Hello all. I think this may end up being my last actually thought out blog post from South Africa. I really only have 3 more days here (which is INSANE) and one of those days, Thursday, I have a final in the middle of the day. Let’s see…
Last week after I wrote, I hung out with my housemates and we had some drinks before going to a club in Claremont called 91 on Main or Club 91, something like that. It only recently opened which is why I hadn’t heard of it until which was definitely too bad, it was really nice; had great music, lots of areas to sit and relax, drinks weren’t too expensive, what more could you ask for? It was a lot of fun being out with them too because early the next day half of them left to go traveling since they’re all done with finals and they won’t be back until this Thursday. So our house has been half empty the past few days which is kind of sad but I guess it’s all just leading up to this Friday but let’s not talk about that yet.
On Friday night I ended up staying in with the people left in the house and we baked cookies. After just a slight overlook with how runny the dough was so that our first batch flattened out and just covered the pan, we added more flour and tried it again. Those came out good and what had covered the pan we scraped off and was actually pretty good too. So that was a fun night, funny how that’s what I spent my last Friday night in Cape Town doing.
I had talked to Mel about going to the Old Biscuit Mill on Saturday and I lucked out because she wanted to go, I didn’t want to go to Woodstock by myself, it’s a bit of a shady area. I had heard a lot about the mill and had wanted to go for a while but it just never worked out. Since it was our last Saturday I really wanted to go and I’m so glad we did, it was great. The mill is split up into sections, there are boutiques and art gallery kind of places where there are fancy and expensive brand name clothes, jewelry, bags, etc. My favorite section though was an area that was a permanent tent-like structure packed with food venders. They pretty much all had samples and there was so much of everything – fresh organic fruits and veggies, bread, cheese, dips, desserts, waffles, sushi, tea, honey, and on and on. We went around and tried samples of everything we were allowed to and then got hummus and pita for a snack. I almost wish every day until we leave was Saturday (that’s the only day the mill is open) so we could go back but at least I did get to go once.
After that, I went with Mel back to her bf place where we had the hummus and pita, watched TV, listened to music, and just talked. We left in the late afternoon to go back to our respective living places but went back there for dinner. He made an African dish of mostly beans and fried plantains with some rice too. Simple but really yummy. We were there for a while just hanging out and talking about lots of things including HIV/AIDS, interracial couples, and other things. It was great to be able to have an intimate conversation about these topics between the 3 of us all being different people with different experiences. Eventually they went out to a club while dropping me off at my house on the way. The rest of the night I ended up on Faith's bedroom floor talking for around 2 hours about lots of different things which was an enjoyable little spurt of bonding.
Sunday morning I decided to go to Faith’s church with her which was a great experience as always. The beauty of the music and faith of everyone there still moves me and I’m glad I had the opportunity to be able to take part in something that holds such a heavy weight in African society. Religion is a big deal for most Africans that I’ve encountered and I can understand why having gone to their services. It is very unfortunate that I didn’t get the opportunity to go to a synagogue except for that Passover Seder back in April. There are a couple reasons for this but the main one is that it is unwise to travel on your own at night in Cape Town and I didn’t want to go to a Saturday service. There were many times where I tried to get together with some people to go to a Friday night service but between timing and my general insecurities, it always fell through and I didn’t pursue it which I sincerely regret. It was something that I had been really excited to experience while I was here.
I had hoped that joining the Jewish organization on campus would help me to get in touch with the Jewish students at UCT but for the semester it ended up doing – literally – nothing. All the activities I heard they were hosting were at another university in Jo’burg. Though the fact that there is a kosher cafeteria on campus says that there is obviously enough people that needed it so that it was created, the Jewish student body is completely immersed in the rest of the students. Many people don’t even know about the existence of the Jewish cafeteria and if they do, they often don’t know where it is but only that it exists.
My professor for A History of Antisemitism also wrote a book on antisemitism in South Africa. We didn’t really elaborate on the topic in class but from what I understand, there was a lot of prejudice against Jews for a long time, some of it still carrying over to today. It’s a topic I hope to look into more and I’m disappointed in myself for not taking a more pro-active role in finding out more about the community while I’m here. I definitely take berg’s active Jewish student body for granted in that it is so easy to get involved; I am truly looking forward to returning to that community in the fall.
Since then I have been spending time trying to see people, doing a lot of personal reflection, slowly starting to pack, and occasional studying haha. While I don’t mean to seem like a complete slacker, I could get a 3 and still pass the class (that’s a 3% on the final). So I guess I just don’t have that much motivation. I did exceptionally well in both my seminars (an 81 in Sex, Soaps, and Social Change and a 77 in Branding which are A/A+ grades) which counted for 50% of each of my Comm classes.
One thing I am certain of is that berg is the perfect school for me. UCT has very different teaching and grading techniques and combining that with the large, impersonal lecture classes where I don’t feel inspired to contribute, I know that the small, liberal arts school was definitely the right choice for me. I felt insignificant in the classes where we would have different lecturers every few weeks who would simply talk at us for 45 minutes before disappearing and being extremely hard for me to get in touch with, even via e-mail. I’m sure that many people like/are used to this kind of an education and I’m not saying that it’s bad, it just doesn’t work well with me and how I enjoy learning. There are probably people on my program who didn’t have these issues, but I’m just looking at it from my standpoint.
The next few days will be mostly studying, packing, going around Cape Town, and saying goodbyes. To everyone who actually spent the time to follow my South Africa “adventure”, it really meant a lot to me. Especially as I struggled with not having my family and friends here with me, it was so wonderful to know that no matter where I am in the world, there are people who care about me. So I thank you all very much for that. I have been getting slowly more and more bummed about leaving this place but knowing that I am going home to all of you makes it a little easier. I have begun to think about the routine I fell into here and how strange it will be to go back to an old routine that should feel familiar but will be changed mostly because I have been changed.
