And DANGER FREE! I know this will ease at least my parents minds.
I'll do the daily rundown:
For all intents and purposes today began around 2am, thanks to my room's (this country's) lack of air conditioning and certain past incidents forcing me to keep the windows closed(tired is better than robbed), and a mosquito intent on keeping me awake. So I woke up to buzzing and sweat at around 2. Tried to read/sleep for a while, but the mosquito would get to the buzzing every time I laid down. So it came for Operation Nate-i Freedom. I mounted a full-scale offensive by removing myself from my bed, turning on all the lights, and sitting in the corner where I could see all the white walls (and hopefully the mosquito in contrast). I sat for about 30 minutes until the damn thing bit its last bite and I squashed it. The surge was successful.
Regardless of my victories with the mosquito, the heat kept me up until 5. I had 9am Xhosa Tutorial so this was not a good day to be kept up.
Woke up around 8:30 rushed out the door. Remembered the 1000 person Jammie Shuttle queue from last Tuesday, spied the same 1000 person queue for the Jammie Shuttle, and decided to do something I hadn't done yet. Walk to class. It's about 10 minute walk up the mountain. But I got to class with a profound sense of accomplishment for 9am and smelling like sweat.
Xhosa tutorial bugs me to no end. After my awesome professor I have for the lectures. I have the absolute opposite kind of tutor. She's only a second year, younger than me. Doesn't speak the language natively. And teaches things incorrectly, most notably the "q" click. She does it totally wrong. If I've been taking this language for 2 weeks and I can already tell she's doing something 100% incorrectly, she should not be teaching me. So that makes me crazy.
I'm really getting the hold of Xhosa grammar. It's pretty straightforward if you know the rules. Fluid speaking is still to come, the sentence structure is so different I can't really think like a Xhosa speaker yet. But I am starting to understand what people say occasionally, I read some signs, and can write some stuff. We have our first test Thursday, so we'll see if I'm as confident then. The vocab is challenging, but you can usually just throw an "i" or "isi" in front of a misspelled English word and have Xhosa reader understand it. Examples: itren (train), Ndishap(I'm sharp) , isiFrentsch (French language/culture), and I may have posted this earlier but my favorite isiteydiyum (stadium).
Language related side-note: I was recently wondering why I have had such a hard time learning other languages (in my limited experience), the conclusion I came to is this. As an English speaker abroad, asides from immersing yourself for the sake of immersing yourself in a language, there is really very little reason to totally immerse yourself in a language. Everyone can speak English almost everywhere. Though I consciously try to stop myself with my limited other languages (the occasional Spanish, and starting recently my limited Xhosa), my brain defaults to speaking English to everyone knowing they will probably understand me and respond adeptly in English. Makes immersion difficult. But I'm trying.
Next thing for the day was African Instruments. Had our full ensemble class today, played the West African Djembe drum. I still don't have rhythm, but I still love the class. I look forward to the marimba tomorrow, you need less rhythm. I don't have an ear for this percussion stuff at all, I just constantly cheat by watching the people in my group and hit when they do. I guess it's not cheating, but it's not how it should be done.
Next was a cup of Ricoffy. I don't know what that is. But I bought it when trying to buy coffee the other day. It's like instant coffee + chicory. It's okay. But I don't think they sell real coffee at low prices, it's the same with orange juice. You can buy 100% Orange (and other juice) Blend with the top ingredient being (I kid you not) Apple and/or Grape Juice. They do this to save money, I assume its the same thing with Ricoffy.
Then I had Inkanyezi. Went to the township. Got a new, better behaved group. Still with absurdly high expectations for their lives (nuclear scientists, dental technicians, surgeons) and they all plan to go to University next year. I can only imagine that won't happen for many. A little bit heart-breaking. But the workshop we had today (goal setting) was fun. I helped them fill out the forms and they helped me learn some more Xhosa.
When leaving the township, I came to a strange realization. Every other building was a barber or (bar bar) shop. The market is totally over-saturated with haircutters. No wonder these people aren't making any money. Okay that's obviously not the reason (and maybe a little offensive), but it's still very odd to me why 4 neighbors would decide to open up barber shops right next to each other. My friend Aluta said it's the easiest thing to do and there are lots of heads to cut. I guess. If I was this poor, a haircut would not be at my list of to-buys.
After Inkanyezi, I went to what I thought should be Social Soccer Club. When I arrived it was Second Team Trials / Practice. Something I was not going to waste my time with. So a few other Americans and I (really confused why there was no social soccer today) decided to go play some African guys 5v5 in this little 40m cage nearby. Tons of fun. We smoked them. 10-2, 10-7, 5-3. But that's not the important part, the important part is why we smoked them.
As we played these guys, one thought when through my head. It was something my housemate Andreas had told me when we watched Africa Cup of Nations. African footballers never make the smart play. They have pace, strength, and power. But never make the smart play. When I heard him I kind of brushed the thought off and continued to watch Ghana rip shots from 25m out every time it got the chance. But watching these guys play today, it rang so unbelievably true. This is why there are no great African teams. The way soccer is taught here involves lots of dribbling and shooting, but no passing. These guys would always make the same play, dribble up the wing and either A.) cut in one touch and shoot regardless of the situation or B.) trying to out dribble the defender. Never pass back, rarely make a smart cross. Bafana Bafana will not make it out of the group stage in World Cup.
One more small observation people talk here to talk/converse. People in the US talk to be heard. It's a big difference. People here talk really quietly, but everyone understands everything. Americans talk loudly. That's number 1 way to pick them out of a group. That and lack of shitty Euro mullet.
And I can't get used to saying colored. It sounds totally racist to me. But it's 100% acceptable here. I've said that before but will say it again.
Yesterday reached the pinnacle of lazy. I ran 3 miles in the scorching midday African sun. At the end of this I saw the minibus taxi rank. Ran there and rode back home. Too hot for running. I think Lil Wayne was in my taxi.
Few days ago I had a moment of true serendipity. Realized I'd taken many courses about Africa. So I began to wonder is Conn had a minor or something I could take a few classes for. I pulled up the requirements for the major/minor. Turns out I'm only 3 courses away from the major. So I think I'm going to do it and be a International Relations / Africana Studies Major and Anthropology Minor. I'm excited about this.
Well.
Sala Kakuhle! (stay well)
Sobonana! (We'll meet again)
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