Now that I’m already in the middle of my second week of classes I realized that the days are getting busier which is why I haven’t updated this in a week! First of all, I finally found out on Friday which seminars I’ll be in for my Comm classes. For “Writing and Editing” I will be in a seminar called “Sex, Soaps, and Social Change” and for “Media in SA” I will be in a seminar on “Branding”. I’m really excited for both of them, they both sound really interesting although I’m a little bummed that they’re both taught by Americans. I mean, I come to South Africa and take classes with an American? Oh well. I’m also just glad to have my schedule finalized too. Now I can truly start getting into a routine.
Let’s see, the second half of last week. Wednesday was fairly uneventful although I finally had my first real lecture, as in we didn’t go over the syllabus or sign up for seminars but were actually taught something. I’m liking my classes so far although I’m sincerely hoping that some of the comm. classes don’t overlap with stuff I’ve already learned, that thought initially brought on when I saw a quote by Walter Lippmann on the slide show. That night was our first UCT Choir for Africa rehearsal which I hoped would be a very new experience and it didn’t disappoint. Many of the girls were abroad students but some girls and almost all the guys were African students. What was most unique for me, beyond the music, was that we began learning the song in solfege something I haven’t done since high school (wooo Select). Also, most students here are trained in opera which adds a very different sound to the choir that I’m not used it. The song was beautiful though and I’m looking forward to getting to know the others and the music.
Quinn, one of my housemates, was lucky enough to celebrate her 21st birthday on Thursday. Which means that our entire house, uncharacteristic of me I know, obviously went out on Wednesday night not too long after I got back from choir (don’t judge me, 21st birthdays are exception enough to go out on a weekday). We went to Cybar in Rondebosch which was very smoky but fun music and I knew some people there so we had fun dancing and being silly.
Luckily I only had one lecture on Thursday at 12 so I got to sleep in a bit too. And after that lecture I grabbed lunch with some friends and while we ate in Jammie Plaza we were entertained by an a capella group consisting of 7 guys, they sang a couple songs most notably “Lean on Me” and “Viva la Vida” (awww 'fellas). That night we went to the Fat Cactus, a mexican restaurant in Mowbray, where everyone has raved about their margaritas. We went to a club after that which was fun albeit weird to be out the second night in a row on a weekday so I was first to be ready to go home.
After my only lecture on Friday I found a nice tree and read for a while before going home to grab food before rugby!! We saw the Stormers (Cape Town) play the Reds (Australia) and we kicked their ass, it was great. We were in the very first row and since I had people explaining even more of the rules to me, I understood what was going on and we all got really into it. The racial disparities that everyone talks about were so clear, especially after we’d seen the soccer game a few weeks ago. There our group made up the only whites in the stands versus when we blended into the crowd at rugby. When we got back, a few people had gone to a concert in Stellenbosch and me, Allie, and eventually Faith ended up having a deep conversation about race and how different things are in Cape Town versus Stellenbosch. The main identities here are either black, white, or colored, the last of which has taken getting used to hearing but I still feel weird saying it. Stellenbosch is primarily white Afrikaans speakers whereas Cape Town has a lot of diversity. It was interesting how talking about it with Allie we’re seeing it from a more objective perspective but once Faith joined us, the conversation swung in a particular direction. I find the politics of race fascinating and it was so interesting hearing her take on things.
Thankfully the weekend was nice and relaxing. I spent a lot of Saturday at Cocoa Wah-Wah getting food with my housemates and then uploading pictures and catching up with some people from back home. Then a group of us went to Muizenburg beach on Sunday. It wasn’t too hot and there was a breeze so we were able to enjoy hanging out on the beach. There was even a surfing competition going on so we got to see some of that. Taking the train there was so easy and cheap too, I was pleasantly surprised. On the train there we had a small band come on and sit in the seats right behind us. They were really good and entertaining which made the ride there go by quickly. And before we left the beach we got ice cream at Sinnfull which I’d heard good things about. It was definitely yummy but I like Marcel’s fro-yo better heehee.
Classes have been getting busier these past few days. My two Comm lectures were funny on Monday because they both talked about the Oscars which I’d almost completely forgotten about. In class, professors talking about America so much, it’s so entertaining hearing it from their perspectives. I’ve had both my seminar classes now and I think they’re going to be fun, it’s so much more application in class than we do in the states. In “Branding” we’re going to be learning a little theory but then focusing the majority of the class on actually creating a brand for local companies. Then in “Sex, Soaps, and Social Change” (I’m going to have to figure out how to abbreviate that) we’re going to spend the semester creating our own melodramas.
Tuesday night I went to the Cancer Association to sit in on their committee meeting for the Relay For Life of Athlon which is set for March 6-7. I thought I was mainly going to listen and observe, especially since it’s so soon and I assume a lot of the planning stages are way past. Well I ended up there for 3 hours helping with all manner of things. They were all so excited to hear that I’ve been involved in 6 Relays before, for most of them this is their first Relay. Unfortunately though I just found out today that the home stay we’re doing says Saturday and Sunday on the schedule but we’re leaving for the township on Friday night. So now I have to tell them I can’t go. It stinks for them – and me, I was so excited – but luckily there’s another Relay that I can hopefully go to later in the month. Good thing I went to the association on Wednesday and made some phone calls for them so I feel like I helped a bit now that I can’t go. I was totally in my element there too, it was great! The woman I’m helping, Avril, overheard one of my conversations and said that they sounded like they were being so nice and it was probably because they could hear my American accent. Who knew that would help?
We (CIEE) heard from a speaker on Wednesday night we talked about the political situation in South Africa, especially important with the upcoming election. I know the basics (and love that one of the party’s has a logo so similar to Obama’s) but I was hoping this would fill in a lot of the blanks. The speaker had a pretty monotonous voice and the room was warm so I didn’t pay as much attention as I had wanted but when something he said jumped out at me I wrote it down. The political system here is just like in Israel where the people vote for the party. The politics are even more intense than in the states too, especially now that one of the main party’s had a group break off from it to go more moderate and they’re gaining more and more support. I thought it was really interesting that he said freedom of speech here is only second to America which is fantastic. There also are many dynamics with regards to women in the parties and of course, the obvious racial influences. It’s going to be interesting hearing more about the election as it gets closer.
After the talk I went to our second African Choir rehearsal. I have mixed feelings about it but I loved learning the national anthem. There are 4 or so languages in it and I think that’s beautiful although it would be even cooler if it had all 11 languages spoken in South Africa. I guess that would be a lot though. I’m going to give it a few more rehearsals but I’m hoping it gets better especially as we get to know other people in the group. I'm also excited because I finally signed up for volunteer programs. One goes to a hospital where we get to play with kids who have TB and the other is an HIV/AIDS organization that raises awareness and such. I'm helping 2 hours a week at each, so 4 hours a week. I could've totally been a contingent brother this semester minus going to mandatory events.
Now it’s Thursday already. After my classes I went to Cocoa Wah-Wah with Mel for a lunch date since it’s been a while since we got to really hang out and talk. It was her first time there so we got a cookie which I have a lot of left sitting next to me as I type this. This weekend we’re going to Stellenbosch on Saturday for wine tasting and then we’re going to a concert on Sunday at Kirstenbosch which is known for its beautiful gardens. It’s crazy that February is almost over – although I’m really glad it’ll be March soon so I can get more airtime haha. And it's so insane to think about but it’s been a month since I got on that British Airways plane that carried me to this other world.
I miss you all so much and I hope everything been going well back home. Happy birthday again, daddy! I hope you had a great day yesterday.
Til the next time,
Sarah
P.S. Yes, I know I'm finally listed as a berg student blogger. I still don't have a login or password for it though. Hopefully soon.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
it's only just begun
Well I have to say that Big Bash certain was appropriately named. The amusement park was where it was held wasn’t too far from campus where they had provided Jammies to shuttle us back and forth. It looked pretty nice, I would be interested to go back and try the rides. The actual dancing and such was at an indoor venue in the park with many rooms so there was different genres of music in each location. Oh, did I mention that the party was sponsored by UCT and Smirnoff. They didn’t have any vodka though which everyone I was with seemed to be disappointed with. I was happy to just find a room with good dancing music.
