National Anthem

This is the South African National Anthem. The first two verses are in Zulu, the third verse is in Afrikaans, and the last verse is in English. I guess that the National Anthem used to be in Afrikaans, and then they switched it to this:

Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa South Afrika – South Afrika.

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom,
In South Africa our land.

Pietermaritzburg

Today I went to Pietermaritzburg with the Dyers, Glenda’s parents. We drove for about an hour to their nephew’s house. They have a nice plot of land, I think about 4 acres, and have a pool, and small damn for paddling their kayaks, and a lot of old cars. Wayne’s newest purchase is a double decker bus from London. It is apparently gross and disgusting inside from vandals before he got it, but it still runs and occasionally the brakes still work. We had a wonderful lunch with the family and then drove home. Pietermaritzburg is very similar to other towns in Durban, just a little cooler since it is further from the coast.

One thing that is great about living in a different country is meeting different people. I think that one of the best ways to see what it is really like in a foreign place is to meet people and see how they live, what they eat, and to spend time with their family. All of my experiences so far have been great and I have met a lot of wonderful people.

Too Hot!

I think that I am in hell—and they don’t have ice water. They don’t even have Diet Coke. They have Coke Light, but it just isn’t the same. It is so hot and humid. I ‘had’ to go to the mall just to walk around in the air conditioning. I was just commenting the other day how the locals said that February was the hottest month and it really hasn’t been that hot. I should have knocked on some wood or a tree or an entire forest, because now it is incredibly hot. And now, the locals say that February AND March are the hottest months. Who are they to just add on months of hotness? I didn’t think that I would say it, but I wish I could be in the snow!

Hockey

I think that Coach Bradley must have told Durban Girls High School about my basketball duties because I am now in charge of U14 indoor field hockey. I don’t have to coach the girls, which is good because I know nothing about the sport. I have gotten the jist of the game fairly quickly since I went to a game and a practice, though. The girls have practice on Mondays for about 45 minutes at a field house about 5 minutes from school. Most of the U14 girls have never picked up a hockey stick before in their lives, so there is a lot of ‘learning’ going on. Their games are on Saturdays and last about 30 minutes (they play two 15 minute halves.) Since I am required to do some sort of extracurricular activity for at least 2 hours every week after school, I figured that hockey wasn’t a bad deal. They have about 5 weeks left of practice and only 3 games. The entire indoor field hockey club at the school consists of about 9 teams. They have a few ‘Open’ teams which are mainly the Juniors and Seniors, a few U16 teams, and a few U14 teams. Only the top two teams from each age group get to compete, so the coaches pick the top girls after practice and those are the ones who get to play in the Sat. game. During the following terms I will coach softball and possibly help out with outdoor hockey or basketball. I am not sure what I will do during the 4th term yet—but hopefully I will learn another sport.

Here is the indoor practice facility. Games are played at a school in a different town.

Here is their version of dynamic stretching.

More on School

Here are a few more pictures from school. This is a picture of the gymnasium. There are no bleachers for spectators, so they must play all sporting events elsewhere. I am not sure what the wooden ladder type things are on the side of the wall, a former student told me that they were really old and they never used them when she was in school. She didn’t really know what they were either, she thought pull-ups or something. This is not quite like the Grizzly Den…but come to think of it I am not sure if they even have a mascot. Here are two of the gates at school. Yes, the students and staff are actually locked in during the day! This is the main entrance to the school with the two 24 hour security guards. The gates are opened at about 6:30 am and are closed soon after. There is an intercom that buzzes the main office if you are a visitor and security needs to double check that you are allowed to come in. There is also a ‘door’ entrance to the gate for foot traffic in the morning when kids come to school. This gate is where I park my car. The gate is opened at about 6:30 am and is locked for the night at about 4:30 pm. So, I must leave school (or at least move my car) by 4:30 pm otherwise I will have no way to get home and I will have to spend the night there.

