so. here is the flesh to put on that poor poor skinny blog from a couple days ago.
Many things have happened. To finish with the Swazi Story, The 4x4 ing was truly a blast, I got to watch my Canadian friend Dougie do somersaults into a river ahead of me, eat maize and drink hot pepper tea in traditional homesteads, and most excitingly, we climbed a waterfall for a good two hours, each moment like something out of jumanji with the trailing vines, verdant beauty, rushing water, tiny lilies and orchids growing in fragile, unreal beauty from cracks in the rocks, gigantic spiders on poisonous yellow dripping webs, viciously coloured in bright blue and yellow, trees growing in the middle of the river hanging with tenacious fervour to the rocks, and many beautiful granite boulders exuding confidence and serenity in their grandiose largeness. (excuse the verbosity, ive just finished reading A Many Splendored Thing and am a bit inspired....!)
We also went into the capital Mbabane, just for a bit to shop....Swazi has so much that Moz does not, in the way of infastructure, material goods, TRASH CANS, cleanliness and simple human dignity. Truly the most astonishing thing about humans is that they can so divide themselves and the land that they live on that from ten feet beyond the border you are in a totally and completely different world. Really.
Upon my return to Swazi two days later (my very good swedish friend Lina had to renew her passport so i gladly went back with her) I was a bit ill, just the normal stomach ick that most travelers are fated to recieve at some point or another, so I didnt do all the things i had planned to do. However, we visited the Cultural Village, a homestead built to be exactly like things have been in Swazi for hundreds of years, and apparently it is still lived in as a traditional homestead, but I dont really think so. The grass huts had that inescapable "for show" look, and did not appear to be lived in. We also got to see an exhibition of their dancing, a very athletic, high kicking thing of great beauty and excitement. However, here, as in Moz, the men expend a lot of time and evergy trying to make everything seem extremely difficult while the women show off effortlessly and without fuss. I am so proud to be female sometimes. Lina and I split the cost of a dvd and cd set so you can all see it when i return, I forgot to mention the singing, choral works very majestic and pretty, much better than the gospel you see on tv here on sundays. really, gospel gets really overdone sometimes, it loses its melodic integrity with the feral intensity of the religious fervor associated with it.
With our friend Ralph from the 4x4 trip we also went to another waterfall and was the second largest solid rock in the world. It was a far sized hill, solid and absolute and breath taking. The striated granite with rivulets of water and vegetation just about took my breath away. I am such a sucker for amazing natural sites. I HAVE to get to Victoria falls before leaving. End of Story.
Really, Lidwala Lodge was a little haven of paradise in my months of crazed doings. It was quite hard to leave.
After Swazi I was back in Manhiça, putting a down payment on my rooms and getting things fixed up. Yesterday the window bars were fixed and today the door hinges will be reinforced. Mahiça is a quiet, fairly happy little town with a very low crime rate, but as a white woman living alone, I aint takin no chances. There are still problems with getting there, if I cannot find a ride today or tomorrow I will have to pay for taxi and chapa, which will be a hassle and a bother. But such is life here, and I am rather excited at the prospect of living a simple life, I think it will be good for me, especially in light of my jumbled future. I have now been accepted to eight institutions of higher learning, to Washington State University in Pullman, Pacific University in Forest Grove, Willamette University in Salem and Western Washington University in Bellingham all with sizable scholarships. I have also been accepted to Evergreen State College in Olympia with a minimal scholarship, not to mention University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, California State College at Northridge andPortland State University. In addition I am waiting for news of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Reed College in Portland and Whitman College in Walla Walla. I also applied to the University of California in Berkeley but since I didnt take the SATS and dont really see a way of fixing that problem here, I think I will not be admitted.
I applied to so many because I thought that with my strange mish mash of a high school education many colleges would reject me! Seems as though my plan back fired. Add to this the confusion of wanting to know where Andrea is headed, weighing the option of traveling longer, and now thinking that I am still not entirely sure of what i want to major in, (please dont give me the you should go to college to find out speech. I think it is preposterous to waste SO much money if you are not sure, I mean, how many people got their bachelors and dont even use it?!?!?!?!? If I am still very unsure I think I will be using my time far better by teaching, traveling or working, and probably taking classes at community college than spending 30,000 dollars a year to dork around and party.)
Thus is my future a mud pit of confusion, and because of this I smile and focus on the task at hand. Planning curriculum, planning weekend travels, and experiencing life here will most likely help me to see my future more clearly anyways.
