Oh my gosh, Happy (one day late) Birthday to Brady!!! What are the birthday plans for the boys this weekend? Is he going to have a party? Can he make us another video?
Well, no one thought it would go on this long. But today is now the fourth day of the Combie strike. People all over the country are feeling the effects of not having this form of transportations. All the bus stops are full of people seeing if there is anyone who would pick them up. Many of the staff for our flats haven't been able to get to work the past few days. Since this is the first week of school, even students haven't made it to class yet.
To add to the problem, there was an attack on the train tracks last night. I really don't know too much about it yet, but it seems to be affiliated with the strikes. Someone cut a piece out of the tracks early Thursday morning. A train going on the tracks saw the missing piece and was able to slow down, however a few of the wheels were still derailed. It was just a minor accident. But they were lucky because passenger trains also travel on those tracks. Actually most of the people who live in the townships take those trains to come into work in the city. A group of the maids for our apartments got stuck at the train station this morning. The owner of the flats went to pick them up, but now they don't know how they'll get home at the end of the day. They already are prepared to spend the night away from home (although one of the cleaning ladies told us she has children at home she needs to get to). It's just too bad that this is all because the World Cup is coming to SA!
We took private taxis and our professor's cars to class again today. And remember, today was supposed to be my day off! But instead, here I am in the computer lab, waiting till it's time to run to class. I made a really great lunch, I tried my hand at marinating chicken. I just used whatever we had in our fridge (not very much cause it's a tiny fridge)...ketchup, mustard, garlic, soy sauce, and sugar I think. But it turned out really well and now all my roommates are asking me to make that for them too. I already planned to make dinner tonight for my flat though and I'm using one of Mac's recipes for terriyaki shrimp and my mom's rice pilaf. Should be good!
Tomorrow is our first weekend trip! A lot of people from our group are going to Jeffrey's Bay this weekend. Since it was easier, my flat planned our trip on our own so that we didn't have to coordinate with 20 other people. The plan is to go to the airport via private taxi tomorrow and pick up our rental car. Then start driving toward Jeffrey's Bay (about an hour away.) Along the way we will stop at Seaview which is a game park where you can play with lion cubs and such. My roommates haven't gotten to do this yet, so it should be fun. Then when we get to J-bay we'll drop our stuff off at a hostel called Island Vibe. This is supposed to be a really nice hostel with 300 degrees of ocean view. In the afternoon, we're taking surfing lessons!! I'll let you know how that goes. The rest of the time there will be spent touring the city and seeing what else it has to offer! Then we'll be back on Saturday night.
Early Sunday morning we are leaving to go to Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Game Reserve. I'm excited to go here because I think I'll for sure get to see the rest of the Big 5! This is an excursion that is a mandatory part of our trip and our study abroad fee pays for this. We'll be at Addo during the day and then go to Schotia for a night game drive and a traditional South African feast (I'm not sure what that will be!) So don't be surprised if I don't post for a little while. I think I'll be on the go until Monday!
I hope you all have good weekends!!!!
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Strike Day 3
1. this one was posing for the camera
2. the monkey who ate my chips
Then we had our lunch break, and unfortunately, I still have yet to find a good place to eat on campus. It seems the cafeteria that I thought we were supposed to go to is just for grad students and faculty. So we’re left with a fast food type restaurant that we tried and it was gross. Then today we tried another place and had another gross lunch. There is a café in the international student office, but people who’ve gone there had to wait over an hour for their food. We don’t really have that much time. I think I’ll have to start bringing my lunch or something.
But on our lunch break today…I finally saw the monkeys on campus!!!! They seemed to be the same kind of monkey I saw on a game drive with Kate. But we heard people talking about seeing them on the upper campus. And while we were sitting on the grass, we saw these monkeys (4 and one baby wrapped around the mom’s tummy) make their way down the stairs with tons of students! It looked so weird. Then they were on the railing. One girl got kind of surrounded and had to throw her apple and slowly get out of there! Apparently the monkeys are known to attack (bite and scratch) girls who have food. One of the monkeys crawled into the garbage can and pull out the bag of chips I had just thrown away!! Obviously I had cleaned that bag out pretty well, because then he threw it on the ground. So monkeys are the ones causing the litter problem in SA! Oh it was just so much fun. And we were in the elevator to get to class and we asked some other students if they saw the monkeys. They said with an almost bored expression, “the monkeys are here every day.” But exciting for us!
