Monday, April 23, 2007

From Sasha: A piece of the Pie-aya

Hey I received this from a friend of mine studying in Spain now...it rambles a bit, but I think it's a really interesting thought process on being somewhere "foreign." Enjoy! Thanks to Sasha for letting me print it!

Lynsee

********************
You have received this letter from me because I thought of you while writing it, or you were asking me about my current semester abroad. its 1419 words, which is about 3.5 double spaced pages at 1.25 margins in WORD. Thanks.when I first arrived in bilbao (basque country, aka spain), people were asking me to blog it up. And I was going to write to everyone about how different things are out here, but I got over the illusive excitement of being away from home. I am not going to write about how different things are here, because that has been less significant. Though Ive witnessed some aspects of spain which are different from the united states, you probably know most of them; like language, spanish rock, like different meal times, and food preparations, or all the movies are overdubbed... or different traditions like flamenco dance - which I have yet to see any of (although traditions dont make a place different if theyre no longer practiced there, it just means tradition X flourished in region Y during period Z and might have influenced A,B,C,D,E...). in looking at the small details we can find a world made of "differents" to live in, but every detail is a particular part of a whole.in EVERY country of the world there are: rich, middleclass, poor, black, white, red, yellow... religious, aetheist, jewish, christian, muslim, catholic, buddhist... real, phony, smart, ignorant, haters, lovers, pimps, prostitutes, straight, gay, transexual, drugs, drunks, trade, 'political' governance, corrupt politicians, scandals, secret societies, hidden agendas, business, all sorts of products (and if they arent popular somewhere - like computers in poor countries - thats because you just havent found the people who have them (same applies for things like secret societies)), factories, immigrants, illegals, workers, bosses, all sorts of relationship dynamics, letters, books, sciences, foods, vegetables, microwavable dinners, microwaves, cell phones, computers, internet, weapons, warriors, verterans, nationalists, separatists, racists, people wearing white SHEETS and pointy cone caps with holes cut out for eyes (at least in the u.s. and spain), academics, psychic readers, spiritualists, hippies, punks, hip hoppers, rap, rock, classical music, backpackers, hostels, hotels, travelers, porn industry, whore houses, radicals, rebellious youth, protests, old people hating on what the younger ones do, murderers, police, militias, happiness, sadness, fear, cognitive dissonance, CONTRADICTIONS! (like believing that something as condoned as retaliatory violence can bring "peace")... and much more - anything that you can imagine exists everywhere. The majority of different things that we see between countries/regions of the world are merely the different visual (and ocassionally non-visual when we feel them) levels of all of the above (and more) resulting from things like economies, governmental control, laws, international trade, freedom (at least an idea of it), violence, wars... that filter into the ways we act toward eachother and the social world. at the least, these are the most evident causes. For those of you who just thought of the whole political economy vs. cultural studies debate (does the economy guide the culture or does the culture guide the economy?), Im not hardlining to the political econ. side, but I do think a major imbalance can and does exist. If this doesnt make sense, take, for instance, a look at materials globally. We are often passed the idea (from travelers and people who have "seen" the world) that the 1st world lives the technological future of the 3rd world; we often see this in movies too. If technology alone can facilitate specific behaviors (for instance: race-cars --> car culture/auto shows (transportaion --> traveling/tourism/city-exp
ansion/business class on trains and planes), computers --> online business (or chatting, or gaming, or acquiring data), innovative tools --> efficient production), and specific technology passes in order from 1st world to the 3rd, then the technological future of the 3rd world will resemble the technological past of the 1st (so long as the 1st world can impose any constraints against the 3rd worlds technological development – which is what exploitation is all about). The only apparent technology difference that would then exist between the 1st and 3rd worlds (or two countries) is a window of time between the arrival of those technologies (with regards to this example). Thats more or less why we might go to a country in south america and think it looks like the US only 30 years ago! so, does the economy guide the culture or does the culture guide the economy? You decide.Of course we all know that this last example cannot always be the case, since there are some very innovative people out there who can take something and make something new of it; thats how spray-can graffiti got started, or all the variations of a bicycle that you might see today (tandem, recumbant, chopper...), or the nanotechnology that made the microchip that our gov.'s might be planning to bury under the skin of every human for convenience (RFID: Radio Frequency Identification; VeriChip; chips in illegal immigrants to solve overflow-immigration - MORE INFO on IMMIGRATION and THE CHIP @: http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-immigration.html). And when some new innovation does change the world, it then gets placed into an "appropriate" level in the hierarchy and distributed across worlds, from 1st to 3rd, accordingly (by those who control distributions), thus falling under the control of the economic reality. As for spain, Id say it falls short of the estados unidos at an approximate worldly rank of 1.4th world, in comparison to the united states 1st world, since computers are not as widespread (you can usually tell this by the amount of internet cafĂ©'s – also, the university Im at still uses those old cream colored no-named computers), the movies come out at later dates, and the whole anti-smoking nicorette gum campaigns havent quite kicked in yet, and I hear the united states develops more weapons than the spanish. We could look at statistics to determine where every country/place falls along the spectrum of haves and have nots (and there will be many countries that are very similar to one another), but we'll never know if the stats have been manipulated. Here is where specifics and details of "differents" become important; if we can notice these different things using our own intuitive senses, then we can begin to understand what those differences mean, and why they mean anything at all. more and more I am coming to see that people and places are all very similar, and that the "differents's" in the world are outcomes that can be manipulated. If difference literally meant that A cannot be made into B, then any A that can be made into B would not be differents. ice is water, and water is H20; its not their chemical composition that makes them different but their state (so we know so far); but all this depends on how you define difference. again… you decide.So. Here I am in bilbao, in spain, or the basque country (depends on who you ask – one thing for sure is that nationalism can still definitely be considered a global fad). Things are not bad for me at all, and I don't want you to get the impression that they are just because Im not writing about the wonderful tapas and the rioja wine. Taking this trip was the second best decision Ive made since I been at U of Illinois (the 1st best was dropping down to 9 hrs last semester!). Classes here… well, theyre not too different than classes back home… mainly bullshyzah; of course not always cause the material is bad (its like philosophy logic: if you talk to me about equations using sentences to describe variables, all of a sudden I like math!). Ive been speaking lots of spanish, speaking with the spanish, and tryin to x-span(d) my understandings and ish…To tell you the truth, I don't know it. Everything that I have just told you is simply an opinion, you can choose to take it or leave it. Im not asking you to even try to understand what Im saying if you don't understand, Im just offering you two cents to see if maybe you couple them the same way I do. And i don't feel totally ready to be writing about some of these things, but I have neglected to let people in on my experience, and would like you too to experience some of what I have, so here is where Im at now.

