Computer-less in Cape Town

Over the past weekend my computer began having technical difficulties, and it turns out SA has a woefully inadequate knowledge of Macs. Long story short, it will be a while until I get my laptop back. In the mean time I'm in the school computer lab writing a quick update.

The weather has been a roller coaster ride these past few weeks. Today it is 80 degrees and sunny...over the weekend it was rainy and cold. I think I definitely made the right choice to study in Cape Town (as opposed to Europe) because as soon as the weather gets even a little cool or grey I get tired and antsy.

Here are a few one sentence updates on various activities from the past week:

Aquarium Field Trip - My kids loved it and were well behaved - the sharks and giant eels were a hit - and we had a dance / pizza party on the Water Front afterwards.

National Gallery - Monday is free museum day in Cape Town and it was raining, so I spent the morning perusing the mostly modern (and kind of underwhelming) collection of the National Gallery.

Cafe Ganesh - A girls' night at this charming Middle Eastern cafe resulted in copious amounts of pita consumption and excellent conversation.

Kirstenbosch Hike - Yesterday was glorious, so I broke in my new safari hiking boots by heading around the mountain to Kirstenbosch gardens and enjoying a zen-ful picnic lunch and several hours of reading in the sun.

Fat Cactus Friday - Last Friday we had a Mexican-themed house dinner at Fat Cactus complete with many margarita toasts to the semester and general reminiscing.

Stay tuned for - Later today a few of us are going to high tea at the ritzy Mount Nelson resort, and on Friday we are having a massive Fall Feast potluck where we introduce our South African friends to the wonderful tradition of Thanksgiving. I'm responsible for dessert, so I sure hope South Africa knows about pre-made pie crust.

More to come when I can steal another minute at a computer. It's time to begin reflecting on the semester and exploring the bigger picture implications of my time spent in Cape Town. Expect a detailed post soon.

The End of Classes

Classes ended yesterday, and I still can't believe that my semester at UCT is drawing to a close. I am definitely ready to be done with the academic aspect of my semester abroad (the classes were boring and the university was basically just inefficient and disappointing), but I feel like there are still so many things I want to do while in South Africa.

Last Thursday my house went out for a fun Ethiopian dinner downtown. We ate tons of delicious food with our hands and enjoyed a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony after the meal. On Saturday a few of us took a minibus all the way into Cape Town to check out the District Six Museum. The story of District Six is really interesting. It was one of the original twelve districts of Cape Town, and it developed into a bustling poor / working class neighborhood where blacks, whites, colored people, Indians, and immigrants all lived together and interacted. It was one of the most diverse areas in Cape Town, with tons of racial and cultural exchange and a unique community feeling. But during the apartheid era the government declared District Six a white only zone and forcibly removed over 60,000 people. They bulldozed the entire area to the ground because the city council wanted to rebuild Cape Town according to modern principles of city planning - there are really eerie aerial pictures of this desolate, completely barren patch of land right in the middle of down town Cape Town. The people who were removed from District Six were of course separated into their respective races, and working class blacks ended up in squalid townships outside of the city. Anyway, the museum just tells the story of District Six and has lots of interesting information and testimony provided by ex-residents. We all learned a lot and had a fun time exploring.

On Monday evening we had another house dinner, this time at a game grill in Rondebosch. The specials include everything from ostrich to warthog (although I got a Greek salad and some stuffed mushrooms...after a brief flirtation with South African meat, I'm back to being almost completely vegetarian). People were moaning and groaning that the gourmet steaks were 120 rand - around 12 USD - and I am not looking forward to US prices. In particular I am going to miss the wonderful, cheap South African wine. High quality and delicious pinotage is only around 30 or maybe 40 rand a bottle, which is going to be hard to beat.

Last night we had our final CIEE dinner at a touristy place in Stellenbosch. There was a 30 meter long buffet with every type of African food you could imagine, and traditional African dancers entertained us while we ate outside under the stars. Cozy safari blankets and fires kept us warm, and everyone had a great time. To complete the night we went out for drinks and live music in Observatory.

Although I was thrilled to have my last UCT lecture yesterday, I have to say that I am not looking forward to leaving the kids I work with at Baphumelele. Over the past semester I have grown incredibly close with them, and several have asked me to adopt them. I can't wait to take them on the field trip to the aquarium this Saturday...hopefully it will be give them a break from their daily life at the children's home. I know that I am just one of a long string of American student volunteers who rotate through their lives every six months, but I really hope that I provided my kids with a few fun after school activities and memories. I can definitely tell that their English has improved a little bit, if nothing else. I will miss them a lot, and they definitely gave meaning to my time here in Cape Town.

I have a two week break here before my exams start, so I am planning to do as much as possible during that time. Some friends and I are trying to figure out a way to get out of Cape Town for a bit, so I will definitely keep everyone updated. Although this is the beginning of the end of my amazing experience in South Africa, I absolutely am going to make the most of the time I have left.

Robben Island

This past weekend I finally made it out to Robben Island - one of the most iconic / obligatory Cape Town sites. On Saturday we had a nice breakfast in Rondebosch and then took a cab down to the Water Front. Amazingly, I had not been back to the Water Front since my first day in Cape Town, and it was incredible to see what a change of perspective three months has given me. I really still can't believe what a beautiful place Cape Town is. The weather has also taken an unseasonably pleasant turn, with highs in the low 70s and plenty of sunshine. Anyway, from the Water Front we took a ferry out to the island. On the ride we managed to spot a few penguins swimming in the ocean. The island has an interesting ecological feeling that is quite different from the mainland. Due to the introduction of eucalyptus trees and rabbits, the island is incredibly dry...like a desert. In the 1970s they tried to set traps for the rabbit population, but rabbits can sense when they are being threatened and their defense mechanism is to multiply even more rapidly than usually. So basically there are rabbits EVERYWHERE. 

