Happy Freedom Day! No school because it is a national holiday, their version of 4th of July, minus the fireworks, hot dogs, and campfires. Actually, I’m not sure what they do today, just a lot of closed shops.
This last week has been relatively uneventful. We went volunteering on Monday and Tuesday. It had been a few weeks since we had last volunteered because of Cape Town and Spring Break so they were excited to see us as we were to see them. Within that time a new kid came to the Haven. His name is Sedriano and he has stolen everyone’s heart already. He is a little over a year old and is scared out of his mind. I don’t blame him. When I went to go get him, I could see he had been crying. He wouldn’t do anything all day and eventually fell asleep in Colleens arms. It was so sad. Tuesday was a little better. He walked around and we almost made him smile. That was a breakthrough. I’m not looking forward to leaving these kids. We only have four volunteering days left and I’m not sure they have fully grasped that concept. We tried to tell them on Tuesday that we were going to leave for good soon. The older ones, I think, got it, but I’m not sure about the little ones. These kids haven’t had this much one on one attention from the same adults for this length of time. I hope they handle it ok. I already know there are going to be some of us that are going to have a hard time dealing with that.
Wednesday was Election Day. Not a big surprise which party is going to win it. In South Africa, the voters vote for the party and that party president becomes the president of the country. In the US it is vote for the person not the party; here it’s completely the opposite. Jacob Zuma is the new president and I can honestly say I am scared and curious about the next couple of years for this country. Just a few weeks ago, Zuma was going on trial for corruption charges, he has some rape charges that I’m not sure what has happened to them, and he has made some stupid comments about AIDS (showering will get rid of the disease) in a country that is experiencing the epidemic worse than most other countries (one in five adults have it). Only time will tell what happens.
A crisis that is running through our group, the marine biology kids anyway, is the stupid grading system here. We had a lab write-up about our sandy shore lab. I have written scientific papers like this one before and I know I did really well on it. I got a 50%, which apparently, in this messed up grading, is passing. The highest score was 67 and the lowest was 14. Needless to say we all freaked out. We got no direction about what was needed or wanted in the paper. A grad student graded the papers, which is not a good idea because she had specific ideas about what the hypothesis was supposed to be and if you did not have that there was no way you could have done well on the paper. The professors here are suppose to be grading us using the CSB/SJU grading scale so as not to have any mix ups. Well, someone forgot the memo. I don’t understand who uses a grad student to correct papers for a study abroad group. Some of the lowest scores were done by those majoring in biology who have done a million of these papers before, try to figure that one out because I can’t (if you can’t tell I’m a little mad). We also have a few med-school track students who can’t afford a C on anything and that is were the best student is going. The rest of us are going to fail for sure. We’re trying to talk to our director to try and get this figured out and we better or I’m going to rip my hair out trying to figure out this next one.
This weekend, a four day weekend, has been very productive yet extremely boring. I’ve gotten most/all of my homework for the next week done and have been trying to find little things that need to be done. I walked along the beachfront and bought a few souvenirs and took some pictures. It was a gorgeous day. Since it is now fall, the number of hot sunny days is dwindling. I took the opportunity to go to the beach and jump into the ocean for possibly the last time (sad, I know). I have been watching movies on TV for the rest of the weekend. I think I have filled my film quota for the rest of the year this weekend. Not all of the movies were good I just had nothing else to do. I think I drove my roommates crazy. They have a political science paper due (4000 words, not fun) so they, along with everyone else that stayed in the flats over the weekend, have been working on it all weekend and I have done nothing but watch TV and wander around. Oh well, that’s what they get for taking that class.
Peace.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Frontier!
A couple of things I forgot to mention in my spring break (it’s actually called the autumn recess, people look at you weird if you say spring break). While in Lesotho we stayed at a house in a Sotho village. I was too tired to ever go out into the village to talk to the people, though they didn’t speak English. The first night we stayed in the house a few kids from the village came in and sold stuff and sang. It was so cute. There were also these two kids of the lady that cleaned the house that would come around every morning. The little girl was probably 2 and her brother 6. We would play peek-a-boo with her or she would copy us making faces or tapping the glass. She loved it and the best part was her brother would just light up every time he would see his sister having fun. On the way back to South Africa, we met up with another group that was just heading out. This group was 3 ladies from Holland. They were not dressed for horseback riding. They had on nice shirts and sweatpants, they were chain smoking, and they had toilet paper for when they had to go to the bathroom outside. We just sort of laughed at them.
