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