It makes me sad to be writing this last blog about South Africa. This trip has completely changed the way I think about nearly everything. It was an experience of a lifetime.
My decision for choosing Africa, if you ready one of my first entries, may have just been a process of elimination, but I now believe I was meant to go there. I was meant to go to the AIDS Haven and help those children, I was meant to see the combination of rich and poor living so close, I was meant to have certain experiences with people that left me in tears. I know it may sound weird, but there isn’t any other way to explain it.
I had always been known as a quiet one yet my decision to go to Africa wasn’t a surprise to anyone, even if I did get a few strange looks from people and a couple “Why not Europe?”’s. I’m always up for an adventure and (though I didn’t come in with expectations...) I expected Africa to give that to me, to challenge me in ways I have never been challenged before, to put me in uncomfortable situations and have to deal with them, to communicate with people I had nothing in common with, and to make new friends. I’m glad to say, South Africa did not disappoint.
I arrived in Africa on my first day, in spite of being exhausted, wide-eyed and ready for the adventures to begin. Everything was new to me. I missed the familiar, my family and friends, my house and dog, Alexandria and school, but I was too excited for that to last very long.
My first impressions were mixed, to say the least. I had just been travelling for 36 hours and I step out of the PE airport, its hot, I’m hot, and I smell. Not the best combination in the world. I rode to Langerry with Vilma (who I thought was the nicest lady but had no idea who she was and so I didn’t talk all that much) and as we go around a curve I saw we were on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. I could not believe where I was. The place was so beautiful, and I hadn’t even seen the best of it. Walking into Langerry was surreal, though it may have been the lack of sleep, and I was so glad I travelled so light. I barely made it up the stairs with my stuff. The one good thing about being the first in an apartment is picking which room you get to have, and Melissa and I chose well – I will probably never have a room with a balcony again (sorry Amy for never switching). I had no idea what PE would be like so I can’t say I was surprised by what I saw or not. I figured South Africa had a poverty problem and that cities are a perfect example. But I was surprised to see how closely the third world and first world are to each other here. We lived in a very tourist part of the city, but take a five minute car ride and you could be in run-down apartment buildings; take another five minutes and you see the townships and the shacks.
I have to admit that I was nervous when other people started showing up. I had been travelling with the same five girls and along so well with them all that I was anxious about how well I’d get along with the rest of the group. As I said before, I’m a terribly shy person around new people, and, like everyone else, I wanted them to like me. I was also worried about how well 30 people could get along for 3 ½ months living so close to each other and wondering if we would be at each other’s throats by the end.
Needless to say, most of my first impressions are not the ones I leave with and all my worries were for nothing. I left South Africa with a whole new understanding to life and the world that we live in. Never again will I look at poverty or race the same way again. I will never take for granted anything that I have because most people in this world don’t have the same luxuries I do. One incident in particular drove this point home to me. I went running most days along the beachfront. One morning I saw this one man kneeling on the ground. As I got closer I could see that he was scraping ice cream that had been dropped the night before with a stick and eating it; he was just so desperate to eat something. I nearly broke down to tears. It took me a while before I could fully understand what I saw and it still affects me when I think about it. People shouldn’t have to do that. This is the same man that goes through all the garbage’s in the morning looking for something to eat. He carries around a plastic bag that holds all he has in life. Everything I have is a gift. When people complain about not having the latest shoes or cell phone I’m going to think about this man and wish that this person could see him too, maybe then they’d stop complaining.
As Gary explained before we even left CSB/SJU, we would run into the issue of race and racist people. Coming from small town Minnesota, diversity is having one black kid in your graduating class. In South Africa, diversity is much greater and racism can run deep. Some people blame the blacks for everything that is going wrong in their country. One white South African that I talked to said that whatever the black people want, they get. The government is black and so they need to help their people, and to do this they just tax the white people. The blacks do not need to pay for electricity or water if they don’t feel like it. He just kept going off on this for an hour. I guess I understand why he is thinking this but the problems of his country run deeper than this. Having had the experience of being a minority in a country and being treated differently because of the color of my skin, race is an entirely different issue to me now. I will notice it more and how people react to diversity. I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
I have to talk about how my time at the AIDS Have has affected me. Before, I was not much of a little kid person. I didn’t know how to talk to them or keep them entertained for 3 hours and was worried they wouldn’t like me. After, I love kids. I think anyone who didn’t like kids would just have to spend a couple of hours with these kids to change. All of these kids will never have a normal childhood. They live in an orphanage where one-on-one attention was nonexistent until we got there. Most live with the stigma of having HIV or AIDS. As Sandra (one of the most frustrating people I have met) said all the kids at the Haven have either been infected or effected by AIDS. Some were abandoned and still have parents – just a short aside, the mother of one little boy came one of the last days we were there and when one of the girls tried to hand him off to her he started crying and wouldn’t go to her, heartbreaking – others are true orphans, while still others are orphans and were abandoned by other family members. Despite all of this, they are happy, energetic little kids that completely exhaust us every single day we volunteered. Their sickness does not slow them down one bit. Most are developing (physically and mentally) normally and with a few of them you couldn’t tell that they had HIV or AIDS (we found out later that some that we thought had the disease didn’t). HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence, just look at these kids and you’d be able to understand how full a life can be.
