It's a Party in the USA

Today I arrived back in the States after being South Africa for 4 months! The last week of being in South Africa was awesome. My mom and John met me in Cape Town and we tried to check off all of our things on our "Cape Town Bucket List". This included going to Robben Island, taking the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, visiting a colony of African penguins, wine tasting in the wine region, and eating some of the best food in the world. Mission accomplished. We completed our bucket list as well as a few other things. We visited the National Gallery, walked in the Company Gardens, and went on a seal cruise. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful Cape Town truly is. Table Mountain really is one of the most stunning places in the world and the Cape Peninsula is just as beautiful. I hope I get a chance to go back and spend even more time there. I loved it!

After a week in Cape Town we went to Johannesburg for a day and visited TLC before we left the country. It was crazy being back at TLC after a year and seeing familiar faces there. Some of the little ones I had helped take care of were long gone and living with their forever families. Others were still being loved by TLC staff. It was crazy seeing how big the little ones were. My mom wanted to swipe one little girl. I'm not surprised, after being at TLC for 5 minutes you start to get attached to all the kids. And as crazy as it sounds, some of the little ones remembered me. One little boy I spent a lot of time with came crawling to me instantly. Another little one I spent a lot of time with recognized my voice. It was amazing to feel so connected to these kids.

And now, after a 18+ hour flight (weather in Joburg was bad) plus waiting in the Atlanta airport plus flying 2 hours to Cleveland, I'm back. 113 days later. 4 months of living, breathing, eating, and sleeping in South Africa. I can't even begin to sum up all the emotions I've been feeling since leaving South Africa: I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm confused. Yes there were times where I was frustrated, but overall it was one of the greatest experiences in my life. There's definitely things I'll miss....

1) living by the beach

2) being proposed to by random Zulu men

3) going to open air markets on a weekly basis

4) working with CANSA

5) being the legal drinking age

6) living so close to museums, clubs, gardens, and other awesome things to do

7) pretending to be able to speak Zulu

And things I won't miss....

1) not having a car

2) being proposed to by random Zulu men

3) paying for taxis

4) tomato sauce (pronounced toe-mah-toe, it's supposed to be ketchup)

5) cockroaches

I can't believe this is the end of my semester abroad. Thanks for following my blog and listening to me complain and brag for an entire semester. Next time I'll post to this blog is on my next adventure. Who knows where that will be: Africa? Asia? Europe? Australia? It's anyones guess. Hamba Kahle South Africa! I can't wait to see you again!

Safari Trip

This past Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I was in St. Lucia. There, we went on a safari in a game reserve, went on a boat safari, and went to the beach. It was an AMAZING experience. Here's the run down of the highlights:

Safari:

So we woke up at 4:30 in the morning to be ready to head out to the game reserve by 5 am. We arrived at the game reserve around 5:30 am ready to see some animals. At first we didn't see anything exciting, just a few impala, a warthog, and some birds. Then we saw a giraffe super close to our car. After letting us take pictures of it for a while, it decided to walk in front of our car. We ended up tailgating the giraffe until it decided to get off the road! After seeing the first giraffe we saw SO many animals. We saw rhinos at least 10 times. We also saw a herd of 50-75 elephants. At first they were walking along the mountain side, then they walked down into the valley where our car was. They all crossed the road in front of our car! It was incredible seeing so many elephants up close! We also saw some rhinos really close to our car. At one point we thought the rhino might charge our car. We all had to sit really still and not talk. Eventually the rhino went back to eating some grass. After the rhino we saw some zebras, water buffalo, and tons of types of antelope. Unfortunately we didn't see any of the cats. But we did see a spotted hyena taking a nap in the grass.

Boat Safari:

The next day we went on a boat safari. There we saw nile crocodiles, tons of hippos, and cool water birds. We got a chance to see hippos up close from the bottom deck of the boat. I'm pretty sure that if I were to be reincarnated into any animal, being a hippo wouldn't be so bad. They lounge in the water all day, eat sea grass, and just bum around all day. They're also secretly bad ass. Hippos kill tons of people every year and are not an animal you want to mess with. Anyways, it was nice to sit back, have a couple of toots and hang out with my friends on the boat.

Today is my last night in Durban. There are only 8 of us left in Durban and we'll be having a sleep over at the SIT house because we don't want to pay for a hostel. We're going out to dinner to a thai restaurant on Florida road. Tomorrow, I'll leave for Cape Town to meet up with my mom and John! SO EXCITED! I've always wanted to go to Cape Town and now I'm finally doing it! This week I'll be crossing two things off my bucket list: visiting Cape Town and going on Safari. It's also exciting because I only have a week left in South Africa. Soon enough I'll be home. I love South Africa, but it's definitely time for me to head home.