Then I went to SA literature and that was a great class. We discussed short stories that we had read. I’m really enjoying learning about the South African culture in all of these subjects. But now that we have the syllabi for all these classes, I’m noticing that a lot of assignments are culminating in the first week of March. So I’m going to try and get ahead in my reading so that I’ll have time to work on the papers too.
Tonight we had a welcome dinner at the Catholic Church. It was really great. You might be amazed to know, but the church ladies who serve meals at the churches at home actually look and act the same here! Three older ladies served us chicken curry and rice for dinner. It was great. The priest was new to the parish and he is from Ireland. He was very glad to meet us and complimented the US on all their work to help Africa. He said that the US may not be right in the Iraq war, but that we are the country that does the most to help others and that we should be proud to be Americans. There were also black students from NMMU there who are a part of the Catholic organization on campus. Most blacks and whites here are Christian. And there is also a large Muslim population. They told us that many blacks still have their tribal religions, but are Christians too. They invited us to events and mass going on at school. After dinner we went out with these students to a club and had fun dancing to American and South African music.
But that’s all for today. Let me know if I’m writing too much. These posts seem to always get longer than what I mean them too and I don’t want them to take too long for people to read.
3. my first day of school picture
The strike went on for the third day like expected. We got shuttled to class. The first class was community service. We’re taking that as a workshop and mentorship while we’re volunteering. It also sounds as if we will be trying our hand a community development, which would be an awesome experience! In this class we were supposed to introduce ourselves with our name and one surprising thing we’ve found since we’ve been here. One girl, from MN but not from our program, said she was most surprised that there was ice cream in South Africa. Most of us just covered our eyes and looked down because we were so embarrassed!!
Then we had our lunch break, and unfortunately, I still have yet to find a good place to eat on campus. It seems the cafeteria that I thought we were supposed to go to is just for grad students and faculty. So we’re left with a fast food type restaurant that we tried and it was gross. Then today we tried another place and had another gross lunch. There is a café in the international student office, but people who’ve gone there had to wait over an hour for their food. We don’t really have that much time. I think I’ll have to start bringing my lunch or something.
But on our lunch break today…I finally saw the monkeys on campus!!!! They seemed to be the same kind of monkey I saw on a game drive with Kate. But we heard people talking about seeing them on the upper campus. And while we were sitting on the grass, we saw these monkeys (4 and one baby wrapped around the mom’s tummy) make their way down the stairs with tons of students! It looked so weird. Then they were on the railing. One girl got kind of surrounded and had to throw her apple and slowly get out of there! Apparently the monkeys are known to attack (bite and scratch) girls who have food. One of the monkeys crawled into the garbage can and pull out the bag of chips I had just thrown away!! Obviously I had cleaned that bag out pretty well, because then he threw it on the ground. So monkeys are the ones causing the litter problem in SA! Oh it was just so much fun. And we were in the elevator to get to class and we asked some other students if they saw the monkeys. They said with an almost bored expression, “the monkeys are here every day.” But exciting for us!
Then I went to SA literature and that was a great class. We discussed short stories that we had read. I’m really enjoying learning about the South African culture in all of these subjects. But now that we have the syllabi for all these classes, I’m noticing that a lot of assignments are culminating in the first week of March. So I’m going to try and get ahead in my reading so that I’ll have time to work on the papers too.
Tonight we had a welcome dinner at the Catholic Church. It was really great. You might be amazed to know, but the church ladies who serve meals at the churches at home actually look and act the same here! Three older ladies served us chicken curry and rice for dinner. It was great. The priest was new to the parish and he is from Ireland. He was very glad to meet us and complimented the US on all their work to help Africa. He said that the US may not be right in the Iraq war, but that we are the country that does the most to help others and that we should be proud to be Americans. There were also black students from NMMU there who are a part of the Catholic organization on campus. Most blacks and whites here are Christian. And there is also a large Muslim population. They told us that many blacks still have their tribal religions, but are Christians too. They invited us to events and mass going on at school. After dinner we went out with these students to a club and had fun dancing to American and South African music.