One love, eternal being, strings theory, piece
your boy
Sasha

TGIF and an otherwise sweet weekend!

What a great weekend! And it’s about time…after a week of (literally) cloistering myself in the interest of studying, umm I mean memorizing, genetics and more genetics. Whew! I took my semester test on Thursday night so Friday was all mine! It was a great day after so much studying.

First, and most importantly…GREAT news! I just heard on Friday that an organization called the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (in the USA) won a hard fought fight against McDonald’s!! Congrats to the CIW!!!! Basically the group is comprised mostly of farm workers that organize to secure rights for the people that pick our vegetables and fruits in the USA. Most of the people in the organization are tomato pickers in Florida, but they are a coalition that includes just about any farmworkers. The farmworkers are paid really crappy wages, have to pick tomatoes that are covered in pesticides (which makes them sick and causes birth defects in the kids in the community), and are often taken advantage of by the people that employ them. I mean these folks are out in the fields for like 12 hours a day bent over picking tomatoes and basically live in absolute poverty! Give ‘em a break! The CIW was asking McDonald’s to pay 1 more penny per pound of tomatoes that McDonald’s buys. It doesn’t sound like much, but actually translates to quite a bit of money on the farmworker’s end. The extra penny will be paid directly to the workers and McDonald's has agreed to some other terms that will hopefully ensure better working conditions for the pickers. The CIW has also been successful in getting Yum brands (Taco Bell’s parent corporation) to pay the workers an extra penny/pound…now they have their sights set on Burger King. And they’re going to win too! Give ‘em time…and your support!

