It's time for a break. What's the gameplan? Go to Durban, and hang out there for the night. Everyone was headed out to a market in Durban on Saturday, which is an hour and a half drive, and headed to a market in the same area on Sunday.
Putting our heads together, some of the guys decided it would be great to stay the night in a hotel in Durban, so that we wouldn't have to do that 3 hours of driving, and would get to hang out and get more of a feeling for South Africa than the feeling we get at AE (To be honest, African Enterprise is its own little world, so we don't get much of a feel for the real "Africa" when we're on campus). So we did. 10 of the 11 guys decided we would split 2 rooms, and got the rooms for about 170 rand a night (about 25 dollars). So we did. After a successful day shopping at the market (there is an incredible feeling of empowerment that I get when I successfully barter with someone), we were dropped off at our hotel. I've never felt more comfortable when I was more out of place. A group of 20+ college students (There were girls from our group) walked into a nice, beachfront, highrise hotel with no suitcases or baggage other than backpacks, wearing trucker hats and board shorts, and dirty and sweaty and loud from a day at the market, speaking with accents (according to the South Africans). But we checked in and went up to our rooms, and while I felt out of place in an outrageously nice hotel (that was the cheapest we could find), it was a welcome change. We flipped the tv on to discover South Africa was playing India in the Cricket World Cup! It's a big deal here, so we watched a little bit. India scored 263 runs in the first two wickets, so South Africa looked like they were in trouble, but they were somehow able to hold India to 33 runs in the last 8 wickets, and didn't even use all 50 overs. So that was a pretty remarkable display in the second half of the inning. Then all the guys headed down to the beach and met up with the others who had been down there, and partook in various beach-related activities, such as catch with a frisbee and body-surfing in the warm, Indian Ocean water. I was stung by jellyfish probably 5 times, which was exciting because I had never been stung before! They were so small that it just stung for like 5 minutes and then it felt fine, but it was hilarious to hear someone randomly start yelling out in pain in the ocean.
So we headed back up to the hotel for showers and watched more cricket. The Proteas (South Africa) were batting well, but at an incredibly slow pace. They were scoring about 4.5 runs per over, but when we stopped watching, they needed about 9 runs per over to catch up before they reached to designated number of overs (basically a pitch limit). Things weren't looking good for South Africa, so we decided to walk over to Florida Street to grab something wonderful to eat. On the way over there, we saw the game on in a sports bar we were passing, and checked the score. South Africa had 18 runs needed to tie, and 14 bowls left. A tall order, but possible nonetheless. It was incredible they had even made it that close. So when they had 6 pitches left they needed 13 runs, meaning they were almost done, when they got back to back boundaries worth 4 and 6 runs. They ended up winning, and this game was an elimination game for them, because they needed to win to get out of pool play. We watched the end of a Cricket World Cup game we were deeply invested in while we were in a sports bar in South Africa, and it was one of the more remarkable games in the history of Cricket.
After that, we invested in some Mexican food, and I got the carne asada burrito I have been craving for almost two months. It was everything I remembered it being. Most satisfying meal I have had in recent memory. Then it started raining, and while at first we moved under the roof of TacoZulu, we ended up out in the street watching the lightning storm. It was incredible. The sky was completely lit up 1/3 of the time, and it was a constant flashing. It looked like a strobe light. Enjoying the weather was great. So we just hung out and enjoyed the rest of the night, and walked back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.
We woke up at 5:30 to watch the sunrise, because never have I ever had the opportunity to watch a sunrise over a large body of water, and I don't know when I'll have the chance to ever again. So we watched it a little bit, but there were clouds covering the horizon so we didn't see too much actual sunrise. But the company was superb and the experience was great. After another couple hours of sleep, there was check-out at 10, followed by all-you-can-eat-buffet breakfast (which was welcomed because of the lack of food the day before). Then it was hit the beach for the entire day until 4, when we drove back to AE and showered. So that's Durban, and that's the real Africa experience away from AE I've been looking for.
After that, Jenny and I (co-D group leaders) went to dinner with other leaders Colton and Olivia, along with Reagen and Liselle, our D group supervisor/friend and his wife. It was a great delicious dinner and we talked about D group and figured some stuff out. So the relaxing recovery weekend I was looking for after two days of service sites? Got it. Check that one off the list. Mark it down. Count it. Taken care of.
Firsts:
- stung by a jellyfish
- read on the beach by the indian ocean
- bartered down the price on something I really need
- watched a cricket game
- understood a cricket game
- watched a televised rugby game
- watched a cricket game in a South African sports bar
- ate Mexican food in South Africa
- stayed at a hotel out of the country
- stung by multiple jellyfish
- watched an awesome cricket game in a South African sports bar
- walked Florida Street on a Saturday night
- fell asleep on a South African beach
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