Two new blogs at the same time?!!? What is going on? Hah..i just got a little bored an decided to write…so here goes, this blog is the past month since being home from Bots. The WC ended a few days after we got back..I was definitely sad to see it go. It brought such a great liveliness to SA and all the people here. The day Uruguay played in PE for the 3/4th place, I saw the whole team at the gym…of course at the gym they play the sports channel and it was surreal to look at the tv and see all the players, then look over and see them in person in the gym. Hah I thought it was pretty cool tho.
One of our landlords had us over at his parent’s house for a braii, the night before Bimmy and David left, and Nicolas (our landlord) was leaving soon too, headed off to Mississippi for Grad school. Like most home cooked food in SA, everything was amazing, and I got a recipe for the most amazing thing, I call it pumpkin goodness. I made it a few days ago, so good! Im gonna make it at Christmas when I get home…so be ready Mama! I just have to find pumpkin… that’s something about SA that is so cool, pumpkin is everywhere, all yr round in the store, its like butternut squash kinda.
So Bimmy left : ( I was really sad about it, I still am. It is really the best for her particular situation tho and I know she is happy to be home. It was just hard for me and all the other girls to have someone leave us. We all came here together and were supposed to be here for a year together and leave together…Bimmy and I became extremely close and were basically always together so when she left, I literally had the feeling that I broke up with a boyfriend hah. Its so funny how things work out like they do because we both thought we weren’t going to be able to be friends with each other. Just goes to show that you can’t judge people and you really have to get to know them. She is worth is too, she is so genuine and truly an amazing bright girl, she got me through lots of dark days with her constant positive outlook and even 10,000 miles away she has taken my crying phone calls. I am really lucky to have had her here with me, and to have her when I go back home. We still talk all the time and we will be reunited at Sonoma. I love you C U Next Tuesday : )
This paragraph is for you Sebastian! An update on all the new internationals : ) This semester there is a really different group of international students. Last semester the bantry was CRAZY. Seriously it was never quite, people were always partying and it was just crazy. This semester, so far anyway, its a lot more calm and not as united as last semester. there are people from France, Germany, Sweden, Norway, the 9 cali ppl left, and hmmm I think that’s it. Everyone is really nice and friendly. Everything just seems a lot more calm this semester, it could also be me personally, with the whole going out thing, kinda been there done that with all the places here. There have been a lot more house parties this semester and there were none last semester, just the bars.
The weekend before school started we (me, LJ, Aisha, Kelleigh, and Caleb) went to J-Bay for the Billabong Surf Pro. I was pretty stoked and I’m really glad we went. Of course the whole time I wished Brett was there, because I know he would have loved it and he could have explained how certain things worked. It was so cool though, I’ve never been to a surf competition and having the Billabong Surf Pro as my first is pretty legit. J-bay is such a well-known surf spot of the world. The whole weekend we pretty much sat on the beach and watched people surf, of course I was off taking pictures pretty much the whole time. It was really relaxing though and a nice end to our holiday. Loretta has a friend who lives in J-Bay so she hooked us up with a little guest house of one of her friends for the night, it was only 50R so it was legit. LJ’s friend took us out and we ate at really cool restaurant, thai food AC : ) and we went to a bar, played some pool and had 10R draughts of Castle, which is equal to 1.35$ hahah sometimes I just love South Africa..the weekend was really fun though and I have some interesting video tapes from when we got home from the bar…black mail Caleb?! : ) haha just kidding, maybe I’ll post them one day… Overall it was a great weekend and I’m so down to move to the beach one day, you know what I’m talking about Shylnn : )
Aisha and I moved to a different flat, down the hall from our other flat. We are in flat 9 now, its bigger and has a better balcony. I had a slight disagreement with the maids about it……but it’s all settled now!
Second semester started, I can’t believe I’ve already been here for this long and I’m starting second semester! This term, which goes til the end of Aug., is pretty slow for me. I only have class on Monday and Tuesday..crazy right? Dad, before you freak out I am taking 58 credits and the max is 60…so there is nothing else I can do! Anyways I am taking Xhosa again.. same teacher so that’s good bc I like him, it just keeps getting harder tho… Kunzima! (that means ‘It is tough’) I am taking Organisational Behaviour, the first business class I’ve taken in a year.. odd to be in a business class cuz sometimes I seriously forget I am a business major… I like the class though, its not too bad so far and the topic is bearable. It just sucks to be in a class that spells organisational behaviour the way it does, I don’t know how many times I have to go back and consciously rewrite my ‘organizational behavior’ by the time I go home, I won’t know which one is correct… (they are both correct but you know what I mean!) the teacher is fine, of course I stand out bc I am the only person from the states and in the class there is constant reference to the US. Last week he was talking about American people arrogant and having that ora when they walk in a room, he was like there is someone in here from the US right?! I raised my hand, and he asked me if this was correct, and I started to say well I don’t think you can generalize…then he just cut me off and kept talking…ohhh how I love Afrikaners sometimes..
Then the other class I’m taking, I’m taking for fun bc I had extra credits to fill, but not enough credits open to take a class to go toward my major. I think I had 9 credits open and all my soci/business classes are 15 credits so I couldn’t.. sooo I decided to take a freshman psychology class, it is applied child development. I enjoy it so far, its interesting to me. The only downside is the fact that it is a freshman class, so people are talking ALL the time…I forgot what that’s like… the teacher has to sush people up the whole time. I really like the teacher though, she is this funny Xhosa lady who is really personable and cracks lots of jokes. We don’t have an exam or final for the class just a paper we have to do. We have to go to a pre-school and observe a child for 90 minutes, 45 minutes in the classroom setting and 45 minutes during break time. I go to a pre-school next week to observe the child chosen for me. Hopefully it goes well, Ill tell you guys about it after I do it. Next term I am taking Xhosa, and Organisational Behaviour (it’s a semester class), and I’m also taking two Sociology classes, Women in Africa, and Crime and Society, I am SOOO excited for the crime and society class, it is ridiculous.
So what am I doing with my ridiculous amount of free time? I’m spending my time volunteering at Sinethemba two days a week again and Vukupille. I get a ride to Sinethemba from the school, but I’m not getting any credit for it like I did last semester, which I honestly prefer because we had to write journals and papers, which I seriously thought took away from helping the kids because I would sometimes focus and think about what I would write rather than focus on the kids. Words really can’t express how much I LOVE going to Sinethemba, I am seriously going to be heartbroken when I leave for good. My favorite girl Anthea is back tho!!!! She just went home for the holiday, but she came back. I didn’t think she was coming back..but when I saw her I freaked out! I literally ran to go hug her and pick her up. I adore her; she is so smart and has so much going for her. I just hope she can succeed in life, and she gets the opportunities she deserves. I really wish that for all the kids, they are all sweethearts and I have seen them grow since I first started going there in February. *this is for bimmy. The other day, the radio was on and Waka Waka came on and they all started singing it and doing the dance. I couldn’t help but smile, they are all adorable, and seriously have no possessions and they are so happy. I know I always talk about Sinethemba a ridiculous amount in every blog, but I just love going there so much.
I am also doing Vukupille on Wednesdays which I talked about a bit a few blogs ago. Basically LJ, me, Kelleigh, and Aisha are in charge of this program for the kids. We come up with the activities for the day, get volunteers together, set up transportation, and go and try a make a difference with these kids in the township. It is a really great thing for these kids, and you can tell they look forward to it all week. It is pretty difficult to come up with activities, because there are no supplies or anything, we are in the middle of a street, literally, sometimes we have to move for cars. Last week we did creativity/getting to know each other. We made nametags and did a bunch of icebreaker questions. I really like it, reminds me of working at the YMCA of leading songs at camp and being able to come up with lesson plans. I miss that job.. honestly though.. if any one has any ideas of themes or projects we could do…throw them my way!!
This month for the first time I experienced for the first time someone buying me a shot and sending it over to me..haha I felt like it was a movie, having a waitress tap me on the shoulder and point at the shot then at the guys table..hah it made my night : )
I’m surprised I never talked about this before but since being here, I’ve read a lot..well a lot more than I did at SSU at least.. I am absolutely in love with Jodi Picoult, The Pact and 19 minutes are AMAZING, and right now I am reading a book called Columbine. It is about the Columbine school shooting, it is really interesting so far. I read 19 minutes when I first got here by Jodi Picolut about a school shooting, and it sparked my interest in stopping bullying and getting educated on the topic of bullying and school shooting, and I wrote a 20page paper on Bullying in America for my Social Issues class, which I found actually really enjoyable to write. Probably one of the best things I’ve ever done/assignment I’ve put the most work into. Anyways I saw Columbine in a book store when I was in Bots and got on my Kindle (thanks Grandma!) and I find it really interesting, to figure out what really happened…anyways, that’s something new I’m going to add to my blog, talk about the book I’m reading : ) soooo I don’t recommend Say You’re One of Them, the book that was from Oprah’s book club…just wasn’t a fan. And of course I recommend The Great Gatsby…it’s one of my favorite books, I love the wording and description he uses. : ) I’ve read some other books…but just wanted to mention the best and the worst.. ok that’s enough of Jennifer’s reading corner… : )
Okay my lovely blog readers…once again thank you for your time, I miss you all and love you all so much. See you all in 4ish/4 and a half months…I don’t know when I’m coming home yet…Sorry Ashie I know you want a date!!! I’ll be home sometime in Dec…that’s a good enough window of 31 days for me to get home : ) haha
Love LOVE loveeeee!!!!
Loyally,
JD
Saturday, August 7, 2010
BOTSWANA!
BOTSWANA!
Hello everyone…getting two blogs relatively close to each other?!…what’s going on right? Jen actually on top of her shit? Hahha just giving myself a hard time with my horrible lack of blogging… just kidding, I started writing this right when I got back from my trip..and not its been a month since ive been back…hah. Oh well. but I just have to write about Botswana!. We (Loretta, Bimmy, Kelleigh, Aisha) and I went on a trip to Botswana over our winter break. We were there for almost two weeks. Lots of driving was included, lots of music was played, lots of laughing with the girls, lots of pictures, and lots of good memories came form this trip.
The drive was super long we left around 3am and got across to the Botswana boarder around 4pm, and still had a couple of hours to drive to Gabrone where our first stop was. We were supposed to get this tiny tiny car..a yaris.. they have them in the states too, and everything is seriously 3X smaller here then the states…but Loretta and Kelleigh sweet talked the girl at the rental car place and we lucked out and she gave us a Toyota corolla. Thank god! I seriously don’t kno what we would have done with all our stuff in that small car. The corolla was super nice and like all the other cars we have rented we named her..her name was R.D. but the contents of what that actually means isn’t PG and acceptable for this blog..haha so I’ll just let all of your minds wonder..hah. She didn’t break down at all! Much better than our last car, Steamy! Well we actually got a flat tire in the middle of nowehere in Botswana..but Ill get to that later. We got really lucky on this trip and stayed with families/locals of Botswana. The first place we stayed was with Mike and his wife. We met Mike thru our friend KG at school. Loretta, Aisha, and I stayed with him and his wife and their baby at their flat. And Bim and Kelliegh stayed with Mike’s cousin, Patrick’s at his house, because of space. I find the African culture very interesting when it comes to women and male domination. When we met Mike’s wife he introduced he as his wife- and that was it. No name nothing, and she was very much pushed aside. That’s how it pretty much is everywhere, like if you have a boyfriend or a husband there is apart of you that loses your own identity and becomes apart of that person’s identity. I don’t its hard to explain.. and with everything I can’t generalize because it isn’t correct to label all women with that or generalize the continent of Africa as pushing aside their women. But to me it just seems like a lot of African women are standoffish and don’t have as much of their own individual voice. Maybe American women are generally more liberal with voicing them selves…and I am just not used to this..but once again I can’t generalize all American women. Also something that I thought was interesting… when we got to their house and settled in, she asked us if we had any children…we all obviously said no. She 25, and she was amazed that we didn’t have any children, and asked us why we didn’t… “Ohh I don’t know because we are 21 ..?” haha but obviously we weren’t rude or anything about it, every culture, every person is different. She just said that it’s easy having kids and as you get older it gets harder… so I guess maybe I should get on the bandwagon of having kids? Hhahahahaha that’s hysterical, I know my parents want grandbabies but that would be Brett’s job sooner than mine : ) just kidding B!!!
The next day after arriving we exchanged money, the money in Bots is called Pula.. its almost equivalent to rand but stronger but still less than the US dollar. And things were more expensive in Bots than they were in SA. It was funny for us to go to the grocery store and look at things in pula and say “oh my god this is so expensive!!!” we all agreed that we are screwed when we go back home and have to pay for things in American dollars, because we are used to things being so cheap in SA.
After exchanging money we ran some errands with Mike, he is in the military and he had to do some business so we went to the base there. We went to a few malls. He took us to a museum of the history and important things of Botswana. Nothing too exciting, just a chill day. Gabrone is one of the capital cities of Botswana and when we got there I wondered why, because it wasn’t anything too extravagant and it was not too big, but after going to all the other places I understood. Botswana isn’t a very populated country, most of the time we were driving in the middle of no where and rarely drove thru cities, and we drove thru the whole country all the way from SA up to Zimbabwe. After leaving Gabs we went to Francis Town, where we stayed with our friend K.G. at his house with his family. They live in a township and have no electricity…I thought it was going to be an interesting couple of days…but it was actually the best part of the trip, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was my favorite part of my whole African experience. I loved the township life, with no electricity, extremely friendly people, sitting around a fire, and just a carefree way of life. The first day we arrived we got to know the family and hung out. Right when we got there we got introduced to everyone and one of the neighbor ladies was over, she didn’t speak any English. She greeted us all and said something to Mama and Mama told us she was delighted to meet us and she was going to choose one of us to be her daughter in law. We all laughed and went on about our greetings. Like 15 minutes later she said something to me and obviously I was confused so I asked Mama what she said, and Mama told me she chose me as her daughter in law and that’s what she was calling me. Haha I was the chosen one! All weekend she called me her daughter in law and she would point things out about how I would be a good wife, for example the way I sat (haha i guess there is a way women should sit?), my height, me helping cook. It was funny, and don’t worry I met my husband, it was slightly awkward, the whole weekend ppl were saying your husband, in front of him too. He kept trying to talk to me, but I just made a big joke out of it. But at least I was approved to marry a Bots. man, in their culture you have to be approved by the family before you can get married…it is quite a long process and involves the whole family not just the parents, and labella needs to be paid, so look forward to that Mom, hopefully I’m worth lots of cows!! and by the end of these few days, I was married off a few times. Our dinner was traditional to Kalanga life (their tribe), traditionally you go around and wash everyone’s hands, starting with the elderly down to the youngest. I got to do that on most nights. Like pretty much everything that they do, the elderly always goes first, gets food first and you say hello to them first. Also with the cooking it wasn’t usually Mama it was usually her daughters..so you go from the age of your Mama cooking for you and learning, then you start helping when your young then eventually you take over and cook for your Mama and the family. So while we were there K.G.s sisters, Pinky, and Betty cooked. The food that night..like the rest of the weekend was amazing!
We all got Kalanga names from the family, mine was ‘Cheza’ which means ‘light’ or ‘sunlight’, funny how they give me that name when some people call me sunshine. Funny right? I became seriously obsessed with K.G.s mom who upon our arrival informed us to call her Mama, and she seriously did become our Mama, she is our Mother of Africa. She had such great stories and she was so insightful, I really admire her. That night we all just told stories and talked, I talked to them about sociology and our culture.
The second day we went to town to get meat for a braii, the town had a huge shopping center and like usual African fashion everyone was starring. It doesn’t even phase me anymore.
We were lucky enough to get to go to a wedding. I was so excited to go to a wedding because that was one of the things I wanted to experience while in Africa. We were really late and we only stayed like 25 minutes. We had to literally drive in the bush for an hour, like dirt roads, and in the middle of nowhere, we got lost numerous times. I had no idea what was going on the whole entire drive because the ladies were talking in their language, I was squished in the back with my mother in law and one of Mamas sisters or aunts.. I couldn’t keep track of all the ppl we met. When we finally got there, there was around 100 ppl there and we stuck out to say the least, we were the only white ppl there, and an asian and an African American..people were taking pictures of us. A girl came up to me and asked if she could have my face..and took a picture of my face. Hah. I wish I could have experienced the whole day of festivities, because we got there at the end, the traditionally everything starts early in the morning and goes all day. We saw a skit and they had traditionally made African beer. We got to go up to greet the bride and the groom. A lot of people came up to us to greet us. It was a really cool experience.
We had a braii that night with extremely yummy food. Since being in SA I have learned to love meat..I eat it so much more than I did at home. I pretty much eat anything now. At the braii there was a guy from the states there, he was from Utah and he was on his Mormon missions trip. It was nice to talk to someone from the States, and we asked him lots of questions about his Mission. Once again it was a really good night of conversation and sitting by the fire. This trip was amazing with the help we received from people. We didn’t have place to stay while we were in Kasane, and I was telling a lady this who I had just met and right then and there she pulls out her phone to call her friend to see if we could stay there, this happened numerous times through out the trip for people to help find somewhere to stay.
The next day we went to their cattlepost which is like a farm/ranch. They had cows, chickens, guinea pheasants, goats, and ducks. It was a really cool experience to see them farm and how they did everything, once again with out electricity and running water there. They branded the goats, Loretta even got in there and helped them. They also branded the cows, which I didn’t really like watching, but they would have to catch the cow and tie its legs together and get it on the ground and pierce it’s ear and brand it with burning brand. The cows were obviously extremely strong and it took like 15 minutes for each cow, and a lot of times they cows would get away and they would have to start over.
For lunch we had chicken…but chicken from the cattle post. So we saw the whole process of killing a chicken then plucking it then braiing it, then eating it. Aisha and the aunt caught the chickens, and Mama cut their heads off, and immediately put them in boiling water, then plucked off all the feathers, cleaned it, then started cooking it. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to eat it because we literally watched them die, but it was really good and didn’t freak me out. Kelleigh, Loretta, and I went on a walk with Mama to find some roots. It was so funny to watch this hard core lady in her dress and converse carrying a hoe and beating up the ground to find these roots. She would explain to us what each root meant and what it did. Mostly medical things, for example, cure the measles and fight heart burn was some of them we got. She let us have one of them, I don’t remember what it was for, but you are supposed to eat it just how it is from the ground, so you shouldn’t wipe the dirt off or anything. She was explaining how owning land works in Bots and I am still puzzled by it, but its pretty cool. People there can just go anywhere and find a piece of land and basically just claim it. You go to the government with the measurements of the land and its yours. You don’t pay anything for it. I was seriously baffled. Could you imagine Dad?! Not having to pay for land?! When land is so expensive in the states. I feel like in America people would get greedy and take so much land and it would create a conflict, but here it just shows that people only take what they need.
That night we hung out with Mama, Pinky, and Betty and talked. I love how the conversations here always have so much meaning and depth to them. Loretta did yoga with them, it was so cool to see this Mama just get up and not even know what yoga is and do yoga with all of us. One of my favorite things of the whole trip was this night. They started singing for us and we were all dancing in a circle. The girls and I did this song/dance that we do at Vukupille, called Sally Walker. They loved it! they would sing and teach us some of their native dances. It was under the stars by a fire in the middle of a township…it was seriously one of the best moments Ive ever had. Something like that would never happen in America, staying at a families house and we all break out in song and dance.. I don’t think so. People in America are too uptight and stressed out about everything. Mama was so so happy just as we were and even the next morning she couldn’t stop smiling and singing. In the morning I said good bye to my new mother in law, and she was genuinely sad to see me go..haha. it was really hard/ sad to say good bye to them, they truly became our family.
Our next stop was Kasane where we were staying so we could visit Victoria Falls. We didn’t have a place to stay there til like 12 hours before we got there, we weren’t too worried about it because things always work out, and we ended up finding a place. When we were in Gabs Kelleigh and Bim stayed with Mike’s cousin and his cousin Patrick had a friend in Kasane..so that’s where we stayed. It’s so funny cuz we stayed with a friend of a friend of a friend basically, but it wasn’t weird at all. All people in Africa make you feel really welcome in their home. On our drive to Kasane we saw sunflower field after sunflower field. Something I’ve always wanted to do is stop to take pictures in a field of sunflowers…all those drives up to Chico, I never stopped and I always wanted to. So I insisted we stop and get out so we can take pictures, it was so cool to be on the side of the road in Botswana taking pictures of my favorite flowers : ) another cool thing that happened while we were driving to Kasane was saw giraffes crossing the road, which was one of my goals of the trip to see them. We saw completely wild giraffes right there in front of our car! We finally arrived in Kasane and the man we were staying with was name K.B., he was a super nice guy. He worked for the Bots government and we all had some really intelligent conversations. He was beyond generous and basically gave us his whole house, and stayed at a friend’s house while we were there. One of the nights there he brought home a girl from South Carolina who just arrived in Bots for the peace corps. We all asked lots of questions because we were interested in the peace corps but didn’t know much about it. We went to dinner with K.B. and one of his friends from work. The whole time they were saying it was hard to understand us because we were American..We just talk fast! After we around to lodges to figure out how we were gonna get to Vic Falls, we couldn’t take our rental car into Zim, and with what lodge we were gonna do a game drive at Chobe National Park.