After being there for a couple hours, I met up with a bunch of friends I had been waiting to arrive. That’s probably when I started to have a lot of fun because it was a great group and not just CIEE people. We were very content with dancing like complete goofs. Surprisingly though, it was over by 1am. I wasn’t complaining, I was getting tired, but there was a lot of hype for this party and though I did have a good time, but it wasn’t as big as I had expected. As we were walking out, Dan and I got separated from everyone else but with so many people going for the Jammies we decided that rather than be herded like cattle, we would just chill on the side and wait for the mass waves of people to die down. A very good idea too.
I got up late on Saturday and began to help out with getting ready for our v-day themed party. After making a bunch of calls and actually getting dressed in not a t-shirt and shorts (be proud Mom), I left the house with Allie to get supplies for decorating and I was in charge of making a dish. Since I had joked with Faith that all I can make is Mac & Cheese, that’s what she told me to make but once I got to the store I realized that there was no way I was only making Mac & Cheese for this party. I ended up making cold sesame noodles with veggies and such, something my Mom makes in the summer (which it is here) and I vaguely remembered what went into it. I did forget honey though, so it wasn’t as sweet but I thought I did an okay job, it was gone by the end of the night.
We had lots of people, CIEE and many of Faith’s friends, over but since it was windy we stayed inside which is where the decorations, food, and music was anyway. We had a wall where people could post valentines and each of the guys brought 2 roses for a centerpiece and each girl then had a rose to bring home at the end of the night. People stayed even later than we had expected which must’ve meant that all had a great time. When it was down to a much smaller group we were just hanging around and ended up playing “never had I ever” and “2 truths and a lie”. I learned quite a bit about those who stuck around to play haha.
Considering that we did stuff the past two nights, I was happy to sleep in and then just hang around all day with the rest of my house. We all just hung around before going out to dinner to a Chinese restaurant. It was a nice end to our final weekend before the beginning of lectures.
After about 2 months of no class, I began my semester on Monday morning at 8am. My first lecture – Writing and Editing for the Media – was from 8-8:45 but all the lecturer talked about was what we would be covering, what the seminars are that we can sign up for, and handed out the syllabus. In my second lecture from 9-9:45 – The Media in South Africa – we heard from all the professors in charge of the seminars. My last lecture was 12-12:45 – A History of Antisemitism – talked more about the main points we will focus on in class.
Let me see if I can sum up how classes work here. At UCT, there is a much more specific track for classes, unlike what I’m used to with my small liberal arts school upbringing. Most of my classes are 2-3 lectures a week with a seminar or tutorial (tut) for the history class 1-2 times a week. The seminars are very specific to certain skills such as photojournalism, writing for magazines, film and theater critics, etc. Tutorials are just smaller sections of the class so it’s not always a huge lecture. There are only 2 tutorials for my history class because it’s actually somewhat small, only about 40 students. My Comm classes are both about 250 students so there are around 15 seminars for each class. That’s the best I can do to explain it.
After I got out of my 9am class I had a while before my history class at noon and had planned to meet with a woman from the Cancer Association of South Africa (CAN/SA). The ACS has, in recent years, expanded Relay For Life beyond the states and there are currently over 20 countries that host International Relays (thank you internship). South Africa is conveniently one of those countries and there are 3 Relays in Cape Town alone. They are all only 1-2 years old so I’ve actually had a lot more experience with Relay than most people planning this. I met with a woman, Lynne, who was able to tell me all about the Relays in the area and was excited to hear that I’ve done a lot with Relay back home. I will hopefully be involved with the planning of 2 of the 3 Relays here that both will take place in March. Good thing too since I’m missing the 25th anniversary Relays back in the states. At least I’ll have some sort of a Relay fix here. It’s going to be so different, I can’t wait.
After my last class I was doing a bunch of stuff around campus, I also had my laptop from bringing it to my meeting with Lynne which I had to carry around campus. My shoulders hurt and I had a pretty sweet flip-flop tan by the end of it all, but it was a very fulfilling day. I have all 3 lectures on Monday but then only 1 lecture every other day of the week so at least it’s all downhill from here. I finally got home to relax for a little while before going to the UCT rugby game. Someone even explained the rules to me the best they could so I think I’m on my way to understanding the game. It got chilly and windy in the shade though so we left before the game was over.
Today was only my 8am lecture which means I had to get up early, but it was my only one and the last 8am of the week too which is great. The majority of the rest of the day has been pretty lazy but a conversation I had today is what prompted me to want to write. When I went to get lunch in the kitchen, our maid, Muriel, was sitting on the couch taking a break and we got to talking. She told me about her 3 children and how one wants to be a social worker despite her encouragements to choose another profession. I asked her why since it’s so important to have people willing to take care of others at the moment when they need the most help. She said that it’s because the situations social workers have to deal with are so hard to hear, but you can’t allow your emotions to show in front of those you’re helping.
What about the child, she said, whose mother jumped in front of a train because she found out her husband slept with someone HIV positive? Your heart can’t take that every single day. She told me about her husband who was stabbed and killed for his cell phone in September of last year in the township while he walked with his girlfriend. At the same time that happened, she lost her job and had to go to her mother for help, especially since she still has a young teen at home. It was clear how grateful she was that she got a job not too long after yet it amazed me how nonchalant she seemed. I couldn’t tell if she felt sad or if she had simply accepted it as her life. Her strength is so admirable to me, but I wonder if she even sees it as her being strong or if she simply sees it as having to do what had to be done to get by. I hear of horrible things happening when I’m home but it seems different here. I had the urge to hug Muriel but resisted; I don’t want her to think I pity her. I am simply amazed at what she has been through and how she has gotten through it all. It’s not even like she has simply heard stories, she has actually been through this ordeal. It makes me feel so torn, coming from such a privileged family and country, I wish there was something I could do yet I cannot imagine if I would have the strength to go through what she has been through.
Since our talk, I’ve gone through all my Relay pictures and statistics so I could put together a short PowerPoint presentation to show people at CAN/SA what Relay looks like back home. I’m planning on going to a team captain meeting for one of them tomorrow night, Lynne is going to pick me up and drive me there too which is really nice of her so I don’t have to take a cab. Tonight we have a house meeting complete with Debonairs pizza, yum. That’s about all for now. Sorry as always for the excessively long post.
Later,
Sarah
After being there for a couple hours, I met up with a bunch of friends I had been waiting to arrive. That’s probably when I started to have a lot of fun because it was a great group and not just CIEE people. We were very content with dancing like complete goofs. Surprisingly though, it was over by 1am. I wasn’t complaining, I was getting tired, but there was a lot of hype for this party and though I did have a good time, but it wasn’t as big as I had expected. As we were walking out, Dan and I got separated from everyone else but with so many people going for the Jammies we decided that rather than be herded like cattle, we would just chill on the side and wait for the mass waves of people to die down. A very good idea too.
I got up late on Saturday and began to help out with getting ready for our v-day themed party. After making a bunch of calls and actually getting dressed in not a t-shirt and shorts (be proud Mom), I left the house with Allie to get supplies for decorating and I was in charge of making a dish. Since I had joked with Faith that all I can make is Mac & Cheese, that’s what she told me to make but once I got to the store I realized that there was no way I was only making Mac & Cheese for this party. I ended up making cold sesame noodles with veggies and such, something my Mom makes in the summer (which it is here) and I vaguely remembered what went into it. I did forget honey though, so it wasn’t as sweet but I thought I did an okay job, it was gone by the end of the night.