So why do I care about this organization? Why am I telling you all this stuff about them? Well, the CIW came thru Champaign-Urbana in April of 2006 and I actually did my very first proper radio interview with some of the Coalition members. It was a funny first interview cos the guys I interviewed only spoke Spanish and I don’t speak Spanish good enough to interview people, so my friend Danny translated. It was incredible to interview these guys and learn about their struggle and organization. I was actually very energized by their visit to CU. The people in the Coalition are really amazing people and I think their organization is a testament to the strength of the little guys working together to create a force bigger than themselves. Right on!

For more information on their historic victory, the organization in general, and ways you can help out: http://www.ciw-online.org/

If you look hard on the website maybe you can even find my radio interview :)

Also you can check out pictures of the CIW at: http://www.jjtiziou.net/

This is the website of a photographer in Philadelphia, JJ Tiziou, who does REALLY amazing work. He takes field trips w/groups and photographs their activities for free. JJ took photos of the barnraising event we had when Radio Free Urbana (WRFU) first went on air in Nov 2005. Somewhere on the site you can find the CIW photos…cos he toured with them too.

Other great Friday news…I got a letter from my high school history teacher, Mr. Nelson. I write letters. I think it’s such a great medium (the postcard is one of the most ingenious inventions of all time!) and so rare these days. I mean people really appreciate receiving a letter in the mail…and I love to write letters. I actually make a lot of my own stationery and envelopes (ok I’ve been slacking on this tip lately). I just love writing letters. I actually do it to relax sometimes. Just so you know how much of a letter nerd I am…I still write letters to my 4th grade teacher. Yeah, I’m a dork. Now that I think about it, Mr. Nelson is the first person that ever exposed me to South Africa. We learned about the Anglo-Boer war (did you know that it was actually the British that invented the concentration camp? 1st concentration camp was by the British in South Africa against the Boers), read Cry the Beloved Country, and probably other stuff that I can’t remember anymore. Although I do remember a particularly good story about Jomo Kenyatta…but that’s Kenya. Also I went on a trip to Europe when I was in high school that was organized and chaperoned by Mr. Nelson. We actually didn’t get along so well on that trip cos I dawdle. It’s my only problem in groups! Punishment for being late was carrying the luggage of the adults…and I definitely carried my fair share of luggage! But it was worth it cos Europe has some cool stuff to look at so it’s a hot bed of slow moving feet and dawdling! Mr. Nelson is very very old school. He does NOT do computers…not even for word processing. He’s a typewriter man all the way! So the only way I can talk to him is thru letters. The letter was nothing super fantastical...just the this and that of life, pics of grandkids, etc. The weirdest part of the whole receiving a letter thing is that the letter was slid under my door in my dorm. Basically it just confuses me even more about how this whole postal situation works in my dorm. It’s a very mysterious process shrouded in mist I guess…

ps: if you email me your postal address I promise to send you a letter/card!

On a sort of down note…I went to go speak to a wildlife guy (the head of the Wildlife Management program here at Univ of Pretoria) and it just sort of left me feeling a bit discouraged about my current course of action. Yo, that is just a feeling I don’t need! When I’m falling asleep at night, these doubts about what I’m doing pass thru my head to steal my sleep from me…and I just don’t need that vibe coming from anyone else. I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but the guy is really nice and I think that if I can articulate what I’m looking for a bit more coherently…he will be super helpful to me. Random thought…when I told my dad that I wanted to go to school in South Africa his version of freaking out about it was to say “but Lynsee…what about all the connections you have made at the University of Illinois? What about your network of contacts in the USA? You’ll have to start all over, etc. They won’t be able to help you in South Africa.” Dad, listen up, this guy I went to speak with is a colleague of my favorite professor from U of IL, Dr. Kesler. I just mentioned Dr. Kesler’s name and the guy was like “yeah sure, come on in and chat.” Everyday it amazes me what a small world this is.

