Clara in China... Summer 2010

I am taking a brief, two-week hiatus from Durban in Beijing, where I am participating in a Model UN conference and training camp. At Chicago, I staff our college's high school Model UN conference (MUNUC), where over 2000 high school students come to Chicago to debate for four days. Here in China, I am participating in "WEMUNC EXPO," which brings together staffers from several Model UN conferences (Chicago, UPenn, Berkeley, Harvard, Georgetown) to put on its own conference. MUNUC has five of its committees represented; I am running the committee that I chaired this past year, United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs. Before the conference starts next Thursday, some of us are helping to run a training camp, where we will be helping first-time Chinese delegates to learn the basics of ModelUN: speech and debate, paper writing, reading and research, lobbying and negotiation. This training camp lasts five days. I will be teaching Public Speaking and Debate every day to two different groups. I will also be leading two workshops, on on Women's Rights and the other on the World Cup. The students arrived today and seemed very excited and eager to learn.

The training camp and the Model UN conference are taking place in a large convention center about an hour away from Beijing proper, Grand Epoch City. The venue is gigantic: it was intended to be a full-scale replica of the Forbidden City. We arrived at the convention center late Wednesday night, after a long ride on a bus that we were all convinced would break down at any moment. Before coming to Grand Epoch City, we spent two full days in Beijing. We stayed at an apartment-style hotel and our days were filled with tourism activities. On Tuesday, the itinerary included the Summer Palace and the Great Wall. For me, the day didn't go exactly as planned. Due to a combination of the extreme heat in China, my lack of water, a poor decision to eat street food on my second night in the city and very little sleep the night before, I felt extremely sick form the moment I woke up. I made it to Summer Palace, but after getting sick a few times on the way and a momentary loss of consciousness, I was taken to the hospital instead of continuing with the group to the Great Wall. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed that I didn't get to go to the Great Wall, but I wouldn't say that my day was completely wasted. Joyce, the director of the training camp and conference, took me to a Chinese hospital, and I got to see first-hand the efficiency of the inner-city Chinese health care program. I was seen by a doctor in under ten minutes, was immediately given a blood test, my results were in within five minutes, and was given prescriptions and an IV directly thereafter. The entire medical adventure cost under $30.

After the hospital, there was still a good amount of time left in the day and I was feeling much, much better. Joyce took me to a restaurant, where I ate a simple meal of rice and steamed vegetables (doctor's orders) and then we explored the famous Silk Street Market. I would never, ever do something like buy many DVDs, each at a whopping $.90, or a full series set of the West Wing, so I definitely did NOT do that... Mom. After coming back to the hotel and taking a nice nap, Joyce and I rejoined the group for dinner where, my favorite, Peking Duck was served. Hearing the stories from the Great Wall made me very jealous, but also made me realize that I definitely would not have been able to handle the heat and exhaustion that came with the excursion. The other UChicago students brought me a souvenir from the Great Wall, a small stuffed panda, which was extremely nice of them. One of the WEMUN staff members also brought me a small replica of the great wall.

That night, I went to meet Gideon, a good friend of mine from UChicago, who has been spending his summer in an intensive language program in Beijing and will also be spending his fall quarter in China. We went to Hao Hai (pronounced: H-oh Hi, an area with lots of restaurants and bars surrounding a lake, and sat at a bar on a second-floor balcony overlooking the lake. It was a fun, relaxed evening and it was really great to catch up, since I won't be seeing him until March of 2011!

Feeling almost completely better, I was ready for our activities on Wednesday: Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was another unbearably hot day in Beijing, but I was hydrated and had plenty of water with me. Both locations, directly next to each other, were extremely impressive. Our tour guide, Amy, told us that, every day, tens of thousands of Chinese citizens line up in front of Chairman Mao's memorial, just to catch a glimpse of his decaying body which is set up on display for four hours a day. Some have rumored that the body is actually made of wax. One of the UPenn students here, Anne, who has been working all summer in Beijing with WEMUN, told me that she lined up to see the body and it was one of the weirdest events she had ever experienced .

The Forbidden Palace - the old residence of the Emperor, his family, concubines and servants - is immense and awe-inspiring. Complete with 99,999.5 rooms, getting from one end to the other took us over two hours. It was extremely crowded - it is currently the summer holiday season in China, and Beijing is a tourist location for tens of thousands of Chinese every summer. The buildings were remarkably well preserved, most of the paint and detail did not look as old as the building (built between 1406 and 1420). We didn't go into many of the rooms, but we did get a look at the emperor's study, the quarters for the concubines and the very impressive garden.

The group (and Mao) at the entrance of the Forbidden Palace.

