My birthday and Last adventure...

So i am leaving Pietermaritzburg today, which totally sucks. Although, i had an day and last night here. Yesterday i went to Durban with Kerry and Kelly before they went on their last adventure and got really sweet at surfing, really, well kind of, but i did get up a lot on my own. kind of rashy but super fun. can i please move to California? Because it was my last night and i turned 21 at midnight a bunch of my friends came over and we went out to the bars and to a club. I had an amazing time.

But today me and my friend are taking a bus to Johannesburg and then going on a safari for 4 days in Kruger National Park and then meeting up with another friend and going to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. Weird right? Well so this is going to be my last blog when i am in South Africa, but i will finish off the blog and post some pictures when i get home (in 9 days!!!). Didn't want to leave ya'll hangin'. See ya soon!

Wrapping things up...

So the mural is done, i am done volunteering and i have exactly a week left in Pietermaritzburg before i head out on my final adventure. It has been really quiet on campus since we finished classes on the 20th and everyone is just studying and hanging out, waiting for their exams.

We have been watching a lot of movies, Juno and a really bad Johnny Depp Movie, Don Juan Demarco. And last night we even went to karaoke night at the nearby bar. (Sang Katy Perry "I kissed a girl" and R. Kelly "Ignition".) I have my Zulu exam tomorrow and my volunteering class we have a presentation and a research project. Monday it is History and then i am all done. People have been overall really chill and studious because exams here are all worth 50-60% of your grade, so this three hour test either passes or fails you. A lot is at stake, too much if you ask me.

So that's it, i was just told in a recent email that i only have 17 days left till i come home. Insane.

Comrades Marathon...

So there is this really big marathon here, but it isn't just marathon. It goes from the city i live, Pietermaritzburg to Durban and it is a total of 89 km, which is 56 miles, which is 2 marathons plus a 5k, which is insane.

Well anyway, everyone went down this morning to the start of the race in town (at 5am) and there were 13,000 runners. 13,000 people want to do this crazy thing. It is advertised by South Africa that everyone should do Comrades Marathon it least once in your life (maybe that is why they don't have obese people here), they make it seem very attainable. Anyway, people lines the streets of ton like there was going to be a parade. I decided, rather than watch i wanted to be a part of it, and i needed a long run of the day because i just started training for a regular marathon of my own. So after watching the start i decided to jump in and run with them and join the atmosphere.

Once i determined that people weren't elite anymore (it took over 10 minutes of people running by to get with a group that was slow enough) i jumped in and ran 9km with them, and then turned around and ran 7k back to my dorm. While running i even ran into the guy that gave me the surf lesson two days before, he was crazy. Can you believe that i can run into someone i know running a marathon in South Africa. I told you to remember him! I figured it out to be around 10ish miles. I wasn't really trained enough for it, but the atmosphere was awesome.

The people were so fresh and it a great mood since it was the beginning, and on my way back everyone was laughing at me. When i got back to my dorm, a bunch of the girls were watching it on TV came up to me and said they saw me on TV! It was really exciting. I took a shower and nap and then woke up and went to the TV room to see the first people came in (well actually i missed the first, and saw the fourth) they finished around 5 hours and 23 minutes for over a double marathon! I was glued to the TV for the next couple hours as they showed the first women finish, twins from Russia, and then they started showing normal people and their stories.

I had never watched TV in the TV room before, but it is kind of fun. Since there are 11 official languages in South Africa they rotate through them but mostly English or English subtitles. It is really funny.

Well, maybe one day i will do the whole thing, but 17k was definitely enough for me this morning. I am sooo sore!

Time to write my research paper...

Durban and other weekend adventures...

So this weekend, being one of my last weekends around (time just went into hyper speed and i don't know what is going on) me and my friends decided to take one of the study break days and head down to Durban to the beach to go for a little surf lesson.

First we walked around and did some shopping i tried on some killer bright purple pants and spent most of the afternoon regretting that i didn't buy them, but anyway. We walked around this area called "The Workshop" and another area called "Victoria Street Market" which is part of the Indian district in Durban. Did you know that Durban has the largest Indian population outside of India. Weird right... so far away.

