we were given a free weekend in order to spend time with our host families and get to know them. we started it off well on friday as we went to the beach, which is about 20 minutes away right after school. it was a very hot weekend and a great time for the beach. we stayed a while and I spoke with a man that runs a surf club. I will definitely be seeing him many times before I leave this country.

I took my family out to lunch on saturday to warm things up. I also wanted to take them out to learn the local transportation system. they use mini-buses here, which are vans that they fill to absolute capacity and have certain drop-off points. it is a lot cheaper than taking a cab, reason why I am eager to learn. once we got back from lunch, we anticipated the Kaiser Chiefs game on tav since it is the club my family supports.

on sunday I took my brother, Zulu (just like the language), out to a see the soccer club from Durban in a premier league match held in the Moses Mabhida stadium, which was built for the World Cup. I have found a new club, amaZulu. once again we took the mini-buses. Zulu and I had planned to go early to make sure we got tickets and just met with the rest of the students for the game. It was quite a fun experience (pictures are on facebook) and I can only imagine how crazy it will get for the world cup. after the match we walked for about half an hour to 40 ins searching for florida road, which is sort of the "hip" spot here in durban. we had a nice dinner at tacozulu and then headed home. It felt good to get out for the weekend and get some sun while exploring the city.

we have started with the academic activities and have been having lectures on our focus, Social and Political Transformation while also taking Zulu classes. We are in the SIT office from about 7:30-4:30 everyday. The routine here is go to bed around 9pm and get up at about 5 or 6am. yesterday, I was able to play soccer with our kiddie neighbors. these kids are great and they're pretty funny. they get so animated when they play. it was quite fun experiencing how stars are born in the streets. I still have not lost hope…