Weekend in Free State

Caravanning

Middle of Where?

The weekend trip to Van der Kloof Dam was awesome! We drove through north, then west, above the country of Lesotho, on the map. The province is called Free State, and there are a lot more Africaans speaking people up there. In fact, I heard there is even a town or two that only allow Africaners to work there. A bit different than the Zulu speaking communities of KwaZulu Natal.

We left at 3 am Thursday; most of us had stayed up the night before, so we just crashed on the bus. Thus, the drive didn’t seem like 11 hours, but it was! So three mini buses caravanned to the lake, we stopped every couple hours and checked out pretty much every rest stop available J Upon arrival we set up the boats and got settled in. Made some dinner, the guys made a fort in the hall we were staying in.

Our Girls B crew has races in the eight and four person boats, team of four, here

getting ready to row out to the start of the sprint, I am second one from the front

The dam had a bunch of camp sites around it and that is where all the teams parked their rowing gear, and then up the road were a bunch of halls, like a deserted summer camp or something, and that is where we all stayed, each team to its own hall and shared kitchens. Surrounding the lake and summer camp area was pretty much nothing, just rolling hills with arid desert shrubs.
We called it an early night Thursday and woke early for races on Friday. Friday was pretty much watching and entering races, likewise for Saturday. It was beautiful out there, hot and sunny. I definitely picked up some color. In the afternoons after our races we swam in the lake and hung out on the rocks.

The guys 8 crew to the left here

Friday evening we had a formal/dress up dinner, where the most creative costume won a prize, and of course, we placed (3rd), as did our guys’ team (1st). We painted the guys’ bodies all blue—Smurfs---with white shorts, such a sweet idea! And plus, clean up was not as bad as we had expected, though I must say some of the guys still have paint on their toenails and in their ears!
Saturday morning we were on the waters edge by quarter to 6.

The best part about the early mornings is watching the sunrise. It is so quick; I mean you have to grip your camera tightly! And not even dare try to catch a make up wink of sleep. Once you are up, you are up. It was serene watching the guys start out the races that Saturday morning. My race on Saturday was in the morning, a little later. I got to race with our A crew (normally just stick with B crew, but the A crew wanted to do an 8 person, so I got bumped!) and our race was intense! We came in 3rd, maybe out of 6 or so teams, it was really close, I mean we almost had 2nd! It was just really smooth working with the more experienced girls, we kept balanced and our timing was just right.
After races on Saturday, we derigged the boats, loaded them to the trailer, and the party began—Pietermaritzburg is sort of the Santa Barbara of KwaZulu Natal…So we didn’t miss a blink of the action. Each team started their own mad chaos and then merged forces down by the water under the pitch-black sky. It was a rockin’ night!
It sounds like our next regatta will have the same teams invited to it, so we’ll all hang again, looking forward to that! Yes, there are some rivalries: we are not big fans of the JoBurg team, and the Tuks team has a beef with us (we shared a—messy—kitchen with them and they kept reminding us that “this is a sport!” when they would catch us having a little more fun than they were), but all in all, at the end of the day, we all like to be out on the water, and we all like to kick back. So, yes, in about 3 weeks we go to the SA Champs, up on a lake in Pretoria, a beautiful city about an hour north east of JoBurg. I went there with some friends about a month ago but we only saw the place for an afternoon.
The drive back through SA did seem a bit longer, because it was pretty much all day Sunday, we left around 8 am and got home at 730 pm. Like before, we encountered quite a few petrol stations, I swear the vans we had needed petrol every two hours! Well there were some pranks exchanged, involving road kill (FYI: the count for the whole return trip was 86…) and such, so it kept the good times rolling. And we took some pretty goofy pictures next to road signs! One thing that the roads here don’t have is billboards. You’ll be driving for hours with no advertisements, just a sign every now and then, in regards to how many kilometers there are till the next city.
Coming back to school on Monday was tough, we were all a little lonely, I mean we had just had a jam-packed weekend, then lull. But today, Tuesday is one day closer to the holiday break, so that is a plus! Get a bit of work done by Friday, and then take off on another road trip.

