School

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. The days here start at about 7, when we all get picked up from our homestays. Then we have Zulu lessons for about 2 hours, which move very fast. I am still not exactly sure about the schedule/ assignments ect, things seem to move fast and loose in this program.

The weekend came up and I went out to what I thought was a braai (bbq) at another homestay. We ended up at a huge house in the suburbs with a bunch of white S africans (the first that I have talked to of my age since coming here) they were pretty nice, but I was struck by the undertones of race that seemed evident in their words and their actions. The two homestay brothers that brought us seemed to stay on the outskirts of the group, and the girls that were there in particular seemed to not want to even talk to them. Part of it may also have been class, the whites mostly didn’t have much in the way of jobs, but they all had fairly wealthy parents, and what jobs they had were sort of more playboy jobs (one was a pro motocross racer). We asked them if they spoke zulu, and they told us that they didn’t need to know much, because the only zulu person that they talked to was the housekeeper. It was definitely an interesting experience, getting the other end of the spectrum in terms of class and race. Living in a township with zulu seems normal to me, and it is how most of the country lives. It was kind of an awakening to realize that there is still a highly social elite that doesn’t have much to do with the rest of the population of the country.

That night I got really sick (as did about half of our group, I later discovered). I was up all night sick and I got up the next morning and didn’t feel much better. My brother took me to town in a minibus, which was quite an adventure, they make the cabbies in NYC seem like great drivers. We went and he got his haircut, while I had a milkshake for lunch. We were going to go out and about, but I felt sick and we went back home. I slept for about 8 hours, woke up at 930pm to my omamma knocking on my door. She made me eat some mashed pumpkin, then I slept until 11 the next morning.

Sunday my brother had a ceremony to thank his ancestors and his deceased father for guidance and his new job. They prepared an alter with his fathers favorite foods and prayed (guided by a sort of medium, a traditional spiritual healer) Then they had a braai, where they cooked a piece of meat for his father and put it on the alter. My brother and I then cooked literally a bucket of meat for lunch (it took 3 hours) and there were some community members that came over to help eat.

The last couple of days have been school and home for homework and sleep. My omamma is gone on business (selling life insurance) till Thursday, so it has been just my brothers and I. Good times.

Sala Kashe

-Ben