This coming weekend is the beginning of Spring Break/Easter Break here in South Africa, so beginning Thursday night, we have 12 days to do whatever we want! A group of eight other people and myself have decided to travel to Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe! Although I dont want to give away too much about the trip before it happens (mostly so my parents arnt worried sick about me-sorry mom and dad ;) Victoria Falls is one of the natural 7 wonders on the world, and it looks beyond amazing from what I have seen in videos and pictures.
Anyways, back to the point of this post, today, myself and six others going on the trip needed to take a short adventure to get our Yellow Fever vaccinations and malaria pills because for the places we are going, they are necessary. We all piled into a little Volkswagen hatch back one of my German friends, Eugen, rented for the semester, and went across town to a travel clinic that was recommended to us. The very first thing I thought when I walked into the clinic was, alright, this is not like America! haha It was more like a pharmacy with one little office where they gave vaccinations. There were no doctors, just nurses, but not even what we picture when we think of nurses. In South Africa, nurses dont wear scrubs, they wear almost military looking shirts, with stripes on them and puffed out shoulder pads. Its kind of hard to explain, but I literally thought of a sort of laid back military shirt when I saw them. The lady, who I am thinking was Afrikaans, that helped us was so extremely nice and also very interested in us. As usual here in South Africa, it is very clear we are not from this continent, so she instantly had lots of questions for us. While she was giving me my yellow fever shot, she asked my what my major was. I obviously answered with Political Science and Law and she proceeded to ask me what the South African reaction to that was. At first I didnt know quite what she meant. When she elaborated, she told me that not only is it not common to have women study political science, but that in South Africa, political science was a "frowned upon" major. This was strange to me, but I think maybe she meant being involved in government is very unfavorable here and that women are not as involved here as other parts of the world. She then asked me what it was like to be that type of major in America, and I said not only was it pretty popular, but that a very large majority of women were getting more and more into politics. She found this interesting. She then asked me what I though of President Obama (we get that a lot here) and I gave her my opinion. She then expressed her frustration about the government of South Africa, stating that she dislike the Apartheid, but that she also felt the current government is also failing. She told me that she was so annoyed because people hate the way things are currently going but they wont vote for anyone different, and thus, nothing ever changes! Overall, it was very interesting to meet such an interesting person and see what a foreign clinic is like. Just an interesting experience!
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Monday, March 25, 2013
Stellenbosh Wine Tasting
On Saturday night, we trekked a short distance outside of Cape Town to an small city called Stellenbosh. It is world renounced for wine tasting and its vineyards. We visited two winery's, Neil Ellis and Camberely, both of which were extremely nice, hospitable, beautiful, and reasonable. To taste 8 wines at each, it was R25, so about $3! We also ordered a meat and cheese tray at Neil Ellis, and it was so DELICIOUS! The wine was defiantly good, and it was interesting to try all of the different types as well as learn about how the wines were made, how long they were aged and the history behind the different wines. Overall, we had a really good time, just laughing, tasting wine and hanging out with each other!
The Cape of Good Hope
On our last night in Cape Town, we visited The Cape of Good Hope near sunset. We hadn't planned on visiting at sunset, but I am sure glad it turned out that way! The Cape of Good Hope had always been a place I wanted to visit, and it truly was an amazing place. The beach was beautiful, the sunset was perfect and just being in such a cool location was amazing.
Boulder Bay Penguin Colony
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| Nesting! |
Just outside of Cape Town, in a tiny little town, there is an established colony of South African Penguins, or Jackass Penguins as they are sometimes called because of their absurd braying like donkeys. The colony we viewed is not just the only one, there are colonies all down the coast from Cape Town to the Cape of Good Hope, but this one is set up for viewing through a national park. They were such cute, but also strange animals and we had a good time just watching them play, make strange noises and dig their nests as well.
Cape Town!
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| Bruce! |
After about half the group bungy jumped, we were finally headed to Cape Town! The highway that runs from Port Elizabeth to Cape Town is referred to as "The Garden Route" and its just winding, beautiful scenery all the way there, so even though it was a long car ride, I was completely occupied the entire time. I even drove for a few hours, and I have to say, Im pretty proud. Its strange driving on the opposite side of the car, on the opposite side of the road, with crazy driving conditions AND driving a stick shift. Pretty cool experience though.
As we were first entering the outskirts of Cape Town, the scenery was beautiful but I was mostly distracted by the miles and miles of townships. From the time we began to enter Cape Town, until we actually reached the downtown part of the city, all we were passing were makeshift colored tin shacks with homemade electricity poles sticking up out of the shacks everywhere. This went on for miles and I was honestly beginning to wonder if it was ever going to end. As excited as I was to be in Cape Town, this was a sad way to begin.
