April 7, 2011

It seems like almost forever since we have been in Durban, even though we were away for only about a week and a half. In that time we went to my cousin’s wedding in Johannesburg where I was the maid of honor, we camped in St Lucia/isiMangaliso Park with the hippos eating next to our tent at night, and ended up in eShowe for the second part of the wedding for the other half of the family.

During both events it was nice to see all the families gathering together and helping out where ever they could. This was the case especially in eShowe where friends and family were responsible for the catering, decorations, serving, DJing, and clean-up.

When we returned to Durban it seemed like a long time since we had been to the university and even lost our way a bit. It was exam time staring Monday and walking to the library there was a buzz of studious students and the library was jam packed. We tried to do some internet business but ended up attending a Maskandi music performance by students at Howard College Theatre. It was the first time we actually got to attend the lunch hour performance, since the last time we attempted there was a student strike.

After the show we met with our group of young ladies and brought in a lady who did photo research in their neighborhood. The woman is a lecturer and graduate student in Graphic Arts and had just finished presenting her research in the form of a book. She brought the book to look at as inspiration for the ladies and by the end those that did attend seemed to be bubbling with excitement to take pictures.

Today, April 7, Joe and I got up extra early, 6am to attend Umhlatuzana Rotary club which holds their meetings at 7 am at the Durban Surf and Lifesaving Club. As we drove we got to see the sun rise and were the first to arrive. It was nice attending a new club and meeting all the different people. There was a youth exchange person from Brazil, a Cornel in the South African Reserve force, the managing editor for the Sunday Tribune (the largest English language newspaper) and many others. Wally is the president of the club and told me as members go it is the “youngest club” with the youngest member being 20!

There was a lot of business talk going on so my speech was cut short. However, because the projector was also not around I have been invited to do a repeat performance with slides and all.

After the meeting Joe and I decided to walk down to uShaka Marine Park to visit the snake park. We had been to the shopping center and aquarium quite a few times but kept missing the park so it was nice to finally get a chance to visit. There were snakes, lizards, and frogs from all over. There were also shaking boxes planted all over the darkened hallways to scare people so throughout our visit there were people screaming and jumping out of fear and surprise.

After the snake exhibit we returned to the car and headed home. Later in the afternoon we attended our host club in Pinetown and got to hear the job talk done by the newest member of the club, Dave, who told us all about his career as a real estate agent. We also learned about the man who started the company he worked for and how generous he was. Many of the Rotarians knew the man personally and professionally so nostalgic anecdotes were shared.

At the end of the meeting Joe and I got to catch up with some of the Rotarians we hadn’t seen for a few weeks and then drove home. This weekend is a full of interviews, meeting with the girls, and checking out some festivals.