Hello everyone,
Now that I have ranted about my obsession with rhinos for the past week, it is high time I write about more
of the cultural aspects of South Africa I have come to discover. The process of
my adjustment to South African culture is a little bit like getting a Tetanus
shot—it is painful at first, and then the pain dulls to an ache for the next
few days. Whenever you use your arm, the ache reminds you about your recent
visit to the doctor. As the tiny red spot on your arm fades, your body produces
antibodies against Tetanus bacterium that may assault your body. Your immune
system is stronger and will protect your body against Tetanus for years to
come.
This is how I felt about my adjustment to South Africa. The
first couple of days were rough. I felt like I had been submerged in an icy
ocean; I could not swim, and my family and boyfriend were 8000 miles away. I could
not even call them the first couple of days. I was shocked with every cultural
difference—I was reminded that I was not in the United States anymore, and I
sorely missed my home country. Then, I began building up my defenses. I finally
got a phone and could receive comfort from my parents and boyfriend about my
experiences. I’m happy to say that after receiving support from my family,
boyfriend, Cassie, and my host family, I feel much more stable and able to
handle and find joy in the cultural differences that confront me every day. I
can look back on the past two weeks and reflect on how much I have grown. I
have already shared some of the cultural differences I have experienced so far
in a previous post (understanding accents and lack of skim milk), but now I
want to share a few more.
The lack of internet was probably the most substantial adjustment. At home in the states,
most internet plans are unlimited, meaning that you can watch movies, upload
photos, and Skype for hours without worrying about your internet bill going up.
Here in Hoedspruit, South Africa, Internet is sketchy at best. There is one
Internet café in town, where you can purchase 1hr/100mg plans for the
equivalent of $5 (40 rand). Your Internet stops as soon as you use 100mg of
data or stay on the internet for 1hr. To give you an idea of how much data this
is, in this area, Skyping for 20 minutes uses up my entire data card. So I have
to stop the call and buy a new one if I want to keep talking.
I thought I would be fine. I mean, who needs Internet when
you have South Africa to explore? I was sure I could handle it, but for the
first week or so, it turned out that I actually could not handle it. In the
United States, I had an iPhone with a 2G data plan. I could use my Macbook Pro
to connect to unlimited Wi-Fi at home and at Harvard. Between my iPhone and my
laptop, I had instant access to all information, at any time of day or night.
The second I received an email, my iPhone would immediately let me know. I
could check Facebook in a heartbeat. I could watch all of my TV shows on line,
Skype with distant friends, and look up biochemical pathways instantly. I could
share my life (photos, videos, emails, interesting articles) with everyone I
cared about. I was connected to everyone around me.
The power of having instant access to information is
something that many of take for granted. For, as I soon discovered, I could not
do any of the aforementioned tasks without 1) asking my host family to drive me
15 minutes to the Internet café, or 2) begging the staff at the vet to let me
on the Internet for 30 seconds to see if I had loving emails from my family and
boyfriend. I was disconnected from the Cloud, and felt it deeply. This must be
how the Borg feel when they de-assimilate from the Hive.
In all honestly, it felt like I had lost an arm. It was like
I ingested a potion that took my superpower away. I felt exposed and helpless.
I am ashamed that I was so dependent on the Internet. However, when you always
have access to it in your pocket and on the computer 24 hours a day, it
inevitably becomes a part of you. I bet if many of you were thrust into an
8-week environment where you could not connect with your friends and family in
the ways you were used to, you would go a little crazy too.
What killed me I was having such amazing experiences but
could not share my pictures with anyone I knew. I was so excited to show my
family all of the pictures of me treating the rhinos, because I knew they would
be as excited as I was. I had also spent hours on iMovie making a rhino
anti-poaching video, but could not share it with the world. The United States
desperately needs to know more about rhino poaching, and I felt helpless when I
was unable to provide that information. As you know, I finally found a way to
post the video on my blog. Let me assure you that it was a struggle.
I tried using an Internet data card at the Internet café.
Well, I sat in the café for an hour and got to about 20% of the upload when I
had run out of time. Well, shucks. That meant the upload was automatically
canceled and I had wasted an hour of my time and $5. I did not want to use the
vet’s Internet to do this because I was scared I would use up all of their
data. My last resort was to beg my host mom to allow me to use their coveted,
expensive Internet to upload my video. They rarely let students use it because
when they did, the bill was monstrously large. So we struck a deal: I could use
the Internet as much as I wanted, but I would pay for it. I just told them that
they could take their normal bill amount and subtract it from the total, and I
would pay for the excess. This calmed me down a fair amount. The first few
days, I had been an emotional wreck. After I knew I could update my blog,
upload a few pictures, and email my family and boyfriend whenever I needed to,
I felt much calmer, more secure, and more ready to immerse myself in my South
African experience. Why should I be unnecessarily anxious when I can just pay
for it to go away?
At this point, while I can say I have grown accustomed to the Internet, I am not quite at the phase where I’m saying: “I love not having internet! It’s so liberating!” Yeah…no. I am sure I will get there by the end of my eight weeks, though.
Not surprisingly, the people here are, refreshingly, not
dependent on the internet and technology in general. They have many more
hobbies and spend much more time outside than Americans do. My host family only
uses the Internet to pay bills. What I’m learning is that the less you pay
attention to your connection to the
That’s all for now! I promise I will have much more to say
about culture in future posts. I just don’t want this one post to be a
gazillion pages long.
Also, I forgot to mention this—if there is anything at all
that you would like to know about or would like me to write about, please let
me know!
Sincerely,
Aria
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