On Monday (that is the 13th) the South African National cricket team was playing Australia in Port Elizabeth. I went, got burnt, and had a great time. The park was packed. We sat directly in front of the band and directly behind a couple of drunk frat guys who tried to sing and dance to the music but could never really get on the beat or the right tone. South Africa kicked Australia’s butt. The crowd would go nuts when SA got a 6 or 4 or when a player got a 50 or 100 (if you want me to explain what this all means let me know, it may take a while I just learned myself).
This weekend, the 17th-19th, we had our final excursion as a large group. We went out into the frontier (hence the name frontier excursion) and stayed with a couple of Afrikaner farmers. I thought it was going to be an interesting weekend full of awkward moments but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We left on Friday morning and drove for 3 hours into the middle of nowhere. We were on a tiny dirt road for about half of the drive and had to pass through a guarded gate to get there. I’m surprised the vans we took to get out there made it. Once we got there we had lunch and rode horses. You would think after riding horses for 3 days over spring break I’d be sick of them and you would be right. My horse didn’t listen to me, apparently I’m not aggressive enough to ride horses, and walked me through a thorn tree (I have the scratches to prove it). After that we went to go see a milking demonstration which is basically exactly the same as here only on a smaller scale. The cows did not seem all too happy to be stuck in a small building getting milked. Then we lounged around outside and waited for about 3 hours for dinner, which ended up being well worth the wait.
The next day we woke up by some loud roosters and ducks right outside our window at 5, got distracted by Project Runway and Danger Mouse on TV, had breakfast and hopped onto the back of a few bakkies and rode around the farm to check out some animals. We saw (besides the tame eland and kudu in the front yard) ostriches, mohair sheep, angora goats, and horses that looked as though they should be in a movie with their tails and manes blowing in the wind as they are running with their little babies running beside them and the steed galloping behind (deep breath), and we almost ran over a couple of baboons on the road. We rode through bunch of fields, saw some amazing views, had some fun times getting bruised butts in the back of the truck. Then we went to go swimming in a gorge. It was too cold for me so I decided to climb some rocks instead.
That night we hung out at the other farmer’s house (there were 2 farms we visited total). This house is amazing. Just from what I saw it had 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3 dining rooms, a huge TV room, a pool, a pool house, a guest house, a tennis court, and a tame eland, kudu, and a herd of fallow deer. The first thing we did was go to a sheep shearing demonstration. It was kind of hard to watch the ram being contorted into odd positions as the farm hands sheared it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop wearing wool. We then went to the farmer’s trophy room. He loves to hunt big game and the first thing I run into when I walk in is a giraffe head. A bit frightening I have to say. There were probably 50 mounts in that room including zebra, warthog, springbok, eland, wildebeest, some birds, and a lot of other stuff. I then just hung out, read, watched rugby and soccer, played ultimate Frisbee, watched people play tennis and had an amazing dinner. After dinner we had a night drive scheduled, to see all the animals that come out at night. It was cold, being up in the mountains will do that, but never had I seen so many stars. I was more interested in that than the animals we saw, which were few.
The next day (which was just yesterday) we got to breakfast late. We were supposed to be at the farm by 8 so we could be on the road back to PE by 3 (we joked that Gary had a tee time and couldn’t miss it – he’s obsessive about golf). That didn’t happen. We got there at about 8:40 and took our time eating breakfast and then hopped back into the bakkies for a drive to a very scenic overlook. It took about an hour off road to get there but it was worth it. On the top of the mountain/hill thing we could see all the land owned by one of the farmers, which was a lot. This weekend gave us a glimpse into the lives of some South Africans we have not met yet. It is a different view on rural South Africa. Unlike the tiny villages I have been used to seeing this is a farmer living a very comfortable life in a nice house in the middle of nowhere, the closest town (of probably only about a couple hundred people) an hour away on bad dirt roads. It was funny to see such comfort in the middle of nowhere. I’m so glad I went and I had an amazing time (the incredibly cute puppy, Charlie, helped too).
Peace.
