Exploring the Rainbow Nation

Back in Seattle

2006-03-22T05:39:00.000-08:00

Partly sunny, with showers. I see the sun above me, but the air is still chilly. What is with the fact that I have to wear socks and shoes again?!

It's around 6:30am, and I've been up for about an hour, wide awake on this Seattle morning. It's my second morning back home.

Home. I felt like I left a little piece of home back in Cape Town too. I'll go back someday.

Anyway, since Cape Town Carolyn is now Seattle Carolyn, this shall be my last post on this blog.

Fare thee well South Africa, you are a beautiful country with beautiful people with so much potential to prosper. Thanks to my classmates for making it so much fun, and for agonizing over academic duties with me. Thanks to all the Isilimela high school students for teaching me things I can't even put words into, but they are things that make me feel good inside and I will carry forever with me. Thanks to Mimi, or Xoliswa, for teaching me the proper way to click my tongue and speak Xhosa, and for such insight into the Xhosa traditions as a progressive woman in post-Apartheid society. Thanks to Nestus at City Rock for teaching me how to rock climb and being a cool person all around. And everyone else I have connected with in South Africa, I can understand the meaning of ubuntu because of you!

Not only has my study abroad to Cape Town been one of the best, enriching experiences ever, but it also ties the end to my college career. Sweet!

*kicking my heels up* :)

Welcome Seattleites and another transition

2006-03-12T00:03:00.000-08:00

Tina and Cristina are finally here from Seattle to hang out with me! Welcome girls, you need to catch up on your tanning!

My friends I have made during the Cape Town program are starting to leave, whether it be more traveling or back home to Seattle. On Friday, we had our last meeting with the students and teachers we've been working with at Isilimela, and it was really weird to realize that we're done. Kate and I might've shed a tear or two. So yes, I am a bit sentimental these days to know that my purpose here is now laying to rest.

Time to re-explore for one more week in South Africa.

I finally posted new pictures! www.curiouscat.smugmug.com

Retreat!

2006-03-07T23:36:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna miss these Cape Town mornings. There's a sweet old man who we call the Muffin Man up the street, and he sells these amazing full-sized muffins baked by his wife a neighborhood away. He led a harsh life, and now all is peaceful. I'm eating a blueberry muffin, some yogurt from the QuickSpar grocery store, and some coffee I made at the house here.

No more school! Our group came back from our 3-day, 2-night final retreat at this place called The Baths, about 3 hours north from Cape Town. It was SO much fun. This was our schedule for the three days:

- Eat a good food for every meal (spit-fire braai, lamb, chicken, really good ostrich steak and custard over apple pie)
- Swim in the cool pool
- Sunbathe
- Swim in the hot pool under the stars. Float on your back and see the Milky Way.
- Drink at the bar
- Get up, swim, sunbathe
- Repeat

Oh yeah, let's not forget 14 of us girls from the program, in the middle of the night, skinny dipping in both the hot and cool pools! Ahh, the beauty of shared nakedness to bond with one another, swimming in our laughter. Everyone else, including the three guys on our program, had already passed out in their beds. Otherwise, everyone else hanging out by the pools stripped to our natural glory under the moon.

Way to feel so liberated and free!

By the way, I'm back in Seattle on the 20th.

The Happiest Girl Alive

2006-03-04T11:42:00.000-08:00

I finally took a shower in two days!

Okay, not only that, but I just finished writing my last paper in college. WOOHOO!!

Community Engagement Celebration @ Isilimela and Quotes

2006-03-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

It was beautiful. 48 students from three worlds (Roosevelt HS from Seattle, Isilimela HS from Langa township, and Bellville HS from an Afrikaner neighborhood) in one gymnasium, sharing their poetry, drama, and photos with each other and their audience. It was a powerful performance. The students had two weeks to get to know one another in a global cultural exchange through friendships, and today was also their goodbyes to each other as Roosevelt flies back to Seattle tomorrow. They had tears of joy and sadness. We had tears of relief and realizing how much hard work we've put into this global exchange project. Seeing all the photos the students took really tugged at my heart today, knowing it's finally done and realizing the depth that high schoolers have. No more working towards the means anymore. Life moves on.

