Everyday Adventures…

Along with the travelling that I have been doing, there have been plenty of things going on in my day to day life. Of course I have had classes (which I am enjoying so far), my first round of papers due, a test, and a number of other activities.
One thing that I have always wanted to do is scuba diving, and what better place than South Africa? In order to dive, you need to become certified and it just so happens that classes are about ½ the price in South Africa as at home. With the ocean so handy and the price incentive, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to fulfil a lifelong dream. So myself and five others took a private class over the weekend of February 21st and 22nd and finished with a dive on February 28th. The class was pretty fun and I loved going on the dives. We saw a bunch of marine plants on the reef we were at, a lot of fish, a squid, and even a Ragged Tooth Shark that was about 6 feet long! Our instructor was also really cool and he agreed to guide us on some dives in the area, including night dive and a shark dive! I am really excited.
Another fun part of our trip has been the different sporting events that we have attended. The faculty director, Gary, is a pretty big sports fan, so he has arranged for us to go to a number of professional sporting events here. My favourite ones were probably the cricket matches that we attended. Cricket is a very popular sport in South Africa, so they have a well-followed professional league and one of the best national teams in the world. Since arriving I have attended three matches of Port Elizabeth’s professional team the Warriors, and they were a blast. They were earlier on in the trip, taking place on Friday February 6th, Sunday February 15th, and Wednesday February 18th. At first I didn’t really think much of the game other than a hard to understand and slow paced game, but towards the end of that first match when I started to understand it, things started to get exciting and I got hooked. We also attended a professional soccer game in PE on Sunday February 8th. I didn’t enjoy that one as much, but it was definitely a cultural experience. It is difficult to describe, but I would say the most interesting part would have been right near the end of the game, as PE was losing 1-0. All of a sudden maybe half or more of the couple odd thousand crowd stood up and, out of nowhere, started singing in Xhosa (a tribal language) to rally the team. This wasn’t the rowdy crowd type of singing that you would expect, but actually really good. Everyone was on key and there were even people singing in harmony. It was better than a lot of choirs that I have heard and is a great reflection of the large role that music plays in everyday South African life. We also went to a Rugby Match between NMMU and the University of Johannesburg on Monday March 16th. I enjoyed it somewhat, despite the fact that it was a pretty cold, windy, and misty night. There wasn’t anything too unique about it and was similar to any other college sporting event.
Along with all of that, we have more recently done a couple of special field trips for classes. On Thursday morning March 12th, for marine bio we took a trip to the Sardinia Bay beach for a practical on sandy beach ecology. We spent all morning on the beach collecting samples of sand and sifting through them, collecting the marine life that we found. It definitely makes me envious of our professor who, before we started, welcomed us to her “office” that was the beautiful beach we were on. We also had a little field trip for our South African Music class this past Wednesday night the 18th. A band called Babu had a concert at NMMU in the little theatre, so those of us in the music class went to that. The band was all instrumental and kind of a mix between Indian music and rock, with a guitarist, bass guitarist, a drummer, and another percussionist who played the bongos and the oboe. It was a pretty relaxed, the musicians were very talented, and I loved the music.
I am also enjoying the fellow students that are on my trip. All 30 of us have gotten to know each other pretty well and are having a good time. Being on a trip like this, we end up spending a lot of time together since we live in such close proximity and have all of the same classes, so I have really been getting to know everyone well. A favourite social activity is going to dance clubs in the area. Wednesday nights seem to be the popular night and we mostly go to a place about three blocks away called Toby Joe’s. We also have done a number of events put together by people in our group. One example is potlucks that we have in our flats. The 30 of us are split up into 6 different flats, so every other Tuesday one flat hosts a potluck. They choose a theme and assign the other flats dishes to bring and we spend maybe an hour or two just eating, hanging out, listening to music, and having a good time! My flat hosted the one on Tuesday March 3rd. Our theme was Bosnian food since one of my roommates, Boris, lived in Bosnia before coming to St. John’s.
Well, I think that’s about it for now. Life is still good down here, the weather is nice, and I am trying to experience “South Africa with no illusions” as Gary, our faculty director, would say. I am hoping to get a blog posted later this week on the various group excursions that we have done, so be sure and check back!
With Love,
Kirby

Picture Captions:

Top (Right): Three of us Scuba Divers getting ready for one of the training dives on Feb. 22nd.

Middle (Left): View from the stands at our first ever professional cricket match!

