Home stay

This weekend we did a home stay in a colored township called Oceanview! I think I can safely say it was the best weekend I have had here so far. In case you're just joining me, the term colored, although soo not pc in the US, is a socially acceptable term (albeit problematic) in South Africa that refers to people of mixed-race descent. During Apartheid, when the government divided up South Africans by race, they separated whites from blacks from colored people. They did so by initiating forced removals of black and colored people from their homes and into designated areas, which became the townships. When Apartheid was ended, Nelson Mandela promised the millions of black and colored people of South Africa that they would be provided with homes by the government, in order to right the wrongs previously committed by the Apartheid government. Unfortunately, millions still await the houses they were promised and continue to live in poverty in the townships.

This weekend, my perception of what the townships were like was completely overhauled, however. Although many townships are characterized by the corrugated metal shacks their residents live in, most of the houses in Oceanview were quite nice. At first I didn't understand why people who could afford nice cars and nice homes still lived within the township when they appeared to have the social mobility that allowed them to move elsewhere in Cape Town. However, after only a day in the community, I realized that the extremely strong sense of community, as well as strong extended family ties made Oceanview their home, even if originally they were forced to live there. In fact, most of the people I met were born during Apartheid, and didn't know a life anywhere else.

My host mom was an extremely generous lady named Lena, who is 62 and lived in Simons Town and was 21 when she was forcibly removed from her home there. Simons Town is now a high end beach town about a 40 minute train ride from the city, and is a primarily white area. Lena works at the navy base in Simons Town now, as a office clerk. I can't imagine what it's like to work in the place she once called home and watch it be changed into a whites only neighborhood. In one of my classes, we learned that 2/3 of Simons Town's population was forcibly removed during that time.

Lena was incredibly warm and generous, and fed me and the other two girls staying with her like there was no tomorrow. She is an excellent cook! We got in to Oceanview on Friday night and ate all together as a large group in a community gymnasium. The next morning, after Lena's homemade breakfast of cereal, fruit, yogurt, eggs, bacon, tomato and mushrooms (cooked tomato and mushrooms are really big here for breakfast), her nephew, Regan, picked us up to go for a drive. He was hosting three other American students, and brought a slew of other family members (it was so unclear who was related and how) along. We had the best day ever! They first took us to a little shop that sells biltong, which is basically beef jerky, and a South African favorite. I tried a piece, but wasn't really feeling it, as a vegetarian. Then we drove around the peninsula some more, and ended up in Simons Town, actually, where we got ice cream and went to the beach. Also, somewhere in the driving we saw a baboon jump out of nowhere on the side of the road. It was terrifying, because apparently they will reach right into the car and grab your stuff!

 An ostrich farm we passed

 Just imagine a baboon jumping out on the left! (I didn't get a picture of it)

 The beach at Simons Town: that's two girls we were with and the son of one of the guys showing us around

That's me with Shivani and Annie, the two girls who stayed at Lena's with me

Then we drove around the peninsula some more (amazing views) and went to a black township, called Site Five. There, we hung out for a while and talked to some people there, which was fun, even though it still feels uncomfortable and poverty tourism-y. I met some interesting people there, needless to say.
We then went back to Oceanview, and the guy driving our car, Donovan, picked up his two kids who joined us at this other guy, Mark's house. There, we ate these sandwiches that are really popular here, called Gatsbies. They're like heros or subs, and you can put basically everything in them. The ones they got us had steak, fried egg, french fries, lettuce, tomato and some delicious sauce on it. (I hope you are noting how much meat I'm eating, because it was about to get real at dinner) We hung out for a while at this house, and then they took us up to this Rastafarian community that lives on the hill above Oceanview. The Rastas were awesome! They were so nice and welcoming and they are vegetarian and all about living off the earth and all this great stuff.

Then we went back to Mark's house for the braai, which is the South African version of a barbecue, except its way better and way more popular (they do it every weekend). Braais are great, because they cook copious amounts of meat, perfectly. So while that's all cooking, they were making sure our beer glasses were never empty, which made for some good bonding time with the whole extended family! When we did eat, it was amazing: beef, chicken, sausage, pasta salad, potato salad, regular salad. I ate chicken and sausage! (if you're not keeping track of the meat I've been eating, so far we've got bacon, biltong, steak, now chicken and sausage)

 Donovan showed us the prettiest view from Oceanview

The braai spread, looking even nicer in front of Mark's motorcycle

So, it turns out that Mark and Regan are both DJs, and Mark has super nice spinning equipment, so the braai was also a dance party, equipped with lasers and everything. By the time we came back from the Rastas, more of the family had arrived, and it became a full on dance party/barbecue. It was so fun!!!

