Christmas and the Wild Coast

For Christmas this year I went to Brooke and Tom’s house in Ladysmith where there was a sizeable gathering of other PC volunteers. The highlights included homemade pasta for Christmas dinner, more cookies than were reasonable and Secret Santa gift exchange (most presents could be valued at around R30 or about $4.60).

Then for New Year’s some of us headed down to Coffee Bay on the Wild Coast. This area is in Eastern Cape Province which is just south of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The Eastern Cape is underdeveloped relative to the rest of the country as it was passed over by the apartheid architects for lack of any valuable natural resources to mine. But the upside is that alot of its natural beauty has remained unspoiled.

Unfortunately the day these photos were taken was one of only two sunny, warm days of the entire trip to CB. Not ideal weather for the beach vacation I was hoping for. We spent the only perfect beach day sweating our asses off on a hike along the coast. The views were breath-taking, but the overall experience was a little brutal due to the intense heat and the fact that we did not have nearly enough WATER.

The Eastern Cape is home to Xhosa people who have a culture which is distinct from the Zulu. Historically the two groups don’t get along well and there is still alot of anamosity between the them – especially when it comes to government matters. They like to accuse each other of conspiracies to come into and maintain power. Mandela and Mbeki are both Xhosas, whatever that means, and to a Zulu it can mean alot. Most regular Zulus and Xhosas stay out of politics though, see traditional Xhosa farm below:

In Coffee Bay we stayed at a backpackers called Bomvu Paradise although it was really anything but. We had to cross a river and climb a huge hill to get to the beach and the dorms were right next to the bar so it was ridiculously loud at night. Alot of drumming also went on there which was cool for about the first five minutes but became very old after five days. If I were ever to go back I would stay near Hole in the Wall, which is a little more touristy but has the superior beaches.

Thabo Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving from South Africa! I celebrated last weekend with some friends up at St. Lucia – a wildlife refuge and vacation spot on the Kwa-Zulu Natal North Coast.

Finding the turkey for dinner was an interesting undertaking – since I would estimate that the average South African eats turkey once for every like 10,000 times they eat chicken. I started by going to a a couple shops near my house in Durban only to find a selection of rather puny and pathetic birds. This did not bode well for the T-day feast, but I pressed on and evenutally found a nice 13-pounder at the local supermarket butcher shop.

We hauled “Thabo Turkey” (Thabo being the best translation for Tom I could think of which is in no way intended to reference to the president of South Africa 😉 ) up to St. Lucia where he was the centerpiece of a spread that included; stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin curry, pie and soup, chocolate chip cookies, salad, green bean cassarole, corn, cranberry jelly and rolls. Yum!

The best part was that I cooked the turkey all by myself! Well, I got a few pointers from Alycia so I didnt seriously screw it up, but basically accomplished it on my own. Mom, if you’re reading this you’re probably having some incredulous thoughts – but it’s true – I cooked the bird. Someone there said that they thought cooking the Thanksgiving turkey for the first time is like some American rite of passage. Hmmm…does it still count if you do it in another country??

Luke’s Favourite Guy

Last night was Guy Fawkes Night in SA, which was celebrated in Durban by a few isolated bangs of fireworks. I think the contingent of English speaking South Africans in Durban felt it necessary to set of a few of these lameass booms to at least make their presence known after the much more impressive Diwali celebrations a few weeks back. But in reality no one here really gives much of a crap about Guy Fawkes Day (or Night for that matter).

As I noted in a previous post (which I later deleted) English speaking South Africans LOVE everything British; from Robbie Williams to Cottage Pie, and try to revel in whatever remaining vestiges of Britishness they can find. Why you ask? Beats the hell out of me.

Guy Fawkes Day is not without true fans, however. One of its biggest, although unbeknowngst to me until today, is my younger brother Luke. As he was born and raised in the USA, poor Luke has been deprived of every opportunity to truly participate in this most British of holidays. But these unfortunate circumstances have in no way decreased Luke’s enthusiasm for the Old Guy, see the excerpts from Luke’s Myspace blog below:

“Haaaapy Guy Fawkes Day!! Don’t forget to burn your effagies!

