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

Welcome to the Good Life!

Hello!

It’s been a few days since my last blog post. Unfortunately, I’ve been insanely busy writing project proposals and papers. I’m just finishing up my Community Health Seminar paper on the effectiveness of the implementation of the Department of Health’s leprosy control policy in South Africa. Woo that was a mouthful. I’ve submitted my project proposal for my ISP so that it can be reviewed by the ethics committee and I’m getting ready to embark on my independent research project! Like I’ve probably mention 1000 times before, I’ll be living in Durban with a few of my friends for the rest of the program. As of right now I’ll be staying at the Windermere beach front flats for the next 4 weeks. A lot of the other students are traveling to other locations: Pietermaritzburg, Impendle, Umthwalume, and even Manguzi (by the Mozambique boarder!). I’m totally content staying in Durban. Unlike the other students that are traveling out of the city, I’ll get to experience more of Durban than they will. I can’t wait to go to the botanical garden, UShaka Marine World, and the BAT centre. Maybe I’ll even get to go snorkeling! The possibilities really are endless! And the food here is amazing! My friends and I have been cooking for the most part, but we’ll probably try to go out to dinner once a week so we get to experience some of the amazing cusine here. The cool thing about Durban is that it’s a really rich cultural center with the largest Indian population in South Africa as well as multiple other cultural groups. The curries here are to die for! They’re often a blend of traditional South African, Indian, and Malay dishes. Plus, add in the abundant seafood and you get some of the best curries in the world. Good thing I can go running on the beach!

Enough of me gloating about how sweet my life is.

This Saturday I had one of the greatest experiences a young ethnographer could have. For those of you who don’t study social sciences, ethnographers do field research concerning cultural issues. Anyways, earlier this week I heard about a walk to raise awareness about cervical cancer. The walk started at Addington Hospital at South Beach and ended at City Hall. So being a good student, I decided it would be worth it to spend my Saturday doing research. I arrived around 10:30, which I figured was a good idea since the march was supposed to arrive at city hall around 10 and South African time generally means people will run late. Well I walked around city hall to see if I could find anyone walking with signs. First I found a group of about 10 young women holding pamphlets. I approached them and asked them if they knew anything about the cervical cancer walk. They all looked at me strangely. Turns out, they were Jehovah’s Witnesses. Oops. Later one tried to give me one of her books. I told her I’d take it and read it in exchange for an interview. She took the offer, which allowed me to at least get one interview just in case the picketers didn’t show up. After interviewing her, a nice Indian woman came over and talked to me for a little bit. She told me she overheard my accent and could tell I was American. She was so sweet and we talked for a few minutes about what I’m doing in South Africa and how much I love it here. While talking to her, I overheard the sound of chanting. Around the corner came a group of 25 women marching. They each carried signs in Zulu, but I recognized the word cancer on each of the posters. I followed the demonstrators to City Hall. After talking to the woman in charge about the purpose of my study, she gave me permission to interview the demonstrators. I got about 7 interviews done with a variety of women: old gogos, middle-aged mamas, and even some college students. One woman was a nurse and provided a good amount of info on current interventions available. The whole group was so welcoming towards me! When taking a group picture they had me join in. In fact, they had their photographer take pictures of me interviewing the women. I borrowed my roommate’s audio recorder, which I used in all the interviews. I felt like a legitimate anthropologist! I got so many hugs and words of encouragement. They were all so happy that an American was interested in their knowledge and opinions! When I had to leave, they all gave me huge hugs goodbye and wished me good luck on my project.

Such an amazing experience! 37 days until Cape Town and 45 days until I’m back in the US of A. Can’t believe it’s already ISP time. I keep saying that semester is flying by but it’s totally true!!! It’s weird, it feels like just yesterday like I hopped off the plane in Johannesburg and dipped my toes in the Indian Ocean for the first time. But I’m so comfortable here I feel like I’ve been here forever. Can’t wait to see you all!!!!

Love,

Leah

Week 9: Getting ready for my Independent Study Project!

It's official, I have an ISP project! I will be working with CANSA, the Cancer Association of South Africa learning about perceptions of HPV and cervical cancer in South Africa. I'll also be interviewing a ton of students at University of KwaZulu-Natal and hopefully visiting a clinic or two. Can't believe it's almost game time: this project will be the foundation for my senior thesis. I'll be living in Durban for the rest of the semester (some people go to rural areas or Pietermaritzburg) and will only have to conduct research (NO CLASS!). Until then, it's time to finish my project proposal and my Community Health Seminar paper... yikes! I wish I had Ladd to hide in for a few days to write these papers. Living by the beach is so distracting!

Despite the challenge of trying to study by the beach, life is pretty good! Every Sunday, there is a market across the street from where I'm living. So many cool things! People try to sell the typical touristy stuff as well as clothes and other assortments of goods. The produce stand has all sorts of crazy looking fruits! I've also become quite the chef. Sally (my roommate) and I have been cooking up a storm in our tiny kitchen. Last week we made fajitas, some red thai curry, and pasta with pesto. We even made brownies this weekend. YUM! tonight we're making some sort of curry dish.

This semester has been flying by, I only have 44 days left in my program and 52 days until I arrive back in Cleveland. Miss you all and can't wait to see you soon!

Living the good life, except for paper writing...

I'm now settling into living at Windemere holiday flats. I'm missing living in a homestay but I love the newly found freedom within my schedule. Now I can choose what to eat, when to eat, when to go on a run, when to go to bed, and what I do with my free time! Running on the beach is definitely a plus, although I've been a little lazy the past few days due to the rain. Now that it's sunny again back to trying to get in shape. Lacrosse training is going to be so rough when I get back! The only major bummer about this period is the surge of paper writing and prepping for my ISP. Right now I'm trying to make contacts to help my project along. I plan on studying cultural perceptions of HPV and cervical cancer amongst South African college students. For my friends who participated in my original study, this is a much more extended version and it's going to be used for my senior thesis. yikes. So much work to do but I know it will be worth it in the end!

