I just said goodbye to Amy and the family. I am really going to miss this place and the people I met. It was an incredible experience. I was mostly too shy to try to speak the language while I was here but have been talking to people while I wait. I am not sure why I was so nervous. People love it when you make efforts to understand their culture.
It was the experience of the trip for me and really and experience of a lifetime. I have such an appreciation for the Zulu people and culture. They really are amazing. I am so impressed with Amy and the other peace corp volunteers not many people can say that they are making a change in the world and I got to see that first hand. Amy kept telling me I should join and the principal of her school said I should just stay and teach. It felt a little like a recruiting trip at times. Among other things you really get to see what we take for granted on a day to day basis. Seriously amazing experience if I didn't have to go to joburg to catch a flight it eight have been hard to pull me away.
Well as they seem to do plans have changed again. Rather than going back to Durban and taking the train I am jumping a series of mini busses to try to catch up with Toto, Pablo and Brandt and we are driving to Johan from a town near drakenburg. It's a little scary trying to get there without really knowing were I am or were I am going. Durban would have been easier but I will get to see the drakenburg mountains which if you know me you know I love mountains.
The bus to pietermaritsville is going to be rough. They had us on a big nice bus but when it filled up switched us to a much smaller bus and I was the last seat so the guy who works on the bus is standing right on top of me. So I am hunched with him over me andHopefully all the buses will fill quickly and this doesn't turn into a long day of travel. So far so good though. The scary thing is I don't know for sure what bus I get on next. Amy is trying to find out for. I am so glad to have met her. I had the coolest experience and she is really taking care of me making sure that I get where I need to go. She let me know what the fairs should be and a little but of what I should expect. She also had a burner phone she let me take as she was a little nervous about the change in plans. They are routes that she is not familiar with.
Amy had a sign on her wall that said get out of your comfort zone and I feel like that is were I am today bouncing around in new places. It shouldn't be too hard but minibuses are a bit of a mystery here and people are really nice but sometimes they will tell you things without really knowing or most people just don't know. Adventure is the game today. It will be fun anyway. I have a couple says to get to Johan so I am sure I will get there somehow.
On the bus and the cutest little girl is next to me. She is sleeping on her moms lap. And occasionally checks out what I am doing on my phone. I need to download games on my phone and let kids play them.
I have been all over Pietermaritzburg trying to find my right taxi. It'd be more fun if I didn't have my bad or keep having to pay the fair for a taxi I don't really need. Oh well. Hopefully this is the right one. I think I have been on five different taxis in this town alone.
I got to the station and my taxi had just left but I was lucky to have a guy call the driver and have them pick me up. He told me if the next bus didn't fill up it may not have gone Today. I was really lucky.
I met some friends on the taxi. One is really drunk and is saying that I am his Jesus. He wants me to drink with him. He keeps handing me the bottle. He is drinking some tequila on the taxi. The other, Jacques, speaks English pretty well. He keeps asking me if I have a girlfriend. They are both really nice. We got to talk about soccer and he was excited the South Africa was playing against Spain. His friend will intermittently calls me a white person InZulu then pass out again. The guy that was really drunk decided to use the drivers head as a footrest so the driver had to stop and move the guy back so he wouldn't bother him. Zulu are a very proud and excitable people. Very passionate. It wasn't a big deal but the driver did not seem happy about it. Jacques just let me use his headphones I guess he didn't think mine were good enough. It was very nice of him. He told me I could catch the spirit with them.
Listening to a song that says "memories are the best things you ever had. " I think it's true. I have stuff but it doesn't mean much. People and memories are what I am looking for. Getting lost in Pietermaritzburg only to make friends on the bus is a prime example. South Africa is winding down and to be honest it was really Brandt that got us here. It was more than I ever could have dreamt of. I think traveling the way I am has changed how I look at traveling. Other times we have traveled but stayed within our group of close friends. That hasn't been the case this time. We have really been open to meeting people and having experiences even if they were far from planned.
It's a very green time of the year here and it really is beautiful. The country is far more mountainous than I ever realized.
I just remember when hailing a taxi you use different signs to tell the taxi where you are going. You may point or make a waving gestures like the ocean depending in where you are going. The kids learn not only the gestures but the fairs at an early age. I had to hail a taxi and had to point up the hill to let then know where I was going.
I just got to the hostel. It's nice to have made it. The dorms are old converted grain silos. Really cool actually. I got a ride from some guy I met at the grocery store. I sat in the back of the truck with 5 ladies and the guy I met. They were really nice. I think they were all friends from church. They were probably confused why I was there. It was much nicer an faster than a taxi. They like my attempt at Zulu too. I can basically greet people and say thank you but it goes a long way with people. Really cool experience trying to figure it all out. It got a little frustrating in Pietermaritzburg but it all worked out. It wasn't a big deal. I wasn't in a rush and it's nice to have the time to yourself. I am sitting by a stream now. I am at the hostel but Pablo toto and Brandt are off on a hike so I probably won't see them until tonight.
The hostel is at the foot of the drakenburg range and are really impressive. I won't get to hike really through them but look forward to getting a closer look in the morning. We are headed in to Johan tomorrow and I think are planning on making it on time for the match.
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