Another update…
I am fairly tired today. I just got done eating some fabulous homecooked lo mein. Last week at the haven I worked in the kitchen because Thando was at the doctor. I got to talking with one of the nurses, Geraldine and she said she would cook dinner for our flat for the next week if we brought the groceries. So yesterday I brought the grociers and today I got about five full meals. Lo Mein, Chicken curry, Mac and Cheese and some other stuff….yum. I think I am in a food coma right now.
This weekend was a lot of fun. My aunts Betsy and Martha came down from their volunteering in Cape Town to visit for the weekend. On Saturday Betsy joined our group to go to a human rights day rally. Winnie Mandela was supposed to speak, but there were some legal issues because COPE (new rival political party to the ANC) and the ANC both tried to reserve the rugby stadium in Utienhage. A midnight decision turned in favor of COPE, so the ANC set up in a farm field next to the stadium. We went the rally and…wow. Nothing like the Tinklenberg rallies I went to. Everyone was singing, dancing and marching. Our group was definitley in the minority. I wasn’t sure how we would be received, but a lot of people came up to us and said that they were happy to see us there (meaning white people). We just were polite because most of us are not too keen on Jacob Zuma. I’ll try and bring the dancing back to the College Dems meetings…
Otherwise we have one more week untill spring break. Woot. I have a 4000 word paper due in a week, yuk.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
So after a computer glitch and a music test, we’ll try another blog update.
Two weekends ago was Durban, here is an unfinished email that I never got around to sending to update on activities…
We had an eventful weekend in Durban. I really liked the city. It has the largest Indian population outside of India (1.2 million people). When we got in on Thursday we went to the largest Hare Krishna temple in the southern hemisphere. It was an interesting look into the faith. We also saw a performance by an African-Indian fusion dance company. It was cool because the females all wore traditional Indian dress, while the males wore Zulu outfits. On Friday we got a walking tour of the city. It was so-so, but the coolest part was walking through the traditional healers market. There was basically anything for everything. It was one of those moments where you say to yourself, “Toto we’re not in Kansas anymore”. There were powders, dead animals, bones all written in Zulu. It was absolutely crazy. That night we saw the Russian Ballet in downtown Durban. I really liked it. It was a mixture of pieces from many different performances. I’ve come a long way since falling asleep at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. On Saturday we went to go see a cricket match between SA and Australia. It was a five day long match and we saw day two. Unfortunately, SA got smoked. Sunday we saw a one act play at a casino theater. It was a comedy, but nobody got any of the references to the SA culture. I also lost about 70 Rand on the slots, oh well.
This past weekend we had a tour of Grahmstown and King Williams Town. Our tour guide Bradly Levack (basically the South African equivalent of Paul Mcleod) was awesome. We got an overview of the battle of Grahmstown (a huge bloody affair between the Xhosa and Afrikanner in 1820). We also stopped at a really cool artists co-op. That was probably my favorite part of the day. There were a bunch of crazy old Xhosa ladies who did really cool prints. You never really think of art as being important to people who are struggling to get by, but that is totally false. I really enjoyed it because you could see the vivid expressions and emotions that went in to making the prints. They were all so happy to see us. We met with the mayor, a member of the ANC. He also brought about half the municipal government with him. It was sort of interesting to see how the bureaucracy works here. The mayor just about delegated all of his questions to the workers. The last stop was Steve Biko’s house in King William’s Town. I really liked that. He was the leader of the Black Conciousness movement in South Africa. I sort of thought BC was a racist organization because they accepted only coloured people. But it wasn’t like that at all. Their focus was on self-love and self-empowerment, basically getting the notion that Black people are inferior to whites out of people’s head. I asked how I as a white person could support the principles of BC without undermining it. He stopped and thought for a second and said that as long as I supported the principles of BC, I would be supporting the movement. Cool.
A group of us broke off at Grahmstown to go to Hogsback for the weekend. I loved it. It’s a little mountain town that was the inspiration for the Hobbit. It sort of reminded me of Land O’ Lakes, WI because it seemed sort of like a getaway for rich Afrikaans. We stayed at a hostel called Away With the Fairies, quite an amusing name. We did hiked on both days and it was nice and relaxing.
