a day in the life of...

Tuesday 21st September 2010:

Yesterday I took a leisurely stroll to Safeway (kind of like a Pick 'n Pay) to pick up a few things. The sun was out and it was a good day to go for a walk. Who knew that you can now buy apple slices in a supermarket?!? These goodies are ready-made (i.e. sliced) individually wrapped and ready to go. In what world, I cry, do we not have time to slice our own apples??!!! In what world are we wasting that amount of plastic in order to package a single apple slice??!!! Ours.

After getting what I needed (which, I might add, took a while to find: I was asked by a shop assistant if I needed help finding something, and I politely replied that I was fine and would manage to find what I was looking for - hoping that I would discover its location on one of the display boards above the aisles. Needless to say, I wandered around for another few minutes before I eventually stumbled upon what I was looking for. You see, the things I was looking for were... well, let's just say Safeway calls them Feminine Products - or something along those lines. The shop assistant who asked me if I needed help was (you guessed it) male. And call me old fashioned, but I didn't REALLY feel like asking him where I could find "feminine products". Anyway, he ended up walking past me (twice) while I was standing in front of all the "feminine products" deciding which ones to buy. Gotta love how life has a knack of doing things like that.

I then grabbed a Chai Tea Latte at Starbucks on my way out, and headed back towards campus. I would like at this point to make special reference to Revolution Cafe in Grahamstown, South Africa: There just isn't anywhere else - probably in the whole word, but certainly in South Africa and America (America being Starbucks) - that makes a better Chai Tea Latte than that little restaurant in that little town. I have yet to find a better Chai Tea Latte!

Anyway, I decided to wander into the State Capitol park (right across the road from campus, where the capitol building is located), and found a bench to sit on and have some alone time! It was nice to just chill a bit and think about things (whilst drinking my less than satisfactory Chai Tea Latte). No sooner had ten minutes passed than a guy named Sean, who is in my French class, cycled past and stopped to say hi. An hour and fifteen minutes later, we said goodbyes and parted ways! Turns out we had a lot to talk about! :) But it was definitely one of those unexpected moments or conversations that leave you feeling like a more enriched individual.

After dinner (there's that word again), I went to an address given by a guy named John Perkins who has just written a book called 'Hoodwinked' and also wrote a book called 'Confessions of an Economic Hitman' (which was on the New York Times bestsellers list for seventy weeks!) He is a fascinating man who spoke about what we (as a human species, but specifically as the USA) need to do in order to change the current state of the world, especially in terms of the current environmental damage and social injustice. It was a truly thought-provoking address, and was given by someone who really knows what he is talking about (as an "economic hitman", he used to work for big corporations and seek out countries with coveted resources. These countries would be given "loans" (that went into the pockets of a few) by corporations who knew full-well they would never be able to pay them back. The corporations would then extract the resources that they wanted all along as payment for the loans). Scary stuff.

Unfortunately I was unable to stay for the question and answer session, as I was meeting some friends to go downtown for movies! Willamette is located right next to downtown Salem (as in, we are basically IN downtown Salem), which is really awesome as this means that most of the coffee shops, restaurants, shops, bars and businesses are within walking distance. This includes Cinebar - a really nifty movie theatre where you can have a full meal served to you while you watch a movie. In front of each row of seats there is a long table on which you can rest your meal, popcorn, drink, etc. Waiters come in during the movie to check for order slips and then bring you whatever it is that you want (well, if it's on the menu). Myself and a French girl Stephanie decided to order some popcorn together. Little did we know that we would be receiving a whole giant bowl of popcorn! Talk about giving new meaning to a "large popcorn"! We watched 'Inception', which is an absolutely PHENOMENAL movie that everyone should watch. It is brilliant on so many levels and will completely blow your mind.

And there ends a day in the life of Hanna B. I crawled into bed around 1am with the feeling that it had been a GOOD day.

'Til next time...

A Singers' Retreat, an Open Mic, a Football game and Oktoberfest.

As usual, I am horribly behind with my blogging and have far too much to report than is possible to write on one blog post without boring you all to death, tears or some other awful fate. Instead of harping on about any number of things that I could, I will just give a few highlights of the past two weeks or so...

