Who 'studies' abroad?

My life feels much more fully dictated by school work these past couple of weeks, which I suppose should not come as an extreme shock given that I came here with the main purpose of studying at UCT. I must be honest that this post itself is as much a procrastination tool as an update. I am becoming more comfortable with the grading system. I never imagined that I would feel gratification from earning a 77 on a paper, but given that this is equivalent to an American 'A' I now have experienced this odd feeling. It is interesting to notice that the standard of doing well is often just passing (a 50%), which can pose a challenge in some courses.

School is not very interesting to write about, however, so I will focus on the fun activities I've squeezed in. Last Saturday my program did a wine tour at Groot Constantia. Oddly beginning around 11am, it was still quite nice and we even had a tour of the cellar.

Barrels of Wine

Some of the tour guide's statements struck me the wrong way- including his statement that South African winemakers are blessed to have such a cheap labor force, enabling hand-picking of grapes. And his clarification that they housed and provided education for these workers and their families (basic human rights in the South African constitution...) Nonetheless it was a fun experience and I may have snuck a taste of some of these:

Delicious

Saturday evening we saw the band Sixgun Gospel at a pub called Obviouzly Armchair in Observatory. They were quite fantastic and the venue was really intimate, making it especially fun.

Sixgun Gospel

James, Bri, Levi, Ryan, Emma, Tom & Kevin at Obviouzly Armchair

Sunday's big accomplishment was to finally get Kevin a chess set, which he has been longing for for quite some time. We found a neat carved one with each of the pieces a different member of the Big 5 animals, with the lion/lioness as king/queen of course. Can't wait to get in some games.

My parents officially arrived in Cape Town today. They are at a B & B just a minute from my house. We went to eat at 'Mama Africa' on Long Street for dinner. I suspect it is somewhat of a tourist destination, but the food was wonderful and there was a quite impressive band playing throughout our dinner. I am excited to spend more them with them and to show them around.

Slang Section:

-Varsity: You don't go to 'college' you go to 'university' or 'varsity'

-Write an exam: This sounds like something your professor does, but it is rather what I will be doing tomorrow when I 'take' my Clinical Psych test

-Maths and ecos: Math is plural. Ecos=Econ

-"Is it?": This quasi-question is appropriate after any statement someone says that does not necessitate a real response.

Ex. Me: "I just got out of maths"

South African: "Is it?"

I'll do that just now

Since I last wrote, school has picked up some. I had my first presentation Friday and my first test is coming up this week. My classes have overall been interesting so far, although I can confidently say I know more about South African rock art than I ever thought I would know. And perhaps more than I ever wanted to know.

Last week we (sort of) hiked Lion’s Head by moonlight again. On our way there, the cab broke down on the highway, just after a slight curve, so we were left on the side of the road, watching cars quickly switch lanes behind us to avoid a collision. The cab driver essentially ignored the fact that we were in the back of his car, finally just pointing for us to follow the highway. With no other ideas, we walked along the N2 for a couple of kilometers, entering a not-so-nice area, looking rather conspicuous with our hiking attire and backpacks. After a bit of nervousness, we very luckily found a taxi driver stopping by his house and who agreed to drive us to Lion’s Head. Climbing on the full moon is super popular, which causes some major back ups on the thin path, so we ended up making it up a little ways and simply stopping to enjoy the view.

View from Lion's Head

Last weekend my house got to go on a tour of a section of the city called Bo Kaap, which is a predominantly Muslim area with really unique architecture and brightly colored houses.

View down one of the streets of the Bo Kaap

Most people who live there are descendants of slaves brought by the Dutch East India Company. We started the tour at Auwal Mosque, the oldest mosque in South Africa, and walked through the steep area to a burial ground at the top. After the tour, we got to do some cooking in the home of a woman who gives cooking classes in the area. The food was incredible! We made a lentil curry for the vegetarians, roti (a flour wrap), and samosas.

Samosas, before (above) and after being fried (right). These were filled with cheese, onions and barbecue spice

After, we went to UCT’s Holi, a Hindu spring festival. While real Holi involves more than this, one of the main customs of the festival is throwing colored powders and water on each other. The one at UCT took place on a big lawn within one of the residence hall areas and was such a blast. Fear of camera demolition caused me to leave mine at home, so I unfortunately have no action pictures.