Ok, we’re somewhat up to speed. I apologize for not updating often, but I’ve hit that point where you’ve bonded with your group, you know your routine, the days meld together and it starts to feel like home, which is good but dangerous. Dangerous because I could possibly start to take this trip for granted. So here is my 4 step plan to keep that from happening.
1. Blog every Monday (I can hear my fans roaring)
2. Journal every day
3. Don’t worry about tomorrow and be open to anything
4. Remind myself that I am only in Africa once
Anyways, I hope you are all well. And I hope you Johnnies and Bennies enjoyed your days off of school. Lucky Ducks, oh wait…It’s 75 and sunny here today.
Peace,Nick
Two weekends ago was Durban, here is an unfinished email that I never got around to sending to update on activities…
We had an eventful weekend in Durban. I really liked the city. It has the largest Indian population outside of India (1.2 million people). When we got in on Thursday we went to the largest Hare Krishna temple in the southern hemisphere. It was an interesting look into the faith. We also saw a performance by an African-Indian fusion dance company. It was cool because the females all wore traditional Indian dress, while the males wore Zulu outfits. On Friday we got a walking tour of the city. It was so-so, but the coolest part was walking through the traditional healers market. There was basically anything for everything. It was one of those moments where you say to yourself, “Toto we’re not in Kansas anymore”. There were powders, dead animals, bones all written in Zulu. It was absolutely crazy. That night we saw the Russian Ballet in downtown Durban. I really liked it. It was a mixture of pieces from many different performances. I’ve come a long way since falling asleep at the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. On Saturday we went to go see a cricket match between SA and Australia. It was a five day long match and we saw day two. Unfortunately, SA got smoked. Sunday we saw a one act play at a casino theater. It was a comedy, but nobody got any of the references to the SA culture. I also lost about 70 Rand on the slots, oh well.
This past weekend we had a tour of Grahmstown and King Williams Town. Our tour guide Bradly Levack (basically the South African equivalent of Paul Mcleod) was awesome. We got an overview of the battle of Grahmstown (a huge bloody affair between the Xhosa and Afrikanner in 1820). We also stopped at a really cool artists co-op. That was probably my favorite part of the day. There were a bunch of crazy old Xhosa ladies who did really cool prints. You never really think of art as being important to people who are struggling to get by, but that is totally false. I really enjoyed it because you could see the vivid expressions and emotions that went in to making the prints. They were all so happy to see us. We met with the mayor, a member of the ANC. He also brought about half the municipal government with him. It was sort of interesting to see how the bureaucracy works here. The mayor just about delegated all of his questions to the workers. The last stop was Steve Biko’s house in King William’s Town. I really liked that. He was the leader of the Black Conciousness movement in South Africa. I sort of thought BC was a racist organization because they accepted only coloured people. But it wasn’t like that at all. Their focus was on self-love and self-empowerment, basically getting the notion that Black people are inferior to whites out of people’s head. I asked how I as a white person could support the principles of BC without undermining it. He stopped and thought for a second and said that as long as I supported the principles of BC, I would be supporting the movement. Cool.
A group of us broke off at Grahmstown to go to Hogsback for the weekend. I loved it. It’s a little mountain town that was the inspiration for the Hobbit. It sort of reminded me of Land O’ Lakes, WI because it seemed sort of like a getaway for rich Afrikaans. We stayed at a hostel called Away With the Fairies, quite an amusing name. We did hiked on both days and it was nice and relaxing.
Ok, we’re somewhat up to speed. I apologize for not updating often, but I’ve hit that point where you’ve bonded with your group, you know your routine, the days meld together and it starts to feel like home, which is good but dangerous. Dangerous because I could possibly start to take this trip for granted. So here is my 4 step plan to keep that from happening.
1. Blog every Monday (I can hear my fans roaring)
2. Journal every day
3. Don’t worry about tomorrow and be open to anything
4. Remind myself that I am only in Africa once
Anyways, I hope you are all well. And I hope you Johnnies and Bennies enjoyed your days off of school. Lucky Ducks, oh wait…It’s 75 and sunny here today.
