting and I actually don’t mind reading it. We only have a couple long papers for the course as well, so that’s not too terrible.

Wednesdays: South African Literature. WOW, it has been a long time since I’ve had a lit course, or even an English class in general (what up Mrs. Marco’s 11^th grade Brit Lit?). Even though I’m extremely rusty on the whole read-ponder-find symbols-find meaning-thing, I’m looking forward to this class. My prof seems SO smart and knowledgable about both the literature and history of the apartheid. We will mainly be looking at literature written by white South Africans about the racial struggles of the country, so I think that will be very cool.

Thursdays: South African Politics. To be completely honest, this class scares me. I’ve never had a poli sci class before, the prof is funny yet intimidating, and there seems to be a LOT of work (18 page papers, 10 readings for next class period, etc). South Africa has such a unique and complicated political history and present, so I’m really very eager to learn about it—I just know that this class will require the most work out of me.

So, to sum up the class thing—I’m really looking forward to gaining a comprehensive understanding of South Africa while I’m living here, regardless of how much work it takes. At least I get to do all the reading on the beach. J

I also began my volunteer work this week at Pendla Primary School in the New Brighton township in Port Elizabeth. I am working in Mrs. Ndumi’s grade 3 classroom, and I love it. I wanted to be with the younger kids, and one of the people from last year told me Mrs. Ndumi was the way to go. The kids are just learning English (most of the lessons are taught in Xhosa, and that’s how they communicate with each other as well), so I’m not able to have extensive verbal conversations with the kids—but I can definitely talk to them, and I’m getting much better at my non-verbal communication skills. These kids seriously warm my heart to no end—each visit is a constant flow of hugs, high fives, hand-holding, and any other contact the kids can have with us. I spend a lot of time with children at home, so I'm really excited to work with them in a different cultural context.

The first day was a little bit unorganized—they were bouncing us around from room to room, some rooms didn’t have teachers that day, and we just didn’t know what was going on in general. However, the second day was MUCH better. The kids alternate between having math and reading in the mornings. For the math lessons, they count to 200 in both English and Xhosa, and also count by different numerical increments (3’s, 20’s, etc). Since they do this all as a large group, I don’t feel like much of a help—I simple count along during the English part and follow along on a counting chart during the Xhosa part. During the reading lessons however, I am pretty much teaching the class independently. Katie was joining me in Mrs. Ndumi’s classroom for the day because her teacher wasn’t there, so we both read a book in English with the kids (the kids read along with us), then we did a TON of flashcards of English words that the kids read for us. After the lesson, we were able to play some games with the kids—they LOVE rhythm-based games, and they are so rhythmically talented it blows my mind. Although many of the games are in Xhosa, I’m eventually able to pick up on them.

I get to go out for the recess break with the class as well, which has been a blast. On my first day, I organized a game of soccer with about 40 eight year old boys….it was chaotic, but so much fun. AND I scored a goal (WOOT!), which I was actually pretty proud of because these kids are amazing soccer players. It was really nice because the language barrier was not really an issue during the game. My second day during recess was quite a bit different—I had showered right before we left for Pendla that day, and left it down to air dry. The kids were OBSESSED with it. Even while we were still in the classroom, I had about 10 hands on it at all times, stroking it, braiding it, twisting it. When we went out for recess with the kids from the other young classrooms, I ended up with about 20 hands on it at all times. Literally, the kids were pushing each other over to play with it. It was SO bizarre for me—but I wasn’t complaining because having my hair played with is probably my favorite thing in the whole world.

I think it’s going to take some time to get used to how drastically different Pendla is from our schools back home. Obviously, there is a drastic difference in the physical state of the school, but that’s not what is going to take time. The overall functioning of the school is what is so different. For example, if a teacher doesn’t show up to school that day, the classroom of kids will literally be left alone all day. It seems like there is so much less time where the teachers are actually teaching—for example, Mrs. Ndumi is always dealing with the money of the school (they don’t have a clerical worker or a bookkeeper) while the kids simply sit there or I play organized games with them. Another girl I’m down here with said her teacher assigned some math problems, then left the room for about an hour and a half. One-on-one work is nonexistent, which is partially because there are 30-40 children in a lower-grade classroom. There is so much less structure to the classroom…it seems like the mentality is “if we do the lesson, great—if we don’t, that’s cool too.” I hope that our group can help these issues a little bit, but part of it is just understanding that this is the culture here, and it’s just not possible for these township schools to function like the suburban American schools I’m used to.