Finally, I have to talk about the 29 fantastic people I got to share this unbelievable experience with. I did not have to worry about how well we would get along. Spending nearly 4 months together brought us closer than I could have ever expected. These people are like my family now, some of them I know better than some members of my family (oh and Joe and Melissa, if you think I have a weird family dynamic you should have been at my Grandpa’s 70th birthday party yesterday, you would have been blown away by the strangeness that occurred). The potlucks we had were perfect. I didn’t think college students could cook so well. Some I got to know well because I lived with them or had an amazing travel experience with them (especially Bulungula and Lesotho) others I got to experience the extreme stress that was Marine Biology with. I am going to miss so much about these people. I’m going to miss Joe coming into our room all the time because he got locked out and had to climb across the balcony. I’m going to miss the conversations with Nick (especially when he’s had a few…). I’m going to miss running around from room to room looking for our nonstick pan only to find it in the room down the hall (thanks Flat 6). I’m going to miss Amy running about 5 times a day. I’m going to miss the get well cards made by Laura and the crafts that would be made in Flat 14. I’m going to miss the music that would be blaring from the room next door and Jenny running to sing about freeing a whale. There is something about everyone on this trip that I am going to miss. My roommates were amazing and put up with me going to bed early I could not have asked for a better group to live with. Thank you to everyone who made this trip the best experience I have had in my life I will never, ever forget any of you.
Peace.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Almost Gone...
My time in South Africa is almost gone and I can’t believe it. The day after tomorrow I will be boarding a plan and 36 hours later I will be back in Minnesota. I am definitely going to miss this place. It has become like a second home to me – the complete mess that is our apartment should testify to that. I hope my adjustment back into the United States goes smoothly – I have heard some horror stories.
I am finally finished with school here. My last final ended about an hour ago. I feel bad for those who have two finals tomorrow…ok no I don’t. My biology final went as well as could be expected with two very condescending people running it. I definitely won’t miss the lecturers. Music went really well considering I had been sick the entire night before and I didn’t study more than an hour for it. So, from now on, whatever happens, happens.
On Saturday night, our entire group had a farewell party. Everyone had an amazing time and there were a few tears shed by some in the group. We had a braai (again) and saw a couple slideshows (one embarassing, one sentimental) had a speech and an awards show. It kind of felt like I was back in the sixth grade again. During the party, I began to realize how close we have all become and how much I am going to miss everyone. So sad.
For my South African Literature class we began discussing about going home and how we are going to communicate our time here in South Africa. At this time I realized how I am not going to be able to tell people how much this trip has changed me. I have seen things that I wish I never had to see, I have seen more people beg in the last week than most people in the US will see in years, I once even saw a man scrape off icecream from the ground with a stick so he could have something to eat – never have I been so close to tears about what I have seen here. Every morning I go running, I see this same mand and wish I could do something to help him. I won’t be able to communicate these feelings correctly when I tell my friends and family. No matter how detailed I have been in this blog, or how detailed I will be in retelling my time here, they cannot get the full effect. At the same time I don’t want to go home and just tell everyone South Africa was ‘amazing.’ I have used that word too many times and I know people won’t be satisfied with that answer. But what I have begun to understand is simplisity is best. When retelling stories, chances are I won’t go through all the details, I won’t give you the full version, sorry but you just won’t get it. I now that is not what people want to hear. I wish I could make you all understand.
So I might write one more blog before I leave just as a summary of my time here. I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Peace.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
I'm running out of title names
I have very little tiime left in South Africa, and I am very sad about that. The other night I nearly jumped out of bed when I realized I will be sleeping in my own bed in two weeks. It kind of scared me. I am going to miss the ocean being right across the street and being able to go to it whever I feel like it, the potlucks our awesome group has put together throughout the semester, the scarey monkeys on campus, the kids at the AIDS Haven, the experience of living in a foreign country, absolutely everything (except maybe my cooking, I’m ready for some home cooked meals). I feel as if there is a lot I haven’t done, I need more time and that is something I don’t have.
