A few of my favorites

I've completed half of my exams now, and since my next one isn't until the 6th I decided I could take some time to upload some pictures for you guys! I figured you'd most enjoy pictures from my safari... so here you go!



Having an open-air truck was nice because we had an unobstructed view. Every time I looked at our driver, Daan (the white one), I couldn't stop thinking about how much he looked like my uncle Dean! Our spotter (can't remember his name at the moment) was excellent and thanks to him we got to see some stuff that isn't normal... like a cirvil (sp?) which is like a mini cheetah.

The ostriches really liked to hang out on the airstrip. I thought they were funny to watch.
This is a sounder of warthogs... they were really cute and kept running in a pack along the road.

We thought we hit jackpot when we saw this jackal and the bird in the tree one morning. The bird looked like a vulture (but we found out it was a strangely colored Eagle) and we thought we were in for a kill... we could hear lions in the distance. That didn't turn out to be the case, but it was a neat sighting anyways.

There were tons of giraffes everywhere in the park. They're graceful and gorgeous and they were one of my favorite things to see. We were always able to get pretty close and they made me think of Trevon. One evening after our snack break, we were able to see several giraffes drinking from a waterhole... a very neat experience because they have to spread their legs out wide in order to be able to get low enough to drink -- unfortunately the lighting wasn't right for pictures.

Our elephant sighting was pretty neat as well, because we were able to drive right up in the middle of the herd. One of them put its trunk within a few inches of my face... it was a little scary. They're huge animals and I don't think pictures do them justice.

Our hippo sighting left something to be desired... they don't come out of the water much except for at night when they're feeding. They're massive animals though, and just watching them lounge in the water was quite entertaining.

We got to see this praying mantis spinning its cacoon... the guides said it's not a typical thing to get to spot.

The buffalo were amazing as well. We drove up really close to a whole herd of them on our first drive and it was cool to be so close to such huge animals.
The zebras were scattered throughout the reserve, always proving to be quite the eye candy. I never got tired of looking at them... they all look different and uniquely beautiful.
Wildebeest were also quite common, sometimes termed "poor man's buffalo" they're very skiddish and when we were on a walk one evening they ran away from us, as if we posed a real threat.
The lions were obviously one of the most exciting animals to see. We came across several of them napping in the afternoon (they're generally only active at night and in the morning) but they got up to play for a few minutes when one came closer to the other members of the pride.

We got really lucky with cheetah, having three separate sightings. This was the only one that was really suitable to pictures, and even still it was difficult to get good ones. They're amazingly beautiful and graceful animals. I could have watched them for hours.

It was definitely a million times different seeing all these animals in a reserve vs. a zoo. Yes, a reserve is still controlled somewhat and it's not like they're just living out in the wild, but it's pretty close. All of the animals there were self-sustaining and the ecosystem balances itself out. We did get to see rhinos, but it was at night with a spotlight so I didn't get any pictures. It was an absolutely amazing experience... hope you enjoyed the pictures. I have a couple hundred more, so I'm sure you'll be able to see more if you're interested!!

On the road again

Classes ended today... it sort of marks the beginning of the end.

Exams are beginning early next week, but I've decided to take a little vacation this weekend. Kelly, Raj, Gideon and I are traveling down to the Wild Coast, the Eastern area of Transkei, to a city called Port of St. John's. I guess there are a lot of nice beaches, good hiking, and you can do other outdoors-y stuff like canoeing and horseback riding. I'm hoping it will be a very enjoyable weekend.

The weather here this week left something to be desired... it felt so cold (although it was probably only in the 50s). The sun is peaking out again, and I think it will be warming up for the weekend.

I plan on writing about my reflections on my academic experience here. It's certainly been different than school at home. I just finally got some of my assignments back though, and I did quite well on them. There is only one class that I'm remotely worried about, and that is because I didn't do well on the test -- the professor seems to want regurgitation of the text book rather than an interpretation or application of learned concepts. More on that later...

For now I'm going to finish up a little bit of work and prepare for an amazing weekend. Hope all is well!

P.S. All of my flights are officially scheduled and I will be back in Minnesota the afternoon of June 17th.

