Sometimes we rock and sometimes we roll

I just wanted to dance on the beach for you =)


So I kind of took today as a personal day so to speak. I just sort of walked around, without an agenda, heading wherever I felt lead. It was nice, relaxing, and in a way inspirational. I felt lighter hearted and more joy than I have in awhile. It was like flowers that had been beautiful before were multiplied and everywhere I looked I could just soak in the sun, feel the warmth and breathe in beauty coming from all directions.
My journey lead me to the ocean, of course, a place that is beautiful in any place, any climate, and wonderous any time of day. It is only right that as I'm writing this blog My Wish (Rascal Flatts) is playing in the background. Ah, may all your dreams stay big...

In all reality, living in a place that is surrounded by natural beauty, such as this, it's amazing I could ever go a day without that feeling.

Now this is a stretch... but in some way, I don't think I would have come to South Africa if I hadn't been in Cass Lake this past summer. Now there are numerous of other places I was looking at, and going to Africa didn't seriously cross my mind until a certain conversation (Preeti), but regardless, the more I think about it the more I believe it's true. I could just say it gave me confidence, but really I believe it gave me new eyes. It made me a bit more aware of my surroundings. And even if it is my desire to always be happy go lucky, always see the bright side and just focus on the positives, my summer made me aware of conflict and tension and that there is a division and people don't always see things in the same light that you do. You see the looks people give one another... you see who is on what side of the street. You cant help but notice who goes to what cook out, what church and who goes where. You hear it in the tone- and right or wrong no longer becomes the question, but the tables are turned and the weight is on the response. Intense, but so real. It becomes aware which side is more welcoming, in our case which side of the school likes you more than the other, but still that doesn't stop you from showing and expressing the same love and same care across the board.
....Some how, I feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be..



This is Odwa and I dancing at Learn for Life. Since it was Cinco de Mayo, we thought it would be the perfect chance to introduce some spanish, some chips and dip, and of course Salsa dancing. Shocker:: they actually LOVED dancing! It was a really fun night.

Right now I am organizing my photos from my old computer.. I'm just worried that I didn't do my back up hard drive right and I'm worried I might lose some. I'm not sure where my addiction to pictures comes from, but I just can't help it. I love it. I absolutely ridiculously love pictres. Many and all forms. Of people and of places. Ones that spell everything out, are captivationg, tell a story.. all the way to those that creat feelings inside you didn't know you had, or forgot you had. From walking down the street and snapping a shot to going to an exhibit or opening a book. From huge billboards to old photo albums.. the stories and the memories are countless, timeless, endless. Can be more powerfuland cause more change than anyone could imagine.


I think this is the photo from our hike that I wanted to print last time, but for some reason it didn't work.

I think I've used up all my words for today.
Peace and Love!

