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.