City Lodge Umhlanga Ridge Hotel Durban

... station for wasting police time.<br><br>Aside from that (and a LOT more shouting as the people on the bus discussed the events) the journey to Swaziland was pretty and uneventful.<br><br>We stayed the night in a lovely guest house called Swaziland Backpackers (which had a Great Dane and a Great Dane puppy) and then took the Baz Bus to Durban. The trip was long but was notable for a total lack of shouting, unnecessary ...

Here I am again with some pictures for you. I will be going to Umlazi on Wednesday to stay and will meet my Zulu friends. I cant wait to see my friend Precious who I met when she was 13 and now she is 18. Having a very good time, although the weather is very weird, really hot for days, then it goes cold.<br>

... back to the fact that I hardly see any white people around. The only other white people I saw were a German tourist (well she looked so German to me) and a group of people on their cigarette break outside what appeared to be a bank I think. I really have the impression that it is really difficult for the blacks to get access to the best jobs and that the best paid jobs are occupied by the whites. You very often see a white boss with black employees ...

... trying to be closer to nature. Everyone is very friendly and nice; some more eccentric than others in this little bubble world, with a different way of living than anything I've seen or heard of before!<br>Bernie, a French guy (yes, they are everywhere!), has built an awesome tipi there (see pic). <br>Some have theories that end of 2012, because of a very unique astral alignment, solar winds will destroy the surface of ...

... to marry her (this costs an enormous amount of money, especially for the people in the area I live in). Today sometimes people just pay the money equivalent, but typically cows are still used. If the lobola is not paid, the marriage is not accepted by the families and many believe your ancestors will send you bad luck.] Back to the reception...the bride's family gives blankets, pillows, straw mats, and bowls to the groom's family ...

... from many of the people involved in my internship when both Dr. Gilbert and Anna Coutsoudis, the founder of iThemba Lethu, were present. A fall-out from our meeting was my receiving the approval to look for additional work to supplement my learning experience here. I've been accompanying two social workers on the screening interviews of potential adoptive parents for two of the children in our care. The children ...

... of art with the following inscription made out of letters from a magazine surrounding a grouping of black and white X's and Y's also made from magazine letters: "History reminds us that to identify people in terms of only one facet of their identities is the start down the road to catastrophe." I couldn't agree more with the author's sentiment as it applies not just to gender, but also to race, sexual orientation, ableness, religion, age, etc. {We ...

... rough with a really strong side-wash so the lifeguards had their work cut out for them. We saw one man rescued by a lifeguard, he had gone too far out and could not get back in so he had to be picked up on a board and brought in. Once he got over his fright I think he was a bit embarrassed as he walked up the beach quite sheepishly. For the rest of the ...

I left Mbabane early in the morning and took a combi to Manzini, admiring the soft shadows of a rising sun cast over the red mountains upon which Swaziland's capital is set. Once in Manzini I negotiated my way around the bustling bus station until I finally found a combi that would take me to Durban. I chatted for a while with a fat Mama (the universal name for African women who look like they have had a few children). I complained playfully to her about the cold morning air, to ...

... location-both to avoid the crass competition of those in town and to seek out appreciation from those who might value his craft. Sometimes, he treats a garment that requires difficult alterations or repairs as a puzzle. "I can solve it," he says in a tone of voice that, like seams on clothing too tight, is bursting-with pride. But it isn't just clothes that he fixes. During his days in vocational training, he was one of the few men enrolled in fashion design, which he ...