February 25, 2010

AdventuresInAbseiling

Molweni!

It's about time I post the photos from my daylong absailing (rappelling) adventure a couple weeks ago...

This has been one of my favorite days here...so much so, that I'd love to it again. The company picked us up from Kimberley House around 6:30 am, and we drove a little over an hour out into the country, near Paarl. There, we had breakfast and packed up our gear for the day. Then, we hopped in the back of a couple of pick-up trucks and headed up the mountain, which we would spend the day descending via ropes and harnesses (absailing) and what we coined "water hiking." It was the one of the most physically exhausting days, but it was a blast and completely worth the lack of sleep the night before, the sunburn, and the numerous "wilderpees." (figure that one out on your own...)

After the 2nd wall we descended (the one where you'll see I'm IN a waterfall), we did a bit of cliff jumping, as well. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of me doing this, but I didn't venture to the higher cliffs, so it wasn't quite as much of an adrenaline rush as it was for the daredevils who jumped from 11m. (I think the highest I jumped from was 5m.)

Anyway, let me know if you have any burning questions. This is all for now, but I could drone on about this day for awhile...


~On our first absail


~Near the top of our 2nd absail: the waterfall into the [ridiculously cold] pool below


~Going down the waterfall of our 2nd absail


~A view from above...me struggling down the waterfall


~The group going through a "safety rope" area (aka, uber-slippery area)


~What we dubbed "water hiking": trudging through water and over rocks all day


~Waiting to do our final absail


~getting ready for our last wall


~Cheesy pose as I start my descent


~last wall


~ Our last absail: the slipperiest and most mossy


~At the bottom: Gorgeous, yet precarious for absailing


~The view opposite the mossy wall


~Me and Ranice


~Me and my roommate, Viv


~View of the mountain range as we were leaving to go home

February 16, 2010

WhyImReallyHere

Hello again everyone,

Look how speedy I’m being with these entries! As I promised at the conclusion of my last blog, I’m going to talk a little bit about my service learning sites, finally. Service learning is a huge part of why I’m here, and I spend the duration of my Mondays and Thursdays at them. I have been attending Thembani Primary School for three weeks now, and my work with the female empowerment programme, Ilizwi, has just started.
I arrive at Thembani at 7:45 for the daily staff briefings, and school starts at 8:00. For the extent of the school day (which ends at 13:45 for the younger kids), I assist a second grade teacher with her class of 40+ “learners.” (I find it interesting that the male/female ratio is so unbalanced: only about 13 girls.) As I expected, my time at Thembani has been challenging, but I have already learned a great deal and am continuing to soak everything in like an eager, totally-in-over-her-head sponge.

The teacher, Ms. Jekwa, typically divides the day into three parts: math, Xhosa spelling/speaking, and Xhosa writing. Naturally, I don't know the Xhosa language, which is the first language of everyone in Langa township. (The teachers speak English, though.) Thus, it's no surprise that I am most helpful during the math portion of the day. Usually, I work for part of the math time with a group of ten students who understand some English. They tend to be the smarter children, so I work with them on more accelerated concepts than the majority of the class. For the other part of the math time, I walk around the class, helping students individually with basic addition and subtraction. With the language barrier, I've found that using beans as counters works better than anything else.

Still, it's incredibly difficult at times. There have been several instances in which I've realized a student completely doesn’t understand a broad concept, such as subtraction. As you can imagine, I find it difficult to explain the notion of "susa"...when all I know is the word "susa." Furthermore, with 40 seven- and eight-year-olds, one teacher, and one only semi-usual assistant, you can imagine how many kids get left behind in the learning process. (And it doesn't help that they're constantly running around, climbing on things, crawling under things, and punching/hitting each other...) It's difficult to be helping a child with an addition math problem, to realize that she/he doesn't understand, and to have six other children tapping you on the shoulder, petting your hair, and climbing on you while they wait their turn for attention. It's also difficult to realize that some students simply aren't grasping a concept, knowing that it would take more time to reach a point of understanding, to know that there simply isn't enough time, and that I am not able to help due to my lack of Xhosa knowledge. (I wanted to take Xhosa at UWC, but there was no way to make it work with my schedule.)

During the Xhosa portions of the lesson, I tend to feel pretty useless. Because I can't help directly, I usually end up doing mundane tasks, like sharpening kids' pencils because they aren't allowed to use the classroom sharpener, for fear that they'll break it...or going around the room and cutting/gluing worksheets into their workbooks. Even though these are mundane tasks, they are things that need to be done, and given the huge volume of students, I realize I am a big help.

