Second Semester (tutoring, teaching, and volunteering!)

So, what have I been up to all semester? I know my blog posts have been kind of few and far between for the past few months, but it's honestly because I've been very busy.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been volunteering with the Township Debating League (TDL). I continued with that this semester, which was amazing! Two of the debaters from LEAP school made it onto the Western Province team and competed at the National Debating Competition. I was so proud of them.

In addition to debating, I also went to LEAP School on Saturdays to help with Foundation (8th and 9th grade) level English and Math. The students at LEAP have school on a Saturday morning (to my knowledge no public schools in South Africa do this regularly, but LEAP is privately funded by donations, etc.) LEAP, as I'm sure I've mentioned before, is an amazing school and they bus in students from all of the townships surrounding Cape Town. The school is a unique opportunity for these students to access an excellent education and a huge step toward tertiary education. For more information about LEAP school, check out http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/world/africa/09safrica.html?_r=1&ref=africa (yes, they were recently featured in the New York Times). Also, if any of you have any questions about LEAP -- please let me know. I think they're fantastic and I've really enjoyed working with the students there. And if any of you are interested in helping out some LEAP students, one of the English teachers was telling me about a small project that needs contributions -- their school library is sadly under-resourced (it's about the size of a closet). Many schools in South Africa do not have school libraries at all, which I realize is also significant, but the difference at LEAP is that they actually have teachers and staff who are willing and able to take care of the books, library, and encourage students to use the resources. The English teacher at LEAP expressed her concern that there are very few teenage fiction books for students who just enjoy reading and want to have something on their level to practice English, reading, etc. So if any of you feel so inclined, let me know and we can make a plan to donate some books to the library! :)

I have also had the tremendous honor of tutoring at UCT this past semester. I was given a position as a tutor for two sections of a first year International Politics course. Tutoring is actually quite a big responsibility and quite different than what I previously thought of as tutoring. Instead of just helping students who need extra help, which is what the name implies in the US, tutoring in South Africa actually requires teaching, grading, and office hours. I started with two sections of the course with 10-15 students in each and we met once a week. My job was to make sure students understood material from lectures, were aware of assignments, and marking their assignments. As the semester progressed, several of the tutors realized the disparity between what UCT and the Politics department expects from students and the skills they come into university possessing. There is also quite a vast array of skill levels even in my small classes. I had several students from disadvantaged backgrounds who had never written a non-fiction academic paper before coming to university. Several of my students had difficulty with academic reading and writing. As a result, some of the tutors put together (mid-semester) a curriculum to respond to this disparity. One of the department teaching assistants lobbied for funding to add additional tutorial sections for students who were struggling significantly. This past semester, we were able to add about 6 sections of supplementary tutorials to assist these students. We taught reading, writing, note-taking, and study skills and watched the students' confidence and abilities increase over the course of the semester. It was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done. From the beginning of the course, I had students who were barely passing and by the end some of them were getting the highest marks in their courses. It's amazing what a little support, extra teaching, and encouragement can do!

I was able to do some evaluation of that program for the department and the results were amazing. Over the course of the semester, the students who were involved in the supplementary program improved quite dramatically and nearly 100% of them enjoyed the course and would recommend it. Also, about 94% of students who attended said that their confidence improved significantly as a result of the course.

Now, the Politics Department and the UCT Centre for Higher Education Development are funding the production of course materials (a reading and writing guide for first years) and curriculum development for a supplementary tutorial program for first year UCT Politics Students for next year. I'm so excited about it! :) I'm happy to be involved with the development of those resources and to participate in the program again next semester.

Oh yeah, and I also took a class on Regionalism in Africa, which was very interesting! I'm also proud to report that it's the class that I've done the best in this year.

I hope this has caught you up a bit on what I've been up to this semester and some of the amazing projects I've been able to be a part of!

Sandboarding in Namibia

No visit to Namibia is complete without sandboarding on the amazing and massive sanddunes in the desert. So beautiful, so much fun, such a tough walk up those things! :)

So sandboarding... it's kind of like snowboarding except you do it in shorts because it's a hot desert outside and when you fall the sand is soft and doesn't hurt like snow and ice (which is really nice!). I have never snowboarded on really soft powdery snow, but I imagine that the sand is a lot more like powdery snow than the hard icy stuff that I've snowboarded on before. So much fun!

Namibia

Well... as I said in my last post -- I got to Namibia all by myself and aided by some very nice guys who were friendly enough and uncreepy enough to offer me lifts across 2 borders. I arrived in Katima Mulilo in Namibia as the sun was starting to go down and had to find a place to stay. Fortunately by now, I actually had some money to pay for the room :). I went to the only backpackers (hostel) that I had heard of, but they were completely booked. I found this surprising because this was a very small town and I hadn't seen anyone else who looked like they were traveling. Anyway, I tried another place which was called a guest house but seemed more like an extra room in someone's home -- normally a kind of cool experience, but a freaked me out a bit and was a bit expensive, and I normally try to heed my gut when traveling, so I tried a third place. It was a sort of camp site and bungalow sort of accommodation and they were willing to negotiate the price, fortunately. I was given my own private bungalow, complete with a small bathroom and mosquito net over the bed. It was winter at the time (July in the Southern hemisphere), so I didn't really need it. It was weird spending my first night alone while traveling. I felt a bit uncomfortable, afraid of being unsafe, and unsure of what I should be doing. I'm so used to traveling with other people and so used to being busy and having something to do when I'm in Cape Town that I finally had to just sit and figure out exactly what I wanted to do -- me, and nobody else. No pressure from friends I was traveling with, no schedule, no friends smsing me to do something that night. It was weird. It was good. I learned a lot about myself. I got myself dinner, came back to the camp and chatted with the women in the office. I got back before dark because I don't like being out after dark in a place I don't know.

Another interesting thing about all my travels is the fact that everywhere I went (Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia), people were surprised that I lived in South Africa. Not because I'm American or anything like that -- but because they thought it was so dangerous. I know that South Africa has quite a reputation at home for being dangerous and there is reason for that statistically, but I never imagined that other countries in the region would also have that perception. Especially not places like Zimbabwe, where I've been taught (through the media mostly) that life is dangerous.

The next day, I walked around town a bit, organized a bus to Windhoek, and visited a primary school. I went into the school and asked if I could help out with anything that day or just hang out a bit. They were kind of surprised that I would just come in and offer to help out. This was a small town, by the way, and I was the only foreigner that I encountered until about an hour before I left. They principal and some of the head teachers thought it would be a good idea to give a short presentation to the students about the United States. They had a big assembly, which was outside and consisted of a few hundred students in rows according to grade and class. The short (very impromptu) presentation was translated to the students line by line and then they asked me several questions. One interesting question was about uniforms and whether I wore them in school. Every primary and secondary school that I've seen in this part of the world must wear uniforms... I never did and they thought that was really interesting. Other questions consisted of the weather, what it's like to be from the United States, why I was in Namibia, etc, etc. After my talk, I helped out in a 3rd grade class for the rest of the afternoon... so fun! :)

I had such a great time in this small town. I really got to see how people live and had the opportunity to talk to some very interesting people. It was so lovely.

