Laurin goes to South Africa

My birthday and Last adventure...

2009-06-05T10:14:00.003+02:00

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...

2009-05-28T14:40:00.003+02:00

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...

2009-05-24T15:54:00.002+02:00

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...

2009-05-24T15:23:00.003+02:00

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...

2009-05-17T19:12:00.010+02:00

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...

2009-05-15T19:48:00.008+02:00

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...

2009-05-10T18:29:00.006+02:00

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...

2009-05-04T16:09:00.003+02:00

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...

2009-04-28T08:25:00.003+02:00

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...

2009-04-23T20:18:00.002+02:00

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...

2009-04-22T16:31:00.003+02:00

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...

2009-04-20T09:41:00.007+02:00

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...

2009-04-14T21:21:00.002+02:00

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

2009-04-13T20:15:00.018+02:00

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...

2009-04-13T16:32:00.005+02:00

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

2009-04-13T16:11:00.005+02:00

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.

2009-04-13T15:33:00.008+02:00

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

2009-04-03T11:02:00.006+02:00

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...

2009-04-01T13:04:00.002+02:00

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

2009-03-29T21:33:00.012+02:00

So this weekend i got in a car at 2am on thursday and traveled 12 hours through my province into another province all while i was sleeping. I went with the Rowing team on a trip to a Regatta called Vanderkloof Dam Sprints. The race was 900m of pure fun.

We got there on Thursday afternoon and after doing this awfully long process called rigging where you put the boats back together after they were taken apart to put them on the trailer we went swimming in the beautiful dam and cooked dinner together in crews. surprisingly enough, i cooked some mean pasta and frozen veggies for all the girls (and nothing was burned).

We stayed in this big room filled with mattresses that is ridiculous to explain. i don't know what kind of place it was but there was a lot of mattresses and chairs and a huge almost cafeteria like kitchen and fridge. It was up the hill from the dam, but a walkable distance. only issues involved the seemingly extreme scarcity of toilet paper in this country. What i learned- always bring your own. I don't know what this place is the rest of the year, and tried to figure it out all weekend, but there were lots of rooms like ours and campsites closer down the hill. There was a water slide and tennis courts. It kind of looked like an old camp.

Since i of course decided to choose the sport that loves to wake up before the sun, we got up at 6 every morning to go down to the dam and start to get ready for the day's races. The first day i raced the B girls 8 boat, which was a little rocky, but fun. That day i walked around in my bathing suit, worked on my tan and went swimming. Then we went to a dinner at this hall with all the teams. It was called "fancy dress" dinner, which i guess here means dress up in costumes, so the girls all dressed as nurses- not my choice, but actually fun- and the boys as Smurfs. The girls won third place and the boys won first, which included 2 bottles of wine.

The next day, watched the sunrise again and got moved up to race with the A crew girls 8 person boat. This was the most fun race because we were flying and actually got third place. It was smooth and together, so much fun. The day was equally hot and beautiful and we swam some more. At night we got dressed in our team green overalls and had a party celebrating the success. They turned on this huge water slide called the super tube for everyone. And all the crews partied and danced down by the dam under the stars.

The drive home was long because it was all during the day. But i decided that overall i am so glad that i joined the team, even though it really messes with my sleep schedule.

Our Team Cheer:

two arms, two legs, one hairy furburger

under the southern cross we stand

natives to this foreign land

maritzburg you f$%king beauties

Support Group Volunteering...

2009-03-21T15:14:00.002+02:00

So besides the Ubuntu Crisis Center, (where i just spent my Saturday) we are supposed be volunteering through this place called The Kwa-Zulu Natal Christian Council. We were assigned people to shadow called patient advocates, but i have called my assigned patient advocate many times with any luck in setting up a time to meet as well as every other person in my class we have all come up dead ended, except for my friend Michelle.

Michelle has had great success and goes with her Patient Advocate once a week to a township called Buffer and some neighboring areas to visit AIDS patients. I had really wanted to see what it was like so i tagged along. We took two different kombi/taxis to the township and then got a dropped off at corner where we were supposed to meet Sandile (the patient advocate). I had absolutely no idea what to expect. This was the most impoverished area i had been to since i been here and we were just standing there with no where to go. Then we see her walking down the street.

I found out Sandile is a "community worker" barely employed by the government, and i think and HIV or AIDS patient herself. She spends her days walking around the township checking in on people on her list and talking to them, making sure they are ok, taking their medicine and asking them how they are feeling.

