ISP Weeks 1 and 2

Since my last post I've moved into my flat at "The Decks" in the city center with four other girls from my program, Lara, Carrie, Allie, and Liyah, and begun my independent study project period. Living in on Long Street has been great! We're a short walk away from grocery and clothing stores, the gym, and the train and bus station. We're also on the same street where all the nightlife is so when we go out for drinks and dancing we don't have to worry about calling a cab home. 
We've been in the flat for almost two weeks now and it's been quite the experience. I haven't had to share a room with anyone the last three semesters as I've had a single, so sharing a bedroom with two other girls that isn't completely closed off from the living room has been interesting. I've also been in charge of cooking for myself for the first time! Lara and I decided to try to save money so we've been splitting groceries and cooking together, which has been challenging but fun. We're definitely not master chefs yet, but we do make some pretty good guacamole, veggie stir-fry, personal pizzas! 
Between handing in our final assignments and working on our ISP's, my friends and I have tried to make time to have fun too. Last Saturday Carrie, Allie, Lara, and I spent the day at the beach with our friends Becky, Ashley, Carol, and Kelin. It was one of the last warm weekends of the season, so we tried to soak up as much sun as we can! As I was told by Lara's 10 year old sister from her homestay in Bo Kaap who was also at the beach, "Megan your stomach is white, white, white!" Clearly I need all the sun I can get!

Lara, Becky, and I at the beach

 The following day Lara and I decided to be tourists for the day and buy day passes for the double-decker city sight-seeing bus. The bus drives around Cape Town and has about twenty different pick-up and drop-off spots where you can get off to see the sights. Lara and I decided to stay on the bus as we had been to many of the spots already thanks to SIT, and had tons of fun riding around and seeing our city from the eyes of tourists for the day.

Lara and I on the sightseeing bus!

On Wednesday night after turning in my book review I joined my flat mate Allie and nine other girls from my program to see a show at the Baxter Theater Centre in Rondebosch. Allie is doing her ISP at the theater and has been able to get free tickets through her contacts. The show we saw that night was a one-woman show called "the List". Here's the description given on the theater's website: "Winner of the Fringe First for script (Edinburgh Festival) and the Canadian Governor General's award for a French-language play, The List is a compelling and masterfully crafted tour-de-force which tells the story of an urban woman adjusting to rural life. Increasingly isolated, she keeps her life in order by obsessively making 'to do' lists. When a friend requests a favour from her, she adds it to her list. The difference between remembering to do it and neglecting to take it seriously is at the heart of this moving story." The play was incredible! I was very impressed by the actress and enjoyed the story line, though it was very sad. Thanks again to Allie for getting us tickets!

"The List" - a one-woman show!

That's a quick update of what I've been up to recently! I hope everyone at home is doing okay in the wake of the recent tragedies in the US. You're all in my thoughts.

"The Danger of a Single Story"

Hey friends,

I meant to post this video a couple of months ago when we watched it during our first "Narratives of Identity and Social Change" class, but alas, time (and lack of reliable internet) got the best of me. Here it is now though! I definitely recommend watching it if you have twenty-or-so free minutes. Chimamanda's talk is about how only listening to a single story about particular place or person risks misunderstanding.

Johnny Clegg Concert

On Sunday April 7th, a group of us from SIT went to the Johnny Clegg concert at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. I had never heard of Johnny Clegg before, but my homestay coordinator Tabisa is a huge fan and SIT was willing to pay for our tickets if at least ten of us went so decided to go with my best friend Lara. The concert venue is incredible! The long slopping hill surrounded by Table Mountain on its left side creates a natural arena. Everyone sits on folding chairs or blankets and brings a picnic to eat while enjoying the show. Lara and I had originally planned to bring crackers, dip, and wine, but as we found out when we arrived at the grocery store, alcohol isn't sold on Sunday's. So we trooped off to our favorite restaurant  Cocoa Wah Wah, for chocolate vodkas and an Irish coffee, before grabbing a cab to the venue.
When we arrived at the show the grounds we completely packed! Instead of hanging out at the top of the hill behind a tree with the rest of the group we decided to go up and stand in the front with Tabisa. This was the closest I'd ever been to the stage at a concert and it was so much fun! Even though we didn't know any of the songs, Lara and I swayed and danced to the music with the rest of the crowd and pretended to sing along.
Being close to the stage also had other perks. Lara and I spotted a cute guy on stage who was in-charge of tuning Johnny's guitars and taking pictures for the band, and decided to stay behind after the show to try and get a picture with him! Raeven was very flattered that we found him attractive and exchanged contact information with Lara so the three of us could hang out later. Unfortunately we never got our picture or a chance to meet up as Raven had to fly to Qatar with Johnny and the band the next day, but it was cool to make a new South African friend.

the concert venue!

