A little recap

So it's been a while since I've made a real post... here goes:

I haven't been doing all that much that's been specifically exciting. I have, however, been making more observations about the world around me here, which is pretty cool in itself.

From various cab rides, including rides with our "regular" cab driver, I have learned how dangerous life can be for cabbies here. This seems to be particularly true of Indian drivers, who typically own or lease their car and work for themselves or for very small companies, as opposed to the large cab companies who are predominantly driven by black drivers. Our regular cab driver recently had his car broken into, on a separate occasion he had his battery stolen, and most frightening of all he received a call last week telling him to stop doing one of his weekly runs to and from a popular burger and beer joint "or else". Another night we took another Indian cab driver home and he was telling us that he'd been hijacked 3 times already, twice at gunpoint and once at knife point. It's a little scary when they're telling you these things as you're riding in the car... you start looking around watching everyone on the street, wondering if someone's going to come attack the car.

Our "regular" cab driver has also been telling us about what it's like in his neighborhood, where there is a lot of racial tension. Apparently the homes in the area were all sold to Indian families, but at the end of apartheid when the new government went into place, half of the neighborhood's homes were given (free of rent/charge) to black families. These families now receive vouchers for food and most of their bills. In an area where everyone's living in poverty, but some feel like they've earned the right to be there and are upset at those who don't seem to have done anything to deserve it are quite upset. Last night he told us that his wife had called warning him that unfamiliar cars had been driving through the neighborhood (he said this is usually an indication of "casing" an area) and he said he was nervous to go home. I can't imagine living like that.

Some of the people I was with were really freaked out by everything he said and felt like we were going to die the minute we stepped out of the car... but I guess I haven't felt that fear yet. We don't go into the kinds of areas that he lives in, and while I know people say that everywhere in Durban is dangerous after nightfall, I feel that most people are living in fear. I'm cautious and all (I'm not putting myself into dangerous situations or anything, don't worry), but I refuse to stay in my dorm room all the time just because something could happen out in the world. Stuff happens everywhere.

While it's interesting being the minority here, it doesn't always feel like it. It totally depends on the social setting we're in. Two of my classes have a lot of white students, so it doesn't feel strange at all. In my classes where most of the students are black or Indian it's a little bit different... but what's more interesting is hearing the way they talk about Americans or America in general, when they're not thinking about the fact that there is an American in the room. (It makes me think about the comments that professors make at home about all sorts of countries... and how it might make international students from those countries feel). I'm probably not the best person to ask in terms of being insulted, since I tend to criticize our policies a fair amount myself... but one example that was too much for me to handle was in my Linguistics class. We had an assignment to compare two news reports (I did mine on some attacks in Iraq that killed a bunch of Shiites) and a girl spoke up about the same topic... explaining that 90 pilgrims had been killed on their way to pray, someone asked who they were killed by (because she was explaining the apathy of Americans in the news articles she'd read) and she said "the Americans". I raised my hand and waited for her to finish, then pointed out the fact that the attack had actually been a suicide bombing by insurgents... to which she replied "oh yeah" and no one else in the class seemed to care much about the difference. I guess I might have a little bit of patriotism in me after all, I didn't want to be associated with such a brutal, meaningless attack.

Last night a few of us went to this flatfoot dance and percussion performance that was on campus. I'm really glad we went, because it was one of the first cultural things I've experienced here. There were five drummers, and then another five dancers. For the most part it was African dance that included a lot of stomping and varied movements of the body... but they also made use of sticks and popcans while they were dancing to add to the percussion of the drums. I wish I could describe it better, it was really cool.

Soon I'll be heading out on my weekend excursion with my study abroad program; we're going to the Drakensberg mountains. I think the plan is to go up the mountain to see some Sans paintings (done by bushmen a long, long time ago), hopefully do a little more hiking, then I think we have to decide if we're going to go to a small game reserve (no big animals) or do some Zulu cultural stuff. I'm bringing my big camera and hoping for some beautiful pictures. I'll be sure to share when I get back.

Next Wednesday I'll be heading out for Capetown for an extended weekend, and though we haven't yet decided what all we'll be doing, I'm really looking forward to it. I've got a lot of work to do on Monday and Tuesday, but it should be manageable and it will be worth it.

That's all for now, I'm sure I have more observations to share but I need to go pack! Have a great weekend and leave questions / comments if you have them!