Well Hello Stranger!
Let's talk about culture.
There are three main languages that you will most likely hear here in Port Elizabeth:: Xhosa (the clicking language ..pronounced something like 'clickhosa' -ask me when I get home, I'll do my best), Afrikaans (that is very closely related to Dutch, due to the Dutch who settled in South Africa a few hundred years ago), and English, from the English settlers that came just in the past 150 odd years.
This past weekend 4 of my good friends and I ventured up to Coffee Bay, about an hours drive away from a developed town (8 hours from PE), in the remote areas of SA, along the coast. We entered a new terrain that I hadn't experienced yet since being here. Coffee Bay is known for its peaceful nature, small tribes and just a few backpackers set up along the ocean to attract travelers to their peaceful quarters. Upon arrival we saw huts painted brightly pinks and greens, clothes hanging on the line and children running about, waving to each passing cars. While swerving between huge pot holes the last 70 kms we were able to enjoy the Wild Coast's top five animals: Cows, horses, goats, sheep and chickens, everywhere!
Excited to reach our destination we headed to the beach. Then, after soaking up a few rays we headed up to the showers and got ready for our adventure for the night. A few highlights were eating in the Xhosa village, which entailed trying the traditional homemade Xhosa beer... had a bit of a corn taste and was quite bitter to the taste. We were served it from a big 5 gallon jug and passed around big pitchers that we drank out of. We had a rice type of food with cabbage and a sauce that I thought was delicious. Then we had another type of pea/corn meal (there were two vegetarians in our group) and watched a few of the women from the village dance. We had an interesting almost hour of conversation, question/answer time period that was extremely informative. A few that stuck out to me was that I asked if anyone ever left the village.. you know, went to college or moved away to get another job or anything, and the reaction was almost surprise at such a question. Another fact that caught me off guard was that their number one job or means of employment and income there was tourism... Now there were 4/5 ladies who had their beaded jewelry hanging out right outside our backpackers, came up to us along the beach and followed us a bit, as well as children... there were kids who we were advised not to give money or sweets to (no dentist) unless they did something, like sing a song or a dance then we could give them a tip or take some of the travelers on a guided tour. Coffee Bay is a decently small place: 4 shops including a small convenient store that I don't really have a comparison for, a place to buy drums, a tshirt and jewelry place, then a craft post that was just about the same as the beads the ladies sold. Then there was also a pizza place we ate at Saturday night (delicious!), two backpackers, and maybe two other hotels... the farming that was done around there was done just for themselves... different, but beautiful. Their homes were built out of clay and after the bricks are put together and the straw for the roof is ready it only takes about a week to construct. They use manure on the ground and just have one room to be the living room, bedroom and kitchen. Something else that is interesting is that there isn't electricity. Not that the area isn't developed enough, because it is. But about 5 or 8 years ago there was someone who was really pushing for that area to get electricity, but those stubborn elders in the community, they decided to say no. Surprisingly, there was cell phone reception!
The next day we had an awesome tour guide who just loved us and about 30 others! and we went on a four hour hike to the 'hole in the wall' ...a natural hole that was created in the wall from the ocean!
Well, that took about an hour and a half to upload, hopefully it will all get uploaded and you can see an enjoy!
Possibly more later, depends how productive I am =)

This Little Light of Mine

What a relaxing weekend! It's been quite some time that I've had a weekend that didn't have it's own agenda, it's own list and it's own priorities that needed to be met before the following week, or crammed in between traveling and all the joys that come along with that. I think I had let the simple pleasures of enjoying a beautiful day slip past me between planning trips or even just going at such a fast pace.. this slower tempo is a nice change and I am enjoying it. If you know anything about me and my study habits, you know that I normally don't begin a paper, or start to study, till the very last minute possible, and for some reason even though my 12 page paper had an extension, I still couldn't pull myself to start it until, brace yourself, the day it was due. Oops! But as I finished it up and handed it in, the fun began for the weekend. Friday I went to one of the shopping malls here and found my new favorite shop to buy dresses (I bought two!). Then it was a girls night out for dinner which is always fun. One of my flatmates Ashley is actually moving out on Monday, which is so soon, and so sad! And now I'm under two months left of being here. It's a long time and a very short time all at the same time. When people used to ask us how long we were here to we could say, 4 more months! Or we've only been here one month, two months, now we are just at three months. Wow, I do wish it was longer. I mean I love you all and definitely miss your faces and have loads to be excited for when I come home (honestly, sometimes I catch myself getting so excited about the things to come this summer that I can't wait!) but there is still so much left to do. And with all my school work picking up, and now almost my entire month of June booked (I'll tell you about that later) it hardly feels like enough time. But have no fear, my list of places to go and people to see around the world is continuing to grow! Ahhh I love it!