We staying in a pretty big hostel on what is known to be the "party" street of Cape Town, Long Street. This is a bustling , busy, bar filled, touristy street that stretches on for quite a long ways. Everything was extremely loud on the street and inside our hostel as well, since there was a live jazz band playing downstairs until nearly 4am each night. We were all so tired from traveling though, that it didnt even matter how loud it was, we were out right away!
The very first full day we were in Cape Town, about half of us woke up at the crack on dawn, literally, to climb Table Mountain. Just as we started to climb, the sun was rising, so it was the perfect temperature, and the scenery was of course, beautiful. The climb was pretty intense! There were a lot of winding, vertical rock staircases that were defiantly a challenge. The climb was defiantly a work out! It took the four of us about an hour and a half to make the climb, and when we got to the top, the view was absolutely breathtaking.
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| The view from the bottom of the mtn in the cable car |
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| The cable car from the outside |
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The view from the top in the cable car
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| Parliament Building! |
Overall, Cape Town was pretty cool to visit. I will be back for sure to go see Robbin Island and do other things we didnt have time for. Its one of the most unique big cities I have ever been to, but at the same time, it so big, crowded and loud that it was nice to be back in Port Elizabeth. I enjoyed my time, especially at Table Mountain, and overall, it was a fun, interesting experience!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Dont Let the Bed Bugs Bite....LITERALLY.
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| The highest bungy jump in the world! |
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| Sarah & Anna before their jump! Brave Souls! |
This past weekend, A few girls and I decided to take a short road trip to Plettenburg Bay, which is about three hours west of P.E on the garden route, towards Cape Town. We rented a car, booked a hostel and we were just getting away for the weekend. About an hour outside P.E, is a town, known as one of the coastal "surf hubs" called Jeffery's Bay. We stopped here for a late breakfast/early lunch at a little restaurant called Nina's. They had some excellent coffee, omelets and other breakfast food! On the way to Plettenburg, there is the world highest bungy jump, and two of my friends, Sarah and Anna did it! It was very interesting to watch their videos after word, and see their expression before they actually made the jump. I did not jump, because I am saving my money for cage diving with great white sharks in Gans Bay, by Dyer Island or Seal Island as its sometimes called. Its one of the best places in the world to see great white sharks, so I am pretty excited for that.
Anyway- we got to our hostel in Plettenburg Bay after bungy jumping, and our hostel had one of the best views in the city of the ocean, and of the rest of the city! Thus far, the trip was great! We went out for dinner, and then went back to our hostel to enjoy some wine and visit with other vacationers who were also staying at the hostel. At about 3am, we headed to bed. At about 3:30am, I woke every one in the flat up, because for the past half hour, I could feel things crawling on me, and biting me, but I just thought I was losing my mind! Nope! When we woke up, turned the lights on and looked in our beds, there were bed bugs EVERYWHERE. I think there were more bed bugs than fabric. HORRIBLE. So at, 3:30 in the morning, we packed up, got our money back and had no choice other than to drive all the way home to Port Elizabeth. Driving at night on South African roads, especially as young woman, who are driving a brand new car, is not the best choice, but we felt we really had no other option. We were all so tired/sad/frustrated/mad that the car ride was actually kind of fun, because every thing was funny, we told interesting stories and got to know each other even better. When we got home however, we had to sanitize our clothes. In South Africa, there is no personal laundry mat. There is no place to take your clothes and wash them yourself, so we resorted to whatever we could find. The shower, with steaming hot water. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING that had been in our suitcases or on our bodies at that hostel went in the shower. For a long time.
This was one of the most ridiculous weekends I have ever had. At first, we were all infuriated, because our fun weekend had been ruined, and the hostel owner had let us book knowing there were bed bugs! At one point, I was literally reduced to tears I was so frustrated/mad/grossed out. BUT, looking back it was all an adventure, just like everything else here in Africa. After talking about this experience to other South Africans, it had become apparent that bed bugs are not known here like they are in the U.S. Several people have even told me that they had no idea what a bed bug was until we showed them a picture on Google. It just so happened to got unlucky and had to roll with the punches. I now know to check out my bed before I sleep in it at any hostel here in South Africa!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Senior Thesis & Learning about the Apartheid Regime
Although I have only lived in this country for a little over a month, I already feel sickened by what I have learned about the Apartheid. I am currently doing my senior thesis on the economical affects the Apartheid Regime had on South Africa's internal economy but also its affect on South Africa's ability to compete in the International economy. That sounds really boring, I'm sure, but what interesting and what I wanted to share, is what I have learned about the Apartheid.
