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!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Zebras, Monkeys and Antelope
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!
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).
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!
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).
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Netball...
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.
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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sani Pass--> Lesotho. Another weekend in the mountains...
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 roa
d 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.
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 roa
d 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.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Life in the sun...
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#$$ you
7) Sawubona- 'how are you' in Zulu
8) Varsity- university
9) robots- stoplights
Now you guys are good to go... come visit!
went to a beginner informational type meeting for the rowing team, where i learned how to row in this pretend like boat thing. It is going to be quite the workout once i figure it out. I can't wait to get out on the real water in a couple of weeks and be moving instead of stationary. It must be the same thing like running on a treadmill... why feel like a gerbil when you can go out and see the world?
i have been signing for things left and right i feel like a freshman at Sparticipation, i just want to get involved, but things take a long time here to actually get started, things move overall, a lot slower, cramps my style a bit, but i guess i will have to learn to sit back and relax a little bit, i just feel like i am not here long enough to sit on my butt.
i actually had to check out books from the library to do research today- ewww! i was not planning on doing any of that when i was here, oh well.
classes are all really small, 20-30 people, im not used to not being able to go to sleep!
my favorite south africa wine is Rose- four cousins, really sweet.
funny things:
1) every time anybody clicks when they are speaking Zulu i laugh, even though, i can click now
2) yesterday on the way home from the grocery store i dropped a whole dozen eggs on the sidewalk
3) i am learning to be a creative cook. ask me to make you something when i come home.
4) i lay out in the sun by the pool today for 2 hours in 100 degree weather... in FEBRUARY!
Some South African Lingo:
1) Howzit?- means how are you?
2)Sharp Sharp- the answer to Howzit
3)Dawnie- a 7:45am class
4) are you attending?- are you going to class?
5) just now- later
6)"foot-sack"- F#$$ you
7) Sawubona- 'how are you' in Zulu
8) Varsity- university
9) robots- stoplights
Now you guys are good to go... come visit!
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Feb. 14 and other fun days...
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 2
0 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.
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 2
0 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.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Rain, School and Surprise!
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:)
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:)
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