One of the guys in my rez, Tulas, is from a township north of Durban, and he wanted to give the international students a taste of what South Africa is really like. Many of the students who I have met are not actually South African, but from Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana. It is still difficult for black students here to overcome the social barriers and go to post-secondary.
We all packed in to a minibus taxi, and started our tour driving on a road that we are quite familiar with – the way we travel to the mall. During apartheid, the distance between us and the mall was covered with sugarcane. This was a tool that was used to separate the racial groups: white areas had several kilometres of sugarcane between them and the Indian area, and then more sugarcane would follow to separate them from the coloureds (that’s the acceptable term here for mixed race), and then more sugarcane, followed by the black area. The idea behind this is that, if the blacks wanted to attack, there is a large distance to cover between them and the whites, so by the time they organized anything, the whites would know about it and be able to suppress it.
The sugarcane areas are now mostly taken over by illegal settlements, where people have moved from rural areas or townships closer to their work in the city. This is different than the government housing which is also being built on the former sugarcane areas. This housing is subsidized and is still rapidly being built. Unfortunately, the areas where this housing exists is not prime: the place that we visited is under a power line, where there is a higher likelihood of miscarriage, deformities, and cancer.
One of the flats we toured housed 9 people, who lived in a one-bedroom unit. The entire complex is provided with 200 litres of water, after which the tenants have to purchase more. The power here is prepaid via cards that are bought at gas stations. The codes on the cards are punched into the power machine in each flat, and power is supplied. However, during load shedding, these power customers are shut down just like the rest of us.
Load shedding is a colloquial term for scheduled blackouts, which affect the entire country. There is a power shortage in South Africa, and the current solution is to have rotating blackouts. You can imagine the affect no power can have on business, where companies are paying staff for many unproductive hours due to this lack of power. We were lucky not to be on the schedule, but our luck ran out last week when a new, more all encompassing schedule (now even hospitals and the biggest port in Africa are included) put us on the list. We now have class in dark rooms, and often larger lectures are cancelled because there are no windows. There was a new schedule this week because people complained that certain areas were being favoured with better blackout times. Now, we have blackouts at night, which sucks a lot. 6-8:30 pm Mondays with no power: no cooking, no light (it gets dark here earlier now), no nothing.
Our next stop was kwaMashu, which is one of the largest black townships in South Africa after Soweto. There is a train that connects this township to Durban, and I was shocked to see how many people live in shacks along the tracks. Besides the obvious noise concern, fire is a real danger for people who live in these areas. If one shack starts on fire, the entire area is gone is seconds. In Soweto there is a special orphanage for children who have been affected by fire.
There are also other houses in this settlement, and that is where we went to have lunch. Tulas’ mother (well, she is actually his stepmother, but Zulus aren’t concerned about these qualifications. We all called her Gogo, which is an endearing term that means grandmother) welcomed us. We all sat (separated by sex) in the front room, which shows respect to the ancestors. The furniture in their house was given to them by former employers. This was a common occurrence when employers were moving: they would give away their furniture to their staff instead of moving it.
Gogo’s son is a Sangoma, which is someone who mediates with spirits. He did some rituals to ensure the spirits were satisfied with us being in their house, and then did some dancing and drumming. One of the rituals that we had to take part in was drinking Zulu beer out of a shared container. Gogo then showed us some beadwork that she had made with other women in the area. Business innovation is very important here, where jobs are very difficult to come by. We were then served a traditional Zulu meal, which included tripe, sweet potatoes, yams, steamed bread, creamed spinach, chicken… the list goes on. It is customary to have the men be served first, which was challenging to observe. Zulu culture is still very misogynistic: the men are served hand and foot while the women do all the work. It is still quite common for Zulu men to have several wives, but that can get expensive because the families set bride prices that the men must pay, in terms of a number of cattle, in order to ‘earn’ the bride.
Before we left, we noticed a gathering down the hill of people dressed conservatively in all white. We ventured down to find out it was a celebration of the 12th Apostolic Church of the Pentecost. We were observing from afar, until someone noticed us and brought us to the front to have a better view. I’m sure we were pretty easy to notice, being a bunch of white kids. We made our way up to the front, with the entire congregation singing and waving to us, welcoming us to the party. Once we were at the front, we witnessed several people who were overcome by the Holy Spirit come forward and prophesize. Tulas translated some of it for us after: anyone who wasn’t a follower would burn in hell at the Second Coming. I’m sure it had nothing to do with us.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Easter Break 2008
Many people had planned their spring break trips for weeks, and some of us were blissfully ignorant that flights, buses, and backpackers (hostels) were booking up. A couple weeks before Easter, I had only a few choices left: Mozambique via a flight with only one seat left; Cape Town, which I would like to give more than a week of travel time to; and the Ukhahlamba Drakensberg mountains, which was going to house the biggest music festival in the country. Splashy Fen music festival and the mountains won out, and were my destinations for Easter weekend.
We came to the realization that buying camping equipment for just one weekend is not the most economical or environmental decision. Instead, the festival had a ‘tent hotel’: they set up tents, beds with linens, hot showers and breakfasts, and all we had to do was show up. I was sold! I rented a car, filled it with four of my friends, and we were off.
I was excited to drive again. Being so dependant on my car at home, it has been strange to wait for cabs, mini-bus taxis, or friends to drive me around Durban. I was nervous about doing the whole driving on the ‘wrong side’ of the road thing though. My mantra during driving was “left, left, left”, which I think helped, since my passengers didn’t ever have to remind me to switch lanes.
We departed from Durban later than expected on Thursday. We picked up some groceries and visited the liquor store before we left town, only the essentials. The problem was that no glass bottles were allowed, so we filled plastic bottles and got a good selection of boxed wine.
Our first stop was the Hilton hotel for a pit stop. It didn’t quite meet our expectations though – apparently there is a town called Hilton, and it has a hotel there.
Our next stop was further into the mountains in Bulwer, where they served us tea (it’s cold in the mountains here, too!), tasty homemade soup, and sandwiches. The cool kind of sandwiches here are bacon and banana, which I hear are pretty tasty. I can’t complain about the food here at all, it’s just the desserts that need some work. Perhaps because ovens aren’t very common here, so people don’t know how easy it is to make wicked cakes and cookies, and are satisfied with mediocrity. (In an exciting side note, one of the guys in rez has a toaster oven that we have used with great success to bake cookies!)
By this time, it was very dark, and the clouds had moved in. Since it is so mountainous in this area, when it is cloudy, you are IN the cloud. Let me tell you, it’s not so fun to drive when you can see about a metre in front of you due to the rain and fog, and you must be careful to avoid livestock. By the time we made it onto the dirt road, my nerves were shot. The setting for the festival is on a farm, which is lovely in prime weather conditions, but gets really muddy really fast when it rains. In fact, the road out of the festival was closed the following day because cars were sliding down the hills.
None of us were really prepared for the rain. I was told that everyone comes back from Splashy burnt, so I was ready for the sun: shorts, tanks, and sunscreen. Unfortunately, no one sent us the memo about the torrential downpours and knee-deep mud that are the norm at the festival. Perhaps the name ‘Splashy’ should have tipped us off. Everyone was modelling the latest varieties of gum boots (rubber boots), skinny jeans, sweaters, scarves, and vests. The winter displays at the mall made more sense after I experienced this weather! I have never been so cold in my life – flip flops, capris, and thin shirts just didn’t cut it when I had to walk through massive red puddles of mud in the rain. The hot showers alone were worth the cost of the hotel at this point.
The music was fantastic – it was all South African artists, ranging from yodelling to emo to metal to folk to house; something for everyone. The food was worth the trip in itself though: mulled wine, hot mini-donuts covered in chocolate (this might be the only exception to the dessert limitations here), falafels, crepes, curries, homemade pasta… the list goes on! Next time, we won’t need to make a grocery store stop before coming here.
It dried up a bit by the time we were ready to leave, and we made our way to our next stop, the Sani Pass. Potholes were created from the rain on the weekend, so we often bottomed out. Our mantra this time was “Rental!” after every scrape; I’m glad we didn’t have to worry about ruining someone’s car under those horrific conditions!
