Chethana's Great Adventures at Tsitsikama Falls

Okay, before I start on my adventures at Tsitsikama Falls, I want to say a couple things. Firstly, I'm super excited that my blog's been up two days and I've had 79 views already! Not quite sure who's reading about me from Germany & Canada but alright. Also, please leave me comments! I'd love to hear suggestions on how to improve my blog (this is the first time I've done anything like this) or even just reactions =]

Chethana’s Great Adventures at Tsitsikama Falls

By the second weekend I was here, everyone had moved in. NMMU planned the Tsitsikama Falls guesthouse as part of our orientation weekend. When you drive about an hour from Annie’s Cove in Summerstrand, past the city and past the poor townships, you come across wilder terrain. Other than roads and an occasional tiny clustering of houses, there’s nothing but the coast and lush vegetation. Somewhere in the middle of this (not quite sure of the name of the city), there’s a huge guesthouse with supporting buildings on the outskirts of a forest: Tsitsikama Falls Guesthouse. There were about 120 of us staying in this guesthouse for the weekend orientation. The guesthouse had 4 huge bedrooms with lots of bunk beds to accommodate all of us and a huge communal hall to eat and have other activities in. Outside the guesthouse, there is a huge lawn and beyond that trails leading into the forest to the waterfalls, rivers, and other beautiful sights. The stay at the guesthouse was quite enjoyable save the food. I met too many international students to recall all their names. During the day, we’d hike and sunbathe outside and during the night we’d play cards and dance. It was more of a ‘get to know the international students’ rather than an orientation but I absolutely loved it. Below are some pictures of the beautiful area.

I also learned to play drums! I’m quite bad at keeping a beat but somehow I managed along.

Oh yes, before I forget, I should mention that I went ziplining here! On Saturday afternoon, we were broken into three groups of 30 or so and sent to get our equipment on and head out to the trail of ziplines. Below is a picture of a few of my friends and me with our bulky and awkward to walk in ziplining equipment:

Then came the scary part for me: the actual ziplining. I watched about 10 students go before me hoping that would appease my fear a little. Unfortunately, it did nothing. When the guy in charge hooked me to the line, I was horribly confused as to what to do. I asked him how to break, when to break, what to do if I got stuck, the possibility of me falling etc. Thankfully, he was very friendly and the other students were all very reassuring. It still took me another 10 minutes to go off. I was terrified to push off the edge of the cliff with huge drop with nothing to trust but a hook on a line. Well, I was pushed off and when I was finally ziplining, I had a terrific time! We started off with some easy ones over trees and other vegetation. My favorites were the lines at the end: over the waterfalls! It was absolutely stunning: I was moving over waterfalls and a forest 50 feet above with the mist from the waterfalls on my face and the sun gloriously shining down on me. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

Ofcourse, because it’s me, I was one of the only people the guides have had get stuck on the zipline. Apparently I braked too hard and too far away and had to rope myself in. Although in my defense, I saw a huge boulder coming at me (they say it was a good 4 feet from me but it looked really close to hitting me!) and reflexively braked too early. Even with the 20 minutes longer than the average person to push off on the zipline and getting stuck, I absolutely loved the experience and would do it again in a heartbeat.

I have two more posts before my blog becomes up to date! Upcoming posts include visits to the township and the dance there and a post on campus! Hope you guys are enjoying reading this. Feel free to leave me any suggestions as to how I can improve my posts! =]  

The City of Many Names

Port Elizabeth is called a number of names: the windy city, the bay city, and the friendly city are the names I’ve heard so far but there are undoubtedly more names. I have to say, the city has quite impressed me by living up to its various reputations.

The weather here is pleasantly warm: about the mid 80s. You always feel comfortable because there’s constantly a breeze coming in from the sea to cool you down. While most days the wind is happy and gentle, there are days that it gets a little wild and blows everything down: on these days, it’s hard to walk without stumbling a few times. I love getting up to the warmth and the sun. It’s absolutely exquisite getting up to a warm room that is flooded with sunlight. My surroundings here feel alive- there’s no other way to describe it. I know it’s the same sky that I see but the South African sky looks huge. I’ve never had this sensation anywhere else: the sky simply feels and looks higher up. It sounds rather silly and I can’t do anything but describe the feeling I have. The sky here is a clear blue with a few peaceful clouds scattered and a dazzlingly bright sun. I sometimes pause to gaze above me and it feel as if I could be swallowed up. It’s a beautiful sight but it’s humbling: it reminds me what a little speck I am in this world.

The city and its people are extremely friendly as long as you accept both for what they are. The people I’ve met are all warm and inviting. There’s a different mood in the air here: it’s livelier but also more easy going. You’re greeted with hugs and invitations to join a barbeque, an excursion to the beach, or whatever else is going on. When people here speak, it’s more energetic and emotional- it would probably be considered dramatic in the U.S. but I love how much lively they are. You feel welcome wherever you go.

