Yet another week has come and gone. Last week was filled with typical healthcare lectures, trips to malls, and some springtime rain. Thursday was National Heritage Day so we all loaded into charter buses and went to the beach with our families. We had a wonderful time having a braii (barbeque) and swimming in the Indian Ocean. My mama and older brother had the day off, and my younger brother has a break from school, so we had some quality family time. I learned that my younger brother is practically a sea otter the way he swims in the ocean. I also learned that everyone loves my mama because she is fashionable and my older brother loves to wear my fashionable sunglasses.
On Saturday one of my mama’s good friends had her “labola” celebration. I may have glossed over what this whole labola process means, but let me just extrapolate a bit more because it’s quite an intriguing procedure. Zulu tradition requires the husband-to-be to pay the wife-to-be’s family for her hand in marriage. I witnessed the husband-to-be pay his fiancee’s family in business suits, hats, 20+ blankets, sheep, goats, pots, dishware, and food. The typical labola also entails a payment of cows. The standard is to pay the wife’s family 12 cows, but that number is adjusted according to her ability to be a wife based on her education, virginity status, beauty and whatnot. So when I casually mention that I was offered cows, basically that means that a man wants to pay labola for my hand in marriage.
After the labola celebration I went to Gateway Mall with a few friends. This Gateway is much different than our 1980’s version in Springfield. Rumor has it that this mall is the largest mall in the Southern Hemisphere. I definitely wouldn’t doubt it. It has the largest indoor rock wall in the world, a wave pool to surf in, and just about any store you can imagine. I also rode in a bumper car with my friend’s 5 year old nephew and it was probably the most fun I have had since I was 5 years old. Although this mall is something definitely to experience once, I don’t plan on returning back with my college-student budget.
Yesterday consisted of lots of sitting and listening to Zulu. I went to church in the morning, then was convinced to travel to the hospital to visit my mama’s niece. My day was slightly frustrating because I had no idea what was being discussed in Zulu and my mama made me eat my 5th fried meal in a row. We had lunch in a KFC and I’m pretty sure a man videotaped me eating my fried chicken. Look for it on youtube. Later in the evening I went with a few friends to the medical school to have dinner with some medical students. They cooked us a wonderful traditional South African dinner that consisted entirely of boiled vegetables and chicken! I was pretty emotional at this point and just about cried when I found out that I didn’t have to eat my 6th fried meal in a row.
And this brings us to a dreary Monday morning at school. I’m currently busy preparing for our rural homestays which we leave for on Saturday. I’m trying to get as much homework done and take as many warm sponge baths as possible this week since electricity and therefore hot water is sadly nowhere to be found in these rural areas. I already know that living only a few days in these rural areas is going to be a complete shock to my spoiled American mentality.
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Wavepool? Rockwall? Dolce & G? I would way rather have our mullets, neck tatoos, lip piercings, and Target! That's the real Gateway mall! Bumper cars... pssh! Were you offered cows? Who would get them if you would have said yes? Would he have had to ship them to Eugene, or would your family there get them? Just think how thrilled your family in the States would be.
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