My (Strikingly Brief) Time in the States

Hello friends, family, family of friends, and friends of family –

I’m currently sitting in the airport in Johannesburg (although I probably won’t post ‘till I’m back in Swaziland) going through pictures of the time I spent at home this past month. What can I say - It was fantastic to see friends and family again, to sleep in my own bed, to play with my dog, and to eat top-notch Mexican food once again, after a very long (and simultaneously very short) time.

Just a little summary of my time in the States:

The first week was designated “family time”. Mom and Dad took the week off from work and Nick (brother) was home from Boston for just a week. We picked up Sarah (sister) from her house and had a fun week of family activities, including a family trip to Rocks and Ropes Climbing Gym, Art Exhibits at the University of Arizona, Project Nim at The Loft Cinema, making decorations for our backyard, and meals at our favorite restaurants. Here are some pictures:

It was so wonderful to see my whole family again, hanging out as a unit. Nick has been off at college for quite some time now, and Sarah lives out of the house now… so it was great to have some designated time where we could all be together. Featured guests at “Family Week” include Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle David, Aunt Sophia, and Aunt Donna.

Unfortunately enough, the close of this week brought the opening of “Eli Gets Tonsillitis Again” Week. I still tried to get out and do things with my friends during this time... but tonsillitis is a toughy to ignore. Needless to say, this put me out for several days. During this time, I embraced the sit-and-relax-and-do-nothing side of my vacation... which I was OK with :)

I realized in my last two weeks of vacation that one month isn’t nearly as long as it seems – on top of this, my friends started college at around this time, meaning they had either moved away or were much less available. Considering this, I think I made most of the circumstances – I hung out with friends at their new dorms at the U, went hiking with people, went paintballing (a first!), had lunch dates, etc etc. Also, I went to my old school and finally picked up my diploma (yay?), and spent some time speaking with the principal and new IB Coordinator (as they’re starting IB at CDO next year). Also got in some family time here with the parents – we revisited an old favorite activity, and watched an entire season of 24. Despite the fact that watching TV together may not seem like “family time”, we actually had a lot of fun speculating on what would happen in the next episode, staying up late to watch multiple episodes in a night, conversing about how unrealistic Jack Baur is, and so on. What can I say – some people play Monopoly or start family bands… we watch Jack Baur thwart terrorist attacks. America!

The close of my time at home got somewhat ugly when I decided to tackle the monstrous pile of homework my teachers so lovingly assigned for the holiday… let’s just say, I never want to see a snowflake again.

For those who care, my journey back has been… long. I was originally supposed to leave on Friday night, but the plane I needed to catch in Tucson was caught on the tarmac in Denver, and the flight was cancelled. I left the next day and thus am arriving at school a day late. At this very moment I’m missing my first say of school, including a test in Biology (oh shoot! ;)

Hope all is well in the US of A, or wherever else you may be – I’ll be seeing folks sooner than you think. Third term… hobey ho, let’s go!

Love always

Eli

The End, Pt. 2

Hey folks –

So I’m sitting in the Los Angeles airport right now, feeling a mixture of emotions about being back in the States – above all, I’m totally stoked to see what this holiday has in store for me.

But before I plunge into my innermost thoughts at this moment, let me share a little about the last few weeks…

One of the most striking elements of the past few weeks has been the attacks on Norway – the Waterford community was hit hard by this, as six of our students are from Norway. I consider myself very close with the Norwegians at the school – if folks recall, I traveled with Jenny to Cape Town and Mozambique during the April holiday, and I’m very close to my IB1 co-years (Jenny, Live, Ingrid) and have a good relationship with the IB2s (Ane, Yulai, Jens). Because of this, I felt very affected by the atmosphere of gravitas, the weight of sadness, which was carried by many at the school on that day.

I wanted, in this post, to make special mention of the incredible fortitude and strength I’ve seen from the Norwegians since the event. In particular, I want to mention Jenny, who attended the island camp for the Youth Party for years before coming to Waterford, and who lost four friends in the shootings.

The bravery I saw from Jenny on the day of the shootings, and in subsequent days, has nearly reduced me to tears more than once. If this had experienced this horrendous event in the way that she did, I surely would have locked myself in my room and refused to see anybody. Yet I saw the complete opposite from Jenny – she was at the carnival (not jumping around and laughing merrily, granted, but with other people, getting fresh air and talking about what had happened), and later helped to organize a community forum of solidarity for victims of the shootings. If this isn’t already remarkable enough, what I saw at the forum made me even more proud of my amazing, amazing friend.

