angiqedi

I start things and never finish them.

That's a problem.

Yes, Mom I got a Tattooooooo

Yes this is actually my foot, with a Zulu word tattooed on it. I think it is beautiful and I love it. I will blog about it at easyjournal soon. Now I've had enough posting for tonight. Thanks for looking.

Love you mom!!

Lesotho

In Lesotho, at the highest bar in Africa, Zinhle on the left, Meghan, Nokulunga, Busi, noJabu. I took the picture. This was after a delicious lunch and a potent drink.

We had a bit of extra energy so we decided to climb the hill in the backyard of the horse farm we stayed at. It was a beautiful site and I am glad we did it. We sat at the top for quite some time, it had a remarkable view.I stayed alone at the top of the hill to watch the sunset. I've always been attracted to sunsets, it just gives me hope. As sure as the sun will set, so it will rise.

This is the view from the top of the mountain we scaled after walking 13 kms. It was high. I pretty much took this picture straight across the valley, we were so high there was actually snow. Imagine that.


At the top of the mountain there were cave paintings this is one of the many. It happens to be a family. The women have children on their backs, all with walking sticks and none with hats. This is how you can tell the difference of what culture these people belong to, unfortunately I don't remember which culture is which, this family is either Besotho, Zulu, or Sani.
This picture is on the way down the mountain, before Dominque fell and injured herself, You can tell just how steep it is, this is after walking down for about 10 minutes we had to get past the rocks, down the slopes, and eventually to the stream you see at the bottom. Hawu!

Independence Day, South African Style.

Just like any good American's we celebrated the 4th of July with a BBQ and drinks. We couldn't find American flags so we settled for South African toothpicks with SA'n flags on them.
I did mention there were drinks right...uJabu noZinhle breaking it down Imbali style.
Fe, my tutor also wanted to get down. She was dancing to a certain genre of music called House. It is techno. I've never heard such music in my life....I love it.

Our version of Firworks, it was the closest thing we could come to.

eMbali

Sunset through an Imbali fence. Everything is secure in this township. Crime is a big deal here, even a rickety old fence will keep someone out. Look at this picture, how many words is it worth?

Sunday morning from my front porch in Imbali. It really was beautiful, they told me to bundle up because it was going to be a cold day....not on a day like that.

This is my family and Ari's (Mangala/Owami) family he was taking the picture but everyone was overly accomodating. This was on our final night in Imbali on the way to the party.



My brother and I, if you are wondering his name is nKululeko, which means freedom, unfortunately I cannot say his name properly, so I refer to him as my brother and laugh to myself everytime I hear his name.
uMama nonkululeko nami. The last picture before departing. I should tell you that all the houses are painted like Easter eggs. It's quite joyous.

eNomkhubulwane

Zinhle, Matewu and I posed for a picture on the mountain of arrival while waiting for the go ahead. Yes, that is a skirt.












The line of intombi's assembled quickly, but the girls busted into song and dance even quicker. Zulus sing and dance with every emotion on all occasions.












This beautiful woman was the leader of the dance happening within the circle packed very tightly with intombi's. She had a monstrous voice and an incredible beat. Every picture we took of her came out wonderfully.






This is a good way to leave the entry of Nomkhubulwane, I have said that I really believe all people have their own theories on why AIDS is spreading and cannot be controlled. It's up for interpretation.

eThekwini with the Ambassador

Part of the group at the consular general, post drinks, pre-offense. Black guy in the center, ambASSador to South Africa.

uZinhle drinking an MGD in honor of Independence Day! Gotta love the uDokotela.

This Campus Rivals IU

UKZN of PMB's campus is very small, compared to IUB, but this campus is really more beautiful than Bloomington. I mean, Bloomington is beautiful, but this place is exotic. This picture is of our library, in the background, which ever way you look the mountains cut your view. The sky was beautiful today, mostly because of the rains of yesterday.





This clock tower is the top of the building we have class in for 6 hours a day every day. I will post more pictures when I take them. Promise.