So the three of us start off up this big hill through the townships knocking on what seems to us to be random people's doors, we go inside, sit down and just show them that someone cares that they are ok. We ask them how are they feeling (a lot of this is down in Zulu by Sandile) and ask them if they are taking their medicine, and make sure they take it at the same time every day. We ask them if they have a "treatment buddy" or someone they can talk to about what they are going through with, and if they have TB (which many of them do) and if they are on medication for that. Also, making sure they know when their next doctor's appointment is.

We went into about ten houses, asking these same types of questions. Many of the houses were governmental housing, brick squares filled with beds. It was hard to tell how many people lived in each because we went during the day, when most people were not home. Some houses had chickens and mice inside. All over the streets were goats, chickens, cows, and dogs. It was quite the experience. There were no street names and a lot of the addresses were written down on her sheet like "third from red brick" or "2 up from stream". This was definitely a different kind of place. Some houses had absolutely no food in them, others people were eating and there were many children.

It was quite the experience and when we got back into the taxi to go home i felt almost surreal. it was weird because i felt awful for them and really sad about what i had just seen, but realized that this is just a life of people i have never seen before and that although it is nice to visit them i can't solve all of their problems. I guess all we can do is let them know that we will come back and check in on them again, and although it really does seem like i did nothing, it is all i can do.

First Rowing Regatta...

2009-03-15T12:21:00.004+02:00

Don't you like the sexy spandex? I did... kind of reminds me of the triathlon team, but way more chill. Well anyway, yesterday was our first rowing race, which they call a regatta... Natal Champs.

Of course, all rowing events begin at the butt crack of dawn, practice at 5am, and meeting at 6.30am on a SATURDAY to go to the race. It was only about a half hour away in an area called Albert Falls, beautiful. Well we got there, set up the boats and then all of sudden we were off on our first race. The races were fun, quick, only 1000m and exciting. The cox yells and lot and you have to concentrate hard, no zoning out. And then all of the sudden you are sweaty and it is over. I have been rowing at the last seat in the boat, which is the first seat facing backwards. I raced twice in a boat of 4 and once in a boat of 8 and got 2 medals! The competition wasn't very high, but there was a school there for the blind, which i found really cool that it is a sport that everyone can do. awesome experience.

The day was really relaxed. We lay out in the grass and watched the other races and then went back to the boat house to have a Braii (BBQ), i ate some buns. yum. We all dressed up in these green jump suits (some sort of tradition) sang weird songs and drank South African drinks. After we all went to a club and danced. I met tons of new really cool people and really enjoyed every minute of it. next regatta: 2 weeks.

another day at the Ubuntu Crisis Center...

2009-03-11T12:39:00.005+02:00

So yesterday was a grat day because i got to go back and volunteer. what was even better was that all the kids that i played with before remembered me and they are so friggen adorable. This time when we went we brought some toys: hula hoops, sidewalk chalk and soccer balls.

Hula Hoops were awesome because some of those girls can keep it going for a really long time, i just can't swivel my hips like that, maybe i am getting old.

Sidewalk chalk was a huge hit and as we played i even got them to help me study for my Zulu test i have tomorrow by drawing the body and labeling it. i know, multitasking to the extreme.

The soccer balls were really fun because we had a huge game that got pretty intense. Of course, my team won, with absolutely no help from me, but it was really fun and some of those kids are awesome. I just kept wondering how they played barefoot on the rocks, because when i took off my shoes it hurt so bad.

After a while of playing we walked through the township to go visit an Ugogo (grandmother), who was born in 1915, who lived in poverty with a boy in a wheelchair in a mud hut that was falling down on her. They brought us there to show us and help make a plan for a day when we are going to come back and do some sort of habitat for humanity type work. The crazy part is that it is actually just made of mud and some stick frame and she says she is afriad to go in it at night because it might fall down so she sits on the porch.

We went with the older girls from the orphanage and while we were there they did some type of prayer/song service for the grandmother that i have never seen before. It involved singing songs and then personal prayer but everyone speaks out loud at the same time. It was actually very very cool to see and be a part of. Also cultural difference that is very apparant every where you go is the utmost level of respect that kids have for their elders. They speak and act very different around the elderly and even their parents, or people of their parents age.