At the meeting, Jenny told us about what had happened, based on accounts not only from the news, but also from her friends who had managed to escape. She told us stories of friends hiding in fear for over an hour, friends who tried to swim away, friends who jumped in front of others to save them. She illustrated the scene for us, so that we could understand just how horrible the nightmare wreaked by the shooter was. Yet she also did something that took more strength than I could ever find in myself – she called for forgiveness, not hatred, towards the politics of the shooter. She realized, and vocalized, that hatred cannot be met with hatred; rather, it must be met with a continued fortitude and endurance of the politics of those who had been killed. The shooter was out to destroy more than lives – he wanted to destroy an ideology. If the Norwegian Youth Party leaves its ideology in favor of hatred, then they allow the shooter to win. However, with courage and persistence, they prove that an idea cannot be shattered with firearms. Jenny reminded us that hatred between political beliefs breeds no progress; rather, it leads to more degradation. In my opinion, this is not only incredibly brave, but also incredibly wise. The world has a lot to learn from this display of strength and forgiveness from Jenny.

My co-year Dimitri (France) wrote a speech for assembly the Wednesday after the attacks – I was very impressed with the speech, and asked him for a copy afterward to post on my blog. Here it is:

On Friday the 22^nd of July a dual act of monstrous barbarity rocked the peaceful, idyllic nation of Norway. I am sure you all know of the details of what this one man did in the space of a few hours in one of the most peaceful countries. As Norway mourned the death of more than 90 people this past weekend the Waterford community was also hit on a personal level. On Saturday evening a memorial service took place up in Emhlabeni, and amidst the silence that we shared many powerful words were spoken. And I would like to renew that message of solidarity today, and I hope every one of you can spare a thought for our affected friends.

Today I come to you with my reflection from this horrible attack. I believe this monstrous act is testament of a very worrying trend in Western liberal democracies in particular, but also across the globe: I am talking about extremism in all its forms; fascism, Islamism, and the rest. There has been a resurgence of racism which has been created by people forgetting their values, forgetting the fundamentals of human rights, forgetting that we are all equals. This is not only something that has happened across Europe, but in all parts of the world: Pakistan, Libya and Mexico to name but a few. Also the divide between the haves and the have nots, between those with opportunities and those without, has been exacerbated by the current economic and population crisis. With these hardships politicians everywhere are blaming the other, the foreigner, for the misery. We cannot continue like this, we cannot always blame the other, we cannot always confront each other. There are now 7 billion humans on Earth, we cannot afford hatred, we cannot afford intolerance, we cannot afford to forget the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We are all equals, we all have a right to a home, to security and to a decent living.

What happened in Norway, and especially the man who perpetrated the massacre, embodies the worst ideas upon which a modern society might be constructed; not only does he reject minorities, but he also despises the Norwegians who work with foreigners and support the concept of multiculturalism. By accepting so many asylum-seekers into Norway the country has carried out one of the most beautiful acts of solidarity which the haves can make towards the have nots, and this murderer committed a horrendous crime to protest against this solidarity. Although this man’s aim was to provoke hatred and violence from his enemies, playing into his game is the most dangerous thing we could do today. I think Jenny in IB1 best summed up how we should react in such a time of crisis; she said: “It is not time for hatred, but for forgiveness.”

I would like to express with my plea to you: do not forget your values, your ideals, always remember what you have learnt here at Waterford, how you have learnt to listen, to tolerate, to respect. Never fall into the trap of hatred, never fall into the cycle of violence. We are here together, we must live together in peace and solidarity.

Jenny ended up going home early for the term, as she was hit particularly hard amongst our Waterford Norwegian community. However, I ask you to hold Jenny, Ingrid, Live, Yulai, Ane, Jens, and the rest of the Norwegian community in the light as they continue to recover from the attacks.

The last weeks of school brought few exciting, interesting things, besides piles of last-minute homework (which teachers have extended into holidays… ugh). However, worth mentioning is the Social and Cultural Anthropology class field trip to a Swazi sangoma (diviner). As we were studying Swazi society for the entirety of the second term, Mlunga (teacher) organized a trip for the class to the diviner. Sangomas basically have a special connection to the spirit world – they are able to communicate with their own ancestors, and ask them to find your ancestors, who then tell the sangoma’s ancestors about you. Unfortunately, due to lack of time, I was one of about half the group that wasn’t able to be seen – however, I heard quite interesting accounts from those who were seen…

So apparently the first thing that happens upon entering the room is that the sangoma ‘throws her bones’ – these are usually a collection of trinkets, including dominoes, dice, small animal bones, etc, that the diviner throws over the table and thus interprets for meaning about the subject’s life. Then she asks the subject what he/she wants to know. From those who were seen, the common interpretation from the diviner, for almost all the students who saw her, seemed to be this: your ancestors are angry with you. For some reason or another, they want to withhold your luck from you, or prevent you from getting married, etcetera. Thus, your parents and you must hold a party when you get home to honor the ancestors. So, even though I wasn’t seen, I’m going to stick with the common prediction, and send out this message:

Mom, Dad – the ancestors are angry with us, and thus we need to have a party when I get home. I’ll bring the chips and salsa.