So we finally had our exciting shark dive this last weekend. We went on Saturday morning at 7am. Now that it is staying darker longer, getting up before 7 is really hard (it used to be hard to stay asleep after 6 because of the stupid sun shining into the room). Within five minutes I went from laying asleep in bed to riding on a truck on the way to the harbor. Not everything went that smoothly, though. The swells were a little larger than expected (and by a little I mean a lot). The dive site was right outside the bay next to an old ship wreck. Well, it was high tide, the swells were huge, the sunken ship was creating some of the biggest waves I have seen since coming here, and the dive site was about 5 meters from the boat. Since the instructor didn’t feel like risking our lives, we decided to head to a smaller wreck in the bay where the swells wouldn’t be so hard. I was fine with that. One problem, they couldn’t find the wreck. Now that option one and two were out we were left with going out to a bouy and seeing the reefs and fish out there. We did get to see our sharks. They weren’t huge, probably just 5 feet in length, or something like that, and we saw quite a few of them. I don’t know what some of the fish were thinking but they were following us and swimming among us. It was amazing. I guess I’m going to miss being able to see this type of stuff back at home too. My scuba certification is going to be gathering dust.
We have one graduating senior in our group (Justin) and since he could not make it to his graduation, we decided to hold one for him. It was so funny. He didn’t know a thing about it and we had set everything up on the roof; it looked almost real. He got a gown and cap, flowers, someone said a prayer, someone wrote, a poem, his hysterical mother (someone from our group played his mother) was wailing, he gave a have drunken speech and almost cried. Everyone had a great time.
Volunteering at the Haven has been really fun the last couple of weeks because we have bascially given up doing much constructive stuff with the kids and we don’t really want to punish them anymore because we won’t get to see them. At times it has been a bit hectic. I wish I had more time with some of these kids. We were sent there to get them ready for school or help them along with their development. All of the kids have shown tremedous improvement. Siya, a boy about a year and a half (I’ve talked about him before), wouldn’t talk, smile, or do anything back in Februayr. Now everytime we walk into the nursery he gives us his sly smile and runs to us. He will smile at anyone now for any reason. He walks, talks a little, and plays with other kids. All of the kids have made improvements as impressive as this. I just wish we could be there longer to experience more of it.
I have been up to my earlobes in homework these last couple of weeks and it doesn’t look as if it is going to let up any time until after my last final. The only thing keeping me from going crazy is knowing the faster I get done with my papers the faster it will all be over. The other night I spent five hours working on two papers, for lit and sem, while the rest of the group went to a braai out in the townships. I got the papers done but then the next two days I worked non stop on another paper, this time for biology. Speaking of biology, we got to take our first test over and if I did not get at least an 80% on it I am going to be very disappointed. The questions we were given I knew better than the first test, I wrote a ton on each question, and I gave all the information that was given to us in our study packet. I can’t wait to get it back.
Like how I’m mixing up the serious with the not serious paragraphs here. I don’t want to overload you too much on the sentimental stuff.
Anyway, my homework is calling me…
Peace.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Two weeks (about) to go...
I can’t say a whole lot has happened in the last week. Every day is sort of running into the next one. I have too much homework to do to go out on the weekends so I haven’t gone anywhere since spring break (the fact that I have little money left is also helping that along). Though I may be going to Tsitiskama this next weekend and go bungee jumping off a bridge. We’ll see how that goes
Classes at school are not too exciting. I’m getting really tired of the three hour classes. About an hour through them I get really antsy or really bored. I get a lot of homework done in class though, thanks to that. The crisis that is Marine biology is soon to be over, I think. A couple of us, me included, notified Gary about how horrible we did on the first lab write up and how we pretty much all failed the test we took last Thursday. When I talked to him in Sem class about it he said he had “opened up a dialog with Ronel.” That made me feel somewhat better. Gary isn’t going to let us all fail a class, it wouldn’t look good to those who would want to go on this trip in the future. Well, the outcome of that is a retake of the test this upcoming Thursday and a re-write of our first lab write up. I am going to be working my butt off to get good grades on those. I have another lab write up I have been working for hours on. On Thursday I ran out of Internet at school, which is extremely hard to do, researching and downloading material for this next paper, that was about 3 and a half hours. Friday I worked on it pretty much all day until I ran out of stuff to write about. I am sick of it and never want to talk about rocky shore zonation again.
We had another birthday on Wednesday. So, as a surprise, we had a braai. That was quite possibly the best meal I have had all trip. There was pasta salad, corn (gotta have a little touch of home), grilled potatoes, hamsbok steak, and fish that was left from the guys’ fishing expedition. Someone mentioned about how expensive that meal would have been if it were being eaten at a restaurant back at home. You can’t easily get hamsbok in the States. I have to say they guys on this trip, at least a few of them, are some of the best cooks I know. I’m glad they’re here to cook me food J.
There was another public holiday on Friday. I’m not sure what it was. They seem to have a lot of them here. I’m not complaining.
