Hello blog readers! This is the blog writer, not complaining about poor internet service, but posting nonetheless.
The Human Rights Day activities this past Saturday were quite the experience!! We drove to a town about an hour away, Uitenhage for the events. Once we got off the freeway, the streets were lined with people walking to the stadium. There were COPE (Congress of the People, the new political party formed of ex-ANC members) and ANC (African National Congress, the ruling political party) members all walking to the "freedom day events." I put that like that because instead of commemorating the people who died to secure their freedom, this day was more of a political rally. I guess both the ANC and COPE booked the stadium in Uitenhage to hold their days events. Obviously, they are opposing parties and couldn't both be in the same place and this became a legal issue. So 2:00am on Saturday, the judge decided that COPE would get the stadium and the ANC would have several hours to relocate and replan their event. So when we go there around 11:00 all the ANC members were just hanging out in a field next to the stadium, and this is where the political rally/Human Rights Day events occurred. When our combies were driving through the mass of people, everyone was cheering because we were white supporters coming. When we got out of our combies at the field, we were just stared at (not in a mean way). But it was fun, everyone was super friendly and excited that we were there. Once they found out we were Americans and not able to vote in the April 22nd election, they didn't care as much about us. We hopped in on some dancing and singing, listened to a speaker who spoke on a makeshift stage. The day was just full of meeting people and visiting with them. Super fun!
We were all super tired after that, so I took a good long nap. Then went out to dinner at that weird pizza place, but stuck to just plain cheese this time. Saturday night we went to a jazz concert. I stayed for several songs, but then went home to bed!!
Sunday was my first day of scuba diving! We had several hours of movies to go through and quizzes to take for the "classroom" part (really it was held in our flats, watching from a computer screen). Then we went to an outdoor pool on campus for the first in water sessions! It was really cool to be able to breathe underwater! Although the pool was so murky and gross, it had algae growing in it!!!! But it was still fun and we at least had mouth pieces in so we didn't drink the water. I did pretty well on all the skills and am ready for 4 ocean sessions this weekend on Saturday and Sunday!
I'll post more later, gotta run to class!!
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Last Week or So
Get ready for the longest blog ever…I know you think it’s impossible after all of my previous long-winded posts but this might be the mother of them all!! I should’ve put the pictures in between them to break it up a bit, but that just worked out to be easier. On that note, I’m going to aim for quick snipets of my going-ons here.
Volunteering Update: Last week I didn’t go to Pendla on Monday because we had just gotten back from Durban. Tuesday was just an ordinary teaching day. First period went by with no teaching done by Ms. Mkrola. Second and third periods were both with the 5th grade so Heather and I taught an improvised lesson. Fourth period was supposed to be math with a different teacher who never materialized, so we kept teaching. At recess a girl who was bleeding was following me around so I took her inside to try and get a band-aid. Ms. Mkrola told me the school has no first aid kit. This is going to sound bad, but I purposefully ditched this child because there is a possibility that she could have AIDS or another disease. I found out later that there are band-aids in the office. But we need to work on getting gloves and sterilizing equipment.
Okay and here is where I need all of your help!! I am in charge of a recess planning committee. This is because we don’t know what to do with the 500 children at recess. Of course they can entertain themselves, but they mostly like to hang on us for the whole 30 minutes (usually closer to 45 because of the lack of clocks). I just need to compile a list of activities that CSB/SJU students could engage the students in. The older children already play netball and soccer so they’re pretty much set. The problem is the younger children like to be with us, but they don’t know English. So it is hard to teach them any games. If you could, next time you comment, add any ideas of recess games that we could play that don’t require a ton of directions or supplies. The ages would be 5-15 years old. I already have things like ring-around-the-rosy, follow the leader, simon says…Thanks!
This week at Pendla was different. Ms. Mkrola was gone on Monday, so we followed around another teacher and two St. Bens students. We taught a little bit and watched that teacher teach. She does a better job with the students, but her main method of teaching is rote memorization. Tuesday we were informed that Ms. Mkrola may be fired from her position at Pendla. Apparently she mainly comes only on Monday and Tuesdays when Heather and I are there to teach for her. The rest of the days she says she has a sick child. The principal doesn’t want to fire her because it took them 2 years to get a new teacher assigned to that classroom from the government. Firing her would possibly make them without a teacher for another two years. (South Africa has good policies, but delivery takes forever.) So to make things easier and make our experience better, we were reassigned to a 3rd grade classroom. This was a great switch and immediately we felt more situated. The 3rd graders are of course adorable and excited to have us in their classroom. The teacher is a lot more organized and able to teach. The only downfall is that most of the teaching is done in Xhosa. But we are still able to help. For instance, math was occurring while we were there. She gave us some things she needs typed up on a computer and printed off and a lesson on conjunctions to teach next week. The school has one computer and a printer that sometimes works. Most of the teachers don’t know how to use the computer. Pendla is going well now, even better than before.
Last week nothing really exciting happened during the week, just normal classes I think. I definitely have gotten into my routine here and consider PE home now. Friday we went on a group excursion to Grahamstown and KingWilliamstown (both are names that will probably be changed like that street sign). We took a coach bus, Grahamstown was about an hour and a half away and KingWilliamstown about two and a half. The topic of the daytrip was land distribution. During apartheid something like 10% of the population owned 87% of the land. In Grahamstown we were taught about a battle between the Xhosa tribe and the English. Then we went to an old jail that has been turned into an art studio for Xhosa traditional art. Both were interesting stops. Then we went half way between the two towns and met with the mayor of the municipality and some members of the African National Congress (ANC, the political party that Nelson Mandela was president of and is the current ruling party). They talked to us about land distribution. Next we went KingWilliamstown to the home of Steven Biko. He was the head of the Black Consciousness Movement and was brutally murdered by the police during the apartheid regime. Our events went a little long so we didn’t have much time to spend here and we had to skip our last planned event. We then drove back through Grahamstown, where 12 of us were dropped off at an old prison, now a hostel. We went out for dinner and then went to bed early at the Old Gaol Hostel. It was a cool place, but too dreary to stay very long or have any fun!
In the morning we woke up early, took a shuttle and then a taxi to Hogsback. Here we stayed at a hostel called Away with the Fairies. The town is up in the Hogsback Mountains. There are three mountains that look like the backs of hogs (with hair on their back) kind of like Camelback Mountain in Mesa. It was so foggy when we got there that we were standing in the mist! We got situated and then went for our first hike. It went in a big loop to and from the hostel with two waterfalls along the way. It was a great hike, although the fog made the ground very wet and the mud slippery. It looked like a jungle there, it was very beautiful. The waterfalls were also amazing and so was the climb through the rocks to get to them! They were called Bridal Veil Falls and Madonna and Child Falls. That night we were all so tired for our close to 20km hike that after dinner we just went to bed.