Miss you all and can't wait to see you soon!

DONE WITH ISP!

It’s done! I have officially finished my ISP paper. Now I just have the presentation tomorrow and I’ll be done for the semester. I can’t believe I’ve just poured my heart and soul into a 43 page paper over the course of 2 weeks. I’m jumping for joy right now with the occasional fist-pump to celebrate.

Today is also amazing because it’s Thanksgiving! South Africans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving, but that doesn’t mean I can’t. My room (the Penthouse) is hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for all the other SIT students living in Windemere. I’ll be making our family’s traditional corn pudding as well as an apple pie. We won’t be having turkey due to the fact that turkey is super rare in South Africa. We’re all broke college kids who don’t want to spend extra money just so we can buy a turkey. Besides, none of us actually know how to cook a turkey. I’m looking forward to a yummy home cooked meal with all my friends. And thinking of Thanksgiving is making me think of Christmas. Plus my roommate has started playing Christmas songs (one of which is dogs barking to the tune of “Jingle Bells”). I’m getting so excited to come home for the holidays! Snow will be a welcome sight although I’ve been loving the tropical weather here in Durban. Only a week left in Durban and then I’m off to Cape Town. I can’t believe I only have 14 days left in South Africa. SOOOO crazy. Miss you all so much!

If only finals were like this at Bates...

Unreal. My final paper is due this Friday, I'll have my project presentation on Friday morning and then I will be done with the semester. No huge tests. Only 1 major paper. After that, I'm off to St. Lucia to go on safari and a crocodile boat ride. I guess this is the only semester of my life I'll be rewarded for my "hard work" with a safari. I put hard work in quotations because academically this semester has been pretty relaxed.

Only 9 days until I'm in Cape Town with Mom and John. I can't believe I'll be back in the US in only 16 days! Where did the semester go? I've been going on and on about how fast the semester has been flying by but it's so true. I guess that's not a bad thing. Although I love South Africa it's about time to go home. The students on my program are nice but I really am missing all of you. It's not the same without you: my friends and family. I'm also feeling restless. Yes, I've had amazing experiences but I haven't had a ton of opportunities to leave Durban since rural homestays. I guess that's the price I pay for staying in the city for my ISP. That's probably why I'm SO excited to go to St. Lucia and then to Cape Town. To do something different, to see a different city, to have a different experience. I'm also so excited to go on safari because that's something I've ALWAYS wanted to do. Ever since I was little I've dreamed of going on safari and now it's happening! Although I have seen 3 of the big 5 during our last short stay in St. Lucia, I'm hoping to see the last 2: lions and leopards. I also hope I get to see some giraffes because they're one of my favorite animals.

Miss you all!

15 days left...

ISP time is quickly coming to an end. yikes! only 15 days left on the program. Here's an update of things that have happened since my last post...

On Friday my focus group was an epic fail. First, I had to find the "Psychology Department Honors Room" at UKZN. That in itself was a challenge since everyone I asked in the psych department had no idea what I was talking about. Once I found it, or at least what I though was the psych department honors room, I waited for an hour for the students to show up. None came. Oh well, I was able to get in contact with one of the students and I'll be meeting her today.

Saturday was a relaxing day, we went to Essenwood Market, Musgrave mall, and then hung out at the beach with the lifeguards. The lifeguards are all professional surfers which is pretty cool to say I'm friends with professional surfers...

Sunday we went to see another movie, this time we saw "The Social Network". Great movie, but it stressed me out! The guy who plays the creator of facebook talked so fast, I started getting a headache trying to keep up with what he way saying. Afterwards we went to Mugg & Bean for some yummy megamuffins which I will definitely miss.

Yesterday, I went to a Wellness Day event at a tyre company here in Durban. I worked at the CANSA table, providing information about cancer symptoms, treatment, and diagnosis. It was a great experience to learn a mechanism that is being used to teach employees about health issues. Other tables were set up featuring NGOs centered on TB, HIV, Alcohol Abuse, healthy diets, and exercise.

I also went to meet the artist who created the piece I saw at city hall. She is easily one of the coolest and most inspiring women I have ever met. I went with my friend Jalissa who is studying acceptability of the female condom amongst South African women. We arrived at her beautiful home in a nice neighborhood in Durban and were in awe of her studio. It had clean lines and a palate of black and white. She talked to us about her experiences with cancer and women's health issues in relation to her job as an artist. She showed us her previous work and explained them through her artistic lens. All of her work is a breath taking way of explaining humanitarian issues. It was an honor meeting her and getting to hear her perspective on HPV and cervical cancer.

So despite the Epic Fail that was Friday, Monday completely overshadowed it as an Epic Win!