On Monday (that is the 13th) the South African National cricket team was playing Australia in Port Elizabeth. I went, got burnt, and had a great time. The park was packed. We sat directly in front of the band and directly behind a couple of drunk frat guys who tried to sing and dance to the music but could never really get on the beat or the right tone. South Africa kicked Australia’s butt. The crowd would go nuts when SA got a 6 or 4 or when a player got a 50 or 100 (if you want me to explain what this all means let me know, it may take a while I just learned myself).
This weekend, the 17th-19th, we had our final excursion as a large group. We went out into the frontier (hence the name frontier excursion) and stayed with a couple of Afrikaner farmers. I thought it was going to be an interesting weekend full of awkward moments but it turned out to be a lot of fun. We left on Friday morning and drove for 3 hours into the middle of nowhere. We were on a tiny dirt road for about half of the drive and had to pass through a guarded gate to get there. I’m surprised the vans we took to get out there made it. Once we got there we had lunch and rode horses. You would think after riding horses for 3 days over spring break I’d be sick of them and you would be right. My horse didn’t listen to me, apparently I’m not aggressive enough to ride horses, and walked me through a thorn tree (I have the scratches to prove it). After that we went to go see a milking demonstration which is basically exactly the same as here only on a smaller scale. The cows did not seem all too happy to be stuck in a small building getting milked. Then we lounged around outside and waited for about 3 hours for dinner, which ended up being well worth the wait.
The next day we woke up by some loud roosters and ducks right outside our window at 5, got distracted by Project Runway and Danger Mouse on TV, had breakfast and hopped onto the back of a few bakkies and rode around the farm to check out some animals. We saw (besides the tame eland and kudu in the front yard) ostriches, mohair sheep, angora goats, and horses that looked as though they should be in a movie with their tails and manes blowing in the wind as they are running with their little babies running beside them and the steed galloping behind (deep breath), and we almost ran over a couple of baboons on the road. We rode through bunch of fields, saw some amazing views, had some fun times getting bruised butts in the back of the truck. Then we went to go swimming in a gorge. It was too cold for me so I decided to climb some rocks instead.
That night we hung out at the other farmer’s house (there were 2 farms we visited total). This house is amazing. Just from what I saw it had 6 bedrooms, 5 baths, 3 dining rooms, a huge TV room, a pool, a pool house, a guest house, a tennis court, and a tame eland, kudu, and a herd of fallow deer. The first thing we did was go to a sheep shearing demonstration. It was kind of hard to watch the ram being contorted into odd positions as the farm hands sheared it but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop wearing wool. We then went to the farmer’s trophy room. He loves to hunt big game and the first thing I run into when I walk in is a giraffe head. A bit frightening I have to say. There were probably 50 mounts in that room including zebra, warthog, springbok, eland, wildebeest, some birds, and a lot of other stuff. I then just hung out, read, watched rugby and soccer, played ultimate Frisbee, watched people play tennis and had an amazing dinner. After dinner we had a night drive scheduled, to see all the animals that come out at night. It was cold, being up in the mountains will do that, but never had I seen so many stars. I was more interested in that than the animals we saw, which were few.
The next day (which was just yesterday) we got to breakfast late. We were supposed to be at the farm by 8 so we could be on the road back to PE by 3 (we joked that Gary had a tee time and couldn’t miss it – he’s obsessive about golf). That didn’t happen. We got there at about 8:40 and took our time eating breakfast and then hopped back into the bakkies for a drive to a very scenic overlook. It took about an hour off road to get there but it was worth it. On the top of the mountain/hill thing we could see all the land owned by one of the farmers, which was a lot. This weekend gave us a glimpse into the lives of some South Africans we have not met yet. It is a different view on rural South Africa. Unlike the tiny villages I have been used to seeing this is a farmer living a very comfortable life in a nice house in the middle of nowhere, the closest town (of probably only about a couple hundred people) an hour away on bad dirt roads. It was funny to see such comfort in the middle of nowhere. I’m so glad I went and I had an amazing time (the incredibly cute puppy, Charlie, helped too).
Peace.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Lesotho!!!
I am on a role now so let’s just keep going. The next day after the ironman competition we had to catch a plane to Durban and then catch a taxi to Underberg (3 hours away). That was probably one of the most terrifying taxi rides in my life. It started out fine and then when we got into the mountains the rain came and the sky got dark and all of a sudden there would be no visibility because of the rain and then the roads would be curving around the mountain with sheer drops on one side. Not exactly fun. Eventually we made it to Khotso Backpackers, there was a power outage so it was all lit by candle light. The people working there were great. Crazy Steve, the guy that owns it, definitely deserved his name. He runs up mountains and once one a bike race…running. I will just say this now to get it out of the way. I have never eaten so much than I did at the backpackers and in Lesotho.