Life moves on to two papers I need to finish by the weekend. It will be the end of my academic journey as an undergraduate. Woohoo! Then our class will be going on a retreat to a remote area called The Baths three hours away from here. We'll have open mic and play charades. I think that's the majority of our agenda for the three days and two nights out there. Oh, and dip into some hot springs and take some hikes. Maybe I can even climb some rocks. Gawd, I'm looking forward to being done with "school" out here. The last couple of weeks are intense dude.

Another touching moment at Isilimela today was when one of my students, Joe, in the Grade 12 Arts and Culture class recognized me after school. He goes "who's going to teach us now?" since Mimi, their regular art teacher, basically let Jen and I take over the art history course while we've been here. There are only six students in this class, so we've really bonded with all of them. I'm not sure if they've learned more from us, or if we've learned more from them. The coolest thing was when Joe pointed out a painting he hunge up on the gymnasium wall, and after seeing it, it literally took my breath away. It was amazing! I now have a picture of it, with Joe and I standing underneath it. I'll post it online. Someday soon! It's too bad Isilimela doesn't get enough funds to frame their student artwork like Bellville hs does. (Bellville hs looks like a private college in my book). There's so much hidden talent at that school. We may only see our class one more time formally before we're finished, so Jen and I plan to have a party and bring some treats for the class. It'd be nice to keep in touch and see where they will be going a few years down the road.

***

Some random quotes from the people I've met here:

"What do people think about South Africans from where you're from?...I've never even seen an African animal before!" - A somewhat ditzy, but really sweet 15 year-old Afrikaner girl
"I've never used a disposable camera before" - From over half (8+) of the Isilimela (Langa Black township) Hands for a Bridge after school group
"Do you do yoga? Because you're sitting cross-legged, and I saw a Chinese person who did yoga on TV" - From an 18 year-old, very bright Xhosa boy with perfect English who says Oprah inspires him everyday. Funny thing is that my white roommate was sitting in the same manner as me, but he didn't notice her.
"Is it true that Chinese people marry their brothers and sisters? And that's why you all look alike? I saw it on TV." - From one of the Isilimela after school students, sincerely asking me. It was one of those moments where I could've totally made something up and they would've believed me that yes, THAT is why we all look alike!
"Boerewors curtain is kind of a joke. It means you need a passport to enter our side of the world"- From Nestus, Jen and I's 21 year-old Afrikaner rock climbing instructor, talking about Afrikaner neighborhoods still being a different world from the mixed neighborhoods like ours. But, he says, an Afrikaner like himself would never need a passport to come to the English-speaking, Coloured, or Black sides of the world. The boerewors is a sausage used for braais (bbq), and symbolically using the other side of the curtain, kinda like how we use "the other side of the railroad tracks". Ask me to pronounce boerewors with an Afrikaans accent when you see me. It's fun.
"I've never been to this side of the world before" - Some old Afrikaner dude with his friend visiting Obz, our neighborhood. He truly looked astonished in his foreign surroundings when he could've lived less than 20 minutes away. I should've asked how it was for him, just to see his reaction to a Chinese-lookin' girl speaking American to him!
"What kind of sauce would you like?" - A Chip 'n Dip worker at a casino/entertainment world mall Jen and I visited to go ice skating. This place had fries in a cone, covered in any sauce you want, from honey mustard to chocolate sauce. I had sour cream and onion. Wasn't bad.
"Can we keep you?" - Mimi, the Isilimela Arts and Culture teacher I've bonded with.
"I will miss you." - Various students I've bonded with too.

Last week of classes

2006-02-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

My community engagement projects and class wrap-up.

Hello everyone. Whoa. It is currently week 9 out of 10 in this Cape Town program, and it has been amazing. It's been raining all day, can you believe it? It's the second time I've seen rain during the day in Cape Town, along with rare power outages within the last week.

