Last Stop

Yebo! We are actually at our last stop in Cape Town! I have had the most amazing time during the past few days. Yesterday morning we woke up very early to get to the bungee jumping site! I am so surprised that I wasn't even nervous during the car ride. I had an excellent run in the morning on the shores of the Indian Ocean in Port Elizabeth---so the bungee jumping didn't even phase me until I actually got up on the bridge. It starts out with a bridge walk where you're basically walking underneath the bridge in order to get to the middle. On this bridge walk, you're walking on a meshy metal that is completely see-through! You can see all the way down to the very bottom. This is the only place that we were allowed to look down before the jump. Then we got to the platform that we were going to jump off of. There were a lot of guys there (the staff people) and they played loud music, I think to get us relaxed. There were 11 of us from the group jumping. When it was my turn to jump, I just had the biggest smile on my face the whole time. They yell "5-4-3-2-1 BUNGEE!" and then you're off! It is the most incredible feeling in the world. I would do it 100 times again. When the bungee part is over, you just sort of hang there for awhile...while all of the blood rushes to your head! The first thing I said to the guy who pulled me up was "my head hurts!" Anyway, enough of that. You all should do it.

From there, we headed to Tsitsikamma National Park. This place is absolutely beautiful. We got there before dark and I took lots of pictures of the ocean and huge rocks which I will post on here soon. This morning we woke up really early to go for a hike. It was pretty long and treacherous, but awesome. At the end, there was an amazing waterfall.

After the hike, we had a long drive to Cape Town, which is where we are now. We got here only a few hours ago, so I haven't had time to look around the town. We are here until Friday and then we're home! Time has gone so fast. I'm not sure I'm ready to leave this amazing place.

Back to the Ocean

Hello all! I almost didn't have a computer today so you're all lucky for this post! I have a few things to tell you about since the last time I wrote in Mthatha. We did our homestays while in Mthatha. I must say, that was quite an interesting experience. My friend Kelly and I stayed with an older couple for the two nights. They were both very nice but very soft spoken. We were told that the man was a doctor by the woman who set up the homestays, but that was it. When we got to their house (which had EVERYTHING---a workout room, a hottub inside, a huge TV, etc.) they gave us our bath towels, told us where the tea and coffee were, and said they would see us in the morning. Kelly and I were scared to ask about using any of their awesome stuff so we just sat in her room and chatted until we were tired enough to go to bed. We were expecting to spend the night talking with our host parents!

Anyway, the next morning, we woke up bright and early for our day on Nelson Mandela. At the host house, we had a nice breakfast and finally were able to chat with our host dad. We found out that he is an OBGYN and owns his own practice. After breakfast, we headed to the Nelson Mandela Museum. From there, we all squeezed into a 23 seater bus to drive to Nelson Mandela's birthplace. I must say, this was one of the most interesting things we have done---mostly because we were able to meet Nelson Mandela's grandson. Before I say anything else, I have to tell you that he was certainly not a reflection of Mandela's views on human rights. He spent much of the time telling us about the Xhosa tradition and how women are not allowed to leave the community/lots of other things about the limitations on women's lives. When we first arrived to this place, we went into a small rondavel to talk about the tradition--and the first thing this guy said was that women were not allowed to sit on the ledge seat provided. They (we) had to sit on the mats on the floors. He then proceeded to talk about the tradition making very blatent remarks about the roles of women in the society. He said that he was to provide everything the woman ever needed. She never had to work. At this point, I just couldn't keep my mouth shut! I replied with, "Don't they get bored?!" So yes...I basically talked back to Nelson Mandela's grandson, but this guy was a joke! He was supposed to be talking to us about the importance of Mandela and he spent his time degrading the African women. Ah well. It's a cultural thing and it's sometimes useless to have an argument with the men here but it really upsets me that some of these people think this way when they've come so far with racial issues.

Other than that, we had a pretty laid back day. When we arrived back to our homestay house, we had dinner with our host dad. The host mom (who we found out is an anethesiologist) was doing an operation, so we only had three. They didn't cook anyway, their workers made us dinner. We did have a nice conversation with the host dad about politics. He wanted to know about the American system and we wanted to know about the whole issue with Zimbabwe/South Africa. It's very interesting and messy, so let me know if you want to talk about it! I don't have enough space to write about this sort of stuff in here! We also learned that both of our host parents went to medical school with the great Black Consciousness Movement leader Steve Biko.