We took a bus tour around the island, which today still houses around 200 people. There is one school, one post office, and one grocery store. The main infrastructure of the island obviously revolves around the prison, where almost all of the most famous anti-apartheid and ANC members spent at least some time before the democratic transition. According to trusty Wikipedia, over 3,000 men were imprisoned there between 1961 and 1991 (women were kept elsewhere on the mainland). 

The highlight of the visit was a cell tour given by an ex-political prisoner. Our tour guide had been imprisoned for six years, and it was fascinating to hear an inside perspective of life on Robben Island. Life as a prisoner was brutal and humiliating, but the men found ways to secretly communicate and even continue their studies. We visited Mandela's cell, and it was smaller than I ever imagined. The fact that he could spend 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment there and then re-enter South African society as one of the most dignified, effective, and forgiving leaders of the 20th century is really a testament to what a hero he is.

For the rest of the day we wandered around and explored the Water Front, followed by a delicious house dinner consisting of homemade pizza and a huge salad. Since then I've mostly been scrambling to finish up final papers and take last minute class tests - classes end in exactly one week! I definitely want to make the most of my time here as the entire experience begins to wind down, so hopefully I will have lots of interesting updates in the next couple of weeks. One of the things I'm looking most forward to is taking my Baphumelele kids on a field-trip to the Cape Town Aquarium a week from Saturday! For now though, it's time to do a bit of reading and figure out tonight's dinner plans. Adios!

Rainy Days

Sorry about the lack of updating - the South African internet provider my house uses has disabled the use of all google applications including Gmail (and my USC email) and blogger.com. I'm stealing a few minutes between classes here on campus to update using the UCT network. 

Fall is slowly settling down here in Cape Town, and days are getting rainy and shorter. We still do what we can to get out and do interesting things. Last Monday night we went down to Long Street to hear my friend's brother perform stand-up comedy at Zula Lounge. Parts of it were pretty darn funny, and it was definitely something different. During last week very little eventful happened. There were TWO public holidays...one last Monday and one on Friday. On Friday my house had a huge braai to celebrate. We were only allowed to invite South Africans (no other study abroad students), so it was a great way to meet people. The party started at around 10:00 in the morning with a pancake breakfast with my housemates. Other people started trickling in around noon, and the meat was cooking on the braai from 1:00 to 5:00. Braai is an amazing word. It's an adjective (as in braai meat or braai seasoning), a verb (let's braai or I'm going to braai up this lamb), and also a noun with several different meanings (the braai is the grill itself as well as the process of having a barbeque). All in all the day was fun and relaxing.

On Saturday a few of us tried to go scuba diving near Simon's Town in False Bay. Now I knew the water was going to be really, really cold, but I could not possibly have expected exactly what the experience of diving in that water would be like. I've dived in San Diego before where the water was around 60 degrees, and that was painful. But when I first rolled off the boat and hit the 46 degree water of the Western Cape, I had to stifle a scream. I basically had a miserable time and thought I was going to die the entire dive, and my buddy and I had to come up early together because we were just too cold. The worst part was we couldn't see anything. There was some pretty soft coral and a few sponges, and that was literally it. Although we had signed up from a second dive, not one of us could face going in that water again, so we all went and had lunch while the rest of our group dived yet again. In our defense, the other people we were diving with had dry suits, while we were outfitted in old smelly wetsuits and weren't even given gloves. Oh well, it was a crazy experience and definitely rivaled the bungee jump in terms of wildest things I've done here. 

On Saturday night my house went to a fun African drumming concert at a cool venue called The Assembly in downtown Cape Town. Everyone had a great time, and we all went for some late night falafel on Long Street after the show.

I'm definitely getting a bit antsy now that the weather is cooling off and the end of the semester is in sight. As much as I love Cape Town, I'm really beginning to miss my independence. As a girl, I'm getting tired of not being able to take public transportation by myself or walk anywhere after 6:00 PM (which is when it gets dark now). I've experience most of the easily accessible things that there are to do and see around Cape Town, and I have to say I'm itching to go farther afield and have new experiences. Unfortunately, this would require getting a liked-minded group of people together, and everyone is quite busy with the last three weeks of classes coming up. 

It's time to go to my philosophy class and debate about free will and Schopenhauer. Hopefully it won't be so long until my next update!

Happy Election Day

Happy Election 2009! Tomorrow South Africans will be going to the polls to vote in their fourth democratic elections since the end of apartheid in 1994. For my Thinking in the Social Sciences class, I was required to write a paper arguing which political party I would vote for. Here is a copy of the paper for anyone who wants to learn a bit more about South African politics. Whenever it seems like I go off on tangents about identity and patriarchialism and symbolism it's just because the class required it...I didn't mean any of it (especially the part about wanting to vote for Helen Zille because she's a woman - the professor is just a raging feminist). 

The Case for COPE: A Critical Analysis of the 2009 Election Parites

As an exchange student from the US, it has been fascinating for me to observe the election season unfold here in South Africa. I have been impressed by the free and open democratic dialogue – including lively debates surrounding Zuma’s indictment and the government’s decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa. After carefully researching the many parties and candidates running in the upcoming election, I would argue that voting for COPE makes the most sense in terms of South Africa’s current political landscape. Using concepts including patriarchialism, race, and political identity, I will examine the advantages and disadvantages that accompany a vote for the ANC, DA, or one of the smaller minority parties. Ultimately, I conclude that COPE offers the best chance for South Africa to move forward in a constructive manner.

According to the South African Elections Statistics Centre, the four most visible parties in terms of media coverage are overwhelmingly the ANC (at 55%), COPE (22%), DA (13%) and IFP (6%). From a pragmatic standpoint, I would not want to waste my vote on some tiny opposition party that is ill-equipped to make any real policy impact, so I focused my research on these four parties. A quick scan of general reference sources identified the IFP as a rather unorganized Zulu dominated party formed in response to the ANC. A few years ago, MP Gavin Woods, a well-respected IFP member, claimed the party had no discernible vision or mission, no clear national ambitions or direction, and no articulated ideology offering current, vibrant policies (Jan-Jan Joubert 2005). The 2009 IFP manifesto confirmed this sentiment: while the party has sweeping political goals, it doesn’t give evidence of specific programs or policies. While I respect the opposition role the IFP has assumed, I quickly turned my attention to the three most serious players in the upcoming election: the ANC, DA, and COPE.

