Here's Laura interviewing some Umhlanga participants for her educational blog that she's doing for a friend's 5th grade class. (I'll include a link to this blog once I figure out how).
And here's Laura with one of her many admirers -- this fellow was attending the 40/40 festivities; believe me, he'd been having a good time.**************************************
On the sociocultural side of life, I’ve met Laura M., a Fulbrighter who is working in somewhat similarly dismaying and disarrayed circumstances at the national museum. Laura reminds me a bit of Don Quixote, as she idealistically tries to bring order and enthusiasm to the under-funded and morale-deprived museum. As she will only be here three months, and thus had no time to waste, Laura immediately rented a little Volkswagen Golf (called a Civic here, I think) and has been fearlessly trundling about the countryside in it. I, like some feminine incarnation of Sancho Panza, squat stalwartly in the passenger’s seat, occasionally exhorting her to “keep left, dammit! “ or “watch out, speed bump!” After driving with Laura for several weeks, I'm in awe of her willingness to take on bovine and human traffic, flooded roads, potholes, and crazy kombi drivers, all while sitting on the right side of the car, shifting with her left hand and driving on the 'wrong' side of the road. She is much more daring than I!
So far, together we’ve attended the Umhlanga ceremony/festival, visited the Mlilwane wildlife sanctuary, braved the aftermath of the 40/40 celebration, and have investigated some of the local ex-pat haunts (e.g., Quartermain’s, which actually serves sushi prepared by real Japanese chefs and has a bar peopled with bow-legged, red-faced, beer-bellied males of Dutch or British descent ). We have even survived a trip to Jo’burg together, which I must say took all our combined fortitude and forbearance.
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