Let’s go back on the up and up…I went to my first house party on Friday night. As a little background on myself…I came up at the tail end of a golden era of house parties in Champaign-Urbana, IL. For a year I lived in a huge house w/7 other folks and we used to throw legendary parties…and we weren’t even the best house party spot on the block (404 Elm, represent!). Parties with TONS of bands/DJs. Parties where hundreds (yes, hundreds) of cups for beer are sold. Parties that made our house bulge at the seams. Thankfully we only got one ticket from the cops out of I don’t even know how many parties we threw! Yes! 608 Elm, represent!! I love a good house party because it’s such a great way to get a bunch of folks together to enjoy local music and have a good time. Get your dance or other groove on after a hard week of studying. They are such a great way of giving musicians that maybe aren’t big enough to get a gig at a bar or something a cool venue to showcase their music. Or they are a great way to give people a sort of special access to some of their favorite bands. Man I remember seeing some of my favorite bands in CU in someone’s house…Kilborn Alley, Spinnerty/Bozak/D-Lo, Limbs, Doomsday, Melodic Scribes, Secret Agent Bill, Sector 7, The Invisible, and the list continues. I just think it’s such a great feeling to provide a venue where other people get some music in them and have a good time. I love to throw a nice party. I just remember coming downstairs after a good party thinking “man there was a DOPE cipher (circle where rappers freestyle rhyme) in the room where I eat my breakfast and do my homework…nice!” Hey, it’s just a great feeling.

So I went to some house party in Pretoria on Friday. There was a band called Havoc Vultures that played…they weren’t bad, but you could tell they listen to a lot of Led Zeppelin. The venue was really sweet! The houses (even student houses) here are pretty awesome overall…well unless you live in a shack. They just tend to be a lot more open air style with nice green areas (a lawn or garden). This one had a building behind the house that had a pool in it and a stage area at one side. Yeah a pool and a rock band…that was rad. The party was predominantly Afrikaners so there was a lot of Afrikaans in the air. Most people were pretty cool, but you get jerks everywhere. Some dude was trying to hustle my clothes right off me, but I got my top in a thrift store in Honduras w/my friend Graeme…so unless he was trading me a car or something…the top’s staying w/me. He wanted to trade me some lame sweater…it was getting annoying. This one chick only spoke to me in Afrikaans, but it was really cool. She was doing it in the spirit of “hey you can do this. You can understand me…just try!” It was really neat and I could mostly understand what she was saying. Many people are just really excited to teach me swear words (I get lessons from about 2 different random people a week). So I guess it was nice to have some other nicer words thrown at me! Also I met a bunch of kids (like 5) that are in my classes. Finally! I asked a question in class on Friday, so they were all like “yeah you’re that American girl that asks questions a lot.” Okay, I guess that’s me. But I’ve only asked like 2 questions the whole semester. One of the girls was actually happy I ask questions because she said she was too scared to do it. I think I have study partners now, which is cool! Also I was invited to church…interesting to be offered salvation in a den of sin. And of course, my favorite phrase when I meet a bunch of new folks..."Oh my gosh, I just LOVE your accent." Ha ha. What accent?

Meeting a bunch of new people at one time gets sort of tiring for me. Not in a boring way, but in an emotionally tiring way. Obviously these people haven’t read my blog, so people pretty much tend to ask the same questions (what are you doing here?, how long have you been here?, where are you from in America?, I have a friend in whatever city in whatever state, etc) such that I just wish I had a tape recorder w/playback functions. Johnny Danja, Graeme, Maria I can imagine what you might have gone thru in CU! But it’s pleasant because people seem to be genuinely interested in me and my story…which is always a positive thing. It’s a good thing I like to talk!! Also I get tired a lot because I have to talk about American politics and hegemony a lot too. People haven’t been aggressive w/me, per se, but it really sucks to have to explain (but not really defend) policies/ideals/jerks in the White House you don’t agree with. One thing I always find so funny is that people are so quick to sort of rake me over the coals about the USA when South Africans have an extremely recent sordid past under their belts. Such that I could so easily turn the tables and be like “yeah but what about this messed thing that was/is happening in SA.” Okay now you know what it’s like to be confronted with situations that you, as an individual, sort of have nothing to do with except that you live in that country, etc. But I’m mostly polite…so I don’t do that. And I guess I also haven’t properly formulated that line of thought.

Anyways…overall a good party. Far better than chilling in my dorm room alone!!!

Saturday I rested. And recovered. Also I met the guys that live on the floor underneath my floor and had some beers with them. It was interesting. They are all from S Africa and one dude from Zim. Maybe I'll hang w/them a bit more one of these days.