The next morning, we headed to Hogsback Mountain. I'm not exactly sure why we stayed here, but it was nice! Right in the middle of the mountains. In the afternoon, on the way here, we had a Steve Biko day. We went to the house that he group up in and was banned to after he had led resistance movements and had lunch. We also visited his gravesite. Study up on this guy. He's sort of second generation leader, but he was just an awesome leader. When we arrived at Hogsback we had a quick/not so great meal, and I ended up going to bed early! After so much going and going, sometimes it's nice to just get a good night's rest. I did, however, wake up early to take a stroll up the mountain. I got a few great pictures of the sunrise. The scenery in this country is absolutely beautiful. Everywhere we have been, there are either mountains or ocean!

Now we are in Port Elizabeth, which is sort of a weird town. We're right on the Indian Ocean, but for some reason, this town seems to lack culture. I'm not exactly sure what it is---perhaps so many English/Afrikaaners? It's a bit of a shock! Tomorrow we're off to Tsitsikamma National Park where I will be (Mom, don't read this part) bungee jumping and canopy walking! I'm excited for this adventerous day! After that, we're headed to Cape Town and then back home next Saturday! I'll keep you all posted on everything that happens.

Mthatha!

Hello all! We've arrived in Mthatha and a friend and I randomly stumbled across an internet cafe---yay! We're also finally back to civilization after a long week in Kokstad. All of us in the group joked about forming a Real World-Kokstad, where everyone just goes crazy due to the lack of civilization! That would certainly be interesting airtime!

Anyway, not much going on here. We're just on a lunch break after a 2ish hour drive. The drive was beautiful. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures, but we went right through the Drakensbergs the whole time. One of the funniest things about the drives here is the livestock right in the middle of the road! Yesterday while a group of us went for a quick trip to the grocery store, we were stopped by about 50 cows just walking in the middle of the road! Also, while on my run yesterday, I passed by a sheep farm and every single sheep looked at me as I ran by. Silly animals :-).

Yesterday we had yet another braai, but this one was prepared by our bed and breakfast hosts. They are awesome cooks and it was certainly the best braai yet. I was actually not too excited about the braai beforehand because they have not been that great the last few times, but this one was excellent. Great chicken, some really good potato bake stuff, couscous salad...carrot cake...the food was amazing! Other than that, we had a very laid back day. I did about 3.5 miles, came back in and took a bath, and then laid by the fire with a few friends from the trip. I am making some really great friends here, which I'm really excited about because they all go to State! We even have one with a possible wedding in the near future!

That's all for now. I'm assuming I'll be able to access internet again soon, so keep checking! I can't wait to show you all my photos!

We're in the Mountains!

Hello all! We've finally gotten access to internet! One of the people that run the bed and breakfast that we are staying at also has an office with 7 computers so we're able to use them for a short time!

So, we arrived in Kokstad on Wednesday. I'm very impressed with the place that we are staying in. The meals are incredible :-). I'm pretty sure I've gained about 10 pounds since being in S.A. even with the running! Anyway, amazing meals...soup every night to begin and then something else delicious to follow. It is very cold here though! We're in the Drakensberg Mountains and it's winter here. Thankfully, we have heated blankets on our beds.

On Thursday, we went to a rural primary school. I am amazed at how few resources schools are provided with. They hardly had any books. There was a funeral in town that day and many of the teachers went to that. There aren't any substitutes though...so most of the students were left on their own. There were hardly any students actually in classes. Many of them were just running around outside and they were just being given busy work because they didn't have a teacher. The kids were awesome though. Very cute. We had two little boys that just sat in a seat in our van the entire time. They were young and didn't know English, but they loved just sitting there. All of the kids were asking about Beyonce and Chris Brown :-) We just had to keep reminding them that America is very big and none of us know any celebrities!

After that we went to the secondary school in the same town. They also had very few resources and you could tell that they weren't as trained in English as some of the schools in Durban. I did, however, get some very good questions from the grade 12 students. They asked about inflation in America and other different things that I cannot imagine a 12th grade class in the States talking about! I love to see kids asking so many questions. I got contact information from the principal here in case I want to make this part of my program in 2010 that I have to come up with all by myself because they aren't running any official programs here in S.A. that year!