Over the weekend, 48 high school students from Roosevelt (Seattle high school), Bellville (an Afrikaaner school in Cape Town, middle to upper class I'd say) and Isilimela (a black township high school) linked in their trio groups (16 groups of 3 from all 3 schools) for a retreat at the 12 Apostles camp site. This has been one of the events I have been preparing for with a few other classmates as part of my community engagement project. Us UW kids helped with the picture project, in which every student from these interglobal cities took pictures of their families, self portraits, favorite food, things they want to change, etc. in a cultural exchange using photos. Today the students made collages in their trio groups to present as a photo gallery. On Thursday, there will be a community celebration at Isilimela high school for the photo gallery, and a movement piece that will involve each student hanging up their photo of something they want to change on a clothes line while reciting some poetry perhaps, then turning the clothesline into a gallery in itself afterwards for the audience to move around and look at. Hopefully that made sense to you. So this project, called Hands for a Bridge which started at Roosevelt high school, takes a lot of my time and energy these days. But these young people are amazing, warm hearted, and wide-eyed in their discovery of each other. It's so worth it.

My other project for my community engagement work is working with Jen at Isilimela high school in the mornings with our grade 12 students in art/art history. We work closely with six boys in the classroom, teaching them about Fauvism, Cubism, and Expressionism, and we'll be encouraging them to paint their own pieces from the things they have learned and hopefully are inspired by. Their teacher let us take this class over, and we make handouts and do research online to create materials for them since they don't have textbooks or materials to use on their own. We will even go to the internet cafe to print out examples of Picasso's or Braque's work, and the teacher was so happy to have these colored copies and created a folder of the materials we have put together for future use. It makes us feel good that we're making a difference, even if it is small. Jen and I really like these students, and one of them asked if they can call us when we go home because they will be sad too when we're gone. It was one of those moments when we were like, wow, only two more weeks and this will all be over.

So here I am procrastining on the papers due by this weekend before our final retreat with the classmates, professor, and TA. We'll be going somewhere remote, be one with nature, and dip into hot springs. I think we're having an open mic with wine too. It'll be cool. I've yet to finalize exactly when I'm coming home, but it will be mid March sometime. Which is soon enough!

Cheers. Totsie. Sobanana.

Random thoughts

2006-02-17T15:04:00.000-08:00

Wow. So much to do, so little time, so much fun. And some physical and emotional breakthroughs.

Already feeling nostalgic about being here. I'll be sad to leave but happy to go home to Seattle, but then I'll miss being here and be sad about keeping this experience as a mere memory that I shared with 19 other people that were once strangers to me.

***

Paul, thank you for calling me on Valentine's Day, even though you didn't realize it was on that day, haha. You are SO sweet with all the quirky letters and camera clips you've sent me. You are so aware of all the little things that I sometimes forget about. I love you!

And thanks to those that have sent me messages, cards and packages for my 23rd birthday out here in Africa. I love you too! Nothing beats being around loved ones for a birthday, but it's pretty cool being in a land far far away in a different kind of spirit too.

Besides, it's only downhill from now right? I'm gonna go home and be all growns up in a growns up kind of schedule to my life. All I need to do before spring quarter is sign the paperwork to graduate the UW. I'm gonna go home and lose a somewhat personal agenda in the Real World and start working in April. For the rest of my life. My gawd! Okay, at least I GOT a job that actually involves real work. But I'll miss the fluidity and vitality of what I'm experiencing now. I couldn't do it forever though, and sometimes things happen so you can appreciate the other sides of life too.

I just got a mosquite bite on my back. Time for bed!

McDonald's, The Amazing Race and food

2006-02-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

A taste of familiarity.

It's an old episode of the Amazing Race, but we're watching it on TV now and they're in Johannesburg - we kinda recognize some of the things there! Liiike driving on the right side of the road in the right side of the car and seeing man-made "indigenous" villages to satisfy the tourist's needs. It was a great season.

