San Rock Paintings

The next morning, after debating on whether or not the rain was going to hold off, we decided to risk it and go on the Bushman Rock Painting tour. Our guide was this 70 year old man, who was in better shape than any of us. He also knew just about anything on animals, insects, and the Drakensburg Mountains. However, before departing, he warned us that he was deathly afraid of thunderstorms and lightening. The weather looked clear though (it was about 80 degrees and sunny), so we decided to venture out anyways. During our hike, we were able to see Baboons, a snake (which I almost stepped on), and three Bohor Reedbuck (they look like Alpacas, except with large horns). It took us about three hours to reach our first cave. Our tour guide told us in great detail about the history of the San Rock Art. The paintings tend to be quite recent and are probably only 200 to 300 years old, but the tradition of them is very interesting. The earliest cave paintings in Southern Africa date from 28,000 years ago. Hearing about this was very interesting for me because of all the courses I’ve taken at MSU about theories on why people did rock art. The most prevalent theory for San rock art in the Drakensburg Mountains on the human figures is that they are dancing with bleeding noses. The people dance around in a circle, taking part in a shamanic ritual, and then go into a state of trance. Whatever is drawn on the walls is what they see in their hallucinations.

We had lunch underneath a rocky ledge where we could see some heavily weathered images on the walls. Just when we were finishing up our lunches, the rain began to fall. The sky suddenly got pitch black, and we heard thunder and lightening in the distance. Then a look of shear panic came across our tour guides face, and I found out he definitely wasn’t kidding when he said he was afraid of storms. All he said was “run!” and he went bolting down the side of the mountain. We were all sprinting to keep up with him, but it was very hard going. We were not on any sort of a trail (he yelled back and told us it was a new shortcut), and there were many big and slippery rock faces that we had to scale down. I personally was scared of stepping on another snake, because there are lots of pythons and black mambas that live in that area. Our guide was way ahead of us at this point, and he was tripping and falling over everything in sight. Once we were finally done scaling down the mountain, we reached a large waterfall and a river, about 10 feet across. Our guide had already crossed the river, and had left us in the dust, so it was up to us to figure it out. By this point, the storm was pretty much right over top of us and there were huge streaks of lightening all around, with monsoon like conditions. We ended up forming a human chain and crossing the icy cold river without taking our tennis shoes off. I would have been much happier crossing via bridge like we had on the way there, but I understood that the storm was pretty bad and we needed to find shelter as soon as possible. In the end, the shortcut only cut off about 2km. It was a fun day, looking back at it. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a storm that bad in my life…. but this is Africa, after all. I never know what I should expect.

Lesotho

Last weekend, four girls from Malherbe and I decided to venture into the Drakensburg Mountains and to the mountainous Kingdom of Lesotho. We left Friday night and traveled via the Underberg Express to the Sani Pass Lodge Backpackers. It’s nestled right in between two mountains in the Southern Drakensburg. We stayed in dorm styled rooms with bunk beds, which were very cozy. We shared a room with a very nice and interesting couple from England (Genna and Elliot). They’ve been saving up money for three years in order to travel around the world. They had already been to Brazil, Ecuador, and Kenya – and their next stop was New Zealand. They still had 10 months left before going back to England. It was very fun talking to them, and they taught us “Dirty Grity” which is a card game a lot like Hearts.

At 8am Saturday morning, our group and two boys from Germany embarked on an adventure to the Kingdom of Lesotho, also known as “The Kingdom in the Sky”. Our mode of transportation was the Land Ranger (“4 x 4 x Far”, to be exact) to climb the “Sani Pass” which is a long windy road going from KwaZulu Natal up to Lesotho. The first stop along the way was to see the remains of a trading post used by the Sotho people and South African’s. We then embarked up the Sani Pass. The drive was amazing – words cannot do it justice. There are waterfalls everywhere you look, rolling vibrant green hills; it’s absolutely breathtaking. We stopped along the way to drink from the “Fountain of Youth” waterfall. Apparently it has the exact right mineral composition for drinking, and Guardia has not yet reached South Africa – so it was safe to drink.

