This past weekend, all 53 of us traveled to the coast near Durban for our Intercultural Communication field trip. Before we left, all we were told is that we would be "camping" near the beach by Durban, and we were going to meet up with some of Indian community of the region, and go to church with them on Sunday. So Friday afternoon comes along, and we begin to pack up for the weekend stay off campus. Our planned departure time was 2:30, but as this is Africa, we ended up leaving around 4. This was just the beginning of it.
As I wrote earlier, South Africans have a saying, T.I.A - this is Africa. One of the biggest things I learned about South African culture this weekend is that people view time during the day as just an unfolding of events - circumstances control people, people do not control circumstances. Essentially, fatalism runs the culture here in an often obnoxious time-wasting way. It's a bit of an adjustment for me, a time-is-money, always-hurried American. Due to about 5 unplanned stops, including one 3 hour delay because of car failure, the normally 2 hour drive took us about 6 hours. By the time we arrived in Pennington, the "camping" spot by the beach, dinner was done and over, and everyone was going to bed. Even though we were staying at a beautiful, amenity-stocked cabin near the Indian Ocean, it was a little hard for me to stay positive because of all the T.I.A shenanigans. I ate some leftovers, and looked forward to a new day.
The new day did arrive and with it, a new outlook on the weekend. I was able to walk around our cabin community in Pennington, which looked a whole lot more exciting in daylight. We ate breakfast, swam in the pool for a bit, then got ready for our drive into Umzinto, a rural community near Pennington. A 20 minute or so delay later, we were on our way to Umzinto for a 45 minute walk-around experience. Umzinto was a fascinating place, full of stereotypical African street vendors, small shops and a crowd of people who looked nothing like the 53 of us. Indian and black crowds flocked toward grocery stores and clothing vendors. Beggars and unemployed vagrants crowded the alleys and gutters. Traffic through the central business district was a thick mix of taxis, beat down trucks and pedestrians. To say we stuck out like a sore thumb would be an understatement. Nonetheless, we walked around browsing stores and buying nick-knacks and souvenirs, all while taking in a truly foreign culture.
We concluded the day by driving down to a small beach town named Scottburgh for a dip in the Indian Ocean. Being only the second ocean I'd swam in, I noticed both similarities and differences to California beaches. Just like any other beach on a Saturday, people crowded the grass elading up to the sand, which was marked by a busy scene of beach soccer, sunbathers and kids playing. As soon as I took a step into the water, however, I felt like I had just stepped into a warm, extra-salty bath. The water was unbelievably warm! As I got deeper, and finally went submerged, I got a taste of the saltiest water I've ever tasted. Despite the hot saltiness, I had a wonderful time at the beach, and even got to play a pickup game of rugby against a few local South Africans. Best part - we beat them! As you can imagine, they weren't too thrilled about losing to Americans in rugby, but they were good sports through and through and we all had a great time.
The evening came along, and we began our braai (South African barbecue) under the supervision of our Intercultural Comm. professor. Later on, when the meat was sizzling and the air smelled of curry and grilled chicken, we met up with a local group of Indian-South Africans, whom we invited over for dinner. They were very shy at first, but as soon as we brought out all of the food, everyone was laughing and having a good time.
Our final day in Pennington was Sunday, so the 53 of us were divided into groups to attend local churches in the morning. The church I ended up going to met in an old movie theater with no air conditioning - I was warned the temperatures could get up to 30+ degrees Celsius during the service (85+ Fahrenheit). Nevertheless, I threw on my long sleeve button-up shirt and jeans, and got mentally prepared to fight a heat stroke. They weren't kidding either - I've never experienced temperatures like that indoors, apart from the times I've burnt my hand on the oven at home. Despite the heat, it was a great service, and such a good experience to attend a church completely different than my church back home. We were warmly greeted, and even invited to an authentic Indian lunch after the service. I am now seriously addicted curry.
The dreaded drive back to Pietermaritzburg was approaching fast, and we all prepared for another 10 hour voyage inland. While we were a little late leaving, our drive took us exactly 1 hour and 45 minutes from Pennington back to campus in PMB. I guess we'd had enough T.I.A for one weekend. I hope this post doesn't come off as too complainy, because I really did have a great weekend. T.I.A is definitely something I'm still adjusting to, but it's surely teaching me something about patience and adjustment. Now, I've got to go find some curry to munch on in between classes.
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