We had lots of people, CIEE and many of Faith’s friends, over but since it was windy we stayed inside which is where the decorations, food, and music was anyway. We had a wall where people could post valentines and each of the guys brought 2 roses for a centerpiece and each girl then had a rose to bring home at the end of the night. People stayed even later than we had expected which must’ve meant that all had a great time. When it was down to a much smaller group we were just hanging around and ended up playing “never had I ever” and “2 truths and a lie”. I learned quite a bit about those who stuck around to play haha.
Considering that we did stuff the past two nights, I was happy to sleep in and then just hang around all day with the rest of my house. We all just hung around before going out to dinner to a Chinese restaurant. It was a nice end to our final weekend before the beginning of lectures.
After about 2 months of no class, I began my semester on Monday morning at 8am. My first lecture – Writing and Editing for the Media – was from 8-8:45 but all the lecturer talked about was what we would be covering, what the seminars are that we can sign up for, and handed out the syllabus. In my second lecture from 9-9:45 – The Media in South Africa – we heard from all the professors in charge of the seminars. My last lecture was 12-12:45 – A History of Antisemitism – talked more about the main points we will focus on in class.
Let me see if I can sum up how classes work here. At UCT, there is a much more specific track for classes, unlike what I’m used to with my small liberal arts school upbringing. Most of my classes are 2-3 lectures a week with a seminar or tutorial (tut) for the history class 1-2 times a week. The seminars are very specific to certain skills such as photojournalism, writing for magazines, film and theater critics, etc. Tutorials are just smaller sections of the class so it’s not always a huge lecture. There are only 2 tutorials for my history class because it’s actually somewhat small, only about 40 students. My Comm classes are both about 250 students so there are around 15 seminars for each class. That’s the best I can do to explain it.
After I got out of my 9am class I had a while before my history class at noon and had planned to meet with a woman from the Cancer Association of South Africa (CAN/SA). The ACS has, in recent years, expanded Relay For Life beyond the states and there are currently over 20 countries that host International Relays (thank you internship). South Africa is conveniently one of those countries and there are 3 Relays in Cape Town alone. They are all only 1-2 years old so I’ve actually had a lot more experience with Relay than most people planning this. I met with a woman, Lynne, who was able to tell me all about the Relays in the area and was excited to hear that I’ve done a lot with Relay back home. I will hopefully be involved with the planning of 2 of the 3 Relays here that both will take place in March. Good thing too since I’m missing the 25th anniversary Relays back in the states. At least I’ll have some sort of a Relay fix here. It’s going to be so different, I can’t wait.
After my last class I was doing a bunch of stuff around campus, I also had my laptop from bringing it to my meeting with Lynne which I had to carry around campus. My shoulders hurt and I had a pretty sweet flip-flop tan by the end of it all, but it was a very fulfilling day. I have all 3 lectures on Monday but then only 1 lecture every other day of the week so at least it’s all downhill from here. I finally got home to relax for a little while before going to the UCT rugby game. Someone even explained the rules to me the best they could so I think I’m on my way to understanding the game. It got chilly and windy in the shade though so we left before the game was over.
Today was only my 8am lecture which means I had to get up early, but it was my only one and the last 8am of the week too which is great. The majority of the rest of the day has been pretty lazy but a conversation I had today is what prompted me to want to write. When I went to get lunch in the kitchen, our maid, Muriel, was sitting on the couch taking a break and we got to talking. She told me about her 3 children and how one wants to be a social worker despite her encouragements to choose another profession. I asked her why since it’s so important to have people willing to take care of others at the moment when they need the most help. She said that it’s because the situations social workers have to deal with are so hard to hear, but you can’t allow your emotions to show in front of those you’re helping.
What about the child, she said, whose mother jumped in front of a train because she found out her husband slept with someone HIV positive? Your heart can’t take that every single day. She told me about her husband who was stabbed and killed for his cell phone in September of last year in the township while he walked with his girlfriend. At the same time that happened, she lost her job and had to go to her mother for help, especially since she still has a young teen at home. It was clear how grateful she was that she got a job not too long after yet it amazed me how nonchalant she seemed. I couldn’t tell if she felt sad or if she had simply accepted it as her life. Her strength is so admirable to me, but I wonder if she even sees it as her being strong or if she simply sees it as having to do what had to be done to get by. I hear of horrible things happening when I’m home but it seems different here. I had the urge to hug Muriel but resisted; I don’t want her to think I pity her. I am simply amazed at what she has been through and how she has gotten through it all. It’s not even like she has simply heard stories, she has actually been through this ordeal. It makes me feel so torn, coming from such a privileged family and country, I wish there was something I could do yet I cannot imagine if I would have the strength to go through what she has been through.
Since our talk, I’ve gone through all my Relay pictures and statistics so I could put together a short PowerPoint presentation to show people at CAN/SA what Relay looks like back home. I’m planning on going to a team captain meeting for one of them tomorrow night, Lynne is going to pick me up and drive me there too which is really nice of her so I don’t have to take a cab. Tonight we have a house meeting complete with Debonairs pizza, yum. That’s about all for now. Sorry as always for the excessively long post.
Later,
Sarah
Friday, February 13, 2009
last few days of freedom
Woah, look here. Two updates in one week. You guys are in for a treat. Actually, I really just want to tell everyone my story of our first day of classes. Before I get to that though…
Karaoke was so much fun. We (Allie, Mel, and I) were with a group of people where we were the only Americans, although we did eventually see Brian there with some of the people from his house. Yay for meeting new people! The place we went, Babbo’s, was an Italian restaurant but most people didn’t get much to eat since we had all gotten dinner before, we did get some drinks though. I favored their Tequila Sunsets, half because they were really good and half…well, that’s for specific people who can appreciate my memories. Even without the drinks though, we would’ve had a great time. Once the karaoke got underway, I think we sang along with every song we knew which was most of them. I sang “Honey, Honey” with Mel which was interesting when we forgot the bridge and then “Miss Independent” on my own near the end of the night when my voice was pretty hoarse. When I first got up on Thursday, it was pretty bad too but after eating I got it back.
Originally Mel and I were planning to go with a bunch of people to Clifton to hang out at the beach for Thursday, our last day before classes, but it was really hot and not too windy so we weren’t in the mood to go and bake in the sun. So instead, joined by Allie and Dan (another CIEE student in a homestay near Liesbeeck) we went back into town taking the Jammie this time to Hiddingh Campus in Cape Town. We ate at a really cute café that Mel and I had read about in one of the books we have about Cape Town. We made friends with the waiter too whose name was (I have no idea how to spell it so I’m going to write it somewhat phonetically. Remember that in Xhosa, the ‘xh’ is a click on the side of the mouth) Xholani. He grew up in one of the townships around Cape Town but has traveled around quite a bit and was quite a jokester. I hope, if we go back, we get to see him and talk more.
We then got to walk around Greenmarket Square where I bought some more little things before we ventured to another market called the Pan African Market. I wasn’t the best but I did manage to exercise my haggling skills, even got a woman to cut her price in half. We were making our way back to the Jammie to go back to our houses but ended up stopping for a snack where we met more people on our program. By the time we got back to our house, the sun was only just starting to hit Table Mountain so I made dinner and tried to get into the mindset that I would go to sleep at a reasonable time since I had class at 8am the next morning. Rather than doing that of course, I started a Monopoly game with most of my housemates who had returned from the Garden Route which we didn’t finish as some people decided that they wanted to go out. I double checked where my classes were online before finally going to sleep knowing that getting up would not be fun.
I left my house and got to the Jammie stop this morning around 7:45 but the line was ridiculously long, I figured it would be at least 15-20 minutes before I would even get on the shuttle and my class started at 8. I was in line with another girl from my program and we decided to brave the mountain and walk to Upper Campus. I finally got to where I thought my class was around 8:05 and found a small group of people who were waiting for the same class. One of the girls waiting there was really friendly and she suggested that if it reached 8:15, we should just go which is exactly what we ended up doing. I asked her where the Film and Media Faculty (department) was so I could just check and make sure I had all the right classrooms and she pointed me in the right direction warning me that it took her at least 20 minutes to find it the first time. Luckily it only took me 15 minutes but I found out that I had the wrong classroom for both Comm classes. I wrote them down and then went to the classroom where my class actually is around 8:35 but no one was there. This means that they either met quickly to hand out the syllabus or they didn’t meet at all. If it’s the former, at least I’m not the only one who missed our first class.