The 2nd grade curriculum does not focus on English language acquisition because they’re still working on their Xhosa basics, such as spelling and pronunciation. However, after class, there tend to be a couple of girls who stay late and try to converse with me in English. It's really wonderful for me because I get to learn about their lives in Langa (even though I often hear upsetting things), and I get to help them a bit with their English in the process.

The two images that I have here are actually ones I found online. (I have yet to bring my camera along, but I will at some point.) However, I wouldn’t put up pictures for you if they didn’t reflect my experience, so really, I could’ve easily taken ones similar. The first is a glimpse of the kids on a Friday morning during their weekly assembly in the school yard. The first time I went to Thembani to meet the teachers and principal, it was a Friday morning, so this was my very first taste of Thembani. During their assembly, the kids sing, clap, and pray in unison. Also, you’ll notice that they’re not wearing uniforms in this picture. This is because Fridays are casual days, so they can wear whatever they want.



The second picture gives you a taste of their adorable periwinkle/navy uniforms. It was taken during the mid-morning breakfast delivery (my favorite part of the morning because 2/3 of the kids leave the room for ten minutes…a much needed break for us.) Because several children don’t get adequate nutrition at home, the school provides them with an optional morning meal that usually consists of some sort of oatmeal/porridge.



After I finish at Thembani around 14:00 (after the English-speaking girls run off), I have about an hour break, and then I walk over to meet with the Ilizwi girls. Ilizwi means "voice" in Xhosa, and it's a program that was started last year by a girl who did this Marquette program. I work with another young woman named Thuli who has been involved since last year and helped start the group with Liz. The aim of the group is to focus on four realms of empowerment with teenage girls: art, motivation, careers, and sexual health.

We have only met twice officially, and so far, we have just been getting to know each other. Most of the girls already know Thuli, so it's easy for them to slip into Xhosa, and they know that I don't understand…so that has been a bit of a challenge. However, Thuli doesn't respond to them unless they speak English, so I think it’ll get better. I can tell that communication will be a challenge, but I think that they will start to open up to me in English once they become more comfortable and trusting.

At the moment, Thuli and I have a lot of ideas for what we want to do with the girls (pen pals in the US, scrapbooks/journals, dancing in some form, time capsules, talk about historical influential women, just to name a few), but we need to hone in on what they would like to do, as well as from what they would benefit most. Another issue is funding, so we’re planning to do some fund-raising throughout the semester, such as the idea of Thuli and I hosting dinners at Kimberley House and having everyone in the house and other Obz friends come and donate. Once things get up and running, I'll share more about the specific programmes that Thuli and are implementing.

Peace, love, and mangos,
Sarah Ann Olivia

February 8, 2010

RetreatToHermanusAndMoreObzervations

[Every time I type the title in the box, it changes it to some form of Asian characters...and the only to avoid it is to use no punctuation and spaces. Sorry!]

Molweni!

I realize that I haven’t been doing very well at keeping this up to date, so these pictures are from a little over a week ago. We went on a weekend-long retreat to Hermanus, which is about an hour and a half drive away. The main purpose of the retreat was to meet John de Gruchy, the author of a book we were required to read about the theology of reconciliation in the context of South African apartheid and the resulting TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission).

We stayed on a property specifically meant for retreats called Volmoed. As you can see from the pictures, it was incredibly gorgeous, as was the drive along the coast on our way to Hermanus. I felt that the majority of the views I took in were post card-worthy and that the photos I took simply can’t do justice to the awe-inspiring landscape.



Aside from our sessions with John de Gruchy, we had a lot of free time, which we spent relaxing and exploring the beauty of the property. There were a few hiking trails, and you’ll see pictures from the one that led to a waterfall. Also, several people in the group encountered groups of baboons, but I wasn’t so lucky…which might’ve been a good thing, after all, considering they can get violent if they feel threatened. Nonetheless, I would’ve like to have seen them…perhaps I’ll steal a picture from someone so you can all see, though.