Peace,Nick
Monday, March 16, 2009
My apologies
I just finished typing up a large blog post and the file corrupted. Blah!
Don't worry, I am safe and sound and I will try and update tomorrow.
My apologies for not updating more often, but I'm experiencing Africa.
Stay warm.
Don't worry, I am safe and sound and I will try and update tomorrow.
My apologies for not updating more often, but I'm experiencing Africa.
Stay warm.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Bulungula! (a long post)
The first thing I have to say about this weekend is that if the stock market crashed tomorrow, Bulungula probably wouldn’t know for a few weeks. Let’s set the scene…
Friday morning we all got up at 6 (some at 6:25) to get a cab to pick up our rental cars at the airport. There were eight of us all set on an adventours weekend at a backapacker in a remote Xhosa village 200km away from the nearest city. We got two cars, a VW golf and a Nissa Altera (I had to drive an automatic). It took me a few k’s to remember to stay on the left hand side, but monkey see monkey do, I eventually got it. We travelled on the N2 (equivalent of a major highway) for about 6 hours. The scenery was gorgeous and it sort of reminded me of eastern Montana. There were hills and the vegitation was basically small bushes and trees. The road got a bit tricky at times, but it was heavenly compared to what we would be on later. We drove through a few small towns and it felt like…have you ever played the game Crazy Taxi? Basically you just go wherever a smash up stuff to get points, driving was a bit like that. There were kids, livestock , rouge combi taxis all doing whatever. My co-pilot Sean was on the lookout for rouge goats, while I tried to find the stoplights. I’ve learned that driving rules in Africa are more…suggestions.
After we turned off the N2 and travelled for about 35k down a pretty rural road we turned onto a dirt road. We weren’t quite sure where we were, but it’s what the map saw. We dealt with many more obstacles, including numerous bulls, donkeys, goats, and stray dogs. As well as lots of little kids whose English consisted of “Sweets!” to try and seduce unknowing tourists. We finally got to the original end of our destination at a store about 10k away from the actual lodge. We got in at about 4:00 with an hour to kill before the shuttle came and picked us up. Sean and I wandered down to the store and everybody and there mother was there. Have you ever felt completely out of your element? Walking into the store and seeing a few hundred pairs of eyes on you is a very odd sensation. We were definitely the only white people for miles and the only ones that spoke English. We decided to stay out of the way and soon the kids made there way over to us. Some of the elders came and tried to talk to us, but we couldn’t understand a word. (Mom, I’m beginning to have more respect for what you go through teaching). But one of them began to sing and started to dance. Pretty soon we had…that’s right…a dance off. Led by Amy and Sean, it was quite entertaining. Hopefully the electric side isn’t a cultural faux-pa.
We waited until about 5:30 and I called the lodge. The shuttle comes from the nearest town to pick people up and they were running about 1 ½ hours late. We were all hungry and tired, so we decided to drive the last 10k to the next store and then hike in. Let’s just say the last ten kilos were nothing compared to these 10. We had divots, potholes and a few hills that looked like mini grand canyons. But we made it. The sun was starting to go down, so we made our way to the trail in (which is only recommended for 4x4) and we walked. There were tons of these little huts, called roundevels, dotting the hilly, coastal landscape. It felt like we stumbled upon some sort of South African Shangri-La. As we walked The little kids of the village came out and asked us our names. It was quite surreal. We were walking extremely fast by the end because it was getting dark and we could definitely see the lodge, but it was just…out…of reach. At about 7:00pm we arrived tired, hungry, sweaty, dirty, cranky…but alive and in good spirits.
We got a quick tour of the lodge area. There is limited electricity, so there were candles everywhere. We stayed in roundavels that slept four. The main lodge was what you would expect in paradise. There were tons of comfy futons, hammocks, fire pits, a library and ocean views. They also had “rocket showers” which were paraffin fuelled showers that were awesome. After that we cracked into the refreshments and it’s definitely the best beer I have ever had in my life. The dinner was an amazing concotion of macaroni and bacon. We all sat around, very tired, but content just chatting into the night in our little coastal version of paradise.
