Dad, I am still alive...

Hi again,

Sorry it has been awhile since the last post. This past weekend and week were incredibly busy.

Hogsback Roadtrip!  (Hogsback is said to be the place that inspired JR Tolkein to write Lord of the Rings, this may or may not be true..nevertheless it is beuatiful with lots of mountains and waterfalls):

                We went on our first weekend away trip.  The five of us (Taylor, Lindsay, Heather, Katie and I) rented a car and left for the 3-4 hr drive early Sat. morning.  We came home Mon. evening.  Monday was a national holiday so we did not have class.  One thing we noticed on the way there was that instead of worrying about deer crossing the road, you need to look out for Tortoises (we saw a huge one) and monkeys (we saw a few..Possibly baboons…they were pretty big)! 

                We went to the Terra Khaya backpacker first.  It is an eco-friendly place that is run by a few people who are basically hippies.  They were pretty cool people.  The location is great. It has a wonderful view of the mountains; it was so quiet and peaceful there. 

                During the day we went to another backpacker, Away with the Fairies.  Lindsay and Taylor signed up to do a trail race, while Heather, Katie and I decided to just walk. We met a girl on the hike named Tamsen; she is from Bloemfontein, SA.  She was really nice and fun to talk to.  The hike ended up being a lot longer than expected.  We were supposed to be going a 5k but we missed a turn and ended up doing a 10k.  It was super pretty and we saw lots of mountains and waterfalls.  A lot of people who were there said that the waterfall “Madonna and Child” was the largest they had ever seen it (probably because it had been raining for the past four days.  It was so beautiful.  After the hike we got ready to head back to Terra khaya, only to find out that someone had locked the keys in the car.  That turned out to be a hassle.  After much stress, frustration, and lots of panic and phone calls, we convinced Shane (the owner of Terra Khaya) to come pick us up.  Shane came about an hour later (30 min. later than he told us) and then proceeded to have a drink at the bar before he drove us home.   We rode in the back of the bakkie.  He drove super fast.  It was terrifying, yet the moon was huge (the largest in 14 years) and the stars were bright.  We got back, ate the communal dinner (which was good), played cribbage and went to bed. 

                The next morning we woke up early to watch the sunrise over the mountains.  We got up at 5:30ish…the sun rose at 6:30ish…we were upset.  But it was so peaceful and beautiful.  After getting the car key fiasco figured out, we went into town and looked at some art shops. With all five of us in the car we bottomed out a few times.  We ended up scrapping a plastic flap off the bottom of our car.  We panicked.  Some random guy came and asked if we needed help and then he called some of his friends over to help.  Soon we had about 8 guys jacking up our car and crawling underneath.  One of the couples we met at the first backpacker also saw us and came over to help.  They discovered that the flap had come unscrewed but they didn’t think anything major was wrong.  (Random side note…when we went to return the car we told the guy what had happened and he just said “oh ok” and put an x in the box next to no damages on the receipt.  We were not charged anything extra for it.)

                On Monday morning, we woke up early again to watch the sunrise (it rises really quickly…one minute it was still down, I went to the bathroom, came back out and it was already up!) We decided to go on a short morning hike before heading back to PE.  Little did we know we were setting out on a 3.5-4hr hike.  The trail soon disappeared and we were left climbing up a slippery rock scramble. It was so exhausting. I realized I am not in shape at all...even with all this walking.

-The rest of the week has been very busy and stressful because of all the homework we have.  We ended up needing to make 2 late McDonald’s ice cream runs for motivation and celebration throughout the week. I am now happy it is the weekend so we have a little time to relax…however I should get back to my homework so next week is not as stressful. 

Hope you are all enjoying the snow back home. I miss you all.  See you in a few months (I can’t believe my trip is about half way over almost!). 

Madonna & Child

Let it change you.

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." -Miriam Beard

I decided to study abroad because I wanted to experience more of the world.  I wanted my eyes to be opened so that I could view life in a different way.  I also wanted to learn more about myself and who I want to become.  I am trying to be as open as possible.  This trip is definitely good for me.  It is making me become more spontaneous and helping me to accept not always being able to plan. 

                This may come as a surprise to you, but I am a worry wort! J I fear lots of little things and I stress over everything.  South Africa is teaching me (rather forcing me) to relax.  I am learning to get over these fears and am trying new things.  A common phrase that we say a lot here is “we’re in Africa, when else will we get a chance to do this in Africa?”  This has helped us get over some of our fears and try things we usually would be to afraid to do.  For example, surfing.  I never thought I would ever be able to say that I went surfing.  But last Friday we went on a day trip to Jeffery’s Bay and took surfing lessons.  At the beginning I was super nervous. I just about chickened out… But then I convinced myself by saying, “how many other times will I be able to go surfing in South Africa?”  Once we got in the water, it actually wasn’t as terrifying.  We all ended up having a blast.  I found out that I am a very good knee surfer.  Standing up while surfing proved to be a little more difficult. J

                Another thing that is changing about me is that I am becoming more culturally aware.  On Saturday we had a group excursion to Grahamstown.  Throughout the day we learned a lot about traditional South African music, learned to play the drums, ate a traditional Xhosa meal and learned a traditional dance.  We did most of this in a small, rural Xhosa village.  It was a really unique experience. 