Of one thing I am certain and it’s that I have been changed. Even though I don’t necessarily feel it right now, I know that I have, it was inevitable. Granted, my personality, values, and beliefs haven’t changed, but being here in this place for 4.5 months has given me new insight to just a corner of the world and even though technology is shrinking the world (i.e. you’re reading something that I’m writing in the early evening in Cape Town, South Africa while you are who knows where else in the world and what time it is) I feel that the world is actually even bigger than I thought before. There’s so much more to see and learn about and though I have no idea where my future will take me, I only hope that I will be able to go to other places and learn about their life and culture and maybe even come back to Cape Town again in my life.
All the best,
Sarah
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Remember. Me.
Well yesterday after my final I was able to relax and even went out to a restaurant to get a few drinks and unwind before planning to do some museums today since I won’t start studying until the weekend. Since it was rainy we figured it was perfect museum weather and went first to the National Gallery. I had heard mixed reviews on the gallery and even though I usually get a little fed up of just walking from painting to painting, I thought it was a pretty nice collection and enjoyed it. Nothing in particular really stood out but it was relaxing and aesthetically pleasing to start off the day.
After that though, we went to the Slave Lodge which I had also heard mixed reviews on leaning toward the negative. I decided I wanted to see it anyway and luckily the group I was with wanted to go too. The museum is in a building built in 1679 that used to be the lodge where slaves were kept, many until they died. It was eventually converted into the Supreme Court building and has since become a museum, a tribute. I thought the permanent exhibit was really interesting, talking about all the slaves who were brought into Cape Town from East Africa, West Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, India, and more. Although there was Apartheid, during the slave days, the colonizers actually avoided putting the locals into slavery because they were useful for farming and other things so most of the slaves were from other places around the world.
There was a room early on in the exhibit that had a woman reciting a poem and a semi replica of what the boat quarters for the slaves were like. It was this poem that really got to me and also got me thinking about my study abroad experience which I’ll go into later. There was one line that kept getting repeated which was “Remember me. Remember. Me.” Later on in the exhibit, there was the Column of Memory which had backlit rings with names of slaves who had been forced to stay in the lodge. By the column was another quote from the poem that I really liked and wanted to share. “In the light of memory and remembering, through the streams of our senses, reconnecting, recollecting, we find our way home.”
Anyway, also in the museum was a special exhibit on Steve Biko arranged by the Apartheid Museum that was extremely interesting and an exhibit upstairs that had interviews with a bunch of Africans. The Biko exhibit was the most fascinating (to me) of the two because it was quite a big deal for South Africa. Bantu Steve Biko was the honorary president of the Black People's Convention and died at age 30 from brain damage after being badly beaten by guards where he had been imprisoned during Apartheid. The exhibit included many quotes said by Biko who was enough of an inspiration that a building on Upper Campus at UCT is named after him. I really liked the lodge and even though it wasn’t my favorite of all the museums I’ve been too, if people have time to go I would definitely suggest it. Overall, it was a good day even though it was kind of rainy.
So, I have officially hit the single digit countdown to arriving home. It is now only 9 days until I will set foot on American soil for the first time in four and a half months. Now that it’s getting so close to being the end of my time studying abroad, I have been reflecting a lot on my time here and on the entire experience. Each day that passes brings with it some sadness in leaving, a feeling I had expected but not to this magnitude. Before I was leaving for South Africa and everyone asked me how I felt about it, my answer was “excited about going there, sad about leaving here”. And I had assumed that when it came time to go home, I would feel the same way. While my blog posts have talked about all the incredible things I’ve done while I’ve been here, I’m not going to deny that I have been extremely ready to come back. I’ve missed my family, friends, berg, New Jersey, and the states a lot more than I expected to and I spent a lot of time wondering if this was the experience I had signed up for or if was just in way over my head but too deep already to get out of it.
I guess a lot of people would call it homesickness or culture shock but the fact is that it was really just a realization for me of how happy I am with what my life is like back at home. When leaving berg in the fall, I acknowledged (with my friends’ help) that I was going abroad clearly not to get away from anything but to give myself the experience of a lifetime. That became even more evident to me after I arrived and thought, maybe a bit too much, about wanting to be home rather than in Cape Town. I thought often about things at home that were different and how I preferred those things over what South Africa had to offer me. These four plus months have been long and not often easy, but I have begun to realize just how much I’ve learned since I got here, about Africa, about South Africa, about Cape Town, about UCT, but mostly, about myself.
There’s no way I can even attempt to put into words the kind of experience I’ve had here. I do think that everyone should visit South Africa, or somewhere in Africa at the very least, once in their lifetime. It is a country that no words, pictures, or anything really can describe. About three years ago, I made a promise to myself to never let myself thinking about my regrets but to simply take in the good things I have seen and done. Since then, I haven’t always been able to say that I don’t have regrets, but I have felt better about thinking that I would do things differently given the chance because I still try to harness the good in my experiences.
I have been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling (although I do plan to come back to Africa again because there’s so much more I want to see – don’t hyperventilate Mom, it won’t be for a while) and do other really cool things in Cape Town. I have met some amazing people whom I will remember and carry with me, people who have taught me so much about being here and about who they are. There’s no way I will ever get this same opportunity of studying abroad and I am forever grateful that I had this chance. Especially after seeing so much here in a country where there is both first and third world qualities, I feel how lucky I am that I could come to another country for such a long time.
Rather than entirely glorify my stay here, I didn’t want to avoid ever saying how much I questioned being here on a pretty daily basis. Going abroad is most definitely a life changing experience and everyone reacts to being in another country for such an extended period of time differently. But I think that everyone takes away from their study abroad experience a new appreciation of the world and the country they were in, but most importantly (to me at least), a new sense of self. To anyone who asks me about my study abroad experience once I’m back will get an ear-full because I could probably talk for ages, but that is only now having tried to sort through my thoughts.
