Mountains and Cow Tongue

Well it has been another week that has shot past. I cannot believe we have been here for a whole month! That is insane!

This past weekend we went on a hike to the Drankensberg Mountains. They were breath-taking! It was so much fun. We got to see the San Bushman cave paintings which really looked like graffiti at first. We got to hike all around these beautiful mountains, it was a blast. On the way down we walked next to this river and a bunch of us decided to jump in it was so hot. The water felt amazing! And there was a little rock slide for us to all slid down on. Some areas even reminded me of Mariposa, like the river. These mountains were so pretty. When looking at them, and every where else in South Africa, I wonder how anyone could ever see this place and not believe in God.

The food has gotten to be a little annoying. All we eat is MEAT, MEAT, MEAT, and more MEAT! I have eaten more meat in this last month than I have eaten in this past year. The meals have gotten a little repetitive. We have the same 7 meals every week pretty much. This includes a weird mystery meat and rice, noodles, ground beef, and cheese just put together in some sort of casserole, dry roast beef, and soggy french fries and pizza ( this is one healthy meal huh). It really isn’t that bad I just long for grilled chicken, a good salad, and burritos! To be fair we did have chicken enchiladas last week with guacamole which was amazing! I dont think I have loved a meal so much in my life. On Friday we did go to an italian restaurant and I got a fantastic pizza! Omg was it delicious!

Ok so I complain about the food on campus, but nothing compares to what I ate yesterday, absolutely nothing.

So I am not sure if I have mentioned this before but in our zulu class we have zulu pen pals that go the Grace College. They are in high school and we write back and forth with them in zulu. So yesterday we had the privilege of going to Grace College and visiting our pen pals. They were so sweet that they even made us traditional zulu food. Well this was an adventure for our mouths. Everything was pretty normal, like the bread which is delicious! And there was some sort of beans, and a really good pumpkin thing. It was when our zulu teacher got to the meat we all got nervous. You wont even began to guess what it was, COW TONGUE! Im cringing at the thought of eating it again. I couldn’t even chew it. I tried to but then realized that the texture was horrifying and just swallowed it whole. The flavor was good but the feeling was just gross. Slimy and bumpy and nasty. We all put on brave faces as we tried not to offend them, but it was definitely a challenge. My pen pal was really sweet though, they all were so nice! They showed us around their campus and even did a dance for us. I hope that we get to see them again. And i promise that he was happy to see me even though he is not smiling in the picture haha.

Well I should be studying for a zulu test I have in a few hours. I do not know enough to be ready for this test! But I just found out the grading here is different than at home. Apparently a 75% here is an A at home. So if I get anything above a 75 I am ok. I have been getting A’s on all my previous test so this makes me happy. However this is not a motivator to continue studying. Pray that we all do well!

Sizobonanna!

Love you all :)

-Dani

Monkeys, Coffee, and Zulu.

This last week went by really fast. I guess we had a lot to do homework wise it is all a little bit of a blur. I have realized one thing though, I have a little more understanding on why people hate the monkeys as much as they do.

Upon returning from our weekend in Pennington, the monkeys were menaces. I think that they got used to us not being home for a couple of days so they decided to become freaks and run all over our chalets. This was a problem when we got home. They were very feisty on Monday to two girls and surrounded them. They were able to get away. Then a some point Jamie and I were in our room and our big window was open and a monkey tried to get in! I yelled at it “get away” but it just looked at me. Then I lunged forward and hit my chair and this did the trick. It ran away. The next morning on our walk we come up to the nature reserve gate and behold, a gaggle of monkeys. There were like 10 mulling about. They saw us and started to disperse but everyone was scared to walk in. I really thought it would have been fine. Monkeys don’t scare me. Yet anyways. Well we turned to take another route and good thing we did, because when they saw us leave they all went back to their spots and about 20 more came out! It was MONKEY MADNESS! Really there were like 30 monkeys! It was cute to see the babies! They would hang under their mamas. It was adorable. Then we went on our walk. I still didn’t understand why everyone was so afraid of these creatures. Until.....