The entire time I was going through this, I was very aware of the differences between berg and UCT. For one thing, I needed 20 minutes to get to class. And if I thought that berg was stone-aged in working on getting wireless all over campus and registration online, I know now that I cannot trust all the information online here at UCT. The number of students walking around was also very different for me coming from such a small school. It was exciting though when I saw people I knew because it felt like there are so many people, UCT is its own little world. Among other things, it was a very new experience.
My favorite part about this though was that we haven’t signed up for our seminar classes yet, so we only went to lectures today. We also followed our Tuesday schedule (no one knows why, I know it doesn’t make sense) and that 8am lecture is my only one on Tuesday. I proceeded to return to the house and took a fantastic nap. After I woke up, I made lunch while telling my first day of class story to some people in my house and then hearing about theirs. It’s definitely going to be a very interesting semester.
I wanted to upload some more pictures to facebook but I know I’ve said a number of times that we pay for internet by megabite which can get expensive. So Allie and I decided to walk down the street to Cocoa Wah-Wah to get a snack and use their internet (if you buy something you get 2 hours of free internet). I got one of their original recipe super sized chocolate cookies. Now, I’ve experienced Levain Bakery’s cookies and they are phenomenal but, I have to admit, this cookie provides pretty intense competition. I can’t even describe how amazing they are, but it’s like a tiny taste of heaven. I couldn’t even finish the whole thing because it was so big so I have half a piece of heaven to bring back to my house. Clearly a cookie but fudgy on the inside and when it’s warm like when I first got it, oh wow, I’m kind of in love. I might even have to come here before I go to the airport and bring one back to the states in June.
Anyway, tonight is Big Bash. I don’t know what I’ve said about it but to summarize, it’s a huge party during O Week (orientation week) and one of the biggest of the year. Faith told us that it is not to be missed, in her 5 years here she’s been every time. It’s at an amusement park but the rides aren’t working or anything, it’s just for the space. I can only imagine how many people will be there but it should be fun, I’m excited to see what it’s like. And tomorrow, Faith decided last week that we should have a Valentines Day themed party so we’ve been planning for a while. There’s going to be a bunch of people there, some from our program but also a lot of people we’ve met in the past week as well as lots of Faith’s friends. It’s going to be a bringer’s braai (like a potluck) so I’m also really excited to see what people bring, particularly the difference between what Americans bring and what everyone else brings.
That’s really the only plans for the weekend so far. Let’s see what happens.
<3,
Sarah
Karaoke was so much fun. We (Allie, Mel, and I) were with a group of people where we were the only Americans, although we did eventually see Brian there with some of the people from his house. Yay for meeting new people! The place we went, Babbo’s, was an Italian restaurant but most people didn’t get much to eat since we had all gotten dinner before, we did get some drinks though. I favored their Tequila Sunsets, half because they were really good and half…well, that’s for specific people who can appreciate my memories. Even without the drinks though, we would’ve had a great time. Once the karaoke got underway, I think we sang along with every song we knew which was most of them. I sang “Honey, Honey” with Mel which was interesting when we forgot the bridge and then “Miss Independent” on my own near the end of the night when my voice was pretty hoarse. When I first got up on Thursday, it was pretty bad too but after eating I got it back.
Originally Mel and I were planning to go with a bunch of people to Clifton to hang out at the beach for Thursday, our last day before classes, but it was really hot and not too windy so we weren’t in the mood to go and bake in the sun. So instead, joined by Allie and Dan (another CIEE student in a homestay near Liesbeeck) we went back into town taking the Jammie this time to Hiddingh Campus in Cape Town. We ate at a really cute café that Mel and I had read about in one of the books we have about Cape Town. We made friends with the waiter too whose name was (I have no idea how to spell it so I’m going to write it somewhat phonetically. Remember that in Xhosa, the ‘xh’ is a click on the side of the mouth) Xholani. He grew up in one of the townships around Cape Town but has traveled around quite a bit and was quite a jokester. I hope, if we go back, we get to see him and talk more.
We then got to walk around Greenmarket Square where I bought some more little things before we ventured to another market called the Pan African Market. I wasn’t the best but I did manage to exercise my haggling skills, even got a woman to cut her price in half. We were making our way back to the Jammie to go back to our houses but ended up stopping for a snack where we met more people on our program. By the time we got back to our house, the sun was only just starting to hit Table Mountain so I made dinner and tried to get into the mindset that I would go to sleep at a reasonable time since I had class at 8am the next morning. Rather than doing that of course, I started a Monopoly game with most of my housemates who had returned from the Garden Route which we didn’t finish as some people decided that they wanted to go out. I double checked where my classes were online before finally going to sleep knowing that getting up would not be fun.
I left my house and got to the Jammie stop this morning around 7:45 but the line was ridiculously long, I figured it would be at least 15-20 minutes before I would even get on the shuttle and my class started at 8. I was in line with another girl from my program and we decided to brave the mountain and walk to Upper Campus. I finally got to where I thought my class was around 8:05 and found a small group of people who were waiting for the same class. One of the girls waiting there was really friendly and she suggested that if it reached 8:15, we should just go which is exactly what we ended up doing. I asked her where the Film and Media Faculty (department) was so I could just check and make sure I had all the right classrooms and she pointed me in the right direction warning me that it took her at least 20 minutes to find it the first time. Luckily it only took me 15 minutes but I found out that I had the wrong classroom for both Comm classes. I wrote them down and then went to the classroom where my class actually is around 8:35 but no one was there. This means that they either met quickly to hand out the syllabus or they didn’t meet at all. If it’s the former, at least I’m not the only one who missed our first class.
The entire time I was going through this, I was very aware of the differences between berg and UCT. For one thing, I needed 20 minutes to get to class. And if I thought that berg was stone-aged in working on getting wireless all over campus and registration online, I know now that I cannot trust all the information online here at UCT. The number of students walking around was also very different for me coming from such a small school. It was exciting though when I saw people I knew because it felt like there are so many people, UCT is its own little world. Among other things, it was a very new experience.
My favorite part about this though was that we haven’t signed up for our seminar classes yet, so we only went to lectures today. We also followed our Tuesday schedule (no one knows why, I know it doesn’t make sense) and that 8am lecture is my only one on Tuesday. I proceeded to return to the house and took a fantastic nap. After I woke up, I made lunch while telling my first day of class story to some people in my house and then hearing about theirs. It’s definitely going to be a very interesting semester.
I wanted to upload some more pictures to facebook but I know I’ve said a number of times that we pay for internet by megabite which can get expensive. So Allie and I decided to walk down the street to Cocoa Wah-Wah to get a snack and use their internet (if you buy something you get 2 hours of free internet). I got one of their original recipe super sized chocolate cookies. Now, I’ve experienced Levain Bakery’s cookies and they are phenomenal but, I have to admit, this cookie provides pretty intense competition. I can’t even describe how amazing they are, but it’s like a tiny taste of heaven. I couldn’t even finish the whole thing because it was so big so I have half a piece of heaven to bring back to my house. Clearly a cookie but fudgy on the inside and when it’s warm like when I first got it, oh wow, I’m kind of in love. I might even have to come here before I go to the airport and bring one back to the states in June.
Anyway, tonight is Big Bash. I don’t know what I’ve said about it but to summarize, it’s a huge party during O Week (orientation week) and one of the biggest of the year. Faith told us that it is not to be missed, in her 5 years here she’s been every time. It’s at an amusement park but the rides aren’t working or anything, it’s just for the space. I can only imagine how many people will be there but it should be fun, I’m excited to see what it’s like. And tomorrow, Faith decided last week that we should have a Valentines Day themed party so we’ve been planning for a while. There’s going to be a bunch of people there, some from our program but also a lot of people we’ve met in the past week as well as lots of Faith’s friends. It’s going to be a bringer’s braai (like a potluck) so I’m also really excited to see what people bring, particularly the difference between what Americans bring and what everyone else brings.