But then we headed down to the Ushaka beach and had a surf lesson with this guy named Sean (who will come up later in the next post so watch out). He was this super hyper 49 year old man, who was super tan and had awful teeth. Me and my friend Michelle put on our rash guards (those tight shirts you have to wear) as we listened to instructions. It was kind of a cool day, but the Indian Ocean is always warm and we set out down the beach. The surfboards we used were a little cushy for beginners and we set off. In the beginning he pushed us to help us get up and i got up right away. After like one fall i rode about 4 waves all the way to the beach. I was having a great time. Then he made me catch my own waves by swimming and standing up at the right time. Not so easy, but i caught a few of them. I had so much fun (not to toot my own horn but i think I'm a natural) i want to go back before I have to go home, we'll see. Hang Ten dude.

The next adventure of the weekend was the equivilent of the county fair called the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg. It was held at the Royal Showgrounds, i know it sounds funny, and there was a bunch of agricultural exhibits and rides, and food, and random random things. We got there towards the end of the day and went right to this area where there was live music to meet some friends. There were 4 opening bands, some good, some bad and then the main act, this huge band in South Africa called Prime Circle played. They were awful, sounded kind of like Nickelback and Creed, and i thought i was going to vomit, but itleast there was really good people watching going on and all the South Africans LOVED it. I guess they just don't know what good music is.

It was fun to see how a concert here would be compared to home, and the verdict... they are the same. People spread out blankets the lawn and sing really loud. Two of the opening bands were pretty cool. One of the guys the girls i was with even knew him. But anway... live music is fun regardless of its Nickelback sound.

Mural...

So the past week me and my friend Kerry have been painting a mural on the wall of the orphanage where we volunteer. She is an art major and does all the creative sketches and i fill them in with paint. We make a great team. The pictures above don't show it all done, and when i finish i will post some more. But i just have been so excited about it i wanted to post some pictures even though the zebra doesn't have a mouth yet and there is no grass on the bottom. When it is all done i hoping it will be cool and i love to leave my mark over here, even if it is in paint.

Well anyway... 3 more days of classes and then finals. I just wrote this really interesting paper about how culture, gender, and politics effects the spread of hiv/aids here. I acutally enjoyed doing the research. If anyone wants to read it just let me know.

Other weekend news, spent the day yesterday wondering around downtown and buying a bus ticket for my safari. I don't know what else. i have less than a month less and i am beginning to panic!!

This is what campus looks like...

What does campus look like. Well i finally figured out a round about way to post pictures and so i walked around campus on a pretty day and took a few pictures. The one with the clock is called the Old Main Building and that is where i have Zulu class.

The lawn pictures is called the Library Lawns and a lot of events take place there, meetings, oh and that building in the background is the library, but it is NOTHING compared to the MSU library, or any library at home. It isn't very big and it is only open until 11pm and not at all on Sunday. Funny thing here is though a lot of kids check out a lot of books, which is definitely a different way of doing research than i am used to.

The picture of the turn style is the main gate into campus where i cross the road every day and have to swipe in. Everything is all about these turn styles where you have to use your student card to get in and out. Loosing your card really sucks. I lost mine, and then found it again.

That big tree is in the middle of the courtyard of my dorm. I love it because it is so big. I think it looks like the tree of life. When i stand to talk on the payphones that is what i look at.

The last two pictures of my dorm. The door i go in to get to my room and the courtyard. Too bad you can't see my window to my room, but it is on the other side of the building. The side that looks at mountains. I'm not complaining. Well... there you go, nothing like MSU but certainly pretty on sunny winter days (and by winter i mean 75 and no humidity).

Sleepover at the orphanage...

So there is a quote from a Dispatch song, well before the song actually starts that says "the people with the least are the ones that teach you the most". That is exactly how i feel about the past 24 hours.

The past 24 hours have been somewhat of a walk a day in someone else's shoes experience for me. I planned a sleepover event for the people in my political science class that is connected with volunteer at the Ubuntu Crisis Center Orphanage that i have been working at all semester.