Later on in the day me and my friend Alyssa were doing homework in the dining hall. I look up in the doorway and what is there staring me right in the face! A monkey!!! I didn’t act scared because your supposed to act tough and jump towards them a little and yell. I really wasn’t scared though. I knew what to do. There is a saying that a lot of people use, “Futsac” im not sure what it means but I think it might be a bad word because someone said it in zulu class and the teacher said never to say that to a zulu person haha. Anyways I yell “Futsac” and hit the chair expecting it just to run out the door. But no. It stands up on its hind legs and jumps towards me and Alyssa and growls!!! It GROWLED!!! We then continued to scream and run to a corner until a man came out of the kitchen and scared it away. We were both shaking for a long time after. Now I understand peoples fear of the monkeys. I still dont think I would throw a rock or shoo them with a paintball gun. However I do like them a little less. I suppose I may throw something in protecting myself it it were to attack me.

Another thing that I have beginning to realize is how much coffee I am consuming. I know that I drank a fair amount at home, but here I seriously drink it all throughout the day! I think because it is always there so im like hey why not have a cup of joe. But I wonder if it is getting to be to much. Im still able to sleep. So I guess when that becomes a problem I will stop. I miss starbucks!!! The coffee here is good, especially when you add some hot chocolate, it becomes like a mocha. But still nothing compares to a white peppermint mocha.

In Zulu tonight we got our zulu names from our teacher! It was exciting. My name is Nonhlanhla, it mean princess of happiness. From now on I want everyone to call me this from home too. Haha no im just kidding.

I am so excited fro all that is happening this semester and so excited to share it with you all! Love and miss everyone! Sizobonana!!! ( see you later in zulu)

-Dani :) or should i say Nonhlanhla!

Weekend spent with the Indian Ocean :)

So our weekend in Pennington was a pretty good weekend indeed. We had a little car trouble on the way there. It was a little frustrating. A trip that should have been a hour and a half about, took us.....almost 7 hours! it was a little annoying just because it was sweltering hot and me being a red head can only take so much. But it all ended up being ok. We are a fun group so we made the best of the situation. We arrived at the camp site later than expected but it was all good. We were all super tired so we really just ate our dinner or pizza with vigor, then crashed into bed. We awoke the next morning though super early, because we wanted to see the sunrise over the Indian Ocean. Which as you all may know doesn't happen in California. The sun only sets over the pacific. It was really amazing and there were crabs the size of my fist scurrying around in the tide! I guess those are their sand crabs haha. Unfortunately I do have to admit that though it was very pretty, I don’t know I it was worth waking up at 4:30 for haha. Im glad that I did though I guess. But like my friend Nicole said, “its just like a sunset, but backwards.” We had a little giggle on that one. But really it was gorgeous and we got some cool pictures. The crabs were really cool too.

After that we went back to camp and had some breakfast. Then we spent the day walking around an Indian community and market. It was sort of like a street in downtown L.A. But way more crowded. The people were so friendly and a lot asked us how we were liking South Africa and how long we were staying an what not. We were very hard to miss, considering our group was a group of 53! We were noticed everywhere we went.

Then was the best part of the trip! THE BEACH!!! It was amazing! The water was so warm. It was kinda too warm in the shallow parts but out towards the ocean it was perfect! The waves were massive! The water was really salty too and burned my eyes a little but I was too busy having a blast to notice. All 53 of us were crammed into this one section. We had to stay in a certain part because of sharks! Scary huh! We all came out alive though. It was so much fun! We were in there for hours.

That night we had a barbeque with some of the youth from Indian churches. We had curry! Well it was called Bunny Chow. I think they made it less spicy than usual so I really liked it. It was really interesting to see how much the Indian kids in S.A. Were like us from the states. I guess it just shows that kids are kids and everyone has the same problems.

