After a 20 hour travel debacle, including broken TVs on my 15-hour flight from JFK to Johannesburg, some lost luggage, and my first real interaction with a South African (a porter, who after seeing I was somewhat lost in the Johannesburg airport, offered to bring me to the gate where I needed to re-check in… and then demanded $10 as a tip), I had made it to Cape Town. Leaving the airport, I commented to one of the many new people I had met that I had a goal of climbing Table Mountain at some point during my stay here. Within 20 minutes, we were offered the chance to climb Table Mountain. Two hours after my flight had landed, I was at the base of a trail, ready to embark on the supposedly “45 minute easy climb”. Two full hours of sun beating down on me later, 600 meters higher, I had finally made it (albeit the most sweaty I’d ever been, and anyone who knows me knows that that’s a real feet) to the top of Cape Town’s most notable landmark. Seeing the views of the city as we climbed made me realize what an incredible reality this was; I was finally in Africa. I wish I could post pictures here, but unfortunately a) I didn’t have my camera and b) since none of us have access to internet, none of my friends could post pictures yet, but they are sure to come as soon as I can get them.
When we finally made it back to campus, we had approximately 15 minutes for dinner, before the dining hall closed. Then it was on to my first real experience with a communal bathroom (which is different in South Africa than a “toilet,” so I’ll have to be working at remember not to ask someone where the bathroom is to save myself the awkward encounter when explaining I don’t actually want to take a bath). After attempting a nap, I decided to go out, and just like that I felt like a freshman again, meeting up with people I hardly knew in the courtyard and having our first night out together. That night I went to my first South African dive bar, and 3 200 mL Castel bottles later, I was feeling a solid buzz. However, unlike being in DC, it only cost the equivalent of $6. SIX DOLLARS. This. Is. Africa. Just like that I had a host of new friends, and a solid first night under my belt.
The next day was spent doing orientation things, but for the first time we went to Upper Campus at UCT. If you’ve never seen it – google it. I am now attending university at the base of Table Mountain. It was pretty cool to be there, getting to know some new people. We also were given our housing that day, which was great because we were able to get to know our housemates before we actually moved in, and it definitely made the transition all the more easy. Phones were also given out, and I am going to be spending the semester for the first time ever on a pay-as-you-go phone, which will hopefully be an easy adjustment. I so far am enjoying not having my blackberry and not being constantly reachable, because it’s forcing me to spend more time interacting personally with people rather than just through a phone. If I can say one thing about the last couple of days in Africa, it would be that I’ve been able to really take a look back at American culture and the life that I was living, but I think I’ll save that discussion for another blog post since I literally have spoken to EVERY single person here about how lucky we are to be in a position to think this critically about our lives. Wednesday night, after dinner, we decided to go out to another fun bar, this time being brought by a UCT student. That bar is now the bar that my house is around the corner from, and since it was so fun that night I can’t wait to get back there! It’s also very convenient to be located right around the corner from the bar because it’s moderately unsafe to be walking around at night unless you’re in a very large group, so this will make everything much more safe by limiting my travel distance.
Thursday was another day up at Fuller Hall on UCT Upper Campus, where in the morning we heard from some great speakers about volunteerism. I hadn’t thought too much about volunteering while in South Africa before I came, but after hearing these speakers I know that volunteering will be one of my best memories of Cape Town. I’m hopefully planning on volunteering with an organization that works with children in townships, and I have to consider myself incredibly blessed to be able to go and make a difference in a small child’s life. After that, we had a scavenger hunt around UCT to force us to get to know that campus. If I learned one thing from that scavenger hunt, it’s that I am now going to school on a mountain. Everything, it seems, is uphill from where you are on campus. Perhaps that’s why all South Africans seem so fit? The UCT campus, however, should be on a list somewhere as the most beautiful campus in the world. I’ve never seen such beautiful buildings, and can’t believe that I’m going to be going to school in a place where I can actually look out onto the entire city of Cape Town, and see the ocean in the distance. Thursday night I actually ended up just getting local frozen yogurt (the fruits here, and thus the frozen yogurt, are literally the FRESHEST fruits I’ve ever had) and going to bed early, because I got a bad sunburn that afternoon. One bad thing about Cape Town is that it is ALWAYS sunny, and while I do love that, there is hardly ever a cloud in the sky, and a fair-skinned kid like me is having some serious trouble dealing with it.