Only 48 days left in the program! Can't believe how fast abroad is flying by. I miss everyone in the states and can't wait to see everyone again!

Last Hurrah in Cato, Amatikulu (Wangu), Umthwalume, and Slaying the dragon

Wow. This past week was amazing. It was my last weekend in Cato with my home stay family. I went to Wengu (Amatikulu), Umthwalume, and hiked the Drakensberg Mountains. Here’s the run down:

LAST WEEKEND IN CATO
Sadly, it was my last weekend living with my homestay family in Cato. On Friday night we had a farewell dinner with all the families. The food was pretty typical South African cuisine: tons of meat and carbs. After round one of eating, my mama had me snipe some of the food for leftovers. Once the meal was over, all of us got on stage to perform for our families. Being typical college students, we procrastinated practicing our performance until 5 minutes before said performance. We couldn’t decide what to do. Popular choices: “Don’t Stop Believin’”, “Waka Waka”, “Sweet Caroline”, and “God Bless America”. We ended up dancing to “Waka Waka” since pretty much everyone here is OBSESSED with the song. Who can blame them? It’s an awesome song and it’s so catchy. It was the theme song to the 2010 World Cup, if you haven’t heard it yet you should listen to it. Anyways, we got all the kids up on stage to dance with us. So cute. All the little ones were grooving and the gogos loved it! We also sang the Zulu version of “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes”. Saturday was boring because I had to work on a paper and Sunday was a chill day where I just hung out with my family. I also gave them thank you gifts on Sunday night. For Smu: 2 art kits and some mixes that I made (Rihanna’s Greatest Hits and Beyonce’s Greatest Hits). For Buwa: a huge bar of chocolate, a Bates lacrosse hat, and some mixes I made. For Mama: a nice throw the family can use. When watching TV, if they get cold they use an old towel with holes in it. I figured a nice throw would be great when mama gets cold. After saying my farewells, I left for my weeklong trip to rural villages...

AMATIKULU/WANGU
We arrived in Amatikulu (or so we thought) bright and early Monday morning. We arrived at the clinic to learn about the community health worker (CHW) program at the clinic. While there, we found out that the village was actually called Wangu and the clinic was called Amatikulu. Interesting. Anyways, after lunch at Steers (a ridiculous fast food chain) we met our homestay mamas. My mama was a sweet but quiet woman. Our house overlooked the ocean and was pretty big. Sally and I each got our own beds! Around their house was sugar cane field and groves of banana and mango trees. That night I discovered what lurks in the drop toilet at night. The drop toilet was one of the nicest I’ve seen, but it had HUGE roaches in it. Sally used it first, but when I opened the door and saw a roach crawl on the seat, I couldn’t bring myself to use the toilet! Thank goodness the roaches leave the longdrop during the day! On Tuesday we shadowed our mama on her route. Community health workers are trained members of the community who spread information concerning hygiene, nutrition, STIs, and TB. They go on a route around the community and visit people at their homes. We only visited a few homes, but it was nice to be out and about. We talked to people about washing their hands and how to make rehydrate. We went back to the house around 11 and watched Tyler Perry movies with my sisi Sne. I helped cook dinner. And by helping cook dinner, I mean chopping the veggies. After a delicious dinner of fried chicken, cooked veggies and pap we watched Generations and went to bed. On Wednesday, we left for Umthwalume.

UMTHWALUME
Umthwalume was by far my favorite of the rural homestays. We arrived in Umtwalume Wednesday morning. First, we visited a school. The school was amazing. For the limited resources they had, they had done so much! They teach the kids about sustainability and recycling: the kids help grow vegetables in a community garden and all the children learn how to recycle garbage into crafts. What’s most amazing about the school is the faculty. They are truly invested in the future of these kids. A big portion of the student body fits within the “Orphans and Vulnerable Children” category. Teachers will purchase students food and uniforms out of their own pocket money. They will take children into their homes to feed them dinner. They’ll repair their torn uniforms and wash them for them. It was incredible. Next, we visited a Love Life Y center. Love Life is an organization run through the South African government that focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention in the 12-19 year old population. Although the good intentions are there, they aren’t a highly functioning organization. The funding is limited and the peer mediators don’t practice what they preach. Many of them are teen moms but talk about having safe sex. There’s a big disconnect. After the downer at Love Life, I went to my homestay. My family was AWESOME! My mama was a Sangoma, a traditional healer. She spoke 4-5 words of English. Speaking with her required some miming and pointing at things. Thankfully, her daughter did the majority of translations for us. We had a baby brother who I was obsessed with (cause as we all know I love babies) and a 4 year old brother. The house was pretty small and a little intimidating. There were a lot of mice and geckos. We went to bed super early (7:30!). To our amazment, we shared a room with the gogo and the baby. We slept on the bed and the baby and gogo slept on the ground. During the night, Sally and I thought our house was going to blow over! The wind was so loud we thought something had fallen on the house! It didn’t help that our house had a tin roof which made a ridiculously loud rattling noise anytime wind blew past. Our gogo also woke up on several occasions to use the “pee bucket” in the middle of the room. Lucklily, Sally and I had access to our neighbors flush toilet. SUCCESS. After a rough night’s sleep, we went to visit a faith healer at her home and place of practice. She combines Christianity and traditional Zulu medicine as a mechanism of healing. Normally, she provides water that she blesses with the help of God. After that we went to a beautiful beach. It was too windy and too cold to go swimming, but we got a chance to admire the surroundings. Then, we went to a craft center where members of the community learn to produce craftwork. We learned how to make AIDS ribbon pins. Lets just say, I’m not so good at beadwork. The teachers felt so bad about mine they gave me a premade one. After that we went home. We spent the evening hanging out with our family without electricity: the electricity went out due to the strong winds. Once to electricity came back on, our gogo put on her sangoma apparel and had us take pictures with her. You’ll have to see the pictures on Facebook or when I get back! She put one of her wigs on Sally and a hat on me. We exchanged gifts with our family. Sally and I gave the family chocolate, dish towels, knives, and some bubbles for the kids. Earlier in the day, I was admiring the beautiful cloth our mama was wearing. When I asked her where she buys it, she took me to our room and pulled out a suitcase filled with tons of the cloths. She oftered me one! Shocked, I told her I didn’t have money to pay her, but she gave it to me anyways. Sally got one too. They’re beautiful. Mine is a garnet, black, and white one (YAY BATES COLORS) with a shield emblem on it. Pretty awesome. After a heartfelt goodbye with my family, we left in the morning and visited a TB hospital. After visiting the hospital, we headed to the Drakensburg Mountains!