Happy Guy Fawkes Day everyone!! At long last, my favorite holiday of the year has arrived. For those of you not familiar with the holiday and it’s traditional burnings, allow me to explain: Guy Fawkes was a militant English Catholic who spear-headed an ill-fated plot to literally blow up Parliament with several tons of dynamite while the Protestant King, James IV, was on site to give a speech. Exactly 401 years ago today(Nov. 5th, 1605) the “Popish Plot” was foiled and Fawkes was captured and eventually executed along with several other conspirators. Now for the fun part; so every year to date all across Great Britain they ceremonially burn Fawkes in effigy to celebrate the failed attempt to blow up Parliament and the King. Everywhere, that is, except in Cornwall, there they burn the Pope!!! Suck on that Benedict XVI!!!”

Isn’t the resemblance to Ali G uncanny?? And rather frightening.

Apparently the whole 1605 affair, known as The Gunpowder Plot, was not the first attempt on the life of King James I (he was King James IV of Scotland); there were earlier attempts such as the Main Plot and the Bye Plot of 1603 . The Gunpowder Plot was particularly dastardly because if it had succeeded not only the King and the Houses of Parliament would have been blown-up, but the royal family and the entire Protestant aristocracy as well. The effigies of the Pope are burnt in Lewes, Essex where the event coincides with the anniversary of the martyrdom of 17 Protestants during the Marian Persecutions of 1555-57.

In modern day Britain GFD is also known as Bonfire Day and Fireworks Night, when as already noted by my somewhat verbose sibling, effigies of the Guy are burned at bonfires and fireworks are set off.

Before the effigies are burned young children are said to go around with them and use them to extort money from people by saying, “a penny for the Guy.” Probably in a fashion similar to our American custom of “Trick or Treat.” And like many a holiday I can imagine that Guy Fawkes Day would be just another excuse to get drunk for lots of people – hopefully not the young children, though you never know…

But all that would be happening in the UK, not here in SA where at least in Durban, GFD is really only celebrated in a half-assed kind of way. Shame.

Something tells me Luke wouldn’t approve.

A Very Auspicious Diwali

“Dīpãvali (also transliterated Deepavali; Sanskrit: row of lights) or Diwãli (contracted spelling) is the Hindu Festival of Lights and marks the victory of good over the evil. Held on the final day of the Vikram calendar, one type of a Hindu calendar that is followed by North Indians. The following day, marking the beginning of a new year, for North Indians, entitled Annakut.”

Or that’s what Wikipedia says anyhow. Diwali is a big holiday for the Hindu Indian community in Durban and the celebrations include lots and lots of fireworks. Heather lives with an Indian lady in a predominantly Indian neighborhood just north of Durban.

Last Saturday night when another friend and I ventured into Heather’s neighborhood to pick her up for a night out, the Festival of Lights was in full swing. The people across the street from Heather’s house were launching fireworks – like the rocket kind we usually shoot off over rivers back home in Pennsylvania – into the sky in the middle of the tightly arranged residential neighborhood.

Their neighborhood is high up on a hill, and at night you can see alot of Durban and the surrounding areas. Every few seconds there would be a huge colorful brust of light shot up into the sky from some part of Durban below. It was like the 4th of July, totally uncontrolled and chaotic – but what a view!

Mandisi and Thulani’s Wedding

The Traditional Ceremony
Mandisi and Thulani were married on the weekend of September 30th near Ndumo in the very northern part of KwaZulu Natal. Saturday was a traditional Zulu wedding ceremony, which as tradition dictates took place at the groom’s family home. I arrived there with my co-workers Mandla and Jan. Mandla drove the company 4wd the 5 hours up from Durban. Jan is 80 years old and works at AFSA part-time as a receptionist. He’s had a pretty remarkable life – born in Holland, prisoner of war in Japan during WWII, worked for a mining company in Botwana – just to list a few highlights.

