Lesotho (Leh-sue-too)

This is probably going to be a long blog, but that's because these past 3 days were 3 of the most thrilling days I've had here in Africa.

Thursday morning I woke up at 5:30am, got my stuff ready, and headed to the kitchen to pack my lunch and join the group. The group consisted of 11 students and our two leaders Dave and Trish. Reagan drove us for two hours to a lodge where we ate breakfast and got picked up by the two guys that were driving us up Sani Pass. Sani Pass is the rode from Kwazulu-Natal (a South African providence) to Lesotho (a country in the middle of South Africa). All 11 students jumped on the back of the huge Land Rover that we were driving in and we sat excitedly knowing that an adventure was ahead.

We had been warned that the road up Sani Pass is bumpy and long because Sani Pass leads to the mountain that is the highest point in the southern part of Africa. The higher we got, the colder the air felt and the more beautiful the mountains looked. Greg, our driver, told us that all these mountains were under the ocean at some point in history, but they are now 10,000 feet above sea level.

After a long and bumpy road in which my arms worked hard to keep me from falling out of the truck, we finally crossed the border into Lesotho. Right before the border post, Greg asked us if we would like to get dirty. He told us there was a water puddle up ahead and a mud puddle after the water puddle. He could either drive slowly, or drive fast and let all the water and mud splash up on us. After a small discussion we decided T.I.A., let's get dirty! We braced ourselves and covered our backpacks, but it was in vain because there wasn't a spot on the truck that wasn't hit with water and mud. The puddles were huge and it was like we were on Splash Mountain in Disneyland because mud and water flew up in the air and completely soaked us. Some people were wearing white t-shirts and they ended up completely brown.

As soon as we got there we saw the horses we were going to ride. It felt like that moment in the movie Avatar when each avatar has to pick their animal and the animal has to pick them. We looked at the horses and approached them to see which one would be our horse for the day. There was a horse with only one eye that no one really wanted, but Lauren was compassionate enough to trust it and chose it. I chose a brown horse with a saddle that looked like it would be easy to grip if I was losing my balance.

These horses were a lot smaller than the ones we rode a couple of Sundays ago so they were easier to grip and the fall was shorter if you happened to slip off. When everyone finally had a horse we headed out with one guide in the front and one in the back; both of them riding bareback.

First impressions are always important because they can determine how you act towards the rest of the situation. This was my first impression: I hate horses! When we got on the trail and came across an open meadow some horses took off trotting. Everyone was nervous so we forgot to hold the reins tight enough and the horses wouldn't stop. My horse followed Becca's horse, who followed Melissa's horse, and Melissa's horse threw her off the saddle. Emily's saddle came undone because it wasn't tied right and she feel off and then Trish, who has been riding horses all her life, also fell off because her reins were broken. I wanted to turn back and refuse to keep riding, but something told me I had to just keep going.

After settling down, fixing all the gear, and refreshing our minds on how to control horses, we set off again. We set off at a slow pace and we made some small talk so that we wouldn't be so nervous. Luckily some of the people on the trip are hilarious, especially Kohei, and it helped distract me from the fact that we were climbing up rough terrain on horses that had a mind of their own.

We crossed over rivers and mountains passing herds of sheep and cows, each step becoming easier as we bonded with the horses and with each other. We climbed higher and higher every step and we tried hard to lean forward so we could help the horses carry our weight. After 3 hours, we stopped to eat lunch and to find a good bush to use the Loo (South African term for restroom). Carissa brought an extra apple because she wanted to feed the horse, but I think those horses were too wild to eat anything that wasn't straight from the ground.

Pictures just can't capture the beauty of the mountains we were in and words cannot describe how great it felt to ride in the middle of nowhere and just get lost in the wilderness for a day.

After 4 hours of riding we got to a point where we could see the top of the mountain that's the highest peak in the southern part of Africa, but the issue of time stopped us from going further. We stopped to rest and met some of the local people. They were dressed in nothing but blankets and boots. They had beanies covering their face with just a small opening for their eyes and mouth. We spoke a couple words with them, but we had to head back before sunset so we got back on the horses and headed down the mountain.

As we climbed down we tried to lean back to help the horses carry our weight again. Riding a horse down a rocky mountain is more thrilling than any roller coaster because sometimes they would jump down a rock or they would trip and pass by really narrow trails. My horse didn't like staying on the trail, but it was smart in finding steady ground so I let it wander a bit. We were a lot more comfortable riding by then, so we let our horses trot more and picked up speed. At one point we came across an open space where there weren't too many rocks and we really picked up the pace. At first I didn't realize what was happening and why we were bouncing in a different way. I placed my feet on the stirrups and pushed up slightly so I could press my thighs against the horse to keep my balance and I held on to the reins tightly while holding on to the saddle at the same time. Then it clicked and I realized I was galloping. It was such a liberating feeling to just gallop through the fields and we all looked so free as we spread out and just let our horses run.

Seven hours after pretty much everyone had fallen off their horse, we passed by the same open meadow galloping and screaming out with joy. I was sad when the ride was over and I was thinking about how much I love horses now.