This weekend was supposed to be exciting with shark diving and penguin island hopping. Well, it didn’t really turn out that way. Friday we were supposed to go dive with the sharks but the swells were huge and the visibility really poor. (All the fishing boats were in the harbor and it had something to do with these conditions, I have no idea why but it looked cool). At first we were told 7:30, so I got up and was ready by that time. Someone forgot to tell us that the timed changed to 1. But it didn’t matter, conditions were too bad. So diving would have to wait until Sunday, supposedly. Saturday morning I got up at 7 thinking I would have to be ready by 8 to go to St. Croix Island to see the penguins. Well, the same conditions as the day before prevented us from going. This was the second day in a row that I had gotten up and for no reason. Finally Sunday was supposed to be the good day. We actually did get up to go to the Island, at 5:30. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. The Island was cool but a little anticlimactic. We did get to see a ton of dolphins swimming right next to the boat. Diving for the day was cancelled and rescheduled for Friday. I’m crossing my fingers.
I come home in two weeks…ahhhhhh.
Peace.
Classes at school are not too exciting. I’m getting really tired of the three hour classes. About an hour through them I get really antsy or really bored. I get a lot of homework done in class though, thanks to that. The crisis that is Marine biology is soon to be over, I think. A couple of us, me included, notified Gary about how horrible we did on the first lab write up and how we pretty much all failed the test we took last Thursday. When I talked to him in Sem class about it he said he had “opened up a dialog with Ronel.” That made me feel somewhat better. Gary isn’t going to let us all fail a class, it wouldn’t look good to those who would want to go on this trip in the future. Well, the outcome of that is a retake of the test this upcoming Thursday and a re-write of our first lab write up. I am going to be working my butt off to get good grades on those. I have another lab write up I have been working for hours on. On Thursday I ran out of Internet at school, which is extremely hard to do, researching and downloading material for this next paper, that was about 3 and a half hours. Friday I worked on it pretty much all day until I ran out of stuff to write about. I am sick of it and never want to talk about rocky shore zonation again.
We had another birthday on Wednesday. So, as a surprise, we had a braai. That was quite possibly the best meal I have had all trip. There was pasta salad, corn (gotta have a little touch of home), grilled potatoes, hamsbok steak, and fish that was left from the guys’ fishing expedition. Someone mentioned about how expensive that meal would have been if it were being eaten at a restaurant back at home. You can’t easily get hamsbok in the States. I have to say they guys on this trip, at least a few of them, are some of the best cooks I know. I’m glad they’re here to cook me food J.
There was another public holiday on Friday. I’m not sure what it was. They seem to have a lot of them here. I’m not complaining.
This weekend was supposed to be exciting with shark diving and penguin island hopping. Well, it didn’t really turn out that way. Friday we were supposed to go dive with the sharks but the swells were huge and the visibility really poor. (All the fishing boats were in the harbor and it had something to do with these conditions, I have no idea why but it looked cool). At first we were told 7:30, so I got up and was ready by that time. Someone forgot to tell us that the timed changed to 1. But it didn’t matter, conditions were too bad. So diving would have to wait until Sunday, supposedly. Saturday morning I got up at 7 thinking I would have to be ready by 8 to go to St. Croix Island to see the penguins. Well, the same conditions as the day before prevented us from going. This was the second day in a row that I had gotten up and for no reason. Finally Sunday was supposed to be the good day. We actually did get up to go to the Island, at 5:30. Needless to say I was not a happy camper. The Island was cool but a little anticlimactic. We did get to see a ton of dolphins swimming right next to the boat. Diving for the day was cancelled and rescheduled for Friday. I’m crossing my fingers.
I come home in two weeks…ahhhhhh.
Peace.
Monday, April 27, 2009
One relatively uneventful week...
Happy Freedom Day! No school because it is a national holiday, their version of 4th of July, minus the fireworks, hot dogs, and campfires. Actually, I’m not sure what they do today, just a lot of closed shops.
This last week has been relatively uneventful. We went volunteering on Monday and Tuesday. It had been a few weeks since we had last volunteered because of Cape Town and Spring Break so they were excited to see us as we were to see them. Within that time a new kid came to the Haven. His name is Sedriano and he has stolen everyone’s heart already. He is a little over a year old and is scared out of his mind. I don’t blame him. When I went to go get him, I could see he had been crying. He wouldn’t do anything all day and eventually fell asleep in Colleens arms. It was so sad. Tuesday was a little better. He walked around and we almost made him smile. That was a breakthrough. I’m not looking forward to leaving these kids. We only have four volunteering days left and I’m not sure they have fully grasped that concept. We tried to tell them on Tuesday that we were going to leave for good soon. The older ones, I think, got it, but I’m not sure about the little ones. These kids haven’t had this much one on one attention from the same adults for this length of time. I hope they handle it ok. I already know there are going to be some of us that are going to have a hard time dealing with that.
