Saturday, September 27 ("4:30am, really?"/ Durban): Yesterday Mervyn picked me up to take me to the airport. After seeing John in Brazil, it was nice to see another familiar face. On the way to the airport, Mervyn shared his perspective on the whole Mbeki/ Zuma political scene. South Africa has been a democratic society since 1994, which isn't a particularly long time. The ruling political body, ANC, "recalled" Mbeki for questionable behavior. In the course of one week, the country has had three presidents. It was good to get a native's perspective, but what's even more impressive was Mervyn's ability to tell me about the American political scene; this also happened in Brazil and Namibia as I encountered strangers. I can't believe how much foreigners can tell you about America, and—quite unfortunately, I never know about their political issues/concerns. Am I living in a bubble? Well, maybe not a bubble, but surely my attitude likely comes from a privileged democratic society not preoccupied with others. I feel like this is someone I need to be more mindful of in the future, especially because we're becoming a more global society and it's important for me well versed in and understanding of non-American issues/concerns. I digress.

My flight from Cape Town to Durban was delayed, so I arrived later than expected at 8pm. A hotel driver collected me from the airport and we headed to Durban Illovo Beach KwaZulu Natal Protea Hotel, located on the outskirts of Durban. When I checked in, Eric had left a note instructing me to be ready for breakfast by 7:15am. I headed up to a room on the fourth floor of the hotel…the highest floor in the hotel.

Saturday morning two black birds woke me up, as they chirped on the ledge of my window. Since I was on the fourth floor, I slept with the windows open, not expecting little creatures to greet me. Honestly, I was a little nervous that the birds would fly into the room, but they flew away before I could get up to close the window. As I closed the window I looked outside, and without my glasses, could see the Indian Ocean kissing the sun as water rolled over the sand. Lovely. I meet Eric for breakfast in the hotel. Another familiar face—great! We caught up over omelets and fresh squeezed juice, then headed to Durban.

After apartheid, many colleges and universities were forced to merge with historically white institutions. According to Eric, Durban University of Technology (DUT) was one of the few institutions that peacefully merged without any force from government. DUT is located in the heart of Durban and Doc has been the Director of Residences for many years. When we arrived, students were waiting to eat breakfast. Many South African students only have money for room & tuition because the government does not subsidized education, which means students cannot take out loans like American college students; one of the unfortunate realities for many students is they do not have money for food and they often eat one loaf of bread for the week. So even student leaders are faced with little money for food, but despite this they are spirited young people ready to serve their community.

After breakfast and greeting students, I started my session. Initially I was nervous because Doc & Eric told me 75 students would be present, but only 45 attended. Doc usually trains student leaders two weeks before they start their position. But this year, after visiting the University of Maryland, Doc decided to have as much advance training as possible. So, he was bringing me in to cover basic concepts with the students. Overall, my training session was good. At the end of my session, Eric invited students to present a critique to me. Ahh! Last time I was in South Africa students did this, and I completely forgot about this aspect of their culture. As soon as Eric extended the invitation, five hands shot up. Students were pleased with the content and appreciated the resources I provided…just basic team-builders they could replicate. They were a great group of students and I enjoyed my time with them; we took a few pictures to remember our day together.

During tea, Eric told me that Doc wanted to leave at 5:30am for safari. However, before Eric and I left for the day, Doc said, "I'll pick you and Christy up at 4:30am". Awh man, really? Yep, 4:30am—NOT 5:30am departure.

Eric and I returned to Protea Hotel around 5pm-ish to take a nap. Christy arrived Saturday night and, of course, we stayed up way too late. I think we finally went to be close to 1:30am, knowing we'd have to BE READY by 4:30am the following day.

Sunday, September 28 ("Zululand"/ Durban): Christy and I had to pack up all of our stuff to move rooms. We had to stay in a different room during the NASDEV Conference and had to store our luggage until we returned from safari. What a pain to do at 4:30am.