We got back just before dark and we stood over the cliff for a bit watching the thunderstorm going on in the valley below us. That night we had dinner at the highest pub in Africa. There was a warm fire going and a living room area were we all sat and talked about our day. I closed my eyes for a bit listening to all the tourists and locals interact and softly singing along as Greg played a U2 song on his guitar. It was s soothing way to end the day.

After dinner we crossed through the village and reached the chalets where we were spending the night. There was no electricity, but there were plenty of candles and we went to bed ready for for a good night's sleep.

The next morning we walked over to the pub again for breakfast and we visited the village with a tour guide that told us about their culture and lifestyle. A kind woman welcomed us into her home and showed us how they cook with fire that they start using cow dung and shrubs because there are no trees that high up in the mountain. Some local women also danced and sang for us and we played with the children for a bit. We spoke a coupled words that we learned, but we mostly communicated through signals.

Around noon we headed down the mountain in the back of the truck again, but it looked like it was going to rain so we took out sleeping bags to use as a fort. There was so much fog that we could only see 5 feet ahead of us and 5 feet behind us. The road was bumpy once again, but it was more painful this time because I had two purple bruises on the insides of my thighs from the saddle and everyone was sore all over from riding horses for so long.

The truck ride was interesting and I really could not fully describe how fun it was unless I took up pages of writing. Basically we were all bouncing uncontrollably because it started raining and we were too busy trying to keep the sleeping bags over our heads to hold on. I sat towards the back and just laughed as I watched people fall on top of each other and almost fly out of the truck. There was a point where everyone was in like a doggy pile and I laughed uncontrollably for 5 minutes as I watched Eli fall over Alyssa and then Alyssa trying to get him off, but every bump made him just fall on top of her again. All the while Emily was squished between Kohei and Jake, who was stuck on top of Lauren's legs and Becca, Carissa, and Melissa were all being pressed against the front of the truck. Since I was too busy laughing to be able to grip the edge of the truck well I ended up somehow falling on top of Eli and Alyssa and then, I still can't even figure out how, I ended up in the front of the truck instead of the back with my foot caught on the spare tire and one of my legs twisted around Eli's . Sometime in between the chaos people got pictures and recorded a video, so maybe I'll be able to see this and try to figure it out more, but it was just hilarious.

After that the day went fairly normal and we went to bed early. Today in the morning we went zip lining. We got on a helmet and harness and rode a truck to the top of a mountain full of trees. There were 8 different lines throughout the mountain and forest that we hooked ourselves on to and then slid down. We went across trees, down the mountainside, and across waterfalls. I felt like Tarzan flying through the trees. At one point we had to drop down. The harness was strapped in a way that made us feel like we were sitting when we zip lined so when we dropped down it felt like sitting on air and then falling for a couple seconds until the rope slowed us down.

The day ended with the most awesome movie in life: The Lion King. It was a great way to end a thrilling weekend. I know I wrote a lot, but this blog can't even begin to capture how awesome these days felt and how amazing this experience was and I still left a lot of things out. I can't believe I get to live in South Africa for bit and do all of this. It's truly a blessing.

Reg

Reg is the main person in charge of the APU program here in Pietermaritzburg. When we move to Cape Town in April we will have another leader like Reg, but for now he is like our President or Captain or Dad, any one of those works. He is also the professor for the Life and Teachings of Jesus class that I'm taking here.

Life and Teachings meets every Tuesday and Friday. Tuesday sessions go from breakfast to second tea time, which is like 6 hours long! We have different breaks in between for lunch, tea, and just to stretch. It really doesn't feel that long though because we're studying Jesus, who's like the most radical person that ever walked this earth, and we're listening to Reg speak most of the time. Reg is an awesome speaker and I really believe God uses him to speak to the college students that come here. Every once in a while he'll bring up a point that we have to wrestle with and discuss before we can decide if we agree with him or not. Today was definitely one of those days.

If I were to try to write down what I'm thinking, it would make no sense at all because I'm still fighting with it in my head. It's a fairly new idea than what I've heard and if I decide to believe it; it would involve a change in my worldview, especially with my specific life situation at the moment. For now I just have to keep thinking, reading, and praying about it. Maybe when it all makes sense, if it ever makes sense, I'll share it in my blog.

Also, I'll be going on that horse-riding trip this week and when I come back I'm going on a weekend trip to the Canopy Tours, so I probably won't blog until Sunday. Sala Kahle! (stay well)

Definitely Not a Merry-go-Round

I rode a horse for the first time in my life today. It was supposed to be practice for our field trip on Thursday. We're going to ride horses up a mountain for 3 hours to meet some tribe people up there so we had to learn at least the basics of riding.

As we were driving to the stables, I was very excited and when I saw the horses I was even more excited. There were 5 horses; one for the guide and 4 others. The horses were all different breeds, but they were very well trained. There was only one exception and his name was Boe. Boe likes to stop and eat randomly on the trail and you have to kick him to get him going again. Once he starts trotting, he goes really fast and doesn't like to stop and he's the rebel because he likes to be in the front and takes a different path than the other horses. Out of all the horses, guess which one I got to ride?