I woke up the next morning around 7:30 and went to go get some coffee and watch the ocean. It was amazing. I still couldn’t believe the whole surrealistic vibe of the situation. I decided I want to take as much of it in, so I signed up to do the activities. Dave, Sean and I went fishing with a guide from the village. We took huge nine foot poles and hiked out down the beach. Our guide didn’t speak very much English, so that was even more entertaining Now most of you probably know that I am not a big fisherman, but that day I think my Uncle John’s genes came through and I was the only one who caught anything. The three I got were fairly small, but our guide kept them. And the sun was shining so I felt great. We came back for lunch and I ordered a BLT. It was as big as my head made with Xhosa solar bread (I think they make it in solar ovens) and it was delicious. I then decided to relax and get a massage. It felt great, but I definitely felt that I had forgot to put on sun screen on my arms. Sean, Kelsey and I then went on the village tour. Our guide spoke very limited, but formal English, so it was entertaining. We visited the home of the headman (son of the chief) the healer, the school, some farms and lastly…the shebeen (equivalent of a bar). However, this is the only bar I’ve ever been to that had kids and chickens running around. I think it was more of a village gathering place than a place to get wasted. We also tried some of the homemade beer and that stuff is the true definition of hooch. It was made in old paint cans and looked like rancid chocolate milk, but surprisingly it was pretty good. The shebeen owner said you can buy five liters for 10 Rand ($1). Maybe next time…
We then got back and we went for a dip to cool off. Let’s just say I probably have the best farmer tan ever. I looked like a candy cane. It was beginning to cloud over and we all looked at each other a bit nervously. We were a bit worried about getting out the next day, but we all decided to enjoy our time in paradise for one last night and not worry about it until tomorrow. Dinner was bobotie and it was superb. We sat around for a bit until the rain cleared up and we went to the beach to look at the stars. There were tons of shooting stars and it was nearly perfect dark. We all laid in silence for about a half an hour in the sand, before we decided to go a bit farther down. We seemed to not realize that the clouds rolled in and covered all of our stars. And it poured. We only had two headlamps, so we all sprinted to get back to the lodge. That was my last dry shirt as well, so I wore my rain coat for the rest of the night. I went to bed around 11, satisfied, but a little worried about the rain. (I genetically preconditioned to worry about any sort of driving conditions at all).
I woke up at about seven to check everything out. It was damp, cloudy, but not raining. I decided to make a few cups of coffee and read the paper (some routines are comfortable, no matter where you are). The shuttle left at nine thirty and most people wanted to hike back to the cars so they left an hour sooner, but I stayed back with Amina, who wasn’t able to traverse the rocky terrain. After saying goodbye to everyone we met, we took the shuttle with a young couple from Latvia with their toddler and two German goals. Definitley the scariest ride I have ever been on in my life. Period. We got stuck a few times we were definitely rocking back and fourth for a bit. But after an hour and a lot of nervous laughter we made it back to the cars. The group with the manual transmission left about 10 minutes prior and we hopped into our Nissan. Sean was talking with one of the guys at the store who had no idea how we made it there in dry weather… oh boy.
I said a few silent prayers as I got into the car, nervous as heck. We made it fine for about 10 minutes until we saw the other group waiting on top of the hill of death. We got out and strategized how to go about it (Dave had made it up with his car, so we thought we could do it as well). I had the first two goes, but I got it stuck both times. Dave took the wheel and even though there were a few nerve-wracking clunks, we made it. The rest of the terrain was pretty bad and I played dodge the potholes with a relative success. It began to rain about halfway down the road and I was just glad that we made the first two hills when it was relatively dry. After two hours we made it back to the paved road and it felt like we were somewhat back in civilization. It was about 1:30 and we floored it to get back to the N2.
The ride home was fairly uneventful other than a few moments with the sun setting over the hills. It was quite peaceful, except for the crazy@%!* SA drivers. South Africans walk extremely slow, but they make up for it with their driving. They pass on hills and really don’t care if you are already going 20k over the speed limit. I wasn’t too excited about that. We pulled into PE around 7:30 and I was happy to be alive. We nervously went to go return the cars, but everything checked out fine. I’m sure the people at the desk were wondering why we were laughing so hard…
This trip taught me that it really is the journey that matters and not the destination. But you also have to enjoy and take time for the moment and not worry about tomorrow. However, I do have an 8 page paper due tomorrow and a four pager due Wednesday. But hey, South Africa is all about getting out of your comfort zone, right?