As we begin to say goodbyes and talk of our last this or last that, I am torn as I never have been before. Returning to driving on the right side of the road, dollars instead of rand, barbeques instead of braais, what’s up instead of howzit, garden room fro yo instead of marcels, and no more cocoa wah-wah cookies is going to be a reverse culture shock even stranger than the culture shock of coming here. Seeing everyone that I care about so much is going to be the most amazing thing though – it’s true that distance makes the heart grow fonder – so expect initial hugs to last more than a few minutes. Still though, I will miss a lot of things about Cape Town that I have gotten used to and truly do enjoy. There are many people that I would love to be able to stay and get to know better but I am definitely thankful for having at least the opportunity to get to know everyone I have even if it was just for a short while.
All that there is left to say, is that it’s Thursday night and the last night where I don’t have to say that it’s the last __(day of the week)__ night. It’s go time.
Hugs and kisses,
Sarah
After that though, we went to the Slave Lodge which I had also heard mixed reviews on leaning toward the negative. I decided I wanted to see it anyway and luckily the group I was with wanted to go too. The museum is in a building built in 1679 that used to be the lodge where slaves were kept, many until they died. It was eventually converted into the Supreme Court building and has since become a museum, a tribute. I thought the permanent exhibit was really interesting, talking about all the slaves who were brought into Cape Town from East Africa, West Africa, Madagascar, Indonesia, India, and more. Although there was Apartheid, during the slave days, the colonizers actually avoided putting the locals into slavery because they were useful for farming and other things so most of the slaves were from other places around the world.
There was a room early on in the exhibit that had a woman reciting a poem and a semi replica of what the boat quarters for the slaves were like. It was this poem that really got to me and also got me thinking about my study abroad experience which I’ll go into later. There was one line that kept getting repeated which was “Remember me. Remember. Me.” Later on in the exhibit, there was the Column of Memory which had backlit rings with names of slaves who had been forced to stay in the lodge. By the column was another quote from the poem that I really liked and wanted to share. “In the light of memory and remembering, through the streams of our senses, reconnecting, recollecting, we find our way home.”
Anyway, also in the museum was a special exhibit on Steve Biko arranged by the Apartheid Museum that was extremely interesting and an exhibit upstairs that had interviews with a bunch of Africans. The Biko exhibit was the most fascinating (to me) of the two because it was quite a big deal for South Africa. Bantu Steve Biko was the honorary president of the Black People's Convention and died at age 30 from brain damage after being badly beaten by guards where he had been imprisoned during Apartheid. The exhibit included many quotes said by Biko who was enough of an inspiration that a building on Upper Campus at UCT is named after him. I really liked the lodge and even though it wasn’t my favorite of all the museums I’ve been too, if people have time to go I would definitely suggest it. Overall, it was a good day even though it was kind of rainy.
So, I have officially hit the single digit countdown to arriving home. It is now only 9 days until I will set foot on American soil for the first time in four and a half months. Now that it’s getting so close to being the end of my time studying abroad, I have been reflecting a lot on my time here and on the entire experience. Each day that passes brings with it some sadness in leaving, a feeling I had expected but not to this magnitude. Before I was leaving for South Africa and everyone asked me how I felt about it, my answer was “excited about going there, sad about leaving here”. And I had assumed that when it came time to go home, I would feel the same way. While my blog posts have talked about all the incredible things I’ve done while I’ve been here, I’m not going to deny that I have been extremely ready to come back. I’ve missed my family, friends, berg, New Jersey, and the states a lot more than I expected to and I spent a lot of time wondering if this was the experience I had signed up for or if was just in way over my head but too deep already to get out of it.
I guess a lot of people would call it homesickness or culture shock but the fact is that it was really just a realization for me of how happy I am with what my life is like back at home. When leaving berg in the fall, I acknowledged (with my friends’ help) that I was going abroad clearly not to get away from anything but to give myself the experience of a lifetime. That became even more evident to me after I arrived and thought, maybe a bit too much, about wanting to be home rather than in Cape Town. I thought often about things at home that were different and how I preferred those things over what South Africa had to offer me. These four plus months have been long and not often easy, but I have begun to realize just how much I’ve learned since I got here, about Africa, about South Africa, about Cape Town, about UCT, but mostly, about myself.
There’s no way I can even attempt to put into words the kind of experience I’ve had here. I do think that everyone should visit South Africa, or somewhere in Africa at the very least, once in their lifetime. It is a country that no words, pictures, or anything really can describe. About three years ago, I made a promise to myself to never let myself thinking about my regrets but to simply take in the good things I have seen and done. Since then, I haven’t always been able to say that I don’t have regrets, but I have felt better about thinking that I would do things differently given the chance because I still try to harness the good in my experiences.
I have been lucky enough to do a bit of traveling (although I do plan to come back to Africa again because there’s so much more I want to see – don’t hyperventilate Mom, it won’t be for a while) and do other really cool things in Cape Town. I have met some amazing people whom I will remember and carry with me, people who have taught me so much about being here and about who they are. There’s no way I will ever get this same opportunity of studying abroad and I am forever grateful that I had this chance. Especially after seeing so much here in a country where there is both first and third world qualities, I feel how lucky I am that I could come to another country for such a long time.
Rather than entirely glorify my stay here, I didn’t want to avoid ever saying how much I questioned being here on a pretty daily basis. Going abroad is most definitely a life changing experience and everyone reacts to being in another country for such an extended period of time differently. But I think that everyone takes away from their study abroad experience a new appreciation of the world and the country they were in, but most importantly (to me at least), a new sense of self. To anyone who asks me about my study abroad experience once I’m back will get an ear-full because I could probably talk for ages, but that is only now having tried to sort through my thoughts.