Wednesday was Election Day. Not a big surprise which party is going to win it. In South Africa, the voters vote for the party and that party president becomes the president of the country. In the US it is vote for the person not the party; here it’s completely the opposite. Jacob Zuma is the new president and I can honestly say I am scared and curious about the next couple of years for this country. Just a few weeks ago, Zuma was going on trial for corruption charges, he has some rape charges that I’m not sure what has happened to them, and he has made some stupid comments about AIDS (showering will get rid of the disease) in a country that is experiencing the epidemic worse than most other countries (one in five adults have it). Only time will tell what happens.
A crisis that is running through our group, the marine biology kids anyway, is the stupid grading system here. We had a lab write-up about our sandy shore lab. I have written scientific papers like this one before and I know I did really well on it. I got a 50%, which apparently, in this messed up grading, is passing. The highest score was 67 and the lowest was 14. Needless to say we all freaked out. We got no direction about what was needed or wanted in the paper. A grad student graded the papers, which is not a good idea because she had specific ideas about what the hypothesis was supposed to be and if you did not have that there was no way you could have done well on the paper. The professors here are suppose to be grading us using the CSB/SJU grading scale so as not to have any mix ups. Well, someone forgot the memo. I don’t understand who uses a grad student to correct papers for a study abroad group. Some of the lowest scores were done by those majoring in biology who have done a million of these papers before, try to figure that one out because I can’t (if you can’t tell I’m a little mad). We also have a few med-school track students who can’t afford a C on anything and that is were the best student is going. The rest of us are going to fail for sure. We’re trying to talk to our director to try and get this figured out and we better or I’m going to rip my hair out trying to figure out this next one.
This weekend, a four day weekend, has been very productive yet extremely boring. I’ve gotten most/all of my homework for the next week done and have been trying to find little things that need to be done. I walked along the beachfront and bought a few souvenirs and took some pictures. It was a gorgeous day. Since it is now fall, the number of hot sunny days is dwindling. I took the opportunity to go to the beach and jump into the ocean for possibly the last time (sad, I know). I have been watching movies on TV for the rest of the weekend. I think I have filled my film quota for the rest of the year this weekend. Not all of the movies were good I just had nothing else to do. I think I drove my roommates crazy. They have a political science paper due (4000 words, not fun) so they, along with everyone else that stayed in the flats over the weekend, have been working on it all weekend and I have done nothing but watch TV and wander around. Oh well, that’s what they get for taking that class.
Peace.
This last week has been relatively uneventful. We went volunteering on Monday and Tuesday. It had been a few weeks since we had last volunteered because of Cape Town and Spring Break so they were excited to see us as we were to see them. Within that time a new kid came to the Haven. His name is Sedriano and he has stolen everyone’s heart already. He is a little over a year old and is scared out of his mind. I don’t blame him. When I went to go get him, I could see he had been crying. He wouldn’t do anything all day and eventually fell asleep in Colleens arms. It was so sad. Tuesday was a little better. He walked around and we almost made him smile. That was a breakthrough. I’m not looking forward to leaving these kids. We only have four volunteering days left and I’m not sure they have fully grasped that concept. We tried to tell them on Tuesday that we were going to leave for good soon. The older ones, I think, got it, but I’m not sure about the little ones. These kids haven’t had this much one on one attention from the same adults for this length of time. I hope they handle it ok. I already know there are going to be some of us that are going to have a hard time dealing with that.
Wednesday was Election Day. Not a big surprise which party is going to win it. In South Africa, the voters vote for the party and that party president becomes the president of the country. In the US it is vote for the person not the party; here it’s completely the opposite. Jacob Zuma is the new president and I can honestly say I am scared and curious about the next couple of years for this country. Just a few weeks ago, Zuma was going on trial for corruption charges, he has some rape charges that I’m not sure what has happened to them, and he has made some stupid comments about AIDS (showering will get rid of the disease) in a country that is experiencing the epidemic worse than most other countries (one in five adults have it). Only time will tell what happens.
A crisis that is running through our group, the marine biology kids anyway, is the stupid grading system here. We had a lab write-up about our sandy shore lab. I have written scientific papers like this one before and I know I did really well on it. I got a 50%, which apparently, in this messed up grading, is passing. The highest score was 67 and the lowest was 14. Needless to say we all freaked out. We got no direction about what was needed or wanted in the paper. A grad student graded the papers, which is not a good idea because she had specific ideas about what the hypothesis was supposed to be and if you did not have that there was no way you could have done well on the paper. The professors here are suppose to be grading us using the CSB/SJU grading scale so as not to have any mix ups. Well, someone forgot the memo. I don’t understand who uses a grad student to correct papers for a study abroad group. Some of the lowest scores were done by those majoring in biology who have done a million of these papers before, try to figure that one out because I can’t (if you can’t tell I’m a little mad). We also have a few med-school track students who can’t afford a C on anything and that is were the best student is going. The rest of us are going to fail for sure. We’re trying to talk to our director to try and get this figured out and we better or I’m going to rip my hair out trying to figure out this next one.