Forbidden Palace Gardens


Anne (UPenn) and I

We were all relieved to get back on the bus; we were drenched with sweat. After a decent lunch, we were taken to a "traditional" Chinese tea room and experienced a Chinese tea ceremony. We tried five different teas, all of which were delicious. There was the opportunity to buy the tea after the ceremony, but after consulting with the Chinese natives that were with us, I realized I could buy the same teas for much cheaper elsewhere. Then we were taken to Hao Hai, where we went on a short rickshaw ride around the neighborhood and were then given some free time. For dinner, the UChicago crew went to what is apparently the oldest barbecue restaurant in Beijing. The most delicious course of the meal was the barbecued venison. After dinner, we went back to our hotel. After lots of waiting around, we got on the bus to take us to Grand Epoch City.

Our first day at GEC mostly consisted of getting ready for the training camp and getting acquainted with the huge convention center. I bonded with the UPenn students, most of whom are my age (I am the only non-graduate from UChicago); two of them came to the WEMUN conference last year, so know most of the ins and outs of the convention center. Today, we were able to sleep in, and in the afternoon we greeted the Chinese students with an opening ceremony that included a dance we had learned the day before to a Chinese pop song, "Green Light." Dinner tonight was very tasty - there was more duck! - and afterward I conked out for a few hours. Now, it's back to sleep so that I can have a productive first day of teaching.

One of the teas.

Some delicacies for sale at Hao Hai.

In Beijing!

After a very long journey, I made it to Beijing. I left Durban at 3:00pm, to catch a 6:40pm flight. Check in and security were painless enough, except for when a woman at security tried to confiscate my (empty) World Cup water bottle. I kindly reminded her that the rule was for 100ml of liquid, and not for a container. I was disappointed to find that there was no food at all past security. I don't quite understand why some airports have all the food before security; that layout doesn't seem to make sense if airports encourage going through security with lots of time to spare, especially for international flights.

The flight wasn't very full, so I was lucky enough to have an empty seat next to me. The dinner was served within the first hour - it was decent - and then I slept for most of the way. I arrived at Dubai at 5:20am, and my flight to Beijing was set to take off at 10am. Before reaching the physical terminal, I had a little bit of  rough time. We had to walk off the plane and to shuttle busses that would take us to the terminal. Though I was only outside for a minute, the combination of the extreme heat (99 degrees Fahrenheit) and my apparel (sweatshirt and jeans) caused me to feel very ill. On the bus I got very clammy and became dizzy. The discomfort culminated in my fainting on the bus. It was nothing dramatic, and a passenger I had talked to for a little bit at the beginning of the flight helped me up. I drank lots of water after that. 

The Dubai airport was impressively crowded for such an early hour. Every store was open. and the lines for food were incredibly long. Overwhelmed with it all, I walked from one end of the terminal to the other twice, before finally settling on a place to have breakfast. There were hardly any seats available, but I managed to snag a table. A little later, a woman asked if she could join me at my table. We struck up a little conversation: originally from Cape Town, she was flying from New Zealand back to South Africa to visit family. She also told me that she had take a shower at the terminal's health spa for $14. At that point, extremely sweaty, sticky and unhappy, I decided to find the hotel shower. There are public shower stalls in the terminal, but they aren't very private and I didn't have my own towel. Finding the hotel was easy enough, as it was one escalator ride above the level where the departure gates were located. From the glass hallways of the hotel, one looks down on to all of the duty free shoppers and travelers waiting for their flights.

The shower was an incredibly good idea, and I felt extremely refreshed (bodily and mentally) afterwards. I still had just over two hours to kill before boarding. I perused the duty free, but after realizing how tired I was, fell asleep at my departure gate. This flight was much more crowded, and, though I had the same seat that I had on the previous flight, I had a neighbor this time. I slept for the first little bit, then watched two movies: the new Alice in Wonderland and Remember Me. The latter was extremely heartbreaking and I began to cry so much that a flight attendant came to check on me. I was pretty embarrassed, but once I told her what movie I was watching, she understood completely.

I landed in Beijing right around 11:00pm. The waits for passport control and baggage claim weren't horrendous and I was ready to go fairly quickly. My original plan was to meet with another UChicago student (graduate now, technically) who was coming in at the same time as me, and we would head to our hotel (where we're staying for one night, before heading to the conventional center where our Model UN conference and training will be held) together. His flight landed at Terminal 2, and I was informed that that was 40 minutes away from Terminal 3, where I was. We decided it made most sense to get to the hotel on our own. Luckily, I had printed out a piece of paper with Chinese writing that I was told explained directions to the hotel. Relieved, the taxi did indeed pull up to the hotel twenty minutes after leaving the airport. 

