Carpe Diem

Sanibona all!

It has been a while since I have last blogged. I’m a bit bored now, so I guess this is a better time than ever to recount my experiences over the past week. After my first unfruitful week of Independent Study Time, I was going to start off the week by staying in and not even trying to do anything. I was so let down by all of the major circumstances that were standing in my way. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I got into an argument with the lady who owns the hostel (she is so unreasonable!) over laundry. I decided to trek to the SIT house across town and do my laundry there. On the way I stopped at the library downtown. I found out that I could not get a library card, but I could go in and read the books there if I wanted. I made a plan to return pencil and paper in hand, to get some research done. (I wouldn’t dare take my laptop into the library…Durban city center is known for clever thieves).

Anyway, I returned to the library, but got absolutely nowhere. Books were not shelved in the proper place, there was no system to look up books (besides what the librarians used), and when I went to ask a librarian for help…she couldn’t help me. I gave that up quick.

I did manage to gather two interviews this week. I was supposed to get 5-6 interviews for my project…but because of the circumstances I don’t think that will really happen. I am shooting for 3 now, so hopefully I will surpass my goal

My mom really enjoyed the monkey story, so I think have another one to top that. I was riding in a minibus taxi the other day back to my hostel with a few of my friends. In comparison to other minibuses, this one was fairly nice…like an upgraded 1980’s astrovan. Now the minibuses go through a lot of wear and tear…driving up and down the mean streets of Durban (and other south African cities)…people jumping in and out (and these people aren’t the smallest)…I am sure those vans have a very high turn around. Anyway, I was riding back to my lodging, and we were making our way up the hill. We stopped to pick a lady up, and the attendant who opens the door/collects the money, opened the door. The door got stuck for a second, and he yanked the door to close it. Before we all knew it the door was laying in the street. We were in the middle of one of the busiest roads, and the door was in the street! The taxi was filled with laughs as the attendant desperately tried to reattach the door to no avail…my friends and I resorted to continuing the journey to our hostel on foot, all the way up the hill. Fun Times

Today, I also had an interesting experience. I was walking to the taxis in city center. I made a turn onto a busy sidewalk. Lo and behold, there was some large thing on the sidewalk blocking the way. There was a rope around this thing, but I couldn’t understand what it was. As I walked by it, I got a better view. Although it was completely covered, this thing turned out to be a corpse. I’m not exactly sure what happened, but there was a body on the sidewalk, and no one seemed to care. That’s an image I definitely will not forget.

I guess I should have started with the latter experience first…I feel like I’m ending on a really somber note. I guess that just makes it all the more real though. I am still in Africa.

Anyway, until next time!

Hambani Kahle!

- Ezelle