Happenings of Week 3-ALREADY!!

As I sit here in the office and ponder it comes to my attention that this already my 3rd Wednesday here. I guess it is true that time flies when you are having fun. As I sit here and get caught up what is going on around the world I see that it is raining yet again. I feel as if NY is the setting for the biblical passage of Noah and the flood. Pretty soon some of you may think about turning in your cars for boats. This week has and will continue to see to much action for a major function that we are preparing for next week. We have leased our sports centre to man from India who is hosting a huge “Indian Trade Show” it is comprised of some 200 individual vendor selling various artifacts that are supposedly genuine from India. I take it that it is probable similar to your flea market back home. Ill let you know how it goes, take some photos, and maybe even a buy a thing or 2. In addition to preparing for this upcoming event, I also have a few personal things on my plate this week.
As I speak, I have yet another youth program in the works. I am designing this one for an organization known as SOS. This is a group who provide shelter for homeless children under 12. The local people call these places “children’s villages” and that is in essence what they are. We will be taking the kids for an entire week and doing various activities with them. Each of the youth workers has been assigned one day so this includes me with Wednesday being my day. It is not for another 2 weeks so I have time to polish it up. However, I will continue to keep you updated on how my planning is going along with how the day goes. Most recently, I have been asked two interesting questions which I swear I have answered but just in case I will reiterate it.
“So Chris” “What are the people like and how is the food?” I can almost positive I have addressed the people issue but if not, here we go. The people are South African. They are some of the nicest people I have ever encountered. It doesn’t matter what race or creed the simply are curious what I am doing “way down here.” Once in a while I feel as if they speak too much, e.g. I run to get something really quick and don’t end up coming back for an hour because somebody has caught up to me and wants to chat. But other than that, it is ok. Recently however I have been getting a little frustrated with this own going question that I have to answer, “Have you ever seen celebrities?” I am beginning to become a little agitated by the question but I suppose it is expected when a person encounters someone from New York. I would have though that you would get that more if you from LA but I guess not. Having vented my frustration I will move on to something more interesting-The food.
The food is quite different. Rice and phutu (pronounced poo-too; crumbly, sand like texture which is derived from unsweetened corn) are the staples of South African grub. It is served with every supper. With the rice or phutu is usually a meat, some type of sauce, and some kind of veggie. The meat consists of chicken casserole, curried beef, or beef stew. One thing I don’t like about the meat is that most of the time the beef is chopped very small and has bones in it that resemble the meat and a few times I have mistaken it and gotten a nice surprise when I bite down. The veggies are your run of the mill until last night when we had some kind of squash/potato, which resembled a sweet potato and was actually quite good. I can imagine my mother reading this right now and saying, “If I made this he would never eat it” and to that statement I have one response-at home I have a choice. Fortunately, with breakfast I have some pull as to what I can eat or make. So most recently I lobbied to have some grilled cheese made instead of the usual mince, which I am not really fond of. Like all places in the world, there are alternatives and Pietermaritzburg is no exception. If you are keen to walking a few hundred meters you will find a slew of you guilty pleasures like McDonalds, KFC, and Steers (similar to Burger King). Thankfully I have been disciplined and have only indulged myself once, and that was after I went for a run a saw those golden arches and couldn’t resist. If you could believe it the menu was quite different from back home. It had far fewer alternatives, which is probable a good thing. Lastly I want to mention a quick word about the climate.
Lately it has been very hot and dry. As you may or may not know, Maritzburg is vastly surrounded by mountains. I wish I could show you this but pictures do not do justice to what your eyes can take in. just now I was on a short walk and just looking at how cool these mountains look. One of them looks very baron and dry and than other is covered in pines. The most amazing thing is the amount of small forest fires up there. Literally the entire town is covered in a thin layer of smoke and the small of camp fires is all round. Its quite a unique sensation and nobody seems to be phased by it say for me. Once again before you need a full time job reading this entry I will wrap up. Cheers –Chris

P.S. What you are reading is a second draft because the first one at 11 am this morning decided it was going to vanish off my screen just as I finished it-I was Thrilled!!