For a liberal Westerner like me, voting for the ANC and Zuma would not be an option. The rape charges, the allegations of racketeering and corruption, the dirty arms dealing, the polygamy – I have been raised in a political climate where any one of these things would make a candidate ineligible for office. I understand why many poor black South Africans feel compelled to vote for the ANC. This party is supposed to represent their interests. ANC politicians share their same roots, and the ANC was obviously instrumental in fighting against oppression and apartheid. For many black South Africans, their racial identity is inextricably linked with their political identity as ANC members. They feel that not voting for the ANC would be tantamount to betraying their identity as proud black South Africans.

However, in her insightful article Will South Africa's poor always back ANC?, Rebecca Harrison points out that the most loyal ANC voters are, ironically, the ones who have been let down most bitterly by the party. Harrison quotes COPE’s presidential candidate Mvume Dandala, who explains, “It’s like an abused wife – you get beaten every day but you keep going back to this man. And deep in your mind there’s something that says, were it not for this man I would probably never have been married.” In this way, the hold that the ANC has over the poor black majority is similar to the way that so many oppressed females still buy into systems of patriarchialism. Women are socialized to accept this world of male domination, and everywhere symbols and traditions entrench this system as seemingly natural and beneficial for women. Similarly, the ANC uses symbolism to remind South Africa’s poor black that the party understands them. Zuma kicks his legs and dances in the traditional tribal manner at party rallies, singing the freedom-fighter anthem “Bring Me My Machine Gun.” Even though service delivery has progressed at an unacceptably slow pace over the past decade, many blacks cannot tear themselves away from the ANC, because they could not bring themselves to leave this party that they know and understand.

So although an ANC victory and Zuma presidency seem inevitable, the big question for this election will be whether COPE and the DA can draw enough votes to overcome a two-thirds ANC majority. This would be a particularly important step for South Africa, as vibrant political opposition is the best mechanism to ensure adequate service delivery and transparency on behalf of the majority government. In looking at the DA platform, I have to say I was definitely influenced a bit irrationally by the fact that Helen Zille is a woman. It’s tempting for me, as a woman, to suppose that placing a strong female in power might be the answer to many of South Africa’s problems. Additionally, I was impressed by the clear policy goals laid out by the DA on the party website – for example, the DA’s Preparing for Success educational program lays out specific goals such as “introducing a per-child pre-school state subsidy,” and “ensuring that, within five years, South Africa has access to an additional 30 000 teachers a year.”

However, the DA will never pose a serious threat to the ANC as long as it is perceived as an elitist white party. I have several well-educated black friends at UCT who absolutely hate the DA and would never vote for it because they see it as representing white interests and perpetuating racism. As a result, the DA stands no chance of bridging the country’s racial gap. In fact, DA Youth Coordinator Siyabonga Nala recently left the DA and joined the ANC, claiming he sees “no hope for black people in the DA.” Regardless of whether the DA has good ideas for South Africa, I wouldn’t want to vote for a party that simply doesn’t resonate with almost 90% of the population. I believe the ANC has the potential to regain the legitimacy and standing it enjoyed in the Mandela days, but it needs enough political pressure placed on it that it is compelled to radically change course as a party, weeding out corruption and actually delivering on promises. The DA will never be able to draw enough black votes to fulfill this role.

However, COPE does have the potential to serve as this opposition party, forcing the ANC to get its act together. COPE’s policies and approach to politics may not be very different from the ANC’s, but that could actually be a good thing. In breaking away from the ANC, COPE altered its identity in a way that is still recognizable to many black South Africans. This identity shift was not a drastic conversion; rather, it was an alteration, a type of common social identity change that remains consistent within a generally understood framework. Because of this, black South Africans could theoretically imagine themselves voting for COPE while retaining their racial-political roots. In his new book Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa From Mandela to Zuma, Alec Russell explains that a lack of political competition to the ANC has resulted in the party’s recent stagnation. According to Russell, the ANC "is fighting to escape the shadow of so many other liberation movements that came to office with great dreams only to see them founder under the weight of unfulfillable expectations and against the backdrop of corruption, infighting, and misrule” (2009, 2). Russell’s prescription to this problem is the introduction of serious political opposition that will compel the ANC to get back on track.

Ultimately, my conclusion that a vote for COPE is the best option is based more on a structural analysis than on specific policy concerns. South Africa’s current democracy lacks any serious political opposition, which will allow the ANC to continue indefinitely in its current misguided direction. The DA will never appeal to the wider South African population, but COPE has the potential to do so. Once legitimate opposition is introduced to South African politics, it won’t matter what party is actually in power: that party will be forced to be more accountable for its actions, and voters will have a real alternative if the ruling party fails to deliver. While I don’t expect COPE to win the upcoming election, it would be great if it could at least make a dent in the ANC two-third parliamentary majority.

More About Spring Break

I've more or less recovered from the traumatic experience of having my spring break blog deleted, so it's time for me to write a little more about it.

To get to Sodwana Bay, I first flew to Durban, then took the BAZBus up to Coral Divers. BAZBus is the student and backpackers door-to-door hostel bus - it's a really cool concept and the people on the bus were all great, but it was a bit expensive. Once at Coral Divers, I was pleased with my accommodations in a huge single tent. I met my instructor and my University of Pretoria friends soon after arriving, and we planned out our dives for the week. Because I got my advanced scuba certification, I had to do several skill-based dives, including a deep dive, a peak performance buoyancy dive, and (my favorite) a fish identification naturalist dive. I learned so much about marine wildlife, and I can now tell the difference between Coachmen and Moorish Idols, spot various types of juvenile butterfly fish, and recognize whether a school of kingfish (also called jacks) are hunting or just swimming around together. 