We met up with some other friends at the backpackers, making our group 8-strong. It was nice to be in the country to chillax. The crime rate appears to be much lower where we were staying, since there wasn’t and barbed wire or security guards to protect the property. In this province, farmers are often killed in land disputes, so it apparently this was not one of those areas.
The following day we did a day-trip to Lesotho, the country that is entirely surrounded by South Africa. We accessed this ‘country in the sky’ through the Sani pass, which is the only border crossing to Lesotho from this province. The road is unlike any I have seen before. It seemed bad even by bike trail standards – hairpin turns, boulders, and waterfalls going over the road. I was glad to have the front seat, since it was such a bumpy ride.
It was so gorgeous making our way up the pass. Halfway up we arrived at the South African passport office, and then at the top of the pass, we made it to Lesotho. The passport control is a little different here than what I’m used to: you get both entry and exit stamps when you get there, so you don’t have to tell them when you leave the country.
Lesotho is quite different than South Africa. The people still wear traditional clothing, and maintain their roles from many years ago. The shepards are usually teenage boys, who enjoyed talking to us on our lunch break. One of them tried to impress us with his limited English “What’s up motherfuckers?” which we thought was pretty hilarious. The next entertainment during lunch was watching some drug smugglers trek up the pass – TIA.
The next day we had a lovely time going horseback riding in the lowlands of the Sani pass. Of course, I got the dud horse that wouldn’t go anywhere. They told me that I had to be forceful, but I can only kick so hard. Every once in awhile my horse would look at me like “Yes, I’m going to eat these flowers, and then stop in the middle of the river, and you better be grateful that I haven’t kicked you off already.” The beauty of the surroundings made up for it though!
The next day we drove back to the Durbs on the speedy N3. The highways here are amazing! They are toll roads, but it is totally worth it to travel on the ridiculously fast, nicely paved roads. People are cautious to stay to the left here (that is the slow lane here), which might have something to do with the inordinate number of road rage incidents here. It worked well for me though!
We arrived safe and sound back in Durban, ready for the next term of school to start.
We came to the realization that buying camping equipment for just one weekend is not the most economical or environmental decision. Instead, the festival had a ‘tent hotel’: they set up tents, beds with linens, hot showers and breakfasts, and all we had to do was show up. I was sold! I rented a car, filled it with four of my friends, and we were off.
I was excited to drive again. Being so dependant on my car at home, it has been strange to wait for cabs, mini-bus taxis, or friends to drive me around Durban. I was nervous about doing the whole driving on the ‘wrong side’ of the road thing though. My mantra during driving was “left, left, left”, which I think helped, since my passengers didn’t ever have to remind me to switch lanes.
We departed from Durban later than expected on Thursday. We picked up some groceries and visited the liquor store before we left town, only the essentials. The problem was that no glass bottles were allowed, so we filled plastic bottles and got a good selection of boxed wine.
Our first stop was the Hilton hotel for a pit stop. It didn’t quite meet our expectations though – apparently there is a town called Hilton, and it has a hotel there.
Our next stop was further into the mountains in Bulwer, where they served us tea (it’s cold in the mountains here, too!), tasty homemade soup, and sandwiches. The cool kind of sandwiches here are bacon and banana, which I hear are pretty tasty. I can’t complain about the food here at all, it’s just the desserts that need some work. Perhaps because ovens aren’t very common here, so people don’t know how easy it is to make wicked cakes and cookies, and are satisfied with mediocrity. (In an exciting side note, one of the guys in rez has a toaster oven that we have used with great success to bake cookies!)
By this time, it was very dark, and the clouds had moved in. Since it is so mountainous in this area, when it is cloudy, you are IN the cloud. Let me tell you, it’s not so fun to drive when you can see about a metre in front of you due to the rain and fog, and you must be careful to avoid livestock. By the time we made it onto the dirt road, my nerves were shot. The setting for the festival is on a farm, which is lovely in prime weather conditions, but gets really muddy really fast when it rains. In fact, the road out of the festival was closed the following day because cars were sliding down the hills.
None of us were really prepared for the rain. I was told that everyone comes back from Splashy burnt, so I was ready for the sun: shorts, tanks, and sunscreen. Unfortunately, no one sent us the memo about the torrential downpours and knee-deep mud that are the norm at the festival. Perhaps the name ‘Splashy’ should have tipped us off. Everyone was modelling the latest varieties of gum boots (rubber boots), skinny jeans, sweaters, scarves, and vests. The winter displays at the mall made more sense after I experienced this weather! I have never been so cold in my life – flip flops, capris, and thin shirts just didn’t cut it when I had to walk through massive red puddles of mud in the rain. The hot showers alone were worth the cost of the hotel at this point.
The music was fantastic – it was all South African artists, ranging from yodelling to emo to metal to folk to house; something for everyone. The food was worth the trip in itself though: mulled wine, hot mini-donuts covered in chocolate (this might be the only exception to the dessert limitations here), falafels, crepes, curries, homemade pasta… the list goes on! Next time, we won’t need to make a grocery store stop before coming here.
It dried up a bit by the time we were ready to leave, and we made our way to our next stop, the Sani Pass. Potholes were created from the rain on the weekend, so we often bottomed out. Our mantra this time was “Rental!” after every scrape; I’m glad we didn’t have to worry about ruining someone’s car under those horrific conditions!
We met up with some other friends at the backpackers, making our group 8-strong. It was nice to be in the country to chillax. The crime rate appears to be much lower where we were staying, since there wasn’t and barbed wire or security guards to protect the property. In this province, farmers are often killed in land disputes, so it apparently this was not one of those areas.
The following day we did a day-trip to Lesotho, the country that is entirely surrounded by South Africa. We accessed this ‘country in the sky’ through the Sani pass, which is the only border crossing to Lesotho from this province. The road is unlike any I have seen before. It seemed bad even by bike trail standards – hairpin turns, boulders, and waterfalls going over the road. I was glad to have the front seat, since it was such a bumpy ride.
It was so gorgeous making our way up the pass. Halfway up we arrived at the South African passport office, and then at the top of the pass, we made it to Lesotho. The passport control is a little different here than what I’m used to: you get both entry and exit stamps when you get there, so you don’t have to tell them when you leave the country.
Lesotho is quite different than South Africa. The people still wear traditional clothing, and maintain their roles from many years ago. The shepards are usually teenage boys, who enjoyed talking to us on our lunch break. One of them tried to impress us with his limited English “What’s up motherfuckers?” which we thought was pretty hilarious. The next entertainment during lunch was watching some drug smugglers trek up the pass – TIA.
The next day we had a lovely time going horseback riding in the lowlands of the Sani pass. Of course, I got the dud horse that wouldn’t go anywhere. They told me that I had to be forceful, but I can only kick so hard. Every once in awhile my horse would look at me like “Yes, I’m going to eat these flowers, and then stop in the middle of the river, and you better be grateful that I haven’t kicked you off already.” The beauty of the surroundings made up for it though!
The next day we drove back to the Durbs on the speedy N3. The highways here are amazing! They are toll roads, but it is totally worth it to travel on the ridiculously fast, nicely paved roads. People are cautious to stay to the left here (that is the slow lane here), which might have something to do with the inordinate number of road rage incidents here. It worked well for me though!
We arrived safe and sound back in Durban, ready for the next term of school to start.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Life at UKZN
I was warned ahead of time about the dorms here – no wireless, questionable security, etc. So far (other than the internet issue), life has been great in residence. A 5-minute walk up the (many) steps sure beats the hour commute at home. And there are so many international students in my dorm!
The first week of actual classes was pretty hectic, and no one seems to know quite what is going on. The lecture schedule is pretty crazy here – some classes start at 7:45! So you can imagine that it might be frustrating if you got ready for class at that time on a Monday, and found out your class was cancelled (for the day, or in some cases, the whole semester!). I was lucky – my first class was at a decent hour. I was confused when I arrived to my African psychology class though – our lecturer started with “Welcome to Abnormal Psychology”…huh? Apparently, some classes are divided even further into terms. So, my class won’t begin until the second term this semester. MORE BEACH TIME! And, we needed groceries, which took longer than expected to buy, so I accidentally missed the first lecture of my other class (oops!).