Last weekend I went away with the Willamette Singers on a retreat (and have been teased endlessly about "singers retreat"/ "jazz camp"/ "band camp" by church friends). Needless to say, the retreat was lots of fun. It involved plenty of rehearsal time, as well as time getting to know one another. I am really happy to be a part of this group, as it is comprised of really great guys and gals who are fun to be around, and the group singing is so much fun! I have not done serious group singing since Primary school (many years back!), and so it is really wonderful to be doing it again. The jazz melodies, rhythms and harmonies we work with are awesome...and very intricate! So it is quite a challenge keeping up with all the music. Singers comprises 16 actual singers (4 basses, 4 tenors, 4 altos, 4 sopranos) and then a small rhythm section. At the moment I am playing piano on one of the songs; I'm really glad that I get to keep up my piano playing too!

Another highlight was an Open Mic Night that happened last Thursday (the 16th) on campus, and in which I performed! I sang a Xhosa song called Yakhal Inkomo, and I think people were generally impressed with all the African clicks coming out of a white chick's mouth. :) It was fun to do a bit of performing, and I even got to do it on a piano!

On Saturday I watched my first American football game! This was certainly an experience, and probably not one that I will hurry to repeat. Jokes, that sounds terrible. But in all honesty, it did ignite the fires of patriotism within me as I longed for good South African rugby. Ja, nee... Firstly, American football is slow...tiresomely so: there is a lot of stopping and starting, and not a whole lot of movement. Secondly, there are generally between 65 to 70 people in a team, or in Willamette's case 99 players! Come on! In other words, players are constantly being switched and swapped on and off the field, so that it is near impossible to keep track of who is doing what and in which position...ahem. In addition, this means that throughout the game, the side of the field is lined with footballers, making it (at times) difficult to actually keep your eyes on the real action (for obvious reasons...wink wink, nudge nudge). And finally, the game is VERY long; it seems to go on for hours. This is why, as I was politely informed yesterday by a fanatic football fan at church in his attempts to convince me that I simply need to watch a "real" football game in order to grasp its glory, it is fun (perhaps even necessary or at least recommended) to "tailgate" in between: i.e. barbecue during, in between, and after the football game. This leads me to conclude that in many respects watching American football is all about the experience - one which eludes me for the moment, but watch this space! There is yet hope!

Yesterday consisted of church, Oktoberfest (ironic) and lots of socialising with church peeps. It seems to be fast becoming a Sunday staple to stay out all day with friends from church, and arrive home in the late hours of the night, having done not a drop of work all day. A very out-of-character habit to be adopting, but hey, I'm abroad! ;) Anyway, yesterday was no different. After church I hit Oktoberfest with Moritz (an actual German, who could not stop complaining about the inauthenticity of the whole thing - especially the misspelling of words, which I must admit was a bit of a poor show) and friends from church. It was nice to get out of Salem a bit and explore a different town (Mount Angel in this case). The town is tiny, and pretty much all the streets (of which there are probably only about four) were closed in order to house food and clothing stalls, wine and beer gardens, and other forms of entertainment and general merriment. We had lunch there and wandered around a bit, seeing what was on offer. The remainder of the afternoon was spent chilling at various homes, playing games, watching a movie, and partaking in other enjoyable activities. 

A new week has begun on my AfricanAmerican Adventure, and who knows what it may hold? :) I will probably be starting an internship this week at the Statesman Journal (one of the newspapers here in Salem). The internship is part of my Politics course (making up the bulk of it), and I look forward to getting some good practical writing experience, and discovering (or coming closer to such) whether or not journalism is a potential career path for me! (This will be most helpful in deciding what it is that I actually plan on doing next year. No pressure).

Thanks for tuning in!

Living on the eDgE! And LABOUR DAY weekend.

I am proud to report that I have just arrived back from a somewhat spontaneous trip to Portland! Yes, it seems that when one is abroad the juices of spontaneity will flow. And I'm sure many of you are thinking - "finally"! (Ok, maybe just Amz and Niks...but still). So my partner in crime on this spontaneous expedition was my German friend Moritz. We left after class - around 11ish, and then I managed to get a lift back with someone after lunch, which was REALLY fortuitous, since the original plan included a rushed shopping spree for Moritz and then rushing back to Salem so that I could be back in time to leave for the Willamette Singers retreat (which runs from 17:20 today until 17:00 tomorrow). All around I feel it was a good decision to go to Portland (not one done without a notable amount of agonising over whether or not it was a good idea).