Still unsure if I buy into this whole supernatural set of beliefs that the traditional Swazi hold – there’s a lot in there that really goes against my firmly established Western over-rationality, yet there’s a certain draw to the whole thing. The idea of magic, witchcraft, and divining is still a very prominent idea in Swaziland, and I don’t want to discount the whole thing… just yet.

And this brings me nicely to being home. I’ve only been in the States for a handful of hours now, and already I’m feeling mixed emotions. Maybe it’s just because I really hate airports (and LA), but I find it quite interesting that I feel more confident and knowledgeable walking the streets of Maputo than trying to navigate LAX. But moreover, there’s a certain… atmosphere to Southern Africa that I feel is missing here. Perhaps I’m just crazy (it’s very likely that I am, actually, as I’ve lost my sense of space and time after flying for so long), but I feel almost like there’s a quality missing, as I sit in this airport. People seem more detached, more “bubble-oriented”.

At the same time, though, most of the people I’ve dealt with have been airport personnel, announcements, etc. And you guys know as well as I do how annoying TSA in the USA can be. There are lots of similarities as well – for example, I stepped off the plane in LA and was confronted by an escalator… which was completely broken. I nearly muttered the letters T.I.A (“This Is Africa”, a common phrase of exasperation for non-functioning aspects of Southern African daily life), but caught myself. Because, after all, this is NOT Africa.

In any case, to sum it up everything feels very different, and simultaneously exactly the same (because I know that makes things clearer). The first thing I did when I got to my terminal was buy Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (none in Swaziland). Yum :)

Gonna cut the post short here, dunno if I’ll be able to throw it online before I get out of LA, but I’ll try. See many of you all in a matter of hours!

Cheers

Eli

Backpacking the Drakensbergs!

Hey peeps –

So I’ll spare the whole “funnel” introduction and get right to it. Backpacking in the Drakensberg Mountains (!!!):

The whole thing was called a “Global Youth Summit”, put on by the International Mountaineering and Climbing Federation in South Africa. They do summits like this every year and all over the world – it’s self-described as an event which “promotes peace and cooperation between countries” thorough outdoor expeditions. I went with a slew of other people to represent Swaziland in the Summit (even though it wasn’t really necessary to ‘represent’, per say, we still brought a flag and broke it out for every picture). The group from Swaziland included Anne Caroline (New Mexico), Lykke (Denmark), Dane (Swaziland, leader of the Waterford climbing department), Baba (Swaziland), Mdu (Swaziland), and myself. We set out on a Friday morning for Johannesburg, where we would meet a group of 18 other individuals (most South Africans) that would be our backpacking partners for the week. After a night in Joburg, we took a bus to the foot of the Drakensberg, where we stayed another night in a hostel and were treated by the Federation to dinner and goodies. By Saturday night, our bags were filled with a week’s worth of food, sleeping bags, warm clothes, and dangerously few changes of underwear. We set out on Sunday morning for one of the most astounding and challenging trips I’ve ever been on.

And along these lines, I must say, backpacking is a great way to deflate the tough-guy ego. Because when you’re going between 10 and 18 km (~6 and 11 miles) a day, up and down huge hills, with 30-40 kgs (65-85 lbs) on your back, you start to realize how incredibly UN-tough you really are. The first few days were filled with me huffing and puffing up to the top, face tomato-red, usually somewhere in the back of the line. It became really fulfilling though, around the fourth day, because my backpack soon started to feel less like a burden, and more like an extension of my body. Perhaps it was the fact that we had less weight due to food, or that I had dumped the tent off on another one of my group members – whatever the case, I began to feel stronger and lighter by the third or fourth day. And after a few days of complete exhaustion, this was a phenomenal feeling.

So after “phenomenal”, the first word I would use to describe the trip to the Drakensberg would be “really freaking cold” (yes, I know that’s not one word). And if you ever decide to travel to Southern Africa in the winter and backpack in the Drakensbergs, please, do not assume that it will just be ‘a little chilly’. Some examples:

-       The first night we were camping the temperature got down to -18 C (that’s -0.4 F).

-       The first night I collected water from the river to cook our food. By the time I got back to the campsite (~half a football field away) it had already frozen a little.

-       We would sleep with our water bottles in our tents and would wake up to find the water in them frozen completely

-       We woke up almost every morning with frost on our sleeping bags and inside of our tents.

-       We were traveling with a person who had summitted Everest twice – he said that certain nights were colder than Everest base camp.

-       We hiked through snow five of the seven days of the excursion, sometimes knee deep.

-       The second highest waterfall in Africa is in the Drakensbergs. We went to see it – it was frozen. 

I put this warning out to the Internet community just because a few weeks ago we had a group of visitors from Malboro College at our school that planned on heading out to the Drakensbergs after our group. They packed light jackets and shorts. Aish. I was luckily quite prepared so I didn’t freeze my pants off, although there was a time that I decided to wash my hair in the river (snowmelt water) that ended with a very painful scalp.

