Namaste

Hey there!

I hope this post finds you all well! As many of you know, my absolute favorite time of year is approaching. That's right, candy corn season. Alas, South Africa has not heard of this miraculous culinary triumph, so if you guys want to hoard the candy corn you find in the Walgreen's aisles and save it for me, I am totally okay with that. Just saying.

This Friday I returned to Grahamstown after presenting a paper at the South African Communications Conference at Northwest University in Potchefstroom! I had a remarkable time, saw some amazing and informative presentations, met some really cool people, heard lectures from some of SA's leading media theorists, and ate some darn good free food. This was my first ever academic presentation, and though I was nervous as all get out, presenting was actually a really great experience. However, as you all know, when I get nervous I tend to talk really fast and in an incredibly squeaky voice. It's either that, or my southern accent comes out full force and I sound like I'm straight out of Deliverance. Luckily I was able to hold it together and everything went wonderfully!

Lately most of my time has been focused on academics, however, I've also attended some amazing Rotary functions (I even met the District Governor last week!), continue to travel around South Africa, and enrolled in a yoga class. My instructor, Carla, is perhaps the most zen woman ever and we even do the whole 'om' breathing thing in class. At the end of every session we conclude with a 15 minute relaxation exercise and each time, I inevitably fall asleep. But the other day, when Carla was mellowly chanting 'relax your toenails, relax your shoulder blades, relax your small intestine' - we are instructed to relax some pretty random things - she told us to relax our uvula, and I literally spent the next 5 minutes trying to figure out where in the heck my uvula was. I was like 80% sure it was one of those dodgy parts of the body, but guess what? It's that hangy down thing in the back of your throat. How in the world are you supposed to relax that? I suppose it's something only yogis can relax, but I must say, my toenails, shoulder blades and small intestine are feeling pretty good these days.

Other than that, all is well on this side of the world! I hope you are all doing splendidly! I have included some pictures of my recent hike in Hogsback at the bottom of this blog post, so enjoy!

Love,
B







Here is a photo of Lynette Marais (current Grahamstown Rotary president), Anne Botha (District Governor - District 9320), myself, and my Rotarian host counsellor, Lydia Palmer. Talk about some amazing female leadership in Rotary!

I'm Back!

Dearest friends,

I am so sorry that I have been MIA for over a month! I promise that I am alive and well, though arguably a bit scatter brained. Things are going well here in Grahamstown! I officially finished the coursework component of my master's degree and I am currently preparing for two exams, one paper, and one conference presentation, all within the month of September. I actually handed in a 5000 word essay today, and of course, to celebrate, I laid in my bed eating Cheerios and watching 'Glee'. In addition, if any of you have trouble falling asleep, I am more than happy to send my riveting critical discourse analysis your way*.

*Nerd alert - the critical discourse analysis focuses on news coverage of the recent Caster Semenya 'sex classification testing' and is actually a really interesting topic. I know the majority of you slipped into a boredom coma three words into this sentence, but what can I say? Once a geek, always a geek.

In addition to my my studies I have also been trying to explore the Eastern Cape as much as possible. Recently I have: been to a beach braai at Kenton on Sea with my residence, gone hiking at Hogsback, and attended a rowing competition on the Kowie River in Port Alfred. The Eastern Cape is speckled with amazing little towns and beautiful beaches, and I am trying to visit as many places as possible before I head back to the States in December!

I promise to be a better blogger in the future, but for now I wanted to check in with y'all and let you know that I am alive and kickin'. Much love from SA, and of course, I will conclude this post with a couple of random pictures from my recent adventures in the Eastern Cape!

Lurve,
B

Kenton beach braai


Surprise birthday celebration with some wonderful friends


Canopy zip line tour in Tsitsikamma