But enough about my little achievement...I have not updated my blog in a while, and so have a few new adventures and stories to share. Last weekend was Labour Day Weekend in the US - meaning that Monday was a public holiday - right on! :) Friday saw the international group being taken to the Oregon State Fair by our peer advisors. This was indeed fun, although I didn't venture onto any of the rides. Just walked around, checking out the scene (read: people) and examining a bunch of farm animals. Ja, for some reason people enjoy looking at pigs, goats, horses, cows, bunnies, sheep... in pens. I know what you're thinking...Hickville, right? There was even some kind of a sheep competition in which contestants lined up with their sheep (who were the real contestants), to show them off, and also did various things around an enclosed area. Weird.

I had my first all-American corn dog though! That was pretty exciting...well, up until I took the first bite and my arteries started screaming. A sausage (the contents of which are probably inappropriate to post on a public website), covered in a dough-like/bread-like/batter-like coating (uh, that would be the 'corn' part). Seriously? Oh well, at least I can say that I tried one, even if I have gone up a few dress sizes in the process. Speaking of going up a few dress sizes, the other discovery that we made were things called Elephant Ears...totally worth the calories (unlike the travesty that is the corn dog). Elephant Ears are basically just a soft, thick dough-like substance covered in cinnamon and sugar (and various other toppings). Kind of a very thick and large pancake, but really delicious and probably way more fattening. Oops, there goes another button.

On Saturday it was all aboard the train to Portland! Train trips are and always will be something fun, adventurous, and generally filled with feel-good feelings (maybe not the Paris underground - so I've been told). Upon arrival in Portland we took a brisk walk to the Saturday Market - so great! Browsed the stalls, chatted to some Americans, and ate of course! (pretty much all I've been doing since I got here. what a surprise). After getting lunch at the Saturday Market (a wrap from a Greek stall, plus more elephant ears!) we headed to the Pioneer Mall. Downtown Portland is really great, and fun to walk around in - cool city vibe, but not too hectic. After attempting some shopping (and I say ATTEMPTING because I was hopelessly unsuccesful in my shopping endeavours, and left Portland with NOTHING to show for it whilst everyone else picked up really cute things...sigh....I'm just not a gifted shopper), we headed to Powell's Book Store. WOW. Probably the size of a small country, Powell's Books is something to behold. Selling new and used books of all shapes, sizes and subjects, it is the kind of place in which I could get happily lost for days. Now there is a place where I would enjoy spending money (not that I did spend any money, but hey, details).

After experiencing the majesty and magnitude that is Powell's we ambled along the streets of Portland, and just happened to stumble upon (read: found on the map and hurried along to it) a Ben & Jerry's! Oh, look! Another place to buy calorie-filled food - hooray! This was quite exciting though, as I don't think I have ever had Ben & Jerry's before. And, wow! Now I can understand why women have secret love affairs with Ben & Jerry. I particularly enjoyed the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Butter Pecan flavours. Our delectable and decadent ice-creams were enjoyed on a patch of grass in a park nearby. And so, with our stomachs full and our wallets empty (well, some wallets), we boarded the train back to Salem after a fun day in the city.

On Sunday I visited a church called Church on the Hill with my friend Moritz. (As an aside, Moritz is a great Christian guy from Germany (also an international student at Willamette), who did a YWAM DTS in Australia in 2005. He met a young American guy on this DTS, and is now staying with this guy's family in Salem for the next year. Small world). I REALLY enjoyed Church on the Hill, and think I may have found a home.  :) There are a lot of young people, everyone is really friendly and open, and there is a real community feel in this church. After worship there is always a coffee and cookies break (hey, look at that, more eating), and there are even tables interspersed among the rows of chairs upon which you can rest your coffee cup and notebook). Neat!

After church Moritz's "mom" invited me over for lunch - yummy Thai food. I spent the afternoon at their house (along with some of their friends from church), just hanging out and chatting. We then went to another young guy's house, where we watched a DVD, ordered pizza and celebrated a farewell with a bunch of the church peeps a little later on. Bottom line is that I have met some really great Christian people, and so will probably continue attending this church with Moritz.