As we begin to say goodbyes and talk of our last this or last that, I am torn as I never have been before. Returning to driving on the right side of the road, dollars instead of rand, barbeques instead of braais, what’s up instead of howzit, garden room fro yo instead of marcels, and no more cocoa wah-wah cookies is going to be a reverse culture shock even stranger than the culture shock of coming here. Seeing everyone that I care about so much is going to be the most amazing thing though – it’s true that distance makes the heart grow fonder – so expect initial hugs to last more than a few minutes. Still though, I will miss a lot of things about Cape Town that I have gotten used to and truly do enjoy. There are many people that I would love to be able to stay and get to know better but I am definitely thankful for having at least the opportunity to get to know everyone I have even if it was just for a short while.
All that there is left to say, is that it’s Thursday night and the last night where I don’t have to say that it’s the last __(day of the week)__ night. It’s go time.
Hugs and kisses,
Sarah
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
a trip to the Kingdom in the Sky
It’s really hard to summarize anything I’ve done here into just a few paragraphs. I mean, I tended to write a novella every time there’s been something to say, and then it still just doesn’t do justice to the entire experience. Africa is a place that can’t be understood until you’ve actually been there, and even within Africa there are so many differences. Lesotho is a great example of this because it is a country within another country, yet it is so vastly different from South Africa. You wouldn’t expect it to be so different necessarily because it’s more than, like, twenty times smaller than its neighbor.
We left for Lesotho on Saturday at 5:30pm on the Intercape bus. Some things about this bus. Because it was an overnight bus, it’s called the Sleepliner, and the seats (we found out in the informational video they showed us) reclined to a 150 degree angle. Pretty sweet. It was actually extremely comfortable. What was a bit less comfortable was what they had us watch for, like, 5 hours at the beginning of our journey. When we were booking our tickets, we’d heard Intercape was reliable and convenient – especially for our wallets – so I had no problem taking the bus. We were joking when we first got on, wondering how they manage to keep all the buses running that they do with such nice service and buses with such low prices. We decided that it’s because they’re definitely sponsored by a TON of religious organizations. The video we watched talked to a bunch of Christian music groups about their music, explained why evolution isn’t real, and encouraged us all to accept and learn to love Jesus. I just wanted to sleepppp. Luckily they finally turned it off shortly before midnight although I did still get woken up every few hours when we would reach a rest stop. Despite these things, I was physically comfortable and rested by the time we reached Bloemfontein around 8:30am, Sunday morning.
Getting to Malealea was a trick. We took a taxi from the bus station in Bloem to the border at the Maseru Bridge. We went through passport control and then drove across the border where our taxi had to turn around. From here we took a taxi into the city of Maseru which is also the capitol of Lesotho where the mini buses were. After a few confusing minutes with lots of yelling and honking, we got on a mini bus that would take us to another mini bus area. This next mini bus actually brought us straight to the entrance of Malealea Lodge finally arriving around 1:30pm. So it took about 5 more hours to get from Bloem to Malealea; it’s technically only 3ish hours but we’d read that it should take 4-5 hours.
We checked in and were showed to our rooms in Basotho (ba-soo-too) huts. We were told where the bathrooms were and reminded that their electricity comes from generators which turn off at 9:30pm; luckily we knew enough about the lodge that we had a few flashlights. After putting our stuff down, we walked around the lodge a bit. Everything was painted very traditionally and with the set up of the buildings spread out with connecting dirt and gravel paths, it felt a bit like a summer camp. After pausing a minute to remark on the wild peacocks wandering around, we were able to look past the trees to the mountains in the distance.
Since it was still early we decided to walk around the village a bit. I’m guessing we looked a bit awkward and lost though because a guy came up to us asking if we wanted to be showed around. He introduced himself as Jucius and told us that he worked for the lodge as a guide and could take us around. We agreed and though it started out pretty awkward with us just asking sporadic questions and otherwise walking in silence, it got better by the end. Our first big question though were the huge plants lining the pathway, they looked to me like overgrown aloe plants. Turns out, they were aloe, a particular species that grows to be bigger than a person. As we reached some houses, a bunch of kids saw us and came over to say hello and walk with us. The primary language is Sotho and the secondary is English, but most young kids don’t learn English until later so they know “hello”, “bye-bye”, “thank you”, and maybe another phrase or too. They were adorable and all wanted to hold our hands at the same times.
We eventually got them to let go when Jucius asked us if we wanted to try locally brewed beer (which I definitely wouldn’t called beer since it was made of grapes). It tasted just like Savannah Dry which is a popular alcoholic cider here. Once we got back outside the kids swarmed around us again and we continued walking slowly around. He suggested that we could walk over to a museum that had stuff on the history of the Sotho. The museum was set up in two huts and had pictures, traditional clothes, pots, jewelry, and other things. We walked around as well to see some of the plants around and talked about the climate and nature of Lesotho. Jucius also explained how Lesotho has a king and prime minister but each village has a chief who is in charge of everything. One of the things the chief also does is give land to people once they are of age (21) to build a house or farm. Most families farm with the most popular produce being maize and wheat. They also have lots of animals, primarily sheep, cows, and horses/ponies. In the other hut they made us mint tea from one of the plants we had seen while walking outside. We talked more about Lesotho and Rachael asked him a question that I was a bit hesitant to bring up.
Lesotho, despite being an extremely tiny country, has one of the highest percentages of HIV/AIDS in the world, above 30%. She asked him about how the country and how the village deals with it and what is being done in terms of education and awareness. He said that there are clinics and such where people can go for free tests and where they can get condoms and whatnot. Since it takes a while for HIV to show up on a test if someone has been infected, people are encouraged to go somewhat regularly to the clinics (which we passed by a few days later as we hiked) and get tested. He said that even if people could not have gotten HIV any time recently, they are encouraged to get tested because there is no knowing if they could’ve gotten it other ways since sometimes kids will imitate their parents and have sex so there’s no knowing until you’ve been tested. It was a bit of a shocking statement but I tried not to react visibly to it considering how nonchalantly he said it; it seems that it is neither unusual nor bizarre to them that such a thing would happen.