For "dinner" (at 2am), I had an instant soup, "Original Hot and Sour Sweet Potato," after refusing to eat anything from KFC, which is were the two other UChicagoers settled on, after snubbing the other few options that were still open at the time. I don't have definitive plans for tomorrow, and we're not exactly sure how or when we are supposed to be at the convention center, so I'm hoping to meet up with Gideon, who has been spending all summer in Beijing and will remain here for the Fall, who could show me around the city. I'm very excited for the Model UN conference and the tourism days they're purportedly organizing for us, but it seems as though we won't get much time to explore the city of Beijing, so I'm hoping to be able to see some of it tomorrow! 

Things that [still] shock me about Durban:

A bus won’t stop at a bus stop unless you flag it down.
Nothing is open after 6pm.
The sun sets at 4:45pm.
No one walks anywhere.
The ground meat tastes weird.
Can’t get any good coffee anywhere. Instead, I’ve been forced to drink much more tea than I am used to (used to drink: no tea).
Rusks are delicious. (Look them up.)
Now that the World Cup is over, street vendors sell the most random things: inflatable neon cats, hangers, mints that you receive with the bill (check) at any restaurant in South Africa...
There is a Cinnabon across the street from where I live.
There is a KFC on every street corner. No joke.
Everyone wears sweaters in 80 degree weather.

Transkei ("Wild Coast")

The weekend at the Transkei (pronounced Tran-Sky) was awesome. It started off pretty relaxed, as I took the day off work on Friday to meet with Bente for brunch at Mugg & Bean, right across the street. Jessie and I departed in the early afternoon, in a small KIA that we rented. Jessie drove the entire way: we rented a manual and I’m still not that confident driving an automatic (I did get my license less than two months ago, after all). We wanted to get off to an early start so that we could arrive before dark (the sunset is never later than 5pm here); the roads in the Transkei are known to be pretty rough. With the car, we rented a GPS system, so that we wouldn’t get lost.

The minute we left Kwazulu-Natal (the province in which Durban is located and crossed into the Transkei (which is part of the Eastern Cape province), also called the Wild Cost, the roads became significantly worse: there were potholes along the entire route, wildlife was everywhere (we had to stop for crossing cows and donkeys), road-kill was abundant and there were many people walking or biking along the road. The drive through the Wild Coast was beautiful, complete with ocean views and a sprawling mountain landscape. The last two hours of the drive were extremely windy – thankfully neither of us is too prone to carsickness. Jessie did an impressive job with the manual transmission (our car didn’t have power steering, either), and we arrived at the hostel, Amapondo Backpackers, around 7pm. The drive was just over five hours.

When we arrived, we met with the Grahamstown LRC folk: Mae (Jessie’s friend from CLS), Anhil (another CLS student), Taytum (an American lawyer who was spending the year at the Grahamstown LRC), and Rufus (the Grahamstown LRC paralegal). Rufus is a native South African, so was pretty comfortable navigating the Transkei roads. We all piled into his car and went to a restaurant in the town, Port St Johns, called the Fish Eagle. The restaurant specialized in pizza, but I ordered the “Whole Grilled Sole,” which was pretty delicious. Lucky for me, everyone who had ordered a pizza had ordered too much, so there was plenty of that for me to eat as well. When we got back to Amapondo, the electricity, which had previously gone out, was back on and the bar/lounge area was in full swing. We spent a couple of hours there, mingling with all sorts of people, both residents of Amapondo and visitors as well. The crowd was a pretty old one for the type of place, I was definitely the youngest person there, there was a man old looking enough that we referred to him as “Santa” or “Papa Smurf.” After a while, I got pretty tired and went to bed. We were all staying in a dorm style room (incredibly cheap, R100/night, which is about $13).

I slept until around 8am. I got up, had some breakfast and went to the hammocks. I started reading for a little while, but fell back asleep for another hour or so. We left on a walk at 11am with a young couple from Cape Town and Nikki from the hostel, who is originally from London. Before officially getting started, we were offered the chance to swing on the hostel’s rope swing. I was originally hesitant, but after the two from Cape Town both did it, I decided it was worth a try. I was pretty scared before letting go, because I didn’t think I had positioned myself correctly in the rope, but Patrick, one of the owners of the hostel, assured me that I would be OK. The whole thing lasted under ten seconds, but it was extremely thrilling and lots of fun.

We walked for about half an hour until we reached a little waterfall, where we rested for about fifteen minutes. Colin, one half of the Cape Town couple, dared to jump off the cliff into the waterfall, which was about a ten meter jump. It doesn’t sound so intimidating, but, in reality, it was an extremely impressive jump. I hadn’t brought my bathing suit, so I blamed my failure to participate on that, but I doubt that I would have jumped had I been properly equipped. We took a different route back to the beach to the hostel; Nikki warned us that she might get a little lost because it had been a while since her last walk through the area but, luckily, we had one of the hostel’s dogs with us, who was rumoured to be a better guide than any of the human residence of the Hostels. We did indeed get stuck at one point, where the path we were walking along seemed to split in two, but the dog knew exactly where to go.