Then yesterday, we went back to the primary school to paint one of their buildings. It was hard work but the community loved us! It took until 1pm to paint the whole thing but I talked to a lot of the kids there too. One boy was telling me that he would really love to come to America to do music. He was so sweet and hopefully he will get to fulfill his dream, although I have been trying to convince all of the kids here to stay in S.A. and become teachers!

Today, we did some more painting at a quintile 1 primary school. A teacher there said that about 80% of the students are orphans. This is just unbelievable and very sad. I wish that there was more I could do. They seemed very happy with our painting job but I felt like I should be doing more. We gave all of the kids there (there were only 5 because it's Saturday and there wasn't school) sandwiches and apples that we had from lunch.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. Next we're off to Mthata for homestays which should be very interesting. Take care!

Leaving for Kokstad Tomorrow!

Hello all! Just a quick post to let you know that I most likely will not be able to access internet for the next few days as we are going to a very rural area in the Eastern Cape. We will be staying at a bed and breakfast type thing and visiting a few rural schools and having lectures as well.

Not much to say about today! We went on a toxic tour of Durban in which a man from the environmental agency here took us around and showed us some of the terrible waste management and the like that is going on. They have oil refineries built right next to neighborhoods and soccer fields! He said many of the people in this community have cancer and they're trying to work to make it more difficult for these refineries to expand.

In the afternoon, we went to the Victoria Street Market which was a bit too hectic for me! They have a lot of gifts and such but everyone is trying to get you into their shop to buy stuff. I bought a few things but it was so overwhelming.

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Back in Durban

Hello from Durban! We just returned from a long weekend in Hluhluwe Game Park (I was spelling it wrong before...whoops...). It was pretty fun! Just like camping. We stayed in these things called rondavels, which are cylinder shaped hut things with thick straw roofs. It took us about 4 hours to drive there on Friday. However, before going to the game park, we stopped at our first actual rural school.

I cannot believe how much of a contrast there was between this school and Westville Boys. Basically, this school had only 3 buildings with separate classrooms in each. They didn't have toilets, only pits for the students to use. They also didn't have any fields or anything for the students to do recreational activities. The most surprising thing is that this school was ranked in quintile 3. I'm not sure if I explained this before or not, but the quintiles basically determine how much funding the school recieves from the government. Quintile 5 is the least amount of funding, and usually the schools with the highest school fees. The principal at this rural school told us that the government had originally ranked them in quintile 2 and considered them a "no fees" school which means the students are able to go there for free. When it came time for the funds to come in, however, the government only gave the school the funding for the quintile 3 ranking. The principal said that they are able to go to the government and complain, but that really doesn't get them far. So basically, this school doesn't have the money to do anything...especially because they are not able to get any school fees. I cannot believe what the goverment can get away with here. The principal also told us that about 30% of the students that attend the school are mothers.

Anyway, after this short visit (we were not allowed to observe any classes because the students were preparing for exams), we headed for Hluhluwe. The first night that we were there, they set up a buffet for us with tons of food. I filled myself to the brim with desserts! The next day, we woke up very early to go on the game drives. The drive itself is 3 hours long and you're not guaranteed to see anything. Thankfully, we got to see some zebras and giraffes. There were also lots of deer type things, birds, and a few monkeys! The rest of the day was devoted to resting and reading (more resting than reading!). On Sunday, we woke up and started off for Durban again. During the trip, we stopped at the largest salt water estuary in South Africa. It wasn't toooo exciting, but I did get to see some hippos! They make the funniest sound ever...like a huge cow.

Not much has been happening since we have been back in Durban. Today is AIDS day so we had a lecture on HIV/AIDS which was really informative. I think one of the biggest problems here is that people are not getting tested. There is this stigma behind getting tested (which I think is probably the same everywhere...) so people are just going about their business without even knowing. This seriously scares the hell out of me for their sake. The spread is so fast and there are so many people that don't even know they have it.