SLAYING THE DRAGON: HIKING THE DRAKENSBURG

Apparently, Drakensburg means “Dragons back” in Afrikaans. We arrived on Friday to the campsite. We relaxed and prepped for one of the biggest hikes I have ever done. After a delicious dinner of pasta cooked over the campfire we went to sleep to rest up for the treacherous climb. On Saturday we began our 5 hour hike. The scenery was amazing! We hiked near a river until we got to the base of the mountain. It was so steep! Our AD Zed, who is pretty much a mountain man, was going so fast up the mountain. I ended up hiking with the EXTREEMM! Bunch. Also known as the stragglers. We had a technique of hiking where we would stop at the next rock with a tree. Unlike the other group, we spent more time admiring the scenery and enjoying the moment. Eventually we made it up to the top! We got to see the Khosian paintings at the top. The Khosian are the South African bushmen that were almost driven to extinction. Now they live in colored communities through out South Africa. The paintings were amazing, depicting scenes with hunters and warriors, contact with white settlers and their horses. After the paintings we made it all the way to the top. The view was amazing. I’m so proud of myself that I made it up such a huge mountain. I’m thinking that I can accomplish my goal of hiking Khatadin before I graduate from Bates. The climb down was almost as intense as the climb up! Eventually we made it to a river where we got to swim. It was so refreshing swimming in the super clean river. Don’t worry, no schistomiasis or scary parasites. After that, we hiked back to the campsite and ate a traditional South African brai (bbq). The food was awesome. I’ll have to bring some brai spice back for our BBQs at home.

Today we arrived back in Durban. I’m now living the life: living in a beachfront holiday flat for the next 2 months. Did some grocery shopping because now I’ll have to cook for myself! As a treat, my roommates and I went to get Indian food for dinner. That’s it for now. SO much happened in the past week. Miss you all and can’t wait to see you in 60 days!

Last Hurrah in Cato, Amatikulu (Wangu), Umthwalume, and Slaying the dragon

Wow. This past week was amazing. It was my last weekend in Cato with my home stay family. I went to Wengu (Amatikulu), Umthwalume, and hiked the Drakensberg Mountains. Here’s the run down:

LAST WEEKEND IN CATO
Sadly, it was my last weekend living with my homestay family in Cato. On Friday night we had a farewell dinner with all the families. The food was pretty typical South African cuisine: tons of meat and carbs. After round one of eating, my mama had me snipe some of the food for leftovers. Once the meal was over, all of us got on stage to perform for our families. Being typical college students, we procrastinated practicing our performance until 5 minutes before said performance. We couldn’t decide what to do. Popular choices: “Don’t Stop Believin’”, “Waka Waka”, “Sweet Caroline”, and “God Bless America”. We ended up dancing to “Waka Waka” since pretty much everyone here is OBSESSED with the song. Who can blame them? It’s an awesome song and it’s so catchy. It was the theme song to the 2010 World Cup, if you haven’t heard it yet you should listen to it. Anyways, we got all the kids up on stage to dance with us. So cute. All the little ones were grooving and the gogos loved it! We also sang the Zulu version of “Head, shoulders, knees, and toes”. Saturday was boring because I had to work on a paper and Sunday was a chill day where I just hung out with my family. I also gave them thank you gifts on Sunday night. For Smu: 2 art kits and some mixes that I made (Rihanna’s Greatest Hits and Beyonce’s Greatest Hits). For Buwa: a huge bar of chocolate, a Bates lacrosse hat, and some mixes I made. For Mama: a nice throw the family can use. When watching TV, if they get cold they use an old towel with holes in it. I figured a nice throw would be great when mama gets cold. After saying my farewells, I left for my weeklong trip to rural villages...

AMATIKULU/WANGU
We arrived in Amatikulu (or so we thought) bright and early Monday morning. We arrived at the clinic to learn about the community health worker (CHW) program at the clinic. While there, we found out that the village was actually called Wangu and the clinic was called Amatikulu. Interesting. Anyways, after lunch at Steers (a ridiculous fast food chain) we met our homestay mamas. My mama was a sweet but quiet woman. Our house overlooked the ocean and was pretty big. Sally and I each got our own beds! Around their house was sugar cane field and groves of banana and mango trees. That night I discovered what lurks in the drop toilet at night. The drop toilet was one of the nicest I’ve seen, but it had HUGE roaches in it. Sally used it first, but when I opened the door and saw a roach crawl on the seat, I couldn’t bring myself to use the toilet! Thank goodness the roaches leave the longdrop during the day! On Tuesday we shadowed our mama on her route. Community health workers are trained members of the community who spread information concerning hygiene, nutrition, STIs, and TB. They go on a route around the community and visit people at their homes. We only visited a few homes, but it was nice to be out and about. We talked to people about washing their hands and how to make rehydrate. We went back to the house around 11 and watched Tyler Perry movies with my sisi Sne. I helped cook dinner. And by helping cook dinner, I mean chopping the veggies. After a delicious dinner of fried chicken, cooked veggies and pap we watched Generations and went to bed. On Wednesday, we left for Umthwalume.