Before getting all the way back to the hostel, we (the five LRCers – Rufus stayed behind) and Nikki stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Delicious Monster. It was up a little hill, and had great views over the beach. I was surprised at the prices at the restaurant; I had expected it to be much cheaper, but they began to make sense when I thought about how few restaurants there were in the area, allowing them to charge not-so-cheap prices, and when I realized how good the food was. After the late lunch, we headed back to hostel. The Grahamstown LRCers had to head back to Grahamstown, so Jessie and I were left on our own for the last night. We went to the Port St John’s air strip with Nikki (who drove – she was much more comfortable with the car and roads) to watch the sunset. Before getting to the airstrip, Nikki had to go into town to get her cell phone fixed. While Jessie and I were waiting for her outside the store, I decided to take the opportunity to attempt to learn how to drive a manual. I was able to get the car started and drive about 50 feet. Thoroughly satisfied and convinced I could drive the whole way to the air strip, I still let Nikki take back the driver’s seat to take us to the air strip.

After the sunset, we went back to hostel and lounged for a little bit, before going to another restaurant in the neighborhood for dinner (the hostel’s menu was not very appealing). We went to a small restaurant, Wood’n’Spoon, which was absolutely delicious. I started out with a mussel soup, and then got the “traditional Swiss dish,” which was essentially a fancy version of mac’n’cheese with bacon and apple slices. Jessie got the “traditional Xhosa dish,” which had corn, spices and lots of other good things and then a brownie for dessert. When we got back to the hostel, Jessie was extremely tired, so she went straight to bed. I stayed up until 1am playing poker with employees of the hostel and an engineer from Australia. I came close to winning, but not close enough.

On Sunday, Jessie and I went on another walk, again with the couple from Cape Town, this time with someone from the hostel named Clint, to “3rd beach” and the nature reserve nearby. This walk was a little bit more challenging: it was hotter, there were patches of near-vertical climbs, I was not wearing the appropriate footwear, there were lots of sharp plants and I was wearing shorts. Over all though, the walk was a beautiful one and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We saw several whales in the ocean, which was pretty cool. The annual “Sardine Run” is happening right now along the Eastern Coast of South Africa: every year around this time, thousands of sardines move north along the coast. Following them, hungry, are all sorts of marine animals: sharks, whales, dolphins, etc. The time is said to be extremely cool for scuba divers, as they can dive without cages, since all the animals are more interested in eating the sardines than the divers. From above the water, one can still see whales jumping up and down, and many boats go out to sea to do some whale watching.

After our walk, we went back to Wood’n’Spoon (Delicious Monster was closed) for lunch, and then embarked on our return five-hour drive. The drive didn’t seem as bad as the first time around, and Jessie was more comfortable driving. We couldn’t find a decent radio station for a while, until getting closer to KZN. People often refer to the Wild Coast as the “real Africa,” which is a nickname I don’t particularly approve of. What they mean is that the Wild Coast isn’t full of big cities and modern technology, the roads aren’t paved, and you don’t see much development. The Transkei is also home to the Xhosa tribe (there are two main tribes in South Africa: the Zulu and the Xhosa), whose most notable members are Nelson Mandela (whose 92nd birthday was yesterday) and Desmond Tutu. I found people in the Transkei to be much friendlier than those I come across in Durban. That might be a result of the general differences between living in a city and in rural areas, but Nikki remarked that, throughout all her travels in South Africa (which were many), she always found the Xhosa people to be friendlier and more welcoming than the Zulu. I haven’t been in South Africa nearly long enough to make any kind of generalization between the two, but found it interesting that some people had. From my experiences thus far in the country, however, I found the least friendly people of all to be the Afrikaaners and the British-South Africans, who all shelter themselves behind their electric fences and huge walls, who refuse to integrate with both each other (the divides in South Africa go far beyond black and white) and all other residents of the country. Amapondo Backpackers felt like a nice break from all the separation and tension, as people from all over South Africa, and the world, were coming together and enjoying each other’s company, regardless of origin.

Now, I am back at work at the LRC, with more things to do than ever. I'm working on all sorts of projects for the LRC, mostly having to do with education (school funding, in particular), organizing future weekend trips as well as finalizing the plans for my trip to Zanzibar, andI'm also getting ready for my two-week trip to Beijing (!!!!!) for a Model UN "expo." I'm very, very excited for the trip; I've never been to China before, I have an irrational love for Model UN, and will be very happy to see friends from UChicago. I leave on Saturday.