The hardest part about going there is leaving. It is absolutely awful. The time goes by so fast and when we got in the van to go back to the university yesterday this is how enthusiastic they are about us coming back--> It is just so nice to know that your time and your efforts are appreciated and that even though sometimes it is just playing hopscotch, people really need your individual attention. Every time we leave the last thing we say is when can we come back.

dad really wanted me to take a picture of my room...

2009-03-10T13:26:00.004+02:00

ok so for some reason my dad thought it was really important that i take a picture of my room and post it on here. it is nice... a desk and a sink... so here are the pictures. One day soon i might even take some pictures around campus, it is a lot more like michigan state than i thought. Oh and i did have to clean it up a bit before i took these pictures. I am at the end of the hall right next to the kitchen and the bathroom. yay! anyway... it is nice. so now you all know where i sleep.

weekend in durban and other happenings...

2009-03-09T22:17:00.003+02:00

So.... this weekend was an adventure to say the least. I was invited by some girls from my dorm to go with them on their usual weekend to Durban. Durban is the big city in the province that i am in, and it is next the beach. If it makes sense, i live in a city the equivalent of Lansing and Durban is the equivalent of Detroit... but way nicer and with the Indian Ocean.

It was a really cool weekend because for the first time since i have been here i didn't feel like a tourist but i did stuff that normal kids would do here on a regular weekend. We went to go visit some of their friends at the other campus of my university. It was a much different campus, much hillier and they had monkeys like squirrels there. under cars, behind bushes, in all the trees, i laughed so hard.

We walked around the campus and surrounding areas, drank wine and went to this really awesome club called Paris. There we saw the two most popular DJs in South Africa. DJ Tira and DJ Chynaman. They were saweeet and i was surprised because i knew most of the songs. We danced all night and i am getting pretty good but i can't keep up with some of these girls, they are amazing. Sunday we did what all college students do on sundays. sit around their dorm room and eat scrambled eggs, it reminded me of freshman year back home. i guess it doesn't matter where in the world you are sundays are for relaxing.

in other news today we had a rowing time trial at the gym down the road on the rowing machines. a lot harder than a thought. We have a race this weekend that i am pretty excited for/nervous. something new every day is my goal. hey and if any of you have any ideas of fun games to play with little kids that don't involve a lot of speaking let me know and if you have anything exciting to tell me in general let me know to. i am loving the emails.

actually beginning to make a difference...

2009-03-05T23:01:00.003+02:00

Today was great. Finally for my community service class i actually got to do something and it was awesome. We were approached by this organization called the Ubantu Crisis Center located in a township nearby called Edendale who heard we had a large group of volunteers. The crisis center is an orphanage mostly for girls ages 5-17 and 3 boys whom have had traumatic experiences in their life leaving them without a home.

Right when we got there we were greeted by hugs, and everyone introduced themselves. It was hard to understand every body's name but i am getting better. After we had a tour and were broken into small groups of about 7 or 8 girls and 3ish college students. We played some games and i really racked my knowledge for old camp games you can play without a lot of words. Duck Duck Goose was a hit and then it turned into a dance party.

After we took a walk about 2 miles to the top of a big hill in the township where you can see everything from. I had a permanent 6 year old girl on my back who was the cutest thing in the world, Lunga, who ended up falling asleep on the way home. We walked in small groups (my group played a lot of follow the leader) and then some of the girls who spoke English explained to me where their church and school was from on top of the mountain. It was very cool. For the first time my Zulu class came in handy and i realized i know more than i think i do. i was able to have basic conversations about how hot and sweaty i was, how many brothers and sisters i have, along with what kind of food i like to eat. i know, impressive.

After we walked back to the center and played some silly games and i learned a few silly Zulu songs one included a line the equivilent to "stick your butt out" but it was a lot of fun. When we got back onto the bus to leave, my new friend Lunga decided to break down in tears and throw a fit, i don't think she understood that i was coming back. The whole way back all of the other kids from my class made fun of me for making a little girl cry, but i swear, it wasn't my fault. I can't wait to go back.

skydiving!

2009-03-04T12:25:00.003+02:00

to tell you the truth about a month ago i thought jumping out of the plane sounded cool and all, but i probably would never do it. I mean don't you think it is kind of stupid to jump out a plane about 2 miles up in the sky and just fall for 30 seconds hoping that when you want it to your parachute will come out? well it kind of is. (oh and from the picture you can tell as much talk as i am... i was afraid)

too bad this what i did yesterday and once i jumped out i wasn't scared at all about a parachute but just enjoyed the ride.

from the beginning... six of us got picked up from campus and driven to the airport by a guy recommended to us by someone we met at a backpackers a couple weeks ago. From there we went to the Pietermaritzburg airport, had basically no introductions and signed our lives away. (no one has died from this company in 18 years, and the person tied to my back had done over 3,500 jumps in the past 7 years). We went in groups of two up in the small plane with no door and flew around pietermaritzburg mountains for about 15 minutes before he informed it was time to swing my legs out the door.