Oh Boe, I will never forget you. First of all, I didn't just jump up like everyone else; I had to stand on a bench to get on. Oh yeah, I also had my helmet on backwards, so I had to fix that. Second of all, once I was on the horse I realized how very easy it is to lose your balance and fall off.

The instructor gave us several useful tips such as: holding the reins tight while holding the saddle at the same time and leaning back when they trot fast because that's the best way to keep your balance. I tried my best to use these tips, but it was difficult to remember it all. Boe stopped to eat a lot and I had to constantly nudge him to keep going and point him in the right direction. The instructor taught us how to trot and told us to try it out uphill. When I kicked Boe he got a little over excited because he set off and there was no stopping him. I knew it was bad when the instructor looked freaked out. I pulled back the reins as hard as I could and Boe finally stopped, but by this time I was already leaning towards the right and about to slide off.

Every time Boe stopped to eat I tried to get him back on the trail before the others passed us because when he saw that everyone had left us behind he would start trotting to catch up. On some parts of the trail Boe would wander a little to the left or to the right and pass over rocky parts instead of following all the other horses that went over the smooth grass. I think it was because he was looking for something to eat the whole time. The instructor told me that Boe eats everything and I found out that was true when I saw him almost eat our car keys. I stopped trying to fight Boe after a while and just let him choose which trail to take. He almost tripped twice, but he got us back safe. The ride wasn't really that scary or dangerous because for the most part Boe was doing ok, but it just made me nervous to think that horses have a mind of their own.

That sounds funny, but horses aren't like a car that listens to you no matter what. Horses can sometimes choose not to listen to you and can make you feel a lot less in control. It makes me nervous to think about hiking a mountain on a horse for 3 hours, but as long as I don't get a horse with such a unique character like Boe I think I'll be ok. Also, the horses we're riding on Thursday are a breed that is a lot smaller than Boe so I won't have as much difficulty getting on.

The scenery makes the ride worth it because it was so relaxing to just trot through the meadows on Boe's back. Thursday is going to be even better because we're going to go up a mountain 10,00 feet high so I'm sure we'll get to see a lot of cool stuff as we ride along.

Giant's Castle

Oh, what an interesting day! We drove through the Drakensberg Mountains today to a place called Giant's Castle. From there we hiked 3 hours to some caves where we could see Bushmen paintings. The Bushmen tribes were some of the first inhabitants of South Africa and they left behind many paintings on rocks and in caves. Their paint was a mix of coal, animal blood, and various other natural substances. We visited an archeological site where there are different paintings along the rock. The paintings are faded because of weather and well, because they've been there for hundreds of years, but they are still clear enough to see. Some of the paintings are about hunters, others are about animals, and there are a couple paintings of medicine men. As a Social Science major and someone who enjoys history, I loved every second of it! The whole time we were hiking up I was enjoying the scenery, but mostly I was just super excited to see history with my own eyes.

It's crazy to think that those paintings have been there for hundreds of years. One day, a Bushman grabbed his paint and walked into the cave to draw a line. From that line he drew an animal and then he drew men surrounding it. He waited for the paint to dry and then he showed it to his tribe. His tribesmen used that painting to tell stories and they passed on their stories to the following generations. A hundred years later, those stories were still there and the first white settlers of South Africa saw them. During the African wars, the Bushmen were driven out of their land, but the paintings remained. In 1946, a white settler carved his name into the cave and started the historical site to show people the paintings that had remained. Those paintings have seen the sun rise for thousands of days and they have felt thousands of rain drops over the course of so many seasons. Maybe it's just me, but I find it amazing. It was also cool to walk on the mountain and to try to imagine how the Bushmen walked across it. I watched the antelope and wondered how they hunted them and how they dealt with the pestering baboons that we saw near our cars.

After hiking, we spent some time in the river and chased baboons to try to take a picture of them, that is until they got mad and charged toward us. These baboons are no African Enterprise monkeys (the ones where we live) because they're way bigger and much more aggressive. Some of the girls thought they were ugly, but I thought it was cute how the mom walked on all fours and the baby rode on her back and then I noticed their pink butts. They were just like the baboon in Lion King.

It was a good day, but I feel like all the energy has been drained out of me. It's time for some rest.

Speaking with the Dead

I met a Sangoma today!

If you have no idea what a Sangoma is, no worries, I had no idea what it was either. Today a good friend of Reg (the main leader of our semester program) came to explain the Zulu religion to us. He grew up in a Zulu tribe and converted into Christianity when he was a young adult. He's now a pastor, so he was able to give us the perspective of a Zulu person and a Christian Zulu person.

The Zulu people have 4 names for God: uMvelingqangi(the one who appeared first), uSimakade(the one who's always been there), uMdali(creator), and uSomandla(the One with power). The first missionaries who came to the Zulu people explained the Christian God as uNkulunkulu(great, great)

The Zulu people value Ubuntu, which means, human. They believe you show Ubuntu when you show love to others and welcome them. They don't believe in personal space because all space belongs to the community. A person's identity is based not on him or herself, but on the family and the tribe from which that person comes from. Each tribe has a way to identify themselves, whether it's a special haircut or cutting themselves to get a certain scar. The Sangoma we met today was missing the top part of his pinky finger because that's the mark of his tribe.

