May 21st

May 21st

Wildlife I Could Live Without

So Meesh and I are in Tzaneen staying with a lovely Rotarian – who happens to have 4 cats. It’s been a bit of a challenge for me to say the least.

My vocational visits have also been a bit of a challenge because there are no YMCA in this area – most of them are n Durban and in the southern part of South Africa. And people have heardof the YMCA but aren’t quite sure what it is or what I do. So this morning I went with Meesh to visit a private school for black children. We’re told that it’s outside the town of Tzaneen town limits so that’s why there are no white children – as most of them live in town. Crazy stuff.

The first class we sat in on was an algebra class – something I haven’t seen since about high school. We then went to the teacher lounge for “break” and went to a preschool and 1st grade class. The kids were adorable – and all wanted their photo taken.

We also to a school for the deaf – which was interesting as most of the kids lived there as well.

We went out for lunch and as we were driving the person we were with asked us “What do you call the black people” and then used the n word. I though Meesh and I were going to fall out of the car. I don’t know that the translation of how we don’t use that word made it though to her. It’s very interesting in South Africa and the discussion and perceptions of race. I have a lot of people hold conversations that would be incredible racist in our eyes and them flat out tell me they aren’t racist. So interesting…. It’s a hard thing to explain what I’ve experienced on this whole topic in a written conversation – I can better explain it verbally…(and when I’m not exhausted).

Corrina (a friend of our hosts) then took us to a Chakra garden that a friend owned in the mountain. It was beautiful – however really cold and we only had short sleeve shirts on. So after the 21 station tour we went inside for tea and to find out what our directions are. Apparently I’m an “east” girl and other than that I can’t remember a thing about the description. And don’t ask me what the “east” title is supposed to mean either – I have no clue ;)

Did I mention the Chakra garden had 3 huge dogs, 1 little one and 4 cats? I owe Meesh a case of wine for trying to keep them all away from me….