African Adventures

So I have been crazy busy this past week and didn't have time to give a full update about my trip to Johannesburg. Instead, I will document the weekend in pictures!

political prison in Johannesburg, the only prison to hold two Nobel Peace Prize winners (Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi)

"It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones - and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals." - Nelson Mandela

Constitutional Court, the highest court in SA, written in SA's eleven official languages

the inside of the Constitutional Court - the entire room was built with such purpose, for instance the windows on the right look outside to represent transparency, the original stairs of the prison were left to remind justices of the past.

traditional gumboots dance at Umoja Africa, a play we saw that traced the history of SA through song and dance, a really fun and lively show!

the Apartheid Museum - the best museum I have been to since being in SA, I learned so much and the exhibits were so powerful and interesting.

Mandela exhibit at the Apartheid Museum, all his names and their meanings

1994 election memorabilia

soccer city! - where the first World Cup match will be played. the excitement for the world cup is everywhere, people have such high hopes that it will increase tourism and bring more wealth to South Africa, I hope it does too. South Africans are so proud that the first World Cup on the African continent will be played in their country.

Nelson Mandela's house in Soweto

entertainment during halftime of the soccer game we went to in Soweto, we were literally the only white people in the entire stadium, such an experience!

new friends at the soccer game, aka everyone in South Africa loves jumping into your pictures

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Tomorrow morning, I am leaving for Livingstone, Zambia to meet my parents and see Victoria Falls from both the Zambian and Zimbabwean sides. We are spending three days at the gorgeous falls where we will be hiking, bartering at local markets, and maybe even bungee jumping for the second time! Then we will be making our way back to South Africa to the famous Kruger National Park for a safari. We will hopefully be seeing the big 5 (elephants, cheetahs, lions, rhinos, and water buffaloes)!!! I am so excited to explore more of this continent and hang with my parents, who are making the trek all the way from New York to share the experience with me. When we return from our adventures next Sunday, we will be spending the week together in Cape Town where I will be acting as the official tour guide. I am so excited to be able to share this amazing city with someone from home, because words just don't do it justice.

Off on some more African Adventures...

Homestay Weekend

I spent this past weekend living with a family in a township called Ocean View, and it was a great experience. Ocean View is unlike the other townships I have visited in that it consists of mostly permanent dwellings, actual houses, as opposed to shanty shacks that can be assembled and disassembled easily. Ocean View is generally better off than townships like Imizamu Yethu, the township I visited on a field trip. I stayed in a woman named Leslie’s house with 5 other CIEE kids. I think that we were all supposed to have split up into her children’s homes, but we ended up all staying together in her house with her three sons, Jason (27). Levon (17), and Chesiree (14). Leslie is in her mid-50’s and has 5 children ages 35 to 14 and 3 grandchildren. Her husband works in shipping and is away for months at a time, so we didn’t get to meet him. The weekend consisted of good food, meeting tons and tons of relatives, and generally having a good time. There seems to be a rotating cast of characters in Leslie’s life, as her sons-in-law, grandchildren, and neighbors were a constant presence throughout the weekend.

When we arrived on Friday, we were assigned tables with our family for the weekend and the CIEE kids. I had met a few of them before, but I wasn’t close with any of the other homestay kids, so it was really cool to have this new experience together. We had dinner with our family and watched a performance by different kids in the township. They sang, danced, and acted extremely well, and they were very proud of their talents. After dinner, we walked to Leslie’s house, and sat around talking and drinking Savanna’s while her family members came over to meet us. It was so interesting to talk to them and hear about their lives, their family history, the forced removal from Simon’s Town during apartheid that created the community of ocean view, and just generally getting to know them.