Anywho the three of us show up a few hours before the tradiational wedding start time of 2pm. Nothing in SA starts on time – and the addition of the word “traditional” pretty much confirms without a doubt that said event will be LATE. So none of us were too surprised when we found ourselves hanging around for about 3 hours before things really got going. Jan brings a little camping chair along with him for times when he’s obliged to sit around and wait. He estimates that of his 60 years in Africa he’s spent about 5 of them just waiting.

We weren’t the only ones waiting though, there was a whole group of wedding tailgaters parked in the road leading up to Thulani’s parents’. Like us most of the tailgaters were on the “bride’s side”, as she and her family, bridesmaids, etc. were all parked out there preparing themselves for the ceremony. Things would officially begin as the bride and her entourage made their way up the road to the groom’s house. Also at some point during this period a cow was slaughtered in honor of the wedding. This is the job of the men – the bride’s father and brothers playing a very important role. The cow parts are then put into several large pots, cooked and eaten as part of the wedding feast.

The Beerfestival for the Blind

The Beerfestival for the Blind was a fundraising event sponsored by the KZN Soceity for the Blind, where my friend Charles serves as Fundraising Manager and sometimes slightly loaded beerfest MC.

It was held at the Crusaders Rugby Club in the North of Durban this past Saturday evening. Several different varieties of beer were available to the attendees as were curry, borewors and other typical SA event food. The price of admission included a chance to hear live music performed by the Blarney Brothers band. Don’t be fooled by the name they don’t actually play much Irish music. But I’m SURE they are available for weddings. Heather (who can always be counted on to appreciate cheesy tunes) and I thoroughly enjoyed them – at least when they sang songs we knew anyway.

There was a good turn out and a fiesty crowd, which included the presence of some rowdy rugby club regulars and spirited table-top dancing. Indeed a good time was had by all.

I Won Money at the Track!

Gee, that’s something I’ve always wanted to say! The happy event occured this past weekend at The Durban July extravaganza which is basically a big horserace that happens annually. But it seemed like most of the people there came for the party that happens afterwards (and pretty much the whole time while the horses are actually racing).

Its quite the SA event, and people come from all over the country for it. Part of the appeal is the chance to dress-up in one’s swankiest or most outrageous outfit, and there are several fashion shows throughtout the day as well. Large and/or obnoxious hats are also looked upon favorably at The Durban July.
Although my outfit was by no means spectacular I feel I made up for this by putting money on a horse, named Eyeofthetiger, who won the main race of the day. I bet on old EotT due to the Rocky reference and because he had decent odds. The decent odds and the pittling amount of my bet (R20 – minimum was R10) meant that my payout only ended up being R54, but boy was it exciting to see that horse cross the finishline in first place!

After the race Heather, Eric the Canadian and I celebrated in the VIP party tent which we somehow managed to unwittingly wander into. Eric and Heather got in a big fight, made up and almost immediately afterwards were photographed together by a newspaper photographer because they had inadvertantly worn matching outfits.

But no arguing friends or having my American accent mocked by a drunk and cheeky Englishman could dampen my spirits at the fabulous Durban July.

Mandisi’s Lebola

Mandisi is my colleague who has recently become engaged to be married. Lebola is both a traditonal ceremony and also a kind of dowry that the future groom’s family gives or “pays” to the family of the bride. This particular couple is educated and modern, however, its still common for young black South Africans to observe traditions such as Lebola. I dont think this is done simply to please their parents and families but because they find these rituals important as well. Although Mandisi and her fiance are Zulus the practice is observed in most black cultures in SA.

I was invited to the ceremony which took place at the end of March at Mandisi’s family home at Hlabisa, which is a village in northern Kwa-Zulu Natal. You have to drive through a wild game park to get there.

We arrived in the early afternoon and sat around in the yard for a few hours eating snacks while we waited for Thulani (the groom) and his family to show-up. It was tense for a while since he was late – and if the groom doesnt come to pay Lebola its almost like standing someone up at the altar. Inside the house all the female members of Mandisi’s family are busy cooking a traditional African meal. All the men are sitting outside in the yard doing nothing.

Finally a caravan of cars and pick-up trucks stopped in front of the house. The vehicles carried all the Lebola gifts as well as the 20-some family members accompanying Thulani.