The next day we did our game drive at Chobe, our guide was really cool. I’ve gone on a few game drives since I’ve been here, but this was the first guided one I’ve been on. It was the whole 9 yards with the big open Safari car. We saw lots of giraffes (my new favorite), hippos, crocodiles, elephants, birds, buffalos, impala, kudu, warthogs, and maybe some other stuff I forgot. A fun fact I learned during the game drive was, elephants are pregnant for 22 months! Yikes! So at this point we still had no idea how we were going to get to Vic Falls. Kasane was only like 10K from the boarder but we weren’t allowed to take our car into Zim, and Vic Falls is like 45 mintues away from the boarder. When we were in Francis Town our new family told us we could hike..we were like oh you can hike?! How far of a walk is it!? haha but we are in africa and hike means hitchhike…haha I guess hitchhiking it REALLY common in Bots/Zim and it is fairly safe. We weren’t really down to hike, and I knew my mother would kill me if I was hitchhiking in Zimbabwe with 4 other girls…your welcome mom! So anyways after we went to Chobe we went to an internet café b/c our grades had been posted! I got good grades! Woot! Woot! I don’t know if I told you yet dad…but I got good grades! 4 distinctions which is higher than an A in the states and I got good grades in my two other classes, not quite distinctions but good for the hard classes. So kelleigh was at an café getting coffee and she stated talking to the owners and after awhile of talking the owners suggested we get a taxi from the boarder and hooked us up with a taxi driver they knew and settled it for us. Its so funny how things just work out.. so we finally had transport to Vic Falls! So the next day we set of to see one of the Wonders of the World. we left our car at the boarder and walked across to Zimbabwe. It was SO weird to see US dollars, (they use US dollars there). Vic Falls was AMAZING! The mist made it rather hard to see, but it was seriously breathtaking. I got absolutely soaked because everyone else has ponchos that a stranger handed them/rain jackets. I didn’t believe everyone when they said you get wet, but god damn…you get wet, it looked like I jumped in a pool. Zim seemed really cool, I was a little sketched out because so many ppl have told us horror stories and told us to be careful going there, but we didn’t stay for long, I wish we had. We walked over to Zambia and the girls went zip lining from Zambia to Zim. The view was really pretty over there from the bridge.
We made it back to the boarder and that night we cooked K.B. dinner. We left in the morning but not before K.B giving us all really nice individual letters; mine said:
“Jen- There is a serene calmness around you.. Kinda ‘peace halo’ surrounding you. I enjoyed watching the peaceful you glide around my kitchen, in ‘control’ of your life and everything else. You brought peace to my home.”
He was a really nice guy. We all got in the car and read ours out loud. He gave us a really nice speech about Ubuntu. Which is about community and sharing with everyone, he said it was really important to him to open his home to us and for us to feel welcomed. And we did. I’m really glad we stayed there, once again a local making our trip above and beyond what I thought it could be.
After leaving Kasane we headed to Maun. After getting a little lost we finally found our backpackers…we didn’t even have a map of Botswana, we kinda just drove and hoped we ended up where we were supposed to, which was fine, because Botswana is very bare to say the least, so there aren’t many roads. This was the first backpackers we stayed at on our whole trip, and we were over half way done with our trip! We saved SO much money staying at people’s houses because backpackers were really expensive in Bots. We were given tents and bedding in the tents so it was a little cheaper than staying in the dorms but it was 190P for two nights, which is equivalent to 235R, which is equal to like 32 US dollars. Which doesn’t seem expensive at all, but in SA camping is usually around 50 or 60R a night not 120R! that’s expensive for a dorm in SA! Anyways.. we didn’t do much in Maun, hung out mostly, I ended up talking to this cool guy from AU that night who had been traveling for 3 years and he hadn’t been home at all, if I remember correctly he had been to every continent but two! And he was my age! Most other countries do this thing called gap year, where after they graduate HS they take a year off and work or travel mostly, ive talked to a lot of people since being here that are doing that, most people from other countries find it weird Americans don’t do they. They always ask “how are you supposed to know what you want to do at age 18 when you haven’t traveled and had real world experiences?” hah welp..I don’t know… study abroad I guess?
Anyways… I have a story now… that night after everyone went to bed, we were all sleeping and I was probably sleeping for about 30 minutes.. and then I woke up to someone unzipping my tent and coming in our tent (Loretta and I were sleeping together). I was SO confused about what was going on…some guy was getting in the tent and started to lay down..all he kept saying was “shhhhh its okay, shhhhh its ok, Im just going to sleep.” Of course he was wasted. And of course Loretta was still sleeping and didn’t wake up, and I was just sitting there saying excuse me, you cant be in here, this isn’t your tent! He just kept saying shhh shhhh over and over… thankfully some other people we were talking to earlier in the night saw him get in and wake up the other girls to help get him out. The whole time I was just so confused and flustered and kept telling him he had to get out. Then I screamed for Kelleigh, who came and yelled at him and literally hit him to get out of our tent. Hahah Kelleigh to save the day again (she saved us in CT when some guys were being creepy and she pretty much bitched them out). We told the security guy and he said there was nothing he could do, and he wouldn’t pay special attention to our area….typical Africa. Lets just say I didn’t sleep well that night. Hahahha it was funny what happened and i didn’t feel threaten but I know my mom is reading this right now freaking out, because I haven’t told her this story, and she is saying “you trust ppl too easiler, stand up for yourself!!” haha I knoooooow mom! I probably should have handled the situation a little different than saying politely “excuse me sir you cant sleep in here” hahah but oh well you live and you learn right? : ) so that’s my ridiculous story about the guy who tried to sleep in my tent.
The next day was our trip on the Ocavango Delta in the little boats. It was a really cool experience and a really long day. We left at 8am and got back around 5. I was in a boat with Bimmy, and it was a little scary at first because of the way in rocked, but we got used to it. it was insanely pretty and so serene. I LOVED the lillie pads and flowers. We were seriously in the middle of no where, and all we could see was the delta and water, and plants. The only downside was the amount of bugs! Im not really a girly girl when it comes to bugs, I was always the girl that killed the spiders at Anson…right pi palace girls?! : ) but seriously I have never seen this many bugs in my whole life. they were little nats and would land on you and not live and it was impossible to wipe them off because you would squish them and they would die on you, and all the guts would stay on you. Bim was miserable haha, I pretty much laughed at her the whole time :) looooove you bimmy! It was really relaxing besides the bugs. We saw some elephants and went on a ridiculously long walk on an island, looking at animal poop and identifying the animal. Haha it was a little dragged on. Overall it was really good though, on the way back bimmy and I had a really good talk about lots of stuff, I adore her : )
After leaving Maun we went back to Francis Town and stayed with Mama again, we just didn’t get enough of them the first time : ) before getting there we got a flat tire though, in the middle of nowhere in Botswana with 5 girls who have never changed a tire before… it ended up working out though and someone helped us. When we finally got to mama’s house I went to the shop with her. Its really interesting to be in the setting of where they live, because they aren’t used to seeing white people there. It’s almost like you’re a celebrity. People ask mama to be introduced to me, and everyone comes up to talk to me. I got proposed to literally 5 times. And of course Mama didn’t make it any better, she was literally like my real mom, showing me off, introducing me with my Kalanga name and inviting the guys over for a braii later to talk to me. hah. So many people asked for my phone number and my email hah. Its kinda overwhelming all the attention you get, blending in isn’t possible. When you say hello to people and give them attention they uncontrollably smile and are so happy. Its so interesting the dynamic of it. it just shows the culture of Africa and the severe separation. Going to Francis Town made me think so much, and wonder if life will ever change. Will there ever be equality and tolerance? It’s like these people aren’t tolerating tho, they just hold me and other white people to a different standard when we are equal, and just the same. But on the other hand… maybe that is just apart of me, being naïve, many of these people will never leave Francis Town or where they live, but they know no better, and ignorance is bliss, and there really is nothing wrong with their way of life, part of my likes it better. Just the whole fact of me being me and being from America, they are just so amazed, but they are truly amazing people too, more amazing than a lot of people I have encountered in the states. I just wish they would see and recognize that they are truly unique and beautiful people and not hold us on a pedestal, because I don’t know if we deserve it. We just have different lives.
That night we ate again, amazing food. Kelleigh and I helped cook and after dinner we made bread on the fire. When I get home to the states, I want to cook things that I’ve had here, and one of those things is fat cake! I love fat cake, it’s this kind of bread and its amazing! We left in the morning not before many more sad good byes, we all really took a liking to their family. Grandpa said some really nice words to us, which is kind of a big deal to have an elder say something to us, K.G. translated what he said, but he just said that he was happy to have good people to be with K.G. at school and other things like that. We finally got back into SA and were headed for Kimberly. Being gone from SA and coming back to it, made me realize how much I love it, I missed it while I was gone and we were only gone less than two weeks. Makes me realize how much ill miss it when I’m gone and how hard it will be to leave. I’ll miss the simplicity of life, the non popular status, and the beautiful people. Its interesting to think about how I have two completely different lives, and I absolutely love both of them, I just hope I can bring apart of my African life with me back to the States. Sometimes its hard to not want to fast forward and be home to see how everything goes, and see how Ill pick up that life, and I think of home constantly but I have 4 months left here and I know I need to focus on my life here, because when I got home, ill be thinking about my life when I was here, just like now I think of my life at home. You always want what you cant have right? : )
In Kimberly which is a historic town in SA, we went to ‘The Big Hole’ which is the largest human made hole in the world… it is a diamond mine, it was interesting to see, I wish they would have had a more clever name than big hole…but nonetheless ive seen the largest man made hole in the world! whoo! After the hole we started on our long drive home. We finally made it, and it was nice to be back at home. The trip was really good, I love Botswana, the people really made the trip for me. The girls I went with made the trip too. I really love those girls, they are all individually amazing and all mean a lot to me. We all get along really well and we all bring a different dynamic to the group. I can honestly say without them, my African experience would be a lot different, it wouldn’t mean as much to me, they make this experience and I am so thankful for them.
Alright! There is my Botswana blog, hope you enjoyed it, I’m sorry it’s so long, I like to write pretty much every detail… hah. Atleast you know, almost, everything right?! Thanks for reading, it means a lot when people read this cuz I spend a lot of time on it. Much love and I will write soon(ish) (maybe?) hahah. Blogging isn’t my forte! I’m sorry!
LOVE you all xoxoxo
Loyally,
Cheza
Hello everyone…getting two blogs relatively close to each other?!…what’s going on right? Jen actually on top of her shit? Hahha just giving myself a hard time with my horrible lack of blogging… just kidding, I started writing this right when I got back from my trip..and not its been a month since ive been back…hah. Oh well. but I just have to write about Botswana!. We (Loretta, Bimmy, Kelleigh, Aisha) and I went on a trip to Botswana over our winter break. We were there for almost two weeks. Lots of driving was included, lots of music was played, lots of laughing with the girls, lots of pictures, and lots of good memories came form this trip.
The drive was super long we left around 3am and got across to the Botswana boarder around 4pm, and still had a couple of hours to drive to Gabrone where our first stop was. We were supposed to get this tiny tiny car..a yaris.. they have them in the states too, and everything is seriously 3X smaller here then the states…but Loretta and Kelleigh sweet talked the girl at the rental car place and we lucked out and she gave us a Toyota corolla. Thank god! I seriously don’t kno what we would have done with all our stuff in that small car. The corolla was super nice and like all the other cars we have rented we named her..her name was R.D. but the contents of what that actually means isn’t PG and acceptable for this blog..haha so I’ll just let all of your minds wonder..hah. She didn’t break down at all! Much better than our last car, Steamy! Well we actually got a flat tire in the middle of nowehere in Botswana..but Ill get to that later. We got really lucky on this trip and stayed with families/locals of Botswana. The first place we stayed was with Mike and his wife. We met Mike thru our friend KG at school. Loretta, Aisha, and I stayed with him and his wife and their baby at their flat. And Bim and Kelliegh stayed with Mike’s cousin, Patrick’s at his house, because of space. I find the African culture very interesting when it comes to women and male domination. When we met Mike’s wife he introduced he as his wife- and that was it. No name nothing, and she was very much pushed aside. That’s how it pretty much is everywhere, like if you have a boyfriend or a husband there is apart of you that loses your own identity and becomes apart of that person’s identity. I don’t its hard to explain.. and with everything I can’t generalize because it isn’t correct to label all women with that or generalize the continent of Africa as pushing aside their women. But to me it just seems like a lot of African women are standoffish and don’t have as much of their own individual voice. Maybe American women are generally more liberal with voicing them selves…and I am just not used to this..but once again I can’t generalize all American women. Also something that I thought was interesting… when we got to their house and settled in, she asked us if we had any children…we all obviously said no. She 25, and she was amazed that we didn’t have any children, and asked us why we didn’t… “Ohh I don’t know because we are 21 ..?” haha but obviously we weren’t rude or anything about it, every culture, every person is different. She just said that it’s easy having kids and as you get older it gets harder… so I guess maybe I should get on the bandwagon of having kids? Hhahahahaha that’s hysterical, I know my parents want grandbabies but that would be Brett’s job sooner than mine : ) just kidding B!!!
The next day after arriving we exchanged money, the money in Bots is called Pula.. its almost equivalent to rand but stronger but still less than the US dollar. And things were more expensive in Bots than they were in SA. It was funny for us to go to the grocery store and look at things in pula and say “oh my god this is so expensive!!!” we all agreed that we are screwed when we go back home and have to pay for things in American dollars, because we are used to things being so cheap in SA.
After exchanging money we ran some errands with Mike, he is in the military and he had to do some business so we went to the base there. We went to a few malls. He took us to a museum of the history and important things of Botswana. Nothing too exciting, just a chill day. Gabrone is one of the capital cities of Botswana and when we got there I wondered why, because it wasn’t anything too extravagant and it was not too big, but after going to all the other places I understood. Botswana isn’t a very populated country, most of the time we were driving in the middle of no where and rarely drove thru cities, and we drove thru the whole country all the way from SA up to Zimbabwe. After leaving Gabs we went to Francis Town, where we stayed with our friend K.G. at his house with his family. They live in a township and have no electricity…I thought it was going to be an interesting couple of days…but it was actually the best part of the trip, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was my favorite part of my whole African experience. I loved the township life, with no electricity, extremely friendly people, sitting around a fire, and just a carefree way of life. The first day we arrived we got to know the family and hung out. Right when we got there we got introduced to everyone and one of the neighbor ladies was over, she didn’t speak any English. She greeted us all and said something to Mama and Mama told us she was delighted to meet us and she was going to choose one of us to be her daughter in law. We all laughed and went on about our greetings. Like 15 minutes later she said something to me and obviously I was confused so I asked Mama what she said, and Mama told me she chose me as her daughter in law and that’s what she was calling me. Haha I was the chosen one! All weekend she called me her daughter in law and she would point things out about how I would be a good wife, for example the way I sat (haha i guess there is a way women should sit?), my height, me helping cook. It was funny, and don’t worry I met my husband, it was slightly awkward, the whole weekend ppl were saying your husband, in front of him too. He kept trying to talk to me, but I just made a big joke out of it. But at least I was approved to marry a Bots. man, in their culture you have to be approved by the family before you can get married…it is quite a long process and involves the whole family not just the parents, and labella needs to be paid, so look forward to that Mom, hopefully I’m worth lots of cows!! and by the end of these few days, I was married off a few times. Our dinner was traditional to Kalanga life (their tribe), traditionally you go around and wash everyone’s hands, starting with the elderly down to the youngest. I got to do that on most nights. Like pretty much everything that they do, the elderly always goes first, gets food first and you say hello to them first. Also with the cooking it wasn’t usually Mama it was usually her daughters..so you go from the age of your Mama cooking for you and learning, then you start helping when your young then eventually you take over and cook for your Mama and the family. So while we were there K.G.s sisters, Pinky, and Betty cooked. The food that night..like the rest of the weekend was amazing!
We all got Kalanga names from the family, mine was ‘Cheza’ which means ‘light’ or ‘sunlight’, funny how they give me that name when some people call me sunshine. Funny right? I became seriously obsessed with K.G.s mom who upon our arrival informed us to call her Mama, and she seriously did become our Mama, she is our Mother of Africa. She had such great stories and she was so insightful, I really admire her. That night we all just told stories and talked, I talked to them about sociology and our culture.
The second day we went to town to get meat for a braii, the town had a huge shopping center and like usual African fashion everyone was starring. It doesn’t even phase me anymore.
We were lucky enough to get to go to a wedding. I was so excited to go to a wedding because that was one of the things I wanted to experience while in Africa. We were really late and we only stayed like 25 minutes. We had to literally drive in the bush for an hour, like dirt roads, and in the middle of nowhere, we got lost numerous times. I had no idea what was going on the whole entire drive because the ladies were talking in their language, I was squished in the back with my mother in law and one of Mamas sisters or aunts.. I couldn’t keep track of all the ppl we met. When we finally got there, there was around 100 ppl there and we stuck out to say the least, we were the only white ppl there, and an asian and an African American..people were taking pictures of us. A girl came up to me and asked if she could have my face..and took a picture of my face. Hah. I wish I could have experienced the whole day of festivities, because we got there at the end, the traditionally everything starts early in the morning and goes all day. We saw a skit and they had traditionally made African beer. We got to go up to greet the bride and the groom. A lot of people came up to us to greet us. It was a really cool experience.
We had a braii that night with extremely yummy food. Since being in SA I have learned to love meat..I eat it so much more than I did at home. I pretty much eat anything now. At the braii there was a guy from the states there, he was from Utah and he was on his Mormon missions trip. It was nice to talk to someone from the States, and we asked him lots of questions about his Mission. Once again it was a really good night of conversation and sitting by the fire. This trip was amazing with the help we received from people. We didn’t have place to stay while we were in Kasane, and I was telling a lady this who I had just met and right then and there she pulls out her phone to call her friend to see if we could stay there, this happened numerous times through out the trip for people to help find somewhere to stay.
The next day we went to their cattlepost which is like a farm/ranch. They had cows, chickens, guinea pheasants, goats, and ducks. It was a really cool experience to see them farm and how they did everything, once again with out electricity and running water there. They branded the goats, Loretta even got in there and helped them. They also branded the cows, which I didn’t really like watching, but they would have to catch the cow and tie its legs together and get it on the ground and pierce it’s ear and brand it with burning brand. The cows were obviously extremely strong and it took like 15 minutes for each cow, and a lot of times they cows would get away and they would have to start over.
For lunch we had chicken…but chicken from the cattle post. So we saw the whole process of killing a chicken then plucking it then braiing it, then eating it. Aisha and the aunt caught the chickens, and Mama cut their heads off, and immediately put them in boiling water, then plucked off all the feathers, cleaned it, then started cooking it. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to eat it because we literally watched them die, but it was really good and didn’t freak me out. Kelleigh, Loretta, and I went on a walk with Mama to find some roots. It was so funny to watch this hard core lady in her dress and converse carrying a hoe and beating up the ground to find these roots. She would explain to us what each root meant and what it did. Mostly medical things, for example, cure the measles and fight heart burn was some of them we got. She let us have one of them, I don’t remember what it was for, but you are supposed to eat it just how it is from the ground, so you shouldn’t wipe the dirt off or anything. She was explaining how owning land works in Bots and I am still puzzled by it, but its pretty cool. People there can just go anywhere and find a piece of land and basically just claim it. You go to the government with the measurements of the land and its yours. You don’t pay anything for it. I was seriously baffled. Could you imagine Dad?! Not having to pay for land?! When land is so expensive in the states. I feel like in America people would get greedy and take so much land and it would create a conflict, but here it just shows that people only take what they need.
That night we hung out with Mama, Pinky, and Betty and talked. I love how the conversations here always have so much meaning and depth to them. Loretta did yoga with them, it was so cool to see this Mama just get up and not even know what yoga is and do yoga with all of us. One of my favorite things of the whole trip was this night. They started singing for us and we were all dancing in a circle. The girls and I did this song/dance that we do at Vukupille, called Sally Walker. They loved it! they would sing and teach us some of their native dances. It was under the stars by a fire in the middle of a township…it was seriously one of the best moments Ive ever had. Something like that would never happen in America, staying at a families house and we all break out in song and dance.. I don’t think so. People in America are too uptight and stressed out about everything. Mama was so so happy just as we were and even the next morning she couldn’t stop smiling and singing. In the morning I said good bye to my new mother in law, and she was genuinely sad to see me go..haha. it was really hard/ sad to say good bye to them, they truly became our family.
Our next stop was Kasane where we were staying so we could visit Victoria Falls. We didn’t have a place to stay there til like 12 hours before we got there, we weren’t too worried about it because things always work out, and we ended up finding a place. When we were in Gabs Kelleigh and Bim stayed with Mike’s cousin and his cousin Patrick had a friend in Kasane..so that’s where we stayed. It’s so funny cuz we stayed with a friend of a friend of a friend basically, but it wasn’t weird at all. All people in Africa make you feel really welcome in their home. On our drive to Kasane we saw sunflower field after sunflower field. Something I’ve always wanted to do is stop to take pictures in a field of sunflowers…all those drives up to Chico, I never stopped and I always wanted to. So I insisted we stop and get out so we can take pictures, it was so cool to be on the side of the road in Botswana taking pictures of my favorite flowers : ) another cool thing that happened while we were driving to Kasane was saw giraffes crossing the road, which was one of my goals of the trip to see them. We saw completely wild giraffes right there in front of our car! We finally arrived in Kasane and the man we were staying with was name K.B., he was a super nice guy. He worked for the Bots government and we all had some really intelligent conversations. He was beyond generous and basically gave us his whole house, and stayed at a friend’s house while we were there. One of the nights there he brought home a girl from South Carolina who just arrived in Bots for the peace corps. We all asked lots of questions because we were interested in the peace corps but didn’t know much about it. We went to dinner with K.B. and one of his friends from work. The whole time they were saying it was hard to understand us because we were American..We just talk fast! After we around to lodges to figure out how we were gonna get to Vic Falls, we couldn’t take our rental car into Zim, and with what lodge we were gonna do a game drive at Chobe National Park.
The next day we did our game drive at Chobe, our guide was really cool. I’ve gone on a few game drives since I’ve been here, but this was the first guided one I’ve been on. It was the whole 9 yards with the big open Safari car. We saw lots of giraffes (my new favorite), hippos, crocodiles, elephants, birds, buffalos, impala, kudu, warthogs, and maybe some other stuff I forgot. A fun fact I learned during the game drive was, elephants are pregnant for 22 months! Yikes! So at this point we still had no idea how we were going to get to Vic Falls. Kasane was only like 10K from the boarder but we weren’t allowed to take our car into Zim, and Vic Falls is like 45 mintues away from the boarder. When we were in Francis Town our new family told us we could hike..we were like oh you can hike?! How far of a walk is it!? haha but we are in africa and hike means hitchhike…haha I guess hitchhiking it REALLY common in Bots/Zim and it is fairly safe. We weren’t really down to hike, and I knew my mother would kill me if I was hitchhiking in Zimbabwe with 4 other girls…your welcome mom! So anyways after we went to Chobe we went to an internet café b/c our grades had been posted! I got good grades! Woot! Woot! I don’t know if I told you yet dad…but I got good grades! 4 distinctions which is higher than an A in the states and I got good grades in my two other classes, not quite distinctions but good for the hard classes. So kelleigh was at an café getting coffee and she stated talking to the owners and after awhile of talking the owners suggested we get a taxi from the boarder and hooked us up with a taxi driver they knew and settled it for us. Its so funny how things just work out.. so we finally had transport to Vic Falls! So the next day we set of to see one of the Wonders of the World. we left our car at the boarder and walked across to Zimbabwe. It was SO weird to see US dollars, (they use US dollars there). Vic Falls was AMAZING! The mist made it rather hard to see, but it was seriously breathtaking. I got absolutely soaked because everyone else has ponchos that a stranger handed them/rain jackets. I didn’t believe everyone when they said you get wet, but god damn…you get wet, it looked like I jumped in a pool. Zim seemed really cool, I was a little sketched out because so many ppl have told us horror stories and told us to be careful going there, but we didn’t stay for long, I wish we had. We walked over to Zambia and the girls went zip lining from Zambia to Zim. The view was really pretty over there from the bridge.