But anyways, enough about the cold (I’m pretty sure I’ve beat the whole point to death).

One of my favorite aspects of the hike was how incredibly natural the whole thing was. I know this seems kind of obvious (mountains are nature, duh), but still… drinking straight from any stream we came across (the BEST water I’ve ever had), being able to pack my whole life in one bag, using the john with the best view imaginable, walking along and just listening to the sound of nothing… it’s very Romantic of me, but connecting to nature, even for a short time, helped me to organize my thoughts and become grounded. The thing about Waterford and IB is that there’s SO MUCH going on, all the time – on top of all the homework, there’s always weekend and after school events, plus all the social pressures that come with living with so many people, plus sleep (not always applicable). The bookshelf of the mind becomes cluttered by the IB tornado – getting away from it, to a place where you only need to keep track of is a few items conveniently located on your back, helps to get the mind re-centered.

I know, very ‘zen’ of me, eh?

I was so pleased on the trip to develop such close relationships with the other 18 backpackers – considering that we all spent 24 hours a day with each other, it’s no surprise that we quickly grew close. Everyone was incredibly interesting to talk to, totally receptive to others’ input and completely unafraid of diving into friendships. Looking back, one of the things I’m most grateful for was the group of intelligent, determined, sociable, friendly people that were on the trip. It’s also worth mentioning that we had Sibusiso Vilane, the first black African to summit Everest, on the excursion with us. I was so pleased to find how incredibly un-pompous he was – he was a joy to talk to, and always had something insightful to say about the trip. He was also filled with a wealth of stories (only person I’ll ever meet to start his sentences “When I was on top of Everest…” in such a casual manner) that helped to make everyone a bit more determined in those moments of exhaustion.

So even though I talk as though I was constantly cheerful throughout the whole trip, ogling at amazing views and walking around with a big watermelon smile on my face, I had my set of frustrations as well. There were times that I became frustrated with the other members of my group (Baba and Mdu, as there were three to a tent) or began to question what the hell point there was in walking around all day with a oversized bag on my back. But every time I got to that next amazing view (frozen waterfall, field covered in snow, endangered vulture colony in flight, incredible drops and passes) I knew that the trials were easily worth the magnificent experience of nature.

Here are some of my best pictures from the trip. As I’m sure you know, there’s no way in a million years that these photos could ever do the real thing justice. Nevertheless:

Extending my deepest thanks to Jenny and the Mountain Club of South Africa, as well as Dane, for providing this outstanding experience – I know I’ll remember it for years and years to come as a beautiful excursion and a great personal achievement. Thanks also to the others on the trail, who encouraged me when the times were tough and provided great friendship and endless laughs. (NO) thanks to my teachers, who have bombarded me with homework upon my return to school. Guess I should have had more foresight when I decided to skip a week of school, eh?

And with that, I bid my Internet homies adieu. Soon enough you all will be hearing of these experiences as I sit next to you on a sofa… hope you all are as excited as me (flying out in 17 days :)

Cheers

Eli

24Hr. Run, 'Quiet', Term Two Drag, All that Jazz

Hey everyone –

So I’ve been a bit remiss in updating the blog, but I’ve returned now with a heaping, steaming pile of new stuff that will (hopefully) please whatever followers I have left.

One of the reasons I haven’t been updating too frequently is because the last few weeks have been mostly WORK. I put all of the interesting stuff on the blog, vacations and the sort, mostly because I know people don’t want to read about all of the prep (homework) that I have. The interesting, fun stuff is just interjected in between assignments to make it all bearable.

Now I don’t mean to sound like a pessimist, because even within the work, stuff is quite interesting. I recently started sitting in on Peace and Conflict Studies classes – it was a course I was interested in taking during orientation week, but bureaucratic conflicts prevented me from signing up for the class. So, a few weeks into this term, I started going to PaCS anyways, and told the teacher I was really intrigued by the material, and would like to sit in on classes without signing up officially. I’ve been in the class for maybe a month now, and am enjoying it a lot – we’ve had discussions about just war, addressed psychological aspects of aggression and violence, and frequently talk about current events. My involvement in the class is also nice because, if I feel too overloaded with other classes, I can just stop going to lessons. I’m going to try to keep it up for as long as possible, though.

A couple weeks ago, a student showed up at our school that I had a fantastic time talking with – his name was Prestige (or that’s what people called him), and he was the Swazi NC studying at UWCUSA. It might clarify some of this jargon (what the hell is an NC?) to know that I’m the American NC studying at Waterford.

Maybe that doesn’t help. Basically, in the same way that I was sent to Swaziland by the US, Prestige was sent to the US by Swaziland. He’s currently at UWCUSA, the United World College in New Mexico, studying the same diploma programme as me. Since the US is on holiday now, he came back home to SD and visited Waterford to meet other IBs.