To wrap this up, I am so glad that I am learning something new every day. I'm trying to talk to everyone as much as I can and learn as much as I can about this country. It is such a great experience, but I feel like I need to be helping more and there is so much more I could be doing. Perhaps I'll take up a collection when I get back to pay for a few kids' school fees. I don't know. Hopefully I'll be back online by tomorrow or Wednesday! Take care.

Going to Hluhlue Soon!

This will be a short post, but I needed to get one in before we leave for the game park tomorrow! Unfortunately, I attempted to put up some pictures but the computers here are slow so I haven't even been able to upload any! Hopefully I'll be able to put some pictures up soon...

Anyway, today we visited another primary school. I haven't been too thrilled with visiting the primary schools because this really isn't my area of study, but I've been sticking to the older classrooms anyway. The school was called Paul Sykes Primary and I was impressed again by the implementation of different cultures within the classroom. I sat in on a grade 5 class during and Arts and Cultures lesson. The students were learning about drama, and when I looked through their activity books, they had many different types of cultural expression (Zulu and Indian dances, different art forms, etc.) Each classroom had about 45 students---and for those of you unfamiliar with the set-up in the states, usually classrooms do not have any more than 25 students. The teachers here have to deal with almost double the children! The school also teaches Zulu as a subject.

After I sat in on this class, we went out for the break with the kids. This was a bit overwhelming because all 1,200 kids that attend the school were outside with us! I had a group of about 20 kids surrounding me and asking questions. They are so cute..asking if I have ever seen any celebrities and all about snow. I'll have to post pictures once I can finally do that! They are OBSESSED with cameras :-)

After the break, John insisted that I go to the doctor because I have been sick for a week now. I went, it took about 20 minutes and then I left with medication in hand. It was so much different than in the states. Even though the people here have to pay for insurance, the doctor did everything for me for free. We said, "Do we pay up front or how does this work?" and he just said not to worry about it. He had the medication right in the office too! Crazy. Also, it turned out to be some bronchitis thing...I'm fine though...just a sore throat and stuffy nose. Thankfully, I've still been running on the boardwalk here in Durban!

After going to the doctor, the whole group went to UKZN for a lecture. It was a really interesting one about the balance between caring and teaching. This woman got me thinking about what it means to be a teacher. I'm hoping I figure this out through my many experiences prior to taking a job.

Anyway, that's all I have for today. I think I'm going to shop in the mall now (2nd largest in South Africa!) I most likely won't be posting until Monday because we are going to Hluhlue Game Park tomorrow afternoon. Have a great weekend!

School Visits in Durban

Hello again! I decided against going to a jazz show tonight at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal because I am still sick and really just want to sleep :-( Thankfully, I found my camera cord so you all will get to see some pictures in this post!

On Monday in Durban, we went to the Clairwood Boys' Primary School. This was the first school that was visited (besides UKZN and Univ. of Pretoria). It is amazing how much you can learn just by looking at how education works within a country. This school was an all boys school with grades R (Kindergarten) through 7. When we first got there, we were greeted by the headmaster of the school and a few other council members that I believe were also teachers. I was a little shocked that the headmaster was so forward about not getting his school fees for the year. At this school, students are charged 950 Rand for the year (even though this is a public school). The school is run by mostly indians but almost all of the students that attend the school are black africans---and some of them travel very long distances to come to this school because it is better than the schools that are in their rural communities. The headmaster seemed very flustered that he only had about 20% of the school fees in for the year, which is understandable because this school get limited funding for upkeep. Although they are allocated a certain number of teachers that are state paid, everything else in the schools is run like a business. The schools have to pay for rent, electricity, service staff (cleaning people), textbooks, and anything else they need themselves. Another interesting thing about this school is that the primary medium of instruction is english. This begins in grade R. Although almost all of the students at the school speak isiZulu, there is only 1 teacher at the school that even knows this language. The students also learn afrikaans later in their schooling...which hopefully is starting to die out because this language is really not necessary to be learned in this country...

I sat in on a grade 7 class at Clairwood. The boys seemed very giggly and were eager to ask us questions about rappers we may have seen or if we drive mercedes! The kids were extremely polite and nice. They called all of us "Ma'am." I was not, however, impressed with the teachers. The teacher of the grade 7 class told me that she was not into reading south african literature because it didn't interest her at all. She also said that she hated Kuito--the most popular south african music. I'm not sure why she told me these things but I can't imagine having a teacher that didn't care about anything that had to do with her own country. Yes, she was indian, but she was not even first generation. She also said that it would be impossible to even teach isiZulu in the schools.