We made it back to the boarder and that night we cooked K.B. dinner. We left in the morning but not before K.B giving us all really nice individual letters; mine said:
“Jen- There is a serene calmness around you.. Kinda ‘peace halo’ surrounding you. I enjoyed watching the peaceful you glide around my kitchen, in ‘control’ of your life and everything else. You brought peace to my home.”
He was a really nice guy. We all got in the car and read ours out loud. He gave us a really nice speech about Ubuntu. Which is about community and sharing with everyone, he said it was really important to him to open his home to us and for us to feel welcomed. And we did. I’m really glad we stayed there, once again a local making our trip above and beyond what I thought it could be.
After leaving Kasane we headed to Maun. After getting a little lost we finally found our backpackers…we didn’t even have a map of Botswana, we kinda just drove and hoped we ended up where we were supposed to, which was fine, because Botswana is very bare to say the least, so there aren’t many roads. This was the first backpackers we stayed at on our whole trip, and we were over half way done with our trip! We saved SO much money staying at people’s houses because backpackers were really expensive in Bots. We were given tents and bedding in the tents so it was a little cheaper than staying in the dorms but it was 190P for two nights, which is equivalent to 235R, which is equal to like 32 US dollars. Which doesn’t seem expensive at all, but in SA camping is usually around 50 or 60R a night not 120R! that’s expensive for a dorm in SA! Anyways.. we didn’t do much in Maun, hung out mostly, I ended up talking to this cool guy from AU that night who had been traveling for 3 years and he hadn’t been home at all, if I remember correctly he had been to every continent but two! And he was my age! Most other countries do this thing called gap year, where after they graduate HS they take a year off and work or travel mostly, ive talked to a lot of people since being here that are doing that, most people from other countries find it weird Americans don’t do they. They always ask “how are you supposed to know what you want to do at age 18 when you haven’t traveled and had real world experiences?” hah welp..I don’t know… study abroad I guess?
Anyways… I have a story now… that night after everyone went to bed, we were all sleeping and I was probably sleeping for about 30 minutes.. and then I woke up to someone unzipping my tent and coming in our tent (Loretta and I were sleeping together). I was SO confused about what was going on…some guy was getting in the tent and started to lay down..all he kept saying was “shhhhh its okay, shhhhh its ok, Im just going to sleep.” Of course he was wasted. And of course Loretta was still sleeping and didn’t wake up, and I was just sitting there saying excuse me, you cant be in here, this isn’t your tent! He just kept saying shhh shhhh over and over… thankfully some other people we were talking to earlier in the night saw him get in and wake up the other girls to help get him out. The whole time I was just so confused and flustered and kept telling him he had to get out. Then I screamed for Kelleigh, who came and yelled at him and literally hit him to get out of our tent. Hahah Kelleigh to save the day again (she saved us in CT when some guys were being creepy and she pretty much bitched them out). We told the security guy and he said there was nothing he could do, and he wouldn’t pay special attention to our area….typical Africa. Lets just say I didn’t sleep well that night. Hahahha it was funny what happened and i didn’t feel threaten but I know my mom is reading this right now freaking out, because I haven’t told her this story, and she is saying “you trust ppl too easiler, stand up for yourself!!” haha I knoooooow mom! I probably should have handled the situation a little different than saying politely “excuse me sir you cant sleep in here” hahah but oh well you live and you learn right? : ) so that’s my ridiculous story about the guy who tried to sleep in my tent.
The next day was our trip on the Ocavango Delta in the little boats. It was a really cool experience and a really long day. We left at 8am and got back around 5. I was in a boat with Bimmy, and it was a little scary at first because of the way in rocked, but we got used to it. it was insanely pretty and so serene. I LOVED the lillie pads and flowers. We were seriously in the middle of no where, and all we could see was the delta and water, and plants. The only downside was the amount of bugs! Im not really a girly girl when it comes to bugs, I was always the girl that killed the spiders at Anson…right pi palace girls?! : ) but seriously I have never seen this many bugs in my whole life. they were little nats and would land on you and not live and it was impossible to wipe them off because you would squish them and they would die on you, and all the guts would stay on you. Bim was miserable haha, I pretty much laughed at her the whole time :) looooove you bimmy! It was really relaxing besides the bugs. We saw some elephants and went on a ridiculously long walk on an island, looking at animal poop and identifying the animal. Haha it was a little dragged on. Overall it was really good though, on the way back bimmy and I had a really good talk about lots of stuff, I adore her : )
After leaving Maun we went back to Francis Town and stayed with Mama again, we just didn’t get enough of them the first time : ) before getting there we got a flat tire though, in the middle of nowhere in Botswana with 5 girls who have never changed a tire before… it ended up working out though and someone helped us. When we finally got to mama’s house I went to the shop with her. Its really interesting to be in the setting of where they live, because they aren’t used to seeing white people there. It’s almost like you’re a celebrity. People ask mama to be introduced to me, and everyone comes up to talk to me. I got proposed to literally 5 times. And of course Mama didn’t make it any better, she was literally like my real mom, showing me off, introducing me with my Kalanga name and inviting the guys over for a braii later to talk to me. hah. So many people asked for my phone number and my email hah. Its kinda overwhelming all the attention you get, blending in isn’t possible. When you say hello to people and give them attention they uncontrollably smile and are so happy. Its so interesting the dynamic of it. it just shows the culture of Africa and the severe separation. Going to Francis Town made me think so much, and wonder if life will ever change. Will there ever be equality and tolerance? It’s like these people aren’t tolerating tho, they just hold me and other white people to a different standard when we are equal, and just the same. But on the other hand… maybe that is just apart of me, being naïve, many of these people will never leave Francis Town or where they live, but they know no better, and ignorance is bliss, and there really is nothing wrong with their way of life, part of my likes it better. Just the whole fact of me being me and being from America, they are just so amazed, but they are truly amazing people too, more amazing than a lot of people I have encountered in the states. I just wish they would see and recognize that they are truly unique and beautiful people and not hold us on a pedestal, because I don’t know if we deserve it. We just have different lives.
That night we ate again, amazing food. Kelleigh and I helped cook and after dinner we made bread on the fire. When I get home to the states, I want to cook things that I’ve had here, and one of those things is fat cake! I love fat cake, it’s this kind of bread and its amazing! We left in the morning not before many more sad good byes, we all really took a liking to their family. Grandpa said some really nice words to us, which is kind of a big deal to have an elder say something to us, K.G. translated what he said, but he just said that he was happy to have good people to be with K.G. at school and other things like that. We finally got back into SA and were headed for Kimberly. Being gone from SA and coming back to it, made me realize how much I love it, I missed it while I was gone and we were only gone less than two weeks. Makes me realize how much ill miss it when I’m gone and how hard it will be to leave. I’ll miss the simplicity of life, the non popular status, and the beautiful people. Its interesting to think about how I have two completely different lives, and I absolutely love both of them, I just hope I can bring apart of my African life with me back to the States. Sometimes its hard to not want to fast forward and be home to see how everything goes, and see how Ill pick up that life, and I think of home constantly but I have 4 months left here and I know I need to focus on my life here, because when I got home, ill be thinking about my life when I was here, just like now I think of my life at home. You always want what you cant have right? : )
In Kimberly which is a historic town in SA, we went to ‘The Big Hole’ which is the largest human made hole in the world… it is a diamond mine, it was interesting to see, I wish they would have had a more clever name than big hole…but nonetheless ive seen the largest man made hole in the world! whoo! After the hole we started on our long drive home. We finally made it, and it was nice to be back at home. The trip was really good, I love Botswana, the people really made the trip for me. The girls I went with made the trip too. I really love those girls, they are all individually amazing and all mean a lot to me. We all get along really well and we all bring a different dynamic to the group. I can honestly say without them, my African experience would be a lot different, it wouldn’t mean as much to me, they make this experience and I am so thankful for them.
Alright! There is my Botswana blog, hope you enjoyed it, I’m sorry it’s so long, I like to write pretty much every detail… hah. Atleast you know, almost, everything right?! Thanks for reading, it means a lot when people read this cuz I spend a lot of time on it. Much love and I will write soon(ish) (maybe?) hahah. Blogging isn’t my forte! I’m sorry!
LOVE you all xoxoxo
Loyally,
Cheza
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
April-June..How does time go so fast?!
Hello world of blog readers…Okay I know I said last time I would be a better blogger and obviously that was a lie because I haven’t written in months…hah oh well, I’ve become too African of being carefree and not stressing, so I’ve been putting it off. But I’m writing now! So just look forward to reading for a while!
So….I’ll start where I left off which was WAY back in April after my CT trip. After Cape Town, my time has been more low key and we didn’t really go on any major trips. I did have a 4 day weekend though and I went to Mountain Zebra National Park with the Bannisters, the South African family I’ve gotten to know. The night before the trip though was Loretta’s birthday, and a new club was opening so we went there. It was called Redemption 2.0 and since it was opening night there was a 100R (13US$) entrance fee and that covered all your drinks for the night…so basically unlimited drinks. We all had our fun hah..and lets just say I was left in a bad place the next morning when they were picking me up at 7am. Slept through my alarm, thank god my mom called me…numerous times.. to wake me up, showered, packed, ate, stumbled because I was still drunk…and somehow got ready in 30 minutes. Let’s just say that was a very long day in the car for me.. The overall trip was a lot of fun and nice to get out of PE. There were two other families with kids traveling with the Bannisters. The place we stayed was really cool, we stayed in the park in Chalets. It was really nice to be around families and experience the love, bickering, and togetherness. During the day we would just hang out, hike, or go on Game Drives (that’s what Safaris are called, no one calls them Safaris here, just Game Drives) I saw LOTS of anaimals, Zebras (obviously, the park is named after them), buffalo, rhinos, lots and LOTS of buck like Kudu, springbok..we saw pretty much everything that the park listed except cheetah : ( but it was cool to see the animals.. after going on so many it becomes like a game to spot an animal. At night we would hang out with all the families and eat…I am always very well fed when I am with the Bannisters! I experience a weird transition stage when I am with the Bannisters, because at home I am still a ‘kid’, I mean I am not a child obviously, but when I am with my family I am still a ‘kid’. I mean its not like a sit at the kids table at Christmas anymore but you guys know what I mean.. and with the Bannisters I feel this weird age of not being able to hang out with the kids (they were aged 7-13) and being too young to be with the adults and contribute to the conversation like an adult. I don’t know if I am explaining this sufficiently but, I just noted a few times over the weekend that I felt in between of my adolescence and adulthood, and it was just so surreal to experience that because a lot of the time I just still consider my self a kid. I think me feeling this way funny too because a lot of times I would rather hang out with kids or adults over people my own age. A the beginning of the weekend Stanley mentioned no political talk, because he knows I love talking about political issues, especially The Apartheid Regime, but that rule didn’t hold and the topic came about and it got pretty heated. The families are Afrikaners, so it was interesting to hear things from their perspective. I have heard many Black South Africans perspective and not so many Afrikaners perspectives. Coming here I totally believe that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and life isn’t black and white. There is never a clear distinct right and wrong…things are grey and in between. It was interesting to hear his perspective and I practiced my self control of being culturally relative, a thing I think he might need to try being culturally relative ..but who am I to push things on others. lets just say.. people think very differently and it surprises me what some people actually believe in. Since being in South Africa I have applied Sociology to so many things, and have tried to explain the beauty of sociology to people. But you can’t teach an old dog new tricks right? But I will sure try my hardest to make an impact on that dog well enough for them to note my new tricks. I just can’t wait to get further into my sociology career and my knowledge of general things to be able to defend myself and debate with people. I just think tolerance is needed to get anywhere in the world and I truly believe tolerance is taught through Sociology. One thing though that needs to be done with studying aboard that my brother taught me while I was visiting him in Australia, is never take anything personally. Many times people have this image of America and it is really tainted, and it doesn’t have anything to do with your personally, and people are allowed to have their views, so don’t them personally and get offended. Great advice B : ) Overall though it was a great weekend, the Bannisters are way too kind and truly amazing people, I feel very fortunate to have met them.
May consisted of braiis (BBQ), going out, lots of World Call Cards, volunteering, the end of my modules (classes), beginning of finals, sad days of missing graduations, and lots of time with my girls here. The first weekend in May the girls and I did Spar’s ‘Most beautiful Women’ 5K race, it was an all women race and the only way guys could do it was they had to dress in drag…which surprisingly many did. It was so funny to be running and look over and see a guy wearing a skirt and a belly shirt running holding on to his wig. The race started bright and early and there were thousands and thousands of people. It was a street down from our flat, one of the beauties of living where we live. The race went really well and I was proud of myself because I ran the whole entire thing without stopping, I love adrenaline : ) It was really fun and something cool to do and be apart of in South Africa.
We went to a boys hockey (field hockey) game at school which was really cool because I haven’t seen a game since I played in HS. Made me miss hockey oh so much! It was actually cool tough because Loretta was taking a hockey class for her Kinesiology major and I would help her out and do extra work with her so she would catch on. I really didn’t realize how much I miss the sport.. possibility of coaching one day?? : ) Sampson would be so proud!
Loretta found this really cool wine tasting night that was a benefit for an elementary school that her and I went too. It was sponsored by Spar (one of the grocery stores) so there was SO much food and all the wine you can drink for once again 100R. And once again like Redemption I got my value of my money. It was so much fun to try all the food and talk to people and wine taste. Of course I made friends with one of the ladies pouring wine and lets just say she didn’t pour little tastes in my glasses. I also made friends with some of the parents of children from the school, gave them my phone number if they ever needed a babysitter hahah. It was a lot of fun tough, and I was so glad to be with LJ (Loretta) she is such a sweetheart and I was upset about some stuff and she made things so much better and listened to me babble : ) After the wine tasting we went over to Annie’s Cove, another housing place for international students for drinking contests. All week there was a Bantry (where I live) vs. Annies Cove Battle which included drinking games, baking contests, bball games, karaoke at Captain’s..and other things to prove who was the better International housing place. Obviously The Bantry won! : )
Sadly I had my last day of Sinethemba : ( over the semester I have become obsessed with those children. I talked to the lady in charge of the CSL program (the volunteer class) and she said it would be okay if I kept going next semester just not for credit. So I am going to go and try and work it into my schedule. Words cannot describe how amazing they are, these children literally have nothing and are so happy. I find the African way of life so interesting in terms of kids. There is no tattling and the kids just deal with the problems themselves…usually by hitting each other which is open for much debate if that is the best idea but…who am I to judge? The kids were really sad to see us go..and my favorite girl Anthea was planning on going back home to her parents. So sadly I had to say good bye to her. But… things could happen and I won’t know for sure if she is at home till I go back. I am so excited to go back though! I can’t wait till I see them!
I also started going and volunteering at a Township called Boysens Park, it’s 35 minutes away and we take combi buses there. Some International students started a program called Vuk’pille. We go and sing an opening song and do an activity and sing some more. Some activities included cleaning up trash, making robots out of trash, doing skits, and so on. It’s a really great things for all these kids and gives them something to do, it is pretty structured and kids are kids so sometimes they are hard to control. The parents love it and come out. We stay outside on a street and just play with the kids. It was a great program and with all the international students leaving after a semester and us Californians staying, Loretta, Kelleigh, and I are taking over the program. So hopefully we can keep it up and find enough ideas to do activities with them considering the fact that there are no materials for projects, and we are in the middle of a street. It has a lot of potential and the program has come along way, the other people that created the program put a lot into to program so hopefully we can keep it going.
The month of May came with graduations that I was really upset to miss. Brett graduated and my Big. I am so proud of them both and beyond happy for them. It was really hard to not be there for them both. I got through it though, and figured those were gonna be the hardest days of me studying abroad…so if I got through them I would be able to get through anything.
The last week of May and the first 2 weeks of June consisted of exams. I actually liked the exam style here better than SSU. There are ups and downs of both systems but with the NMMU exams I was able to study a sufficient amount of time for each final rather than cram in a week. I’ve never been more prepared for my finals than I have while I was here. I did really well on all my exams and I got my grades back a few weeks ago and I did really well. I got distinctions in 4 classes, which is higher than a 75. A 75 is an A. the grading here is confusing but distinctions are rare. If you get a C here, everyone considers that good.. so with all the hard work figuring out how to deal with the classes everything paid off.
So one of the best things about being in South Africa at this time is the World Cup! Hands down one of the best experiences to be apart of, it was absolutely insane and I feel so happy to be apart of it. The opening match of the World Cup was South Africa vs. Mexico and the whole Bantry plus other Internationals went to Fan Fest. Fan Fest is held in most bigger cities at a stadium and has a huge megatron that plays the game and there are little activities and food and beer like a game at a stadium. Fan Fest that first night was one of the best times I’ve had in SA. It was so much fun and it was absolutely packed. A lot of kids were actually on TV too in Mexico haha. David met some people at fan fest that were apart of Aztecas a news show in Mexico. So we were filmed before a game of showing ‘how excited we were’ at fan fest watching the game, and after the game at David’s flat, where they interviewed him and we were excited again, haha. So if you happen to be in Mexico look for me on TV. The whole WC has been so much fun and it makes it better that much better that I am experiencing it here in person. I went to the Portugal vs. Ivory Coast game. It was a rather boring game, because no one scored..but it was cool to be in the real atmosphere of the WC. The fans were crazy and vuvuzelas were in high force. After awhile they really just turn into white noise..it really just blends in Everything has been so much fun, going out, talking to people from all over the world..everything. the sprit of South Africa has been so high, and it is unusual if I go a day with out hearing a vuvuzela. I love the worls cup songs Waka Waka by Shikira and Wavin’ the Flag by K’nan, those songgs will forever remind me of being in SA during the WC. Seriously though now that the WC is over, SA seems so sad : ( I am sad its over! I am so thankful to have experienced this first hand and I really think no better country than being in South Africa, because South Africans have more culture and it means more to them that they are hosting the WC.
I was fortunate enough to go back to CT with my roomie, David, and Bimmy. David and Bimmy were going to a WC game in CT so Aisha and I went along to enjoy the beautiful CT. The four of us had so much fun together, Im sure there were many times during the weekend that David wanted to kill himself being with just us girls haha. It was so much fun and I fell in love with Cape Town all over again. We stayed at a friend of a friends house so it was nice to not pay for a backpackers. The weather was bad the whole weekend which sucked but we still had a great time. We got to go to Robben Island which was the number one thing I wanted to do since, it was cancelled..twice.. the first time we were in CT. We thought it was gonna get cancelled again because the weather was horrible in the morning but it cleared up and we got a little lost..hah like normal CT fashion..but we made it a few minutes before and got on the boat! The tour was really cool and we got to see a lot of stuff. The view of the city from the Island was breathtaking. It was so cool to see where Mandela stayed and our tour was given by a ex-prisoner who stayed at Robben Island. Coming to South Africa one of the biggest place I wanted to go to was Robben Island, so I am really glad I got to go and see it. The history is insane and it was really cool to listen to the guide and know exactly what he was talking about, because in my Human Rights class we had a section on Apartheid and I knew all of the Acts that were talked about. It was a really great trip though and I was happy to hear and learn about more history of South Africa. We went out that night on Long Street..which is the absolute best place to go out. If you are ever in Cape Town Long Street is a must. Especially during the WC, there were people everywhere, during the day and at night. People dressed up in WC gear and vuvuzelas everywhere and people screaming. If someone saw you wearing the same team garb that they were wearing they would cheer you on. It was really cool to experience a huge spirit of togetherness and excitement. We went out that night on Long Street and it was one of the most interesting nights I’ve ever experienced. Let’s just say the WC brings out a lot of males, and not so many females. There were even lines for the male bathroom and no lines for the girls…never seen that. That night consisted of me being hit on more than any other time in my life, that it seemed almost life a movie hah. It was pretty surreal, and I was slightly overwhelmed. I guess the WC just brings people from all over the world, drunk, and willing to talk. Oh and let me say it is no myth that people from Italy kiss you on both cheeks when they say hello and goodbye : )
The girls and I went to Ghramstown, a little town a couple hours away from PE. There was an annual arts festival there that they have every year. It is a huge festival that people from all over the world come to see. We walked around and saw the town, the university there is absolutely beautiful. We saw lots of photo exhibits and there was a huge open market, we also saw a dance show…which was very um..interesting. it was a nice day to get a break from PE and experience something new.
