Cheers All!

So the first part of the term is winding down and we are all gearing up for our mid semester vacation (or vac as they call it). On Friday I'll be going to Mozambique with Shannon and our friends from Durban for about a week. Friday night we are taking an over night bus to Jo'Burg (the ride is about 8 hours) then another bus from Jo'Burg to Maputo in Mozambique. We'll spend about 2 nights there and then head up the coast to Tofo and spend another three nights there, then start making our way back to South Africa and down into to KwaZulu-Natal (the province where Both Pietermaritzburg and Durban are located). I am REALLY excited, school's been hectic and overwhelming lately so it will be nice to have a break. I don't really know what to expect from Mozambique except for some beautifully untouched beaches and hopefully some interesting cultural experiences. The country is still in recovery from their civil war, and though the violence is over, the effects remain. The infrastructure is underdeveloped and apparently the roads are in bad shape - but that's why we are taking buses and won't be renting our own car (we learned that lesson in Swaziland). So until then I'll be packing, taking my malaria meds, and learning how to say "Hi," "Thank you" and "bye" at least in Portuguese. I've found that you should at least be able to say those three things when you go to a country where you don't speak the language. Hopefully my Italian, Shannon's French, and our combined Spanish will help us out. We'll see.

Other than that I have been spending a lot of time with the "artsy" kids here at Varsity (local slang for University). It is a good group to be a part of, they do a lot of really interesting and obscure things. Plus there is no better way to get acquainted with local culture than by spending time with your local friends. In the past week or so we have gone to Site Specific Dancing - modern dance built around specific locations on campus where the environment it integrated into the movement, an art opening at the CVA (center for Visual Arts - where I practically live), Listened to Bolivian folk music at a local spot called Folk Club. Last Friday they threw a really vibe-y party, we all sat out on blankets on my new friend Lisa's patio, surrounded by candles while someone played the guitar, and we all chatted and drank wine. It was a really cool evening. It is a relatively racially integrated group, especially for South Africa. It is interesting to get to know these people, to observe their interactions and just try to take it all in. Saturday night we (myself, some of my American friends, and my South African friends) went to EarthDance.

EarthDance in an annual trance music and dance festival help all over the world for peace. It was held way out in the Bryne Valley, which is a beautifully foggy and green valley, surrounded by trees and old farms in the middle of nowhere KZN. It was all outdoors. The whole place is terraced, I think the location used to be a farm. The DJ, dance floor, main bonfire, and hut that served as a bar was on the top level. That's where the fire dancers, jugglers and crazy raver dancers hung out. People parked cars and pitched tents on the lower level. And there was a crazy black-lit "Bedouin" tent in the middle where you could sit on blankets and hay and drink homemade chi. We spent a good deal of time there, as well as dancing. My friends Annie, Rael and I spent most of the time mimicking the "moves" of this crazy guy in robes who was skipping and spinning all over the place. Half the time we couldn't even dance because we were laughing so hard. The only downside was that it was freezing and raining - so everything was muddy and wet and cold. The only warm spot was by the fire. We slept in a makeshift shelter, constructed out of a tarp stretched between a parked car and a tent; it was all muddy on the inside so we had to fill it with hay. When we were ready to sleep (4am or so) we wrapped ourselves in blankets and sleeping bags, snuggled into the hay, and tried to get warm. Sometime during the night, the tarp sprung a leak and I woke up in a puddle, freezing and muddy. So we went home to "Maritzburg at about 6 am or so. Needless to say I spent pretty much all of Sunday sleeping. It was an experience to be sure.

This week has been about getting ready for the Vac. I have a paper, three paintings, and a digital image, and two drawings all due by Friday, and I actually have a handle on all of it. Other than that, I just need to figure out my Mozambique Visa, but you can buy those at the border so I'm not worried about it. So that's all the news from over here, I'm sure I'll have more interesting stories after the Vac. Hope all is well with everyone.

-Lauren