When shit happens(seriously) .... this is what blogs look like

While sick and in Gugulethu I was writing in a journal and not typing much once I got better the internet was broken and blogger wasn’t working. I have transferred everything here to one blog page and attached appropriate dates. There is more from other dates in between that may be added but here is what exists for now.

Sunday May 31

Today was our first day in the township. I didn’t really have any idea what to expect but its been mostly sitting around all day waiting for stuff, so it hasn’t really been that bad. Church wasn’t as bad as I was expecting either. Im not the biggest fan of church but it was okay. Big fan of the pillow clappers… but not nearly so much as the prayers. I wish that there were something in my life that I could get that worked up about in public alas there is not. It was good that we were hanging out at the community center all day, as it is a safe public place and home base for everyone. I think it would be difficult for us to be dropped with our house families first thing. I have to write a paper tonight still about my thoughts on the township. I really should have done it before we left; it’s going to hurt my thumb to write all of this and then a paper. It’s going to be short. I was excited that we finally got to meet some South African people and start to experience the culture I have been waiting for that since we got here. JP is just not a cultural icon I don’t think. He is not unlike other tour guides; he does always think his jokes are funny. I don’t like typing as much in word because it disagrees with the way I want to be saying things and wants to correct me all the time. I wish I could make blogger work better. I think that this blog is over now. I’ve seen my house now… it’s very nice, everything you would expect from any house except slightly smaller. 3 bedrooms one bath small kitchen wood floors… a shower.. There isn’t a toilet seat though, and there are some weird plants in the room.


Friday June 5

It’s disappointing that I didn’t get to blog at all while on my home stay in Gugulethu. I wanted to be writing in my journal, but between not wanting to write because of my tired and not wanting to write because my of my thumb makes it easy for me to not write anything at all. I have a lot to say about the week, but Im not really sure where to start. I think I am going to try to keep it short and just hit the highlights. Mykala stood up at the wrong time during church. We bought a soccer ball for some kids, Its really cold everywhere and rains too much, we didn’t have enough time for reflection or decompression, and I wish we would have gone to the after school program more. Im not so sure about delivering the food parcels it seems kind of awkward 15 people wondering around in someone’s home after bringing them food. I also don’t know about taking tons of pictures with them. We have had tons of talks and lectures really good meals, a haircut, and cokes. Tons of interesting people met 350 dum dums gone, one broken camera, 2 given away soccer balls, 15 Minnesota tee shirts given away. I haven’t even really been writing in my personal notes journal the things that were going on this week. Im upset about it a little but there have been so many great experiences that it has been worth it.
I liked my host family a lot. Liziwe was very nice and accommodating she would wake up David and I every morning. She bought us fruit and came home from work and washed and ironed our clothes one day. She taught us about 3 different types of clicks, how expensive things were at the square downtown, all about Benjamin Dube, how here bathroom got to be so big, where the toaster was, and many other great things, she taught us about the language differences between zulu and khosa, and all about how it was okay to fail Afrikaans language courses if you were from the eastern cape and passing all of your other courses.
I agreed with a many of the ideas that our presenters had, many of them spoke of community, and relationships. The need for all parties of a situation to have equal participation in help projects, and a need for more awareness. One of the things that I found super helpful that was discussed, was the idea that a leader should not be the center of a community, or the supporting pillar, they shouldn’t be more important than any of the other citizens. I think maybe that if this were true that leadership would be a much different concept, I think the world leader and the word citizen could combine into one word. If everyone could chose to do better things less leaders would be needed… or more people would be leaders.
I really liked the after school program. It seems that maybe the children really appreciate us being there which helps the group attitude stay up I think. I don’t know what everyone else thinks of all the singing but I think it’s a really big honor that they do all of those things for us. Im gonna try to write more later I smell updowg?

