Sawubona Part 2

Sawubona everyone,Yebo!!So, I hope you all enjoy reading this. Some of it is extremelydetailed.. and I hope no one gets bored reading about some of myexperiences.... Its reflection + experiences...... I'll write more astime goes by...............South Africa and the paradox of the first world Jan 30-7 Feb 07(Before reading: I haven't paid particular attention to grammar andspelling. I just wrote what came to my mind, and so if there are anyerrors, just ignore it.. I write much better than this I promise..)South Africa! What an interesting place! It is amazing to see howbiased the western media is, more specifically American media. Mostpeople in US only know Africa for the Darfur genocide, blood diamonds,or starving children with protruding bellies. I agree that theseconditions exist, but these are NOT the ONLY conditions that exist inAfrica.Africa is a huge continent with various nations, each having a richand unique heritage.Every nation in Africa has a story to tell. As of now, South Africahas whispered many beautiful and heart-warming stories to me. Everyday I come across something that truly touches my heart.For example, yesterday I was talking to some of my res hall mates. Itold them that South Africa was a wonderful and pretty place. One ofthem was surprised that I said that. She said maybe you wouldn't saythat if you saw where I live. It is not a township, but it is veryghetto. She literally had tears in her eyes. Interestingly, being theempathetic person that I am, I could feel her pain. I could onlywonder about the plight of her home, but I nevertheless, sensed herpain.Today, I actually visited a township area called Cattle Manor. LocalSouth Africans would refrain from going to this area, and would adviseyou on how dangerous it is. The sociology professor who came with ustold us that he has been there many times, and people might say thatit is safe for him because he is black. He stated that Andrea, (fromNetherlands, studying in USA), has also been there plenty of times,and is safe. He told us about the living conditions of thesetownships, and provided a brief history of SA. With all this, weheaded out to Cattle Manor.I am glad that God blessed me with this experience. Although there aresimilar areas in India, I have never walked through them. I havepassed by them or walked near them, but I don't think I haveinteracted with the people. It is interesting to note how strikinglysimilar the plight of impoverished people is all around the world. Icould literally recall instances in India where I have seen peopleliving in similar conditions with similar problems. I also rememberedTijuana, and how people made use of scrap material to build theirhomes. This township was similar. Listening to these people, andobserving the conditions they live in, only strengthened my goal ofworking for childrens' rights and development. I don't know whatdegree or what work will allow me to help them, but I know God willgive me the courage and resolution to help these people.Basically, in South Africa, a township is basically a piece of land(or an area), where non-white people, mostly blacks, were housedduring the apartheid regime. The houses in these townships are made oftin and bricks, and are extremely small. They usually consist of oneroom with minimal amount of furniture. Many women were fetching waterfrom communal pumps located at designated areas. There were also manymen idly sitting around or chatting with other men. This is definitelyis a result of unemployment.Overall, people were very friendly. They opened their hearts and homesto us. Every time, I gave candy to little kids, their smiles wereworth watching. They put out both their hands instantly to get somecandy from this strange person, who obviously didn't fit in, and kepttaking random pictures. A group of kids sang "Happy birthday"impromptu, and did so after I gave them candy also.Surprisingly noneof these kids look food deprived. Almost all were very healthy, andsound. The conditions weren't very hygienic, and I don't think anykids should live in such a situation. I really want to help these kidsget out of such conditions. God needs to help me find my path!One local said he was glad that we were there just visiting them, andhe said he was happy for that. A group of ladies were just happy tohear us greeting them in Zulu. They were surprised that we couldactually greet in their language. By the way, Zulu is a hard language.There are different kinds of clicks depending on the letter used,e.g., X, C, etc. I hope I can learn all of it!!!!!!Sawubona=HelloMoja= doing good, sharpSouth Africans use "Sharp" as a way of saying, "I'm good," or "I'mfine." They also use a thumbs up sign to indicate that they are fine,or to agree with you.Last night, I went to my first South African club. It was "LadiesNight Out," and was arranged by our university. Transportation (aparty bus, haha) was