We talked for the few hours he had at the school about all sorts of stuff – UWC ideals and expectations, our personal experiences with IB, and even some of the same places we have been in New Mexico (specifically, Ghost Ranch). It amazed me at how small the world is becoming – here I meet a Swazi guy, coming from a completely different cultural background to me, and we’re chatting about our favorite hikes at Ghost Ranch. It was kind of comical at one point, because he was asking Anne Caroline and Sofia (my American co-years) who they knew from interviews that made it into UWCUSA, and when he turned to me to ask, I told him my situation was a little messed up, and my interview group has already graduated because I had to delay my admission at Waterford for a year. His eyes widen a little and he says, “Oh man, you’re the cliff guy!”

I was pretty taken aback at first (alarm bells were going off in my head), as I contemplated how a Swazi I had never met, spoken to, or even heard of knew about my accident and delayed admission. I found out later that his link family (like a host family for exchange students) are people we were in contact with when I had fallen.

Like a said, small world.

A couple weeks ago was the 24-Hour Run, an event loosely based on the 12-Hour Relay for Haiti hosted at CDO High School (… maybe I have that reversed?). Everyone was really stoked for all of Friday, and at five o’clock on Friday afternoon the event began.

Man, it was a treacherous twenty-four hours.

For starters, six of the twenty-four hours were occupied, for me, by rehearsals for my play (covered later in this post). On top of this, the team I was on scheduled me for a running shift between midnight and 2 a.m. One of the ideas of the event is that there should be a person from every team on the track for the entirety of the run. So I got the golden midnight shift… typically I would have had some fun with this shift, as everyone is quite delirious and a little loony by this time. The only problem was, it was SO COLD. I’m not sure how I can emphasize it enough on the blog, so let me just say again:

SO

SO

SO

COLD.

While everyone in Tucson was baking in 105, I had turned into a giant ice cube with legs, waddling around a track in temperatures well below freezing. Once again, the culprit of the weather was the wind, which made regular cold turn into my-hands-would-shatter-if-I-hit-them-hard-enough cold.

However, I had no say in the matter, and had to run from 12-2, regardless. Luckily enough, I didn’t have the 2-4 shift, because at around 3am the power went out (classic Swaziland) and the wind picked up. The only people that stayed on the track fell ill the next day (big surprise).

Despite my time being dominated largely by rehearsals, I still managed to do a fair number of laps (50 laps = 20 km = 12.5 miles), and while it was total hell during the event, I look back on it with (mostly) positive feelings. Shoutout to Mom, Dad, Gramma, Grandpa, Katherine, and her father for their sponsorships (especially the latter two, as I know Katherine was prepping to head off to school. Cheers, and good luck!). Reports in the future for how much the event raised in total!

The reason I had so many hours of rehearsal during the event was because we performed the day after the 24-Hour Run finished. The piece was entitled “Quiet”, a devised piece by director Philine Gessner and cast (consisting of me, Anne Caroline [US], Sebastian Kern [Germany], Ane Grinstad [Norway], and Ibraheem Baqai [Pakistan]). The performances went really well, and on the whole I was VERY happy with the production and the results of our efforts.

The piece was essentially a critique of modern society, and the dichotomy between how people act and how people really feel. There was no dialogue, but it included synchronized, contemporary, and ballroom dancing. There were no characters in the conventional sense; rather, we all were ‘the common person’, although we could construct what that meant for ourselves in our own minds.

Working with the play was definitely an interesting experience. At times I became very discouraged and frustrated, worried that the ideas that we were devising wouldn’t be understood by our audience. Imagine watching an entirely silent play that’s an artistic criticism of society, and searching for the deeper meanings within the acting.

Lemme give an example..

We had a scene where we all walked in silently and began a long a tedious process of getting dressed in our Sunday best – as fancy as possible. We took our sweet time getting dressed, making sure every thread and hair was in its proper place. We then all got together and began to decorate a table in a similarly lavish fashion, with many candles, streamers, perfectly placed cutlery, etc etc. We then carried out, in a very regal fashion, a tiny cake, which we then took ages to decorate. Then, all at once, we grabbed a piece of cake with our hands and chowed down like pigs.

The scene was critiquing the fact that we spend so much time getting everything so fancy and ridiculously nice, but in the end we eat like pigs and finish before we even know what had happened. And as one of the people that devised it, I thought the message behind the scene was very cool and insightful. I was worried, though, that the audience wouldn’t appreciate the message of the scene if they had to watch for half and hour as we silently and compulsively decorated a table to look perfect.

As it turns out, my assumption turned out to be totally false. People came up to us after the play and seemed to get the hidden meanings in all of the scenes, saying they really like the intensity of the more drawn out scenes. All of us were a little shocked that people understood our artsy-fartsy production so well, but it was a pleased kind of shocked. We got a lot of positive reviews from students and teachers, and on the whole it was definitely a success.

