February 1, 2008

So, basically I am glad that I am not, nor will I ever be, a first year here. They are woken up every morning at 6am by people yelling outside, "1st years, wake up 1st years". The reason I know this is because I have been woken up by the same voices every morning for the last week and a half. Then they have to spend all day with their dorms learning skits and constructing things. I wasn't sure what all of this dancing was for until the last two days.

First they do a thing called a Jool. This is where all of the dorms construct a trolley (shopping cart) for racing. Using paper and chicken wire they made some really impressive racing machines with things like unicorns and chariots being their race car of choice. Well once they are made they are brought to the main street on campus (Victoria Street) which is lined with stands at this point so that everyone can cheer for their group in uniform style. Then 4 at a time they race through the obstacle course of hay, tires, and a jet spray of water while thousands of people cheer for them. It's intense and bloody at times, but amazing. I wish we did this back in the states!

The second piece to their preparation is Vensters (meaning windows). This is a night of performances where each group has a stage and a performance that has some moral value (i.e. don't do drugs or don't segregate). Then they perform their show for 10 minutes every 10 minutes for about 2 hours. Then the crowd walks around aimlessly to each of the stages see all of the performances. The only bad part is that many were in Afrikaans making it difficult to understand. On the other hand, just about every song in them were from the US as I saw their renditions to "Soulja Boy" all the way to "Hairspray".Basically it was insane! And quite impressive. Then, when everyone done at about 10, they fill the streets going to all of the bars and clubs around town. I have never seen so many college students aimlessly roaming in costumes like last night.

Well, long story short: South Africans are fun and crazy and never stop. Tomorrow will be the parade which I look forward to, and then finally some classes will pick up.We did get here kind of early, but I am glad to see of this and get settled before I have to begin classes. They way they work here is different as well. All of the classes first have things called "first meetings" where anyone can go see what the course is about and meet the teacher. Then if you like that class then you sign up for it. So that is what next week will consist of. Well, for now I'm going to go enjoy the sun. Peace