The kids are SO WONDERFUL. Besides being absolutely adorable, they are welcoming, funny, and so much fun to talk to and play with. I laugh so hard while I’m with them—for example, Katie and I took the class to the bathroom for break, and while we were all waiting for everyone to get done, they all started dancing like Michael Jackson! Moonwalk, crotch-grab-and-thrust and all. AND some started singing Beat It and Billie Jean, which was pretty hilarious. I guess MJ really is the universal language. They love to sing and dance, and are always trying to teach me moves. Like I said, they are so affectionate, which I love. It breaks my heart to see some of them without lunch at breaktime—even though Pendla is wonderful and provides a vegetable-filled soup for them, it still stings to know that their families can’t afford to send a sandwich or piece of bread with them. It’s a reminder of the realities of poverty in this country, which is so important to keep in mind.

Yesterday we had a day-long group excursion to Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Game Reserve. It was absolutely one of the best days since I’ve been here! We loaded up the bus with Bradley Levack (coolest, most interesting man on the planet) as our guide, and once again headed inland to the over-100 degree heat of the African bush. Addo was incredible, as we saw almost 160 elephants in their natural habitat. Since it was so hot that day, the herds needed to come out to the watering hole. We saw fights, near-drownings, parents with their babies, and some elephants trying to make babies. Besides all of the elephants, we also saw lots of kudu and warthogs at Addo.

After an incredibly elaborate lunch courtesy of Bradley, we headed to Schotia to go on a full-fledged African safari. IT WAS SO COOL. We loaded into canopied land rovers and got unbelievably close to lions, crocodiles, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, warthogs, zebras, meerkats, wildebeasts, kudu, all sorts of bucks…it was so awesome. I felt like I was right in the middle of the discovery channel, just watching these animals doing their thing. At about 7, they brought us to this restaurant-type-area that was halfway outside and halfway inside, where we were served drinks and an elaborate African meal. It was so much fun just enjoying the meal and conversation with others from my group. Plus, Sister Mary Jane had a Castle and told us about how much she loves her beer, so that was unexpected and pretty funny. After dinner, we headed out for the night spotlight portion of the safari…we got to see lions eating a wildebeast, which was really disgusting but pretty cool. The best part of the night portion, however, was the night sky. It was unlike anything I had ever seen—we could see the entire Milky Way, completely unpolluted by light. I’ve never seen so many stars in my life. It was absolutely majestic.

When we loaded back in the bus for the ride back to PE, I started thinking about how amazing the day was, and how I got to see so many amazing things—the beautiful stars in particular. The first thing that popped into my mind was how good God is, and what a beautiful word He has created. However, as we drove past township after township—the shacks, the dirt, the garbage—I became burdened with the thought of the extreme poverty down here. I’ve never been a person to question bad things that happen, because I guess I’ve always trusted that there is a reason it is happening, even if it isn’t apparent to me. Seeing the poverty down here has changed that slightly though, and it’s been a personal struggle dealing with it. How is it fair, or even possible, that these people are living in tin shacks with no running water or electricity, while I am sitting at Langerry Flats across from the ocean, typing on my personal computer? How is it fair that these people are SO stricken with HIV/AIDS, have little to no educational or job opportunities, and deal with terrifying threats like rape and murder on a regular basis? It’s even crazy to see such devastating conditions in such beautiful surroundings—the sun, the ocean, the palm trees. It’s just a lot to take in, and I’m struggling to see how there could be any sort of meaning, purpose, or reason behind it. Although I am kind of battling with feelings of guilt, frustration, and confusion, I am happy because I know that it’s what I need. I know that by seeing the situations down here firsthand, it’s eventually going to make me grow into a better, more understanding person.

On a lighter note, I’m finally starting to get settled in and used to life here, and I’m absolutely loving it! Combis aren’t such a foreign means of transportation, I don’t feel like SUCH a lost weirdo walking around the university campus, and I’ve met a ton of really cool locals. I love going for walks in the morning, just taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of the early morning ocean. I’m learning to work the rand a little bit better, and don’t have to whip out my little calculator quite as much anymore. I’m still in love with the accents down here, but they are definitely becoming less noticeable and more understandable. I’m getting used to not being anywhere without guys past sunset (our guys have been absolutely wonderful in going places with us and watching our backs by the way!), and I feel like although we’re VERY clearly American, we’ve been able to tone it down quite a bit. All in all, I know I’m going to be a different person when I get on the plane in Port Elizabeth in May than when I got on the plane in Minneapolis in January. Much love to all of you until next time!

I LOVE THIS PLACE.

Seriously, it’s incredible. I knew it was going to be different from home, but I guess I just didn’t predict HOW different it was going to be. I’ve been pretty busy during my time here, so I haven’t put aside much time for blogging- so sorry, this might get a little lengthy trying to fit everything in. I’ll start at the beginning….