Eventually the sun was going down so we started walking back to the lodge, encountering many people making their way home. Everyone was extremely friendly although I kept wishing they wouldn’t stare at us, say something with a smile to Jucius in Sotho, and then say a simple greeting to us in English. We parted at the gate agreeing that we would most likely see him the next day though we didn’t have plans yet. Back at the lodge we went to the dining room for dinner and bumped into some other CIEE students who had been at Malealea for a few days and were leaving early the next morning. Dinner was fantastic and afterward we relaxed before going to another room to play “30 Seconds”.
I had heard of this game before but hadn’t gotten a chance to play it yet. It’s kind of like “Taboo” but with a few clear differences. We split into teams and then going around the circle, a person picks up a card with 5 words/phrases on it. The timer is turned and they have 30 seconds to get their team to guess as many of the things on the card. You just can’t say any word that’s in the word they’re trying to guess (obviously) but you also can’t do thing like sounds like or rhymes with. However many of the things that are guessed correctly, you move your team piece that many spaces on the board. There were surprisingly a lot of American things on those cards but we occasionally got stumped on people or places that there’s no way any of us would guess.
We kept a careful watch on the time and at about 9:29 without warning we suddenly found ourselves in complete darkness. We took this as our sign to pack things up and get going back to our rooms. As we left the building though, the other people we were playing with told us to turn off our flashlights to get an idea of how dark it was. After feeling completely blinded, my eyes began to adjust but still we could barely see. There was no moon and even if there had been, it would have already been behind the mountains and there weren’t any lights within eye sight. The only light was from the sky. And oh my goodness. The sky. It was absolutely spectacular. I’ve never seen nor do I think I’ll ever see anything quite like it. I have never seen so many stars in all my life and the Milky Way stretched all the way across the sky. It was at exactly that moment when I realized where Lesotho got the nickname “Kingdom in the Sky”.
The next morning we woke up to the sound of cow bells and roosters. It was cold in the huts but once we were out in the sunlight it was really warm so we got ready quickly and then decided on what we should do for the day. I don’t remember what I said about pony-trekking in my pre-trip message, but basically it’s the most popular activity for people visiting Malealea and Lesotho in general. There are many places you can go and there are even overnight trips although we opted not to do one of those. We decided to do the 5 hour trek that would take us to the bushman/san rock paintings of Tohlang and the Botsoela waterfall.
In the tack room we met the guy who would be showing us around, his name was Dan. In case I didn’t mention, these are all their Christian names that they go by, not their Sotho names. After introductions and paperwork, we walked over to where the ponies were waiting. These ponies have been bred specifically to handle the rocky, mountainous terrain in Lesotho but they were pretty tall, about the same height as some horses. My horse was brown with a white star and black stockings, a bit shorter than the others but pretty energetic. I think we were a good match because we’re both pretty stubborn and try to forge our own path; after I got over being a bit nervous, I felt pretty comfortable and figured out how to deal with being on a horse.
We went to the paintings first. The ponies could only take us so far down the mountain into the ravine and we had to hike along the side of the cliff for a bit until we got there. There are 3 caves with paintings but because of soil erosion we only got to get to 2 of them. Still, it was so cool and really interesting. The paintings which are only a few hundred years old mainly depicted things like humans hunting various animals of the region. The figures were all a redish brown color but apparently there would’ve been some white in it that has faded. I thought they were fascinating. I tried to take pictures but against the sedimentary rock it’s hard to say what stands out more.
By the time we got going again it was close to noon and really warm and the sky was amazingly blue with big fluffy white clouds. We made our way out of the ravine and along the mountains eventually going back down where we walked along a small brook/creek. Because it is the winter months they told us the water is much lower, it’s much more like a river during the rainy summer months. After over an hour we had reached the point where we had to hike down to the waterfall. I know we’ve been to Vic Falls and nothing can compare, but it was still very beautiful. We were able to walk along the rocks right to the water’s edge because the water was low but Dan said that during the summer it’s a lot more water coming down from the mountain springs. I could’ve sat there for a while just watching and listening to it but we still had over an hour ride back to the lodge so we hiked back up to the ponies and were on our way. On the way back, my horse must’ve been excited to get back because there was a little friendly competition going on between the ponies and we got back much faster.
After relaxing for a while, we went to where there was a local choir and band performing. The choir was really enjoyable; I was hoping they would sing some of the Sotho songs that I learned in Choir for Africa but even though they didn’t it was really cool to see them. The band that performed after them was also really incredible. Their instruments were made from household materials like cans, few liter bottles, and such; I was simply amazed that these simply made instruments worked the way they did. A few men were dancing and singing with them and it was truly fascinating to watch.
Our last day there we decided to hike instead of pony trekking before we had to leave. This time our guide was Max and we set out in the opposite direction of where we had gone the day before. We walked through lots of fields all the way to the top of the gorge where we then decided we wanted to go down to the rock pools in the gorge. The path down wound back and forth since the descent was pretty steep but we were eventually at the bottom by a little stream which we followed quite a while before reaching the pools. During the summer Max said that the water is, obviously, much higher and sometimes they’ll walk in the pools or they’ll walk above it. I was kind of glad for the low water because we were walking around on the rocks that would otherwise have been hidden in the water.
