Safaris: Just how you would imagine them.

While this last week sort of defined what the next few months of school will look like, our trip to Addo Elephant National Park and Schotia Private Game Reserve certainly prevented any sense of normalcy from setting in. Classes Monday through Thursday were routine, we brushed up on South African history, musical instruments, popular short stories and the like. Good classes, learned plenty. Thursday evening Ryan Fuchs and I attended the NMMU soccer tryout. Well, 75 players showed up, most of whom had no intention of making the team. In 2.5 hours I played 15 minutes. I was not pulled aside because it's hard to prove that I am a player in 15 minutes after four months away from the game. Well, the coaches fortunately noticed Fuchs, and the fact that the varsity team needs a left back really helped him. Fortunately for me, I just hung around him once he got pulled aside and essentially willed myself into the final portion of the tryout. I got to play another five minutes playing a different position than I normally would. That said, at the end Fuchs was picked for the reserve team and an extended tryout and I was not. However, when we approached the coach after, he invited me to join the team and essentially Fuchs and I are in the same position now anyways. I am confident I can convince the coach I am one of the better players he picked in a training session that actually requires more than just flashy skills. My disappointment certainly didn't last long, considering that by 8:00 am the next morning we were on a tour bus on our way to Addo National Park. Addo is only an hour away and has one of the highest concentrations of African Elephants in the world. The park is huge, we only saw a small piece of it, but in about two hours, we saw over 150 elephants!

We ate a short lunch in the park, and drove about a half an hour to the nearby Schotia Private Game Reserve. Schotia is owned privately, so all the game we saw had been purchased and introduced artificially to the fenced off environment. That said, there were hundreds of animals living in very good conditions, and all of them live a completely wild lifestyle. The lions hunt for their food, the other animals graze, and most of the animals have had many cubs or calves since their initial purchase. The park has one pride of lions that apparently are tougher to find. Well, we found them in the first twenty minutes and spent a couple of hours photographing and simply enjoying their presence.

At around 4:00 pm we drove to a quaint farmhouse where tea was waiting for us. We took turns petting horses, and of course throwing a frisbee. After tea, we went back to the trails, saw more animals, more lions, and drove to the top of the largest hill for sunset. 

Dinner was held in an indigenous Koisan style lodge, with multiple fire pits, and beautiful modern features to make the experience feel incredibly luxurious. Dinner was ostrich stew, green beans, and rice.  Easily the best meal I have had since I got here. We left dinner and had a short drive back to the main lodge. We turned on the spotlight (it was dark) and were fortunate enough to see the park's hippos out of the water, and grazing in the field. What a way to end the night. The rest of the weekend we relaxed, read for class, and tried to keep up with our journaling. Quite the week! In addition, I've been here for four weeks now! I can't even believe it, but I have less than three months left here already. I better keep "living it up!" as all the locals say. 

Love from the wilds of Africa,

Andrew

School? How about lions.

Monday marked the beginning of routine living (whatever that means) here in PE. Our schedule is simple: Monday and Tuesday mornings we go to service learning from 8:30 until 11:30. We have class each afternoon Monday through Thursday from 2:00 until 5:00. Monday I am taking a South African Jazz course, Tuesday is our Semester Abroad Seminar, Wednesday is South African Literature, and the week culminates with South African Politics. Much to our chagrin, we realized this week (after receiving our class syllabus') that our work load is going to be rather demanding. Oh ya, we are here to go to school. Easy to forget with the sunny and 75 weather, the beach, the safaris.. Did I mention we went on our first safari? While classes this week went well, the highlight of the week in my opinion was our day trip to Seaview Lion Park. Essentially the park is a zoo, with all the big cats fenced in, and the herbivores allowed to roam the property freely. We saw many of the classic African animals, and most of my friends paid to have the opportunity to pet and play with lion and tiger cubs. In addition to class and the safari, one of my professors (Gary Prevost is an SJU professor on paid research leave here in PE) took me and three other guys to the professional soccer game Wednesday night between the Kaizer Chiefs and the Jomo Cosmos. The PE World Cup stadium is BEAUTIFUL. The game was entertaining, and eye opening as well. Apparently, white South Africans in general LOVE the premier leagues of Europe, but do not support South African soccer in any way. We were the only white people in the stadium. And according to Gary, who has spent a number of years attending these games, that is the norm. However, if the stadium hosted a Rugby match, the building would be full to the rim with people of all colors. Just an interesting observation in post-apartheid South Africa. It was a great week, and I look forward to getting done with my homework, because next Saturday we are going on a REAL safari at Addo Elephant National Park! Feel free to send me any questions.

Love from PE, Andrew

My friend Margaret petting a Siberian Tiger

A lazy lion.

Look ma, first day of school pic, with my name tag and everything!

Lion King anyone?

Ryan and I at the stadium before the game.

Orientation Week

What a long week! Friday afternoon we left for Tsitsikamma National Forest with all the other international students at NMMU for bush camp orientation. We stayed in a tourist hostel/ backpacking lodge called tsitsikamma adventures. The area was stunning, with many farms surrounded by mountains. The weekend proved to be a forum for all of the students to get to know each other. We met students from Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and more. Unfortunately, St. Cloud State has an existing program at NMMU as well and 45 of the 90 students at the event go to school in St. Cloud, MN. Ironic I know. The feel was very different from typical orientation weekends here in the states. We had tons of down time because there was very little structure. That said, we ziplined and hiked for most of Saturday.

