2nd Email

So the first week of our trip whenever we ran into people they would ask us our plans for our stay. And whenever anyone mentioned that we would be staying in Langa for 4 weeks we got negative reactions. Well on Saturday I learned why. It is a stereotypical African neighborhood. The homes were built by the government I think in the 1980s and are very basic and apparently not very well built. The house I am staying in has 4 rooms: 2 bedrooms (one of them I have to myself as part of a condition of the program), A living/dining room, and a kitchen. There are 5 other people living in the house and all sharing the other room. The grandmother is my host mother along with 3 of her granddaughters and one great grandson. The girls are 22, 13, and 10 and the 22 year old has a 2 year old son who lives there as well. However I have only seen the 22 year old for about 10 minutes total. My room is infested with cockroaches and although gross, apparently are not harmful. The family is very nice and all of the people in the community are very friendly, although we have been warned about walking alone. I went to church with the family on Sunday and they translated the mass into English because another student and I were attending. The bathroom of the house is attached at the back and you sort of walk outside to get there. It does not have a shower, only a tub which apparently is quite common in the area. The grandmother does not speak much english and seems very tired most of the time. Her profession is baking cakes which she sells to school children. The 13 year old is very nice but also very quiet. Her english is probably the best in the home although she does not talk much. The 10 year old has pretty poor english but loves to follow me everywhere and constantly asks to use my electronics. The first thing they did was listen to my ipod until the battery died. It has been very hot here so it is a challenge to keep decent hygiene since although living in run down homes most of the people wear expensive clothing and drive bmw's. I am having a very hard time adjusting and and am in serious culture shock. Although all of the people are very friendly it is hard to walk down the street and have naked babies running unattended by the road or toddlers walking through glass in bare feet. The two year old at my house cries all of the time and I never know what to do. Everyone else ignores him but its so awful to hear. Unlike last time I am really missing home, although everyone says that this is the best part of the experience. Please send me updates from home, I need things to keep me sane. Also, I have a break most days from around 12-2pm where I can go to an internet cafe and skype. So if anyone is up at 5am I would love to see you.

Love you all,
Raissa