So I understand that I am very far behind on my blogs... I never got to express how much fun it is to road trip across South Africa, but there was a moment this past week that I want to share with you all. You see, Tuesday nights are the nights that I, along with three other American students, go into the Walmer Township and teach. The focus is supposed to be different life lessons and sometimes we do have a bit of a communication barrier. Not knowing what it's like to be a 4th grader growing up in a township in SA kind of puts a limit on some of our knowledge of their background, but it is a give and take relationship, and even Katrin, the German intern kind of in charge of the program, is growing on me. It could be tough work and long days with those rowdy kids. The idea behind the Masfunde Organization is to invest in these children long term. They started with 3rd graders, then the next year they had both 3rd and 4th graders, then 3rd, 4th and 5th graders because they are keeping the same youth over time so that it becomes a steady area of their life where they can be educated, encouraged and grow. Pretty cool right? So before our two weeks off for break and a long Easter weekend, we sat down with Katrin and tried, or attempted might be a better word, to find common ground on the next lessons we would be planning. Instead of short term topics, it was decided that a more beneficial way to approach teaching these lessons would be to have multiple weeks on the same topic. So Katrin wanted to do a global cultures, and figure out a way for them to learn about other countries around the world. Not only that, but do the research and learn how to present, and a whole other list of things we don't need to get into. So meeting the night before, our group figured out what we were going to plan... we decided to have the kids make travel logs, so they can track where they are learning, write down all of the interesting facts and have a record of their new information. We also wanted to give them an idea of the importance and significance of traveling so we brought in pictures that each of us, as their teachers, had been and brought in a computer so they could watch a slide show of it.
Now, one of the biggest problems that I have noticed with the children is that they look for the easy way out. When we painted murals a few weeks ago they couldn't work together or grasp the concept that we wanted them to look good, and they had time so to take their time on it. They didn't do a very good job of sharing or investing time into any of their work and we as the teachers left feeling extremely frustrated and just kind of let down. We had spent a lot of time preparing and they didn't care at all. Discussing this, we kind of realized that it is a common trait for the kids to not put much effort into anything, they see an easy route and take it. They haven't done anything in our class that they could actually be proud of, so when we sat down to make the travel logs I made it very clear that this project was going to be different. I stressed that each page needed to be folded perfectly, and they were going to be using them the next 6 weeks and that you could decorate the cover how ever you wanted... and it worked! All 11 of them sat almost silently working for the first 5-10 minutes, and as always when that happens, my favorite part of Learn4Life happens, they start singing. It is usually one Simma, one of the louder, bolder girls, who doesn't look up from her work, but she will quietly start humming and then the humming will grow a little bit louder, then the other girls will catch on to the tune and join in singing "...this little light of mine.." and then pretty soon 9 or 10 of them are all singing This Little Light of Mine...
And then I feel bad for being worked up about all of those other silly things because that moment right there just melts my heart...
I really do love those kids. I hope they are able to see all the potential they have.


More later =)

To some, it's just a picture. To others, it's so much more..

Pictures hardly do the sites justice, nor words, but now at least there is somewhat of a vision to the stories.


This is all of us girls at the 'southern most tip of Africa' -we got there just in time for the sunset! It was beautiful. It's called Cape of Good Hope.


This is me, Sam, Kari and Matt after a day on the ocean fishing with just a few of the fish we caught!

The ostrich that attacked us in Cinsta on our first game drive!

This is Malin and Stephanie modeling outside of our cabin in Cinsta, overlooking the beautiful view behind is the sandy beaches and beautiful ocean. Next we are standing on the 'cliff' overlooking the countryside, way in the mountains, hours away from PE...
This is the beach that we climbed to in Kenton on a day adventure.


wild horse! there were so many of them, not sure if they were actually wild, but they seemed to be running and roaming free.


Night time at the Ocean Front in Cape Town. Just like the way the lights were captured.
Who knows where else this adventure might lead...



I suppose a question we must all ask of ourselves at some point, is what exactly will we remember? Is it the people or the places? The sound of movement, unique to each area or the taste of new food? When we learn to appreciate the beauty of the art woven in and around us, maybe then we can learn value. And not just value, but what we value. Maybe we never truly learn anything ourself, it just shows up- appears through the tears and the laughter, the joy and the hurt that makes up our own piece of work. We are always in the process of creating and forming, molding and growing- strung together loosely, yet sturdy. Oh the joy.