Later that day, I hopped in an overnight bus and went to Windhoek. It wasn't a big bus like, but an Iveco -- a small 15 passenger bus. It was the coldest, most miserable bus ride ever. Everyone else brought blankets, you know because it was winter time. The day was so hot that I didn't think the night would get that cold. Oh how wrong I was. The cold paired with the loud blaring music that the drivers insisted on playing made it a less than desirable night. We arrived just after sunrise the next morning in Windhoek.

Vic Falls-Botswana-Namibia

After a few days in Victoria Falls, it was time for Sarah to make the trek up to Tanzania to fly back to Beirut and time for me to make my way back toward Cape Town. We parted ways at the Zambia border... after a bit of fear and frustration at me not being able to use my ATM card. Yes, folks, please take a few types of cards to Zimbabwe because the banking system is less than stellar. Being the good friend that she is, Sarah left me with what cash she had on her (I wouldn't let her draw more because I knew she had a long journey ahead with unknown costs) and I went back to town.

I literally tried every ATM in town and none of them worked. I took only my South African bank card (from Standard Bank in SA) thinking that of course it would work in Zimbabwe. And it did, a couple of times, which is why I didn't have any reason to think that I would be left with about 18 USD and no formal transport to my next destination. I asked some people around town how to get to Botswana because I knew the border was about 80 kilometers away and perhaps there would be an ATM close to the border that would work for me. Everyone suggested I go to a "hiking spot" -- yes, for hitchhiking and wait for someone who was headed that direction. It didn't take long... a nice man named Canaan picked me up and drove me all the way to the Botswana border. He would have driven me further, but the cost of taking vehicles into Botswana was higher than he wanted to pay. We waited for public transport to town together and chatted about both our lives. He is Zimbabwean, but studying in Italy... he was back to visit his family and traveled to Botswana for building supplies for a garage at his home. Sadly, most products like this are much more accessible and inexpensive across Zimbabwe's borders in neighboring countries. Just a byproduct of the political situation in Zimbabwe. We finally got a lift and made it to town where we parted ways. Canaan and I are still friends, though, on facebook! :) I began my ATM search in town.. by this time it was about 2pm and I knew that I had to make a plan before sunset or it could be bad news. Again, none of the ATM's worked and this was quite an expensive place to stay because it was nearly in the middle of the Chobe game reserve, so I didn't have enough cash on me to stay and travel to the next city that might have a working ATM. As a sidenote, it's fortunate that I had some fruit, bread, and peanut butter, so I didn't have to spend money to eat (a nice thing i do whenever i travel to save money -- stock up on cheap eating supplies). I ate the biggest avo of my life for lunch that day. It's also fortunate that people in this region are some of the friendliest that I have met in my life!

Also, I had a small travel guide that told me how much it cost to cross borders in each of the Southern African countries... I decided to go toward Botswana and Namibia becuase their borders are close and it doesn't cost anything for Americans to go into Botswana and Namibia as tourists... unlike Zimbabwe and Zambia.. it cost me 30 USD (actually 300 Rand because I didn't have cash and they pegged the exchange rate at an unfair 10 to 1 ratio, instead of the accurate 7 to 1) and it would have cost me 50 USD to cross to Zambia with Sarah.

Once again, I found myself sitting at a "hiking spot" waiting for a lift. Again, it didn't take long before someone picked me up, this time Moses! Moses is a Namibian who delivers medical supplies to rural hospitals and clinics -- he was so friendly and very helpful. He drove me another 80 or so kilometers to the Namibian border. Once in Namibia, my friendly driver had to work in some remote places and thought I'd be better off catching a taxi (yes, like the mini-bus taxis in South Africa, cheap, run frequently, and have regular routes, but not like a private taxi that many of you may be used to).

About an hour or 2 later, I made it to Katima-Mulilo in Namibia after crossing 2 borders, hitchhiking about 250 kilometers, and spending about 3 dollars in public transport (sadly, I only spent a few hours in Botswana, I definitely want to go back, though). I arrived around 5pm and got there, fortunately, before the sun went down. The first place I went in town was a Standard Bank ATM that fortunately worked and I withdrew enough money to last me for several days. It was quite a relief.

Although I was scared at some points during this adventure, it was one of the most invigorating and challenging things I've put myself through... to literally travel and do what needed to be done with nearly no money. I realized what I was capable of .. it was amazing! I traveled the rest of the way back to Cape Town alone and learned a lot about myself in the experience. More on my personal experiences in the next post -- and more about Namibia! :)

Victoria Falls

Easily one of the most beautiful natural sites I have ever seen. Sarah and I woke up before sunrise to enjoy the falls as the sun creeped out over them. It was amazing... well once we got in of course. We had to wait until just after daylight for the guards to arrive at the park and let us in. We were the only 2 in the park for quite a while, which was awesome. Check out the photos -- just amazing!

We also rented rain jackets for 2$ each, which we thought was a waste of money until we got to a ledge that literally looked like it was raining permanently.

After our visit to the park, we went back to town and found a nice place to have breakfast, scouted out town, and did a bit of shopping at a craft market. While Sarah was planning her trip to Tanzania, I met a few schoolgirls and they took me to their school and showed me around. It was so awesome... just making friends with some seventh graders and having candid conversation about Zimbabwe and America. Thanks Rotary -- for the "ambassadorial" component of this scholarship, I think that experience was one of the most classic examples of what that component is meant to be.

While we were in Victoria Falls, we also enjoyed a boat cruise on the Zambezi where we saw Elephants, Hippos, and Crocodiles! :) It was awesome. Following the boat cruise, we ate at this amazing restaurant at our hostel called In-Da-Belly ( a pun from the Ndebele tribe in that part of Zimbabwe) and ate warthog, crocodile, fish from the Zambezi, and other yummy food.

Throughout our adventures in Zimbabwe, Sarah and I called it "the magical land where dreams come true"... mostly because every time we wanted something (a hostel, a drink when we got to Bulawayo, lunch at the bus station, to try warthog... literally everything), it was made possible in just a few minutes... by the magic of Zimbabwe :) Also, Zimbabwe had one of the most beautiful night skies and some of the most friendly people I have ever encountered! Amazing!

Zimbabwe

Wow! I'm pretty sure most people in my life at home suggested that I not go to Zimbabwe. I'm not really sure why -- probably the political unrest and fear of danger, theft, etc, etc -- you know, all of those things everyone warned me about before I came here. I was a little nervous before I went to Zim honestly, and looking back I didn't have a justified reason. I think life teaches you that after the fact, most of our fears are actually quite unjustified. If we could realize how to let the unknown excite us rather than scare us, I think a lot more would be done in the world -- and a lot more fun would be had!