All the best, Nick
Friday morning we all got up at 6 (some at 6:25) to get a cab to pick up our rental cars at the airport. There were eight of us all set on an adventours weekend at a backapacker in a remote Xhosa village 200km away from the nearest city. We got two cars, a VW golf and a Nissa Altera (I had to drive an automatic). It took me a few k’s to remember to stay on the left hand side, but monkey see monkey do, I eventually got it. We travelled on the N2 (equivalent of a major highway) for about 6 hours. The scenery was gorgeous and it sort of reminded me of eastern Montana. There were hills and the vegitation was basically small bushes and trees. The road got a bit tricky at times, but it was heavenly compared to what we would be on later. We drove through a few small towns and it felt like…have you ever played the game Crazy Taxi? Basically you just go wherever a smash up stuff to get points, driving was a bit like that. There were kids, livestock , rouge combi taxis all doing whatever. My co-pilot Sean was on the lookout for rouge goats, while I tried to find the stoplights. I’ve learned that driving rules in Africa are more…suggestions.
After we turned off the N2 and travelled for about 35k down a pretty rural road we turned onto a dirt road. We weren’t quite sure where we were, but it’s what the map saw. We dealt with many more obstacles, including numerous bulls, donkeys, goats, and stray dogs. As well as lots of little kids whose English consisted of “Sweets!” to try and seduce unknowing tourists. We finally got to the original end of our destination at a store about 10k away from the actual lodge. We got in at about 4:00 with an hour to kill before the shuttle came and picked us up. Sean and I wandered down to the store and everybody and there mother was there. Have you ever felt completely out of your element? Walking into the store and seeing a few hundred pairs of eyes on you is a very odd sensation. We were definitely the only white people for miles and the only ones that spoke English. We decided to stay out of the way and soon the kids made there way over to us. Some of the elders came and tried to talk to us, but we couldn’t understand a word. (Mom, I’m beginning to have more respect for what you go through teaching). But one of them began to sing and started to dance. Pretty soon we had…that’s right…a dance off. Led by Amy and Sean, it was quite entertaining. Hopefully the electric side isn’t a cultural faux-pa.
We waited until about 5:30 and I called the lodge. The shuttle comes from the nearest town to pick people up and they were running about 1 ½ hours late. We were all hungry and tired, so we decided to drive the last 10k to the next store and then hike in. Let’s just say the last ten kilos were nothing compared to these 10. We had divots, potholes and a few hills that looked like mini grand canyons. But we made it. The sun was starting to go down, so we made our way to the trail in (which is only recommended for 4x4) and we walked. There were tons of these little huts, called roundevels, dotting the hilly, coastal landscape. It felt like we stumbled upon some sort of South African Shangri-La. As we walked The little kids of the village came out and asked us our names. It was quite surreal. We were walking extremely fast by the end because it was getting dark and we could definitely see the lodge, but it was just…out…of reach. At about 7:00pm we arrived tired, hungry, sweaty, dirty, cranky…but alive and in good spirits.
We got a quick tour of the lodge area. There is limited electricity, so there were candles everywhere. We stayed in roundavels that slept four. The main lodge was what you would expect in paradise. There were tons of comfy futons, hammocks, fire pits, a library and ocean views. They also had “rocket showers” which were paraffin fuelled showers that were awesome. After that we cracked into the refreshments and it’s definitely the best beer I have ever had in my life. The dinner was an amazing concotion of macaroni and bacon. We all sat around, very tired, but content just chatting into the night in our little coastal version of paradise.