But that’s all for today. Let me know if I’m writing too much. These posts seem to always get longer than what I mean them too and I don’t want them to take too long for people to read.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Strike Day 2
Okay so first day of class…
Music class was great. Our professor, Lesty Hughes, is a very energetic person! She was so cool and I think I’ll actually enjoy the class very much. She will be teaching us about the Xhosa tribe’s music. So far I think we’ve learned a lot .We even got to do some round singing and rhythm clapping! Lucky for me I was next to a choir singer and was able to copy her the entire time! Class seems just about the same at home I think. Maybe the classes here are more lecture based. Or maybe it’s just because I take education classes that I’m not use to the lecture format. I’m taking the class for only two credits because I already have all my arts credits from the elementary education program at home.
Last night my roommate Emma and I organized a cribbage tournament for all the CSB/SJU students. We had 26 people playing in my apartment. My team got to playoffs, but we didn’t win. But people were pretty impressed with my skills so I told them I got taught by my grandparent’s love for the game!
This morning we woke up to the soft hum of cars driving by. The yelling and honking (or hooting) wasn’t there so I immediately knew that the Combies were still on strike. So we woke up, picked up our laundry (which was folded and neatly wrapped in plastic to be brought home) and went to the beach. It was a great day for the beach and I had a little sand fight with some of the boys. And now Mac, I think I can say I did have a pound of sand in my bathing suit! Or costume as the South Africans say.
Since the professor for today’s class is our director who lives in Langerry Flats with us, we had class a little closer to home. This way, the professors didn’t have to shuttle all 30 of us to campus. We had class in the meeting hall at the Catholic Church two blocks away. It worked out perfectly. It was Senior Seminar, which is a part of the Liberal Arts curriculum at CSB/SJU. The class is supposed to be focused on ethics, so our class topic is South African Politics. This class was very interesting. We discussed the Nelson Mandela book and learned a little more about South African history. After class we just had an all group meeting to discuss upcoming trips and such. Our director also informed us that anyone not taking 16 credits needs to sign up for another class as it is a requirement of the program. That shot my 12 credit, ideal schedule out the window!! I tried to convince him to let me in the marine biology class because it seemed so interesting to me. But the biology prerequisite is pretty important and my professor hinted that it would probably be too hard for me without any background. So the last choice I had was to take South African Contemporary Politics. And I’m so sorry Cassie and all others who enjoy politics, but I really thought that one politics class in my lifetime would be more than enough. But I have no other choice than to sign up for the additional class so that I can stay in South Africa. I am also disappointed because now I have class on Thursday afternoon!!! I know, it’s not fair! Well it kind of isn’t fair because not one credit here will count for anything in my graduation because the education major is so strict that we have to take specialized classes to fill every requirement.
The combies are probably going to be on strike for one more day; so tomorrow we are being shuttled to class by our professors again. Tomorrow I have the service learning course in the morning and literature in the afternoon. I still have some reading to get done for the literature class.
Not much else is going on here. Me and some friends are busy trying to get some weekend plans set up for the rest of the semester. So far, this weekend we are going to Jeffrey’s Bay, home of South Africa’s best surfing beach.
Kay, glad you’re finally here with us! Now we just need some good old Clark comments, so work on that.
Charlotte, I heard about your rain…but at least you don’t have the blizzard like in ND. Or maybe your roads are just as bad because of the ice?
Anna, congrats on getting into Johns Hopkins! That is so awesome! I hope a lot of us will get the opportunity to visit you while you’re way out east! Gosh everyone in our family is so spread out now!
And I also wanted to say congratulations to Rory’s step-sister, Geralyn, who just had her first baby, Owen Richard born on February 7th. Owen is completely healthy and Rory’s excited to have another nephew!
Umm not sure what else from over here. I just hope everything’s going great at home!!
Music class was great. Our professor, Lesty Hughes, is a very energetic person! She was so cool and I think I’ll actually enjoy the class very much. She will be teaching us about the Xhosa tribe’s music. So far I think we’ve learned a lot .We even got to do some round singing and rhythm clapping! Lucky for me I was next to a choir singer and was able to copy her the entire time! Class seems just about the same at home I think. Maybe the classes here are more lecture based. Or maybe it’s just because I take education classes that I’m not use to the lecture format. I’m taking the class for only two credits because I already have all my arts credits from the elementary education program at home.