Sunday morning we woke up early to get another hike in before we had to get on the road. This one took us to two more waterfalls. Instead of jungle, it was more like forest with pine trees and such. One of the waterfalls was called 39 Steps because the rocks were formed like a staircase. This made a perfect spot for climbing and playing in the cold water! Then we took a combie, then a taxi, then a bus, then another taxi to make it back to our flats. It may have been cheaper to arrange rental cars! But oh well, we didn’t have to drive ourselves through the mountains at least.
Again just an ordinary week of class. I had my first test in music class, it was pretty easy. But we’ll see when I get my grade! We went to a jazz concert on campus that was cool. We also all went to a rugby game on campus that was fun, although NMMU lost big time. These nighttime events made me not do very much homework this week but I survived. I finally got internet to work at my flat and have posted a lot of pictures on the blog and on Facebook, so check that out. I haven’t posted any Hogsback pictures on my blog yet, but they’re on Facebook if you can get there. I hope to post some new videos too. This Saturday is Human Rights Day so we will be going to some events, including listening to Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Mandela speak. Sunday I start my scuba diving training with classroom learning and two outdoor pool dives! I also will be starting on 12 page paper that is due the day before spring break!
I’m glad everyone who’s had a spring break has been enjoying it! Cassie and Drew down south on their hiking trip makes me jealous…Anna and Jessie finally connected to my continent with Megan…Erin and Andrew viewing the Iditrod(sp?)…and everyone else enjoying the warm MN weather! To keep up with my lateness on birthdays, down here I’m still celebrating Kay’s birthday and Grandma Neal’s birthday!! What’s new at home? Have Ben and Kelly bought a house in Plymouth yet?? How’s the quilting business going Charlotte? I got my hair cut and dyed today and I maybe a little too blonde now! So look for that in any new pictures I post!
Umm okay well that wasn’t too long! Took me a while to write because I forgot everything, but hopefully you enjoy it! I’m going to watch a move and then get to bed because I think we’ll be outside all day tomorrow for Freedom Day events. Good night everyone! I hope you all have good weekends!! And for all you Companeros fanatics, in case you didn’t see on Suzie’s profile or in case you’re not friends with her on Facebook…Laura is turning 50 this weekend!!!
Volunteering Update: Last week I didn’t go to Pendla on Monday because we had just gotten back from Durban. Tuesday was just an ordinary teaching day. First period went by with no teaching done by Ms. Mkrola. Second and third periods were both with the 5th grade so Heather and I taught an improvised lesson. Fourth period was supposed to be math with a different teacher who never materialized, so we kept teaching. At recess a girl who was bleeding was following me around so I took her inside to try and get a band-aid. Ms. Mkrola told me the school has no first aid kit. This is going to sound bad, but I purposefully ditched this child because there is a possibility that she could have AIDS or another disease. I found out later that there are band-aids in the office. But we need to work on getting gloves and sterilizing equipment.
Okay and here is where I need all of your help!! I am in charge of a recess planning committee. This is because we don’t know what to do with the 500 children at recess. Of course they can entertain themselves, but they mostly like to hang on us for the whole 30 minutes (usually closer to 45 because of the lack of clocks). I just need to compile a list of activities that CSB/SJU students could engage the students in. The older children already play netball and soccer so they’re pretty much set. The problem is the younger children like to be with us, but they don’t know English. So it is hard to teach them any games. If you could, next time you comment, add any ideas of recess games that we could play that don’t require a ton of directions or supplies. The ages would be 5-15 years old. I already have things like ring-around-the-rosy, follow the leader, simon says…Thanks!
This week at Pendla was different. Ms. Mkrola was gone on Monday, so we followed around another teacher and two St. Bens students. We taught a little bit and watched that teacher teach. She does a better job with the students, but her main method of teaching is rote memorization. Tuesday we were informed that Ms. Mkrola may be fired from her position at Pendla. Apparently she mainly comes only on Monday and Tuesdays when Heather and I are there to teach for her. The rest of the days she says she has a sick child. The principal doesn’t want to fire her because it took them 2 years to get a new teacher assigned to that classroom from the government. Firing her would possibly make them without a teacher for another two years. (South Africa has good policies, but delivery takes forever.) So to make things easier and make our experience better, we were reassigned to a 3rd grade classroom. This was a great switch and immediately we felt more situated. The 3rd graders are of course adorable and excited to have us in their classroom. The teacher is a lot more organized and able to teach. The only downfall is that most of the teaching is done in Xhosa. But we are still able to help. For instance, math was occurring while we were there. She gave us some things she needs typed up on a computer and printed off and a lesson on conjunctions to teach next week. The school has one computer and a printer that sometimes works. Most of the teachers don’t know how to use the computer. Pendla is going well now, even better than before.
Last week nothing really exciting happened during the week, just normal classes I think. I definitely have gotten into my routine here and consider PE home now. Friday we went on a group excursion to Grahamstown and KingWilliamstown (both are names that will probably be changed like that street sign). We took a coach bus, Grahamstown was about an hour and a half away and KingWilliamstown about two and a half. The topic of the daytrip was land distribution. During apartheid something like 10% of the population owned 87% of the land. In Grahamstown we were taught about a battle between the Xhosa tribe and the English. Then we went to an old jail that has been turned into an art studio for Xhosa traditional art. Both were interesting stops. Then we went half way between the two towns and met with the mayor of the municipality and some members of the African National Congress (ANC, the political party that Nelson Mandela was president of and is the current ruling party). They talked to us about land distribution. Next we went KingWilliamstown to the home of Steven Biko. He was the head of the Black Consciousness Movement and was brutally murdered by the police during the apartheid regime. Our events went a little long so we didn’t have much time to spend here and we had to skip our last planned event. We then drove back through Grahamstown, where 12 of us were dropped off at an old prison, now a hostel. We went out for dinner and then went to bed early at the Old Gaol Hostel. It was a cool place, but too dreary to stay very long or have any fun!
In the morning we woke up early, took a shuttle and then a taxi to Hogsback. Here we stayed at a hostel called Away with the Fairies. The town is up in the Hogsback Mountains. There are three mountains that look like the backs of hogs (with hair on their back) kind of like Camelback Mountain in Mesa. It was so foggy when we got there that we were standing in the mist! We got situated and then went for our first hike. It went in a big loop to and from the hostel with two waterfalls along the way. It was a great hike, although the fog made the ground very wet and the mud slippery. It looked like a jungle there, it was very beautiful. The waterfalls were also amazing and so was the climb through the rocks to get to them! They were called Bridal Veil Falls and Madonna and Child Falls. That night we were all so tired for our close to 20km hike that after dinner we just went to bed.
Sunday morning we woke up early to get another hike in before we had to get on the road. This one took us to two more waterfalls. Instead of jungle, it was more like forest with pine trees and such. One of the waterfalls was called 39 Steps because the rocks were formed like a staircase. This made a perfect spot for climbing and playing in the cold water! Then we took a combie, then a taxi, then a bus, then another taxi to make it back to our flats. It may have been cheaper to arrange rental cars! But oh well, we didn’t have to drive ourselves through the mountains at least.
