Frontier Trip

It is Monday, and I should be studying for my test, but I am taking a tiny break. I wanted to go back and reflect on the weekend because it was awesome! We went to Adalaide which is about 3 hours outside of PE. We were hosted by two great families, both of which are farmers and had hundreds of acres of land. One family, which we stayed with first was into dairy farming. Right when we got there, the husband showed us around and we got a chance to milk a cow. It was a weird feeling and I felt like I was hurting the cow, but that wasn’t the case. He also squirted warm milk straight from the utter into our mouths and it was delicious! Probably because I drink milk like it is my job, but not everyone liked it. It was kind of cold and rainy all weekend, but we made the most of our time there and I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. For dinner that night we had a chicken stew with a bunch of veggies and some rice. It was an actual home cooked meal and we all sat and ate around their dinner tables. After dinner we just hung out and then the girls were shuttled to the neighbors house to spend the night since that house didn’t have enough room for all of us. The house we were at for dinner was huge and decorated so nicely with plenty of family portraits and pictures. But the house that the girls stayed at both nights was spectacular! It was huge and each room was decorated with a different theme. There was even a zebra room! I passed out that night because I was so tired. In the morning, and yes we got to sleep it which was so nice, we waited for the boys to come to the house (which was about a 20 minute drive even though they were neighbors) so that we could have breakfast together. It was raining outside so we hung out for awhile. It was really nice that they didn’t rush us places because it made it such a relaxing weekend unlike bush camp. After breakfast we went on the back of two trucks to see how this family makes their money which is from the wool industry. They sheer all 4,000 of their sheep by hand and their wool is in demand all over the world. Patrick figured it out to be that they make about 200,000 dollars each year after they sell their wool. Which explains why their house is so nice. We also got a chance to hold some baby goats. Once we were done watching some of the workers sheer two of their sheep, we went to shoot some targets with the husband’s 22 rifle. All the guys went first and everyone hit the paper, but none hit the bullseye. Then it was the girls turn. I have never held a gun before so I wasn’t really sure what to do, but I ended up hitting the paper just outside the bullseye. It seemed by the looks for the paper that the girls had a much better shot than the guys and Chelsea ended up winning the bottle of wine with a bullseye! We went in for some sandwiches after shooting the gun and by then I was so tired. We were outside most of the day walking, or driving in the trucks in the cold and rain. It started to clear up a little after lunch, but all I wanted to do was sleep. They had a hike planned for us after lunch so we drove the trucks up as far as we could to the foot of the mountain. They let us walk up the mountain to see the amazing view from the top. Kelly and I wanted to run, but only made it 6 minutes before it became too steep for us to run any more. Kelly, Scott, Muhammad and I made it to the top before anyone else was even close, so we decided to head the the next mountain over because it was just alittle higher and looked like it had even a better view. I am so glad we went the extra bit because it was all worth it. We sat on some rocks at the very top and gazed out into the beautiful valley below us. I was shaking alittle because of the altitude I think and from using a bunch of different muscles to climb and jump over rocks and boulders on the way up. On the way down it was much more difficult because my shoes were already muddy and it was