And as I always like to end these posts with a positive or funny note, the other day my friend from Germany got a care package from home that contained Pop Tarts. I saw and said something to the effect of, “Score, Pop Tarts!” (or something equally uncool). He looked at them for a moment with a puzzled expression, and then turned to me and said, “What are they?”

WHAT.

So I had the pleasure of teaching my German co-year about the wonderfulness of S’Mores Pop Tarts. What a great night in hostel.

I think that’s about all I have to report on for now. I leave in just a few days to go backpacking in the Drackensburg Mountains as part of a South African Global Youth Summit. I couldn’t be more excited, and although I’m going to have a horrendous amount to catch up on when I get back… it will be totally worth it. I’ll bring a small journal with me so I can write thoughts night to night, which will then be transcribed onto my blog for you, creeps of the internet.

As always, love you all. I haven’t started an official countdown yet, but in a month from now (give or take a few days), I’ll be touching down in Tucson. Excited as all get-out :)

Cheers,

Eli

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

Tofo and Swaziland

 Hey guys –

I’m currently hanging out in the common room at Waterford Kamhlaba, after three weeks of intense travel and amazing fun. I arrived at school a tad early, but the administration has been super kind to us because we had some visa problems.

But before I talk about being back at school, lemme tell you a bit about Mozambique. We took two busses from Cape Town to Maputo, for a total travel time of 32.5 hours (we covered over a thousand miles… look at it on a map, it’s crazy). It was surprising to discover how incredibly exhausting it is to sit on a bus and do nothing for so long… needless to say, we were totaled when we got to Maputo, and went directly to the backpackers for some shuteye. We spent a few days in Maputo and met up with Betti and Martha (friends from school) – Betti, or IB3 from Ethiopia, ended up coming to Tofo with us.

So Tofo. The backpackers in Maputo offered transportation to their partner branch in Tofo, so at four in the morning we woke up and snagged the bus… another twelve hours on a bus. Ugh.

But man, it was so worth it. You all know the stereotypical image of paradise? Warm beaches, palm trees, hammocks where you can sleep or read as a calm breeze drifts off the ocean… all that good stuff? Yeah, that’s Tofo. In fact, Praia do Tofo actually doesn’t have much to it other than eating and chilling by the beach. SO our chief concern while in Tofo was just that – chilling out max and relaxing all cool. I spent most of my time reading, swimming in the ocean, listening to music, and of course, sleeping. I know it’s super lazy, but we figured we’d regret it during Term 2 if we didn’t relax during break as much as possible.

During one of our nights in the backpackers in Tofo, a guy came up to us and asked us if he could sit and eat with us – he didn’t know anybody around, so he just approached us. Turned out this guy (Balthazar, from Holland) had been doing a tour of Southern Africa for the last several months… on his bicycle. He’d been through Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, and he was now sitting with us in Mozambique, telling us about his travels. He said that touring Southern Africa by bike was really cool because when you’re on a bike, you have to stop for water, food, and pit stops at nearly every town… so you see a lot of really cool stuff, see a lot of the people and customs that you don’t get in a big city like Cape Town or Maputo.

In any case, we chatted with him for hours about everything under the sun – politics, music, travel, food... by the end of the night, we had made a friend that we would hang out with for the rest of our stay in Tofo. He wasn’t staying in our backpackers (as a bike traveler, he’d invented an ingenious hammock-tent that would allow him to string himself up in a tree and sleep almost anywhere, including the side of the road, for free), but we had meals with him nearly every day, and he was a really cool guy to chat with. Just goes to show, you meet really interesting people when you stay in backpackers. I think everyone in our travel group would agree that it was a pleasure to meet Balthazar, and we wish him the best on his travels.

So yeah, there’ not too much else to say about Tofo, other than the fact that it was gorgeous and totally chill. Other than a day where we all rented surfboards (WOW I was bad), out time was spent playing card games, reading by the beach, talking, watching movies…. Typical chill stuff.

Unfortunately, we were forced to leave Mozambique a week early because of visa issues. Jenny applied for a thirty day visa, but the document stamped in her passport only allowed for ten days. We talked to a ton of people about extending the visa – people at school, people on both sides of the border, even a representative at Jenny’s embassy in Maputo. Nobody was able to help us out… bureaucrats. So basically, we had to choose where to go that wasn’t Mozambique – considering this, it made the most sense for us to go back to school and ask if they would let us back into our dorms. It was a close call, but Mr. King was ever so gracious, and let us back to school. So, after another ten billion hours on a bus, we got back to school in Swaziland.

And it’s actually been really nice being back. There are a few other students in hostel (some students have exams this week), but for the most part, it’s been quiet. Zayd and Tahmeed (Bangladeshi travel companions from earlier in the trip) encountered similar problems to ours, so they’ve been back at hostel as well – it’s cool, cause it means that I have some climbing buddies that I can hang out with at school.

