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!

Day 2

Today I met Lana, a Rotarian friend of Tony’s who took me to the bank to pick up my cards and such. After running those errands, we went to a lovely café by the ocean and had drinks and chatted. She helped me a bit with suggestions for finding flats and things. After my outing with Lana, I walked down to the V & A Waterfront, which is about a 10-15 minute walk from where I’m staying – quite a nice area. I walked into the mall at the waterfront and had to remind myself that I’m in South Africa, not the US. The mall would fool you, though. Immediately to my left as I walked in was an Apple/Mac store. Throughout the mall, I was confronted with American shops like Levi’s, Guess, and Body Shop. I also was pleasantly confronted with some South African (and other) brands and shops that I have never seen before. I walked out of the mall and to the actual waterfront that is still an active port – it was beautiful!! I turned and looked up and was caught with the most beautiful view of the mountain. There was also a cloud coming over Table Mountain, which is called by locals the “table cloth”. It’s really a beautiful sight, the cloud creeps over the top of the mountain and disappears midway down.

Following my visit to the V & A Waterfront, I returned to my flat, rested a bit, and got ready for my outing with Tony and Jill. They picked me up and we went to one of the malls to see a movie. The movie was called Skin. It was a very well-done movie. It was very sad and outlined the story of a dark-skinned girl born to light-skinned parents during Apartheid. The girl’s name was Sandra Laing and the movie is based on the true story of her life. The movie outlined some of the biological ways that this sort of thing can happen. After a battery of tests, doctors concluded that she was in fact the biological daughter of both her parents and that some unique genetic matching allowed her to be born with a very different physical appearance from her parents. An interesting point was made by a geneticist in the movie that most whites in southern Africa actually have some black genes from past ancestors. Please check out the website for the film and see when it will be released in the States. It has won international film awards and is definitely a must-see.

Following the movie we had a lovely dinner at Doppio Zero, an Italian restaurant at the mall. Jill, Tony, and I talked about the film, South Africa, why I am here, my family, my background, their family, etc, etc, etc. It was quite nice. Tony had invited me on a Sunday morning walk with some of his friends on Table Mountain. We figured it would be better that I stay at their house on Saturday night because of the early hour at which the walk would begin. After grabbing some things from my flat, we went to their house and settled in for the night.

First Day in Cape Town

On my first day here, I slept in a bit and rested from the flight. Tony had planned to meet me around 11 am to take me around town, help me get a bank account, and help get a cell phone sim card. We got all of these accomplished quite quickly. Then, we went to the International student office at UCT to see what I needed to do about pre-registration. International students are required to pre-register in order to insure that all proper documents are in place. I spoke with a woman named Lindy about the fees I owed because I couldn’t get a clear answer via email from anyone at the Fees Office. I knew that I owed a bit more before I could pre-register. Tony works with the UCT human resource department, so he took me to one of their offices to use the internet and pay the additional fees. It was great – I kind of felt like a VIP marching into an administrator’s office and being offered her computer. Once I paid and printed the necessary form, we returned to the international office, the line was quite long and we were told that if we come back later it would be shorter. Tony took me to lunch at a beautiful place on Table Mountain – Rhodes Memorial. I had a tuna and avocado salad – it was delicious. I also had a coke. No worries everyone, coca-cola is everywhere here! Yes! It is made with real sugar, instead of high fructose corn syrup, so it’s a little better for you (or not quite as bad, I guess). Anyway, after lunch Tony took me back to the international office. I met an American girl and her South African friend. Some students suggested we go to the Fees office to get our forms stamped so that we could move more quickly through the long line (called queue) at the international office. We went all the way there (about a 10 minute walk uphill, once we figured out how to get there) and were turned away because it was the wrong place. I went back to speak to Lindy – she stamped and signed the forms for fees and I went downstairs to complete the rest of the process. It didn’t take any time to finish the process once the fees part was completed. Once I was done, Tony picked me up and drove me around Cape Town a bit more. Then, we went to his house to wait for supper.
I met Tony’s daughters – Megan (16) and Jenny (21) and his wife, Jill. They were quite kind and it was very nice to be in their home and get to know them. While we waited for dinner, we watched some tv and a movie. They know more about American tv than I do – we watched Make it or Break It, Lie to Me, Gossip Girl, and The Other Boleyn Girl. I had to ask about the stories in some of the shows because I didn’t know anything about them. I was quite surprised at how much American tv is available. Most of it is a season or two behind what is out in the states now, but most of the same shows I watch at home are available here.
We ate dinner, which was quite good. Tony and his family are Jewish, so before dinner we had a traditional Jewish prayer and shared some challah. It was interesting for me because I have never shared this sort of practice so intimately with a family. I have been to two Shabbat services before, but never a small family practice such as this. The dinner was good – beef brisket, butternut squash, and rice. There was also a big salad with lots of fresh vegetables. After dinner we had a dessert of milk pudding and custard. Later, Tony took me back to my flat. I got back and settled in a bit and went to sleep.