Sunday I went to have an excellent lunch with one of the Rotarians in my host club, Bebe. You might also remember her from earlier posts, as I stayed at her house when I first arrived here. Remember when I said I went to Bible study...yeah, that lady! I went to have Sunday lunch with some of her family...her brother, sister, nephew, and their spouses. It was really fun. They are really great people and we had a nice laugh and a delicious lasagne. It was a nice way to spend a Sunday. Then had a good nap, a good dinner, and a good late-night laugh w/my friend and neighbor, Luso.

So I guess that’s it. On the radio tip, I missed another chance to have something I created go out over the airwaves…d’oh! I had that pesky genetics test, so I couldn’t produce this commercial that I helped write. But in due time. Keep your fingers crossed for me…otherwise I might never have anything aired on this radio station!! I think this Wednesday I’m going to produce a 5 min segment called “The Lunchbox.” It’s an entertainment segment that airs during the lunchtime show. If you’re in Pretoria…tune into Tuks FM 107.2FM at 13:30. You can listen to my first production piece to be aired on Tuks FM. Yeah, history in the making!

Finally I got my photos together now. April’s Day in the Life and my holiday photos are all there. You can see them at:http://picasaweb.google.com/lynseemelchi

If you want to see something creepy about a private company that deals in implanted microchips for humans and their hopes to put them in immigrants:
http://www.spychips.com/press-releases/verichip-immigration.html
Just remember that if we start to put microchips in immigrants...US citizens can't be far behind!!! Hope you dig that freedom we are all so crazy about in the USA!!!

Take care wherever you may be!!!

Much Love,
Lynsee

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Holi-daze

Hey Hey

Welcome back! Hope you all got up to date on the posts while I was away! Yeah I know they're long, but if you know me in person...you know I like to talk and tell stories. This is just an electronic venue for my windy stylee ;) But now you've had almost 2 whole weeks to catch up!!!

I just came back last week sometime (I don't remember honestly) from an almost 2 week (and much needed) holiday in KwaZulu Natal (KZN), another province in South Africa. I went to school in KZN in a town called Pietermaritzburg (PMB for short cos that name needs to be shortened for sure!) in 2002 so it was nice to be back in a place where I have some history! KZN is my favorite province in the country by default cos it just has so much to offer. Durban, great beaches, the Drakensberg mountains, great people, awesome parks, bunny chow (more on this later), lots of interesting history, and probably a lot more. I haven't even seen all that KZN has to offer. KZN was previously a British colony or protectorate or something so it has a distinctly English flavor to it compared to any of the other provinces.

There are also TONS of Indian folks in Durban, so there's a very Indian flavor to the place as well. I heard a joke here that was like "What's the capital of India?" and the answer was "Durban." So that just gives you an idea of how many Indians are there. There was recently a big row about the renaming of a very very seedy street in Durban (Point Rd...think Hollywood Blvd, but dirtier) to Mahatma Ghandi Ave/Rd. People were mad cos they thought that it was wrong to name such a messed up street/rough area after such a legend as Ghandi. Renaming stuff here is really big right now. Ideally it's a way to even out years of oppression by the apartheid government. Like streets, etc named after heroes of the apartheid era have been scraped for struggle era heroes: Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Walter Sisulu, Oliver Tambo, etc. This is good and should be done, but the reality of the situation is a bit different. The majority government here hasn't really really done that much for the people that really need it. They rename some streets and this is supposed to boost their support on the one hand (and make it look like the govt is doing something for the people) while they don't actually do anything on the other hand. It's sort of a bait-and-switch maneuver.

Anyways...on to holiday news.

I spent the first half of my trip visiting my friend from U of IL, Jon Warner, in a nature reserve called The Greater St Lucia Wetland Reserve. I sent out a link on the place before, but I really encourage you to read more about this place. It's amazing. It's got a bunch of different habitat types: coastal dune forest, coastal grassland (very rare in SA, cos most of it is canefields or tree plantations now), swamp forest, estuarine (has the largest estuary system in Africa), the only coral reefs in SA, and much much more. The biodiversity is off the hook...just on snakes alone. There are at least 50 species living in the park (w/a new species being discovered w/in the last 10-ish years). And that's just one critter! It was really cool to hang out for a week w/a person that is 157% focused on herps (snakes, lizards, etc) because I learned a lot about them. I don't give much thought to wiggly things like that, so it's always good to get a new perspective and new information from a very passionate and knowledgeable source. As well as being able to handle some snakes here and there. Heck, we even drove around at night to find snakes on the road...serious, this guy loves his snakes!