Yesterday, we went to Summerfield Primary School in Chatsworth (which is still part of Durban). This school, I felt, was doing a much better job at incorporating the different cultures of the children attending the school. The school had a mixture of black africans and indians, but it amazed me that every single student in the school was required to learn isiZulu. This is incredibly advanced for any of the schools I have heard of here. The students also learn english, afrikaans, and the indian students learn arabic. The headmaster here seemed very open to incorporating the different cultures in any way possible. Even at the end of the year concert that the students put on, they represent all different cultures. This was incredibly impressive. The school fees here were also much lower at R200 per child per year. I had a great time talking with the kids outside when they were on break. (I did sit in on a grade 7 class again, but there isn't much to say about that! The teacher left the room for about 20 minutes and left me and a friend to entertain/ask the kids questions! What a way to put us on the spot!) The kids were just interested in what it was like in America, while I was just as interested in asking them questions about South Africa. They are so willing to talk.

Today was a much different experience. We visited Westfield Boys' High School which is a former Model C school (all white, very well off). Here, the school fees come in at a whopping R20,000 per year. Now imagine what the differences must be. Mind you, all of these schools are public. There are hardly any schools that do not charge any type of school fees (which is very surprising to the people here). This school was mostly white students, with a few indians, and very few blacks. I suppose this is better than what the school was like during Apartheid, but it's just disheartening that this school with so many resources is where all of the academic power is and where the students who really succeed in the country are going to school. There is no way that many of the black families here could afford these fees. The school was a bit extravagent. They had every type of sport field imaginable, a swimming pool, an entire separate house dedicated to art...it was unbelieveable. I felt more uncomfortable here than in the other two schools!

The funny thing is, although Westfield was so extravagent and quite lovely, the hospitality at Clairwood and Summerfield was so much better. Even though these schools were obviously much poorer, they treated us to tea and desserts--and Summerfield even fed us an amazing lunch! The people there were so respectful and glad to have us. At Westfield, although we did get tea, we had to stand behind the entire staff to get it...and there weren't even enough seats for us to sit down. We were also not allowed to sit in on any classes at Westfield because we would be too much of a distraction...

Anyway, these past few days of school visits have been very interesting and I've certainly learned so much. Tomorrow I believe we're going to a township school which will also be an interesting experience. I'm going to make a separate post for pictures, so have a good night and I hope everyone is well!

The Last Few Days in Pretoria and Travel to Durban

Sawubona! Sorry it has been so long. We haven't had internet access since last Wednesday and now I must write a book to keep up :-) I have been having a great time but I definitely miss Pretoria now that we are in Durban.

On Wednesday night, which seems like forever ago, we went to a play called "Silent Voices." It was really interesting...I didn't quite understand the plot, but the basic story was that money isn't everything in life. The actors were great! After the show, we went out into the lobby and they were having a jazz night. There was a bar there and everyone was watching the ManU-Chelsea game. The jazz band was awesome---very talented. This club/bar was a black bar so they really weren't used to having a whole slew of whites in there but they took to us well! When one of the songs began, a few of the people there grabbed our hands and pulled us on stage because none of us were dancing! At the end of the night, EVERYONE was dancing together. It was an amazing experience. While Pretoria is incredibly conservative in terms of race, it was just a really neat sight to see a bar full of whites and blacks dancing together.

Thursday, we travelled to Soweto. Look up Soweto because there were some very important uprisings there in the late 70's. Basically, the African students there did not want their primary language of instruction to be Afrikaans anymore (which is basically the language of the opressor in this country) so they revolted. Many of the students were killed--including a boy named Hector Pieterson, in which there is a museum named after in the town (which we went to). Soweto also has Nelson Mandela's house before he was taken to Robben Island.

After the Hector Pieterson Museum and lunch, we went to the Apartheid Museum. For this being one of the most important museums in this country, I wish we would have had more time there! We got there late and only had about an hour and a half---I think we needed over 2 hours! I saw some really interesting things there and will be doing a lot of research on Steve Biko--one of the leaders in the anti-Apartheid movement. It is just unbelievable what people have gone through in this country. The police brutality is especially disgusting.