I didn't even have time to really think before i realized we were falling through the sky. I laughed pretty much the whole time thinking how ridiculously awesome the whole thing was and how we were just falling. All of a sudden the parachute came out and the ride became peaceful, quiet and mellow. You could see everything which was awesome and i kind of felt like i was flying, you know when you jump off the swings, but slower. We did some twists and spirals in the air before landing sitting on our buts in the grassy area by where the airplanes land.

And it was over, almost as fast as it had all begun. My legs felt like jello when i stood up and i immediately wanted to do it again. Too bad it is kind of an expensive hobby, i guess i will just have to watch the dvd over and over to relive it.

Novice Day for Rowing

2009-02-28T17:32:00.002+02:00

So today was the day that i know you have all been waiting for, well it least i have been. My first day on the rowing team here at KwaZulu-Natal University. Ok, so you all know how i am a tad clueless and uncoordinated and how i probably would tip the whole boat over or cause a head damage to someone or something, but on the contrary i was awesome. Seriously. And i had a ton of fun.

We went out first in a boat of four and had a bit of one on one training and teaching. Learning the vast array of the vocabulary involved in the sport: rutter, bottom, bow, stern, stroke side, easy, feathering, and so on.

Then after our short course on the basics they set us up in boats of 8 and we did mini races. Intense. The first time it was hard to get everybody together and someone i sat in the seat that was in charge of all the turning (bad choice) but it was so much fun. We came back to the boat house and had some beverages before setting out again.

This race was a bit more intense because as soon as we pushed off from the side lightening and mosoon rains came from the sky. As always crazy rain makes me feel really hard core and we continued the race, and won.
It was tons of fun and I met a bunch of new people. We find out on monday who our permanant crews will be. Exciting!

Zebras, Monkeys and Antelope

2009-02-28T17:13:00.010+02:00

So you know when you are really bored on a friday afternoon. Well that is how i was yesterday. But here instead of sitting inside and wishing it wasn't blizzarding or going on a run, we decided to head over to Queen Elizabeth Park, a Nature Reserve on the other side of town.

We got there by taxi and realized we only had about two hours until the park closed (things close rediculously early around her) and got out and decided to take one of the trails around the area. Before we even got on to the trail we saw the tree rustle and something jump. A MONKEY!

Then once we got on the trail we walked for a while and saw nothing. I was thrilled to have just seen a monkey and it was a beautiful area until we rounded a corner and i heard a gasp.

And now you know why. We got so close to these three zebras just eating grass in a field. Only in Africa. I about peed my pants, i don't know what is going to happen when i see a rhino or something scary because my heart was beating a thousand times a minute from peacefull zebras. (i know these pictures look fake, like i got them online or something, but you got to believe me).

Netball...

2009-02-26T10:41:00.002+02:00

Last night i went to netball practice with my friend. And as i was as walking over to practice i was wondering to myself. what is netball? and i bet you are wondering the same.

Well netball is a mixture of handball and basketball and let me tell you, you definitely get sweaty. We did conditioning for an hour and they some sort of scrimmage play. i think i have decided that although it was really fun i need to stick to sports that don't involve a ball and dry land. i played goal defender, which means that besides having absolutely no idea what was going on, i was responsible for making sure the other team didn't score (oops). Maybe i will try it again, but regardless, new games are fun, i just wish i was a little more coordinated.

Sani Pass--> Lesotho. Another weekend in the mountains...

2009-02-23T18:46:00.011+02:00

I don't really know where to begin, but before i start, i am just going to let you know this is going to be a bit of rambling because this weekend was so much fun i am having a hard time getting my head around it...

ok, the beginning... It was a girl's weekend to the Southern Drakensberg mountains so friday afternoon we hopped on the Underberg Express to the Sani Lodge Backpackers in a valley in between the mountains. After a much deserved PB and J party we played cards and went to sleep.