As for more general updates:

Classes are going well. Lots and lots of homework. I am sick of reading. My brain is starting to hurt.  At House we are still painting rooms and playing with the kids.  Ahh exciting note…I learned the boy in the blue shirt’s name…Yibanathi but everyone calls him Iba.  It made me so happy to finally figure out his name.  Here is a picture of him.

Here is another picture from House.  This is from the first day we went there.  The kids were super excited to see us and started climbing all over us.  We didn’t know what to do.  Little did we know, we would soon become the kids’ favorite jungle gyms every time we saw them.

Well, I think that is all for now. Hope you are having a great week. Happy St. Patrick’s day. 

We are going on a trip this weekend to Hogsback (it is the place that inspired author JR Tolkien to write Lord of the Rings).  Don’t worry I will take plenty of pictures.

Love,

Laura

Surfing lessons with Captain Jack Sparrow...

                         Friday morning we left bright and early to go to the airport to rent a car.  It was a new experience…also driving on the left side of the road was a new experience.  We quickly learned that reversing in a manual is different than a manual back home.  But we made it to Jeffery’s Bay (about an hour away from PE).  We got there (got a little lost), but we found the Jeffery’s Bay Surf School where we had signed up to take lessons.  We had a 2 hr lesson (they gave us a board and wetsuit to use) with our instructor Wanen (pronounced Vern-ah..maybe).  He was nice. He looked and sounded exactly like Captain Jack Sparrow.  We learned that there are only a few steps to surfing.  

                It was really hard to get up and to stay on the board. I have really bad balance.  It was also exhausting to carry the board back in and out.  It was like when you go sledding…I hate carrying the sled back up the hill…same thing but this time big waves are shoving you this way and that.  It was a lot of fun though.  I apparently liked knee surfing…multiple times I rode the waves on my knees…I just could not get both my feet up and let go with my arms.  I got both my feet on once but couldn’t stand or I got one foot up and let go but I still was kneeling on the other knee.  It was so worth the trip though.  When else am I going to go surf.  I was super nervous when we got there (not as nervous as I expected I would be or as much as I would have been at home).  I think I kept convincing myself it was fine, because we were in Africa and when else was I going to do this.  When the instructor told us we were only going out in the waist deep water and that the current was weak, it made me feel much better.

                After surfing, we walked around the beach and collected quite a few shells.  It was like CA all over again for me.  Then we walked around town, went into a few shops, got ice cream, walked around a little more, bought our surfing pictures and drove home. 

If you judge someone, you have no time to love them.

 Quote by Mother Theresa...

                I think that quote is super important anywhere you are but they are some words that take on a new meaning when you enter another country.  We have encountered several people of different cultures, who speak different languages, do different things, etc.  Some of these things may seem weird to us but we need to remember not to jump to conclusions and not to judge. It is so easy when you see someone who is different than you to assume things.  It is hard to stop those judgments in their tracks and view them with love instead. 

                On our way to House on Tuesday the ride took us 1.5 hrs because we had to take a detour.  When Shaddly (our driver) saw a police officer directing traffic he complained saying we had somewhere we were supposed to be.  Apparently there had been a bad crash where a bus fell on top of a taxi.  The officer said, “well, at least your passengers are still breathing.”  Wow.  That made me think twice.  I didn’t complain about how long it had taken anymore.

                The weather this week has been on and off cloudy.  Tuesday night there was a big thunder and lightning storm.  We went up on the roof to watch (maybe not the best idea) but it was so cool.  It lit up the entire sky with its streaks of pure radiance…..ahhh they were sooo pretty. We also decided to make a McDonald’s ice cream run….we literally ran the 2 blocks there because we were afraid of the lightning.  On our way home we got drenched because it had started to pour.  It was still super fun though.

                Today Bri and Steph and I walked home from class and we stopped at a little spaza (place where someone sells something…kind of like a street vendor…kind of…don’t know how to describe it).  They sell fresh fruit (plums, pears, peaches, apples, and bananas) for R1 (15 cents) each and a little thing of grapes for R5 (close to 75 cents).  I tried a plum this afternoon and it was probably the best plum of my life!!!!

                Tonight we went out for dinner.  I ordered seafood for the first time here….I had grilled hake and chips….yea…I am not a fish person. I didn’t really like it that much.  The meal was made better though, because we all decided to order a dessert. Their cheesecake was so good! Yum.

               

Frontier Weekend on an Afrikaaner’s farm

Warning…it’s a long one J hehe

                We had a group excursion this weekend.  We drove about 3-4 hours to an Afrikaaner (basically white South African) family’s farm.  They welcomed us into their home as friends or family and not as total strangers.  We stayed with two different families, both lived in super nice almost mansion-like houses at the foot of the Winterberg Mountains (3^rd highest in South Africa…I think).