Saturday, we woke up to a delicious breakfast of French toast, bacon, and roasted tomatoes prepared by Leslie. She certainly spoiled us with food. We went down to the high school to watch out host brother Chesiree play soccer and hung out with some of the locals who were watching the various matches. Afterwards, Leslie had gone to the mall, so we were stranded outside her house. We saw a barber working out of a tent on a corner, and one of the American students I was staying with decided to take a chance and sat down in his barber chair. It was hysterical to see his blonde hair mixed in with all the dark black hair that had been cut before him. He paid a grand total of 20 Rand, and it looked pretty good. After, Leslie’s son-in-law Neil drove us around the area in the back of his pickup truck. We saw the entire township, gorgeous views of the surrounding area, and even stopped at a deserted gorgeous beach. When we returned, Leslie had the BEST macaroni and cheese waiting for us that I had ever tasted. It was sooo good, and then we all took naps from the heat and our food comas. When we woke up, we decided to walk to a farm nearby that has wine tasting, cheese, and even camel rides. When we got there, everything had close down but we relaxed there for a bit and it was cool to walk through a different part of Ocean View. We came back and the same rotating cast of characters came by as we sat around talking and drinking. We even had a gatsby sandwich, a monstrous sub with steak, salad, and French fries all in it. It was massive, even sharing amongst 3 people. It is famous amongst colored people, and since many colored people live in Ocean View, we were able to try this delicacy.

Sunday, it was brutally hot, but we still managed to eat extremely well and have a great end to our trip. We all hung out in Leslie’s room by the fan watching TV because it was truly too hot to do anything. She made us a farewell feast with roasted chicken and potatoes, two kinds of squash, an Indian inspired chicken dish with rice, and cheesy cauliflower. It was delicious and we were all stuffed. We took some family pictures and said our farewells. I hope to go back with the other CIEE kids that stayed with me and visit them.

Overall, it was a great weekend. I got to meet new people on my program and got to experience South African township life firsthand. It was such a great experience and I’m really happy I participated in it.

This weekend, I am heading to Johannesburg with CIEE, which should be a lot of fun and really exciting. We are staying in Soweto, which stands for South Western Townships, a large suburb of Joburg. We will be doing lots of fun touristy things, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Pictures of the township to come soon when I can steal them from other people.

Best Week Ever

(I wrote this post on Monday, but I have been delayed in actually putting it up)

So I am happy to say that I think this has been the best week ever. The more things I do here, the more I love this city. It is unique in so many ways. The fact that mountains and beach are ten minutes away from the center of the city is still awe inspiring to me (see Sunday’s activities.) The balance between the first and third world is so striking. I visited a township a week ago and volunteered at a school where township youth attend (more info on this below) and in the same city I saw an insanely expensive Ferrari and drove past exclusive beachfront property. It is such an interesting place, I never want to leave. Here is a recap of my great week from Monday to Monday:

• Kalk Bay, Monday – After class a friend and me hopped on the train to Kalk Bay, a beach town about an hour away. We had lunch at a great local restaurant called Olympia Café, and walked around the hippie-ish town. I came away with the coolest vintage bag from an antique store with springbok fur on it. I was a very happy camper despite the slow and hot train ride.
• Volunteering, Tuesday and Thursday – I started my volunteering commitment on these two afternoons. During orientation, CIEE presented many opportunities to volunteer from going to orphanages to visiting youth in prison. I chose to work with the LEAP Maths and Science School for grades 9-12. It is about a 20-minute drive from the UCT campus. The students that attend LEAP mostly live in townships, some even travel over an hour each way to attend the school. LEAP is almost like a charter school, the students have to apply and even pay a small stipend of about 200 Rand (approximately $30 USD) to demonstrate their commitment to the school. They go from 8:15 to 5:15 and even have half days every Saturday. It is a very rigorous academic environment and LEAP expects a lot from its students. They work very hard an all aspire to do well for themselves. I chose to volunteer at LEAP because I felt that I could make more of an impact on an educated conscientious student, someone I could relate to on one level. We mostly did logistical stuff on Tuesday but on Thursday, my friend and I were assigned a group of 6 girls that we would be mentoring. We will be helping them with science and math that they are struggling with, and also just being there for them. On Thursday afternoon, the LEAP kids participate in cultural activities, from drama, to choir, to African dance and drumming, and even hip-hop. All the kids were so talented, it was truly amazing. I’m still getting all the girls’ names down, and it will be difficult because they are all in Xhosa, but they all seem really excited to be working with us and we are certainly excited to be working with them as well.
• Amazing nightlife, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – I had an awesome time going out this week. We discovered Ivy League on Wednesday, a bar with all locals on Long Street. We talked to some awesome Cape Tonians about cool places to go, music festivals, and what to do. Thursday my entire house trekked to Hemisphere, a club on the top of a skyscraper with 180-degree views of the city. Our RA’s got us on the list so we didn’t have to pay cover, and we had a great time with a great view of the city. Friday, on the recommendation of someone we met on Wednesday, we went to Assembly, a cool venue to hear an awesome DJ. We danced up a storm, also a blast.
• Braai, Friday – on Friday my house got together and had a Braai, a South African barbeque. Our security guard, Andrew, volunteered to come in early and cook for us, and let me tell you he is a grill master. We had a feast of all kinds of meat, corn and other sides. All of our American and South African friends came over for a generally good and delicious time.
• Wine Tasting, Saturday – CIEE took us to Stellenbosch to the Spier Winery for a wine tasting festival. We tried all different kinds of wine, hung out with friends, and had good food. It was so relaxing and tons of fun. My favorite was the Shiraz Rose and the Pinotage, a grape that is only grown in South Africa.
• Soweto Gospel Choir concert, Saturday – as soon as we came back from wine tasting we grabbed some picnic supplies and headed to Kirstenbosch for another outdoor concert. This time we saw the Soweto Gospel Choir, a Grammy-award winning group who sung amazing songs and did amazing African dance in multiple languages. All the singers were unbelievable; they could have each had their own record deal. It was so amazing to see and hear this awesome group that is uniquely South African.

• Camps Bay Beach and hiking Lion’s Head, Sunday – to top off my amazing week, I had a very eventful Sunday. Some friends and I headed to the beach in Camps Bay to catch some sun. It was so relaxing to be back at the beach and enjoying the hot weather. We dried off, had some snacks and hopped into a cab to Lion’s Head, a mountain with 360-degree views of the city. We hiked for a little over an hour to reach the summit while the sun was setting. It was so amazing to see the sunset in the West while the full moon was rising in the East over Table Mountain. The views of Cape Town were unparalleled and it was so amazing to see. The hike down was a bit treacherous because it was in the dark, but the full moon lit the way for the most part.

Lion's Head
at the summit
sunset
shadow of Lion's Head, moon rise, city of Cape Town, Table Mountain

• Bo’Kaap, Monday – as per the past few weeks, we did a fun Monday activity. Some friends and I hopped on a minibus and headed into the city to walk around Bo’Kaap, the Muslim area of Cape Town. This section of the city is so unique because of the brightly colored buildings that are so much fun to look at. We just walked around in awe of all the beautiful colors, mosques, and ethnic feel of the neighborhood. And even though we weren’t that hungry, we saw a Cape Malay restaurant that we had wanted to try and sat down for a delicious meal. The mutton curry was superb, as were the samosas.

I am finally starting to have real schoolwork here. In the next few weeks, I have a test and multiple papers. It’s going to be so hard to sit down and actually concentrate on work. in the mean time, this weekend we will be staying overnight with families in a township called Ocean View. It will certainly be an interesting experience and I am excited/nervous to see how it will all turn out!

Environmental Studies Nerd

So although South Africa is certainly behind the US in terms of recycling, and encouraging a green lifestyle, like using water bottles, I was in awe to learn in my Sustainability and Environment class that they have an environment section under their Bill of Rights.

24. Environment
Everyone has the right
a. to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and

b. to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through reasonable legislative and other measures that

i. prevent pollution and ecological degradation;

ii. promote conservation; and

iii. secure ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.

The fact that they were so progressive in their lawmaking is truly unbelievable to me.
Let’s get on that United States.

Biiiig update to come later.