UMTHWALUME
Umthwalume was by far my favorite of the rural homestays. We arrived in Umtwalume Wednesday morning. First, we visited a school. The school was amazing. For the limited resources they had, they had done so much! They teach the kids about sustainability and recycling: the kids help grow vegetables in a community garden and all the children learn how to recycle garbage into crafts. What’s most amazing about the school is the faculty. They are truly invested in the future of these kids. A big portion of the student body fits within the “Orphans and Vulnerable Children” category. Teachers will purchase students food and uniforms out of their own pocket money. They will take children into their homes to feed them dinner. They’ll repair their torn uniforms and wash them for them. It was incredible. Next, we visited a Love Life Y center. Love Life is an organization run through the South African government that focuses on HIV/AIDS prevention in the 12-19 year old population. Although the good intentions are there, they aren’t a highly functioning organization. The funding is limited and the peer mediators don’t practice what they preach. Many of them are teen moms but talk about having safe sex. There’s a big disconnect. After the downer at Love Life, I went to my homestay. My family was AWESOME! My mama was a Sangoma, a traditional healer. She spoke 4-5 words of English. Speaking with her required some miming and pointing at things. Thankfully, her daughter did the majority of translations for us. We had a baby brother who I was obsessed with (cause as we all know I love babies) and a 4 year old brother. The house was pretty small and a little intimidating. There were a lot of mice and geckos. We went to bed super early (7:30!). To our amazment, we shared a room with the gogo and the baby. We slept on the bed and the baby and gogo slept on the ground. During the night, Sally and I thought our house was going to blow over! The wind was so loud we thought something had fallen on the house! It didn’t help that our house had a tin roof which made a ridiculously loud rattling noise anytime wind blew past. Our gogo also woke up on several occasions to use the “pee bucket” in the middle of the room. Lucklily, Sally and I had access to our neighbors flush toilet. SUCCESS. After a rough night’s sleep, we went to visit a faith healer at her home and place of practice. She combines Christianity and traditional Zulu medicine as a mechanism of healing. Normally, she provides water that she blesses with the help of God. After that we went to a beautiful beach. It was too windy and too cold to go swimming, but we got a chance to admire the surroundings. Then, we went to a craft center where members of the community learn to produce craftwork. We learned how to make AIDS ribbon pins. Lets just say, I’m not so good at beadwork. The teachers felt so bad about mine they gave me a premade one. After that we went home. We spent the evening hanging out with our family without electricity: the electricity went out due to the strong winds. Once to electricity came back on, our gogo put on her sangoma apparel and had us take pictures with her. You’ll have to see the pictures on Facebook or when I get back! She put one of her wigs on Sally and a hat on me. We exchanged gifts with our family. Sally and I gave the family chocolate, dish towels, knives, and some bubbles for the kids. Earlier in the day, I was admiring the beautiful cloth our mama was wearing. When I asked her where she buys it, she took me to our room and pulled out a suitcase filled with tons of the cloths. She oftered me one! Shocked, I told her I didn’t have money to pay her, but she gave it to me anyways. Sally got one too. They’re beautiful. Mine is a garnet, black, and white one (YAY BATES COLORS) with a shield emblem on it. Pretty awesome. After a heartfelt goodbye with my family, we left in the morning and visited a TB hospital. After visiting the hospital, we headed to the Drakensburg Mountains!

SLAYING THE DRAGON: HIKING THE DRAKENSBURG

Apparently, Drakensburg means “Dragons back” in Afrikaans. We arrived on Friday to the campsite. We relaxed and prepped for one of the biggest hikes I have ever done. After a delicious dinner of pasta cooked over the campfire we went to sleep to rest up for the treacherous climb. On Saturday we began our 5 hour hike. The scenery was amazing! We hiked near a river until we got to the base of the mountain. It was so steep! Our AD Zed, who is pretty much a mountain man, was going so fast up the mountain. I ended up hiking with the EXTREEMM! Bunch. Also known as the stragglers. We had a technique of hiking until we got to the next rock with a tree. Unlike the other group, we spent more time admiring the scenery and enjoying the moment. Eventually we made it up to the top! We got to see the Khosian paintings at the top. The Khosian are the South African bushmen that were almost driven to extinction. Now they live in colored communities through out South Africa. The paintings were amazing, depicting scenes with hunters and warriors, contact with white settlers and their horses. After the paintings we made it all the way to the top. The view was amazing. I’m so proud of myself that I made it up such a huge mountain. I’m thinking that I can accomplish my goal of hiking Khatadin before I graduate from Bates. The climb down was almost as intense as the climb up! Eventually we made it to a river where we got to swim. It was so refreshing swimming in the super clean river. Don’t worry, no schistomiasis or scary parasites. After that, we hiked back to the campsite and ate a traditional South African brai (bbq). The food was awesome. I’ll have to bring some brai spice back for our BBQs at home.

Today we arrived back in Durban. I’m now living the life: living in a beachfront holiday flat for the next 2 months. Did some grocery shopping because now I’ll have to cook for myself! As a treat, my roommates and I went to get Indian food for dinner. That’s it for now. SO much happened in the past week. Miss you all and can’t wait to see you in 60 days!

Last week in Cato!

I can't believe I've been living in South Africa for over a month! This week is my last week in Cato. Definitely a bittersweet kind of moment. I'm really excited to move out and live in the city but I'm also sad to be leaving such a wonderful family. I've loved living in Cato with my mama, Smu and Buwa. They're so much fun and have taken such good care of me. This Friday we have a party with all of the families which should be fun. I'm planning on baking an apple pie for my family tonight or tomorrow night as a way to thank them for being such wonderful hosts.

Next week I go for a full week of rural homestays then off to hike the Drakensburg Mountains for the weekend. I'm so excited/nervous. The last homestay was great, but who knows how these next two will be. In Amatikulu I'll be following a community health worker. I'm not 100% sure what I'll be doing in Umthwalume, but I'll let you know when I find out!