The second day of class was about as successful as the first – the students organized a strike over housing problems (Many students who confirmed housing arrived, only to find out that they had nowhere to stay. Some rooms are housing 7-8 students in them until they sort things out.). The rooms aren’t so big, but they suit my needs well: a bed, a sink, a desk, a wardrobe, and some shelves. Okay, at times, my room smells a little off, but I have adapted and bought an aromatherapy oil burner, so now it just smells like mango or coconut! Well, that’s when it doesn’t smell like propane from the stuff they sprayed in my room to control the cockroach and ant population (which luckily, I haven’t seen any signs of!). They came around at about 10am, and I happened to still be sleeping, so when they knocked, I sleepily opened the door. The guy seemed surprised that I was around, but even more surprised that I was still sleeping. Sleeping in (as in, after 5:30am) seems to be a faux pas. One of my professors was describing his lazy neighbour who smokes pot all day and sleeps in until 9am! So, the pest control guys told me to open my windows and they proceeded to spray around the edges of my room with some toxic chemical, and left. Since I had just woken up, I didn’t have anywhere I could go, so hopefully the chemicals that detract cockroaches (which can survive a nuclear holocaust) haven’t killed too many brain cells!
I have had some other cool visitors in my room though! And this isn’t the time when my mom needs to stop reading the blog – I’m talking about moths, bee-like creatures that don’t buzz, praying mantises and FROGS! Luckily, no monkeys yet – they are really messy when they get in your room. The moths here are gigantic. Like 8-10cms long. That’s what was in my room on one of the first nights and I thought was a bat. And they make noises here. The frog was the coolest – a bit shocking when I grabbed onto the curtain and my hand wrapped around its little body, but fine once I convinced myself that I didn’t just touch a poisonous dart frog. (You know the arrows that have poison on them in Indiana Jones-esque movies? That’s from a dart frog, which I had just seen the day before at Sea World. Yeah.). I didn’t realize that Praying Mantises don’t bite, so I might have ‘accidentally’ squished it in my curtain. What? I get random bug bites all the time, and I have no idea where they are from! The main bug that I’m not a fan of is gnats. Why gnats, you might ask? Well, they’re in my fridge, which doesn’t actually work, we just pretend it does. The freezer works great! Until a couple of weeks ago, we didn’t have a food cupboard, so we kept all of our dishes in there, too. I did get some strange looks when we washed dishes and then put them into the freezer. The main drawback of using the freezer as a cupboard is that you actually have to dry the dishes.
Anyway, back to class. So, I’m only taking two classes right now until my third one starts some time after Easter (no one actually knows when, they just say “after Easter.” It’s strange when you talk to people who you think have somewhere in their job description “know how to do this,” and they have no idea what you’re even asking them. Like, when I wanted to know what the address of the school is so that I can receive mail: the international student support office, which is the location to pick up said mail, could not tell me what the address is. Seriously. I just found out the address from a friend of mine who finally got his mail…just in case anyone wants to send me anything??).
I’m taking criminology, which is a first year course, and literature and journalism, which is a third year course. The bachelor degrees are three years long here, so when I tell people that I’m in my 5th year, they look at me with respect and think that I’m almost done my Master’s, which is quite a change from at home, where people just wonder why I’m so slow!
My first impression of classes is that it’s like high school. They actually take attendance, and if you don’t attend a certain percentage of class, you don’t get your ‘duly performed’ certificate, and can’t write the final. This is a challenge in lecture halls that contain 300 giddy 18-year-olds. That’s another aside: everyone is young here. No one takes time off between high school and college to get a job because jobs are so hard to get. If you found a job, you wouldn’t quit it to go to school, because the aim of school here is to get a job; if you have one, what’s the point in school? So, at 21 people graduate and try to get good jobs, get married and have children. When my friend was doing a survey at a shoe store, she told her age (25), and the lady told her to go back home to Sweden and find a man to marry – she’s getting old!
My favourite class so far is English. We started the semester off discussing a magazine from the 50s that was geared towards the black population: Drum magazine. It was so interesting to learn more about what life was like before and during apartheid. I felt out of place when people were discussing particular uprisings and events, but my professor assured me that just because the other students are from this country doesn’t mean they know any more about what was going on in the 50s here than I do. It would be unfortunate it that were true.
Studying here is an issue. And, I can’t always blame it on my lack of motivation (these grades don’t count towards my GPA, I just get a completion mark): there are no places to study! With the exception of this chilly weekend (it went down to a bone-chilling 23C in my room last night! I was seriously cold and it woke me up. Tomorrow I will buy a duvet.), normally air conditioning is necessary. So, my room isn’t the place to get anything done – the rez can get a little loud anyways. The café only stays open from 9-4, which is shocking. With classes that start so early, I would think that caffeine would be necessary at an earlier hour for those addicts among us. I’m told that the coffee here is gross, so I guess it’s not surprising that you have to look hard to find a coffee shop – it’s not good enough to get addicted to. No Starbucks to get cozy and study at. And the library? You can’t bring bags into it – not even purses! So, that’s a bit of a hassle. It does have a/c though, so when I’m done dripping sweat in the computer lab (they turn the a/c off at the same time as they unblock Facebook every night), I can chill in the library. I’m lucky I haven’t had a research paper yet – people actually use books here to research! Imagine! I have never taken a book out at home; everything is online.
I had my first test on Friday, and it took me back to high school finals. It was only a midterm, but apparently it was a pretty serious one because it was in a different venue: an auditorium filled with desks from an era gone by. It was only 45 minutes long (just like the classes here – it’s amazing! At home, most of my classes are 3 hour lectures. Here, if you’re late, there is really no point in coming at all. Well, except that you have to sign the register!), and it was super easy (had I studied).
Shockingly, I have just completed my 5th week of classes here! Time has gone by so fast. We always seem to be on the go during the week, and the weekends are full of parties and clubs (and sometimes even laundry and homework). I feel like it’s my duty to explore the culture here, which includes going to (CHEAP!) movies, shopping to excess, eating copious amounts of foreign candy (which is sooo good! It’s a good thing there are lots of stairs and hills here!), and going to new clubs every week.
Alcohol deserves a new paragraph. The cider is sweet and tastes like fresh apples, unlike the dry stuff we have at home. The wine is fantastic! I haven’t had any white, just because South Africa is known for its reds, and I now know why. I can’t wait to tour some wineries when I visit the Western Cape. At home I have seen Amarula at liquor stores, but I hadn’t tried it until I got here. Every time we go to a movie (which is every week!) there are commercials for it, which makes us all salivate. It’s made from Marula fruit that, according to the commercial, elephants like to eat only at its supreme ripeness, which is when it is harvested. I’m sure the elephant helps with that part, too. The classic SA shot is Amarula mixed with Springbok, a minty liqueur that is named after the SA soccer team.
The currency here, the rand, is losing its value compared to foreign currency due to some problems in the SA economy. This is very GOOD news for me though! When I arrived, one Canadian dollar could buy 6 rand, and now I can buy 8! So, when I pay 7 ZAR for a cider, I’m a pretty happy lady. Still, I have managed to learn how to barter, if only with the cabs. It’s a lot easier now that I know what everything should actually be costing us. We avoid metered taxis at all costs, unless we want a tour of Durban before we get to our destination. Flat-rate cabs are usually pretty decent, except for the time that we agreed on a decent price and got in, only to find out that it was just some guy’s car, and not a real cabs. Sketchy!