Doc and Precious, his wife, picked us up at 4:45am. They had blankets and hot chocolate waiting in the back seat for us. Although gray clouds hung low, the green mountain tops were beautiful. Precious is Zulu, so she was able to tell us interesting tidbits as we drove two hours through Zululand to reach the game reserve.

The province of KwaZulu Natal is referred to as the "Kingdom of the Zulus" and claims that the oldest game preserve in Africa, the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve. Established in 1895, the reserve covers acres of hilly land and has the Big Five game (elephant, leopard, tiger, buffalo, & giraffe).

We were able to see three of the five big game: elephants, buffalo, giraffe, and we were on the path of a leopard; Doc was intense about finding the leopard, but we have any luck beyond seeing fresh leopard prints in the mud. Aside from the big game, we were within meters of baboons and other animals in their natural environment. My experience was fantastic! A dream come true!! I don't have words to capture the beauty of the experience. We spent the entire day watching animals and admiring magnificent terrain.

Monday, September 29 & Tuesday, September 30 ("what, a three hour workshop?"/ Durban): The NASDEV Conference theme was: Identity, Culture, Heritage, and Knowledge: Building Campus Communities in South African Colleges and Universities. Conference organizers were particularly interested in exploring how student affairs professionals play a role in affirming student dignity and identity. Late Sunday night I glanced at the program book; on Monday morning I read through it more closely and noticed that I was listed for two sessions. One session was 1.5 hours and the other was 3 hours. What? That couldn't be right. I was prepared to facilitate one session, but not a 3 hour workshop.

I highlighted what I believed to be an error to Eric and he told me that I correctly had been slotted to lead two sessions. Umm, clearly a breakdown in communication; I told him that I was not prepared to facilitate a 3 hour workshop. We met in the middle and agreed to let me determine if I could go into depth on one aspect of my first session. The first session received a better response than anticipated, so Monday night I pulled together materials for Tuesday afternoon. Thank goodness my memory stick had materials I could modify. So, in the end, I facilitated two sessions.

Aside from facilitating, I spent time with my South African colleagues: Pearl, Brighton, & Mduki. In fact Pearl made a special trip to Durban to see me, which was nice; we discussed the possibility of meeting in Paris this summer. We'll see if we can make that happen.

Across the board, people have been kind and warm and inviting. They often held my hand as we talked, or greeted me with kisses on the lips or cheek. I am inspired because the student affairs profession is in its infancy in South Africa; there's so much opportunity for growth, which is exciting. These student affairs professionals will be able to leave huge footprints on the profession. Yesterday, in the moment, I was annoyed with Eric but I'm glad he pushed me, because there are basic knowledge, skills, and resources student affairs professionals don't have here. In fact, NASDEV was established in 1986, compared to American Associations that were established in the late 40s. I realized that I have knowledge and resources I can share with others to help them build nurturing environments for their students. After my workshop several people came up to ask questions, thanked me for the ideas, and asked for my contact information. Christy asked me to leave several resources behind. I know this will not be my last visit to South Africa…

Wednesday, October 1 ("Archbishop Desmond Tutu"/ Cape Town): When I returned from Durban Mervyn collected me from the airport and returned me to the ship. I was exhausted. So much activity was packed into the past few days. Although I was tired, I knew I had to pack my afternoon with as much activity as possible. I immediately dropped my lugguage, checked email, and headed for the door. Thank goodness I checked email, because there was a message indicating that Archbishop Desmond Tutu would be giving an informal session to the shipboard community. Archbishop Desmond Tutu regularly sailed with Semester at Sea, but in recent years decided not to sail because he's growing older.

I did not have lunch, so I was looking for a place to each when I spotted a Haagen Dazs store. I mean, really, who can resist premium ice cream? Belgium chocolate ice cream? No, ice cream isn't the healthiest option, but that was lunch because I only had a few hours to spare.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been a father figure for South Africans; he played an important role in ending and healing the country apartheid. His address was one filled with hope for the goodness of people. Tutu shared that we often highlight the negative and fail to notice the good that people do (see video—I'll try to upload it). He told the audience the story of Amy Biehl, a young American Fulbright Scholar who was stoned to death in South Africa in 1993 where she had gone to help in the struggle against apartheid. She was interested in working with disenfranchised voters in the country and had worked there previously, studying multi-party elections in various African states.

