Well I suppose I will go over the past ten days so you guys can have a clue of what I have been up to here in South Africa. We have been on campus mainly for the past week. The first 6 weeks of school here is really intense so that we are able to get finished with classes faster, that way we are able to enjoy all the amazing things around us! So pretty much my days this past week were all about school. I am taking the language course zulu here, so I will be able to communicate with the community better. It is easier said than don though. I have a lot of words to study today. I really do like it though.
I know I am being kind of scattered here but I need to catch up. The campus here is amazing! I didn’t think it would ever be this beautiful! Like right now I am sitting in my room with the window open listening to the waterfall outside my chalet (thats what the mini houses are called here). It is so pretty! Everything is green and overflowing!
There is a nature reserve right next to campus so me and the other kids here go on walks in the morning. There is zebras and gazelle and deer all in there. We were all a little skeptical about the zebras because no one has yet to see them...until we did one morning! We went at around 6 am on Friday morning and we saw 4 zebras! One was a little baby! It was amazing!
I have developed somewhat of a routine here. We have breakfast at 7:30 and then teatime at 10:30, yes there is teatimes! There are my favorite and I have grown accustomed to them. I think everyone has. Anyway then at 1 pm we have lunch. Then at 4 we have another teatime :) and then we have dinner at 6. So I base my days around that. I usually have class at nights except on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I have the days to run around or do homework. We have gone to the mall here a few times. Its like the ones back home but a little different. Its not as easy to find stuff you need and the brands are different. Im sure we will get used to it though.
Gosh there is just so much to tell! Yesterday we had a day trip. We went to the birds of prey exhibit thingy outside. It was ok but if you ask my aunt Dawn you would know birds are my least favorite animal. I mean I love all animals they are just the least interesting. But there was a little show which was nice. I was just excited for what we were going to do after! Go to the lion park and see lions up close! We ran into a glitch though unfortunately. Our group is so big that we had to split up into two groups. I was in the second group. The first group got to close to the cages because the guy who was there said they could and didn’t stop them. Well the boss lady came and saw this and yelled at everyone and said we couldn’t go up to the cages. So the second group didn’t even get to to see the lions! I was quite disappointed :( Reagan got a full refund though. But it still sucks. But atleast we will get to see lions in the wild not behind cages on our safari. That will have to suffice. I think I can live with that haha. We then went on a little tour of Pietermaritzburg which was cool. We got to see the train station that Gandhi was thrown off of for being colored.
Last night a big group of us went to dinner at the Keg and Hedgehog just down the way. The food was amazing! I had a chicken fajita. It was nice to get off campus and choose your meals. They feed you a lot of meat here. It was a lot of fun!
Then today we went to church. There were three different churches you could choose from. I chose a church that seemed kind of like the ones back home. It was really nice and everyone was really friendly. The younger kids out age gave us little flyers to fill out or names and a little african flag. I really liked it. I do want to try out the other churches though. There is an indian one and another one called family circle I think. So we will see which one I choose to go to next week.
So as I am writing this a monkey was outside my window on the chalet roof next door. There are everywhere here! They are cute but I guess they are really mean. I haven’t seen it yet so I still like to think of them as cute. But the boys here do think they are cute at all. They have a paintball gun for if they are being bad. But the boys just go around shooting them even if they aren’t doing anything. Or they through rocks at them. Whatever floats your boat I guess, I would never through a rock at a monkey. I mean if it was chasing me I guess but not for sport.
Well I have to go finish studying for zulu. I have a big test on tuesday and I have to remember a million verbs! So I will end with a zulu word to teach you all. Sawubona! It means hello. I guess I should be saying goodbye though but I don’t know how yet haha.
Love you all!
-Dani :)