Oh yeah, and I just came back from McDonald's up the street for dinner. Mind you, I don't even remember the last time I went to McDonald's in Seattle (although I do love the Jack in the Crack and Dick's on occasion...hmm), but my McDonald's in Cape Town was one of the best fast food experiences ever. And the fries were fresh! I had a #4 Quarter Pounder, with an orange Fanta. THEN I ordered the 4-piece McNuggets. Mmm.

For you economists, the Big Mac index in Cape Town is about $3.50 which includes the meal. I'm not sure what a Big Mac in Seattle costs nowadays. For you health fanatics that would have no reason to be at McDonald's in the first place, well, you can replace the fries with a cup of strawberry yogurt at no charge. Other than that, the McDonald's menu is pretty similar to ours.

Speaking of food, it's great here. We got Thai, Indian, sushi, Chinese, Mexican and Italian restaurants up the street. Owned by white, black, and colored people (no, I'm not being politically incorrect, it's how people describe themselves here). There IS that Korean/Japanese/Chinese restaurant up the street that's actually owned by a Korean lady, it's amazing. It's a bit on the pricey side though since it's a commodity. If you're from Seattle, our neighborhood named Observatory is a cross between the Ave. and Fremont all in walking distance. Local and flavorful. Sometimes we'll take trips out and have more of the authentic African food, but it's not really an everyday thing. Oh wait, bunny chow is from Durban, South Africa, and it's like a big square loaf of fresh bread, emptied out and stuffed with meaty vegetably deliciousness. The grocery store is a common trip for us too: Pic 'n Pay! - the fresh fruit is wonderful and inexpensive, and we have 1.5 kitchens in our house to cook meals during the weekdays. I think all the food is organic too, since our food tends to rot faster than usual. But that's a good thing. They have the best ketchup here too! A lot of the girls are concerned about gaining weight around here from all the food we're trying and liking. I'm glad there isn't a scale around here to cause mayhem about it.

The only food I miss since being here is a nice big steaming bowl of pho, with all the fixings.

Time to go digest and study for our exam next week. Cheers!

Halfway point - week 5

2006-02-02T11:52:00.000-08:00

Time is slow and fast at the same time.

It has been an extremely enriching learning experience so far. Both academically in the classroom and through the people we meet, and socially with the group here in our own exploration of our surroundings. Every day seems to be a constant break down and better understanding of both the people and the environment of South Africa.

Some factoids:

My roommate Megan could not be any more cool and easy to get along with.
Our house in Observatory is perfect. It'd be more perfect if the walls were soundproof, but that's okay.
Pic 'n Pay is the best grocery store ever.
I can't make rice on the stovetop. We need a real rice cooker around here.
My classmates know the concept of working hard and playing hard. It makes every day a busy day. It makes our experiences together fluid in time.
A handful of my classmates actually remember me as their Freshmen Orientation Leader, which makes them juniors now. Wow I feel old.
Hunter's Hard Cider is GooD. The best alternative to a beer.
Around here, it's not eleven-thirty, it's half past eleven. It's not nine forty-five, it's a quarter til ten.
Humidity here in the Western Cape seems to be non-existent, wee. It does get quite windy sometimes though, but I really can't complain about this weather. Our hottest day here was yesterday at 94 F, but usually it's around a comfortable 80 F.
The word Chinese seems to be synonomous to Asian. There are a lot of people of color here, but I'm a rare species. All the children ask if I know kung fu. Actually, yesterday, one of the high school students I work with asked if Chinese people married their brothers and sisters and if that was why we all look the same. He was serious. I had to laugh. And he was still serious.
I haven't seen a Starbucks around. Amazing. Although there IS a Seattle Coffee Co. at the mall.
McDonalds is apparently still new around here, so the menu isn't that different. The only difference I saw was a wrap of some sort as a meal.
A hot dog off the street is less than $2. Shooters at a bar is about $2 each. A mixed drink at a club is about $4. Clothing varies depending on where you go. The economic disparity here is crazy depending where you go. Money here is the rand - about six rand to a dollar.
A rock climbing class to become certified is $15. I can officially belay others now:)

I'm having a really good time in this place called Cape Town. As they would say goodbye (the Afrikaners anyway) around here: cheers!

