Winding down...

We're getting close to the end of the winter here in Thohoyandou.  Only a few more days of work and I'll be on my way home.  We went on a second safari this past weekend, and we saw 2 of the 3 wild white lions in the WORLD!  I haven't had much time to write, so here are a few pictures that explain it all :)

Fajita night!

Since we couldn't go see Harry Potter at midnight, we settled with our own HP night watching HP7, part 1

Planting a tree at Tshapasha Primary School on Mandela Day!

The kids after the tree planting ceremony.

Our "neighbors" came over for leftovers.

This is one of the 3 KFC's in Thohoyandou.

My amazing room at our most recent safari - Kambaku.

I completed the Big Five!

A beautiful white lion eating a water buffalo.

This picture really shows the color difference between the regular tawny lion and the white lion.

The hyenas trying to gang up on the lions.

Me, Ramya, and Rachel on the safari.

Cute giraffes!

The medical school at the University of Pretoria!

A glimpse into life in South Africa...

A lot of people are curious as to the daily life here.  So instead of boring you to with words, I thought I'd post some pictures of what it's like here in South Africa.

Our humble abode here in Acacia Park.

Our front room in our chalet.

We actually cook pretty good food.  This was stir fry night!

One of the other residents of Acacia Park.  This one has Theresa's sandwich that he took from her chalet!

The water storage containers we made for each household we visited.

The view of the mountains from the villages.

The lab we work in at Univen.

African sunset.

Me and my roommate Erin on the Safari.

Fajitas

7/11/11

Fajitas

Today was a pretty okay day.  Went to the lab at 12pm, and left at 3:30pm.  We finished all the turbidity measurements.  I finally had time to go back to the gym.  I did my jazzercise workshop routines, and I instantly felt so much better. 

After showering, Erin and I made green peppers & onions and Spanish rice for our joint fajita night with Theresa, Caroline, Molly, Jack, David, and Jason.  They don’t sell tortillas here, so we made some homemade – and they were delicious!  The guys made the chicken on the grill, and we had an awesome dinner.  I ate way too much, but it was totally worth it.  

SAFARI in Kruger National Park!!!

7/9/11 and 7/10/11

“Oh, I just can’t wait to be king!”