Fortunately, I can report that I felt safe the entire time that I was in Zimbabwe. I think I actually felt safer there than in South Africa. I had the privilege of traveling with a good friend of mine from undergrad -- Sarah. We left Cape Town after the World Cup final and flew to Johannesburg. Our flight wasn't supposed to leave until 3 or 4 am and some friends were driving past the airport, so we napped on airport benches from about 11:30 til 3:00 am. Our flight was delayed and we had to get moved to another airline because our bus was supposed to leave from Jo'burg at 8am. Fortunately, we got onto another flight (after a bit of firm negotiation and a bit of begging). From Jo'burg we got a bus (yes, Greyhound haha) to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. The bus trip took more than 12 hours and we arrived in Bulawayo late on the evening of 12 July. The drive was beautiful, it was mostly rural and calming. The border cross was anything but calm, it was more like chaos. There were literally people everywhere and queues (lines) wrapping around the building. Apparently we used the busiest border cross point between the two countries.

As we were waiting at the border post, we met some men who had been sitting behind us on the bus. It unnerved Sarah and I how friendly they were... for no reason. She and I being seasoned travelers and a bit too steeped in literature about human trafficking and threats to travelers, did not take their kindness without question. I recommend caution to my friends who are traveling and often exercise it myself (well except for the hitchhiking part of this story, but we'll get there just now), but I think we had too much caution and hesitancy toward these men. They were friendly just because that's the way they are, and the way nearly everyone we met in Zimbabwe was. We were pleased to find out throughout our time in Zimbabwe that people are just friendly. I think it's sad that we've been taught to be so cautious that it took us several days to let our guards down enough to just be comfortable and connect with people. She and I realized that it probably says something about our culture and certainly media coverage about Zimbabwe that caused us to be so overly cautious.

When we got to Bulawayo, we hadn't made any plans for a hostel and had a taxi driver take us to a "guesthouse" and we found a place to stay. Our friends that I mentioned above had offered for us to stay with their family in their village about an hour from Bulawayo -- that was where the caution kicked in. Regardless of whether it would have been harmless or not, we decided it was better for two girls traveling alone not to go to a remote village with two men we had just met.

Outside of the guesthouse was a small stadium and a pub/restaurant where we had a snack and a drink before bed. We met several locals and one expat who loved Zimbabwe so much he moved there with his family. He and one of his friends gave us their numbers in case we had any trouble getting to Vic Falls the next day. The next morning, we walked around Bulawayo, explored a bit, then found a bus stop with busses headed toward Vic Falls.

At the bus stop, we met some more friends and had a lovely lunch that we shared "African style" with our new buddies. We saw a woman cooking and walked over to see if we could buy some food for ourselves. Some men came over with their food and insisted that we share with them. We rinsed our hands of with clean water and got to eating -- hands only, no utensils! We at something called pap (eaten all over southern africa, kind of like a thicker version of grits), some fish and some meat. It was yummy and our new friends insisted we not pay them for the food. Following our meal, we watched a dance group practice for a performance, boarded the bus, and set out of Victoria Falls. The next 8 or so hours, we spent in a bus. Two police stops and a long ride later, we arrived in the dark of night and set out to find a place to stay. No, we didn't sort out accommodation at all before we went anywhere. The bus drivers were nice enough to drive us to 3 different places around the town to find us the cheapest option.

World Cup

Ok, so I realize the World Cup has been over for a while, but I want to talk a bit about my experience going to games and also the feel of Cape Town after the World Cup. There have been loads of talks on campus about the effects of the World Cup and discussion about who "won" from the World Cup (ie, did South Africa receive more benefit from hosting than it cost to build the infrastructure, etc).

That said, the entire vibe of South Africa and Cape Town specifically (because I spent most of the World Cup in CT) was unlike anything else I've experienced since I've been here. The excitement was contagious. People from all over the world and all walks of life happily and proudly supported their teams. Flags and fan gear were everywhere. But once the games were over, the crowd disappeared.

The residue (as I have begun to call it) is still obvious. The Brazil hats and the Germany flags and Viva Espana signs and the bright orange Holland gear are still to be found, but in interesting ways. Hats still worn by locals, t-shirts, ripped off memorabilia being sold by street vendors, and other small reminders. It's as if the World Cup washed in here like a river and left South Africa damp with its influence. It's interesting.

Beyond that, the atmosphere that the World Cup created -- of unity, of passion, of the ability to overcome -- has also left its residue and impacted South Africa and its people for the better. I'm interested to see how long that lasts...

Back in Cape Town

I've had quite an adventure traveling around Southern Africa. This trip included Zimbabwe, a stop in Botswana, and Namibia. I had an absolute blast and (as always) learned a lot from the experience. Over the next few days I will be blogging and adding pictures about my experiences. Blogs to come: world cup game experiences, Zimbabwe/Vic Falls, Sandboarding and School Visit in Namibia, Traveling stories, Public Transport in Southern Africa (including hitchhiking), and other super fun updates! Get excited!

Also, next week I start my second semester of classes and will also begin tutoring. I was selected to tutor first year International Politics -- and I'm so excited about it! :)

Zimbabwe

Sarah and I got to Zimbabwe a few days ago and are having an absolute blast. I guess this is one of the places you're warned about going and a bit nervous about because of the media portrayal. Every preconception I had has been absolutely eliminated since being here. I have not felt unsafe in the least and have only been met by friendly people willing to help in any way they can. We had lunch with some guys at the bus stop in Bulawayo before coming to Victoria Falls and a very interesting conversation. We walked over to a stand that was selling pap (kind of like grits and eaten very frequently in SA and Zim) and some meat. Instead of buying, some men invited us to eat with them (with our hands, after they were washed of course) and we had a lovely conversation. They also looked after us and made sure that we got on the correct bus to Vic Falls and had good seats! :)

We got to Victoria Falls yesterday and saw the falls this morning -- absolutely stunning. So beautiful.

Last note - the night sky in Zimbabwe is probably one of the most stunning things I've ever seen in my life -- so so beautiful! I've never seen the milky way so clear or so many stars at once!

Vic Falls, here I come!

So I haven't been back in Cape Town too long, but I've decided to take full advantage of my break from school (which is only two more weeks) and head out to Victoria Falls. I am so excited about going there-- i've been wanting to do it since I got here. My friend Sarah Harvey from CofC has been visiting during the World Cup and we decided to take a trip north and explore more of the region. We are flying to Johannesburg and then taking a bus through Zimbabwe to Victoria Falls. I think we may also get down into Botswana to go to the Chobe Game Reserve. I'm very excited about it and look forward to sharing lots of pictures and stories... from this trip and my last one! :)

African Travel Adventure

I've been traveling around South Africa and now to Swaziland during the past week or so. I'm having a blast and just wanted to update in case anyone has had some trouble connecting with me since I've been away.