As I mentioned, one of the highlights of the trip was getting to swim with two whale sharks on my last day of diving. The skipper spotted the first whale shark as we were boating out to 7 Mile Reef, and we frantically grabbed our snorkel gear and jumped in to swim with it. It was huge - probably about 30 feet long - and had such beautiful markings. As we frantically swam at the surface to keep up, it barely moved its tail from side to side to propel gracefully through the water. The Dive Master went down a few times to swim next to it (it was probably 15 feet beneath us), but it wasn't particularly curious. After we got back on the boat and had gone about 5 more minutes, we then spotted ANOTHER whale shark...and this one was swimming with dolphins. We were all screaming and hooting and hollering. A German guy with us who had been diving for 35 years was almost crying with happiness: this was the first time he had ever seen a whale shark, and it was a truly amazing experience. Anyway we dived into the water to swim with this one as well, and it was really interesting to watch the dolphins interacting with it. I cannot wait to go diving again!

In the evenings I hung out by the pool or the bar and played board games with my new South African friends. There was a group of four girls that I got to know particularly well, although they knew a few other people at Coral Divers who would often join us for dinner. It was really interesting to hear their perspectives on the directions of the country and the upcoming elections. In Cape Town, there is an overwhelming sense of excitement for the future, largely because the World Cup is going to be held there in 2010. But across South Africa, white people are quietly leaving and becoming more and more discouraged. Crime really is a serious issue here - one of the girls had even had her car hijacked from her at gunpoint. Every single one of their families own guns and have security systems surrounding their houses. The ANC has been in power for 15 years, and in that time infrastructure has slowly been getting worse. Many whites think there won't be clean drinking water in the country within 5 years. White South Africans are completely disillusioned with politics and the government. The ANC is corrupt beyond help, and yet it is virtually cemented in power and guaranteed to win the upcoming election.

Sadly, the frustration that white South Africans are feeling and the alarming rate at which they are leaving the country is really, really bad for South Africa. White people still make up a disproportionate majority of business owners, entrepreneurs, doctors, and engineers, and the country really can't afford to lose them too quickly. Eventually, the machinery will be in place for the black population to get the education necessary to fill this professional vacuum, but this will be a gradual process. Popular black politicians frequently make comments to the extent of, "We don't need any whites in this country...let them all leave." Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is widely accepted but obviously not practically sound. And even though my many black friends here seem to be optimistic about the future and ready to face the challenges ahead, I think it is a bad sign that so many white people are so disillusioned and leaving the country as such high rates.

On a similar note, I was struck by the fact that every single white South African I met on this trip asked me the same question about coming to study in South Africa: "Why?" They couldn't understand why someone from American would want to come to their country, and they were worried that I would be horrified by all the crime. They asked me if I thought there would be elephants and lions roaming around the cities, and seemed relieved to find out that I didn't have any false preconceptions about their country. 

Anyway, the elections are coming up on April 22nd, and it will be interesting to see what the atmosphere in Cape Town will be like. Jacob Zuma (the head of the ANC) will almost certainly be the next president, which is quite distressing. Not only was he indicted and taken to court for dirty arms dealing, but he has also allegedly raped a woman who was HIV positive. When asked about that, he said he took a shower afterwards so that the virus wouldn't be transmitted. I cannot believe that this man is going to be the next head of South Africa, such a beautiful and promising country, and usually a model to other African nations. 

The weather is still perfect here, cooling off only slightly, which means there will probably be hiking and a beach day this weekend. It was definitely a little bizarre celebrating Easter in the fall, though! Highlights of this past week involved a beautiful piano recital at Baxter Theater, a speech at UCT given by the ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, and a fabulous girls' night out yesterday with my two best friends on the trip. Now it's time for an early night after this massive update. From Cape Town with love!

Ughhh

Unfortunately, I just spent over an hour writing an amazing blog entry about my spring break complete with pictures and a video, and then it somehow got deleted in the process of publishing it. I don't have the energy to try and rewrite everything, so for now let me just say that I had one of the most amazing trips of my life. I met lots of interesting and fun people, I saw TWO whale sharks, and I got my advanced scuba certification. Here are a few pics:

Linda, me, Emily (lower right), and Claudette (upper right). Claudette was our instructor, and Linda and Emily got their advanced certifications with me!

The monkey who lived outside my tent and helped with my 5:30 AM wake up calls by scampering about in the early morning.

Me, Emily, and Linda about to go out on a dive.

I didn't know it at the time of taking this picture, but this was the boat we would be in when we saw our whale sharks!

The tents where we slept.

The pool / dining / recreation area of Coral Divers.

An aerial view of Sodwana Bay stolen from the Coral Divers website.

When I get over the disappointment of losing my last blog entry, I have a lot of new insights about South African politics that I want to write about soon. Meeting and interacting with so many white South Africans on this trip really gave me a different perspective on things, and I definitely learned a lot from my new friends.

Please ask me more about my trip! I'm dying to tell everyone about it, but I am just so bummed that my perfect update entry got deleted :(

Fall Break!

I can't believe it's already April. In a few hours, I will be hopping on a plane to Durban to begin my "fall break" - I'll be exploring the East Coast of the country and getting my advanced SCUBA  certification in Sodwana Bay. It's one of the best dive sites in the world, with pristine coral reefs, warm waters, great visibility, and tons of marine life. Right now is supposed to be a good time for viewing whale sharks, so I'm really hoping that I catch a glimpse of one at some point! It's also the end of turtle hatching season, so I'm going to try to do a nighttime turtle walk where volunteers help guide baby turtles to the ocean.

This past week I've just been frantically writing papers, booking my hostel reservations, and preparing for the break ahead. I just turned in a 12 page paper on South African property rights  during the democratic transition, and I'm definitely ready for a vacation.