The Apartheid isnt just something a bunch of white Afrikaans people made up and decided to enforce. It all began with the Dutch and English settlers who basically wanted to use the newly colonized land the same way they used the rest of Africa: cheap slave labor, improved shipping routes, new colonies to expand their nation and whatever resources they could strip from the land and profit off of. Typical colonization. Along the way, they basically instilled racism and segregation into the culture they were creating while colonizing South Africa and this is where the idea of the Apartheid comes from. Interestingly enough, "Apartheid" literally means to separate based on race in Afrikaans..
Some of the laws that the Apartheid created here just literally make me cringe. It reminds me a lot of the Civil Rights Era in America, but even more blatant. For example, during the Apartheid Regime, social and racial classes were broken into three main groups and were enforced BY LAW. Literally, citizens would have to go to a government building, where an official would do three things: 1) hold color swatches up to your skin, and there were certain lines for where you were white (Dutch or English heritage), Black or Coloured (mix of black and white). 2) They would run a pencil through your hair. If it got stuck, which could imply you had thinker, courser or curly hair, you were black or coloured. 3) They looked at your family lineage and from this, decided what category you "belonged" in.
Once you were in a category, you were told where you could attend school, where you could work and where you could have a home. There were countless laws that made it so the best jobs, homes and schools were urban and white, while making sure to push the Black and Coloured to the rural areas, where there were very poor housing, education and jobs. Thus, creating townships. It was also illegal to have interracial marriages or relationships.
The list of horrible legislation and laws goes on and on- I literally havent even gotten five pages into my senior thesis and already I am just lost for words at what a destructive government the Apartheid was. What is also so different, is that in the States we talk about the Civil Rights movement like it was so long ago, and so to me, things like equality were just a given, where as here the Apartheid Government ended in 1994! 1994!! I cant even believe that. Things are still so fresh here, there is so much progress to still be made and it is interesting and a little difficult to witness what needs to change. Every day I feel like I learn something new about the history here and it is always so interesting because I get to hear it from people who come from all different walks of life. Although my senior thesis is twenty pages long and sure to be a lot of work, I think it will be interesting because all of the information will all be so new and different!
The Apartheid isnt just something a bunch of white Afrikaans people made up and decided to enforce. It all began with the Dutch and English settlers who basically wanted to use the newly colonized land the same way they used the rest of Africa: cheap slave labor, improved shipping routes, new colonies to expand their nation and whatever resources they could strip from the land and profit off of. Typical colonization. Along the way, they basically instilled racism and segregation into the culture they were creating while colonizing South Africa and this is where the idea of the Apartheid comes from. Interestingly enough, "Apartheid" literally means to separate based on race in Afrikaans..
Some of the laws that the Apartheid created here just literally make me cringe. It reminds me a lot of the Civil Rights Era in America, but even more blatant. For example, during the Apartheid Regime, social and racial classes were broken into three main groups and were enforced BY LAW. Literally, citizens would have to go to a government building, where an official would do three things: 1) hold color swatches up to your skin, and there were certain lines for where you were white (Dutch or English heritage), Black or Coloured (mix of black and white). 2) They would run a pencil through your hair. If it got stuck, which could imply you had thinker, courser or curly hair, you were black or coloured. 3) They looked at your family lineage and from this, decided what category you "belonged" in.
Once you were in a category, you were told where you could attend school, where you could work and where you could have a home. There were countless laws that made it so the best jobs, homes and schools were urban and white, while making sure to push the Black and Coloured to the rural areas, where there were very poor housing, education and jobs. Thus, creating townships. It was also illegal to have interracial marriages or relationships.
The list of horrible legislation and laws goes on and on- I literally havent even gotten five pages into my senior thesis and already I am just lost for words at what a destructive government the Apartheid was. What is also so different, is that in the States we talk about the Civil Rights movement like it was so long ago, and so to me, things like equality were just a given, where as here the Apartheid Government ended in 1994! 1994!! I cant even believe that. Things are still so fresh here, there is so much progress to still be made and it is interesting and a little difficult to witness what needs to change. Every day I feel like I learn something new about the history here and it is always so interesting because I get to hear it from people who come from all different walks of life. Although my senior thesis is twenty pages long and sure to be a lot of work, I think it will be interesting because all of the information will all be so new and different!