very slippery because of all the rain. We made it back to the other mountain just in time for some pictures and then headed all the way back down just before some rain clouds moved in. We got back to the house for some dinner, which was actually going to be ready for some time. They set out some beer and wine for us to drink before dinner and I have to say that I have had my fair share of wine and I have hated all of them. But the wine I tasted that night was actually not that bad and I couldn’t tell that I was getting drunk and it hit me all at once. It took me almost an hour and a half to eat my steak dinner because it was so delicious! I savored every bite of it. Just before dinner, most of us were sitting in the husbands trophy room which was filled with heads of various animals from Africa including zebra, wildebeest, kudu, and even a giraffe. He went around the room and named off every animal and told a short story about where he shot it. When he stopped on the story about the zebra I couldn’t listen anymore because he said that it was his favorite hunt and that he had really had to work for it because he had chased it all day long. To me it would only be impressive if he caught the zebra with his bare hands on foot, because I know for a fact he was probably in a jeep with a state of the art gun that requires no “skill” at all. Not saying that I could shoot an animal, but shooting a gun is a lot easier than how people use to have to hunt. I don’t admire anyone who shoots an animal just to hang it on their wall and tell a story. There is a difference between that and shooting an animal for the meat, which I have no problem with. Anyways, he also told us about the giraffe and how when he shot it, it cried (because giraffe’s have tear ducts that allow them to shed tears) He said that hunt had hurt him most, but why hunt the giraffe at all if you knew that was going to happen... Back to the wonderful weekend we had; We talked the rest of the night and went to bed around midnight. We were up a little late the next morning and headed back to the first farmer’s house for breakfast. Directly after breakfast we packed up everything and headed out for another hike, but this time it as to a waterfall. Both husbands drove us as far as they could to the waterfall, but with all the rain that they had in the past few days, we had to get out early and hike the rest of the way. Along the path there were many spiders, which were surprisingly larger than the spiders I saw in the Amazon! The hike was muddy and wet, but it was all worth it when we got the the waterfall. We ended around a pool of water and we could hear the waterfall, but we couldn’t see it. We then had to swim about 30 or 40 yards through a narrow passage of water to see the waterfall. The water was freezing and I had a hard time swimming because I really don’t know the right technique so I got tired rather fast. Once we were close enough you could feel the current push you away from the falling water. Most of the boys were already on top of the waterfall before I even got to the rocks in front of it. The sight of it was beautiful and it is too bad that no one got pictures because of how pretty it was. It would have been way to hard to swim that far and not drop your camera or something bad happen to it on the way. I wasn’t about to take that risk seeing as how I just got a camera! After awhile we all got cold and had to head back so that we could get home at a responsible hour. I was so unbelievably cold afterwards and didn’t want to put my warm, dry clothes on my wet spandex so I basically froze my ass off on the way back to the vans. Once we got all gathered up and dried off we were on our way back to PE. All in all I would say it was one of the better weekends here so far. It was relaxing, yet we did and saw a lot! I really enjoyed myself and now I must force myself to study for my exam on Thursday for Botany. This is going to be tough. Cheers!