Johnny Clegg

Lara and I

Lara and sisi Tabisa, our homestay coordinator and friend

Here's the youtube video of one of Johnny Clegg's songs "Great Heart"

Bo Kaap: the Final Homestay

For my last homestay of the semester I spent twelve days living in Bo Kaap with a colored family. In South Africa the term colored is used to describe people whose ancestors were either cape slaves or Khoisan, or people of mixed race. The families we stayed with were Muslim and drew their ancestry from the cape slaves, whom were brought to SA by the British from islands and countries that touch the Indian Ocean. Bo Kaap is by far one of the most beautiful places to live in Cape Town. The community is built at the base of the mountain and the homes are painted in every color imaginable. While my family didn't live in one of the bright houses, our apartment’s balcony offered a breathtaking view of all of Bo Kaap, the city, and harbor. After living here for almost two weeks it is unsurprising to me that more and more (non-Muslim, non-colored) people are trying to move into this community.

This homestay was very different from my other three homestays, in terms of size and gender ratio; my other three families were small and female-dominated, whereas my Bo Kaap family had nine members, six of whom were men. Not only was I living in a male-dominated household for the first time in my life, but I also had older siblings: a sister and four brothers! All five of them lived in their parents’ home, along with my sister’s husband and their one-year old daughter, Zara. While that might seem strange to my readers back home, it’s not unusual for children to remain at home until they get married or even live with their parents in the early years of their marriage to save money to buy a place of their own. We also had four large fluffy cats who really liked to hang out in my room and sleep on my bed and legs. Even though our apartment was full of people, my family still gave me my own small room with a bed, desk, and closet to stay in. As usual I felt guilty to have my own space because it meant other family members were cramped, but I was grateful to have a space of my own to unpack, study, and sleep. The one big challenge of the week was bathroom time. There was only one bathroom for the ten of us, so my mom had to make a schedule for the mornings so that each of us got at least fifteen minutes to use the toilet, brush our teeth, and bathe. The rest of the day we had to fight for time to use the loo. While it seemed like a real hassle the first couple of days, my (real) sister Erin pointed out to me that it wasn't really that different from living at home as we only have one shower. I definitely learned how to be patient this week living in such a big household and sharing the facilities!

One of my favorite parts of the week was, unsurprisingly, the food. My mom made stews or curries over rice almost every night which were very delicious. I haven’t had much experience with curries before, but I found myself really enjoying them, even if they were a little spicy. My favorite dish was seafood paella over white rice – yum!

Another thing I enjoyed about living in Bo Kaap was our proximity to the city. Unlike my other homestays where I had to take a taxi or car to go to town due to distance and safety reasons, here I could walk, skip, jump, or run down the hill to downtown Cape Town. The closeness to the city definitely made weekends more enjoyable!

Here are some pictures I took while walking around the community with Lara this past Saturday.

I spy with my little eye, Lara!

my apartment building (top right, second floor)

view of the mountain and city from Signal Hill

It was bittersweet saying goodbye to my last host-mom yesterday, knowing that I was moving in to my own apartment with a group of four other girls from my program instead of in with another South African family. On the one hand, I'm going to miss meeting new people, gaining new lens through which to view South Africa and the world, and having someone to cook dinner for me every night. On the other hand, I'm ready to live on my own in downtown Cape Town, have the freedom to come and go as I please, and make my own meal choices.
Let the final segment of my adventure, known as ISP (independent study period), begin!

Gone Camping

panorama of our campsite by Lara

After our week in Stellenbosch we spent two days camping at !Khwa ttu, a San culture and education centre about 70km from Cape Town. The San people, also known as Bushmen, are the descendants of the first indigenous people in southern Africa. This group of hunter-gathers is comprised of many smaller tribes who speak numerous distinct languages from four language families (Ju, Khoe, Taa, and !Ui). Today there are approximately 100,000 San living in southern Africa, with 6700 of that number living in South Africa.

The goal of the centre is to educate the general public about the San culture and provide job training for San descendents. During our time at the centre our guides taught us about traditional practices, gender roles, and hunting and gathering techniques. One of the things that stuck out to me was the San’s sustainable practices. For example, if the men were out hunting and found an ostrich nest, they would take on egg, drain its contents, and use the egg as a water bottle. If the egg broke, the pieces would be given to the man’s mother, wife, or sisters to make jewelry. In this culture everything was used and nothing went to waste.