The night before I left, I was working out-- jumping plyo boxes to be exact. I was jumping the highest one, and my foot caught on the corner of it and I came down on the side of my bad ankle. Long story short, I sprained it. Leaving me with a brace and a limp. It’s my bad ankle, so I wasn’t that surprised—just a little bummed. BUT my excitement definitely overrode any negative feelings about my ankle.

What to say about the traveling time….hmm. It was long- it started at 4AM on Tuesday and didn’t end until noon on Thursday. Here are my conclusions from the travels: United Airlines is wonderful because they serve Starbucks coffee, South African Airways puts stuff in their food to stop people from peeing (seriously, I swear they must!), 18 hours is far too long for one flight, and hauling luggage around is not good for a swollen ankle. We did stay in Johannesburg on Wednesday night (Jenny Birkhofer and I got a 4-star upgrade-HOLLA), which was pretty cool. We got out to a traditional African restaurant, and I got to try ostrich—it’s very good! We also learned that restaurants do not split bills anywhere here, so having a calculator along is really helpful.

I knew immediately upon flying over Port Elizabeth that I am going to love it here. It is SO gorgeous! It was cool to see the World Cup stadium from the sky too….it’s MASSIVE. Sister Mary Jane picked us up at the airport upon landing, and took us to our apartments for the semester—Langerry Holiday Flats. I knew summertime in South Africa would be beautiful, but it was still shocking to take in the landscape of this place in person. The Indian Ocean is literally across the road from the flats….it’s always a vibrant shade of blue. There are palm trees everywhere (my favorite!), the sun is almost always shining VERY bright, and there is always a breeze coming from the ocean. After I unpacked, I sat out on our balcony and stared at the ocean for almost an hour—trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was going to be living here through May! Already on the day of our arrival, we tried going to the beach (too windy) and we went to this great place nearby called Primi’s for dinner. Since we were going to be gone at bush camp for Megan Buermann’s birthday, we decided to celebrate it that night at Primi’s—and it was SO great. The workers took her into the back, dressed her up in an apron and hairnet, put flour and tomato sauce (no ketchup here….instead it’s the really liquidy tomato sauce) on her face, gave her a pot and spoon to bang, and marched her out into the restaurant, singing the entire time. The entire kitchen and serving staff marched out behind her, and they sang this amazing song for about 5 minutes! All the while, they had Megan up on the bar, dancing and banging her pot. It was SO much more elaborate, entertaining, and fun than the quick (and usually relatively unenthusiastic) birthday song that you get at restaurants in the states. Side note- all Africans can sing beautifully. Seriously, they are blessed.

The next morning, we packed up into vans and drove about an hour inland to Umlambo Bush Camp. It was a weekend camping trip for all of the international students at NMMU. In addition to our group, there were people from Finland, Vietnam, Germany, several different places in the states…and other places that I’m forgetting right now. It was the coolest thing to look out the window on the drive there—we drove past several different townships (essentially slums). It was shocking to see such poverty firsthand. Townships consist of hundreds of shacks made out of scrap metal, cardboard boxes, anything. They are packed SO closely together….some townships are lucky enough to have a couple of toilets, but most are on the bucket system. There is trash EVERYWHERE and there are dogs, skinny cows, and skinny goats just roaming around everywhere. It was hard, but important, to see. It is just so unlike anything back home—I’ve never seen anything close to a township in the states. It made me really excited to get going on our service work.

The first day of camp it was approximately 8 billion degrees….actually about 105, but it felt like 8 billion under that hot sun. All of us were dripping the entire day. On the way out, we stopped at Addo Croc and Lion Ranch—I got to hold a baby lion cub! It was ADORABLE. Kind of like a normal cat, but bigger and way more muscular. Once we got to Umlambo, we realized we were REALLY going to be roughing it for the weekend. It was very dry, dusty, and….African. There was a rock climbing wall and zipline into the water, but my bum ankle prevented me from doing too much of that stuff. We were all a little sketched out by the water as well, because the number one order from all of our doctors back home was a strong DON’T GO INTO FRESH WATER (parasites). It was a really murky brown color to add to the sketchiness, but as the weekend went on, people got a little more brave and hopped in. The second day we split into teams and did a very muddy obstacle course (I was designated as the photographer b/c of the ankle), and it was actually really fun. We had a dinner where we weren’t allowed to use utensils (like some native African groups), so now I can say I’ve eaten salad and rice and chicken with my hands. I also got to try some African foods, such as kudu (it’s kind of like a deer with big curly horns) and samoosas. Overall, bush camp was a good experience—it was fun for group bonding and meeting the other international students—but we were all really excited to get back to breezy PE.