Feeling Like This Term Might Be The Death Of Me.

This week so far (its Thursday now) has been on the quiet side, minus last night which was Becca’s 20th Birthday Celebrations! We went to town and danced our ass’s off the entire night and Becca had a wonderful birthday! She had a list of tasks around her neck that she had to complete during the night and she checked all of them off her list. The cab ride there was probably the funniest thing I had ever witnessed. The night was definitely epic to say the least! Since the week has been so low key, I will take this time to vent about classes. I am currently taking Botany and Zoology, both 100 level classes. So I am with all first years. My classes are at least 100 people in huge lecture halls. It isn’t that the material we are learning is hard or anything, but the questions that I have had to answer on my quiz’s have been ridiculously tough. I JUST got my botany book because it wasn’t in the bookstore, and it isn’t like I can buy it off Amazon because it would never get here. So I fell behind early with Botany right from the start and also there was apparently a Botany class offered that preceded the class I am in now, so I lecturer refers to last term and I have no idea what he is talking about. I’ll stick with my Botany class for now because I see myself having the hardest time in there. My lab is on Wednesdays at 230 and it consists of like 120 people. We are split up into two lab rooms and the teacher isn’t even there. Instead they have demi’s which are students, I think, that are suppose to help us if we have any questions. Every single question I have asked, they haven’t had the answer to and they basically brush me off and say I don’t know, I’m sorry. Not to mention the labs are formatted completely different than I have ever seen before. For labs at home, our drawings we turn in don’t have to be technical and our teachers have never stressed labeling or a strict format. Here, I got my prac back and I did horrible because I didn’t know some minor things that these students have probably been doing since high school. It seems that our education in the States in different and almost like we are behind. First years here are taking what I have to take in my junior year at home. Back at LEC, the professors hold our hand through everything we do and answer any questions we have, but here since the classes are so big the students are use to no help. I think this has been the biggest shock within my educational experience here. Also, yesterday my Botany lecturer mentions to us at 1045am that day that prac is cancelled, but we have to attend the science departments graduation at 230 that afternoon, which is when our prac usually is. Now, I would have gone had I not: 1. just come from volunteering and was wearing dirty sport clothes which would not be acceptable to wear to a formal graduation and I also had no time to go home and change since I don’t live directly on campus (a little more notice than a few hours would have been more acceptable). 2. Known where the hell the graduation was! I obviously didn’t go because I knew if I actually did find the place, they wouldn’t have even let me in looking the way I did. Anyways, he took down the names of the people who went in class today and told the rest of us that going to the event was part of our prac mark. I don’t see this fair at all seeing as a graduation had NOTHING to do with learning about botany. I didn’t pay money for this class to go and watch people graduate.... Moving onto zoology, I like the content of this class, but a few things are very frustrating. Like the fact that our lecture period is for about an hour and 20 minutes, but she gets through the material in about 20 minutes and it is impossible to copy down the notes she has on the projector because of how fast she goes. Also, the book isn’t available in the bookstore yet, and she won’t put the slides from lecture online until a few days before the test, which obviously doesn’t give us enough time to prepare. Lastly, even though both lecturers speak english, they still have an accent and sometimes with the way they talk so fast it is hard to distinguish some words making it hard for me to understand what exactly they are talking about. I am feeling very stressed about my classes and this moment and should probably be studying for my test in a week instead of writing this... I’m just hoping that I pass because otherwise it was pointless for me to come here. For once in my life, I am worried about failing a class. School usually comes so easy to me because I am very organized and such a hard worker, but I feel as if I am giving a 100% right now and it isn’t good enough, not to mention nothing seems to be going my way. Hopefully things start looking up soon. I think I have finally gotten over my homesickness. We, as of today, have been here for exactly 10 weeks and only have about 2 and a half months left. Only 5 more weeks of classes and then exams in June. There are a lot of exciting trips planned over the next few weeks including Frontier this weekend and Capetown, Hogsback, Port St. Alfred the following weekend and Victoria Falls in May! I’m super excited to be travelign so much after being stuck in PE for the past few weekends. For now that’s all I have! Cheers!