After close to 2 hours we finally reached the rock pools which were absolutely beautiful and now I suddenly wished it was summer because even though we wouldn’t have had the walk we did, the water would be warm enough for us to go swimming in the pools. The rock was smooth from all the water that has been flowing there for so long having created 3 pools. The water was cold and looked almost greenish from all the algae growing on the rock. We probably could’ve stayed there for a while just relaxing, listening to the water, and taking pictures but from there we hiked almost straight back up out of the gorge. It was exhausting and the sun beating down on us didn’t help but we finally made it to the top and stopped for a while to catch our breath. I realized as we were walking just why I lost my breath so quickly and it wasn’t because I’m insanely out of shape, it’s because of the altitude of Lesotho. Every country has its lowest point and Lesotho’s low point is the highest of all other countries; the entire country is mountainous.
Before long we were back at the lodge and not too long after, we squeezed onto a mini bus that brought us straight back to Maseru and when I saw squeezed I mean that more than a few people were standing and I was sitting next to a woman with a large box and a cabbage on her lap. From there, we got a taxi to take us to the border which we walked across before going to find a mini bus that would bring us to Bloem. It took a little while but it finally filled up and we were on our way. It dropped us off at a different station so we took a taxi to the Intercape station and finally we were there with a few hours to spare before the bus came. It arrived early around 12:10am and we gratefully got on for our 12 hour bus ride back to Cape Town.
I was back in my house around 3:30 and after showering and throwing my clothes in the laundry, I began studying for my first final for Writing and Editing in the Media which was the next day at 5pm. For most of the next 24 hours, besides eating and sleeping, I studied and around 4:30 on Thursday I made my way up to campus, terrified. Luckily, Faith told me that SC1 which was the venue for my exam meant Sports Center 1; otherwise I would’ve probably spent my exam time wandering campus looking for an academic building with SC in the name. The final itself I’m afraid to say, wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, which makes me nervous but whatever, it’s over and done with. Then after the exam I power walked down to Rondebosch to a restaurant where we had an early surprise birthday party for a friend.
The rest of the week went by without excitement. My next final is actually tomorrow but it’s for a History of Antisemitism and he gave us all the possible essay topics and I can pretty much write those without having even taken the class so I’ll study some today and tomorrow and be just fine. My last final, which is on the day before I leave, I’m significantly more worried about but I’ll have over a week to study for that once I’m done with my next final.
One last thing is that on Sunday I went to Oceanview to visit my homestay family from back in March when we spent the weekend. With the end of the semester craziness, finals beginning, and traveling, it took a while to get a date that worked for me and Shamir (who had stayed with me) but we finally worked it out. We took the train down and got to spend a few hours there with them at church and then at their home. The kids seemed excited to see us and our host parents were as wonderful as before. I printed out a bunch of pictures from when we had first come so they could have some memories which they seemed to really like. By the time we were ready to leave, they insisted on driving us back which was extremely nice because it meant that they needed to drive for about an hour and a half back and forth. It was sad saying goodbye to them, especially the kids since they didn’t comprehend why I wanted to hug them before I got out of the car. I hope though, that we’ll keep in touch with them; I have their address and it would be nice to even occasionally say hello.
Whew. That was exhausting. Sorry for saying (probably) way too much about Lesotho. It was just such a different and incredible experience, I tried to do it justice even though I don’t think I did. In just those 3 days, I took over 450 pictures. Still doesn’t do it justice. You may have to wait for pictures, going through them and picking out just a few is amazingly difficult and I do still have finals. In any case, that was my last real adventure anywhere beyond Cape Town. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do some of the last things I wanted to do here in the next (less than) 2 weeks before I come home. I’ve truly had an incredible experience being abroad but I am definitely looking forward to coming home and giving you all hugs and showing off my excessive amount of pictures. Anyway, wish me luck on my last 2 finals and we’ll see what the next few days bring.
As always,
Sarah
We left for Lesotho on Saturday at 5:30pm on the Intercape bus. Some things about this bus. Because it was an overnight bus, it’s called the Sleepliner, and the seats (we found out in the informational video they showed us) reclined to a 150 degree angle. Pretty sweet. It was actually extremely comfortable. What was a bit less comfortable was what they had us watch for, like, 5 hours at the beginning of our journey. When we were booking our tickets, we’d heard Intercape was reliable and convenient – especially for our wallets – so I had no problem taking the bus. We were joking when we first got on, wondering how they manage to keep all the buses running that they do with such nice service and buses with such low prices. We decided that it’s because they’re definitely sponsored by a TON of religious organizations. The video we watched talked to a bunch of Christian music groups about their music, explained why evolution isn’t real, and encouraged us all to accept and learn to love Jesus. I just wanted to sleepppp. Luckily they finally turned it off shortly before midnight although I did still get woken up every few hours when we would reach a rest stop. Despite these things, I was physically comfortable and rested by the time we reached Bloemfontein around 8:30am, Sunday morning.
Getting to Malealea was a trick. We took a taxi from the bus station in Bloem to the border at the Maseru Bridge. We went through passport control and then drove across the border where our taxi had to turn around. From here we took a taxi into the city of Maseru which is also the capitol of Lesotho where the mini buses were. After a few confusing minutes with lots of yelling and honking, we got on a mini bus that would take us to another mini bus area. This next mini bus actually brought us straight to the entrance of Malealea Lodge finally arriving around 1:30pm. So it took about 5 more hours to get from Bloem to Malealea; it’s technically only 3ish hours but we’d read that it should take 4-5 hours.
We checked in and were showed to our rooms in Basotho (ba-soo-too) huts. We were told where the bathrooms were and reminded that their electricity comes from generators which turn off at 9:30pm; luckily we knew enough about the lodge that we had a few flashlights. After putting our stuff down, we walked around the lodge a bit. Everything was painted very traditionally and with the set up of the buildings spread out with connecting dirt and gravel paths, it felt a bit like a summer camp. After pausing a minute to remark on the wild peacocks wandering around, we were able to look past the trees to the mountains in the distance.
