Tap water, please.

The past few days have been, relatively, uneventful. Yesterday was full of napping and laying around. I was not in the mood to do much after the night before. A few of us did go out to eat and that was good. I will say that I will never be used to paying for water. I am pretty sure that is more a European thing, because when the two American girls at the table realized we were paying for still, bottled water, we promptly asked the waitress for tap water. Since the water is safe to drink out the tap here, I do not see why it is necessary to drink and pay for, essentially, bottled tap water.

Today, we went the mall to get a few things. It was insanely crowded. It is not like going to the mall, like Westroads. The walk-ways are much smaller which causes the amount of people to seem even larger still. During the shopping day, I went to various shoe stores, only to come to find out, they do no carry my size...anywhere....at least in the mall. I guess I will not be getting any shoes while here! Ugh, that is realllllly frustrating. We met up around 1 30 and had lunch in the food court. The day was good, but shopping wore me out. Tonight, we should be going out. There is not a place set in stone yet, but I am sure that it will be fun :)

Attention all students

I had two classes this morning, I could not for the life of me find the second one. I was in the right building at room 107. I waited and looked all over, finally I went to the international office and asked where the class was. I found out it was -0107....lowest level....I have never seen it written like that so, I was fairly confused. When they write the building and room number they say 6-0107, when I saw this I thought building 6 room 107...no, it has to be more complicated than that.

I, also, started reading the textbook from the library. As I was reading there was an announcement that came over the PA system. It said "Attention all students, the noise level in the library is too loud. This is unacceptable. Anyone disturbing others will be asked to leave". I do not know why I found this so ridiculously hilarious. I didn't even think it was too loud. They also check your bags on your way out of the library. I have no idea what they are expecting to find coming out of the library, stolen books? How would they know if they were stolen or rented out? This is Africa. They also check your cars when when you are leaving campus. They look in the back seat and trunk. I don't understand why they check coming out and not going in...that makes more sense I'd think...

I have one more class today, at 4, then coming back and having supper. Then, the internationals are going out for one of the guy's birthday. This is the biggest social life I have ever had. It is pretty great.

Pretty sure that's a drug dealer

Today, today today....Well, I had one class this morning and that went well. I think that class will be alright. I tried to check the textbook out from the library, but it was only allowed to be checked out for 1 hour....how does that make sense? So, needless to say, I did not check that book out. After class, I went for a run along the beach. It was great! I went 6 km, that's the longest I have ever done, so I can say that I am pretty proud of myself! Maybe the beach helped me!

Tonight, we went to the ethiopian restaurant again. It was wonderful as usual except...when we got in the car to leave it would not start. So, we had to call the guy that rented out the car. After calling, we just waited for him to arrive. During this time, we got to enjoy the locals walking by. One guy peed on a tree, I think I saw a drug deal, and most people just started at us. We were in an unsavory part of town, but the people that did stop where just making sure that we didn't need help. The other girl and I just say laughing in the car, because the whole situation was just ridiculous. Even more so when we saw the guy pee on the tree across the street.

Finally, the owner of the car arrive and we had to push it down the street to get it working. The guy said he thought it was the battery, but all the lights worked so, I don't know about that. After pushing it down this crowded road, it finally started, ending our crazy adventure on Rose Street. I am sitting here exhausted from the waiting and the constant battle to get anything to in a positive way. I guess someone is trying to teach me patience, because I waited A LOT today.

struggle with forward motion

Today, I had two classes. The first class had a grand total of 3 people, including myself! This may be an intimate class. The next class had probably around 500 students. I may be exaggerating, but there were tons of students in the class.

This entry will be short due to the plain fact that I really did not do anything today. I had a plan to jog, but I came into my room attempting to get my email to work when the pillow called my name and I weakly gave in to it's clutches. I napped for about 2 hours. So, being as it is past 4, I really can do nothing more tonight without being accompanied by another person. We are not advised to go anywhere by ourselves at night, which starts around 5 here. It makes the day feel very short and causes the feeling of needing to cram everything into a short time. Luckily, I walk about an hour everyday to class (half hour there, half hour back) so I am moving everyday.

Today was one of the first days I really felt out of place. I have never felt any feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb until today's class of around 500 hundred students. The percentage of black students to white students is crazy. It is probably the exact opposite than it would be at UNI. It is probably something I will have to get used to. It is also an opportunity for me to step into the shoes of the African Americans at UNI. I have always wondered why they sit int their own area and don't stray to far from it or each other. They want to be around like people and not looked like "hey, they aren't white". This part of the experience will be good for me to really get to know my own faults when it comes to race and overcome them. I don't find myself racist, but like everyone we think things about races that are based solely on stereotypes.