Check out my pictures! www.curiouscat.smugmug.com

Happy burfday to me

2006-01-25T06:25:00.000-08:00

I turn 23 today. I am the oldest one in the group, and my classmates make sure to let me know it - woot!

Two of my classes at Isilimela high school sang happy birthday to me in both Xhosa and English. yay!

23 cupcakes and candles later (some of the girls were really sweet to bake them here!)...they're about to take me to the RAstaurant to see the flame throwers and fire dancers up the street, and drink the night away. I told them that they must be hungover WITH me in the morning! Everyone was alright with that:)

Waterfall rapelling

2006-01-23T11:56:00.000-08:00

Hoppity hop on the rocks. Muscles still a bit sore.

I can't decide which was cooler: drinking crystal clear water whenever I got thirsty during the all day rock climbing and rapelling, or seeing the sky covered in stars on the way home from the canyoning. I can identify the Southern Cross now! There were about a dozen of us from the group who decided to go canyoning all day Saturday - from 9am to 9pm, breakfast, lunch, and dinner included all for $125. I'll post those pictures up soon - although we couldn't take as many as we wanted b/c our stuff was packed into dry packs during most of our water trekking. We came back home tired, and the girls who stayed behind at the house welcomed us to a drink in the hot tub in our front court yard. The hot tub is only on during the weekends. Oh darn.

The waterfront

2006-01-20T13:35:00.000-08:00

Friday night to ourselves.

Three of us girls decided to go check out a live jazz show at the waterfront tonight. Comfortable cool weather, good music, and good food. Wow, the city is pretty at night. There were a lot of live music venues in different bars and restaurants. African bands to jazz players, there was a happenin' vibe going on throughout the waterfront. It was perfect.

Going to bed somewhat early tonight. Canyoning all day tomorrow!

In transition

2006-01-19T04:21:00.000-08:00

Community Engagement Projects. Set Schedules. Allister Sparks.

Time so far has been strange. The last couple of weeks were spent getting acquainted with our surroundings and ourselves, mostly at the mercy of a predetermined schedule every morning. Although I gotta say, it was FUN! A whirlwind of excitement, sun, people, and strange new things. Now we're ready to have our own schedules and switch gears for the short, upcoming weeks. This week has been spent visiting various community sites to spark some interests for our community engagement projects, including an AIDS/HIV hospice, various orphanages, township and Afrikaaner high schools, the Dept. of Social Services, a women's support group, the Bicycle Empowerment Network, and others we're still connecting with. I'll let you know of my specific projects later. Our community site work will be spent in the afternoons, and we'll have lectures right in our house lounge with Prof in the mornings. The Mind of South Africa by Allister Sparks will be the starting basis of our academic dialogue. This is a good, insightful book. I'm working on chapter three, due tomorrow.

Whew. So much to do here but I'm not complaining - this is my last quarter as an undergraduate dagnabit! This weekend is our first free weekend to ourselves since we've been here. A few of us plan to go canyoning all day Saturday, visit the Sunday crafts market, shop downtown, and set up the hot tub in the evening in our front courtyard :) The weather is incredible here: warm, sunny and windy during the days, and cool at night. Yeah!

P.S. Photos 'n stuff. I finally found a way to upload my photos more efficiently for you impatient foolios. I can ALSO upload video clips, which are just as awesome, BUT smugmug requires them to be mpeg format (they're avi now, grr). I can't convert these at an internet cafe w/o downloading software for it, and even if I used a classmate's laptop I'm pretty clueless at how to do this. Emailing them is kind of a pain too. Any suggestions from you would be golden.

Remember: http://www.curiouscat.smugmug.com . I'm still formatting my photo site and adding captions later. Peace.

The vacation in retrospect

2006-01-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

Ruralness. Villages. Convenient stores and gas stations.