Jon's living in the park while he does masters' degree research on the incredibly gorgeous Gaboon Adder...a very venomous and endangered snake (photo to right). It has the longest fangs of any snake in the world...and we were out stomping around looking for these bad boys/girls. Don't worry mom I was as safe as can be...unless I distracted Jon and got "Lynsee, ummm, just don't move at all for a few minutes until I figure out where this thing is." Freeze! The snake always ended up being about 2m (6 feet) away. It's a very slow moving snake and rarely strikes unless you are a tasty rat or something moving right in front of the snake's face. Jon's dog has stepped on the snake a few times and is still living to do even more stupid things. Jon is gathering very basic information on the snake because almost nothing is known about its habits/behavior/etc. In fact, Jon is the only person in Africa (so far as he knows) that is doing basic research on snakes. That is incredible! There is so much basic knowledge out there that is still waiting to be substantiated. And here we are thinking that science has gone and discovered all the important stuff already. THE ONLY PERSON IN AFRICA STUDYING SNAKE ECOLOGY...doesn't that blow you're mind? It certainly blew mine...

So because Jon lives in the park, I did too for a week. It was incredible! I want to make it abundantly clear that there aren't lions and giraffes just chilling in everyone's yard in South Africa. It's a huge misconception that I have to hear about all the time. People in SA are always asking me if I thought I would find elephants and rhinos walking in the streets of Johannesburg. I have to politely as possible convey to the poser of the question that I'm not a complete fool and happened to fall off the turnip truck at least 2weeks ago...but definitely not yesterday. Unfortunately, however, many many people who have never been here (especially people from the USA) think that when they get to South Africa it will be a wildlife paradise in every backyard. Not the case...unless you are Jon Warner and live in St Lucia Wetland Park. His "yard" was always crawling w/animals. It was so cool! You could hear hippos (and sometimes hyenas) at night. Bushpigs snorting around causing trouble in the backyard. Waterbuck setting up shop out front. Troupes of monkeys just waiting to break into your house. Lizards everywhere (in fact Jon apologized for all the gecko poop in my room...but it's just a fact of life in that part of the country). And the list goes on and on. Because Jon works all over the park and is out in the "bush" a lot he's got a ton of great stories about happening upon rhinos, water buffalo (okay, that was a scary story), leopards (one of the hardest animals to spot in SA), etc. He's living the wildlife dream!

Strangely enough I was actually really scared to be out there with all these wild animals around me. I felt really stupid for that, but Jon told me that he was also freaked out by it for at least the first month he was in St Lucia. I just felt scared because I have no information about how these animals act and what to do around them. And it was dark outside! I don't even know what half the animals even are. There are at least like 20 different kinds of deer here alone. Throw me into the mix w/some cows and I can deal with that, but what should I do around a bushpig? Should I run? Should I check it out? I mean people die all the time from encounters w/wild animals because they were acting like nature wasn't something to respect. Because that looked like a good swimming hole until a crocodile changed your mind. So all I did was just try to sit outside a bit at night...watching. Listening. Luckily it was a really full moon most of the time I was there so it was really easy to see things walking around in the moonlight. Although I may be destroying every other part of my body...I am very confident that my night vision is still one of my best assets. But I was still freaked out a lot. By the time I left I didn't need a flashlight to find the toilet...so that was a bonus. I made progress :) I just need to learn more about these darn animals.

Other highlights of staying in St Lucia...

The outdoor shower!