Oh, the safari.  It was absolutely incredible.  We stayed at a place called Gomo Gomo Game Lodge.  It was inside Kruger.  When we got there, our ranger Andre met us at the car.  He showed us into the main building, where there were comfy couches, rugs, tables with books all about Africa, and just a cozy atmosphere.  He then showed us to our rooms – they were chalets that had a front room with a big bed, a bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub and huge glass shower with windows that overlooked the park, and a back room with 2 twin beds.  The place was beautiful.  We had 3 chalets for the group, and each chalet was right on the water where the elephants drink every morning.  After having a little while to freshen up, beating drums signaled that it was lunch time.  Everyone staying at Gomo Gomo eats together, and the food was delicious.  We then went back to our rooms to get bundled up for the ride.  We had an open-air Land Rover for our safari vehicle.  It was so cool.  There were paths clearly made for the safari, so we started on those.  It was windy, so Andre told us that we may not be able to see much because the wind messes with the animals’ predator senses.  We got going, and Andre heard on his little radio that there were cheetahs spotted!  He did some awesome off-roading, riding over bushes and tree branches until we found the cheetahs.  They were clearly stalking something.  We kept following them, doing more amazing off-roading, and lost sight of them for a few minutes.  When we found them again (there were 2), they were chowing down on a baby impala!  We were so close that we could here them breathing and chewing on the meat.  After watching them for a while, we were on the move again.  We saw lots of kudu and impala.  Then we found 2 male lions.  When we approached them, one was on his back with his legs spread out wide, showing all his junk.  Hahaha.  They were reallllllyyy asleep, so Andre told us we’d come back after sunset to maybe catch one of them wake up and roar.  We set off again.  We saw a herd of elephants next.  All of them were females with their babies.  When we pulled up to them (by off-roading it of course), the closest one flared its ears and backed up like it was going to charge.  My heart fluttered because I thought we were all going to become kabobs on her tusks.  But thankfully, she just backed away and kept on eating.  Then, all the girls had to pee, so we stopped to relieve ourselves and have drinks and snacks in the middle of the park.  By the time the boys were warmed up by their whiskey, the sun was setting.  We got back on the Land Rover, and got going.  The next thing we knew, the spotter, Kennet, saw a leopard!!!  It was very elusive, and we kept up as best we could by off-roading, going over tree stumps and bushes and branches.  I didn’t get a great picture of it, but it was such an adrenaline rush being on the chase!  After that incredible high, we found the lions again.  They were stirring.  They yawned, cleaned their paws and faces just like house cats, and then one of them stood up and walked a little away from us.  Keep in mind that we were about 6 feet away from him.  He roared.  So incredible, and definitely not what I was expecting it to sound like.  I could feel my chest and the ground rumble because of the sound.  He sat back down, and it was time for us to go back to camp.  As we turned the corner to leave the lions, the one that roared was sitting by the road.  He was on my side of the vehicle, literally 2 feet away.  I got a great picture of him looking straight at my camera.  When we got back to the lodge after our 3-hour safari, we had 30 minutes to freshen up before dinner.  We got to our rooms to find our beds already turned down with a piece of chocolate on each bed and a bedtime story.  Ours was a fable about an elephant and a hunter.  Dinner was once again with everyone who was staying at Gomo Gomo, about 16 people in all.  It was outside with tiki torches, and a huge fire in the center.  There was one table per person, and they were all arranged around the fire.  On the tables, there was a lantern for each of us, and a beautiful place setting.  We had an amazing 3 course dinner and drinks.  After dinner, we all had to go to bed so we could get up bright and early for our next safari.  Andre knocked on our door at 5:45, and at 6:15, we were off again!  The first thing we got to see was the sunrise.  Absolutely beautiful.  Then we saw the same lions from the night before, going to find themselves a nice place to rest for the day.  We saw giraffes, which are so much stranger than I remember them being.  Our big find was 2 rhinos.  They were really elusive, but I managed to snap a picture of them.  We saw more impala and kudu, and finally a warthog.  When we got back to the lodge after another 3-hour safari, we packed up, and then were served a very filling breakfast before we left.

Cheetahs eating a baby impala.

One of the many elephants we saw.  Yes, we were that close!
 

Yawning lion

As we turned the corner, he was laying right by the vehicle.

Giraffe on the morning safari.

Rhinos!

All of us in our safari car! 

We took the panorama route back to Thohoyandou.  We stopped at Graskop – the Gatlinburg of the area, where I got wooden bowls and spoons.  We saw God’s Window (where you can supposedly see into Mozambique), a waterfall, and the Potholes, which are these giant potholes in a canyon formed by the water.  That was our last stop before making our way back.  It was such an amazing weekend.

Theresa, me, Erin, Jack, and Caroline at God's Window.

Everyday life...

7/6/11

Yummmmmm!

Another day with field work followed by lab work.  Nothing out of the ordinary happened today.   Erin and I FINALLY got internet though!  Now I can post blogs regularly!

After leaving the lab pretty early today (7:30pm), the entire group went to Bombay – an Indian restaurant.  So delicious!!!  Naan, butter chicken, lentils, and more… I seriously ate until my stomach hurt.  And then I ate more.  The owner made us a special dessert that looked like fish eggs and worms with ice cream.  I tried it, but still couldn’t tell what it was… All in all, a pretty good day.  And Bombay better watch out because we’ll be there a lot!

Our dessert at Bombay.

7/8/11

“Ron, Ron, Ron Weasly!”

I had a pretty relaxing morning today, with an afternoon in the lab.  We measured the volume, mass, and turbidity of 105 of the 200 samples.  When I got back from the lab, Erin and I had a new roomie – Prof. Firehock.  She seems like she’s going to be a lot of fun for the next 2 weeks. 