Since it was still early we decided to walk around the village a bit. I’m guessing we looked a bit awkward and lost though because a guy came up to us asking if we wanted to be showed around. He introduced himself as Jucius and told us that he worked for the lodge as a guide and could take us around. We agreed and though it started out pretty awkward with us just asking sporadic questions and otherwise walking in silence, it got better by the end. Our first big question though were the huge plants lining the pathway, they looked to me like overgrown aloe plants. Turns out, they were aloe, a particular species that grows to be bigger than a person. As we reached some houses, a bunch of kids saw us and came over to say hello and walk with us. The primary language is Sotho and the secondary is English, but most young kids don’t learn English until later so they know “hello”, “bye-bye”, “thank you”, and maybe another phrase or too. They were adorable and all wanted to hold our hands at the same times.
We eventually got them to let go when Jucius asked us if we wanted to try locally brewed beer (which I definitely wouldn’t called beer since it was made of grapes). It tasted just like Savannah Dry which is a popular alcoholic cider here. Once we got back outside the kids swarmed around us again and we continued walking slowly around. He suggested that we could walk over to a museum that had stuff on the history of the Sotho. The museum was set up in two huts and had pictures, traditional clothes, pots, jewelry, and other things. We walked around as well to see some of the plants around and talked about the climate and nature of Lesotho. Jucius also explained how Lesotho has a king and prime minister but each village has a chief who is in charge of everything. One of the things the chief also does is give land to people once they are of age (21) to build a house or farm. Most families farm with the most popular produce being maize and wheat. They also have lots of animals, primarily sheep, cows, and horses/ponies. In the other hut they made us mint tea from one of the plants we had seen while walking outside. We talked more about Lesotho and Rachael asked him a question that I was a bit hesitant to bring up.
Lesotho, despite being an extremely tiny country, has one of the highest percentages of HIV/AIDS in the world, above 30%. She asked him about how the country and how the village deals with it and what is being done in terms of education and awareness. He said that there are clinics and such where people can go for free tests and where they can get condoms and whatnot. Since it takes a while for HIV to show up on a test if someone has been infected, people are encouraged to go somewhat regularly to the clinics (which we passed by a few days later as we hiked) and get tested. He said that even if people could not have gotten HIV any time recently, they are encouraged to get tested because there is no knowing if they could’ve gotten it other ways since sometimes kids will imitate their parents and have sex so there’s no knowing until you’ve been tested. It was a bit of a shocking statement but I tried not to react visibly to it considering how nonchalantly he said it; it seems that it is neither unusual nor bizarre to them that such a thing would happen.
Eventually the sun was going down so we started walking back to the lodge, encountering many people making their way home. Everyone was extremely friendly although I kept wishing they wouldn’t stare at us, say something with a smile to Jucius in Sotho, and then say a simple greeting to us in English. We parted at the gate agreeing that we would most likely see him the next day though we didn’t have plans yet. Back at the lodge we went to the dining room for dinner and bumped into some other CIEE students who had been at Malealea for a few days and were leaving early the next morning. Dinner was fantastic and afterward we relaxed before going to another room to play “30 Seconds”.
I had heard of this game before but hadn’t gotten a chance to play it yet. It’s kind of like “Taboo” but with a few clear differences. We split into teams and then going around the circle, a person picks up a card with 5 words/phrases on it. The timer is turned and they have 30 seconds to get their team to guess as many of the things on the card. You just can’t say any word that’s in the word they’re trying to guess (obviously) but you also can’t do thing like sounds like or rhymes with. However many of the things that are guessed correctly, you move your team piece that many spaces on the board. There were surprisingly a lot of American things on those cards but we occasionally got stumped on people or places that there’s no way any of us would guess.
We kept a careful watch on the time and at about 9:29 without warning we suddenly found ourselves in complete darkness. We took this as our sign to pack things up and get going back to our rooms. As we left the building though, the other people we were playing with told us to turn off our flashlights to get an idea of how dark it was. After feeling completely blinded, my eyes began to adjust but still we could barely see. There was no moon and even if there had been, it would have already been behind the mountains and there weren’t any lights within eye sight. The only light was from the sky. And oh my goodness. The sky. It was absolutely spectacular. I’ve never seen nor do I think I’ll ever see anything quite like it. I have never seen so many stars in all my life and the Milky Way stretched all the way across the sky. It was at exactly that moment when I realized where Lesotho got the nickname “Kingdom in the Sky”.
The next morning we woke up to the sound of cow bells and roosters. It was cold in the huts but once we were out in the sunlight it was really warm so we got ready quickly and then decided on what we should do for the day. I don’t remember what I said about pony-trekking in my pre-trip message, but basically it’s the most popular activity for people visiting Malealea and Lesotho in general. There are many places you can go and there are even overnight trips although we opted not to do one of those. We decided to do the 5 hour trek that would take us to the bushman/san rock paintings of Tohlang and the Botsoela waterfall.
In the tack room we met the guy who would be showing us around, his name was Dan. In case I didn’t mention, these are all their Christian names that they go by, not their Sotho names. After introductions and paperwork, we walked over to where the ponies were waiting. These ponies have been bred specifically to handle the rocky, mountainous terrain in Lesotho but they were pretty tall, about the same height as some horses. My horse was brown with a white star and black stockings, a bit shorter than the others but pretty energetic. I think we were a good match because we’re both pretty stubborn and try to forge our own path; after I got over being a bit nervous, I felt pretty comfortable and figured out how to deal with being on a horse.
We went to the paintings first. The ponies could only take us so far down the mountain into the ravine and we had to hike along the side of the cliff for a bit until we got there. There are 3 caves with paintings but because of soil erosion we only got to get to 2 of them. Still, it was so cool and really interesting. The paintings which are only a few hundred years old mainly depicted things like humans hunting various animals of the region. The figures were all a redish brown color but apparently there would’ve been some white in it that has faded. I thought they were fascinating. I tried to take pictures but against the sedimentary rock it’s hard to say what stands out more.
