Still luvn' SA!

Today I finished up with interviews at the zoo! I have ten interviews from there and one from a lady at the SPCA. I am not sure what to do next with my project…I might volunteer at the Aquarium, if I can figure out a way to get there safely. And I still want to check out the Lion Park! So I don’t know if I will do more interviews or observation. It has been really interesting and great. I still have another project to do at the zoo for my wildlife behavioral ecology class, so I have not seen the last of the zoo. I guess I’ll just do some more journal excerpts of fun/interesting things we’ve been doing!

We went and watched Mechaelar perform in Evita!  

“Evita was pretty cool….I was quite impressed. The Guild Theater was a pretty nice place too. We caught a taxi there, it was a bit late perhaps but we had no other way. There were a couple girls in the back who we sat next to, they seemed pretty excited to see us on the taxi and said everyone else was excited…it was funny.  They asked “Aren’t you scared?” Which is the response we get regularly – Holly asked “Should we be?” But I don’t think they heard, so we got no response. They were very helpful in sorting out money and getting us dropped where we needed to be. At the Theater we found Nokuthula and Nomfundo and we hung out with them a bit while we waited for the doors to open. There was a bar in the front and everyone was getting wine – they’d get the wine glasses and then a little bottle of it, everyone brought their drinks into the theater. It was just weird – I mean people drink and smoke here a lot and I don’t know if I am just not used to it because of living in Provo and in North Idaho or if it is just more culturally acceptable…I mean I have been to concerts and shows in big cities and I’ve never seen people bring drinks and wine and stuff into the actual theater.

 It was a different crowd then we usually see, like at the rugby match.  A lot more white people and posh clothes – we really aren’t around white people that much, except for Hyrum and Dylan and Dylan’s family. It was very entertaining to see how people were dressed and hair styles. There were a lot of older couples. The show was pretty good, again, I was impressed at the singing and costumes and dancing. The lady playing Evita had a really superb voice and the narrator guy Che was good, those are the two that really count. Mechaelar was one of the cast, she did a great job singing and dancing. We found her after the show and said bravo and took some pictures. Nokuthula gave us the number for a good private taxi and Emily called and sent for one. It was a white guy, but he was like the hardest person to understand ever. Very friendly though. It was a fun evening!”

Here’s an excerpt about a zoo interview and a morning at the zoo.

“Makaula was awesome, he put me right to work. I helped carry food buckets, gathered dishes, washed dishes, helped spray down enclosures (which got me soaking wet)…he had me go into the kitchen and ask the kitchen ladies for food for certain animals. They seemed pleased I was getting involved –“oh, she’s not lazy, she’s not lazy.” I got to go in some monkey enclosures and throw food out to Katie and Lisa (baboons) and I got to throw raw chicken to the vultures and the owls. I carried food into the duikers. We went and got some new bedding for the owls, so I got to help carry a step ladder and fill a bag with straw and then climb said ladder to reach the owl huts and put straw in them. I tried to ask interview questions, but Makaula’s English didn’t really allow me to delve into much, which was a bummer because I had tons of things I wanted to ask about the zoo historically – how has it changed, different management, etc. Makaula said he is going to work for five more years and retire at age 56.

We were just about to feed the pigs when Karotse came to get a bunch of guys – they were going to go get a horse. When farmers don’t want them anymore, they call the zoo, and Karotse goes out and puts the horse down and they feed it to the animals. They have to bring several guys because their truck (or buggy) doesn’t have a winch so they need people to help lift the carcass onto the truck. They are trying to get a new truck, but something about the budget….anyway they were all talking in Xhosa and apparently were arguing about whether or not I could just go and feed the pigs myself…I had already got the wheelbarrow for the pig bucket. Stoffel was getting his food sorted and he said something about how I was doing Makaula’s work, “Makaula should do his own work.” He was the only one who seemed put out about it, everyone else was like great, she’s working! Anyway, they wound up having the assistant handy man help me with the pigs and we fed the gibbons too. He often helps feed animals when they are short staffed – there were already a couple people not at work that day, and then they had to take like four of them to get the horse. As we were feeding the gibbons an orange jump suit guy came up to ask the handy man a question. Most of the orange jump suit people ignore me (this is the group doing environmental cleanup stuff, they ran out of other projects and got sent to the zoo to help out), but this guy came right up and introduced himself and said what group he was from and that it was his job to make sure the zoo was looking sharp. It was funny….anyway after that, I took off.”

We went to a concert at Zamani….things did not go quite as planned. We brought Dylan, Michael, and Hyrum along, which was really fun.

“The concert didn’t start at12…it might have, but the power went off, no music. We were soon swamped with kids playing clapping games. It turns out one of the popular ones is actually in English! We learned the words: Mother’s in the kitchen making the rice, Father’s in the bathroom washing his face, Boys and girls are playing soccer, Boys and girls are playing netball, Change your stars, Another star, Don’t move, Don’t move, Stop – ha there is clapping and gestures for all of this. There was a Zamani graduate there who spoke English really well, she became our spokeswoman. Her name is Lisa. So we played clapping games, gave hugs, held hands, bounced, counted to 20, took pictures, were swamped by children wanting to look at the pictures….the guys really got into it, they were human jungle gyms. Ha, it was great! The power finally came back on and the music was blasting. All the kids started just dancing, so we joined in. Then they were ushered out to get ready, whoo, here comes the concert!

False alarm.

The power went out again!

Dylan and Michael left to give someone a lift. When they returned the power was still out. More pictures, more clapping games and showing off of hand flexibility. Lisa is double jointed and could do crazy stuff. Michael and Hyrum are also double jointed, it’s creepy.  HA, as Emily said, we were the show. There were some adults there and older kids, they mostly just sat down in the lower classroom and we ran amuck in the upper classroom. Michael wandered out and struck up conversation with some guys next door. One of them was definitely drunk. The other guy said a bunch of stuff about how apartheid is over and white people and black people need to mix and get along. He started rapping. I think the guys really did have a good, interesting time – I don’t think they go to Duncan Village type places, what would they do there? So it was as new for them as for us.

            Finally, we were sent to the kitchen for some tea. The concert was cancelled. But just as we finished, the power came back on! There were some people still hanging around, so they did their dances anyway. It was really fun to watch, I took a lot of video. So much rhythm, even with the little little kids, it is awesome! So they did a little dress rehearsal for us – if they even plan on rescheduling, I don’t know. Ha, we got there at 11 and we left just after 3.”

Still in love with South Africa!!! I can’t believe we are half way already, where did the time go???