So now that second semester is about to start and I’ve been here for 6 months and all the kids that were only here for a semester left awhile ago…I am still really happy to be staying here for another semester. When everyone started leaving I would get sad for like a second but I knew it wasn’t my time yet. Now I am so comfortable here and leaving after a semester is like a tease. I know the city now and I don’t feel like a tourist and emotionally I’ve gone through all the ups and downs, that now everything is pretty static. I really truly love Africa and all I have experienced, I like the break I am getting from my life at home, things are so simple here. I am so glad I’ve gotten to the point where I am in love with South Africa and I know when I go home I will truly miss it. There are usually numerous times a day where I am doing something or something happens and I just think, I love Africa : ) Being here for so long reminds me of things that I don’t miss from home, I don’t miss my anxiety at all or stress. And I really don’t miss the exclusiveness of Sonoma. There is a lack of status here and you can walk in to a bar or anywhere and not have that feeling of people glaring at you. You can go somewhere and just end up dancing with people you don’t know at a club, in a dancing circle where people teach you to dance. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t friends or not in the same sorority. Clichés don’t matter and it doesn’t matter if you are wearing the latest Seven jeans. People are more open here and aren’t as judgmental. Don’t get me wrong I do miss Sonoma and ADPi with all my heart, it is a huge part of my life. There are just certain things in life that just don’t matter. It really may sound like I am dissing home and life there but I am not, I am just experiencing new things and taking note of the way I feel at certain times. Another thing I love about Africa is the passion of all the people, there really hasn’t been another time in my life where I have had more real conversations with more people. Conversations aren’t shallow here, they include culture, politics, family, and so on. The things I do miss a lot from the states tho, are people being polite, no one is polite here. I also miss the service from home. With anything, restaurants, customer service, anything, nothing compares to the service at home. I also feel like people at home know more about their job or just things in general. Hmm..I’m trying to think of an example, we just ask questions and people don’t know the answer to them when it seems like it’s their job. Like where things are at a grocery store or simple things about registration. I’ve definitely gotten used to it, and when I go home I will be so much more appreciative with help and service. I’m not trying to generalize and say that people aren’t helpful, because I have come across people that are more helpful then they would be in the states- asking people for directions and they walk you there, or literally drive you there- that is something that would never happen in the states. There are other things that I miss from home, people knowing exactly what I’m talking about and not looking at me like I’m stupid all the time…but it just goes with the territory, and being abroad, and I’ve gotten used to it. There are a lot of other things I miss too..but things I don’t even realize. Ignorance is so bliss. Being with a family. Fashion. Food. Certain plaes. Certain events..and when in a rare occasion I do experience them, I realize how much I miss them.
I have some new Africa facts! Not that many though…
There are no toilet seat covers.
I have seen people numerous times smoking hooka on campus…? Yea.. like have their hooka pipes sitting at tables smoking..
Africa has the prettiest skies I have ever seen, the clouds always look so vibrant and too good to be true.
In South Africa I have experienced the best hospitality, nothing compares to it. they are so welcoming and I have never experienced anything like it at home. People open their home with open arms, even if you don’t know them, they are honored for you to stay with them. By the time you leave you are considered family. In Southern Africa culture there is something called Ubuntu it encompasses the compassion and ideals of their culture. I’ll talk it more in depth in my next blog when I talk about Botswana but it means something along the lines of humanity and in reference to people opening our house to us they feel a need to follow ubuntu and since they have the resources and opportunity they feel a need to open their home to us.
In a lot of restarants decaf coffee is more expensive than regular…not by much usually only a rand, but I always think that’s odd. Oh and no free refills of anything!
Oh and a personal Africa fact…I drink tea ALL the time. My addiction for coffee has fizzled out…a five year addiction over that goes way back to the Drinx days??!?! haha I still love coffee and drink it occasionally but I have a few cups of tea everyday.
Other than all of this..I’ve been really good, I’m really happy, and content with life. It’s winter here so it is cold…yes Africa gets cold, it’s not as bad as Sonoma but it is still cold. Especially in PE the weather it insane here it changes every hour.. one day it will be nice enough to go lay out at the beach in the middle of winter and the next day it will be storming. It will start getting warm again around September I guess. Time has gone by so fast and I cannot believe I have been here for 6 months… 4 months to go! I just said good bye to Bimmy, which was really upsetting : ( but I know it will be so hard for me to leave here, this has become my life. I truly love South Africa.
I love you all so much and I miss everybody! You are all in my thoughts daily. Much much MUCH love <3
Ohhh and I say this every time, but I’ll try and be a better blogger…but I dunno if that will happen : )
Loyally,
JD
So….I’ll start where I left off which was WAY back in April after my CT trip. After Cape Town, my time has been more low key and we didn’t really go on any major trips. I did have a 4 day weekend though and I went to Mountain Zebra National Park with the Bannisters, the South African family I’ve gotten to know. The night before the trip though was Loretta’s birthday, and a new club was opening so we went there. It was called Redemption 2.0 and since it was opening night there was a 100R (13US$) entrance fee and that covered all your drinks for the night…so basically unlimited drinks. We all had our fun hah..and lets just say I was left in a bad place the next morning when they were picking me up at 7am. Slept through my alarm, thank god my mom called me…numerous times.. to wake me up, showered, packed, ate, stumbled because I was still drunk…and somehow got ready in 30 minutes. Let’s just say that was a very long day in the car for me.. The overall trip was a lot of fun and nice to get out of PE. There were two other families with kids traveling with the Bannisters. The place we stayed was really cool, we stayed in the park in Chalets. It was really nice to be around families and experience the love, bickering, and togetherness. During the day we would just hang out, hike, or go on Game Drives (that’s what Safaris are called, no one calls them Safaris here, just Game Drives) I saw LOTS of anaimals, Zebras (obviously, the park is named after them), buffalo, rhinos, lots and LOTS of buck like Kudu, springbok..we saw pretty much everything that the park listed except cheetah : ( but it was cool to see the animals.. after going on so many it becomes like a game to spot an animal. At night we would hang out with all the families and eat…I am always very well fed when I am with the Bannisters! I experience a weird transition stage when I am with the Bannisters, because at home I am still a ‘kid’, I mean I am not a child obviously, but when I am with my family I am still a ‘kid’. I mean its not like a sit at the kids table at Christmas anymore but you guys know what I mean.. and with the Bannisters I feel this weird age of not being able to hang out with the kids (they were aged 7-13) and being too young to be with the adults and contribute to the conversation like an adult. I don’t know if I am explaining this sufficiently but, I just noted a few times over the weekend that I felt in between of my adolescence and adulthood, and it was just so surreal to experience that because a lot of the time I just still consider my self a kid. I think me feeling this way funny too because a lot of times I would rather hang out with kids or adults over people my own age. A the beginning of the weekend Stanley mentioned no political talk, because he knows I love talking about political issues, especially The Apartheid Regime, but that rule didn’t hold and the topic came about and it got pretty heated. The families are Afrikaners, so it was interesting to hear things from their perspective. I have heard many Black South Africans perspective and not so many Afrikaners perspectives. Coming here I totally believe that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, and life isn’t black and white. There is never a clear distinct right and wrong…things are grey and in between. It was interesting to hear his perspective and I practiced my self control of being culturally relative, a thing I think he might need to try being culturally relative ..but who am I to push things on others. lets just say.. people think very differently and it surprises me what some people actually believe in. Since being in South Africa I have applied Sociology to so many things, and have tried to explain the beauty of sociology to people. But you can’t teach an old dog new tricks right? But I will sure try my hardest to make an impact on that dog well enough for them to note my new tricks. I just can’t wait to get further into my sociology career and my knowledge of general things to be able to defend myself and debate with people. I just think tolerance is needed to get anywhere in the world and I truly believe tolerance is taught through Sociology. One thing though that needs to be done with studying aboard that my brother taught me while I was visiting him in Australia, is never take anything personally. Many times people have this image of America and it is really tainted, and it doesn’t have anything to do with your personally, and people are allowed to have their views, so don’t them personally and get offended. Great advice B : ) Overall though it was a great weekend, the Bannisters are way too kind and truly amazing people, I feel very fortunate to have met them.
May consisted of braiis (BBQ), going out, lots of World Call Cards, volunteering, the end of my modules (classes), beginning of finals, sad days of missing graduations, and lots of time with my girls here. The first weekend in May the girls and I did Spar’s ‘Most beautiful Women’ 5K race, it was an all women race and the only way guys could do it was they had to dress in drag…which surprisingly many did. It was so funny to be running and look over and see a guy wearing a skirt and a belly shirt running holding on to his wig. The race started bright and early and there were thousands and thousands of people. It was a street down from our flat, one of the beauties of living where we live. The race went really well and I was proud of myself because I ran the whole entire thing without stopping, I love adrenaline : ) It was really fun and something cool to do and be apart of in South Africa.
We went to a boys hockey (field hockey) game at school which was really cool because I haven’t seen a game since I played in HS. Made me miss hockey oh so much! It was actually cool tough because Loretta was taking a hockey class for her Kinesiology major and I would help her out and do extra work with her so she would catch on. I really didn’t realize how much I miss the sport.. possibility of coaching one day?? : ) Sampson would be so proud!
Loretta found this really cool wine tasting night that was a benefit for an elementary school that her and I went too. It was sponsored by Spar (one of the grocery stores) so there was SO much food and all the wine you can drink for once again 100R. And once again like Redemption I got my value of my money. It was so much fun to try all the food and talk to people and wine taste. Of course I made friends with one of the ladies pouring wine and lets just say she didn’t pour little tastes in my glasses. I also made friends with some of the parents of children from the school, gave them my phone number if they ever needed a babysitter hahah. It was a lot of fun tough, and I was so glad to be with LJ (Loretta) she is such a sweetheart and I was upset about some stuff and she made things so much better and listened to me babble : ) After the wine tasting we went over to Annie’s Cove, another housing place for international students for drinking contests. All week there was a Bantry (where I live) vs. Annies Cove Battle which included drinking games, baking contests, bball games, karaoke at Captain’s..and other things to prove who was the better International housing place. Obviously The Bantry won! : )
Sadly I had my last day of Sinethemba : ( over the semester I have become obsessed with those children. I talked to the lady in charge of the CSL program (the volunteer class) and she said it would be okay if I kept going next semester just not for credit. So I am going to go and try and work it into my schedule. Words cannot describe how amazing they are, these children literally have nothing and are so happy. I find the African way of life so interesting in terms of kids. There is no tattling and the kids just deal with the problems themselves…usually by hitting each other which is open for much debate if that is the best idea but…who am I to judge? The kids were really sad to see us go..and my favorite girl Anthea was planning on going back home to her parents. So sadly I had to say good bye to her. But… things could happen and I won’t know for sure if she is at home till I go back. I am so excited to go back though! I can’t wait till I see them!
I also started going and volunteering at a Township called Boysens Park, it’s 35 minutes away and we take combi buses there. Some International students started a program called Vuk’pille. We go and sing an opening song and do an activity and sing some more. Some activities included cleaning up trash, making robots out of trash, doing skits, and so on. It’s a really great things for all these kids and gives them something to do, it is pretty structured and kids are kids so sometimes they are hard to control. The parents love it and come out. We stay outside on a street and just play with the kids. It was a great program and with all the international students leaving after a semester and us Californians staying, Loretta, Kelleigh, and I are taking over the program. So hopefully we can keep it up and find enough ideas to do activities with them considering the fact that there are no materials for projects, and we are in the middle of a street. It has a lot of potential and the program has come along way, the other people that created the program put a lot into to program so hopefully we can keep it going.
The month of May came with graduations that I was really upset to miss. Brett graduated and my Big. I am so proud of them both and beyond happy for them. It was really hard to not be there for them both. I got through it though, and figured those were gonna be the hardest days of me studying abroad…so if I got through them I would be able to get through anything.
The last week of May and the first 2 weeks of June consisted of exams. I actually liked the exam style here better than SSU. There are ups and downs of both systems but with the NMMU exams I was able to study a sufficient amount of time for each final rather than cram in a week. I’ve never been more prepared for my finals than I have while I was here. I did really well on all my exams and I got my grades back a few weeks ago and I did really well. I got distinctions in 4 classes, which is higher than a 75. A 75 is an A. the grading here is confusing but distinctions are rare. If you get a C here, everyone considers that good.. so with all the hard work figuring out how to deal with the classes everything paid off.
So one of the best things about being in South Africa at this time is the World Cup! Hands down one of the best experiences to be apart of, it was absolutely insane and I feel so happy to be apart of it. The opening match of the World Cup was South Africa vs. Mexico and the whole Bantry plus other Internationals went to Fan Fest. Fan Fest is held in most bigger cities at a stadium and has a huge megatron that plays the game and there are little activities and food and beer like a game at a stadium. Fan Fest that first night was one of the best times I’ve had in SA. It was so much fun and it was absolutely packed. A lot of kids were actually on TV too in Mexico haha. David met some people at fan fest that were apart of Aztecas a news show in Mexico. So we were filmed before a game of showing ‘how excited we were’ at fan fest watching the game, and after the game at David’s flat, where they interviewed him and we were excited again, haha. So if you happen to be in Mexico look for me on TV. The whole WC has been so much fun and it makes it better that much better that I am experiencing it here in person. I went to the Portugal vs. Ivory Coast game. It was a rather boring game, because no one scored..but it was cool to be in the real atmosphere of the WC. The fans were crazy and vuvuzelas were in high force. After awhile they really just turn into white noise..it really just blends in Everything has been so much fun, going out, talking to people from all over the world..everything. the sprit of South Africa has been so high, and it is unusual if I go a day with out hearing a vuvuzela. I love the worls cup songs Waka Waka by Shikira and Wavin’ the Flag by K’nan, those songgs will forever remind me of being in SA during the WC. Seriously though now that the WC is over, SA seems so sad : ( I am sad its over! I am so thankful to have experienced this first hand and I really think no better country than being in South Africa, because South Africans have more culture and it means more to them that they are hosting the WC.
I was fortunate enough to go back to CT with my roomie, David, and Bimmy. David and Bimmy were going to a WC game in CT so Aisha and I went along to enjoy the beautiful CT. The four of us had so much fun together, Im sure there were many times during the weekend that David wanted to kill himself being with just us girls haha. It was so much fun and I fell in love with Cape Town all over again. We stayed at a friend of a friends house so it was nice to not pay for a backpackers. The weather was bad the whole weekend which sucked but we still had a great time. We got to go to Robben Island which was the number one thing I wanted to do since, it was cancelled..twice.. the first time we were in CT. We thought it was gonna get cancelled again because the weather was horrible in the morning but it cleared up and we got a little lost..hah like normal CT fashion..but we made it a few minutes before and got on the boat! The tour was really cool and we got to see a lot of stuff. The view of the city from the Island was breathtaking. It was so cool to see where Mandela stayed and our tour was given by a ex-prisoner who stayed at Robben Island. Coming to South Africa one of the biggest place I wanted to go to was Robben Island, so I am really glad I got to go and see it. The history is insane and it was really cool to listen to the guide and know exactly what he was talking about, because in my Human Rights class we had a section on Apartheid and I knew all of the Acts that were talked about. It was a really great trip though and I was happy to hear and learn about more history of South Africa. We went out that night on Long Street..which is the absolute best place to go out. If you are ever in Cape Town Long Street is a must. Especially during the WC, there were people everywhere, during the day and at night. People dressed up in WC gear and vuvuzelas everywhere and people screaming. If someone saw you wearing the same team garb that they were wearing they would cheer you on. It was really cool to experience a huge spirit of togetherness and excitement. We went out that night on Long Street and it was one of the most interesting nights I’ve ever experienced. Let’s just say the WC brings out a lot of males, and not so many females. There were even lines for the male bathroom and no lines for the girls…never seen that. That night consisted of me being hit on more than any other time in my life, that it seemed almost life a movie hah. It was pretty surreal, and I was slightly overwhelmed. I guess the WC just brings people from all over the world, drunk, and willing to talk. Oh and let me say it is no myth that people from Italy kiss you on both cheeks when they say hello and goodbye : )
The girls and I went to Ghramstown, a little town a couple hours away from PE. There was an annual arts festival there that they have every year. It is a huge festival that people from all over the world come to see. We walked around and saw the town, the university there is absolutely beautiful. We saw lots of photo exhibits and there was a huge open market, we also saw a dance show…which was very um..interesting. it was a nice day to get a break from PE and experience something new.
So now that second semester is about to start and I’ve been here for 6 months and all the kids that were only here for a semester left awhile ago…I am still really happy to be staying here for another semester. When everyone started leaving I would get sad for like a second but I knew it wasn’t my time yet. Now I am so comfortable here and leaving after a semester is like a tease. I know the city now and I don’t feel like a tourist and emotionally I’ve gone through all the ups and downs, that now everything is pretty static. I really truly love Africa and all I have experienced, I like the break I am getting from my life at home, things are so simple here. I am so glad I’ve gotten to the point where I am in love with South Africa and I know when I go home I will truly miss it. There are usually numerous times a day where I am doing something or something happens and I just think, I love Africa : ) Being here for so long reminds me of things that I don’t miss from home, I don’t miss my anxiety at all or stress. And I really don’t miss the exclusiveness of Sonoma. There is a lack of status here and you can walk in to a bar or anywhere and not have that feeling of people glaring at you. You can go somewhere and just end up dancing with people you don’t know at a club, in a dancing circle where people teach you to dance. It doesn’t matter if you aren’t friends or not in the same sorority. Clichés don’t matter and it doesn’t matter if you are wearing the latest Seven jeans. People are more open here and aren’t as judgmental. Don’t get me wrong I do miss Sonoma and ADPi with all my heart, it is a huge part of my life. There are just certain things in life that just don’t matter. It really may sound like I am dissing home and life there but I am not, I am just experiencing new things and taking note of the way I feel at certain times. Another thing I love about Africa is the passion of all the people, there really hasn’t been another time in my life where I have had more real conversations with more people. Conversations aren’t shallow here, they include culture, politics, family, and so on. The things I do miss a lot from the states tho, are people being polite, no one is polite here. I also miss the service from home. With anything, restaurants, customer service, anything, nothing compares to the service at home. I also feel like people at home know more about their job or just things in general. Hmm..I’m trying to think of an example, we just ask questions and people don’t know the answer to them when it seems like it’s their job. Like where things are at a grocery store or simple things about registration. I’ve definitely gotten used to it, and when I go home I will be so much more appreciative with help and service. I’m not trying to generalize and say that people aren’t helpful, because I have come across people that are more helpful then they would be in the states- asking people for directions and they walk you there, or literally drive you there- that is something that would never happen in the states. There are other things that I miss from home, people knowing exactly what I’m talking about and not looking at me like I’m stupid all the time…but it just goes with the territory, and being abroad, and I’ve gotten used to it. There are a lot of other things I miss too..but things I don’t even realize. Ignorance is so bliss. Being with a family. Fashion. Food. Certain plaes. Certain events..and when in a rare occasion I do experience them, I realize how much I miss them.
I have some new Africa facts! Not that many though…
There are no toilet seat covers.
I have seen people numerous times smoking hooka on campus…? Yea.. like have their hooka pipes sitting at tables smoking..
Africa has the prettiest skies I have ever seen, the clouds always look so vibrant and too good to be true.
In South Africa I have experienced the best hospitality, nothing compares to it. they are so welcoming and I have never experienced anything like it at home. People open their home with open arms, even if you don’t know them, they are honored for you to stay with them. By the time you leave you are considered family. In Southern Africa culture there is something called Ubuntu it encompasses the compassion and ideals of their culture. I’ll talk it more in depth in my next blog when I talk about Botswana but it means something along the lines of humanity and in reference to people opening our house to us they feel a need to follow ubuntu and since they have the resources and opportunity they feel a need to open their home to us.
In a lot of restarants decaf coffee is more expensive than regular…not by much usually only a rand, but I always think that’s odd. Oh and no free refills of anything!
Oh and a personal Africa fact…I drink tea ALL the time. My addiction for coffee has fizzled out…a five year addiction over that goes way back to the Drinx days??!?! haha I still love coffee and drink it occasionally but I have a few cups of tea everyday.
Other than all of this..I’ve been really good, I’m really happy, and content with life. It’s winter here so it is cold…yes Africa gets cold, it’s not as bad as Sonoma but it is still cold. Especially in PE the weather it insane here it changes every hour.. one day it will be nice enough to go lay out at the beach in the middle of winter and the next day it will be storming. It will start getting warm again around September I guess. Time has gone by so fast and I cannot believe I have been here for 6 months… 4 months to go! I just said good bye to Bimmy, which was really upsetting : ( but I know it will be so hard for me to leave here, this has become my life. I truly love South Africa.
I love you all so much and I miss everybody! You are all in my thoughts daily. Much much MUCH love <3
Ohhh and I say this every time, but I’ll try and be a better blogger…but I dunno if that will happen : )
Loyally,
JD
Sunday, April 18, 2010
CAPE TOWN!!!
Hellllllllo blog readers
How is everyone?! I am doing great just got home from my Easter Break week in Cape Town, Knysna, Stellenbosh, and Oudtshoorn. It was amazing! I had so much fun. We left Friday morning the 2nd and got home April 11th, Sunday.
Okay…Im gonna start at the beginning sooo we hired a car (hire means rent, that’s what they say here) so the car we rented ended up being the same exact car we took to J-Bay, Yup the one that broke down on us…ughhh we were not looking forward to tha car and of course just our luck we got the same one. So we were set to leave Friday morning at 630 am and we started off down the road but not before pilling the WHOLE entire car with our stuff. So we were driving down the road and then all of a sudden this misty/smoke stuff started filling the whole car…hahaha its funny now, at the time we freaked out a bit and were pissed because this always happens to us!!! So we pulled over in a neighborhood 2 blocks away from our flat and tried to figure it out, we got some help from a good Samaritan and called the rental car guy, found out it was the water in the car that was low or something? So after a long time of talking to the rental car guy and him telling us over and over that it was normal that there was steam flowing everywhere in the car? I kno right? We met with a mechanic and he fixed it? something with the heater and I don’t know really…but it put us like 3 hours back and we didn’t end up leaving PE til after 9..we drove to Knysna which is a really cute quaint town. Much different than the stereotypical Africa. Really pretty with a small town feel, kinda like Mill Valley or something along the lines. We got to the hostel and it was super cool, we actually had really good luck with backpackers all week. Since Ive been in Africa I haven’t stayed at a bad backpackers! We settled and started talking to one of the guys that works there about what we should do and we ended up going with him to the forest and then he took us to the heads which is what knysna is most famous for. the forest was really pretty, we had to drive thru a town ship to get there and it was kind of hilly, but it was such a different scene than I have been around. South Africa has everything, forest, mountains, beach, flat land, everything! We went and saw this ‘big tree’ that was over 650 years old, it was huge! Then we went to the Heads. Its really famous for Knysna and it is two pieces of land coming together but there is an opening and there is a lagoon in the opening. The houses up on the hills were AMAZING and huge. The guy from the backpacker pointed out one of the houses that was 48 million rand, that is 336 million US dollars!!!!! Yikes! After we left there, we went to the water front and there was a lot of touristy shops there. I haven’t seen any since I’ve been in SA, so it was a nice change of scenery. It was pretty touristy, but the waterfront was really nice.