The next morning (Tuesday) we met a couple Canadians that go riding all over the world on their motorcycles. They have been everywhere except Russia (which is next up. Visit www.2canadiansonbikes.com). We left, rode 50km to the border, mounted the horses and crossed the border (literally a gate and two posts). My horses name was Shadow (at first I thought the guide said Cheddar and the Chadow and finally I figured it must be Shadow). The mountains aren’t like many I’ve seen before, there aren’t many trees. Think of the Great Plains in mountain form. Every now and then we would go over a hill and before us would be huge fields that stretched for miles. That is what I pictured Africa to be. During the whole trip I saw Pride Rock about 5 different times and a lot of other Lion King references. The next couple of days included trips to San cave paintings and waterfalls and even more amazing panoramic views. You will have to check out my pictures once I find my cord that connects to the computer and I upload them.
I hadn’t been on a horse in a while and was really freaked out when my horse started trotting. That was nothing compared to when it would start to canter (between a trot and gallop). I lost both of my stirrups so I was freaking out (to say the least). Nothing happened and I was able to stop the horse, thought it didn’t really want to. Next time it cantered I was ready for it and actually enjoyed it, though I’m pretty sure I looked ridiculous.
Needless to say I was sore the next couple of days. My butt really didn’t hurt, it was my ankles and legs. They got bruised from the stirrups. I also wore the same clothes for three days straight on a horse in the dirt and mud. Never have I felt dirtier in my life. Oh well. We made it back to the backpackers on Thursday and hung out there all day Friday. I did nothing that day but watch 3 movies and a job application (great spring break huh?).
We left for Durban on Saturday morning. Not much to say about Durban. Went to church on Easter for the first time since Christmas (South Africa has no Lutheran churches – the Germans never really settled here). I think that is all that happened during Spring break. Sorry for the shortness of the blog, I'm tired. It is really better just to see the pictures than have me describe it but if you want me to go into more detail about anything else just let me know.
Peace.
The next morning (Tuesday) we met a couple Canadians that go riding all over the world on their motorcycles. They have been everywhere except Russia (which is next up. Visit www.2canadiansonbikes.com). We left, rode 50km to the border, mounted the horses and crossed the border (literally a gate and two posts). My horses name was Shadow (at first I thought the guide said Cheddar and the Chadow and finally I figured it must be Shadow). The mountains aren’t like many I’ve seen before, there aren’t many trees. Think of the Great Plains in mountain form. Every now and then we would go over a hill and before us would be huge fields that stretched for miles. That is what I pictured Africa to be. During the whole trip I saw Pride Rock about 5 different times and a lot of other Lion King references. The next couple of days included trips to San cave paintings and waterfalls and even more amazing panoramic views. You will have to check out my pictures once I find my cord that connects to the computer and I upload them.
I hadn’t been on a horse in a while and was really freaked out when my horse started trotting. That was nothing compared to when it would start to canter (between a trot and gallop). I lost both of my stirrups so I was freaking out (to say the least). Nothing happened and I was able to stop the horse, thought it didn’t really want to. Next time it cantered I was ready for it and actually enjoyed it, though I’m pretty sure I looked ridiculous.
Needless to say I was sore the next couple of days. My butt really didn’t hurt, it was my ankles and legs. They got bruised from the stirrups. I also wore the same clothes for three days straight on a horse in the dirt and mud. Never have I felt dirtier in my life. Oh well. We made it back to the backpackers on Thursday and hung out there all day Friday. I did nothing that day but watch 3 movies and a job application (great spring break huh?).
We left for Durban on Saturday morning. Not much to say about Durban. Went to church on Easter for the first time since Christmas (South Africa has no Lutheran churches – the Germans never really settled here). I think that is all that happened during Spring break. Sorry for the shortness of the blog, I'm tired. It is really better just to see the pictures than have me describe it but if you want me to go into more detail about anything else just let me know.
Peace.
