Monkeys!!
This post was uploaded at the 9th of april
Hello everyone! Yesterday I learned the Zulu word for
‘hello’, but can’t remember it! So many things have happened in such a short
period of time!
First of all, I moved to eTkweni Backpackers. I was
told that I was going to have one roommate, but when I came in and saw all the
stuff strewn around, I couldn’t imagine it was just from one person. One-by-one
people started spilling into the room and soon enough it turned out that there
were five people staying! It doesn’t
matter though, because they’re all great! Three are from England and two girls from
Holland; their names are Puck and Briënne. These two girls are so sweet and
they take me with them to visit all kinds of places. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and
Sundays eTkweni organises a barbeque or ‘braai’. You have to bring your own meat,
but they take care of salads and bread. Until now, we have ended up at a bar
every time! I’ve also been out for the last four days and had such a blast
seeing new places and meeting new people! On Thursday, we went to a bar called
Cubana; a Cuban club very close to our apartment. There are actually no white
people there, and when there are, they immediately join our little white club.
Very funny, but also strange. Most of the black people have a good laugh at our
dance moves... but I’m already used to that! They just love to teach us how to
dance and we love to learn, so that’s very nice. When we finally perform our
brand new moves, we normally get a round of applause!
On Saturday we had a boat party! I’ll try to upload
some of the pictures. This party was organised by Johnny from eTkweni in a
perfect South African way. A bus picked us up and took us to the boat. It was a
22-person bus bit I think there were closer on 60 people on board - so do the
math (there doesn’t seem to be a limit on passengers in cars either! I feel
like a Polish guy quite often, because we can fit easily in a small fiat Panda
with 8 of us!). In any case, the music in the bus was very loud and there were
even disco lights! I couldn’t move, because I was squashed between all these
people and I was carrying a 5 litre bottle of chilli sauce. When we arrived at
the boat there was still no alcohol or meat. The boat was supposed to leave at
7 pm, but eventually we left at 9pm. Johnny, Johnny, Johnny.... The party was
amazing though! And nobody got seasick or fell overboard!
On Sunday Biza (who works for Umthombo, another
project) took us to a party at a bar in Umlazi in one of the local townships. We
arrived with seven Dutch girls (in one car, naturally) and Biza and me saw this
huge outdoor party with lots of people! We were the only white people, so
everybody was looking at us and some of them were laughing. A short African man
came up to me and said: “What are you thinking?! We’re from the
townships! Move that way, it’s not safe!” The rest of the people
were very happy to see us and loved the fact that we came to experience the party.
I think we’re already famous in Umlazi, because we had a whole hour of
paparazzi stuff going on. After the paparazzi- hour, the locals taught us how
to dance. While we were dancing, we had to stop and pose every now and then, so
that we could be uploaded on Facebook. Four guys proposed to me, because they
were shocked that none of us girls were married yet. After this awesome
experience, me, Puck, Briënne and Biza went to Koko’s, where people were once
again laughing at our brand new dance moves. After another 10 minutes of fame
and photos we went home. Such a great night!
Besides the partying, I also have to work. I travel by
taxi every day, which is still hilarious! For the taxi also counts the ‘there’s
no limit’ rule. You have to shout when you need to get out which is still not
working very well for me. I’ve often had to walk a couple of extra miles
already. I’m sure I will get better at this in time!
Next is the language. English is the main language in South Africa
and besides that there are 11 official languages in total. One
of them is Zulu, which lots of people from Durban speak. This is actually the
tongue-clicking language. The first time I heard this, I really had to laugh,
but in the mean time I have got used to it. I’ve had a short Zulu lesson in
Umlazi as well and I might have a little Zulu talent. I should keep practising!
I’ve also been to the beach where we also managed to
make people laugh. You see, the sea was coming closer and closer up the beach and
we were already at the top end of the beach. I was just telling the girls that
the water was coming very close, but it was still at a safe distance so we
continued relaxing in the sun. As the waves are pretty high around here, it
didn’t take too long for a huge one to come rushing towards us. We tried to
save our stuff by throwing them on the sand breakers and were able to save most
of the things; besides ourselves, our clothes and our towels. The smarter
African people were already sitting on the sand breakers for a little while, so
they had the time of their lives. Again.. This was all very funny, but when we
got back into the water I looked down and saw a blue wire wrapped around my
ankle. After a few seconds it started to burn! There was this little creature
attached to it, known as a Blue Bottle. This looks a bit like a Jellyfish and
they appear in their thousands. Puck and I were both attacked and ran to the
lifeguards together with dozens of screaming kids. They had to laugh, told us
that it wasn’t dangerous and that it should be okay in an hour and so we left.
We were planning to recover back at our apartment, but when we just sat down to
relax a man came in screaming: “THERE’S A MONKEY IN YOUR KITCHEN!!” Some guys
who were sitting downstairs saw the monkey swing right into our kitchen window
and so the friendly man came in to save us. The small cheeky monkey left real
quickly and didn’t cause any damage.
As you can see, I’ve experienced lots of great and
funny things already! I will probably visit some schools this week to collect
some footage and experience what OVSA really does. I am really looking forward to it, because until now, I have only
heard what they do. On Wednesday evening I will drive together with Guusje and
Jeanet and a police officer through the “dangerous” areas of Durban and he will
tell us things about the FIFA world cup and life in the townships. I can’t wait,
and I am looking forward to another awesome week!
It’s really sad that I have to share my adventures
just by words and that you guys aren’t here to experience them with me. It’s a
whole different world and it’s definitely one that I would love to share with
you. I will try to keep you updated at least once a week!
I hope to talk to you all very soon and keep me posted
about everything that’s happening in your life’s too! I miss you guys!
Thank you again for all the time and attention!
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