The next morning, Lena cooked us Sunday lunch, which is a big deal meal. It was a pretty epic meal, considering only four of us were eating it. She made carrots with cinnamon and sugar, mashed pumpkin with cinnamon and sugar, rice and veggies, roasted potatoes, squash with melted cheese and corn, beet salad, and get this: lamb, chicken AND ham. I ate all of it. So, to tally up the meat count, we've got: bacon, biltong, steak, chicken, sausage, lamb, chicken again and ham. Please take a moment to let that sink in. It was so delicious! And she made this amazing pineapple cream pudding for dessert!

 lunch!

dessert!

Ok, this blog post just got way out of hand with food details, but this weekend was awesome not just because of all the delicious food, but because of the great conversations and relationships formed with some really cool people. I know I'm missing some pictures of some of the things I described, and all of the people, but it felt more important to just be there and enjoy the moment then to take pictures of everything and everyone (also, it's not right to post pictures of people on the internet without their consent). Anyway, I hope to come back and visit them again this semester!

Robben Island

So this weekend we finally went on our trip to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years. It was a really fascinating place, with a long history, having been a leper colony in addition to a prison for both criminals and political prisoners. Here are some pics:

Leper Graveyard

The limestone quarry where Nelson Mandela and other prisoners worked. A lot of them had serious damage to their eyes from working out in the sun all day on such a reflective surface. But, it was here that a lot of political planning for the ANC was done!

Table Mountain from afar

Some prisoners were able to receiving three letters a month, but political prisoners could only get one every six months, and the letters were severely censored.

Inside the maximum security prison

Nelson Mandela's cell (not his original things, though)

Overall, a very informative tour. The tour is led by an ex-prisoner of the Island, which is really fascinating. Many ex-prisoners, as well as ex-wardens, currently still live on the island with their families and work for the Robben Island Museum! I found this shocking that ex-prisoner and ex-warden live together harmoniously, but apparently this goes back to the notion of reconciliation and forgiveness that Mandela was big on. Still, it's hard to imagine having to relive the trauma of one's imprisonment every day for a living.
     This narrative of forgiveness is all very nice, but I think it's also a little disingenuous. In my class on Race, Culture and Identity in Africa, we read about how the Robben Island Museum (as any museum does) constructs a very particular discourse around its history, and even though it employs former prisoners to tell their story, they still are instructed to adhere to this discourse, and maybe aren't providing as authentic an account as we'd like to think. As a museum that caters to mostly tourists, it's not surprising that they would want a narrative that is uplifting and about forgiveness. I think that would be more appropriate, however, if actual racial equality had been achieved in South Africa, which it clearly has not. The District Six Museum (which I haven't been to yet), on the other hand, apparently is much more devoted to continuing an ongoing anti-racist cause, even as it discusses the past. Yeah, so those are my thoughts on that. Thanks for listening!

UCT

I love the University of Cape Town! We are in the first week of classes, and although some of my friends are overwhelmed/terrified by some mean professors and frustrating bureaucracy, I have had a very positive experience so far! I'll admit, it's been soo annoying how registration and adding/dropping classes aren't online, so you have to go to this office and then go to that place and stand in line for two hours and then bring this form here etc... BUT once you get past all that, it's such a cool place! I like lists, so here are reasons why UCT is great:
1. They love rugby here! Since I missed out on the big football school experience, I am loving how much this school rallies around rugby games, and I joined this club where I get free tickets to all our rugby games. Apparently our team is the reigning champion!

2. The campus is on a beautiful mountain overlooking the city. This is a blessing and a curse, because everything is uphill or downhill and there are thousands of stairs everywhere, but I just like to think I'll be in incredible shape by the end.

This is the view looking up at Upper Campus:

And this is the view looking down from Upper Campus:

3. There are tons of awesome clubs (they call them societies) here, and as international students, we're allowed to join 3 for free! I joined: Wine and Culture Society (literally, free wine tastings every week. why would anyone not join this?), Ikey's Vibe (which isn't a club, but a membership (I think Ikey is what they call the rugby team? i'm still not clear on that...) that gets me free access to rugby games and discounts at local businesses), and UCT Capoeira Society (Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that is like a combination of dancing and fighting, and something on my life bucket list). Sorry, lots of parentheses. 

4. My classes are awesome. I'm taking a Gender Studies course called Theories, Politics, Action, which is about feminist movements in Africa and is so interesting and the professor is awesome; a history class called Genocide: African Experiences, self explanatory; and a graduate seminar called Public Culture/Race, Culture and Identity in Africa (its a combo of two courses), which is also fascinating. It's gonna be a ton of work, but my schedule  is pretty free and so far all the classes have been great!

5. There are approximately 129,123,908 places to eat on campus. I literally discover a new cafe/vendor/cart/food shack/restaurant on campus every day, sometimes several times a day. And it's all cheap and delicious! It's unreal, I can't even tell you.

6. They go big during Orientation Week! The week before classes is freshman and international student orientation and they have tons of big parties and events and trips, both for the whole school and by dorms. The main one was Big Bash, which was this massive dance party on the plaza outside Parliament in the city. So fun! Also, it was the day after Parliament actually convened there and Jacob Zuma gave the State of the Nation address.