After dinner, Diana and Miki came over to watch Harry Potter 7 (part 1) with Erin and I.  We had a lot of fun, and we tried to recreate the Potter Puppet Pals “Mysterious Ticking Noise” song.  We’re hoping to be able to see the final movie while we’re here, but apparently the movie theatres are really sketchy…

4th of July and more...

7/2/11

“Mukhuwa!  Mukhuwa!”

Today was another day filled to the brim.  Woke up early this lovely Saturday morning for a full day in the field.  On our way, Jon dropped me off at the print shop to get copies of the calendar made while he went to Univen to pick up the students and the coolers.  While I was at the print shop…alone…I got two marriage proposals from the guys working there.  I declined, and they proceeded to ask to come back to the States with me, tried to give me their phone numbers, and asked me out on dates.  It just goes to show you that guys have no shame no matter where they’re from… Argh.

We got to Tshapasha, checked in with the chief, and then split up into two teams.  My team went to four households before lunch, and three more after lunch.  On our way back, I heard kids screaming “Mukhuwa!  Mukhuwa!” – the word for “white person” in Venda.  So, I turned and waved at them.  As I kept walking, I turned around and saw that they were following us.  We waited on them and Kwhatiso took a really cute picture of us:

After we checked out with the chief, we took the samples back to Univen and worked in the lab for the rest of the evening.  We also got some results of yesterday’s test.  E. coli is everywhere, and the amount of total coliform is ridiculous.  Especially on people’s hands.  And it turns out that the amount of bacteria before and after hand-washing is not statistically different.  One lady refused to participate in the hand-washing test today because she “didn’t feel like washing her hands.”

We grabbed pizza for dinner since we were in the lab so late, and right now I’m enjoying not being on my feet.  I was supposed to leave at 6:20am to have a meeting with the two chiefs, but I was just informed that I get to sleep in!  For the first time!  So now I’m going to enjoy all the sleep I can get while I still can!

7/3/11

First Day Off

It was so nice to be able to sleep in today.  Even with no alarm set, I woke up a little after 7.  But I forced myself to go back to sleep.  I woke up again at 8:15, so I just got up.  Thankfully I did because Caroline came by and asked if I wanted to go to the gym.  I took my iPod and went to the aerobics room upstairs.  Africa got a taste of Jazzercise!  I felt better instantly as I started doing the routines.  After the gym and a shower, I sat outside reading with most of the ceramic filter team.  I’m reading “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.”  It’s about the HeLa cells, and how they helped develop so much – from the polio vaccine to cell culture.  It’s neat because we’re culturing all the samples, so it’s cool to see how much the field has developed since the ‘50s and ‘60s.

After reading for a while, we (that’s me plus the ceramic filter team) went to “The Big Tree” – a gigantic Baobab tree that’s supposedly 3501 years old.  On the way there, we stopped at a sketchy gas station to get “vat koeks” which are fried dough balls.  We brought jam, and it was actually pretty good.  At the tree, we took jumping pictures, and too many David posing pictures.

Some of the group sitting in "The Big Tree"

Once we got back, I went to dinner at Nando’s with the ceramic team.  They’re a lot of fun, so hopefully I’ll be able to hang out with them more once the work dies down a bit.  I finished the night by labeling and filling more bags for samples.  Tomorrow and Tuesday should be our last long days for a while.  And thankfully, next Saturday, I’ll be joining the ceramic team to a trip to Kruger!!!

