Week 1

Our first week of school is done! It actually officially ended for me yesterday, because isiZulu was cancelled for tonight but now everyone else is done as well and the weekend can begin. My week was much different than the school schedule i am used to because i usually take morning and afternoon classes and Zulu is only at night so i had way more free time this week then i am used to, but my roommate and i managed to be somewhat productive during our free times. On wednesday we hiked up the stream to find the other waterfall and i had my first big "i am in africa right now" moment. We were about half way up the stream to find the second waterfall and hacking our way through jungle and i had slipped for like the 12th time and it hit me that i was not on jungle cruise, but was in fact in the middle of a real jungle in the bottom of Africa. We did not make it all the way to the second waterfall, we found a different one instead (they seem to be all over the place on this campus). On the way back to campus i found a porcupine quill near the stream which i thought was exciting but was not so impressive to the South Africans. Apparently porcupines are common roadkill so the sides of roads are generally covered in quills. Because i didn't have class today i spent most of the day walking around the nature reserve and saw a few bushbuck. No zebra yet, but many people have seen them so we know they are there. It's only a matter of time. Overall it was a great first week and i think school will be very manageable in terms of homework load and coursework and all of the kids taking Zulu are interested in exploring Pietermaritzburg while everyone else is in class so we will be planning some excursions to do some fun things in the area. Tomorrow we are visiting an Indian town down the coast from durban and going to a market and then meeting up with some South African Indians from a local youth group for a braai (cook-out, the word is Afrikaans for "roasted meat").