This also means that I had my birthday back in Swaziland, at school. Let me tell you guys… I have the best friends. At around 9 in the morning on my birthday, Jenny and Sebastian paraded into my room with a poster, gifts, cake, banana pancakes, and chocolates. I was serenaded both in English and in Norwegian :)

Anyways, the whole day was awesome. We relaxed for a while in the afternoon, but eventually we all hopped into a car and went to the movie theater (can’t remember the last time I did that) to see Gnomeo and Juliet (they didn’t offer a lot at the theater, but it was actually kind of cute). Then we went out for dinner in town to celebrate not only my birthday, but the IB2s finishing half of their exams. Yay! It really was a fantastic way to transition into “adulthood” (inverted commas cause I still feel like a kid :)

And, that being said, I think that some thank yous are in order for this past month –

• To Sebastian and Jenny, for being the best travel companions I could ask for. Seriously fantastic friends.
• To Mr. King, for so kindly letting us come back to hostel early.
• To Roger and Marlene, who sent a letter and a package full of goodies.
• To Nora Campbell, one of my best friends from home, for the letter. You have no idea how big I smiled when I saw it.
• To Grandma and Papa for the birthday card and gift
• To all of the IBs who have been in hostel with me in the past week, and have helped to make the last week of term break a success
• To all the folks who wrote on my wall for my birthday, you have no idea how much I’m itching to see you guys… it will be here before we know it.

School starts in two days… now, it’s my turn to be jealous of everyone at home, as summer vacation is just around the corner. Two very important groups of people are graduating in the next couple weeks – first and foremost, all the folks at CDO. I’m so proud of everyone, and wish to death I could be there with you all. Have an awesome graduation and grad night (win some cool prizes, kay?)

The other group I mention would be the IB2s at all the other UWCs. While this may seem obscure, it’s strange to think that I COULD be one of those people - the people who were in my interview group for UWC are now a few days from graduation and an International Baccalaureate degree… it’s a weird thing to think, but I can’t help but thinking this, right now, is what’s right (how incredibly corny is that). The events of the last year and a half have been a struggle at times, but I wouldn’t trade them for anything (also corny).

I feel so mushy after writing all that. What I’m trying to say is… congrats, guys :)

Love you all to death, see you soon.

Eli

Cape Town!

So whoever happens to be reading this, wherever you may be, I STRONGLY encourage you to go to Cape Town. Seriously, guys. It’s awesome.

Let me tell you about some of the highlights of my week…

I’d have to say my favorite place to be in Cape Town, despite all the amazing and unique tourist spots, would have to be the beach. As was the case with Maputo, I pretty much freaked out when we got to the beach in Cape Town – and this was even better, because the water was clean enough to swim. We went to Camps Bay, a really gorgeous beach with views of all the mountains in Cape Town, palm trees, ice cream vendors, and oceanside restaurants (clearly, the essential ingredients for a nice beach…?) Really, it could have had none of these things, and I still would have been happy. Just being at the beach turns me into a little kid – there we striking resemblances to the toddlers stomping through the water at the shoreline, and me… stomping through the water at the shoreline.

When we first got to the beach we saw some guys surfing on the shoreline. Being the pushy guy that I am, I went up to them and asked them if I could try (despite the fact that I didn’t have a suit and was wearing jeans). I figured it couldn’t have been much different from skateboarding, which I was semi-decent at long ago. They let me have a go, and Sebastian got some good video of me… falling off the surfboard and faceplanting.

Hard.

Five times in a row.

So much for being like a skateboard.

In any case, it was funny and made for some good memories (and a few hip bruises).

Watching the sunset at the beach was also really awesome – I encourage all those who haven’t to watch the sunset at the beach at least once. Put it on your bucket list.

Among our other touristy activities, we also visited Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope (the southernmost tip of Africa). We made the bookings with a tour company called the Green Cab, an eco-friendly tour company that provided transport to the Capes with a knowledgeable and friendly driver who told us about Cape Town, Simon’s Town, Cape Point, and the Cape of Good Hope. We spent about an hour at Cape Point, pretty much just enjoying the view and the awesome weather that the day offered. It was beyond gorgeous at Cape Point, watching the waves crash against the cliffs and feeling a slight breeze. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but here are some shots of Cape Point:

The Cape of Good Hope was also really nice –

So yeah. I spent most of my time at Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope imagining a world map, and thinking about where I was. Crazy.

A few days later we took the ferry out of Robben Island – while once an island for societal exiles, the island has spent the last few centuries as a prison for the highest grade of criminals that society has to offer. This includes political prisoners, and Robben Island is most famous for being Nelson Mandela’s place of imprisonment for nearly two decades. We had a fantastic tour of Robben Island – half was spent in a bus touring around the main facilities of the once-operational prison, and half was spent inside one of the compounds, where we learned more about the life of the prisoners. Both of our tour guides were phenomenal – for the former, we had a very insightful guide who added many of his own personal comments and offered his own perceptions about the nature of apartheid. He spoke about apartheid being so effective because it didn’t set up physical boundaries, but rather, worked by manipulating people’s perceptions of one another. It’s like we always say in Arizona – if we build a bigger wall at the border, those coming over will just get bigger ladders. Physical boundaries will always be conquered by the innovation of those who want to get across. But apartheid utilized people’s weaknesses in character, their hastiness in forming prejudices about other people – this is why it was such an effective (and diabolical) system. Along with this, he added the warning that, while the political system of apartheid may be over, we still possess the same weaknesses in character – it’s what makes us human. We therefore need to check ourselves and make sure that we don’t repeat the same mistakes that led us down that horrible path.