The cultural hierarchy of the Zulu people has respect of people your age on the 1st level, respect for your parents and uncles on the 2nd level, respect for grandparents on the 3rd level, respect for ancestors on the 4th level, and respect for God on the top level. Their way of communication is: the people go to the Sangoma, the Sangoma talks to the ancestors, and the ancestors talk to God. The Sangoma tells them what sacrifice to make or what potion to drink when they need healing or want an evil spirit to go away. The ancestors guide the people because they are outside of time and space so they can see the future.

When an older person dies, the Zulu people say they have left and they allow them to peacefully go rest. When a person dies prematurely, they use the word death and believe someone caused it. There's no such thing as accidents for the Zulu people; young people who die were cursed by something.

The Sangoma showed us his robe and cow tail that he wears. He showed us the altar he uses to speak to his ancestors and the many ingredients for potions he gives the people. I was expecting to see something cool and to feel strange in a "spiritual" place like a Sangoma's house, but when I got there it felt really dry. I was talking to my friend Shaun about it and we discussed how interesting it is that people can be completely convinced of a religion, but those who don't believe it see it as something silly and pointless. The Zulu people seriously believe in these potions, but to us it's just a random mix of powders.

We were also discussing how hard it is for Zulu people to become Christian. To a Zulu person their tribe and their family is everything. Their whole lifestyle revolves around the worship of their ancestors. The guest speaker was telling us that converting into Christianity meant a whole change of lifestyle. It's funny how we see that and think it must be really hard to give all that up and abandon all your old ways, but then Leslie brought up the point that we are called to do the same thing. We might not worship the dead, but there are several things we do that we're supposed to give up when we become Christian. The guest speaker hit us hard when he said Christians in America have tried to combine their lifestyles to make a Christian mindset work without losing some of our traditions. It was hard to hear, but I think he makes a good point and it's worth thinking about.

Change of Plans

Thursdays are interesting because the biology class always goes on fieldtrips and the small group of people that are left don't have class until 4pm. We usually sit out on the lawn doing homework or playing soccer and we make trips to the mall. Today I was just going to do homework because we have a trip this weekend and my psychology class is going on a 2-day fieltrip next week. Three papers are due by the end of next week so today was one of the few chances I had to work on them.

There was a change of plans when my friend Bianca told me that a group of people was going to watch the movie Valentine's day and she invited me to go with them. I've been wanting to see that movie for a while so I agreed to go and set off with them at 10:30.

There was another change of plans when I heard Sarah and Staci talking about the psychology class students that were going to go horseback riding today to practice for the fieldtrip. In our trip we're going to ride horses all the way to the top of the highest peak in Lesotho to visit a tribe that lives there. Our professor had told us we were going to practice this week, but he said he would let us know the exact day through email. I obviously hadn't gotten the message. Instead of getting dropped off at the theaters, I rode back with Reagen. When we got back to school Carissa and Jake said they had been searching for me to give me the message and I ran to put on tennis shoes excited that I would ride a horse for the first time in my life.

There was yet another change of plans when we got really lost on our way to the horse-riding place and we had to ask for directions. A kind stranger said he was heading that way and would appreciate a ride so we let him in the buckee (a small truck) and finally found the place. By then it was an hour later than our scheduled time and the instructor had somewhere else to be, so we rescheduled for Sunday.

Our plans changed one last time when Leslie, the student life coordinator that was driving us, decided she wanted to take us out for lunch because we didn't get to ride horses. She agreed to pay for all the drinks if we payed our meal. We went to a small, but fancy cafe in the middle of a nursery where there were pretty plants everywhere. The restaurant was delicious and we all got awesome milkshakes. We hung out for a while and decided the day wasn't a bad day at all and we all ended up enjoying it.

The best part of today was just driving in the buckee with the windows rolled down. I could feel the wind on my face and every once in a while a song would come up that we all knew and we would sing along to it. The sky was a beautiful blue and the clouds looked like they had come out of a picture book. The South African grass was as green as green can be and the weather wasn't unbearably hot; it was the perfect temperature. A couple of months ago I would have been frustrated at the fact that the plans changed so much and that we got so lost and that I didn't get any work done, but today I didn't really care because I felt so peaceful. Carissa said, "you just can't not be happy in South Africa" and it's true because every day is an adventure and every day God shows us what a wonderful world this is.

History Speaks Out

Yesterday we had a lecture in our History and Culture of South Africa class about the Apartheid that happened a while back and the effects it had on the country. Today we went to visit a possible site for our community service and I could see the effects of history clearly along the streets of the town.

The Apartheid was a time in South Africa's history in which the 4 different races of people were separated and forced to live in designated areas. The whites had favorable lands and higher privileges because they were in control of the government. The coloreds were slightly more favored than the blacks, but they were still less well-off than the whites. The blacks were forced to moved to townships like Soweto in which they built small shacks with no electricity or running water. The townships were so overpopulated that disease spread quickly and unemployment was unbearably high. The Indians were forced to move to certain areas, but they still managed to keep their grip on business.