Last night my roommate Emma and I organized a cribbage tournament for all the CSB/SJU students. We had 26 people playing in my apartment. My team got to playoffs, but we didn’t win. But people were pretty impressed with my skills so I told them I got taught by my grandparent’s love for the game!
This morning we woke up to the soft hum of cars driving by. The yelling and honking (or hooting) wasn’t there so I immediately knew that the Combies were still on strike. So we woke up, picked up our laundry (which was folded and neatly wrapped in plastic to be brought home) and went to the beach. It was a great day for the beach and I had a little sand fight with some of the boys. And now Mac, I think I can say I did have a pound of sand in my bathing suit! Or costume as the South Africans say.
Since the professor for today’s class is our director who lives in Langerry Flats with us, we had class a little closer to home. This way, the professors didn’t have to shuttle all 30 of us to campus. We had class in the meeting hall at the Catholic Church two blocks away. It worked out perfectly. It was Senior Seminar, which is a part of the Liberal Arts curriculum at CSB/SJU. The class is supposed to be focused on ethics, so our class topic is South African Politics. This class was very interesting. We discussed the Nelson Mandela book and learned a little more about South African history. After class we just had an all group meeting to discuss upcoming trips and such. Our director also informed us that anyone not taking 16 credits needs to sign up for another class as it is a requirement of the program. That shot my 12 credit, ideal schedule out the window!! I tried to convince him to let me in the marine biology class because it seemed so interesting to me. But the biology prerequisite is pretty important and my professor hinted that it would probably be too hard for me without any background. So the last choice I had was to take South African Contemporary Politics. And I’m so sorry Cassie and all others who enjoy politics, but I really thought that one politics class in my lifetime would be more than enough. But I have no other choice than to sign up for the additional class so that I can stay in South Africa. I am also disappointed because now I have class on Thursday afternoon!!! I know, it’s not fair! Well it kind of isn’t fair because not one credit here will count for anything in my graduation because the education major is so strict that we have to take specialized classes to fill every requirement.
The combies are probably going to be on strike for one more day; so tomorrow we are being shuttled to class by our professors again. Tomorrow I have the service learning course in the morning and literature in the afternoon. I still have some reading to get done for the literature class.
Not much else is going on here. Me and some friends are busy trying to get some weekend plans set up for the rest of the semester. So far, this weekend we are going to Jeffrey’s Bay, home of South Africa’s best surfing beach.
Kay, glad you’re finally here with us! Now we just need some good old Clark comments, so work on that.
Charlotte, I heard about your rain…but at least you don’t have the blizzard like in ND. Or maybe your roads are just as bad because of the ice?
Anna, congrats on getting into Johns Hopkins! That is so awesome! I hope a lot of us will get the opportunity to visit you while you’re way out east! Gosh everyone in our family is so spread out now!
And I also wanted to say congratulations to Rory’s step-sister, Geralyn, who just had her first baby, Owen Richard born on February 7th. Owen is completely healthy and Rory’s excited to have another nephew!
Umm not sure what else from over here. I just hope everything’s going great at home!!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Poll
How did you all know the correct answer??? Lucky guessers I figure. Yes, most South Africans greet each other by saying "Howzit" and I read in a travel book that an appropriate response is "No, I'm fine," but you shouldn't just say "Fine."
I'm at NMMU now and because of the earlier glitch in our day, we are here way too early for class. But we walked to the bookstore to get some books for class. My apartment just bought two of each book and then we're going to shar them. Since we just have each class once a week, it shouldn't be a problem with the reading. My super nice class schedule is as follows.
Monday 8-12 volunteer at Pendla
2:45-5:45 South African Jazz Music
Tuesday 8-12 volunteer at Pendla
2-5 Senior Seminar (topic: South African politics)
Wednesday 9-12 Service learning (this is to go along with our volunteering and only has 5 classes in the semester
2-5 South African Literature (probably going to be my favorite)
Thursday OFF
Friday OFF
So yeah, that's a four-day weekend, every weekend. Perfect for taking small weekend trips. Which I actually am planning one with a friend right now to Coffee Bay nearby.
