I found a whole turkey! Thanksgiving in SA

Thanksgiving in SA in not a new concept, while it is not a national holiday, people do have “thanksgivings”. A thanksgiving party is a party to celebrate someone overcoming great tribulations in their life. People bring gifts, and there is lots of food and music, of course. Since this past week was American thanksgiving time, I decided to share my version of Thanksgiving. At work, I let everyone know that Thanksgiving is a time Americans set aside to spend with family and friends to give thanks and count their blessings (ok, I kind of skipped the whole Pilgrim part). Also, I brought in pumpkin and apple pies to share with everyone. The pies were a hit. Everyone wanted the recipes, especially the pumpkin pie recipe which no one had ever had before. (Pumpkin is very common here, but not in pie form.)
In addition, I had a couple of my close friends from work over for Thanksgiving dinner. Poughie (my housemate), her sister Choco, Sma (best friend from work), Lally (also best friend from work) and Lally’s children KB(5 yrs) and Kat (17 yrs) all came to the feast. We had traditional turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce (a very bad version I tried to make from dried cranberries), corn on the cob, morogo (see Sma’s recipe below!), and fresh veggies and dip. With some sparkling apple juice and pumpkin pie and ice cream for dessert, we were set. Poughie said grace, and we all went around the table sharing what we were thankful for (many thanks to God, and for each other, and an amazing year with the USA/SA exchange!). Near the end of dinner, I called my Mom and sister, Beth, in the USA and had a nice chat; I also passed the phone around so everyone could talk to my mom and share Thanksgiving wishes. It was really fun; now,they will each have a voice to go with the face for all the stories I have shared.
Now, THANK YOU to everyone at home for writing emails and sharing news all year – it was great being here, but made so much easier by still feeling so connected to my American home as well. So, thanks so much!
Sma’s Morogo recipe
(You have to try this, it was my favorite dish. Seriously yummy!)
2 bunches of spinach, cleaned well, and chopped
2 small potatoes (or 1 large of course)
1 onion
1 yellow and 1 red pepper
¼ to ½ cup peanut butter (I prefer no sugar added, all natural kind, but you choose)
salt and pepper
Peel and chop potatoes and onion. Boil and mash (do not add milk or water)
Cook spinach and chopped red and yellow pepper.
Add peanut butter, amount is up to your taste buds. Stir in onion/potato mash mixture. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Hint: go easy on salt)
Enjoy!

Pics of The Berg

Tiger Fall Royal Natal Park



This is me at Giants Castle Park. Midlands Berg
View of the Cascades and Royal Natal Park. Northern Berg

Giant’s Castle and a Treehouse

This past weekend, it felt like I traveled into a storybook from my childhood. I visited the Drakensberg Mountain region in the KZN province. First stop was Royal Natal park with views of the Amphitheater, a 5 km cliff in the shape of an amphitheater. Hiking past and through waterfalls, The Cascades, Tiger Falls, walking through the forest hearing the strange birds and frogs, climbing the green hills dotted with wildflowers, and walking down the path past red and white sugarbush protea. In one walk, it was like I had been through three different ecosystems, each unique and beautiful in its own way. To end a perfect day, my fellow Fulbrighter and I headed to Sycamore Treehouses. The treehouse was so cool; I have wanted to stay in a treehouse since seeing a sign for one way back in March, so this was my chance. All made of wood (unusual in SA, the land of concrete homes), near a meadow of horses and deer, with views of the Berg mountains in the distance; the treehouse even had a jacuzzi – a great way to relax after a morning of hiking and an afternoon of driving.
The next day was a trip to Giant’s Castle, another national park. Just as the name implies, imagine green rolling hills and a cliff that from a distance looks just like a Giant’s Castle. Magical. The hike led us to the main caves to take a tour of the San Art painted in the caves over 100-300 years ago by the San people. Pictures of eland were plenty, since this special deer-like animal was of special importance and represented a special spirit and strength. One of my favorite parts of the paintings was the San painting of an elephant that was drawn very small, because the San only ever saw ellies from a distance, so they looked small to them. The rest of the day was hiking through tall grasses with the sounds of the river nearby. Back at the treehouse place, we were challenged to a game of pool. Now. I have watched people playing pool, mostly when I was little, but I never really played. Well, in the beginning I was pretty bad, but then with some help, I got three in a row. I was totally psyched. Ok, we still lost, but it was really close. Dinner was a feast of my South African favs: pap, woors, curry, semp and butter beans, and malva pudding for dessert. The drive the next day through the Golden Gate Park was gorgeous; big bright blue skies with clouds that seemed surreal. A quick stop in Clarens for a nice lunch with the best cherry milkshake ever (it is cherry season and fresh cherries, jams etc were everywhere), and then I headed back home. Another lovely weekend.

What is “Sex”? and other thoughts

Fulbright 5, me and the other US teachers at our last hurrah , and Chris (in back) the new cultural attache here in the embassy (Lucy , our amazing guide to SA, is taking the pic)

It has been a while since my last blog. Term four has been busy, frustrating, and at times, great.

Term four has been busy with exams, proctoring, marking, study sessions, and trying to travel, see, and do as much with my time that is left here as possible. This term has been frustrating because my learners have had no classes since October, and just sit for exams. However, there is no studying going on at home; many do not have an adult living in their home because their parents or guardians work and live in the city and may only come home once a week or even once a month. The frustration stems from such very low marks; like 005 out of 150. While I do believe they learned more than this, their final marks will not reflect their progress, but only this last low exam mark. Motivation to do well on exams seems very low too.

