The Anniah's

Some scenery outside our complex. It's so GREEN.

I run here when I can (along the squiggly path). Am I gloating? Maybe :)

They're obsessed with the whole rum and raisin flavor. Already had this in both ice cream and chocolate form.

Here are some more scenic shots and cultural aspects of beautiful Durban. I get to do researh in the most lush, beautiful area. 

Durban's a beach town.

Evidence! I'm in the orange. 

City view from the Anniah's (Bev's, Grace's and Andrew's parents). 

I got some pictures today from one of our fun family dinners with the Anniah's. They are our host family in Morningside. They have been nothing but AMAZING- they accomodated us with only an hour's notice of our arrival and we connected really fast. We have three loves in common: good music, talking, and amazing homemade food. The Anniah's have a great taste in living space and products, and their home-cooked curry is amazing. I feel like a cheap American staying in their flat, but they treat us like royalty. The best thing about them are their smiles and good company. We are living in the same complex as they are, and they are split between three flats.

The first flat has the oldest sister, Bev, with her husband Shabeer and they have three kids. Bev's oldest are Nickyle is 18 and Katelyn is 16, and Bev and Shabeer have an adorable two year old name Jesse.

Jesse!

Nickyle and Sam bonded fast for their love of guitar and Kate and I bonded over singing and piano. Kate can't read much music on the piano but she's already composing her own stuff by ear. She's really good. She wants to attend a music school in the States and is interested in BYU.

Left to Right: Sharon, Andrew, Sam, Nicklye, Me, Kate, and little Jesse.

They pretend like I'm talented and we sing and play together. They like my voice for some reason, so I just roll with it :) Every time we have a get together someone's playing music, and usually starts with Sam. Sam is really good at guitar and usually plays an acoustic with nylon strings for his acoustic and Spanish style indulgences. Interestingly enough, that's exactly what Nickyle's trying to learn. Bev is a singer as well and developed her own record back in the 2000s in Florida- got an agent and everything. The best was meeting Bev's parents tonight and realizing her Dad was the person that started the music bug in their family. He brought out his 12 string guitar and played some for us. It was awesome. 

Random music time. Nicklye showing his skills. 

The next two people in the flats are Burness (Grace) and Andrew. I'm staying in Burness' flat and Sam is staying with Andrew. Burness has worked in the family business for a whlie and it possibly one of the most gorgeous human beings I've ever met (who found a way to stay out of all of my pictures thus far :./) but I'll get her in. We're likely going shopping on Saturday. Andrew is 24 and graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and is thriving in their family's business. Their family does catering, events, and some manufacturing. They've shown us the best of Morninside and how to get around. It's all worked out great and they have been super flexible with our needs in order to abide by the honor code and to not eat/drink certain things. They've been really open to us about our religion and it's been fun sharing some basic things about how our lifestyle. They're a dominantly a Christian family and go to the "Conquer Through Prayer" church that we might visit at some point before our church at 9. Apparently, a lot of people attend services there in this area- usually 1,500 per service. Bev's dad was telling me it was up to 5,000 during special events. Crazy. It's a Christian rock church- not surpising. Bev's dad says it's the type of music that "raises the roof." Sounds like a good time!

There are no words for the goodness of this food. Sharon's speciality. Shrimp, crab, and frikkadels with some Roti. So spicy and so good. See all the cilantro?? They call is coriander in SA. Heaven on a plate.

Dessert was a traditional sweet pudding with some fruit, nuts, and tapioca. 

They traditionally drink tea after supper, and we were happy to find a compromise. This is an herbal tea you can only get in South Africa and it's called Rooibos.