After living in the rural areas, I'll move into my pre-ISP/ISP location. I'll be living in Windemere Holiday Flats on the beach! So excited to run on the boardwalk in the mornings, lay out in the afternoons, and get Indian food for dinner. Living in a city will be an amazing experience.

Love,

Leah

Weekend and Impendle

This weekend was awesome! Saturday I went to Essenwood Market, a really cool market with a mix of traditional South African goods, global foods, and cool modern crafts. It's my favorite market thus far. After that we went to the beach! Sunday we went to Moses Mabhida Stadium in downtown Durban. Although it wasn't a big game, it was so much fun being in a world cup stadium with all the vuvuzelas blasting. We watched the Swallows play the AmaZulu.

Monday and Tuesday I was in a village called Impendle. I lived with an amazing host family! I lived with Gogo, 2 sisters, 1 brother, and 2 grandkids. The grandkids were two adorable little boys! The family spoke a little bit of English. My oldest sister spoke the most, so we communicated with her the majority of the time.

The house was nice! It was a lot nicer than I expected: it was a lot bigger than my house in Cato Manor. I was surprised to find that the house had electricity! They even had a TV. We watched 3 really cheesy movies. The first was a Nigerian film portraying a biblical story in Africa. I don't really know what happened in the movie. We also watched a movie about an American guy who had an Eastern European accent go to Thailand to train as a muay thai boxer the avenge his brother. The final movie we watched with the family was kind of like that Antonio Banderas movie where he teaches the hoodlums how to ballroom dance. Only this time, it was in Miami and the teacher was a green beret teaching the hoodlums capoeria, a style of Brazilian dance/fighting. Pretty epic.

The toilet situation was interesting: it was an outhouse. The door was a sheet. This is problematic up in the mountains where the wind is so strong. One time when I had to go to the bathroom the outhouse almost blew down! It was swaying back and forth in the wind. Luckily I made it out alive.

The food was really good but our family fed us SO MUCH! They would pile up our plates with as much food as possible! My sisi taught me how to make South African steam bread, so I'll have to make it for everyone at home when I get back! On Tuesday, our gogo slaughtered a chicken for us and our sisi cooked it. When I opened the pot to serve myself, I was shocked to discovered every part of the chicken had been cooked: including the head and the feet. I was more shocked than disgusted, I'm not used to seeing the head of my food with my food.

Our days in Impendle were packed! On Monday, we went to a school to attend Zulu lessons with kids at the school. We helped them with English while they helped us with Zulu. We then had a few lectures at the clinic. At the end of our day, we went to see a Sangoma, a traditional healers. We got to ask her questions about what it means to be a Sangoma and what she can do for the community. She even dressed up for us and consulted he ancestors. When asked if she could sense any diseases among us, she told us that we didn't have crabs. Good to know. On Tuesday, we visited a bead co-op. We got a chance to meet women that are part of a small beading company. We also visited another school. We learned about the international ecoschool program as well as health concerns in Impendle schools. The school children performed several songs for us. So cute! After meeting with the school children, we headed back to the clinic to talk to one of the nurses and get a tour of the facilities. Overall it was a great experience in a rural village!

The people you'll meet...

We went to UKZN Westville Campus this morning to listen to a lecture on Indian Identity in South Africa. The lecture was held in a mini-museum/historical society at the college. Our lecturer, Vina, was a graceful Indian woman with a cute gray bob and a confident stature. She started off the lecture in typical form: she discussed the history of Indian migration into the Durban area. Indians were brought to South Africa as indentured servants to work in the sugar cane fields. She talked of Ghandi's time in South Africa and spoke highly of what he did in South Africa. The historical portion of the lecture progressed to the 1970s, the height of student protests in South Africa. Vina passed out photos from a student protest. She described the protest in vivid detail, talking about the dogs the police released upon the crowd and the terror the crowd felt. She then revealed that she had been a part of the protest: her 22 year old self was at the forefront of the crowd and she appeared in all of the photos wearing Jackie O shades. Vina described the horrors of being arrested and the devastation of 12 days of solitary confinement. She talked about being personal friends with Winnie Mandela and her first meeting with Nelson while he was imprisoned at Robbin Island. Her message of being passionate and standing up for human rights was moving and poignant. I left her lecture feeling so empowered to make a difference in the world.

and then I had my Zulu exam... what a downer. The written part was first, not too bad! The oral part was definitely challenging, but I stumbled through it as gracefully as possible.

This weekend is a Cato Weekend with a beach trip on Saturday. Sunday we're planning on going to a soccer game at Moses Mabhida stadium. Monday I leave for Impendle! I'm there Monday and Tuesday. It should be quite the experience. Apparently there are rats the size Bandit. Oh boy.

Visiting Schools and Prepping for Rural Homestays

Today was awesome! We visited a school for mentally and physically challenged children in Durban. It was a truly touching experience.

We went to the RP Moodley School. The student body consists of about 120 students with a variety of over 25 types of learning disabilities. The majority of children had more severe forms of autism. The school focuses on life skills and fundamental basics (letters, numbers, days of the week, etc.) A group of 6 of us arrived at the school and met the principal. He was extremely kind and spoke highly of South Africa. We then met Sherrie, a teacher at the school who gave us a tour around the campus. She took us to their morning exercises. The kids meet in the gymnasium and do simple Tai-Chi moves. All the children loved it! It helped them get focused and get out all their extra energy. As we visited all the classrooms, Sherrie explained how the school functioned. After visiting all the classrooms, we split into groups of 3. I went with a group that was making scarves with the kids. I partnered up with Nakita, a little Indian girl who was about 8 years old. I'm not sure what kind of learning disabilities she had, but she was very highly functioning. Together we made a white scarf with red felt cut into flower petals. With some of the leftover fabric I helped some boys make superhero masks and we pretended to be ninjas. After spending an hour with the class, we went to the main gym for team time. The staff provided tea and cookies as well as samosas and chili bites (SO GOOD). After tea time, the children all came into the gym for music class. They performed their dance to Shakira's "Waka Waka". We then performed the dance with them. The kids were so happy. I was so impressed by how well taken care of these kids were. For being kids with learning disabilities, they were so well behaved! After dancing with them, we saw some of the little ones and then learned how they teach the kids to make beaded projects. It was an amazing day, I had so much fun with the kids.