Spending 24 hours living in an orphanage with girls that have absolutely nothing and doing all the things they do in a day was eye opening. I know it wasn't a typical day because we were there and supplied meat for a BBQ and eggs for breakfast when they usually have some sort of porridge concoction and a half loaf of white bread, and i know they don't usually stay up late watching movies, but everything else was shockingly similar to a day in their life.

We arrive around 2pm yesterday and started play and paint the sign outside of the center. The sign painted on a slab of concrete originally said "Edendale drop-in center" from a medical facility that used to be there over 5 years ago. I primed the concrete earlier this week and then we painted it with bright yellow, red lettering and decorated with hundreds of little colorful hand prints. It looks amazing. We played all afternoon. The little girls and i sang Zulu songs and did some dancing. My friends in the residence halls here had taught me this dance (it's name has a click in it so i won't bother to type it here) and they always ask me to to do it, it is somewhat of a popular cultural dance. They all dance and sing spectacularly. Even the littlest girls really have a lot of rhythm. We took walks around the township (A township, according to wikipedia is "the (often underdeveloped) urban living areas that, under apartheid, were reserved for non-whites, principally black Africans and Coloureds in the periphery of larger cities. I really can't explain it, but i have some pictures i can post up when i get that figured out. There mostly mud huts there and shacks, but some concrete buildings.)

At night we supplied meat, which is a huge treat to them and celebrated the success of our event outside around the BBQ. They informed us it was the first BBQ they had since they opened. (A BBQ, which they call a braai is the traditional way south Africans celebrate EVERYTHING, they can not even process the thought of being a vegetarian, it isn't even a word in Zulu for it).

We watched A Toy Story on their TV, popped popcorn and all fell asleep pretty early. Those girls have a lot of energy but they really wear you out. They sleep in some beds about 8 little girls in a full size bed. It is the cutest/sadest thing you ever saw.

The next morning i woke up to the cutest little girl, the one that i hate to admit it is my favorite crawling on my sleeping bag. Its hard because you can't really be mad at a cute little girl like that. We went outside to play and watched my friend Kerry work on the mural she is painting on the side of the building. After i cooked 8 dozen scrambled eggs for breakfast for everyone and about 10 loaves of toast. Who knew feeding 35 little girls and 20 volunteers would be such an undertaking, i can't imagine doing it three times a day, i need a nap just after cracking all the eggs.

Then most of the volunteers left, all but four of us because we were invited to go to church with the girls. Religion is very big here, like involved in all parts of life and although it made me a little uncomfortable i went, because it is a once in a lifetime cultural experience. Getting all those little girls into their church clothes was pretty adorable, the older girls ironed everything (ironing is surprisingly big here, like everybody irons everything. i am not participating) and we cleaned up the place. Then all of us walked about a half hour up a hill to the primary school where most of the girls go to school. In one of the classrooms was the "church" with all the girls and about 20 other people, mostly woman, a few children.

It was very different from the other church that i went to here a couple a weeks ago. Different groups of women got up to sing songs and there was somewhat of a rotating leadership. The songs were beautiful and their voices were amazing. There was no pastor type person there and when one of the woman wanted to say something they just got up and did it. Because they knew we were coming, some of the younger girls from the orphanage had prepared a song in English that they sang for us and thanked us. It was very nice. The spoke a lot about mothers because it was mother's day which made me a little uncomfortable knowing that most of the girls did not have mothers, but caregivers whom they call mothers. They prepared food for us four Americans and also all of the mothers which we ate together at a table after church.

It was really nice, and i felt really welcomed in this area where less than 15 years ago i would have been hated for the color of my skin. I loved giving the girls individual attention and i am really proud of the sign that we made out in front. It was a treat for me and for the kids to be able to spend so much time together and my Zulu skills definitely improved, although i wish i study my question words that i learned on Thursday a little harder before i went. I think i did a lot of mixing up whos/ whats/ wheres and whys, but eventually i got my point across.

Living the life of an orphan in South Africa for just twenty-four hours made me realize how lucky i am and how resilient and brilliant each one of these girls is. They never complain or ask "why me?" they take care of each other and they appreciate everything they are given and don't have a dime to their name. I want to live with the mind set they have. One day at a time.

St. Lucia Estuary...