Cape Town
Cape Town!! We are now up to the beginning of April. As a group, we spent 5 days in Cape Town. I wish it were more. Cape Town is beautiful. It’s like an old European city. It is also an extremely white city. I can easily see why it is the most visited town in South Africa. To get to Cape Town we had a 10 hour bus ride that was boring and unproductive. As always, I meant to do homework but didn’t really get anything done but sleep. Sometimes I forgot I was in South Africa, the scenery was nothing but farms most of the way.
The morning after we go there (that would be April 1st I think) we went to the District Six museum. A little background on District Six. Before apartheid it was the most culturally diverse area in Cape Town, home to blacks, whites, coloreds, and Indians. They all lived peacefully together and nowhere else in the city did these cultures mix so harmoniously together. However, under apartheid this was unacceptable. District Six was located in a prime spot and the government forced everyone out. The non-whites were forced into townships several kilometres outside of the city centre where most of them worked. In District Six they had comfortable, solid housing. In the townships they were stuck in barrack like houses that leaked and creaked. For some the move was unbearable and we heard stories of elderly people dying from the stress and people committing suicide. Whites were also forced out but they got acceptable housing that compared to what they had in District Six. Basically, all of District Six was demolished. The government wanted to start from scratch. The site was rather large and still rather new. The architecture was amazing (that itself could have been a tourist attraction had the buildings survived). Much of the area is still bare today. We went to part of District Six where sidewalks lead to nowhere and bricks and cement litter the ground where houses, churches, and business once stood.
Directly after that we hiked up Table Mountain, at least those of us who wanted. Our director, Gary, really wasn’t thrilled by us hiking up. He described the hike as a four hour arduous hike, and we needed closed toed shoes, food, water, clothes for the top, and we got no time for a nap even though we needed it, and we would be hiking in the hottest part of the day. Well, it turned out to be not as bad as I was expecting. It was a 2 hour trek (this included a lot of water breaks), it was very sunny and hot but that wasn’t the worst part. The steepness of the trail nearly killed me. I thought I was in shape but this hike got the best of me. From the bottom I could not see how a trail could make it up the mountain. It did, and I made it up, somehow. The scene of Cape Town from the hike was amazing and even better from the top (which made the burning, cramping leg muscles worth it). Table Mountain seems to rise up from nowhere and Cape Town lies within the little flat land between the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain. Look up pictures and you get what I mean. It is absolutely breathtaking. I could have spent all day at the top of that mountain. That was definitely one of my favourite places I have been to so far.
That night was absolutely horrible. We went to a café that serves all African traditional food. I was ready to eat some great food but my legs weren’t. The entire night my legs were cramping up so bad I couldn’t sit down for more than 10 minutes without being in tremendous pain. I wish I could have enjoyed it more.
The next day was also a hiking day. I thought I was going to die. To my surprise I was not sore from climbing Table Mountain, just really tired. We went to Simon’s Town to Boulder Beach where the penguins live. They were so cute. Kind of sad, though, that there is a huge boardwalk over their nesting and playing grounds. After that we went to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western most point in Africa. Talk about wind. I thought I was going to blow away. I had to walk to stand still. And the wind was cold because it was coming off the Atlantic Ocean, which is colder than the Indian Ocean. We were also warned about baboons stealing food here but we didn’t see any, at least I didn’t. Cape Point was next and the wind was just as bad there. We stayed there for a couple of hours and did some hiking. I hiked up to the lighthouse which was at the highest point on the Cape. And I thought the wind was bad by the Ocean. It was nothing compared to the lighthouse. The lighthouse and a wall acted as a wind tunnel and made for some entertaining times. I couldn’t hear anyone talking, I could barely keep my eyes open and any loose clothing would be gone in that wind. Cape Point is sort of a hook so at that vantage point if I looked to my left I could see the hazy blue mountains of the upper mainland and to my right would be Cape of Good Hope. I hiked some more after that, saw some eland, just enjoyed my time there.
The next day (this would be the 3rd) we went to parliament and saw where important government stuff happens. I’m not a huge fan of that so don’t ask questions, I wasn’t paying attention. The exciting part of that day was in the afternoon when we went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 of his 27 years in prison. We had to read A Long Walk to Freedom and we knew about his life there. I was really excited but found the experience was semi-anti-climactic. Don’t get me wrong, it was extremely interesting and educational. I was just imagining something a little grander. Though it was a prison so I guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. The island is much larger than I thought and there are huge guns on the island and our tour guide was hilarious and he did quite well for having to give a tour to a bunch of Americans. On the tour bus we met a family that was in Cape Town for a wedding and they were from Chicago. Nice people.