That’s really the only plans for the weekend so far. Let’s see what happens.
<3,
Sarah
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
exploring Cape Town
Hey all! I know it’s been a week since I updated this thing so be prepared for a very long rambling of the past week. You should be proud of me though, it means that I haven’t been a complete hermit.
We heard from SHAWCO, the largest student run volunteering organization in Africa and possibly the world, on Wednesday. They do a lot of work in the surrounding townships and brought all those interested to one of them to see the center where they work. Our bus went to Khayelitsha (the closest pronunciation I can think of giving you all is k-i-leet-sha), one of the largest ones with over 1.5 million people live there. You could immediately tell as we entered the township with dirt/poorly paved roads, shacks made of whatever scrap material was available, and people on the side of the road just watching our bus drive by. I felt such mixed emotions as we drove through the area because it seemed like we’re looking at them like they’re some sort of exhibit of poverty but our underlying intentions were to go see what we can do to help them. I’m definitely leaning toward joining this organization but there are so many other volunteer opportunities through CIEE and such that we could do as well. Choices choices choices.
That night, my housemates and Mel managed to get me to go out for the first time since we moved in. We went down to Long Street which is known for its clubs/bars nightlife in Cape Town. Our first club had pretty fun music for a while but when they started playing techno-like stuff that all sounded the same we decided it was time to go. Stop number two had great music but was jam packed so we didn’t stay for long. The final place we went to was suggested by Thapz, one of the SOLmates and was a great place to end the night. We got there and it wasn’t too busy but once we all started dancing, the place started to really fill up. Aren’t we so cool starting a trend?
What our schedule called Thursday was “day at leisure” but it didn’t turn out to be quite that. CIEE took us to the sites where we can volunteer, allotting us 2 hours before we were going to the beach. Well it took 4.5 hours and I was on the bus without air conditioning the entire time. I finished my water bottle in the first half hour and was ready to pass out but luckily we passed by a place selling food and drinks. Despite my belief that water should never be sparkling and flavored (it tasted like Sprite), I didn’t really care at that point. Rather than spend 2 more hours on that bus to get back and forth to the beach and only spend 2 hours there, I went back to my house with other people and we got to just chill outside before the Freshers’ Braai on Upper Campus. It’s a huge barbeque for freshmen (and international students, clearly) but tons of upper classmen were there too so Faith came. After the braai we went and got amazing fro-yo and that just completed my day.
Registration day!! I feel like I was warned over and over again that Friday would be insane with registration. Well, it was actually fairly painless for me. I had been pre-approved for all the classes I wanted and they miraculously didn’t conflict. I did decide to only do 3 classes and so I didn’t even register for poverty, development, and globalization. My registration period was 11-12, good to be at the end of the alphabet because I got to sleep in. The first queue (line) was where we got a lot of paperwork to fill out for the registration process. To make it easier to fill out everything, there were loads of chairs and we just keep getting up and moving over a bit, filling out our info in between. That queue led to an academic advisor who approved the classes. When it was my turn, the woman I met with looked at my classes then at the pre-approval list, said “wow, you’re an easy one”, and signed the forms. Then I had to bring those forms to another queue ending to where a woman input all my class information into the computer. Whew, all done. I am taking The Media in South Africa, Writing and Editing in the Media, and A History of Antisemitism. I’m getting credit for the 2 Comm classes (they call it Film and Media here) and a history requirement and credit for my Jewish Studies minor.
Now that registration was over and classes don’t start until a week later (Friday), lots of people were planning on leaving for the week and going traveling. The abridged version is thus. I talked about doing the Garden Route (it follows the southern coast of South Africa, well Africa in general and is supposed to be absolutely beautiful with tons to do along the way), going up to Namibia, and trying to get to Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe. Needless to say, all of those plans kind of fell through. I was bummed for a while but I got to go around Cape Town and get more comfortable here, plus I met a lot of people in this past week. And I will definitely be traveling but for now I think it was for the best that I stayed here.
That being said, while a lot of people left on Saturday, I went with CIEE to a soccer game. Yes, they call it soccer here, not football like many people think. The game was Santos, a local team known as “The People’s Team”, versus the Pirates, a team from jo-burg. I think it’s safe to say that our group of 100-something Americas were the only white people in the stadium. Mel and I decided that since we’re kind of living in Cape Town, we should root for Santos but we were definitely in the minority. Still, the game ended with goose eggs even though a couple shots on the goal came really close on both sides. It was a lot of fun and a bunch of us are talking about going back to see another game before we leave in June.
Unexpectedly, I decided to accompany Faith to church services Sunday morning. His People or HP (the organization’s name) doesn’t have an actual church building, instead services are held in a theater only 4 blocks from our house. There was a ton of young people, many were UCT students, and Faith was introducing me and Allie (one of the other girls in the house who came too) to all her friends. The service itself was beautiful, I was even moved to tears at one point during the first song. There was a keyboardist, drummer, 2 guitarists, and a choir with 2 lead singers and all the lyrics to the song were projected onto a screen at the front. With everyone singing together in a room clearly built for fantastic acoustics, it sounded so amazing, like I was completely surrounded by the music.
We returned to the theater that night for a concert held by HP. The music was very different compared to the more worship atmosphere of the service. There was a rapper and 2 rock groups, the last rock group being the main performer. I was in the very first row with some girls both from our program and Faith’s friends jamming, dancing, and just having a good time. After the concert we met so many people who were excited to hear that we’d been to services earlier in the day and came back for the concert. Everyone was so nice and I definitely hope to go back again, especially to hear Faith sing.
Starting Monday through Wednesday (today) was the UCT equivalent to an activities fair but it’s nothing like what I’m used to at berg. All organizations here have a fee to join; luckily CIEE will pay for 3 of them. Around noon I went to Upper Campus where Jammie Plaza was packed with tents, tables, and people trying to get us to join all of their organizations. And I thought I was pushy at berg. I kept telling everyone to I need to narrow down the clubs I want to join and I need to do it through my international program anyway to avoid putting my name down everywhere. I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up doing the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) where they gave me free falafel and a t-shirt heehee, the UCT African Choir which we don’t need to audition for and travel around the peninsula performing and if we’re lucky will be invited to a competition, and SHAWCO. I don’t want to over involve myself though like at berg because I definitely want to have time to do other stuff too.
After we’d been there for a while, Mel and I left to get a late lunch with Brian, Lisa’s boyfriend who is also studying in South Africa this semester. He’s going to the University of Western Cape unlike us, we’re at UCT. His program sounds a lot like the service learning program CIEE has with seminars, speakers, and volunteering. We ate in Observatory (There are lots of small “suburbs” in the area. I live in Rosebank, Mel lives in Mowbray, and Brian lives in Observatory. They’re all close and within walking distrance) at a cute little place on a street filled with great shops and hang out places. It’s like a more laid back version of Long Street called Lower Main. We definitely will go back and check the nightlife there, especially considering how much closer it is. After that, we walked back to my house where Mel and I made some plans for the next few days in and around Cape Town.
Our Tuesday plans began with going to downtown Cape Town (City Bowl) to walk around, go to some museums, and check out the markets. We took the mini bus taxi down to the city which was an experience in itself. The mini buses drive down the streets honking, whistling, and yelling their final destination. Getting one is like hailing a cab but it’s a flat fee of R5 which is about 50 cents. Don’t take one if you’re in a hurry though because they stop for anyone on the street who so much as glances at them in case they can get more people into the bus. We were dropped off at the train station and it was interesting trying to get out of there. Finally we made it to the street after asking 2 cops who must’ve thought we were just stupid, crazy Americans. But they were nice to us so after that they must’ve also thought, “Well at least they have Obama.”