The weather forecast on the Indian Ocean side of the country for the upcoming week:

Highs between 77 and 80 degrees and sunny everyday, with water temps around 75.  

Bring on fall break!

A Typical Week...

I've had some requests for more updates about life on a day-to-day basis here in lovely Cape Town. So, here is a recap of my past week:

Thursday - Class in the morning from 10 - 12. Neither class is particularly stimulating...there really isn't any point or content to Thinking in the Social Sciences, and Advanced South African politics has nothing to do with South African politics specifically. But oh well. Practice piano at the College of Music for an hour, then go to lunch with house mates at the local soup/sandwich/salad place. Come home and get reading done while laying out in the sun with the other girls in my house. Three mile afternoon run around Rondebosch. Come home, shower, have a quick dinner, and get dressed to go out. The girls and I decide to have a Girls' Night Out at Tiger Tiger, one of the ritziest clubs in Cape Town. It's where Prince Harry hangs out when he is in South Africa. We all meet at Danielle's house to swap makeup and try on each other's high heels, then head down to mainstreet where we barter for a cab to get us to the club. I will post pictures of this crazy/fun night soon!

Friday - I only have one class on Friday from 11:00 to 12:30. Once it's over, Kelly and I catch one of the jammies (free UCT buses) down to Long Street, which is downtown. We walk around, check out the flea markets, grab coffee, and just generally take in the people and vibes. Eventually it's time to head back to Rondebosch and take a quick afternoon nap. In the evening I head to a contemporary ballet performance at the UCT Baxter theater with a few house mates. The company is from Joburg and they are definitely not bad. We grab dinner after at Cafe Sophia (good tapas and seafood), then head back out to Long Street to celebrate the birthday of a girl on the program. We go to The Waiting Room, which has a wonderful roof balcony with a view of all downtown. But there isn't time to stay out late, because people are surfing and river rafting bright and early Saturday morning. After a quick late night ice cream stop at Steers, it's time to go home and get to bed.

Saturday - After a morning run and a few errands (groceries, room clean up, etc), it's off to Camps Bay to enjoy a day at the beach. The wind isn't bad, and I get a nice tan as well as some reading done. We get sushi in the evening and watch the sunset. To cap off the night we head to the Dubliner, which has great live music. When we request "an American song," the band plays a funny rendition of James Brown. Everyone dances and just generally has a fun Saturday night out.

Sunday - A few of us take the UCT jammies downtown to spend a morning walking through the Company's Garden and peeping in the museums. The Cape Town festival is going on, so there is live music and lots of people. The Company's Garden is one of the oldest parts of the city - it was planted as a vegetable garden in the 1600s to provide fresh produce for sailors rounding the cape. The afternoon is spent getting school work done and relaxing. My house cooks (pasta night), and everyone goes to bed early.

Monday - Wake up at the crack of dawn to hike Table Mountain. Even though we've done it before, Kelly has a friend visiting who wants to see Cape Town from the summit. We do an easy route that takes only an hour and a half, then take the cable car back down. I just make it to my 11:00 AM lecture. After a few hours of classes, it's time to head straight to volunteering at Baphumelele. The kids are a little hyper, but they enjoy playing an animal matching game, having an alphabet quiz, and learning the names of shapes. Mosie gets a yellow face for the day (instead of a perfect green) because she refuses to help clean up. We get home from Baph at around 6:00. Mindy is home after being in Kreuger for a week, so we have a relaxing welcome home dinner for her.

Tuesday - A light day of classes that ends at 1:00. I practice piano for a few hours in the afternoon, then go to my Step and Tone class at the local gym. In the evening Alex and I head over to Baxter for a free UCT Symphony concert. Afterwards we grab coffee from CoCo's and 50 cent DVDS rentals from the neighborhood video store.

Wednesday - Classes and Baph. I get to plan the lesson for today, so things go particularly well. It was a math lesson that involved counting and adding various animals, as well as cutting out some farm animals and pasting them in their barnyard in the proper numbers. In the evening most people head to Stones, which has lots of pool tables and 2 for 1 drinks. I play two games of pool (win one, lose one), but then it's time to head home for an early morning tomorrow.

Thursday - Go for an early morning run before my 10 AM class, and now I'm sitting here in the computer lab! This afternoon I will probably get errands done and begin research on a paper that is due in just over a week.

Anyway, life is busy and fun here in sunny Cape Town, and I feel so lucky to be in such an amazing place. We've done most of the mandatory touristy stuff, but it's remarkable how much I continue to learn and absorb here simply by living life and observing everything. I've picked up the slightest South African accent when it comes to asking questions - the intonation is different, and everyone understands you much better if you use the local phrasing. I know how to catch a minibus, the differences between the major South African political parties, and where the locals go to get cheap food. My experience here has been both increadibly eye-opening as well as tons of fun. Now it's off to enjoy another sunny afternoon...
Cheers!

Pics of the Baph Kids

Here are some pictures of the children I work with at Baphumalele! The time I spend with them each week is just such a meaningful part of the trip, and I already can tell I will be devastated to leave them.

After a game of animal bingo the students are practicing writing the names of the animals.

Thembi (left) and Sishle (right) are very serious. 

Mosie working hard. She is one of the brightest students.

Nxo Nxo! He is missing his two front teeth and I love him. His name is pronounced with a Xhosa click on the "x" - ask me to say it for you!

Mandoza is a sweetheart and always does a great job with a big smile on his face.

We have a nice space to work at...right now we are in one of the cluster home's kitchens.

Sipho is the one I want to take home with me. He was feeling sad today because he wasn't going to earn his behavior prize, and so he refused to look at the camera. But I love him to death and always have long cuddle/tickle sessions with him before the study group begins.

Me and Nxo Nxo

Fololo being silly and making me help her eat her after school snack

Unelana is a sweetheart

Fololo (right) and Sishle (left)

As I mentioned, we are given a cluster home where we can work. Cluster homes are mini orphanage houses that simulate family living with a permanent care giver and about 10 to 12 kids living together. They eat their meals together and share a small living room and bathroom. The teenage kids live in dorm style living, and the very small kids all live together in a nursery. The cluster homes tend to be reserved for kids from ages 6 to 10. 