Volunteering Week 3 & 4
Things have gotten more interesting while volunteering, that's for sure! Each week is a completely different experience and adventure. Last Thursday, was frustrating and just strange. I helped a young girl, who was in grade 10, with some of her homework on food preservation and why it was important. At first, I was excited to help someone older, thinking we could be able to communicate better and the homework would be something I knew a lot more about. However, I struggled. The girl I was helping seemed completely uninterested, in her homework, in me attempting to help her and honestly she just didnt have any response to anything. I would ask her simple questions about herself, her homework, how her day was and she just literally had nothing to say. She also seemed like she knew nothing about her homework and thats when I began to realize, through helping her spell simple words that instead of being at a 10th grade level, she was at about a 2nd grade level instead. Simple words were a struggle. Understanding even the concept of what food preservation was and how to talk about it was something I feel like she wasn't grasping, even though she had spent the entire school day learning about it. Honestly, it was beyond frustrating, because I literally could not help her and more so, she didnt seem interested to even learn. I have always known how broken the school system is here, but this was even harder to understand and deal with. I am first and for most volunteering to help these kids because I care, but when I literally dont know how, because of the inequality of education from student to student, its hard.
I also feel like I spent a good amount of time disciplining a lot of the kids. It is probably hard to understand from an outside perspective, but at Sinethemba, there are about twenty-thirty kids ranging from 5-16, and there are about two or three "mamas" who are there to look after them. Most the time, I dont even see any authority figure. The kids run around just like any typical group of children, screaming, running, playing, yelling, fighting and laughing. However, I feel like the kids at Sinethemba are a little more aggressive and ill-mannered because they are simply not used to being disciplined. A lot of times the other volunteers and I will be trying to teach or play a game with the kids and others will be throwing rocks, or kicking, or punching and it turns everything into chaos. Finally, the other volunteers and I had enough. I caught one boy attempting to throw a huge rock at some kids on the swingset. I grabbed him by the shoulders, walked him to the nearest chair and told him to sit down and not say a word until he could play nice. Another boy spent more time hitting people than actually playing soccer, so I sent him inside to timeout until he could be respectful. A lot of the time, us volunteers are the only authority figures around and it seems to me that a lot of the kids really need some one to tell them that they behavior isnt okay. I hope that us disciplining them will also have a positive effects on them, because hey, every one needs manners, right?!
This week, I spent most of my time helping a younger girl with some spelling. She was in 2nd grade, so I threw words out like "car" or "cat" or "foot" for her to spell, thinking that these were 2nd grade-level words. Not quite. I dont know if its because younger students here are just learning English, or if its because they spend most of their time spelling in their first language (Xhosa) or if they simply lack spelling skills, but it was pretty brutal. The first time she spelt "car" she spelt it "karye." Which, to a certain extent, I can see making sense, but for some one who is in 2nd grade...oofta. So, we spent nearly an hour with a list of ten words, taking it really slow, sounding each one out, spelling each word over and over, until it looked like she was getting the hang of it! By the time we were done, I honestly think there was a lot of progress made! She learned the difference between K and C, and S and C, which I think can make a pretty big difference in spelling if you think about it. As glad as I am that there was progress made, the devil's advocate side of me says rudely: "you taught her ten words...so what? What difference is ten words going to make?" As sad as that sounds, and as mean as it is..it crosses my mind. In the grand scheme of things, it really is just ten words, and they probably wont make that big of an impact on her life or her education unfortunately. Deep, deep down, I sincerely hope it does make a difference but my spirits fall when I think about how little ten words are compared to the bigger, systemic education problem here.
On a brighter note, I brought finger nail polish with me today to the homework club, as kind of a reward for the girls after their had finished their homework. They absolutely adored it! I think every single girl had me paint their nails, while some of the older girls were able to do it themselves. It was interesting to see how something so basic to me, was such an interesting thing to them. Even some of the boys attempted to paint their nails and they looked so excited I just couldnt say no! I think it was just something so different or something they wernt used to, so they all wanted it!
Another thing that was interesting to me, was the idea of possessions to the kids at Sinethemba. Each week, I usually spend some time coloring with a girl who is really into art, and this week I noticed she was very overprotective of this pencil case she had, filled with color crayons and pencils. When I asked her about it, she told me that she had saved up all her money and bought these pencils and color crayons so that she could have her own and not have to share with every one. I then asked her how she kept them from every one else, and she took me into the house, where the girls stay and she literally picked up her pillow and put the pencil box there. She told me thats where she keeps all of her things. This was shocking to me, because not only was the pencil box the only thing kept under her pillow, but this was an eye opener. I have so many things I call "mine." My car, my clothes, my shoes, my makeup, my blah blah blah..she has a pencil box filled with color crayons that took all of her saved up money. This box of crayons was her prized possession, at least the way she talked about it. She dosent have closets filled with clothes, all the girls at this home share clothes. They all share shoes and school clothes. There are very few things, or possessions they can truly call "their own." Very interesting when you sit down and really think about it.