Once again this is turning out to be a really long post that you busy people probably don't have the time to read! Oops! In just over an hour I leave for the Willamette Singers retreat. This promises to be a fun time, as the group is a really great and mixed group of people (we even have the Rugby captain in Singers! Not that rugby is anywhere near as big as football over here, but still, I thought it worth a mention). I will be back tomorrow evening to continue with weekend festivities this side (whatever that entails), and maybe do some homework too. Maybe.

Thanks for tuning in...

P.S. I would like to give a special shout-out to my aunt Helen all the way in Kirstenhof, Cape Town. Helen is celebrating her 50th birthday this weekend! Happy Birthday Helen! Woop! You legend you. Enjoy the party! Will be thinking of you all. Lots of love.

Blog Design - so many options!

As you may have noticed, I am experimenting with different designs for my blog (duh).
Comments and suggestions as to which designs you prefer/ think best/ find easiest to read, etc would  be most welcomed! I'm not entirely sure what look I am going for, as I find that the looks I like aren't always the best in terms of reading and accessibility.

Look forward to hearing your insightful and helpful remarks!

Hanna's most DARING move of the DAY.

So it was around 19:15, my politics class had just finished, and I still had to grab dinner (I can't believe I just wrote dinner by default instead of supper! The adoption of foreign vocabulary creeps in insidiously). Most students had eaten already (including all those that I actually know or have met already), except of course the football players who had just come in from practice.

Since I really did not feel like eating my evening meal alone, I ventured timidly into the biggest area of the dining hall (after THOROUGHLY - and I mean thoroughly - checking whether or not there were any familiar faces in the smaller sections), only to be greeted by tables upon tables of over-sized males. What did I do? Why, I seated myself next to two of the enormous specimens and relied on the fact that I was a foreigner to not make it seem completely strange (which I have, by the way, been doing often for the past week. Let's face it, taking a photo of a self-service electronic check out thingy in a store is not usually considered a normal, non-criminal activity).

Anyway, I am pleased to report that it worked! PHEW! They were very friendly and even waited for me to finish eating...which took a while since I was chatting away nervously - well, maybe not so nervously if I'm to be really honest (I just like the way it sounded in the sentence).

There ends my most daring moment of the day - I hope it riveted you all as much as it did me.

Opening Days!

Opening Days is the name given to the days dedicated to orienting Freshmen before the start of the school year. So on Thursday morning, a serene and unsuspecting Willamette campus was flooded with its 2010 freshmen intake. You can imagine the shock it experienced...and this is saying nothing of the shock that all the international students experienced when a campus that they had formerly shared with mainly football and soccer players who were back early to kick-start training (hardly an inconvenience ), was completely overrun by vast numbers of enthusiastic and nervy first years (and their equally enthusiastic and nervy parents). Horror of horrors!

Many of us internationals (as we are fondly known) are sharing rooms with freshmen...me included. My roommate is a sweet girl from San Francisco, California. Nevertheless, it is a challenge to share a room and to be sharing a bathroom with a whole corridor of girls, after having lived off-campus for nearly two years in a gorgeous home with an enormous bedroom. But, challenge can never be a bad thing! 

The last few days have involved lots of different activities, although they are mainly geared towards the freshmen, so us internationals haven't had to attend everything and most of the activities are optional. I attended the opening convocation (at which a neuro-scientist and author - Jonah Lehrer - gave a truly excellent speech), as well as what is known as the Matriculation Ceremony - which is a welcoming ceremony at which the student body president speaks (an enormous and very huggable football player by the name of Walter)  and everyone gets to shake the hand of the university President. Hooray! After the ceremony there was a ridiculous spread of variously flavoured ice-creams and toppings to be had. We (internationals) then went to a party off-campus - the second one in a row, which is why I gave last night's party a miss!

Saturday saw us hiking in Silver Falls State Park. Well, "hiking"...more like walking 3kms in the forest. Still, it was beautiful, with many waterfalls and pretty trees...and great conversation with different people. A few transfer students have joined our group, one of whom is a girl named Lisa (also from San Francisco) who has actually been living in Cape Town this year doing volunteer work and has a South African boyfriend! So it has been fun and interesting chatting to her about the beautiful city and her experience of South Africa. We were also hosted by Willamette alumni for dinner last night as part of our opening days (and this was done for ALL the different freshmen groups too...Willamette really does go all out!)