-side note of my day-
When I was in Knysna I was kind of home sick for my mama! Traveling makes me rather homesick for her because Im so used to traveling and going everywhere with her. Im so used to doing everything with my mom, and it is difficult doing things with a group of people, so I was a little melancholy. The town reminded me of a place I’d go with her, and it was hard to travel and go places without her because she is my usual travel partner. I love you mama, you’re my best travel partner : )
Anyways the rest of the day we hung out at the hostel for a while, played pool hung out in this really cool room with cushions everywhere that I was obsessed with. We met a guy from Australia and he was hanging out with us, and he went out with us. We went to this cool club, it was a lot of fun, the usual creepers, but we have all gotten used to it. we called it a night and went home, the next morning we got ready to leave not before having car trouble again…good lord… and finally were on our way to CT. We made it Cape Town by 3:30 and driving in I absolutely fell in love with the city. It has the beauty of Yosemite but the vibe of San Francisco. Absolutely beautiful and amazing. Our hostel was so cool and it was right on Long Street, where all the bars and clubs are. Our backpacker was SO cool, it was called penthouse. We stayed in a 20 person dorm, yea I know so many ppl! But it was actually better than I thought it was going to be. Ear plugs are a life saver and so necessary for travel. But our room was actually chill and not much partying going on in it, our group was for sure the loudest out of everybody and there were some French ppl in there that didn’t like us. We made friends with a girl from Germany who knew French and she told us all week when they would talk about us in French hahah ridiculous! Anyways, the palce was really cool and had a bar on the roof and each room was decorated a different theme, so one room was like animal print and our room was forest theme, and there was a heart room and ect ect, really cute. After settling in we met Nathan and his sister that night for dinner, locals of Cape Town. The SSU girls and I had to take an African Focus class and our professor Ben put us in touch with his friend Nathan. Nathan and Stacy gave us the low down of CT and told us places to go and places not to go, we had ‘mexican food’ for dinner, the quotations because it is SA’s version of Mexican not the States…it wasn’t bad but its wasn’t authentic. My burrito was more like a huge taco, it wasn’t rolled just like folded over, I would describe it as tex-mex… so Nathan walked around with us, and I was really overwhelmed, ppl begging for money and talking to you and everything, from what everyone said about CT and everything I was nervous..i mean it is safe, but it is a big city, and it is Africa, and we were there on a holiday week, and we obviously look like foreigners. Even if I don’t open my mouth and Im just walking ppl always say America! Oh your from America! Haha Im always like how do you know that!! But Im not going to lie I was a little sketched out for my safety and stuff while there, but we were always cautious and aware of our surroundings. I didn’t walk with my camera out, I didn’t take it out at night, I didn’t have a purse at night, since being in SA my bra is the best wallet I could possibly hope for. We were smart and the trip was fine, nothing bad happened to any of us. We went out that night, we went out every night while on our trip except one night bc we were all hung over hahah, so I wont really go into details about us going out, if you want to know all the details ask and I will tell, but most of the nights consisted of dancing drinking and having fun, I was good I promise! The 5 of us were watching out for eachother, and we were all safe. We just took advantage of going out in CT because we have all gotten tired of going out and the places in PE. So I won’t bore you with all the stories of nightlife in CT, except for the fact that I drunk dialed my mama every night, and night life is great : ) So if you ever go to CT some places to go: Dublinner, La Med, Zula, Chrome, Baghdad, and lots of other places, I forgot all the other names. On Sunday we went with the guy that worked at our front desk to a township, I forgot the name, but every week there is a huge braii (BBQ) there. It was really nice of him to take us, he was working the night shift at our hostel and didn’t get off til 8am..he worked all night, and he just went home and showered then came back to take us to the hostel. He didn’t want money or anything, he was genuinely such a nice guy and just wanted to show us part of the township life. It was so much fun, there was ppl everywhere and we bought meat there and we just ate with our fingers and danced a little and talked to Timberland (that’s what he told us to call him) he was so nice, and helpful and it was so much fun. I love talking to locals, seriously everyone (Ive come across) always has something to say, ppl always have an opinion, wheter they are talking about politics, oppression, the world cup, anything, they always have something to say. I love it. A nice unexpected thing to do while in CT, to go and hang out in a township.
Monday we were scheduled to go to Robben Island, after getting lost and thinking we were gonna miss the boat, we find out that it is cancelled for the day because of the weather. I guess this happens a lot, its too windy so they cancel it…you would think they would prepare for this since, they have to have the boat for the their business or they would find another boat, or something, but TIA… (TIA means ‘this is africa’ for those who don’t know) So we rescheduled for Wednesday morning and changed our plans for the day. We decided to drive to the cape of good hope. This by far was my favorite day. The drive there was a little over an hour I think. We stopped along the way in this really cute town called Simon’s Town. It was really quant, we walked around for a while and went into shops. Going to Cape town is really the first time I have seen touristy shops, I mean there is the Boarkwalk in PE but that’s about it. and its only touristy to a certain extent. So we all got some stuff there, I found post cards for 3Rand! That’s 40cents a post card! So some of you are luckly enough to have a post card in the mail right now : ) we found an ice cream shop, because the girls are obsessed with ice cream haha. It was really good, the closet tasting ice cream to the states..yup ice cream tastes different here…its more like..um..more sweet. Kinda like frosting tasting. I dunno hard to describe. We sat for awhile at the dock then walked back to our car. Boulder Beach is on the outskirt of Simon’s Town, that’s where the penguins are! They were so cute, a lot smaller than I thought. The penguins used to be named Jackass Penguins because they make nosies like donkeys…and oh do they..but they were renamed African penguins, no fun! They were everywhere tho. Small little guys right on the beach. I heard they are mean so don’t get close to them. But there was like a boardwalk so you can walk out on it to see them. Way cute tho! We were there for awhile then left to head to cape point/cape of good hope. It was 75R/person to get in…so weird in Africa they charge by person rather than like 75R/car. A lot of hotels do that too, charge per person and not by room. So if you were renting a hotel room it would be 1000R/person rather than 1000R/per room, just an example. Anyways…I was really excited to go to cape point. Driving in the national park we definitely saw ostridges and baboons. Both animals are really creepy..at this time in the trip I was slightly obsessed with the ostridges…you will learn later when I write about Oudtsroon that this obsession disappeared really quickly…hah. The baboons though are crazy..they are like little humans. You are supposed to close your car windows if they are around and not pursue them and if you have food…forget it, drop it because they will attack you for it. Ive heard a story of a baboon going up to a car and opening the door and getting inside and eating all the food that was in the car…then opening the door again and walking out..hahah so crazy. So anyway we finally got to cape point. And cape point and cape of good hope…it is debated among many which is which, but one of them is the most south western part of Africa, and the other one is where the two oceans, Atlantic and Indian ocean meet. Cape point had a lot of walking to get up it, very touristy..all cement, and there was a light house up there. It was cool, but I mean not the best thing I have ever been too. we took a few pictures and decided to leave thankfully we decided to drive over to cape of good hope, they are right next to eachother but you have to drive down to get to cape of good hope. I am so glad we did, amazing. We went at the perfect time, so there was practically no one there we hiked up it and sat for awhile. It was breathtaking. I loved it up there. By the time we left our car was the only one in the parking lot, and it was close to sunset. I feel like when I write about things I did, it just doesn’t do it justice to how great it really was, I mean I can only say so many times, “It was amazing!” and you think it was amazing, but it really was beyond amazing, seriously beautiful. So after that we started on our jounery home. The area around cape town is like a pensulia so you we drove one way and drove back up the other way..like making a loop. It was too bad we drove back in the night I would have loved to see the view during the day. We drove thru Chapman’s Peak and over looked Hout Bay (yee Samma!) and it was so pretty to see the lights. We made it back to the hostel a little after 7pm, it was such a great day, and since it was really one of the first days in cape town all the girls and I were pumped about our trip and we were all getting along great which was a plus, (we always get along but we were all just in a especially good mood this day). If you go to cape town tho, go to cape of good hope!
On Tuesday…I was a little melancholically, because Luis was leaving for Basic, and it would be the last time I would talk to him for awhile….sooo considering the circumstances it was a good day. The girls dragged me shopping, and very really supportive of me all day. I didn’t buy anything but los of window shopping, some of the stores were so cute! We shopped pretty much all day then headed back to the hostel to get dressed to hike Lion’s Head, which we wanted to be up there for sunset. After getting lost driving there and asking for directions and having a guy stop traffic in both directions for us to turn around we finally made it there. Im just gonna say right now that Lion’s Head was one of the best part’s of the trip..if you or anyone you know if ever going to CT, I highly recommend Lion’s Head over Table Mnt. If you only have time for one. The hike was nice and not too difficult, I was defiantly sore after but I wasn’t dying. There were two paths at one point, one that was easier but longer and one path that was climbing up chains/mnt climbing to get up haha. It was fun, we ended up meeting some of the other international guys that were staying in our hostel too. We got up to the top right before sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL, overlooked the whole city. One side overlooked the beach and camps bay. And the one side overlooked robben island, and the other over looked the whole city. It was so nice up there. It was the perfect time to go because there was barely anyone up there but us. We all took our fair share of pictures and sat and watched the sun go down. BEAUTFUL! We started down the mnt right and by the time we were half way down it was pretty dark..haha fun hiking down a mnt in the dark. Kelleigh and I walked down together and had a really good talk, which made the trip so much better.
Wednesday was..haha interesting. We all had A LOT to drink Tuesday night and only had 2 hours of sleep…we were for sure still drunk when we woke up for our early morning Robben Island trip…we ended up getting lost on the way there, even tho we had been there two days earlier..haha. anyways…being drunk in the car and trying to get somewhere b/c were 10 minutes from being late = no bueno. SO kelleigh and I got out of the car so they could find a parking spot and we run, literally run to the Robben Island place….only to find out, it is cancelled….again…! ugh! The boat broke or something… so unfortunately I didn’t get to do to Robben Island while in CT : ( so Wednesday we just satyed at the V&A waterfront and shopped…I got like 2 souvenirs. But the mall was AMAZING. Lots of stores from the states and lots more, it was huge…and seemed like it kept going and going. Kelleigh and I ate lunch and got over shopping so we walked around outside and stuff..we were there for most of the day..all hungover by the time our buzzes wore off : )
Thursday we hiked table mnt…lets just say being sore from Lions Head two days before then hiking up another huge mountain..no good. I thought I was going to die. The hike was basically just zig zag steps all the way the 2 and half hour hike. I leterally thought my legs were going to break off…haha Loretta kept me company in the back..hah. She is such a good Mama <3 but by the time we got up there I was stoked! But it was much different than I thought it would be…it was SO touristy. There was a restaurant, and a souvenir shop, and the whole cable car thing, that you can take up there…it was nice, and so beautiful, but not what I expected, once again..Lion’s Head SO much better. We walked around up there for awhile, and went in the shop, and took our pictures in between all the tourists in their flip flops and dresses. Hahah lets just say most ppl don’t hike up the mnt…but we started down and it was nice to see ppl walking up and being able to tell them a little bit more!!! Keep going, because I knew how they felt..Also some people didn’t think Table Mnt was much of a hike??? Haha There were numerous ppl wearing flip flops, and flats, and purses…I was confused how they were making it up there, but more power to them for hiking it. It took us pretty much all day..we started at like 8am and got down around 2 I think? After we drove back to long street and shopped around there..there was this huge open market area with so much stuff..pretty overwhelming.. they always try and sell you stuff and they always kno your American.. before I even open my mouth they call me an America. After we met with Nathan again to give him back a book he let us borrow and catch up with him. We were all sooo tired so after we went home and ate and showered..then went out for our last night in CT.
Friday sadly was raining!! It was our wine tasting day..so we packed our car agin.. haha I haven’t even gone into that..but our car was pretty much over flowing with stuff.. we headed to Stellenbosch the wine country of SA and it was beautiful even in the rain… made me homesick for SSU. We checked in to our hostel after getting lost..of course. .the hostel was so cool. It was like a modern house..bimmy ended up staying with her friend that went to SSU freshman year that was going to school in Stellenbosch so, the 4 of us got our own room. We ate, and got freshened up and talked to the front desk about where to go and set out to go wine tasting. Kelleigh was our DD of the day and put up with us all : ) The first place we went was really nice..it was 15R and it was small and we were the only people in the tasting room. We had 5 wines…and he taught us how to do it properly. We didn’t spit it out tho, we wanted the buzz for our money! Bim did the tasting too and she doesn’t really drink so her friend and I drank most of hers. Haha by the time we left there I was feeling my wine. The second place we went was really nice, it was classy and trendy. It was more expensive and it was a sit down place. It wasn’t as intimate as the first place. We got chocolate with the wine and each was specific to the wine. It was really nice, and this place we had a dessert wine, it was really sweet. Something I’ve never had before. I really liked this place..it had a huge fireplace and two huge adorable dogs that I was sitting on the floor petting hahah. We left there and we drove around to find another one..got lost..then found it. it closed 5 mintues before we got there! Ugh! So unfortunately we only got to go to two places. Stellenbosch is really pretty though, and very much a Afrikanner town..it was not like a typical ‘Africa’ town. It was a huge college town, it reminded me a lot of Chico. It was really interesting to be around that environment because I haven’t since in Africa, and I haven’t been around a population that is majority white…so it was interesting. Amada (Bim’s friend) took us out and it was fun…but different from what I have gotten used too. It was like going to a college party..like the exclusiveness of it, something I definitely don’t miss from SSU. I do have to say though I felt uncomfortable out there tho, and it’s weird because everyone was white, but I felt out of place. Hands down I have felt more comfortable going out at places where the environment is mainly black..you know me sociology girl, I was thinking and analyzing the whole night, why I was thinking this way. I mean usually when we go out at places that typically have a black crowd the ppl are so nice, and if were ever in the bathroom with people they always talk to us and make conversation. I have many options of why I felt like this…but this isn’t my journal so I won’t bore you all with my obsession with sociology. But I sure do wish I could talk to Prof Leeder : )
Saturday we headed to Oudtshoorn long drive but we made it there. Once again the backpackers was SO cool. It was huge! We talked to the front desk and got directions to the Ostridge farm. We watched a video and had a tour by a guy whose jokes weren’t funny…and this is about when my obsession with ostridges ended…They are huge, and scary and look funny, and creepy. Seriously they creeped me out… Then we got to sit on them and the other girls rode them…not for me! Im surprised I even sat on it..haha you see the pics on my FB you can tell Im less than thrilled. I didn’t like how the ppl that worked there handled the ostridges…seriously animal cruelty, another reason I decided not to ride them…It was cool to see them…but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again, or really recommend it to anyone…We didn’t do much the rest of the day..went to dinner with people from the bantry that ended up staying at the same hostel as us. Sunday we got up early…packed the car again and headed to the Cango Caves. These huge caves that are thousands and thousands of years old. We got a tour and there was only 3 other ppl there so that was nice. We went on the ‘Adventure Tour’ so basically we crawled thru openings ohhh a few feet big…anxiety much? I was fine overall but it was a little scary. And plus with the caves there is only one opening and the farther you go back the less oxygen there is making it harder to breath and the little openings getting to my head…BUT I did it and it was cool to climb thru and see the beautiful caves. Sooooo after this we started on our journey home. We made it home safely and just in time to use the car to go grocery shopping, let me tell you how not easy it is not having a car…haha but we have all gotten used to it tho.
So Cape Town was amazing and the trip was great, I had so much fun, and I cannot wait to go back!
How is everyone?! I am doing great just got home from my Easter Break week in Cape Town, Knysna, Stellenbosh, and Oudtshoorn. It was amazing! I had so much fun. We left Friday morning the 2nd and got home April 11th, Sunday.
Okay…Im gonna start at the beginning sooo we hired a car (hire means rent, that’s what they say here) so the car we rented ended up being the same exact car we took to J-Bay, Yup the one that broke down on us…ughhh we were not looking forward to tha car and of course just our luck we got the same one. So we were set to leave Friday morning at 630 am and we started off down the road but not before pilling the WHOLE entire car with our stuff. So we were driving down the road and then all of a sudden this misty/smoke stuff started filling the whole car…hahaha its funny now, at the time we freaked out a bit and were pissed because this always happens to us!!! So we pulled over in a neighborhood 2 blocks away from our flat and tried to figure it out, we got some help from a good Samaritan and called the rental car guy, found out it was the water in the car that was low or something? So after a long time of talking to the rental car guy and him telling us over and over that it was normal that there was steam flowing everywhere in the car? I kno right? We met with a mechanic and he fixed it? something with the heater and I don’t know really…but it put us like 3 hours back and we didn’t end up leaving PE til after 9..we drove to Knysna which is a really cute quaint town. Much different than the stereotypical Africa. Really pretty with a small town feel, kinda like Mill Valley or something along the lines. We got to the hostel and it was super cool, we actually had really good luck with backpackers all week. Since Ive been in Africa I haven’t stayed at a bad backpackers! We settled and started talking to one of the guys that works there about what we should do and we ended up going with him to the forest and then he took us to the heads which is what knysna is most famous for. the forest was really pretty, we had to drive thru a town ship to get there and it was kind of hilly, but it was such a different scene than I have been around. South Africa has everything, forest, mountains, beach, flat land, everything! We went and saw this ‘big tree’ that was over 650 years old, it was huge! Then we went to the Heads. Its really famous for Knysna and it is two pieces of land coming together but there is an opening and there is a lagoon in the opening. The houses up on the hills were AMAZING and huge. The guy from the backpacker pointed out one of the houses that was 48 million rand, that is 336 million US dollars!!!!! Yikes! After we left there, we went to the water front and there was a lot of touristy shops there. I haven’t seen any since I’ve been in SA, so it was a nice change of scenery. It was pretty touristy, but the waterfront was really nice.
-side note of my day-
When I was in Knysna I was kind of home sick for my mama! Traveling makes me rather homesick for her because Im so used to traveling and going everywhere with her. Im so used to doing everything with my mom, and it is difficult doing things with a group of people, so I was a little melancholy. The town reminded me of a place I’d go with her, and it was hard to travel and go places without her because she is my usual travel partner. I love you mama, you’re my best travel partner : )
Anyways the rest of the day we hung out at the hostel for a while, played pool hung out in this really cool room with cushions everywhere that I was obsessed with. We met a guy from Australia and he was hanging out with us, and he went out with us. We went to this cool club, it was a lot of fun, the usual creepers, but we have all gotten used to it. we called it a night and went home, the next morning we got ready to leave not before having car trouble again…good lord… and finally were on our way to CT. We made it Cape Town by 3:30 and driving in I absolutely fell in love with the city. It has the beauty of Yosemite but the vibe of San Francisco. Absolutely beautiful and amazing. Our hostel was so cool and it was right on Long Street, where all the bars and clubs are. Our backpacker was SO cool, it was called penthouse. We stayed in a 20 person dorm, yea I know so many ppl! But it was actually better than I thought it was going to be. Ear plugs are a life saver and so necessary for travel. But our room was actually chill and not much partying going on in it, our group was for sure the loudest out of everybody and there were some French ppl in there that didn’t like us. We made friends with a girl from Germany who knew French and she told us all week when they would talk about us in French hahah ridiculous! Anyways, the palce was really cool and had a bar on the roof and each room was decorated a different theme, so one room was like animal print and our room was forest theme, and there was a heart room and ect ect, really cute. After settling in we met Nathan and his sister that night for dinner, locals of Cape Town. The SSU girls and I had to take an African Focus class and our professor Ben put us in touch with his friend Nathan. Nathan and Stacy gave us the low down of CT and told us places to go and places not to go, we had ‘mexican food’ for dinner, the quotations because it is SA’s version of Mexican not the States…it wasn’t bad but its wasn’t authentic. My burrito was more like a huge taco, it wasn’t rolled just like folded over, I would describe it as tex-mex… so Nathan walked around with us, and I was really overwhelmed, ppl begging for money and talking to you and everything, from what everyone said about CT and everything I was nervous..i mean it is safe, but it is a big city, and it is Africa, and we were there on a holiday week, and we obviously look like foreigners. Even if I don’t open my mouth and Im just walking ppl always say America! Oh your from America! Haha Im always like how do you know that!! But Im not going to lie I was a little sketched out for my safety and stuff while there, but we were always cautious and aware of our surroundings. I didn’t walk with my camera out, I didn’t take it out at night, I didn’t have a purse at night, since being in SA my bra is the best wallet I could possibly hope for. We were smart and the trip was fine, nothing bad happened to any of us. We went out that night, we went out every night while on our trip except one night bc we were all hung over hahah, so I wont really go into details about us going out, if you want to know all the details ask and I will tell, but most of the nights consisted of dancing drinking and having fun, I was good I promise! The 5 of us were watching out for eachother, and we were all safe. We just took advantage of going out in CT because we have all gotten tired of going out and the places in PE. So I won’t bore you with all the stories of nightlife in CT, except for the fact that I drunk dialed my mama every night, and night life is great : ) So if you ever go to CT some places to go: Dublinner, La Med, Zula, Chrome, Baghdad, and lots of other places, I forgot all the other names. On Sunday we went with the guy that worked at our front desk to a township, I forgot the name, but every week there is a huge braii (BBQ) there. It was really nice of him to take us, he was working the night shift at our hostel and didn’t get off til 8am..he worked all night, and he just went home and showered then came back to take us to the hostel. He didn’t want money or anything, he was genuinely such a nice guy and just wanted to show us part of the township life. It was so much fun, there was ppl everywhere and we bought meat there and we just ate with our fingers and danced a little and talked to Timberland (that’s what he told us to call him) he was so nice, and helpful and it was so much fun. I love talking to locals, seriously everyone (Ive come across) always has something to say, ppl always have an opinion, wheter they are talking about politics, oppression, the world cup, anything, they always have something to say. I love it. A nice unexpected thing to do while in CT, to go and hang out in a township.