Looks like my group is about to leave the computer lab though to go get something for lunch before music class. In case anyone was wondering, I am wearing jean capris with a yellow shirt ;) And a jean jacket because it's cloudy and rainy today. I did get a 1st Day of School picture taken in front of the library and offered to take pictures of the other CSB/SJU students too. Only a few wanted one to send home to their moms.
You're probably getting close to waking up now! So have a good day everyone!!
I'm at NMMU now and because of the earlier glitch in our day, we are here way too early for class. But we walked to the bookstore to get some books for class. My apartment just bought two of each book and then we're going to shar them. Since we just have each class once a week, it shouldn't be a problem with the reading. My super nice class schedule is as follows.
Monday 8-12 volunteer at Pendla
2:45-5:45 South African Jazz Music
Tuesday 8-12 volunteer at Pendla
2-5 Senior Seminar (topic: South African politics)
Wednesday 9-12 Service learning (this is to go along with our volunteering and only has 5 classes in the semester
2-5 South African Literature (probably going to be my favorite)
Thursday OFF
Friday OFF
So yeah, that's a four-day weekend, every weekend. Perfect for taking small weekend trips. Which I actually am planning one with a friend right now to Coffee Bay nearby.
Looks like my group is about to leave the computer lab though to go get something for lunch before music class. In case anyone was wondering, I am wearing jean capris with a yellow shirt ;) And a jean jacket because it's cloudy and rainy today. I did get a 1st Day of School picture taken in front of the library and offered to take pictures of the other CSB/SJU students too. Only a few wanted one to send home to their moms.
You're probably getting close to waking up now! So have a good day everyone!!
1st Day of School
So we kind of had a wild start to our first day of school.
6:30 I woke up with my other roommates. We all took showers, which caused water to seep through the walls into the kitchen and hallway. This is not the wild morning because that’s been happening since we got here; they’re trying to fix it.
7:15 Everyone eats toast with peanut butter for breakfast.
7:40 We rush out the door so that we are not late for our ride. We are going to Pendla Primary School for our Welcoming Ceremony. We all have our cameras packed because the children are supposed to a very cute performance for us. We also will get tours of the school and people like me will get assigned to a classroom to work in.
7:45 Thirty CSB/SJU students are waiting by the front gate for our private taxi cab service to pick us up.
7:55 Thirty CSB/SJU students are still waiting.
8:00 After a phone call to the taxi cab service, thirty CSB/SJU students are told that the taxis are not running today. That’s a nice way of saying the drivers are on strike.
8:00-8:15 Our professor, he can be long-winded, explains to us that it isn’t the private taxi companies that want to be on strike. It’s the independent drivers (who drive what we would normally take to school, Combies) that are on strike. The government is trying to phase these taxis out to make public transportation more used for the upcoming World Cup in 2010. For safety, private taxi drivers also have to take the strike. And actually, for safety also, the buses go on strike too. So unless you have your own car (not many people do) you have to walk to work, school, Pendla…
We had to cancel our trip to Pendla because it was too far to walk, and it was raining. We will have the Welcome Ceremony on the first day of volunteering, next Monday. The students going to the House of Resurrection will not be able to attend the Pendla Ceremony.
But we still have to get to NMMU somehow, because it is the first day of school. So our director and assistant director (both from CSB/SJU) are going to shuttle us in their tiny cars, making 4 round trips to get us to class. We’re going early to activate our cards so we can use the internet and to buy books. Then class starts at 2:00. Hopefully there are no other glitches in our day because I really want to get a first day of school picture taken! I’m pretty disappointed about not getting to go to Pendla today. I was very excited for that and now we have to wait till next week. Also, now we’ll be missing out on a day of classroom work since next week will be the Ceremony on Monday. We are scheduled to volunteer every week, Monday and Tuesday from 8:00-12:00. Great for my resume!
The soccer game yesterday was fun. It was a very local team (minor, minor league) so they weren’t very good but it still was super fun. During the game, the fans would sing beautiful songs in Xhosa. They were all great singers; and although we didn’t know what they were singing, we were all enchanted by the music. They would start off slow, then get faster and end with a strong clapping beat that cheered on the team. Someone in my group said they were singing a 4 part harmony. At a soccer game!
Right now to prepare for my Senior Seminar class, I am reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. I am really enjoying it so far; I’ll let you know if it’s a must-read.
