So last weekend was a super long weekend because it encompassed two public holidays, Freedom Day and Workers Day. Some of my friends went on the Garden Route, others went to this art/music festival in the desert called Afrikaburn, but I stayed here in good ol' Cape Town. Fortunately, my weekend was nice and eventful as well.
On Friday I went to a professional soccer game between the Cape Town Ajax and the Orlando Pirates (Orlando is in Soweto, the largest township in South Africa) at Green Point Stadium (where the world cup was). It was sooo fun and way more exciting than the professional rugby game we went to earlier in the semester, even though the teams tied.
The next day I went to Old Biscuit Mill, this incredible food market situation, where tons and tons of local restaurants, bakeries, wineries, breweries, and other artisans and whatnots sell their stuff in the most glorious and overpriced fiesta of deliciousness. (I have to keep reminding myself that when I translate the prices into dollars, it's all still pretty reasonable priced, actually). One of my friends here's best friend from home who is studying abroad in Botswana was visiting, so the three of us hit up OBM and then went into the city to go to the District 6 Museum, where we met up with another friend and looked at the exhibit. The other reason for coming to the District 6 Museum was that every Saturday in May, the museum is showing two documentaries on hip hop in Cape Town. So after we looked around, we attended this film festival, where the filmmakers and some of the people who were in the films spoke after their screenings. It was really interesting, and the subjects of the documentaries shed interesting light on how hip hop (a style of music that originated with African Americans) was transported to Africa, and how many of its themes resonated with black and colored South Africans in townships, as well as discussed "colored" identity in South Africa and its relationship to black consciousness. The films and the filmmakers were all super interesting!
On Tuesday, we had an activity sponsored by CIEE for my RA group where we went to Bo Kaap, the famous Cape Malay neighborhood in downtown Cape Town. So, for some cultural clarification, at this point in time, Cape Malay refers to descendants of slaves brought to the Cape from India, Southeast Asian Islands (including Malaysia, although Malaysians only made up a small portion), Madagascar and other parts of Africa, as well as Europeans. The neighborhood used to be slave quarters, and is got its name from the fact that all the slaves from different places used a Malay language to communicate between themselves. Today, most of its inhabitants speak a version of Afrikaans, and practice Islam. They are also all considered "colored" South Africans, although not all colored people are Muslim or identify with Cape Malay culture (some are the descendents of Khoisan, also known as Bushmen, for example).
Anyway, we got a brief tour of the neighborhood, which is still inhabited by the descendants of many of its original slave occupants, and then visited a local mosque. After that we were invited into one of the homes and given a cooking lesson on traditional Cape Malay food, as well as treated to a delicious meal. Cape Malay food has tremendous Indian and South Asian influences: we made samosas, roti, daal, and chicken curry. Pictured to the right is my RA, Stanley making a samosa!
As for regular life, classes are beginning to wrap up, although finals don't start until May 24. Also, still doing Capoeira, and I think I'll get my first (and hopefully not last?) Capoeira belt at the end of the semester! It's definitely turning into winter here, and starting to get pretty chilly actually. Oh well, only a month till I'm back in summer! Miss you all!
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