Sweet Ride

Here is a picture of the car that I am driving. It is a Hyundai Getz and gets great gas mileage compared to my Explorer. I can fill up for about $20 and drive for about 3 weeks. I am also becoming an expert stick shift driver. I can parallel park this baby and even back it up a little hill to park it at school. Notice the red L in the back window…which stands for learner driver (I think that it stands for loser driver.) I suppose I could take it out since I am now an ‘expert’ driver, but I think that I will keep it in for a few more weeks just to be sure. One funny thing about driving over here is the stop lights, which they call robots. The lights can be on the left, right or both sides of the street, none of them hang over the street. Often times the lights are burnt out or are not working because thieves steel the copper pipe inside the pole because it is worth a lot of money. So, the street crews have to replace the copper pipe only to have it stolen again in the future.

Spelling

I have quickly learned that we do not speak or write the ‘Queen’s English.’ Here are some words that I found in the newspaper today that Americans spell ‘incorrectly.’ (MS Word actually changes most of them to the ‘correct’ spelling and I had to edit them.) I would like to know how the Queen really does spell these words. In South Africa they don't use the letter z very often if at all. And, they don't call it z, they call it 'zed.'

Fertilisation
Realised
Defence (I think that this came from the signs at football games)
Neighbourhood
Programme
Manoeuvre
Colour
Recognised
Centres
Behaviour
Metres
Foetus (fetus)
Favour

The Alien Fruit

I tried a new fruit today, the litchi. I like to call it the alien fruit. It sort of looks like a really prickly strawberry on the outside, then on the inside it is kind of iridescent white. Once you peel the litchi it is kind of slimy like an alien egg or something. You pop the whole thing into your mouth and spit out the pit. They have a flavor unlike anything I have ever tasted. Good, but different. I have also tried litchi juice and bought some litchi yogurt. I hope that it is desirable! I haven't found any litchi's in the grocery store, but you can buy them from people off the street...I wonder where they come from?!

Here is one litchi, they are pretty small.

Here is the peeled litchi--the alien egg!

Here is the pit of the litchi.

Local Fare

I started off the weekend with dinner and drinks at Waxy O’Connor’s. It is a pub just down the street from my house. I went with a new friend, Cal, who I will hopefully be going to Cape Town with over the April holiday. She parked at my house and we walked to Waxy’s since it was so packed and cars were parking by my house anyway. We ordered ‘Natchos’ and a wrap and shared them both. The nachos were pretty good—they make them with Doritos, but their Doritos over here have a lot less cheesy seasoning on them. The nachos had guac, pico, jalapenos, and sour cream, with tons of cheese on them. Overall they were pretty good ‘natchos’ especially since we aren’t near the Mexican border. We each had a couple beers, and I haven’t found any Bud Light yet. I am not sure what they consider ‘domestic, light and cold’ over here. Our total bill was about $14. What could be better?

On Saturday I went to the Essenwood Market. Every Saturday they have tons of vendors that sell homemade and imported goods and food. I bought some beaded key chains and a small straw purse. The prices are very reasonable. Some artists were selling some paintings that were very nice—I think that I will go back before I leave in Dec. and buy some to hang up in my classroom.

On Sunday I went back to the beach, a pay beach near the Suncoast Hotel. It costs 50 cents to get in but is apparently much safer since the cost distracts some of the clientele. I am not sure that I have developed any sort of a tan yet, this white girl is a little afraid of getting sunburned!

I also finally went to the Gateway Mall—the biggest mall over here. It had just about everything that you would ever imagine. It is in Umhlanga, which is about 30 minutes away from where I live. I found some new slops (our flip-flops) and a couple shirts to send home to family. Some of the stuff that you can buy over here is a lot cheaper than in the states, but if you want nice quality then the prices are pretty much the same. I also bought some mosi (short for mosquitoes) killers. No one told me that you plug this liquid bug killer potion into an outlet (much like a glade plug-in) and it helps the mosquitoes from attacking you while you are sleeping. I kept waking up with bad bug bites and I didn’t know how it was happening. I guess that it is kind of creepy to think that the mosquitoes are crawling into bed with me, but I guess that is what happens in a tropical climate. At least none of them have passed on malaria or wesnile…

Another thing that I don’t understand about this country is their electrical outlets. They have these 3-pronged outlets (none in the bathrooms, by the way) and then they sell products with only 2-prong plug-ins. So, you pretty much have to buy an adapter for everything that you own. It is strange. I had to buy Jo a new blow dryer (since I broke hers, long story) and then we couldn’t use it because we couldn’t plug it into the outlet.