After dinner each night, which usually included eland meat, we returned to our camp grounds across the road. Our camping was very luxurious… camping was honestly easier for me than living in the rural village! Each tent slept two and was sheltered beneath a grass hut like the San would sleep in. Inside the tent there were two mattresses with blankets and pillows and a solar-powered light. Our camp grounds also had bathroom facilities, which included a toilet, sink, and shower with hot water. I shared a tent with my best friend Lara and we had a blast! One might even say that we had too much fun.

As always, I enjoyed my experience learning about another cultural group that contributes to the complex society I'm studying in called South Africa!

Lara and I on the tractor during our tour

learning how to identify animal tracks

some friendly zebra we spotted on our tour of the centre's land

Hiking the Helderberg: a Saturday in Stellenbosch

On Saturday March 23^rd, Allie and I woke up early to join our host-mom and her friend on a hike up the Helderberg Mountain, one of the smaller mountains in the mountain range in the Western Cape. The morning was cool and misty, which made for perfect hiking weather! The trail was a pretty steady uphill and rocky at some points which required climbing, but not too bad for two fairly inexperienced hikers like Allie and myself. The path wasn't very well marked so we lost our bearing at one point right before we reached the top. Mom suggested we stop for a tea break (yes, you read that correctly, a tea break) to hydrate and get our bearings, so we sat down on some rocks and enjoyed hot tea, biscuits (cookies), and grapes. After we finished, Mom went ahead a little ways to find the trail which actually wasn't too far from our resting spot. She let Allie and I lead the way so she could stay back with her friend who was afraid of heights. Once we came up out of the forest, we were surrounded by yellow wild flowers and a beautiful view of False Bay, Somerset West, and the surrounding valleys. It was hard to capture the view with my camera due to the fog, but trust me when I say it was breath-taking in person.

tea time

Allie and I almost at the top!

view from the top

After our hike up the Helderberg which took about three hours round-trip  Mom, Allie, and I spent the afternoon resting. I didn't get to rest much as I had three papers to finished that were due Tuesday, but I did get a chance to call home and talk to my parents which was great! Afterwards I joined Mom, Sanene, and Allie in the sitting room for tea, coffee, and homemade lemon meringue pie, yum!

Post-tea time Allie and I began our preparations for dinner. The previous evening our host-mom had asked us what food we missed most from home and Allie and I had responded at the same time: “macaroni and cheese”! Our host-mom isn't the biggest fan of our favorite dish, but she invited us to cook it for her and Sanene and change her mind. So Allie and I got a recipe from her mom and made a plan for dinner: macaroni and cheese, fresh salad (all our salad was fresh – our host-mom grew salad greens in her garden!), and garlic bread. And of course wine because we were in Stellenbosch after all. While cooking, we had to make some adjustments based on the ingredients our host-mom had on hand, but overall I think the meal turned out really good! I’m not sure we changed our mom’s mind but she did say that she enjoyed our meal.

Allie working on making the salad

Dinner is served!

Stellenbosch

Hello faithful readers! Sorry for the delay in posts… I've had four big assignments due in the last two weeks including my research proposal for my independent study project! Ah! I have two more papers due next week but after spending all Easter weekend on my proposal, I think I can allow myself a night or two off to catch you all up on my latest adventures!

We arrived back in Cape Town from the Eastern Cape around 6 am on Sunday, March 17^th aka St. Patrick’s Day (and Sarah’s 21^st birthday)! My friends and I spent the day catching up on emails, blogs, etc. at our classroom in Rondebosch in the morning before returning to the backpackers’ lodge where we were staying to shower and explore the city. That night for dinner the two Irish pubs were overflowing with people, so our whole group of 27 ended up eating out at two different Ethiopian restaurants instead. Talk about starting a new St. Patty’s Day tradition! As much as I would have loved to go out on the town afterwards to celebrate my Irish heritage, I went back to the lodge instead to rest my tired legs and get a good night’s sleep in a real bed!

The next morning we moved out of the backpacker’s and went to our classroom to re-pack our bags for our next homestay in Stellenbosch, a small university town about 45 minutes to an hour outside of Cape Town. For this homestay we were going to be living with white Afrikaans-speaking families – quite a change from our black Xhosa-speaking families in Langa and Tshabo! After packing, we were given a one hour Afrikaans instruction to learn how to say greetings and basic titles and then shipped off in the vans to Stellenbosch to meet our parents.

