Trips in Durban

Whoa. Sorry I haven't written for so long. I have just been so busy. I figured I better try to give you guys an update before my time is up. I have been having an awesome time here. Just wanted to tell you about some of the trips I have been taking. I don't think I am going to go into as much detail as I have before. I will try to fill in the blanks for you guys when I get back.

So, today we went on a tour of one of the rural high schools. The school had grades 8-12. We got a very warm welcome from everybody there. We got to meet all of the teachers, of which there were about 15. The students there were amazing. We went through all of the classrooms but didn't really get to spend that much time with the students. However, all of the students we were able to hear from said they were very happy for us to be there. It is not very often that white people come to their schools. They really liked that we were interested in them and wanted to see their school. They told us that they loved us and felt proud to know us. That is pretty much exactly how I felt about them. The school, like most other rural schools, did not have enough resources. They didn't have text books and only had 3 computers. The teachers wanted us to spend more time with the 12th grade students to try to encourage them to stay in school and study hard. They thought we would be a good influence on them because we are all in college.
After that, we had a little closing engagement thing because it is our last Friday here. I can't believe the time has gone so fast. We got some entertainment which was a small dance group that did Fushion dancing. It incorporated both Indian dancing and Zulu dancing with Zulu men and Indian women. They incorporate both Indian dancing and Zulu dancing because those are the largest groups in kwaZulu Natal. Durban (and the surrounding area) has the largest population of Indians outside of India. It was pretty cool.

Some other trips we have taken were to the Drakensberg Mountains for a hike and to see some cave paintings. We also went on a safari and got to see some of the Big 5. Another trip we took was to Land of 1000 Hills. This was a pretty awesome day because we got to see some Zulu dancing and went on a small safari.
We also went on a township tour which was really interesting. Along with the township tour, we stopped in one and did tae bo with some of the locals. They apparently have a class 4 times a week and our professor was actually the person who implemented that. He grew up in a township and still lives in one of the townships. He does a lot of work within the communities and with the youth. He does tae bo and karate. After the tae bo we got an authentic African braai (basically a barbeque). The food was delicious and this was one of the only real African meals I have actually gotten. We also got time to talk to the local people. It was a very fun and intersting day.
We also got to go to an orphanage called Adams Mission. Pretty much all we did was hang out with the kids and play games with them. The orphanage has 4 different complexes that are separate homes basically. Each home has 6 children living in them and a house mother. They are set up this way so it is like the kids are living in a family setting. The kids there were amazing.
It feels like such a privilege to go to the places (like the rural school and the townships) in Africa that most people probably would not see if they came here on their own.

I guess I haven't really been doing a lot of big stuff like I did at the beginning of the trip. I still manage to keep busy though. Probably one of the coolest experiences so far in Durban (and definitely up there for the entire trip) was to play the drums with some of the locals. We went to this bar called Cool Runnings and they were having drum night. There were about four guys that had drums and then a big circle that had extra drums for anyone to join in. These guys were just amazing. I love the sound of the drums and to actually play them in Africa with some local guys was almost surreal. I just loved it.