Without a car, we depend on cabs a lot. Luckily we have found a grocery store within walking distance, which is good because food here goes bad really fast, so we have to go to the store every few days to restock. Groceries here are a bit of a hassle, especially with a broken fridge! Also, the stoves work on a rotating basis – they seem to rotate every time we try to use them. What I have found here to survive is Woolworth’s food, which does amazing prepared salads. We also have lots of food stands on campus, and with the large Indian population, vegetarian food is really easy to find. Also, the fruit here is spectacular, it almost makes up for the lame vegetables. They don’t know anything about bakery items though. Perhaps because ovens aren’t the norm, so people don’t know just how easy it is to bake things that are a hundred times better. I miss baking, especially on a cold day like today! I suppose I should be savouring the cold weather though – it should be sweltering for the music festival that I am going to over Easter weekend!
Love to all!
The first week of actual classes was pretty hectic, and no one seems to know quite what is going on. The lecture schedule is pretty crazy here – some classes start at 7:45! So you can imagine that it might be frustrating if you got ready for class at that time on a Monday, and found out your class was cancelled (for the day, or in some cases, the whole semester!). I was lucky – my first class was at a decent hour. I was confused when I arrived to my African psychology class though – our lecturer started with “Welcome to Abnormal Psychology”…huh? Apparently, some classes are divided even further into terms. So, my class won’t begin until the second term this semester. MORE BEACH TIME! And, we needed groceries, which took longer than expected to buy, so I accidentally missed the first lecture of my other class (oops!).
The second day of class was about as successful as the first – the students organized a strike over housing problems (Many students who confirmed housing arrived, only to find out that they had nowhere to stay. Some rooms are housing 7-8 students in them until they sort things out.). The rooms aren’t so big, but they suit my needs well: a bed, a sink, a desk, a wardrobe, and some shelves. Okay, at times, my room smells a little off, but I have adapted and bought an aromatherapy oil burner, so now it just smells like mango or coconut! Well, that’s when it doesn’t smell like propane from the stuff they sprayed in my room to control the cockroach and ant population (which luckily, I haven’t seen any signs of!). They came around at about 10am, and I happened to still be sleeping, so when they knocked, I sleepily opened the door. The guy seemed surprised that I was around, but even more surprised that I was still sleeping. Sleeping in (as in, after 5:30am) seems to be a faux pas. One of my professors was describing his lazy neighbour who smokes pot all day and sleeps in until 9am! So, the pest control guys told me to open my windows and they proceeded to spray around the edges of my room with some toxic chemical, and left. Since I had just woken up, I didn’t have anywhere I could go, so hopefully the chemicals that detract cockroaches (which can survive a nuclear holocaust) haven’t killed too many brain cells!
I have had some other cool visitors in my room though! And this isn’t the time when my mom needs to stop reading the blog – I’m talking about moths, bee-like creatures that don’t buzz, praying mantises and FROGS! Luckily, no monkeys yet – they are really messy when they get in your room. The moths here are gigantic. Like 8-10cms long. That’s what was in my room on one of the first nights and I thought was a bat. And they make noises here. The frog was the coolest – a bit shocking when I grabbed onto the curtain and my hand wrapped around its little body, but fine once I convinced myself that I didn’t just touch a poisonous dart frog. (You know the arrows that have poison on them in Indiana Jones-esque movies? That’s from a dart frog, which I had just seen the day before at Sea World. Yeah.). I didn’t realize that Praying Mantises don’t bite, so I might have ‘accidentally’ squished it in my curtain. What? I get random bug bites all the time, and I have no idea where they are from! The main bug that I’m not a fan of is gnats. Why gnats, you might ask? Well, they’re in my fridge, which doesn’t actually work, we just pretend it does. The freezer works great! Until a couple of weeks ago, we didn’t have a food cupboard, so we kept all of our dishes in there, too. I did get some strange looks when we washed dishes and then put them into the freezer. The main drawback of using the freezer as a cupboard is that you actually have to dry the dishes.
Anyway, back to class. So, I’m only taking two classes right now until my third one starts some time after Easter (no one actually knows when, they just say “after Easter.” It’s strange when you talk to people who you think have somewhere in their job description “know how to do this,” and they have no idea what you’re even asking them. Like, when I wanted to know what the address of the school is so that I can receive mail: the international student support office, which is the location to pick up said mail, could not tell me what the address is. Seriously. I just found out the address from a friend of mine who finally got his mail…just in case anyone wants to send me anything??).
I’m taking criminology, which is a first year course, and literature and journalism, which is a third year course. The bachelor degrees are three years long here, so when I tell people that I’m in my 5th year, they look at me with respect and think that I’m almost done my Master’s, which is quite a change from at home, where people just wonder why I’m so slow!
My first impression of classes is that it’s like high school. They actually take attendance, and if you don’t attend a certain percentage of class, you don’t get your ‘duly performed’ certificate, and can’t write the final. This is a challenge in lecture halls that contain 300 giddy 18-year-olds. That’s another aside: everyone is young here. No one takes time off between high school and college to get a job because jobs are so hard to get. If you found a job, you wouldn’t quit it to go to school, because the aim of school here is to get a job; if you have one, what’s the point in school? So, at 21 people graduate and try to get good jobs, get married and have children. When my friend was doing a survey at a shoe store, she told her age (25), and the lady told her to go back home to Sweden and find a man to marry – she’s getting old!
My favourite class so far is English. We started the semester off discussing a magazine from the 50s that was geared towards the black population: Drum magazine. It was so interesting to learn more about what life was like before and during apartheid. I felt out of place when people were discussing particular uprisings and events, but my professor assured me that just because the other students are from this country doesn’t mean they know any more about what was going on in the 50s here than I do. It would be unfortunate it that were true.
Studying here is an issue. And, I can’t always blame it on my lack of motivation (these grades don’t count towards my GPA, I just get a completion mark): there are no places to study! With the exception of this chilly weekend (it went down to a bone-chilling 23C in my room last night! I was seriously cold and it woke me up. Tomorrow I will buy a duvet.), normally air conditioning is necessary. So, my room isn’t the place to get anything done – the rez can get a little loud anyways. The café only stays open from 9-4, which is shocking. With classes that start so early, I would think that caffeine would be necessary at an earlier hour for those addicts among us. I’m told that the coffee here is gross, so I guess it’s not surprising that you have to look hard to find a coffee shop – it’s not good enough to get addicted to. No Starbucks to get cozy and study at. And the library? You can’t bring bags into it – not even purses! So, that’s a bit of a hassle. It does have a/c though, so when I’m done dripping sweat in the computer lab (they turn the a/c off at the same time as they unblock Facebook every night), I can chill in the library. I’m lucky I haven’t had a research paper yet – people actually use books here to research! Imagine! I have never taken a book out at home; everything is online.
I had my first test on Friday, and it took me back to high school finals. It was only a midterm, but apparently it was a pretty serious one because it was in a different venue: an auditorium filled with desks from an era gone by. It was only 45 minutes long (just like the classes here – it’s amazing! At home, most of my classes are 3 hour lectures. Here, if you’re late, there is really no point in coming at all. Well, except that you have to sign the register!), and it was super easy (had I studied).
Shockingly, I have just completed my 5th week of classes here! Time has gone by so fast. We always seem to be on the go during the week, and the weekends are full of parties and clubs (and sometimes even laundry and homework). I feel like it’s my duty to explore the culture here, which includes going to (CHEAP!) movies, shopping to excess, eating copious amounts of foreign candy (which is sooo good! It’s a good thing there are lots of stairs and hills here!), and going to new clubs every week.
Alcohol deserves a new paragraph. The cider is sweet and tastes like fresh apples, unlike the dry stuff we have at home. The wine is fantastic! I haven’t had any white, just because South Africa is known for its reds, and I now know why. I can’t wait to tour some wineries when I visit the Western Cape. At home I have seen Amarula at liquor stores, but I hadn’t tried it until I got here. Every time we go to a movie (which is every week!) there are commercials for it, which makes us all salivate. It’s made from Marula fruit that, according to the commercial, elephants like to eat only at its supreme ripeness, which is when it is harvested. I’m sure the elephant helps with that part, too. The classic SA shot is Amarula mixed with Springbok, a minty liqueur that is named after the SA soccer team.