Again just an ordinary week of class. I had my first test in music class, it was pretty easy. But we’ll see when I get my grade! We went to a jazz concert on campus that was cool. We also all went to a rugby game on campus that was fun, although NMMU lost big time. These nighttime events made me not do very much homework this week but I survived. I finally got internet to work at my flat and have posted a lot of pictures on the blog and on Facebook, so check that out. I haven’t posted any Hogsback pictures on my blog yet, but they’re on Facebook if you can get there. I hope to post some new videos too. This Saturday is Human Rights Day so we will be going to some events, including listening to Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie Mandela speak. Sunday I start my scuba diving training with classroom learning and two outdoor pool dives! I also will be starting on 12 page paper that is due the day before spring break!
I’m glad everyone who’s had a spring break has been enjoying it! Cassie and Drew down south on their hiking trip makes me jealous…Anna and Jessie finally connected to my continent with Megan…Erin and Andrew viewing the Iditrod(sp?)…and everyone else enjoying the warm MN weather! To keep up with my lateness on birthdays, down here I’m still celebrating Kay’s birthday and Grandma Neal’s birthday!! What’s new at home? Have Ben and Kelly bought a house in Plymouth yet?? How’s the quilting business going Charlotte? I got my hair cut and dyed today and I maybe a little too blonde now! So look for that in any new pictures I post!
Umm okay well that wasn’t too long! Took me a while to write because I forgot everything, but hopefully you enjoy it! I’m going to watch a move and then get to bed because I think we’ll be outside all day tomorrow for Freedom Day events. Good night everyone! I hope you all have good weekends!! And for all you Companeros fanatics, in case you didn’t see on Suzie’s profile or in case you’re not friends with her on Facebook…Laura is turning 50 this weekend!!!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Boring Blog
I know this blog has turned a little bit boring over the last week, and unfortunately it will continue to bore its readers with the same-old posts for another few days. Internet has become a bit of a problem for me. Usually I'm able to post from my flat, but the internet has been down there for the last two weeks. The school's internet is too slow for most websites to load in the half hour I have here. I got on today, but only because I have an extended break. It's all just frustrating! But I'm planning on going to an internet cafe this weekend. So I'll post then about volunteering, events last week and this week and my hiking trip to the Hogsback Mountains this past weekend! And of course, I will finally post pictures of Hole in the Wall, Coffee Bay, Durban and the Hog's backs! Hope everyone is doing well! Our weather was pretty similar yesterday as it got quite cold and you with your warm spell! Weird, but we'll probably start overlapping more often as you move into spring and I move into fall! Okay I'm sending my love over there right now and I'll post later! Thanks for reading this!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Pictures from Hole in the Wall and Durban
Birds of Paradise flowers are everywhere down here.
Dad, I bought you a new fishing boat. Maybe you can take me and some friends out fishing this summer?
The city of Durban from the water, while out on the Shark Net tour.
Safely back on the ground, me with Joe.
On the way down...
Flying through the clouds, best feeling!
Best skydiving picture ever!!
Climbing to 10,000 feet, this took about 20 minutes.
The tiny little plane! I was sitting in the back of the plane and the two men had their feet on me. That's Martin with the bald head who jumped with me! The door is on the left side and wide open!!
Getting ready in my jumpsuit, notice my butt guard!
The girl skydivers!
Since the new government took over in 1994, South Africa has been going through and changing names of EVERYTHING from colonial names to African names, or neutral names. This is one example, Queen St. was changed to Fishmarket St. They keep both signs up until people get used to the new names, but you can see the red line going through queen.
The traditional herbs being sold. The love potion was kept in a separte bag in the back!
The HOLE in the wall! I swam almost all the way into this, didn't bring my camera with unfortunately.
On our hike, we climbed that mountain/hill behind me. In this picture I also walked into some sort of poison ivy or something and had a burning leg all day!
The cows on the beach! We layed down with them a while later.
Hole in the Wall from far away. Its on the right hand side of this rock.
The drive down to hole in the wall.
This is what we got to drink the Xhosa beer out of. Just passing it around with people we don't know....
The girls dancing for us. This inside the headman's hut, which is the largest in the village.Monday, March 9, 2009
Durban
The weekend in Durban went great. Although I am exhausted because there was hardly any downtime. I got back this morning at 9:30 from the airport. I called Rory to leave a message in the middle of the night (it would have been around 2:30), he answered and was wide awake because he was driving down to Sauk to catch a truck to North Dakota again. They’ve moved on from Rolla a little bit and are now working in Foreman. The timing of my phone call was impeccable and we finally got to catch up because all my roommates were sleeping and he was in the car! Anyway, here’s the play by play of my weekend. To put the weekend into one statement is: I feel a lot more cultured.
Thursday, we arrived in Durban. This is one of the largest cities in the country with the biggest port in Africa (6th in the world I think). It is a very beautiful and urbanized city. But it of course also has the townships outside of the main city. We stayed at a hostel here, called Surf ‘n Dreams. Although it was nowhere near the beach. It wasn’t the best of accommodations. It was in a house, so the owners lived there too. And they just seemed to despise having us there! Just not the type of people to own a hostel. Anyway Thursday we went to the Temple of Understanding. Which is a Hindu temple that was built in part to recognize apartheid. A man there discussed the temple and described Hinduism for us. The temple was very beautiful. After the tour, a group of dancers came to perform for us outside the temple. They mixed African Zulu tribe traditions, Hindu and Indian traditional dance forms. The result was very beautiful and interesting to watch. They had performed at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration and also at this private performance for us, so we felt very special. For dinner we went out to an Indian restaurant. We were the only people in the restaurant and they had a buffet for us. Unfortunately all the food was too spicy for me, so I mainly ate rice and tortilla like bread. Which was still very good.
Friday morning we went on a walking tour of the “oriental” part of Durban. The tour was kind of funny in the fact that we really only saw the mall and then every market possible. It was a lot of walking. One cool thing we saw was a traditional healing market (the largest in Africa). I think it was a mix of Indian and Zulu healers. (A sidenote, in this part of South Africa Zulus are the main group of people. In Port Elizabeth, Xhosa is the main group. Durban also has the largest Indian population in the country.) The healing items they sold were tree barks, tree leaves, roots, animal body parts, and animal blood. It was very weird, but interesting. Of course it had a smell to it. I could have bought some love potion! During our freetime this day, we went shopping in the mall and in one of the nicer markets. I bought a dress to where for one of the August weddings! Friday night we went out to eat and to a jazz concert. It was fun to listen to the music, but our food and drinks took hours. Some people never got their food. It was quite a hassle. I can honestly say that I have not had one server here who would make it under the strict governance of Companeros management! This was also my roommate Alison’s 21st birthday so we celebrated that in style at the jazz concert.
Saturday morning we went to the KwaMuhle Museum. It was about how the apartheid system worked in Durban, mainly how it affected the Indians. This was very interesting and applied to a few of my classes. I love it when something I learn in class helps me understand something I see in a culture here, or vice versa.