Monday we were scheduled to go to Robben Island, after getting lost and thinking we were gonna miss the boat, we find out that it is cancelled for the day because of the weather. I guess this happens a lot, its too windy so they cancel it…you would think they would prepare for this since, they have to have the boat for the their business or they would find another boat, or something, but TIA… (TIA means ‘this is africa’ for those who don’t know) So we rescheduled for Wednesday morning and changed our plans for the day. We decided to drive to the cape of good hope. This by far was my favorite day. The drive there was a little over an hour I think. We stopped along the way in this really cute town called Simon’s Town. It was really quant, we walked around for a while and went into shops. Going to Cape town is really the first time I have seen touristy shops, I mean there is the Boarkwalk in PE but that’s about it. and its only touristy to a certain extent. So we all got some stuff there, I found post cards for 3Rand! That’s 40cents a post card! So some of you are luckly enough to have a post card in the mail right now : ) we found an ice cream shop, because the girls are obsessed with ice cream haha. It was really good, the closet tasting ice cream to the states..yup ice cream tastes different here…its more like..um..more sweet. Kinda like frosting tasting. I dunno hard to describe. We sat for awhile at the dock then walked back to our car. Boulder Beach is on the outskirt of Simon’s Town, that’s where the penguins are! They were so cute, a lot smaller than I thought. The penguins used to be named Jackass Penguins because they make nosies like donkeys…and oh do they..but they were renamed African penguins, no fun! They were everywhere tho. Small little guys right on the beach. I heard they are mean so don’t get close to them. But there was like a boardwalk so you can walk out on it to see them. Way cute tho! We were there for awhile then left to head to cape point/cape of good hope. It was 75R/person to get in…so weird in Africa they charge by person rather than like 75R/car. A lot of hotels do that too, charge per person and not by room. So if you were renting a hotel room it would be 1000R/person rather than 1000R/per room, just an example. Anyways…I was really excited to go to cape point. Driving in the national park we definitely saw ostridges and baboons. Both animals are really creepy..at this time in the trip I was slightly obsessed with the ostridges…you will learn later when I write about Oudtsroon that this obsession disappeared really quickly…hah. The baboons though are crazy..they are like little humans. You are supposed to close your car windows if they are around and not pursue them and if you have food…forget it, drop it because they will attack you for it. Ive heard a story of a baboon going up to a car and opening the door and getting inside and eating all the food that was in the car…then opening the door again and walking out..hahah so crazy. So anyway we finally got to cape point. And cape point and cape of good hope…it is debated among many which is which, but one of them is the most south western part of Africa, and the other one is where the two oceans, Atlantic and Indian ocean meet. Cape point had a lot of walking to get up it, very touristy..all cement, and there was a light house up there. It was cool, but I mean not the best thing I have ever been too. we took a few pictures and decided to leave thankfully we decided to drive over to cape of good hope, they are right next to eachother but you have to drive down to get to cape of good hope. I am so glad we did, amazing. We went at the perfect time, so there was practically no one there we hiked up it and sat for awhile. It was breathtaking. I loved it up there. By the time we left our car was the only one in the parking lot, and it was close to sunset. I feel like when I write about things I did, it just doesn’t do it justice to how great it really was, I mean I can only say so many times, “It was amazing!” and you think it was amazing, but it really was beyond amazing, seriously beautiful. So after that we started on our jounery home. The area around cape town is like a pensulia so you we drove one way and drove back up the other way..like making a loop. It was too bad we drove back in the night I would have loved to see the view during the day. We drove thru Chapman’s Peak and over looked Hout Bay (yee Samma!) and it was so pretty to see the lights. We made it back to the hostel a little after 7pm, it was such a great day, and since it was really one of the first days in cape town all the girls and I were pumped about our trip and we were all getting along great which was a plus, (we always get along but we were all just in a especially good mood this day). If you go to cape town tho, go to cape of good hope!
On Tuesday…I was a little melancholically, because Luis was leaving for Basic, and it would be the last time I would talk to him for awhile….sooo considering the circumstances it was a good day. The girls dragged me shopping, and very really supportive of me all day. I didn’t buy anything but los of window shopping, some of the stores were so cute! We shopped pretty much all day then headed back to the hostel to get dressed to hike Lion’s Head, which we wanted to be up there for sunset. After getting lost driving there and asking for directions and having a guy stop traffic in both directions for us to turn around we finally made it there. Im just gonna say right now that Lion’s Head was one of the best part’s of the trip..if you or anyone you know if ever going to CT, I highly recommend Lion’s Head over Table Mnt. If you only have time for one. The hike was nice and not too difficult, I was defiantly sore after but I wasn’t dying. There were two paths at one point, one that was easier but longer and one path that was climbing up chains/mnt climbing to get up haha. It was fun, we ended up meeting some of the other international guys that were staying in our hostel too. We got up to the top right before sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL, overlooked the whole city. One side overlooked the beach and camps bay. And the one side overlooked robben island, and the other over looked the whole city. It was so nice up there. It was the perfect time to go because there was barely anyone up there but us. We all took our fair share of pictures and sat and watched the sun go down. BEAUTFUL! We started down the mnt right and by the time we were half way down it was pretty dark..haha fun hiking down a mnt in the dark. Kelleigh and I walked down together and had a really good talk, which made the trip so much better.
Wednesday was..haha interesting. We all had A LOT to drink Tuesday night and only had 2 hours of sleep…we were for sure still drunk when we woke up for our early morning Robben Island trip…we ended up getting lost on the way there, even tho we had been there two days earlier..haha. anyways…being drunk in the car and trying to get somewhere b/c were 10 minutes from being late = no bueno. SO kelleigh and I got out of the car so they could find a parking spot and we run, literally run to the Robben Island place….only to find out, it is cancelled….again…! ugh! The boat broke or something… so unfortunately I didn’t get to do to Robben Island while in CT : ( so Wednesday we just satyed at the V&A waterfront and shopped…I got like 2 souvenirs. But the mall was AMAZING. Lots of stores from the states and lots more, it was huge…and seemed like it kept going and going. Kelleigh and I ate lunch and got over shopping so we walked around outside and stuff..we were there for most of the day..all hungover by the time our buzzes wore off : )
Thursday we hiked table mnt…lets just say being sore from Lions Head two days before then hiking up another huge mountain..no good. I thought I was going to die. The hike was basically just zig zag steps all the way the 2 and half hour hike. I leterally thought my legs were going to break off…haha Loretta kept me company in the back..hah. She is such a good Mama <3 but by the time we got up there I was stoked! But it was much different than I thought it would be…it was SO touristy. There was a restaurant, and a souvenir shop, and the whole cable car thing, that you can take up there…it was nice, and so beautiful, but not what I expected, once again..Lion’s Head SO much better. We walked around up there for awhile, and went in the shop, and took our pictures in between all the tourists in their flip flops and dresses. Hahah lets just say most ppl don’t hike up the mnt…but we started down and it was nice to see ppl walking up and being able to tell them a little bit more!!! Keep going, because I knew how they felt..Also some people didn’t think Table Mnt was much of a hike??? Haha There were numerous ppl wearing flip flops, and flats, and purses…I was confused how they were making it up there, but more power to them for hiking it. It took us pretty much all day..we started at like 8am and got down around 2 I think? After we drove back to long street and shopped around there..there was this huge open market area with so much stuff..pretty overwhelming.. they always try and sell you stuff and they always kno your American.. before I even open my mouth they call me an America. After we met with Nathan again to give him back a book he let us borrow and catch up with him. We were all sooo tired so after we went home and ate and showered..then went out for our last night in CT.
Friday sadly was raining!! It was our wine tasting day..so we packed our car agin.. haha I haven’t even gone into that..but our car was pretty much over flowing with stuff.. we headed to Stellenbosch the wine country of SA and it was beautiful even in the rain… made me homesick for SSU. We checked in to our hostel after getting lost..of course. .the hostel was so cool. It was like a modern house..bimmy ended up staying with her friend that went to SSU freshman year that was going to school in Stellenbosch so, the 4 of us got our own room. We ate, and got freshened up and talked to the front desk about where to go and set out to go wine tasting. Kelleigh was our DD of the day and put up with us all : ) The first place we went was really nice..it was 15R and it was small and we were the only people in the tasting room. We had 5 wines…and he taught us how to do it properly. We didn’t spit it out tho, we wanted the buzz for our money! Bim did the tasting too and she doesn’t really drink so her friend and I drank most of hers. Haha by the time we left there I was feeling my wine. The second place we went was really nice, it was classy and trendy. It was more expensive and it was a sit down place. It wasn’t as intimate as the first place. We got chocolate with the wine and each was specific to the wine. It was really nice, and this place we had a dessert wine, it was really sweet. Something I’ve never had before. I really liked this place..it had a huge fireplace and two huge adorable dogs that I was sitting on the floor petting hahah. We left there and we drove around to find another one..got lost..then found it. it closed 5 mintues before we got there! Ugh! So unfortunately we only got to go to two places. Stellenbosch is really pretty though, and very much a Afrikanner town..it was not like a typical ‘Africa’ town. It was a huge college town, it reminded me a lot of Chico. It was really interesting to be around that environment because I haven’t since in Africa, and I haven’t been around a population that is majority white…so it was interesting. Amada (Bim’s friend) took us out and it was fun…but different from what I have gotten used too. It was like going to a college party..like the exclusiveness of it, something I definitely don’t miss from SSU. I do have to say though I felt uncomfortable out there tho, and it’s weird because everyone was white, but I felt out of place. Hands down I have felt more comfortable going out at places where the environment is mainly black..you know me sociology girl, I was thinking and analyzing the whole night, why I was thinking this way. I mean usually when we go out at places that typically have a black crowd the ppl are so nice, and if were ever in the bathroom with people they always talk to us and make conversation. I have many options of why I felt like this…but this isn’t my journal so I won’t bore you all with my obsession with sociology. But I sure do wish I could talk to Prof Leeder : )
Saturday we headed to Oudtshoorn long drive but we made it there. Once again the backpackers was SO cool. It was huge! We talked to the front desk and got directions to the Ostridge farm. We watched a video and had a tour by a guy whose jokes weren’t funny…and this is about when my obsession with ostridges ended…They are huge, and scary and look funny, and creepy. Seriously they creeped me out… Then we got to sit on them and the other girls rode them…not for me! Im surprised I even sat on it..haha you see the pics on my FB you can tell Im less than thrilled. I didn’t like how the ppl that worked there handled the ostridges…seriously animal cruelty, another reason I decided not to ride them…It was cool to see them…but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again, or really recommend it to anyone…We didn’t do much the rest of the day..went to dinner with people from the bantry that ended up staying at the same hostel as us. Sunday we got up early…packed the car again and headed to the Cango Caves. These huge caves that are thousands and thousands of years old. We got a tour and there was only 3 other ppl there so that was nice. We went on the ‘Adventure Tour’ so basically we crawled thru openings ohhh a few feet big…anxiety much? I was fine overall but it was a little scary. And plus with the caves there is only one opening and the farther you go back the less oxygen there is making it harder to breath and the little openings getting to my head…BUT I did it and it was cool to climb thru and see the beautiful caves. Sooooo after this we started on our journey home. We made it home safely and just in time to use the car to go grocery shopping, let me tell you how not easy it is not having a car…haha but we have all gotten used to it tho.
So Cape Town was amazing and the trip was great, I had so much fun, and I cannot wait to go back!
Monday, March 22, 2010
2 months down..!
I know…I am the worst blogger in the world..I am sorry! Anyways…hello everyone! I’m still alive and well in south Africa. Lots has happened in the last month of me not writing. I’ve gone on trips, had interesting experiences, made friends, seen beautiful places, seen monkeys on campus!!!, I have eaten new food, I’ve had good days, I’ve had bad days, but overall I’ve been well and I am loving it here…
I guess I should start at the beginning of the month: So I went on my first trip here! I went to Jeffrey’s Bay with 4 girls I live with in the Bantry. It was really fun, a cute little town, it was pretty calm when we were there. We rented a car, we were all a little nervous considering the fact you drive on the other side of the road AND the other side of the car, but my roomie stepped up to the plate and she volunteered to drive. We left mid morning on a Saturday and our land lord drove us to the rental car place. We signed papers and of course took a few pictures and then we were on our way..I sat in the front seat and it was weird not to be driving but Aisha (my roommate) did well and we made it to J-Bay alive! The drive was only like 45-50 minutes and then we arrived! We booked a hostel at this nice place called Jeffery’s Bay Backpackers. The backpacker was really cool and we stayed in a 12 person dorm. After checking in and getting a tour of the place we went out to move our car into a different parking lot and Aisha is moving it and then all of a sudden…it just stops, the engine and the car just stop moving. So she tries again to start it, and it is making a noise that cars should not make! So a few different people try to start it and no luck..of course! Just our luck that something like this would happen! So we roll the car into a parking spot (after this weekend I have become pro at pushing cars) and we call the guy from the rental car place and he tells us to try and againg and says sometimes the cars are temperamental..but nothing is working. So he tells us to call back in a few hours and to try again then..so we let the car situation rest for a while.
Then we heaed to get something to eat, we ate in a nice cute restaurant that was also a bakery and a deli kinda. I ended up getting an enchilada! Mexican food in SA?! That is unheard of!! It was really good actually, I wouldn’t call it a enchilada more of a burrito but very tasty. After we ate we walked around the town and it was pretty dead, I guess we went when it was the down season because school had just started and what not. But we walked around and then we walked down to the factory stores, they had billabong and some other ones. They ended up closing though soon after we got there, every closed down around 2. So early! That’s one thing about Africa, most things close really early, except bars. We headed to the beach after that and laid out for awhile. It was nice and there were families around, I was so curious to see the surf, because J-Bay is one of the most well known and best surf spots in the world. But the surf wasn’t anything special, but no surprise the beach was beautiful. We got some meat after the beach to braii BBQ) that night at the backpacker. There was a bar at the hostel right outside our room, all the drinks were 10 rand! That’s like $1.40! Cheap right? SO we talked it up with people staying there and one of the workers and took advantage of our cheap drinks. There were two girls there from Denmark who had just graduated high school and were taking a year off to travel, first SA, then the Philippines, then New Zealand, then AU! Crazy right? They were sweet hearts though. There were also 3 guys from Argentina there, they travel the world to different surf spots, and just surf. They had been in J-Bay for 3 weeks already and just surfed everyday. It was nice to hear people speak Spanish! In a way it was comforting and reminded me of home since Spanish is so common in the states We decided to try and figure out our car, we tried to start it again and it didn’t work, so we called back the guy and talked for awhile and came to the conclusion that he would have to pick us up the next day..so we were bummed and baffled that this happened, but we got over it. After awhile of eating and drinking we headed out to ‘Wacky Woods’ one of the reasons we went to J-Bay in the first place. It was a huge rave in the middle of nowhere in the woods. I have never experienced anything like it, and I don’t know if I ever will again. Haha…I had a lot of fun though, regardless of lots of intoxicated people who were on drugs. Don’t worry mom I was safe! No drugs for me! : ) There were lights everywhere and smoke machines and the loudest music that was just rave music. For a lot of the time I just stood there and watched people dance, it was entertaining! After being there for a long time and being overwhelmed by the smoke machine we decided to head home and go to bed. The next day we got up and checked out and went around the town a little more. The guy got there with his wife to pick us up he had a trailer with him. He tried to start the car…and no luck he looked under the hood and saw that the belt broke, don’t ask me what belt…but a belt, we were lucky that it didn’t break while we were driving there and fortunately we made it all the way there. He was just as baffled as us and said this has never happened in all the years he has been doing this, go figures it happens to us. Our next mission is to get the car on the trailer..a little difficult for 6 girls and 1 guy. After many many many tries of us trying to roll the car up onto the trailer..we try once more and sure enough we use so much strength that we not only get it on the trailer, but we push it over the trailer. Hahaah Loretta has a video of it, and it is hands down the best thing I have ever seen. It goes from us being excited to gasping in 2 seconds. So now the wheels are over the place where they are supposed to be and it is a mess. It is hard to explain without seeing it..but now we have to try and literally pick up the car to put it back over on to the trailer. After trying this for 10 minutes some locals walk up and start helping us, next thing I know there are 10 locals surrounding the car all trying to help and get the car back on, only in Africa…so finally we pick up the car and put it back on the trailer.. hah ohhh Africa. After figuring out the car for over an hour we are finally back on our way home to PE great weekend, great first trip for being here.
So I signed up for a volunteer class, CSL 100, and I’ve been going since the beginning of the term, There were 4 different options of where we could volunteer. Cherisre Homes which is close to school and it is a place for people who are physically disabled. The age ranges from 18 to 70 and your main point of being there is to hang out with the tenants and just talk to them. There is also baby homes, where you go to a home and it has babies that are either orphans, or they got taken away from their parents, or they got abandoned. I’ve heard the kids are so cute, some of them actually have HIV and most of them have serious stories that some of us won’t experience in our life time. There is also Masifundi which is in Walmer Township. It is a program set up for kids to do after school, there you are assigned like 2 kids a day and you help them with their homework and tutor them. The last place is Sinethemba. It is quite far from school but it is amazing. It is a home for street children. After much long thought, I chose to volunteer there. Sinethemba is really hard to describe, and I am still trying to figure out exactly how it works myself. It is a home for street children, some of them have families and they chose to leave and go to sinethemba because of their horrible home life. others go just during the day as like a dare care kind of thing, most of the kids there only for day car are around 3 or 4..younger. some of the kids have been there for years nad have gone home for a bit then come back. It is quite hard to describe. But it is a really interesting experience there are around 50 kids there and it is hectic. It is a house so there is a kitchen and rooms with bunk beds and there is a a few separate some structures where the younger kids stay during the day and another one where the boys sleep. It isn’t structured and there are kids of all ages running around. Our main reason for going there is to help the high schoolers with their homework. That rarely happens tho, they usually say they don’t have homework…but I know they do! So we usually end up playing with the elementary school kids, or ill go out and play with the toddlers. They are all well behaved…this comment is open for interpretation… for their lives and their situations they are well behaved, they are only human and they are little kids. But it is different from kids at home, a lot of them don’t have parents and obviously no sources of socialization from their parents. It is so normal for them to push each other and bite each other, yes that happens at home with kids but the thing that is odd is how the kids who are being pushed or bite act back..they just think its normal, they stop doing whatever they are doing and they rarely get upset. I don’t know if im explaining this sufficient enough…but the kids are so used to these actions that it isn’t unusually for them so they act like its normal. Irregardless they are kids so it does get hectic and I usually end up being a jungle gym for them to climb on and play with. Last week I left with some pretty intense bites from one of the little boys haha. The thing with the schools here..they aren’t as advanced as America..Its difficult and frustrating because as much as we think California education is shit, here its ridiculous. The children don’t have text books and usually the whole classroom has one book it seems like when we help all the kids they really just have no idea how to do homework. They have a hard time reading English and understanding the directions. They can’t do their homework because they don’t understand the basics of English or anything. In South Africa they don’t hold students back..even if you don’t understand the class or aren’t doing well they don’t hold you back in school, they push you forward to the next grade. So there are kids in high school who have a hard time reading simple directions in English. Also when they do things like math worksheets..the teachers don’t go over the answers. They have the worksheets and then they just put the answers on the board so the students don’t know how to get the answers in between.. the kids do the best they can and we try and help them the best we can. All of the staff are volunteers and don’t get paid anything they are all dedicated, usually when we are there they don’t really interact with us and we have to say hello first. I love it though, I love being with the kids and they all fight for attention because they don’t get it else where. I try and give attention to everyone equally, but I have a favorite her name is Anthea and she is adorable, mature, and smart. She is 11 and she has so much responsibility, she takes care of a lot of the kids. I love it there and I wish I could go longer and more often the kids need us to play with so they get the attention they deserve.
K I want to tell everyone about my amazing trip up to the ‘wild coast’ I went the weekend of March 5-7 we went to Coffee Bay and Port St. John. I went with 7 girls and one boy, luck guy huh : ) kidding…we left Friday morning. And before I went on the trip I had no idea where we were going, what we were doing, where we were staying, or any details whatsoever! And it turned out to be the best trip imaginable so having no expectations pays off! The drive was SO long…we drove all day and got to coffee bay around 6 pm. The drive was nice..so pretty. Great to see a new perspective of Africa. It seemed like real Africa. People living in huts and animals everywhere..we would be driving then all of a sudden there would be a cow in the middle of the road. They would just stand there, they wouldn’t move for you, you would have to maneuver around them.