We've had a lot of good insights about South Africa from the Anniah's point of view. People don't realize that here in Durban (and I imagine other parts of the country) it was White vs. everyone else. There was discrimination against Blacks and Indians with public transit, where you could sit in a restaurant, access to beaches, employment, etc. As an example, Bev's father (in 1964) ran the mile (1500 m) in 4:00 minutes (which was a big deal back then- olympic qualifying time) and he was unable to qualify for any events and got no national recognition only because he was Indian. At that time, they would only send Whites to the games. Also, (I can't remember if I put this in the other post) since Indians have been here for so long, Andrew mentioned that his identity mainly resides in South Africa- he doesn't feel "connected" to Indian per se. Today we had some of Sharon's (Sharon is the kids' mum- Jesse's grandma) curry- BEST CURRY EVER- and they explained that we weren't eating Indian curry, we were having South African curry. Our bread wasn't Nan, it was Roti. The food had quite a bit of kick, but it was SO good. They were impressed since White people around there usually don't touch the stuff, but Sam is hispanic and I'm used to spice because I love Asian food. There's no way I'm ever going to lose weight here for my races- I'm just trying to hold it together. :) So don't care. 

Feeling a bit silly eating with my hands :)

As for the project, we're finally making some great strides. I'll try to have pictures of the university (DUT), our associates, and the research process by tomorrow. Interestingly enough, being American and looking like Taylor Swift is paying off in terms of getting people to take our survey- and apparently it's good for methods too. People are more honest when outsiders want to learn about their culture, according to Professor Bhagwan. 

So far I'm feeling just fine being Durbanized ;) 

Beginnings :)

Pictures from the first week!

So I want to do a legitimate post one of these days, but I need to go to bed and I'm just getting started. Here are some basic pictures to give you a sneak peak of our experience so far. Because of some sketch areas and due to our work schedule, we have to be driven pretty much everywhere and haven't had much freedom to explore. However, we've been treated so well by our host professors and host family and I'm excited to get some more pictures. Durban is beautiful, and very diverse. I didn't sense a whole lot of diversity while flying when the very few people sitting behind us at our gate in Johannesburg were talking away in their Utah accents about BYU-Hawaii (rich Mormons on their way to a safari). I was satisfied the second I arrived on campus I felt beyond WHITE. There's probably 60-70% of people here who are of African descent (Zulu, Xhosa-I'm getting down my click- Tswana, Tsonga, etc.) about 20% who are Indian, and 10% white (from what I can see). That's a really rough estimate. Getting around isn't too hard because it's really just a more picturesque version of the UK (and WAY better weather) with a whole lot more diversity.  I will have more pictures of the campus, our reserach team, the beach, downtown (driving is NUTS) and the Anniahs in the next two days. To sum this post though, this is evidence that we are not just surviving- we're thriving. And to everyone who is still somewhat naive enough to think that all of Africa is huts and forager people...it's not. Africa is a continent- NOT A COUNTRY. South Africa has a lot of diversity, and plenty of problems. But the more I'm here, the more I respect everyone I meet. People are BEYOND gracious, and ultimately, as the title suggests- seem to eminate Ubuntu. 

Represents the 21 hours we flew (+ odd another 7 hours of layovers for the whole trip). God bless that lovely  Mango-Orange juice!

I have an obsession with all African treees. This one is outside the flat. 

The flat is posh! Sam and I were happy to have such a nice place to work and hang out in. They found it an hour before we landed in Durban.  

This is an example of one of the lovely bedrooms and view. I sleep in another flat. 

Sam's trying escargot for the first time (sorry about the lighting).  Ironically, this was at a SA version of a Texas steakhouse. Native Americans and iconic US stuff everywhere. Everything (including escargot) was covered in cheese. 

At the steakhouse with the Anniah's! Nickyle and Andrew are two parts of this amazing family. They're all locally from Durban, they're Indian (or what they may consider Asian). Durban has the highest concentration of Indians outside of India because of the sugar can market that sent a bunch here in the mid 1800s. We've hung out at the main flat with them for dinner twice, have played with their kids and have caught dinner and movie. Bev, the oldest sister with the kids, makes the best curry EVER. And we eat it every day. Ya, we're really starving in Africa. 

Adapters. Believe it or not, this is the slickest set-up we can do ;) haha.  And as you can see, I'm constantly chatting with people at home on FB when I can.

This is what Africa does to my hair- and this is tame. Rawr. 

A beautiful church right next door (Methodist church) on Percy Osborne (our street). We live in Morningside, a suburb of Durban.  About 10 minutes from DUT.

We live 10 minutes outside the beach, and this is across the street from our Prof's hotel. It really is paradise here!