After making about 40 hairpin turns up the mountain, we finally reached the South African passport authority where we got our stamps and continued up the Lesotho border. Once there, we had lunch atop the rugged Maluti Mountains where we got to meet some Herder boys. Most of the boys are sheep herders until they’re about 18 years old, and then go off to work in South Africa. They spend all day roaming about the mountains and sometimes travel on horseback, swaddled in traditional blankets. Talking to the boys was very difficult because they only spoke Sesotho. They thought it was hilarious whenever we laughed though – so when we laughed, so did they. I thought it was awesome that we could interact and connect in that way, despite our language barrier.

Our tour guide then took us to a woman’s hut for some homemade bread and Sotho Beer (which is very thick and porridge-like....). It’s brewed by many women as an additional source of income. A white flag is hung outside the house when beer or bread is for sale. The woman and her 7 children were all very welcoming, and we spent some time in her home chatting (she spoke English fairly well).

Our last stop of the day was at the Sani Pass Chalet. It is the highest pub in all of Africa. By 4pm, we were on the Sani Pass again, on our way back to the hostel. Once again, I sat in the very back of the Land Ranger with Kelly and Martin (the German exchange student…very strange coincidence, I know) to get “The African Massage” of bouncing up and down with every rock we hit. We tried playing “Dirty Girty” again that night, except the power kept on going off because of the horrible thunderstorm. So, we just ended up going to bed really early.

Thursday February 19th 2009

One of the most popular things to do in SA is to have Braiis. They are like barbeques, except a lot more extensive. After class today, my friend Muziwandile invited me to a braii with some of his friends from the art department. It was a just short walk away by the ceramics building on campus. We had a huge feast which consisted of: grilled corn on the cob, chicken, hamburger, biscuits (which are actually called “cookies” here, and vise versa), apples, veggies, a salad with sliced tomatoes, avocado, grapes, mango, and our main dish: Pumpkin. The pumpkin was cooked in the ceramics kiln at the University. They emptied out the inside of the pumpkin and filled it with spinach, various nuts, mushrooms, cheese, spinach, and corn. Then they covered the entire pumpkin with clay and put it in the kiln until the clay was burnt. We then took it out and smashed the clay open to reveal a cooked squash. It was absolutely delicious! A few people from the ceramics department were there too that Muziwandile introduced me to, including a visiting professor from Chicago. He’s here for three works to show and talk about his artwork. He said he wants to stop in the art dept. and see some of my paintings. I’m actually quite nervous about that, and I hope he just forgets!! :-)

After the braii, I went to Muziwandile’s studio to see some of his art. Currently, he’s working on these very large ceramic instruments. They’re shaped like bulbs, and on the side is a small hole, about fist size. Coming out of the top are twisted long pipes coiling around each other. You hold the ceramic piece under your arm, like a football, and hit the fist sized hole with the palm of your hand, in rhythm. It creates this really low, but beautiful noise – especially when you have more than one going at once. Muziwandile, another one of his friends, and I sat around the studio and played for awhile. Muziwandile goes to Johannesburg every other weekend to sell his instruments there. He told me that they have a lot of significance to his family’s culture and background – and he uses the instruments as a way to tell stories. Carved in the side are different animals and people that tell about his family’s past. Doing this is not only a way to earn money, but to also keep his family’s culture and history alive.
Today was a great day overall, and I’m happy to be actually making friends besides the MSU group (even though I love them dearly : )

Herrow!

Here’s my mailing address, in case anyone was wondering :)

University of KwaZulu Natal
Malherbe Residence (Room A212)
Private Bag X O1
Scottsville
3209
South Africa

I heard mail takes about 6 weeks to get here, and I’m not sure how much it costs. Just thought I’d let you all know though :O)

Saturday, February 14th 2009

The first time I visited Durban – I absolutely loved it. This time around, however, was a different story. It was a gorgeous day out, so me and four of the other girls from MSU decided to venture out to the Durban beach for the day. Our mode of transport was the Khombi. Khombi’s are South Africa’s form of public transportation. They aren’t owned by any company – basically whoever wants to operate one, can. Most of the vans are painted some funky color, or have odd slogans across them. My two favorites slogans of the day were: “Making Love Slowly” and “We promise to get you to your destination alive” painted boldly across the sliding doors. It was a very confusing ride, and took us nearly 3 hours to get there (Durban is only 45 minutes away). We did have a tremendous amount of help along the way though. It’s a very heartwarming feeling when so many people go out of their way just to help you out. Every person we’d ask for directions didn’t just tell us where to go, but they actually walked with us to our destination. One guy walked with us about half a mile before turning around.