We didn’t quite know where we were going so we wandered and ended up at the Company Gardens by the Parliament buildings and such. We walked through the gardens which was really pretty although the pigeons here fly exceptionally low and it was really windy. Mel and I actually yelled, grabbed each other, and ducked at one point as one was flying directly at our heads. We finally found one of the locations on our list, the Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center as well as the synagogue known as the Gardens Shul. We had a quick tour through the place which was gorgeous and very well maintained considering that it’s over 100 years old. Mel and I talked about trying to get a group of people together to go to services there some time which I think would be incredible even though those silly orthodox kids would separate us up on the upper level.
The Jewish Museum was really cool especially with all the history it had on the Jewish community in South Africa. We saw what they have left of the Old Synagogue, tons of artifacts from the communities here, walked through a reconstructed shtetl, and heard a lot about the Lithuanian Jews who immigrated to South Africa, particularly during the Holocaust. The bottom floor also had an exhibit on Einstein which was really cool. What I found most interesting was how there were little mentions everywhere of how similar some of the Jews’ struggles relate to the struggles seen during the Apartheid.
This was even more evident when we walked through the Holocaust Center after a quick lunch. Since Jews were redefined as a race in Nazi Germany, there was a lot to say about race and how suffering for being a certain race is suffering for something that cannot be changed. Although it wasn’t too dissimilar from a lot of the Holocaust Museums in the states, that focus on race was just one of the many little differences about this center. I learned about the Greyshirts, an anti-Semitic South African group that was responsible for a lot of the anti-Semitism in South Africa and pushed the immigration quotas through to keep Jews out of the country during the Holocaust. This exhibit contained even more information on the Lithuanian Jewish community as well which I found fascinating. There were lots of other smaller things but it was really neat seeing what was deemed as most important from the South African perspective.
Rather than go to the District 6 Museum after like we had planned (too much heavy information) we walked around a little bit more, wandering more like since we didn’t entirely know where we were going. We finally figured out why we were walking in the wrong direction and found our way to Greenmarket Square which is pretty well known in the area for having lots of crafts and other stuff. Before walking around too much we stopped for a snack, gelato in honor of our lovelies in Italia. Mel was able to give me her experienced opinion of what was different about the gelato and even though it was pretty good, it’s definitely no competition I’m sure.
We mostly wanted to look around Greenmarket Square (or at least I wanted to look around, see what they had, and come back another time to buy stuff) and see if it’s geared toward tourists like us or if local people were there buying stuff. There were so many stalls on this little squares, rows and rows of people trying to get us to come look at what they had which was probably also available 3 stalls down. I did cave and bought a bracelet made of bone. Not like what you would see in the Flinstones though, it’s really cool and I liked it. There were tapestries, pottery, jewelry, clothing, and more so I can’t wait to go back and actually get some stuff, especially a tapestry or painting to cover my wall.
A bunch of us girls ended the day at the Waterfront where we got dinner, learned an awesome game from Yassi (a CIEE participant who goes to Georgetown), and saw a movie. Ok, I’ll admit, we saw The Secret Life of Bees. I know, it’s an American movie but it’s incredible how similar and also different life is like here. Movies is just one of those areas where it’s really similar. It was such a good movie though, I think it actually did the book justice.
Today was a pretty chill day, I spent most of it on Upper Campus. I learned a bit more about using school computers (thank goodness for Tawanda – a SOLmate who was working in the computer lab and helped me out) and how to check my class stuff online (like CapStone) and just figuring out the layout of buildings and such. I went shopping with Mel and Allie after that, both clothes shopping (for Mel) and food shopping. I seriously love the conversion rate here, R10 to $1. I spent over R200 on groceries but it’s only about $20, meanwhile everything that I bought would’ve come out to so much more at home. I’m gonna be so spoiled coming home that I won’t be willing to buy anything, just kidding!
Now that I’ve finally caught myself up, I think it’s about time for dinner before tonight, we’re going to Observatory (Obs) for karaoke! Anyway, sorry about the super long post. If you’re reading this now, serious props. Miss you all.
Lots of love,
Sarah
We heard from SHAWCO, the largest student run volunteering organization in Africa and possibly the world, on Wednesday. They do a lot of work in the surrounding townships and brought all those interested to one of them to see the center where they work. Our bus went to Khayelitsha (the closest pronunciation I can think of giving you all is k-i-leet-sha), one of the largest ones with over 1.5 million people live there. You could immediately tell as we entered the township with dirt/poorly paved roads, shacks made of whatever scrap material was available, and people on the side of the road just watching our bus drive by. I felt such mixed emotions as we drove through the area because it seemed like we’re looking at them like they’re some sort of exhibit of poverty but our underlying intentions were to go see what we can do to help them. I’m definitely leaning toward joining this organization but there are so many other volunteer opportunities through CIEE and such that we could do as well. Choices choices choices.
That night, my housemates and Mel managed to get me to go out for the first time since we moved in. We went down to Long Street which is known for its clubs/bars nightlife in Cape Town. Our first club had pretty fun music for a while but when they started playing techno-like stuff that all sounded the same we decided it was time to go. Stop number two had great music but was jam packed so we didn’t stay for long. The final place we went to was suggested by Thapz, one of the SOLmates and was a great place to end the night. We got there and it wasn’t too busy but once we all started dancing, the place started to really fill up. Aren’t we so cool starting a trend?
What our schedule called Thursday was “day at leisure” but it didn’t turn out to be quite that. CIEE took us to the sites where we can volunteer, allotting us 2 hours before we were going to the beach. Well it took 4.5 hours and I was on the bus without air conditioning the entire time. I finished my water bottle in the first half hour and was ready to pass out but luckily we passed by a place selling food and drinks. Despite my belief that water should never be sparkling and flavored (it tasted like Sprite), I didn’t really care at that point. Rather than spend 2 more hours on that bus to get back and forth to the beach and only spend 2 hours there, I went back to my house with other people and we got to just chill outside before the Freshers’ Braai on Upper Campus. It’s a huge barbeque for freshmen (and international students, clearly) but tons of upper classmen were there too so Faith came. After the braai we went and got amazing fro-yo and that just completed my day.
Registration day!! I feel like I was warned over and over again that Friday would be insane with registration. Well, it was actually fairly painless for me. I had been pre-approved for all the classes I wanted and they miraculously didn’t conflict. I did decide to only do 3 classes and so I didn’t even register for poverty, development, and globalization. My registration period was 11-12, good to be at the end of the alphabet because I got to sleep in. The first queue (line) was where we got a lot of paperwork to fill out for the registration process. To make it easier to fill out everything, there were loads of chairs and we just keep getting up and moving over a bit, filling out our info in between. That queue led to an academic advisor who approved the classes. When it was my turn, the woman I met with looked at my classes then at the pre-approval list, said “wow, you’re an easy one”, and signed the forms. Then I had to bring those forms to another queue ending to where a woman input all my class information into the computer. Whew, all done. I am taking The Media in South Africa, Writing and Editing in the Media, and A History of Antisemitism. I’m getting credit for the 2 Comm classes (they call it Film and Media here) and a history requirement and credit for my Jewish Studies minor.
Now that registration was over and classes don’t start until a week later (Friday), lots of people were planning on leaving for the week and going traveling. The abridged version is thus. I talked about doing the Garden Route (it follows the southern coast of South Africa, well Africa in general and is supposed to be absolutely beautiful with tons to do along the way), going up to Namibia, and trying to get to Victoria Falls in Zambia/Zimbabwe. Needless to say, all of those plans kind of fell through. I was bummed for a while but I got to go around Cape Town and get more comfortable here, plus I met a lot of people in this past week. And I will definitely be traveling but for now I think it was for the best that I stayed here.
That being said, while a lot of people left on Saturday, I went with CIEE to a soccer game. Yes, they call it soccer here, not football like many people think. The game was Santos, a local team known as “The People’s Team”, versus the Pirates, a team from jo-burg. I think it’s safe to say that our group of 100-something Americas were the only white people in the stadium. Mel and I decided that since we’re kind of living in Cape Town, we should root for Santos but we were definitely in the minority. Still, the game ended with goose eggs even though a couple shots on the goal came really close on both sides. It was a lot of fun and a bunch of us are talking about going back to see another game before we leave in June.
