A day in the life

If you haven't yet seen pictures, I posted them yesterday, so start from the bottom and then return to this post.

I realized that I haven't filled you in on a lot of the basics with my life here. So, here we go:

In the mornings I awaken at around 6:30 or 7 to the sound of the Hadada Ibis:

Ursula says they look like they're from Alice in Wonderland, and they do. I'm sorry there's not a point of reference for its size, but it's usually about 1 1/2 feet tall when standing. The feathers have a sheen to them that is really pretty. Unfortunately, they also call REALLY loudly "haaaa haaa haaaaa" very early in the morning and very late at night. This makes sleeping in difficult.

So, I awaken around 6:30 and realize that I am sweating a little. We don't have A/C (air con, as they call it here), so some mornings are better than others. I then shower and read for a while. Right now I'm working on My Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan. More on that when I finish it later this weekend! I then eat my breakfast of cereal (granola called Muesli with grains, almonds, and cashews), milk, and a banana. We finish the morning with a cup of Five Roses tea with sugar and milk. I'm becoming very British, yes?

After my breakfast ritual, I go down to the computer lab to update you and respond to your emails. I am really enjoying the freedom to do that! I then waste away the rest of the morning reading or playing guitar and then fix myself some lunch. The rest of the day is usually filled with errands. For example, the queue to buy notebooks is more than 15 people long every time I pass the bookstore. You can imagine that nothing gets done very quickly.

Class begins each day at 3:30 and lasts until 5:30. On Tues. and Thurs., I also have Sotho (say sootoo) class from 6-8. I will begin that course Tues. Sotho is the second most spoken language in South Africa and the official language of the Kingdom of Lesotho, one of two countries enveloped by South Africa. My friend Isaac who is from Lesotho is really excited about me learning to speak Sotho. No, there are no clicks in Sotho, but I'm sure I'll pick up some Zulu while I'm here, so don't worry.

After class, I'm totally exhausted, so I return to my room and make dinner. After dinner, a cup of tea is again required, this time as a stimulant to keep me up to a decent hour. I know it sounds lame, but you have to imagine that I spend most of my day walking outside in 30+ degree Centigrade weather in a city that has the same altitude as Denver. My lungs aren't quite adjusted yet.

Evenings are filled with reading and guitar and now scrapbooking, as my stuff from Turkey/Greece/Rome arrived in the mail yesterday. I now just have to figure out how to get pictures printed in South Africa...hmm... I have also been getting to know my Zimbabwean neighbors who like to sit and talk and have tea and ask me what's weird to me about Africa.

So that's my average day. Pretty boring, but I like it.

As for Rotary stuff, I haven't really started yet, but I need to get on it. There are five Rotary scholars here: Priya from California, Pierre-David from Canada, Desiree from New Mexico (I think), and Ursula who doesn't know where she's from (her folks live in DC, but she grew up in Cairo and Latin America...she went to Wellesley so usually we just say she's from Wellesley). I haven't met anyone but Ursula yet, but we're planning to get together soon. If we don't sometime this week, we'll all meet in Friday on our expedition to the Rotary conference in Cape Town! Our requirements are to make 10-15 Rotary presentations and to do some sort of service project. To learn about last year's project click on the Rotary Aids Walk link in the sidebar.

And now for some housekeeping. If you have a question you want me to respond to, put it in comments or email me. If you put it in comments, I'll answer it in comments because, as my teachers have always told me, if you're asking, probably someone else would like to know, too. If you ask in email, I'll answer in email. That's enough of that.

This weekend holds a trip on the Wits bus to the Rosebank Mall (a huge mall with two "movie houses") for shopping (mostly food) and wasting time. Sunday I am attending the campus Catholic church with my Zimbabwean friends. They were so shocked that there was no drumming at this Catholic church, on which they opined, "You hardly feel Catholic if there's no drumming!" Hmm...for all my Catholic friends, what do you think?

Keep well.