I went to church tonight and the pastor said that about 70% of the population of South Africa lives on just one meal a day, which is usually rice and beans. They are going to have the congregation try and eat only rice, beans, and maize mush for 5 days to see what it is like firsthand. I think that I might be able to do it for a day or two, but then I know that I would cheat and eat other/more food. It is amazing for me to think about it, it kind of puts my life into perspective.

I made the local paper!

Last week I went to the United States consul general's house in Durban. We had food and drinks with other former Fulbrighters and people that work at the consulate. The consul, Jill Derderian is on the lower left and the other three people are working/researching at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Grocery Store

I went grocery shopping the other day and I wanted to buy some sliced cheese for sandwiches...they don't have American cheese. I don't get it? Is there another name for it?

Another Fun Weekend

On Friday night I went to see the Nashua Dolphins vs. the Cape Cobras cricket game. It is my first experience with cricket, so it was very interesting and I learned a lot. It was a short game, just 20 over’s. I guess that most games last all day long. The game came down to the last ball, and the Dolphins needed 6 points to win. The batter hit the ball out of the park (just out of the field) and scored the 6 points needed to win. It was so exciting! The atmosphere was very fun and the fans were great. The tickets were about $4, beer was about $1, coke was about $1 and food was about $2. I tried boerewors (it was like a bratwurst) and samoosa, which is an Indian dish that has a flaky crust on the outside with meat on the inside. They were spicy and very good. On Saturday I went to the beach with a lady I teach with and her family. We went to Antsy Beach near the Bluff. The sand was very hot, enough to burn my feet, and coarse—not a sandy white beach that we have in the states. I hear that the beaches up north have softer sand, along with the ones near Cape Town. The water was a little rough and there were surfers and boogey boarders catching some waves. The water was fairly shallow because there was a sand bar that went pretty far out. Further out in the water were the shark nets. They put the nets out and check them every day for any sharks that may get trapped. It is supposed to be a deterrent so that the sharks don’t come near the shore, but they can still swim under the nets and come in close. I am not sure how well they really work, but there haven’t been any shark attacks on the beach so they must help. Saturday night was the birthday party at school. It consisted mostly Afrikaners, so one of the girls that I teach with had to translate the speeches. It was very fun! There was a DJ at the party that played some American music along with Afrikaans music. My favorite part was watching the couples dance and then watching the parents teach their children to dance. The steps were similar to a 2-step (for those country dancers) but to all sorts of music.

On Sunday I went for a picnic in the Botanic Gardens. There were beautiful trees and flowers, and lots of shade from the hot sun.

This is a picture of the orchid room. It was closed on Sunday, so I couldn't go inside.

The Difference

So, over the past few days I have noticed the difference between the States and South Africa. Maybe it is the fact that I live in a 1st world country and here the 1st and 3rd world run together. On Friday while I was at school teaching my 1st lesson, I heard what sounded like fireworks, about 5 or so loud pops. Being from America, I would assume it to be black cats or something that happened to explode in the science classroom. Little did I know that it was a shootout between 8 armed robbers and the police. I guess the men had robbed a butchery, traveled along the same route that I take to school (just 2 hours after me) and ended up being killed by the police. I am not sure how close it actually was to my school, but close enough for me to hear. Two bystanders also got shot along the way.

The next ‘difference’ was on Friday night. We were driving to the cricket game when we saw two mothers and their sons walking along the side of the street. All of a sudden the women started fighting and beating each other up. The children were right there and started to join in after a few seconds. No one really stopped to help because they would have been beaten up in the process. I was glad that the robot (traffic light) was green and we didn’t have to see how it ended.

The last ‘difference’ is actually at my school. On Saturday night I went to a 40th birthday party for a teacher at school. She rented out the school to have her party. I was taking a walk towards the tennis courts with another teacher and she showed me the ‘house’ where the grounds staff sleeps during the week. I guess that prior to apartheid every ‘worker’ had a small room in which to live. I think that it is just enough space for a bed, toilet and sink, even though no one has ever really been down to look at the rooms. Today, most of the grounds staff sleep there during the week and then they go home on the weekends. Not all of them sleep there, some go home every night. It was very interesting and culturally normal for South Africa.