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.