The trip has been Cape Town to Durban, Durban to Richard's Bay and a small village near there that I don't know the name of, then to St. Lucia, now in Swaziland. We'll leave Swaziland tomorrow probably. It's been amazing so far and travel has included a 24-hour bus ride, minibus taxis, hitchhiking, cars, trucks, some walking, and lots and lots of spontaneous decision-making and fun!

I met up with a friend from Semester at Sea and one of his Peace Corps buddies... it's been great so far. I'll update with pictures and details when I get back to Cape Town!

Crazy Fans!

One of the things I've enjoyed taking photos of during the World Cup --- all the CRAZY FANS!! Hope you enjoy just a few of the photos of fun fans from all over!

World Cup!

The World Cup started on FRIDAY June 11!!!! So exciting. That said, I thought I would update everyone at home about thoughts about the World Cup here and also events happening because of the World Cup. Fascinating stuff. Never did I think that I would be in a place that would host such a massive international sporting event. So glad I am! One of my favourite things about all of the World Cup hype are the various country flags that you see everywhere. In an effort to truly be “ready to welcome the world” (South Africa’s slogan for the world cup), restaurants, shops, citizens, taxis, busses, you name it – have plastered international flags of all the participants everywhere. It’s quite amazing. It is also cool to see the support for Bafana Bafana (South Africa’s national team) with all of the South African flags flying from cars and homes. Don’t tell the American team, but I’m even sporting a Bafana Bafana bracelet!

Until the World Cup started, I would have said that many of the locals were sort of “over” the World Cup because they’ve been hearing about it since the second that South Africa was awarded the hosting rights. The construction, discussion, hype, and everything had been going on for years and many locals (including some of my friends) seemed kind of frustrated and a bit tired of hearing about it all. That was until it all actually started. The sense of unity and excitement that came with 11 June was amazing! The fan parks were packed, the streets were crowded, people everywhere were waving flags, wearing country colors and gear! It was amazing. And it still is. Everywhere I’ve gone during the past few weeks has been taken over by soccer fans. The friendly competition and fun patriotism has been unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

11 June 2010 -- I've never seen such a friendly and fun display of flags, national pride, and excitement! It was so much fun walking through town and going to the fan park and cheering just for the sake of friendly sport. I was sporting a Bafana jersey (South Africa's national team) in bright yellow like most others, which was such fun! (I've gotten a USA scarf for the USA vs England game, not to worry -- i haven't become a South African yet, haha!). The sounds of vuvuzelas blowing overwhelms all other noises throughout the city. The vuvuzela was selected as one of the official emblems of the 2010 games. They're fun to play with, but quite loud and I'm sure I won't be as enthusiastic about them once I've been hearing them non-stop for a month. I live about a five minute's walk from the Green Point stadium, so a lot of the fan stuff is going on just outside my front door!

Township Debating League (TDL)

Photo: Two of my students from TDL :)


As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been volunteering with an organization called the Township Debating League (TDL). This organization works with youth from the townships around Cape Town to develop critical thinking, public speaking, and debating skills. The organization was founded in response to the lack of a proper debating organization for township youth (a debating league was already in existence for the more affluent schools). TDL is part of an umbrella organization called Ubunye that is organized and supported by UCT students. There are also local private donors for funding needs. Ubunye also has tutoring programs, a media program that assists students in developing school newspapers, and a mentoring program. I chose TDL because of my experience with debating and the opportunity to encourage critical thinking. Also, the topics we discuss in TDL tend to be about current events, politics, and world affairs (need I say more?). Every Thursday afternoon, I go to LEAP School in Pinelands (not in a township, but attended by students bussed from local townships) to lead workshops about debating. The students here are such a pleasure to work with. They are high school age (14-18 years old) and it is a co-ed school. The students have qualified to attend this school either through application or recommendation from a previous school and specifically focus on math and science.

Recently, we had a tournament. My school sent two teams to the tournament and they divided boys and girls (just because the students wanted to, not because it was required by the school or the organization). The day we spent at the tournament was so much fun because it allowed us to bond more and for me to get to know the girls much better. They are so sweet and had such a good time. They did three debates during the day. The first one they lost and you would have thought someone had killed their dog -- they were so sad. I told them that it was okay and they'd do better next time. We talked about strategies and how good it is to practice and continue through even when you don't win. We also talked about what they learned from the first debate. After the next debate, they waited for me outside of the volunteers' room and had sad faces. I asked them how they did and they immediately started cheering and told me they won! I was so so proud of them and they were so happy! They also won the next debate as well. The winning and losing, of course, is not the important part and I think most teams win and lose some of the debates. It was great to be a part of the whole event. Students from the 20some schools that TDL operates in come together to debate and get to know one another. It's a lot of fun. Anyway, thought I'd let yall know a bit about what I'm up to.

Dunoon (Class Project)

As part of a project for my Politics of Poverty class, we went to the Dunoon Township for two days of interviews with local residents about their lives. The Dunoon township is an informal settlement area of about 1500 shacks. We partnered with the South African Homeless People’s Federation (SAHPF) to assist with their enumeration of the township and to have local residents to enter the township with. The SAHPF works to secure housing for homeless people and slumdwellers. Part of their process for securing housing includes surveying an area to determine needs and numbers of residents, etc to gain information for applications for government housing subsidies. This process is called enumeration and we were asked to help the SAHPF with this portion of their project. In turn, they provided us with a valid reason for being in the township as well as translators and time to speak with locals to answer our project questions. Below are the reflections I wrote for my class project.

The process of learning and gaining understanding about poverty from those most affected by it was unlike anything I could have expected. I feel as though I walked in wanting to learn something very specific and left feeling as though I know less, but understand more the issues that I am studying. I cannot pretend to understand or even relate to the people that I interviewed. My life, circumstances, background, history, family, class, culture, race, and education have made me so far disconnected from the interviewees that it is difficult to begin to understand. We didn’t have the vocabulary or understanding to comprehend and relate to the people we spoke to or the space in which we spoke. This, I think, was the single greatest lesson that I learned during our experiences in Dunoon. My naïve expectations to understand and relate were met with warm greetings, frightened refusals to speak to us, deep conversations, shallow calculated responses, suspicious looks, attempts to impress, and a wider range of expressions than one could describe in words.

The range of emotions I felt from sorrow to frustration to joy to helplessness perhaps express more what I experienced in my two days in Dunoon than the attempt to express the disconnection I felt from those who I interviewed. From discussing HIV/AIDS with an HIV positive woman to playing with children to exploring a new environment that I never have before, I engaged in a new praxis and a new way of learning that truly opened my eyes. This new understanding of what I do not know is more useful than any single piece of knowledge that I could have learned about this topic.