Bottom (right): Myself and five others on the trip, hanging out outside of the Library at NMMU! From the Left: Bree, Laura, Me, Jenny, Kelsey, and Nick.

Weekend trips!

Alright, get ready for some great adventures! First of all, the number of weekends available for travelling on our own is very limited due to the large number of group excursions on weekends, leaving us with only seven free weekends over the entire four months. Obviously there are a lot of sights to see, so we have been proactive as a group in planning and executing trip plans. The first weekend trip that I went on was on Friday and Saturday the 13th and 14th of February, a weekend where we had nothing planned as a group on Friday and Saturday, then a group excursion to Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Game Reserves on Sunday. A large number of us chose to visit Jeffrey’s Bay, or J-Bay as it is commonly called, which is a little more than an hour away from Port Elizabeth. Renting cars here is pretty easy to do and cheap, so that is the preferred method of transportation to our destinations.
So, we left for Jo-Bay on Friday morning and stayed until Saturday afternoon. Here is a very brief description of it: a surfer’s paradise. It is considered one of the top four or five surfing destinations in the world and each July the Billabong Pro surfing competition takes place, attracting surfers from all over the world.We stayed at a backpacker called Island Vibe, a really cool place on the beach with a great view of the ocean and the city. It was pretty cheap and a lot of fun in general, both very important characteristics. While there, we of course gave surfing a shot, something I had relatively good success at. A few of us also tried sandboarding, which is basically snowboarding on sand dunes by a beach in 90 degree weather! It has its ups and was a fun experience, but I prefer snowboarding. One of my favourite parts of the trip, believe it or not, was dinner on Friday night. We ate at a place called Die Walskipper, an awesome seafood restaurant situated right on the beach only a few minutes from our backpacker. It is open air, with nothing but a large tent and one wall that serves as a wind block for shelter, and the coolest part, the floor is sand! It was really relaxing and the group had a great time just hanging out and enjoying the evening! Overall, Jeffrey’s Bay was a great weekend trip and a definite highlight!
The other weekend trip that I went on was to Knysna and Plettenburg bay on Thursday and Friday the 26th and 27th of February. For those of us in Marine Biology, our last day of class for the week is on Thursday afternoon, so five of us took advantage of this and left right after class. It was a pretty short trip, where we had to be back by Friday night so that those of us in the Scuba Diving class (something I will touch on in a later blog) could go diving on Saturday morning.
We got on the road by 12:30pm on Thursday afternoon and arrived around 3:30pm. The initial plan was to do an overnight hiking route along the coast. However, due to lack of information, we arrived too late in the day to make the hike out to the hut we were planning on staying at. It was a surprising turn of events, but each of us explored some different options, and we ended up making some great plans. On Thursday in the late afternoon, we went on a little cruise of the Lagoon that the city is built around. It was very relaxing and a good time chatting with those I was travelling with. Afterwards, we went to dinner at a restaurant famous for its oysters, called the Oyster Catcher. We tried some of the oysters which were wonderfully prepared and something I wouldn’t mind having again. On Friday morning we got up relatively early and went on a hike about 20 minutes outside of Knysna. It wasn’t quite the ocean-side hike I was expecting, but it was pretty nice. It was actually surprisingly similar to those in Minnesota. Afterwards we stopped by Plettenberg Bay, stayed briefly, then continued on to our next destination, Monkeyland! As its name hints at, Monkeyland is basically a section of forest with a wall around it and a ton of monkeys inside then made into a tourist destination. We got really close to a bunch of the monkeys, and had a lot of fun learning about them. Afterwards, we checked out a bridge that spans a huge gorge, also home to the highest bungee jump in the world. We didn’t actually bungee jump that day, but took in the great view and mentally prepared for something that we will definitely do before leaving. Afterwards we headed back towards PE, which was itself an adventure I suppose. The driving is quite a bit different than in the US and the common practices have taken a little bit of getting used to. Besides driving on the left side of the road, it is common courtesy for slower moving vehicles to move partly or all the way onto the shoulder (without slowing down) so that faster moving vehicles can pass. You can imagine driving down the road with, for example, one oncoming truck passing another. Let me just say, I definitely gripped the steering wheel tighter in those moments! But it has gone well. On only a couple of occasions did instinct kick in and I accidentally drove on the right hand side, but luckily they were on remote roads.
So there is a little sample of what I have been up to since getting here. They were both great experiences and definitely make me excited for the ones to come!
I guess this blog did get a little bit long, so I apologize, but I will work on getting caught up. Sending my love from South Africa,
Kirby

Preview!

