I returned back to Grahamstown Sunday with plenty of work (and that paper I previously mentioned that I had sort of put out of my mind because it had been assigned at the beginning of the semester for Friday) so of course I was invited Monday morning to go do field research for Zoology. I have to do an independent research project for my Zoology class, which has been the source of some frustration, because the rest of my classmates have been working on their all year, and I still basically have no idea what is going on because my professor is really chill and keeps saying things like “oh, you can join on a continuing project” (without telling we what project) or “we’ll go out into the field at the beginning of next week” (I heard this one for about a month straight). However, when zoo requirements get stressful, I just keep reminding myself that Dr. Delesalle (the Bio chair at Gettysburg) has approved this class to count as double credit (because it counts as 8 credits at every school that has a typical credit system, which Gettysburg does not), which is miraculous and will make my life that much less stressful when I return to Gettysburg and only have a million instead of a million and one requirements to complete for my majors before I graduate.
Anyway, so as I am walking into Zoo Monday morning, one of the girls in my class (who I later learned was named Michelle) stopped me and said that Professor Froneman had told her to ask the international students (there are three of us in Zoo) if we wanted to come along and do research the next day. We would leave directly after class on Tuesday, go do research in an estuary near Kenton, and then come back Wednesday afternoon in time for our Zoo prac. I immediately agreed despite the work and several classes that I had between now and then, because it is the 4th term and I still don’t know what is going on for the independent project.
To be fair, I still don’t really know about the project; our professor didn’t come with us, and I don’t know if we are just going to use the data that Michelle and Kelly have been collecting all year or what, but it was definitely worth going either way. It ended up being Michelle and Kelly, plus M.E., Megan, and me just hitting the road in Michelle’s car shortly after our Zoo lecture (I say “shortly after,” but what I really mean is that we employed the phrase “just now” with its South African connotation rather than its American one. Anyway, it was a gorgeous day, and as I absolutely love being in cars, the ride to Kenton was great fun. I already loved road-trips before I came to SA, but my love for riding in cars has definitely increased… I will be so pleased to drive my car again, once I remember how (and which side of the road I should be driving it on). We went to collect our data in this little gated beach village that was clearly a summer-home kind of place. I was very quiet, since it is just getting warm and isn't "in season" yet (I still have trouble merging “beach season” and “Christmas season” in my head, even though Kelly told me that her family spends every Christmas at their beach house). Data collection was fairly fun, as we basically spent the afternoon wandering around in water a few inches above our ankles, and collecting sand creatures apparently went much faster than before because there were so many of us.
We ended up driving to Port Alfred (it was a bit of déjà-vu, since I had just spent Saturday and Sunday in the same two places) and staying the night in Kelly’s vacation home, which was really cute and beachy. We went out to a seafood restaurant (I realized that I hadn’t gone to a seafood restaurant since I got here, even though we are so close to the coast all the time) and we ate so much that I am surprised that there are any prawns (aka shrimp) or calamari (aka squid) left in the ocean. Also, there was sushi at the restaurant, which made sense—sushi is seafood—while at the same time confused me… a greek seafood restaurant with sushi? Anyway, I just accepted it gratefully… I have eaten sushi once here (in Durban) and I have only seen one Chinese restaurant during my entire stay. I am pretty sure I will be picking up take-out on the drive home from the airport in December.
Anyway, it was so much fun to just randomly skip Grahamstown and go to the beach, especially because we had a legitimate excuse. The data collection took way less time than we had allowed (because it went faster with all of us) so we didn’t have to collect more on Wednesday morning, and we just hung out and enjoyed the beautiful day for a bit before packing up and heading back for our Zoo prac. Kelly and Michelle were both so nice, and it was fun having Kelly take us to all over Port Alfred… she qualifies as a local, even if she technically lives in Joburg. Also, I finally got to hear some South African music! I mean, technically I have heard plenty of traditional music in my ethno class, and I did get to hear that band in Durban, but generally most of the University students listen to American or British artists that I already know. It was fun listening to the South African bands that Michelle likes… it reminded me of all the musical instruction I have received from Elle :)
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