arranged to and from the venue. It was actuallypretty safe, and it was almost similar to the U.S, except it had twodance floors. One played South African House music (which is BIG inSA), and another played OLD SCHOOL HIP HOP. I am sure other clubs willhave more contemporary hip-hop music.In the House section, people usually make a circle and either one ortwo people dance in the middle. It is hilarious to watch some of thesepeople, because they make anything a dance move. But man can SouthAfricans move!!! Even the guys dance well, (better than the U.S.). Okalso it was my first time going to an "all black" club. There werequite a few international students, but on the whole, it was a blackclub (and yes it was safe).Some of the girls think it's cute that I am not a big drinker. Likeyesterday I didn't drink at all. As a matter of fact, I haven't hadanything to drink since I came to SA unlike others. (YAY!!!!! Still myold self). So, they were like "oh that's so sweet!" (LOL).Oh ok little about some of my friends.Megan Yen= from Canada, half white, half Chinese. She's really cool.We always sit and talk really late into the night. Even after we cameback from the club, we were still talking till like 3ish. We gossip alot (nothing malicious). We both are highly analytical and observe alot. So, it's interesting to share our thoughts about things andpeople. I feel really comfy with her. We get along real well, and weshopped and chilled together a lot. She sorta looks like my cousin,Sushma, in India. Too bad, she's leaving at the end of the semester. Aki Katakami=from Japan, she was in Calcutta, India for 2 weeks duringspring break, volunteering at Mother Theresa's shelter. She has comehere to improve her English, and also because she had a calling tosome to SA. We go shopping to Muskgrave mall all the time, and for aJapanese girl, she likes black guys or she thinks they look good (ok Ifind this interesting). The other day I got some Indian rotis,pickles and other things from "Gorima's spices" in Muskgrave, and bothof us ate the "yummy" Indian food. She actually liked it, so I amhappy that I can eat Indian food in my room with a friend. The nextday, she made Miso soup for me, and we had more Indian food. Lol, andwe both were soo sleepy, that we feel asleep in my room. She wassitting on the chair, and I was lying on the bed. We finally woke upafter an hour, when Spi, one of the House Commons (lower than a RAs(residence advisor), but have authority) knocked on our door, and camein. She was cracking up, because we both were soundly asleep. That wasa very funny moment, because we did not realize when we fellasleep!!!!!Helen Amutenya= from Namibia, She is also an international student,but she is completing her entire degree at UKZN. She's pursuingagricultural engineering, and is here on a scholarship. She is alsovery sweet. I think she's pretty (actually all of my friends are verygood looking), and I love the way she speaks. She always says "ne" atthe end of her sentences. I am thinking of going to Namibia, andstaying at her place. This is just a thought, no concreteness yet. Sheexplained how and where she lives. She showed me pictures. I think itwould be very cool to live with her. Let's see!!!!Oh by the way, most of the Africans know English pretty well. Manypeople are heavily influenced by American pop media and Hollywood.People know all the songs and movies from the U.S. (So, for those ofyou thought that Africa is highly backward, think again)Lotte=Norway, she also visited India last year, and she loved it. (Ithink many Indians who speak negatively about India should learn fromforeigners who visit India, and actually like it) It amazes me thatmany Indians, especially in the U.S. have all these distortedimpressions about India, and these foreigners were actually speakingvery highly of India. (Hmmmmmmmmm!!!!)Ok so, I haven't gotten to know her very well, but she seems like areally cool girl. She is looking to move into our dorms, but thatmight not work. Last night, I enjoyed dancing with her.Oh by the way, Helen, Megan and Lotte have bfs back home. Firstly, Ithink it's amazing that their bfs were ok with them going on thisstudy abroad trip, and secondly, these girls are doing what they want,although they are in pretty serious relationships. Good forthem!!!!!!!!!!!!Oh I know tons of other people, but these are my closest friends.Ok 2 nights ago, we all went to the Bat Center, which is a culturalcenter and a bar/restaurant. So, on Thursday, they have African drumnight. In the beginning, I was horrible at the drums, but by the endof the night, I actually improved a lot. OMG!!!!!!!!Before the actual drumming started, we were all sitting outside in thebalcony restaurant, and playing our drums. Some of the internationalstudents (guys) were very good (this is when I sucked), but later inthe big group, we all sounded ok. I actually learned some