"Each of us is an artist, capable of conceiving and creating a vision from the depths of our being." -Dorothy Fadiman


Oh, PS...

A little drive by shooting...

... Pictures of the view from hiking up Groendal, pictures from driving through the clouds to the top of the mountain, pictures of a few animals just passing through...



No big, just zebras grazing...





Since uploading photos is so much fun, I am going to keep going! The one is of Kari and I on the beaches along Kenton when we went hiking, same with the one overlooking the water. The other one is Malin and I (wearing pink), getting ready for a fun filled night. The other one with the 4 girls is me and my roommates: Ashlie, Mirum and Ellen.


Enjoy!

lets get lucky....

I want you to know the beauty too...


An interesting trait to South Africa, or Africa in general, is the chance of the power going out. It can come any time, any day, with or without warning (has happened 3 times and still have not been warned..) and that happened yesterday around 3:30. We prepay our electricity, so my first thought was that the electricity was out, but oh hello, it was time for the power to go out for another stretch, this time for an 18 hour stretch. Oh the joys. My biggest concern was not showering in the dark or being in total darkness in our huts, rather it was the food I had just bought! I think it will be ok though =)
Today we are lucky and the internet seems to be working well, so I'm going to try uploading some pics...

This first picture is from when I flew a couple weeks ago, looking down at one of the stadiums being built for the 2010 World Cup taking place in cities across South Africa.
The pilot and I. I just wanted you to see what we flew in!

Me looking dorky on top of the mountain! I don't know if you can tell, but it was a great view! It was the weekend of our Frontier Farms where 10 varsity students went and we got up the mountain by riding in the back of pick ups- standing up.



Us girls and our new friends. This was an amazing restaurant we ate at in Stellenbosch (wine country) that one of our waitresses earlier in the trip suggested. We were greeted by people in traditional dress and guided through outside canopy and tree top seating. The menue was buffet, but the service first class. They came and painted our faces, performed the entire night then came over and sang us all a song in Xhosa. I tried ostrich meat, ox tail, dudu, lamb, venisen, springbok and cajun chicken, as well as three types of fish. ...Pretty sure I tried all the desserts ;)

This is us girls at the secret waterfall we canoed to in Wilderness. Beware... though it may look beautiful, there were secret tiny leeches when you touched the waterfall!



When we got into Cape Town we went on a township tour. It was last minute planning, but one of the most beneficial decisions we made. It changes your perception when you learn a lot about the past and history that makes up a nation from people who lived it. This Bed & Breakfast (in case you can't tell) was pioneered by a lady named Vicky who thought- why not have a bed and breakfast in the township? We got to talk to her and take a tour of the place.

This is Nelson Mandela's jail cell where he was locked up on Robben Island.

The Beautiful Greek Orthodox church that we stayed at one night. It was in Robertson, in between Oudtshoorn and after Mossel Bay, but before we headed on to Stellenbosch. Pastor Zacharius was amazing and we all loved staying there! It was one of the best nights sleep all trip.

These are the fresh water pools that we swam in when we went with mountain club. This is the first one we came to and we could even drink the water it was so fresh! We swam through about 10 on that hike. Such a good day!

"Everything in Africa Bites" -Winnie

Remember one of the rules that I learned while traveling from the very first post? Patience! Still learning more about that every day. I figured that since I started, I might as well finish… I’m going to start this blog off with what I wanted to say before I left! So I’ll start with what I already typed, then see where it goes from there =) So this would be…
2 April 2009.