In the '90s Archbishop Tutu lead the Truth & Reconciliation Commission, designed to grant attackers amnesty if they harmed, killed, or attacked black South Africans during apartheid. Many people came forward, including Amy's attackers; Peter and Linda, her parents, forgave Amy's attackers and hired the men to work with them. Amy's parents established the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust to continue their daughter's work and have been highly supportive of groups concerned with the lasting effects of apartheid.

Archbishop Tutu used this example to illustrate the goodness of people; he said we all have the ability to do good in the world (and in this example, forgive). I was especially touched because Tutu said that SAS would change each one of us, because (despite his accomplishments) it changed him; to see, touch, and taste the world will not allow anyone to be the same. He encouraged us to walk away thinking about the good each person could give to the world. Who will I become after this experience? Who do I want to be? What values do I want my life to be about? A seemingly simple call to action…

After Tutu's address, Curtis, Becca, & I went out to dinner at Capital Grill on Victoria Wharf. We sat outside under a heat lamp, enjoyed a flavorful meal, and chatted well into the night.

Thursday, October 2 ("One is the happiest number"/ Cape Town): My last day in Africa. I really enjoyed my visit to Namibia, Durban, and Cape Town. Something about South Africa feels familiar. The country landscape is absolutely stunning and people are so kind. I could see myself living in Cape Town, or visiting regularly. Although I have enjoyed my last two visits to South Africa, I can still see the impact of apartheid and continuing discrimination with poverty today. There are social forces at work that have caused these terrible conditions to occur. Again, these townships are not too far from Brazilian favellas, or American ghettos. The post apartheid struggle reminds me of the post civil rights struggle; America and South Africa alike have much to achieve in regards to race relations. I've met people who think America is perfect and free of racism; America has many more strides to make. Maybe the only difference is the post apartheid wound is fresher at 15 years old, versus the civil rights wound at 30 years old.

I went to bed kinda late, but I still managed to get up early and write post cards (I've been sending them regularly, so I hope they arrive…). I wanted to spend my last day having some alone time and decided not to invite anyone to join me (especially because our journey from South Africa to India will be 12 days long with little privacy or down time). I started my morning with breakfast at La Petite Tart, a French bakery in an area called Cape Quarter. The place was small, but inviting, and I was the first customer. I found a cozy corner, read the paper, and sipped on a coffee while eating an open faced butter croissant with ham and cheese. Two hours slipped by much too quickly. I paid for my bill and did a little shopping and found scarves from Kenya and handbag made by local women. After exploring Cape Quarter, I headed to the craft market to look for more goodies. I found a few cool things, but my best find was Alon's jewelry store.

In each country I want to buy a painting or ring for myself because I think that's more meaningful than a t-shirt. Yesterday I bought a tribal ring and had no intention of buying more jewelry, but I'm always drawn to jewelry stores. I was 'window shopping' and the owner, Alon, started talking to me. As I eyed a few rings, I said, "just browsing." Alon left me alone until I asked about the cost of one ring. He proceeded to show me another ring similar to the one I liked. His assistant came over to thank him for a piece of jewelry he'd given her a few hours earlier. I noticed a beautiful silver ring she was wearing and asked her if I could wear it; she slipped it on my finger. As I admired the ring, I told Alon how I would design a ring…he pulled out a piece of paper and started sketching. He then went into the back of the store and came out with tons of stones and gems. Before I knew it we had designed a ring with my initials on it. I wasn't expecting to personalize a ring, but I fell in love with the ring, and can't wait to see it when I get back home.

My afternoon ended with lunch at Mediterranean Restaurant near the Wharf. I had chicken kebobs with pita bread, potato wedges, and a dry lemon drink. Dry lemon is a refreshing, crisp beverage…maybe like lemonade, but not as tart. Today was a great day…one was, indeed, the happiest number!