gooddrumming. One of the Afrikaaners (white SA) said I was good atdrumming (yay!!)Ok so there is an interesting story!! There were murals on the walls(extremely beautiful), and after drumming, Aki and I were sitting andlooking at the harbor. This black guy starts talking to Aki and thenme, and tells us that he lives in the studio there and has painted allthese murals. He wanted us to come to his studio, and look at hispaintings. We were like no I don't think so. Then he said oh I wantedto give you both a gift, and I was like why….?? He's like its just agift. He said he wants to be known around the world, and wants to befamous even in US. My friend, Ghani (hes Afghan) was pissed at thisguy, and kept trying to get us away from him. He was like u guysshould be careful, blah blah……… (ok he's rights, but such thingshappen to girls all the time, and we know how to take care ofourselves, we are not naïve). So the black guy, whose name wasLalelani (means Listen in zulu), came back and gave us these pictureshe drew. It was actually really good!!!!! But man, Ghani was gettingsuper mad at that guy, and he kept calling him a creep.. (LOL)……. Hestarted giving us stats about rape and Aids….lol (ok I thought of thistoo, but he was funny) He reminded me of my brother, Rahul who warnedme about AIDS and rape before venturing out to SA.. lol……So anyways…I think I gained something good out of this entiresituation: a beautiful African picture…(which would've cost us quitea few rands outside) God protected me… YAY……Oh yaa……Did I tell you the view from the roof my res hall isabsolutely BREATHTAKING!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!!! You can see an entire partof Durban from there, including the harbor. (From my college, you cansee the Indian ocean).. I sit on the roof to just get in touch withmyself, nature, and of course God…… I love that place….. it's sooopeaceful and calm…….Once, Aki and I went up there and lay down on the roof. I think shefell asleep. I just stared at the stars and wondered at the beautythat God has created, and at the beautiful vision he gave me to viewhis creations… Thank you!!Oh yaa, I recently got some jewelry from the Indian market, when wewere touring Durban on the Rickshaw bus city tour. (HEHE that storedrove me crazy, I wanted to buy the entire store.. hehe, any of youinterested in a partnership??)It was a double decker bus, and the upper deck was half open, i.e. hadno roof. That was good… I saw the entire Durban, and got super tanned…(yes, I have gotten more tanned than my usual tan, and I haven't evenbeen to beach yet)… My nose got tanned.. hehe…While driving, sometimes the tree branches were hitting the bus, andsome twigs and leaves were falling on us.. LOL that was SO MUCHFUN………………… HEHEOH YAAAAAA our bus got stuck between parked cars…….. hehe we couldn'tmove….. soooo around 4-5 guys moved the car… they practically liftedit and moved it……. IT WAS SOOOO FUNNY AND COOL…….. WOW……. U know thisdoesn't really happen in SA, but we had to do this, or we would bethere all day ..lol… we all cheered for the guys…..Hmm what else…I think the first week was perfect, just the way it should havebeen…..everything was planned carefully by God. I am very happy… Itseems like so far everything (at least for me) has been going verywell… God does help those who help themselves… its true…..I registeredfor all my classes on the very first day and ran around to getsignatures, etc, whereas the others went to the beach, partied, etc,etc.. I did not… and tried to get settled first……Now these people are super tired, and lot of them got sick, one evengot a chest infection…Registration at UKZN is an extremely long and time consumingprocess.. people wait in long lines and wait for the id cards, and allthat…Everywhere on campus, there is a huge queue……… I didn't have towait in any of them, because I did what I had to beforehand….hmmmm……..so I think so far I am fine.. I haven't been to the beachyet, but everything has a time and place.. I will do sooo VERYSOON…………..I really like Durban.. It is a very cool combo between the west, andeast with Africa in there……Everywhere I go there's Indian food.. even on my campus there are 2stalls with Indian food.. absolutely tasty……… everyone eats there…….ohthe braai chicken (brabecue but in a Portugese SA way) is extremelytasty.. any of you visiting Africa should go to Nandos (a fast foodchain)... even the rice there is SUPER TASTY.....I think they shouldstart Nandos in US. It would be a big hit...People in Durban are VERY VERY NICE……..What can I say…. I think I amfalling love with this place……… hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!!Hope to talk to all of you soon……. Once college starts next week on12th feb…… I will let you know of my classes and students…….then Iwill have a set schedule so I can talk to some of you on skype or chatwith you……..alrite then tons of love to all….. ByeResham