Hello Everybody!
So, Monday, in the computer lab at school, sweeeet :)
Nah, it's a very nice day out today, sunny and hot, yes, I am working on a bronze glow, in March. I had a low key weekend, studying a bit more than usual (for here) cause I have a bit of work to finish up before the weekend trip to Free State, which I have been told is mostly Africaans speaking, we'll see. That's right we are leaving middle of the night, Wednesday, and driving a long ways to get to SAUSU, rowing tourney.
Last night I attended one of the church services on campus, I had been before, but one of my friends was interested, so went back. Some of the songs were in Zulu, a little uncomfortable, but the more uncomfortable part was the really really loud, move around praise. I mean I have my faith and my way of showing it, and this well, it's a little too tongue-speaking, etc for me. The friend I went with was even more shocked, she's Jewish, and she said that they are definitely not allowed to talk at her services, and dancing is unheard of. It was one of her first church experiences...
Then we came back from service and some of our guy friends had been working on dinner in our dorm, it was Italian...yummy pasta and chicken.
I talked to my grandma last night and reassured her that, Yes, I would be coming home, not like her friend's granddaughter who decided to live in Spain after going for a visit. Like I told Grandma, I don't know if I will be back here anytime soon, I mean it is nice and different, and I am soooo glad I am here now, checking it out, quenching the curiosity, but I don't know how eager I would be to come back right away...a little homesick maybe.
But all in all, the laid back weekend was good. I appreciated a little more time to myself, too.

Monkeys in the Mornings

In the morning I walk along Carbis Rd to get to the side of campus where most of my classes are held. It is a residential neighborhood, with quite a few preschools nestled between gated (thorn like tops to these gates) houses. Every now and then there will be a cluster of small monkeys running across the road, or swinging from each others' bellies, jumping up a tree or something. On Monday, it was the best because they were just sitting at the bottom of the tree trunk, scratching each other, no where to go, just chilling. I stood there for a good few minutes smiling at them...with like three campus security monitors...working hard :)
Something about the walk to campus that I failed to mention, it is a sloooow walk. Seriously, if you start walking at a normal, "American" pace, they call it, you get some strange faces. A lot of things are slow here, not just the internet. It is a whole different concept of how long a given task should take. African's call it Africa Time. True dat. If you have to go to an office, African's know that that trip to the office takes time to leisurely walk to, visit with the people outside the office, step inside--if the office is not on an extended lunch break--wait behind a dozen other people...30 minutes, whatever, then talk to the person you are expecting to see, if they are there, if they are not, no biggie, they will be back in a couple hours, or tomorrow, or the next day...just wait outside...it is just a whole different perception of time. not to mention, lectures often start late...I don't know, I am hoping to cultivate some more patience than I had before...it's a good thing.
Common questions that South African's ask us:
Do you have KFC?--So funny to share that Kentucky is actually one of our states.
Did you think that South Africa was all huts and elephants wandering the streets?--Apparently quite a few foreigners have had completely off ideas about the (actual) urbanization of South Africa, which has led South Africans to believe that Americans are rather ignorant about the development that this country actually has.

The ANC is definitely the dominant party here, they have theme songs, lots of posters, many political rallies on campus, they run through the dorms shouting with microphones...Big powerhouse. I heard Mr. Zuma speak a month or two ago when he was in in downtown PMB (coming out of court), he spoke in all Zulu, so that was not so cool, but I got the vibe that he was well supported and that his followers will easily forgive the political charges against him...Sad, but he is going to get off, and be the next leader here, it seems.

So, yesterday I got into a sweet debate with a (Muslim) Indian in my microbiology class, she was trying to tell me that Barack Obama came from a family of practicing Muslims, that he was a practicing Muslim, too. And that his father is king of Kenya!!!
Wow Baby! Go Obama! For the record, his dad (1936–1982) was a government economist in Kenya.

Thursday today, classes, a few tests next week, looking forward to chill weekend, maybe a rugby game?!

I am putting up a scenery picture from a drive just outside of town...on the way to the Ubuntu Children's Center, an organization that we volunteer with twice a week, an earlier photo is of the kids (scroll down).

Weekend

This past weekend I stuck around Pietermaritzburg. On Friday we derigged the boats to take out to Albert Falls on Saturday morning. Later Friday some friends and I went to a cricket match on campus, let me put it this way, if you think watching baseball is fun, you may enjoy watching cricket, otherwise, bring some music and a braii (they call bbq braii) and plan to just chill out with your buddies.
Saturday was the regatta and that was a whole lot of fun! We got golden medals on a black ribbon to wear around our necks at the end of the day. They say KZN on one side and there is an emblem of a person rowing on the other side, sweet!
Then we packed up for PMB and when we got back spent a few hours at the drift (river house) then went out form there.
The bummer of that night was that when I caught up with some of the exchange students from France, they were looking for their car, which had been hijacked...they parked it outside some big campus party and a couple hours later it was MIA, yikes.
Sunday was a clean up and study day, I was supposed to write a test this morning but my lecturer, sadly, had a stroke, so it has been postponed.
This afternoon I have plans to work with Sanele, the community advocate that checks up on HIV/AIDS patients...this will be the second time I go with her, still not sure how I like such work.