Day 1

Today was the first day of class. This morning I had conflict management. I am in the class with a few other international students. The class went on without any problems and it seems like it will be alright. After class, I went to the international office and picked up my proof of registration, then headed to get my student card. On the registration, it told me that I would have class right after the first one on Mondays. So, I went to the class reluctantly. I sat by a girl and made small talk, which I do not enjoy and usually try to avoid. She asked me where I was from and I asked her how old she was. After about 5 minutes of silence, she got up moved 2 seats down and sat. That was confusing for me. I don't think I smell and I couldn't have said anything offensive, since I really didn't say anything in the first place. Maybe because I was quiet she decided that I was not good enough to sit by. Who knows? I am laughing about it now. I think I will avoid the front of the room next time and just do the usual back of the room bit.

As for the rest of the day, I think I will go on a jog and possibly nap. Not necessarily in that order. Getting up and being on campus by 7 45 is exhausting.

IT'S SO WINDY!!!

Today I allowed myself to sleep in until about noon. I have not slept in since arriving over a week ago! Over a week already?? Wow. After getting up I made the people on my flat some American pancakes! They loved them! They said I need to do it every Sunday. Ha...I am still in the honeymoon phase, pancakes will be rare in 2-3 months. After eating, we got ready and went out for a drive. Well, we tried to go for a drive, but the car a few girls rented, wouldn't start.

So, the girls thought we should push it, so naturally, I took a few pictures.

We finally got the car started and went off for a drive. We went to Sardinia Bay about 20 minutes from Port Elizabeth. There was a huge sand dune that you have to climb to actually get to the beach. It was so windy that you could almost lean back without falling, because the wind would hold you up!

 This is the dune you had to climb to get to the bay. Notice the car on top and how much taller the dune is.

 It was pretty steep getting up there

We are attempting to get a shot of her jumping, but as you can see, we did not succeed.

 There is a guy wind surfing in this picture.

 IT WAS SO WINDY!

 There was a storm which made the sky look eery next to the water. Eery or not, the view is beautiful!

After our windy adventure, we drove to the Pick 'N Pay to get a few things. Our flat makes decided they wanted to have a bry (sp?), which is South African for BBQ. It is very cold tonight so being by the hot coals was nice. I am in bed early, because classes start tomorrow! Bright and early, 7 45am class. Oh, lucky me.

rule 4: enjoy the little things

Yesterday was a day to remember. We took a city tour with all the international students around Port Elizabeth. We drove around the campus and went into the city center and looked around. We went the oldest cathedral in the city, walked down a few streets, and went to the mall. The tour ended up taking us into the suburbs and the poverty level was evident from the moment we crossed into that part of town. It was heart wrenching to see the people living in houses made of tin sheets, with garbage all of the place. I guess where I am living is not so bad after all. We went to a museum dedicated to famous people of South Africa. The museum was interesting but I was so exhausted from driving all over the place it was hard to appreciate it. Driving really makes me sleepy. We went to the Red Location Lodge. It is a hostel for backpackers and there are 14 women and 1 man who run it. As we ate our small pieces of bread with coffee or pop, one of the "mamas" told a story. Then, we started to sing. That was amazing. I couldn't stop smiling during the songs they were just wonderful.

Last night, we sat in the common room and played some cards, then went to Annie's Cove, where most of the other internationals live. After spending a few hours there, we went to Aqua, a gay bar, and I stayed there until around 4 am. It was so fun and great to let loose with the other internationals. Sometimes you have to act like an idiot to really feel comfortable with people.

Here are the pictures from yesterday.

 The last pictures were of our flat and the street in front of the flat

 This is the bus we took for our city tour.
The administration building on the NMMU campus

 Above is a cemetery

 The above pictures are just to get an idea of how the city looks. It doesn't look much different than cities in America!

 You don't see this every day!

 Inside the oldest cathedral in Port Elizabeth

 This look out point was covered with works of art from the students at NMMU

 This is Manu, he is one of many Germans studying abroad this semester

 The South African Flag

 Looking at the port

 The ground was decorated in colorful tiles

 Andrea, a German student










                                                                                   Gaetano, another German student

 View of the port

 Oh my German girls :)

 Open market in the poorer part of town. It was full of people, super busy

 A lot of the "Beauty Salons" were in made out of storage crates. They were all over the place

 There is a large Muslim population

 These girls were so cute, posing like models. They were adorable.

 There were animals just hanging out all over the place. Goats, dogs, cows

 Here is where you could buy freshly slaughtered chickens

They kept the chickens in shopping carts