Sorry it's really long..

Here's a re-cap of the week, sorry it's long I'm going to start posting more often, maybe?

Friday: I did a township tour with one of my classes (it’s a living and learning seminar I’m taking with other American students). We went to Langa, which is only a 5 minute drive from UCT and our tour guides were two guys (mid-twenties) who grew up in the township and still live there. We went to a community center there, which is a place where people can use computers, sell local arts/crafts, and kids can hangout after school and participate in theatre, dance, music and sports programs. There’s also a program that works with kids out of high school who aren’t attending university but want to learn certain trades in a workshop or with ceramics…etc. There was a group of kids there who performed for us by playing African instruments and singing (it was pretty cool!) After that, we walked to this place called “Love Life”, its an NGO set up to educate youth about HIV/AIDS and offers support for family planning…as well as acts as a place for youth to hang out (there’s pool tables, video games, a play ground and really small soccer field). Next we walked through the township (it’s pretty small) and our guides showed us the different districts, there was “Beverly hills” which were small houses with actual fences and satellite dishes! Then there was an area where migrant workers worked, and finally we saw the shantytown, which are the typical, incredibly poor shack areas. At the shantytown we wandered around a few people’s shops (selling jewelry, crafts, pictures…clothing) and then went to a “healer’s hut” which is basically where a woman makes beer. The beer was just 2% alcohol and we all tried it…we actually passed around a pail and took a sip or two…it tasted really different, it was warm and sweet. Our tour guide explained people can’t get drunk off the beer but its more of a social event, and when people travel into town or get together at night, they’ll make a fire and then sit around and tell stories and pass the bucket around, kind of like a bonfire? While we were walking through the township random kids joined our group and walked with us, and we played games with them and held their hands, it was really cute, I guess kids get out of school early on Friday’s so they had nothing to do and it was uncommon for a huge group of Americans to be walking through the area so they wanted to follow. Some of the kids knew English so they tried to talk to us and guess our age and asked us to take their pictures or dance with them, it was really fun.

There were some things about Langa that were really frustrating, like the fact that the township depends/or at least makes a significant income on tourism. In America, there aren’t tours of poor neighborhoods? Instead those areas are kind of taboo, left alone and kept out-of-bounds? It was also strange to see the different levels of wealth even within the township. It was pretty old, it was established in the 1920’s (where as kaylesha was est in 1980’s!) so there really was a strong sense of community and belonging, and although there was a shantytown, there were also permanent buildings and roads, which can be uncommon. It was also strange how close this area was to UCT, Langa was literally a few miles from center city, yet many people will never even drive through it let alone walk through and interact with people…
After the tour we went to Mzoli’s, (the same restaurant we ate at last weekend with the Zim guys) and this time my teacher had organized a meal for us vegetarians! Yay so I had some pop (similar to mashed potatoes) squash, and then small sish-ka-bobs with veggie burger “meat” and peppers, it was pretty good…and the perfect ending to the day. I love Mzoli’s I think its one of my favorite places in Cape Town.
Saturday my friends and I went to old biscuit mill, which is a huge market with clothing, shoes, jewelry, furniture and a huge organic foods market that has a great variety of stuff to eat ☺ One of our friends from the rez I live in took us to the market and since he’s a local, we were able to take a taxi van instead of a cab! Taxis are a lot cheaper but tough to take as a tourist, but they’re fun if you know you’re safe… That night I saw this movie at a tiny theatre that was about America’s role in ending apartheid it was called “Have You Heard the News in Johannesburg” and it was really good, I didn’t know much about US involvement besides imposing sanctions, but college students had a lot to do with pushing for a policy against apartheid so it was interesting and yes-i-hate-to-say-it inspirational! But really, this was only a little over a decade ago and it was really cool to see how college students united to push for a policy towards an injustice halfway across the world, and yes, students do this today too but no to the same extent? Also, the former US ambassador to SA was there and we met him after, and when he learned that 3 of us were from AU, he introduced us to his wife who was an alum! So we talked to them for a little and they told us some stuff we should definitely do while we’re still in South Africa.

Sunday, we went to a concert at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. The concert was an all-day thing, so a few of us all cooked a picnic to take with and then we basically camped out in the gardens with a ton of other students and hung out all afternoon, it was the perfect ending to a busy weekend.
I also started classes last week and so far I really like them. I’m taking “The Liberation of Southern Africa”, and although my professor isn’t my favorite, the topics really interest me and we also have a lot of guest speakers for the class so it will definitely pick up. I’m also taking “Religion, Conflict and Violence”, and I really like it so far. My last class is “Race, Culture, and Identity in South Africa” and although it only meets once a week, it lasts two hours so we’ve had some great discussions already and it’s only just started. I’m pretty sure that class will end up being my favorite. I’m also taking a class through CIEE, it’s a “Living and Learning” seminar, and acts as a class to talk to other students about study abroad and dissect what we’re learning or observing this semester. I really like this class too because it’s providing an outlet for confusing and frustrating, but also creates a stage for all of this stuff to be analyzed and then changed into a positive learning experience. It’s hard to explain but I’m grateful I’m taking it.
I also started both my volunteering projects but haven’t actually done anything yet so I’ll comment on those in my next post. This weekend we’re going to see the Stormer’s rugby team play against a team from Australia…and I’m really excited, apparently there are some Springbok players on the Stormer’s team, and it should be a really fun event. I’ve also never seen a real rugby game so it should be quite entertaining.

Oh and how could I forget I GOT WORLD CUP TICKETS!!! Or I at least applied for them in a lottery system and was assured that I would, in fact, receive tickets so my friends and I are anxiously waiting to hear if we really got them! And if I do have a ticket it means I have to figure out a new way to get home in mid-June which is proving really difficult, but also completely worth it!

Until next time…Cheers!

Oh and I forgot to write this in my first post but there’s some things that are tough to write about on a blog or at least fully describe so to whoever reads this, if you ever have questions about stuff I’ve done, or some random comment I’ve made, feel free to email me and I’d love to talk about it in better detail or at least hear what you have to say…thanks!