It wasn't too long ago that Apartheid finally ended. Learning the full story is heartbreaking, but even taking a simple drive through Kwazulu-Natal can be moving. The cities are somewhat more integrated because people have moved there to find jobs, but the towns are still segregated and the races that were discriminated against are still suffering the consequences. The government is slowly bringing electricity and water to the shacks, but many women still walk for miles to fetch water and people have learned to go to sleep when the sun goes down. There are several organizations working to improve the life of people in the townships that are full of poverty, but it's a slow process.

What I liked about the organizations we visited is that they follow the saying, "Give a man a fish and he'll have a meal, but teach a man how to fish and he'll have food for the rest of his life". The organizations here are working to teach people how to fish.

Walk in the Light owns several acres of land from which they grow a certain plant used to make perfume. They sell this plant and use the money to sustain their work in the community. They visit homes where people are sick or infected with HIV/AIDS and they provide transportation to hospitals. They fund funerals for those that don't even have enough to bury their dead and some years they have up to 40 funerals. They also provided food certain times during the week for the hungry. Their crops provide jobs for many unemployed residents and they teach the local people how to grow small vegetable farms around their homes so that they can have food to eat and maybe even food to sell.

Gateway owns a building that used to be a prison and has a very interesting history. In order to receive funds for their work, they've turned the old prison into a tourist attraction and they give tours to people every week. With that money they built Esther House which is a home for women who have been physically abused or have experienced domestic violence. They also have a school for children whose parents can't afford to pay for education and they sponsor these children through the UK and other countries. They also have an overnight homeless shelter, but, if someone wants to stay there, they have to do chores. The point of this is that the people won't get used to getting free stuff and that they'll be motivated to work and to improve their lifestyle.

The list of organizations goes on. One that really touched my heart was Ethembeni, a place were orphans come to spend the day or to hang out after school. Some kids don't have parents at all and others are living with parents infected with HIV/AIDS. The people in this place brought out 5 children to sit with us while we heard about the work they do and the children just stared at us. It must have been shocking to see 53 American young adults crammed into the small room, but I think their eyes showed a lot more than just shock. I could see the pain they had to go through every day and the fear they had after seeing their parents suffer from such an illness. I just wanted to hug them because some of them had bruises and others were so thin and light that I just wanted to feed them. Even in these circumstances, some of them grabbed toys and, when they waved good-bye to us, they smiled and yelled as loud as they could. It breaks my heart to see children that are so innocent and that just want to enjoy childhood, but they're held back by the environment around them.

Sometime this week we have to choose what site we want to work with for the month of March. We don't have classes in March, so we're pretty much going to work full-time at these sites. I'm not really sure where I want to work, but I know that wherever it is, I'll come out of it a whole new person.

Valentine's Day

Away from the commercialized holiday and the materialistic views of America, I was able to spend Valentine's Day thinking about one thing: worthy is the Lamb. It was the main theme at the local church I went to this morning and, as we finished the service in worship,there was a line in a song that touched my heart. "you took the fall and thought of me above all". Why he thought of me above everything else and why he took the fall that I should have taken I will never know. This Valentine's Day I'm joyful because I'm in a whole different world here in South Africa, at least that's what it feels like sometimes, and I'm so far away from everyone I love, but I have Jesus right beside me.

Love that knows no bounds and surpasses all understanding,
Fills the earth with beauty.
For our human justice never grants the wish of a second chance,
Our mercy never reaches past our desire and our lust for more.
Love, that flies so freely and touches everything in its path,
Doesn’t look for answers or try to find an explanation.
It's an undeserving sacrifice that forever holds its place
As the only thing that makes sense in a world of senseless deeds.
There's a celebration of a long-past occurrence
That resonates through our beings
And forever reminds us of the love
That makes no man lose hope.

Counting Down for the World Cup

The McDonald's in town has a huge screen on the wall that is counting down for the FIFA World Cup 2010. There are 116 days until the kick-off. As we were on our way to Durban yesterday, the World Cup was the main topic of our conversation and Janet, who is a 22-year-old South African, brought up some good points.

At first glance, hosting the World Cup is exciting and it brings a lot of attention to the country, but there are some underlying problems that most people don't notice. A lot of stadiums are needed to host this event (just like the stadium in Durban that we saw yesterday) and those stadiums take up electricity. South Africa has been known as a country that doesn't have enough electricity and they often have electricity blocks in which certain cities go without power for a couple of hours in the day in order to conserve energy.

The government in South Africa has decided to make prostitution legal this summer because of the event. Most of the citizens, including those employed by prostitution, believe that this is a terrible mistake. There have been so many campaigns to fight HIV/AIDS and to try to encourage people to stick with one partner and to be safe because South Africa is already one of the countries with the highest percentage of people infected with HIV/AIDS. Can you imagine what legalized prostitution is going to do to those numbers?