This weekend, a four day weekend, has been very productive yet extremely boring. I’ve gotten most/all of my homework for the next week done and have been trying to find little things that need to be done. I walked along the beachfront and bought a few souvenirs and took some pictures. It was a gorgeous day. Since it is now fall, the number of hot sunny days is dwindling. I took the opportunity to go to the beach and jump into the ocean for possibly the last time (sad, I know). I have been watching movies on TV for the rest of the weekend. I think I have filled my film quota for the rest of the year this weekend. Not all of the movies were good I just had nothing else to do. I think I drove my roommates crazy. They have a political science paper due (4000 words, not fun) so they, along with everyone else that stayed in the flats over the weekend, have been working on it all weekend and I have done nothing but watch TV and wander around. Oh well, that’s what they get for taking that class.
Peace.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Frontier!
A couple of things I forgot to mention in my spring break (it’s actually called the autumn recess, people look at you weird if you say spring break). While in Lesotho we stayed at a house in a Sotho village. I was too tired to ever go out into the village to talk to the people, though they didn’t speak English. The first night we stayed in the house a few kids from the village came in and sold stuff and sang. It was so cute. There were also these two kids of the lady that cleaned the house that would come around every morning. The little girl was probably 2 and her brother 6. We would play peek-a-boo with her or she would copy us making faces or tapping the glass. She loved it and the best part was her brother would just light up every time he would see his sister having fun. On the way back to South Africa, we met up with another group that was just heading out. This group was 3 ladies from Holland. They were not dressed for horseback riding. They had on nice shirts and sweatpants, they were chain smoking, and they had toilet paper for when they had to go to the bathroom outside. We just sort of laughed at them.
On Monday (that is the 13th) the South African National cricket team was playing Australia in Port Elizabeth. I went, got burnt, and had a great time. The park was packed. We sat directly in front of the band and directly behind a couple of drunk frat guys who tried to sing and dance to the music but could never really get on the beat or the right tone. South Africa kicked Australia’s butt. The crowd would go nuts when SA got a 6 or 4 or when a player got a 50 or 100 (if you want me to explain what this all means let me know, it may take a while I just learned myself).
This weekend, the 17th-19th, we had our final excursion as a large group. We went out into the frontier (hence the name frontier excursion) and stayed with a couple of Afrikaner farmers. I thought it was going to be an interesting weekend full of awkward moments but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We left on Friday morning and drove for 3 hours into the middle of nowhere. We were on a tiny dirt road for about half of the drive and had to pass through a guarded gate to get there. I’m surprised the vans we took to get out there made it. Once we got there we had lunch and rode horses. You would think after riding horses for 3 days over spring break I’d be sick of them and you would be right. My horse didn’t listen to me, apparently I’m not aggressive enough to ride horses, and walked me through a thorn tree (I have the scratches to prove it). After that we went to go see a milking demonstration which is basically exactly the same as here only on a smaller scale. The cows did not seem all too happy to be stuck in a small building getting milked. Then we lounged around outside and waited for about 3 hours for dinner, which ended up being well worth the wait.
The next day we woke up by some loud roosters and ducks right outside our window at 5, got distracted by Project Runway and Danger Mouse on TV, had breakfast and hopped onto the back of a few bakkies and rode around the farm to check out some animals. We saw (besides the tame eland and kudu in the front yard) ostriches, mohair sheep, angora goats, and horses that looked as though they should be in a movie with their tails and manes blowing in the wind as they are running with their little babies running beside them and the steed galloping behind (deep breath), and we almost ran over a couple of baboons on the road. We rode through bunch of fields, saw some amazing views, had some fun times getting bruised butts in the back of the truck. Then we went to go swimming in a gorge. It was too cold for me so I decided to climb some rocks instead.
That night we hung out at the other farmer’s house (there were 2 farms we visited total). This house is amazing. Just from what I saw it had 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3 dining rooms, a huge TV room, a pool, a pool house, a guest house, a tennis court, and a tame eland, kudu, and a herd of fallow deer. The first thing we did was go to a sheep shearing demonstration. It was kind of hard to watch the ram being contorted into odd positions as the farm hands sheared it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop wearing wool. We then went to the farmer’s trophy room. He loves to hunt big game and the first thing I run into when I walk in is a giraffe head. A bit frightening I have to say. There were probably 50 mounts in that room including zebra, warthog, springbok, eland, wildebeest, some birds, and a lot of other stuff. I then just hung out, read, watched rugby and soccer, played ultimate Frisbee, watched people play tennis and had an amazing dinner. After dinner we had a night drive scheduled, to see all the animals that come out at night. It was cold, being up in the mountains will do that, but never had I seen so many stars. I was more interested in that than the animals we saw, which were few.