I went to church with my friend Scott yesterday (Scott was at Rhodes last year on exchange and is at Willamette - yay!). It was awesome to worship and hear the word. Church was followed by brunch on campus, and then I spent most of the afternoon practicing piano! Something that I need to be doing more of! It was great to sit at a piano for that length of time - I can't remember when last I did that.

Last night was the Decades Dance... a dance on campus that involves everyone dressing up in a costume representing the 60s, 70s or 80s. A bunch of us girls got ready together, and Heidi (an exchange student from Finland) did my hair...she created an epic 'bubble' (Carlton Cousin would have been impressed!), which matched perfectly with my 50s/60s look. The dance was fun, and mostly hip-hop and R&B music was played - my favourite! Sister Mary, we need to jam in the USA! :)

Watched a movie tonight with a bunch of the international students. There is a movie theatre in one of the buildings here (obviously used also for lectures, etc) where students are able to watch movies at their leisure. Wow! Oh ja, and if I thought the food was something to behold, turns out I 'aint seen nothing yet, since the menu they were serving during our orientation week isn't half as good (or varied! the variety is truly staggering!) as what they are serving now that school is starting. AND, get this, breakfast runs from 7am until 10am!!! So you can feel free to have a li'l lie-in.

Classes start tomorrow! Looking forward to settling into more of a routine! This past week has been great, but exhausting at times. It will be nice to have a  bit of normality thrown into the mix.

'Till next time...
P.S. I promise to try and post more regularly so that you don't have to spend hours wading through my entries!

Where in the WORLD is Hanna B?

Hanna B is in the United States of America...and yet seems to have fallen off the technological radar somewhat; ironic. Apologies to all those who may have logged onto this blog expecting something more exciting and informative! Things have just been completely hectic this week: a jam-packed schedule, coupled with a hint of jet-lag and more than a hint of a time difference (9 hours to be exact), makes for one very exhausted South African! But I promise to be more committed to my blogtivity as soon as things start to settle into more of a routine. For now, a brief summary of the past couple of days:

So far this week has been all about orienting the international students! There are over sixty of us, making us the largest group that Willamette has ever hosted. It has been completely awesome meeting people from all over the world, and it is really a great group of people. Orientation has involved administrative stuff (yawn), tours of campus and town (fun), a dinner out in the town at a coffee shop called the Ike Box that is also a non-profit organisation and has a stage with loads of concerts and open mic nights (very cool, Hanna is immediately paying attention), and today a trip to...drum-roll please...the  beach! (And the crowd goes wild) Or the Oregon Coast. Despite the fact that there was an icy wind blowing, it was a wonderful day, and the Oregon Coast really is beautiful. In fact, Oregon in general is a stunning state. Lots of trees, rivers, open spaces...and other such good and pleasurable things. I braved the freezing cold water (my dad - who swears by cold showers in winter -  would be so proud), and can now say that I have swum in the Pacific Ocean! Hooray. (After that glorious swim, and truly, it was glorious, I was completely freezing and have never been more grateful for dry underwear and a hot drink...it's the simple pleasures).

What else is there to say? Willamette University campus is just as pretty as Oregon and Salem (the town in which it is situated). The lawns are as green as green can be, and beautifully tended, there are lots of trees, and even a creek running through it with big white deck chairs on which to pass the time. The food here is UNBELIEVABLE...SO fresh, such variety, an amazing salad bar (and Hanna goes wild), about 5 different salad dressings - as well as olive oil and balsamic vinegar, a fruit bar at breakfast with a variety of fruit already chopped up, a cappuccino machine, muffins, cookies, pastries, hot breakfasts, breakfast cereals, about 5 different sodas and fruit juices on tap, with their diet counterparts, a cappuccino machine...you get the picture. Indeed, the first world is certainly something to behold...the wireless internet access that is free, as well as free access to the gym and printing, are testament to this  (Rhodes students will appreciate exactly what this all means).

I hope this has given you all a bit of an idea of where I'm at and what I'm doing! I will upload photo's as soon as possible, so that you can have more than a bit of an idea of the above.

Thanks for tuning in!