Life in Africa

Sorry about the lack of posts, but I have finally gotten my weekly schedule of classes down.  I ended up having to drop Organic Chemistry due to the language barrier and I picked up Jewelry Making instead.  This makes my life so much more enjoyable here and I don't feel stressed all the time.  Biology  is basically a refresher course from high school and I feel like a genius in that class.  I guess half of the class has not had any previous biology experience before this, so we are currently going over the basics including hydrogen and covalent bonds, and yes, I am serious.  Economics is interesting and not as bad as I thought it would be.  I have a wonderful professor and in my opinion, this class is more interesting in an African perspective than an American perspective.  In my AIDs/HIV class, we are going to be doing a community outreach program and my group will be working at the Hospice in the local hospital.  This should be very interesting and will show us a different side of Africa that most visitors do not see.

I have noticed several different things in classes that are very different from America and are not usually seen, or at least not at WSU.  The first thing is that basically no one skips class, ever.  The classes are always super full (as full as the first day) and generally everyone is present.  Lots of people skip lectures in America, since attendance is not taken, and skipping is rare here (not a bad thing).  Another unusual thing that I see here is that most everyone brings their books to class.  There are multiple colors of highlighted lines in everyones books, including the boys!  No one leaves class early, and its rare for someone to leave to use the restroom.  All of these are kind of refreshing in a way.  Now some things that get on my nerves, maybe because we weren't expected to do this growing up: tons of people use rulers to write in straight lines, highlight straight, and draw straight lines to label something.  I don't know why, but when my professor in Biology lab asks me to use a ruler to make straight lines to label a part of the cell when I am not even turning in the paper, it gets on my nerves.  Everyone carries rulers around it seems like and I cannot even remember when the last time I owned a ruler was.  People's notes are a lot more neat than mine though, so maybe I should start partaking in this ruler trend.

I have now been to two rugby games here and I still do not understand the game.  I should probably look up some basics of the game so for the next one I understand what is happening.  Even though I am not paying attention to the game, we still have an awesome time there.  We sit in a giant open stadium with concrete steps for the seating.  This is where a lot of the students sit and they serve Black Label beer and some fruity orange drink that is nasty.  I'll stick to the Black Label.

This weekend, we are traveling with our group that we came here with.  We are going to the Community of Tows river first where we will be participating in some community service.  We will either be giving the elderly pedicures and manicures or Upgrading the Kindergarden's Library.  After this we will be going to a Game Lodge where we will be partaking in Safari's and an exquisite pool.  I look very much forward to this trip and will FOR SURE be taking pictures.  Incase anyone has not noticed, I am horrible with taking pictures.  I do not trust myself to take my camera out at night and other times I forget it.  I promise to take tons of pictures this weekend though and will make a new post after!

Hope all is well and not too cold back in America!
Xx,
kCl

Classes have begun...

Classes started on Monday and I have mixed feelings about them.  Econ is going to be really easy and actually fun.  The professor has a great sense of humor and is easy to understand.  Sometimes people speak really really fast, and I cannot understand them with their thick accent.  Biology should be interesting.  It seems as if it will be easy.  On the first day of class though we took an exam to see what type of "basic" biology knowledge we have.
Here are some of the questions:

How many liters of milk does a female alligator produce daily?

Name a mammal that lays eggs.

Is a Great White Shark a mammal or a fish?

Why don't polar bears eat penguins? (My answer was simply because they don't taste good).

If this is basic knowledge, I am a little behind in class already I believe.

I will probably not return to the states after this semester because of Organic Chemistry.  I assume by the middle of the semester I will be in a insane asylum diagnosed as a psycho person.  This class seems impossible in the states, but try to take it in a foreign country where the professor thinks it's a good idea to speak both Afrikaans and English.  She apparently says the important things in English and just side comments in Afrikaans.  It's a great, fun class where I will have a test every Monday morning at 8. Yee-haw.

I also have an HIV/AIDS class that begins tomorrow.  That is an international class so I am hoping that they speak English and English only.

An interesting tidbit that I have been getting a lot: Apparently Americans don't speak English. We speak American.  People here have told me that we basically have our own language in America and it is not English.  Very interesting and sort of true.

I am still trying to find a memory card reader to post pictures.  I promise they will come soon.

Wish me luck in O Chem,
kCl