Term Two, Leggo

Woah, it’s been a while since I’ve updated. Time to fill you all in on what’s been going on since term started…

After a really relaxing week in Swaziland, I hit the ground running and started my term off… with tonsillitis. The day before school started I was feeling really horrible – chills, fever, headache, cough, sore throat – nothing too much to be worried about, as fevers come and go occasionally.

I had a little scare, though, when I realized that all of the symptoms I was presenting were characteristic of malaria. And while I thought that I could shake off whatever I had on my own, my friends and teachers all insisted on scaring the living crap out of me by telling me stories about people who got fevers from malaria that cooked their brains. Or about malaria brain parasites that would turn me into a vegetable within 72 hours. At one point the head of hostel even came by my room, just to remind me that malaria is still the leading cause of death in Southern Africa, even over AIDS. Swell. 

So I decided to go to the clinic to get whatever I had checked out.

An interesting experience – my doctor didn’t seem at all interested in my malaria symptoms, despite the fact that I had just been in a malaria area in Mozambique a few weeks earlier and had only taken the cheapest type of medication. Instead he asked me about my sore throat… a lot. So my friends were kind of surprised when I came back from the clinic, malaria blood tests negative, with a diagnosis of tonsillitis.

Anyways… It was a pretty rude re-introduction into school.

So what can I say about this term? I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that it’s absurdly cold right now. While you guys are all tanning in wonderfully warm weather, I’m sitting in my room freezing my ass off. And it’s not even the coldest time of the year yet.

So what’s interesting about the cold in Swaziland (or I guess, at Waterford) is that it’s not the typical type of cold that you expect – you know, you can see your breath and your spit freezes before it hits the ground. No, I’ve decided that this cold is much worse. Because the thing about Waterford is, there isn’t really a heating system. Anywhere. So there’s no escaping the cold of the outdoors, because it just comes into your room and makes itself cozy there as well. The bedrooms, hallways, classrooms… there’s no place to be warm except my own bed (which makes it remarkably hard to leave in the morning).

The other thing is, it’s been really windy these past few days. So brave Mr. Arizona, thinking, “It can’t possibly be that cold in Swaziland,” is now having all of his hoodies pierced quite easily by the frigid wind.

Smart. I should have listened to the testimonials, because even the Norwegians think this place is cold.

But enough about that. This term seems to be flying by, probably because I’m pretty packed with things to do. On top of my ever-increasing pile of prep (homework), I’ve been dedicating time to extracurriculars (Argentinean Tango, rock climbing/outdoor pursuits, gym, choir, Amnesty International community service, physical theatre production, etc). And with all this in mind, it’s no surprise that my weekends since term started have been booked. In a good way, though…

BECAUSE on one of the first weekends back, we took a trip back to South Africa to climb at Waterval Boven. I think I may have mentioned before, but as a refresher, Boven is one of the premier sport climbing locations in the world… and it’s only a two-hour drive from my school. Ka-pow. We have a handful of trips planned for Boven this term (I’ve already been on one day trip and one camping trip), and I’m really stoked on the whole thing. And yes, mom, I’m wearing a helmet.

But what may even be more exciting is that after midterm break, I’ll be going on a week-long backpacking trip in the Drakensberg Mountains with a few others from the ‘Outdoor Pursuits’ dept. at Waterford. Along with several Waterfordians, I’ll also be backpacking with a few dozen others from all over the world, as part of a South African Global Youth Summit. The group I’ll be hiking with will also include the first black African to summit Mount Everest (whaaaaat). I couldn’t be more excited, and am also thinking that I should really get a winter coat (after all, I think it’s cold in Swaziland, and there’s snow on the Drakensbergs). I’ll keep folks updated as I hear more about it in the coming weeks. 

So yes, please feel free to be super jealous.

In terms of packed weekends, the beginning of the term has also brought the (in)famous Bushfire festival to Swaziland. Bushfire is a huge arts festival they have every year in SD, and it brings in folks from all over Southern Africa. It also draws nearly everyone from Waterford, students and teachers alike. There isn’t much to put here about Bushfire, except that we had a really awesome time and that you should check out the band Goldfish if your name is Nick Medvescek (we’ll be swapping when I get home, eh?)

Coming up in the next few weeks is the equally infamous 24-hour run. For those of you who remember the 12-Hour Relay for Haiti at home, it’s essentially the same as that… but it’s for twenty-four hours (duh). For those of you who don’t know anything about my previous statement… basically, every two years at Waterford there’s a fundraising event called the ’24 Hour Run’. Students organize themselves into teams and run laps around the field for twenty-four hours to raise money for charity. They do this by obtaining sponsorships from friends and loved ones per lap they run (or just a fixed amount, if the sponsor prefers).

SO, an appeal to my friends and loved ones – if you would like to sponsor me for the 24 Hour Run, or would like more information, please email me (e.medvescek@gmail.com), FB me, call me (+268 76890943… feel free to call if you DON’T want to sponsor, too), send me a message in a bottle, attempt to create a smoke signal… whatever your fancy. It would be really cool to get some sponsorships, because it’s kind of weird to go around school:

Eli: “Hey, do you want to sponsor me for the 24 Hour Run?”

Miscellaneous Person A: “Yeah! But only if you sponsor me!”

Eli: “Ha ha! Okay, I’ll give you five emalangeni.”

MPA: “Yeah brahle, I’LL give YOU five emalangeni!”

20 people later… I’ve bankrupted myself. Yay, progress!

A few last notes – I heard from the parentals that a bunch of CDO kids said hi in a video during graduation. My dad has uploaded the video to FB, but when I tried to load it with this internet, I got about 30 seconds in an hour. So the plan is, one of these days I’ll leave my computer in the common room overnight and load the whole thing. I saw the pictures on facebook, though, and I want to give a tremendous thank you to everyone involved. It meant a lot to me when I heard you all did that, and a was walking around with a big ol’ goofy smile on my face all day.

Also, a very happy birthday goes out to a very special lady in my life – Sarah Medvescek, congratulations on turning 28 (almost 29)! I’m so very proud to tell all my friends at school  about my sister at home (I shared the kalimba videos too, bearzo, and my friends loved them), and I’m now on track to be excited with you for Halloween.

I think this is where I’ll cut it short because I should really catch some shut-eye, but hope everything is well in T-Town! Congrats to all the folks making their way up to NAU or ASU (even though UofA is still the best), I’ll be seeing you all shortly.

Love, sala khale

Eli