Taxis and public transportation in South Africa are dangerous because so many people get robbed and because so many taxis get into car accidents. There are no seat belts, no safe rules, and the criminals target tourists and openly discriminate against them. Yesterday Janet asked, "how are tourists supposed to get around?" and while we were entering the freeway I realized what she meant. The streets of Durban are crowded enough as it is, accidents are common, and the taxi drivers don't care about traffic laws. I guess I should fully explain what a taxi is because it's not the yellow cab we think about in the United States. Taxis here look kind of like vans. It's similar to the Volkswagen van that's associated with hippies. They're very crowded and don't have seat belts. To call a taxi, you don't just put your hand in the air, you have to make a specific hand signal for the specific direction you are going towards. There's a signal for downtown, a signal for local, a signal for Joburg (Johannesburg), and so on.

Janet's opinion is that the country isn't ready to host the World Cup. There's been a lot of construction for it, but she says a lot of locals are worried about the negative effects it can have.

Thinking like any Westerner, I offered my opinion that tourism could bring a lot of money to help the economy and that awareness could also be helpful. If people see South Africa for what it is, that would put pressure on the government to fix things. Janet mentioned that the big businesses and politicians are happy for it, but the people of South Africa haven't had a say in the matter and are worried about it. It's still exciting to host the World Cup and people are still happy to see South Africa take on such a role in the world, but only time will tell if it is a good thing or not. It's crazy to think that something as simple as a sport can have such a big impact on society and throughout the world.

Kwase-Afrika

Kwase-Afrika is the name of chapel on Friday mornings. The purpose of Kwase-Afrika Chapel is to teach us about the people of Africa and to hear their stories and listen to guest speakers who live here. Last week it was a mountaineer who was the first South African to climb Mount Everest and he has climbed the highest peak in every continent since then. His story was amazing and it made me feel so cold just thinking about frost bite and high altitude sickness. Today it was a refugee from the genocide in Rwanda.

Clementine was born in Rwanda to a family of 23 children! Her father had three wives and the whole family would gather for a party once a year so she could meet her brothers and sisters. When the conflict broke out in Rwanda, her whole family was killed. She escaped by going to Congo, the nearest country, where she was faced with nothing. The place were the refugees were placed literally had nothing. It was an open field with no toilets, no water, and no houses. They struggled to survive, but she trusted God in everything. A couple years late she married a Christian man who preached God's word, but the rebels in Congo targeted preachers and put her husband on their list of people to kill. Her husband was forced to run away and she was left with a 3 year old daughter and pregnant with a son. The plan was for her to follow after her husband and find him in a different country, but her journey was long.

She traveled a distance that's approximately as far as the width of the United States while pregnant and with the young girl. She went to 5 different countries and searched every refugee list and church she could find. On the way, many people were hospitable to her and took care of her kids. Finally, she reached South Africa and found her husband in Durban. Her message to us was that God makes something out of nothing, and you can lose everything in the world, but if you have God, then you have all you need.

A Different Kind of Bug

I finally found the mysterious bug that I'm allergic to. I found it on my bed the other night and I trapped it in a glass cup. After observing it and deciding that I have no clue what kind of bug it is (it's black and about the size of a fly, but it doesn't fly lol and it has 4 skinny legs and two little antler things in front, it kind of looked like a small black beetle), I threw it out the window.I found a baby one the next day on my bed and threw that one out too. The cleaning staff should be coming around today to give us new bed sheets so I can sleep in fresh sheets tonight.

When you're in a different country and you're eating different food that your stomach isn't used to, it's just a matter of time before you get a different kind of bug. A couple of girls have gotten a stomach bug these last few days and have spent the day in bed or near the bathroom. They've gotten medicine and it usually goes away in 2 days, but it's quite uncomfortable. So far I've felt okay with eating different foods and I haven't felt sick. Most of you know that I have this stomach condition that I just found out about last summer and I have to stay away from certain foods and take medicine for it when it gets bad. So far I've been okay with that too, but yesterday I started feeling slightly abnormal. It's not enough to say I'm sick, but I feel like it might be getting to me. I just hope it doesn't get worse. I wanted to ask whoever follows along to please just keep me in your prayers and keep our group in your prayers because it's very easy to get sick here.

Positivity is important on a trip like this and I think we're doing a good job of encouraging one another and keeping ourselves busy with jokes and laughs, and the student life coordinators are really helpful. The most common phrase used when something goes wrong is T.I.A. (this is africa) and we're going to keep enjoying it.

When Monkeys Attack

It's really hot today and I think the heat is driving the monkeys mad. There's a bunch of them out today and they're everywhere. Kayla and I decided that the best way to keep the heat out of our room would be to close the curtains and block the light from entering. It was working pretty well, but while Kayla was in class and I was in the room reading i decided to open the window a bit. While reading I heard the tree branches outside moving a little more than usual so I glanced over at the window and saw a small hand poking through it. In the few seconds I had to react I realized that the window was between the door and the bed I was sitting on. If the monkey came in and saw me running out the door, it would think I was trying to attack it instead of running for dear life. I remembered the best thing to do is to not show fear because the monkeys have learned that girls are scared of bites and they tend to attack girls more often, so I decided to be brave. I realize you're probably thinking that it's just a cute little monkey, 5 times smaller than me, and probably not very violent, but I would like to remind you that they do bite pretty hard and that they are very strategic and can be quite dangerous when in big groups. Going back to my story; I slammed by book down on the bed post as loud as I could and I yelled, "hey!" The monkey jumped back on the tree and I closed the window as quickly as possible.

