2/25/12
I was a bit nervous when Kelsey and I first arrived at our homestay. A huge fence topped with electrified wire covered the house. On the door was a sign that said, “Smile, CTTV camera is watching you.” At the time we didn’t even know about the guard dog or alarm system, but this was intimidating enough.
Once I met my homestay family, I realized that the sign was not likely to have come from their imaginations, probably just the security company’s. I also learned that South Africa has such a high crime rate that this amount of security is the norm.
The house is amazing. Once you walk through the gate, you enter a beautiful rectangular courtyard with a small swimming pool. My hostfamily lives in the home on the right side of the courtyard, Kelsey and I live in the middle, and my family keeps boarders on the left.
I am living in the lap of luxury. We have our own bathroom! With a bath! We each have our own bed with a bedside table between us, and drawers where we can put away our clothes. After India it’s so wonderful to have a place that’s truly my own space. I can be comfortable in my own room, and not worry about being watched and judged all the time.
My hostfamily is white and speaks English, which is kind of weird for me. My hostfather Garrith is a soft-spoken boat captain/driftwood artist/surf instructor. His wife Susie is a British retired model, who now works selling Garrith’s driftwood art. She’s sweet, and calls everybody “lovey.” She’s also a born again Christian who smokes, drinks, has a belly-button ring, and a son older than her marriage. Our first night we were sitting at the bar drinking juice and playing darts, when Susie said, “I think it’s time to break the news, we’re born again Christians.” I was pretty shocked, but she promised not to “thump us with the bible.” Her passionate rants about Jesus can get boring, and her speeches on Jews being left on earth a little bit incredibly offensive, but she was very accepting when she learned that I was Jewish. Some people wonder how I hold my tongue, when I was so completely infuriated in India by the whole women’s rights thing. I think that I get less fiery about my people going to hell because Garrith’s visibly embarrassed and tells Susie to keep eating, and because…well she’s just a wack-a-doodle. Susie and Garrith’s son Thomas is a very sweet ten-year-old. He chats nonstop, invites Kelsey and me to the beach, and loves to help us when we’re confused.
The boarders on the other side are constantly in and out of the main house, and feel like a second homestay family. It’s just a small family, consisting of a single mother named Sarah, and her five-year-old daughter Olivia. Sarah’s really cool (a nice break from Susie,) and Olivia’s freakin adorable. She wants to play with us 24/7, and was ecstatic when she found out “the girls” were “sleeping over.”
Olivia’s obsessed with Thomas, and for a ten-year-old boy he’s extremely nice to her. She’s absolutely stunning, and you can tell he’s going to be quite handsome. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they re-enacted the movie Clueless in ten or so years.
Along with a chocolate lab, a hamster named Squeaks, and an orange cat, I have quite a comfortable little family here. Cereal for breakfast, PB&J for lunch, Brie (South African delicious BBQ) for dinner, it’s not so different from the US. My homestay mother actually said, “We don’t know how much you eat yet.” You have no idea how wonderful it was to hear that after being force-fed for so long. And when I was sick, they prayed for to Jesus for me, but left me the hell alone. Well…except for Olivia finding me on the bathroom floor and running to tell her mother I was dead. Today was Saturday, and Garrith took us to the beach to go canoeing and sailing. I think I’m really going to like it here.
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