You can imagine how this language barrier leads to many awkward situations whenever someone speaks to me in Zulu. Because, as you may or may not know, I'm black like the majority of South Africa, so my American accent is the main indicator that I'm a foreign student (although, according to one of my South African buddies, it's very easy to spot an American here in Durban.)
The weather is nice here since it's about to be spring. I'm attending Howard College at the University of Kwazulu-Natal and taking four humanities courses, including a Drama elective that has me working with high schoolers in a nearby township. There's no meal plan here, nor is there a dining hall, so my inner chef has been having a field day in my kitchen dorm cooking everything from pasta to curry chicken to pad thai.
Since this is a postcard, I'll just give you a quick rundown on the other highlights of my trip so far. I've been to the beach a lot. There are toddler-sized monkeys that run around campus. Some are really creepy, but they're more awesome than stupid Amherst squirrels so it's okay.
I've been to a soccer game here, too. The Durban team sucked, but the audience was really rowdy and fun. If you'd like some visuals of my time here, then go look at my Facebook albums. Unless we're not friends on Facebook. Because if that's the case, then you shouldn't even be reading this at all ... kidding :)
Enjoy your classes at Amherst while I enjoy getting fatter (imagine that fatty picture happening four times a day), learning to surf (yes, black people surf!), trying not to get mugged and simply having the time of my life.
Cheers!
Patrice
P.S. I've left out a bit of the non-school details, if you know what I mean. You can check out those embarrassingly funny moments out on Facebook.