Tomorrow we have our final exam for Zulu. Wish me luck! We also have our rural homestays on Monday and Tuesday. Should be a truly interesting experience. No running water, long drop toilets and no electricity. Roughing it South African style. We'll see if I survive... We're going to the mall today to buy water and snacks as well as more bug spray.

Epic African Adventure weekend

This weekend was AMAZING!!! I wish you all could have been there to see it yourselves.

Friday: On Friday night I cooked dinner for my family. My host sister was a little wary of the dinner I was making. She hates vegetables, or so she said. She helped me cook some pasta as well as sauteed veggies and some tomato sauce. The meal was a hit, she loved all the food, even the veggies! Mama liked it too! We then watched Generations and went to bed.

Saturday: We drove 4 hours to the traditional Zulu reed dance at the Zulu King's Enyokeni Traditional Residence . It was amazing! First, let me give you a little bit of history about the Reed Dance. The Reed Dance is a Zulu tradition where young virgins present themselves to the king. In the old times, the king would choose a wife. Only virgins can participate in the festivities, so virginity testing occurs before the girls can present their reeds to the king. At first, I was a little hesitant of the fact all the girls would be topless and celebrating polygamy. I was also a little iffy about the ethics of the virginity testing. However when I got there, I discovered how empowering the experience is for young women. In a country where HIV/AIDS rates have skyrocketed and teenage pregnancy is a common occurrence, it is an honor to be able to be respected for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. It felt a lot like a debutante ball, the girls are presented to society as capable of becoming a queen. All the girls wore colorful beads and skirts. The toplessness factor didn't seem that big of a deal once we got there.

The procession of girls to the King's gates took over 2 hours, we didn't even get a chance to see the end of the procession! The entire time they were dancing and singing. I got a chance to talk to some of the girls and look around the different stalls at the festival. Strangely, people wanted pictures with me! Probably cause I'm an American and there weren't a ton of tourists at this event. There were a lot of stands with HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness groups. I talked to a few of the groups to pick up some pamphlets for my ISP research. I also bought a sweet beaded bracelet to always remind me of this awesome event. We missed the actual dance part because we had to leave before it got dark. We then got back in the bus. On the way to St. Lucia we drove through a game reserve. After passing the signs about the rules of the park, an elephant appeared over the hillside! We stopped for 5 minutes to take pictures of the elephant. It then crossed the road in front of our car. We were continuously stopping to see all the animals. We saw zebras, water buffalo, impalas, springboks, warthogs, and even 2 rhinos! Some of the zebras got really close to our cars. After driving through the park, we arrived in St. Lucia. For dinner we ate traditional Zulu stew at a restaurant in town and headed over to our hotel for the night.

Sunday:

We walked around St. Lucia, enjoying the awesome weather. St. Lucia is a really cute touristy town. There are a ton of places to go on safari around St. Lucia so we'll be going there at the end of the semester to see all the animals. Before we left to go home, we went to the estuaries near the ocean to see some hippos and crocs. We didn't see any crocodiles, but we saw a bunch of hippos near the beach. It was pretty cool to see them in the wild even though they didn't really do anything...

Monday was a typical day. We had classes on reproductive health as well as the education system in South Africa.

Today, we went on our hospital excursions. I went to King Edwards Hospital in Durban. It was a little chaotic because the PR director thought we were medical students. When she found out we were pre-med/pre-law (I'm the only pre-law) she was a little confused as to where to take us. I visited the maternity ward. We stood around a lot but got to learn about some of the major issues associated with pregnancy in South Africa. Also got to learn about some of the ethical issues involved with sterilization. So interesting.

Tomorrow we're visiting NGOs, Thursday we're visiting schools, Friday we're learning about the Indian population and we have our Zulu final exam! This weekend is in Cato then we're off to Impendle or Amatikulu for our rural homestays! Should be epic.

"Get Down", Zulu skits, and an "American" dinner

Last night, Meredith and I were playing with a bunch of the neighborhood kids. Camp kids, you'll be so proud of me. I taught them "Little Sally Walker" and "That's the Way You Get Down". All night all the kids were singing "That's the way you get down".

Today we had to perform skits in Zulu! My friend Sally B and I made a skit about a tourist (me) trying to find Moses Mabhida stadium. Sally played a kind Zulu lady who was helping me figure out how to get there. Other groups had way funnier skits. One group portrayed our academic director, Zed. They fit his lingo in between Zulu phrases which created a pretty funny skit. Zed phrases:

"Keep it Tidy"="keep it classy"

"Havin' a few toots"= "Having a few drinks"

"100%"=doing well

"Sorted"="good"

The rest of today we have lectures and time to work on our Community Health Seminar paper. Tonight, I'm cooking dinner for my family! Since we're supposed to cook "American" dinners, I'm making pasta with veggies and tomato sauce. When Smu and I were discussing dinner for tonight, she told me that she hated vegetables. After much debate, She promised she'd at least try what I cooked. Hopefully my family will like dinner! I'm planning on baking them an apple pie later in the semester.

Tomorrow we're on the road to see the Reed Dance. It's a traditional Zulu performance where young maidens perform Zulu dances for the Zulu King so he can choose a new bride. Polygamy is legal in South Africa (President Zuma even has 6 or so wives). Should be interesting to see this performance from a culturally relativistic perspective as well as a women's rights perspective. More about that on Monday!