I'm baaack :)

It feels good to be back "home" for all of us from our 8-day cultural excursion along the Eastern Cape. Despite some of our multiple-hour drives, the scenery along the way was breathtaking - I've never seen so many different kinds of trees in one place before. We almost hit some cows a few times on the way, and ostriches would poke their heads out to check us out. We were stuffed into 3 combies (mini buses, also a popular mode of public transit) and stayed for one or two nights in different towns, cities, and sites. Some things I recall doing include:

Hiking through a Xhosa village - Crossing small rivers with our shoes off, drinking homemade beer out of an old paint bucket and passing it around with a local, and meeting the village chief in a hut.
Indian ocean beaches. Mmm. Warm and wavy. The sand was powdery soft. We are all dark from the sun, and some people are still peeling from their sunburns. It's worth it. Yum.
Safari game reserve. Rhinos, ostriches, lions and cheetahs. Wine and authentic African cuisine. Meaty and delicious.
Visiting the Steve Biko Foundation and seeing the kinds of social services they offer to the surrounding communities.
Bungee jumping! Yes, the Guiness Book of World Records recognized the 700+ ft. bungee jump to be the world's largest commercial bungee. Dude, it freakin' rocked!

Alrighty, I feel like I have tons to say, but I'll just post the pictures up now :) Here is that link you guys have been waiting for: http://www.curiouscat.smugmug.com . I'll try to update my photos at least weekly. Feel free to leave comments there too.

Townships

2006-01-05T06:34:00.000-08:00

Molo (hello in Xhosa) everyone.

Townships. Orphanage. Table Mountain. The Waterfront. Humanity.

Prof and a local friend of his took our group to the townships today. These are the communities in S. Africa that are segregated from the rest of society. I think SA calls them "unofficial settlements". Ironically though, you can see many of them right off the highway, so it's not like they're hiding from everyone. We also visited an orphanage called Safe Place where abandoned, abused, and children with HIV live. Our group had a chance to play with all the children there. They were beautiful.

I'm sitting here not knowing what exactly to write about my experience today. I'm sitting here in our mostly safe neighborhood, in our house with a roof over our heads, with free computers to use in our lounge, and eating delicious fresh fruit from the grocery store. I'm fighting the feeling of pity towards certain groups of people we saw today because I'm new to it. I'm just glad we'll be able to work with them soon enough.

I think Prof purposely took us out to the waterfront and Table Mountain the past couple of days first before taking us to the townships today. The waterfront looked like something out of San Francisco. The mall there was like three Belleveue Square malls put together, with New York city flair in all the different kinds of people shopping there. Posh, yes. There were a few local black music groups performing to earn some cash around the waterfront to remind me that I was in S. Africa. Don't get me wrong, the food there was fabulous and it was a gorgeous day to hang out w/ my classmates. But there really are different worlds in one city. Table Mountain is breathtaking at the top - you can see all of Cape Town in its glory. But there were a lot of tourists and white Afrikaans hanging out (Dutch and British roots).

As you can probably tell already, I have a long journey ahead of me to sort these kinds of sites out in my mind. But I believe I can put these feelings in the right places. I, along with the rest of my classmates, an awesome professor, and a cool TA, have good intentions no matter what. I think we just have to remind ourselves of that sometimes.

Our last group activity was improvised by a groundbreaker at Love Life, a local organization that empowers teenagers in safe sex and AIDS awareness. He led an icebreaker that involved the funky chicken and the best Simon Says game we've ever played in our lives. Instead of the "Hi, my name is..." icebreaker, he naturally led our group into a ball of energy and dance. I didn't know it was in us!

Next week is our vacation time since schools and businesses are still on a Christmas break around here. So Prof is taking us to the Eastern Cape for a week. Our group has been eagerly waiting to go to the beach - the Eastern Cape has the warm Indian ocean side of this country. We'll go to Boulders Beach tomorrow to see the penguins. Yes! We'll also drive by the world's largest bungee jump (supposedly) in the world. I think a few of us are gonna take the jump. The next time you hear from me, you'll know I survived:)

Beginning of January and I'm burnt

2006-01-04T13:25:00.000-08:00

Sunburnt, that is. Apparently, the UV rays are dangerously high these days, but it's not scorching outside. Maybe 78 degrees or so. It must be all the winds that blow around to keep us cool. Whateva, I'm happy to be sunburnt in January!