On Friday, I was unfortunately sick with a bad sore throat, so I couldn't attend the morning lectures. I did get to sleep in until 11am, with only a few interruptions from the cleaning lady who "would love to come to America!" I felt better later and was able to go to the Union Building (which we couldn't even go inside!) and the U.S. Embassy. I didn't really like the embassy...it looked like a huge cinder block and the security there was a little unreasonable. The programs being implemented here by the U.S., however, seem pretty effective. They are recruiting a lot of U.S. teachers to teach here because there is such a shortage. The also have a Fullbright program in which you can volunteer to spend the summer here and work in the schools --which I believe I will be taking advantage of in 2010. I love it here!

On Friday night we had a traditional braai (barbeque). I had some awesome chicken. A lot of the students went out after the braai (which they regreted Saturday morning), but I stayed in and invited the tour guide from Freedom Park (Goitsemodimo) to come to the lounge and talk to a friend and I. We had a great time just talking and playing cards. We taught him B.S. and he taught us Crazy Eights. The people here are amazing to talk to. They all have such interesting stories. Goitsemodimo, for instance, dropped everything he had to become a motivational speaker. He is one truly happy person.

Saturday was our travel day. We went from Pretoria to Durban in about 8 hours. On the way we stopped in a township called Zonkeziswe. The townships here are incredibly poor but the people are still so happy. We took a tour around the township and met some people that run an after-school program there. I chatted with a 15 year old boy named Packemahni for quite some time. He was excited to talk to me about the ManU game (probably because they won!). I asked him if he liked living there and he said he did but he wants to come to Michigan State for college :-)

When we finally arrived in Durban, all of us were very tired. My first impression of this city is not that great...they have a lot of crime here and the people in general are a bit more standoffish. Not that I haven't met nice people, but it's just not like Pretoria or the townships. On the first night, a black boy came up to me in this food complex and told me that these Indian girls were being racist towards him. When the girls saw him talking to me, they said, "what the f*** is your problem?" He let them know they were being racist and they said something awful in reply and walked away. Maybe the problem in this city is the fact that there are so many different people. In Pretoria, I was the only white person on the streets in the morning and everyone said hello and good morning to me, or at least smiled. The best part of Durban is that we are right on the beach and it's a lot warmer here!

Yesterday, I woke up early to run on the boardwalk and then 8 of us headed over to a place called SteetWise for a carnival. Basically, StreetWise is a program for boys who have been on the streets and want to have a better life. It is a residential complex and I think about 50 boys live there. I was helping with tye-dye. They loved it and I now have very colorful hands! It's really an interesting experience to talk to the kids here. They seem so mature. They also like it when I ask them to teach me some isiZulu :-)

I will save the rest for a later post since I have written so much already. Thank you for being patient with my late posting and I hope you all are having a great summer!

Voortrekker Museum and Freedom Park

Now I feel like I have to write a blog every day! We have finally been having some free time in the afternoon, so hopefully I can get to the computer more often.

Today started with a lecture from a professor at the University of Pretoria. She was British and her lecture was about 20th century South Africa. While she was definitely not as biased as the Afrikaaner lecturer, I still felt as though she was making excuses for the way the non-whites have been treated in this country. (In my last post, I failed to mention that the terms for the people here are black, coloured, indian, and white---these terms are all fine to use.) Even our South African driver, Dan Dunn, said that many of the whites here will not admit to supporting Apartheid even though there was a huge support when it was actually occuring. It's a bit disheartening to hear all of this, but is really opening my eyes to what is going on here.

After this lecture, we began our education course with John. I was much more engaged in this as we were comparing the logistics of education in the U.S. to that in South Africa. Unfortunately, there are many similarities between the two systems. I cannot believe how much has not changed in South Africa since Apartheid ended. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but an informal Apartheid is still occuring because black children cannot afford to attend the other schools with the better resources. I wish there was something I could do about this NOW. This reality, however, is making me feel the need to come back here and really figure out the system. I think the price of the plane ticket would be worth making a difference here.

