Sunday Afternoon

Sunday doesn't quite feel like Sunday unless I go to church because I've been going to church on Sundays all my life. Today I visited North Hills Church in Pietermaritzburg. Most of the congregation is white, but there are some black people and some Indian people. Oh, by the way, in South Africa it's normal to call someone black or someone white; that's how they identify themselves. There are white people, black people, Indian people, and colored people. I would be considered colored because I'm hispanic, but there really aren't that many colored people. Anyways, back to the church, the worship was pretty much the same as in America. They played Chris Tomlin and Hillsong songs and the style was very similar to other white churches I've visited. The whole mood of the service was very free-flowing though and everyone was dressed casually, almost as if they were on their way to the park. During the preaching the brother speaking invited us to go outside where he made a demonstration involving burning hay. It was pretty sweet and it got the message across. After the service we gathered outside for tea.

Everyone at church was very welcoming and I'm looking forward to getting to know them in these next few weeks. The two youth leaders invited us to hang out with them and told us they wanted to take us to a soccer match in the new stadium in Durban. We were all excited to hear that and we also mentioned the possibility of going to watch a ruby match.

Since we've been out and about watching lions all weekend, everyone pretty much left their homework till now and I'm spending the rest of the afternoon reading and writing. It's a very warm day so the monkeys are everywhere and they are very diligently trying to get into our rooms. My roommate pulled out the paintball gun, but she hasn't had any luck shooting them yet. It's a beautiful afternoon and it's time for tea. Until next time.....

Insects and Lions

Sometime last night I got bit by some mysterious insect on my feet. I had two bites on my left foot and one on my right. The bites were a little bit itchy, but I went to bed without difficulty. This morning, however, I woke up and, as I got out of bed, I noticed that my feet looked a bit bigger than usual. After putting on my contacts and attempting to move my feet I realized they were definitely swollen and the area around the bug bites was red. My feet were so swollen in fact that it hurt to put my shoes on. At dinner my feet weren't quite as big and didn't hurt, but they were still noticeable swollen and red. Luckily there are nursing majors on the trip with us and they are seniors so they're pretty much legit nurses. One of them checked out my feet and said it wasn't dangerous and that it's an allergic reaction. The swelling has gone down, but I'm hoping my feet are fully back to normal when I wake up tomorrow morning.

Enough talk about my feet. We went to a lion park today. The story behind the lion park is that it is basically a huge park were there's a pride of wild lions. There's a big gate, and once you cross it you are in lion country. The last group that went to this park experienced the lions attacking the car. They full on jumped on top of the vehicle and clawed the back of it. You have to take special cars inside, of course, and when we got there we found out we didn't have the appropriate cars so we ended up not driving in. Sad day, but it's ok because we were able to walk up to the fence and we saw lions up close. At first they were a good 30 feet away, but as soon as they saw us they slowly walked towards us in the crouched position as if ready to attack. When they got to the gate they walked back and forth keeping an eye on us. If any of us got close to the fence or turned our back to the fence they would pounce up and try to stick their paws through the fence. It was so cool! That is until we realized they weren't zoo animals, they were wild. We got some good pics, but I'm kind of glad we didn't drive through because can you imagine your car breaking down in the middle of a lion pride or them actually breaking a window?

There's no Starbucks in South Africa

It's the end of my first week in Pietermaritzburg. It's crazy to think that I've been in Africa for 8 days already. The chalet has now become home as we've slowly settled in and gotten accustomed to tea time and sleeping correctly. I can't say I've stopped being amazed at the fact that I can hear a waterfall running outside my window and my classes are often interrupted when a monkey pops his head in the door and the professor tries to chase it away.