Kevin, Meghan, and Me post-Holi

Yesterday, I did the most intense hike I’ve done so far in Cape Town, Table Mountain. We started at Kirstenbosch gardens and headed up on the “Skeleton Gorge” route. The first hour or so was dreadfully steep with very few breaks in the incline. Knowing that the hike was supposed to take three and a half hours, I was becoming intimidated when everything started to flatten out and become much easier. We ended up doing the hike in three hours, with a few short breaks and a longer lunch break at Maclear’s Beacon, the highest point of Table Mountain. We walked to where the cable car is that takes people up and down Table Mountain and hiked a more direct path down. The trip was exhausting but the views were exhilarating!

Kevin near Maclear's Beacon, on his life-long quest to conquer his fear of heights

Crazy hair at the top of Table Mtn.

Today I saw Freshlyground play at the outdoor venue at Kirstenbosch. They are a well-known band in South Africa, evidenced by the enormous crowd. The group consists of seven musicians from a few different African countries, including SA. According to iTunes they are “Afro-fusion” but I do not quite know what that means. They have some slower folksy tunes as well as more upbeat songs including the anthem to the 2010 FIFA World Cup (“Waka Waka, This Time for Africa”), on which they collaborated with Shakira. They put on a fun show with choreographed dance moves from all the band members and a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “Living for the City.”

Freshlyground

Slang Spot:

To satisfy a request for more SA-specific terminology (hi Bradley!) here are some commonly used words/phrase

-Howzit: ‘How are you?’, but perhaps more like ‘hello’ because you never really answer this greeting

-Robot: traffic light

-Now now/just now- to preface this, nothing here happens on time, except perhaps classes. People refer to ‘South African time’ which I would say is about 30+ minutes late. The phrases ‘now now’ and ‘just now’ fittingly mean ‘some time in the near future.’ So when your waitress says ‘I’ll be with you just now’ you should really sit back and relax because it could be a while.

Shedding Light on a New Place

View into the tunnel that takes you to campus

After abandoning hopes that the Photography Society I joined at UCT even existed, I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the first meeting was last week. Thursday night we lept around on Jammie steps with sparkers and ‘torches’ (flashlights), attempting to capture some of this on our cameras. I even got a very fly Photo Soc scarf with the SA flag on it. Having the opportunity to look down and see Cape Town lit up at night adds another element of beauty to the campus.

Night pictures from Photo Soc

Friday I attended my first official wine tasting with the Wine Society, which strangely took place in a lecture hall. Each week is sponsored by a different vineyard that supplies and explains a little bit about their different wines. For each wine, we were led through the phases of wine rating (color, palate etc.), which slowly deteriorated toward glasses five and six. Some of the officers of the club cracked me up, including one who modestly stated, “we all know wine really well, especially me.” It was difficult to imagine this club existing at home, which made it all the more interesting.

Saturday, Kevin and I ventured to Cape Town Pride, which featured a parade and huge party. I’ve heard people say that Cape Town is the ‘gay capital of Africa’ and this event at least supported that conclusion. It was a significantly larger event than I imagined it would be, with several different stages featuring a variety of performers. One of the people I was with noted how liberating an event like this must be for someone who might feel unable to fully be themselves during everyday life. It was probably one of the coolest parties I’ve ever been to.

Cape Town Pride, with some entertaining performers

Saturday night I saw the Western Cape’s rugby team, the Stormers, play in Newlands stadium. Some of the fans were intense; we witnessed what can only be described as a mob, waving flags and chanting in a huge group as we entered the stadium. The game was quite close, and low scoring, with the Stormers coming out on top 15-12. I can proudly say I understood what was going on for at least a portion of the game.

Fans cheering at the game

My friend Moriah and me ("ek is 'n Stormer" means "I am a Stormer")

A New Family

Last weekend, we had a homestay in Ocean View, a township established in 1968 to house coloured people removed from nearby areas deemed white only, including Simon’s Town, where my host family was from. We started our time in Ocean View with a dinner at the high school, where I got to meet my host father and Hannah, another student from my program who I also stayed with. Over dinner our host father spoke lovingly of his wife Daisy, who he has been married to for forty years, and told us about their three children and grandchildren who also live with them. A dance group from Ocean View put on an entertaining performance after dinner.

