What! No Combis?

Monday, February 9, 2009
We were supposed to go to Pendla today, but we soon learned that the Combi’s were not running (on strike). Although, since we did not hear horns honking and "downtown" being shouted every five minutes, we should have known. The private taxi service we were using drives vehicles similar to Combis so they were not running either for security purposes. Gary arranged for transportation to get all of us to school. Some of us road with him, some with Vilma and some through a different taxi service that didn’t look like the Combi’s. It was a long process since Gary and Vilma had to make multiple trips.
We had our first day of Jazz class with Lestie Hughes. The chalkboards rotate – when she runs out of space she just pushes the chalkboard up to reveal a whole new one! We learned some history, listened to some recordings, watched a home video and sang. We listened to the Tembu people who can sing 2 or more parts with different rhythms. It reminded me a lot of the Mongolian Singers that came to my High School! We learned London Burning (which I had not heard until last semester when I was shadowing a music class!) and then sang it in Xhosa! I felt slightly overwhelmed by the pace but overall I enjoyed the three hour class.
We went on the internet today. It was very slow. We couldn’t even get on facebook and it took forever to load an e-mail.
On Tuesday, the Combis still were not running so Gary arranged for us to have Senior Seminar at the church across the street which was very convenient.