Well, I haven’t blogged in quite a while, which was completely unintended. I have been a lot busier than I foresaw, especially with my Senior Seminar and Lit papers that were due last week, then our group excursion to Durban this past weekend. I have been hearing some critiques of my blogging habits, and I will do my best to accommodate people’s wishes. So, to save you from having to read a novel, I am going to try and update it more frequently, and catch everyone up on the past few weeks. In order to help you (and probably myself) piece together what has been happening, here is a little outline of what I have been up to, mostly on weekends, outside of my normal routine.

Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th of February: Weekend trip to Jeffrey’s Bay
Sunday the 15th of February: Group excursion to Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Game Reserves
Friday-Sunday the 20th - 22nd of February: In PE
Thursday and Friday the 26th and 27th of February: Weekend trip to Knysna and Plettenburg Bay
Tuesday the 3rd and Wedensday the 4th of March: 1st two papers due :(
Thursday the 5th – Monday the 9th of March: Group Excursion to Durban

I hope that this helps, and rest assured, I will blog about all of these activities very soon!
With Love,
Kirby

Daily Life

Wow. It has been about two weeks since I last blogged, but so much has happened that it seems like a month! There is definitely a lot to tell, so bear with me with this one. It might get a little bit long. I am going to outline a little bit about daily life first, then I will tell about some of the adventures that I have embarked on since I last blogged.
If you were at all worried that I would be on a four month straight vacation over here, you are quite wrong, as I have been finding out the past couple of weeks. I am taking five classes for 18 credits, so it will be a semester filled with academic work, and along with that volunteering, traveling, and learning the ins and outs of the culture.
Our class schedule is different than the normal one at both CSB/SJU and here at NMMU. The classes that we take are only for those in our study abroad group, so the schedule is set according to what works best for us. Each has anywhere from 12 to 30 students and there is one period in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning period is from 9:00am to 12:00pm and the afternoon period is from 2:00pm until 5:00pm. My first class of the week is on Monday afternoons. It is South African Music, a class that is interesting, but a little bit over my head since the last formal music education I had was piano lessons in 6th grade. But I’m sure that I’ll get the hang of it soon enough. On Tuesday afternoons I have Senior Seminar which is required to graduate and is done on almost all study abroad programs even though basically everyone on the trips are juniors. Then on every other Wednesday morning we have a two credit service learning class. It is an in-class discussion on the volunteering we do at Pendla Primary School and House of Resurrection. We discuss the immediate impact we have on those we serve, how we can have a lasting impact on the organizations, and things that we can learn from the experience. On Wednesday afternoons I have South African Literature and my last and favorite class of the week is on Thursday morning, Marine Biology. Yup, that is not a typo; my last class of the week is on Thursday morning! As part of the program we have every Friday off. This is to free up our schedule for the multiple group excursions throughout the semester. It also encourages smaller weekend trips on our own so that we can get a full experience of South Africa.
Along with classes, everyone in the group can choose to volunteer at either the House of Resurrection Aids Haven or Pendla Primary School, both institutions that mainly serve underprivileged children from the townships. I volunteer at Pendla where we work as teacher’s aids. I am working with Dave, my roommate and Europe travel partner, as an aid to a sixth and seventh grade math teacher. We have only been there twice, once for orientation and once volunteering, but I already know that it will be a life changing experience. These children have so little, but they seem to smile all the time!
It is definitely a learning experience. When we got there the teacher we were to work with must have thought that we were education majors. During our orientation he told us what each class was learning about and then when we got there the first day he attended to other business while Dave and I taught class. What a scary experience! That day alone gave me unbelievable respect for any teacher I have ever had, because it is hard work. By the second class, we composed ourselves, made a plan, and taught class in a fairly orderly way, but we still have a lot to learn.
Obviously it got a little bit hectic in the classroom, but outside during recess is a blast! The first day the bell rang, the children of course rushed out of the classroom, Dave and I collected our things, then stepped outside. Once outside it was like we were magnets for little kids, because almost instantaneously I was surrounded by about ten or fifteen kindergarten and first graders. Each of them wanted to come close and play with me or even just touch me. They kept feeling my hair, pinching my nose, and holding my hand. After this little get to know you, I just played simple games with them. Running around with them, chasing them, picking them up, and of course giving them horseback rides on my knee. By the end of it, I was pooped, and then had to teach another class!
Needless to say, after the first day I was completely worn out. I had two hours before class, so I plopped down on my bed, closed my eyes, and was out like a little baby. I expect this to be a trend that continues all the way through the semester. Even though I was worn out, I loved the experience and can’t wait to go back.
So, these past two weeks have been packed with myself and the rest of the group getting used to our new schedules, starting classes, and doing the relatively little amount of homework to be done. I love it, I can’t wait for what’s to come, and it will definitely be difficult to leave in three months. That’s about it for now, but I will probably be writing again soon about some of the adventures we have had, so stay tuned!
I also would like to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. Anything I hear back is encouraging and is a reminder about my loved ones back home. I would not be here without all of you, so THANK YOU!
With love,
Kirby