So as one of the final long weekends of the semester (yay for public holidays) me and my friend Kelly decided to go see a little more of the province that we have been living in all semester, Kwa-Zulu Natal. In our handy dandy backpackers guide we found out about this cool little town called St. Lucia next to this World Heritage Site of a wetlands reserve. We also found out that coincidentally there were three other kids from New York going there that weekend.

We rented a car and listened to our amazing mix cds left over from spring break. 4 hours up the coast we came to this cute little beachy town with one main street and some shops and restaurants. It looked very similar to Northern Michigan and very wet. I went straight to the beach and hung out there for the afternoon. We made dinner and roasted marshmallows over the barbecue and relaxed. The next day the five of us drove into the nature reserve and went on all these little dirt paths to see all types of animals. Many of them looked a lot like deer, but were called Bush bock, and a bunch of other deer like things with horns. They were everywhere. We saw a ton of Zebras, monkeys and we watched hippos with their little eyes peaking out for hours. We drove to this cool beach called Cape Vidal and took naps in the sun. Then drove back and saw some rhinos and even more animals. It was like our own little self guided safari with a lot of picture taking and screaming "look here" "look there". It was really fun and exciting because every animal we saw we felt that we were the only people who had ever seen them. The lion king soundtrack played continuously in my head the whole day. Everyone was starting to get a little annoyed "from the day we arrived on this planet..."

We came back and me and Kelly went on a date to an Italian restaurant in town and wondered around. It was one of the safest places i have been in since we got here. Lot of people out and cool things to look at. We searched for a pay phone for about an hour to call Josh on his birthday, but no luck. I guess it is the thought that counts.

The last day, Sunday, was the craziest. We woke up early and went kayaking with crocodiles and hippos. It was the scariest thing EVER! We were about 10 feet from some crocidiles and they would slide creapily into the water and then you couldn't see them anymore. They were huge and their little beady eyes would sit on the top of the water and stare at me and i almost pooped my pants. I kept telling the guide there was a crocidile right there and he was like "calm down" but serisouly... they were RIGHT there. I couldn't believe it. Then there was two "pods" of hippos. which i guess are extremely territorial. There was a mom and a baby that we had to wait for a really long time for them to move a couple feet so we could get around them. It is hard to tell how many there are because they are mostly underwater, but we were right next to a pod of about 15 hippos. In the water with them! It was wayy to scary. Then we went to the other area of the lake which mostly just had birds, but he did mention there were sharks in that area. I don't know what is wrong with me and why i thought it was a good idea to go on this tour. I guess i was thinking kayaking with crocidiles sounds cool... my heart rate was certainly up around 20,000. When we finally finished i started to break normally. It was living life on the edge, thats for sure, something i have been doing a lot lately...

The final activity of the weekend was snorkeling out at the cape. We drove about 2 hours through the nature reserve again and saw some more really cool animals. I am really bummed i can't upload my pictures because they are absolutely spectacular. When i get home i will have to do some major uploading. Sweet pictures, really really sweet. We snorkely and saw tons of really pretty yellow and irridesant fish on these rocks. It was pretty rough water but i felt like i was in my own little world floating on top of the water. It was really relaxing. The sun went down around 5.30 or 6 there so we headed back. On the way back we saw a white and a black rhino. It was seriously the most insane drive. We also almost ran into a big herd of zebras. Only in Africa right?

Last Rowing Trip...

So this weekend i went on my last rowing trip to Pretoria for my last races of the year. Good and bad things, i am excited not to have to wake up at 4am anymore, i am bummed i am not going to get to hang out with my friends as much and the trips are a lot of fun.

We drove on Friday to the Damn, right outside of Pretoria, which is the capital of South Africa, right next to Johannesburg. It took like 6 hours. But i am getting a lot better at car trips, it seemed really quick. When we got there we set up a bunch of tents on our campsite and started making dinner. It gets dark so early here because there is no daylight savings time. We BBQed and then went to sleep because we had races early in the morning.

The next day we raced our Girls 8, and since none of the older girls came we were the A team. We didn't do too well, our timing was a little off, but it was still a fun race. The competition was really high because this race was called SA (South Africa) champs and was for all rowing clubs, including masters teams and prep schools, along with universities.

