Week of the 1st – 5th, Snow day to Lotus

Monday:

·         We had a “snow day” today, in that there were more protests so those that had service all stayed home.

·         I went out to Hello, Sailor and discovered what Disco Fries are (gravy, cheese, and magic)

·         Family dinner! Since we were gone for most of Sunday, it was changed. So we had amazzzzing chili! Courtesy of Sam and Maggie. And yes, I do realize that half of this blog is food related.

Tuesday:

·         I met my new psych professor. She seems very knowledgeable and competent, but she can’t lead discussions the way my past professor could. I really liked hearing about his take on all the local stereotypes. He also pushed us a lot further out of our comfort zone.

·         Me, Meribeth, and Sarah hung out with our Norwegian friend Bjornar after class. It was great to finally talk some philosophy with someone!

·         I have been watching a South African soap opera called Generations. It’s been running for years (since 1994)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generations_(South_African_TV_series)

It runs every week night, but I’ve been missing a lot. Some of the characters are just ridiculous, but everyone here loves it. There are at least eight major plots happening, such as one girl gets a married gay guy really drunk so she can sleep with him, now she has to figure out what to do with the baby (he wants to adopt it, but she is a bitter brat). Another story line follows the two wives of the same man who don’t get along at all. Good stuff.

Wednesday:

·         Ethics test. Yippeee. It was a lot easier than we were anticipating, so I think our over-preparation may have made us do worse than I would have if I could remember just a couple major concepts…

·         My housemate Sam brought her work friends over. Two boys from England and a girl from Ireland. They were a real hoot and a holler. I may need to visit that part of the world; they know how to have fun.

Thursday:

·         Worksite day. Not much going on there.

·         For dinner we were invited to Lotus Park, a township that two of my housemates are working at.

·         We arrived at Lotus, and there were people in traditional dress and using a bucket for a drum and everyone was singing and dancing and just having a grand old time. The kids there were so good at dancing! Like serious swag. It was really cool to feel so welcomed into their community.

·         The youth league cooked us dinner. I know I only talk about what I eat, but allow me to list some of the items for you: spinach and chickpeas, potatoes, chicken (alive and walking not even an hour before, super scrumptious), water bread (I guess they boil it to cook it, but it was very dense and sweet), some concoction of innards which included intestines, liver, and lungs (I actually liked the lung the best, not so much the intestines), and the best part was that we had a smiley. If you are ever in South Africa with other foreigners, please tell them to order a smiley so that you may sit back and enjoy their faces.
It is a cooked sheep’s head. The entire head, on a plate. Naturally, I ate it. I got a part of the cheek and the inside is textured like a tongue, only bigger, like all hairy. It wasn’t the worst thing I have consumed, but I don’t think I would snack on it daily. One of the girls from Lotus showed us how to eat the eyeball. That was great. Real great.

·         We had to start packing for our mid-semester trip and me and some other folks decided it would be a lovely idea to pull an all-nighter. I ended up finding many cockroaches and have finally accepted my position as their chosen one (I am the only one who has found them in her room).