June 23: A lot of harrowing people and monkey interaction

My roommate and I are transportation-less for the weekend, but that hasn’t stopped it from being pretty exciting.

The UVA faculty member who was staying at Acacia left for the U.S. this morning so we joined the other students to throw a farewell braai (barbeque). There were burgers, chicken kabobs, veggie kabobs, homemade guacamole (avocados are super easy to get), and a pot of lentils and green beans that  my roommate and I made. A coworker and a bunch of other Univen people joined us, including some microbiology professors from UVA who are teaching a class at Univen.

A traditional Venda braai includes a lot of meat and a lot of music and dancing. Since there are four vegetarians in the group and limited barbeque space and food funding, those in charge of the meat opted for healthier and cheaper options, which upset at least one of the Venda ladies in attendance. She kept asking for more meat and saying that the meat we had wasn’t good enough. To her credit, she tried a veggie skewer and made it through a bite before giving it back.

The cafeteria on campus generally only has rice, pap, and several types of meat and quite a few people are astounded that both my roommate and I are vegetarian. One guy asked how we could get enough iron since we lose a lot of it every month and we often hear comments about how other people would die if they couldn’t eat meat. A lot of this area is still rural and the food they get is either grown in the garden or slaughtered and one man explained that those who live in the towns often can’t afford meat and must enjoy it when they can get it, so it’s understandable that “vegetarian” is a foreign concept.

We had an iPod playing the whole braai with upbeat American music and the same lady who wanted more meat turned out to be a spectacular dancer and tried to get us to join her (after saying that she wanted gospel reggae music). It was a lot of butt shaking and chest shimmying in ways my body doesn’t move and complicated arm movements that I couldn’t do without hitting myself in the face, but was great to watch. She used to lead the line in a traditional dance that her people do with drums and showed some steps to us. In return, someone showed her how to play Angry Birds.

We’ve been going to bed around 10 p.m. and getting up between 7 and 8 a.m., so it was a struggle to stay awake until 11 p.m. I’ll definitely have some problems of getting myself back to the 2 a.m. to 9 a.m. sleep schedule I’m usually on, though what I’m doing now is probably better. I tried to sleep in late today, but ended up just lying awake from 6:45 to 9:30 listening to things on the roof.

There was finally sun and time to do laundry (hard to believe, I know). We had some fun figuring out the best way to wash clothes in buckets and hang them on cord I tied across the porch. I finally got a picture of the huge (size of my forearm) blue-faced lizard after chasing him around someone else’s cabin for a while. Lizards are amazing at that game where you run around a pole to hide from someone coming after you around the other side. I couldn’t even trick him by switching up which way I ran.

While we were outside, we watched one large male monkey scout around for food, thinking it was the coolest thing ever. Within an hour, monkeys were everywhere, so it wasn’t as cool. They avoided us, mostly, and pulled stuff out of trashcans. One stood on a water heater and tried to turn knobs and pull out hoses.

As I was writing that last paragraph, actually, my roommate yelled at me from the porch because a bold monkey was sitting right in front of her eyeing our laundry. I ran out and charged him and a little pack of juveniles nearby to scare them off and then got angrily clicked at by the first one, who’d perched on our roof. We naturally ran inside to hide lest he urinate on us or fly at us with teeth bared. Some of the other students came out and started throwing rocks at them to scare them out of the park, mad that some monkeys stole guavas right off the porch while they were there. Monkeys actually suck to have around, what with their opposable thumbs and knowledge that they could take us in a fight. We thought we’d sufficiently scared them and settled back out on the porch and then they came back! I expect a monkey or two to be wearing my clothes in the morning or waiting to ambush us.

Anyways, earlier in the day we got tired of watching monkeys do monkey things and decided to take a nice walk around the area. Within a minute of leaving the guarded gates of Acacia, we were being yelled and whistled at by two guys on the road. They persisted even though we ignored them and came running down the hill to talk to us. We’re used to random people wanting to shake our hands and ask where we’re from, but these guys were quite drunk (at 3 p.m.) and one kept telling my roommate that he loved her. They asked for our phone numbers and we insisted that we didn’t have any until they gave up and left.

