Sharks & Canopy Tours

Now that I’ve given a detailed account of my clinical experience, I want to share about my fun weekend with you.

On 10/25, our entire group went to Durban to see the Currie Cup Final, which is basically like the Superbowl of rugby. The Sharks of Kwazulu-Natal (KZN), the province we’re living in right now, were playing the Blue Bulls of Pretoria, which is one of the capitals of South Africa about 6 hours away from PMB. Based on our location, we were definitely supporting the Sharks. So we got all geared up the Sharks colors, black and white, and headed off to Durban for a few hours of street shopping before the game. As we drove into the city, we were overwhelmed with rugby spirit. The entire city was covered in either blue or black paraphernalia, depending on the team being supported. After surviving the shopping chaos, we drove over to the ABSA stadium into an even greater mess of people. It was totally packed and there were drunk people tail gaiting all over the place; no different than any other huge American sporting event! Every single person there was decked out in their team colors and extremely pumped to watch rugby. The stadium was huge and almost every seat was filled. I’m not a huge sports fan, but even this was exciting to me. Once we found our seats, which (of course) were situated right in the middle of a bunch of Blue Bulls fans, we started the face painting process. I painted Mandy’s face half black, half white while she painted stripes on my cheeks and wrote “Sharks” on my forehead. We wanted to make it very clear to the Blue Bulls around us that we weren’t a part of their crowd. The game started off pretty cool. A bunch of planes flew over the stadium, sky divers started flying down onto the field, and abseilers lowered themselves all around the stadium. The game itself was pretty intense and I was confused most of the time (I’m still working on understanding football), but it was a ton of fun. For those of you who have never seen a rugby game, let me explain to you my interpretation of what happens. The goal of the game is to get the ball to one end of the field by either running with or passing it. So that’s just like football, right? Well the similarities stop there. First of all, let me establish the fact that these are beastly guys who don’t wear any kind of protective gear like American football players. They just use their bodies as battering rams against other guys’ bodies with the hopes that their bones will stay intact. Second of all, just because you get tackled doesn’t mean the game stops. It just means that more and more guys pile on top of each other until the ball is wiggled out to another player who then proceeds to run with it. Thirdly, there are not a million time-outs like football; there are two 40-minute halves and they generally last 40-45 minutes each. Injured players are left to fend for themselves on the field. The only time the game stops to help them is if they’re in the way of the play; then they HAVE to be moved haha. Fourth, if the game stops due to an “infringement,” they do this thing called a “scrum” where they huddle in this massive group and push on each other for possession of the ball. It’s hilarious. Fifth, if they don’t want the players to steal the ball from them, they’ll kick it out into the crowd. This would result in a turnover to the other team anyway, so I didn’t quite get this tactic. Sixth, they don’t have offensive and defensive teams; they’re all one big group and are required to play any position needed. Oh they also do this really cool thing when the ball is kicked out where they lift up players to try to get possession of the ball. I know there are a lot more differences (like the shape/size of the ball, for instance), but I’m sure you all get the point. It’s really different than football…and a lot cooler. America needs to get with it and make it a national sport! Everyone at the game was way into it, which made me want to be more spirited too. The worst part of the game was when the Blue Bulls fans behind us spilled their beers all over our seats and feet, and then proceeded to blame it on the “stupid girl” next to them who happened to be in the restroom at the time. Anyway, the Sharks won! It was an awesome ending to my first rugby game. I definitely wouldn’t mind seeing another one.

On Sunday, 10/26, we had a completely different but equally fun adventure: Karkloof Canopy Tours! Like Durban, it took us about 1 ½ hours to drive there, but it was totally worth it. Karkloof Canopy Tours is situated in the middle of the second largest indigenous forest in South Africa, Karkloof Forest. So I’m sure you Americans are wondering what exactly canopy tours are (because if you’re like me, you’re probably thinking this is a tour of the plains of Africa to see all of the wild animals haha). Well, basically canopy tour in South Africa is just another name for a zipline. The entire slide is 1 kilometer long and is divided into 8 separate slides of varying lengths. The slides are as high as 35 meters (105 ft) and as long as 175 meters (725 ft). They take you from wooden platforms hidden in the tree tops (kind of like tree houses) past a sheer cliff face and a beautiful cascading waterfall. Oh and it’s the biggest canopy tour in Africa! So we got the usually safety talk, signed out lives away on some contract, got all harnessed in, and then were off to the top of the mountain. We rode in a 4x4 up an incredibly bumpy road, which we’re pretty used to after being in PMB for over a month where all of the roads are crazy. Ten minutes later, we arrived at a hidden, muddy trail and hiked our way up to the first wooden platform. Just like abseiling, I got picked to go first (of course). The guide hooked me in, placed one of my hands on the rope above me and one on the top of my harness, said “bye bye,” pushed me off the platform, and I went screaming over the top of the Karkloof forest. For once in my life, I wasn’t scared about being up so high; I was screaming out of pure joy. The only unfortunate part about the whole experience was that I couldn’t seem to get a hang out the braking system. To brake, you’re supposed to pull down on the rope; however, I wasn’t very good at judging the distance between myself and the platform, so I would almost run the guides down every time I landed (and nearly run into the platform in the process). I actually found it pretty funny, but the guides failed to see the humor in it. Oops!

Anyway, that was my weekend. I made some memories that I will never forget. When I have some more time, I will tell you about my new clinic that I went to this past week. Please continue to pray that I will be the hands and feet of Christ as I work in the community here!