~ the waterfall on Volmoed property


~Ranice and me near the waterfall :)


~another view while hiking around Volmoed


~oceanview in Hermanus...if it were whale season, this is where we would've seen them

Also, I’ve been continuing to add to my list of obz-ervations…

4) Mangos: This didn’t take much detective work to uncover, but mangos are incredibly popular and available here, so I eat them a few times per week. I’m getting really good at cutting them, too, which was always a cryptic challenge in the past. (Mom, you probably remember our unsuccessful attempts…)

5) Stolen phones: Apparently, it’s so common to have your phone stolen here that our program director claims that everyone goes through one or two phones during our 5ish months here. Well, as of this past weekend, I’m #4 in the house to have my phone swiped. Perhaps it’s some sort of right of passage to South African living? Ha. I don’t know, but I do know that our phones are the cheapest models anyone can purchase here, so why someone would go through the effort of stealing them is beyond me. Regardless, I was prepared for this to happen, so I’m currently trying to enable the phone I used last summer in Paris.

6) Raw carrots (and vegetables, in general): When I go to my service sites on Mondays and Thursdays, I always pack a lunch. Typically, I pack some raw carrots to munch on, and I’ve discovered that the 2nd graders get a huge kick out the fact that I’m eating them. The teacher told me that it’s nothing huge, but that no one here really eats raw vegetables, so the kids think I’m funny…

7) Left side of everything: One would think I would’ve noticed this more prominently during my long stay in Europe last summer, but it wasn’t until I’ve lived here that I realize that rules of the road are reflected everywhere. What I mean is that people constantly, naturally move left, rather than right, so my housemates and I have been finding ourselves in awkward run-ins with locals while trying to pass them and then realizing that we’re going the wrong way. Oops. I guess I have something to work on.

8) Hand soap: The only place I go where I am guaranteed hand soap is K House. Every bathroom I set foot in has a soap dispenser, but there has only been ONE time that I found one with soap…and this includes public bathrooms, the bathrooms at the elementary school, the bathrooms at UWC…everywhere.

9) Toilet paper: Along the same lines of bathroom etiquette/tendencies, living here has caused me to no longer take toilet paper for granted. Some bathrooms have it in the stalls (but run out often), but many have one roll outside of all of the stalls, so you have to take it before you go in. For example, the kids at the school have to get toilet paper from the teacher before they run off to the bathroom.

10) Condoms: As many of you know, South Africa has the highest HIV/AIDS rate on the globe. As a result, they stress the use of condoms EVERYWHERE. Please believe me when I say everywhere. To paint a picture for you, while we were registering all day at UWC during orientation week, they put us in this education classroom, where there were drawing that children has done wallpapering the walls. The theme of the assignment was apparently condoms because every single drawing was focused on them. Keep in mind these were done by primary school-aged children. Along those same lines, there is a massive mural on the side of one of the buildings at Thembani Primary School (one of my service sites) that says something like, “Safety First: Use Condoms” and is complete with pictures. (I’ll get a picture of it eventually…) In addition, every bathroom in UWC and even the faculty bathroom at Thembani have a free condom dispenser. Finally, to take the cake, my roommate had a big scrape on her leg a couple weeks ago, so while she was at UWC, she went to get a band-aid. They charged her 1 rand for each band-aid, but they offer you a lifetime supply of condoms every time you use the bathroom. Really? You’d think restraining blood from a cut would be just as important in the context of HIV/AIDS…

Anyway, I’ll let that one sit with you for now. My next post will hopefully be centered on my service site experiences thus far at Thembani and with Ilizwi. I’m in midst of my third week of going to service learning, but I’ve refrained from writing about it just yet, until I feel more settled in with them.



...So stay tuned. In the mean time, I have a few requests: Be well, take care, and take deep breaths. Be constantly mindful. Laugh at yourself often, don’t take everything so seriously, and do something foolish for the sake of exercising your freedom. Stray from your comfort zone, if only for two minutes. Live. Be…a human-being, rather than a human-doing.


~ Sunset, viewed from the deck of our cabin :)

(Yes, I know I sound like a mix between a fortune cookie and Thich Nhat Hanh right now, but just humor me…)

All my love,
Sarah Ann Olivia

February 3, 2010

Penguins



Hello again,

This will be a short, light-hearted post, but I figure no one can resist the "awww" factor of penguins. :)



Last Saturday, some of us ventured to Simonstown to see the wild penguins that live on the beaches. It was my first time taking the "train" (essentially a metro system, not a formal train), and it takes about an hour by train from Obz. Upon arrival, I realized that Simonstown is pretty touristy (a big turn off for me), yet it was beautiful for a day trip and well worth the visit.



