Heritage Day!

So today was another day of site visits, meaning many hours driving, in car dance parties to Zulu house music, flat tire, lessons on Zulu culture by the all knowing matriarchs, Gugu and Thuli (or at least they thinks so ;)), and breathtaking views of the hilly countryside.  I wish I had the opportunity to take pictures, but we were ON THE MOVE.  It was funny how I was, mouth gaping open, "This is beautiful!", and my co-passengers were just like "Oh, yeah, yeah, very nice.", like this was no big deal cause this is just their norm.  Lucky bastards!  Highlight of the day: everyone in the car being thoroughly impressed with my ability to keep a beat.  "You actually have rhythm!"  What what!  Take that!  Fly like a G6!  And then of course I went and made big promises, "Just wait till you see me dance..."  Should be entertaining when they ask me to deliver. :)

But, as promised: Heritage Day!  Heritage Day has its roots in our part of the country, KwaZulu-Natal.  It was originally called Shaka Day, in commemoration of a Zulu King, Shaka, who was famous for uniting the Zulus into one nation.  Now, to be more inclusive of all the other cultures represented in South Africa, it is known as Heritage Day and encourages everybody to celebrate their own cultural beliefs and traditions and in doing so celebrate the diversity of the country, living up to the title "Rainbow Nation".  Sooooo... what does Mpilonhle do?

Oh yeah... We dress up as Bangladeshis/Indians!  Does this make sense?  I'm not quite sure...  South Africa does have a decent sized Indian population, another piece of history worth delving into later.  But, I don't think any of them work for us... Oh wait, except for that IT guy down in Durban (yes, sadly very stereotypical).  And the clothes are actually from Bangladesh... being as that's where Mike and Christine (Mike's wife) lived for a long time.  Basically, what it came down to was that these were the best thing anybody could come up with.  A+ for effort team!  :)  Thank God for Gugu and a couple of the other ladies for representing the Zulus.  Ah yes and that's Tim!  Eat it up!  The first real picture of Tim the Roommate!  I did get his permission to have this awesome picture be the first one up on my blog creating first impressions.

Ah and that's Thokozani in the bottom picture with Tim and me.  Quick update on TK: I got the chance to show him and his wife the blog, includingthe post about them.  They were very entertained and liked it very much.  This actually was very relieving because I felt a little odd talking about their lives so openly, especially as I consider them friends.  But, they really enjoyed it.  First, Thokozani corrected the spelling of his name (hence the added h), and then they were impressed by my memory of the dialogue, but both agreed it was very accurate.  Now they ask about the blog all the time.  They also said I could continue talking about them at will, so the saga will continue.  I've also gotten the chance to get to know Gugu, his wife, a lot better.  And I've realized she is the perfect Zulu woman: let's her man THINK he's in charge, but she is really the one wearing the pants.  Oh wait, I think that's a perfect woman in any culture...