Update on my life: My two and a half weeks journey in Bushbuckridge has officially come to an end, and now I am on my way to cape town for vacation before heading to Hanoi!
Some highlights since I last wrote:

1. Safari! I went on an awesome safari with the group in Kruger National Park. I really felt like I was in the Lion King as I saw elephants, lions, giraffes, zebras, baboons, hippos, wildabeasts, impalas, wart hogs, exotic birds ruling the land.

2. Traditional beers - our two new village friends, Professor and Cyril, took Sara, Lan, and I to this Mozambique woman who brews traditional beers. The two we sampled were both thick and grainy, and after we learned that they are made from Maize meal, no surprise there! I definitely prefer the more local marula beer that they make here from the marula fruit!

3. Maize meal lesson - the boys also took us to meet elderly women who make maize meal that is used to make pap. I got to do a demonstration and basically they husk the corn, pick off all the kernels and then crush them to a powder in a giant mortal and pestle looking instrument.


4. Party and police - this past Saturday night, one of the host families in a different village threw a party for IHP ers and their host siblings. After convincing Mama Ivy to let us go and take the car (which we never use), we headed to pick up the other five Ihp students that live in Welverdind. In a small car with only two front seats, four piled into the front and nine of us managed to squeeze into the trunk with sitting on laps and a few legs hanging out the back of the car. The party was awesome and great to be with my host sisters and friends! Low and behold, with not another car on the road, we were the lucky ones to get pulled over by the cops for overcrowding the car. They made us go to the police station and then interrogated us on who we were and what we were doing. In the end, my host sister negotiated a 500 Rand ticket ($70) which for the majority of unemployed people here can't pay. Although this was just a wild experience and luckily not a serious offense, I witnessed the corruption of people in power here that I have heard a lot about. And in the end, they allowed us to drive home all packed up, under the condition that no legs were hanging out the back of the car and one less person in the front - so we drove home with ten in the back and more smushed than ever!


5. Music! The two most popular songs in the village right now are:
Lesson number one by Rhythmic Elements and Oh my luv by Bojo Mojo. They also love little Wayne here.

6. Eco foot print - during these last two weeks, I have consumed less resources than ever before solely by living the way the family does. I used very little water and electricity, ate mostly locally grown food, and created very little waste. Awesome.




7. Food and meals - I am sure by now you are curious as to what I have been eating here. In one sentence I would say a lot of mushy vegetables, beans, and pap (corn meal hard porrige). They mostly eat what can grow in the area: tomatoes, beets, cabbage, carrots, mangos, onion, squash, guava, bananas, peppers, potatoes, tons of corn and peanuts. They cook with a lot of soy, beans, and rice. most of the food mama prepares is cooked over an outdoor fire at high temperatures (I assume for hygienic reasons) and on the fire as opposed to the stove inside which is never used to consume less electricity. Breakfasts can be: soft corn meal porrige, oatmeal, biscuits, bread, or eggs. Lunch or dinner always has pap at it and can include: chopped beet salad, coleslaw, sauté cabbage and onions, creamy onion soup, bean stews, sauté chopped spinach, mashed squash, slimy green vegetable, mushy noodles, rice, chicken, and fish. usually there is two to three side dishes for the pap. The coleslaw, beets, beans and eggs were my favorite dishes. Sometimes, we eat frozen mangos for dessert (especially delicious because there are no sweets!) So far, I've helped mama make beet salad and roast peanuts. We melted sugar over the peanuts and now everyone thinks they are an American delicacy. Over all I really enjoyed the good but I am very excited for some fresh produce meals over vacation!

8. We cook for you, the last family supper - Sara, Lan and I cooked dinner for the family (and in the end for half of the village so they could try what we made) on our second to last night with the family. We made stir fry vegetables, brown rice, roasted potatoes, and muffins (vanilla and chocolate) for dessert. We used a lot more spices that they usually do, and I'm my opinion everything turned out delicious, especially considering we cooked it all on an open outdoor fire. The whole time we cooked, they all stood around staring at us and were asking about recipes. The family kind of liked the meal, muffins the most (because they never get sweets so this was a big treat) and vegetables the least. We presented the family with a small home made photo album we put together from pictures we developed during our time together. They actually have no pictures, mostly because they don't have a camera and the only place to develop photos is half an hour away and very expensive - so they especially appreciated the gesture and have had fun showing it to everyone. Mama then presented us with mugs, with 'Jessica Masuku' (their last name) engraved in it. Each member of their family has this mug and it really was the perfect gift to us showing that we are now apart of their family. In broken English, Mama told us that she will remember us forever.



9. Farewell Braai - we had a goodbye braai for our group and host families at the wild life college, where we take our classes. We invited the whole extended family and friends to join us, and in the end, we had the biggest entourage joining us. We enjoyed a traditional dance and song show, which then turned into a traditional dance party for the group. The night was so fun and I was so happy all of our favorite people could join us. Seeing eveyone else with their families - I realized that I lucked out so much and got the best host family! The Masuku's are so wonderful and I got so lucky to have sisters my agea. Back at the house, all of the girls (Mama, karula, eulandah, amu and us) sat around laughing about first impressions and about all of the fun times we shared together.

It is crazy to realize how attached to this family and community I have gotten in just 2 1/2 weeks and how now it will be so difficult to stay in touch. I now have tons of pen pals!!! I really will cherish and remember fondly the experience I just had becoming a part of the masuku family. I can't believe I still have three more homestays ahead of me! This is too emotionally draining.

I am now off to cape town for my week vacation which I am so excited about! Stay tuned to hear all about it and for lots of pictures that I will post over break!

Happy readings!
Jess