I woke up the next morning around 7:30 and went to go get some coffee and watch the ocean. It was amazing. I still couldn’t believe the whole surrealistic vibe of the situation. I decided I want to take as much of it in, so I signed up to do the activities. Dave, Sean and I went fishing with a guide from the village. We took huge nine foot poles and hiked out down the beach. Our guide didn’t speak very much English, so that was even more entertaining Now most of you probably know that I am not a big fisherman, but that day I think my Uncle John’s genes came through and I was the only one who caught anything. The three I got were fairly small, but our guide kept them. And the sun was shining so I felt great. We came back for lunch and I ordered a BLT. It was as big as my head made with Xhosa solar bread (I think they make it in solar ovens) and it was delicious. I then decided to relax and get a massage. It felt great, but I definitely felt that I had forgot to put on sun screen on my arms. Sean, Kelsey and I then went on the village tour. Our guide spoke very limited, but formal English, so it was entertaining. We visited the home of the headman (son of the chief) the healer, the school, some farms and lastly…the shebeen (equivalent of a bar). However, this is the only bar I’ve ever been to that had kids and chickens running around. I think it was more of a village gathering place than a place to get wasted. We also tried some of the homemade beer and that stuff is the true definition of hooch. It was made in old paint cans and looked like rancid chocolate milk, but surprisingly it was pretty good. The shebeen owner said you can buy five liters for 10 Rand ($1). Maybe next time…
We then got back and we went for a dip to cool off. Let’s just say I probably have the best farmer tan ever. I looked like a candy cane. It was beginning to cloud over and we all looked at each other a bit nervously. We were a bit worried about getting out the next day, but we all decided to enjoy our time in paradise for one last night and not worry about it until tomorrow. Dinner was bobotie and it was superb. We sat around for a bit until the rain cleared up and we went to the beach to look at the stars. There were tons of shooting stars and it was nearly perfect dark. We all laid in silence for about a half an hour in the sand, before we decided to go a bit farther down. We seemed to not realize that the clouds rolled in and covered all of our stars. And it poured. We only had two headlamps, so we all sprinted to get back to the lodge. That was my last dry shirt as well, so I wore my rain coat for the rest of the night. I went to bed around 11, satisfied, but a little worried about the rain. (I genetically preconditioned to worry about any sort of driving conditions at all).
I woke up at about seven to check everything out. It was damp, cloudy, but not raining. I decided to make a few cups of coffee and read the paper (some routines are comfortable, no matter where you are). The shuttle left at nine thirty and most people wanted to hike back to the cars so they left an hour sooner, but I stayed back with Amina, who wasn’t able to traverse the rocky terrain. After saying goodbye to everyone we met, we took the shuttle with a young couple from Latvia with their toddler and two German goals. Definitley the scariest ride I have ever been on in my life. Period. We got stuck a few times we were definitely rocking back and fourth for a bit. But after an hour and a lot of nervous laughter we made it back to the cars. The group with the manual transmission left about 10 minutes prior and we hopped into our Nissan. Sean was talking with one of the guys at the store who had no idea how we made it there in dry weather… oh boy.
I said a few silent prayers as I got into the car, nervous as heck. We made it fine for about 10 minutes until we saw the other group waiting on top of the hill of death. We got out and strategized how to go about it (Dave had made it up with his car, so we thought we could do it as well). I had the first two goes, but I got it stuck both times. Dave took the wheel and even though there were a few nerve-wracking clunks, we made it. The rest of the terrain was pretty bad and I played dodge the potholes with a relative success. It began to rain about halfway down the road and I was just glad that we made the first two hills when it was relatively dry. After two hours we made it back to the paved road and it felt like we were somewhat back in civilization. It was about 1:30 and we floored it to get back to the N2.
The ride home was fairly uneventful other than a few moments with the sun setting over the hills. It was quite peaceful, except for the crazy@%!* SA drivers. South Africans walk extremely slow, but they make up for it with their driving. They pass on hills and really don’t care if you are already going 20k over the speed limit. I wasn’t too excited about that. We pulled into PE around 7:30 and I was happy to be alive. We nervously went to go return the cars, but everything checked out fine. I’m sure the people at the desk were wondering why we were laughing so hard…
This trip taught me that it really is the journey that matters and not the destination. But you also have to enjoy and take time for the moment and not worry about tomorrow. However, I do have an 8 page paper due tomorrow and a four pager due Wednesday. But hey, South Africa is all about getting out of your comfort zone, right?
All the best, Nick
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