The next day (which was just yesterday) we got to breakfast late. We were supposed to be at the farm by 8 so we could be on the road back to PE by 3 (we joked that Gary had a tee time and couldn’t miss it – he’s obsessive about golf). That didn’t happen. We got there at about 8:40 and took our time eating breakfast and then hopped back into the bakkies for a drive to a very scenic overlook. It took about an hour off road to get there but it was worth it. On the top of the mountain/hill thing we could see all the land owned by one of the farmers, which was a lot. This weekend gave us a glimpse into the lives of some South Africans we have not met yet. It is a different view on rural South Africa. Unlike the tiny villages I have been used to seeing this is a farmer living a very comfortable life in a nice house in the middle of nowhere, the closest town (of probably only about a couple hundred people) an hour away on bad dirt roads. It was funny to see such comfort in the middle of nowhere. I’m so glad I went and I had an amazing time (the incredibly cute puppy, Charlie, helped too).
Peace.
On Monday (that is the 13th) the South African National cricket team was playing Australia in Port Elizabeth. I went, got burnt, and had a great time. The park was packed. We sat directly in front of the band and directly behind a couple of drunk frat guys who tried to sing and dance to the music but could never really get on the beat or the right tone. South Africa kicked Australia’s butt. The crowd would go nuts when SA got a 6 or 4 or when a player got a 50 or 100 (if you want me to explain what this all means let me know, it may take a while I just learned myself).
This weekend, the 17th-19th, we had our final excursion as a large group. We went out into the frontier (hence the name frontier excursion) and stayed with a couple of Afrikaner farmers. I thought it was going to be an interesting weekend full of awkward moments but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We left on Friday morning and drove for 3 hours into the middle of nowhere. We were on a tiny dirt road for about half of the drive and had to pass through a guarded gate to get there. I’m surprised the vans we took to get out there made it. Once we got there we had lunch and rode horses. You would think after riding horses for 3 days over spring break I’d be sick of them and you would be right. My horse didn’t listen to me, apparently I’m not aggressive enough to ride horses, and walked me through a thorn tree (I have the scratches to prove it). After that we went to go see a milking demonstration which is basically exactly the same as here only on a smaller scale. The cows did not seem all too happy to be stuck in a small building getting milked. Then we lounged around outside and waited for about 3 hours for dinner, which ended up being well worth the wait.
The next day we woke up by some loud roosters and ducks right outside our window at 5, got distracted by Project Runway and Danger Mouse on TV, had breakfast and hopped onto the back of a few bakkies and rode around the farm to check out some animals. We saw (besides the tame eland and kudu in the front yard) ostriches, mohair sheep, angora goats, and horses that looked as though they should be in a movie with their tails and manes blowing in the wind as they are running with their little babies running beside them and the steed galloping behind (deep breath), and we almost ran over a couple of baboons on the road. We rode through bunch of fields, saw some amazing views, had some fun times getting bruised butts in the back of the truck. Then we went to go swimming in a gorge. It was too cold for me so I decided to climb some rocks instead.
That night we hung out at the other farmer’s house (there were 2 farms we visited total). This house is amazing. Just from what I saw it had 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3 dining rooms, a huge TV room, a pool, a pool house, a guest house, a tennis court, and a tame eland, kudu, and a herd of fallow deer. The first thing we did was go to a sheep shearing demonstration. It was kind of hard to watch the ram being contorted into odd positions as the farm hands sheared it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop wearing wool. We then went to the farmer’s trophy room. He loves to hunt big game and the first thing I run into when I walk in is a giraffe head. A bit frightening I have to say. There were probably 50 mounts in that room including zebra, warthog, springbok, eland, wildebeest, some birds, and a lot of other stuff. I then just hung out, read, watched rugby and soccer, played ultimate Frisbee, watched people play tennis and had an amazing dinner. After dinner we had a night drive scheduled, to see all the animals that come out at night. It was cold, being up in the mountains will do that, but never had I seen so many stars. I was more interested in that than the animals we saw, which were few.
The next day (which was just yesterday) we got to breakfast late. We were supposed to be at the farm by 8 so we could be on the road back to PE by 3 (we joked that Gary had a tee time and couldn’t miss it – he’s obsessive about golf). That didn’t happen. We got there at about 8:40 and took our time eating breakfast and then hopped back into the bakkies for a drive to a very scenic overlook. It took about an hour off road to get there but it was worth it. On the top of the mountain/hill thing we could see all the land owned by one of the farmers, which was a lot. This weekend gave us a glimpse into the lives of some South Africans we have not met yet. It is a different view on rural South Africa. Unlike the tiny villages I have been used to seeing this is a farmer living a very comfortable life in a nice house in the middle of nowhere, the closest town (of probably only about a couple hundred people) an hour away on bad dirt roads. It was funny to see such comfort in the middle of nowhere. I’m so glad I went and I had an amazing time (the incredibly cute puppy, Charlie, helped too).