Term four has also been great at times too. My trip to Durban and Valley of 1000 Hills with Fellow Fulbrighter and traveling buddy, Aminah. Despite the rainy weather that weekend, I put my feet in the ocean and to my surprise, it was SO WARM! I can’t wait to go back for a real day at the beach. And the Valley of 1000 Hills was beautiful, green hills and valleys and an amazing view of the sun setting over a gorge. Also, I have been swimming to my fav spot, WarmBaths, many a time. I am afraid the indoor YMCA pool in NYC just can’t compare.

Also, a few weeks ago was my friend Lally’s birthday, so Sma and I “kidnapped" her, picked up her son and took them out to dinner in town (there is only a kfc where we live). Lally, Sma and I have become such good friends, Sma said we are the “charmed ones”;“the power of 3” is our little joke. It was such a nice time; it is sad to think I won’t be able to see them everyday, but we will figure a way to sms(text) internationally.

Last week, my fellow Fulbrighters and I met up with our amazing support people from the embassy in Pretoria for a last hurrah lunch. The day before the lunch the Fulbrighter Sharyn from Cape Town came to visit my school. Everyone welcomed her warmly, and she chatted away with my colleagues. (did I ever mention the volume of teacher’s voices in the staff room; it is quite something to hear. A mix of Sepedi, English, isiNdebele, and at times Zulu, at max volume) After work, we went home where my friend and co-worker, Lally helped us prepare a braii of woors and pap with tomato/veggie gravy. Really yummy! The next day was our group lunch where Aminah, Dan, Michelle, Sharyn and I shared and talked about our year and experiences. It was so cool how everyone’s year was unique and different. Of course, I think mine was the best (I am sure my fellow Fulbrighters feel the same about their year too!). That evening, the fulbrighter five went to SA Alumni Marina and her husband’s home, yet again (they were so generous, opening up their home to us all year!!) ; this time, we threw a braii for them in thanks. As we sat around talking and laughing about our experiences; I found myself … Well, have you ever said something , and as soon as you said it , realized what you said was not exactly what you meant? Yup, that was me. For the braii, one of the fulbrighters, Dan, went to his local butcher for meats. We had chicken sosaties, steaks (I think), and he also bought “sex” (OK I know I am spelling it totally wrong, but that’s how it is said, or at least how it sounds.) So at the dinner table, I found myself saying “What is “sex”? It was a very good laugh for everyone let me tell you. [by the way, I found out later it is pork, and it is delicious]

Sleeping in the "sardine" section of the black prison cell, meant sleeping head to toe, toe to head.

Constitution Court building, picture above,is made from bricks from the old prison building.

Constitutional court pic above. Also that weekend Aminah and I finally got to visit Constitution Hill where Mandela (for a time),Gandhi, and other political prisoners that opposed apartheid were jailed, as well as murderers, robbers, etc. I learned a lot about the history; there is something about feeling the history of a place that is so different from reading about it. Now, Constitution Hill is home to the constitutional court of South Africa. Justice literally built on injustice.

The weekend ended with a trip to the Dome Festival in Parys in the Free State province of SA. We took a tour of Dan’s local school (see pic of me and many children) and we walked around the cute town of Parys. At the Dome fest, besides having a camel ride, my favorite part of the festival was the Dragon Boat Race. Very cool to watch twenty people rowing in sync to the beat of a drum, then grabbing a flag at the end to win. I love being by the water, so spending the day watching boat races, seeing kayakers sliding down a ramp (like a skateboarding ramp) into the river and doing tricks, chatting about everything, and more food of course. Michelle and I cheered, as we watched Dan and his team row to victory. A nice ending to a very nice weekend.

In the news, the election of course! How exciting; I woke up the next morning here (late that night there) to see the results and hear a little of Obama’s speech. At work, it was cool and strange as everyone congratulated me (on behalf of the USA) for the election results. There was definite excitement in the air, and I bought a little cake to share and celebrate.

However, this past week brought sad news, Miriam Makeba, Mama Africa died. I had just heard of her music and gotten a few of her songs; if you haven’t heard her music, download some, it is amazing SA jazz. She has a great voice and a great past of standing against apartheid.

Well, I know I am leaving so much out. It is impossible to write about my experience here because it really is the everyday little things that add up. Waking up at 5 am most mornings, 6 am on weekends. Drinking the best juices ever, fresh mango, guava, and strawberry. My drive to work with the views of the veld and wide open spaces, different from any I have seen anywhere else; views which always clear my head and fill my soul somehow. Greeting my learners, “Sani bonani,” “Yebo”, “Ngani?,” “Ngkona” (again my spelling is probably terrible, apologies) You have to hear it to really get it. Seventy voices together greeting you back and starting the class off each day.; I will miss it (maybe I will teach my NYC kids). Lunch in the staff room – too funny, good jokes and lots of laughter. Learning how to cook pap and woors and recently greens called morojo (spelling?) with Poughie, Watching Generations, the best soapie in SA and anywhere else too. [still can’t believe Grace and Ajax broke up and she moved to Canada] The amazing sunsets over the highveld. Basking in the sun and watching a kidd goat run past back and forth crying for its mom. So many things…more next time, till my next blog.. enjoy the holiday season. This coming week, I am going to try to find a turkey, a whole turkey, in SA – wish me luck!