Farm Life

Sorry about the break in posting, we've been really busy but are having an incredible time. This weekend was, for me, the coolest experience we've had yet. On Thursday we loaded up for a long weekend in Grahamstown and two nights on "the farm," as our itenerary put it. We were all a little weary of our weekend on "the farm" but all left with a newfound respect for farm life in South Africa.

We started the trip with a stop at a local farm stall/market type building with local produce and an awesome bakery. We pretty much all had this type of grilled bread that they're well known for and it was delicious. After that we headed to Grahamstown where we had a sort of history lecture from a local historian. He basically told us the complete history of SA in under two hours and made it very interesting... Trey has video of him saying a Xhosa nursery rhyme that is supposed to teach children all of the click sounds within the language. We'll try and get some of those posted, but internet is definitely not as fast or easy to come by as in the States.

After that we ate lunch then went to ILAM (International Library of African Music) and we're introduced to a lot of traditional african instruments such as the finger piano, xylophone, djembe, and some others I can't remember the name for. I actually got the chance to play on a very oild and large xylophone type instrument with the local musician with Hope and it was really cool. A lot of the instruments could only play one or two notes so music making seemed to be a very communal thing in the traditional communities. And for those who are interested, a lot of the tuning was pentatonic which was surprising to me.

After our museum tour we went back for a relaxing evening in our nice hotel then dinner at a local pub. I got some tea at a local coffee shop called "The Mad Hatter" and the walls were all painted with scenes from "Alice in Wonderland."

The next morning we had breakfast and headed to "the farms." The ride there was long and bumpy but once we arrived I think we all were very happy to be there. It would take days to talk about everything we did but I'll try and cover the high points. First off we met Winnie and Manus who own a large and diverse farm with sheep, goats, dairy cows, angora sheep, and just about every farm animal you can think of: chickens, ducks, geese, rock rabbits, kudu (huge horse like animal with horns), turkey, dogs, cats, monkeys, and a lot more I'm sure. Farm life is, from what I could tell, a nice way to make a living in South Africa. Both couples seemed to live a very comfortable life and we were treated like kings. Everyday we had a full three meals a day along with afternoon tea/coffee. One night we had a traditional chicken stew that they cooked over hot coals in a brick oven, and one night we had grilled steak and potatoes. During the day we got to experience life on the farm. The two couples employ around 12 workers each who live on the farm. Manus and Francois (the other man) let us milk cows, showed us how to sheer sheep for the wool, took us on a late-night game drive, and toured us around their huge plots of land. For me, the coolest part was Francois' game room. Let me just say, this man is a serious hunter. In this relatively small wooden cabin structure he has just about every animal mounted to the wall you can think of (barring the traditional american game like elk, white-tail, and moose) such as a giraffe (yes, I'm serious), zebra, springbok, warthog, wildabeast, fellow deer, antelope, kudu, and a lot more I can't think of. We have pictures though and they definitely speak a thousand words.

The are surrounding the farms was breathtaking. Pictures won't do it justice but the views from just about any place on the farm were incredible. We also got to see snow up the mountain, believe it or not.

Another part of our trip the past couple days has been South African sports. We finally understand and, personally, enjoy watching rugby. The FIFA Confederation Cup also ended last night with Brazil beating the U.S. but its been a lot of fun to watch.

Everyone is doing well and missing home at least a little bit. We went to the market yesterday and everybody seems to be purchasing some wonderful gifts for the folks back home, so get excited.

Alright, it's been a long post and we have another lecture in about an hour.

Until later...
-Alex

Virginia ziplining over the Tsitsikamma Falls.



This was taken at the Kragga Kamma Game Park. Getting to play with Cheetahs is something none of us will ever forget.

Molo (greetings in isiXhosa)

The trip is going really well. We have done so much in just a little over a week. I still can't believe we went shark diving...its was out of controll! Durring the week we get the oppurtunity to sit and listen to some very stimulating lectures. However the lectures tend to last two hours which is very grulling for our minds and bodies to say the least. We have learned a little of isiXhosa which is the second most used language out of the 9 national languages. Everyone pretty much speaks english (brittish english that is) so communication has not been that hard. We have an excursion to a farm this weekend which should prove to be very interesting so I look forward to that. As soon as the interenet in our rooms gets up and running I will attempt to upload some videos so get excited.

uhambe kakuhle (go well)
-The Tall One

Sharks...

Let me begin by saying that I survived a close encounter with a Great White Shark yesterday. Words cannot describe how cool it feels to be inches away from such a predator. I will defintiely watch Shark Week with a new found respect from now on.

The weekend was awesome! I really feel like we got a taste of real South Africa. After our zip-line tour we stayed in a quaint hostel, the Island Vibe. We woke up around 6am for our trip to Mossel Bay and were soon in a cage with 6 sharks swimming around us.

This week we have quite a few lectures, but this weekend we are travelling to some sort of farm. It should be interesting. We are getting internet access in our apartments today so hopefully our updates will be more consistent from now on.