My last post was temporarily lost, but I found it today and re-posted it. Two for one deal for y'all.

I feel like I've been here for a week from all the things we've been doing and me getting acquainted with everything. The jet lag wasn't as bad as I thought. I guess the "No Jet Lag" pills really did work.

Ok, I have mucho to say, but I'm tired and thought I'd say wassap and that I'm sunburnt. The end.

My first morning

2006-01-02T22:45:00.000-08:00

It's my first morning in Cape Town, and I could not ask for it to feel any more beautiful. The sun is pouring in, but it's not hot. The wind is nice and cool, dancing throughout the house. I slept like a baby last night, and at one point, I woke up in the middle of the night almost forgetting where I was. My roommate was the first to arrive at the house, and we have the only room with a shower - yeah! I could've slept for another day but my roommate woke up from the alarm clock in someone else's room. We need to get a clock. Last night, all of us went to dinner down the street at a really cute Mediterranean restaurant - I was just happy to not have airplane food. And my lambchops and french fries were delicious! The ketchup's pretty good here too.

Items I forgot at home:
- alarm clock
- shower shoes
- toothpaste, good 'ol American toothpaste

We have class in about 30 minutes, and everyone has been up and about. Some people are still recovering from jet lag. There are fresh mangoes everywhere from people's grocery store runs. The flowers smell so good. In the afternoon, Prof will take us to Table Mountain and the waterfront in the afternoon. Wee! Don't worry, I'll make the time to put up pictures and video clips soon!

Leaving.. on a jet plane..

2005-12-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

Eager. Anxious. Excited. Expecting the unexpected.

Bags are nearly packed and ready to go. I leave soon to celebrate New Year's Eve on a Boeing 757 towards a long, 24 hour in-the-air flight. If you would like a postcard from me, email me your mailing address. It's always nice to hear stories from back home too, so don't be a stranger and keep in touch!

My house mailing address:
6 Herschel Road
Observatory 7925
Cape Town, South Africa

And this is the house I'm staying in!

The adventure begins!!

So close, yet so far away: Real World South Africa

2005-12-02T02:41:00.001-08:00

The potluck with my Cape Town study abroad group at my apartment last night was awesome. It was the first and last time all 20 of us will meet informally outside our once a week meetings this quarter w/ our prof at school, and words can't describe the amount of energy pouring out of everyone in excitement. As peeps were departing we'd say "See you in Africa!" and then get all excited again in optimistic disbelief. I'm getting excited typing this! Estrogen high too - 17 girls and 3 guys will be living in a house together 29 days from now in Cape Town for three months. It'll be like Real World:)

My current wishlist for this trip:

Another swimsuit for the beaches we'll be visiting. And maybe some flip flops. Wish me luck since it's freakin' cold around here now. Mmmm 80 degree weather in January...
Digital Canon Elph SD400
Smugmug.com online photo album subscription
Mini iPod dock with European converter
Mosquito net for the bed. They love my blood when I travel.
To go on one last snow trip in the beautiful mountains around here before I leave

Cape Town in itself is a really developed city, once colonized by the British and Dutch and supposedly one of the best places to party/club in the world (ppl in Versace glasses and white linen pants bust it out). Unfortunately, this presents a problem when right outside the city are poverty stricken townships that were segregated from racism in apartheid. Society still classifies people as White, Colored, or Black, but the country is positively developing slowly into something phenomenal. All of this will be presented to our group, and take on different community engagment projects to understand something one can never learn in a book. We'll have three day weekends for ourselves and have chances to go on excursions (700 ft. high bungee jumping, waterfall rapelling, swimming with penguins, wildlife ranges, exploring the nightlife around our town, etc.)

The humanitarian (help, engage, admire and understand the people and issues) and recreational (explore nature/culture/life and have adventures) sides of me will definitely be head to head while I'm there. Looking forward to so much.

Did I already say I was excited?