"The Durbs"

I haven't written much since the World Cup ended, because not much has happened. Durban is much, much quieter now; all the tourists have left. I didn't do much over the weekend - I got a little bit sick. I watched the 3rd-4th place match on my mini-TV at home, while nursing some hot tea and Advil. I didn't feel much better on Sunday, but I still wanted to go to the Fan Park. The combination of my fever and the pouring rain was a pretty big deterrent; Jessica and I ended up trying the restaurant/bar across the street from us, News Cafe. They had a large screen set up on the porch (which was covered) outside, so we took a seat there. They had a menu of entirely World-Cup inspired drinks, from cocktails to “Vuvu-Shooters” (shots in glasses shaped like vuvuzelas). The place became pretty packed, and people were blowing their vuvuzelas incredibly loudly, not minding that the porch was an enclosed area seating lots of people with ears – mine were definitely ringing by the end of the evening. It was one of the more lively crowds at a restaurant/bar, maybe simply because it was the final. The match was incredibly exciting. Though I cheered for the Netherlands, I absolutely acknowledge that Spain played some brilliant soccer. It is telling, though, that they were only able to score once the Dutch were down to 10. For some reason, FIFA decided to proceed with the closing ceremonies before the match, earlier in the day, so I didn't get to watch them live. (It turns out it was a good decision not to go to Durban's Fan Park because, despite the rain, there were 40,000+ people there, and it had to be closed off at 6pm because it had reached capacity.)

I had much more work to do this past week at LRC, so I kept busy at the office. School is back in session in South Africa, so we're finally able to communicate with some of the schools that have written to us to represent them in challenging the school funding procedure. It seems as though, now that the World Cup is over, people all over - the office, Durban, South Africa - are back in work mode; things seem to be getting done a lot faster. With the end of the World Cup, however, also brings increased tension and fear of xenophobic attacks over the country. There hasn't been much disruption in the parts of Durban where I mainly preside, but reports of attacks occurring the second the final whistle blew have been circulating around the office and the papers.

Today was a work day different from most: Jessie and I joined with interns from Legal Aid, LHR, The Black Sash (a women's advocacy group) and Children Refugee Group for a "Diversity Training." The morning sessions were extremely beneficial and informative. I, being the only intern not currently in law school, don't have much of a background on International and Human Rights Law, and we spent the morning reviewing things like the Geneva Convention, CAT, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the OAU and the South African Constitution. It may have review for the rest of the interns, but I definitely appreciated the sessions. I even came up with two new debate cases from the things I learned and the case study we all did together. After lunch, we engaged in exercises which were aimed at tackling prejudice, promoting diversity and understanding, and looking introspectively at our core values. I found the exercises to be a bit childish and they reminded me of workshops I led in high school as the head of Brearley's Diversity Committee, but they were somewhat interesting.

The exercise I found to be the most valuable (no pun intended... you'll see why in a second) was when we were asked to rank our own personal values. We were given a sheet of paper with a long list of values - all values that every person thinks are good and sound - and told to rank the 5 values that were most important to us and the 5 that were least. I found the latter to be an easier task, whereas winding the values I cared about the most down to just 5 was more difficult than I had anticipated. In the end, the 5 values I found to be least important were: Inner Harmony, Obedience, Time, Creativity and Location. The 5 values I found to be the most important were: Independence, Ambition, Friendship/Family, Recognition and Leaving a Legacy. When reflecting on my choices, I realized that my values might not make me seem like the best person, but, in the end, realized that those were indeed all things that mean a great deal to me. To make myself feel a little bit better, I thought of "good" people who encompassed these values, and came up with some very good examples, role models even. The exercise made me realize that values, by virtue of being values, are inherently good (because a value is defined as such), but many of them, if not all, can be perverted and transformed into negative harms. Ambition, for example, can lead to selfishness, independence can lead to crassness and loneliness, and cherishing ones friends and family too much can even lead to dependency or frailty. Everything we value, all of our virtues, though when untainted are always good, must be controlled and reflected upon, to avoid the corruption of our character. Without reflection, an actor can act in a terrible manner, but can convince himself he is acting on one of his core values, not realizing that it is no longer virtuous. I suppose the exercise was more interesting than I had originally realized, and maybe even a good exercise for us all to undertake every now and again.

I ate very well tonight: a sirloin steak with creamed spinach and mashed potatoes. An old au-pair of mine, Bente, is in Durban for a wedding, so we went out to dinner together tonight (and Monday as well, to a very excellent Italian restaurant). Tomorrow, Jessie and I are driving to Transkei (The Wild Coast). The excursion started off as an excuse for Jessie to hang out with a friend who will be there as well, but I decided to tag along, as the region is said to be very beautiful and holds some good hiking paths. We'll be back Sunday night.