There are nine students that I work with in my group, and they are mostly 7 and 8 years old. We work on homework, practice English, do arts and crafts, and play games. I definitely miss working at Weemes (my elementary school in Los Angeles), but the time I spend with these kids each week has been really special and rewarding.

Top Five!

Beaches....

1. Camps Bay - The view of the 12 Apostles speaks for itself.

2. Clifton - Consists of four different beaches separated by spectacular rock formations. Vendors sell cheap ice cream up and down Clifton Two, and you can rent beach chairs for 5 rand.

3. Fish Hoek - Quaint and quiet, with warmer water cause it's on the Indian Ocean side of the mountain.

4. Knysna - Brenton on Sea - Our own private Jurassic-Park style beach that we discovered on the Garden Route.

5. Muzinberg - It gets windy, but the colorful beach houses and good surfing definitely get it a place on the list. (Yes, I've been surfing! Watch out L.A...)

Restaurants

1. Coco WaWa's - A 3 minute walk from my house in Rondebosch, it's actually a little too good which means I eat there a little too much. You get free internet with your food, and they have the most amazing mango-mint-lychee fruit blend drinks and burgers/salads/sandwiches. Ohhh and coffee which comes with a mini brownie...

2. Mr. Pickwick's - An eclectic Long Street cafe with really funny menu names that stays open LATE.

3. Cape to Cuba - Also on Long Street, Cape to Cuba has decent Cuban Food and THE BEST strawberry mojito that I could ever imagine.

4. Marcel's - Ok, so it's not a restaurant, but it's an amazing frozen yogurt and ice cream place in Rondebosch. The strawberry froyo plus chocolate chips and double fudge crumble has been my order there lately...

5. Lola's - It's an actual vegetarian restaurant in Cape Town! The wraps and pies are soooo good.

(Poncho's) - I can't actually list a "Mexican" place on this list, but sometimes you are just craving guacamole and margaritas, and then Poncho's gets the job done.

Bars

1. Roots - Where I celebrated my 21st birthday! Indoor/Outdoor island vibe with tiki torches, vines, and sand everywhere. 

2. The Waiting Room - Cute little upstairs place on Long Street with multiple balconies / lots of nooks and crannies to relax and hang out with friends.

3. Cybar - Ok it actually kind of sucks, but it's our local (and virtually only) neighborhood bar, so I can't hate.

4. Stones - There are a couple around time, and they all have their own vibe. But basically there are always lots of pool tables and 2 for 1 Wednesdays.

5. Dubliner - An Irish pub on Long Street! Fun live music, although not that much of an authentic Irish flavor.

Clubs

1. Tin Roof - BEST PLAYLIST OF ALL TIME. All the popular current club songs, as well as funny 90s American flashback music and much-loved oldies. I could dance all-night here (and have, a few times.)

2. Springbok - Kind of like a maze, with two outdoor areas, a dance floor, and a pub area. Girls can dance on tables!

3. Cubana - A chilled out, diverse place with good music and flaming drinks. It's more of a bar/restaurant during the day, but at night it has a fun Latin flavor.

4. Hemisphere - A club on the 30th story of one of the downtown buildings. 360 degree views of the city. Girls have to wear heels, and it's kind of swanky and pretentious. But still...

5. Zulu - Zulu has a really African vibe with great music and a vibrant crowd. Plus it stays open later than some of the other places on Long Street, which makes it a perfect place for "lasties."

Ocean View Homestay

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I just got back from a packed weekend including a homestay in a coloured township called Ocean View! Ocean View was created during the forced resettlement of the 1906s, and several hundred coloured families from neighboring towns were moved there. Today the township is still a poor area, but it has respectable houses, water and electricity, clean roads, and stores/parks/public facilities/etc. 

Many of the students on my program had amazing homestays with wonderful, welcoming families. Unfortunately, I was a lot more ambivalent about the youngish couple I was placed with. They were in their mid-30s and had just been remarried to each other about a year ago. I think they were kind of desperate to prove to me and the other girl placed with them that they are "cool" people, so they made us stay out until very late both on Friday and Saturday night. They and their friends all drank way too much for middle aged people, and I got the impression that the children of the community constantly have to entertain themselves while their parents get drunk and ignore them. On Friday one woman (who had to be at least 50) actually puked in the yard where we were sitting, and one of the kids had to go get her water. When the children start getting ridiculously tired (usually around midnight), they wander into whoever's house they happen to be at and pass out on the couches or floor, despite the loud music inevitably playing from the speakers. I was just really upset to witness the way these kids are being raised, even though I know I'm supposed to be open minded and experiencing different cultural habits. Additionally, I learned that most coloured people are extremely racist against black South Africans (they would use the n-word). During the apartheid era, coloured people had a preferential status in the Western Cape and were allowed to still work and travel where they wanted. They were considerably better off than the blacks. After the democratic transition in 1994, blacks have made great strides, and black affirmative action programs have been implemented, but the coloured community has been completely forgotten and left behind. (Now remember from several entries ago - a coloured person is a mixed race person, usually both black and Afrikans). 

Of course during the day we had a nice time. On Saturday we went to the beach in a quaint town called Fish Hoek, and on Sunday there was a large international cycling race around the Western Cape that Matt Damon was participating in for charity. I watched and cheered for a couple hours down with the rest of the Ocean View community, but didn't see Matt :(

Anyway, things were just a little intense for me, and I didn't get the quiet weekend of cultural exchange and interesting chats that many other students did. But it was still an important experience that got me way outside my comfort zone, and in many ways I'm glad I did it.

Thing continue to go well at Baph, and my students' confidence level and English skills definitely grow each week. I will soon be able to post pictures of them - volunteers have to wait a month before photographing any of the children at the home. 