Following the interviews, I asked the interviewees if they had any questions for me. Nearly every interviewee asked me the same question – how this interview was going to help them? Essentially, what was I going to do to improve their lives as a result of learning from them? The first time I was asked this, I didn’t know what to say. I am still not quite sure what to say. I would like to think that the lessons learned from this experience will inform my perspectives and actions for the future and that this in some way will lead to change or improvement for their lives. The truth is that I have no idea.

Impressions and Interpretations

As you may be able to tell from my previous posts -- they have been very descriptive and have had very little interpretive quality. This has been mostly on purpose because as I have mentioned before, I do not want to make hasty generalizations or interpretations about my experiences here. I have also not posted for a while. Partly because i'm busy with schoolwork, partly because my life is becoming more routine and less post-worthy, and party because I am taking time to really interpret all that I am experiencing here so that I can share it in a much more meaningful way than I have been able to thus far. I have grown so much in the past three months (yes, I have already been here that long, more than three months actually! :). When reading an email from my granny, she said that most everything at home had stayed about the same. I should have expected this, but when I thought about it and contrasted the "sameness" of home with the change that I have experienced and growth that I am still going through -- I am so glad that I am here and have had the opportunity to be here. I don't think I could have ever achieved this level of growth at home. More on all that later! In any case, thanks for bearing with me as I synthesize all that I am experiencing and allow myself time to interpret and share it!

Knysna

As I may have mentioned before, one of the women who interviewed me for the scholarship, Anne Matthews also knows some lovely Rotarians in Cape Town. Even before I got here, she emailed some people and got me well connected with Rotarians in Cape Town – in fact, the way that I got connected with the club that’s hosting me (Sea Point) is because of a contact she has down here – Rodney Mazinter and his lovely wife Mavis. They invited me for a long weekend in Knysna (you should google it – this place is beautiful). I thought I would be unable to go because of class commitments, but I was able to book a bus back to Cape Town and will only miss one class. Anyway, Rodney and Mavis were coming here as part of a tour of the UCT Dance Team (Mavis teaches Spanish dance at UCT). Two of the nights here we went to see them perform, they were quite good. We also explored Knysna and saw the beautiful coastline, the Knysna forest, the lagoon, and an elephant park.

We also went to an amazing Saturday morning market in the town next to Knysna. I found it strangely reminiscent of home. Browsing through the stalls of vendors selling everything from cheese to meat to vegetables and everything in between, I was serenaded by none other than Alan Jackson whose music was broadcast throughout the market.

Taste of Cape Town

I was invited by a friend (Kerri) to attend the annual Taste of Cape Town. For those of you at home who have been to Taste of the Town in Myrtle Beach – it was a bit like that, but fancier. The restaurants in attendance were all very nice, upscale restaurants (no Johnny Rockets, or Pizza Hut, haha). There were 19 restaurants in all and several local vendors and plenty of wine estates. I had a great time and got to try some really interesting food (traditional African, Indian, Thai, seafood, pasta, etc, etc, etc!) It was a fun event and I'm glad I went!

Langebaan

Thinking that we may not have a chance to get out of town during break, a friend of mine (Claire) and I decided to take a drive outside of Cape Town. We weren’t really sure where we were headed when we left. She asked where I would like to go and, not knowing any of the places she mentioned, I told her to surprise me because I would be happy going anywhere. We headed off going North, I think and passed some areas that I’ve been to before – Milnerton, etc. We went through Blaauberg (sp?) and through a pretty drive up the coast. Eventually (about an hour/hour and a half later) we ended up in a nice coastal area called Langebaan. We took a nice walk up the beach and landed up in a cute restaurant for lunch. I had fish and chips – for the first time since I arrived in Cape Town and she had breakfast. The fish and chips was made with a local favorite fish called Hake. I quite enjoyed it and we relaxed for a bit before heading back to Cape Town. My friend had to be back on campus for a meeting with her research adviser and I had a professor who scheduled class during the break, so we had to get back. Our venture out of Cape Town was quite nice and I’m sure not the last of our fun road trips. She and I are also considering going to Namibia during our break from classes in June.

Hillsong Church Cape Town

The whole post about Cape Town for Jesus and other amazing things going on here leads me to write about something that I’ve been meaning to really talk about on here for a while. I have become involved in an amazing church here – Hillsong Church Cape Town. As many of you know one of the things that I was most worried about in coming here was finding a church and a community of Christians to connect with while here. Well, literally less than a week in, I had found this wonderful community. Hillsong is a branch of a church started in Sydney, Australia with other branches in London, Paris, and Kiev (maybe others, I’m not sure). They’re also starting a church in New York this year – should be good stuff! Anyway, the pastors are awesome, worship is like summersalt camp (for those of you who know it) every week or kind of like an awesome rock concert that you can really get into, and the community here is quite unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I really am adjusting well and so glad to be involved with this church.

Kaapstad vir Jesus -- Cape Town for Jesus

This was definitely the largest Christian event I have ever been to. Absolutely amazing! One of the last tests of the new Green Point (World Cup) Stadium was the Cape Town for Jesus event. This event was expected to have between 50,000 and 60,000 people – I imagine somewhere in that number actually showed up because there were people everywhere. Our seats were great, too – right in the middle of the field facing the stage. It was a hot day in Cape Town and the sun was baking us by mid-way through the event. I went with my flat mate and a few friends from church. The event opened with prayers and praise songs in a variety of languages – from Afrikaans to Xhosa to English. It was a multicultural and multilingual event. They also presented some videos and information about specific issues and organizations within the country – not the least of which was human trafficking and several campaigns working to stop human trafficking in South Africa! It was pretty awesome and also amazing knowing that so many thousands of people were together praying specifically about this issue. Amazing things are going on in this country! There was also a presentation featuring the flags of each country playing in the World Cup – it was nice (except for the fact that I saw the American flag touch the ground a few times…). This was paired with a responsive reading and prayer about specific areas in the world. All in all, this was an amazing event and one that I wish other cities would aspire to. Hey Myrtle Beach and Charleston – why not take the lead from Cape Town and hold an event like this – amazing things happen when an entire city gets together to pray for its people, its youth, its leaders, and the nation as a whole.

Updates!!!

So I’m sorry for the super-update there – there has been so much going on in my life that I really haven’t had too much time to type it out and blog about it. Of course I want everyone at home to know what I’m up to and to realize how amazing Cape Town is, so I’m sorry that I have been a bit awol lately. Also, as I have mentioned in previous posts, internet is a funny thing around here and I tend to only have access on campus or via internet cafes, neither of which is as frequent as I’m used to or as frequent as I would like. In any case, I’ve posted several new updates about various events/happenings that I wanted to share. I would also love to know any questions that you (whoever you are, haha) have about South Africa, Cape Town, me, my experiences, Rotary, whatever…. so that I can make sure that I include answers to those (as best I can, anyway).