By the time we got going again it was close to noon and really warm and the sky was amazingly blue with big fluffy white clouds. We made our way out of the ravine and along the mountains eventually going back down where we walked along a small brook/creek. Because it is the winter months they told us the water is much lower, it’s much more like a river during the rainy summer months. After over an hour we had reached the point where we had to hike down to the waterfall. I know we’ve been to Vic Falls and nothing can compare, but it was still very beautiful. We were able to walk along the rocks right to the water’s edge because the water was low but Dan said that during the summer it’s a lot more water coming down from the mountain springs. I could’ve sat there for a while just watching and listening to it but we still had over an hour ride back to the lodge so we hiked back up to the ponies and were on our way. On the way back, my horse must’ve been excited to get back because there was a little friendly competition going on between the ponies and we got back much faster.
After relaxing for a while, we went to where there was a local choir and band performing. The choir was really enjoyable; I was hoping they would sing some of the Sotho songs that I learned in Choir for Africa but even though they didn’t it was really cool to see them. The band that performed after them was also really incredible. Their instruments were made from household materials like cans, few liter bottles, and such; I was simply amazed that these simply made instruments worked the way they did. A few men were dancing and singing with them and it was truly fascinating to watch.
Our last day there we decided to hike instead of pony trekking before we had to leave. This time our guide was Max and we set out in the opposite direction of where we had gone the day before. We walked through lots of fields all the way to the top of the gorge where we then decided we wanted to go down to the rock pools in the gorge. The path down wound back and forth since the descent was pretty steep but we were eventually at the bottom by a little stream which we followed quite a while before reaching the pools. During the summer Max said that the water is, obviously, much higher and sometimes they’ll walk in the pools or they’ll walk above it. I was kind of glad for the low water because we were walking around on the rocks that would otherwise have been hidden in the water.
After close to 2 hours we finally reached the rock pools which were absolutely beautiful and now I suddenly wished it was summer because even though we wouldn’t have had the walk we did, the water would be warm enough for us to go swimming in the pools. The rock was smooth from all the water that has been flowing there for so long having created 3 pools. The water was cold and looked almost greenish from all the algae growing on the rock. We probably could’ve stayed there for a while just relaxing, listening to the water, and taking pictures but from there we hiked almost straight back up out of the gorge. It was exhausting and the sun beating down on us didn’t help but we finally made it to the top and stopped for a while to catch our breath. I realized as we were walking just why I lost my breath so quickly and it wasn’t because I’m insanely out of shape, it’s because of the altitude of Lesotho. Every country has its lowest point and Lesotho’s low point is the highest of all other countries; the entire country is mountainous.
Before long we were back at the lodge and not too long after, we squeezed onto a mini bus that brought us straight back to Maseru and when I saw squeezed I mean that more than a few people were standing and I was sitting next to a woman with a large box and a cabbage on her lap. From there, we got a taxi to take us to the border which we walked across before going to find a mini bus that would bring us to Bloem. It took a little while but it finally filled up and we were on our way. It dropped us off at a different station so we took a taxi to the Intercape station and finally we were there with a few hours to spare before the bus came. It arrived early around 12:10am and we gratefully got on for our 12 hour bus ride back to Cape Town.
I was back in my house around 3:30 and after showering and throwing my clothes in the laundry, I began studying for my first final for Writing and Editing in the Media which was the next day at 5pm. For most of the next 24 hours, besides eating and sleeping, I studied and around 4:30 on Thursday I made my way up to campus, terrified. Luckily, Faith told me that SC1 which was the venue for my exam meant Sports Center 1; otherwise I would’ve probably spent my exam time wandering campus looking for an academic building with SC in the name. The final itself I’m afraid to say, wasn’t as bad as I’d expected, which makes me nervous but whatever, it’s over and done with. Then after the exam I power walked down to Rondebosch to a restaurant where we had an early surprise birthday party for a friend.
The rest of the week went by without excitement. My next final is actually tomorrow but it’s for a History of Antisemitism and he gave us all the possible essay topics and I can pretty much write those without having even taken the class so I’ll study some today and tomorrow and be just fine. My last final, which is on the day before I leave, I’m significantly more worried about but I’ll have over a week to study for that once I’m done with my next final.
One last thing is that on Sunday I went to Oceanview to visit my homestay family from back in March when we spent the weekend. With the end of the semester craziness, finals beginning, and traveling, it took a while to get a date that worked for me and Shamir (who had stayed with me) but we finally worked it out. We took the train down and got to spend a few hours there with them at church and then at their home. The kids seemed excited to see us and our host parents were as wonderful as before. I printed out a bunch of pictures from when we had first come so they could have some memories which they seemed to really like. By the time we were ready to leave, they insisted on driving us back which was extremely nice because it meant that they needed to drive for about an hour and a half back and forth. It was sad saying goodbye to them, especially the kids since they didn’t comprehend why I wanted to hug them before I got out of the car. I hope though, that we’ll keep in touch with them; I have their address and it would be nice to even occasionally say hello.
Whew. That was exhausting. Sorry for saying (probably) way too much about Lesotho. It was just such a different and incredible experience, I tried to do it justice even though I don’t think I did. In just those 3 days, I took over 450 pictures. Still doesn’t do it justice. You may have to wait for pictures, going through them and picking out just a few is amazingly difficult and I do still have finals. In any case, that was my last real adventure anywhere beyond Cape Town. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do some of the last things I wanted to do here in the next (less than) 2 weeks before I come home. I’ve truly had an incredible experience being abroad but I am definitely looking forward to coming home and giving you all hugs and showing off my excessive amount of pictures. Anyway, wish me luck on my last 2 finals and we’ll see what the next few days bring.
As always,
Sarah
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