Every day I learn something new about the African culture and I can't help but notice how happy they are with life. One professor was lecturing about individualist vs. collectivist societies and pointed out how individualistic the United States is. We're all about independence and finding your way in the world and leaving your mark. We believe in freedom, so much so that kids move as far as possible from home for college and we are constantly being pushed to be our own person and to reach our full potential. Africa on the other hand is very collectivist and people believe in family and community as the most essential things in life. Soweto tends to be very poor and 40% of the population is infected with AIDS. Many people find a way to improve their lifestyle and move to better conditions, but they come back or they visit on the weekends because Soweto is their community and they don't want to live without their friends. What happens is that they end up building their nicer homes there and they enjoy the community. They look for ways to be the best community they can be and they are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the group.

As i heard all of this, I couldn't help but think about the first church and how collective they were. The bible says that they helped each other and constantly met to eat and rejoice with one another. I've thought about what society Jesus would prefer, and I don't think individualism is all wrong because, at the end of the day, we each have a relationship with God and we are individually called to serve him, but it's so important to not forget that we share this world and we can't survive without community. Yeah it's important for me to get a degree and to become the best I can be, but none of that matters if I push everyone aside to get there. It feels so good to share life with others and to know that we live, not for ourselves, but for the love that saved us and that love calls us to live together.

Welcome to the "study" part of Study Abroad

There is so much reading to do and papers to write, but it's still fun to be here. All the classes are interesting because we learn more about the culture and then we see it for ourselves. Yesterday Ref explained the 5 colors of the South African flag. Red for the sun above, blue for the sea below, green for the green of the our land, yellow and black for the lightness and the darkness of our people.

We also went to the movies at the mall and it almost felt like we were back in the U.S. because there are many similarities, but there are still some things that are completely different. The movies cost R10, which is only like $1.50. The movies premiere on Tuesday, but they still premiere around the same time as they do in the US, which is a good thing because that means I can watch Alice in Wonderland when it comes out. The seats are assigned and the movie tickets look so weird! I watched Did You Hear About the Morgans. It's about New Yorkers having to move out of the city. It made me wonder is people think that's what all Americans are like.

Well, I should really get back to reading, I have a lot to do before class at 1:30 today.

12 Delicious Ways to Die in Africa

The title of this blog is a direct quote from Prof Reg. He wanted to warn us, but assured us that if rules are followed and precautions are taken nothing will happen because he has raised 3 kids and 7 grandkids here and none of them have been injured in these ways.He also said he didn't tell us this while we were still in the U.S. because our parents would freak out haha.

Great White Sharks: When Reg was growing up, there were 2 to 3 shark attacks every season. There are now nets that keep sharks away from the beaches where people swim. There are still some attacks in certain places by people who aren't very smart and go where they're not supposed to, but the beaches are safe and you can sight sharks from a good distance. The beaches we are going to are all safe and I realized that I'm going to place my feet inside the Indian Ocean instead of the Pacific Ocean beaches back home.

Hippos: They don't seem dangerous at all, but Hippos are the animals that kill the most humans a year. It's still not a common thing, but it's the most common. Hippos can run up to 30km/h on land and pop out of nowhere in rivers, so you're not supposed to swim in certain rivers. Like Reg explained it: Hippos will pop out of the water, bite you in half, and leave you floating out there. lol, way to not freak us out!

Snakes: Around the jungle near campus there are 5 kinds of poisonous snakes, including the Black Mamba, Pythons, and a rattle tail snakes. Reg says that in his whole lifetime he has not seen any Black Mambas or Phythons so it's not too dangerous.

The big 5: Lions, Elephants, Buffalo, Leopards, Rhinos. These are the big 5 of South Africa and believe it or not, the most dangerous is the Buffalo. Hard to believe huh? Lions don't hunt humans and will not attack unless really starving. Leopards are nocturnal so they aren't seen too often. Rhinos will charge at you, but then keep running and leave you behind. Elephants are huge, but not very aggressive unless provoked. Buffaloes on the other hand, will easily charge at you and then come back and keep charging at you and knocking you off your feet non-stop. I will see all 5 of these probably on the safari, depending on which animals are out and about, and they will be running wild, but all these animals won't attack unless you provoke them so as long as you know how to behave, there is no reason to be afraid.