After the morning lectures, we went to the Voortreker Museum. To keep it short, this museum is basically celebrating the Dutch colonists (Afrikaaners). It was a bit sickening to see...

Freedom Park was a completely different experience. Although the park is not finished, what will become of it is amazing. It's basically a park that celebrates the liberation of all people in South Africa. We also had an amazing tour guide that I will be keeping in contact with. This man had so much heart. He is the chairman for the African United Youth Organization and he is only 26! He is working to bring unity to this country. Hopefully I will be able to meet up with him again soon and really talk about some of the things he sees going on here.

I don't have much time left on the internet, but hopefully I will be writing again soon. I hope you all are enjoying reading this and please do some research on the xenophobia going on here. I'll be bringing back newspapers, but it's important to know what's happening. It's incredibly tragic and the people here are really unhappy about it. Sorry for all of this depressing news, but I really am having a great time and am learning more than I ever thought I would!

Finally Here!

Hi everyone! I am finally sitting in an internet cafe in Pretoria, South Africa! Sorry for the delay in posting, we have just been incredibly busy! I am certainly learning a lot so far and having a wonderful experience.

I'll start with the incredibly long plane ride...I think I can handle anything after that! We started at 11:50AM in Detroit. That plane left on time and we arrived in Atlanta 2 hours later. The plane from Atlanta, however, left an hour and a half late because the computer system had a message popping up that they "needed to get rid of or else they would have to document the error message." I'm not sure why no one wanted to just write the darn thing down! Anyway, I slept for almost all of the 18 hour flight. I attempted to watch Juno 3 times but I just could not stay awake! We arrived safely in Johannesburg around 5PM.

Beth and I went to sleep pretty soon after dinner. We're staying in this guest house here that is a part of the Tshwane University. It's pretty nice and the beds are very comfortable! It was hard to wake up on Sunday but they only serve breakfast until 9 so I figured I should take advantage of that :-). After breakfast I slept again for about 4 hours! Exciting trip so far, I know... Sunday evening, however, was great. We went out to an Italian restaurant to celebrate a 21st birthday of one of the guys on the trip. We had some excellent South African red wine and a delicious meal.

On Monday, we began school. This was after I went for my first run in the streets of South Africa! It's awesome, but I do get a lot of attention! Probably because there really aren't any whites in the part of Pretoria we are staying...and I have red hair! For these first two days, we have been having lectures at the University of Pretoria---one of the leading white universities during Apartheid. A lot has changed, but I must say, our lecturer that morning had some interesting things to say. Although her lecture was about colonialism in South Africa, she tended to add her own opinion into the topics. She mentioned that if the blacks really wanted to make the whites feel bad, they should stop all of the crime and violence currently happening in South Africa. All of us in the group were shocked that she said such a thing...of course, she did live through Apartheid and is a white Afrikaaner woman. From what I've been told, that's the mentality of most of them. The rest of her lecture reflected a similar opinion towards the black South Africans. Later yesterday night in our debriefing, everyone seemed pretty angry about what she was saying.

Another side thought--I don't know if this is on the news in the States or not, but there is currently a huge xenophobia going on in South Africa. With a 45% documented unemployment rate, there has been a lot of violence here toward immigrants, legal and illegal. In Johannesburg, the native Africans have been killing immigrants and burning their houses. We are safe, but this is such an unfortunate thing to be happening. It's on the news and in the papers every day and the government/authority is doing nothing. Let me know if this is airing in America...I'd be curious to here about it.

Today, we had a much better lecture on education in South Africa by an Indian woman professor from the University of Pretoria. It was sad to hear that many things about the system still haven't changed since Apartheid ended in 1994. The schools are not run by the government, which means the heads of the schools can set any price they want in order for children to attend. The problem then is that the more priveledged students (who are, for the most part, white) are the only ones able to attend the schools with more resources (computers, etc.) The black, coloured, and indian children are then forced to attend schools that are not as good, and do not cost money to attend. More on this later. It's really just a sad reality.

A few other things---they drive and walk on the left side of the road here! I'm going to need to get used to that. I'm sure by the time I actually do, I'll be running into people on the right left side of the Meridian Mall! My time is running out for the internet so I miss you all and hope you are having a great time in Lansing!

-Erin