A couple of minutes later I started feeling the heat again so I opened the window a little bit. The monkey had gone to get a fried and, as soon as they heard my window open, they jumped up the tree and were climbing towards my window so I closed it really quickly again and decided I would prefer feeling hot than being attacked.

A couple of minutes after that I heard 2 girls yelling outside and I ran to see what was happening. By the time I got there, there was a group of people outside and there were monkeys scattering in all directions and jumping on roofs. Some people asked what happened and Alyssa and Eli told us that a big group of monkeys had surrounded 2 girls and the big one (we think is the leader because he is the meanest and lost his tail in a fight) ran towards the girls to try to bite them. Some people ran outside to scare them off and Eli grabbed a big stick. As we were standing there everyone mentioned that monkeys had tried getting into their windows too and some had tried getting into the classrooms. One of them tried getting into class and saw people yelling at them so he came back later with 2 more monkeys.

Both sides are thinking that it's better to fight in numbers because the monkeys are gathering and all the students are making sure not to walk alone. Alex, the guy with the paintball gun, has it armed and ready. They usually go away once we pull out the paintball gun so I hope we get a break soon. Meanwhile, I've borrowed a fan from my friend so I won't have to open any more windows. It's kind of funny that instead of saying, "my dog ate my homework" I can just say "I was attacked by monkeys".

Definiton of Uncomfortable

When I got back to my room in Pietermaritzburg today it felt a lot like coming back home. It's weird how it's only been two weeks and I already feel used to living here. Coming home always feels great because you get to sit back, relax, shower, and sleep in your own bed. Coming home is great because you get to feel comfortable again. The only problem with us coming home today was, like my roommate put it, "I'm so tired of living in the wild right now". I couldn't agree more, but I think to fully explain it, I have to tell you about my weekend.

The plan for Friday was to leave after lunch and get to Umzinto (a little Indian town outside Durban)in 2 hours. Everything that could have gone wrong did. Reagen was driving one of the buses, but he forgot his license, so we had to stop and wait for him to go back and get it. One of the professor's car broke down and we had to wait 2 hours for a tow truck. No one knew where we were going, so we had to stop and check for directions 3 times and we made a bunch of u-turns. Finally, 5 hours later, we arrived at the campsite.

Saturday was supposed to be a beach day, but again things kept going wrong so we were really only at the beach for 2 hours. The rest of the day we spent waiting and walking around the downtown market. Let me just say that I have never sweat so much in my life. I would have felt completely disgusting and embarrassed, but everyone was sweating just as bad and some were sweating even more because it was so hot and humid and there was no AC in the cars.

Sunday was a different kind of adventure. We split up into groups and each group was assigned to a certain church. My group was told to meet at the bus by 7:10. When we got there, the pastor said, "so you guys are preaching right?" We laughed a little and then realized he was serious so in 3 minutes we had to come up with a 30 minute preaching. We decided to split it up and have 5 people speak for 5 minutes or so and I volunteered to be one of them. This whole time that I've been on this trip, I've had psalm 8 in my mind because it says "Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth". I shared this passage with the congregation of 200 and I told them how God has showed me that he is the same God no matter what part of the earth you're in. I don't really remember what else I said because it just sort of came out on the spot, but I got good feedback so it must of been good i guess.

After church we went to the pastor's house for lunch. The food was delicious and was probably the best food I've tried since I've been here, but again it was so hot. Humidity, heat, and plans gone wrong tend to be irritating. Overall the weekend was good because I did have fun and I learned a lot. I also got to experience a new culture and build on friendships and meet interesting new people, but being uncomfortable was a price I had to pay.

Now about my roommate's comment...we are coming from a really tiring weekend and we just want to feel clean again. Pietermaritzburg is just as hot, though maybe not as humid, so our room was really stuffy. My roommate, Kayla, went to pick flowers to make ourselves feel more at home, but as she was walking outside a huge snake came out of the bushes and a cat attacked it. When she came back in I pointed out the moth that looked like it was on steroids because it was so huge and was lying on our floor flapping its wings weakly and she took it outside. When we opened the windows to get fresh air about a million mosquitoes flew in. Ok maybe not a million, but there were a lot. There was a spider under my bed and a black beetle on top of it. Oh yeah, and the mysterious bug that gave me an allergic reaction on my feet seems to have bit me under my knee because now my leg is swollen and hurts. I also have a 3 inch rash under my neck from an allergic reaction to a spider bite. I just don't like bugs right now and I don't like the heat. I didn't want to complain about it on my blog, but I figured whoever is reading this should know that there are good days and there are bad days. There are amazing parts of South Africa and there are some not so amazing parts. Also, if you are feeling like you wish you were here, just think about this blog and you'll feel a little better about life.