The biggest killer: (Not biggest in size, but biggest in the amount of people it has killed)The female mosquito carrying malaria has killed many people because they don't have access to the right medicine. None of the areas I'm visiting are malaria zones, so I'm completely safe, but there are many parts in Africa in which these mosquitoes roam freely and kill many. Malaria is 100% curable, but most of Africa doesn't have access to doctors and medicine to cure it, so they die from it.

This whole talk by Reg was hard to take in; there were many gasps and mumbling from the group as we heard the many ways we could die, but then Reg assured us that there are many ways to die in the U.S. too, and the chances of us dying from any of this is very very very small. He told us just because it's something we should be aware of, but there's nothing to worry about.

Oh, and by the way, just like deer don't seem very dangerous, but end up attacking a lot of people, monkeys don't seem dangerous, but could be dangerous. I keep hearing that and Reg reminded us again because he says he can't stress that enough. One monkey apparently killed a cat on campus, but they're so cute!

Monkeys and Tea Time

We arrived at Pietermaritzburg today; the city in which the school we are studying at is in, and here are some of the highlights:

Monkeys: The campus is basically in the middle of the jungle, well not really a full out jungle, but close enough. There are monkeys here like there are squirrels at a park in the U.S.. The locals hate the monkeys and we are slowly learning why. One of them pooped on my friend's pillow. The way we defend ourselves is with pepper spray and biodegradable paintballs that do not harm the monkeys. Regardless of their abnoxious behavior, they are very cute and I even saw a baby monkey!

Jogging: There is a 3 mile trail that we have commited to running or walking often throughout the semester. The best time to go is in the morning because that's when the buck and the zebras are roaming around. The trail also passes by a river that has a small waterfall leading into a watering hole. It's so cool because it like a naturally-made pool and it's on the campus!

Tea Time: Part of our schedule is a tea time in between breakfast and lunch and a tea time in between lunch and dinner. Regardless of what class you have at that time, everyone makes their way to the dinning room for tea and pastries.

Orientation: Among the plans they described to us are an overnight safari (notice I said overnight, as in we camp out where the animals are roaming wildly, animals including lions, rhinos, giraffes, and leopards), and an overnight stay at a Zulu tribe where we will sleep in huts and meet the chief. There's also a mall run almost every week. In what other country of the world can you go to the mall on Thursday and to see lions on Friday? lol

While most of the adventure is just plain awesome, there is a price to pay. I keep waking up in the middle of the night because I'm not tired at all since in the U.S. it's the middle of the day. It's still summer here and there is no AC so it's ridiculously hot. There are bugs everywhere. Our small houses/cabin things were living in are slightly crowded and not very modern. We have to cram a semester's(15 weeks) worth of academic work into 6 weeks so some days I have class and lectures literally all day long. T. I. A., I'm not going to let that ruin my trip.

This is Africa

Distance Traveled: 1,174 miles
Total Time of Travel: 29 hours
Average Altitude: 38,000 feetSpeed: 500 mi/h

I finally arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa today after 2 long plane rides. The first was 5 hours, followed by a 5 hour stay at the airport in Washington D.C., and the second was 17 hours with a 2 hour wait for refueling in Senegal. I’m so tired of sitting! We got 3 meals, but it felt so weird because I wasn’t hungry at the appropriate time. We left Azusa at 2 am Thursday and arrived here in Africa at 5:30 pm Friday. Throughout those 29 hours I slept here and there, but I don’t think I’ve had more than 5 hours of sleep total, so I’m exhausted, but it was all worth it.

The first thing I saw at the airport was the soccer mania going on in Johannesburg. There’s yellow signs everywhere announcing the FIFAWorld Cup 2010, and there are pictures of soccer balls everywhere. Visa has signs that say, Fans Welcome, and there’s a cool sign that says “Y’elio”. I don’t know what that means yet, but I know it’s soccer-related. The second thing I noticed was that the cars are on the wrong side of the road. I kept expecting to see cars on the other side and freaked out when I didn’t see anyone in the driver seat of a car, but then I realized that was the passenger side.