That night was the first night of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. It was great. I experienced every type of jazz music that night. I listened to your traditional jazz, then vocal jazz (The New York Voices), then I saw a techno-dance-jazz combo that was Goldfish. They have become quite a sensation in Langerry Flats recently, everyone has their music and have been playing it nonstop.
The next day wasn’t too exciting. I went to the South African Slave Museum and an art gallery. The museum was interesting but it got kind of long and the art gallery was just weird. I liked parts of it but a lot of it I just didn’t understand or thought was that great. I won’t even try to explain some of the pieces on display, they were just too weird.
That night was the second night of the jazz festival. My favourite band that night was 340ml. They were a rock band sort of jazz combo (it is really hard to describe some of this music, just look them up). I also saw the Kyle Eastwood Band, Maceo Parker, Rus Nerwich (I did not like him) and Mos Def. Hugh Masekela was the headliner and it was his 70th birthday so it was a huge deal. South Africa loves their Hugh.
That is the end of the Cape Town experience. When we got back to Port Elizabeth the Ironman competition was just finishing up so we cheered on the people that were still running. They either loved it or found us annoying. We started to talking to a guy from Pretoria who had just finished the race. We tried asking him how you prepare mentally for a 2 mile swim, 50 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. He said you can’t you just do it. OK. People who do that are crazy.
Next up Lesotho!!
Peace.
The morning after we go there (that would be April 1st I think) we went to the District Six museum. A little background on District Six. Before apartheid it was the most culturally diverse area in Cape Town, home to blacks, whites, coloreds, and Indians. They all lived peacefully together and nowhere else in the city did these cultures mix so harmoniously together. However, under apartheid this was unacceptable. District Six was located in a prime spot and the government forced everyone out. The non-whites were forced into townships several kilometres outside of the city centre where most of them worked. In District Six they had comfortable, solid housing. In the townships they were stuck in barrack like houses that leaked and creaked. For some the move was unbearable and we heard stories of elderly people dying from the stress and people committing suicide. Whites were also forced out but they got acceptable housing that compared to what they had in District Six. Basically, all of District Six was demolished. The government wanted to start from scratch. The site was rather large and still rather new. The architecture was amazing (that itself could have been a tourist attraction had the buildings survived). Much of the area is still bare today. We went to part of District Six where sidewalks lead to nowhere and bricks and cement litter the ground where houses, churches, and business once stood.
Directly after that we hiked up Table Mountain, at least those of us who wanted. Our director, Gary, really wasn’t thrilled by us hiking up. He described the hike as a four hour arduous hike, and we needed closed toed shoes, food, water, clothes for the top, and we got no time for a nap even though we needed it, and we would be hiking in the hottest part of the day. Well, it turned out to be not as bad as I was expecting. It was a 2 hour trek (this included a lot of water breaks), it was very sunny and hot but that wasn’t the worst part. The steepness of the trail nearly killed me. I thought I was in shape but this hike got the best of me. From the bottom I could not see how a trail could make it up the mountain. It did, and I made it up, somehow. The scene of Cape Town from the hike was amazing and even better from the top (which made the burning, cramping leg muscles worth it). Table Mountain seems to rise up from nowhere and Cape Town lies within the little flat land between the Atlantic Ocean and Table Mountain. Look up pictures and you get what I mean. It is absolutely breathtaking. I could have spent all day at the top of that mountain. That was definitely one of my favourite places I have been to so far.
That night was absolutely horrible. We went to a café that serves all African traditional food. I was ready to eat some great food but my legs weren’t. The entire night my legs were cramping up so bad I couldn’t sit down for more than 10 minutes without being in tremendous pain. I wish I could have enjoyed it more.