My first Rotary Presentation!

On 17 March, I gave my first Rotary presentation to my host club, Sea Point Rotary. These presentations are a bit weird because I’ve been given so much mixed advice about what to/not to say. I kind of took it all and put together what I thought would be informative and interesting. Of course as an ambassadorial scholar, part of my responsibility is to give some background about where I’m from and the area that I’m representing, so my presentation basically covered these main points: brief introduction of myself (showed a picture of my family, where I’m from, what I studied in undergrad, etc), some info about SC, background and photos of Charleston, CofC, Murrells Inlet, info about the Mt. Pleasant Rotary club (my sponsor club) and then I turned to an issue that I care about and one that I think transcends cultural differences and country boundaries – human trafficking. I was amazed at how few people had any idea about human trafficking. I gave a brief overview about what trafficking is as well as some statistics about it worldwide. Then I compared the types of trafficking that are common in the US and SA and compared the two a bit – I think everyone really enjoyed the comparative and informative elements of this portion of the presentation. (I also plan on researching human trafficking in Southern Africa for my Masters thesis) I closed the presentation with a little update about what I’ve been up to in Cape Town (volunteering with Rotary, etc), and some comparisons between home and here. Of course I also thanked my wonderful host club for all of their hospitality and help in my first few weeks here. I was a bit nervous about how the presentation would be received, mostly because of some of the suggestions/advice/stories about other presentations etc, but everyone really seemed to enjoy my presentation. In fact, one of the members came up to me after to specifically tell me that it is one of the best scholar presentations that he has seen. Another member spoke to me after to invite me to help her with an upcoming conference in May for a Jewish women’s organization specifically about human trafficking. So exciting! Anyway, I’m glad I got the first one out of the way and had some positive encouragement about it. One down, 14 to go!

Cape Argus

The Cape Argus bicycle race was Sunday 14 March. This is a huge one-day cycling event with between 40,000-50,000 cyclists (at least that was the estimate I heard). Many of the area Rotary clubs volunteered to help. Louis (the French exchange student hosted by my club) and I were also asked to help. We stayed at Gavin’s house because we had to be at our post by 6:30 am. It was quite an early morning. Several of the roads were also closed, so we had to drive to one part of Camps Bay and walk down a big hill and then to our post. I joked with some of the people there that the steepest thing I climb at home is a speed bump – haha!! The site was quite a big area and staffed with medical professionals, physical therapists, a huge coca-cola trailer and several Rotarian volunteers. A few others from my club came as well. I think I saw Lance Armstrong, or at least the group of riders that he was in. It was a nice day and I was glad to be involved in such a huge event!

Zip Zap Circus and Judy

I met an amazing woman through Rotary. Her name is Judy Westwater; you can actually probably google her and get some information about her story as well as info about her books (she has written 2). Anyway, she is a former street kid. She was kidnapped from Britain by her father and brought to South Africa and abandoned. She now supports several projects in South Africa to help street kids. One of the projects is called Second Chance in Cape Town. The Second Chance project coordinates events with several of the shelters and ngo’s in Cape Town that work with street kids and at-risk youth. I was able to go to one of the projects with Judy, Suzy (a journalist who is traveling with Judy), and Gavin (Sea Point Rotary president). The project is the Zip Zap Circus which is a social organization that teaches circus skills to many different groups – one of them is former street kids and at-risk youth. The organization was amazing and just hanging out with these kids was incredible. The kids got there and immediately starting conditioning/stretching in a really fun-looking workout around the whole gym. By the way, this gym/circus is really a huge tent in the middle of the city specifically for this circus. I began playing with them as well, once Judy sort of encouraged me and gave me permission (in a way) to have fun and play as well. Check out the pictures above of me walking on a tight rope and jumping on the trampoline -- tons of fun and the kids really enjoyed me playing along as well. I hope to do some more work with this organization.

Rotary Scholar Orientation

On Saturday March 6 – we had an orientation for all of the incoming scholars. There were about 12 of us – mostly American with a Canadian guy, British girl, and French girl to mix it up a bit. Most of the other scholars I knew from my program. There are 6 Rotary scholars in the Political Studies postgrad department. I thought that was kind of interesting – this scholarship definitely attracts social science students and people interested in this field, but I guess I didn’t realize how much. We had our orientation at a wine estate in Durbanville (suburb about 25 minutes outside of Cape Town). Tony picked me up bright and early and we got started at the orientation about 7:45. We were introduced to Trevor and Helene who assist the inbound scholars – Trevor held the official position until recently when Helene took over. It seems that they are both very involved. We also heard presentations from several Rotarians – two from my club! After a few presentations and some general discussion, we did a few activities with the horses on the estate. One of the presentations was from some of the trainers who use the horses for social programs with at-risk youth and disabled kids and we got to play some of the games that they do with their programs. There was one beautiful horse that I especially liked that I nicknamed Savannah. I don’t think I ever actually learned the horse’s real name. anyway, the activity was nice and allowed us to get to know one another much better. We had a lovely lunch and finished the afternoon with a presentation from the organizer of Ubuntu Africa (an organization that works with children with HIV/AIDS), a former Rotary scholar, and a Rotarian who is a judge for one of the high courts. Rotary has such an intricate network of members and supporters -- it's quite amazing to see all around the world. It was nice to meet the other scholars and to hear the various presentations. The wine estate was also quite nice and I enjoyed getting to know other Rotarians. The only suggestion I would have for the event is that they hold it sooner for other incoming scholars. Most of us had already been in the country for five or so weeks before meeting one another and having a chance to discuss some of our concerns and ask questions of each other. This sort of meeting would be more beneficial earlier into the program.

Following the official orientation, several of us went to town and hung out during the evening. It was a nice informal way to get to know some of the other students.

Dear John

Helene (my flatmate) and I went to see Dear John the other night. I’ve been quite excited to see it, mostly because I knew people who were extras in it and it was filmed at CofC and in other parts of Charleston. I was also quite proud to go to a movie in South Africa that was filmed where I am from. Anyway, it was probably one of the first things to make me truly homesick. Watching Savannah (Amanda Seyfried’s character) walk around CofC and all of the visits to the beach and walks around Charleston made me miss home and Charleston and my friends there. Oh yeah, and then there was that love story. Anyway, I’m trying to figure out if it is more that I miss being an undergrad at CofC or that I was really homesick.