Miss you all!

Love,

Leah

Ngemepelasonto eThekwini (Weekend in Durban)

After class on Friday, we were dropped off at the Windemere holiday flats. The location is amazing: the flats are across the street from the Indian Ocean. It takes literally 5 minutes to walk to the beach. All of our rooms had balconies facing the beach. The rooms were nice too! I have a feeling I'll be living in the Windemere flats during ISP time since I doubt I'll do a rural ISP. If so, it will be an amazing experience to live beachfront for a month!!!

So Friday night we went out to eat at a local Indian/Pakistani restaurant across the street from Windemere. After that all of us met up at Joe Cools, a local hangout on the beach. The music was mostly American Pop and the occasional rock song from the 80s. We had a blast dancing the night away.

On Saturday after sleeping in (for the 2nd time this semester) I went for a run on the boardwalk. It felt so good to be on the beach!!! A bunch of my friends and I took the peoplemover (a touristy bus that we used for our drop offs) to Victoria market. Victoria market is a variety of shops with all sorts of touristy goods. I didn't buy a ton of stuff this visit to the market, but next time I'll have to get all sorts of South African stuff to bring home! I did buy some awesome skirts that I'll be using for the rural homestays. After an hour or so, we decided to head over to another market that is only open on Saturdays. Unfortunately, by the time we got a taxi the market was closing. We did manage to get some Bunny Chow for lunch. As you read this you may wonder what exactly Bunny Chow is. Well, I wondered the same thing when my host sisi mentioned it to me my first week in Cato. It's a thick slice of bread that is hollowed out and filled with an South African/Indian curry. Although it was a bit much with all the bread, the dish was pretty good. I got a bean curry although there was a mutton curry as well. After eating our bunny chow we visited a local coffee shop then took a taxi back home. Saturday night we decided to go out to Florida Road to check out the scene there.

Sunday was awesome! After another luxurious morning of sleeping in late we went to the Sunday market across the street from the flats. They had all sorts of cool stuff including some USA vuvuzelas that were pretty patriotic (camp kids take notice, i might buy one for 4th of July festivities next summer). After the market we spent the whole day at the beach. The water was pretty cold and the waves were surprisingly powerful. Despite our fear of the infamous sharks off the coast of Durban (courtesy of Shark Week on Discovery Channel), we went knee deep in the water! Luckily, there weren't any shark attacks. We figured the surfers would act like a buffer anyways. All afternoon we played some volleyball with the lifeguards and studied isiZulu on the beach. Sunday night we went out to dinner at Cape Town Fish Market, a yummy seafood restaurant at UShaka Marine World.

Over all it was a pretty awesome weekend. This week is filled with interesting lectures and our last few Zulu lessons! On Saturday we'll be going to a traditional Reed Dance. It's about a 3 hour drive from here and we'll be staying in St. Lucia on Saturday night. Should be a fantastic cultural experiences.

Sala Kahle!

Leah

Week 2 in Durban

Sawubona!

This week has been flying by! I can't believe it's already Thursday. Monday we went to a clinic in Cato Manor which was a really informative and valuable experience, more on that later. Tuesday was pretty much a typical day at SIT and Wednesday was filled with some fun adventures.

Monday: we went to Cato Clinic as a group for a tour of the facilities as well as an information session about the clinic. I was surprised at how nice the facilities were. We got to tour the maternity ward, the HIV/AIDS ARV clinic, as well as the rehabilitative center. Learning about how the clinic worked was helpful for gaining a better understanding of the health care system in South Africa which has both a private and public sector.

Tuesday: Zulu lessons and lectures at school. Zulu is an interesting language. I'm understanding it on paper, not so much in a conversation setting. Which is funny because that's the opposite of my French skills. I'm much better at conversation than writing. Granted, I know way more in French than I do in Zulu. We have a written quiz on Monday which I'm not too worried about, but the oral exam in a few weeks should be interesting....

When I got home on Tuesday, Smu and I decided we were going for a run then play a little football. Before our run around the grounds (the soccer field), she was smack talking me! She thought she was going to run faster than me and further than me (remember she's only 11). We got to the field and began running. She only made it the first lap, actually, she didn't even finish the first lap. She sat with the soccer ball while I finished running. After my quick little run, we started to kick the ball around. As soon as we started playing, kids swarmed to us to play with us! It was so fun playing soccer with all the little kids. I now totally understand how sports like soccer can bridge cultural and language gaps. Despite our differences (age, gender, nationality, cultural group, socio-economic background) we all knew how to play the game and how to have fun.

Wednesday:

Yesterday was quite the adventure. Most notably 3 major events occurred.

1) I was getting ready to take a shower at the SIT house after running with a bunch of the girls in my class. I accidentally bumped into the trash can causing it to fall over. A HUGE cockroach scurried out and was frantically scurring around the bathroom. I was terrified!!! But I was already about to get in the shower anyways so I just got in the shower and hoped the roach would leave me alone. So every few seconds I would pull open the shower curtain to check the roach's location. The damn thing kept moving around the room. When I finally finished the shower, it was underneath where my clothes were hanging. I had to wait a few minutes until it moved to quickly grab my clothes, put them on and then get out of the bathroom.

2) All the students decided to go to an rugby tournament at University of KwaZulu-Natal. Although it was a tournament between the different academic departments, we figured it would be fun to be a part of a college campus environment since we're missing out on our campus experiences this semester. It was nice to be on a college campus again. However, getting to the field and leaving the field was an adventure. There are little gates with the roundabout doorways to get to and from the field. They can only be unlocked with student IDs. Since none of us had a UKZN ID, we had to rely on random people to help us get through! I felt bad considering how many people are in our group.

3) Driving home was an adventure as well. We got a safe taxi but the taxi driver knew nothing about Cato Manor and how to get there. So we had to whip out our map of Cato and try to figure out how to get to Wiggins, the section we live in. After a while, we finally figured it all out and made it home safe.