Lastly, although I have mentioned taking pictures and uploading them for all of you to see, so you can really understand what Sinethemba looks like, I dont think I will be taking any pictures. I dont know how to explain it and it probably makes no sense, but when I'm in the townships I feel guilty. I feel guilty for having a nice watch on my wrist, having nice clothes, having things that people in these townships dont have. I feel guilty being white and even showing my face in a township, because although I had nothing to do with the Apartheid Regime or any type of oppression that put these townships into affect, white people were still responsible for creating townships and pushing people, mostly black and coloured into poverty and unfavorable living conditions. I dont feel comfortable taking pictures because then I feel like I am making the township a sort of entertainment for people to gawk at. I feel like I am exploiting other peoples misfortunes and then advertising it on the internet. The way I think about it is if I were homeless, or living in poverty would I want some one to take pictures of it and then send it to all their friends? It just makes me uncomfortable, so just to make it clear, there probably wont be pictures.
I also feel like I spent a good amount of time disciplining a lot of the kids. It is probably hard to understand from an outside perspective, but at Sinethemba, there are about twenty-thirty kids ranging from 5-16, and there are about two or three "mamas" who are there to look after them. Most the time, I dont even see any authority figure. The kids run around just like any typical group of children, screaming, running, playing, yelling, fighting and laughing. However, I feel like the kids at Sinethemba are a little more aggressive and ill-mannered because they are simply not used to being disciplined. A lot of times the other volunteers and I will be trying to teach or play a game with the kids and others will be throwing rocks, or kicking, or punching and it turns everything into chaos. Finally, the other volunteers and I had enough. I caught one boy attempting to throw a huge rock at some kids on the swingset. I grabbed him by the shoulders, walked him to the nearest chair and told him to sit down and not say a word until he could play nice. Another boy spent more time hitting people than actually playing soccer, so I sent him inside to timeout until he could be respectful. A lot of the time, us volunteers are the only authority figures around and it seems to me that a lot of the kids really need some one to tell them that they behavior isnt okay. I hope that us disciplining them will also have a positive effects on them, because hey, every one needs manners, right?!
This week, I spent most of my time helping a younger girl with some spelling. She was in 2nd grade, so I threw words out like "car" or "cat" or "foot" for her to spell, thinking that these were 2nd grade-level words. Not quite. I dont know if its because younger students here are just learning English, or if its because they spend most of their time spelling in their first language (Xhosa) or if they simply lack spelling skills, but it was pretty brutal. The first time she spelt "car" she spelt it "karye." Which, to a certain extent, I can see making sense, but for some one who is in 2nd grade...oofta. So, we spent nearly an hour with a list of ten words, taking it really slow, sounding each one out, spelling each word over and over, until it looked like she was getting the hang of it! By the time we were done, I honestly think there was a lot of progress made! She learned the difference between K and C, and S and C, which I think can make a pretty big difference in spelling if you think about it. As glad as I am that there was progress made, the devil's advocate side of me says rudely: "you taught her ten words...so what? What difference is ten words going to make?" As sad as that sounds, and as mean as it is..it crosses my mind. In the grand scheme of things, it really is just ten words, and they probably wont make that big of an impact on her life or her education unfortunately. Deep, deep down, I sincerely hope it does make a difference but my spirits fall when I think about how little ten words are compared to the bigger, systemic education problem here.
On a brighter note, I brought finger nail polish with me today to the homework club, as kind of a reward for the girls after their had finished their homework. They absolutely adored it! I think every single girl had me paint their nails, while some of the older girls were able to do it themselves. It was interesting to see how something so basic to me, was such an interesting thing to them. Even some of the boys attempted to paint their nails and they looked so excited I just couldnt say no! I think it was just something so different or something they wernt used to, so they all wanted it!
Another thing that was interesting to me, was the idea of possessions to the kids at Sinethemba. Each week, I usually spend some time coloring with a girl who is really into art, and this week I noticed she was very overprotective of this pencil case she had, filled with color crayons and pencils. When I asked her about it, she told me that she had saved up all her money and bought these pencils and color crayons so that she could have her own and not have to share with every one. I then asked her how she kept them from every one else, and she took me into the house, where the girls stay and she literally picked up her pillow and put the pencil box there. She told me thats where she keeps all of her things. This was shocking to me, because not only was the pencil box the only thing kept under her pillow, but this was an eye opener. I have so many things I call "mine." My car, my clothes, my shoes, my makeup, my blah blah blah..she has a pencil box filled with color crayons that took all of her saved up money. This box of crayons was her prized possession, at least the way she talked about it. She dosent have closets filled with clothes, all the girls at this home share clothes. They all share shoes and school clothes. There are very few things, or possessions they can truly call "their own." Very interesting when you sit down and really think about it.