Goats, cow, pigs..we saw it all. So other than driving all day we didn’t do much during the day on fri. as we kept driving further and further the less city there was. And it was so damn hot! Probably one of the hottest days since ive been here. So after driving for awhile, almost to coffee bay we stopped at a grocery store to get something to drink and where we stopped it was like a village..there were chickens in cages to be sold haha a little extreme we were the only white ppl these ppl have seen in a while I figured for all the stares. It was hands down the most uncomfortable I have felt in south Africa since ive been here..i got over it tho and we left to finish our long drive over the potholes to coffee bay, hopefully you have all seen my video on facebook with the crazy messed up road with the potholes. when we got to coffee bay we just hung out, our hostel was very nice and there was music and local dance there. The next day we set out for this place called hole in the wall…the ppl at the desk told us we could walk and thankfully we didn’t because it took us like 30 minutes to drive there. After get lost a few times and stopping for directions we found it. it didn’t seem like anything tho because we were in local Africa, no town, ppl living in their huts, dirt roads, and us trying to find this place we heard about..we found it tho and it was absolutely beautiful we all just sat and chilled and saw the beautiful ocean with this massive land in the water with a huge hole in the middle. One of the most beautiful places I have seen. After spending a few hours here we left for port st. johh…a few hour drive later we made it to the backacker..port st john is beautiful driving into it, it reminded me of yosemite. The backpacker was so cool, we, got really lucky with backpackers this weekend they were both amazing and had entertainment, and a restaurant, and a bar. Sooo the whole reason we went on this trip was to meet some people that some of the girls I live with met a few weekends before. Soo mom this part of the story you wont be too happy about but im fine! So that’s all that matters! So we met Richard and his friend (I don’t remember his name!) there and the took us in the bed of their truck up a huge mnt to watch the sunset..haha after getting in the bed of the truck my thought went to..ahhh we don’t know these ppl and they are taking us to the middle of nowhere..is this a good idea? Only in Africa! We have to take a chance! And im so glad we did the view up the mnt was breath taking and we overlooked all of port st john. Beyond amazing. After getting home safely we watched Richard play the drums and the other two bands that were there and hung around the bar. The next day we had the bright idea to wake up at 5am to watch the sunrise and drive an hour to this waterfall. Once again Richard lead the way to this waterfall in the middle of nowhere. We had to walk over the top of the water fall across to the other side to walk through the woods to go see it. and it was amazing. Then some of the group left to head home and 5 of us girls stayed, Richard took us to this place…I have no idea what it was called but it was all local xhosa ppl. It was supposed to be like a place to take care of your self and such. There was this hole in the ground that you were supposed to breath in the gases and it is supposed to cure a headache or anything as such! It just smelt like gas to me! Then we went into this mud cave and one of the local boys painted our face with mud, which is supposed to help our skin. Then we literally mnt climbed up a mnt and went to this other water hole. Deep in the hole is water you take out to drink, it is supposed to cure you of anything, it tasted and smelt like rotten eggs! Then Richard pointed us over to a huge mud bath, and told us to get in. we walked through the forest a little to see around 20 african women naked cleaning themselves in this mud water. Us girls put our feet in and stood there. Im surprised by the reaction of some of the women, a lot of them were welcoming, some were taking pictures of us on their camera phones, others were just staring, we felt a little uncomfortable just looking at them so we took off our cloths into our costumes (swimsuits) and underwear and got into the water and did what they did. They were rubbing mud all over eachother then washing it off. We got out and said good bye to everyone around and went back to our car and tipped the little guy that painted our faces and helped us out (he carried my shoes up the mnt when I was climbing!) Im so lucky we did follow Richard he showed us the most amazing part of Africa we would have never found just as tourists. There was no signs for the waterfall, we wouldn’t have felt as welcomed at the locals mud place, and there would have been no way we would have found our self up that mnt. It is so nice to have a local show you around. Im sorry if all my explanations are brief it is just hard to describe everything the way it happened, everything was so amazing it is just hard to put in to words how great it was .
School has been good. It is a different structure here which I’m getting used to. The term is over on Friday and I start a new class next week and end two this week. Grading is different here…they go by percents and not grades..a 75 and above is an A they call is a distinction and that’s really good. I think a 50 or a 60 is a C.. I dunno I feel like everyone I ask always has a different answer. It may seem easy to get an A but its not..i feel like here they don’t believe in giving perfect grades like there is always something wrong with it even if what you did was spot on. In my sociology advance social research methods class we had a test and it was so hard, so hard! And 9 ppl out of 70 passed… we asked our professor about it and he said that’s normal! No that’s not normal what so ever! But he insisted it was…but it defiantly isn’t, they don’t usually give your tests back, so you don’t know what u got wrong or see the teachers grading or comments. They have a DP which is your mark to be able to let you take the final so in a usual class you will have an assignment and a test. And some classes have a DP of 60 or 50 meaning that your class work is the percent of your final grade. So in my research class the DP is 60 and the final is 40% of your grade..in order to take the final you have to have a DP of 40% (but this isn’t on the American 50-100% is passing scale) I don’t know why im trying to explain it, it is difficult to understand! My xhosa class is going okay, the language is pretty hard though, and sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time because im not getting credit for it at home, but it is useful. It is nice to be able to say hello to ppl and ask their name and say goodbye. They are so surprised if you say something to them in Xhosa they are flattered you know their language. The kids at Sinethemba laugh at me all the time though because of how I attempt to speak xhosa..hah classes are fine though im excited to start my human rights class next week. But that’s all im adding so I will only have volunteer, human rights, and xhosa, class two days a week..so I will have a lot of free time. With how they do credits here, it seems like I cant take as many classes as I would at home, but because of terms it just splits up the classes so by the end of the semester I will have taken 3 soci classes two terms of xhosa and my volunteer class. Anyways enough about school..
So what have I been doing these past two months?! Going to school, and going out occasionally. I haven’t been out in awhile because Ive either been busy with school work on the weekend or I have been traveling. But new things Ive done this month…I have eaten Bunny Chow, my first Indian food, it was good, spicy. Ive seen more movies here than my whole college career..haha kidding but Ive seen Valentine’s Day and Dear John. Ive been to a Rugby game. It was fun it was at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium which id where some of the world cup games will be held. Rugby is interesting..thankfully we were sitting with a guy from Cali who plays at home so he was explaining it to us. The stadium is nice…looks new and is clean. It isn’t like American stadiums though that has ads and marketing everywhere. Like at pac bell park there is an ad on everything and everywhere, the stadium here is much more plain. From the rugby game we took plastic cups to play beer pong because they don’t sell anything like that here. Ive also been to a cricket game…we went to the finals so there were so many ppl there. I just don’t know how I feel about that game..it is kind of like baseball…but not. So funny to ask people whats going on at both rugby and cricket games..i just imagine being at a giants game and hearing the people behind me asking questions about whats going on and what is happening and thinking what the hell?! They don’t know how to play baseball? I know what your thinking Ashlynn about sports and me and asking questions…but this is different thankyouverymuch! The games were fun though and people got really into cricket, I think because it was the finals. Other than that I have been going to school, hanging out with people in my flat, volunteering and that’s about it. nice not to be SO busy all the time. At first it was really hard for me..I was going crazy because I wasn’t doing something all the time all day. Usually me being busy all the time with work, school, ADPi, spending time with friends and Luis, I rarely got a second to myself. Don’t get me wrong I love being busy and I loved my life at home, I loved that I always had something to do and I got used to the busyness and stressful life. So coming here and having nothing to do, and only have school a few days a week I kinda freaked out a bit. But over time I have gotten used to and I like having free time now. I take my time in whatever I do, and I have time to relax and stuff. I rarely have any concept of what time it is. I never look at my phone to see the time unless I have class..things are just more relaxed for me here. I could take a day and walk to the grocery store and take my time and walk home and that will take like an hour an half with the walk..things are just a lot calmer and more relaxed, obviously I don’t have as many responsibilities and I am taking advantage of it. I know when I get back home..it will take me awhile to adjust to the busy life again, but I am human so I will adapt. I am so much calmer with things, I have only had anxiety like 2 times since being here. I am more carefree and go with the flow, on all the trips ive been on I haven’t known any details about where were going or what were doing, I have just gone with the flow and it makes things so much better, if I were at home Id be stressing about figuring stuff out and more concerned, but here I care obviously but there is just a part of me that is like okay I don’t know what’s going, that’s fine ill roll with it. I feel like I enjoy things so much more here because I get a chance to recognize and enjoy things. What else….hmm since being here I have become a clean freak! Haha I know everyone who knows me well enough is saying Jen!? A clean freak…I don’t think so with that room?! Haha but seriously I clean all the time, my room is rarely ever dirty, I clean it everyday and I always clean the kitchen, I guess it is because I have the time to do it. but yes mom my room is always clean! Maybe it will carrying with me when I go back home : )
Sometimes I just think and I am so amazed that I am in Africa, it doesn’t occur to me all the time though because since ive been here for awhile I have gotten used to everything and I just consider the place I live. Its not like everyday oh my god I still cant get over the fact that im in Africa! It is more of like, yea I can see the beach from my window and the people around me are speaking Xhosa, and im in such a beautiful place. I’ve gotten used to it, so it is just normal to me. I think back to when I first got here, and when I was in the airport in Joburg and I was walking around with my jaw to the floor. I was so overwhelmed wit everything, the idea of buying your electricity at the supermarket, driving on the other side of the road, the language, and sayings here, the overwhelming ness of ppl screaming at you from cars, just everything and now all that just seems so normal. It is amazing to think of human beings how they adjust to things and things become normal with time. It amazes me how I can come here and adapt fully to being somewhere else..okay enough of my deep thought hah.
It is interesting to see the difference in cultures tho and how things that are normal for Africans are not for us and vice-versa. Especially with guys here, hmm how can I describe this..african guys are really forward compared to most guys in America. They will tell you, you looks pretty, and ask you for your phone number 2 minutes within meeting you, call you all the time, talk about being relationships with you, and how much they like you after meeting you twice…be forward when they dance with you and things like this..(don’t worry not ALL of this stuff has happened to me, but some of it) and the things about it is they don’t think it’s forward, they just think that’s how it is, simply the way they are. Normal for them..example: one morning I was on the taxi (the buses that drive along the road and take you to school for 6 rand) and I was sitting next to my roommate and a guy got on and sat behind us..no big deal, all of sudden he tapped me and gestured to his phone, it was a text and I read it. it said “My god you like beautiful today” I was so caught off guard I just looked at him and laughed and said thanks..and turned around. I really don’t think something like this would ever happen in America, if you were on a bus and someone tapped you to show you a text to give you a message… another time I was walking to the library by myself and I walked passed a guy who was walking the other way, he stopped like 10 feet from me and turned around and called out, I turned but kinda kept walking, he said hello, I said it back and he started to have a conversation with me while still standing 10 feet away, then he turned around and starting walking my direction, as I kept walking he continued to talk to me and walk me to the library, when I got there he just turned around and walked away..i don’t think if I was walking at Sonoma someone would turn around to walk me to the library. There are numerous things that I don’t need to go into detail about that have happened to my friends I live with but we all learned early to not give your phone number out. So I’m not telling these stories to boast the new attention I am receiving I am talking about this to show how important it is to be culturally relative. As much as I get uncomfortable sometimes with someone being forward to me, I need to understand this is the way their culture is, they aren’t trying to make me uncomfortable. It is important to yes stand by your own norms but try and understand the other cultures norms too. I can only imagine my mother reading this right now : ) mom don’t worry if I’m ever in a situation I am uncomfortable I always have my friends with me and I’m not too nice like you say! I am fine! All people are forward here, they say things I would never hear people say in the states. And I know that’s how they are here so there is no reason to get upset..one day I was at school and I was getting coffee, I put my water bottle down on the counter and the girl taking my order saw it and saw I had a lemon in it, without hesitation she said So your trying to lose weight huh?” hahaha I looked at her and said what? She motioned to my water bottle and said “your drinking lemon water” I said “yea, I like the way it tastes” she said “no you must be trying to lose weight by drinking that” I said don’t people drink lemon water? She said “no it tastes bad you only drink it is your trying to lose weight” hahah I was like alright whatever you say! She didn’t say any of it in a rude way at all, it was just a normal conversation and I didn’t get upset or anything I just thought it was funny. I couldn’t imagine going into Charlie Browns to get coffee though and having the barista ask me if I was trying to lose weight because I was drinking lemon water. The main idea im getting at is the importance to go with the flow and understand that we aren’t in America, we are in Africa! I really don’t like it when internationals here get upset because of things or compare Africa to home.. “this would never happen at home…” “Back home its like this…” I really dislike that, were not at home were in Africa! Be culturally relative and understand their culture! don’t get me wrong some days it is hard..manners in Africa isn’t very normal. It is rare to have people say thank you or excuse me or have people open the door for you..people push when they walk by and things like that. At first it was so hard to get used to, but I see myself now being more like them, I still use my customary manners but sometimes I’m like they aren’t going to say excuse me I’m not going to!
Want to know some fun facts about South Africa!?
It seems like everyone has pencil cases! Reminds me of you AC! Seriously I have never seen so many people with full pencil cases. They always put them on the desk next to them.
They say now-now and just now. This was seriously the hardest concept for me to understand. It means soon..but the time frame is like 5 minutes to never..so ill be talking to my SA friend and she will say “k ill be back now” and walk away, at first I was like wait what? Everyone says it and it just means soonish..kinda..
Everyone says “nice” as the adjective of choice. I will ask someone how their weekend was and they would say nice, I rarely ever hear someone said good, like it was good, I catch myself saying nice all the time too..
“how is it” is their greeting of choice, they don’t say how are you or how is it going, just how is it.
there is a difference between cabs and taxis. A cab is what we think a cab is at home you call them and they pick you up. A taxi is on the street and you catch them, it is 6 rand, they are mini buses, and they usually stuff anywhere from 14-20 ppl in them, it is kinda sketch but I think they are fine. If I talk to locals (white or coloured) and they ask me how I get to school when I tell them taxis they think I am kidding..haha they said they would never dare go on one. But they are fine! I am usually with someone I know when on it, I’ve only taken it by myself a few times.
Ive have been told numerous times that girls here don’t usually drink beer and it amazing that we drink it all the time. I asked why girls don’t and they said because its unusual and maybe the calories? Girls usually drink mixed drinks, wine coolers, or cider (most amazing thing ever, mix between apple cider, wine, and beer) I dunno, but I guess if guys see you drinking beer they either think it is unusual or really attractive for you to be drinking it..
There aren’t lions everywhere. I’ve been asked by so many locals about why I chose to come here and what I thought about SA before I came and most of them always ask did you think there were lions everywhere walking in the street!? Hah I tell them no… haha. When they find out im from cali they automatically think im a movie star or I know move stars, and I surf everyday…well looks like everyone is a little ignorant huh? South Africa is advanced, there is electricity and cars and it is a normal place, yes there are places where people live in huts and there really are animals walking around in the road.. but I dunno just a funny stereotype I am always asked.
Everyone drinks out of straws! Bottles of soda and cans of soda..i feel like im being rude if I don’t..i asked a girl in my class about it once and she was said a lot of the time girls do it to look more proper..i don’t kno if that’s true because everyone drinks out of straws.
In PE the weather changes literally every 5 mintues…in the morning it will be fuming hot then it will get windy then all of a sudden there is a thunder and lightening storm by the afternoon. It is hard to judge what to wear because you never know what the weather will be…
If you are in school, then you are in school, it is rare for people don’t go to school and work here. I told some people that I started working when I was 15 and they were baffled. It is also very common for kids to live with their parents til their late 20s. they don’t move out young. Once again when I told them I moved out when I was 17, they were astounded.
Hmmm cars here…I have never been somewhere where people drive as fast as they do here. Passing people is so common, even in residential or streets like E. Cotati. No one wears seat belts. Hah if I ever get the opportunity I take advantage of it! I miss wearing them. You even bring it up with someone from SA and they think it’s a joke, they are like….yea… not one wears them, they are annoying. You don’t pump your own gas here, the tenants at the gas station do it for you. They will also check your oil and fill your tires with air.
There is an extreme water drought. There is talk that PE is going to literally run out of water. And with the world cup coming who knows whats going to happen.
You can’t do your own laundry here. There aren’t laundry mats, you take them to the laundry places and you give them your laundry and they wash and dry and fold it for you. It cost 40 rand for a load they weight your cloths and a load is around 5kgs and yea.. weird thought of someone washing my cloths besides my mom but oh well!
They speak English here but there are so many phrases that are different. No one calls it candy, it is called sweets, the only thing with candy in the name is candy floss, which is cotton candy. They call erasers rubbers. They call the bathroom toilet…I hate that one I feel so gross saying it. they don’t say excuse me they say sorry, they look at you funny if you say excuse me.
There are no plugs in the bathroom. I guess its like unheard of to have an outlet in there..
Everyone smokes here! Its to a point where I don’t even smell it anymore. People can smoke in bars..i for sure have to wash my cloths after a night out. It is legal here to start smoking when you 16..so imagine the fact that the ‘legal’ drinkng age is 21 at home..and people start drinking in their early teens. People start smoking young here!
There are payphones everywhere! And ther are always people using them.
With a lot of things you don’t have bills..like with electricity you have ot go to the store and buy it, buy the credit and same with phone you have to buy credit, ‘airtime’ you don’t get billed for the month.
Hmmmm these are all the random SA facts I can think of at the moment! Definitely more to come.
I got World Cup tickets! Woo! The game is June 15th at the stadium in PE. Portugal vs. Ivory coast. And since I put my address and the fact that im a resident I got them for only 20 US dollars, the nose bleed section but that’s okay, its not like Ill watch the game anyways, huh Ash : ) kidding!
I just got back from Sunday’s River, I went with the Bannisters, long funny story but my grandma in utah goes to a doctor and the doctors friends are the Bannisters in PE! Small world right? So Kelleigh and I went to their river house for the weekend. It was nice to get away and relax. It was great to be around the comfort of a family, and talk to them about politics and south Africa, you know me and asking millions of questions : ) the river was great it comes off of the ocean and if you go far enough you can be out on the ocean, there are huge dunes on the river. We climbed up them and over them and up them and over them. After awhile all you see is huge massive sand hills, I felt like I was in Egypt or something. We went to Addo too which is a game park. We saw sooo many elephants, and tortoises, and kudo, and warthogs. The elephants are huge and so cute and the warthogs are strangely cute too! It was a great relaxing weekend!
Alright I think that is enough for now : ) I am still here alive and well in SA. Loving life and enjoying myself trying to take in as much as I possibly can. I miss home with all my heart and I wish I could be home but this is where Im supposed to be right now..LOVE YOU ALL! Your all in my thought.
Until next time, take care of you selves and Ill try and be a better blogger!
Loyally,
JD
I guess I should start at the beginning of the month: So I went on my first trip here! I went to Jeffrey’s Bay with 4 girls I live with in the Bantry. It was really fun, a cute little town, it was pretty calm when we were there. We rented a car, we were all a little nervous considering the fact you drive on the other side of the road AND the other side of the car, but my roomie stepped up to the plate and she volunteered to drive. We left mid morning on a Saturday and our land lord drove us to the rental car place. We signed papers and of course took a few pictures and then we were on our way..I sat in the front seat and it was weird not to be driving but Aisha (my roommate) did well and we made it to J-Bay alive! The drive was only like 45-50 minutes and then we arrived! We booked a hostel at this nice place called Jeffery’s Bay Backpackers. The backpacker was really cool and we stayed in a 12 person dorm. After checking in and getting a tour of the place we went out to move our car into a different parking lot and Aisha is moving it and then all of a sudden…it just stops, the engine and the car just stop moving. So she tries again to start it, and it is making a noise that cars should not make! So a few different people try to start it and no luck..of course! Just our luck that something like this would happen! So we roll the car into a parking spot (after this weekend I have become pro at pushing cars) and we call the guy from the rental car place and he tells us to try and againg and says sometimes the cars are temperamental..but nothing is working. So he tells us to call back in a few hours and to try again then..so we let the car situation rest for a while.
Then we heaed to get something to eat, we ate in a nice cute restaurant that was also a bakery and a deli kinda. I ended up getting an enchilada! Mexican food in SA?! That is unheard of!! It was really good actually, I wouldn’t call it a enchilada more of a burrito but very tasty. After we ate we walked around the town and it was pretty dead, I guess we went when it was the down season because school had just started and what not. But we walked around and then we walked down to the factory stores, they had billabong and some other ones. They ended up closing though soon after we got there, every closed down around 2. So early! That’s one thing about Africa, most things close really early, except bars. We headed to the beach after that and laid out for awhile. It was nice and there were families around, I was so curious to see the surf, because J-Bay is one of the most well known and best surf spots in the world. But the surf wasn’t anything special, but no surprise the beach was beautiful. We got some meat after the beach to braii BBQ) that night at the backpacker. There was a bar at the hostel right outside our room, all the drinks were 10 rand! That’s like $1.40! Cheap right? SO we talked it up with people staying there and one of the workers and took advantage of our cheap drinks. There were two girls there from Denmark who had just graduated high school and were taking a year off to travel, first SA, then the Philippines, then New Zealand, then AU! Crazy right? They were sweet hearts though. There were also 3 guys from Argentina there, they travel the world to different surf spots, and just surf. They had been in J-Bay for 3 weeks already and just surfed everyday. It was nice to hear people speak Spanish! In a way it was comforting and reminded me of home since Spanish is so common in the states We decided to try and figure out our car, we tried to start it again and it didn’t work, so we called back the guy and talked for awhile and came to the conclusion that he would have to pick us up the next day..so we were bummed and baffled that this happened, but we got over it. After awhile of eating and drinking we headed out to ‘Wacky Woods’ one of the reasons we went to J-Bay in the first place. It was a huge rave in the middle of nowhere in the woods. I have never experienced anything like it, and I don’t know if I ever will again. Haha…I had a lot of fun though, regardless of lots of intoxicated people who were on drugs. Don’t worry mom I was safe! No drugs for me! : ) There were lights everywhere and smoke machines and the loudest music that was just rave music. For a lot of the time I just stood there and watched people dance, it was entertaining! After being there for a long time and being overwhelmed by the smoke machine we decided to head home and go to bed. The next day we got up and checked out and went around the town a little more. The guy got there with his wife to pick us up he had a trailer with him. He tried to start the car…and no luck he looked under the hood and saw that the belt broke, don’t ask me what belt…but a belt, we were lucky that it didn’t break while we were driving there and fortunately we made it all the way there. He was just as baffled as us and said this has never happened in all the years he has been doing this, go figures it happens to us. Our next mission is to get the car on the trailer..a little difficult for 6 girls and 1 guy. After many many many tries of us trying to roll the car up onto the trailer..we try once more and sure enough we use so much strength that we not only get it on the trailer, but we push it over the trailer. Hahaah Loretta has a video of it, and it is hands down the best thing I have ever seen. It goes from us being excited to gasping in 2 seconds. So now the wheels are over the place where they are supposed to be and it is a mess. It is hard to explain without seeing it..but now we have to try and literally pick up the car to put it back over on to the trailer. After trying this for 10 minutes some locals walk up and start helping us, next thing I know there are 10 locals surrounding the car all trying to help and get the car back on, only in Africa…so finally we pick up the car and put it back on the trailer.. hah ohhh Africa. After figuring out the car for over an hour we are finally back on our way home to PE great weekend, great first trip for being here.