The adventure began the next morning as we took the most extreme ride up a road called the Sani Pass, which is the only road from KwaZulu-Natal into Lesotho, but it wasn't just a road. This was a road that only a four wheel drive vehicle could go on and each of the turns were named things like "reverse bend" or "windy bend" or "grace bend" because each turn was scarier than the one before. This road was like Highway 1 in the outside lane on steroids. i have never held on tighter in my life. The road consisted of rocks and when a car came in the opposite direction i did a little prayer for my life, lets just say it wasn't a road trip to sleep through. We had to show our passport multiple times and after an hour of holding my breath we finally made it to the top. The top was the Kingdom of Lesotho, on a platau high above South Africa.

Ok, so you know how you have all these pictures of what Africa is going to look like in your head? Well where i live at the university doesn't look like that at all, but let me tell you when i got into Lesotho, it looked like that. Shepards herding sheep and cattle, wearing cloaks and no pants. People riding horses around and huts with grass roofs made of cow dung (aka poop). It was exciting.

We walked to the highest peak in Lesotho and had a picnic lunch with some of the shepards, all of whom were very young and spoke only these words in english: "Sit" "Photi" meaning photo and "Laugh" because they liked to hear us laugh. It was a little culture shock, but also very cool.

After the picnic we went to the healer's hut of the village or the witch doctor's hut, Fertalina. There we had homemade beer- disgusting and homemade bread- delicious. There were kids everywhere who were adorable in there we learned more about the country. The women are the educated ones of the country, 95% being literate whereas only 45% of the men. I thought i was going to be touristy, but it wasn't at all. This was where she lived and our guide told us that they go to a different hut every time, to spread the tourism money around but they all welcome us into their homes. It was awesome.

Next stop on our trip was the highest pub in Africa, because... why not? We had a much needed beer before the equally scary trip down the mountain back into South Africa. On the way we stopped and drank from the waterfall supposed to keep you alive forever, i don't think it will work, but it was delicious. Upon returning to our hostel we learned a new card game from a British couple, Dirty Girty, and enjoyed being inside during a thunderstorm, even though the power flashed on and off.

Day two of the weekend adventure started off pretty mellow, beautiful and sunny, leaving us completely unaware of the craziness that would come. This day we decided to hike up the mountains in the World Heritage Park to view some of the cave paintings done by the Sans Bushman of the area more than 10,000 years ago. We hiked up the mountain leisurly looking at birds and seeing baboons. We got to the paintings and analyzed how cool they were and how they lasted for so long. We picniced underneath a rock with hundreds of paintings of little men as the weather started to mist. There, our guide informed us there was nothing he was afriad of more than lightening... which will come into play later.

The rain started to come down a little harder and soon we were caught in a monsoon and a thunder and lightening storm that was straight out of a horror movie. It took us four hours to hike up the mountain and all of a sudden we needed to get down. Our guide told us we didn't have time for the path and that we needed to get lower so we started to go straight down, at full speed. I fell probably 50 times, laughing as hard as i could because of the rediculous situation we had gotten ourselves into. The guide ran ahead and we baralled down the mountain slipping on mud and grass and eventually sledding down sections on our butts. We had to three rivers holding hands as the current was so swift and the water up to our waists. i laughed the entire town of the absurdity of it all, hoping my camera would survive the monsoon.

Eventually we made down in a record hour and half, of course, just as the rain came to a stop. Realizing what we just did was insane and just in time to catch the bus back to Pietermaritzburg, i almost forgot i still had school the next day.

Life in the sun...

2009-02-18T18:38:00.004+02:00

random thing have happened the past couple days. highlights include...

went to a beginner informational type meeting for the rowing team, where i learned how to row in this pretend like boat thing. It is going to be quite the workout once i figure it out. I can't wait to get out on the real water in a couple of weeks and be moving instead of stationary. It must be the same thing like running on a treadmill... why feel like a gerbil when you can go out and see the world?

i have been signing for things left and right i feel like a freshman at Sparticipation, i just want to get involved, but things take a long time here to actually get started, things move overall, a lot slower, cramps my style a bit, but i guess i will have to learn to sit back and relax a little bit, i just feel like i am not here long enough to sit on my butt.

i actually had to check out books from the library to do research today- ewww! i was not planning on doing any of that when i was here, oh well.

classes are all really small, 20-30 people, im not used to not being able to go to sleep!

my favorite south africa wine is Rose- four cousins, really sweet.

funny things:
1) every time anybody clicks when they are speaking Zulu i laugh, even though, i can click now
2) yesterday on the way home from the grocery store i dropped a whole dozen eggs on the sidewalk
3) i am learning to be a creative cook. ask me to make you something when i come home.
4) i lay out in the sun by the pool today for 2 hours in 100 degree weather... in FEBRUARY!