7. There are some really cool and friendly students here! It's been fun meeting people from here and all over Africa. Also, everyone is really well dressed here. American students are so shlumpy compared to the kids here, I'm telling you...

8. Because it's warm out all the time, the campus is always so bubbly and warm and alive and people sit out on the steps in front of the main building, Jameson Hall, and it's just wonderful!

There are definitely a few things that suck, like how I still can't figure out where you go to print things, and that final exams count for like 50% of your grade, but no point in dwelling on the negative! (someone remind me that I wrote this when it's finals time)

               

Tanning Update

Important announcement: I have officially graduated to "Medium/Deep" toned concealer!

A few more things

Here are pics from Kirstenbosch gardens (those are my friends, Allison and Kirsten):

And here is from the hike up Table Mountain, which I am still recovering from:
My friends and I doing our victory poses when we got to the top:

 Still feeling good, starting the way down, thinking I'm all cute:

 The hike down is a lot of this, starts getting more difficult, because the guy leading us (the director of CIEE, our program) turns out to be an expert hiker:

 At least four hours in, many more hours to go, I wanted to document how I was feeling with this selfy:

Needless to say, I probably will never hike Table Mountain again. Totally worth doing it for views like this:

Catching Up!

Hello friends and family and strangers who accidentally stumble upon this blog! I finally am starting this thing, after three solid weeks of being here, so let me attempt to fill you in with this pic:

In case that picture didn't do it, I can also explain some things. Cape Town, South Africa is amazing/confusing/complicated/awesome/depressing/delicious/hot/windy and a thousand other things. For one, the most notable thing is how beautiful the landscape is. The entire city is built around this breath taking mountain range, and is on the Atlantic Ocean. The University of Cape Town campus (where I am living) is right beneath Table Mountain, which is a really flat, one of those mountains, which I have an awesome view of from the balcony of my dorm. Speaking of my dorm, I live in a single in a four person suite with a kitchen and bathroom. One of my roommates is American, from Cincinnati, the other is from Swaziland, and the other is from Northern Cape, South Africa. They are all the nicest people! The South African one is a freshman, and is a Gender Studies major as well, so I will have a few classes with her! 

Anyway, back to the scenery. So at all times there is either a gorgeous mountain, or a gorgeous beach in the background of anything you are looking at. It is very hot here, but the wind is like nothing I have ever experienced, so the heat is not unbearable, and the evenings are actually kind of chilly. The food is Delicious, but I can't really describe it, because there is no one kind of South African food. It's a lot of stews/saucy things I guess, and there's a lot of Indian food around or Indian influence, and a lot of fresh vegetables and fruits, and avocado is in everything. 

We've done and seen a lot of cool things! At this point, it's hard to remember them all, so I'm just gonna list the highlights:

Visited Boulders Beach, which is famous for its South African penguins!!!

Took a cable car up to the top of Table Mountain on our first day here (I was wayy too jet lagged to fully take this in)

Today we hiked up this mountain, which was the hardest hike I have ever done in my life. I honestly can't walk right now. The entire hike up and down took over four hours. It was brutal. But soo worth it. More pictures of that to come! 

Earlier this week we registered at UCT, which was an experience in and of itself, maneuvering a huge foreign university's bureaucracy. So fun!

We also went on a picnic to Kirstenbosch Gardens with a group of UCT students from our dorm, which was gorgeous and super fun. Also more pics of that to come!

We visited Cape Point, which is the tip of the Cape Peninsula, but, contrary to popular belief, NOT where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet! It was gorgeous though!

We watched the Super Bowl at a local bar with tons of Americans and South Africans (who arbitrarily chose a team to support) from 1:30 am to 4 am. Needless to say, I was pissed I stayed up for it after it was all over...

Despite all the fun times, South Africa has a lot of issues, due to the legacy of colonialism and Apartheid. It doesn't quite feel right enjoying some of the fun activities we've had, knowing this country has such extreme amounts of poverty and inequality, and that we have access to such great things because of our privileged status as Americans. There was one day, early on, when we visited a township (the shanty towns that black South Africans were forced into when Apartheid was enacted) during the day, and at night took buses to Stellenbosch (which is wine country) and had this amazing delicious meal with live music. A bunch of my friends and I sat around trying to make sense of it all and if we're supposed to be sobered, or enjoying ourselves. Because the wealth gap is so extreme here, and falls along racial lines, it is difficult to enjoy some of what South Africa has to offer knowing that many of its own citizens don't even have access to these things. The unemployment rate here is astronomical, particularly for South Africans of color, and especially those in townships, where unemployment rates can be over 80%. This is also why crime rates are so high here. South Africa is sort of paradoxical, because it is a very developed nation with the issues of a developing nation.

Anyway, those are my thoughts/experiences so far (for the most part), and I'm sure I will continue seeing and doing a lot. I will try to keep this blog updated, thanks for reading this far if you've made it! Miss you all!