Good afternoon, blog!

Today's first order of business: through some internet black magic of sorts, a strange image of some man appeared in the header of my blog. I tried to remove him, but he's pretty intent on staying, so we have a new companion on this adventure. Welcome to the community, my forearm-tattooed friend.

It's been a busy couple of weeks and I've got a few good stories to share. Let me start with a backcountry hike I did with two married friends of mine, Sam and Fran, in one of Swaziland's national parks. In celebration of Sam's fortieth birthday (and perhaps in response to a mid-life crisis?), they decided to do a five day backcountry hike in the Drakensburg Mtns, where I went for a couple days (see previous entry). As a sort of trial run, they invited me to go with them to Malolotja for a two day and two night hike. Here's the trip in short: I lost my camera, I lost the rainfly to my friend's tent and we got lost and mistakenly crossed into South Africa--all-in-all, a successful trip! Despite all of that, it actually was a great trip.

Two friends and I spent some time recently in Mozambique getting scuba certified, which everyone needs to do. We swam with sea turtles, clown fish, stingrays, blowfish and a lot of other strange-looking creatures. It's strange to do something that defies nature. Human beings are not supposed to be forty feet under the water; it simply defies evolution, but with technology, we were able to and it was awesome.

Mallory (my roommate) and I are developing a strange relationship with the kids in our apartment complex. We've recently opened a video store based out of our apartment. Our selection, albeit a bit lacking--we only have one video, a fuzzy, pirated version of Up--is all the rave with the kids. Here are the rules: 1. video rental is free; 2. (a) the video must be returned within two days; (b) if renter returns video late, he or she is obligated to attempt one handstand. 3. all potential renters must create an account, which entails writing one's name on a scratch piece of paper.
Thus far, we've had eight successful rentals.

After meeting with the religious studies department at the University of Swaziland (UNISWA), I got approval to sit in on a Christian ethics course next semester, which will tie in nicely with my research. The chair of the department asked if I'd be willing to give a presentation to the department toward the end of my grant, which I gladly accepted. It's all very exciting. Soon enough, I'll start helping my tennis instructor to teach tennis at a few of the local schools, which will both be really fun and tie directly into my research. Two birds, one stone.

Hello, blog!

It's been a little while since I last posted - forgive my irregularity! Quite a bit has obviously happened since I last posted, but let me try to hit a few of the highlights.

A couple weeks ago, I went with another Fulbrighter whose focus is on Art History to one of the rural areas in the northwest side of the country. A highlight of the trip was visiting a homestead on which three brothers and their families live. Each of the brothers earn a living through their distinctive craft: one makes wooden bowls, another makes traditional Swazi mirrors for male warriors and the last makes traditional pillows, which are essentially an elevated wooden stool. Two of the brothers are in the photo below. They didn't speak English, so I had no real idea of what they were saying, but it was clear that they--at least in this moment--had a great relationship with one another. Bill interviews and videotapes them while they create their artwork to ensure that their craft does not die with them. t's a pretty worthwhile grant, I think.

Another great experience was also had in the rural area. In Swaziland, men can pledge to be warriors dedicated wholly to the monarch as an individual and the monarchy as an institution. The men, after pledging, are obligated to go through an initiation of sorts in which they learn warrior ritual, tradition and lifestyle. They're also able to go to special warrior camps to hang out for the rest of their life. Once a warrior, always a warrior. I was able to visit one of these areas and drink homemade beer (ntshwala) with them while they made lunch over the campfire. What an experience!
This past weekend was the much-anticipated ultimate frisbee tournament in Jo'burg, known as Rocktober (it always takes place in October - clever, eh?). While the tournament has been around for about fifteen years, this was Swaziland's first year to have it's own team - I'm making history over here, folks! Our team name was the Mbabane Mbananas. With such a name, I think it goes without saying that we weren't expecting to be competitive in the tournament. To our surprise, we won two out of the five games we played (I have to say it: I think we actually won three, but because of a controversial call in the last game, we technically lost. I just needed to vent for a second. Thanks for listening.) It was a blast. I'll definitely pursue frisbee once I get back to the States. Does this make me sound like a complete nerd? If one important lesson can be taken away from the tournament, it's this: don't let teammates paint a banana on your bald head on a sunny afternoon, otherwise you'll have a tanline in the shape of a banana.