The currency here, the rand, is losing its value compared to foreign currency due to some problems in the SA economy. This is very GOOD news for me though! When I arrived, one Canadian dollar could buy 6 rand, and now I can buy 8! So, when I pay 7 ZAR for a cider, I’m a pretty happy lady. Still, I have managed to learn how to barter, if only with the cabs. It’s a lot easier now that I know what everything should actually be costing us. We avoid metered taxis at all costs, unless we want a tour of Durban before we get to our destination. Flat-rate cabs are usually pretty decent, except for the time that we agreed on a decent price and got in, only to find out that it was just some guy’s car, and not a real cabs. Sketchy!
Without a car, we depend on cabs a lot. Luckily we have found a grocery store within walking distance, which is good because food here goes bad really fast, so we have to go to the store every few days to restock. Groceries here are a bit of a hassle, especially with a broken fridge! Also, the stoves work on a rotating basis – they seem to rotate every time we try to use them. What I have found here to survive is Woolworth’s food, which does amazing prepared salads. We also have lots of food stands on campus, and with the large Indian population, vegetarian food is really easy to find. Also, the fruit here is spectacular, it almost makes up for the lame vegetables. They don’t know anything about bakery items though. Perhaps because ovens aren’t the norm, so people don’t know just how easy it is to bake things that are a hundred times better. I miss baking, especially on a cold day like today! I suppose I should be savouring the cold weather though – it should be sweltering for the music festival that I am going to over Easter weekend!
Love to all!
Pietermaritzburg
We wanted to get out of town for the weekend, and Pietermaritzburg is so close that it would be unforgivable if we didn’t see it. Also, it’s such a small town that it’s a perfect weekend getaway. We left really early on Saturday morning (some of us regretting attending the campus party the night before. They had pretty weak security standards though, considering we just drew stamps on our arms with a pen, and they let us in free). Our favourite cab driver A. Kay, who some of us consider our SA dad, picked us up and brought us to the minibus taxi stand downtown. It’s the kind of place that you don’t stand in one spot for too long so that you keep the items in your bag and pockets safe. Luckily, our minibus left really quickly. You always have to double check where they are going, because they are never labelled.
The 45 minute trip cost 35 ZAR, which we passed up in the usual manner, telling the person in front of us how many people the amount was supposed to cover, and having them pass the money up to the driver to count. All the conversations were in Zulu, but it was pretty clear that something wasn’t right when the drive passed everyone’s money back, except mine, Zane’s and Taylor’s. And then the driver pulled over on the freeway and started ranting in Zulu. It was at this point that I wasn’t as glad that I agreed to this transportation option over the higher class Greyhound. Apparently, he was 5ZAR short, which it was pretty clear that one of the guys in the taxi pocketed. He later ‘found’ the amount, and we were on our way again.
Once we arrived in the town, we got off the taxi at an early stop. That wasn’t as important as the fact that the person booking the Backpackers didn’t bring the address. Once that was sorted out, we used my map to figure out how to get there. Unfortunately, all the streets have been renamed since my map was printed, so it was more challenging than expected to get there. Renaming the streets has been controversial, but despite protests and questions over cost, it has gone through. The point is to get rid of all the street names that have connections to the harsh past, and move on with names that have more positive associations.
We were able to find our hostel, drop our things, and with surprising amounts of energy, venture off in search of a good meal. My guide had suggested a place, which was tricky to find because it, too, had been renamed. It was situated in the top floor of the Tatham Art Gallery, which was filled with art through the ages. It wasn’t until 1990 that Zulu art was featured in the building, which is itself a relic. PMB is known for its late-Victorian architecture, which was gorgeous to see. The whole downtown is filled with red brick buildings, including the city hall, which we gave ourselves a tour of.
After our full day, we decided we deserved ice cream, so we headed to the nearest KFC. I was glad to see that there were bars that separated the lines so that we wouldn’t get pushed out of the way like we always do at school. Unfortunately, they were out of ice cream, so it didn’t matter anyway.
We headed back to the Backpackers to relax, and ended up staying in the entire night! Apparently, since PMB is a small town, they don’t have much going on in the evenings, so we just had a party at the hostel instead.
The next day I was excited to use a gas stove again - omelettes for breakfast! We hired a cab to take us to the sights in the town – the biggest horse statue in the country, and then the botanical gardens. The horse was actually a pegasus, and it was as tacky as expected. The botanical gardens were breathtaking. It was the perfect place for a picnic, but we ate at the café, that served the best soup ever! Soup still tastes surprisingly good when it’s over 30C.
We headed back to the hostel early the chill by the pool, and then we walked over to wait for our bus. I was glad that we took the Greyhound home. Even though it was late, it was comforting to be on a vehicle that I could rely on, and where they spoke a language that I could understand. It was much classier than the Greyhounds at home – they served tea, coffee, and cookies, and they made announcements like airplane attendants do: “please remain seated until we come to a full and complete stop.”
Pietermaritzburg was a lovely break from the hectic pace of Durban. (Pictures to follow when the internet is faster)
The 45 minute trip cost 35 ZAR, which we passed up in the usual manner, telling the person in front of us how many people the amount was supposed to cover, and having them pass the money up to the driver to count. All the conversations were in Zulu, but it was pretty clear that something wasn’t right when the drive passed everyone’s money back, except mine, Zane’s and Taylor’s. And then the driver pulled over on the freeway and started ranting in Zulu. It was at this point that I wasn’t as glad that I agreed to this transportation option over the higher class Greyhound. Apparently, he was 5ZAR short, which it was pretty clear that one of the guys in the taxi pocketed. He later ‘found’ the amount, and we were on our way again.
Once we arrived in the town, we got off the taxi at an early stop. That wasn’t as important as the fact that the person booking the Backpackers didn’t bring the address. Once that was sorted out, we used my map to figure out how to get there. Unfortunately, all the streets have been renamed since my map was printed, so it was more challenging than expected to get there. Renaming the streets has been controversial, but despite protests and questions over cost, it has gone through. The point is to get rid of all the street names that have connections to the harsh past, and move on with names that have more positive associations.
We were able to find our hostel, drop our things, and with surprising amounts of energy, venture off in search of a good meal. My guide had suggested a place, which was tricky to find because it, too, had been renamed. It was situated in the top floor of the Tatham Art Gallery, which was filled with art through the ages. It wasn’t until 1990 that Zulu art was featured in the building, which is itself a relic. PMB is known for its late-Victorian architecture, which was gorgeous to see. The whole downtown is filled with red brick buildings, including the city hall, which we gave ourselves a tour of.
After our full day, we decided we deserved ice cream, so we headed to the nearest KFC. I was glad to see that there were bars that separated the lines so that we wouldn’t get pushed out of the way like we always do at school. Unfortunately, they were out of ice cream, so it didn’t matter anyway.
We headed back to the Backpackers to relax, and ended up staying in the entire night! Apparently, since PMB is a small town, they don’t have much going on in the evenings, so we just had a party at the hostel instead.
The next day I was excited to use a gas stove again - omelettes for breakfast! We hired a cab to take us to the sights in the town – the biggest horse statue in the country, and then the botanical gardens. The horse was actually a pegasus, and it was as tacky as expected. The botanical gardens were breathtaking. It was the perfect place for a picnic, but we ate at the café, that served the best soup ever! Soup still tastes surprisingly good when it’s over 30C.
We headed back to the hostel early the chill by the pool, and then we walked over to wait for our bus. I was glad that we took the Greyhound home. Even though it was late, it was comforting to be on a vehicle that I could rely on, and where they spoke a language that I could understand. It was much classier than the Greyhounds at home – they served tea, coffee, and cookies, and they made announcements like airplane attendants do: “please remain seated until we come to a full and complete stop.”