Since bush camp, we’ve been pretty busy with stuff each day. Of course, we watched the Vikings game (kickoff: 1:40AM), and we started orientation at the university. We had our first community service lecture, where we heard some shocking statistics. 28% of the adult population here has HIV/AIDS, 55% (I think that was the number) is the unemployment rate, and the life expectancy is only 52 (lower for black Africans, especially men). VERY different from home. We had a city tour one day, with a man named Bradley Levack. He has had the craziest life ever. Even though he isn’t black, he grew up in the townships and was classified as black during Apartheid. Everything that he told us about his life would take forever, so I’ll just stop there.

We also got to visit our service sites—Pendla Primary School and the House of Resurrection AIDS Haven. After visiting, I think I will definitely choose my primary site to be Pendla. While we were there, we went into all of the different classrooms, and the kids sang songs for us. I knew it was the place for me when (yes, Erica, I know you’ll make fun of me for this) the tears started coming. Ok, I know I’m a little bit of a sap—especially when it comes to kids—but these kids have SO little yet were so happy, joyful, and welcoming to us. I was able to lock it up in most of the classrooms and keep it to tears welled up in my eyes, but for the last classroom (first graders), I couldn’t hold it in anymore and they were definitely pouring down my cheeks. I think a couple of the kids thought I was sad, because they were looking at me like I was crazy, but I just couldn’t help it. My heart was definitely a few sizes bigger when we left Pendla than when we came. I seriously cannot wait to start the volunteer work on Monday. I already know it is going to be an incredibly rewarding, life-changing experience.

When we haven’t been at orientation stuff, we have been at the beach. And it is wonderful. That is all I’ll say about that, because I know it’s pretty cold back in the tundra and I don’t want to rub it in too much. ;)

I know this is getting really long, so I’ll just bullet point a few things about life down in the Saf. Here goes….

*Monkeys here are like squirrels back home. They are everywhere.

*They aren’t huge on soap here. It’s not in many of the bathrooms…that’s taking some getting used to.

*Ditto for napkins. Even though all the food is really saucy and messy.

*Everything is MUCH slower paced. Like at bush camp, there was an itinerary….but it was kind of just a tentative order of events. Everything was at least 2 hours behind schedule, and we just never got to a lot of it.

*You need to be WAY more aware of everything going on around you here. It’s just not nearly as safe….it’s common to get followed around by beggars, and muggings absolutely happen too. I’ve heard that the crime here often turns violent, as opposed to other areas of Africa. For example, Martha K (no idea how to spell her last name—she spent last semester in Kenya and this semester is in SA) told us that in Kenya, they just want your stuff. She was told that here, in addition to knifing your purse, they will knife you too. It’s a little unnerving, especially because my hair is so light (I’ve been told a few times that it makes me more of a target), but it’s also a matter of making good decisions.

*Naartje water=best thing ever.

*There are 11 official languages here—in addition to English, I’ve heard a lot of Afrikaans and Xhosa. I love hearing Xhosa, with all of the clicks and whatnot- but I don’t think there’s any hope I could ever speak it. A little girl I met at Pendla had clicks in her name, so I couldn’t really address her by name—I just can’t get the clicking-and-speaking-simultaneously thing down.

*Calling people ‘coloured’ is politically correct here.

*People are extremely friendly here—everyone is always waving and talking to each other on the streets and whatnot here. It’s a really nice change of pace.

*The moonlight over the ocean makes me want to cry. Do I seriously get to live here?

Well, that’s probably all I’m going to whip out for right now…thanks to you all for reading, and I miss all of you! Until next time…cheers!

Getting ready!

I can't believe that it's just over two weeks until i leave! Unbelievable. It has been almost a year since I found out that was accepted into the Saf program, so it always seemed so far off in the future...so it's crazy that it's actually so soon! I suppose I should start packing and whatnot, but I'm sure i'll procrastinate on that as much as possible. As of right now, it's just a matter of getting random things done--renewing my license b/c i will be gone for my 21st birthday, getting vaccines, etc.

I leave on January 19th on a 6am flight to chicago, then to Washington DC, then I will hop on a big boy for the 18 hour trek to Johannesburg. We're actually staying the night at a hotel in Johannesburg, and catching a short flight to Port Elizabeth in the morning. I'm traveling with eight other people, so that will definitely make things a little less boring! All in all, it's going to be exhausting-- and the very next day, we have to go on a camping trip for the international students at NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University-- where I'll be studying). I'm looking forward to it, but it will be SO nice to get settled in and try to get rid of the jet lag i'm sure we'll all be experiencing.

I'll try to keep this updated relatively regularly down in saf, but it might be difficult with internet connections and whatnot. We'll see! ta ta for now. :)