Lastly, although I have mentioned taking pictures and uploading them for all of you to see, so you can really understand what Sinethemba looks like, I dont think I will be taking any pictures. I dont know how to explain it and it probably makes no sense, but when I'm in the townships I feel guilty. I feel guilty for having a nice watch on my wrist, having nice clothes, having things that people in these townships dont have. I feel guilty being white and even showing my face in a township, because although I had nothing to do with the Apartheid Regime or any type of oppression that put these townships into affect, white people were still responsible for creating townships and pushing people, mostly black and coloured into poverty and unfavorable living conditions. I dont feel comfortable taking pictures because then I feel like I am making the township a sort of entertainment for people to gawk at. I feel like I am exploiting other peoples misfortunes and then advertising it on the internet. The way I think about it is if I were homeless, or living in poverty would I want some one to take pictures of it and then send it to all their friends? It just makes me uncomfortable, so just to make it clear, there probably wont be pictures.
Friday, March 8, 2013
This is why I am a rower.
This morning I attended another NMMU Rowing practice, and I was reminded exactly why I fell in love with this sport. I was picked up from Annies Cove at 4:45am, and practice started at 5:30am until about 7:15am. The sun was just starting to rise over the mountains off in the distance, the water was like glass, and it had the perfect reflection of the river banks and the sunrise in the water. Perfection.
I was in a double (for those of you who arnt familiar, a double is a sculling boat, so each person has two oars, and there are two people in the boat. Basically this boat does the work of a 4 person boat, where each person has one oar each.) with a girl that was a second year on the NMMU Rowing Team. The entire row was super smooth and we really clicked right away, even though we had never rowed together before. We went probably 3k in total, just kind of rowing and enjoying the sunrise. It felt so good to be back in the swing of things and watching the sunrise with the perfect water was so enjoyable.
As we were bringing the boat in, Emily, the girl I rowed with, told me "You did a good job, your a really good rower!" I was so pleased to hear that! On the way back from the river, about a twenty minute drive, it was nice to get to know Emily and just get to know other members of the team.
Today reminded my why I love this sport so much. The settings are usually stunning. The perfect water and sunset. I couldnt ask for anything else at 5am. Its hard to explain to those that arnt rowers, but when the only sound you hear is the rythem of your breathing and the oars in and out of the water while watching the sunrise, there is no other feeling in the world, and at the time, there is nothing else that matters in the world. Its an escape, and even though your exercising, you still feel peaceful. Rowing is also a sport where you meet so many, cool unique people, and they become like a second family. I dont know that many of my new teammates yet, but from what Emily tells me that the NMMU team is like one big family. This makes me so happy. All I can say, is I love rowing!
I was in a double (for those of you who arnt familiar, a double is a sculling boat, so each person has two oars, and there are two people in the boat. Basically this boat does the work of a 4 person boat, where each person has one oar each.) with a girl that was a second year on the NMMU Rowing Team. The entire row was super smooth and we really clicked right away, even though we had never rowed together before. We went probably 3k in total, just kind of rowing and enjoying the sunrise. It felt so good to be back in the swing of things and watching the sunrise with the perfect water was so enjoyable.
As we were bringing the boat in, Emily, the girl I rowed with, told me "You did a good job, your a really good rower!" I was so pleased to hear that! On the way back from the river, about a twenty minute drive, it was nice to get to know Emily and just get to know other members of the team.
Today reminded my why I love this sport so much. The settings are usually stunning. The perfect water and sunset. I couldnt ask for anything else at 5am. Its hard to explain to those that arnt rowers, but when the only sound you hear is the rythem of your breathing and the oars in and out of the water while watching the sunrise, there is no other feeling in the world, and at the time, there is nothing else that matters in the world. Its an escape, and even though your exercising, you still feel peaceful. Rowing is also a sport where you meet so many, cool unique people, and they become like a second family. I dont know that many of my new teammates yet, but from what Emily tells me that the NMMU team is like one big family. This makes me so happy. All I can say, is I love rowing!
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Typical Day in South Africa
Now that I am getting into kind of a "routine" here with school, rowing and a social life there is starting to be some "normalcy" in my days here in South Africa. "Normal" here is NOT anywhere near what it is in the United States though.
