Social Events

Wednesday:

We went to see traditional Afrikaners folk dancing called volkspele.

It is a combination of line dancing, waltzing, and polka dancing in a large circle.  We got to dance too, which was a lot of fun.  Your partner constantly changes and the dances are short and quick.  Most of the songs were sung in Afrikaans because it's a celebration of Afrikaner identity, but the tradition is only around a hundred years old.

The women wear prairie-like dresses with a single color pattern and the men wear a vest embroidered with flowers.  After the dancing they served about 6 different kinds of pudding which were delicious.

Thursday:

Meaghan and I got to hang out with a music student from the university, Yolande.

Yolande took us to a quaint little open air coffee shop called "Get Together" which I really liked.

In South Africa when you order filter coffee you get a choice of hot or cold milk to go with it.  Very civilized.

In the evening Yolande and her friend took us to a bar on Second Avenue (which is where all of the college bars are).  It was a lot of fun to be out and about at night because we have been pretty antisocial with the college kids here since we work and have evening research activities.

Saturday:

In the morning we went to the Bloemfontein Zoo with Wout and Niels.  A lot of the animals were missing limbs.  There was a huge leopard without a back leg, but he wouldn't pose for a picture.

I hope that we will see the same animals and more-in the wild-on our safari to Kruger National Park this weekend!

The international office hosted a braai for all the international students and some students from UFS who had recently studied in the US on Saturday night.  The girl beside Meaghan is Pashy and she was at Appalachian for two weeks in the beginning of October.

They spit braai-ed a whole lamb for us.
I enjoyed the vegetables.

It was the night before Halloween, so Meaghan and I wore witch hats to the party.