My Last World Cup Match

I went to my last World Cup match last night, Spain-Germany semifinal. It was one of the more fun matches I've been to, even if the team I was cheering for lost. It was the only match I've been to alone (I bought the ticket last-minute from a friend of a friend), so I was forced to be social. I decided to root for Germany because they had been playing so well throughout the tournament, and I wasn't all that impressed with Spain. Either way though, Netherlands is my team of choice to win it all, so I was really just there to have a good time and watch an epic match of soccer. Since it was my last match, I decided to splurge and get my face painted and buy a knock-off (sorry, Mom) Germany scarf. While in line to get into the stadium, I heard some American accents behind me so, of course, introduced myself. I met two young professionals from the City and we talked for about fifteen minutes but eventually parted ways - we were seated at opposite sides of the stadium. I was seated right behind a corner, so was much closer to the field than ever before, just not centered. It was a pretty great view; I could see all the corner kicks extremely clearly, and I saw Spain's goal perfectly. The section was taken up entirely by Germany fans (mostly German), so I was definitely wearing the right apparel. I got a hang for most of the German soccer chants by the end of the match.

It was a shame that Germany lost, but Spain did play extremely well: a well-deserved win. Something exciting did happen thanks to their loss, though: I was on the jumbo screen! In the last minutes of the match, they showed shots of sad looking Germany fans and, putting on the saddest face I could, I was put on the stadium's screen for a few seconds. I left the stadium immediately after the match ended, so I was able to avoid the crowds and traffic. I was home within ten minutes of the final whistle. I'm not exactly sure what my plans are for the final yet, I'm hoping to get some people from the office together to go watch somewhere, or maybe I'll convince Jessie (who isn't nearly as excited about the World Cup as I am) to come to the Fan Park with me. Life, and South Africa, will be extremely different starting on Monday. The fan parks all over the country will be taken down, most of the tourists will leave (those who haven't already, sad and demoralized by their respective teams' losses) and the general World Cup vibe will be missing. School, on the other hand, will start up again (South Africa made the controversial choice to let out all schools for six weeks for the World Cup). Overall, the World Cup has been a wonderful time. Watching these amazing players up close and live is an unparalleled experience, but the most thrilling part of it all has been the environment itself (in stadiums and in the country as a whole). Showing support for a country has been a way to meet people, exchange smiles and even occasionally not-too-serious insults. And there's nothing quite like being in a stadium, surrounded and overwhelmed by the sound of tens of thousands of vuvuzelas.

Jessie and I are wishing for good weather this weekend; we'd like to go to the beach. I'm not exactly sure what I'll do (or write about) once the World Cup is over (and UEFA Champions doesn't get interesting until September), so I've been trying to come up with fun and exciting activities and trips. So far, I've have a trip to Zanzibar in the works, thoughts of bungee jumping, scuba diving lessons and a one-day safari visit to Hluhluwe Game Reserve.

Oh, I forgot to mention...

I'm going to the Germany-Spain semifinal in Durban tonight! I'll be cheering for Germany, in the hopes that my Neterhlands-Germany prediction comes true (I'm already half way there). I'll be sitting in the front section, so look for me on TV!

The Drakensberg and Lesotho

This weekend, Jessie and I went hiking in the Draknesberg, the highest mountain range in Africa, and in Lesotho, a tiny country completely surrounded by South Africa. We stayed at a youth hostel, Amphitheatre, located at the foot of the Drakensberg; the hostel arranged the two trips and tour guides. We left the office early on Friday, and took a four hour bus ride to Harrismith, where we were picked up by someone from the hostel. The hostel van was in worse shape than any minibus taxi I've seen, and the guy from the hostel slipped in that he had been in a car accident (we told him we were working at a legal aid firm, which got him started talking about his lawyer, who is helping him with his car crash issues) recently, so the forty-five minute drive to the hostel was a little bit nerve-wracking. Our bus overlapped directly with the Netherlands-Brazil match, BUT, by sheer, brilliant coincidence, our bus stopped at a rest stop where we were given 25 minutes to eat and rest, and I got to see BOTH Netherlands’ goals. I was very, very happy.