Rowing

And I joined the rowing team, and it is sweet! Morning practices are early, but they pay off when you see the orangy pink sun come up. And then we do club runs on Thursday afternoons. And the teammates are outgoing, a few are from the states, like me, others local. They like to have a good time, and we get to travel for tournaments, Albert Falls this weekend, and in two weeks we miss school on Friday, take off Thursday, and go to the middle of South Africa for a coutry wide regatta...I row bow side.

March 12th

I am a third year student at UC Berkeley in California and this second semester of school I have been attending the University of KwaZulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, as part of a study abroad program.
As I write this, I want to acknowledge that I cannot fully describe the reality of what it is like to be here, but i will try.
So, it did start a little rough (I am going to reflect for a paragraph or two), but now, man, I feel like I have always known the people and places I know here, I feel at ease, and like there is a place for me as long as I am here.

Upon arrival on the 28th of January I did not know who I would cross paths with or what I might enjoy doing and seeing in the months to come. To be honest, I was freaked out, I remember that first night alone in the dorms, all the other international students (I didn't even know there were any....) had gone out, and not come back yet. I had gotten off the plane, been given a pack of English cookies from Bill (the on campus advisor who I rarely see now, but hasa huge help in getting settled in) not talked to my parents and not really gotten that tired cause I had slept just fine on the plane...and this was not going to change, cause there was no way to "swipe" in and out of my building, i had no access untill morning, so I waited, and waited, and when I heard laughs from down the hall I leapt off my bed and bombarded the other international students, man was I excited, I actually tripped in a puddle (yes, inside), on my way! That's another thing, South Africa is rainy in January, yes, wet summers, why did I not know that before I left...with out my nice Cal umbrella...
And that first week there were no others moved in to the dorms yet because we all arrived well before classes commenced, enough time to check out the local bars, walk around the (contaminated) Duzi River that runs through town, check out Howick Falls, and just get to know how each other and how we ended up so far from home. It feels like those first few nights were quite a while ago, but really only about 6 weeks ago.
The internet was slow to come...did not have access for a while...But obviously, now I got it, and my friends over here told me exactly how EASY it was to start a blog, and even they were tech illiterate and managed to do it so i must at least try, so, now, here we are.

I think in the future my postings will be briefer.

I hope this is a good way to relay information to people, about my activities, and about the culture and whatever else people send me emails about.
For now, I am going to just mention a couple things that I have already written home about:
-The exchange rate is unbelieveable: 1o rands to the dollar, a beer at a bar is 8 rand, at a club it is 10. Bottle of wine at Checkers (their equivalent to Safeway, a 5 minute walk from the residence) is 25 rand.
-There is a strong Zulu culture here, while there are other African tribes, Xkosa (click at the beginning of that word), Sotho, and then a lot of students from Zim and other countries in Africa too, the Zulu culture as the provincial name may imply, is prodominant.
-I know a few Zulu words: Sawubona (we see you) Yebo (yes) Ungani (how are you) Ng'yaphila (I am alive) Ubuntu (about people helping each other) Daga (weed), and there are a few others...not coming to mind at the moment...
--Everyone is very friendly, always greet each other, on campus, hallways, with "Howisit" a rhetorical statement you both say...sometimes resond with "good, and you?"
--A lot of Indian food! Bunny Chow is a cheap (4.5 rand at Kara Nichas, two minutes from the dorm, or 12 rand at Bollywood Curries, where its spicy and meaty and the owner likes to tell us stories about local history and politics) and tasty, basically take a loaf of white sandwich bread and cut it in half, scoop out the middle and scoop in curry, you have bunny chow, like a South African version of chilli bread bowl.
--They do get snow around here, in the mountains, and at nearby elevations, too.
--the Drakensberg mountains are breathtaking, we did a silly silly thing and hiked (hitched...a couple k's) the Sani Pass into Lesotho, wow! 26kms in a day, that is what happens when you get a lot of young, dont know betters in the same crowd...haha! We stayed at the "Southern Hemisphere's Highest Bar" YEAH
--I have been volunteering at the KZN Church Council, doing intake work on HIV patients, working with a community advocate, Sanele, and at the Ubuntu Children's Center outside Edendale, cool place, good for the kids with no where else to be, they go to school, eat meals, practice praising God, take care of one another, too. lovely, affectionate kids and teens.
--I am taking classes, I swear, Animal Science (Herbivore Physiology), Microbiology (Virology), Food Science (we talk chemistry and get to cook :), Poli Sci (internship based, ie, the above volunteering)

Read what you can from above, long, I know, but really I could go on, I want to go on, but Emily is sitting next to me saying "Wow, going to town on that first entry" so i am thinking I won't get many readers if I ramble much more.
Ciao.