SOUTH AFRICA!!!

I can’t believe that I am actually here right now. As I was explaining to the people I sat next to on my flight to South Africa, this trip has been over a year in the making. I decided to apply for this program in early January of last year, applied, interviewed, and was accepted by the beginning of March. That was a long time ago and made for a lot of buildup. But I am here now, and I am loving it!
In case you missed it, I have a separate post for the end of my Europe adventures, so be sure and check that one out.
Travelling went smoothly. I awoke at 5:45am on Tuesday, my flight left at about 10:00am, and I landed around 10:30pm in Cape Town. I met a very nice couple from Sweden and we exchanged contact information just in case one of us is in the other’s neighborhood someday. I was not quite done with my journey. I had a one hour flight from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth which left at 6:00am the next morning, so I spent a nice night in the Cape Town airport by myself. I got some reading done and had some quality time watching Planet Earth (thanks Hal!).
Wednesday was a very long day. I got to Port Elizabeth (PE for short) around 7:15am after almost no sleep the night before, and started orientation right away. It was a little bit difficult to keep from nodding off, but I made it! I spent the afternoon recuperating from the long journey, but that didn’t stop me from going to a club with some friends on my first night in South Africa!
I suppose I should introduce you to daily life before going any further. We will be living the rough life in a place called Langerry Flats, and they are right across the street from a beautiful beach! Just for your info, we bought some post cards of a beach in PE, and our flats are definitely in the background, so don’t feel sorry for me! They are pretty small, consisting of two bedrooms, one with two people in it and mine with three, a small living room, a bathroom, and a small kitchen. They are cozy, but definitely adequate. I, Dave, Zach (who I travelled with in Europe) share a bedroom, and the other two in our flat are Sean Suter, another Minnesota boy, and Boris Sekulik, who is from Bosnia. They are all a lot of fun and pretty laid back, so we’ll have no problem sharing the place. I would introduce you to the rest of my group, but there are 30 of us total, so that would be pretty hard to keep straight.
Orientation continued on Thursday, but was different and more interesting in my mind. We had a tour of the city and its townships. Our first stop was the port’s shipping docks for an explanation of what goes on there, we also stopped by the city’s center and founding spot for a little history lesson on PE, and we made a stop in a township near the outskirts of the city. It was all interesting, but the township is what stuck with me the most. They are basically slums or shanties where mostly black South Africans live. The poverty was almost unbelievable, and thankfully the government is working on building more suitable living conditions, but it is a slow process. We visited a museum there commemorating the struggle against Apartheid in the townships. Despite the poverty, I found the trip to the townships inspiring, because all of the people there seemed happy. When we arrived, there were a few children that happened to be outside the bus and they waved at us and when we got out, started dancing. As we were leaving, we saw people walking around and everyone smiled and waved at us like we were celebrities. We left the townships and fifteen minutes later we were at a shopping mall to eat lunch. Talk about your culture shock, going from such poverty to a shopping mall that is no different than any you would find in the United States in only fifteen minutes. After our city tour some friends and I walked across the street and checked out the beach! After a couple hours of swimming, body boarding, and a game of soccer on the beach everyone was pretty tired, so we went back, had some dinner, and most of us just hung out in the flats.
On Friday morning, I finished up orientation at NMMU (Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University), where we will be taking our classes. For the last of our Friday orientation our whole group attended a cricket match in PE that evening. I had basically never seen cricket played before, but by the end I was a screaming fan like the rest in the stadium! It was a really close game and the home team barely snuck by with the win! It was a ton of fun and we all got really into the game. The experience was definitely a step into their culture and I will not soon forget it. We were all in a festive mood, so after the match some of us paid a visit to a couple of nearby clubs and danced the night away!
Saturday was a very relaxing day. I got myself oriented to the neighborhood, got myself oriented with the beach a little more, and hung out around the flats a little bit. On the schedule for the evening was a braai, or a South African barbeque, with some locals. We were invited through a former SJU student who lives in South Africa and knows some people in our group. Everyone there was extremely nice, outgoing, and wanted to get to know us. It was a great experience and another fantastic look into the South African culture!
Sunday was another relaxing day (are you noticing a trend yet?). Every Sunday there is a little open air market all along the beach, so right across the street from where we live. They have almost everything imaginable, from purses and belts, wood carvings and food, to jerseys and electronics. I ventured down for a couple of hours with some friends, checking out the handiwork of those from PE. Afterwards, the whole group went to a soccer game between the PE team and another city team. It wasn’t too interesting until near the end of the game. We were down 1-0, and were looking kind of desperate. All of a sudden a few hundred people stood up and started cheering. They cheered for a few seconds then simultaneously started singing a song in a language I couldn’t understand. This might not be too surprising, except for the fact that the singing was really good! There were people singing in harmony and I don’t think I heard one person sing off key. It was better than a lot of choirs I have heard singing! I guess that’s South Africa!
Today is the first day of classes, but not for me and a few others. So, tomorrow is kind of the end of my vacation. I am excited to get into our routine and find out how classes are.
Well, I wish you all the best of luck staying warm back home and I will try and make an extra trip to the beach for you!
With love from South Africa,
Kirby

