Email #1
Just thought Id keep my emaails herer so i can read them when i get back
Hey Everyone!
Hope everything’s going well…just wanted to let u all know I’m still alive!! I’ve officially been here in SA for 5 days or so, and already I’ve done so freakin much.
I got here last Wednesday after almost missing every one of my connecting flights, and stayed in my host sister/exchange partner, Michelle’s apartment in Durban, a city about an hour and a half from my host parent’s home. We went out to 80s, a bar/nightclub with all her friends, but about 2 hours and a few drinks later, I had to leave since I hadn’t slept in like 50 hours or something ridiculous like that. The ridee home was the scariest thing ever, a bunch of drunk guys fighting over who was sober enough to drive me and Michelle home, which needless to say none of them were even close. The whole ride home I was just thinking that I was gonna die in Africa..but luckily I survived.
Durban is completely unlike any city I’ve seen-there are definitely the black and the white areas, and they rarely, if never, cross one another. The city itself is beautiful, though, right on the Indian Ocean. I got to eat dinner at Michelle’s grandparents house in Umhlanga (the h is pronounced “sh” in zulu) on Thursday night, and they seriously lived in the most stereotypical white South African house ever, and it was absolutely amazing. The food’s incredible too, kinda like good American food (if there is such a thing), but with actual flavor. Ha. (Oh and roommates- my host mum is teaching me to cook all this food for 418, thank god!)
Friday I finally got to come to Mtunzini, where my host parents, Penny and Mike, and my host brother, Nicholas, lives. I went to a Rotary bonfire thing that night, which basically consisted of a bunch of middle aged Rotarians drinking themselves crazy in the middle of nowhere. Fun times, though.
The house my host parents live in is absolutely like nothing ive ever seen before. They live in the Umlalazi River Resort, but its not like the type of resort we’d think of. It’s basically a collection of smaller “summer” homes on the Mlalazi River. I feel like I’m living in the middle of the jungle, Umlalazi is known for its rare birds which seem to be everywhere. My host family and some other family friends took the party barge out on the river on Saturday, and 2 minutes into it I saw my first crocodile, which I quickly took a picture of and then moved to the part of the boat that was the farthest away. Definitely not gonna get used to that.
Yesterday we went to this remote little camping area right on the beach in a very remote town called Amatikulu. We had a 4 ½ hour lunch consisting of prawns and raw beef, which was umm not something I’ll eat again to say the least. The long ride home on bumpy dirt roads with cows just roaming down the street with their zulu shepherds was another experience all in itself….
Today we just walked in the area around my host family’s house and I’m reporting this just for Conor so I can say that the monkey count is now to 2…I believe there was a 3rd, but the other two were looking at me so I ran away. Haha. You can take the girl out of the city…
The whole racial thing here has been more shocking than I even expected. Every white person I met is always saying “bloody caffers” to black people when we drive by, and they always make comments like ‘now we’re gonna smell like mutus’ if we stand to close to a fire or something, also referring to black people. There were two horrifying moments, however, one being when my host dad said “in America, they make apartheid look like it was a bad thing” (I almost died) and when (at the ROTARY MEETING mind you!!!! Thesse arer supposed to be some of the most peaceful people in the world) someone said the comment aabout smelling like mutus, and one guy said “no we’re gonna hhave to call them niggers now, because that’s whaat they call them in America, so that Lauren will understand”. I absolutely could not believe what I was hearing. Michelle and her frfiendss refuse to listen to hip hop or rap only because its “blacks music”, and do not have a single black friend. It’s definitely been an eye opening experience.
Well, I’ve got a trip to a game reserve this weekend, a 10 day trip to Cape Town starting next week, a 4 day trip with one of my dearest friends in the whole world that I met in France, Kim, to her grandmothers house in a nature reserve, another weekend trip to game reserves in Drakensberg, and then the 10 day safari through Northern South Africa. And of course partying in Durban during the weekdays. (My God these people can drink! I’m gonna have the highest tolerance when I leave…)
I miss you all, and hope you’re all doing well wherever you all are at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak out an email after the game reserve this weekend, but if not I’ll write when I get back from Cape Town.