Ironman South Africa

It’s the only official Ironman event held on African soil, and it all happened in Port Elizabeth today! 2.8km swim, 180km bike and a 42.2 km run (which is a marathon). The race was to begin at 7am and the athletes had until midnight to complete all three stages of the race. There were almost 1,800 competitors that started the day at Hobie Beach, waves were calm and it was a beautiful day! Chelsea and I woke up at 4am and left for the pier around 430am. We hauled ass on our bikes because it was still dark outside, but no one was out anyways and once we got to the main road people were already setting up camp for the long day ahead. We locked out bikes up and made our way over to the pier to get prime standing room to watch the start of the race. It was only 5am by this time, 2 hours left until the start of the race. The anticipation grew as 7am drew closer. There were so many tents set up and athletes walking around getting their stuff together. The bike transition area was crazy to look at, so many bikes. I could only imagine how much money was sitting behind the fence. We waited as the sun rose, dolphins swam, and helicopters soared all over the sky. People started to pack the pier around 630ish so I was glad we got there early. We watched as some of the racers warmed up in the Indian Ocean and finally they started to line up. The first wave, which was filled with the Pros, started in the water clear ahead of everyone else. Behind them on the beach was the rest of the swimmers ready for the gun to signal the start of a very long day. Once the gun went off, they all rushed into the water and before I knew it people were already out to the first booey and ready to make the turn. We watched as they swam their first lap, then got out of the water and ran a loop on the beach then made their way back into the water for their final lap. The first person out of the water was an Austrian followed closely by a South African and a Belgium. The front swimmers got out of the water around the 45 minute mark, which was amazing to me! We watched as a few more people made their way to the transition area and then we decided it was time to change location. We walked off the pier and tried to catch a glimpse of the racers getting onto their bikes. We couldn’t see very much, but I got a few pictures. After that we decided since we had been up so long we would walk over to the Boardwalk and get something to eat for breakfast. We met up with the rest of our group that came down around 6ish to see the start of the race, but unfortunately didn’t make it out onto the pier. I had a waffle and we all enjoyed our breakfast with the commentators voice in the background. Afterwards, Becca, Sara and I decided to go to the beach to lay out for awhile since the bike portion of the race would take awhile. There was a 2 hour and 15 minute time limit for the swim and then the bike needed to be completed by 530pm. Once we were burned enough from laying on the beach, we moved back up to the road to watch as the top three male and females made their way around the marathon loop 4 times. The top three for each group had a designated bike rider to follow them so that people knew that they were in first, second and third. Once the top male finished his third loop we made out way over to the finishers stretch. I grabbed a spot right along the fence so I could be involved in all the action, but everyone else went up to the stands to get an overhead view. The helicopters in the air followed as the top runners made their way to the finish line, so when the chopper got close we new he was making his way towards us. Everyone in the crowd was given clappers, horns and balloons to cheer the South African on, who is actually from PE. As he made his way down the home stretch, the crowd was so enthusiastic and there was so much energy!!! I took a video of him finishing and then he came back out into the crowd to give some high fives and waves! The crowd obviously loved him since he is from PE! The German was next to come down the home stretch and the South African gave him a high five and he went by to congratulate him. I still can not get over the energy all the people were giving to these outstanding racers! The music kept on bumping and then I think my favorite part of the day was when the first female crossed the finish line, breaking a world record for a woman’s Ironman! She was all smiles and just like all the runners before her, collapsed after she crossed the finish line. I will update this post with names and times when they are posted online after the races is completely over. After we watched some of the top people finish, I walked back by myself and followed the course that they were running. Most people at this point were towards the back and some were walking, but still I felt inspired by them because they didn’t give up! I think that I may have fallen in love with Ironman and racing in general this weekend. I love running and I also love biking (with my bike at home, because the one I have here sucks; I’m missing a pedal and my front tire goes flat every third day) and if I can learn to swim properly I will compete in an Ironman. I am going to focus on my 50K in July and the sprint Tri in Fairport, but then I have to commit myself entirely to volleyball for my last season ever. Afterwards, I will consider an Ironman and hopefully one day come back to beautiful Port Elizabeth to race will all the great athletes that inspired me today.

