Hello again--

My homestay is FABULOUS! When we got dropped off on Saturday I was the first...I had no time to mentally or emotionally prepare myself...we pulled over to the side of the road without warning, and I saw three beautiful little girls running towards our van. I wondered whose family this was, and when our tutor/driver Langa came back and said it was mine I almost burst into tears! The three girls and a woman in her late 20's ushered me up the hill and into the house, where I met the rest of the family and figured out how the family is structured... There is Mama--Zandile Makhanya, in her 50's, who has 4 daughters--three of whom live with us. Rose is the oldest--27 or 28 yrs old, and she and her husband Khanya have two children, Lihle (9 yrs old) and Lindani (6 months old). Mama's other two daughters are Funeka (12) and Cebo (the "c" is a click sound!)--9 yrs old. When I arrived, they sat me down in the TV room and we chatted a little while the kids scoped me out and commented on my hair and skin tone--haha...They watch TV all the time...it's always on! It's kind of interesting though because it gives a bit of cultural insight. I played with Cebo, Lihle, and their friend Sthoko for a long time--they looked through my things and we made friendship bracelets together. We also had an interesting conversation where I explained that I had cut off my hair and given it to Locks of Love, but Sthoko thought I meant I gave it to a sangoma (a traditional African healer). I explained to her that we don't have those in the states! The first night, Lihle and Cebo slept over a friend's house and Rose, Khanya, and the baby stayed elsewhere...so it was just me in my room and Mama and Funeka in Mama's room. The next day Funeka woke me up for breakfast around 7:30 and we ate breakfast and went to church, which was an interesting experience. The first ten minutes consisted of chanting/praying which got progressively louder as time passed, and then a gospel choir got up and led the congregation of a couple hundred people in zulu/english songs...it was so beautiful it gave me chills! (You know how I feel about gospel music!) I couldn't understand much since most of the service was in zulu, but in the beginning I was told that I would have to introduce myself over the microphone! I was pretty scared, but it was such a welcoming atmosphere that it wasn't too bad. When I was finished I was greeted by something like half the congregation with "We love you" and "God bless you". How can you not feel loved after that!?
After church I met some of the local teens/young adults around my age, and they were nice as well...a guy named Sizwe got my number (I asked my sister if it was ok and she said he was nice...my Mama is close with his aunt). Hopefully I'll have some friends around the neighborhood! After that we went for a walk around the neighborhood to pick up Cebo and Lihle from their sleepover at Sthoko's, where I got to meet up with some of my other SIT students and meet some of their sisi's and bhuti's (sisters and brothers). Afterwards we went home for dinner (the food has been delicious so far!).
Yesterday I went to class for the first full day, and it was long but interesting. We got a briefing on South Africa's history from the Boers to Apartheid, had our 2nd official zulu class, and got to talk about our homestay experiences. It's really interesting hearing about what everyone's families are like. They're all so different, but so far everyone is feeling positive. So far my only struggle has been finding time to get all my homework done...We're at the program center from before 8 am to around 5 every day, which leaves me just enough time to get home, greet the family, eat dinner, help Funeka with English homework, and then go to bed! (They retire for the evening at around 8:30 or 9 on most nights since they get up at 4:45 each morning for school! It's definitely going to take me some time to adjust to this schedule.
So far today has been ok--we just had our Zulu lecture and "touch groups" where we meet in small groups with our tutors to practice the lecture material. It's a difficult language, but I think I can pick it up pretty quickly if I devote enough time to it. I'm beginning to understand the unique structure of the language which is very dense and completely different from any other language I've studied before. Right now I'm on break until...well 5 minutes ago (but this is African time) and John is about to start his first 2-hour section of today's 4-hour lecture (with an hour for lunch in-between) on The State of the Nation post 1994. Should be interesting! (Wish I had gotten the opportunity to finish the reading, but he doesn't usually ask many questions!)

So in brief, so far so good! Please leave me messages letting me know what all of you are up to.

Love and miss,

Jenny