So I signed up for a volunteer class, CSL 100, and I’ve been going since the beginning of the term, There were 4 different options of where we could volunteer. Cherisre Homes which is close to school and it is a place for people who are physically disabled. The age ranges from 18 to 70 and your main point of being there is to hang out with the tenants and just talk to them. There is also baby homes, where you go to a home and it has babies that are either orphans, or they got taken away from their parents, or they got abandoned. I’ve heard the kids are so cute, some of them actually have HIV and most of them have serious stories that some of us won’t experience in our life time. There is also Masifundi which is in Walmer Township. It is a program set up for kids to do after school, there you are assigned like 2 kids a day and you help them with their homework and tutor them. The last place is Sinethemba. It is quite far from school but it is amazing. It is a home for street children. After much long thought, I chose to volunteer there. Sinethemba is really hard to describe, and I am still trying to figure out exactly how it works myself. It is a home for street children, some of them have families and they chose to leave and go to sinethemba because of their horrible home life. others go just during the day as like a dare care kind of thing, most of the kids there only for day car are around 3 or 4..younger. some of the kids have been there for years nad have gone home for a bit then come back. It is quite hard to describe. But it is a really interesting experience there are around 50 kids there and it is hectic. It is a house so there is a kitchen and rooms with bunk beds and there is a a few separate some structures where the younger kids stay during the day and another one where the boys sleep. It isn’t structured and there are kids of all ages running around. Our main reason for going there is to help the high schoolers with their homework. That rarely happens tho, they usually say they don’t have homework…but I know they do! So we usually end up playing with the elementary school kids, or ill go out and play with the toddlers. They are all well behaved…this comment is open for interpretation… for their lives and their situations they are well behaved, they are only human and they are little kids. But it is different from kids at home, a lot of them don’t have parents and obviously no sources of socialization from their parents. It is so normal for them to push each other and bite each other, yes that happens at home with kids but the thing that is odd is how the kids who are being pushed or bite act back..they just think its normal, they stop doing whatever they are doing and they rarely get upset. I don’t know if im explaining this sufficient enough…but the kids are so used to these actions that it isn’t unusually for them so they act like its normal. Irregardless they are kids so it does get hectic and I usually end up being a jungle gym for them to climb on and play with. Last week I left with some pretty intense bites from one of the little boys haha. The thing with the schools here..they aren’t as advanced as America..Its difficult and frustrating because as much as we think California education is shit, here its ridiculous. The children don’t have text books and usually the whole classroom has one book it seems like when we help all the kids they really just have no idea how to do homework. They have a hard time reading English and understanding the directions. They can’t do their homework because they don’t understand the basics of English or anything. In South Africa they don’t hold students back..even if you don’t understand the class or aren’t doing well they don’t hold you back in school, they push you forward to the next grade. So there are kids in high school who have a hard time reading simple directions in English. Also when they do things like math worksheets..the teachers don’t go over the answers. They have the worksheets and then they just put the answers on the board so the students don’t know how to get the answers in between.. the kids do the best they can and we try and help them the best we can. All of the staff are volunteers and don’t get paid anything they are all dedicated, usually when we are there they don’t really interact with us and we have to say hello first. I love it though, I love being with the kids and they all fight for attention because they don’t get it else where. I try and give attention to everyone equally, but I have a favorite her name is Anthea and she is adorable, mature, and smart. She is 11 and she has so much responsibility, she takes care of a lot of the kids. I love it there and I wish I could go longer and more often the kids need us to play with so they get the attention they deserve.
K I want to tell everyone about my amazing trip up to the ‘wild coast’ I went the weekend of March 5-7 we went to Coffee Bay and Port St. John. I went with 7 girls and one boy, luck guy huh : ) kidding…we left Friday morning. And before I went on the trip I had no idea where we were going, what we were doing, where we were staying, or any details whatsoever! And it turned out to be the best trip imaginable so having no expectations pays off! The drive was SO long…we drove all day and got to coffee bay around 6 pm. The drive was nice..so pretty. Great to see a new perspective of Africa. It seemed like real Africa. People living in huts and animals everywhere..we would be driving then all of a sudden there would be a cow in the middle of the road. They would just stand there, they wouldn’t move for you, you would have to maneuver around them.
Goats, cow, pigs..we saw it all. So other than driving all day we didn’t do much during the day on fri. as we kept driving further and further the less city there was. And it was so damn hot! Probably one of the hottest days since ive been here. So after driving for awhile, almost to coffee bay we stopped at a grocery store to get something to drink and where we stopped it was like a village..there were chickens in cages to be sold haha a little extreme we were the only white ppl these ppl have seen in a while I figured for all the stares. It was hands down the most uncomfortable I have felt in south Africa since ive been here..i got over it tho and we left to finish our long drive over the potholes to coffee bay, hopefully you have all seen my video on facebook with the crazy messed up road with the potholes. when we got to coffee bay we just hung out, our hostel was very nice and there was music and local dance there. The next day we set out for this place called hole in the wall…the ppl at the desk told us we could walk and thankfully we didn’t because it took us like 30 minutes to drive there. After get lost a few times and stopping for directions we found it. it didn’t seem like anything tho because we were in local Africa, no town, ppl living in their huts, dirt roads, and us trying to find this place we heard about..we found it tho and it was absolutely beautiful we all just sat and chilled and saw the beautiful ocean with this massive land in the water with a huge hole in the middle. One of the most beautiful places I have seen. After spending a few hours here we left for port st. johh…a few hour drive later we made it to the backacker..port st john is beautiful driving into it, it reminded me of yosemite. The backpacker was so cool, we, got really lucky with backpackers this weekend they were both amazing and had entertainment, and a restaurant, and a bar. Sooo the whole reason we went on this trip was to meet some people that some of the girls I live with met a few weekends before. Soo mom this part of the story you wont be too happy about but im fine! So that’s all that matters! So we met Richard and his friend (I don’t remember his name!) there and the took us in the bed of their truck up a huge mnt to watch the sunset..haha after getting in the bed of the truck my thought went to..ahhh we don’t know these ppl and they are taking us to the middle of nowhere..is this a good idea? Only in Africa! We have to take a chance! And im so glad we did the view up the mnt was breath taking and we overlooked all of port st john. Beyond amazing. After getting home safely we watched Richard play the drums and the other two bands that were there and hung around the bar. The next day we had the bright idea to wake up at 5am to watch the sunrise and drive an hour to this waterfall. Once again Richard lead the way to this waterfall in the middle of nowhere. We had to walk over the top of the water fall across to the other side to walk through the woods to go see it. and it was amazing. Then some of the group left to head home and 5 of us girls stayed, Richard took us to this place…I have no idea what it was called but it was all local xhosa ppl. It was supposed to be like a place to take care of your self and such. There was this hole in the ground that you were supposed to breath in the gases and it is supposed to cure a headache or anything as such! It just smelt like gas to me! Then we went into this mud cave and one of the local boys painted our face with mud, which is supposed to help our skin. Then we literally mnt climbed up a mnt and went to this other water hole. Deep in the hole is water you take out to drink, it is supposed to cure you of anything, it tasted and smelt like rotten eggs! Then Richard pointed us over to a huge mud bath, and told us to get in. we walked through the forest a little to see around 20 african women naked cleaning themselves in this mud water. Us girls put our feet in and stood there. Im surprised by the reaction of some of the women, a lot of them were welcoming, some were taking pictures of us on their camera phones, others were just staring, we felt a little uncomfortable just looking at them so we took off our cloths into our costumes (swimsuits) and underwear and got into the water and did what they did. They were rubbing mud all over eachother then washing it off. We got out and said good bye to everyone around and went back to our car and tipped the little guy that painted our faces and helped us out (he carried my shoes up the mnt when I was climbing!) Im so lucky we did follow Richard he showed us the most amazing part of Africa we would have never found just as tourists. There was no signs for the waterfall, we wouldn’t have felt as welcomed at the locals mud place, and there would have been no way we would have found our self up that mnt. It is so nice to have a local show you around. Im sorry if all my explanations are brief it is just hard to describe everything the way it happened, everything was so amazing it is just hard to put in to words how great it was .
School has been good. It is a different structure here which I’m getting used to. The term is over on Friday and I start a new class next week and end two this week. Grading is different here…they go by percents and not grades..a 75 and above is an A they call is a distinction and that’s really good. I think a 50 or a 60 is a C.. I dunno I feel like everyone I ask always has a different answer. It may seem easy to get an A but its not..i feel like here they don’t believe in giving perfect grades like there is always something wrong with it even if what you did was spot on. In my sociology advance social research methods class we had a test and it was so hard, so hard! And 9 ppl out of 70 passed… we asked our professor about it and he said that’s normal! No that’s not normal what so ever! But he insisted it was…but it defiantly isn’t, they don’t usually give your tests back, so you don’t know what u got wrong or see the teachers grading or comments. They have a DP which is your mark to be able to let you take the final so in a usual class you will have an assignment and a test. And some classes have a DP of 60 or 50 meaning that your class work is the percent of your final grade. So in my research class the DP is 60 and the final is 40% of your grade..in order to take the final you have to have a DP of 40% (but this isn’t on the American 50-100% is passing scale) I don’t know why im trying to explain it, it is difficult to understand! My xhosa class is going okay, the language is pretty hard though, and sometimes I feel like I’m wasting my time because im not getting credit for it at home, but it is useful. It is nice to be able to say hello to ppl and ask their name and say goodbye. They are so surprised if you say something to them in Xhosa they are flattered you know their language. The kids at Sinethemba laugh at me all the time though because of how I attempt to speak xhosa..hah classes are fine though im excited to start my human rights class next week. But that’s all im adding so I will only have volunteer, human rights, and xhosa, class two days a week..so I will have a lot of free time. With how they do credits here, it seems like I cant take as many classes as I would at home, but because of terms it just splits up the classes so by the end of the semester I will have taken 3 soci classes two terms of xhosa and my volunteer class. Anyways enough about school..
So what have I been doing these past two months?! Going to school, and going out occasionally. I haven’t been out in awhile because Ive either been busy with school work on the weekend or I have been traveling. But new things Ive done this month…I have eaten Bunny Chow, my first Indian food, it was good, spicy. Ive seen more movies here than my whole college career..haha kidding but Ive seen Valentine’s Day and Dear John. Ive been to a Rugby game. It was fun it was at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium which id where some of the world cup games will be held. Rugby is interesting..thankfully we were sitting with a guy from Cali who plays at home so he was explaining it to us. The stadium is nice…looks new and is clean. It isn’t like American stadiums though that has ads and marketing everywhere. Like at pac bell park there is an ad on everything and everywhere, the stadium here is much more plain. From the rugby game we took plastic cups to play beer pong because they don’t sell anything like that here. Ive also been to a cricket game…we went to the finals so there were so many ppl there. I just don’t know how I feel about that game..it is kind of like baseball…but not. So funny to ask people whats going on at both rugby and cricket games..i just imagine being at a giants game and hearing the people behind me asking questions about whats going on and what is happening and thinking what the hell?! They don’t know how to play baseball? I know what your thinking Ashlynn about sports and me and asking questions…but this is different thankyouverymuch! The games were fun though and people got really into cricket, I think because it was the finals. Other than that I have been going to school, hanging out with people in my flat, volunteering and that’s about it. nice not to be SO busy all the time. At first it was really hard for me..I was going crazy because I wasn’t doing something all the time all day. Usually me being busy all the time with work, school, ADPi, spending time with friends and Luis, I rarely got a second to myself. Don’t get me wrong I love being busy and I loved my life at home, I loved that I always had something to do and I got used to the busyness and stressful life. So coming here and having nothing to do, and only have school a few days a week I kinda freaked out a bit. But over time I have gotten used to and I like having free time now. I take my time in whatever I do, and I have time to relax and stuff. I rarely have any concept of what time it is. I never look at my phone to see the time unless I have class..things are just more relaxed for me here. I could take a day and walk to the grocery store and take my time and walk home and that will take like an hour an half with the walk..things are just a lot calmer and more relaxed, obviously I don’t have as many responsibilities and I am taking advantage of it. I know when I get back home..it will take me awhile to adjust to the busy life again, but I am human so I will adapt. I am so much calmer with things, I have only had anxiety like 2 times since being here. I am more carefree and go with the flow, on all the trips ive been on I haven’t known any details about where were going or what were doing, I have just gone with the flow and it makes things so much better, if I were at home Id be stressing about figuring stuff out and more concerned, but here I care obviously but there is just a part of me that is like okay I don’t know what’s going, that’s fine ill roll with it. I feel like I enjoy things so much more here because I get a chance to recognize and enjoy things. What else….hmm since being here I have become a clean freak! Haha I know everyone who knows me well enough is saying Jen!? A clean freak…I don’t think so with that room?! Haha but seriously I clean all the time, my room is rarely ever dirty, I clean it everyday and I always clean the kitchen, I guess it is because I have the time to do it. but yes mom my room is always clean! Maybe it will carrying with me when I go back home : )
Sometimes I just think and I am so amazed that I am in Africa, it doesn’t occur to me all the time though because since ive been here for awhile I have gotten used to everything and I just consider the place I live. Its not like everyday oh my god I still cant get over the fact that im in Africa! It is more of like, yea I can see the beach from my window and the people around me are speaking Xhosa, and im in such a beautiful place. I’ve gotten used to it, so it is just normal to me. I think back to when I first got here, and when I was in the airport in Joburg and I was walking around with my jaw to the floor. I was so overwhelmed wit everything, the idea of buying your electricity at the supermarket, driving on the other side of the road, the language, and sayings here, the overwhelming ness of ppl screaming at you from cars, just everything and now all that just seems so normal. It is amazing to think of human beings how they adjust to things and things become normal with time. It amazes me how I can come here and adapt fully to being somewhere else..okay enough of my deep thought hah.
It is interesting to see the difference in cultures tho and how things that are normal for Africans are not for us and vice-versa. Especially with guys here, hmm how can I describe this..african guys are really forward compared to most guys in America. They will tell you, you looks pretty, and ask you for your phone number 2 minutes within meeting you, call you all the time, talk about being relationships with you, and how much they like you after meeting you twice…be forward when they dance with you and things like this..(don’t worry not ALL of this stuff has happened to me, but some of it) and the things about it is they don’t think it’s forward, they just think that’s how it is, simply the way they are. Normal for them..example: one morning I was on the taxi (the buses that drive along the road and take you to school for 6 rand) and I was sitting next to my roommate and a guy got on and sat behind us..no big deal, all of sudden he tapped me and gestured to his phone, it was a text and I read it. it said “My god you like beautiful today” I was so caught off guard I just looked at him and laughed and said thanks..and turned around. I really don’t think something like this would ever happen in America, if you were on a bus and someone tapped you to show you a text to give you a message… another time I was walking to the library by myself and I walked passed a guy who was walking the other way, he stopped like 10 feet from me and turned around and called out, I turned but kinda kept walking, he said hello, I said it back and he started to have a conversation with me while still standing 10 feet away, then he turned around and starting walking my direction, as I kept walking he continued to talk to me and walk me to the library, when I got there he just turned around and walked away..i don’t think if I was walking at Sonoma someone would turn around to walk me to the library. There are numerous things that I don’t need to go into detail about that have happened to my friends I live with but we all learned early to not give your phone number out. So I’m not telling these stories to boast the new attention I am receiving I am talking about this to show how important it is to be culturally relative. As much as I get uncomfortable sometimes with someone being forward to me, I need to understand this is the way their culture is, they aren’t trying to make me uncomfortable. It is important to yes stand by your own norms but try and understand the other cultures norms too. I can only imagine my mother reading this right now : ) mom don’t worry if I’m ever in a situation I am uncomfortable I always have my friends with me and I’m not too nice like you say! I am fine! All people are forward here, they say things I would never hear people say in the states. And I know that’s how they are here so there is no reason to get upset..one day I was at school and I was getting coffee, I put my water bottle down on the counter and the girl taking my order saw it and saw I had a lemon in it, without hesitation she said So your trying to lose weight huh?” hahaha I looked at her and said what? She motioned to my water bottle and said “your drinking lemon water” I said “yea, I like the way it tastes” she said “no you must be trying to lose weight by drinking that” I said don’t people drink lemon water? She said “no it tastes bad you only drink it is your trying to lose weight” hahah I was like alright whatever you say! She didn’t say any of it in a rude way at all, it was just a normal conversation and I didn’t get upset or anything I just thought it was funny. I couldn’t imagine going into Charlie Browns to get coffee though and having the barista ask me if I was trying to lose weight because I was drinking lemon water. The main idea im getting at is the importance to go with the flow and understand that we aren’t in America, we are in Africa! I really don’t like it when internationals here get upset because of things or compare Africa to home.. “this would never happen at home…” “Back home its like this…” I really dislike that, were not at home were in Africa! Be culturally relative and understand their culture! don’t get me wrong some days it is hard..manners in Africa isn’t very normal. It is rare to have people say thank you or excuse me or have people open the door for you..people push when they walk by and things like that. At first it was so hard to get used to, but I see myself now being more like them, I still use my customary manners but sometimes I’m like they aren’t going to say excuse me I’m not going to!
Want to know some fun facts about South Africa!?
It seems like everyone has pencil cases! Reminds me of you AC! Seriously I have never seen so many people with full pencil cases. They always put them on the desk next to them.
They say now-now and just now. This was seriously the hardest concept for me to understand. It means soon..but the time frame is like 5 minutes to never..so ill be talking to my SA friend and she will say “k ill be back now” and walk away, at first I was like wait what? Everyone says it and it just means soonish..kinda..
Everyone says “nice” as the adjective of choice. I will ask someone how their weekend was and they would say nice, I rarely ever hear someone said good, like it was good, I catch myself saying nice all the time too..
“how is it” is their greeting of choice, they don’t say how are you or how is it going, just how is it.
there is a difference between cabs and taxis. A cab is what we think a cab is at home you call them and they pick you up. A taxi is on the street and you catch them, it is 6 rand, they are mini buses, and they usually stuff anywhere from 14-20 ppl in them, it is kinda sketch but I think they are fine. If I talk to locals (white or coloured) and they ask me how I get to school when I tell them taxis they think I am kidding..haha they said they would never dare go on one. But they are fine! I am usually with someone I know when on it, I’ve only taken it by myself a few times.
Ive have been told numerous times that girls here don’t usually drink beer and it amazing that we drink it all the time. I asked why girls don’t and they said because its unusual and maybe the calories? Girls usually drink mixed drinks, wine coolers, or cider (most amazing thing ever, mix between apple cider, wine, and beer) I dunno, but I guess if guys see you drinking beer they either think it is unusual or really attractive for you to be drinking it..
There aren’t lions everywhere. I’ve been asked by so many locals about why I chose to come here and what I thought about SA before I came and most of them always ask did you think there were lions everywhere walking in the street!? Hah I tell them no… haha. When they find out im from cali they automatically think im a movie star or I know move stars, and I surf everyday…well looks like everyone is a little ignorant huh? South Africa is advanced, there is electricity and cars and it is a normal place, yes there are places where people live in huts and there really are animals walking around in the road.. but I dunno just a funny stereotype I am always asked.
Everyone drinks out of straws! Bottles of soda and cans of soda..i feel like im being rude if I don’t..i asked a girl in my class about it once and she was said a lot of the time girls do it to look more proper..i don’t kno if that’s true because everyone drinks out of straws.
In PE the weather changes literally every 5 mintues…in the morning it will be fuming hot then it will get windy then all of a sudden there is a thunder and lightening storm by the afternoon. It is hard to judge what to wear because you never know what the weather will be…
If you are in school, then you are in school, it is rare for people don’t go to school and work here. I told some people that I started working when I was 15 and they were baffled. It is also very common for kids to live with their parents til their late 20s. they don’t move out young. Once again when I told them I moved out when I was 17, they were astounded.
Hmmm cars here…I have never been somewhere where people drive as fast as they do here. Passing people is so common, even in residential or streets like E. Cotati. No one wears seat belts. Hah if I ever get the opportunity I take advantage of it! I miss wearing them. You even bring it up with someone from SA and they think it’s a joke, they are like….yea… not one wears them, they are annoying. You don’t pump your own gas here, the tenants at the gas station do it for you. They will also check your oil and fill your tires with air.
There is an extreme water drought. There is talk that PE is going to literally run out of water. And with the world cup coming who knows whats going to happen.
You can’t do your own laundry here. There aren’t laundry mats, you take them to the laundry places and you give them your laundry and they wash and dry and fold it for you. It cost 40 rand for a load they weight your cloths and a load is around 5kgs and yea.. weird thought of someone washing my cloths besides my mom but oh well!
They speak English here but there are so many phrases that are different. No one calls it candy, it is called sweets, the only thing with candy in the name is candy floss, which is cotton candy. They call erasers rubbers. They call the bathroom toilet…I hate that one I feel so gross saying it. they don’t say excuse me they say sorry, they look at you funny if you say excuse me.
There are no plugs in the bathroom. I guess its like unheard of to have an outlet in there..
Everyone smokes here! Its to a point where I don’t even smell it anymore. People can smoke in bars..i for sure have to wash my cloths after a night out. It is legal here to start smoking when you 16..so imagine the fact that the ‘legal’ drinkng age is 21 at home..and people start drinking in their early teens. People start smoking young here!
There are payphones everywhere! And ther are always people using them.
With a lot of things you don’t have bills..like with electricity you have ot go to the store and buy it, buy the credit and same with phone you have to buy credit, ‘airtime’ you don’t get billed for the month.
Hmmmm these are all the random SA facts I can think of at the moment! Definitely more to come.
I got World Cup tickets! Woo! The game is June 15th at the stadium in PE. Portugal vs. Ivory coast. And since I put my address and the fact that im a resident I got them for only 20 US dollars, the nose bleed section but that’s okay, its not like Ill watch the game anyways, huh Ash : ) kidding!
I just got back from Sunday’s River, I went with the Bannisters, long funny story but my grandma in utah goes to a doctor and the doctors friends are the Bannisters in PE! Small world right? So Kelleigh and I went to their river house for the weekend. It was nice to get away and relax. It was great to be around the comfort of a family, and talk to them about politics and south Africa, you know me and asking millions of questions : ) the river was great it comes off of the ocean and if you go far enough you can be out on the ocean, there are huge dunes on the river. We climbed up them and over them and up them and over them. After awhile all you see is huge massive sand hills, I felt like I was in Egypt or something. We went to Addo too which is a game park. We saw sooo many elephants, and tortoises, and kudo, and warthogs. The elephants are huge and so cute and the warthogs are strangely cute too! It was a great relaxing weekend!
Alright I think that is enough for now : ) I am still here alive and well in SA. Loving life and enjoying myself trying to take in as much as I possibly can. I miss home with all my heart and I wish I could be home but this is where Im supposed to be right now..LOVE YOU ALL! Your all in my thought.
Until next time, take care of you selves and Ill try and be a better blogger!
Loyally,
JD
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