Getting Here - Goodbyes and Flights

So part of the flight is actually getting to the airport and getting on the plane – this part was the worst. I woke up early Wednesday morning, showered and did the final bit of packing that I needed to do. We left home around 9:30 am and headed toward Charleston after saying goodbye to Granny and Papa at my house. Tyson (my boyfriend), my mom, my dad, and my brother were all planning to drive down to Charleston. However, they wanted to take two cars – this decision was mostly Tyson’s because he knew he would be upset once he left the airport and would want to be by himself. This made it quite awkward for me though because I had to choose which car to ride in. I decided to ride the first half of the way with Tyson and I switched to my family’s car in McClellanville. We arrived in Charleston and went to one of my favorite restaurants for lunch – Jim N Nicks. It was great. Halfway through lunch it finally hit me – I would be leaving the country for nearly a year in just a few hours. The feeling and realization consumed me completely. I looked at Tyson and he knew immediately what had just happened. He hugged me and I laid my head on his shoulder. I also completely lost my appetite, my nerves had taken over. Tyson was wonderful, though, and said some sort of joke to make me laugh and I was calmed a bit and continued eating. Shortly after lunch and a final trip to the ATM for some spending cash, we went to the airport. My bags were just a little heavy and I had to reorganize some things and put some stuff in my carryon bags. This was a pain because my carryon bags became quite heavy. The man at the counter was nice and let me slide with a few pounds over because he saw what trouble I was having and the stress of the situation with my family and everyone there. We got to the security checkpoint and were a little early and the plane would be a bit late, so we just sort of sat there. It was terrible, like waiting for an inevitable pain to arrive. It was weird for me because on one hand I was sad about leaving everyone and nervous about being in another country for a year, but on the other I was so excited and ready for a new experience. This was an emotion, or rather mix of emotions, that I was feeling for a while, but it was so difficult to share. Everyone at home was mostly sad that I was leaving, so it was difficult to share how excited I have been for a while. Anyway, I decided it would be a good idea to head toward the terminal. I got in line, hugged everyone. Tyson left first, teary-eyed and sad. My parents and brother stayed to watch the plane take off. The hardest part of the whole thing was watching my 9-year-old little brother cry. It was very sad – I expected everyone else to cry and to be emotional and sad, but not him – not in the same way. I am very close to my little brother and being away from him will be very difficult. I went through security and it took quite a while because I was carrying on some electronics and had to separate everything.

I boarded the plane and sat next to a nice German man. The interesting thing, though, is that I didn’t get his name – do you ever notice that? You will have a nice long conversation with someone on a plane or out somewhere and you never actually exchange names? Anyway, he assured me that I would love Cape Town and that the food and wine there are even better than France! How nice!

I got to the DC airport from Charleston and thought that I would have more time. I forgot that international flights board so much earlier than domestic flights. I made some last phone calls to friends and family and boarded the looooong flight to Johannesburg, by way of Dakar, Senegal. The flight was on South African Airways, quite nice! I now know why SAA is Laura’s favorite airline. It was wonderful, except that it was so long. I asked one of the flight attendants before boarding if I would need any money and if food was served on board. She assured me that I would be well taken care of and didn’t need any money. About an hour after boarding, we were served drinks and dinner. The drinks came first and the guy in the seat next to me suggested an appletiser (a south African soda beverage with fruit juice – they have them all sorts of fruit flavors, so far I’ve only tried the apple one). I also got a glass of wine. The dinner and the drinks were quite good, especially for plane food. We landed in Dakar, Senegal after about 8 hours. We were not permitted to get off of the plane. Some passengers got off and some got on. We sat on the plane for an hour while it refueled. The plane was open, which was weird and mosquitoes flew around inside. This next stretch of the flight is when I got the most sleep. I was woken for breakfast, which was decent. I was pretty impressed throughout the flights of the quality of the service and food.

On this flight, I made two friends – Chris and Dillon. Chris’s parents are from South Africa and he was born there, but currently lives in the states. He was going for a short vacation. Dillon is doing some volunteer work with an HIV/AIDS org as part of a gap year before college.

When we landed in Johannesburg we had to go through customs, which was basically walking past a guard and stopping if they asked you to. They didn’t ask me to. Oh and the drug dog was a small beagle or something and looked like a puppy – a far cry from the German Shepherds and big dogs we use to intimidate people in the states. Before catching the next flight, I was able to call home and speak to Tyson, Granny, and my parents. They were quick calls, but enough to assure everyone that I was safe. The next flight was fairly short compared to the previous flights, only 2 hours. It included meal and drink service (unlike my similar time flight from Charleston to DC).

When I arrived in Cape Town (about 10:00 pm local time) it took a little while to collect all of my bags and load them onto the carts. I walked out of the baggage area and a man approached me and called me by name – it was Tony, my Rotary host counselor. He said he knew it was me because of all the bags I had. He was very nice and drove me to the flat that I will be staying in for a few days. It’s available for just over a week, so I hope I find a more permanent place before the permanent residents get back in town. If not, there is another person in Tony’s Rotary club that will let me stay with them. The flat is quite nice and is in an area of Cape Town called Green Point – if any of you know anything about the World Cup stadium here – it’s very close to that. I am also very close to the V & A Waterfront – a popular tourist area and big mall. That’s all for now.