Sawubona! (yes, thats hello in Zulu)
So after moving into the Happy Hippo Backpackers the other day, we had a few intense days of orientation and moving around Durban. On Monday, we had "dropoff" day, where pairs of us had to scatter throughout the city and talk to South Africans. After about an hour and a half long chat about how to not get mugged, we headed out on the bus to our assigned locations. The experience was a little unnerving, but I definitely feel more comfortable walking around Durban city central! Afterward, we got dinner at the aquarium park next door, walked around by the beach on the Indian Ocean, and relaxed at the rooftop bar at our hostel.
On Tuesday, we went to the SIT house for the first time! The house is very nice, and has a kitchen, laundry, showers and even a pool. Then we had our first official Zulu lesson... it's challenging but we're all doing pretty well so far! We had a few more orientation sessions, then headed out to the megamall to pick up adapters (SA has plugs that no other countries use so we all had to get new ones), locks for our lockers at the house, and some lunch. Then we headed back again to the hostel to relax and do some homework.
Today, we woke up early (6 am... these early mornings all semester are going to be rough) to move out of Happy Hippo and went straight to the house. We just had another 3 hour Zulu lesson with Jaqui, our teacher, and Nhalo, Mne and Fanele our tutors. We're just about to have a homestay orientation, a health talk, and then this afternoon we move in with our homestay families!! I'm pretty nervous, but all of us will be in the same position. I'm living with a mother, her 25 year old sister, 16 year old brother, and 21 year old son. It should definitely be a new and exciting experience!
Still haven't had time to figure out how to put up pictures, but I will soon!
Sala kahle!
Ok, the hour long lecture on mugging got me a little nervous so I am glad I heard about it when you were back safe and sound! Sounds like an exciting adventure! Were you conversing with the South Africans in English? It would seem that you would have to as you don't know enough Zulu yet!
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