We had freetime again today. And you’ll never guess what I did!!!! Saturday morning, a group of people organized a trip to go sky diving. I never really thought about it, but counted myself in. So 11 of us piled in a taxi to drive about an hour to Pietermaritzberg to go sky diving! Since I didn’t plan it in advance, I didn’t get too nervous. I just didn’t think about it. I watched several people go ahead of me (11 of us went). When it was my turn I started to get a little nervous, but still not too bad. I put on a jumpsuit and a harness and walked out to the plane. It was tandem sky diving, so I was going down hooked up to Martin. My friend Joe and his tandem were going at the same time as me. The plane was tiny, only a four seater. But it had no seats. It also had no door. Luckily, I sat in the back and the three boys crammed in in the front. Climbing up to 10,000 feet we had beautiful views. I took lots of pictures. It was a cloudy day, so the clouds looked a little like snow. There was a bumper sticker in the plane that said “When people look like ants, pull. When the ants look like people, pray.” I memorized this advice. All of a sudden, we were at the right altitude. And I really mean all of a sudden, the whole prep and jump happened so fast there was no time for me to think about it! I was hooked to Martin at four points. He had two parachutes on his back. There was also a computer to set off the parachute in case he had a heart attack or something. Just like that, Joe was out the window, I didn’t even get to say good luck or good bye. Then just like that, one foot after another my legs were out the window. I tucked in my elbows and 1, 2, Martin pushed us out! We started off in freefall, which lasted about 35 seconds. But I barely even remember it. Martin said it would feel like 5 seconds to me since it was my first time. I put my legs toward my butt and arched my back and we started to do flips. After about two flips I think, Martin hit my hip 3 times. This was to signal me to pull the cord for the parachute to go off. I was not paying attention and so confused though that I didn’t pull it. Thinking of my safety first I’m sure, Martin pulled the parachute for us both. It went up and it was yellow!! The parachuting down was my favorite part because it felt like you were flying like a bird. You could control your movement with handles on the parachute. You could make it standstill, where you literally don’t move. You could make it go straight down really fast. Or you could spin it downward, which was my favorite. I was taking pictures and just not coordinated enough to steer the parachute, so Martin did that. This part lasted about 6 minutes in the air. The view was beautiful. I could always see the landing strip and Joe’s parachute below me. When I got closer, I saw and heard all my friends waiting at the small airport for us. The landing was a little rough. We hit on our feet first then slid on our butts. Which is what we are supposed to do, I just hurt my ankles initially a little bit. As soon as we had all gone, we hopped in the taxis and rushed back to Durban because we were going to be late for the ballet!
The ballet was the infamous Russian Ballet. We were only 15 minutes late, although we didn't look the best. I surprisingly enjoyed the ballet, the dancers were amazing. Afterward we went out to eat for Mexican food. The restaurant was called Taco Zulu and was good. Pretty close to normal Mexican food, although no comps. And the service was extremely slow again, we didn't get home till 12:00am.
Sunday I got to go out on the shark boats, which wasn't as cool as I made it sound. I guess the shark boats don't take on passengers on the weekend or something, so we were in a different boat watching the shark boat. There is a problem with sharks in Durban, so they have nets enclosing the beach. There actually are many separate nets that overlap, so boats can get through, as well as dolphins and fish. But the sharks come in from out of sea, so they don't know the nets as part of the habitat and can't figure out how to get through them. 1-2 sharks a month get stuck in the nets. That's what we were looking for. We didn't see any, but it still was really fun. Just being out on a boat was fun. There were huge waves and some people got sea sick. But I took dramamine beforehand just in case. After this the group split up, I went on a nature hike in New Germany, a little outside of Durban. It was a fairly easy hike and enjoyable to be outside. Durban is (in my opinion) the hottest city in SA. It was really hot this weekend, so the hike was hard in that respect. We saw lakes, pretty views from hills, impala, and blue duiker (like a really, really small deer kind of). They also had snakes in cages. I got to hold a python (like a boa constrictor). We also saw this python constrict and eat a mouse. Kind of gross, but cool. Then we went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant again. It's pretty rare to see that here, so we wanted to take advantage of it. Sunday night we went to a comedy show. The man was very talented and funny. We didn't get all the jokes because we don't know everything about SA yet.
Oh and I think this was Saturday night, that the first crime happened in our group. Sometime in the middle of the night, someone got into the hostel (it is all fenced in with electric fence) and stole money, cameras and cell phones from the boys. The 10 boys were in a room that was the extension from the garage. The shady hostel managers never gave them a key for their room. It happened while they were sleeping. It may be a blessing that they didn't wake up because then there could have been violence. 4 of the boys didn't have anything stolen because they were in the back of the room. The 20 of us girls were in the main house and although we didn't have keys for our individual rooms, we did have a key for the house. It was very sad.
Then Monday we flew home. As always, I'll have to post pictures later. The internet doesn't work at our flat at the moment, so I'm at an internet cafe. Tomorrow we have volunteering and school so I'll be able to go on again there.
Thank you for all your thoughts about Pendla school here. Mom, I will try and think of something that you can do. We do have a large account of money that we raised before we left that we'll do something with for the kids. Half of that has to go to the AIDS Haven, which has their own needs too. We'll see how tomorrow goes!
Thursday, we arrived in Durban. This is one of the largest cities in the country with the biggest port in Africa (6th in the world I think). It is a very beautiful and urbanized city. But it of course also has the townships outside of the main city. We stayed at a hostel here, called Surf ‘n Dreams. Although it was nowhere near the beach. It wasn’t the best of accommodations. It was in a house, so the owners lived there too. And they just seemed to despise having us there! Just not the type of people to own a hostel. Anyway Thursday we went to the Temple of Understanding. Which is a Hindu temple that was built in part to recognize apartheid. A man there discussed the temple and described Hinduism for us. The temple was very beautiful. After the tour, a group of dancers came to perform for us outside the temple. They mixed African Zulu tribe traditions, Hindu and Indian traditional dance forms. The result was very beautiful and interesting to watch. They had performed at Nelson Mandela’s inauguration and also at this private performance for us, so we felt very special. For dinner we went out to an Indian restaurant. We were the only people in the restaurant and they had a buffet for us. Unfortunately all the food was too spicy for me, so I mainly ate rice and tortilla like bread. Which was still very good.
Friday morning we went on a walking tour of the “oriental” part of Durban. The tour was kind of funny in the fact that we really only saw the mall and then every market possible. It was a lot of walking. One cool thing we saw was a traditional healing market (the largest in Africa). I think it was a mix of Indian and Zulu healers. (A sidenote, in this part of South Africa Zulus are the main group of people. In Port Elizabeth, Xhosa is the main group. Durban also has the largest Indian population in the country.) The healing items they sold were tree barks, tree leaves, roots, animal body parts, and animal blood. It was very weird, but interesting. Of course it had a smell to it. I could have bought some love potion! During our freetime this day, we went shopping in the mall and in one of the nicer markets. I bought a dress to where for one of the August weddings! Friday night we went out to eat and to a jazz concert. It was fun to listen to the music, but our food and drinks took hours. Some people never got their food. It was quite a hassle. I can honestly say that I have not had one server here who would make it under the strict governance of Companeros management! This was also my roommate Alison’s 21st birthday so we celebrated that in style at the jazz concert.