I brought my first load of laundry to the launderette today. It cost $3.50 to wash 5 kilos of laundry. Seems pretty cheap to me! And they do it for you! Everything is pretty cheap here. A movie costs $3; although I don’t know how many of those I’ll be going to see while I’m here. Sorry Erin and Andrew, the cost of living here is a little bit cheaper than in Nome.
Anyway, we’ll probably be leaving for school soon (hopefully!) I’ll write later to tell how the first day went! We’re eating lunch at the school cafeteria; I hope it’s like at home, all-you-can-eat style.
Hope you’re all enjoying your semi-warm weather and the snow melting doesn’t cause the roads to get super icy! Love, Lauren
6:30 I woke up with my other roommates. We all took showers, which caused water to seep through the walls into the kitchen and hallway. This is not the wild morning because that’s been happening since we got here; they’re trying to fix it.
7:15 Everyone eats toast with peanut butter for breakfast.
7:40 We rush out the door so that we are not late for our ride. We are going to Pendla Primary School for our Welcoming Ceremony. We all have our cameras packed because the children are supposed to a very cute performance for us. We also will get tours of the school and people like me will get assigned to a classroom to work in.
7:45 Thirty CSB/SJU students are waiting by the front gate for our private taxi cab service to pick us up.
7:55 Thirty CSB/SJU students are still waiting.
8:00 After a phone call to the taxi cab service, thirty CSB/SJU students are told that the taxis are not running today. That’s a nice way of saying the drivers are on strike.
8:00-8:15 Our professor, he can be long-winded, explains to us that it isn’t the private taxi companies that want to be on strike. It’s the independent drivers (who drive what we would normally take to school, Combies) that are on strike. The government is trying to phase these taxis out to make public transportation more used for the upcoming World Cup in 2010. For safety, private taxi drivers also have to take the strike. And actually, for safety also, the buses go on strike too. So unless you have your own car (not many people do) you have to walk to work, school, Pendla…
We had to cancel our trip to Pendla because it was too far to walk, and it was raining. We will have the Welcome Ceremony on the first day of volunteering, next Monday. The students going to the House of Resurrection will not be able to attend the Pendla Ceremony.
But we still have to get to NMMU somehow, because it is the first day of school. So our director and assistant director (both from CSB/SJU) are going to shuttle us in their tiny cars, making 4 round trips to get us to class. We’re going early to activate our cards so we can use the internet and to buy books. Then class starts at 2:00. Hopefully there are no other glitches in our day because I really want to get a first day of school picture taken! I’m pretty disappointed about not getting to go to Pendla today. I was very excited for that and now we have to wait till next week. Also, now we’ll be missing out on a day of classroom work since next week will be the Ceremony on Monday. We are scheduled to volunteer every week, Monday and Tuesday from 8:00-12:00. Great for my resume!
The soccer game yesterday was fun. It was a very local team (minor, minor league) so they weren’t very good but it still was super fun. During the game, the fans would sing beautiful songs in Xhosa. They were all great singers; and although we didn’t know what they were singing, we were all enchanted by the music. They would start off slow, then get faster and end with a strong clapping beat that cheered on the team. Someone in my group said they were singing a 4 part harmony. At a soccer game!
Right now to prepare for my Senior Seminar class, I am reading Nelson Mandela’s autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. I am really enjoying it so far; I’ll let you know if it’s a must-read.
I brought my first load of laundry to the launderette today. It cost $3.50 to wash 5 kilos of laundry. Seems pretty cheap to me! And they do it for you! Everything is pretty cheap here. A movie costs $3; although I don’t know how many of those I’ll be going to see while I’m here. Sorry Erin and Andrew, the cost of living here is a little bit cheaper than in Nome.
Anyway, we’ll probably be leaving for school soon (hopefully!) I’ll write later to tell how the first day went! We’re eating lunch at the school cafeteria; I hope it’s like at home, all-you-can-eat style.
Hope you’re all enjoying your semi-warm weather and the snow melting doesn’t cause the roads to get super icy! Love, Lauren
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Over the Weekend
Jeez sorry about all the pictures last time! I was having a hard time deciding which ones to post! I uploaded a lot more onto my facebook albums if you have access to that or know someone who does!