As you can see, we were able to go right up to the penguins, and one of the guys in our group even touched one (not advised)...and then the penguin proceeded to get upset, so we all backed away.

January 29, 2010

Adjusting to Life, the Cape Townian Way



Molweni!

I've finally managed to upload a few pictures! I hope you enjoy...

I guess it makes sense to talk about our house first. (These are the details my family seems to ask about most, so if this doesn’t interest you, just skip ahead…) Her (yes, I decided it’s female) name is Kimberley House…because we live on Kimberley Road…creative, right? All of the houses in Obz have high-tech gates, fences, and lock systems. Our windows have bars/grates on them, as well, so theft is much less likely than in the past. Furthermore, we have a panic button that goes right to the security company, which is constantly patrolling the neighborhood, anyway. I guess it makes me feel safe…although I have yet to encounter any problems. Perhaps it’s a good deterrent then?



Our house is pretty large. There are two main wings of rooms, and two guys’ rooms (4 of the 6 guys in the group stay in them) outside. We have a total of 5 showers and 5 toilets for the 20 of us, so it’s usually not an issue. We also have a main kitchen area and a smaller one…3 big refrigerators and one small one. You’ll see some pictures of my room and the pictures I put up on the wall. The verdict is still out as to whether it’s a suspension bridge or Table Mountain. I like to think the latter.



Anyway, this seems like a long time ago now, but one night during orientation week, we went out for an authentic South African meal. First, there was a traditional alcohol that was passed around the table, meant to be sipped from the massive gourd thing. It smelled utterly foul, and I decided my stomach would be just fine without it. Then, our meal consisted of 128973 types of meat. I tried: lamb, oxtail, chicken, ostrich, kudu, and springbok. I decided tripe was not about to make the cut. Ugh. Honestly, my favorite was ostrich. (It tastes a bit like steak!)

On Friday night, we threw our long-awaited neighborhood braai (South African barbeque). Technically, it wasn’t a normal braai because we provided all the food, and it was all American cuisine (but that was the idea). I made homemade salsa, and helped my friend, Matt, make guacamole, which turned out to be a hit. We invited all of our neighbors on Kimberley road, as well as friends we’d met during the week, and we had an awesome turn out. It was a warm realization to know that we’d made friends so quickly. Furthermore, not to make too sweeping of a generalization, but people here are really genuine [overall]. When you meet them, they make a big effort to both learn and remember your name, so that when you see them again, they remember your name and are authentically interested in how you are doing. It’s wonderful and something I don’t encounter much in the States.

On Saturday morning, our drivers took us up to Signal Hill. The view is gorgeous, as you can imagine by looking at the pictures. It was cool to see Green Stadium, where the World Cup games in Cape Town will be played. It was difficult to get a sense for how big it is from where we were, but it seems enormous. Someone told us that it was built on top of a bunch of apartheid era graves…? I’m sure that was a big scandal/debate, but I honestly don’t know that much about it…



~me, with the lovely Ranice~




After Signal Hill, we went to the Robben Island museum at the Waterfront and then took the 45-minute ferry ride to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years). It was pretty surreal to take that ferry ride, knowing that prisoners had taken those same boats to the island. It was even more surreal to see the very quarry where Nelson Mandela and so many other political activists had slaved away.


~A view of the mainland from Robben Island~



Then, we got a tour of the prison itself from a former political prisoner who had been there at the same time as Mandela. He explained some of the cruelties that the guards did to him, such as using his private parts as an ashtray. (Why he would want to give tours of that place, returning to it, and walking its halls everyday, is beyond all of us.) He also told a story of how his father had applied to come visit him, but that the guards shot him 8 times upon arriving at the island. He explained that his father is now in a terrible state of health, and those guards [because of the generosity of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission], who were granted amnesty, are now sitting on wealthy farms. It was pretty obvious that he was not completely sold on the ideology of the TRC, but how can you blame him? He took us through the prison, and we finished the tour by seeing Mandela’s cell, which is exactly as he kept it while he inhabited it.




~Nelson Mandela's cell~



~the prison yard~

After our time on Robben Island, we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring The Waterfront area, which is basically a touristy area with a bunch of shops and restaurants…and pretty views, of course.