Pietermaritzburg was a lovely break from the hectic pace of Durban. (Pictures to follow when the internet is faster)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Zululand
The trip was fantastic. On the weekend, we went on an excursion organized by one of the professors who wanted us to have a more varied experience in this province. We took a bus
for a couple hours north of Durban (stopping at a gas station to stock up on candy, which is AMAZING here. I’ve done my best to get a full South African experience, and thus have tried many varieties.), finally arriving at our destination, the Veyane Cultural Village. We weren’t given many details about the trip, so it was a great surprise when we turned up, and we were in a Zulu village full of little huts for us to sleep in. Before we could unpack much, 
we were invited to get dressed up in traditional Zulu attire (which are in photos that you will never see!) and 
watch/participate in Zulu dancing. The dancing is super intense – they kick their leg way up above their head, and then abruptly hit their foot down on the ground. Quite moving to see.
Then we were provided with a traditional Zulu mean, which was really good! It kind of felt like Thanksgiving dinner, because all I am able to eat on both occasions are the carbohydrates, which worked out well for me! They made different kinds of sweet potatoes (white with black skin), cassava, spinach mixture… the list goes on. And, Rooibos tea to finish it off! It’s so nice to be in a place where Earl Grey is not the standard kind of tea. Rooibos is only grown in South Africa, so we were truly getting the full experience.
After watching an interesting film about the land rights situation in the country (in this province alone, one white farmer is killed every month), we went to bed early. Upon arrival in our hut,
there was a massive bug greeting us. With nothing to squish it with, we sprayed it with bug spray, which I presumed made it angry, but it hid somewhere, so all night I could just hear it clicking away while I stayed packed into my many blankets in the 30C hut to avoid its plotting. I seem to have developed a rash this week – no sure if the two events are related.The reason we had an early bed time is that we were up at 4am to get on the bus and see the Hluhluwe Game reserve. We saw WAY more
animals than I expected – zebras, giraffes, lions, monkeys (which are old news, since I often see them on campus), rhinos, wart hogs, the list goes on! Totally impressive how they have managed to keep that many animals safe on the reserve.
Next we went to see a project that the professor, Blessing, was working on at an AIDS drop-in centre for children. We had a benefit lunch there, where they sang, danced, and read us poetry. It’s difficult to be a spectator at an event like that. I wanted to have fun and just play with the children, but in the back of my mind I was questioning what their future would hold. The number of people infected in South Africa is 34%, but in this province, KwaZulu Natal, the numbers are the highest in the country at 42%. Heavy stuff.
Then we visited the St Lucia wetlands park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here we boarded a cruise boat and slowly went down the large stream to see crocodiles and hippopotamuses. So cool to be cruising down a stream in the African sun.
That evening, we decided to stop at a hotel bar and I’m still struggling to figure out Africa time. Everything that we have attended so far has been at least 15 minutes late, and people tend to be late to show up, too. But whenever I try to be late, everyone else is always early! According to my South African friends, my trip to Zululand was a prime example of how timing works here. We left about an hour late, but everything during the trip kept to schedule. Except when it came time to leave, and our coordinator was the one that kept on saying ‘5 more minutes’.
The next day we visited a rural town, which has been relocated several times due to conflicts with the gum trees that are evident everywhere we went. They remind me of eucalyptus trees
in Brazil, in that they are both huge monocultures that allow no other growth on the ground, and take extreme amounts of water, that then create droughts for the people, who are without jobs because they can’t afford cars to get into town where they work has migrated. Big problems here, too. I didn’t have any suggestions for them, it was just too overwhelming. We did play a great game of soccer with the local youth, though. The girls won their game for the first time in the 7 years that Blessing has run this trip (all due to my mad skills, I’m sure).
I
came back from the trip appreciating the beauty that the culture and the country has to offer, while at the same time uncertain about the future here.
First Week in the Durbs
Last week was still full of orientation-related activities. 
They started us early on Monday morning with a campus tour. Since I am in South Africa, I expect it to be warm, even hot at 
times. So, you can imagine my surprise when I walked out of my residence building and was cold! 
It was 22C, which is freezing here! Not only that, but it was the first time since I got here that it rained, so I think we got the abbreviated version of the tour (“See that building over there? That’s the library; and that big one beside it – that’s a lecture hall. Have a good day!”). We did learn that the lecture halls will be hard to find. The maps are useless, and no one seems to know where anything is, AND there are no clues as to which building on campus the rooms are. So, if you have a class in Lecture 3, your room could be in several buildings. 
Once we were done that enlightening experience, I went to the bank to get some cash out. Carrying large amounts is not recommended in South Africa (or anywhere, I suppose), but after BOTH of my cards didn’t work during my shopping trip, I have taken to carrying some with me, just in case. However, this can get expensive, since the bank charges $5 for every transaction, and it won’t allow more than 1000 Rand per withdrawal (about $130).
We were still dealing with the school administration at this point, which is not a fun experience. Everyone sends you to someone else, and won’t do anything for you until you are able to tell them that someone else told you it was their job. This process was made especially difficult by the fact that this day was the first that everyone else at the school could register. The line-up to pay fees was more than 4 hours long.
Cooking is not my favourite thing to do here. There is no oven, and our pots are too small (as in, the size of a cereal bowl), and we don’t have a cupboard, so everything is stored in the freezer. Now, I have to defrost my veggies and my dishes! I think I’m going to be eating a lot of salads here.
The next day we had was free of school commitments. Still, we were troopers and got up really early, all in the name of fashion. The malls here are pretty outrageously large, and they close at 5 or 6pm, so to make sure that we weren’t stressed with closing time, we made a day of shopping! And, all of us were serious about it – Taylor and I made it for 6 hours! The prices are great, but taking a taxi everywhere can get expensive. Well, if I priced out how much it took (RIP) to keep my car running, it might be on par, but it’s different when the cash is upfront!
Bugs: they’re bigger here. A lot bigger. I found a spider camouflaged in my cup one night, which
wasn’t my favourite surprise after I had already drank from the cup! Luckily, mosquitoes haven’t been such a big challenge. They do have moths here, though. And, they’re the size of birds. One night when I fell asleep with my light on, I woke up to a bat-like creature squeaking around my light fixture. I wasn’t taking my malaria medication yet, so sadly, I wasn’t hallucinating. It hid somewhere in my room, so I woke up periodically to the twitching of an unknown creature somewhere in my room (illogically or not, I closed my windows so that no more would come in). There are some pretty nasty looking cockroaches, too, but I haven’t seen them anywhere near my residence, so that’s a bonus.
The next day we went on a double-decker bus tour of the city. It sounds glamorous, but it was a
city bus with cracked windows, and every once in awhile, our guide would yell a fact about an area we passed (“This is north beach…this is south beach…”etc.). More interesting, I think, would have been a tour where the guide told us what was a good place to visit (“This is an area that you should never go in; this is an area that is only safe in 
groups over 10 people during the hours of 10 and 2…”etc.). It was nice to have a better idea of what the town looks like, though. It is a beautiful, historic downtown. We also drove on some of the Grand Prix route – it’s happening on Feb 24th, I believe. 
Then, I signed up for the diving club! They have lots of clubs here, including fencing, sailing, and yoga (although this yoga club is some kind of religion, so I avoided eye contact as I walked past their table). Anyhow, I’m pretty excited about the diving. They take us up the coast to do our training, as well as arrange dive trips to Mozambique and other cool places. To get my dive certification with so many amazing places to go at my fingertips is pretty sweet. That, and they had a free ‘wine tasting’ to accompany their weekly braai (traditional barbeque) this week. That went over well, considering the wine here is some of the best in the world!
Our next activity was a tour of community outreach sites. We took a bus through
the beautiful Valley of 1000 Hills and visited one of the few rural AIDS orphanages. For some reason, the government won’t fund the rural orphanages, only the urban ones. Unfortunately, the kids were all at school, so it was an odd tour through the rooms of some African children who weren’t there to connect with. Next on the tour, we tried to visit a community library that is just down the hill from my school. It’s in the centre of a ‘settlement’, which is similar to the shantytowns on the outskirts of the city (where 2 of the 3 million people in Durban reside), but it’s unsanctioned, and it’s in the middle of town. Unfortunately, due to the load shedding (which is another way of saying blackout. They are having an energy crisis, so often lights will be off for about 2 hours at a time) the gates wouldn’t work to let us in, so our tour ended rather abruptly. This was our last activity organized by the school for the exchange students, so we are free to arrange our own events now.