The part that is fun about races is that after you are done with your race all you really do is hang out on the grass all day and sit in the sun. I love that part. That night we cooked some pasta and taught all the South Africans about s'mores. WHICH THEY HAD NEVER HAD! it was delicious although we had to substitute tennis crackers for graham crackers. It was a lot of fun because what would camping be without s'mores.

The next day i had my last race, a boat of four, and we did really well, coming in second. We hung around all day, tore down the camp and then drove to a backpackers in Johannesburg where we were going to spend the last night because Monday was a public holiday and we didn't have school. There was an after party with all of the teams at a sports club that was really fun. What else? i am really glad i did rowing a met a lot of people i never would have met and did a lot of fun things i never would have done. It was a good sport but i am excited to go back to triathlons.

Ubuntu...

Quick post. I had an amazing day volunteering today. Only a few of us went and most of them just played soccer. Me and like 8 little girls (the youngest, all around 5-7) played all afternoon. They taught me some dances, and i taught them the macarena. They have no English skills at all so i was really rattling my zulu Brian. We played a lot of games in circles and dances and then i taught them the airplane ride with your legs. I had the entire place lined up waiting for airplane rides. I think i did like 300 leg presses.

Leaving there sucks because i think they are all so adorable. And i know i don't do much more than play when i am there, but i know that none of these girls get any individual attention usually so i guess that is all i can do. They talk to me in Zulu like i know what they are saying, and i just mumble along to their songs, but it is the highlight of my week. I think i decided i am definitely working with kids.

Election day and other volunteering adventures...

So the past two days has been somewhat of a marathon of volunteering. I have to complete 60 hours for my political science class and i wasn't doing to well, until now. Yesterday it started by attending a political violence briefing Wait, i guess i should back up a little bit...

My class were recruited to be international election poll observers to ensure a free and peaceful election. I went to a training the other day (mostly in zulu) and from there they offered to brief us on the recent political violence and events with the other international observers from uganda, canada and zimbabwe. So, deciding i needed hours and it sounded semi interesting i went to this meeting, in the middle of no where. Only two other people came because of logistical issues and a couple of us from the university. It was really interesting and they talked about all of the different specific incidents of political violence in the area and why, also which areas were more expected to have issues on election day and why. I learned that this country is uber messed up politically since the majority of the population will only vote the ANC because that was the party that liberating them from the apartheid and there is a belief that any other party would force people back into apartheid. So overall, the party is very corrupt, it's leader (who is bound to win) only has graduated to grade 3 and has many charges against him, including rape. we will see how it goes. But anyway, i learned a lot about past violence. I am lucky to live in the United States.

So that was the first part of the election volunteering saga. Part two included waking up at 5 this morning to go downtown to be transferred to a township to oversee a polling station. It all sounds good and fun, but i was all by myself in this very very poor governmental housing township. I sat in the corner of the room alone and watched over 1000 people vote over 7 hours. When the lady came to bring me my (KFC) lunch i begged to leave and told her i didn't feel well. We weren't aloud to talk to anyone and just had to observe things, i counted everything in the room. Anywho, i realized that i would not be a good person to do a job that involved being alone.

Seeing the voting was actually kind of cool. the ballots were really really simple. Party name, their symbol, pictures of the person running and check box. And then they put it into this big box. A funny part about voting was before you voted they painted your thumb nail with paint so that you can't vote in more than one location. The people however in my location were very unfriendly and everyone was really tired and grumpy from standing in rediculously long lines and such. I normally really like helping out, but i didn't belong in the township, they were all giving me really weird looks, and i hadn't heard a word of english all day. It would have been ok if i wasn't completely alone, or alowed to talk. oh well, so is the nature of volunteering.

The other volunteering was a lot of fun. Last night there was a fundraiser for the Ubuntu Crisis center where we work with the kids at the orphanage. There wasn't as big of turn out as there should of been, but it was a cool dinner at city hall and all the girls came. There were speakers (mostly in zulu) and some singers, all very churchy. Even some dancing. The dinner was very south african, meaty, with a lot of potatoe salads and things like that. Actually, really good. The event started really late and lasted for a long time, one of the little girls, fell asleep on my lap at the table, but we had a good time making funny faces at each other when we were supposed to be quiet. I was the hit of the kids table for sure.