Saturday morning we went to the KwaMuhle Museum. It was about how the apartheid system worked in Durban, mainly how it affected the Indians. This was very interesting and applied to a few of my classes. I love it when something I learn in class helps me understand something I see in a culture here, or vice versa.
We had freetime again today. And you’ll never guess what I did!!!! Saturday morning, a group of people organized a trip to go sky diving. I never really thought about it, but counted myself in. So 11 of us piled in a taxi to drive about an hour to Pietermaritzberg to go sky diving! Since I didn’t plan it in advance, I didn’t get too nervous. I just didn’t think about it. I watched several people go ahead of me (11 of us went). When it was my turn I started to get a little nervous, but still not too bad. I put on a jumpsuit and a harness and walked out to the plane. It was tandem sky diving, so I was going down hooked up to Martin. My friend Joe and his tandem were going at the same time as me. The plane was tiny, only a four seater. But it had no seats. It also had no door. Luckily, I sat in the back and the three boys crammed in in the front. Climbing up to 10,000 feet we had beautiful views. I took lots of pictures. It was a cloudy day, so the clouds looked a little like snow. There was a bumper sticker in the plane that said “When people look like ants, pull. When the ants look like people, pray.” I memorized this advice. All of a sudden, we were at the right altitude. And I really mean all of a sudden, the whole prep and jump happened so fast there was no time for me to think about it! I was hooked to Martin at four points. He had two parachutes on his back. There was also a computer to set off the parachute in case he had a heart attack or something. Just like that, Joe was out the window, I didn’t even get to say good luck or good bye. Then just like that, one foot after another my legs were out the window. I tucked in my elbows and 1, 2, Martin pushed us out! We started off in freefall, which lasted about 35 seconds. But I barely even remember it. Martin said it would feel like 5 seconds to me since it was my first time. I put my legs toward my butt and arched my back and we started to do flips. After about two flips I think, Martin hit my hip 3 times. This was to signal me to pull the cord for the parachute to go off. I was not paying attention and so confused though that I didn’t pull it. Thinking of my safety first I’m sure, Martin pulled the parachute for us both. It went up and it was yellow!! The parachuting down was my favorite part because it felt like you were flying like a bird. You could control your movement with handles on the parachute. You could make it standstill, where you literally don’t move. You could make it go straight down really fast. Or you could spin it downward, which was my favorite. I was taking pictures and just not coordinated enough to steer the parachute, so Martin did that. This part lasted about 6 minutes in the air. The view was beautiful. I could always see the landing strip and Joe’s parachute below me. When I got closer, I saw and heard all my friends waiting at the small airport for us. The landing was a little rough. We hit on our feet first then slid on our butts. Which is what we are supposed to do, I just hurt my ankles initially a little bit. As soon as we had all gone, we hopped in the taxis and rushed back to Durban because we were going to be late for the ballet!
The ballet was the infamous Russian Ballet. We were only 15 minutes late, although we didn't look the best. I surprisingly enjoyed the ballet, the dancers were amazing. Afterward we went out to eat for Mexican food. The restaurant was called Taco Zulu and was good. Pretty close to normal Mexican food, although no comps. And the service was extremely slow again, we didn't get home till 12:00am.
Sunday I got to go out on the shark boats, which wasn't as cool as I made it sound. I guess the shark boats don't take on passengers on the weekend or something, so we were in a different boat watching the shark boat. There is a problem with sharks in Durban, so they have nets enclosing the beach. There actually are many separate nets that overlap, so boats can get through, as well as dolphins and fish. But the sharks come in from out of sea, so they don't know the nets as part of the habitat and can't figure out how to get through them. 1-2 sharks a month get stuck in the nets. That's what we were looking for. We didn't see any, but it still was really fun. Just being out on a boat was fun. There were huge waves and some people got sea sick. But I took dramamine beforehand just in case. After this the group split up, I went on a nature hike in New Germany, a little outside of Durban. It was a fairly easy hike and enjoyable to be outside. Durban is (in my opinion) the hottest city in SA. It was really hot this weekend, so the hike was hard in that respect. We saw lakes, pretty views from hills, impala, and blue duiker (like a really, really small deer kind of). They also had snakes in cages. I got to hold a python (like a boa constrictor). We also saw this python constrict and eat a mouse. Kind of gross, but cool. Then we went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant again. It's pretty rare to see that here, so we wanted to take advantage of it. Sunday night we went to a comedy show. The man was very talented and funny. We didn't get all the jokes because we don't know everything about SA yet.
Oh and I think this was Saturday night, that the first crime happened in our group. Sometime in the middle of the night, someone got into the hostel (it is all fenced in with electric fence) and stole money, cameras and cell phones from the boys. The 10 boys were in a room that was the extension from the garage. The shady hostel managers never gave them a key for their room. It happened while they were sleeping. It may be a blessing that they didn't wake up because then there could have been violence. 4 of the boys didn't have anything stolen because they were in the back of the room. The 20 of us girls were in the main house and although we didn't have keys for our individual rooms, we did have a key for the house. It was very sad.
Then Monday we flew home. As always, I'll have to post pictures later. The internet doesn't work at our flat at the moment, so I'm at an internet cafe. Tomorrow we have volunteering and school so I'll be able to go on again there.
Thank you for all your thoughts about Pendla school here. Mom, I will try and think of something that you can do. We do have a large account of money that we raised before we left that we'll do something with for the kids. Half of that has to go to the AIDS Haven, which has their own needs too. We'll see how tomorrow goes!
Thursday, March 5, 2009
SCHOOL
What would it be like to go to school at Pendla Primary in Port Elizabeth, South Africa?
· You would have to walk a long distance to school every day. If you’re young, the roads you would need to cross would be too dangerous for you.
· You would start school with prayer (at a public school).
· Your hallways would be outside. There would be no air conditioning, so you’d have to keep all the windows and doors open, even if it’s raining.
· As a white student, you would be the minority. Or more specifically, the only white person in a 5 mile radius.
· Your teacher may be late for school. Or she may not come at all. If she doesn’t come, plan on being put into another grade and just trying to follow along for the day. If you don’t know anything about what that grade is learning, you can just sit on the floor in front of the chalkboard for the day. There are no substitute teachers.
· There would be between 30 and 50 students in your class.
· Where would you sit? Your chair would be broken in some way. The legs might not be attached to the chair part, so you would fall off if you weren’t paying attention. The back of your chair may be broken off, so there is sharp jagged plastic to watch out for. You might have a chair that is much too small for you, like 1st grade size chair in a 7th grade room. You can write your name on the back of your chair in chalk if you want to try and have the same one each day. Your chair might be taken away if your teacher needs one to sit down in or if there is a guest in the room. Then you should share with another student or just kneel for the time. Chairs are not necessary for learning.
· Your desk would be wooden, like the ones you think of in a little house on the prairie school house.
· You would wear a uniform.
· Your teacher may not be knowledgeable in the subject she is teaching you.