I realized I rarely post about my day-to-day experiences during the week at bars, clubs, restaurants, and tourists sites, so next entry will be a recap of my favorite spots in Cape Town. Until next time...

Township Pictures

Ooops the township pictures weren't properly uploaded in my last entry...

Surrounded by Beauty

I still cannot believe that I am living in such an amazingly beautiful place.

View of Table Mountain with its "Table Cloth" - Cape Town rolls down from the mountain all the way to the sea.

Beach in Knysna, where I went on the garden route.

The entrance to the UCT campus as seen from the rugby field! The actual campus is carved into the mountain and has tons of steps and different levels. From the top of upper campus you can see the entire city...all the way down to the Water Front.

The Cape of Good Hope (the most southerly point in Africa).

I know it looks like a fake background but it's not...just a fabulous pre-sunset scene out on the dock.

Last week was an important week for me here because I began my volunteer work at Baphumalele. I met my group of seven and eight year olds, and we had our first After School sessions. Many of the kids at Baph are orphans, but others have been placed there by social services because their parents are sick or abusive. But despite the unimaginable circumstances these children come from, they are basically energetic and happy kids. Getting to interact with UCT students will give them a chance to improve their English skills and get a glimpse at the possibilities that life has to offer. There are several bright high school teenagers at Baph who are studying on scholarship at prestigious schools in Cape Town, so there really is hope that some of these children will receive the education necessary to continue on to university. 

The township where Baph is located is called Khayelitsha. There are between 500,000 and 2 million people living in this colorful conglomeration of shacks, shops, brick houses, parks, garbage heaps, and shanties. Right now I don't think I could adequately paint a picture of township life in modern South Africa, but here are a few pictures:

What amazes me most is the colorful vibrancy and joy that is present amidst all the poverty. Raucous impromptu soccer matches and constant music and dancing are part of life in the townships, and my initial impression suggests there is not a pervading sense of hopelessness or  despondency. 

In other news, I went on my first wine tasting tour yesterday. It was the most beautiful day, and I learned a lot about the wine making industry in South Africa as well as the proper meals to pair with a gewurztraminer vs. a pinotage. And with such an abundance of delicious, high quality wine for around 30 to 40 rand ($3 to $4), I'm not sure how I will survive returning to box wine in the states.

Upcoming: a look at university life and attitudes in South Africa and how they differ from the states...

Classes Commence

I've (nearly) survived my first week of classes at UCT, and it's been quite an experience navigating this vibrant international university. Conveniences taken for granted in the states (online registration, helpful school webpages) haven't been integrated here yet, but so far I've managed to more or less settle into my school routine. I'm taking only three classes - including a course in advanced South African politics - because I want to focus on my education outside of the classroom while I'm here. On that note, my volunteer program starts next week. I'll be creating and implementing an after school program for kids at the Baphumelele children's home - http://www.baphumelele.org.za/educare.php. In addition, once a week I'll be hanging out at a local TB hospital and playing with the kids who are forced to leave their families and live there during treatment. I can't wait to get started!

Cape Town continues to amaze and challenge me. I've found it really refreshing to spend time in a society that's so open. In the states, it's not PC to constantly harp on issues of race and gender. But here, everything is about race all the time, and people aren't afraid to make racial issues a part of their daily conversations. Is a club or bar primarily frequented by whites or blacks? In the classroom how does racial segregation play out in who-sits-where? How do rugby and soccer matches differ according to racial interaction? If you are trying to describe someone here, the first thing you say is, "She's that black girl" or "He's that Indian guy." In the states, you would always find a way to tiptoe around the issue and describe hair color or height instead. The civil rights movement is so new here, and it's exciting to see everyone so engaged. Obviously a renowned university like UCT is not necessarily representative of the South African population as a whole, but it's been an eye-opening experience to actually be able to openly discuss race without fear of being labelled a politically incorrect bigot. And honestly, there seem to be more genuine interracial friendships and interactions here than I've ever seen back home.

Bring on Friday and the weekend!

 

Garden Route Excursion

I've just arrived back from a five day backpacking excursion along South Africa's famous coastal Garden Route. I'm exhausted, and the thought of trying to get my blog up to speed is daunting to say the least. I still don't feel there is any way I can do justice to my experience so far. But I'll just briefly outline my past week.

Friday - My 21st birthday! I had a perfect day, and in the evening my housemates and I cooked tacos together. Everyone then went to a Mardi Gras party in Obs (a district next to Rondebosch), and I didn't have to pay for a single drink all night. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday with my new friends.

Saturday - Crawl out of bed at 5:45 AM for a 6:00 AM taxi departure. (Yes, it was brutal). The taxi took six of us to a bus station in Cape Town, and we then boarded a bus for a ten hour ride to the charming town of Knysna. The bus ride was everything you would expect from an African transportation adventure. Massive delays, broken air conditioning. However, we arrived safely and checked into our hostel, Island Vibe. Dinner was at the waterfront - fresh seafood and game including ostrich and springbok. 

Sunday - Beach day! However, the hike to the beach ended up being a ten-kilometer hike including dodgy abandoned railroad tracks and bush-whacking. At one point we seriously tried to hitch hike. But eventually we landed on one of the most stunning beaches I've ever seen. Dramatic cliffs, lush vegetation, white sand, craggy rock formations...and we had the place almost entirely to ourselves. We swam, we napped, we played baseball with some Argentinians we met. Everything was pretty perfect (except for the scorching sunburns that resulted). We caught a shuttle back to the hostel in the evening followed by a sunset dinner of oysters. One of the highlights of the trip came that night when we introduced s'mores to all the European travelers staying at our hostel. 

Monday - Bungy jumping. The Blouk

rans Bridge jump is the highest in the world - over 700 feet. Three of us did the jump, and it was absolutely crazy. The location is the most beautiful gorge imaginable. I'll let a few of my pics tell the story:

Too bad the camera couldn't come down and show me at 700 feet! Anyway, it was a crazy experience - biggest adrenaline rush possible.