Today, more Zulu lessons and lectures as well as a trip to the megamall. This weekend we're staying in downtown Durban so we can go out and about. We're planning on going to uShaka Marine world (which is one of the best aquariums in the world), Victoria Market (to get some sweet South African goods like skirts, scarves, and world cup tees) and the beach. Should be awesome!

miss you all!

Leah

1st weekend in Durban

This weekend was a chill weekend with my host family!

Friday: Smu and I went on a tour around the neighborhood.

Saturday: It was Smu's 11th birthday so a few of my friends and I went to the mall with her and her friends. Getting to the mall was an interesting experience to say the least. We had to take a mini bus. Minibus taxis are the major way for people to get around since most of the families in Cato don't have cars. The minibus taxis blast house music and zip all over town. Drivers try to pack as many people as they can in the taxi. Once we got to the mall, the kids told us that they wanted to go to some place called "Makdunnels". It took them a few tries to explain, but we finally realized the kids were talking about McDonalds. So, I treated Smu to a happy meal for her birthday lunch. We also took them to the arcade to play some games. Smu won a bunch of bling (little rings with blinged out dollar signs) and some candy. Overall it was a pretty successful birthday celebration!

Sunday: Sunday morning we went to church. The church service was really long. Unlike the hour long service in the US, it was 3 hours long. Apparently it is normally an hour but the pastor from the city came to the church so we had that service plus the normal service. After church we ate some South African style Biryani. SO GOOD! The rest of Sunday was spent playing with the neighborhood kids. A bunch of the students and I learned some South African games. One of them is like "Little Sally Walker", a game we play at camp. The South African version requires a little more booty shaking than the American version.

We also watched African Big Brother. I've never watched it in the US, but here in South Africa there is a whole channel dedicated to it. The people on the show are filmed 24/7 like in the US version. But, it's a live feed, so the channel follows what everyone is doing at all times. Freaky.

News from Cato Manor

Yesterday we moved into our homestays! My family is wonderful! We live in a cute little house on a hill in Cato Manor. As I've said in previous posts, my mama's name is Ruby. But to update the last info I posted: she lives with her two grandchildren Buwa (he's 18 although my info sheet said he was 16) and Simunye. Lungelo is in law school and only stays at the house sometimes. Lungelo, Buwa, and Simunye's mother lives in Johannesburg and works as a nurse. She's coming this weekend to celebrate Simunye's birthday and I'm curious to see if she's one of the many nurses striking in South Africa.

So despite being super nervous, everything turned out ok! Dinner was KFC chicken, a little bit of veggie curry (which was SO good), steamed veggies and rice. After dinner Simunye helped me with my Zulu homework. At 8 we watched a TV show called Generations. It's one of the most popular shows in South Africa. EVERYONE watches it. It's a soap opera set in modern South Africa and I enjoy watching it as an anthro major. After analyzing so many African films and TV shows for classes at Bates, I get a lot of the complex issues within media such as Generations.

So far everything is going well. Today is the last day of orientation and then all the other classes begin tomorrow. Miss you all so much!!!

Love,

Leah

Welcome to Durban!

Sawubona!

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

Day 1: Soweto

Today we went to Soweto (the abbreviation of South West Township). There, we visited Mandela house museum as well as the Hector Pieterson museum. Both signifying important moments within the anti-Apartheid movement as well the rebuilding of South Africa post-Apartheid.

The Mandela museum was a small brick house on the corner of Vilakazi and Ngakne streets in Soweto. Walking through the house was a challenge: the house consisted of a kitchen and 2 bedrooms which barely fit our group of 24. The museum displayed photos of Mandela and his family as well as awards given to the influential Anti-Apartheid leader and former president.

Next we went to the Hector Pieterson museum down the road. This beautiful modern museum was constructed as a way to memorialize the lives lost in the student riot on June 16th 1976. Students were protesting the use of Afrikaans in schools when police began firing on the crowd. 13 year old Hector Pieterson was killed in the riot and became a martyr for the cause.

After Soweto we headed to mall in Johannesburg. For all of you who know I'm a shopaholic, you'd be surprised to find out I didn't buy anything. The rest of the day is for resting and getting adjusted to the time.

miss you all!

Finally here!

After a 14 or so hour flight, I've finally arrived in Johannesburg! Currently we're staying at a really nice hostel/bed&breakfast near the airport. Tomorrow we'll be visiting Soweto, Mandela house and a few monuments around the Johannesburg area. We'll also be going to the mall.

We depart for Durban on Sunday! I'll keep you posted!!!

Visa? Tuition? Ticket? Check!

A few months ago I bought my plane ticket. I recieved my study permit (visa) last week. Today, I mailed out my tuition check. All of sudden, my semester abroad is creeping up on me! Crazy isn't it? Everything is feeling so real now. All I have left to do is buy some misc. things like an adapter and I'll be good to go. Only 21 days until I leave!!!

Sail Away From the Safe Harbor

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain

As you all know, I will be spending fall semester of 2010 studying in Durban, South Africa through SIT. My classes will be centered on public health, ethnographic research, and cultural studies. I'll also learn Zulu! Through out my journey I'll be living in several homestays both urban and rural. Through this program, I'll be completing an independent study that will be used as the topic for my senior thesis in Anthropology. But not everything about this program is purely academic: I want to grow as person while I'm there. I'm a deep believer that seeing other cultures and experiencing a totally different world helps transform a person into a more well rounded human being. I want to fully enjoy and experience every moment available to me.

So as I embark on this journey, I'll share all of my experiences with you through this blog. Some moments will be amazing while others might be stressful or challenging. Regardless, I expect this experience to be a life changing one and I want all of you, my family and friends, to be with me along the way. Through out the pre-trip departure process as well as the journey itself, I'll keep all of you posted!

Love,
Leah