P.S. Here are the captions for the pictures

Top pic (right): The living room of flat 13 at Langerry. Cozy, but very adequate!

Second pic (left): The view of the ocean from the balcony of our flat.

Third pic (right): My bedroom.

Fourth pic (left): Photo of the taxis we take from the flats to school. They drive up and down the road, someone usually hanging out the window to "advertise" for lack of a better word, and pick anyone up who wants a ride. They're pretty economical, costing only about 60 cents per ride. It's a cultural experience itself!

Bringing Europe to a close…

Greetings to all of you freezing your rear end off in Minnesota and beyond. Well, I am going to split this post up into two separate ones, just to make it a little more understandable. I will finish telling about Europe, then write a separate post about South Africa.
I don’t think there was ever a dull moment throughout our Europe trip. When I last left off, it was Saturday and we had just experienced the atrocities of the Dachau concentration camp. Well, the next day (Sunday February 1st) was a travel day. But as I just said, the excitement never ended. We had to catch two trains in order to reach our final destination, Amsterdam. Everything with our first train went smoothly, but we were kind of nervous about our second one. We only had about 8 minutes from the time our first train was scheduled to arrive until the second one was supposed to leave. Of course our first train ended up being about 15 minutes late, our only train that was late the whole trip, so we missed our next one. It was more just an inconvenience than anything, because we were able to catch another train about three and a half hours later, it just drew our traveling out and put us a little on edge. We got to Amsterdam, took a cab to our hostel, and just hung out for the rest of the night.
On Monday morning my three travel companions departed for South Africa while I stayed in Amsterdam an extra day. Initially they were scheduled to fly on the same day as me, but their flight from Amsterdam to South Africa got cancelled about a week before we left. Basically their only option was to move everything to a day earlier. That left me to conquer Amsterdam alone. I looked at my options and decided to check out the Vincent Van Gogh museum. I found it was interesting and and eduacational. But I think, as they say, getting there was half the fun. I was pointed in the right direction, got on a trolley, and was left to figure it out. It was a little nerve racking, but I got there without too much hassle and felt empowered by my accomplishment. In the end I was glad that I got out of my comfort zone and got to know the city a little bit better. I spent the night in a dorm room hostel with five random people. After chatting and joking around a little bit I called it a relatively early night, for the next morning, I was to set sail for South Africa!
Peace,
Kirby

My Apologies

I have a couple of things to apologize to my wonderful readers about. First, I'm sorry for making that last post ridiculously long. Lots of stuff has happened and I haven't had too many opportunities to blog. Also, sorry for not getting any pictures up yet. I'm still trying to get that figured out (although I haven't spent too much time on it). If you have any tips, feel free to let me know.
Peace,
Kirby