Study Break

Above, photos of "Agric" part of campus, where my classes are, the natural and biological sciences. We have a pretty nice area of campus. And then a I am putting up a picture from the third floor of the building, too, sometimes we chill on the roof before class starts and look out at the farm area in the distance...that is about all that you see in the distance. This is the week we get off between attending classes during the semester and writing exams which contribute a significant amount to our class mark. My tests are the 29th (one written, one submission), the 1st (written), and the 5th (one written). This week is genius because there is not pressure, it is just expected that you will choose to study more often than not…So, that is what I have been doing, along with cooking, and chilling out. A couple highlights of the last couple days (you know, the stuff besides studying virology and the such in my dorm room…):
Thursday was spent with some friends, just hanging out, studying a bit. Did some music swapping, really exciting to get new South African pop music, actually.

We went to Durban for the day on Friday, did a bit of shopping in the Indian (actually this would describe a large portion of Durban) part of town, Victoria St. Market and Workshop (Photo here of Kerry and Laurin at the Workshop area). In the afternoon, I went the beach with the intention of watching my friend learn to surf, but I ended up thinking, that is sooo easy, I could do that…so, I did try to surf, and man was that tough, frustrating! It was not till I got off the waves that I realized it IS really a cool thing to do. Just you and the natural tide, each wave is different so you never get bored. No boat needed (like waterskiing!!!), no snow needed (snow boarding), all you need is a board and the ocean, peaceful.

Last night We went to The Royal Show, past the main part of down, in the city showgrounds. It was like a county fair, it is going on all this week and last night was like the opening show night, a few opening bands performed then the headliner, Prime Circle came on (they are the hottest band here in South Africa and apparently one of their songs just went International, listen for it J ). Have to say, not my kind of music, punk-rock, but it was a cool experience to see how South Africans celebrate their music. Show aside, the fair grounds were fun, lots of advertising, lots of high school kids, a few rides, a few festive food stands, and during the day the shows range from cattle and horses and dogs to motorbikes jumping cars. After the show, the after party was at the local dance club, Crowded House, and that was jam packed with better music and dancing.

This morning, Sunday the 24th, was the Comrades Marathon, which has been going on for decades, it is a foot race between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, each year the direction alternates. This year it began here and ended in Durban. It is something like 55+ miles, more than twice a marathon!! And people actually finish, a whole lot of people in fact. This morning we walked down to town and saw the start, at 5:30AM. My friend Laurin joined in and ran the first 10k and back for fun. It was incredible to watch, 15,000 people went by, which took about 10 minutes, and that was at the start line! On TV we watched as the first runners came in, at 5 hours and 30 minutes or so, the female winners (for the last 6 of 9 years, in fact) were a pair of twins from Russia (32 yrs old). People come from all over this week to enter in this marathon. People do die from running it. Crazy. By the way, a lot of people just take it ‘easy’ and walk a good portion of it, just to say they did it, it takes them more like 11+ hours. It would be cool to say I did it someday. It is a big deal around here, there are many people that have done it for 15+ years, like addicts! But I say good for them. After watching the start this morning I went back to sleep for a while and studied more. Then my friend Mosima and I tried to imitate our favorite curry place’s food, we made our own bunny chow and I gotta say we were so excited--And Mosima loves taking pictures, so we can brag, basically, and well I have included a fair share of the photos...Good as the curry place in town, if not better. It was like a chicken curry stew we made, hot and spicy with veggies in it, then we scooped it into quarter loaves of bread and ate up. Mosima makes a good stew—she’s writing up the recipe for me to take back.

Alright, back to studying for us, there is a building on campus open 24/7, so as it is now past midnight, that is where we are headed to read for a while. And tomorrow, who knows? maybe some more studying?! And get the final results of the Comrades Marathon...how many people made it to the end? How many people made it under 8 hours? Ya, should be interesting news. To be honest, watching it on TV is like as exciting as the Olympics, at least the first few batches of people who are running all out...then the walkers are not as neat to watch, but still incredible to believe these people went so far in one day. Oh, and my friends recently told me that the marathon was started to commemorate the victims of WWII. It has been going on for 80 plus years. It supposedly is the worlds longest and oldest run!