Yeah baby, yeah! Taking showers outside is one of my most favorite activities on the planet...and I always forget this until I get the chance to take an outdoor shower ;)

Lots of coffee chats w/Jon
Jon and I spent a lot of time just chilling in his place and talking. It was super nice to talk to someone from home and I think that he felt the same way. He's been away from CU for almost 2 years now, and it hasn't been easy for him at times. For me it was just great to speak to someone who has also just sort of parachuted into SA from the USA in the interests of making the dream come true. And we could talk about everything from Zorba's to the wildlife scene in South Africa to hilarious adventures w/Mike Schmidt! I'm really excited to have a friend like Jon in SA not just for his wildlife ties...but just cos he's a cool guy!
Sundowners and night drive w/Xander and his family, friends

One night Jon and I went out for a sundowner (see previous posts for definition!) w/some friends of his and then had a night drive thru the park after that. We had big spotlights that we used to shine thru the fields and forests looking for game. We saw a lot of stuff even though it was really bright out (cos of the moon) and a lot of animals aren't out when it's bright. Kudu, bushpig, warthog, genet, waterbuck, hippo (that was my goal! I love hippos!), reedbuck, a HUGE spider, chameleons, dwarf chameleons (see photo to the right), blue wildebeest...and I'm sure more. I honestly can't remember all the animals we saw! Mostly a lot of "bokkie"...which is the Afrikaans word for deer/buck.

Mission Rocks

Jon and I went w/his dog on a walk up this beach at a place called Mission Rocks. A lot of my photos are from this place. It was so gorgeous. I'm always so impressed by the sea cos I'm from the Midwest. We were going to check out a bat cave, but when we got there...all the bats were gone. Jon thinks that they drowned :( At the beginning of March there was a bunch of events (typhoon, other crazy weather, etc) that caused huge tidal waves to hit the SE Coast of Africa. This caused a lot of damage thru erosion and wiped out tons of property throughout South Africa. In St Lucia it was a blessing because the waves and crazy weather opened up the mouth of the lake in the estuary. The mouth hasn't been open to the sea in over 5 years, so it was sort of a monumental time to be at the park. But also I think the waves drowned the bats, d'oh!

Feeding crocodiles

Yeah that's right...I fed a crocodile. It's actually not as cool as it sounds. I just kinda threw a rancid chicken at its face and hoped it chowed that and didn't come towards me. Jon runs a snake park in the St Lucia park and it's associated w/a crocodile park as well. They have weekly croc feedings. I saw the croc guy, Meka, defrosting the meat for the day and asked him if I could feed the crocs w/him. I kept joking around and telling him to save me a chicken...but to my surprise...he did! When he was doing the croc feeding for all the croc park visitors he told me to come into the pen and I got to throw meat to the crocs. It was sweet! I was a celebrity...okay that's how I felt ;) Rancid chicken celeb ;)

Sorry...my mind's going...but I'm sure that there will be more info highlights for you when you see my photos. They are sort of up, but w/out captions right now. I have so many...it's taking a long time to upload them all.

Because St Lucia is in the middle of nowhere, and I have no car and no valid license, I had to hitch a ride with Jon on his way down the coast. I really didn't want to leave, but it was just that time. It's always sad to leave dreamy Zululand. I went down to Durban where I stayed for a few days with a really nice Rotary couple. I was trying to hook up w/Rotarians during my whole trip, but St Lucia's in the middle of nowhere (so no Rotary clubs around) and also it was the Easter holiday...so many Rotary clubs weren't meeting. But it was really great to stay w/this couple, John and Maggie, in Durban. I was so thankful for their hospitality as I tried to track down people I haven't seen in 5 odd years. They seem to run a hotel of sorts for students, so they were really really accomodating. And they understood that I pretty much had no idea what I was up to next, which was really cool! I'm a half planner really. When I left Pretoria I had no idea when I was coming home what would happen to me after St Lucia...and that was fine. I had a ride to St Lucia w/someone I met here in Pretoria and that was enough to satisfy me!

So I was in Durban to try to meet up with some old friends, Tongai and Roisin. Roisin ended up being busy with family for Easter and having to do some wedding thing for a friend. Unfortunately I didn't get to see her. Tongai and I managed to hook up eventually after some miscommunication and what not. Par for the course when dealing w/my Zim guys...love you guys!!! I went out one night w/Tongai and my friend Tozi (remember him from Cape Town?) and then a few days later merged paths w/the Zim guys for good. Once we got together it was a lot of braai-ing and beers...totally appropriate for a long weekend :) Mostly the weather was just crappy the whole time I was in Durban...so we didn't do too much else except chill out.