We had intended on going to “North Beach”, but somehow ended up at “South Beach”. No big deal, right? Wrong. Apparently, as a result from the apartheid, the beaches have split up into an “all black” beach and the other an “all white” beach. We ended up at the “all black” beach. As we were lying there, I couldn’t help but feel like some sort of spectacle. People would just stop and stare at us. We even had some people taking pictures of us. I felt horribly uncomfortable, but decided to stick it out anyways.

Even though it was slightly awkward being there, it’s still a great feeling to break the barriers of apartheid, and do stuff not following the norm. For example, in our dorm, we MSU students are the only white people living there (the residences are split up according to race). I feel like we’re doing something good, and making a positive difference – even if it is very small.

All the girls went in the water except for me and Kelly. We were laying there in the sun, when this guy sits down next to us. He was extremely friendly, and chatting about what a beautiful day it was. Just at that moment though, I happened to turn my head and notice two men rooting through Amanda’s purse. When they saw I noticed them, they booked it and went running down the beach. So that guy just being friendly so his friends could try to steal our stuff. I hate when this sort of thing happens. It makes you really lose faith in the good of people. It’s hard to get angry about it though. When you think about all these people had to go through – the abuse and discrimination by white men, it’s no wonder people turn to crime. I guess it just makes me sad, is all.

After that incident, we got pizza and ice cream, and returned to PMB. There’s definitely a reason why Pietermaritzburg is called the “Sleepy Hollow” of South Africa. Compared to the hustle and bustle of Durban, it’s like living in Traverse City again.

Wednesday, February 11th 2009

Classes this morning were pretty uneventful. The night was a lot of fun though. Apparently, “Trolly Races” are a big deal here. You get shopping carts, cover them in paper, put some random person in them, and have races around a track field – trying not to kill the person in the cart. To make things more interesting, people were drinking “Yakka” which is an illegal drink in the US. I definitely did not try any, but everyone who did the Trolly Races had some (this is a school sponsored event, btw). That made it very amusing to watch, however.

After the races were done, and our team won (“Team America: Obama’s Mama”), we headed to “The Stagecoach” to meet up with our friends Pulami and Sipho. Everything went fine there – but the walk home was a different story.

It was about 1am, when we were crossing the road to Malherbe. Suddenly, a guy came whizzing down the road on his bike. As he approached the intersection, a car happened to be coming from the opposite direction, and the two of them collided. All I remember is hearing a loud crashing sound, and seeing the guy on the bike roll up over the hood and then onto the pavement, and then the guy in the car speeding off. Before we could run over and see if the guy on the bike was okay, the car that had hit him went speeding into reverse back towards the guy. The man in the car (with a bottle of whiskey in hand) jumped out, grabbed the guy in the road, threw him in his car, and sped off again. I wanted to call the cops, but Sipho said they wouldn’t do anything about it. Right now though, I’m just praying that the guy on the bike was able to get help. I think I might call the hospital tomorrow, but I really don’t know what else I can do.

Monday, February 9th 2009

First day of classes. I got up at 6:00am to shower, and had to wait in line for 30minutes for it to finally free up. There’s only one shower on our floor, so I guess I’ll have to get up even earlier tomorrow. It doesn’t help either that the shower only has two settings – boiling hot, and freezing cold with no in between.

I’m taking 4 classes this semester (16 credits). They include a Painting and Printmaking Course, 2 art history courses (one on gender and the other on architecture), and a Service Learning / teaching class.

The only one I’m worried about it my Painting / Printmaking course. We meet twice per week: Thursday for 5 hours, and Friday for 9.5 hours (yes, that’s right… 7:30am till 5pm…. with only one 30min break). My prof is sorta crazy too. She calls us her “little chickens” and has a very strong Zulu accent that makes her impossible to understand. Also, all our projects are “pass / fail” on whether or not she likes it – so no matter how many hours or how much effort you put into a piece – it ultimately comes down to whether or not SHE thinks it looks good.

My art history classes are both very interesting – the only problem I have is that they’re on NO set schedule. One week we may meet Mondays and Thursdays at 7am – and then the next week we may not meet at all. During the beginning of each class, we have votes on what times we should meet for the following week. So my hopes of getting on some sort of set schedule are out the window. BUT, this is Africa after all – what did I expect?