Hi all!! This past weekend we went on a safari expedition to St. Lucia, the largest game reserve in all of South Africa! I’m studying here through a program called Interstudy, and this excursion was prepaid for as part of that program. It was amazing; my three closest friends I’ve made here are also in the Interstudy group so that made it the best. We had awesome accommodation; there were 4 people to one room/suite (2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, living room, and kitchen! It was like a mini house). The game tour on Saturday started at 6:00 A.M! Good thing I’m a morning person… But it was actually so easy to wake up for it; I was SO excited to see a simba up close and personal! Our guide was incredible, he told us stories about how he’s been attacked by a lion and had his jeep lifted up by an elephant’s trunk! He would spot the animals, pull over, and explain cool facts about the species. The first animal we saw was a giraffe, then we saw zebras and buffalos pretty soon after. In total we saw a lion, zebra, giraffe, buffalo, wildabeest, worthogrhino, hippo, and crocodile! It felt like I saw such an awesome, essential part of South Africa.
Besides that awesome little get away, my life here is getting very interesting. The longer I stay here the more Durban feels apart of me, I’m learning so much about different aspects of culture here. We’ve been spending a lot of time with my friends Thando, Clarence, and Thabiso (Tubs for short). We hang out in the township that Thando lives in to have braiis (delicious, amazing barbequed meat!) and that is always a hilarious adventure. The boys we hang out with don’t quite understand it, but for a white girl to show up in this township isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence. So we get a lot of “Can I get your picture??” and how many cows they would offer us to marry them. Part of it is funny and comical, but after the 15th person to tell us how beautiful we are (translation: you’re American and we think you’re rich) gets a little ridiculous. But I try and just laugh it off, its something I’ll miss.
For a while Tubs and I kind of started liking each other, but it is a whole different world here. It’s hard to get close to someone when we expect such different things. Just a small example, the other day when the braii meat was done, I took a knife to start cutting it and got yelled at by my friends because “girls don’t cut meat”, I’ve never wanted to slap someone more in my life. Some parts of Zulu culture are just a little backwards to me, but it’s been fascinating getting to know a different life. This isn’t why things with Tubs and I are over, but a lot of little things like that I think accumulated and I just got really sick of it. To put it simply, a lot of the boys in relationships here don’t show as much respect as I think I would want. But it was a very mature, mutual ending and I like being his friend so much more! He’s hilarious, and kind of an ass hole at times, but when I’m not thinking of him as someone I’m interested in as more then a friend, then I can just laugh it off and look at him as a friend who makes me laugh. Win win!
Let’s see, what else is happening in my life. Classes are trucking along. In my Understanding Violence in South Africa class we just watched the documentary “Bowling for Columbine,” a film by Michael More. The facts/images/ideas of America portrayed here is astounding. I think people look at us as one collective unit; a patriotic, gun loving, war obsessed, selfish country. I wish they could understand how diverse American political systems and thoughts are, because it really makes me feel horrible to have my country be looked at in such a negative light. It gets so tiring having to defend myself, my country, and my culture. If I had a dime for every time someone told me (excuse my language) “American culture is so fucked up” I would be filthy rich. I knew that America didn’t exactly have the best reputation world wide, but I didn’t expect this much hatred. It’s good because most people are able to understand the difference between America and Americans, and are able to get to know me as a separate idea from my country. It was just pretty comical, almost awkward, to sit in that class during the documentary. I wanted to make a little disclaimer saying not all Americans are so violent/ignorant. But it was a learning experience as is everything I am experiencing here!
My Zulu class is awesome as always. I can’t believe I’m learning a little bit of that language. I had my first test/oral and I got a 76%, which here is a B+!! Couldn’t believe it, I can actually speak some Zulu! Gnithanda ukufunda isiZulu! (I love to learn Zulu!) That class is the easiest to make friends in, because it’s relatively small and we all kind of make fools out of ourselves. Just now I met a girl who just moved from Jo’burg and had lived in Cape Town as a little girl! So awesome, I want to see both of those cities SO badly. She said she doesn’t know much about America but she really wants to visit “Route 66”. New friend, yay!
I’d say about 90% of the people I meet here, my first conversation is one of race. It’s awesome because I think I mentioned this before, while there is apparent racism, everyone is so open to talking about it. Even Tubs admitted to me yesterday that this country’s issues with race are very backwards. Clarence told me that if he were to bring me home to his Grandma, she wouldn’t let me in the house because I’m white. So interesting to hear someone honestly admit this. On Friday we met Tubs’ friends who are “colored” (mixed, they don’t actually know what they are, just a mix of many different ethnicities) and Tubs was explaining that their culture is a world apart from Zulu culture. I made a joke about how that sounds pretty sweet right now, because the aggressive/loud/stubborn aspects of Zulu culture have been starting to get on my nerves. But we have been spending so much time getting to know Zulu way of life (which I’ve been loving) and it would be so thrilling to get to know a different culture. Yesterday we met Thando’s family, his mom and mom’s sisters. They are so sweet, all very young and so excited to meet us. Thando’s cousin (who we all call his brother, cousin isn’t really a concept, your Dad’s brother’s family is the same family as yours) is dating one of the Interstudy girls Elena, which is how we met all these boys. It was such a fun time meeting them!!
It’s kind of scaring me that it has stopped “hitting me” that I’m in South Africa. Lately my mind has finally wrapped its head around becoming a part of a culture that is infinitely different then the one I grew up in. Little pieces of South African life are tiptoeing their way into my life. This one I love—Instead of saying “really??” or “seriously?” everyone says “is it?” It just sounds prettier. And “how are you?” is “how’s it?” And “bro” or “dude” is “bru”, which rolls off the tongue a whole lot faster. Later Friends!! Thanks again for readinngg
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