· Name, date, school subject and title must be written at the top of every piece of paper. In perfect cursive. Straight. Use a ruler to make sure. You’ll have about ten minutes of class time to do this, so don’t hurry or anything.
· You’ll switch class subjects every thirty minutes. But there are no clocks and your teachers do not have watches, so don’t expect for that to happen on time. There are 11 thirty-minute periods in a day. Everyday your schedule will switch, don’t expect any sort of routine. You may have English 4 times in one day, but all different and spread out periods. Your teachers also probably will not know what class to be in at what time.
· The little kids still love any attention from the older “cooler” kids and love to give hugs and get high fives.
· The teaching format is lecture. Your teacher will talk, you will write notes. She’ll ask a question and as a class, you will recite the answer or repeat after her. You will not have a chance to play games or do any sort of hands on activity.
· There is no art, gym, computers, special education or science experiments.
· You would have a Xhosa class and an English class. You would try and teach anyone who comes into your classroom your first language, Xhosa. And you would giggle when they can’t make the same noises with their mouth as you.
· Your school wouldn’t have a lot of extra money, so your teachers would give you no form of worksheets, handouts or printed tests.
· There are no overheads, whiteboards, Smartboards or projectors. The chalkboards are old and cracked. It is very hard for you to read what the teacher writes on the board. You and your classmates are in charge of getting the water to dip the chalk into and wiping the chalkboard off for your teachers.
· Your homework is probably a little bit less than schools in the US.
· If you misbehave, you may get hit with a hard plastic stick on your hands. This is against the law.
· Your school notebooks are given to you by the government. Maybe your other school supplies too. At any point your teacher can take your pencils, markers or pens to keep and use for herself. You will constantly be short pencils and erasers and forced to share and borrow from your classmates.
· At recess you can play netball (like basketball) or soccer. Both with deflated balls. You sing songs and love to dance at recess. You get way over the top excited when your picture is taken and when you get to look at yourself on a digital camera screen.
· Your smiles warm the hearts of American college students.
Note: this is ONE school in South Africa. There are many other schools that are more well-off. But most schools in the townships are about the same.
So after reading that, you probably can start to sense some of the things I love about my teaching experience here and some of my frustrations. I go back and forth with loving it and hating it. It is rarely the kids that are the problem, more the teachers I work with and the school system in general. Monday I came home really down on myself and thinking, “Why did I ever think I would want to be a teacher when I grow up?” I seriously began thinking of how I could get out of my major at St. Bens and do something else. I don’t think it was THAT horrible, the bad day was amplified by being stressed out about my papers, tired from being gone all weekend and sad about my friend dying. Tuesday was better and I think every day will get better as I get used to it and the teachers get used to me. On Tuesday we taught a good lesson. There was a double period (an hour then) and we were able to teach new vocab words. To review them, we played charades. The words we acted out were twigs, refreshed, strength, argue, contest and slightly. I think the 4th graders loved to see my teaching partner and I act silly and they got to participate and be loud in class. They don’t get to do that very often.
I’m leaving for Durban in a couple hours. I’m pretty excited about the weekend. It will just be cool to travel with the thirty of us. I know we’re going on a walking tour, a hike, on shark boats and to a ballet. And a lot more stuff to keep us busy for 5 days.
I hope you all have great weekends!! I promise I'll be posting more soon, sorry it's been kind of sporatic.
Anna, how did you like John Hopkins? Is it a pretty school? What’s the area like?
Some people have asked about my address…no I’m not begging for letters.
Lauren Neal
Langerry Holiday Flats #11
31 Beach Road, Humewood
Port Elizabeth 6001
SOUTH AFRICA
· You would have to walk a long distance to school every day. If you’re young, the roads you would need to cross would be too dangerous for you.
· You would start school with prayer (at a public school).
· Your hallways would be outside. There would be no air conditioning, so you’d have to keep all the windows and doors open, even if it’s raining.
· As a white student, you would be the minority. Or more specifically, the only white person in a 5 mile radius.
· Your teacher may be late for school. Or she may not come at all. If she doesn’t come, plan on being put into another grade and just trying to follow along for the day. If you don’t know anything about what that grade is learning, you can just sit on the floor in front of the chalkboard for the day. There are no substitute teachers.
· There would be between 30 and 50 students in your class.
· Where would you sit? Your chair would be broken in some way. The legs might not be attached to the chair part, so you would fall off if you weren’t paying attention. The back of your chair may be broken off, so there is sharp jagged plastic to watch out for. You might have a chair that is much too small for you, like 1st grade size chair in a 7th grade room. You can write your name on the back of your chair in chalk if you want to try and have the same one each day. Your chair might be taken away if your teacher needs one to sit down in or if there is a guest in the room. Then you should share with another student or just kneel for the time. Chairs are not necessary for learning.
· Your desk would be wooden, like the ones you think of in a little house on the prairie school house.
· You would wear a uniform.
· Your teacher may not be knowledgeable in the subject she is teaching you.
· Name, date, school subject and title must be written at the top of every piece of paper. In perfect cursive. Straight. Use a ruler to make sure. You’ll have about ten minutes of class time to do this, so don’t hurry or anything.
· You’ll switch class subjects every thirty minutes. But there are no clocks and your teachers do not have watches, so don’t expect for that to happen on time. There are 11 thirty-minute periods in a day. Everyday your schedule will switch, don’t expect any sort of routine. You may have English 4 times in one day, but all different and spread out periods. Your teachers also probably will not know what class to be in at what time.
· The little kids still love any attention from the older “cooler” kids and love to give hugs and get high fives.
· The teaching format is lecture. Your teacher will talk, you will write notes. She’ll ask a question and as a class, you will recite the answer or repeat after her. You will not have a chance to play games or do any sort of hands on activity.
· There is no art, gym, computers, special education or science experiments.
· You would have a Xhosa class and an English class. You would try and teach anyone who comes into your classroom your first language, Xhosa. And you would giggle when they can’t make the same noises with their mouth as you.
· Your school wouldn’t have a lot of extra money, so your teachers would give you no form of worksheets, handouts or printed tests.
· There are no overheads, whiteboards, Smartboards or projectors. The chalkboards are old and cracked. It is very hard for you to read what the teacher writes on the board. You and your classmates are in charge of getting the water to dip the chalk into and wiping the chalkboard off for your teachers.
· Your homework is probably a little bit less than schools in the US.
· If you misbehave, you may get hit with a hard plastic stick on your hands. This is against the law.
· Your school notebooks are given to you by the government. Maybe your other school supplies too. At any point your teacher can take your pencils, markers or pens to keep and use for herself. You will constantly be short pencils and erasers and forced to share and borrow from your classmates.
· At recess you can play netball (like basketball) or soccer. Both with deflated balls. You sing songs and love to dance at recess. You get way over the top excited when your picture is taken and when you get to look at yourself on a digital camera screen.
· Your smiles warm the hearts of American college students.
Note: this is ONE school in South Africa. There are many other schools that are more well-off. But most schools in the townships are about the same.
