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 ;)