The hostel was warm, welcoming and busy, but we didn’t get off to a great start: the tours were twice as expensive as advertised on the hostel’s website and we were never told about the price difference until arriving, which wasn’t very helpful since, by then, we didn’t have much of a choice. Jessie and I didn’t say much about it when we were first told, but after more thought, we got more and more frustrated. We ended up complaining pretty vehemently, but the price didn’t change. After we were checked in, we were served dinner. We ate a table with other people staying at the hostel, and met some very nice people, some who ended up on our Lesotho tour the next morning. After dinner, we watched the Ghana-Uruguay match on the hostel’s big screen. It was an exciting match, but I knew that the outcome didn’t really matter: the winner was guaranteed to get shut out by the Netherlands in the semi. I, of course, was right. (The Netherlands beat Uruguay in a fantastic match last night.)

Our tour to Lesotho left the next morning at 8am. There were three other sets of two on the tour: two recent graduates from Edinburgh University, two Dutch girls who were in the last stages of medical school (both doing the med school equivalent of internships in South Africa), and an older couple (40s at least) from Mauritius. Our guide, Zee, was from the area. The drive to Lesotho was around two hours long (I was asleep for most of it). We had to pass through South African border control, and the drive was only fifteen minutes or so after that. We arrived at a small village, where we greeted by the principal of the primary school, Mamabope. She spoke to us about Lesotho history, village life and education. She took us to the various buildings of the school, all built at different stages. She took us to the large classroom, which serves as a classroom to grades 2-7.


After speaking with Mamabope, Zee guided us away from the village to start our hike. Many of the children from Mafrika de Sou (the village) followed us, and a few ended up staying with us the entire time. Though, according to Zee, Mafrika de Sou is not a Lesotho village that attracts many tourists (it was rather remote, and there are villages closer to a more popular border pass than the one we went through), I got the feeling that the children were very used to seeing throngs of tourists pass through their village. They started off very friendly, and loved it when they got their picture taken. We shared our lunches (pretty gross sandwiches provided by the hostel) with the children at the top of our hike, but after that they continued to ask for more food, water and pictures. It seemed as though they went through the same routine very often , and usually ended up with lots of gifts from tourists (though Zee explicitly told us not to give the children anything). One Lesotho girl, she was 13, took a special liking to me and spent most of the day walking with me; it proved to be especially helpful during the more difficult parts of the hike as, though she was wearing ratty sandals, she was very good at navigating the terrain.




Our hike lasted about an hour. We stopped for lunch and a few of us (the two Dutch girls, one of the girls from Edinburgh and I) climbed up a little bit further to a plateau in the rock, where we were greeted with fabulous views. After getting our way back down, we were greeted into the home of a Lesotho woman, who let us taste homemade beer. It certainly tasted beer-like, but with lots and lots of yeast. Her home was spread out between two circular huts, one which served as the kitchen area, the other as the bedroom. Her children were all old enough that they no longer lived with her. I didn’t ask where bathrooms were, but I couldn’t see any.

Zee realized that we had to leave rather quickly: the border between Lesotho and South Africa closes at 4pm, and it was already passed 3:30. On the way out, we were given some traditional Lesotho food, “map” (finely ground corn) and curried spinach: it was delicious. With a Lesotho beer in hand (this one in a can and from a shop; it tasted like real beer), we made it to the border just in time.

On our way back to the hostel, we stopped in Harrismith to pick up a newcomer to the hostel. I jumped out of the car to check the Germany-Argentina score and was VERY pleased (it was 3-0 at the point, 80 minutes in). I watched the highlights of the game when I got back to Durban. Back at the hostel, we had dinner and watched the Spain-Paraguay match. Exhausted, I went to bed, happy that Spain had won.

We were told our tour would start at 7am on Saturday morning, since we had to be dropped off at Harrismith by 4:30 to catch out bus back to Durban. I got to the dining room at 6:30 am, and had the vegetarian breakfast: eggs on toast, with beans, tomatoes and onions. Unfortunately, no one told Zee that were getting off to an early start, so our tour didn’t start until 8am. Cathy, one of the Edinburgh girls, was the only other member of our hike. The drive was another long one, and the last half hour was spent going uphill on very shabby roads. I was convinced the van was going to break down at any moment. We arrived at the drop off point, which Zee said was about 2000m up. We would be going up to 3121 m. The first hour and a half of the hike weren’t too bad; there was a lot of mixing of walking and short spurts of steeper rock beds we had to climb up. Parts of the hike were extremely frightening, as the “path” we were walking along was right at the edge of the mountain: one small misstep and one would certainly plummet down a couple thousand meters. There were some parts of the hike which were slippery and icy – extremely terrifying.