On Sunday, I ventured out to one of the Townships, Guguletu, with three other girls in our house and some friends we’d met earlier in the week. In Guguletu, there is a restaurant called Mzoli’s that is FAMOUS for there meat. It is ridiculously delicious. (Two of the girls are vegetarians, ate it, and loved it.) Anyway, this restaurant is open everyday, but Sundays are special because they basically through a massive block party in the street, with djs going all day long. What you do is get there around noonish to get a table (or steal a “reserved” table, in our case). They sell all of their alcohol in 6-packs, so it’s definitely a communal gathering. Once your group is together, one person goes and orders the meat. We ended up getting a big mix of chicken, steak, sausage, and pork chops. They basically take a massive pot, put your meat in it, and put it in the queue. Then, about an hour later, it’s ready, and they bring it out to you with some pap (a bland, spongy, starchy food) and some salsa-like thing to put on the pap. There are no utensils at all. You get paper plates, and you use your hands: to grab, to eat, to break sausage links. It was wonderful. It is honestly the best meat you’ll ever taste. (I’ve heard it’s won legitimate awards in the cuisine world.) Afterwards, you pass around a wet rag to clean your hands, possibly venture to the bathrooms (another adventure…), and then hit the dance floor (the street, which isn’t technically closed).

We got there around 12:30 and stayed until about 19:00. That may not seem very long, but we were utterly wiped out by like 18:00. Dancing in the sun for hours will do that to you, I suppose. It was honestly my favorite day here so far. It was such a rich afternoon, full of wonderful friends, friendly strangers, delicious food, and authentic African music. (They play WAY too much American music here…) Everyone we met at Mzoli’s was joyful and accepting, regardless of race, age, or nationality. There were people of all races present, and I didn’t see a single person even a hint of a look of disapproval. It was such a beautiful experience. Anyone and everyone come together to celebrate life and to be in community in this vibrant township. How amazing it is that everyone heads out to “the ghetto” on Sundays, not to gawk at the shacks, but to experience love and community. It really hit me that afternoon that South Africa is a unique nation, home to so many different types of people, still struggling to deal with the past and working toward a brighter future. Mzoli’s gives me so much hope for the future here. At Mzoli’s, everyone is welcome, and everyone is home. I can’t really express the joy I experienced that day. It’s one of those days that will be etched into my mind and heart for a long time.

Back to the grind. On Monday, we started classes at UWC. I attended my Xhosa class, excited to jump into a completely foreign language and to hopefully learn the clicks. My heart sunk when the professor said that the class meets three times per week. Since I can only be at UWC two days each week, there’s no way for me to take the class, so I’ll have to drop it. However, my Tuesday class, Leadership and Transformation, should be really good, as well as my Wednesday class, Social Problems (Intro to Development Studies). Both are in the ISD (Institute for Social Development), which is reserved for Honours and Masters students. It’s really interesting to take class with people from all over the continent. Aside from classes, UWC is still proving to be frustrating, though. No one knows where things are, and the common trend is to pass you off to someone else, sending you a wild goose chase until you give up or get lucky enough to either find it on your own or to find someone who takes some sort of responsibility. I have yet to “delete” (drop) my Xhosa class, but I can already foresee long queues and headaches.

On a final note, I’m going to attempt to keep some running observations (perhaps Obz-ervations?) of South Africa. I don’t like to make broad generalizations, but there are some trends I’ve noticed. Here’s the list thus far:

1) Almost everyone here smokes cigarettes (but I got this in Paris, too, so nothing new, really…)
2) People like to walk around barefoot everywhere, especially at the grocery store. There’s a lot of broken glass on the streets. Anyone else confused by this? I’ve never seen our landlord, David, with shoes. Today, he helped install another security gate…barefoot.
3) Here, bras are a multi-functional phenomenon. Not only do they provide support, but they also act as all-encompassing storage units…for cell phones, for money, for keys. At first, I thought it was weird, but I’m starting to see the positives. “When in doubt, stick it in your bra.” A girl at a bar saw my roommate’s phone just barely sticking out of the top of her pocket, stopped her, and told her to put it in her bra immediately. One of our friends here, Paul, gave me advice about throwing parties here. He says, “As long as you lock your bedroom door, hide your keys, and keep your phone in your bra, you’ll be fine.”

Okay, that’s my list for now. I hope to add to it later.

