Molweni bhuti, sisi, mama, and tata's! Kunjani?! There is a little Xhosa for you all it means hello peers and adults, how is life? Life is good here in Port Elizabeth. I'm all settled in and taking a liking to the eastern cape. I guess I should start from the beginning so everyone can know all thats gone on...
The goodbyes were rough, all day on the 16th I was pretty much a wreck, still not comprehending I was leaving my whole life for 11 months. Said my sad, sad goodbyes at the airport and was on my way to travel for 24 hours. I met the other girls from SSU at the gate and we sat and waited for awhile talking about what we were excited for, our boyfriend situations, our families and such. We got on the United plane to JFK and I must say I didn't enjoy that flight whatsoever! I sat in the middle between two women and I didn't sleep at all and even though it was only 5 hours I was so excited to get off! One of the girls I sat next to though was from NY but she had visited SA and her dad was from here..So we talked for awhile about places I should go and places she enjoyed. After finally getting off the plane we sat for our 4 hour layover and we met two more girls from our program who were flying with us too. So that was nice to meet more people and be all together to travel. We also met a very nice Afrikaner who lived in Jo'burg and he talked to us for most of the time telling us places to go and talking about what he liked about SA and he asked us questions about the US you know the usual politics and such. I was absolutely dreading the 15 hour plane ride!!! But getting on I actually sat next to the young Afrikaner man and we chatted more but he slept most of the time. The airplane was amazing and it was actually better than my 5 hour flight to NY. We had our own tvs and alot of foot room and it was good. I probably only slept an hour and the other time I watched movies and tv shows. 500 days of summer, the time travelers wife, miss congenitally, CSI no law and order :( and some other stuff I don't remember. The food was pleasant and we had chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner french toast for breakfast. When we finally landed we were in a fury of people and customs in Jo'burg. So many people every where and the guy at customs asked for my school acceptance letter. I panicked for like 30 seconds but thankfully I had it in my carry on..What would have happened if I didn't have that! But other than that customs was a joke we walked though a hallway and no one looked at our stuff...it was quite funny watching all of us carry our big bags...I had a rough time but I managed with my huge suitcases. Then we we walked though the hall there was police standing with huge guns! I was like...welcome to Africa! But then there was like on Entourage and paparazzi and some guy was walking you can tell he was a celebrity or something...but we were just standing and stating and the crowd outside the customs gate was going crazy..There we signs for him and the police was protecting him..I guess he was a huge soccer star from Argentina that socre some winning goal for something...I don't know..I'm sorry Ashlynn for not having sense of sports. hah anyways walking though the airport my jaw was just dropped the whole entire time. I was overwhelmed with the fact that I was actually in Africa. The difference in everything the people the place it was crazy. Finally after another flight we arrived in PE what I learned from being just at the airports in SA for only a short amount of time is that everything in Africa takes a LONG time..they don't have a sense of time out here and everything is "just now" meaning "Ill see you just now" which means there is a time window of seeing you or helping you of 5 mintues to 2 days...great time window I know. So anyways we arrived in PE and got picked up at the airport for someone who took us to the bantry where we are all staying, the IP students, and we settled in and hung out...not anything exciting. The bantry is cool. I live with a girl from fullerton. there is a common room and a bathroom and a kitchen we both have our own room. Pretty nice. We were all so tired we passed out I slept for like 12 hours. the nest day we went to school and checked in. campus is big! there are 5 or 6 campuses in SA most of them are in PE but all my classes and the main campus is summerstrand south campus. When we got to the international office we checked in and originally the lady thought I was from sweden hahah I was like Im from the US! We took the taxis which are like mini buses they are..interesting they fit as many people in them as possible and they are 6 rand where ever you go..kinda sketch but safe during the day. those are main form of transportation here. there are also metros or double buses which are like city buses and cabs. which we know as our taxi cabs. We walked around PE and went to the Boarkwalk which is right down the street from us it has stores and restaurants there is a casino there it is very nice right across the street from the beach. Yea if i didnt mention that before i live right next to the beach I can see it out of my window..like a block away. We also went to Greenacres sometime during the week it is a big mall about 20 minutes away frome Humewood which is the like area called where I live. it is a nice place we got sheets and towels and all our necessities. When we were leaving we actually got stranded at the mall..the bus never came and we waited for an hour and a half and then a local SA women who I was talking to while waiting advised we get home soon cuz it would be unsafe after dark so we took a cab home 70 rand! Don’t worry everything was fine! the lady at the bus stop was amazing though, I really do love SA people they come off standoffish and maybe even bothered by you talking to them but once they see you are friendly and care about what they say, they are the best people to have a conversation with. I ended up talking to this lady about the apartheid and it was great.
That night we went to Barney’s and captains. Barneys is like a pub, chill there was some music and we sat outside and chilled and drank some..then we went to captains which is more along the lines of a club. There was karaoke which is funny, our group sang a song..i danced along on stage no singing for me. It ws really fun though, obviously the locals know were not from there and they taught us some of their dance moves and they danced with us..the men and women were friendly toward us and it was really fun. They are considerably more conservative than us and dancing isn’t quite as ranchy as the states which is nice. They play music just like the US would things are mostly up to date they play some SA songs as well, some house music but not a lot like I expected.
The rest of the week we ran errands around the city, was in the internation office a lot and aroud town and the beach.