Irongirl 10k

It’s the middle of the weekend, but I feel like so much has gone on since I last wrote. Thursday we went out for ladies night like always, but I opted not to drink seeing as I had a race the next day at 4. We got in kind of late, but I didn’t have class until 1pm. Class went by fast, thank goodness because we had to rush to our race. Once class was out Chelsea and I rode our bikes back to Annies and got ready to head out to Hobie Beach which is where the race started. It is about a 45 minute walk so we left with just enough time to get there. There were so many women, most dressed in pink, to support the Ironman and show that they are dedicated to a healthy lifestyle (that was what the run was about). Becca, Chelsea, Meli, Julia, and Isabel represented our group of internationals! Becca Chelsea and I are from the states, Julia and Isabel are from Germany and Meli is from Austria. We were all grouped around the speaker telling us some of the rules and he even called to the front a South African gold medalist from the 1984 Olympics named Zola Budd Pieterse. She spoke about how she was there to have fun and was so inspired by all the women that came out to run in the beautiful city of Port Elizabeth. She then stood by some people and Becca and I jumped in and got a photo with her! haha We aren’t even South African! They then turned us around to line up at the start. We didn’t realize we were going to be all the way at the back, so Becca grabbed my hand and basically pulled me all the way to the front. We didn’t get very far so we had to wait for the gun to go off and everyone to start, and straight away Becca and I were sprinting to get ahead of everyone. I was out of breath in the first 5 or 6 minutes because of this. Not to mention the wind was probably at about 20mph against us, like any other day in PE. The wind was against us all the way down to the SAMREC penguin center, which is were I volunteer at, and then there was a turn around and come back. The whole run was along the beach with the campus on our right and there were so many spectators at random places cheering everyone on. The sun was hot, but you couldn’t feel it when the wind was blowing. I couldn’t decide while I was running if I would have liked there to be no wind so I could run faster, but then I would be hot or if I would rather the wind pushing against me so I could stay cool. Once we got close to the turn around, Tomas and Anno, both from Annie’s Cove, came out of no where on their bikes and rode next to us and cheered us on. They couldn’t have came at a better time because it was the half way point and I was feeling a tad bit exhausted. After the turn around the wind was for the most past at our backs, but sometimes there would be a gust of wind into our face and that meant I got a mouthful of sand. By the end of the race I was covered in a thin coat of sand. I had been following a girl most of the way because she had a good pace going that challenged me, but was enough for me to stay with her. The whole way back I kept thinking to myself about how easy it would be to slow down and take it easy because no one was around me, just the girl in front of me. I fought with myself and decided that I needed to stick with her or I would slow to a pace where people could catch me. I liked the feeling of my legs towards the end because they hurt just enough to make me go faster and my breathing was perfect now that the wind wasn’t in my face. I hit the last water stop and picked up a bag of water (every race I have ever competed in they usually have cups) so I didn’t really know what to do with it. I tried my hardest to open it, but decided that I was wasting too much energy and just threw it on the ground (not something, as an environmentalist, I am proud of). At this point, I slowed just enough that I lost pace with the girl in front of me. I then had to fight myself to keep a strong enough pace to keep my place. Once I could see the Ironman set up, it just clicked to me to start my finishing pace, which is way to fast, but I figure since I’m almost done I don’t really need to walk the rest of the day. There were so many people along the path cheering everyone on, it was so exciting to get closer and closer to the finish. At the end it was kind of confusing because the path got skinnier and we had to weave in and out of the stands so that we came into the finish where the crowd was sitting. It was a dead sprint from me once I turned the corner to the finish. I remember hearing what I thought might be all my friends that came to watch in the stands, but I had no time or energy to turn my head. I was dead set on sprinting across that finish line. Once I crossed I was given a medal around my neck, which says Irongirl South Africa, and an ice cream popsicle!!! Yes, I ate this even though I gave up sweets for lent, I figured that I deserved it and it was a gift and God wouldn’t want me to turn down a gift! I waited for everyone else to finish and we all got together for hugs, congratulations, and pictures from our groupies that came to watch. I cramped a little bit at the end, so it was a little hard for me to walk. We headed over to the Vodacom Amphitheater were the awards ceremony would take place with Julia, Chelsea and Becca. They started off saying how great PE is and how awesome the Ironman is and then they went in order by age groups for the prizes. I was so shocked that I got 3rd in my age group with a time of 50:09, 23rd overall out of 698 women. I walked up to stage, I wanted to cry! They handed me a basket full of goodies and a rose and congratulated me! This was such a great experience and I am so happy I got to be apart of the first ever Irongirl in Port Elizabeth South Africa. I am still a little sore today, but I will hopefully get in some miles on Monday, not many though! Cheers!

South African Glossary.

I wanted to write a little bit about the lingo and some of the culture really fast.
Here is a tiny glossary of words that South Africans use almost daily.