So now I am going to go figure out how to get myself to Manhiça, so i bid you all a happy, succesful day,
much love
allie
Many things have happened. To finish with the Swazi Story, The 4x4 ing was truly a blast, I got to watch my Canadian friend Dougie do somersaults into a river ahead of me, eat maize and drink hot pepper tea in traditional homesteads, and most excitingly, we climbed a waterfall for a good two hours, each moment like something out of jumanji with the trailing vines, verdant beauty, rushing water, tiny lilies and orchids growing in fragile, unreal beauty from cracks in the rocks, gigantic spiders on poisonous yellow dripping webs, viciously coloured in bright blue and yellow, trees growing in the middle of the river hanging with tenacious fervour to the rocks, and many beautiful granite boulders exuding confidence and serenity in their grandiose largeness. (excuse the verbosity, ive just finished reading A Many Splendored Thing and am a bit inspired....!)
We also went into the capital Mbabane, just for a bit to shop....Swazi has so much that Moz does not, in the way of infastructure, material goods, TRASH CANS, cleanliness and simple human dignity. Truly the most astonishing thing about humans is that they can so divide themselves and the land that they live on that from ten feet beyond the border you are in a totally and completely different world. Really.
Upon my return to Swazi two days later (my very good swedish friend Lina had to renew her passport so i gladly went back with her) I was a bit ill, just the normal stomach ick that most travelers are fated to recieve at some point or another, so I didnt do all the things i had planned to do. However, we visited the Cultural Village, a homestead built to be exactly like things have been in Swazi for hundreds of years, and apparently it is still lived in as a traditional homestead, but I dont really think so. The grass huts had that inescapable "for show" look, and did not appear to be lived in. We also got to see an exhibition of their dancing, a very athletic, high kicking thing of great beauty and excitement. However, here, as in Moz, the men expend a lot of time and evergy trying to make everything seem extremely difficult while the women show off effortlessly and without fuss. I am so proud to be female sometimes. Lina and I split the cost of a dvd and cd set so you can all see it when i return, I forgot to mention the singing, choral works very majestic and pretty, much better than the gospel you see on tv here on sundays. really, gospel gets really overdone sometimes, it loses its melodic integrity with the feral intensity of the religious fervor associated with it.
With our friend Ralph from the 4x4 trip we also went to another waterfall and was the second largest solid rock in the world. It was a far sized hill, solid and absolute and breath taking. The striated granite with rivulets of water and vegetation just about took my breath away. I am such a sucker for amazing natural sites. I HAVE to get to Victoria falls before leaving. End of Story.
Really, Lidwala Lodge was a little haven of paradise in my months of crazed doings. It was quite hard to leave.
After Swazi I was back in Manhiça, putting a down payment on my rooms and getting things fixed up. Yesterday the window bars were fixed and today the door hinges will be reinforced. Mahiça is a quiet, fairly happy little town with a very low crime rate, but as a white woman living alone, I aint takin no chances. There are still problems with getting there, if I cannot find a ride today or tomorrow I will have to pay for taxi and chapa, which will be a hassle and a bother. But such is life here, and I am rather excited at the prospect of living a simple life, I think it will be good for me, especially in light of my jumbled future. I have now been accepted to eight institutions of higher learning, to Washington State University in Pullman, Pacific University in Forest Grove, Willamette University in Salem and Western Washington University in Bellingham all with sizable scholarships. I have also been accepted to Evergreen State College in Olympia with a minimal scholarship, not to mention University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, California State College at Northridge andPortland State University. In addition I am waiting for news of Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Reed College in Portland and Whitman College in Walla Walla. I also applied to the University of California in Berkeley but since I didnt take the SATS and dont really see a way of fixing that problem here, I think I will not be admitted.
I applied to so many because I thought that with my strange mish mash of a high school education many colleges would reject me! Seems as though my plan back fired. Add to this the confusion of wanting to know where Andrea is headed, weighing the option of traveling longer, and now thinking that I am still not entirely sure of what i want to major in, (please dont give me the you should go to college to find out speech. I think it is preposterous to waste SO much money if you are not sure, I mean, how many people got their bachelors and dont even use it?!?!?!?!? If I am still very unsure I think I will be using my time far better by teaching, traveling or working, and probably taking classes at community college than spending 30,000 dollars a year to dork around and party.)
Thus is my future a mud pit of confusion, and because of this I smile and focus on the task at hand. Planning curriculum, planning weekend travels, and experiencing life here will most likely help me to see my future more clearly anyways.
So now I am going to go figure out how to get myself to Manhiça, so i bid you all a happy, succesful day,
much love
allie
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