Green Point

I'm all settled into the flat that I will be living in hopefully for the duration of my stay in Cape Town. The flat is in Green Point, which is a bit of a ways from campus, but quite close to other nice things in town (Green Point Stadium, V&A Waterfront, closer to the beach, etc, etc). Getting to campus so far has been kind of interesting. It's a bit different everyday -- sometimes I walk to the shuttle in the center or town (about a 40 minute walk), sometimes I take a local taxi (minibus taxis that have specific routes around town, only 5 rand per trip and are kind of an on/off sort of thing with all kinds of people), sometimes my flat mate drops me off at the shuttle in town. Anyway, no shortage of interesting ways to get to campus. It has been quite hot the past few days, so walking has been kind of a sweaty mess, but good. Oh and no worries, walking around during the day time is totally safe -- i haven't had any trouble so far.

I also have a very nice South African flat mate who has helped me feel more at home in Cape Town.

Camps Bay

So for the past almost week and a half I have been living in the beautiful Camps Bay. This is probably one of the prettiest parts of Cape Town and I’ve been hosted by a kind Rotary couple. Their house is amazing – it is a two story, three bedroom, two bathroom home that has a porch that can see both the mountains and the ocean at the same time. It is also literally down the street from the beach, maybe a whole minute’s walk. Anyway, they have been more than generous in allowing me to stay here until my permanent accommodation becomes available. That will be in Green Point (about a stone’s throw from the World Cup Stadium) – email me if you want the address to send me letters and such! 

Today, I went to Africa (7 Feb 2010)

There is lots of joking (and some serious belief ) that Cape Town is not “real Africa” and even some that South Africa is not “real Africa”. Well, I went to a part of Cape Town today that I think was definitely real Africa. I went to Khayelitsha as an invited guest of one of the Rotarians (Gavin, President of my host club). Khayelitsha is a township on the outer edge of Cape Town. I’ve read that it is the largest township in the entire country (of course this depends on the statistics and definitions used). The estimated population is around 2 million people. The Rotary club supports a creche (French for preschool) in the township. The woman who runs the creche, Christine, invited us to church with her on Sunday (7 Feb). I didn’t know what to expect, but I was very excited to get out into the townships this early in my stay here. I was glad to be exposed to a real picture of the way that half (or more) of the population of Cape Town lives. I am always humbled by these experiences and appreciate the opportunity to be exposed to a picture of a truly different lifestyle. Apparently, many people who live in Cape Town rarely if ever go into the townships. There is an intense fear about the safety in the townships and the levels of crime. I can honestly say that I didn’t feel unsafe at all the entire time that I was there (of course, I was there in the day time with 2 other students and an older man with a host that lives in the area). I think this fear adds to much of the separation and hesitancy to go into the townships.

Gavin picked me up and then picked up two other students. The two boys are on Rotary exchange programs from France and Italy. We arrived, after some confusing directions and a non-working gps, at Christine’s house. We went together to the church. When we arrived, I was surprised to see a structure that looked much more like a shack than a proper building that was the church we would be attending that day. There were probably between 30 and 40 people there, including children. I was invited to sit with some of the older women and the men that I went with sat in a separate section. Worship started with some Xhosa (most common language spoken in the township) hymns that I obviously couldn’t understand but enjoyed trying to sing anyway. The women next to me had hymn books that they showed me so that I could follow along and try to sound out the words. They were quite happy that I was at least trying to sing along and participate in the worship. There were no formal instruments leading the worship, but some people had pads that helped with clapping and keeping rhythm. One woman used what appeared to be a metal paper towel holder and a butter knife to make a bell-like noise during the singing. It was a truly unique experience. There were several songs and some prayer. After quite a while of worship and prayer, the pastor came up to speak. He introduced the visitors then called for the offering. I was quite impressed that he gave his sermon both in English and Xhosa. I am not sure whether he normally says anything in English or if he did it on account of the guests. He also gave the book and verse for several passages that we would be reading and because I had my Bible, I was able to follow along quite well. He even asked me to read a passage aloud in English to the rest of the congregation. I felt honored to be included in the service. I found the entire congregation very welcoming, even more so than most churches I have ever been to.

I had quite a good experience at the church. Following the service, several people wanted to take pictures with us and these are what you see above. As happens in any church, many people wanted to hang around and chat with one another too. After chatting a bit, the other students and I walked outside where there was a large group of kids walking past the church and staring at us. I’m sure we looked a bit out of place to these kids. I waved at them and they all smiled and giggled. I motioned for one of the curious girls to come over and then the whole group came over. Before we knew it the boys and I were picking them up and hugging them and playing games and lots of fun things. I really enjoyed our impromptu visit with these beautiful children.

After church, we went back to Christine’s home and had lunch that Gavin brought for everyone. For a second I almost thought that I was at home because he had brought KFC and Coca cola for everyone to have for lunch…. Delicious! After lunch, we visited the crèche that Christine runs and talked about some of Rotary’s plans for adding two more buildings for classrooms. There is currently only one classroom building (one room) and there are over 70 students attending. I look forward to helping with this project and hopefully volunteering at the crèche with the students.

I really enjoyed this experience and was glad to have my eyes opened to the way that so many people live. I have added some photos above of the township and the makeshift shack settlements that large families live in. Gavin and Christine explained that many of the shacks are on government owned land and many of the people in this area are essentially squatters. These people come from all over the country and other parts of Africa in search of some economic gain, many don’t find it. Christine explained about the difficulty in getting tuition for students in the crèche (only 50 rand per month, or less than 7 dollars) because many parents are not working and cannot find work. Khayelitsha is quite an interesting and complex area that I hope to visit and learn much more about in my time here.

Muizenberg Beach Trip

On Saturday 6 Feb, I went to Muizenberg beach with Helene and we met some people from Hillsong Church. They were having a huge beach party for people from the church. It was beautiful. The day was sunny with just a few clouds and nice and warm. The beaches here always seem to be a bit windy, but it wasn't too bad today. There were beautful hills behind us and in the distance, making the views amazing. I put on really strong sunscreen (spf 50 in most places) because I've been warned so much about the sun. I was a bit sad about that later because I didn't look like I had gotten any color on my skin. I think I'll try sometihng a bit lower next time (don't worry, though, i'll still wear sunscreen). The water was very cold and I'm told this coast is the warmer one -- well, looks like I won't be swimming much while I'm here. There were some surfers in the water, though, and with a wetsuit the water wouldnt be too bad. The waves were decent too, not too big, but definitely rideable. I may try and go back out there surfing sometime soon. There was a shark siting while we were there and the lifeguards cleared everyone out of the water. Apparently, someone had gotten killed by a shark a few weeks ago. I'll be careful, I promise!