Lecca-Cool
Robot-Traffic light
Zebra Crossing-Cross walk
Brew/Brah-Bro/Brother
Cheers-Bye, See ya
Backi-Truck
Keen-In a sentence "I'm keen to watch a movie"
Terpec-White Out
Sack-Bag
Tomato Sauce-Ketcup
Biltong- Like beef jerky, but people are obsessed with it here!
Biscuit-Cookie
Sista-A girl, instead of saying Miss
Sorry-Excuse me. When they try to grab someone's attention it's "Sorry"
The Bush-Similar to the woods.
Braai-Just like a BBQ
Chips-French Fries!
Howzit!?-Like saying How are you or What's up!?
Just now-This means it will happen soon, but since we are on South African time, don't expect anything anytime soon.
Shame- This is said always, "Shame, what a cute dress" Yeah I don't get it either?! haha
Tekkies- Sneakers/Tennis Shoes
Isit/Izzit?!- It's like you are saying "Really?!" Yeah I picked up on this one.
Must-They use this instead of "have". ie) I must do my homework. instead of: I have to do my homework.
YOHHHH- This is used when something is surprising. It's like Yo, but it more drawn out and has an H at the end. I have also picked this up.
Minibus vs Taxi vs Cab- It is important to know which is which. A minibus, also sometimes referred to as a taxi, is a white van usually with many dents that charges 7 Rand ($1) for a ride to basically anywhere. They don't care about traffic laws and will run anyone over if given the chance. Not only do they require a terrible and impatient driver, but they also employ a man to open the door and persuade people to get in with whistles and yelling "TOWN!" even if that isn't where they are going. You can not ride these at night by yourself because apparently it is easy for them to rob you. So after dark take a cab. A cab, is just like a taxi at home, although they aren't yellow here. Since I live at Annie's Cove it seems as if Pang is our our personal cab driver. He controls a fleet of cabs and never sleeps because he loves money too much. They can fit five people although the legal amount would be four. They charge based on how far you go (Pang sets the prices) and don't use a meter, although they threaten to use it most nights because we complain of the rates. The most important aspect is that no matter where you are or where Pang is, he will always be there in "10 Minutes".

South African Time: Whenever you want. So if you are late, its okay!

Penguins at SAMREC

Today was such a stressful day! I woke up around 6am with plenty of sleep and still felt tired. I met Kristen down the street and we rode our bikes to SAMREC which is the penguin sanctuary that we are now volunteering at. It is very similar to Penitentiary Glenn in Kirtland that I had volunteered at over the summer. We got there a little early so we just chilled out a little. Once we were inside we followed a lady around all morning as she showed us what to do. I can’t remember her name, but there was also a student from NMMU there to volunteer as well. Her name was Kristy and she was in her first year studying biology. We watched as she put vitamins inside of about 20 fish gills so that the penguins wouldn’t realize they were taking pills. We first tended to the IC birds that had to be tubed. Penguins have two holes in their throat, one for eating and one for breathing, so you have to be careful to hit the right hole otherwise you could send liquid straight to their lungs which would cause them to drown. You have to hold the birds between your legs and shove the tube down their throat and then gently squeeze the syringe. Everyone else around also must crouch down so that the birds are stressed out while they are feeding. After we were finished with the IC birds, we headed out to the swimming pool filled with penguins. Some of them were in the pool swimming while others were sunbathing on the rocks. They are only about knee height or shorter and are only found along the coast of South Africa. Each penguin was fed a limit of four fish, and whatever they ate was recorded. It is important to record their diet because if they continually eat less, then there could be something else wrong. It took awhile to get all the penguins fed, but you could tell by their eyes that they were full afterwards. Penguins eat twice a day and must swim at least 3 times a day for 20 minutes so that they don’t dehydrate. Afterwards, we had a lot of cleaning to do, which is really important yet boring work. This building was so clean and well organized, a lot neater than PG. We left SAMREC around 930 because I had class soon after. It wasn’t a very long bike ride because the back gate to campus was opened. My botany class wasn’t anything special except for I found out that I had lab that afternoon? This wasn’t written anywhere, so thank god that I was sitting next to a nice girl who told me where it was and at what time. Lunch break went quick and I just sat outside the library to eat. Zoology lecture was next and she went through an overview of what we learned in ecology and evolutionary biology all last semester. It was incredible how fast she went through the slides, but I made sure to sit in the front for this class so that I could see the board. Straight after zoology, I made my way to the botany lab. There were probably about 100 people in the lab room and we were split into two groups so that there were 50 in each lab. I don’t know anyone in that class so I just sat down and made conversation with the people next to me. I had to ask to borrow this one girls book because they don’t have it in the bookstore yet so they are ordering it for me. I went through the lab a lot faster than everyone else, and I don’t know if that is a good thing or bad thing. I didn’t think it was that difficult, but I also didn’t take my time on the sketches so I’m sure I’ll get docked some points on my neatness. Also, I was asked about three times today if I had any “terpec” which is a brand name of whiteout here. I had no idea what that meant, so every time someone asked me I would just turn my head and say huh?! After class I made my way home and basically now am just chillen. I got a chance to skype with my family from PA just now and it was great! They are getting Pottsville Pizzeria right now and I would probably give an arm to have a slice of that. It is also weird to think that in three more months I’ll be home and back to normal life. I am a little homesick, especially since I have had to deal with two deaths in my family since I’ve been here, but this place is so amazing that I could stay here forever. If only I could move my friends and family here then it would be perfect! Cheers!