Until later,
-Alex

Amazing Weeking

Hello everyone!
This is my first blog, I am sorry I haven't before. This weekend was a very exciting one. We decided to go see a couple of different cities and planned the weekend on Friday, a little last minute but that is how I like to operate. We started out early Saturday morning. We first drove to Tsitsikamma where we rode zip lines over beautiful water falls. Next we headed to Plettenburg Bay where Diana, a member of our group, went sky diving! She is very brave. To end the day we arrived in Knysna. We got a late lunch at a wonderful pizza palor! By the time we reached our Hostel we were exhausted! Some of us slept some of us went back to town. On Sunday we started out even earlier (6:30 to be exact) and traveled to Mossell Bay. Mossell Bay by far was the highlight of the trip. We were on the water by 9:00 and in the cage by 9:30. The 6 of us were the first to get in. Us trying to get the wetsuits on was an experience in itself. The water was freezing but the sharks were soon there to get our adrenalin running. The experience was unbelievable. We could literally reach out and touch them, though none of us did. My description does not do the experience justice. Trey, Alex, and myself went down again later and got to relive the experience once again. We then travelled back to Knysna for lunch and then headed home. I am so tired right now from our weekend so I know my description of the weekend is not wonderful and my grammar is awful but please forgive me. I am sure you will be hearing these stories many times over once we all arrive back in the U.S.

Until next time,
Emelia Wilson

Once again, I only have a limited time to blog this morning so forgive the typos and such.

Yesterday was very interesting. We started the day with a trip to Hankey, a small town near Jeffrey's Bay and home to the originial people of Africa: the Khoi. We were introduced to their ritual and took part in a sort of quasi-service in remembrqance of one of their most famouos ancestors. They were a very diginifgied people and demanded respect; evenso, they were very nice and genuinely interested in informing us of their unique culture.

At our stop we also saw the largest working sundial on the continent, I think, but definitely in South Africa.

This morning, Trey, Virginia, Emelia, Kristen, Dianna and I are starting our weekend adventure. We leave in about 10 minutes for Tsitsikamma for a zip-line canopy tour. After the tour we're going to Mussle Bay to stay the night and tomorrow we're going shark diving! I's really safe (or at least relatively) because we'll be in a cage so no one should worry (epecially you, Mom!).

I miss everyone but know we're having the time of our lives!

Until later...

-Grizzly Adams

Update

It doesn't look like our blogging plans are going to work out as easily as I had thought. Right now, I'm hastily typing considering I only have 20 minutes left of my initial 30 that I purchased for 20rand at a local convenience store. Where to start? The flight over was... well, long. But we all made it safely and are slowly adjusting to South Africa. The food is definitely a plus. You can easily find pizza, McDonalds, KFC, and an incredible steak just about anytwhere you go. Our accents have been a little inhibiting, but for the mosdt part we can communicate well with everyone we come into contact with. Our accomodations are nothing special; however, there is hot water most of the time and the rooms have full kitchens and living rooms. They don't believe in centrail air/heating in South Africa, or don't have the capabilities. Luckily the weather has been pleasant and even chilly and certain times.

Tuesday we went on our first safari at one of the local game parks. We had a HUGE rhino come up to our open van and his horn was literally inches from the tire. Our guides told us he had a horrible habit of puncturing the tires with hias horn. We also saw giraffes,zebras, the spring bock (S. Africa's national animal), water buffalo, wildabeasts, warthogs, and a lot of ostriches. By far the coolest part was our time with the cheetahs... for 30rand most of us went into the enclolsure with some hand raised cheetahs (3 to be exact) and petted/played with them for about 15 minutes. It was incredible and I'm sure you'll be seeing quite a few profile pictures with cheetahs when we get back to the states.

Today was our first day of lectures and I can tell the classes are going to be really interesting. We discussed apartheid mainly and learned about the recently created South African Constitution. I wish i could say more about the academic part but my time is quickly running down.

That's all for now, but I'll try and post in the next few days. Virginia, Trey, and Emelia are all doing fine and miss everyone!

Later!

-Grizzly Adams (thank you Reid)

Well... after a long and hectic night packing (I didn't start until 9:30, went to Wal-Mart at about 11:00 and finished around 1:30) I'm about to leave Madison for the Memphis airport. My bags are very close to the weight limit, so hopefully they'll pass the weigh in.

I don't think that the reality of the trip has set in just yet, but I'm sure it will come fast when I board the plane. We have a flight from Memphis to Atlanta leaving at 3:55, then we fly straight from Atlanta to South Africa (I think). It's around a 15 hour flight...

We are going to three wild-life parks and hopefully we'll get to go whale watching. Trey will have a trusty video camera to record our cooler outings and we'll do our best to post them here on the blog. We should be posting a lot of pictures as well.

Thanks for posting Trey. Virginia and Emelia... I'm dissappointed.

See y'all in about a month!

-Alex (until I decide on a cooler name than Trey's)

The begining

So I guess I will begin the posting saying that I am extremely excited about this trip! Its about time for Trey to get into Trip Mode. Once I get some good footage I will attempt to post some videos. This is going to be a great experience and I can't wait to get there!

We must all come up with writter names btw
I will be the tall one

-The Tall One