Unexpectedly, I decided to accompany Faith to church services Sunday morning. His People or HP (the organization’s name) doesn’t have an actual church building, instead services are held in a theater only 4 blocks from our house. There was a ton of young people, many were UCT students, and Faith was introducing me and Allie (one of the other girls in the house who came too) to all her friends. The service itself was beautiful, I was even moved to tears at one point during the first song. There was a keyboardist, drummer, 2 guitarists, and a choir with 2 lead singers and all the lyrics to the song were projected onto a screen at the front. With everyone singing together in a room clearly built for fantastic acoustics, it sounded so amazing, like I was completely surrounded by the music.
We returned to the theater that night for a concert held by HP. The music was very different compared to the more worship atmosphere of the service. There was a rapper and 2 rock groups, the last rock group being the main performer. I was in the very first row with some girls both from our program and Faith’s friends jamming, dancing, and just having a good time. After the concert we met so many people who were excited to hear that we’d been to services earlier in the day and came back for the concert. Everyone was so nice and I definitely hope to go back again, especially to hear Faith sing.
Starting Monday through Wednesday (today) was the UCT equivalent to an activities fair but it’s nothing like what I’m used to at berg. All organizations here have a fee to join; luckily CIEE will pay for 3 of them. Around noon I went to Upper Campus where Jammie Plaza was packed with tents, tables, and people trying to get us to join all of their organizations. And I thought I was pushy at berg. I kept telling everyone to I need to narrow down the clubs I want to join and I need to do it through my international program anyway to avoid putting my name down everywhere. I’m pretty sure I’m going to end up doing the South African Union of Jewish Students (SAUJS) where they gave me free falafel and a t-shirt heehee, the UCT African Choir which we don’t need to audition for and travel around the peninsula performing and if we’re lucky will be invited to a competition, and SHAWCO. I don’t want to over involve myself though like at berg because I definitely want to have time to do other stuff too.
After we’d been there for a while, Mel and I left to get a late lunch with Brian, Lisa’s boyfriend who is also studying in South Africa this semester. He’s going to the University of Western Cape unlike us, we’re at UCT. His program sounds a lot like the service learning program CIEE has with seminars, speakers, and volunteering. We ate in Observatory (There are lots of small “suburbs” in the area. I live in Rosebank, Mel lives in Mowbray, and Brian lives in Observatory. They’re all close and within walking distrance) at a cute little place on a street filled with great shops and hang out places. It’s like a more laid back version of Long Street called Lower Main. We definitely will go back and check the nightlife there, especially considering how much closer it is. After that, we walked back to my house where Mel and I made some plans for the next few days in and around Cape Town.
Our Tuesday plans began with going to downtown Cape Town (City Bowl) to walk around, go to some museums, and check out the markets. We took the mini bus taxi down to the city which was an experience in itself. The mini buses drive down the streets honking, whistling, and yelling their final destination. Getting one is like hailing a cab but it’s a flat fee of R5 which is about 50 cents. Don’t take one if you’re in a hurry though because they stop for anyone on the street who so much as glances at them in case they can get more people into the bus. We were dropped off at the train station and it was interesting trying to get out of there. Finally we made it to the street after asking 2 cops who must’ve thought we were just stupid, crazy Americans. But they were nice to us so after that they must’ve also thought, “Well at least they have Obama.”
We didn’t quite know where we were going so we wandered and ended up at the Company Gardens by the Parliament buildings and such. We walked through the gardens which was really pretty although the pigeons here fly exceptionally low and it was really windy. Mel and I actually yelled, grabbed each other, and ducked at one point as one was flying directly at our heads. We finally found one of the locations on our list, the Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center as well as the synagogue known as the Gardens Shul. We had a quick tour through the place which was gorgeous and very well maintained considering that it’s over 100 years old. Mel and I talked about trying to get a group of people together to go to services there some time which I think would be incredible even though those silly orthodox kids would separate us up on the upper level.
The Jewish Museum was really cool especially with all the history it had on the Jewish community in South Africa. We saw what they have left of the Old Synagogue, tons of artifacts from the communities here, walked through a reconstructed shtetl, and heard a lot about the Lithuanian Jews who immigrated to South Africa, particularly during the Holocaust. The bottom floor also had an exhibit on Einstein which was really cool. What I found most interesting was how there were little mentions everywhere of how similar some of the Jews’ struggles relate to the struggles seen during the Apartheid.
This was even more evident when we walked through the Holocaust Center after a quick lunch. Since Jews were redefined as a race in Nazi Germany, there was a lot to say about race and how suffering for being a certain race is suffering for something that cannot be changed. Although it wasn’t too dissimilar from a lot of the Holocaust Museums in the states, that focus on race was just one of the many little differences about this center. I learned about the Greyshirts, an anti-Semitic South African group that was responsible for a lot of the anti-Semitism in South Africa and pushed the immigration quotas through to keep Jews out of the country during the Holocaust. This exhibit contained even more information on the Lithuanian Jewish community as well which I found fascinating. There were lots of other smaller things but it was really neat seeing what was deemed as most important from the South African perspective.
Rather than go to the District 6 Museum after like we had planned (too much heavy information) we walked around a little bit more, wandering more like since we didn’t entirely know where we were going. We finally figured out why we were walking in the wrong direction and found our way to Greenmarket Square which is pretty well known in the area for having lots of crafts and other stuff. Before walking around too much we stopped for a snack, gelato in honor of our lovelies in Italia. Mel was able to give me her experienced opinion of what was different about the gelato and even though it was pretty good, it’s definitely no competition I’m sure.
We mostly wanted to look around Greenmarket Square (or at least I wanted to look around, see what they had, and come back another time to buy stuff) and see if it’s geared toward tourists like us or if local people were there buying stuff. There were so many stalls on this little squares, rows and rows of people trying to get us to come look at what they had which was probably also available 3 stalls down. I did cave and bought a bracelet made of bone. Not like what you would see in the Flinstones though, it’s really cool and I liked it. There were tapestries, pottery, jewelry, clothing, and more so I can’t wait to go back and actually get some stuff, especially a tapestry or painting to cover my wall.
A bunch of us girls ended the day at the Waterfront where we got dinner, learned an awesome game from Yassi (a CIEE participant who goes to Georgetown), and saw a movie. Ok, I’ll admit, we saw The Secret Life of Bees. I know, it’s an American movie but it’s incredible how similar and also different life is like here. Movies is just one of those areas where it’s really similar. It was such a good movie though, I think it actually did the book justice.
Today was a pretty chill day, I spent most of it on Upper Campus. I learned a bit more about using school computers (thank goodness for Tawanda – a SOLmate who was working in the computer lab and helped me out) and how to check my class stuff online (like CapStone) and just figuring out the layout of buildings and such. I went shopping with Mel and Allie after that, both clothes shopping (for Mel) and food shopping. I seriously love the conversion rate here, R10 to $1. I spent over R200 on groceries but it’s only about $20, meanwhile everything that I bought would’ve come out to so much more at home. I’m gonna be so spoiled coming home that I won’t be willing to buy anything, just kidding!
Now that I’ve finally caught myself up, I think it’s about time for dinner before tonight, we’re going to Observatory (Obs) for karaoke! Anyway, sorry about the super long post. If you’re reading this now, serious props. Miss you all.
Lots of love,
Sarah
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
one week down
It’s crazy that we’ve been here for only a week. It feels like so much longer, maybe because I left home more than a week ago or maybe because every day is so jam-packed with things to do. Let’s see, where did I leave off?
On Saturday we moved into our respective housing arrangements. Our house is adorable, not anything like what I had expected. It’s pretty weird having my own room for the first time since beginning college, I’m a fan though. We have a cozy common room and 3 bathrooms to share between the 9 of us, even a laundry room. A woman comes in to clean the public areas and we have a gardener for the grounds. Much more pampered than I’d expected.