Happy Half Birthday To Me!

This weekend disappointed me because I had wanted to travel somewhere and see something other than PE. We didn’t get a chance since most of us had gone to the Wild Coast the a few weekends before so we were trying to save up some money. Basically we went out each night this weekend and I laid out when the sun was up! Instead of talking about my boring weekend I shall talk about my new classes. I am now taking Botany and Zoology, which is why I studied abroad in the first place. I had both very early in the morning on Monday. Botany was first and this was my first large lecture. There were maybe about 60 people in the room, which is like triple what a large class is at LEC. I sat in the middle front so I could pay attention and see the board. I didn’t know anyone because the room was filled with South Africans that are all in the same major (probably botany) and take all their classes together. So if the professor asked any questions about like a timetable, the whole class (except me) had the same schedule, so there was no reason for me to say anything as the minority. We went overrules like any other first day of class and they state that I can not miss more than one class. This is a huge blow. Although I almost never miss class at LEC, here it makes sense to skip a Friday or Monday class to travel and see the country. The professors that get classes with a majority of international students understand that we travel so they don’t schedule tests close to long weekends, but since I am in two classes this term with all South Africans, I really have no other option but to not skip! This might interfere with my plans to see Victoria Falls in Botswana sometime in May. I looked over the syllabus for Botany and realized that I had learned or atleast breeze over most of the topics in Bio2 as a sophomore, so I am not to worried about the class, just the fact that I always have to be there. After Botany I went straight to Zoology where I knew Chelsea and Kristen atleast. We were the only internationals in the class, so when they went over timetables we again had no say. We are in a class with mostly education majors meaning that zoology isn’t their forte, which is nice to think that they all are genius. The whole class was spent arguing about when we will have our practicals for the semester. We finally figured it out after a lot of yelling and Chelsea and I have labs on Tuesday for 3 hours. Three hours seems like a lot, but today when we had our lab the time went by super fast and we even had to stay after to finish our lab. Most other people left before they were finished because they had another class, but Chelsea and I just wanted to get it all finished before we left. I also don’t have volunteering this week because they are on their fall break, which means no homework. I had to switch my volunteer days to Mondays now because of my scheduling conflict with a class. I finally have all my postcards finished and will be sending them out tomorrow! So anyone reading this, don’t expect to get it for atleast 6 or 7 weeks. I should probably just bring them home with me! Tomorrow Kristen and I are volunteering at the SAMREC penguin sanctuary, which will be similar to me volunteering at Penitentiary Glenn in Kirtland this past summer. Today was also a Day Without Shoes to raise awareness of kids who don’t have any shoes and are subjected to infectious diseases. A lot of people on campus didn’t have shoes on today which was very nice to see so many people get involved! Shout out to Olivia for collecting over 1,000 shoes for this special day and donating them to Jamaica!!!! I have to get to sleep early tonight so that I can wake up early ready to play with the penguins!!! Cheers!

April Fools!