Until next time,
Sarah Ann Olivia

January 22, 2010

A Breath of Fresh Air

I’m here! Cape Town. Sometimes, just the thought of it sends chills up my spine. I am so grateful and joyful to be here.

After far too many hours of sitting on planes and in airports, I arrived in Cape Town Saturday night around 11 pm. Our program director, Melikaya, and our two drivers, Pernell and Sharky, greeted us at the airport. It took awhile to get to the vans and load our numerous suitcases. (Friends and family, you’ll be happy to know that I did NOT win the award for the most luggage. In fact, I think I fall in the middle range for everyone in my program. So ha!)

I will never forget the drive from the airport to Kimberley House (our house in Obz). Naturally, it was dark, so we could barely make out the silhouettes of the mountains in the distance. [We kept guessing whether we were seeing clouds or mountains, but to our delight, the next day, we confirmed they’re mountains.] The weather was cool and breezy, the perfect remedy to an international flight’s patent stuffy air and claustrophobic sensations. I remember thinking, “You’re here, Sarah. You’ve made it. After all this time, you’re finally where you’ve wanted to be.” I was still in disbelief. I just stared out the window, smiling and marveling at my arrival. Even though we could barely make out details of the city, our entire van was cheerful and talkative, gawking at the “Obz” sign and then at our adorable, quaint neighborhood that I will call home for the next 5 months and possibly beyond.

On our first night, playing a massive game of spoons at our enormous kitchen table, the 20 of us briefly got acquainted. After that, my roommate, Vivian, and I unpacked, organized our room, and chatted for a few hours before going to bed. All of the rooms in the house are different, with their own idiosyncrasies. Ours is an inside room, with no window to the outside, but with a big skylight and a fireplace.

Anyway, on the humorous side, I had my first cockroach encounter while I was crawling into bed that night. It fell from underneath the mantel of our fireplace, onto the top of our desk. Naturally, I ran to get someone else to kill it, but I didn’t scream or squeal to wake up Viv. (You have to give me a little bit of credit for that...) Since then, I’ve encountered at least 15+ more…not only in our house, but even in the Slave Lodge museum we went to earlier this week. I think I’m starting to get used to them, though…

On Sunday, after a short orientation with Melikaya and the landlords of our house, all 20 of us decided to go to the beach. As you can imagine, this was a project, calling the cab company and explaining our need to fit 20 people. But at last, we were driving through the mountains, slightly confused, thinking “Didn’t we tell him Camp’s Bay?”, only to see a few of the most gorgeous views ever, and then descending the mountains to the beach. The whole afternoon was wonderful. It was like being on vacation, actually. I wasn’t expecting to do “fun stuff” so soon, but there I was, laying on the gorgeous beach, staring out at the crashing waves on the rocks and intermittedly back at the posh homes and resorts juxtaposed with Lion’s Head and the Twelve Disciples (mountain/rock formations). It was breathtaking. [Sorry, no pictures yet. I didn’t want to risk the sandy/camera combination…but we’ll go back sometime, and I’ll have my camera.]

On Monday, we started our busy orientation week. First, we visited two of the group’s service sites. (We’re not going to be able to visit all of them, though.) The first is called the Saartjie Baartman Centre For Women & Children (to learn about her story: http://www.zar.co.za/baartman.htm), where my friend Shanelle will work. Then, we went into Langa township, the area I’ll be working in, to visit Vivian’s site, Zimasa School. The staff at Zimasa were so happy to see our group that they asked how many of us would be working there, only to learn that Viv is the only one. I quietly hoped that the people at Thembani Primary School will welcome me the same way. After we left Zimasa, we drove through Langa, and Pernell pointed out Thembani and the LoveLife building, where I’ll work with the Ilizwi group. As you can imagine, I was pretty excited. . I’m so excited to interact with the Langa community. We start the week of February 1.

Visiting the townships for the first time was both a humbling and joyful experience. Even though we didn’t interact with that many people during our brief visit, it was clear that even though townships are rough places, full of poverty and crime, the communities are incredibly tight-knit. It just seems that family (especially extended family) and neighbors mean so much in the townships – a sharp contrast to what most of us are used to in the U.S. The other thing that hit me that day was just how starkly varied South Africa is. I mean, I realize that most societies are like this, with the haves and the have-nots, but Cape Town is very striking in this arena…for example, Camp’s Bay, the gorgeous beach/Malibu-esque we went to the other day…and Langa township about 15 minutes away…and Gugulethu township…and so so so many more.