That night we braai-ed at the hostel and made a ridiculous amount of food. I feel disgusting eating so much meat while I'm here, but I really feel like I would be missing out otherwise. For our last night at Island Vibe we slept outside on the porch under the stars. It sounds better than it actually was - I woke up to some huge bug bites. 

Tuesday - We caught a minibus to Plettenberg Bay. Our hostel there was called Albergo's, and it was much closer to the beach than Island Vibe. A few of us went to visit The Elephant Sanctuary, where you can take the elephants for a walk, ride on them, and feed them. Elephants are definitely up there on my list of favorite animals! In the afternoon we spent more time on the beach, and dinner was at a Mozambique restaurant followed by a group split-up so we could have respective girls' night ins and guys' night outs.

Wednesday - For the last day of our trip we went zip-lining in Tsitskiamma, a national preserve that looks like it's straight out of Jurassic Park. We went over waterfalls along a deep ravine that winds through the misty rainforest surrounding Storms River. It was raining lightly, but they gave us rain jackets, and the grey skies provided the perfect backdrop against the gorgeous vegetation. 

We bummed around in Plet in the afternoon (we had to check out of our hostel that morning), and our overnight bus left at 10:30 that night. The ride was massively uncomfortable - no reclining seats, overcrowded, bumpy. Needless to say we didn't get much sleep. However, it was great to be back in Cape Town this morning. I finally figured out where and when my classes are, and introductory lectures actually begin tomorrow! Unfortunately I still feel like I'm on vacation, but once classes start hopefully things will finally begin to calm down. Time to go enjoy another fabulous, warm South African evening.  

South African-isms

Slowly I'm beginning to incorporate the local lingo into my daily interactions. A few key words:

howzit - hi / what's up

brew - bro

braai - barbeque 

now now - pretty soon

just now - any time between 15 minutes and 6 hours

hubbly - hookah 

taxi - a minibus packed with people that ricochets down the street and honks noisily at pedestrians

cab - private taxi

sundown - watching the sunset on the beach with beers

black - dark black Africans

coloured - mixed racial ethnicity

hectic - lots of meanings including fun, exciting, crowded, etc.

jammie - bus 

Things are still hectic (meaning wonderful and busy) and hopefully I will be able to begin updating regularly once everything settles down. For now I'm simply taking everything in and trying to make sense of it all. Soon to come will be a few initial observations on issues of gender and race, but just now I'm going to get ready for another crazy summer evening. Within a day or two I will also know whether I will be camping through Namibia next week. I can't imagine being in a more amazing place!

Settling Down in Rondebosch

For the first time in days I finally have a few spare minutes, and I'm really not sure where to begin. It's difficult to articulate the immense energy, beauty, and life of this place. Some parts are so familiar and others are more different and wonderful than I could ever have expected or imagined. People talk about the contrasts and contradictions of South Africa (first world clashing with third world), yet Cape Town is not simply an amalgamation of different cultures and socioeconomic conditions. Everything is synthesized, and the whole is so much more complex and rich than the sum of the individual components. It's amazing how entirely aware I am of being in Africa despite the westernization and European influences. The air and sea and mountains have such a distinctive flavor, and I have never met people anything like South Africans. 

Our days are filled with orientation tours and exploration, our nights with music and dancing. The UCT students take us to their favorite bars and clubs, and we meet locals as well as people from Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia. Despite a lack of sleep I think we are all running on the natural vitality of this place. Yesterday was a guided tour of the entire peninsula including the Cape of Good Hope. We drove by wineries, saw the penguins, hiked the trail at Cape Point. And somehow, a few of us still managed to stay up until 5:30 to watch the Super Bowl.

Once I'm settled into a routine in Rondebosch (the beautiful village at the foot of UCT and Table mountain) I'll report on more specifics. For now I just feel so blessed to be here, and I wish I could somehow better express how amazing this experience has been so far. 

Welcome to the Mother City

After a long layover in London, I’ve arrived safely in sunny Cape Town. My English relatives are all doing well, and I had a great time hanging out with my sixteen-year-old cousin who I haven’t seen in five years. On Tuesday I met Lilly for a charming morning in South Kensington, followed by a long walk around Piccadilly before a quick tube ride to the sleek and beautiful new T5 at Heathrow.

The flight to Cape Town was long and uneventful. But I managed to sleep, and today I have virtually no jetlag (the time difference between England and South Africa is only two hours). At 6:00 AM I watched a spectacular sunrise from the plane, and Table Mountain really was right there as we began our descent into the Mother City. Friendly UCT students met us as the airport, helped us with our luggage, and loaded us onto a bus that transported us to a hotel not far from campus. After check-in a few of us ventured down to the Water Front for lunch. Our trusty UCT orientation leaders led us to a waterside seafood place where we split calamari, mussels, French fries, blackened swordfish and pitchers of Castle. The weather is perfect – I think South Africa was a wise choice for me, because I’m such a baby when it comes to the cold.

After a brief evening introduction to the program, all of us headed to Long Street for a cheap dinner of chicken and peri peri (chili sauce). Neo, a UCT student, took a group of us to Stones, a bar / pool hall, where we people watched from an outdoor balcony and enjoyed the balmy South African evening until the buses transported us back to the hotel.

Now it’s off to bed for an early orientation session tomorrow, but I can’t wait to begin experiencing more of the real Cape Town.

And I'm Off...

My semester abroad is finally beginning! I'll be touching down in London first to visit family and hopefully Lilly, and then it's off to Cape Town early next week. Somehow I managed to squeeze a miniature wardrobe of kids' clothing into my suitcase - teachers at the school where I work in L.A. were eager to donate to the children I'll be volunteering with in South Africa. Winter break was long and relaxing, but I'm definitely itching to get away and experience something completely new. I've got my summer clothes, electronic converters, a few hundred rand, and a brand new cell phone with an international SIM card. Let the adventure begin!