Edit below:

I know you all were dying for more pictures.  Here ya go, don't beg.





Another mom kid photo




rural home stay hut which if you have not read the story it's here on Jen's site

And here is the family with her friend Tess









Jennie walks to school with two young girls




Is this not beautiful?  Robben island with view of Table Mountain







ha ha




resettlement house.  Not a pretty South African site

I got to steal these from facebook.  She let me because of internet and camera issues.




Looks like someone is getting some action! Lizard porn?

Cool

Pretty bird

Please keep commenting on her site so she will keep updating when she can.  I really look forward to them and I know she likes to hear that people appreciate the effort.

http://www.xanga.com/sincerely_jennie

Edit"

She has actually written more about her Indian Family, please check out.

Thanks in advance.  It's very hard for her to get  the time and the computer access  to write these travel blogs, so please give her the props she deserves.

ps.  If you notice her hair is back in almost all the pictures.  That's because of lack of shower.  Jennie has long THICK hair.  It must suck.  I bet she takes like a two hour shower and then a bath when she gets home.

One month and three days and Jennie will be home. Right now she is  here in Eshowe.  This is where she will be living the next three weeks ( I think).  I think the prison is in Eshowe.  But of course every google link I go to makes the place sound like paradise. 

I have some pictures, she is having trouble uploading and some of these don't have captions, but you get the idea.

Jennie with her rural homestay sister

Don't know what the sticker is all about

Hugging prison people????????

waiting to take Zulu exams.  I guess she did well or I would have heard about it.

walking home from school.

Where Blood Diamond was filmed

Monkeys in the street

I guess this guy was in Blood Diamond.  The ladies remind me of how I pictured Jennie's mom's to look before she went ha ha ha.

awwwww.

To read about her adventures you will have to go to her site which is linked at the top of this blog.

Jennie ( who has updated by the way ), called me earlier.  She said she was going to be a Presbyterian.  At least that's what I heard. What she really said was she is going to be Pescotarian, which is a vegetarian who eats fish.  Let me preface what I am about to say, I have nothing against Presbyterians.  Some of my best friends are Presbyterians.  But I'm sorry, Jennie is Jewish.  I would like Jennie to stay Jewish.  Just as I am sure a Presbyterian mom would not be happy to hear that her child, who is in South Africa, was going to be Jewish, I was not really happy to hear Jennie was going to be Presbyterian.  Plus, we spent a small fortune on her Bat Mitzvah.  Maybe not as much as other members of the Jewish tribe, but in relative terms, it was a lot.  And Jennie is the most Jewish out of all of us ( including extended family.) She actually enjoys going to Temple!  So imagine my shock when she said she was going to be Presbyterian.  Going to church every Sunday with her families in SA is one thing, denouncing her Judaism is another.  If she does not want to eat cows and pigs, that's fine with me, but oie vey and nixay on the conversion thing.

Did anyone else see 20/20 on Friday?  I taped it, and just watched it.  There was the most disgusting segment about the those Haters who belong to that so called Fred Phelps " Church" where they picket dead soldiers funerals.  it was so scary.  If you want to be scared and missed it watch this clip.

 Told you it was scary!!!!!!!

Not only that they are unoriginal with their songs and can't even make up their own tunes.
In all seriousness, we need to be aware there are people like this in the world.

Yesterday I went to the dentist.  They no longer play mellow elevator music, they play late 70's early 80's music.  This stresses me out, as those were NOT relaxing years for me.  I think they should take that into account when choosing the music.

I like Journey is much as anyone, but not when I am laying in the dentists chair.

Jennie's new roommate

Just kidding, although he is a prisoner at the prison Jennie will be working at ( I think.)

He looks like a nice color coordinated man, don't you think? 

When Jennie was first talking about going to South Africa, we discussed the food issues.  Jennie and I both thought she would lose a lot of weight there because the food would be gross.  Then we learned you are force fed.  We weren't too worried because we figured they would be too poor to have a lot of food. 

Yesterday Jennie called me from her rural homestay.  Actually, I was shocked she got any reception since there is no electric or flush toilets.  Obviously there is a cell phone tower though.  Which I think is odd.

The first thing she told me was her "diet" was shot at the rural homestay.  She informed me that not only were you not allowed to have leftovers, due to no refrigeration
, ( not to mention it's rude) you also got fed way too much.  This might be okay for a week if the food was good.  For example, when your on a cruise ship, good food, 24 seven, you let yourself go. 
Unfortunately, Jennie whispered ( so as not to be overheard and offend) the food is NOT good and there is way too much.  She started listing a typical day and I made her stop so I could take notes.

Breakfast:  Porridge that looks like cream of wheat but tastes like crap unless you put tons of sugar in it.  Sour Milk.  Four pieces of buttered " toast" ( not made in toaster) eggs cooked in oil, french fries, and fried tomatoes.

Lunch is at school, but when they are home, it's two NOT Oscar Meyer, Bologna sandwiches with tons of mayo ( I didn't ask how that was kept cold, so I will have to ask ) Tea

After school snack: french toast ( very strange)

Dinner:  Huge Polish sausage, pap ( corn mash type thing) heaped in a huge pile on plate with some kind of spinach type vegetable on top.

After dinner snack or desert:  Popcorn with weird season salt.

Apparently dinner is around 8:00 pm. and bed time is around 8:30 pm.

She said all the food is lukewarm, due to the fact that they only have one burner so you can only cook one thing at a time. 

The rural homestay mom is apparently fat. 

I don't understand how you can be both poor and fat.  I think I would rather have a flush toilet and TV. rather than two not real Bologna sandwiches.

Admittedly I am not even close to being a skinny minnie myself, but that's because I can afford to be fat.  I have a flush toilet ( more than one in fact) and I have electric and several TV's.  I even have Cable, a DVD player and DVR.  This actually encourages me to eat a lot.  If I were poor however, I think I would be thin.

I also feel bad that no one has told the poor, fat, homestay mom, that eating late at night is bad, especially right before bed time. 

And it's not like they are eating in front of the TV.  I don't get it. 

Thankfully, Jennie is only there for a week.  Now when she goes back to the other homestay house, I don't think she will feel bad not cleaning her plate.  After all they have a refrigerator for left overs, and Jennie has been there long enough to tell the mom, it's not cool to stuff your face in America. 

Unless of course you have already enjoyed being thin in your youth, as I have, and now think you deserve to just let go.

And like I said, you have to be able to afford it.  It's hard for me to feel bad for the poor welfare moms who weigh 5,000 pounds, but now I know that's not unique to America. 

I have to give my kid credit though.  I could NEVER eat something I don't like.  I couldn't force myself, and I would throw up if I did.  I may be chunky, but I have my standards when it comes to food.  And Pap is definitely OUT.

I bet she never thought she would long for the yucky bathtub, but I think she is missing her "normal" homestay house. 

I will let you know when she has updated again so you can read the rural homestay stories yourself.

Till then, I am going to make myself some healthy Kraft Mac and Cheese, and call it a night.