The next day was also a hiking day. I thought I was going to die. To my surprise I was not sore from climbing Table Mountain, just really tired. We went to Simon’s Town to Boulder Beach where the penguins live. They were so cute. Kind of sad, though, that there is a huge boardwalk over their nesting and playing grounds. After that we went to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western most point in Africa. Talk about wind. I thought I was going to blow away. I had to walk to stand still. And the wind was cold because it was coming off the Atlantic Ocean, which is colder than the Indian Ocean. We were also warned about baboons stealing food here but we didn’t see any, at least I didn’t. Cape Point was next and the wind was just as bad there. We stayed there for a couple of hours and did some hiking. I hiked up to the lighthouse which was at the highest point on the Cape. And I thought the wind was bad by the Ocean. It was nothing compared to the lighthouse. The lighthouse and a wall acted as a wind tunnel and made for some entertaining times. I couldn’t hear anyone talking, I could barely keep my eyes open and any loose clothing would be gone in that wind. Cape Point is sort of a hook so at that vantage point if I looked to my left I could see the hazy blue mountains of the upper mainland and to my right would be Cape of Good Hope. I hiked some more after that, saw some eland, just enjoyed my time there.
The next day (this would be the 3rd) we went to parliament and saw where important government stuff happens. I’m not a huge fan of that so don’t ask questions, I wasn’t paying attention. The exciting part of that day was in the afternoon when we went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 of his 27 years in prison. We had to read A Long Walk to Freedom and we knew about his life there. I was really excited but found the experience was semi-anti-climactic. Don’t get me wrong, it was extremely interesting and educational. I was just imagining something a little grander. Though it was a prison so I guess I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. The island is much larger than I thought and there are huge guns on the island and our tour guide was hilarious and he did quite well for having to give a tour to a bunch of Americans. On the tour bus we met a family that was in Cape Town for a wedding and they were from Chicago. Nice people.
That night was the first night of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. It was great. I experienced every type of jazz music that night. I listened to your traditional jazz, then vocal jazz (The New York Voices), then I saw a techno-dance-jazz combo that was Goldfish. They have become quite a sensation in Langerry Flats recently, everyone has their music and have been playing it nonstop.
The next day wasn’t too exciting. I went to the South African Slave Museum and an art gallery. The museum was interesting but it got kind of long and the art gallery was just weird. I liked parts of it but a lot of it I just didn’t understand or thought was that great. I won’t even try to explain some of the pieces on display, they were just too weird.
That night was the second night of the jazz festival. My favourite band that night was 340ml. They were a rock band sort of jazz combo (it is really hard to describe some of this music, just look them up). I also saw the Kyle Eastwood Band, Maceo Parker, Rus Nerwich (I did not like him) and Mos Def. Hugh Masekela was the headliner and it was his 70th birthday so it was a huge deal. South Africa loves their Hugh.
That is the end of the Cape Town experience. When we got back to Port Elizabeth the Ironman competition was just finishing up so we cheered on the people that were still running. They either loved it or found us annoying. We started to talking to a guy from Pretoria who had just finished the race. We tried asking him how you prepare mentally for a 2 mile swim, 50 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. He said you can’t you just do it. OK. People who do that are crazy.
Next up Lesotho!!
Peace.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Update #1 (more coming very soon)
You lucky readers of my blog are going to get massive updates in the next couple of days. I’ve been super busy the last few weeks so updating has been lower on my list of priorities. I am alive, though, for those of you wondering so don’t worry anymore. Anyway, I have to remember back to what I have been doing the last few weeks.
March 21 was Human Rights Day and also ended up being a very political day, considering the elections are only a couple weeks away that make sense. We were supposed to go to an ANC rally in Uitinhage, a township a ways outside of PE. Once we got there we couldn’t find the stadium we were supposed to go to. As we were riding along, we somehow ended up in an ANC parade. It was kind of scary. People were very hyped up for that day and another situation added to the atmosphere of that day. The stadium that was supposed to hold the ANC rally was also said to be reserved by COPE, a rival party (they really don’t like each other. A few leading members of ANC didn’t like the direction the party was going and broke off, relatively recently, and formed COPE). The PE municipality, ANC run, said the ANC had rights to the stadium while COPE said the officially reserved it. The situation went all the way to the supreme courts and at 2am that morning it was decided COPE had the rights to the stadium and the ANC had to set up in a field across from it. So the rally wasn’t what it was suppose to be but it was still fun. We met a lot of people (we were the only white people there, besides the media, so people wanted to get to know us). Some in our group got in the middle of a big group of dancers. Some girls got marriage proposals. It was enjoyable but hot and after an hour or two most of us were ready to go.
Random stuff:
· I got scuba certified recently. It was really fun but I have no idea what I’m going to do with it once I get back to Minnesota. There are some funny stories associated with this so ask if you want me to tell.