Friday was perhaps one of the best days here thus far. We were brought around, after first hearing a lecture on international poverty and development, to see some of the volunteer sites. First, we went to a maths and science school in Langa township. From there, we went to a TB hospital, where many people were excited to volunteer with what appeared to be the cutest children ever. As much as I would love to do that, I was really having trouble dealing with the emotional weight of knowing that these kids were almost all HIV+ and dealing with an incredibly difficult disease. I think that was where I really started to get to understand just how large the emotional growth I think I’ll have on this trip is. I already feel significantly less sheltered, and feel incredibly more blessed just to have the simple amenities that I’ve always had. After that, we went to a place called The Ark Christian School, which was in a township far outside Cape Town. The drive out there was on a major highway, and lining the highway were miles and miles of townships. I don’t think I could ever accurately describe what it’s like to be on a coach bus of privileged Americans, and driving past the most discomforting poverty that you can find. What made it even more hard was that right after we got home, I started to get dressed for our group dinner at Moyo, in Spier, one of the vineyard/restaurants outside Cape Town. The dinner was absolutely incredible. We were eating on a sand patio, outdoors, with live music playing, drinking some of the best wines I have ever tasted. In addition to that, I continued my forays into trying new foods, and ate springbok and antelope for the first time! Both were incredibly delicious. After coming back from dinner, we ended up taking the bus that brought us to dinner down to Long Street, the main bar/club district in downtown Cape Town. To say that the night was “fun” would not do it justice; the Cape Town party scene has got to be among the best in the world. It was really awesome also to get out and integrate with real South Africans. I also had my first experience in a speeding cab with a “crazy” South African cabbie, which was frightening to say the least!
Saturday was moving day! After packing up all my belongings, I moved to my current “digs” (as they call them here) is the Devonshire House, on Devonshire Hill road. I live now across the street from the shops on Main Road in downtown Rondebosch (try google earth-ing my house; hopefully you can see it!) To say that this house is beautiful would be an understatement. I will post pictures later, but to imagine living in a room that I can literally roll around in without hitting anything is beyond my imagination. I have my own room in a separate part of the house (called “the cottage,” where three of us live), and then there are 9 others living in the main house. We have a porch, a beautiful front lawn with incredible gardens, an outdoor patio with a very “African” awning, a huge lawn in between the house and the cottage, and a ton of other amenities. My housemates and I that night planned a braai (Afrikaans for barbeque), where were eat some meat that I don’t know how to spell or pronounce, but was still delicious nonetheless. We just spent the night chillaxin (as my RA would say) and getting to know each other, and I can already tell that this is going to be a great house of people.
This morning we were up bright and early, because at 8AM we departed for a tour of the Cape Peninsula. First we drove through downtown Cape Town, and I saw places like City Hall and the Grade Parade (where Mandela gave his first speech as a free man), the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, an unfinished bridge, and all the other marvels of Cape Town. From there, we went along the beach into some of the most beautiful pieces of property and beach you can ever think of, stopping at Maiden Cove to take some photos. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I’ll have to be taking photos from other people, but that doesn’t even matter because I can’t get the beauty of these sites out of my head. After that, we headed down to Simon’s Town, to see the penguins. I saw the only colony of African penguins FIRSTHAND! It was so cool to see them all just hanging out on the beach! From there, we went to Ocean View township, further down the peninsula, which is actually going to be the location of my weekend homestay later on in the semester. We were treated to a beautiful lunch of chicken and fruit and other local fare, and saw an incredible performance from the members of a dance studio in the township, including what many believed was a transvestite? along with the best young singers I’d ever heard, and some of the coolest dancers ever. While it felt slightly intrusive to be sitting there, in the middle of one of the poorest places in the world, being fed and treated to a show, I think was really great for these kids to get to perform for us; you could just see in the smiles on their faces that they were glad to have someone to watch them. After that we went down to Cape of Good Hope, the second furthest south point in all of Africa, and the “horn” around which European traders used to have to sail. Beauty doesn’t suffice to describe the views; it was literally the most incredible sights I had ever seen. We hiked up to the viewspot on Cape Point, and then from there down to the Cape of Good Hope, past some of the clearest water along the most beautiful white sand beaches. There were also a ton of baboons that I could see, along with a really cool lizard, ostriches, elkand, and even a whale in the water!
And that brings me to where I am now. I am a different person than when I started this trip 6 days ago, and to think that in six days I’ve accomplished so much, met so many great people, and seen so many incredible things is mindblowing. Hopefully the rest of the semester will be more of the same!