Durban Weekend...

So this weekend after a fun night out with dorm friends i went to Durban with two study abroad students from California. We left Saturday afternoon on our Kombi adventure (i still have to take a picture of them for you) crammed in and took the hour drive to Durban for a Rugby game.

When we got there we walked around to find the stadium, which coincidentally is next to the new World Cup Stadium which you can see from all over the city. We got there just as the game was starting, bought tickets and went in to see South Africa play New Zealand. Unfortunately we lost 10-13, but let me tell you it is way more exciting that football, and a lot quicker. They rarely stop the play so the whole game was over in under 2 hours and they do crazy plays where they left people up cheerleader style. The whole atmosphere of the game was really fun, friendly people. Afterwards in the parking lot it seemed like a fair. Loud music and huts that sold food. People barbequeing outside of their cars and tailgating. It was a party. We hung around for a while and then went off to a famous road called Florida road.

Florida road is a road that has tons of restaurants and clubs on it and we heard really good things about this restaurant called Taco Zulu. Funny thing is that there is no Mexican food in south Africa, so being Americans, we were all about the Mexican food. After going into a burrito coma we walked around, but realized we were under dressed to go into any of the clubs. Damn no sandals rule! oh well.

We took a cab back to our hostel (sweet hostel by the way) called the Happy Hippo and were asleep before midnight.

The next day was so much fun. We went to this place called UShaka Marine World which is a combination of a wet n' wild water park, sea world, aquarium, shopping mall, beach and surf zone. We walked through the mall and then went to the water park. The water park was actually really sweet but all normal water rules were broken. You could go down any of the slides head first and ten at a time. Things were a little crazy. Coming from a lifeguard i was a little overwhelmed by all the rules being broken but it was so much fun. There was the tallest waterslide in Africa (i guess not very hard to do) which went straight down and gave you the BIGGEST wedgie of your life. There were tube racing slides and then big raft rides. There was even a sweet lazy river that passed you by the aquarium where you could see the sharks and passed Shamu's tank. It was pretty cool. After lunch on the beach listening to a rastafarian band (think Bob Marley zulu style) we jumped some waves and rented sea kayaks. We sea kayaked for a while and saw some pretty fish. The water was so warm it was awesome. I am going to go back for sure for surfing, but all of the boards were booked for the day.

After a few more waterslides we came to reality as the park was closing and we realized we had a 2 hour kombi adventure back to Pietermaritzburg. Everyday seems like a vacation. Coming back to reality is gong to be rough.

Disclaimer...

So i realized that after i wrote that blog last night how much it all kind of sucked. Although it is not very detailed and all seems kind of jumbled up things have been crazy since i got back and i just wanted to get it done. if it doesn't make sense or you want more details shoot me an email and i will explain. Overall, i guess all you need to know is that i had a great time and we packed a thousand thing into 10 days. Cape Town is beautiful and you would all love it.

In other life it was immediately back to reality in pietermaritzburg. I have two tests and two papers due this week. No time for naps.

I guess that is it, blogs to come in the future i will try to make a little better, less scatterbrained and written with more than 2 hours of sleep the night before.

Spring Break Part 4...Wine Tour and Beaches and Cape Point

So the last days of my trip were definitely the best. Thursday we went on a wine tour in the vineyards of Stellonbosh. An area that rivals Northern California and France the world's best wines. We started off the day at a vineyard where we learned HOW to taste wine, how to smell wine and how to tell how old wine is. I acted very grown up but pretty much giggled the whole time. It is great to be able to drink legally. At the first vineyard we tasted wine and some really good soft cheeses made right there. Everything was delicious, i was tipsy by 10am. We went from vineyard to vineyard (4 in all) all very modern and learned how to make red wine and white wine. We even went down below and saw where they store everything. We tasted chocolate and laughed a lot. The day was fantastic, including the well deserved nap on the way home. P.S. Wine descriptions are very silly.