So after reading that, you probably can start to sense some of the things I love about my teaching experience here and some of my frustrations. I go back and forth with loving it and hating it. It is rarely the kids that are the problem, more the teachers I work with and the school system in general. Monday I came home really down on myself and thinking, “Why did I ever think I would want to be a teacher when I grow up?” I seriously began thinking of how I could get out of my major at St. Bens and do something else. I don’t think it was THAT horrible, the bad day was amplified by being stressed out about my papers, tired from being gone all weekend and sad about my friend dying. Tuesday was better and I think every day will get better as I get used to it and the teachers get used to me. On Tuesday we taught a good lesson. There was a double period (an hour then) and we were able to teach new vocab words. To review them, we played charades. The words we acted out were twigs, refreshed, strength, argue, contest and slightly. I think the 4th graders loved to see my teaching partner and I act silly and they got to participate and be loud in class. They don’t get to do that very often.
I’m leaving for Durban in a couple hours. I’m pretty excited about the weekend. It will just be cool to travel with the thirty of us. I know we’re going on a walking tour, a hike, on shark boats and to a ballet. And a lot more stuff to keep us busy for 5 days.
I hope you all have great weekends!! I promise I'll be posting more soon, sorry it's been kind of sporatic.
Anna, how did you like John Hopkins? Is it a pretty school? What’s the area like?
Some people have asked about my address…no I’m not begging for letters.
Lauren Neal
Langerry Holiday Flats #11
31 Beach Road, Humewood
Port Elizabeth 6001
SOUTH AFRICA
Monday, March 2, 2009
Coffee Bay/Hole in the Wall
Okay I had an awesome and busy weekend! I'll recap that, answer some questions and then talk about this coming weekend!
Thursday we left right after class and went to the airport to pick up the car. The airport is only a few miles away so it's not too far. But I'm sure you can imagine how loud the airplanes can be when they fly right over our apartment! And PE has one of those landing strips where the plane has to fly out over the ocean, turn around and then head back in to land. There were four of us, Joe, Zach, Colleen and myself. Which ended up being the perfect amount in a car for a long car ride. We drove half way to Coffee Bay and stayed at a hostel, or a Backpackers in Chintsa. This place was good, but we went to bed almost right when we got there at 11:00 and woke up very early in the morning.
Friday we woke up, checked out and then went for a walk on the beach. This town was in a nice little bay so the beach was very nice. We took some pictures and then were on our way.
I drove this morning. It went well. I never tried to drive on the right side of the road like I was worried about. But I did continually switch on the wipers instead of the blinker because they're in different spots. I also stalled the car one time at a stoplight, or a ROBOT! Calling them robots is weird because it makes them seem like they're alive or something. There was about 70km of road that we took off of the highway. This was the worst road you could EVER imagine. We were warned from the people in Chintsa to beware of potholes and animals but we had no clue how severe that warning was! The road was littered with potholes. There was rarely anywhere you could drive without hitting one. So this was pretty stressful for me and I ended up switching so that Joe was driving. We lost two hubcaps on this road (luckily we saw them fall off). And the animals!!! WOOH! When we were warned of animals, I of course thought of kudu and springbok and all those animals I’d seen wild before. But no, the animals to look out for were cows, horses, donkeys, sheep and goats. The region we drove through is called the Transkei and it is where Nelson Mandela grew up. During the apartheid regime, it was one of the “homelands” or something comparable to an Indian Reservation. So this area has been able to maintain its heritage very well. It is in a mountain region, or at least very big hills (our car almost didn’t make it up some of the hills). The hillsides are filled with colorful huts where Xhosa people live. In this area, there isn’t running water or electricity. Almost no one has a car, so we also needed to be careful of all the people walking in the road. There were some beautiful views on this drive and if it wasn’t for the potholes and animals, we could have really taken it all in.
We got to the Coffee Shack Backpackers and were hot and tired. So we went to the beach. It was no easy feat to get to the beach here! We had to cross a river walking on rocks because it was filled with waste from the village. Then we had to walk up a hill and across a stretch of beach. Then we walked up some shaky steps, over fence. Through a forest and campground, through another fence. Down the road and onto the beach. Swim across another river thing (but this one was fed by ocean water), holding our belongings on top of our heads. And then you’re at the beach! Children were following us along the whole way, but we just kept telling them we didn’t have money and they’d run off for a little bit.
For dinner we went to a Xhosa village. This was arranged by the hostel and they sent an interpreter with the group of 10 of us who went. We got a tour of the yard. Apparently all those animals we saw would be herded into a fenced in area at night. We saw how they cook the food on coals in a special enclosure. And we went into the headman’s hut. This is where dinner was because it was the biggest. Some young girls danced for us while the rest of the people from the village sang. We tried Xhosa beer which was made from Maize. It was all right, but not my favorite. We drank from odd containers and passed it around. The females were made to sit on the ground, while the males were given benches and beds to sit on. This wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if we weren’t there for three hours! I was definitely ready to stand up when we left! We ate a traditional two course meal there. The first course was sugar bean and corn soup (kind of). It needed a lot of salt. The second course was pap, which is ground up maize. It was very good and then it had a store-bought gravy on top. After dinner there was more dancing by boys and girls (the girls were topless, and some a little too old). Then they invited/made us dance too. The dancing was pretty hard, lots of shaking of the hips and butt! When we left they followed us in the car for a ways singing. This whole night cost $4.oo.
Saturday we went for a hike to Hole in the Wall. Well we drove to the town of Hole in the Wall and then went hiking around it. It was a great day with the most beautiful scenery. The landmark Hole in the Wall is a very large rock only a little bit off the coast that has a hole in it (like the shape of a mouse hole in a wall). The hole was formed over time from the waves hitting against it. We climbed to the top of a very big hill/mountain and had a gorgeous view of the village, the ocean and the hole in the wall. Again to get to the hole in the wall we had to go over the river and through the woods, and on and on. But it was cool. We took some pictures so it looked like we were IN the hole, but the waves were too big to actually go into the hole. We also went to a beach that was around here and we were laying out, sun tanning, with cows!! The cows were on the beach! So to pick out a spot to lay down, you had to first of all stay far away from the cows, and second of all, watch out for poop!
Sunday we drove home, it ended up being about 7 hours total and Joe and I took turns. The others did homework in the backseat. Since we got home, I’ve been exhausted and stressed out about homework! But I’m not going to stop seeing everything I can just because of a silly little thing like school! I’ll post some pictures from this weekend later too.
So I have this paper due Tuesday, today, and one due on Wednesday. Those are taking over my time for now. But then bright and early on Thursday we leave on a group excursion to Durban till Monday! I'm too busy to even think about it! Durban is further up the eastern coast. I think it'll be about a 2 hour flight. And I'm not sure what we're going to do there, it's all planned out and paid for though.
I hope everyone is doing well, I’m really sorry to hear about all the snow you’ve gotten this last week! I hope the shovelers in the group aren’t too sore!
Happy Belated Birthdays to Jessie, Dar and Steve! Both the Iowa party and the Hamel party sound like they were fun this weekend! I wonder if cake was served first at the Gustafson party too?