The Weekend is Almost Here

Classes are really starting to hit us hard. Every free time we have is pretty much spent reading, writing a paper, or writing in journals about our thoughts. Due to the shortness of our semester, we have midterms already next week for some classes. I have 4 papers due next week and tons of reading, some of which I have to do today before lunch, but it's ok because the weekend is almost here.

The agenda for this weekend involves a trip to Durban. Durban is a really pretty beach where I can place my feet inside the Indian Ocean. We will be staying in houses there where there is no internet and we're basically going to just relax and enjoy the community. The point of the trip is to engage in the Indian community of South Africa. We are leaving Friday afternoon to get settled in and we will spend all of Saturday on the beach. Some families have volunteered to cook traditional South African/Indian food for us and will invite us to their homes after church on Sunday.

This means that I won't blog for a couple days because I'll be gone and when I come back I'll have midterms to study for, but I will try my best to share about my experiences in Durban. I'm sure it'll be lovely.

Monkeys Stole My Mints

I just got out of my Human Growth and Development class and I've come to the conclusion that monkeys are amazingly, yet annoyingly intelligent. In class we were discussing the definition of intelligence and our professor brought up the similarities between monkeys' brains and humans' brains. We discussed how monkeys have some intelligence, but not quite as much as humans because they don't need it as much as humans. Humans are much more dynamic. As we discussed the monkeys' brains, my professor, who asks us to call him Doug instead of professor, mentioned that monkeys are very clever when stealing things because they find ways to deceive or manipulate those whom they are attempting to steal from. As I heard all of this I thought back to my recent experience with monkeys and realized I've been a victim of their deceit! I feel so unintelligent because I totally fell for their trick.

Yesterday I heard some trees rattling outside my window, so I glanced outside and caught two monkeys hanging on the tree. When they saw me through the window they pretended to grab some leaves and chew them, but I could tell they weren't really eating. I thought it was cute so I pulled out my camera to take pictures. When I wasn't in front of the window they kept moving around the tree and as soon as I popped back up in the window, they would sit still and pretend to pick leafs. I thought I would be clever and play peek-a-boo with them so I would hide and then pop my head out the window again. Every time I hid and came back I noticed they would be eying the window and the chalet. After a while I think they realized what I was doing because they started grooming each other and pretended they didn't notice me. I loved watching them so I took a video and got completely distracted with their grooming. What I didn't notice is that as they were grooming themselves, they were secretly planning their robbery plan. After they were done grooming themselves they cleverly found a way to jump through the trees and up the roof, across our chalet, and down to the garbage can that was outside. They had scouted the chalet and found that there were people all around it. The only way to get to the trash can was through the roof and the only one that could stop them from getting on the roof was me, but I was too distracted by their grooming to notice what they were planning. lol

Also, while we go to tea time, we leave our stuff in the class, including the bowl of mints the staff leave for us, on our desks. While we are out, the monkeys come in and steal the bowls. They run away with them into the forest and then sit and peel the mints. They've figured out how to open the mints and they know what time we go to tea. Oh so clever.

Zebra Hunting

So the word around campus is that if you go hiking really early in the morning you can see a zebra family walking around the nearby game reserve. After a prolonged debate with Jessica and Sarah about whether we should leave at 5:30, 5:45, or 6am we finally compromised and decided to wake up at 5:45am. The hike is uphill and it's very steep, but it was well worth it. We saw a couple deer, bunnies, and some antelope, but no monkeys. We also heard that a pack of like 20 monkeys hangs around grooming themselves, but it was a cloudy day so they weren't out this morning.

Finally, after 40 minutes of walking we turned around to see what another group from our campus was staring at and there they were. At first we could only make out the top of the zebra's body, but then they slowly moved up the hill, chewing grass as they came up. We got close by and stood still on the road. I thought the zebras would stop when they saw us and walk away, but they kept coming nearer. They crossed the road right in front of us and were about 5 feet away. We took plenty of pictures and they just glanced at us and kept walking. There was a baby zebra keeping close to what I assumed was his mother. There was another adult zebra and a 4th adult zebra that looked like the male leader.

It's interesting to watch wild animals because, just like the lions the other day showed clever instincts, the zebras were clearly instinctive. They looked at Sarah, Jessica, and me, but decided we weren't dangerous so they walked by with ease. Once they had crossed the road a guy named Rob came closer and pulled out his camera. The biggest male zebra started flapping his hears and looking in Rob's directions. As Rob came closer, the zebra began trotting and then charging towards him. Rob backed away and the zebra stopped, but kept staring at him.

As we walked back we wondered why the zebra thought Rob was dangerous or that he possessed some sort of threat. We decided it was either a) because Rob is a guy and is actually very tall b)because Rob was walking fast towards him and then pulled out his camera fast, so this could have been taken like someone hunting and pulling out a weapon and c)Rob was wearing black pants with white stripes going down the sides and a white shirt

The last one isn't very likely to be the problem; we just thought it was a funny coincidence. The zebras actually look more brown and white than black and white. As we exited the game reserve and came back home to get ready for breakfast I couldn't help but think how cool it must be for zoologists to observe animals in nature. Animals are so interesting and what goes on inside their brains is such a mystery to the human mind.