7/5/11

Hakuna Matata

Let’s start with yesterday.  The 4^th of July.  It was supposed to be an awesome day celebrating America while abroad.  Well, let’s just say that it wasn’t all that awesome to start.  We were supposed to leave at 7:30am to go to Univen to distribute lunch money to all the students.  So I got up at 6:45 to get ready.  Once I was ready, at 7:15 I sat down for breakfast.  I had just poured myself a cup of hot tea, and as I scooted it closer, it spilled.  All over me, the table, and the floor in the kitchen.  By the time I cleaned it all up, I had just sat back down to eat my oatmeal when Jon knocked on the door asking if I was ready to go.  So, I shoved spoonfuls of oatmeal in my mouth as fast as I could and left for Univen.  When we got there, the ATMs weren’t working for some reason, and in order to pay the ABM team, we needed cash.  We got to the meeting place, and there was no electricity.  After we paid the students, we went to look for more buckets to make our water storage containers while we waited for Elly and Kwhatiso to arrive.  We looked for the buckets at Venda Plaza, which is a little bit scary.  It’s so crowded with small shops, vendors, and SO many people.  We had no luck with the buckets, so we just headed to the villages.  Oh, it was also really cold and raining.  I left my coat at Acacia Park.

Once we finally got to the villages, we split up – me and Elly, and Jon and Kwhatiso.  I don’t think we ever got in the groove because we had trouble finding houses, and we spent forever at each home.  The other teams weren’t having fantastic days either.   We finished up at the villages at 5, and then we had to go to the lab.  Univen still didn’t have electricity, but the lab was running on a generator.  Only a few things were working in the lab, but Jon insisted that we stay to finish our work… Even though it was 4^th of July and there was a bry going on at Acacia.  We didn’t trust the incubators because of the power outage, so we rigged up a small travel incubator to take back with us.  When we had about 30 minutes of work left, the generator stopped working and we were left completely in the dark.  But we still worked.  The little flashlight on my cheap phone came in handy.  Finally, at 9pm, we were back safely.

Thankfully, Molly saved me a plate, so I still got some of the bry food for the 4^th.  Some Univen students were here, so we all hung out by the grill, listening to very American music.  Jack had on his very patriotic shirt that looked just like the American flag.  The Univen students left, and there were still several of us hanging out on the porch. 

A lot of laughs were exchanged, with several renditions of the national anthem.  Then we realized that it was going to be Jimmy’s birthday at midnight.  So we all waited up 45 minutes to go sneak in his chalet and surprise him at midnight.  We went in blasting music, and then sang “Happy Birthday.”  Then we all put our arms around each other and sang the national anthem once again.  Pretty hilarious, and definitely a lot of fun. 

So, my first 4^th of July out of the country ended up to be a success after all…

(a few hours later…)

I just finished work for the day.  It’s 12:30am.  This morning I didn’t have to go into the field because Jon thought I needed a break since I’ve worked so much.  So, this morning, I stayed here with Rose and Kimie to make more buckets.  Once we were finished with that, we were supposed to fill more sample bags because the original ones had holes in them.  In order to do that,  though, we needed to boil water and wait for it to cool.  Kimie and Rose have practicals tomorrow so they wanted to leave to prepare.  After they left, I had a little time to chill while I waited on the water to cool… (no pun intended).  Oh, and did I mention that the original leaky bags were on mine and Erin’s beds before I realized they had holes?  Yeahhh…

When the rest of the team returned from the field, I had to go to the lab to filter and culture the samples from today.  It wasn’t bad – we were only there for an hour and a half.  After relaxing for a bit when we got back from the lab, I thought I’d give the bags another try.  They.  ALL.  Leaked.  So, until a few minutes ago, we were trying to figure out how to sample the last 12 households.  Now that almost everything is sorted out, it’s bed time!

More catching up...