That weekend was our orientation bush camp. It was so hot on Friday when we left that’s one thing about PE the weather, the weather here changes every 10 minutes you can experience 4 seasons in one days, most of the time it is nice and usually windy. This place is extremely windy!!! Anyways we set of inland toward camp and we stopped at Addo Croc and Lion ranch. It was really cool there were crocs everywhere and the cutest Alphies ever!! The lions were beautiful and there were big adult ones and a separate cage for the cubs. The cubs were ridiculously cute and playing with each other, patting eachothers faces and ears and some were being lazy and just sleeping. After walking around the whole place we got to wait in line and hold little baby cubs. Hands down the cutest things ever they had so much personality. You could tell they didn’t want to be held anymore because they would run away and try and hide. They were like little puppies or large kittens sooo cute and soft. They were making the cutest noises too like yawning loudly..but it wasn’t yawning. They were so cute you would hold them and feed them milk out of a baby bottle. Seriously adorable! After that we headed the actual bush camp..it was nice a relaxing atmosphere. It had tents and like a mess hall, running water and toilets! It was so hot and I got some anxiety while I was there because a girl fell off the zip line, she was okay but the rest of the day I was home sick and not stoked on being there. I knew I wold be better the next day so I was fine and just talked to some people and felt a little better. I was right though and the next day I was better and had so much more fun. We did group building and obstacle courses with our group I met a lot more people from other places and we all swam and canoed and just hung out all day. Absolute best part of camp by far was the food! It was beyond amazing, I don’t remember any of the names of things but hands down amazing food. Yes lots of meat but I only had some and eat most of everything else. Overall camp was really fun and I had some great conversations with people whether it was the locals who worked at the camp or other international students.
Sunday night we went to a bar close to our house that plays jazz on Sundays. That was fun and something calmer to do then a club nice music and a nicer kind of place.
Monday we had orientation where the term waiting is an understatement. Things take a very long time here…after its all said and done though everything gets sorted out and done so no big deal. It was mostly just a intro day.
Tuesday we had a city tour which was very nice to go to places that I haven’t seen yet. PE has a very large harbor and we got to go see it, it was amazing the work that gets done there. PE is a large place that exports cars, citrus, and fish, squid, lots of petro comes in to PE too. We weren’t allowed to take pictures there for safety reasons or something, but it was pretty cool how many containers the carrier boats can carry. We then went to the Dunkin Reserve Pyramid where we were told how PE was named. Then Fort Frederick. After we drove through to the townships and saw the conditions people live in. The Red Location Musem which is new in middle of the townships. The Apartheid museum was amazing. Done beautifully. Lots of history and some cool things there like Nelson Mandela’s journals and such. There was also a room that had the most amazing art done by Mbongeni Buthelezi he made pictures out of plastic and burned the plastic to all mold together. I was amazed and seriously didn’t leave the room for a long time. After we left we drove around PE more and saw the new stadium where some of the World Cup will be played. It looks amazing I really want to go inside! We ended up at greenacres again and people got more stuff they needed.
The next day we had registration which went better than I expected, I expected that it was going to be horrible and take such a long time. It was time consuming and overall confusing but I figured it out. School is done much different here than the states. NMMU has two semesters and there are 4 terms within those semesters. You are only allowed to take a max of 60 credits a semester and only 120 for the year. So first and second term I am taking soci classes and not focusing on business it is too hard to fit it in because I have to take xhosa which is the language and it just seems like there aren’t enough credits I’m allowed to take but I am taking xhosa, CSL100 which is a volunteer class where I will go and help underprivileged kids with homework and do activities with them in the townships, first term I am taking sociology methods and research, sociology and environment which talks about sexual abuse, rape, AIDS, human trafficking, and second term I’m taking human rights. I am way excited about my soci classes though…we’ll see what happens with business maybe I’ll take a class next semester. Being here is so different for me though, I am used to working, sorority, school all the time. Being constantly busy so with the school and classes here I only have school a few days a week…so I am twiddling my fingers a lot of the time school only started yesterday but we’ll see how my time goes..Maybe I’ll get a job.
The rest of the week was chill though, enjoying our last days of summer hanging out and going out. We went to Captains on Thursday and a cool place called Balezia on Saturday that is the closest thing to a club I’ve seen out here. Really big place with numerous bars and lots and lots of dancing. We got home super late and all passed out not before making grilled cheeses!
School is good little different than SSU which only has a peek time of 12-1 campus is always busy! With people everywhere and lots of diversity. The people are all really nice and willing to always help you. If you ever ask for directions people never say oh its over there and point, they will walk you themselves. Its way different than the states. I don’t think that’s ever happen to me in the states hah. Ive only had xhosa and soci and environment so far. Xhosa will be interesting…I’ve learned a few phrases but I’m not gonna be fluent or anything. The professor is really nice though and the class is at nights at 5:30 to 7:45 so there isn’t many people in it so better to practice and teach us one on one. I just got my syllabus in soci and environment it seems interesting. Just a different type of thing here 50 of your grade is your final and the other percent is all your class marks called your DP. My finals won’t be until June so this class only goes until march…so I will have to remember everything for the final in June..should be interesting.
Overall though I am enjoying it and getting acclimated with life here. I like the people I live with and we all mesh well together. I have my bad days where I do get homesick but I’ll talk to someone here and feel better…I know there are going to be ups and downs I am just going with the groove of things which is sometimes easier said than done. South Africa is a beautiful place, almost as beautiful as the people here.
Until next time, I miss everyone and I hope everyone is well.
Loyally,
JD