Some South African Lingo:
1) Howzit?- means how are you?
2)Sharp Sharp- the answer to Howzit
3)Dawnie- a 7:45am class
4) are you attending?- are you going to class?
5) just now- later
6)"foot-sack"- F#$$ you
7) Sawubona- 'how are you' in Zulu
8) Varsity- university
9) robots- stoplights

Now you guys are good to go... come visit!

Feb. 14 and other fun days...

2009-02-15T16:50:00.003+02:00

many adventures in the past couple days. some included hanging out with new people from the dorms and adventuring to Durban with American friends, along with a valentine's dinner. from the beginning...

Thursday night my friends from the dorms invited me out with them to the home of these guys from Swaziland. They were so nice and cooked us dinner and we drank wine and danced. These girls are really funny and crazy and all of them exhibit characteristics of my friends from home, itleast they are good enough for temporary stand ins, but nothing is as good as the real thing.

Saturday morning began a day long adventure to the beach. When I wake up and it is sunny and hot on Feb.14 there is no where i would rather be than the beach, the funny thing is that this is the first time in my life that it was a possiblity. I woke up a bunch of the american girls and we began our long adventure into Durban, home of the golden mile of beaches. Durban is about a 45-60 minute drive from pietermaritzberg if you were to drive directly, but without the means to rent a cab, we decided to go the local way, Kumbis. First you have to take a Kumbi into downtown Pietermaritzberg, then one from there into downtown Durban, than walk like 20 minutes through "the workshop" (a crazy place filled with tents and huts selling this and that) to a line where you take another Kumbi to the beach. Finally when we got there (2 hours later) we decided to go to South Beach, since we went to North Beach last time. To tell you the truth, i have never felt more out of place in my life, it was definitly an interesting feeling. The waves were so big, we couldn't even go in so we walked along the beach and ate some pizza and ice cream. Overall, the day was a great success that we made it there and back, next time, hopefully it will be easier, practice makes perfect.

Valentine's day dinner. My friend that we met lives in the dorm next door invited me over for dinner, macaroni and cheese. It was good, relaxing, overall uneventful evening, besides the fact that i locked my keys in my room and had to figure out a way to wake up the person on duty in the office to unlock my room. Of course, stuff like that only happens to me.

Rain, School and Surprise!

2009-02-12T10:00:00.003+02:00

1. it never stops raining, i am sorry i lied to all of you about how i was going to have this nice hot summer. I have never been so wet before. next big investment- umbrella.

2. school.. harder than at state. a lot more class time, more assignments, more reading, harder to understand the professors. i guess vacation time is over.

3. surprise party... last night i went to a girl on in my dorm's surprise party. it was so much fun. me and five other girls made dinner for her, drank wine, went to the bar and ate chocolate cake. new friends:)

The first (and second) day of school...

2009-02-10T13:44:00.003+02:00

Day 1: Well I had no idea it would be THIS different, everything else has pretty much been similar to the United States, but here, the first day of school was a little bit of craziness and stress. My first class, along with most people's first class starts at 7.45 am, but that isn't early here because everyone wakes up at like 6. The entire class was spent trying to switch the time slot, but every day you have every lecture and a different time slot every day. It is confusing, and i still don't really get it, but anyway, the class was a waste of time. I decided that since i am only taking three modules (classes) that i needed to volunteer so after class i sought out the person in charge of the HIV/AIDS student support unit and told her i wanted to work in her office. To my surprise i was put to work immediately.

It just so happens that this week is STI/Condom Awareness week and there is free HIV testing on the lawn and a tent set up from the support unit. I helped set everything up and then i had to go to my next class, which so happen to overlap with my third class. I went for 5 minutes, and left feeling stressed that i was going to be late, and i didn't know what room my next class was in because the room listed was non existant. After a half hour of wondering buildings looking for my class, i found it with 10 minutes left in the lecture, oops.

After my last lecture i went back to the tent on the lawn and hung out with the people involved in the HIV/AIDS support group and met the person in charge of an all girls group called "Strictly Ladies" which does women empowerment for women, including HIV/AIDS issues, drug abuse, alcohol abuse and just fun things. She invited me to come to her meeting today, more to come on that...

After dinner we all went out to celebrate surviving our first day (going to the bar is so weird).

