That means hello in Zulu! We arrived in Durban on Sunday afternoon and have been currently living in a hostel on the coast of the Indian ocean. Although you can't go swimming because of the sharks, I got to dip my toes in the water and walk on the beach.
On Monday, I was partnered up with a girl in my group for a drop off excursion. Basically, we had to get on the bus and go to a location within Durban. Don't worry, we were in a really nice section of town and on the more touristy buses. My partner, Sally, and I went to the Durban Art Gallery housed within city hall. The exhibits were mostly local artwork. One of the coolest exhibits was a beaded chair made by impoverished women. They work for a fair trade company, making beaded objects to sell fairly in international markets. This chair was sent around South Africa. People from all walks of life were photographed in the chair and quoted as to what their dreams were for themselves, their families, and South Africa. Famous figures like Archbishop Desmond Tutu as well as HIV/AIDS patients were photographed and quoted. The other notable exhibit was of artwork portraying Indian identity in South Africa. Paintings, photos, and mixed-media projects displayed what it means to be Indian in South Africa. After the museum, Sally and I went to lunch and walked along the beach. For dinner, my friends and I went to an AMAZING seafood restaurant on the pier. I had an awesome South African prawn curry. Dad, I'll have to find you the recipe it was to die for.
Today, we finally went to the SIT house where all of our lessons take place. We had our first official 2 hour Zulu lesson this morning. So far I can handle the vast majority of vocab and pronunciations. The biggest challenge is pronouncing the clicks. There are 3 notable clicks we're learning now: c's, x's, and q's. I can handle the c's and the q's but the x click is really hard. Hopefully I'll be good at all three by the time I get home!
Tomorrow we move into our homestays. I'm living in Cato Manor, a former black township under Apartheid South Africa. My family consists of my mama, Ruby, 2 brothers (one is 21 and one is 17) and a little sister (she's 10). I'll meet them for the first time tomorrow! Getting super excited/nervous! I've heard from another girl on my program that her friend had the same family. Apparently they were amazing. Fingers crossed they're still awesome.
miss you all a ton. can't wait to show you all the pics (it's going to be a challenge to upload pics to facebook or the blog so you'll probably have to wait towards the end of the program)
Sala Kahle (Be Well),
Leah
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