6/27/11

Long Days

So, yesterday, we got up to go to church.  It started at 10:30am.  When we got there, we were escorted to the front to reserved seats with water bottles for all of us.  The music was so loud that I couldn’t hear anything that anyone was saying and my ears were hurting!  There were people dancing in the front, and everyone else was dancing at their seats.  People had whistles, the horns from the world cup, and were doing what sounded like a tribal call throughout all the songs.  There was only one song in English – the rest were in Venda.  The service had several, what I call “alter calls.” It was so much different from anything I had ever experienced.  During the sermon, the pastor switched between English and Venda, so there was a translator. During one of the songs, our group joined in on the dancing.  It was a line dance very similar to the Electric Slide, and the members of the church really enjoyed us joining in with them.  After the service, which ended at 2:30pm, the pastor invited all of us to his house for lunch.  Khutulani came with us – it was his church we were visiting.  At the pastor’s house, we were escorted to a really nice room with big, fancy couches and a huge TV.  One lady came around and washed our hands, and then another came around and brought us plates that were almost overflowing with delicious food.  After we ate, we all sat around chatting with the pastor.  He wants us to come back this Saturday for a bry (what we would call a BBQ) for the entire group.  The people here are so nice and they will all go out of their way to help.

Yesterday I also experienced being called a “mukhuwa” (white person) for the first time.  A few of the boys at the pastor’s house all wanted pictures with the mukhuwa girls.

Last night the entire group had dinner together.  Each chalet was assigned something to cook, and then we all came together to eat and fellowship.  Erin and I made pasta and rolls.  We also had mini hamburgers, chakalaka, pap, and much more.  We all had a really good time.  The only thing missing from the night was a s’more.

Today was a long day as well.  We went to Univen for a joint orientation.  It was SUCH a long day.  We had presentations to listen to, presentations to give ourselves, among other things.  There were no Univen students on our project yet, so it is supposed to get worked out by tomorrow.  Tomorrow, we are leaving at 5:50am to meet the chiefs of the villages.

6/28/2011

“It feels good to be a gangster”

We woke up before the crack of dawn this morning to make it to the villages to meet the chiefs.  On the way there, we were fortunate enough to see the sun begin to peek over the mountains.  So beautiful.  We met Chief Lucas of Tshivbumo first.  We had been instructed on all the protocols to follow when meeting a Venda chief, such as: not looking him in the eyes, don’t speak unless spoken to, women must lie on their left side with their arms covering their faces, etc… However, when we arrived, the chief was placing chairs in a circle under a tree.  Since he was doing it himself, we were told that he would be much more informal than what we had learned about.  Prof. Loius told him about the projects and we all got to introduce ourselves.  He was very friendly and gave us fruit to take with us.  Then we went to Tshapasha to meet the chief.  It was much more tense there.  The chief sat much farther from us and we sat on existing benches arranged under a tree.  The slow sand filter is on his property, and there was obviously some tension.  Despite all the “politics,” meeting the chiefs was definitely an experience I won’t soon forget.  When we got back, we did some work with the reagents for all the water tests for the summer, as well as work on the water storage containers that everyone in the study will receive.  Then I worked on my personal statement!!!  I’m finally getting somewhere!  Erin and I made stir-fry for Diana, Miki, and (the other) Rachel – our neighbors.  Despite all the problems we encountered (the veggies being a frozen clump and trying to de-bone chicken thighs), it was a success!

            I ended the night with a lovely fireside jam with Diana, Miki, Rachel, Ryan, Sid, Locke, Jimmy, Khut, and Dan.  If the days continue like this – work in the day and fellowship in the evenings, this summer will fly by.  It already has.  One week down – 5.5 to go.

6/29/11

Glue and Buckets and Faucets…Oh my!

Today started off pretty early with trying to finish the water containers.  When our Univen students didn’t show up, Jon gave me 3 papers to read about an experiment we may be doing later this summer.  Definitely not light reading.  A few hours later, we went back to the buckets.  I drilled all the holes since I didn’t have enough arm strength to insert the faucets.  After lunch, Elly and Kwhatiso got here to help.  We did as many buckets as we could until we ran out of glue.  Then the 3 of us sat around waiting for Jon to return with more glue.  I learned so much about the 2 of them.  They can speak at least 4 languages fluently.  It’s important because South Africa has 11 official languages.  I’m pretty sure they love science as much as I do, so I know we’ll get along just fine.  Tomorrow, we’re going to Univen to meet 3 other students that we’ll be working with.  There are so many behind-the-scenes things that happen around here, and it’s a little stressful since the group leader, Jon, is also the on-sight coordinator, I don’t know when we’ll ever get any work done.