We headed home and met our host mom, Daisy, who is exceptionally sweet. We were also introduced to some of the rest of the family, including energetic, four-year-old Cole, whose dad correctly told us would provide our weekend entertainment. Ocean View is situated on an upward sloping landscape, so a few of the houses higher up, including our family’s, actually do have a view of the ocean. For many, the name Ocean View is a mean irony, as those living in the area often came from places that truly did have ocean views. Their house has two stories and is quite nice, especially compared to other living arrangements around including project-like flats, which house many people in Ocean View.

My host family's home

Our host father worked very hard growing up and was in the Navy, which has a base quite nearby. I was confused by a picture on the wall of white Navy men in uniform, but Daisy pointed out our host father in the back, one of few coloured people at the time in a higher ranking position.

Our family explained some about what it was like to be forced to move to a new place. When they first moved in, the area was nearly empty, and they had no electricity and few resources. My host parents explained that they had to leave behind any belongings that could not fit on the truck that moved them, so they lost items in the move. They said that it was extremely hard for people to get to their jobs, which were now inconveniently far away. While some attempts by the government to compensate those who lost their land have been made, my family said that the monetary compensation was small and opportunities to return to the areas they came from are futile since these areas are now too expensive for them to afford. One thing that became clear, however, was that my host family has worked hard to move past this drastic change in their lives. They have amazing attitudes in the face of injustice, explaining that they are grateful for what they have and where they are now. I also learned more about how Apartheid and the ending of Apartheid was experienced by coloured people. There is a sense that during Apartheid, coloured people were not white enough, but now they are not dark enough. Some, including my host father, do not feel represented by the government today.

Saturday, we woke up to a huge breakfast that felt more like three breakfasts and went for a walk with Cole and our host father. We wandered around, seeing more of Ocean View and picking up lettuce for lunch. We got to see the internet café that our host brothers run. It has many computers and is quite nice inside. Bringing computers and internet access to people, especially students, seems really valuable to the community. Next, we had an enormous lunch. Daisy put an exceptional amount of time and effort into assuring that we were well-fed, showing how much she cared that we had a comfortable stay at her house. We went on another walk around, this time with our host mom, visiting several of her friends and family members. I noticed that people spend a lot more time outdoors and from our walks, it seemed as if our host family knows nearly everyone in Ocean View. It was really neat being welcomed into so many different homes and meeting more people. Everyone was so welcoming- even strangers on the street who knew by the color of our skin that we were visitors, said hello.

After a short nap and dinner, we went to the Multi-Purpose Centre in Ocean View with our host brother Jerome. On the way there we heard "I Will Always Love You" blasting from one of the flats- the people here seem to adore Whitney. At the Multi-Purpose Centre we saw ‘Ladylicious’, a trio of girls who sang and danced. Some of the people in the crowd were super enthused and I suspect that there isn’t a person in Ocean View that doesn’t love to dance. While it was not my favorite musical genre, it was fun to interact with everyone and to see so many people having fun.

View of Ocean View from the upper porch of my family's house

Sunday we played outside with Cole- we had a race down the street in which he was victorious. We continued our tradition of walking; our host father loves to go for walks every day, which could explain how he looks about ten years younger than he really is. We went to the home of a seamstress who is sewing our host father a new robe to wear in church. My host family’s Catholic faith is very important to them and I noticed that it played a big role their daily life and the positive way they often viewed the world.

Sunday lunch is quite a big thing to many people here, although all of our meals in Ocean View were incredible. After nearly begging, our host Mom finally let us help in the food preparations for our last meal, making it feel more like a family endeavor. We eventually had to say goodbye and made our way back to the high school to catch the bus back to another place called home (it is hard to keep track now- is home in Buffalo, Nashville, my house in Rondebosch?) I definitely hope to travel back to Ocean View at some point before I leave. Daisy tried to give us some cooking pointers, so I’d love to come back and try my hand at making the family a meal.

Our wonderful last meal (yes Dad, this plate has cabbage, beets and lentils!)