Actually, I should clarify what an international student is. We had an (emergency) residents meeting last night, because they were organizing the students strike due to housing problems, and they wanted some input. I found out that there are many international students here, but “some are considered more international than others.” So, for the students, like myself, that have schools with partnerships with the University of KwaZulu Natal, there are activities, transportation from the airport arranged, etc. But for those who are not from South Africa, but are not on an exchange, they are on their own.
We had another braai this week at the dive club, but this time, it was combined with a FREE South African wine and cheese! Oh man. That is the best club ever.
They started us early on Monday morning with a campus tour. Since I am in South Africa, I expect it to be warm, even hot at 
times. So, you can imagine my surprise when I walked out of my residence building and was cold! 
It was 22C, which is freezing here! Not only that, but it was the first time since I got here that it rained, so I think we got the abbreviated version of the tour (“See that building over there? That’s the library; and that big one beside it – that’s a lecture hall. Have a good day!”). We did learn that the lecture halls will be hard to find. The maps are useless, and no one seems to know where anything is, AND there are no clues as to which building on campus the rooms are. So, if you have a class in Lecture 3, your room could be in several buildings. 
Once we were done that enlightening experience, I went to the bank to get some cash out. Carrying large amounts is not recommended in South Africa (or anywhere, I suppose), but after BOTH of my cards didn’t work during my shopping trip, I have taken to carrying some with me, just in case. However, this can get expensive, since the bank charges $5 for every transaction, and it won’t allow more than 1000 Rand per withdrawal (about $130).
We were still dealing with the school administration at this point, which is not a fun experience. Everyone sends you to someone else, and won’t do anything for you until you are able to tell them that someone else told you it was their job. This process was made especially difficult by the fact that this day was the first that everyone else at the school could register. The line-up to pay fees was more than 4 hours long.
Cooking is not my favourite thing to do here. There is no oven, and our pots are too small (as in, the size of a cereal bowl), and we don’t have a cupboard, so everything is stored in the freezer. Now, I have to defrost my veggies and my dishes! I think I’m going to be eating a lot of salads here.
The next day we had was free of school commitments. Still, we were troopers and got up really early, all in the name of fashion. The malls here are pretty outrageously large, and they close at 5 or 6pm, so to make sure that we weren’t stressed with closing time, we made a day of shopping! And, all of us were serious about it – Taylor and I made it for 6 hours! The prices are great, but taking a taxi everywhere can get expensive. Well, if I priced out how much it took (RIP) to keep my car running, it might be on par, but it’s different when the cash is upfront!
Bugs: they’re bigger here. A lot bigger. I found a spider camouflaged in my cup one night, which
wasn’t my favourite surprise after I had already drank from the cup! Luckily, mosquitoes haven’t been such a big challenge. They do have moths here, though. And, they’re the size of birds. One night when I fell asleep with my light on, I woke up to a bat-like creature squeaking around my light fixture. I wasn’t taking my malaria medication yet, so sadly, I wasn’t hallucinating. It hid somewhere in my room, so I woke up periodically to the twitching of an unknown creature somewhere in my room (illogically or not, I closed my windows so that no more would come in). There are some pretty nasty looking cockroaches, too, but I haven’t seen them anywhere near my residence, so that’s a bonus.The next day we went on a double-decker bus tour of the city. It sounds glamorous, but it was a
city bus with cracked windows, and every once in awhile, our guide would yell a fact about an area we passed (“This is north beach…this is south beach…”etc.). More interesting, I think, would have been a tour where the guide told us what was a good place to visit (“This is an area that you should never go in; this is an area that is only safe in 
groups over 10 people during the hours of 10 and 2…”etc.). It was nice to have a better idea of what the town looks like, though. It is a beautiful, historic downtown. We also drove on some of the Grand Prix route – it’s happening on Feb 24th, I believe. 
Then, I signed up for the diving club! They have lots of clubs here, including fencing, sailing, and yoga (although this yoga club is some kind of religion, so I avoided eye contact as I walked past their table). Anyhow, I’m pretty excited about the diving. They take us up the coast to do our training, as well as arrange dive trips to Mozambique and other cool places. To get my dive certification with so many amazing places to go at my fingertips is pretty sweet. That, and they had a free ‘wine tasting’ to accompany their weekly braai (traditional barbeque) this week. That went over well, considering the wine here is some of the best in the world!
Our next activity was a tour of community outreach sites. We took a bus through
the beautiful Valley of 1000 Hills and visited one of the few rural AIDS orphanages. For some reason, the government won’t fund the rural orphanages, only the urban ones. Unfortunately, the kids were all at school, so it was an odd tour through the rooms of some African children who weren’t there to connect with. Next on the tour, we tried to visit a community library that is just down the hill from my school. It’s in the centre of a ‘settlement’, which is similar to the shantytowns on the outskirts of the city (where 2 of the 3 million people in Durban reside), but it’s unsanctioned, and it’s in the middle of town. Unfortunately, due to the load shedding (which is another way of saying blackout. They are having an energy crisis, so often lights will be off for about 2 hours at a time) the gates wouldn’t work to let us in, so our tour ended rather abruptly. This was our last activity organized by the school for the exchange students, so we are free to arrange our own events now.Actually, I should clarify what an international student is. We had an (emergency) residents meeting last night, because they were organizing the students strike due to housing problems, and they wanted some input. I found out that there are many international students here, but “some are considered more international than others.” So, for the students, like myself, that have schools with partnerships with the University of KwaZulu Natal, there are activities, transportation from the airport arranged, etc. But for those who are not from South Africa, but are not on an exchange, they are on their own.
We had another braai this week at the dive club, but this time, it was combined with a FREE South African wine and cheese! Oh man. That is the best club ever.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Durban
After an exhausting 13 hour flight to Durban, we arrived. I flew out of London, where I met up with the other student, Taylor, from Calgary who was flying to Durban. Unfortunately, I was not upgraded this time, and there is a huge difference between the service that you get when you pay a student price. No longer referring to me as madam, or apologizing for running over my foot, or pushing my chair. It wasn't a very relaxing flight - my pillow and blanket stolen from under my seat.... I could go on.... but the flight ended well - I arrived safely in South Africa!
We were picked up from the airport from our University of KwaZulu Natal representatives, and whisked away to our campus at Howard college, a lush, green area at the top of a hill that overlooks the port and the ocean. This college was an English college, so the architecture is representative of that influence. We arrived at our dorm, only to throw our things in the room, and then join the other international students across campus for our orientation to begin. It's so hard to remember everyone's name and where they are from when you are meeting so many people all at once. Our first activity was shopping at The Pavilion, which is a mall on the opposing hill that just happens to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere. We had soo much to buy, but since we hadn't visited our rooms too much yet, we had no idea just how much we needed. No dishes, no hangars, no nothing. The most essential purchases of the trip were a new cell phone, and a fan, which has been in constant use since I bought it. We are encouraged not to buy an expensive phone, because they are stolen so often. This has proven to be very true, since 3 international students have already had theirs stolen.
After dealing with both my debit card and credit card not working during these crucial purchases, were were allowed to go back to rez for awhile to deal with the aftermath of travelling for so long. It was fun to unpack and make my barren room more my own. We are provided with a desk, wardrobe, bed, and sink, so it takes some creativity to make it look homey. I'm still working on it - I've been to the mall two times since then, though, and I feel like no matter how much more I buy to stock up, I will still need to spend more. The prices are verrrrry reasonable here (as in designer shirts for $40!). The translation is hard to do, though - the translation is 6 Rand to $1, so I have gotten pretty good at dividing by 6 lately. That evening, we went out to a club, which was pretty similar to clubs at home - super fun!
The next day was full of actual in-class orientation. One of the more difficult topics was the HIV clinic's lecture, who mentioned that their mission is to get more people to graduate, and not die first. This is the reality here.
After being overwhelmed by hours of orientation, we went to a Braai (traditional barbeque) by the campus pool. My first experience with South African food was salad in a bun (no plates available). It's lovely getting to know the other international students here. Many of them are younger than me, but some are older - still, we get along well already.