Only 15 days left on the program. Which means only 10 days until my paper and presentations are due! I'm getting so excited for Cape Town, it's going to be amazing!

Love,

Leah

Sharks, Sea Turtles, Starfish oh my!

Lately I've been trying to keep myself super busy and enjoy every minute of living in South Africa as to not get too caught up in the excitement of going home in less than a month. So here's an overview of what I've been doing with my life.

Thursday: After doing some basic tasks (such as numbering raffle tickets) at CANSA, I went to the Aquarium at uShaka Marine World. It was pretty awesome. They had tons of sharks and we got to watch a shark feed. Pretty cool stuff. uShaka had all the typical aquarium residents: starfish, jellyfish, tropical fish, etc. What was awesome was the fact that the majority of the creatures at the aquarium are native to the waters off the coast of South Africa. After checking out the aquarium we went to a super cheesy dolphin show. It had something to do about King Shaka not approving of dolphins and the trainer dressed up as a Zulu woman telling him that dolphins are awesome. We also got a chance to see the penguins which made me even more excited to see the wild penguins in Cape Town.

Friday: We went to the City Hall art museum and natural history museum. It was the first time I checked out the natural history museum. It housed animals native to South Africa, meaning it had elephants, lions, leopards, pangolins, and other "exotic" animals. So weird to think I'm living in a country where elephants can live in their natural habitat. The art museum had a new exhibit called the body politic. One of the sculptures was about HPV and cervical cancer! How perfect for my project! So I emailed the artist, hopefully she'll get back to me and I'll be able to interview her on her work and her perspectives on the two disease.

Saturday: Went to Suncoast Casino to watch a movie with my roommates. We ended up choosing "You Again" which is an American movie. It was a cute romcom, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Sunday: My roommates and I decided to go to the BAT Center and Wilson's Warf on the harbor. The BAT center is an arts trust that provides workspace and galleries for artists in Durban. We saw some really cool work by local artists and got a chance to check out the space. We then walked to Wilson's Warf where we got to see all the boats going out to sea. Durban is the biggest port in South Africa, so there's a lot of big cargo ships going in and out of the harbor. We went out to lunch at this AMAZING Thai restaurant and got to admire the beautiful scenery. After the warf, we took a taxi home and went to the market across the street from our house. Overall it was a pretty awesome day.

This week should be hectic: CANSA on Tuesday and Thursday, UKZN on Wednesday and Friday to interview students and to conduct my focus groups. Only 2 weeks left of ISP! I'll be back in the USA in 31 days... crazy! miss you all!

Moving on up to the Penthouse

Updates on my life in South Africa:

1) Because there are 5 of us staying in the city at Windemere and most rooms are only for 4 people, we got moved into.. drumroll please.... the PENTHOUSE! It's beautiful and we have a wall of floor to ceiling windows that overlook the ocean. We can even see the Moses Mabhida stadium from our room. My bed has the best view in the house, it overlooks the entire beach! We also have a huge kitchen and free dish tv. It's pretty amazing. I cooked butter chicken on Monday night and last night we made quesadillas out of chipattis.

2) I volunteered at CANSA for the first time yesterday. I went in thinking I was going to filing paperwork all day. However, I ended up going with Rose, one of the educators, to a primary school in KwaMashu to teach about healthy living and preventing cancer. When we arrived at the school, I was given a seat with the panel of speakers. They kept feeding me cheetos and the South African equivalent to life savers candies. Every time I go anywhere, I'm treated like royalty because I'm an American. I don't like it, I feel like I should be the one honoring them. I feel honored to be in the presence of such wonderful kind people. I'm the useless one there to learn. I was kind of nervous they we're going to make me talk to the kids. But, I didn't have to. Which is a good thing since the entire presentation was in Zulu. I did understand bits and pieces of the presentation and Rose would explain what was happening.

It was interesting that HIV/AIDS education begins at such a young age in South Africa. I didn't know what AIDS was until I was at least 11/12 years old. These kids are being taught about AIDS when they're 5! I'm still getting used to complex views of HIV/AIDS here. There are so many awareness campaigns and support groups plus people talk about it very openly, but at the same time it is so stigmatized. Also, there was a huge emphasis on teaching kids how to get help if their being abused. The cancer discussion was mostly about health living habits and how eating good foods, exercising, and not smoking can help prevent cancer. After the presentation was over, Rose kindly drove me back to my apartment.

3) I just found out that some of the life guards that we're friends with are professional surfers. Thus far I've met professional surfers and semi-pro soccer players. CRAZY! I feel like it's so rare to meet professional athletes in real life in the US and we're just meeting them at the beach.

Only 28 days left with SIT and 36 days until I'm back in the US of A. 66 days until the epic return to Bates. unreal.

love you all and can't wait to see you in a month!

Leah