The next day we were split into groups and sent to different churches. Myself and about 7 other students went to an Indian Church. They treated us kind of like we were famous! They reserved front row seats for us and they were taking pictures of us throughout the whole service. Even when we were praying haha. Me and my friend Angie were like do we smile? haha. They had us stand in the front and they presented us with a S.S. keychain and they prayed over us. At the end they had us stand by the door so everyone could come shake our hands and kiss us. I have to admit it was kinda of awkward at times, especially the picture taking part. But they were so welcoming and loving towards us! It was so nice. Then we went and had lunch at the pastors house afterwards. It was an interesting meal for sure. The food was very delicious though! And not to spicy. The women didn’t eat with us though. They just served us. It was different being in that culture. The pastor we realized liked to talk a lot. He had many opinions on politics and how pastors are these days. I felt that none if us were able to get in a word edgewise. Talking it over with my intercultural communications class afterwards I realized that we were treated like a minority. Which I know we are here in South Africa, but we have not yet experienced it. At lunch we did. Our opinions didn’t seem to matter. Everything he said was right, while what we thought, if it contradicted him, was wrong. He even asked us at one point if we knew what salt was? Seriously? That like my favorite spice. It was a very different experience, one that I will always remember. Despite this lunch, which was not as bad as Im making it sound, the Indian people were a pleasure to meet. I will not forget the kindness and hospitality that they showed us. I hope i remember to treat all visitors to my church at home the same way. Anyone for that matter!

Overall this weekend was a look into the culture here and how they live. There is a saying here, “T.I.A.” This Is Africa. Which means that time is not as important as it is back home. The people take their time in doing things here. Schedules don’t really exist, and plans are not always made. That was hard for a lot of us to handle. We have been on schedules our whole lives practically! It was definitely frustrating to be waiting as much as we were this weekend. My professor claims they had so many things go wrong on purpose, and moved slow on purpose, and stayed off of schedule on purpose. He also claimed thats why we didn’t have a schedule at all. Just to help us be immersed in their culture and way of doing things. Bologna! I mean I guess towards the end we were all like we will just do what they tell us, and go with the flow. I guess thats how south africans live. But it was really hard! Not to have a schedule and a plan, especially with so many people. I didn’t realize how much I need structure and schedules! I didn't think it was that important haha.

Altogether it was an amazing weekend! Especially the beach! It was a great experience that I am so blessed to have been apart of, even along with the delays and waiting.

Love you all!

-Dani :)

Indian Ocean!

Well this week has gone by super fast! My test in Zulu went well i got a b! which is way better than i thought i would do. This weekends weekends homework will consist of studying for next weeks verb test. yay! but enough about homework. I just finished packing for the weekend. We are all going camping on the beach! well not really camping, we are staying in cabins but thats what the professor called it. Im so excited! we are staying with an indian community and we get to cook with them and experience their culture. Did i mention we get to go to the beach! but not just any old pacific ocean. We get to swim in the Indian Ocean! How cool huh! The water is supposed to be really warm so we will see. The weather is supposed to be really nice and hot which has its ups and downs. I will hopefully remember to put on a lot of sunblock so i dont get burnt which i always seem to do.

This week was good. Mostly consisted of school and eating. We went to visit our service sited on wed. In a couple of weeks we will start going to a site and helping out with whatever they need. Im really excited! There was a site that was a relief house for abused women and children. I really hope i get that one because its not just that specific thing. You also get to help with a feeding scheme which is like a food shelter. So you get to help cook and serve the homeless. And you get to work at a school. S0 you get to see little kids some but not too much. We visited another site which was a school for young kids. It was really fun! I just think i would be better suited for the other site. There is also 3 other sites that we have not seen so i might get one of those too. It will just be nice to help out others in the community in some way.

Today at chapel we had a guest speaker named Sean Wisedale. He was the first South African to climb Mt. Everest. Imagine being the first person on your continent to do something! He told us all these crazy stories about all the mountains he has climbed. It seems crazy! He is a film maker so i got his dvd and i cant wait to watch it. I want to climb a mountain now!

Well its lunch time now. Then we leave for the ocean after! I will tell all about it when i get back!

Love you all :)

-Dani