A few things about bush camp: the ziplining was awesome. The hiking was better. The company was better still, especially when the bar was open. The landscape in the countryside of South Africa is remarkably diverse. While driving we saw the richest neighborhoods, the poorest, farms, mountains, pasture, and near Tsitsikamma is a European Fir farming area, and I swear it looked just like the Northwoods of Minnesota. Great weekend, but enough about bush camp. 

Monday we visited NMMU for the first time. Ryan Fuchs and I met with the soccer coach and earned a tryout starting next Monday. Although, we also learned this team won the national championship in December... it's ok, they have a reserve team. 

Our home stadium has a bar and an ocean view, not bad!

Tuesday just so happened to be my birthday. And what a day it was! In the morning we had a short introduction to our service learning and then had the rest of the day off! We went to the beach, hung out, and planned for the evening. At about 4:30 I got a wonderful invitation from my neighbors (a flat of 6 young women) to eat a formal birthday dinner with them. I got dressed up and walked down the hall to find a candle-lit multiple course meal waiting, not to mention the girls, wearing their favorite sun dresses. It was a great way to get the night started, it reminds me how easy it has been away from home so far. After dinner the party got started. Everyone came including a group of South African friends we had met over the weekend. A great time was had by all, that I am certain of!

Wednesday we had more orientation--incredibly boring in the morning, unbearably boring (maybe had something to do with the fact that it was my 21st the night before, but still). The afternoon was much better because we took a bus into the townships for the first time and visited our service sites. This was quite an experience of mixed emotions. To be completely honest, my first impression of the poverty was "this is it? It's not nearly as bad as I thought." That, however, was just one of the townships which had received government housing and appeared relatively close to middle-class. Two of the three service sites are in this neighborhood, including Pendla Primary school and the House of Resurrection. When we visited, students were not in session at Pendla, so it's hard to know what that site would be like. However, the impact SJU has made there is noticeable to say the least. House of Resurrection is an AIDS orphanage, for youth up to 12 years old. House appeared slightly disorganized, but the kids were frickin cute and it would be a fun place to serve.

On Thursday we took an all day tour of Port Elizabeth with our tour guide Bradley Lawack. Bradley has worked with our group for 7 years and grew up in the townships. He will take our group on outings all semester long, and I can't wait to get to know him better, he is one of the most interesting people I have ever met. He took us to his childhood home, and then showed us the worst of the worst poverty. This is where I realized the poverty here really is THAT bad. This was a slum, houses were not built, they were tied and taped together. This is where Missionvale, the last of the three service sites, and the site that I will be working at is. Missionvale is well funded, and well established. They give food, medical care, clothes, and even christmas presents to hundreds of locals. As of last year, they also have a nearly free private school for children k-3. This is where I will spend my time for service learning. The principal has an amazing vision, and I look forward to learning as much from him as I can. 

We left Missionvale and visited the Red Location Apartheid Museum. Turns out Bradley also curates different exhibitions at museums. He taught us all about the massacre of 1970 and brought many if not most of us to tears. The museum is internationally renowned, and maybe my favorite place I have visited since arriving here. 

 Michelle and me drumming at Bush Camp

 The library at Pendla, a tiny building CSB/SJU built.

 Port Elizabeth's public library in the city center, guarded by Queen Elizabeth herself.

 Typical township home, maybe a bit on the lower end. 

The front homes are among the toughest we saw, the painted homes beyond are government built, and our home is along the beach off in the distance in the former white district called summerstrand.

We are spending the weekend finishing up homework for our first classes this week, and sunning at the beach. But like I said, It was a week to remember.

First Impressions

24 hours of travel is so long. And jetlag is real. Anywho, travel was safe and efficient. We arrived in Port Elizabeth last night at 9 pm. Unfortunately, it was already dark and we hardly got to see the town. That said, 9 pm here is 1pm back home, and we stayed up late getting settled and soaking everything in.  Well, when we finally did go to bed, it was 1ish here. I went to bed sleepy, and excited to get a full nights rest after all the travel... And then we all woke up at 430 am and couldn't fall back asleep! Turns out our body thought that was just a nice afternoon nap. After trying to read, and make the most of the early morning hours, we (my five flatmates) went to the beach and swam! Nothing like a polar bear plunge to get things started on day one in Africa. The waves are HUGE, and the water is warm. Not to mention it was already 75 degrees out. Although, it was raining. At 8 we walked about a mile down the beach to go shopping at the mall, we bought food, and other necessities. We bought lunch at the internet cafe at 9, and without thinking (because it felt like afternoon considering we got up at 430) Pat tried to order a beer and received a wonderful puzzled look from our waitress, "are you kidding, it's not even 10 o'clock!" She didn't serve him. In sum, the place here is beautiful. The apartment is comfortable, the company is great. We have only scratched the surface of South African culture, but to be certain, living in the flats across from the beach with my classmates will be very comfortable. 

Sitting on the Plane, pensieve

Our living room

Ryan moving into our bedroom