Great Night

Wed, 3 Feb - What a wonderful night. I went to the first meeting of Powerhouse – a meeting group for people 18-25. It’s a Christian group led by the Hillsong Church of Cape Town. It was wonderful. The leader’s name is George and he had such a good sermon. There were students there from UCT, the University of the Western Cape, and Stellenbosch. The room was packed, too. This guy was just so on fire and excited…. You could feel it. I also met a few American girls who were doing internships around Cape Town. One of the girls is doing some social work in one of the townships – I asked her what she hoped to do in the future and she shared that one of her passions is anti-slavery/anti-human trafficking work – I was like ME TOO! It was pretty cool. It’s kind of neat starting to connect with people and really start to make friends. After the service, I asked for a ride home (I knew someone would be taking me back when I went, I just wasn’t sure who)… George suggested a girl named Helene (pronounced Hilian) to take me back because she lives close to where my flat is. This girl is awesome. We went to get some dinner following the service and had such a great chat. She has lived in the UK and US and didn’t have much of an intention of coming back to South Africa, but realized that God had other plans. We talked quite a bit about God’s timing and the unique way that God orders our lives and our time – it’s so cool to me. She also has a 2 bedroom flat and her roommate is moving out soon – she offered to have me move in once he’s left, which is great news!! More on that later

First Rotary Meeting

I attended my first Rotary meeting in South Africa on 3 February (thats how dates are more commonly written here!). It was a nice experience and I was able to meet the president of my host club (Gavin) and several others who were very friendly and welcoming. The lunch was cottage pie (I thought it was shepherd's pie, but was told that there is a difference between -- one has bigger chunks of meat and the other has ground meat). The speakers for the day were from a youth leadership organization and talked about their experiences and the goals of their organization. There was another international student their, a Rotary exchange student from France. His name is Louis and he will be in Cape Town until June. Following the meeting, one of the members (Graham) drove me to campus so I could finish the registration process. I look forward to presenting at my club next month!

On Campus Difficulties

The first few days on campus were difficult for a few reasons. I don’t know anyone on campus (or I didn’t at that point, luckily I do now!!) and don’t have any real advisors that know me and my work. I feel like I’ve been a bit underestimated by the only professor I’ve had class with so far – that’s okay though because at least I’ll surprise him at some point, hopefully. So much of me wanted to look around and see Dr. Creed or Dr. Curtis or Dr. Ford or Helen or someone that I knew who could give me some counsel on what courses would be best and reaffirm my confidence that I actually can handle graduate level work. I know that this is all part of the maturing process and I now feel relieved that I can go into an otherwise unknown and difficult situation and make decisions and be successful (hopefully on the second part). So one of the biggest obstacles was not having an advisor who knows me and not knowing any of the faculty, next was all of the cultural and institutional differences between my education experience and the new one in which I will be taking part. Unlike any registration I’ve ever been a part of, the registration process is completely done by paper – great for a paper trail, but quite unnerving considering the possibility of human error and the finality this process creates.
Finally, I feel like every time I open my mouth people automatically have an opinion of me because I’m American. I recognize that this may be completely in my head, but I know that it has been true at least a couple of times. That’s okay, hopefully I will surprise a few people and change some minds about Americans.
All of these new experiences paired with some anxiety and a bit of frustration made my first few days on campus exciting as well as slightly overwhelming. I prefer the term sufficiently whelmed – not overwhelmed to the point of a panic attack, but not bored by any stretch.

UCT – first impressions/registration

Wow! I don’t know if you can remember your first day of orientation/registration or maybe the first day of college, but take that feeling add ten and multiply times a thousand. That was basically my experience on Monday and Tuesday. I got to campus Monday morning and had to figure out where my lecture was going to be, fortunately I knew it was on the upper of the 3 campuses. One of my classes won’t start for three weeks and the lecturer held a class on Monday so that students could determine whether or not they wanted to take it before the drop/add period is over (so that students can decide if they like the class and drop it before they will be penalized financially). Tony dropped me off on one end of campus near a visitor’s center – I soon learned that it was the opposite side of campus from where I needed to be. That was okay, though, because on my way to the other end of campus I encountered the “O week” (orientation week) student organizations (called societies) fair. The only comparison I have to this is what I know from CofC. Sorry CofC, but this was 10 times better than anything put out on George Street. The gymnastics society brought a trampoline and did exhibitions, the dance club danced, the wine culture society brought wine (totally legal on campus, drinking age 18) and gave it out, the yachting club brought a yacht, the underwater club brought all kinds of scuba equipment, basically you name it – these groups brought it. It was awesome! I got a bit caught up with all of that and got some information from various societies and made my way toward the Humanities Graduate School Offices. Once I got there, I was directed into the Leslie building on the fifth floor, which will be my home for quite some time – all my classes will be on that floor and in the same room. There’s a conference room where all graduate level classes are convened. Shortly before my class was to begin, I got some information about registration and what is required. Unlike any registration I’ve ever been a part of, the registration process is completely done by paper – great for a paper trail, but quite unnerving considering the possibility of human error and the finality this process creates.
Anyway, I liked the try-out class and will be enrolling in International Relations Theory (figure I’m going to have a Masters in it, I might as well know what it is). Well that narrowed down one of the four classes I have to take. I spent most of Monday worrying about whether I should take 2 this semester and 2 next to even it out or 3 and 1 or what sort of order. I also have to write a dissertation to complete the requirements for my program. I have decided on taking three this semester and one next so that I can focus on my dissertation with a lighter course load next semester. The decision on which classes to take has been a difficult one. I was interested in the conflict courses (Conflict in Africa and Theory and Practice of Conflict Resolution), but those are taught in the same day following my IR Theory course and I know that will be more than I can handle in one day. I still may take one of them, though. After much deliberation and some unnecessary worrying, I registered for IR Theory, International Political Economy, and Politics of Poverty for this semester and International Organizations for next semester. I have until Feb 12 to decide if I want to change any of those.

Table Mountain Walk

This is the first Sunday in recent memory that I didn’t spend at least some time in church – quite sad about that, but excited about what I did do. I was invited by my host counselor to take a “walk” with him and some friends on Table Mountain. His wife and daughters were quite surprised that I said yes because they never go with him and think the walk to be a bit long/strenuous. I stayed at their house on Saturday night, so that it would be easier to get to the mountain around 7 am. We woke up quite early, around 6:20 am. I got ready and we caught a ride with one of Tony’s friends. Both Tony and his friend brought their dogs, which was nice. Tony has a sweet Yellow Lab/Retriever mix dog named Sophie. There were actually several dogs that joined us on our walk. We met about 7 or 8 other people and got started on our “walk”. I put walk before in quotes because to me it was more of a hike. For any of you that know me and know the topography of the Lowcountry of South Carolina, you know that anything slightly uphill for longer than a few minutes is a bit of a hike. It was quite a nice experience. We had great conversation and also stopped midway for a breakfast break. There was only one point that I needed to stop because it got quite steep for an extended time. I was proud of myself considering the whole walk was about 3 hours and I’m not used to this sort of exercise. During part of the walk, there were clearings through the trees and you could see the whole of Cape Town. These views were quite stunning, and I got to take some pictures. Cross that one off the bucket list – hike on Table Mountain, check!