In any case, I thought he was a brilliant guide and a generally insightful person.

Our second guide was a prisoner at Robben Island for seven years, and thus was able to provide some more intimate details about prison life, food, sleeping, work, and prison social classes. As he was also a political prisoner, he told us that political prisoners were considered the most dangerous class of criminals to come into Robben Island – more dangerous than murderers, child rapists, or anyone else. This is because political prisoners are considered the most influential of all the prisoners in Robben Island, and have not physical power, but power over the mind. He took us to see Mandela’s old cell – there was a huge crowd around trying to get pictures, so my snapshot isn’t that good, but take a look –

 

I’m not usually big on guided tours and stuff like that, but the Robben Island tour was excellent.

For you folks that are familiar with Cape Town, you’ll know that our last big tourist stop was Table Mountain. We saved it for Sunday morning because we heard that Long Street Backpackers (the backpackers we’re staying at) offered a free guided hike up the mountain. We woke up on Sunday, psyched to have a guided tour up the impressive mountain, and walked outside to see…

Overcast skies. The tour offered by the backpackers had been cancelled, and a hotline providing Table Mountain weather described visibility as “poor”, temperatures as “very cold”, and wind as “strong”. Yikes. We really didn’t want to miss out on the hike, so we decided to hop in a cab up to the mountain so we could see for ourselves how bad it really was. We got to the cablecar station, near to the trailhead, and we greeted by excessive fog, heavy wind, and on-and-off rain. Tempted to turn around and go curl up at our backpackers with a cup of hot chocolate, we pushed onward, and told ourselves that if the weather was still horrible by the time we reached the trailhead, we would turn around. And by some amazing stroke of luck, the weather improved. I’m not saying birds started chirping and the clouds all disappeared to reveal a hidden rainbow… but it got somewhat better. It was still cold but the rain stopped, clouds parted in some areas, and the fog receded to the very top of the mountain. Woo! So we got to do our hike in what I considered to be pretty great hiking weather, got some pictures, and got to check Table Mountain off the list of Cape Town activities. Unfortunately, fog towards the top forced us to turn around… but that leaves the completion of the hike for next year. The lack of sun made the pictures kind of meh, but here are some –
 

It was so great to hike again – the trail reminded me a lot of hiking in Tucson, although the weather was a stark contrast to what we’re used to at home.

Among all this, we’ve spent a lot of time in Cape Town just.. chilling. Watching movies, eating good food, catching up on sleep lost in term (one night I went to bed at seven… I’m such a party animal). It’s been really amazing, because that’s what I really wanted to get out of this break. Of course, I wanted to see parts of South Africa that I hadn’t seen before, but I also had the goal of chilling out max and relaxing all cool. And in this regard, my travel companions and I succeeded. It’s been a major highlight of the trip for me so far.

A final anecdote in my Cape Town adventures – one of the first nights we were here, we were out chilling on the balcony of our backpackers, and down about fifty yards from where we were, we saw orange cones, people with cameras and headsets, and people directing traffic and pedestrians. It looked like a movie was being shot (as the same group of extras kept walking by the same place), so we asked one of the camera guys what was going on. He shouts up to us, “It’s a movie being made. It’s starring Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington”. He says this and points to the place where they’re shooting the scene, where we see Ryan Reynolds chatting with a group of cameramen. So a few of us come down from the balcony and go across the street to watch the scene. Sure enough, they were shooting a scene (over and over) where Reynolds talks on the phone and walks along the street for a few yards. We saw nothing of Denzel (dang), but we were pretty certain that the guy was Ryan Reynolds. So if a movie comes out in the next two years with Ryan Reynolds and Denzel Washington where they’re in Cape Town… yeah, I was there. I wanted to slip in with the extras but didn’t muster the stones (the lady directing them was scary) – maybe next time.

Tomorrow we set out for Mozambique – first to Maputo, and then to Tofo. I’ll be in touch when I can be – while I have no idea about internet access, I’m sure it’s not too hard to find.

Miss everyone lots, hope CDO kids had a wonderfully bawdy time at prom and are now having fun studying for AP exams – folks can laugh at me when I’m back in school and you all are on summer break. Stoked for graduation (almost) as much as you!

Stay well, wherever you may be. Live every moment to the fullest (and all that junk :)

Lots of love

Eli