But here will be just a recap of my weekend!
On Friday morning we went to House of Resurrection Aids Haven. This is one of the two sites our group will be volunteering at. The other site is Pendla Primary School, which is where I have chosen to volunteer. Nonetheless, the whole group still got to go and take a tour of House of Resurrection. This is a facility run by a Sister that houses children with Aids. Children are not supposed to stay there after the age of 8 (they are supposed to move on to a state-owned house) but probably because the children need so much care, they are staying past that age. This was a really fun place to go to and I got my dose of playing in for a little while. We took a tour and found out about the facility, then were allowed to get to know the children. All of the older children were at school. But we got to see the 4 infants who live there and the preschool room which had probably 15 children. 10 percent of the kids who live at this house do not have Aids. In that case, their parents most likely died of Aids and left their child at the House. The house is also a clinic, so adults do come and stay a while, but do not live their permanently like the children. I taught a six year old boy, Tando how to make a snowflake with paper and scissors. I’m pretty sure he didn’t know what a snowflake was, but he did have fun making the designs. The other children loved to be held and thrown up in the air, played with our hair and jewelry and did anything to get attention. It was super fun and the CSB/SJU students who will be working there will have a blast. I am also very anxious to see the Pendla Primary School and what my experience will be like there. The school is having a welcoming ceremony for us on Monday morning.
When we got back from the House, we went to the beach again. What a drag, I know. It was pretty windy again though so we didn’t stay long. I’m working on my tan though and I’m one of few on this trip who hasn’t gotten sun burned yet! Friday night I got to attend my first cricket match! The game was between the Port Elizabeth Warriors and another town in South Africa, I’m not sure though. It was very exciting and fun. Our whole group went and it was the first social activity that we all did together. So it was really fun! Cricket seems very confusing, but it is actually a lot like baseball. I loved learning the rules; don’t ask me to explain them though because I don’t think I know it that well! It was just fun to be there with everyone and watch the game from an outdoor stadium. My roommate Emma and I sat next to two men from South Africa who took pity on us and tried to help us understand the game more. English wasn’t their first language though, so with that and the accents we had a hard time understanding them. The real thing we learned from them was when to stand up and cheer! PE won the game so that was exciting and by the end, I could understand how they won. After the game we went out to a bar as a large group. We were definitely the minorities at the bar (as we are in most places, whites are only 10% of the population) but it was fun on the dance floor and we met some cool people.
Saturday was a free day for the group. So my roommates and I had a lazy day. In the morning, we spent a lot of time at the beach. It’s not so windy in the morning, so we were only there from 9:00-12:00. One time, the five of us were out riding the waves and we had a whistle blown at us from the lifeguard. We all freaked out, thinking maybe he saw a shark in the water or something and swam in as fast as we could. On the way in though, my roommate Shannon got stung by a blue-bottle jelly fish. The tentacle (I think that’s what they’re called) wrapped all the way around her rib cage and onto her arm. When we got out of the water, the life guard said that we needed to stay in between these two flags he set up on the shore. I think they just wanted a smaller range of ocean to watch. He also warned us about the blue bottles, although it was too late since she already got stung. After a couple of washings though, she felt better; there is a red burn line still there.
Saturday night we went out for dinner to a nice pizza place. The pizzas here are very thin, so you can almost eat a whole one on your own. I don’t like bananas so I didn’t order South Africa’s special bacon and banana pizza; but I did have feta, bacon and avocado pizza. It was really good! Eight of us went out and we all had pizza, so we were trading pieces back and forth. I probably only ate two of my own pieces! Then we walked around the boardwalk and through a casino. After finding out one of our friends didn’t know how to play blackjack, we went back home and played cards the rest of the night!
I’m going to a soccer game today. I have no clue what teams or anything like that, so I’ll be posting later to talk about that. Soccer is pretty big here too, after rugby and cricket of course. All I know is that we are walking to the stadium. It isn’t smart to even make the ten minute walk without putting on sunscreen, so I’ll be applying that soon!
Oh and I think I’ll be wearing jeans and tees to school. Don’t know for sure yet, but that seems pretty standard. Well I guess not jeans, but jean shorts or capris! I’ll let you know after my first day tomorrow though! And wait till you hear my class schedule!
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