Tuesday June 9th

I have been diarrheaing all over and puking my face off, for a few days now. It sucks…. I keep trying to feel better, but I cant. I went to the doctor he said it was going to be fine, but it sucks. I haven’t really been doing anything except laying in bed watching the same few episodes of comedy central. Jim Norton… pretty funny.. Doug Benson… kinda funny… Ares Spears. Not that funny but pretty good impressionist… and an episode of National Geographic Lions Vs. Hyenas. It sucks to be sick. I cant even concentrate on things either this is the most I have gotten done in a few days and its pretty difficult. I don’t even really have the motivation to read or anything. I can atleast get away from the group for a while and spend some time decompressing and thinking about things… sort of getting my ducks in a row.

Saturday June 13th
Been to Robben island. Not that great… they trapped us on a bus immediately after we got of a boat.. toured us around with the most dramatic man of all time didn’t let us get off the bus to actually look at anything got off the bus to look at cape town… didn’t get to see the school the asylum, the church, the estate house, or the giant guns from WWII but we got to see cape town. Sometimes the stories he told weren’t at all relevant to anything too, that was fairly annoying. After the bus torture I mean tour, we were forced into a guided tour of an empty prison. Hes verbal imagery wasn’t that great… well just say I don’t think his last name is Tolkien. It would have been nice if there was more upkeep on the property or something it was really forced and awkward. I think this experience has made me appreciate jail.

Also hiked up a mountain. I was so ill. This trip up the mountain was my saving grace I think… combined with 5 day of laying around sleeping 20 hours a day and drinking tons of water. I demolished that hiking path. I bought some magnets on the top and I had a chance to clear my head of some stress and my body of some disease. It was nice to be back together as a group living and stuff. It has been difficult because we are spending so much time together but still trying to remember that we all like each other and that petty things are starting to look really big due to repetitious people. I hope that we can remember that we are still friends and that nerves are just grinding cause the trip is coming to an end.
Im also having a little trouble due to my illness I feel that I didn’t quite get the right come down off of my stay in the township. I haven’t really talked about it much with anyone because its been so overwhelming but I think now that people are talked out about it so I don’t want to wear on anyone nerves.

Climbing up the mountain really helped me out I had a few thoughts about how I don’t really work hard at anything. I spend a lot of time working hard enough to do something pretty well but never enough time to make it good. Just enough time to make it pretty good. I think that this has to do with the fact that I haven’t found anything that has sparked that passion in my. I see very many people around me that work really hard at things because they either like the outcome, or the enjoy the process. I haven’t found anything in my life yet that I enjoy the outcome, or the process of enough to try really hard at it. I don’t think there is anything is my life I have ever worked very hard for.

I need to climb mountains. The view from the top the feeling the clean headedness.

I went shark diving. It was great amazing. But not that much to reflect about I saw great white sharks… they were big.

Everyone is ready to go home. Amanda and Trnka already have left for Britain. I leave for Amsterdam tomorrow. I have decided not to use internet, phone, or my camera while I am there I want it to be a complete experience. I want to spend time alone decompressing. There aren’t very many times in your life when you can just be alone as thousands of miles from home in a foreign country with no communication with the outside world I think its going to be wonderful. People are wondering around looking for stuff to do today its pouring rain and stuff so that sucks.

Looking back on this trip thus far it has been a really great experience for me a life experience that I wont ever regret and will always be able to draw things from and talk about.


Sunday June 21

Im back from Amsterdam now that was great. I really wish I had an easier time decideing what to write in my blog there are so many things that need to be said. I went on a train ride that took me into flower fields which was nice and a canal ride in a boat that was too long. I thought about a lot of things watched the same 4 comedy shows over and over again mostly at night though like when I was sleeping they just played Its really just a waste. I don’t know there is a lot to share but I am going to put it off School starts again tomorrow and I am still tired. Ill try to write a bunch more soon. I have a lot more written down here and there that I will try to collect into something that’s “meaningful” here and then it will be all in one place… maybe not.