Peace.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Lesotho!!!
I am on a role now so let’s just keep going. The next day after the ironman competition we had to catch a plane to Durban and then catch a taxi to Underberg (3 hours away). That was probably one of the most terrifying taxi rides in my life. It started out fine and then when we got into the mountains the rain came and the sky got dark and all of a sudden there would be no visibility because of the rain and then the roads would be curving around the mountain with sheer drops on one side. Not exactly fun. Eventually we made it to Khotso Backpackers, there was a power outage so it was all lit by candle light. The people working there were great. Crazy Steve, the guy that owns it, definitely deserved his name. He runs up mountains and once one a bike race…running. I will just say this now to get it out of the way. I have never eaten so much than I did at the backpackers and in Lesotho.
The next morning (Tuesday) we met a couple Canadians that go riding all over the world on their motorcycles. They have been everywhere except Russia (which is next up. Visit www.2canadiansonbikes.com). We left, rode 50km to the border, mounted the horses and crossed the border (literally a gate and two posts). My horses name was Shadow (at first I thought the guide said Cheddar and the Chadow and finally I figured it must be Shadow). The mountains aren’t like many I’ve seen before, there aren’t many trees. Think of the Great Plains in mountain form. Every now and then we would go over a hill and before us would be huge fields that stretched for miles. That is what I pictured Africa to be. During the whole trip I saw Pride Rock about 5 different times and a lot of other Lion King references. The next couple of days included trips to San cave paintings and waterfalls and even more amazing panoramic views. You will have to check out my pictures once I find my cord that connects to the computer and I upload them.
I hadn’t been on a horse in a while and was really freaked out when my horse started trotting. That was nothing compared to when it would start to canter (between a trot and gallop). I lost both of my stirrups so I was freaking out (to say the least). Nothing happened and I was able to stop the horse, thought it didn’t really want to. Next time it cantered I was ready for it and actually enjoyed it, though I’m pretty sure I looked ridiculous.
Needless to say I was sore the next couple of days. My butt really didn’t hurt, it was my ankles and legs. They got bruised from the stirrups. I also wore the same clothes for three days straight on a horse in the dirt and mud. Never have I felt dirtier in my life. Oh well. We made it back to the backpackers on Thursday and hung out there all day Friday. I did nothing that day but watch 3 movies and a job application (great spring break huh?).
We left for Durban on Saturday morning. Not much to say about Durban. Went to church on Easter for the first time since Christmas (South Africa has no Lutheran churches – the Germans never really settled here). I think that is all that happened during Spring break. Sorry for the shortness of the blog, I'm tired. It is really better just to see the pictures than have me describe it but if you want me to go into more detail about anything else just let me know.
Peace.
The next morning (Tuesday) we met a couple Canadians that go riding all over the world on their motorcycles. They have been everywhere except Russia (which is next up. Visit www.2canadiansonbikes.com). We left, rode 50km to the border, mounted the horses and crossed the border (literally a gate and two posts). My horses name was Shadow (at first I thought the guide said Cheddar and the Chadow and finally I figured it must be Shadow). The mountains aren’t like many I’ve seen before, there aren’t many trees. Think of the Great Plains in mountain form. Every now and then we would go over a hill and before us would be huge fields that stretched for miles. That is what I pictured Africa to be. During the whole trip I saw Pride Rock about 5 different times and a lot of other Lion King references. The next couple of days included trips to San cave paintings and waterfalls and even more amazing panoramic views. You will have to check out my pictures once I find my cord that connects to the computer and I upload them.
I hadn’t been on a horse in a while and was really freaked out when my horse started trotting. That was nothing compared to when it would start to canter (between a trot and gallop). I lost both of my stirrups so I was freaking out (to say the least). Nothing happened and I was able to stop the horse, thought it didn’t really want to. Next time it cantered I was ready for it and actually enjoyed it, though I’m pretty sure I looked ridiculous.
Needless to say I was sore the next couple of days. My butt really didn’t hurt, it was my ankles and legs. They got bruised from the stirrups. I also wore the same clothes for three days straight on a horse in the dirt and mud. Never have I felt dirtier in my life. Oh well. We made it back to the backpackers on Thursday and hung out there all day Friday. I did nothing that day but watch 3 movies and a job application (great spring break huh?).
We left for Durban on Saturday morning. Not much to say about Durban. Went to church on Easter for the first time since Christmas (South Africa has no Lutheran churches – the Germans never really settled here). I think that is all that happened during Spring break. Sorry for the shortness of the blog, I'm tired. It is really better just to see the pictures than have me describe it but if you want me to go into more detail about anything else just let me know.
Peace.
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