A Small Breath of Africa: Rust Family Reunion/Northern Transvaal

This week first year students came back to campus for a program designed to help them work on their lesson planning and teaching. Each student prepared a lesson that they would give later in class that week and presented it to their peers and a tutor (me). We gave them critical feedback and best of all, it allowed them to practice. It was a frustrating week when it came to scheduling observations with my students in the schools because there is nation-wide testing in the school ("ANA test"). The testing was typically all morning, giving me only a two or three-hour window to try to see all of my students (I have to do at least two observations/student). Next week is the last week of observations and then I have four weeks of class before the end of the semester (wild!).

On Tuesday I went to the doctor, after having discovered that I do in fact have insurance - I guess I should've been paying more attention during the Fulbright orientation (I was dissuaded due to the abundance of ridiculous questions during the session: "If I die…" "Will the insurance cover my spa therapy treatments?" "Does the insurance cover plastic surgery?" … well, not that bad). In any event, I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of healthcare and the way that it was administered. My name was called, I followed the doctor to his office and was welcomed to sit in a chair … at his desk. I started blabbing about the reason that I came to see him, to which he told me that he needed to "get to know me first". I'm not sure if this is an overarching norm in South Africa, but I liked that I had a conversation with the doctor at his desk. I know it's small, but I'm used to sitting on a hospital-like bed, in a cold room waiting to be "fixed" by the doctor. My experience here was more of a conversation, it was refreshing!

This past weekend I was invited to go to Tante Magdalena's family reunion in Limpopo at the Vakansieoord resort (near Bella Bella). Magdalena's sisters/sister-in-laws' family meet annually for a reunion which brings together over thirty people to celebrate the family. Onkel Theo and Tante Magdalena flew into Johannesburg on Thursday morning from Cape Town and we left for Vakansieoord on Friday afternoon. Normally a two-hour drive quickly turned into a four-hour drive with a combination of traffic for the long weekend ("Heritage Day" on Monday) and road construction (what a combination!). Arriving around dinnertime, we were welcomed by a part of the family that managed to get past the traffic and braai for dinner. The family rented a large "family unit" on at the resort, with a large common area and kitchen, with individual bedrooms off of the common areas. Not able to accommodate all thirty family members, other branches of the family camped at the campsites throughout the resort or rented family units (bedroom/living room/kitchen). After a wonderful dinner, we spent time socializing before checking into our room. The family is so nice and welcoming, I felt as if I fit right in… except that I don't speak German. My knowledge doesn't go much past "ist zu viel!".

On Saturday, we went for a swim in the morning before breakfast. The resort had many outdoor pools and an indoor complex with warm and cold pools. It was refreshing to start the day with a swim! After the swim, we got ready and went over the family unit for breakfast. The family had all of the meals together and not expecting anything less from an efficient, German family, we had a schedule and dedicated jobs. With the weather not knowing what 'it' wanted to do, we socialized after breakfast and I spent more time meeting the family. I appreciated having a chance to talk to Onkel Theo too; we sat and talked about Frankfort and his life in South Africa, which was really informative (I was sure to put everything in my journal afterward). He clarified many of my misconceptions about how certain events took place, experiencing them first hand himself (e.g. Vatter's internment). Gerhard and Marlize were in charge of making lunch - good ole' "Am-eric-can" hamburgers. I helped Gerhard braai outside with some of the other men in the family. After exhausting ourselves with lunch preparation and clean-up, we went back to our unit for a siesta in the afternoon. With the weather warming, I sat outside and read. Limpopo has such a unique atmosphere - what I think of when I think of "Africa", with open velds, yellow and green colors, thin trees, and interesting vegetation (I've now been to all nine providences! J ). After resting, we went back to the family unit and I helped Gerhard's cousin make sbätzle for dinner (German pasta). It is an interesting process to make the sbätzle; you mix flour and eggs into a dough and then let it drip into boiling water, which solidifies (for the lack of better words) the pasta… it was a lot to make for thirty people too! We cleaned up and then all went outside around the campfire. Saying that Magdalena's family is musical is an understatement. I joked that they must have met to practice before the campfire, because it really was a "concert" not a typical campfire with the usual - people off key and a guitar player leading the songs. In the circle around the campfire, we had two guitar players, a jazz-flute, and an accordion (Gerhard) leading the singing (traditional German/South-West Africa songs). Although I didn't know the words to most of the songs (a few sounded familiar and I knew the tune), I enjoyed soaking up the atmosphere and listening to the singing. It was a wonderful evening.

Sunday morning began with a nice, continental breakfast and a devotional led by one of Gerhard's cousin (who is a headmaster at a school in Johannesburg). For lunch, we went to the local restaurant at the resort. We ordered our meals beforehand, not wanting to overwhelm the small restaurant and its staff. It was nice to have a meal together in the restaurant that overlooked a dam. After lunch we all went off and had some free time before dinner. I went to the pool and read, fell asleep under a palm tree, and was woken by Gerhard and Marlize (with a refreshing splash of water) who came to go swimming. After another nice swim, we went to the family unit for dinner. Before dinner, we played a gift exchange game. We were each asked to bring something for about R20 ($2-3) to contribute to the game. The game was kind of like an American Christmas exchange game. We all put the presents in the middle of the circle and passed around a dice. If you rolled one or six you could go pick out a wrapped present, unwrap it at your seat and put it in front of your feet (until all of the presents were gone and some people had more than one). The next round was timed at 15 minutes and allowed you to take someone else's present if you rolled a one or a six. Certain presents were tugged back and forth throughout the round. For the final round, if you rolled a one or six and had a present (or many) in front of you, you could take one and leave the game (placing the other presents left in the middle). If you didn't have a present in front of you and you rolled a one or six, you could take it from someone else and leave the game. We had a grand old time with the game! I won Onkel Theo's jojoba palm (useful for the upcoming winter in the Northern Hemisphere). After dinner, we went back to the campfire and sang songs under the stars!

On Monday, we went for a swim in the morning, packed up and had a final breakfast together… a nice end to a wonderful weekend! Overall, I really appreciated being included in the weekend. Magadalena's family is really lovely - such nice, "down to earth" people. I admire their appreciation for their strong German heritage and their "closeness" with one another. I enjoyed getting to know many of the family members over the weekend too. And as always, I had a great time with Gerhard and Marlize!