Day 2: After learning all the clicks (there are 4 different types) in Zulu class i headed to my meeting with Fufu, the president of strictly ladies. To my surprise i spent the next four hours planning workshops and events for the semester and i am now the secretary. We made a bunch of flyers to put around campus, hung out and got a lot done. I guess i am involved now. Anywho... not much else, i will let you know how it all ends up, but things are definitly moving quicker than i imagined.

Up in the Drakensberg Mountains...

2009-02-08T17:50:00.004+02:00

I think i might quit school and become a mountain woman, seriously, nothing is more rewarding than climbing to the top of a mountain, which is exactly what i did this weekend. Ok from the beginning...

This is my last weekend before school starts- i know, longest vacation ever- so the Michigan State kids and i planned a weekend get away in the Drakensberg Mountains about an 2 and half hours away from the University. We took this bus called the Baz Bus that drives backpackers across the country and they dropped us off at a hostel called the Amphitheatre Backpackers. side note: amazing hostel, a pool, hot tub, awesome food, fully stocked bar, sweet hammock made of wood, all 8 of us in a "mixed dorm".

We got there Friday afternoon and four of us rented mountain bikes to go on a "leisurly bike ride" and see some of the mountains. Wrong! not very leisurly at all. Started off with a huge hill and then the guy told us to make a left to get onto a dirt road to a dam we could swim in. As i sweated through my tshirt and held on to my handle bars as tight as i could i bounced down this rocky road and all of a sudden i was sorrounded by horses, sheep and goats. We continued on throwing our bikes over fences and dodging mounds of poop until we got to what we thought was the dam, but it definately wasn't. Lost in the mountains of South Africa, what to do, what to do. We back-tracked past Old McDonald's farm animals and hopped some other fences to follow a canal home. It was beatiful, sweaty and an adventure, to say the least. We followed a main road home and drank a Liter of water and then a fruity cocktail:)

Day 2 of mountain adventure consisted of actually hiking up a mountain to a waterfall. Not just any waterfall, the second largest waterfall in the world, Tugela Falls. We drove 2 hours to higher up the mountain so we could make the peak hike in one day instead of 4. With a guide we hiked and hike over rocks and water into the clouds. At some points the clouds were so thick you couldn't see 3 people in front of you or the mountain, and other points you could see forever into the valley of green mountains and rivers. It looked like a painting- pictures to come if i can figure it out. The first large obstacle of the hike was a portion called The Gully. For about 45 minutes we climbed at about an 80 degree angle over boulders. I felt like a bear a little bit, or squirrel, either way i felt hard core. When i got to the top it was amazing, but the hike wasn't over. We had some cheese sandwhiches and continued along the top. We arrived at the top of the waterfall and stuck our feet in the warm water. You couldn't see all the way down because of the clouds but my ears definately popped we were so high. We continued along the top until we got to the decent called the "chain ladder" portion of the hike. Of course, being hardcore that i am, i jumped right on and scaled down the 50 meters to the platform below. It was literally just a chain ladder attached to the mountain and swung against the side. Intense, to say the least. After that we hiked the rest of the way down. 12 km in total, lots of hours beautiful views.

The day was exhausting and after relaxing by the hammock we all fell asleep. This morning we played an intense game of ultimate frisbee. Highlights of the game include: my bloodly lip and me scoring the winning touchdown. I know... also pretty hard core.

Hey if you want to mail something to me, my address is:
Laurin Katzenstein
University of KwaZulu-Natal
B 238 Malherbe Residence
Private Bag X01
Scottsville, South Africa
3201

p.s. there is no spellcheck on this thing so i know there is a lot of typos, oops, too lazy to fix it.

Basic Stuff

2009-02-05T17:19:00.002+02:00

Ok, phew, now that i have registered and have internet access i can spell check what i write and give you the low down on South Africa. Oh first... facebook only works here after 8pm or something like that so e-mail is probably the best way to chat. Ok... so what else...

I am living in a dorm called Melherbe the furtherest away from everything on campus- think about the distance of Holden to the Bessey Hall, but it isn't that bad. My dorm- which they call the Res Hall here, has people screaming from about 5.30am to 1am so needless to say it is a bit of a crazy place to live. It is a lot smaller than state so it is nice that people recognize you and say hi to you, also i stick out like a sore thumb because the eight of us from michigan state are the only white people in the entire dorm. I feel bad because everyone remembers me and the Zulu names are all so hard to prenounce and remember, but i am getting better. There is a community kitchen at the end of every hall and i am getting really good at making noodles, but havn't had time to cook much anything else. I am going to try and change that tonight.