It’s been a few days! Tuesday I had my last class of the term in which basically all the foreigners in the class were given the stage to discuss what they thought of South Africa now and what we had predicted it would be like before we came. Some of the things that were mentioned were that here in South Africa it is a lot more dangerous than at home. Here, each house is surrounded by a wall about 8 foot tall with an electric fence or sharp edges so that no one can get in. Everything here must be accomplished before darkness falls otherwise you run the risk of being mugged. During the day though, everyone is very friendly and willing to help anyone. The driving here in completely different and it is almost more aggressive than driving in New Jersey. Everything here is prepaid, which is almost better because then you don’t have as many people in debt from not being able to pay their bills. Although it is very annoying because when you run out of electricity in the middle of the night it really sucks. I am now done with all my classes from first term which was 7 weeks long, but I don’t take the finals for those classes until June. Another annoying thing is that the final exam schedule doesn’t come out until the middle of May, so it prevents us from planning any trips in June because we cant schedule. After class I laid out all afternoon and relaxed. Once it started getting cooler I had some dinner and then started to research for my Xhosa Culture paper. My topic was the rites of passage that boys and girls must go through in order to pass into adulthood. It was very interesting to read about, but I also still had the writing part to accomplish. I waited until Wednesday night to do that. Wednesday I laid out all day with Becca by the pool after our short run in the morning. Then volunteering was at 215. Today was very quiet and loud at Masifunde at the same time. It was quiet because we didn’t have much to do since they start their holiday from school in two days, but loud because since there was nothing to do that means the kids were running around and screaming! It was organized chaos because for the kids who did have stuff to do, we got it done. The kids who didn’t have anything to get finished sat in a different room and drew pictures and listened to a story, while anyone who needed help came to the usual study hall room. I worked with Zenela first, and all she had to do was paste some pictures she had colored into her book. It was simple for her, so we did a lot of chatting while she was working. She asked about celebrities in the US and if I knew any of them. While we were chatting, Noni (I have to figure out how to spell her name properly) came in a gave me a picture she drew of me. It is currently hanging in my room! I then drew a picture of her, which got some laughs from the other kids seeing as I can not draw. Noni had a little bit of homework since she is in grade 7 and it isn’t as easy as what some of the other kids are doing. We got it finished pretty quickly and then we just chatted the rest of the time. She told me all about her “traditional work” that her family is having in a few weeks which is when everyone in her family gets dressed in their traditional clothes and they slaughter a cow and make great food. It was interesting hearing all about it and she was most excited to see all her cousins that would come to her house to celebrate with her family. She is also excited for her birthday which is right around the corner! She will be turning 14 and she already has a boyfriend that she is going to see this weekend! Then we talked about how she wants to travel around her country first then around the world. She said that she definitely wants to visit America and I told her that she should study abroad there for a semester similar to what I am doing in her country. She is a very bright, hardworking girl and I don’t think she will have any problem getting into college and doing well. I think today I helped Noni realize that if she works hard enough in school that she can do any imaginable, like visiting all the countries she wants to see. I think this goes along with the guiding principal of empowering Noni in which I mean that when I told her that she could study abroad just like I am, her eyes lit up with excitement. She is already looking forward to college at the age of almost 14. I didn’t know where I wanted to go to college until about the month before school started! I don’t think that I can really answer the question of what needs to change in the way I volunteer from this session because I basically just chatted the whole time. It was a free day to hang out and talk with the kids. They really enjoyed our company and stuck around even though they could have gone home. There was an intense game of jump rope happening outside as we waited for our transport to arrive. Once we got home I got right to work on my paper and ended up basically finishing it around 130am. I still had to include my sources, but I just inserted them in on Thursday morning. Thursday was a normal Thursday. I read through my paper a few times and sent it in. Chelsea and I took a bus down to Pick N Pay to pick up some stuff and I really wanted a pineapple. We went a round about way to get there because we picked up a lot of people along the way. We ate lunch at Friends, which I haven’t been to since the first few weeks I was here. I made some dinner when we got back and then we started getting ready for ladies night. Ladies nights are always the same, but no matter what they are always fun! I woke up this morning with the intent of getting a lot of odds and ends things done and I think I am doing pretty well so far. We unfortunately aren’t going anywhere this weekend although I really wanted to, but it is probably better because the weather isn’t all that great anyways. April is going to go by way too fast. The first weekend if the irongirl race which is only 10k and a lot of girls in Annie’s are signed up to run! Then the actual Ironman is on Sunday, which I am so excited for!!! Cheers!