· My flight home was completely changed and I had a mini meltdown before I got it fixed. I’m still coming home
I should probably tell you guys what has been going on at the AIDS Haven. There have been quite a few new kids arriving, four in all I think, in a matter of a couple weeks. One of the girls, Siki, is just a ball of energy. I don’t know if she speaks English well but she is always smiling and laughing when we are around. One day, when it was really hot, we decided to bring out the kiddie pool. That was hilarious. First of all, when the kids saw the pool they freaked out. Second, the kids started stripping down to their underwear, or nothing at all. Then, they didn’t even wait until the pool was completely filled before they jumped in. It was absolutely crazy. I’m not sure if the nurses liked it very much but we loved it. A couple weeks ago, the last time we volunteered before spring break, we took the kids out to a tea garden that had a giant playground for the kids. Things were in the shape of ambulances, pirate ships, dump trucks, castles, everything. At first the kids were really overwhelmed but eventually they got used to all stuff and had a great time. Other kids from a school came and played as well. It was nice to see the Haven kids can interact with other kids their own age that are complete strangers.
As for classes, nothing too exciting to report. I’m doing well in all of them, I hope. I am still glad I am not in the political science class (they just had a 4000 word essay due and have another one due in a couple weeks…I expect some major meltdowns). Marine biology is still as wonderful as ever even though the new prof scares me. She’s big. At least 6’3”. All my other classes are boring you really don’t want to know anything about them. If you do let me know
Well that was my quick update up to Cape Town so come back tomorrow and I’ll have it done…hopefully.
Peace.
March 21 was Human Rights Day and also ended up being a very political day, considering the elections are only a couple weeks away that make sense. We were supposed to go to an ANC rally in Uitinhage, a township a ways outside of PE. Once we got there we couldn’t find the stadium we were supposed to go to. As we were riding along, we somehow ended up in an ANC parade. It was kind of scary. People were very hyped up for that day and another situation added to the atmosphere of that day. The stadium that was supposed to hold the ANC rally was also said to be reserved by COPE, a rival party (they really don’t like each other. A few leading members of ANC didn’t like the direction the party was going and broke off, relatively recently, and formed COPE). The PE municipality, ANC run, said the ANC had rights to the stadium while COPE said the officially reserved it. The situation went all the way to the supreme courts and at 2am that morning it was decided COPE had the rights to the stadium and the ANC had to set up in a field across from it. So the rally wasn’t what it was suppose to be but it was still fun. We met a lot of people (we were the only white people there, besides the media, so people wanted to get to know us). Some in our group got in the middle of a big group of dancers. Some girls got marriage proposals. It was enjoyable but hot and after an hour or two most of us were ready to go.
Random stuff:
· I got scuba certified recently. It was really fun but I have no idea what I’m going to do with it once I get back to Minnesota. There are some funny stories associated with this so ask if you want me to tell.
· My flight home was completely changed and I had a mini meltdown before I got it fixed. I’m still coming home
I should probably tell you guys what has been going on at the AIDS Haven. There have been quite a few new kids arriving, four in all I think, in a matter of a couple weeks. One of the girls, Siki, is just a ball of energy. I don’t know if she speaks English well but she is always smiling and laughing when we are around. One day, when it was really hot, we decided to bring out the kiddie pool. That was hilarious. First of all, when the kids saw the pool they freaked out. Second, the kids started stripping down to their underwear, or nothing at all. Then, they didn’t even wait until the pool was completely filled before they jumped in. It was absolutely crazy. I’m not sure if the nurses liked it very much but we loved it. A couple weeks ago, the last time we volunteered before spring break, we took the kids out to a tea garden that had a giant playground for the kids. Things were in the shape of ambulances, pirate ships, dump trucks, castles, everything. At first the kids were really overwhelmed but eventually they got used to all stuff and had a great time. Other kids from a school came and played as well. It was nice to see the Haven kids can interact with other kids their own age that are complete strangers.
As for classes, nothing too exciting to report. I’m doing well in all of them, I hope. I am still glad I am not in the political science class (they just had a 4000 word essay due and have another one due in a couple weeks…I expect some major meltdowns). Marine biology is still as wonderful as ever even though the new prof scares me. She’s big. At least 6’3”. All my other classes are boring you really don’t want to know anything about them. If you do let me know
Well that was my quick update up to Cape Town so come back tomorrow and I’ll have it done…hopefully.
Peace.
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