More pictures...

These are my two favorite pictures from last Saturday.
The one on the left was on the way to Mandelas capture site, the one below, the joy of humanity.














On the left, Brandi and I at the waterfalls, you can't see the falls, but promise they are there.




That's all for now. We are planting trees with nomkhulwane's virgins this weekend, then we are off to Imbali for the urban home stay, look for more pictures soon.

The Dance

The two pictures of the non-tribal looking people are of Professor Mbeje and uBaba Ntshangase, everyone all love to dance. The rest of the pictures are of the local tribe dancing, The high kick is kinda crazy. The guy could move, so could that large woman.

Just so everyone knows, the Zulu dance is about nothing other than power. They dance to show their power, even the dance is a battle.

The view

There are Aloe plants everywhere. They are really cool looking, that's an aloe plant on the right.

There are also a lot of cacti growing around, a lot of them grow into tree like things.







































The picture above (it might not actually be above, I am having some layout issues) are some traditional homes, the one in the foreground is more traditional, its grass on the roof tied together with ropes. The frame is a bunch of sticks, I cannot believe how the sticks fit together so perfectly. The home in the background is a less traditional home made of mud and grass, it's easier to build and easier to keep up.

The picture on the right (again not be to the right) is Ari spreading cow dung on the floor, it's regular maintenance for traditional Zulu homes.

ePMB

This is Gandhi's statue from the back. This statue is in front of a condemned city building which is of course, now empty, but considered a historical monument.

Each side of the statue has a different inscription on it, apparently he had some cool things to say.

Local Tourists- I know right.

This is the first stop BabuNtshangase took us to, It is called The Valley of the Thousand Hills. I spotted this woman and watched her walk down the mountain, into the smoke. I watched her until she disappeared. (The smoke is from Hill Side burning, which is not uncommon here.)

This is a tree on the same mountain of the Valley of the Thousand Hills. It was a cloudy day, and with the smoke, it was even darker, but the sun seemed to highlight this tree perfectly.

This is a cliff. It is a big cliff. We had to be careful not to fall off. It was beautiful from the top, it's much larger than it looks in this picture, but take my word for it.

Siyafika.

These are a few pics from our first days in Durban, check out the other blog for the stories.

Our first touch of the Indian Ocean. The water was warm, the sand was perfect, and the sun was beaming.

I must say, Durban Beach is most definitley the best beach I have ever stepped foot on, it was absolutley stunning, we literally waked for mile. On the far left, Dominque, Ari, Brandi, and Cho, this is my favorite pic from the day.

On Durban beach there are several piers. This woman and son were really cute, really I just took pictures of people holding hands the whole day, this is the most appropriate one. :)

These are the tribal ladies that I wrote about from Shaka Marine World, this was the final dance move they did for us, the woman with her behind pointed at us in the foreground yelled "Bye Bye" in a tremendous South African accent before the dance was over. They were pretty unhappy with me.

SO I changed my mind, for the real South Africa Blog check out www.habbosh.easyjournal.com

Ngihambe phesheya

I suppose this is my first offical blog on my trip to South Africa.

I just spent the last few days back "home" in Hyde County.

I am on my way home from the Raliegh Airport.

Getting back home tomorrow will put me back in my normal busy and rushed life, I can say with confidence I am not looking forward to it. The last few days have been simply amazing, right now I can't do them justice, and since this is my SA blog I wont justify them here.

I am starting to get nervous for the adventure. I have a lot of things to get together before I leave in 14 days.

Not knowing much about the program has left me feeling less anxious and having fewer expectations than last years adventure with Youthworks. I beleive this to be a blessing. With the lack of expectation I can help but become more and more excited as the day draws nearer. With this few expectations, I can't help but feel like I can't be let down.

There is one thing I'd like to expect: to see an elephant. However, I am not to confident, especially if this summer turns out like last summer, I still didn't see a bear in Hyde County.

Thought for the day: are we really so naive that we believe we are the only ones who can be right.