The weekend was filled with many fun adventures…instead of going into all the details I will bullet some of the bigger things we did:

-feed an Eland

-saw a sheep get inoculated (given a vaccine…one guy from our group got to give a sheep a shot)

-hand-milked cows and tried milk straight from the cow…it was super warm…don’t think I am a big fan

-climbed some huge rocks, beautiful view!!

-swam in a river

-saw a sheep shearing demonstration

-rode in a “bakkie” (4x4 truck) up a mountain as far as we could and then climbed the rest of the way….pretty sure this mountain kept growing. Every time we would make it to what we thought had been the top, it would turn out to be only another ledge on the ever growing mountain.  What we saw once we reached the top made all the heavy breathing and lung aching worth it.  It was gorgeous.  I decided I am living by either mountains or an ocean when I get a house at some point in my life.

-had a picnic in the mountains

-ate a ton of delicious food, some new, some not…also ate wayyyy to many desserts

-went to their shooting range and shot a .22 caliber rifle….and hit the can target both times! They were the closer targets but who cares! It was my first time ever even touching a rifle!

-saw an elephant rifle…it was super loud…and powerful…the bullets were R150 each (about $21/ bullet)....and it could kill an elephant (hence the name) J ...it is the largest rifle there is that is not used for military purposes

-apparently became fearless of bugs…now when I see a bug that is annoying me (such as sitting on the table near my food or flying in my face), instead of freaking out, I just reach out and grab it.  No big deal.  Apparently I just got over my fear of bugs overnight…it was and still is super weird and kind of confusing to me how and why it happened. J

-went on a night ride on the bakkies… We saw a few kudu, but not much else because it was super windy.  I still loved it though.  I just enjoy the fresh night air and the stars.  I wanted to camp outside for the night. 

-my alarm on my phone died…woke up to the flies buzzing in my ears at the perfect time though

-went on a hike to the location of what used to be a waterfall but now (since there hasn’t been much rain) is just a fresh mountain water hole.  When we got to this water hole, we were told that there were these mini-crocodile animals in it…they are the type that don’t bite….ha that made us feel really safe.  We were expected to go swim across it.  Also it was super rocky, muddy and slippery.  Everyone was apprehensive at first, but Manus didn’t really let down.  He just pointed the way and told us to go.  We slowly started to get in the water, freaking out and swimming around.  We made our way across to another set of rocks and then had to swim through a deeper water hole.  It was fresh mountain water…very cool and refreshing.  It was kind of scary to do…and at times I felt like I was going to get hurt because I would slip on the rocks, but we made it.  I am glad Manus pushed us to do it….it was so cool and such a great and unique experience.

Overall...amazing weekend...super fun...now I am exhausted and have a TON of homework to do. ugh.  Better go work on that :(
Have fun! Bye.

When I was a young warthogggggg....

Sorry...I have had that song stuck in my head the past few days. :]

Hi again.  I realized that as of 2 days ago (March 1^st), I have been on this South African adventure for a month! It is crazy how fast the time has gone.  There is still so much I want to do and see…I need to get a move on.

                This past week we have done quite a lot.  We have explored a South African shopping mall (Walmer shopping center) and were surprised at how similar it was to the malls back home.  It reminded me of a larger version of Ridgedale. We also went to a fruit and vegetable market.  The produce was pretty cheap and really good!  We went to another rugby game at the World Cup Stadium.  This time we went with Suvi and some of her roommates and friends.  We met a lot of new people and ended up with a group of about 20. 

                On Saturday we had another braai (like a BBQ).  I love those. They remind me of summer.  My favorite part of the night was making s’mores! I had been craving them the entire time we have been here and was reminded of that every time I saw a fire.  We had to improvise a little with the ingredients but they still tasted amazing.

                We have spent some more time relaxing on the beach (I got sunburnt once again!) L  I also have been doing a lot of homework.  I am finally getting into the routine of school, after having had such a long winter break.  I still do not like homework but being able to do homework at the beach makes it a little more bearable.

                At House, we have been painting more of the rooms.  I think we have 3 rooms done now.  We also got to take the kids outside this week.  They loved it. 

               

                This week our classes have been pretty fun. Monday for our music class we went on a field trip to a highschool where 8^th and 12^th graders performed for us on the Marimba.  They were so good.  They played many popular songs that we recognized.  Then they taught us how to play.  We actually learned pretty quickly and didn’t sound that bad.  I struggled a little bit but realized that I wish I had my own marimba so I could practice.  I really like them.   Today (Thurs) for marine bio, we had a lab down at the beach.  We were helping a grad student with her thesis project.  We had to collect samples of snails and then measure them and classify them.  It was actually kind of cool…way better than a 3 hour lecture J

                This weekend we are going on a group excursion to a farm.  I am not exactly sure what we are doing but it sounds like it should be fun.  I will let you know more about it when I get back. 

I miss you all. Hope you are doing well.  Please feel free to contact me via facebook or email…I want to know how you are doing. 

Love & Prayers,

Laura