Getting back into the swing of things

My headache pain is finally starting to subside... with pain persisting but much less of the migraine tendencies. I've sort of become resigned to the fact that my head might hurt for a while and I just have to try to enjoy life regardless.
I went to a choir concert at Durban's city hall on Friday (one of the neatest looking buildings in the city... I'll try to get a picture by the end of my time here but it's not the safeset area to be flashing a camera). The choir from Brigham Young University was touring here in South Africa and performed in the concert along with a few choirs from UKZN (my school here). It was a really good concert, and it made me a little nostalgic for my choir days.
I didn't have the best day yesterday, but I did spend a few hours at the pool (a little disappointing considering I was planning on the beach... but I got over it). Both Friday night and Saturday night we went out... and I had a blast on Saturday night.
We got up really early this morning to go out for breakfast then spent most of the day at the beach. I finally feel like I'm getting brown again. I felt so pale for a while!
I also just thought I'd leave you with a few pictures, because I know a few of you appreciate it when I do that. I know I still need to get those safari pictures up... although at this point I think I might be too lazy. I'll try to post something with at least 1 picture of each type of animal... an attempt at a "best of" kind of thing, but it would probably be easiest to share my safari pictures in person.
Here are some pictures from Saturday night:

^^ Me and Peter... he's finally stopped missing America so much and is fun again :)
^^Jess, Kelly, and I with Mo (Jess' South African boyfriend) and Peter in the background
^^Gideon, Kelly, and I.
^^Kelly and I on the cab ride back to school
^^Back at the res this terrible picture was taken. It's Kelly, Jumbe and I. Jumbe is the Zambian guy who lives next to Gideon... who has cooked me dinner and who I hang out with from time to time. He's really nice.

P.S. yeah... in case you couldn't tell... I was a little tipsy :P

Bad News

Much to my disliking... I've had a headache (with some migraine tendencies) for the past 9 days. It's a bit too reminiscent of last summer for comfort.

In the past few days the pain has become so intense that I haven't been able to sleep at night or get anything done during the days.

I went to the doctor on campus yesterday, who referred me to a neurologist. I had to wait 4.5 hours at the neurologist's after being told to hurry there because he'd see me right away. I waited there in excrutiating pain while he helped other (African) patients who showed up much later than I had. He did a brief examination and instead of writing me some scripts right then made me wait in a loud/bright lobby for another hour and a half. What made matters worse was the fact that by the time he finally wrote the prescriptions and we had settled my account (having to pay nearly $100 to have him write the scripts for me), the pharmacy was already closed so I had to spend another night in misery.

Surprisingly I was able to sleep last night... I think the exhaustion helped me overcome the pain at least in short term. I went to a pharmacy this morning and got the prescriptions filled... a "migraine" medicine that is simply naproxen, some sleeping pills, and some patches to put on my neck which has been very sore. Another $80 spent on prescriptions and here I am. I'm still in pain, but I'm trying to be optomistic.

I have a ton of work to do, and it's really hard to make myself do anything when I feel this way. I'm going to have to try, and hopefully succeed. Wish me luck, and keep your fingers crossed that this headache goes away (without 12 weeks of pain passing).

Back to reality

After a wonderful weekend in the bush... I'm back in Durban facing the realities of being in college. Yes, that's why I'm here, but sometimes it seems like it'd be much more fun to be out galavanting non-stop!

The experience this weekend was absolutely incredible... we saw pretty much everything I could have imagined, except for a leopard. I think I got some great pictures, though I've only seen them on the little screen on my camera because I'm refusing to let myself upload them to my computer until I finish my work. I'm very excited to see them full-size though, and to share them as well!

There were many times during our safaris (we had 6 game drives total) that I wished I could have friends and family from home with me, so that I could share the experience with them... but stories and picture will have to do until I can afford to bring everyone to a place like that ;)

Two Zulu orals this week, and two papers... followed by several assignments due next week as well. As soon as I make some noticeable headway I'll reward myself (and you guys!) with some lovely pictures from my weekend with the animals :)

Off on safari!

Hey all,
Just a quick note to say that I'm headed out on a weekend of safari-ing, starting early tomorrow morning and will be back Monday afternoon :)

I'm going to a private game reserve (www.mkuzefalls.com) with Gideon and his family. I'm super excited and sure it will be one of the best experiences here. I'll be sure to share all my pictures when I get back!!