Grocery shopping is definitely an experience.  Nothing seems to be in the right place at Shoprite, and the groceries are split up by a random section of other things in the center of the store.  The store is always so loud too.  When you leave, guards check the receipt to make sure you haven’t stolen anything. 

We made mac & cheese for dinner today, which made me really happy.  I do miss velveeta though…

6/30/11

Flying Monkeys

The day started early with Elly and Kwhatiso coming over to help finish the buckets.  While we were working, I hear our neighbors (Rachel, Miki, and Diana) squealing with delight.  They had finally arrived – the monkeys.  We had been told from the start about the “famous” monkeys that inhabit Acacia Park, but since we had not seen them, they clearly didn’t exist.  That was definitely resolved today.  I joined Rachel, Miki, and Diana on the hunt, as we followed them around taking at least 100 pictures each.  They were just so darn cute!  After going on our mini safari, I got back to work.  Then the monkeys moved in.  They opened all the trashcan lids and rummaged through EVERYTHING.  The novelty had already worn off.  The exact moment was when other monkeys were distracting us, one smart little guy waltzed right in to the ceramic filter team’s chalet.  The monkey literally took Theresa’s sandwich off the table and left.  After warding off the monkeys for what seemed like forever, it was finally lunchtime.  And lunchtime brought about another realization – the effect of Colonialism.  Jon picked up meat pies for lunch from a place called “London Pie Co.”  America must have really been a rebel because we don’t do ANYTHING the English way.

After lunch, we met with 3 other Univen students that will be working with us this summer…er, winter.  Rosie, Patrick, and Kimie.  They’re all nursing majors.  We went over the project and survey, and tried to finalize some things.  Since then, I’ve been adding water to sterilized bags for our first day in the field tomorrow!  I’m so excited to go into the villages and meet the people. 

I keep forgetting to mention another strange event that happens at sundown every night.  There is a mosque not far from Acacia, and you can hear the prayer call from our chalet. 

7/1/11

In the field…

Today we started the real work.  Last night, I filled sterile bags with boiled water for our sampling today.  We left Acacia Park at 8 this morning to pick up the nursing students at Univen.  We then traveled to Tshapasha to begin our work.  We all started at the chief’s house to check in.  Then, as the slow sand filter team went to work, the ABM team took off on foot to find our first 5 households.  We went as one big group so everyone could get the hang of what we were doing.  It was really interesting to see how people live in the villages.  Collecting the water samples was very eye opening as well.  When we swirled our sterile water in their drinking water storage containers, then poured it back into the bag, there was so much crap floating around.  And people still don’t see a point to boiling their water before drinking it.

After we sampled the 5 households, we went back to the chief’s house to eat our packed lunch.  The best part about lunch was seeing all the locals eating the very American lunch of PB&J sandwiches.  They never eat things like that for lunch, so it was neat to see them adapting to a little bit of American culture.  Next, we made some contacts about more households that have children under 5 for our study.  To do this, we talked to women who work at the “crèche” – which is pretty much pre-school.  Then it was off to Univen to work in the lab.

The first person to greet us in the lab was Dr. Samie.  He’s pretty awesome.  He’s originally from Cameroon, where he studied biochemistry for his undergraduate and masters work.  He seemed really nice and I think he’ll be a lot of fun to work with.  Mary, a Univen student, helped us in the lab.  We ran 20 membrane filtrations before we packed up and called it quits.

We decided instead of boiling the water for tomorrow, we would pick up bottled water to save time.  On the way back to Acacia, we stopped at Galito’s – a chicken place similar to Boston Market.  After dinner was eaten and emails were sent, I started filling bags again.  60 bags later, and 16 hours after beginning the day, I can definitely say it is time for bed.