The next day was the registration saga. So, they have hardly any internet access here. No wireless, and only one small computer lab with really slow lans. As such, class registration isn't online, it's in person. And in order to get course approval, you must go to each faculty head and get their signature before submitting it. And after you are all sweaty from going up and down hundreds of stairs, it's time for your ID card picture! Yay! This card goes with you everywhere, it is the access card to the campus, the rez, the school, the lan, everywhere! So, having a decent picture would be nice, but I guess it doesn't happen for anyone here, after the huge process that we had to go through. The international students are lucky because we got to do registration on Friday, instead of all of next week, when the rest of the school registers. Life on campus is going to change very soon, with lots more people arriving at the residences this weekend. The girl's side of my dorm resembles a prison, with a large open area in the middle. I can imagine that it gets pretty loud in there. I'm glad to have my ipod in case I need to block out the noise. I haven't used it yet - with the windows open, it is loud with jungly noises, but that's still charming at this point. We saw a snake on the way back to rez yesterday, and the way here, we saw a monkey! Another girl has trouble sleeping at night because they are so loud outside her window.
On Friday night we went out to another club, but this time it had a more African focus, with the music and the clientele. The creepy guy saga continues here.
Saturday was beach day! We took a koombi (aka taxi) that is public transit here. You go out to the stop at the bottom of the hill, and make sure the minivan is going to the right place, and then pile in. Then you give your money to the person in front of you, letting them know how many people it includes. It is all handed up to the driver, who counts the money and makes sure it is all there before he lets anyone off. Quite the experience!
It was super fast to take this taxi to the beach - about 15 minutes, and less than a dollar later, I was viewing the Indian Ocean. We all spread out and dove right in - huge waves that make you crave surfing (which I am totally trying, eventually). The water was a lot warmer than anywhere else I have been, and the sand was so fine. Mmmhmm. 15 minutes away from me!! Amazing. Just as long as I put more sunscreen on next time. Compared to the other international students, I did pretty well (as in not quite lobster red) despite putting cream on all the time.
Belongings are to be watched at all times on the beach, I was told, but I didn't know just how tricky the thieves can be. The couple sitting next to our group was distracted by one man in front of them, while the other crawled sneakily behind them and grabbed their stuff. They weren't smart enough for me though - once I noticed, I walked over, yelling "excuse me!!", which helped the couple to realize what was going on, and stop the theft. It is sooo common here, I haven't brought my camera with me much. I need a safer purse before I do that - another trip to the mall, I guess!
Last night we went to Joe Cools, which is the beachfront place to eat in the day, and the place to drink/dance at night. Alcohol is so cheap here. We paid a 40 Rand covercharge for an open bar! That's like $6 for all you can drink! International students know how to party.
Today we took it easy for once. After we went shopping at a different mall (I'm going to be soo poor!), we came back to have some time to chill. Our week starts with more orientation tomorrow bright and early. It is great living on campus so that my commute time is only as fast or slow as I want to go up and down the many stairs (watching out for monkeys on the way!).
Love to all!
We were picked up from the airport from our University of KwaZulu Natal representatives, and whisked away to our campus at Howard college, a lush, green area at the top of a hill that overlooks the port and the ocean. This college was an English college, so the architecture is representative of that influence. We arrived at our dorm, only to throw our things in the room, and then join the other international students across campus for our orientation to begin. It's so hard to remember everyone's name and where they are from when you are meeting so many people all at once. Our first activity was shopping at The Pavilion, which is a mall on the opposing hill that just happens to be the biggest in the southern hemisphere. We had soo much to buy, but since we hadn't visited our rooms too much yet, we had no idea just how much we needed. No dishes, no hangars, no nothing. The most essential purchases of the trip were a new cell phone, and a fan, which has been in constant use since I bought it. We are encouraged not to buy an expensive phone, because they are stolen so often. This has proven to be very true, since 3 international students have already had theirs stolen.
After dealing with both my debit card and credit card not working during these crucial purchases, were were allowed to go back to rez for awhile to deal with the aftermath of travelling for so long. It was fun to unpack and make my barren room more my own. We are provided with a desk, wardrobe, bed, and sink, so it takes some creativity to make it look homey. I'm still working on it - I've been to the mall two times since then, though, and I feel like no matter how much more I buy to stock up, I will still need to spend more. The prices are verrrrry reasonable here (as in designer shirts for $40!). The translation is hard to do, though - the translation is 6 Rand to $1, so I have gotten pretty good at dividing by 6 lately. That evening, we went out to a club, which was pretty similar to clubs at home - super fun!
The next day was full of actual in-class orientation. One of the more difficult topics was the HIV clinic's lecture, who mentioned that their mission is to get more people to graduate, and not die first. This is the reality here.
After being overwhelmed by hours of orientation, we went to a Braai (traditional barbeque) by the campus pool. My first experience with South African food was salad in a bun (no plates available). It's lovely getting to know the other international students here. Many of them are younger than me, but some are older - still, we get along well already.
The next day was the registration saga. So, they have hardly any internet access here. No wireless, and only one small computer lab with really slow lans. As such, class registration isn't online, it's in person. And in order to get course approval, you must go to each faculty head and get their signature before submitting it. And after you are all sweaty from going up and down hundreds of stairs, it's time for your ID card picture! Yay! This card goes with you everywhere, it is the access card to the campus, the rez, the school, the lan, everywhere! So, having a decent picture would be nice, but I guess it doesn't happen for anyone here, after the huge process that we had to go through. The international students are lucky because we got to do registration on Friday, instead of all of next week, when the rest of the school registers. Life on campus is going to change very soon, with lots more people arriving at the residences this weekend. The girl's side of my dorm resembles a prison, with a large open area in the middle. I can imagine that it gets pretty loud in there. I'm glad to have my ipod in case I need to block out the noise. I haven't used it yet - with the windows open, it is loud with jungly noises, but that's still charming at this point. We saw a snake on the way back to rez yesterday, and the way here, we saw a monkey! Another girl has trouble sleeping at night because they are so loud outside her window.
On Friday night we went out to another club, but this time it had a more African focus, with the music and the clientele. The creepy guy saga continues here.
Saturday was beach day! We took a koombi (aka taxi) that is public transit here. You go out to the stop at the bottom of the hill, and make sure the minivan is going to the right place, and then pile in. Then you give your money to the person in front of you, letting them know how many people it includes. It is all handed up to the driver, who counts the money and makes sure it is all there before he lets anyone off. Quite the experience!
It was super fast to take this taxi to the beach - about 15 minutes, and less than a dollar later, I was viewing the Indian Ocean. We all spread out and dove right in - huge waves that make you crave surfing (which I am totally trying, eventually). The water was a lot warmer than anywhere else I have been, and the sand was so fine. Mmmhmm. 15 minutes away from me!! Amazing. Just as long as I put more sunscreen on next time. Compared to the other international students, I did pretty well (as in not quite lobster red) despite putting cream on all the time.
Belongings are to be watched at all times on the beach, I was told, but I didn't know just how tricky the thieves can be. The couple sitting next to our group was distracted by one man in front of them, while the other crawled sneakily behind them and grabbed their stuff. They weren't smart enough for me though - once I noticed, I walked over, yelling "excuse me!!", which helped the couple to realize what was going on, and stop the theft. It is sooo common here, I haven't brought my camera with me much. I need a safer purse before I do that - another trip to the mall, I guess!
Last night we went to Joe Cools, which is the beachfront place to eat in the day, and the place to drink/dance at night. Alcohol is so cheap here. We paid a 40 Rand covercharge for an open bar! That's like $6 for all you can drink! International students know how to party.
Today we took it easy for once. After we went shopping at a different mall (I'm going to be soo poor!), we came back to have some time to chill. Our week starts with more orientation tomorrow bright and early. It is great living on campus so that my commute time is only as fast or slow as I want to go up and down the many stairs (watching out for monkeys on the way!).
Love to all!
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