Mac I hope you had fun at your retreat this weekend! Sorry I didn’t get to talk to you on Sunday! And I hope synchro is going well!!
Nome-Beltz Junior High students: I would not advise anyone to feed the monkeys at my school! The monkeys can be very mean. If they see you have food, they might attack you and scratch and bite. So it’s probably best to just keep your food hidden when they’re around. But I haven’t seen them yet this week! Make sure you check out a post I’ll be putting up soon about what school is like here!
I know that I told a lot of you this winter before I left about my boss at St. Bens, Cynthia who was sick with cancer. She passed away this last week at home in Holdingford. She really meant a lot to me as we worked together every day for two years. I miss her now and I will miss talking to her a lot next year when I go back to St. Bens. Please pray for her son and daughter who no longer have her with them.
Thursday we left right after class and went to the airport to pick up the car. The airport is only a few miles away so it's not too far. But I'm sure you can imagine how loud the airplanes can be when they fly right over our apartment! And PE has one of those landing strips where the plane has to fly out over the ocean, turn around and then head back in to land. There were four of us, Joe, Zach, Colleen and myself. Which ended up being the perfect amount in a car for a long car ride. We drove half way to Coffee Bay and stayed at a hostel, or a Backpackers in Chintsa. This place was good, but we went to bed almost right when we got there at 11:00 and woke up very early in the morning.
Friday we woke up, checked out and then went for a walk on the beach. This town was in a nice little bay so the beach was very nice. We took some pictures and then were on our way.
I drove this morning. It went well. I never tried to drive on the right side of the road like I was worried about. But I did continually switch on the wipers instead of the blinker because they're in different spots. I also stalled the car one time at a stoplight, or a ROBOT! Calling them robots is weird because it makes them seem like they're alive or something. There was about 70km of road that we took off of the highway. This was the worst road you could EVER imagine. We were warned from the people in Chintsa to beware of potholes and animals but we had no clue how severe that warning was! The road was littered with potholes. There was rarely anywhere you could drive without hitting one. So this was pretty stressful for me and I ended up switching so that Joe was driving. We lost two hubcaps on this road (luckily we saw them fall off). And the animals!!! WOOH! When we were warned of animals, I of course thought of kudu and springbok and all those animals I’d seen wild before. But no, the animals to look out for were cows, horses, donkeys, sheep and goats. The region we drove through is called the Transkei and it is where Nelson Mandela grew up. During the apartheid regime, it was one of the “homelands” or something comparable to an Indian Reservation. So this area has been able to maintain its heritage very well. It is in a mountain region, or at least very big hills (our car almost didn’t make it up some of the hills). The hillsides are filled with colorful huts where Xhosa people live. In this area, there isn’t running water or electricity. Almost no one has a car, so we also needed to be careful of all the people walking in the road. There were some beautiful views on this drive and if it wasn’t for the potholes and animals, we could have really taken it all in.
We got to the Coffee Shack Backpackers and were hot and tired. So we went to the beach. It was no easy feat to get to the beach here! We had to cross a river walking on rocks because it was filled with waste from the village. Then we had to walk up a hill and across a stretch of beach. Then we walked up some shaky steps, over fence. Through a forest and campground, through another fence. Down the road and onto the beach. Swim across another river thing (but this one was fed by ocean water), holding our belongings on top of our heads. And then you’re at the beach! Children were following us along the whole way, but we just kept telling them we didn’t have money and they’d run off for a little bit.
For dinner we went to a Xhosa village. This was arranged by the hostel and they sent an interpreter with the group of 10 of us who went. We got a tour of the yard. Apparently all those animals we saw would be herded into a fenced in area at night. We saw how they cook the food on coals in a special enclosure. And we went into the headman’s hut. This is where dinner was because it was the biggest. Some young girls danced for us while the rest of the people from the village sang. We tried Xhosa beer which was made from Maize. It was all right, but not my favorite. We drank from odd containers and passed it around. The females were made to sit on the ground, while the males were given benches and beds to sit on. This wouldn’t have been that big of a deal if we weren’t there for three hours! I was definitely ready to stand up when we left! We ate a traditional two course meal there. The first course was sugar bean and corn soup (kind of). It needed a lot of salt. The second course was pap, which is ground up maize. It was very good and then it had a store-bought gravy on top. After dinner there was more dancing by boys and girls (the girls were topless, and some a little too old). Then they invited/made us dance too. The dancing was pretty hard, lots of shaking of the hips and butt! When we left they followed us in the car for a ways singing. This whole night cost $4.oo.
Saturday we went for a hike to Hole in the Wall. Well we drove to the town of Hole in the Wall and then went hiking around it. It was a great day with the most beautiful scenery. The landmark Hole in the Wall is a very large rock only a little bit off the coast that has a hole in it (like the shape of a mouse hole in a wall). The hole was formed over time from the waves hitting against it. We climbed to the top of a very big hill/mountain and had a gorgeous view of the village, the ocean and the hole in the wall. Again to get to the hole in the wall we had to go over the river and through the woods, and on and on. But it was cool. We took some pictures so it looked like we were IN the hole, but the waves were too big to actually go into the hole. We also went to a beach that was around here and we were laying out, sun tanning, with cows!! The cows were on the beach! So to pick out a spot to lay down, you had to first of all stay far away from the cows, and second of all, watch out for poop!
Sunday we drove home, it ended up being about 7 hours total and Joe and I took turns. The others did homework in the backseat. Since we got home, I’ve been exhausted and stressed out about homework! But I’m not going to stop seeing everything I can just because of a silly little thing like school! I’ll post some pictures from this weekend later too.
So I have this paper due Tuesday, today, and one due on Wednesday. Those are taking over my time for now. But then bright and early on Thursday we leave on a group excursion to Durban till Monday! I'm too busy to even think about it! Durban is further up the eastern coast. I think it'll be about a 2 hour flight. And I'm not sure what we're going to do there, it's all planned out and paid for though.
I hope everyone is doing well, I’m really sorry to hear about all the snow you’ve gotten this last week! I hope the shovelers in the group aren’t too sore!
Happy Belated Birthdays to Jessie, Dar and Steve! Both the Iowa party and the Hamel party sound like they were fun this weekend! I wonder if cake was served first at the Gustafson party too?
Mac I hope you had fun at your retreat this weekend! Sorry I didn’t get to talk to you on Sunday! And I hope synchro is going well!!
Nome-Beltz Junior High students: I would not advise anyone to feed the monkeys at my school! The monkeys can be very mean. If they see you have food, they might attack you and scratch and bite. So it’s probably best to just keep your food hidden when they’re around. But I haven’t seen them yet this week! Make sure you check out a post I’ll be putting up soon about what school is like here!
I know that I told a lot of you this winter before I left about my boss at St. Bens, Cynthia who was sick with cancer. She passed away this last week at home in Holdingford. She really meant a lot to me as we worked together every day for two years. I miss her now and I will miss talking to her a lot next year when I go back to St. Bens. Please pray for her son and daughter who no longer have her with them.
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