We had dinner today at a restaurant with a menu including snails, monkey gland sauce, and chips (which are actually French fries….chips are called crisps). While waiting for the check, we learned what one of our local South African leaders meant when he used the expression T.I.A. (this is Africa). Africa is a lot more slow-paced than the U.S. and things go wrong all the time, but people just say “T.I.A.”, let’s just enjoy life. So, I’m tired, confused with the time difference, scared to plug in my computer into the weird electricity adapter they have, and nervous for the months to come, but “T.I.A.”, this is Africa, and it’s going to be a great trip.

Ready to Go

Ok, so i know i wasn't supposed to open it until I was on the plane or in South Africa, but I opened the big envelope the youth group gave me full of letters of encouragement. I figured it would be nice to read it before getting on the plane and heading off. Thank you to everyone who wrote something. There were some good laughs, some deep thoughts, and helpful advice, and, to those of you who asked for souvenirs, I promise to bring you back something.

We're loading the bus at 2:30 am so I think I should take a nap or something until then, but I don't know if I can sleep because I'm so excited. It's finally here! Goodbye United States, Hello Africa.

P.S. I signed up to bungee jump because I figure it's a once in a lifetime opportunity and South Africa is already going to be such an adventure, might as well add a little jump to it.

To Jump or Not to Jump

Today was my first orientation/training meeting for South Africa and one of the many topics covered was the opportunity to bungee jump next week. The place is called Bloukrans Bridge and it holds the Guinness World Record for the highest commercial bungee jump in the world! It's 216 meters high and you jump off a bridge with a river running below it.

Pros: how awesome would it be to jump at the world's highest jump, it's a good story to tell the grandkids, if I die it'll at least be a cool way to die, the scenery is amazing, I will regret it for the rest of my life if I don't jump

Cons: I might chicken out last minute and embarrass myself, I could have a heart attack halfway through (probably not very likely to happen, but still...), I am 100% afraid of jumping, I will jump 216 meters and fall through the air trusting that a simple harness and rope will catch me, I am 100% afraid of jumping (I know I already said that, but it's the main thing going through my mind)

I've never really been afraid of heights, but I've never been a daredevil either. I was forced onto a rollercoaster at age 14 by my lovely sister and I was peer-pressured into jumping off a rock into a river in Yosemite which wasn't really that high, but it was still scary. I think the only way I will jump is if someone forces me to do it because that's really the only way I've ever faced my fears, and, since by then I will be out of the country, I highly doubt the possibility of being forced into the harness.

I have jumped from high places before and taken risks for the sake of thrills, but placing myself in the state of fear is never something I have enjoyed and I'm not one to regret things, what happens, happens. So I guess.....I dunno, I have until Friday to decide......

Packing Checklist

I finished packing today. What a relief!

I had a list that the study abroad office gave me with tips on what to bring and what not to bring, but it was still hard to think about what the heck I'm going to need in a different country for 3 and a half months. I also have to travel light, so that was a challenge.

It's pretty amazing though how much stuff we accumulate over the course of time and how our minds are always longing for more. I packed just a couple jeans and some t-shirts, 2 dresses, and 3 sweaters. I leave behind a closet full of clothes and like 4 drawers still full of t shirts and jeans. One of the many things I'm hoping to get out of this trip is a new mindset about my lifestyle. I feel like I get too caught up on material things and I'm constantly surrounded with media....I just want to get away and breathe. I just want to have enough and only enough, not an overload of abundance. I just want to know that God is enough to help me through the day. I just want to realize that God is all I need to check off my packing checklist (haha cheesy way to end it, I know).

So it's with 1 suitcase, 1 duffel bag, and 1 messenger bag that I head off and say hello world....the wonders of Africa are at my fingertips and I'm so ready to dive in.