We made it across a street and down a few blocks to a shopping center, where we went into a grocery store I hadn’t been in in before called Spar. A lot of people were looking curiously at us, a white girl and an Indian girl wearing knee-length shorts in an area where there generally aren’t white people (though there is a large Indian population). A lady came up to me and said she liked my really scratched up Doc Martens and that she preferred to dress like a man even though she’s a woman (was she saying I looked like a man?). Next, right when I was excitedly pulling cartons of pasteurized grapefruit juice off a shelf (finally found some!) two guys came and forcibly shook my hand then asked for a cigarette. I told them I had none, that I couldn’t understand them since they were protesting in another language, and walked away. While we were standing in line, two young men and a girl stood behind me (potentially under the influence of some leafy drugs?). The boys shook my hand and requested I shake the girl’s hand, then asked for my number. I told them I didn’t have one so they asked to get a picture with me. I said no and they tried to sneak one and I very rudely put my hand in front of the camera lens. I think they were able to get one when I had to pay the cashier, though (I’ve turned around a few times to find even coworkers sneaking pictures to take home to their children).

The store opened into a dingy mall full of clothing stores. We walked through it just long enough to hear some guys comment on how nice our legs are and made our way back towards our route home. Another man came up to us and started asking for 2 rand, saying we were his sisters and that he needed to get home. We kept refusing and walking away, but he pressed himself against us and kept asking. It was at this point I was really beating myself up for leaving my pepper spray and my knife at the cabin, since he wouldn’t leave no matter how quickly we walked and how many times we said we didn’t have money and kept leaning in so his torso touched my arm. My roommate got a little sassy with him just before I steered us towards the doorway of a store where some security guards stood, causing him to veer off the other way, thank goodness.

We’ve walked around a decent amount at Univen and in a smaller shopping complex and not encountered anything like the harassment we got in the hour we were out today. Generally people are just interested in making basic conversation since we look so out of place, so we felt safe enough to walk a few blocks. We both had small cross-body bags with our money in them and kept at least one hand on them at all times, so I was pretty sure nobody could steal from us because it’d take a lot of effort, but it’s still unnerving to have people follow us around and audibly make comments about our bodies (which I don’t understand because pretty much every woman here is among the most beautiful I’ve ever seen). I definitely won’t leave without pepper spray and a knife again, though, and I’m glad I know self-defense.

On the sidewalk back, we ran into a group of grade 11 girls. Kate, who was wearing very nice purple skinny jeans, walked with us a block and asked questions. I was somewhat ashamed that I’d ignored her at first because I was still reeling from the last guy. She said that she can tell that we aren’t South African white people because the shade of white is different and made some comments about how the weather must be colder in the U.S. because we’re so light-coloured.

The security guard at the gate stopped us for conversation too, telling us that the monkeys here are peaceful (lies!) and that we’re lucky we don’t have baboons because they target women and children and will steal anything from you right out of your hands. He asked us to learn Venda and share it in the U.S., saying also that he wishes he can visit the U.S. sometime since it’s such a wonderful place. He’s a real sweetheart and spent a long while telling us that he’s glad we’re staying for so long because he likes to be around people who are so kind-hearted and smile all the time. I think he and Kate made up for the offensive men at the shopping complex.

One last exciting event is that I made popcorn in a pot on the stove very successfully. We don’t have a microwave (not that there’s microwaveable popcorn anyways) and I’ve been wanting popcorn for a while, so I went ahead and bought a bag of kernels. It took two of us wondering why it wasn’t working and messing with the burner to get it to go, but it wasn’t burned and it tastes like real popcorn. It even pushed the lid off of the pot. I’m getting really good at that kitchen thing.

I have to wait until I can use the Univen internet on Monday to post any pictures. We finally sorted out our modem, but the data gets used quickly and I have to conserve it for a couple online classes I’m taking.