First off, it gets light out here really, really early. Like 4:30-5am early! I attended a rowing practice the other day at 5:30, and the sun was already out, beating down on me hot as ever, as usual. So, when we go to bed at night we are sure to close ALL of the curtains super tight, so that the sun wont wake us up. Its also ALWAYS windy here. Some days, more than others obviously, but there is always, always wind. Sometimes so much of it that it will wake you up at night, or keep you up when you are trying to go to bed. Some nights I honestly think my flat wont be standing by morning.
On a typical day, I get up at about 9am, lounge around for a little bit, (unless I have class of course) eat some breakfast and get ready for the day. At home, my typical breakfast would be a bowl of cereal, but here, no. Milk spoils here way too fast to even make it worth buying, and it also dosent taste very good, in my opinion at least, so to my greatest disappointment, I cant have my usual bowl of cereal here. (This is one thing I greatly look forward to when I get home!) Instead, my new kick on breakfast instead of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, is bread with Nutella or a banana with crunchy peanut butter and Nutella. Clearly I have replaced my cereal obsession with Nutella! Then, eaither I go to class, or, lay by the pool or go to the beach. Before I came to South Africa, I used to really hate the beach. I hated the salt water, the idea of what lived in the ocean beneath my feet, and I especially hated getting beat to death by the ocean waves. Now however, (and I cant believe I'm saying this!) I have grown to really like the ocean. I still have my reservations about going out too deep, because shark attacks and drownings are a very real thing here, but I have learned how to handle it. Salt water doesn't bug me as much anymore, and I have cleverly realized that ocean waves "break" at a certain point in the water every time, so go past that point to swim, and then there is no longer huge waves tearing you apart!
Another thing that is typical on any day here is taking a Kombii. This is one is the most interesting experiences here in South Africa. A Kombii is kind of like a taxi, but to the extreme. A Kombii is a mini-bus that fits about 15 people, drives like a crazy person, plays extremly loud music, (usually some Celion Dion or other heart felt 90's music) and brings you from point A to point B for 8 Rand. (Less than 1 American Dollar) On Kombiis you meet pretty interesting people, locals to PE who are always nice, sometimes some sketchy people, because lets be honest, its cheap, public transportation, and my favorite, older ladies who are super nice to you and tell you interesting stories. Kombiis are a great way to see the typical South African person, hear typical South African music, and get to know how they really drive here.
On a typical day, I also find myself saying "Well, this is Africa.." As in, "Ohh, the internet is down again? Well, this is Africa." Even tho locals, when we talk to them and tell them how unorganized something is, or how our professor swears more in class than any thing, they too tell us "This is Africa!" I have gotten so used to things going wrong, things being weird, things not working out, that if something DID work out the first time or I didnt have to run all over campus simply to get my student I.D card, I think I would be shocked. At the end of the day, through it all, you just sigh and say, "Well, this is Africa."
What I see on an every day basis is also different. Here are some of the random places and things I see in a normal day here in PE:
The school. The tall building you see, is what they call "the main building." I can see this building from my flat, a little over a mile away, at Annies Cove. There is obviously much more to the campus, so from an areal view, it look like this:
What I find most interesting about the campus here is that, if you can tell by the picture, what looks like the tops of the buildings, it is actually where people walk the most on campus. Its hard to explain, but the building obviously have a "roof" but then on top of that, is where every one walks from place to place. At St. Cloud everything is on one level, and in order to go to one of your classes, you enter a building, and go up to your class. Here it is different. You go up to the top to find the entrance to whatever building you want, and more often than not, you are usually going down to find your classroom. Its a strange concept.
On a typical day I also see these places:
Obviously you recognize KFC, but the others are Spar, Pick N Pay, Wimpy and Steers. Spar and Pick N Pay are the two main grocery stores here in PE. Wimpy is a fast food chain you see EVERYWHERE. It has pretty good food, like wraps and burgers for cheap. Steers would have to be my favorite. They have amazing ice cream cones, good burgers and AMAZING fries. Its all really reasonable too.
Here are some more pictures of what campus looks like:
This is kind of what "Atwood Mall" would be but South Africa's version. There are a few restaurants, and this is mainly where every one hangs out during the day.
This is a view from the top of all the building, where people walk, right outside the International Office. That stairway leads to two of the biggest buildings on campus that house the dental and botany classes.
This is a view from near the place I compared to Atwood Mall. This is also where people hang out during the day, but be careful, dont eat outside! Monkeys are scary.
They look cute, but take it from me, their not.
Also different from home, are the days people go out here. Instead of Thursday, Friday, Saturday being party days, its normal here go to out Tuesday for karaoke at Barneys Tavern, or Captians. People also go out on Thursdays, to a dance club called Beliza.