However you also have to realize that this city and its people have a different way of life. As I explained before with the internet, the system here is much slower and has a lot more hoops to jump through. Most things take longer here. At NMMU, there are over a thousand students waiting to receive their id card but there is only one man to make them all by hand: needless to say you’ll have to wait in line a few hours to receive your card. Similarly, when I ask someone about the medical card I was supposed to have upon arrival, I have to wait a few weeks for the card to get to me. Most of the American students become extremely frustrated and end up coming to me when something is taking too long or has too many steps. I’ve simply learned to accept the system. It is much more efficient and easier on your mind if you simply accept the process rather than stewing in frustration and attempting to speed up the system as many of them try to. I came in with an upper hand since I have lived in Sri Lanka and have experienced the slow system there. However, I think they’ll eventually come to the realization and simply accept the city and its people for what they are.

And finally the ocean! Port Elizabeth is right on the coast and you can walk to the ocean from most parts of the city quite quickly. I’m constantly walking along Beach Road that goes parallel to the ocean. It’s a sparkling clear blue and the beaches here are kept extremely clean. While the weather outside is warm, the ocean is usually pretty chilly…even now in the summer. There are very few crowded parts since the beach spreads over such a long distance. It’s a beautiful sight in the late afternoon: there are mothers with their little children, lovers holding hands, friends having barbeques, peddlers packing up and trying to convince some last minute buyers, and the occasional (usually shirtless) runner.

The City of many names is so far giving me quite an enjoyable experience. I can’t wait to see what's next! I'll tell you about some of my excursions so far and post more pictures for the next blog! =]

The Beginning of the Journey

Alright, I know this blog is very late in the starting. BUT in my defense, internet in South Africa is a ridiculously hard to come by commodity. Not out of scarcity of this wonderful resource but rather because of the system. It’s a rather drawn out process: first you go to the bank and pay to the internet provider’s account, then you wait the three business days but it’s hopeless as they will inevitably fail to send you a username and password to the network, then you talk to your landlord who requires at least another 3 days to contact the provider and such things, and finally you get your internet. I’m not quite at the last stage of the process but I have high hopes that the end is soon in sight. Well now that you’ve heard my rather drawn out explanation, let me tell you about my first few weeks here!

First Week or So

I slept at a hotel near the airport the Friday night that I landed and left for my lodgings on Saturday morning. The place I’m staying at is called Annie’s Cove. It’s an absolutely delightful little area of 4 bedroom hut like houses. There are a 120 students here: 90 are international students and the other 30 are South African first year students. The pictures below will be more helpful in describing the place as I’ve never encountered anything of the like before. While it is a delightful little place now, when I arrived. I was rather horrified.

The bedroom I walked into was absolutely filthy. There was a coat of dust on everything: the table, the closet, and even the walls. I had no electricity and the water coming out of the taps looked dubiously light brown. The assurance of bedding I was given a few months ago wasn’t so assuring anymore: the bed had a light blue sheet with mysterious looking stains that I prefer not to wonder about. I walked in to the tiny kitchen and bathroom wanting some reassurance but alas, my luck had run out. The kitchen and bathroom floor were sticky with grime stains on the walls, the few dishes were coated in dust, the stove didn’t work, and there were a few roaches scuttling around (Wasn’t thinking of taking pictures before the cleaning so you’ll simply have to use your imagination: the pictures below are post cleaning). Since the apartment was in a rather sorry state and I was too hungry to clean, I decided on finding food. Thankfully Marius, my landlord, was in a wonderful mood that day and took me to get electricity and dropped me off at a store where I could get food and a phone. Let me tell you, I have never been so happy to see a ham and cheese sandwich and an outdated phone: they were my means of sustenance and communication!

Below are some before and after pics of my room =]

Well the worst is over: it was all uphill from there. I got some intense cleaning solution and scrubbed down everything in my apartment. My hands didn’t appreciate the blisters that appeared the next day but my god, I can’t describe how happy I was to have a clean apartment! I slept on my towel until I could go buy bedding a few days later. I fully stocked my tiny kitchen: it took multiple trips as the grocery store is about a 2 mile walk and you can only buy what you can carry home with your hands. It’s amazing how little you can survive on. I certainly missed my nice touch screen Droid and having internet and a working stove and such but it’s really not so bad. I compare the little I have here to what I have at home in the U.S. and can’t help but wonder if everything I have there is absolutely necessary.  After I got settled in, I was able to look around and appreciate this beautiful country that I’m in.

Sorry, but you’ll just have to read on to the next blog post to find out more =].