First Real Week in DURBAN

The view of Durban and the Indian Ocean from

the top of the Moses Mandiba Stadium

This week has gone by quickly. What started as an intro to homestay family life soon spun into lectures and classes and ZULU.

Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday our schedule typically is two lectures in the morning, and one after lunch. The lectures are each two hours long, and all of our attention spans are a bit tested. A bit is putting it lightly. But we need this info to truly grasp what SA is now, has been, and will be. Zulu is everyday, and very difficult.

My favorite lecture so far has been about Gender Issues. I don't know why to took traveling across the world to make this so evident, but gender issues are clearly where my passion lies, especially regarding issues of sexual abuse and rape. Our guest lecturer- a commissioner from the Gender Equality Commission- kept saying that gender, genetalia, and power had a weird connection and relationship, and I think that statement is. so. true.

Things in my family have been good. It's always an adventure, though... Examples: the neighborhood monkeys constantly intrigue me/freak me out, my little 'boyfriend' got a cell phone some how and calls me and has me set alarms for him to know when I'll be home (I don't know why I'm so intriguing to him... although sometimes I wonder if I represent white people to him.), my dad accidentally walked in on me in the tub today, I am constantly sitting amidst rapid Zulu conversations I don't understand, and there are legit chameleons in the house that turn the color of the wall and eat bugs and smaller chameleons.

Besides adventures within the homestay, we also have adventures outside of the classroom. Wednesdays are our excursion days, and we went this Wednesday to the Warrick Markets, which are amazing and huge. These markets have been protected by an NGO, and the founder of it gave us a mini-intro lecture and tour of the markets. He was amazing, and reminded me so much of my Chicago communities... He believed strongly in empowering people to create informal businesses that are self created and providing. He had a particular vision of a city being about people, not corporations. I can't describe it well, but it was amazing, and his love of the market was beautiful.

This morning we helped with the Cato Manor Youth Empowerment project, which provides a free breakfast to school children. Like in the US, meals at school are often the only these children recieve, and the free meal can be really important for them. The little kids poured into the classroom to receive their little portion of eggs and margarine-and-bread sandwiches we made. Afterward we had an interesting adventure trying to wash the plates and cups in buckets with a community tap.

Wednesday night we also had the opportunity to hear slam poetry at the Bat Centre, right on the harbor. It was so intense, and amazing. I felt so alive and excited listening to the poets, doing a mix of their own work and things that inspired them. One read a part of Kahlil Gibran's "The Prophet", and I almost yelled with joy. Haha.

My relationships here are being blessed. My friend Kelsey and I are having a lot of fun, and I feel really lucky to have her friendship on the program. Annie is with us a lot (we were roommates at the second monastery we stayed at), and she is so hilarious. Everything out of her mouth makes me laugh. She's a rugby player, and was very excited for me to have my first beer at the soccer game. She documented it with about 30 pictures on her camera. Tommy is also in our little 'group', if you could really call it that- everyone in the program is pretty fluid and gets along well. A few of us had a long conversation on the beach this afternoon about faith and patriarchy, and faith/religion, and it was great. I needed a break from lecture and it was a good end of the week to stand with our feet in the surf and talk about anything and everything with no schedule. As I type this I'm sitting across from Annie, sipping a mojito, looking at the beach and surf from a restaurant with internet... THANK GOD FOR FRIDAYS. : )