Regisration here is like how it was 30 years ago in the U.S. You stand in long lines and ask each individual professor to enroll you in their class and then you have to go get it approved by the dean. After that, you have to be financially cleared and go enter you information into the master system. Five hours later we finally made it to the point where we got our ID cards, my picture is probably the funniest thing i have ever seen, it looks like a mugshot.

I am going to take a beginner Zulu course, a history course of the province i am living in: KwaZulu-Natal, and a community service policy class, where you go out into the community and volunteer for credit. I know, it doesn't sound that stressful, i think i am going to take this semester as a vacation sememster.

This weekend we are headed up into the Drakensberg Mountains until Sunday, i will blog about it when i get back. Hope to here from you guys soon!

in other adventures....

2009-02-04T13:54:00.004+02:00

Other fun things I've been up to... well the Indian Ocean is pretty cool. We spent an entire Sunday jumping in the waves and getting sunburned. I didn't spend more than 5 minutes on the beach. The water was so warm and the waves were big. There was also long piers you could jump off of or watch the surfers from. I am saving the surfing adventure for another day.

Monday I participated in a city-wide road rally called the Amazing Race. Divided into cars with volunteer drivers we raced around Pietermaritzberg with clues to collect higns, do things and take photos of including popping popcorn and painting my face. At one poin my car was second out of sixty, it was pretty fun and intense.

Today was one of the first days we have had to relax. We played a lot of frisbee and i went on my first very sticky campus run. Tonight some of my new friends gave me a Zulu name: Thandeka (Tan-day-kah) meaning likable/lovable. I also learned two different kinds of clicks used to speak zulu, one written as an X and the other as a Q, i will teach you all when i come home.

Each day is full of adventure, hopefully tomorrow will bring more internet so i won't have this backlog of blogs.

Into the township Imbali...

2009-02-04T13:33:00.002+02:00

Today we officially made history. I made a friend in my dorm the other night and he invited me to see"another part of South Africa"- the townships. Since the townships are strictly black he knew that we would not be able to go alone and offered to take us to the township where his sister lives, thirty minutes away.
Getting there was an adventure in itself. First we took a kumbe into town. A kumbe is like a large van taxi/bus. They have specific routes, of course the routes and stops are not written down anywhere. We were told you will just "figure it out". Well, kumbes are not really a mode of transportation whites really take so the stares began immediatly when we got on. For the equivilent of 40 cents a person we were downtown at the kumbe rank to go to the township. This is a place "white people definatly never come", but i was enjoying the adventure. From there we got in another kumbe and went (for 70 cents) into the township of Imbali, Unit 18.
The township was massive, covering miles and miles of rolling hills. After walking around, meeting his sister and nephews we went to the meeting place of the township. There they pick out raw meet and grill it for you outside. We drank bottles of beer and relaxed on the grass and listen to House Music- like elevator techno music on crack/all they listen to here- and were stared and talk to some of the people that lived there. Around five, it became like an ourtoor happy hour. After the picnic we headed back to the university. History was made in Unit 18, and as time moves further away from apartheid, more barriers are broken.

life without internet means hard to blog...

2009-02-02T16:39:00.002+02:00

so i am living in the middle of the jungle and the lions roar puts me to sleep and the hissing of the black mamba is what wakes me up in the morning. JUST KIDDING! although i am really good at killing cockraoches the size of my palm (with wings) that have decided to share my room with me, despite these the exotic animal viewing has been non existant. But you guys don't really care about that...
what you want to know about is south africa right? well... it is amazing! the people from my trip are amazing and the people that live here are amazing (everyone is a lot friendlier than in the US) and the LOVE Obama. Here they are also a lot more traditional, i always get a chair and get a lot of drinks bought for me. It is nice, but it is going to take some getting used to.
Since the very first night when people invited us to a volleyball/soccer game in the rain it has been non stop activities, bars and clubs.
Sorry it has been so long without any contact, we don't get our internet log-ins untill we register on thursday, so until then i haven't be able to get on. Sorry if it seemed like i was ignoring ya'll but there is like one internet cafe and it is always closed. Oh and if you want to try and call me my number is 764494778, im not sure how it works from the US i am assuming you have to get a calling card and figure it out that way.
As they say here.... cheers!