First Week of Classes...

This last week brought with it the beginning of school and a busier schedule (though not much)! On Monday we started the school day at 9:30 with Tourism as an Economic Activity, which consisted of 6 students total! Our second (and final) class of the day was Introduction to Xhosa Culture. Shane, myself, and twelve others ended up being a half hour late to this class as we spent that time sitting/standing in front of the wrong door on the wrong floor. Our school schedules list first a building number, a floor number, and then a room number. The floor numbers are listed as such: -01, 00, or 01 meaning bottom floor, ground floor, and top floor respectively. We (the 14 of us) had failed to note the negative symbol and thus wasted 30 minutes of time. After asking a teacher as she passed by, our mistake was pointed out and we found the correct room. The teacher laughed as he had just dismissed the rest of the students, but quickly went over the syllabus for us stragglers.

     Tuesday consisted of our one and only class for the day, Ethics and Corporate Governance. This room was more or less an auditorium and had probably 300+ students in the class. We anticipate this class being more work than the other two, but seeing as we are only taking three, I cannot complain! It is also nice that Shane and I have the exact same schedule, so studying and doing assignments together will be a plus!

     On Wednesdays we have no class, so we slept in and then moseyed down to the beach (which is conveniently 5 minutes or so away). We spent about two hours just sun bathing and relaxing. Something to take note of: it is always windy in Port Elizabeth. Being at the beach means getting sand everywhere! Laying down on your towel means that every time a gust of wind hits, sand gets in your ears and sticks to whatever is exposed. Shane and I also meandered into the water (about ankle deep until the tide washes in and becomes knee deep) and enjoyed the ebb and flow of the water. Shane also managed to grab a couple of shells he found as they washed ashore.

     More school came on Thursday, but it is odd here as the classes are switched around. Our first class of the day was Intro to Xhosa Culture (in the same room we had Tourism in on Monday) and our second class was Tourism (in the room Xhosa had been in on Monday)! At the beginning of class (Xhosa) our professor informed us that we would be covering five concepts and then cover the next five on Monday; I interpreted this information as meaning it would take an entire class period (hour and twenty minutes) to cover those first five, but instead it took thirty and class was dismissed… Seems like a waste to me. We used the entire time block for Tourism (though it only takes up one on Thursdays). The semesters at NMMU are broken into two terms: right now we are in term 1, term 2 will begin in the second week of April. The classes are also broken into time blocks and typically use up two per class, so we can expect to be in the room for an hour and twenty minutes. I won’t complain about being released early, but I do realize the waste when much more material could be covered.

     After class on Thursday we ate a quick lunch and then made our way down to the beach again with some friends from Annie’s Cove. We spent more time laying-out and finally got fully immersed in water. I had forgotten just how salty it can be! It was entertaining riding the waves as they came in, but could only tolerate being in the water for about ten minutes before I was too cold. It helps that the sun is relentless here, but the combination of wind and cool ocean water make everything comfortable. Shane and I are definitely many shades darker from being in South Africa. I swear that sunburn here equals four back at home and I am that much tanner because of it. I have “permanent flip-flops” on because of the patterns now burned onto my feet. When we left the beach we went to Friends (the internet café) and met up with Melissa and Allie (also from Annie’s Cove). Shane and I shoveled down two orders of chicken-mayo sandwiches and two milkshakes each! We intended to go out that night as well, but were worn from two consecutive days of sun and opted to sleep!

     Friday passed very quickly as we have only Ethics to attend and were let out a half hour early. Shane and I made a trip straight from class to a “Superspar” where we picked up groceries and then went home. We realized shortly after getting back that I had lost our cell phone. This wasn’t a big deal cost wise, as the phone was only $14, but it was inconvenient in that we had lost all form of contact with our friends. It also sucked because the day before we had loaded more air time and texting onto the phone. We made the brief trip to Summerstrand Village and intended to buy a phone when we were reminded that a passport and proof of living were required. Shane and I were too lazy to go home and back so went without a phone that night. The next morning one of our housemates came over with the phone… apparently I had left it on the counter in their house when I grabbed the liquid measuring cup! Later that day (Saturday) we met up with 10 others and played soccer on the North Campus’ field. When I say played soccer, I mean that I watched while everyone else played!

African Penguins!

     Sunday included a trip to a local marine sanctuary where we got to see some African Penguins and was educated on other wildlife in the area. It took about an hour to walk from our house to Annie’s and then to the sanctuary. We were lazy on the way back and took a Kombi (a bus that drives around town honking and hollering at everyone it sees to try to get passengers). The trip back was marginally faster :) We then walked to a pizza place called Roman’s with Scott and Melissa and had a delicious pepperoni and garlic pizza. The bill ended up being 66R = less than $10, for three medium pizzas (this is very cheap, but it should be noted that a medium here is about the same as a small in the states)! It was much better than the place that delivers which we had tried a week prior where a pepperoni pizza really means a pepperoni-mushroom-onion pizza. That about covers this week, I will probably post again next Sunday after visiting a couple of parks!

Scott, Myself, Sarah, Susanne, Shane, Allie, and Melissa