That night since we were definitely too tired to go out we met some people in our backpackers who were in Cape Town to run the Two Oceans Marathon on Saturday. Of course we hit it off right away and hung out with them all night talking about running. The next day we all went to this beautiful beach together and played Frisbee and took sprints into the FREEZING Atlantic ocean.









The next day we hiked to the most Southern tip of Africa called Cape Point. The cool part about this place is that it is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean and since they are such drastic temperature differences. The craziest part is that when we got there a baboon jumped into a car and read some of our Cosmo magazine before running away with a cookie wrapper.

Ok so the next day was my favorite. Did you know that South Africa has a huge colony of African penguins? I didn't! But they are friggen adorable. We drove to see the penguins in a little beach town called Simon's Town were colonies of African penguins were nesting. The cute thing about all the penguins is that they are monogamous so they were all in pairs. We even saw some awesome penguin sex. One of the cool parts is that they weren't like roped off really or anything and you could get really close to them, but you couldn't touch. The best part was the beach that most of them lived on called Boulder Beach. I swear, it should be one of the wonders of the world, it was beautiful. The beach was covered with huge boulders, but in between was really soft sand. If you hiked past some of them you got into the most beautiful area with penguins in the water right next to where you were walking. You can see below my awesome Ariel from the little mermaid interpretation. What do you think?
The next day was our last in Cape Town and we went to visit Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent most of his life with the rest of the political prisoners during Apartheid. I had read his autobiography prior to coming and it was really cool to see the place in real life. We took a ferry over to the island and they explained a lot of it's history. Before it was a maximum security prison it was a place where they sent people with leprosy. We saw the graves and then we went into the prison where we got a tour from an ex-political prisoner. He was there for seven years in the communal cell area. And then we got to see Nelson Mandela's cell. It was all very overwhelming as i realized how most of the events that they were talking about did not happen very long ago. It was surreal, but i am glad i went. Visiting the island really showed how far South Africa has come in such a short amount of time.


After that it was about time for our trip to end. We went out to celebrate by eating Thai food on the water, my favorite. We drove to the airport and flew out at 6.30 this morning. Haven't slept in two days i think i should stop rambling and go to bed. Overall, super successfull Spring Break 09.

Spring Break Part 3. The Waterfront and Table Mountain...

We finally arrived in Cape Town after many days and hours of getting lost. We headed down to this area called the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront where there are tons of ritzy shops to window shop in and millions of restaurants. I touched everything until it started to blur and watched street performers sing and dance and play the bongos. We ate lunch at a picnic table on the water and watched the boats come in. The sky was blue and it was relaxing (comparatively to jumping of bridges it least).



The next day after getting significantly lost again we head to this big mountain in Cape Town called Table Mountain. Thinking it was the normal thing to do to hike up it we started on the trail around noon. Ok, bad idea. Our waterbottles were not full and after reading a few signs we were warned that this hike was NOT FOR BEGINNERS. Oh well, after feeling delirous after climbing what seemed like endless rock stairs-ish for 3 hours we made it to the top only a little bit dehydrated. The view was awesome of the ocean and we took the cable car down. A well spent $5 if i say so. If you are going to hike table mountiain remember more than a half bottle of water and pleast do it before noon. There is no shade. The adventure continues...

Spring Break Part 2... The Bungee Jump

Ok... so i think the pictures say it all, but i case they don't i will describe you the world's LARGEST bungee jump that i did. On the way to Cape Town we stopped at Blokrans Bridge under the highway where i pretty much jumped to my death. The good thing was i was the last one of our group of 8 so by the time, i went i would like to say i was ok with it. It was crazy dangling there upside-down and then you hang waiting for a guy to come down and flip you right-side up. It never really got too scary because you never get that close to the ground and you could see the beautiful Indian Ocean from hanging upside-down. Unbelievable. Do you see that smile? that was after the jump...

Spring Break. Part 1 of 4 or 5... The Drive.