Miss you all
Lauren
Hey Everyone!
Hope everything’s going well…just wanted to let u all know I’m still alive!! I’ve officially been here in SA for 5 days or so, and already I’ve done so freakin much.
I got here last Wednesday after almost missing every one of my connecting flights, and stayed in my host sister/exchange partner, Michelle’s apartment in Durban, a city about an hour and a half from my host parent’s home. We went out to 80s, a bar/nightclub with all her friends, but about 2 hours and a few drinks later, I had to leave since I hadn’t slept in like 50 hours or something ridiculous like that. The ridee home was the scariest thing ever, a bunch of drunk guys fighting over who was sober enough to drive me and Michelle home, which needless to say none of them were even close. The whole ride home I was just thinking that I was gonna die in Africa..but luckily I survived.
Durban is completely unlike any city I’ve seen-there are definitely the black and the white areas, and they rarely, if never, cross one another. The city itself is beautiful, though, right on the Indian Ocean. I got to eat dinner at Michelle’s grandparents house in Umhlanga (the h is pronounced “sh” in zulu) on Thursday night, and they seriously lived in the most stereotypical white South African house ever, and it was absolutely amazing. The food’s incredible too, kinda like good American food (if there is such a thing), but with actual flavor. Ha. (Oh and roommates- my host mum is teaching me to cook all this food for 418, thank god!)
Friday I finally got to come to Mtunzini, where my host parents, Penny and Mike, and my host brother, Nicholas, lives. I went to a Rotary bonfire thing that night, which basically consisted of a bunch of middle aged Rotarians drinking themselves crazy in the middle of nowhere. Fun times, though.
The house my host parents live in is absolutely like nothing ive ever seen before. They live in the Umlalazi River Resort, but its not like the type of resort we’d think of. It’s basically a collection of smaller “summer” homes on the Mlalazi River. I feel like I’m living in the middle of the jungle, Umlalazi is known for its rare birds which seem to be everywhere. My host family and some other family friends took the party barge out on the river on Saturday, and 2 minutes into it I saw my first crocodile, which I quickly took a picture of and then moved to the part of the boat that was the farthest away. Definitely not gonna get used to that.
Yesterday we went to this remote little camping area right on the beach in a very remote town called Amatikulu. We had a 4 ½ hour lunch consisting of prawns and raw beef, which was umm not something I’ll eat again to say the least. The long ride home on bumpy dirt roads with cows just roaming down the street with their zulu shepherds was another experience all in itself….
Today we just walked in the area around my host family’s house and I’m reporting this just for Conor so I can say that the monkey count is now to 2…I believe there was a 3rd, but the other two were looking at me so I ran away. Haha. You can take the girl out of the city…
The whole racial thing here has been more shocking than I even expected. Every white person I met is always saying “bloody caffers” to black people when we drive by, and they always make comments like ‘now we’re gonna smell like mutus’ if we stand to close to a fire or something, also referring to black people. There were two horrifying moments, however, one being when my host dad said “in America, they make apartheid look like it was a bad thing” (I almost died) and when (at the ROTARY MEETING mind you!!!! Thesse arer supposed to be some of the most peaceful people in the world) someone said the comment aabout smelling like mutus, and one guy said “no we’re gonna hhave to call them niggers now, because that’s whaat they call them in America, so that Lauren will understand”. I absolutely could not believe what I was hearing. Michelle and her frfiendss refuse to listen to hip hop or rap only because its “blacks music”, and do not have a single black friend. It’s definitely been an eye opening experience.
Well, I’ve got a trip to a game reserve this weekend, a 10 day trip to Cape Town starting next week, a 4 day trip with one of my dearest friends in the whole world that I met in France, Kim, to her grandmothers house in a nature reserve, another weekend trip to game reserves in Drakensberg, and then the 10 day safari through Northern South Africa. And of course partying in Durban during the weekdays. (My God these people can drink! I’m gonna have the highest tolerance when I leave…)
I miss you all, and hope you’re all doing well wherever you all are at the moment. Hopefully I’ll be able to sneak out an email after the game reserve this weekend, but if not I’ll write when I get back from Cape Town.
Miss you all
Lauren