Blake Tyra's South Africa Study Abroad Blog: Frontier Farms & More

Wednesday, April 29th, 2015

4:00pm South African Standard Time

Weather 70° F Sunny

I hit the ground running after my Easter Break trip and things are finally starting to settle down. There are two public holidays this week, Freedom Day on Monday and Workers Day on Friday, so I only have 3 class periods to attend this week because the rest either fell on the holidays or were canceled by the lecturer. It is a much needed break because studying and school has been what’s occupying the majority of my time. I still am able to make room for new adventures and experiences, but I've had to step up my game this second half of the semester.

Part of the reason the second half is more intensive is because I added a Meteorology and Climatology course to my schedule. It has been a very intriguing course and I am enjoying it very much. The most challenging part of the course is that when the lecturer talks about seasons, they are backward from ours in the US. What makes it even harder is that our textbook is an American book, so it refers to the seasons, equinoxes, and solstices as they are in the US, but for the tests they are referred to as they are in South Africa. The lab portion of the class is a group project in which we are to study young adults' knowledge of climate change. I am in a very diverse group and am enjoying getting to know more local students and working with them outside of class on our project. Just yesterday while we were working on creating a questionnaire, one of the questions asked how they got to school. When formulating possible answers, the other Americans and I said carpool and the South African students didn't know what that was. We learned that a carpool in South Africa it is called a “lift club”. If I heard lift club before that meeting, I would have through it was a weight lifting club or something. Ha, it’s a good thing we caught that, because the questionnaire is going to primarily be taken by the local students.

I have had the opportunity to go on another trip since break. 15 other international students and I spent April 17-19 on a farm that was a three hour drive away from Port Elizabeth. The trip was part of our program fee through St. Cloud State, so all of our group was there in addition to a few other international students. The 2 farms we stayed at were enormous, spanning thousands of acres over rolling hills and mountains. We stayed right in the houses and guest houses of the farmers that hosted us and all of our meals were provided and home coked by the farmers themselves. It was the best treat I could have asked for on this trip.

We had a blast at the farm over the weekend. Upon our arrival, we were greeted with a delicious lunch and then taken on a tour of the farm. On the tour we go to help feed the animals and milk the cows. We each had to milk a cow and then have the farmer squirt a nice drink into our mouths straight from the teat. It was the freshest milk I had ever had, but I definitely prefer it to be chilled first. Dinner was a delicious home cooked meal and we spent the evening socializing over a campfire.

On Saturday we learned all about sheep shearing and actually got to sheer a sheep ourselves. We learned all about the different types of wool and how each is tested. South Africa produces less than 10% of the world’s wool with Australia producing over 90%. Later on Saturday we went on a 2 hour drive across the vast farm land in the back of pickup trucks to the base of a mountain. The farmers said the first guy and girl to the top would each win a bottle of wine. The race was on and I was determined to get that wine. The trek wasn't that bad until the altitude caught up with me and I needed to take frequent breaks to catch my breath, but I kept in the lead the entire time and managed to be the first one to the top and won the bottle of wine! It was a cloudy day, so we didn't get a good view or see very far, but the sense of accomplishment after making the climb was totally worth it. After our climb, we loaded back into the trucks and continued driving across the countryside as the sun began to come out. We stopped for lunch at a waterfall at the base of a mountain and the farmers grilled brats for us. It was relaxing to be out in the middle of nature with no civilization in sight. After returning to the farm, we all got to take a try at some target practice with a rifle and had a competition where the best shot also won a bottle of wine. After target practice we were greeted with another mouthwatering home cooked dinner. Following dinner we went on a game drive in the pickups with spotlights to see the different animals roaming around the farmland in the night. We also got an excellent view of the stars as we gazed up from the pickups roaming around the open countryside.

On Sunday, we drove out to a different farm to hike to a waterfall on their property. The farmer showed us how the river was fed with runoff from the mountain and created new paths through the rocks to form the canyon it is today. To get to the water fall you could bear the cold water and swim or take the canoe. I got in the water with a few others, but we decided to take the canoe instead of swim to the waterfall because the water was ice cold and there was no direct sunlight in the canyon to warm up to when we got out. After hiking back we loaded up and headed back to PE.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time at the farms. There was no cell service or wifi at the farms, so being “unplugged” for a weekend was a blessing in disguise because it allowed for natural fun with everyone in the group. I also did a lot of self-reflection while I was at the farm. That weekend was the most homesick I had felt so far on this trip. Being in someone’s home and having them cook for us reminded me of being home a lot and I missed that feeling. It was a nice break from school and hotel life, but it created a brief longing for everything back home. I feel that reflection was needed because it isn’t easy to leave everyone you love for this long and not have moments where you really miss them. Needless to say, I am loving my trip and am excited to see what the next 2 months bring, but know I will be ready to return to the comforts of home at the end of June.

This last weekend I attended a LGBTI Festival in a township in the northern end of Port Elizabeth. It was an exciting and unique experience to see how they celebrate equal rights and diversity in South Africa. The festival included dancing, drag queens, poems, and other arts and entertainment. There was also a guest speaker from the police department who talked about how to report a crime and answered numerous questions about how same-sex rape/assault is defined in the law and what to do if it happens. There was also a march that went around the township. It wasn’t visible to many people because we were just in a residential part of the city. I asked why we didn’t march down a main street in downtown and they said it was because they didn’t have the resources to organize it. The festival went into the evening with a live DJ playing music. I met so many new friends that were all locals and really got to immerse myself even more in the vastly diverse culture here. Most importantly I helped support the LGBTI community in South Africa and their fight for equal treatment and rights.

Last week I went to a soccer game with my friend Kenna at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, which was built for the World Cup in 2010. It was the first professional soccer game I had been to, so I was super excited to go. Since the local soccer teams aren't very good, not a lot of fans were at the game and it was nothing like European soccer games are. The fans that were there sure had a good time as they sang African songs and cheered on their team till the end. The concessions at the game were very unique compared to what we have at sporting events in the US. There were two food choices at all the stands: a pink colored hotdog or beef stew over rice. I tried both and, surprisingly, they were very good, but I do miss the concessions we have back home. I also ended up winning the bet of which team was going to win with Kenna, so I won back the cost of my ticket. I guess my mom rubbed off some of her luck on me before she left.

On a day-to-day basis life is good here. School keeps my days occupied whether I am in class or studying. At night I study some more, hang out with friends in the hotel, go to a braai, or go out somewhere in town. The weather is most always beautiful, so I like to bring a text book and set out by the pool and study in the fresh air and sunshine. I have had a few surfing lessons through the university and am LOVING it! At my first lesson they had me lay on the board in the sand and learn how to paddle and stand up. Then it was out to the ocean to try it myself. I shocked myself and my instructors because I caught and stood up on the first 4 out of 4 waves I tried. It was exhilarating to actually be able to ride the waves all the way in over and over. After 4 waves I started getting tired and then caught less than before because surfing is sure a workout paddling out every time. My instructor said I was his most proactive first-lesson student he ever taught and said I should consider buying my own board. I attribute my initial surfing success to all the knee boarding and water skiing I have done at my cabin growing up and developing my balance on water. At my last lesson, some friends come along and got some good pictures of me surfing away. Surfing is definitely a highlight of my trip and my new favorite leisure activity here. Even though I will be ready to leave in June, I wish I could just bring the ocean and this wonderful weather with me back to Minnesota.

Electrical wiring in township