Then, we drove into downtown Cape Town and met with Judy Mayotte, the woman started the program about six years ago. We got to hear her crazy, amazing life story (perhaps I’ll write more about it later), which was incredibly inspiring, and then we enjoyed some traditional South African things for lunch: basically, everything was made of bread or meat. Ha. Afterward, we went to the Slave Lodge museum that I mentioned…came back to the house to rest, and met back up with Melikaya for dinner at a cute pizza place in Obz.

The rest of this week has been incredibly busy, as well. On Tuesday, we had more orientation business to address, such as meeting a diplomat from the U.S. Consulate and touring Parliament. It was pretty surreal to sit in the room where several of the decisions of the apartheid government were made. Our guide told us the story of one of the officials who was stabbed and killed in that very room. We also visited the District 6 Museum (http://www.districtsix.co.za/frames.htm). Our driver, Pernell, grew up in District 6 before it was torn apart by the apartheid government, so he told us various stories with our tour guide. He’s going to drive us through the area at some point, which will be interesting, no doubt.

Yesterday, we visited our school, the University of the Western Cape, for the first time. We had a loooong international student orientation (incredibly boring), and then a short campus tour. The campus is so gorgeous, which I wasn’t expecting, considering UCT (University of Cape Town) is considered the “better” university in the area. Today, we went back to UWC for a day of hell, essentially. It was registration day, which consisted of sitting in a classroom for about 3 hours, while everyone met individually with an advisor to figure out classes, then about 4 hours in a big auditorium getting registered and filing through line after line. At the end, we at lunch at 4pm, and I’m pretty sure there might be one person out of us twenty whose schedule isn’t messed up. Supposedly, we’ll fix it tomorrow or next week, when classes start. Blah.

Anyway, I’ll work on the photo thing in the near future, so as not to bore you all with a lot of text and no visuals. Also, I’m sure I’ve left out details you may want to know, so please leave comments with questions, and I’ll answer them in subsequent blogs. Capiche? I miss you all!

~Sarah Ann Olivia

January 15, 2010

Pre-Departure Jitters

Molweni Nonke! (Hello everyone!)

Okay, it's official. I leave tomorrow (well, today), and I'm a bit frazzled. I just said goodbye to one of my best friends. I should be in bed, but I have too much energy at the moment.

For those who I don't talk to on a regular basis, I figured it might be good to share the details of my upcoming adventure. This semester, I'll be participating in a study abroad program through Marquette University in Cape Town, South Africa. I'll be living in a house called Kimberley House with the other 19 students in a suburb of Cape Town, Observatory ("Obz"). About 2/3 of us are from MU, and the rest are from other universities around the U.S. (I'm the only Billiken...) I know no one in the program. I don't even know who my roommate will be. (We're just supposed to figure it out on our own, apparently. That'll be interesting.)

At the moment, I don't even have a good idea of my schedule. The only solid details are that I'll take 2 classes with the other students in my program on Fridays. One class is a theology class focused on forgiveness and reconciliation. The other is about leadership in grassroots organizations. Beyond this, I know that I will spend two each week full-time at my service learning sites. Both of my service sites are in Langa Township, not too far from our house in Obz. In the mornings, I will work at Thembani Primary School. Once again, I don't know details yet. In the afternoons, I'll be working with a group called Ilizwi, which means "Voice" in Xhosa. Ilizwi is a women's empowerment program that focuses on art, motivation, sexual health, and future careers with a group of high schools girls. I'm incredibly excited about these two sites. I talked with the girl who worked at both of these sites last semester, so I have a vague idea of what it will be like, but no specifics. Basically, stay tuned for all of that.

The other two days of the week, I'll take two or three classes at the University of the Western Cape. At the moment, I know I'd like to take a Xhosa class (especially since all of the kids I'll be working with in Langa township speak Xhosa before English). To continue the trend of uncertainty, we won't even know [for sure] what classes are being offered at UWC, so registration will be quite a treat...apparently, long lines and lots of confusion. Woot.

Hmmm, bed time? Yes. Not that this is overly interesting, but my flight itinerary is kind of interesting. Milwaukee --> Detroit --> Amsterdam --> Cape Town. I'm going to be exhausted. Basically, double international travel back-to-back.

Okay, I'm off, but I promise a more interesting second post! I'll miss you all! Please keep in touch and take care. :)