I am very much so a last minute type of person. I wonder if that will ever change. While I am out and while I am traveling I think of all of these things I want to say, points I want to make, moments I want to remember so that later on I am able to share them, then I take so long in actually doing it! Needless to say it is the night before we leave for our big ten-day road trip across South Africa, and here I am finally sitting down to write the blog that should have been done days ago!
I’m pretty excited for this spring break. Three and a half other girls and I rented a car and we are going to drive across the Garden Route to Cape Town, taking our time and stopping off here and there to site see and be typical tourists. The three girls are Tara, Lisa and Kari. Ironically they are all from Minnesota! (Which I will appreciate later on when its only a couple hours to travel to see each other next year!). The half is Hilary (also from MN). She is coming along for the first 3 or 4 days, then meeting her parents and hooking up with them and heading back towards PE. Some highlights should be: going caving, shark diving, table mountain, Robben Island and then the high adventure-like activities such as kloofing and abseiling… more details on that later (when I know what they are as well!)
Now lets backtrack…
Where to start? Once again I am always the person with the most bug bites, not something to run home sharing but I’d say there are about 20 on my legs! The itching and scratching is worth it though, this past weekend was known as Frontier Farm Weekend. Loading up into a bus with Shaddly as our driver, Monalisa in the front, and 10 varsity students eager to see what adventures lie ahead we set off toward the mountains, truly not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.
About three hours later we were greeted by the most energetic, hospital, warm and friendly lady named Winnie. Winnie and Marness went out of their way in hospitality making our stay amazing. Their unique, up beat, giving personalities put the icing on the cake. On the farm was a baby Kudu that I got to watch get fed. It was semi locked up, with only a sheep. The Kudu hadn’t seen the sun yet or any outside animals outside the shed it was in. Marness went inside in the morning and at night and fed it warm milk from a 2 liter bottle… can you imagine the transition the Kudu will have to go through when it realizes how many other animals are out there, or what the sun or daylight or anything looks like? Hopefully it’ll be ok!
They also have a baby dike (jack rabbit kind of thing) named Christmas. I tried Biltong (beef jerky –kinda). Do I even need to mention how much I love the individualized warm and welcoming homes?? Winnie had lots of antiques of sppons, plates, tea cups, chickens on pots and some sweet wicker lamps. I love it!
Saturday I woke up to the clucks of the chickens, the crow of the rooster, even the moos of the cows (sounds pretty country, eh?) and got to go milk cows, ride a horse bareback! Then road a horse all around their farmland. Driving through the mountains we saw lots of sheep, impalas, wild horses and more deer-like animals. Riding in the back of the Toyota trucks, only metal bars to hold on to, our trusty guides took us to a cliff and overlook where we would be going and swimming in a break in the rocks. The view was magnificent! The icy water was quite a refreshing break from the heat of the day! The area was called the ‘jail’ because of the narrow river, high mountains and there being no way to climb out. After a relaxing afternoon of tennis and laying around, we had an amazing supper and then headed out on a nighttime game drive in their truck which was amazing!
We drove through the clouds on Sunday to get to the top of the mountains. They reported that on a clear day you can see all the way to Grahmstown (an hour and half from PE) and sometimes even to Port Elizabeth. It was about an hour jot to the top and the view was amazing. Ah, it was so great!
It was an educating weekend. Got to learn more about small town atmospheres, hear first hand from Winnie the effects of living in such a secluded area, running a farm and the monopoly of a market that is created in small mountainous towns. I got to hear more about the culture and how they have workers who live on their farm and raise their children on the farm. It was really interesting. Not sure if I could ever be cut out for the farm type, who am I kidding, I am not cut out to be the farm type, but props to them!

I also want to mention that the Thursday before that weekend my friend took me and another friend flying! It was amazing. I actually flew over the same mountains and dams and area that we were in the next day. It was beautiful seeing southern South Africa from the air. We were in a tiny ¾ person plane and were up for about 2 hours. Circling around we came back by the ocean and flew over about 200 dolphins! Isn’t life amazing? Who would have thought I’d ever get to experience beauty like this…