Then we arrived at the chain ladders. In order to get to the top of the mountain we were hiking, the Sentinel Peak, we had to climb two 15+ meter chain ladders. They were absolutely horrifying. [Obviously] only one person could climb or descend at a time, and when we arrived to climb, there was a group coming down. The group happened to be a family that had camped out for the night at Sentinel Peak. The last member of the family to come down the ladder was a young boy that couldn’t have been older than 13, so I told myself, “If he can do it, I can do it too.” I was the first of our group to climb up the first ladder. It wasn’t as terrible as I thought it would be, but I wouldn’t call it fun or relaxing, either. I waited for the three others to get to the top of the first ladder, and went up the second, again being the first to go. I couldn’t have been more relieved to reach the top, and I blocked out the thought that I would eventually have to go back down.

At the top of the ladders, a valley on top of a mountain awaited us. Had I not just hiked for so long, I wouldn’t have guessed that we were up so high (the difficulty I was having breathing at that atmosphere also gave it away). We walked across the “valley” for about a half hour, and finally came to the “Amphitheatre” and Tugela Waterfall. The view was absolutely breathtaking. The waterfall, the second highest in the world, was almost completely frozen over and its stream was very weak, but it was still very impressive. It was extremely cold up there. We sat and ate our lunch and talked for a little while.

We were a little bit pressed for time, because we wanted to make sure we caught our bus back to Durban. We came down the same way we came up, which meant confronting the chain ladders again. Zee was adamant that the way down was much easier than the way up, but I definitely disagree. The problem with going down is that one is forced to LOOK down the entire time. I was very, very scared and as I descended I had to sing to myself (“Aint No Mountain High Enough”) to distract myself from what I was really doing. Eventually, we all made it down and started our descent. I found walking down to be more difficult than walking up, and even fell a few times, but nothing too serious. We made it back to the van, which took a few minutes to get started, and got to Harrismith with few minutes to spare.

We got on our bus back to Durban, surprised by how smoothly everything had gone over the course of our weekend. Of course, our bus broke down in Pietermartizburg (about an hour away from Durban), where we had to wait for an hour and half for a mechanic to fist the bus’s exhaust. At that point, I was feeling extremely ill (probably a combination of the high altitudes, bad rest-stop pizza and being stuck on a bus for so long). We finally got home around 11pm, and I went directly to sleep.

My Place

The palace...

Meeting People

Tuesday, I went to North Durban to run with a running club, Glenwood Harriers. Someone recommended I run with a running club, becuase I don't know the city very well, it gets dark very early (5pm) and it's a way to meet people. After some Google searching, I found Glendwood Harriers. There were about 10 of us total, and I was the youngest person there by at least five years. Every one was very nice, especially a runner who had come from Zimbabwe. We ran 9k (just over 5.5 miles), at a relatively slow pace. I hadn't gone running in about six weeks, but I didn't have too difficult of a time, except for running up one particularly steep hill. Yesterday, and today still, however, my legs have been in tremendous pain.

The group was a lot of fun and very welcoming, but a little bit too far away. I had to take a cab there, which cost me just over $10. Luckily, I got a ride back from one of the runners who lives near where I am staying. Glenwood Harriers run three evenings a week: Tuesday (steady pace, 8-12k), Wednesday (time trials 5k and 8k), and Thursday (hills, 6-10k). I've just found another group that meets much closer to me; they run Tuesday and Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings. If my legs are willing, I may try to run with them this evening, before seeing Twilight with Willene.

Today, I met some American interns working with another non-profit in the Diakonia Centre, LHR (Lawyers for Human Rights). I met one of the interns, Michael, at the cafe downstairs this morning while getting some coffee. I heard someone speaking with an American accent, so couldn't resist introducing myself. Turns out, he was one among five interns at LHR, and we made a plan to get lunch together later in the day. Jessie and I met up with Michael and another intern at LHR at lunch time. We headed to a vegetarian indian restaurant to pick up some food; we ate in the LHR office. Three of the interns are rising 2L's from Wash U law school, Michael graduated from Harvard undergrad last year, and the fifth intern is from Germany. They were all very nice, and maybe we'll continue to hang out during our time here in Durban.

Tomorrow, Jessie and I are working a half-day before heading to the bus station to catch our bus to Harrismith, where we will be picked up by the staff from the hostel we are staying at in the Drakensburg. Hopefully we'll meet people there. I've been told there is a TV, so I don't have to worry about missing ALL the quarter finals BUT I'll be missing the two BEST ones (semi-final worthy, even final worthy I'd say): Netherlands - Brazil on Friday at 4pm and Argentina - Spain again at 4pm on Saturday. It is so infuriating that these games are right in the middle of the day! Lucky me, I get to watch Uruguay - Ghana (Neither of these teams will be in the final.) and Paraguay - Spain. (At least I can watch Spain, but they will lose to the winner of Argentina - Germany in the second semifinal, which will be in Durban!) I wonder if our hike will be back by 4pm on Saturday.... Or if the bus we're on will be playing the match on the radio... One can only hope.