Barney's.
Captain's.
First off, it gets light out here really, really early. Like 4:30-5am early! I attended a rowing practice the other day at 5:30, and the sun was already out, beating down on me hot as ever, as usual. So, when we go to bed at night we are sure to close ALL of the curtains super tight, so that the sun wont wake us up. Its also ALWAYS windy here. Some days, more than others obviously, but there is always, always wind. Sometimes so much of it that it will wake you up at night, or keep you up when you are trying to go to bed. Some nights I honestly think my flat wont be standing by morning.
On a typical day, I get up at about 9am, lounge around for a little bit, (unless I have class of course) eat some breakfast and get ready for the day. At home, my typical breakfast would be a bowl of cereal, but here, no. Milk spoils here way too fast to even make it worth buying, and it also dosent taste very good, in my opinion at least, so to my greatest disappointment, I cant have my usual bowl of cereal here. (This is one thing I greatly look forward to when I get home!) Instead, my new kick on breakfast instead of Peanut Butter Captain Crunch, is bread with Nutella or a banana with crunchy peanut butter and Nutella. Clearly I have replaced my cereal obsession with Nutella! Then, eaither I go to class, or, lay by the pool or go to the beach. Before I came to South Africa, I used to really hate the beach. I hated the salt water, the idea of what lived in the ocean beneath my feet, and I especially hated getting beat to death by the ocean waves. Now however, (and I cant believe I'm saying this!) I have grown to really like the ocean. I still have my reservations about going out too deep, because shark attacks and drownings are a very real thing here, but I have learned how to handle it. Salt water doesn't bug me as much anymore, and I have cleverly realized that ocean waves "break" at a certain point in the water every time, so go past that point to swim, and then there is no longer huge waves tearing you apart!
Another thing that is typical on any day here is taking a Kombii. This is one is the most interesting experiences here in South Africa. A Kombii is kind of like a taxi, but to the extreme. A Kombii is a mini-bus that fits about 15 people, drives like a crazy person, plays extremly loud music, (usually some Celion Dion or other heart felt 90's music) and brings you from point A to point B for 8 Rand. (Less than 1 American Dollar) On Kombiis you meet pretty interesting people, locals to PE who are always nice, sometimes some sketchy people, because lets be honest, its cheap, public transportation, and my favorite, older ladies who are super nice to you and tell you interesting stories. Kombiis are a great way to see the typical South African person, hear typical South African music, and get to know how they really drive here.
On a typical day, I also find myself saying "Well, this is Africa.." As in, "Ohh, the internet is down again? Well, this is Africa." Even tho locals, when we talk to them and tell them how unorganized something is, or how our professor swears more in class than any thing, they too tell us "This is Africa!" I have gotten so used to things going wrong, things being weird, things not working out, that if something DID work out the first time or I didnt have to run all over campus simply to get my student I.D card, I think I would be shocked. At the end of the day, through it all, you just sigh and say, "Well, this is Africa."
What I see on an every day basis is also different. Here are some of the random places and things I see in a normal day here in PE:
The school. The tall building you see, is what they call "the main building." I can see this building from my flat, a little over a mile away, at Annies Cove. There is obviously much more to the campus, so from an areal view, it look like this:
What I find most interesting about the campus here is that, if you can tell by the picture, what looks like the tops of the buildings, it is actually where people walk the most on campus. Its hard to explain, but the building obviously have a "roof" but then on top of that, is where every one walks from place to place. At St. Cloud everything is on one level, and in order to go to one of your classes, you enter a building, and go up to your class. Here it is different. You go up to the top to find the entrance to whatever building you want, and more often than not, you are usually going down to find your classroom. Its a strange concept.
On a typical day I also see these places:
Obviously you recognize KFC, but the others are Spar, Pick N Pay, Wimpy and Steers. Spar and Pick N Pay are the two main grocery stores here in PE. Wimpy is a fast food chain you see EVERYWHERE. It has pretty good food, like wraps and burgers for cheap. Steers would have to be my favorite. They have amazing ice cream cones, good burgers and AMAZING fries. Its all really reasonable too.
Here are some more pictures of what campus looks like:
This is kind of what "Atwood Mall" would be but South Africa's version. There are a few restaurants, and this is mainly where every one hangs out during the day. They look cute, but take it from me, their not.Also different from home, are the days people go out here. Instead of Thursday, Friday, Saturday being party days, its normal here go to out Tuesday for karaoke at Barneys Tavern, or Captians. People also go out on Thursdays, to a dance club called Beliza.
Barney's. Captain's.
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