The spit braai was at Liesbeeck Gardens, the dorm that some CIEE participants (includeing Mel) are staying in along with South African and other international students. People hung around the pool, played volleyball (it felt just like high school, rotations and all) or soccer, or just sat on the grass and talked. A braai is like a barbeque so a spit braai is when everything is cooked on a spit, pretty self-explanatory. It was fun and nice to just sit and relax together, especially since we’ve now split into dorms, houses, and home-stays. After the braai, our house went into Rondebosch to buy food and other supplies before it got too dark. We’re slowly making it more homey and livable.
Our first day of UCT orientation was Sunday and it was absolutely nothing like any orientation I’ve been to in the states. There’s around four or five hundred international students at UCT this semester and we all piled on to buses together for a trip down to the tip of Cape Point. We had tour guides telling us all about the various areas we were passing through Cape Town and on to Camps Bay, Boulders Beach (where we saw the jackass penguins), Oceanview Township (where we will return in March for our weekend home-stay), and on to the Cape Nature Reserve which was absolutely incredible. I took way too many pictures as we trekked up the 250 meters to the lighthouse at Cape Point and then walked the 45 minute trail to Cape of Good Hope where I took the traditionally touristy picture.
Our next day of orientation wasn’t quite as active but still very eventful. We heard from a lot of speakers and had to take a test that is similar to the idea of the SATs in that it’s mandatory to get into school and a standardized test. However the level of this test was something I haven’t seen since middle school. And the best part was that we were allowed to leave once we finished so after an hour I was done and had time to go to the rugby game before the drum circle. The game was against Stellenbosch and I found out later that even though UCT lost, it was a great game. I’ll have to get someone to explain the rules to me some day although it didn’t look like there are many.
The drum circle we had was so much fun; there were African drums at every seat so you can imagine how much noise we made. We learned a couple different beats, taking turns in playing the main part. It’s the second time I’ve been to a drum circle so I already knew how to use the drum and we got really into it. I spoke to the woman after who was so happy we had enjoyed it so much. I found out that she’s been drumming for 11 years! I think I might need to buy a drum and bring it home. ;) We ended the day with snacks/dinner, a marimba band, and dancing. I’m telling you, orientation unlike anything I’ve been to before.
Today was even more anti-climactic. I was tired so I skipped the beginning talks which I found out was a good idea since the only thing people took away from it was that they were way too descriptive in explaining how people get HIV and other STIs. I got to hear about registration which is on Friday and if I thought berg was behind the times in just getting online registration, well I just know I’ll have a lot to talk about after that experience at the end of the week. Just from the confusing talk I can tell it will be quite an adventure trying to get all my classes. I found out that UCT only allows up to 16 credits and I signed up for 18 which means I need to drop the one class I’m taking just for kicks (not for my major or minor). I’m kind of bummed since it sounded really interesting but it’ll give me more time to volunteer and gets some hands on learning about poverty, development, and globalization (the name of the class I’ll have to give up).
The rest of the day was really chill, we went to the mall, saw a movie (the girls went to Bride Wars, I went to Valkyre with the guys), and had dinner. We learned some more South African slang today and in particular at dinner, I found out that they call crepes, pancakes and pancakes, flapjacks. So I had a pancake filled with cheese and mushrooms which was very interesting. They had the option to put them on waffles too but I wouldn’t want to take away from my Waffle House memories haha.
That just about sums up the past few days and yet still doesn’t cover everything we’ve seen. I finally got to put some pictures on facebook even though it took, like, 500 megabites and I have to pay for internet by megabite usage. I’ve got more pictures from the drum circle and marimba band but those you’ll have to wait for. Hope all is well back home. And shout out to Beta Xi!! I came crazy close to wearing my letters today to rep the bro’s back home. Miss you all.
<3,
Sarah
On Saturday we moved into our respective housing arrangements. Our house is adorable, not anything like what I had expected. It’s pretty weird having my own room for the first time since beginning college, I’m a fan though. We have a cozy common room and 3 bathrooms to share between the 9 of us, even a laundry room. A woman comes in to clean the public areas and we have a gardener for the grounds. Much more pampered than I’d expected.
The spit braai was at Liesbeeck Gardens, the dorm that some CIEE participants (includeing Mel) are staying in along with South African and other international students. People hung around the pool, played volleyball (it felt just like high school, rotations and all) or soccer, or just sat on the grass and talked. A braai is like a barbeque so a spit braai is when everything is cooked on a spit, pretty self-explanatory. It was fun and nice to just sit and relax together, especially since we’ve now split into dorms, houses, and home-stays. After the braai, our house went into Rondebosch to buy food and other supplies before it got too dark. We’re slowly making it more homey and livable.
Our first day of UCT orientation was Sunday and it was absolutely nothing like any orientation I’ve been to in the states. There’s around four or five hundred international students at UCT this semester and we all piled on to buses together for a trip down to the tip of Cape Point. We had tour guides telling us all about the various areas we were passing through Cape Town and on to Camps Bay, Boulders Beach (where we saw the jackass penguins), Oceanview Township (where we will return in March for our weekend home-stay), and on to the Cape Nature Reserve which was absolutely incredible. I took way too many pictures as we trekked up the 250 meters to the lighthouse at Cape Point and then walked the 45 minute trail to Cape of Good Hope where I took the traditionally touristy picture.
Our next day of orientation wasn’t quite as active but still very eventful. We heard from a lot of speakers and had to take a test that is similar to the idea of the SATs in that it’s mandatory to get into school and a standardized test. However the level of this test was something I haven’t seen since middle school. And the best part was that we were allowed to leave once we finished so after an hour I was done and had time to go to the rugby game before the drum circle. The game was against Stellenbosch and I found out later that even though UCT lost, it was a great game. I’ll have to get someone to explain the rules to me some day although it didn’t look like there are many.
The drum circle we had was so much fun; there were African drums at every seat so you can imagine how much noise we made. We learned a couple different beats, taking turns in playing the main part. It’s the second time I’ve been to a drum circle so I already knew how to use the drum and we got really into it. I spoke to the woman after who was so happy we had enjoyed it so much. I found out that she’s been drumming for 11 years! I think I might need to buy a drum and bring it home. ;) We ended the day with snacks/dinner, a marimba band, and dancing. I’m telling you, orientation unlike anything I’ve been to before.
Today was even more anti-climactic. I was tired so I skipped the beginning talks which I found out was a good idea since the only thing people took away from it was that they were way too descriptive in explaining how people get HIV and other STIs. I got to hear about registration which is on Friday and if I thought berg was behind the times in just getting online registration, well I just know I’ll have a lot to talk about after that experience at the end of the week. Just from the confusing talk I can tell it will be quite an adventure trying to get all my classes. I found out that UCT only allows up to 16 credits and I signed up for 18 which means I need to drop the one class I’m taking just for kicks (not for my major or minor). I’m kind of bummed since it sounded really interesting but it’ll give me more time to volunteer and gets some hands on learning about poverty, development, and globalization (the name of the class I’ll have to give up).
The rest of the day was really chill, we went to the mall, saw a movie (the girls went to Bride Wars, I went to Valkyre with the guys), and had dinner. We learned some more South African slang today and in particular at dinner, I found out that they call crepes, pancakes and pancakes, flapjacks. So I had a pancake filled with cheese and mushrooms which was very interesting. They had the option to put them on waffles too but I wouldn’t want to take away from my Waffle House memories haha.
That just about sums up the past few days and yet still doesn’t cover everything we’ve seen. I finally got to put some pictures on facebook even though it took, like, 500 megabites and I have to pay for internet by megabite usage. I’ve got more pictures from the drum circle and marimba band but those you’ll have to wait for. Hope all is well back home. And shout out to Beta Xi!! I came crazy close to wearing my letters today to rep the bro’s back home. Miss you all.
<3,
Sarah
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