I was really happy to meet Tongai's girlfriend, Sheila. She's from Kenya originally, but now lives in Namibia. She was just visiting for the week. Her brother also stays in Durban, so I also got to meet him. It was very refreshing to meet Sheila and I felt we hit it off instantly. A lot of girls I meet here are really boring and also I have usually have to talk to girls a lot more because the way the sexes interact here seems more polar to me. Guys w/guys and girls w/girls in social situations. It's not super drastic, but I do feel like I spend a lot more time having chitchat w/girls that have nothing interesting to say. Not the case w/Sheila! I hope to visit Namibia in June (to see a fellow Rotary scholar I met in Cape Town) so I hope to see Sheila then as well. This looks like the beginning of a very rad friendship!

And then, I got food poisoning. I'm going to blame it on a very naughty guava. I bought a guava and passion fruit/granadilla at a fruit market cos I had never eaten them fresh before. I was so excited cos I really love guava juice and dried guava. I didn't wash the guava (which I think was the problem) and I was the only one who ate it out of all these other people around. So I'm blaming it on the guava. That night I was at a braai so I ate tons of food and had tons of beer...all of which I had to watch pass me by again later that night. *sniffles* The fever was on and I just felt like crap. I was planning on visiting some friends in Joburg before my holiday was up, but I ended up just going home to Pretoria in the end. I never thought I would long for my tiny tiny midget cot in my dorm room...but I guess there's a first for everything. So I just took an overnight bus to Joburg and then back to Pretoria for some rest before school started again.

I guess this week I've just been sort of out of it and trying to get my head back into the books. I have another test coming up this week...so I need to get my head straight soon! I started an exercise program this week...which is kind of exciting. I started a fitness program in the gym and I went to my first water aerobics class this week. Water aerobics was hilarious. When I signed up for it I asked if it was for old people and the guy in the gym insisted it wasn't. I don't think he's actually been to the class though...cos I'm definitely able to be everyone's granddaughter's age. But it doesn't matter. The class is fun and I get to splash around in the pool for an hour. The older ladies are really nice to me too. And I don't have to feel self conscious around ladies who have probably had a few kids! Yes! I'm looking forward to next Thursday ;) '

On the radio tip...this week I helped record a new jingles package for the radio station. A guy from Joburg that does professional voices came in and recorded the voice for all the jingles we wanted. He was supposed to be doing an American accent, so sometimes I got to add input just cos I have that accent. Stuff like "Ummm...that's not how we say that word." It's sort of a weird reason to be an expert. The guy was super cool cos he was a huge Simpsons fan!!! I haven't really met anyone I can geek out w/on the Simpsons here. I mean people know them...but don't KNOW them. I also got to make up some jingles, so I hope those make it thru to the final stages. My first ad was supposed to go out on the air just before I left on holiday, but the event got changed to June, d'oh! I'm sure I'll have an ad out soon though. That's so sweet!

Today was "Day in the Life," but I'm a slacker and forgot to tell you all. I still did it though. So stay tuned for pictures.

Hope you are all well!

Much Love
Lynsee

PS: As a bonus...here's a picture of my friend Graeme longboarding in Krakow, Poland. Because I haven't seen or really spoken to Graeme in so long, seeing these photos was one of the highlights of the week! Enjoy! Graeme's on the left/in front. For more on skateboarding in Poland: http://www.antidote-krk.com/ls.htm




Skype

I just wanted to let you know that I'm on Skype now. My screen name
or whatever is LynseeM. Call me!

For those of you who don't know what Skype is...
Skype's a program that is free to download and use and allows you to
make international calls for free to other people that have the
program. All you need to do is go to: www.skype.com and download the
program and you will also need a headset (headphone/mic). Then you
can make free calls. I guess you can also make calls to
landlines/cell phones for pretty cheap, but I don't know much about
that. I've heard only good things about this program from people
who've used it, so don't be scared! It's also easy to download. You
will need a reliable internet connection to use it. I'm using a
wireless connection and it's not bad. Most of you in the USA probably
have a connection that's fine...unless it's dialup.

Also you can chat and do video conferencing, so I've just found out. Once (if) I get a web cam I can finally live out my dreams of having the phone in Peewee's Playhouse! Yes! It's all coming together!

So...call me! Remember I'm 7-ish hours ahead of Chicago...so we'll
probably need to set up a time to call. Just let me know.

Peace and Love
Lynsee