If you look on a map you can see how far where i live, Pietermaritzburg, is from where we went on Spring Break, Cape Town. It is a long long 22 hour drive. We left after everyone had finished class on Friday and drove through the night (on the wrong side of the road!!!) until we got to this city called Port Elizabeth. When we got there around 6.30am the sun was just beginning to rise. It was unbelievable. There were a ton of fisherman lined up and it was so nice to get out of the car. I had a peanut butter and jelly breakfast on the beach as we watched people train for Ironman, which was happening the next day. So many bikers! The place was hopping and it was beautiful, but that wasn't our destination so we hopped back in the car for a couple more hours. We stopped at a few beautiful beaches with awesome rocks to climb on and saw some dolphins in the distance. Then we continued to drive until we got to Tsitsikama Backpackers in Storms River.

Storms River was a really peaceful place, it kind of seemed like we were there a little out of season. The backpackers seemed like a big house with a comfy family room and bar, we all felt right at home. When we got there we played a volleyball game and i passed out in a hammock. It is funny how sitting for hours makes you tired.

That next day I woke up early and went for a hike in the nature reserve, of course i got lost and started singing to myself out of boredom. Oh how i miss my ipod! On my way back up i met up with everyone for breakfast before we went on our canopy tour.

The canopy tour was sweet. We went on 10 different zip lines across the top of the Tsitsikama National Forest. It was pretty cool and actually kind of scary. We went pretty fast i almost slammed into a few trees. It was really cool, but i could only look down when we were on the platforms. It felt like a whole different world because all you could see was trees and green. Right when we finished we got caught in the craziest thunderstorm, I don't know what would have happened if we were still up there.

After sprinting full speed back to the hostel, we hung out and i learned how to play some pool. I was awful, but i actually won my first game after about 2 hours. The night was pretty chill and the people who worked there were awesome. We youtubed for a couple hours watching funny south African rugby clips. I miss youtubing. You can't do it on campus. Anyway... that was the beginning. Much much more to come...

KY Jelly Obstacle Course: The Spandex Party

So a typical Wednesday night does not involve rolling around in watery lubricant and hurling yourself around cones and over inflated walls, but last Wednesday did. As a fundraiser for the rowing team (might i add, best fundraiser ever) we employed students to make teams of four, clad themselves in as much spandex as possible and roll around in KY Jelly.

It was a competition out on the sports fields where two teams of four would battle against each other in tournament style brackets to drink some delicious drink, wheelbarrow through a kiddy pool of KY Jelly, and try to climb through a blow up obstacle course. By the time it was our turn the course was coated and significantly slippery. I fell on my face and couldn't make it over the last wall. But the goop was definitely a great hair gel. We ended up loosing in the first round, but it didn't mean that we stopped playing the kiddie pool. The night was fun and messy and a shower was definitely in order immediately when i got back to my dorm. Gross.

So i do go to school too...

I know it might seem that i rarely participate in anything school related, but you would be surprised, classes here are harder than a state. A lot more homework also. Zulu class is getting tough, we are learning how to say things negatively and instead of just putting a word in front you have to change the verb entirely- crazy language. But i didn't do as poorly on the first exam as anticipated. yay for having a 75% be an A here. i guess things are just marked very differently.

The only problem is that here all the finals are worth 60% of the grade so i guess i just have to trudge through the motions of the semester and then study really hard at the end. However this method doesn't give much incentive for going to class throughout the semester. Attendance in most of my classes is very low.

What else? History class.... he talks like we all know what is going on but i have never heard of any of this stuff before. i feel like i am a huge disadvantage for not being from South Africa. We talk about all these names of Zulu kings and places like they are every day speech. stressful. The good thing is i had a consultation with my professor today ( he was only two hours late for the appointment, typically south African) about my essay and he said it was awesome. which is surprising since i have absolutely no idea what i wrote about. so i guess things are going better than expected.

Political science volunteering is my third class and volunteering is amazing. writing the research papers that go along with the class, not so great. But yesterday we went to Ubuntu and took a walk with the girls through the neighborhood to the hospital. It was so interesting to see what a hospital looked like here. let met tell you... not as sterile as you would think. We also saw that most of the places in the area do not have any running water and there are pumps outside on the corners kind of like a campground and people filling up buckets for water. can you imagine? it is fun for a couple of days in the summer to live like that, but to have to carry buckets of water every day. i really take a lot of things for granted.

Ok... have to go to class. see life isn't one big vacation. just close...

Vanderkloof Dam- Rowing Sprints

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