Stewart had mentioned that we would be having a briefing with the Stellenbosch homestay coordinator before we went to our respective houses. What he forgot to mention, or didn’t know himself, was that our briefing was being held at the botanical gardens at a classy restaurant with finger foods and local wine! Actually, there was no briefing, just munching and drinking while we waited for our parents to pick us up. Not going to lie, I went back for seconds… and thirds. Living in Tshabo with our four-five full meals a day had really expanded my stomach! Plus the food was delicious and who in their right mind would pass up on gourmet finger food?

After we had finished munching, Lara’s parents packed Lara, Allie, and I in to their car to bring us to Somerset West, the neighboring town where the three of us and four other girls from our program were living. All three of our initial responses were, “Wow it’s been so long since we’ve been in a car!”, soon followed by a whispered conference debating whether or not to buckle our seat belts (In Langa most our families had cars but no one buckled their seatbelts, typically because there were usually six or seven people squished into a four-five person car). We decided to observe Lara’s parents and follow their lead (our research method of choice here being participant observation – wow, you can tell I’ve been writing a lot of research methods and ethics papers!). Both simultaneously reached for their belts and buckled, so we followed their lead. The drive from Stellenbosch to Somerset West was pretty short, about 20 minutes. The three of us were living in the same suburb of large gated homes built on hill overlooking Somerset West and False Bay. When Lara’s parents pulled up to our house, we were immediately greeted by a large yellow lab named Sally and a long-haired dachshund named Java. Sanene, our host mom’s friend and tenant, met us on the porch in her wheelchair and after chatting with Lara’s parents for a few minutes, brought us into the house and showed us to our room - a large bedroom with a connecting full bath, queen size bed, and closet space! After living out of suitcases for ten days and not having a bathroom for 7 of those days, you can only imagine how elated we were. We dropped off our bags in our new room and then took a tour of the house and neighborhood with Sanene and the pups. Afterwards we came home and helped Sanene prepare dinner: oven-roasted vegetables and salad with greens freshly picked from the garden by Allie and I! As much as I’ve enjoyed trying new food, I was happy to have a healthy dinner that resembled something my mom would make for dinner at home. Just as finished, my host mom, Annie, walked in the door fresh from her late meeting. We introduced ourselves, thank her for welcoming us into her home, and exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes before sitting down at the table to eat and get to know each other. Annie is a widower with two grown sons who lived on her own with her two dogs and two cats, sisters named Biltong and Biscuit, until two years ago when Sanene joined her. She is also the head of a small NGO dedicated to helping families with disabled children and she told us a little about her business over food. My past two houses had been female-dominated so it was cool to be able to continue the trend with two sweet, hard-working women. When we finished dinner, Allie and I helped clear the table and then headed off to our room to unpack and hit the sack early – moving into a new home and meeting a new family is tiring business!

Sally!

Java!

During our week in Stellenbosch we met on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday for lectures at Stellenbosch University, an Afrikaans university and one of four higher education institutions in the Western Cape (there are only 23 universities in all of SA!). We met in the cinema each day for two lectures, one from 9:00-10:30 and the second from 11:00-12:30, and our lectures focused on university life and Afrikaans culture and identity. After a ten day “spring break”, I was eager to get back to classes and learn about another group that makes up this multicultural society. I was also excited to be on a college campus again! Don’t get me wrong, I love our small classroom in Rondebosch and consider it to be my home-base here in SA, but I miss being around people my own age and campus life in general. Plus we were allowed to use the university’s library which was a nice change from doing my homework on whatever bed I was staying that week (though if truth be told, I only went the library one afternoon and did all three of my assignments on my bed…).

Although I was happy to be back “on campus” again, I had to constantly remind myself that I wasn't back on my campus again. Stellenbosch constantly played tricks on my mind. For the first time since leaving the United States I was living with a middle class family in a predominantly white area and attending a predominantly white university; on the surface it seemed like a carbon copy of my life in the United States. Once I dove beneath the surface however, I realized that I was still very far away from home. Although the students and my host family resembled my friends and family at home, there were subtle differences. First, most people’s primary language was Afrikaans so their English was accented. Second, the Afrikaans culture was dominant in their lives. As a minority, this group of people is very focused on preserving their culture and language in the face of a changing South Africa. For example, many nights for dinner my mom prepared traditional food as a way to teach us about her culture. While sharing cultural foods is not unique to my homestay experience thus far, there was a lot more conversation about why these foods were unique to Afrikaans culture and stories about my host mom and Sanene’s childhood homes. We had many stimulating conversations about my mom and Sanene’s childhood homes, their lives during Apartheid, and life in South Africa. These conversations were different than conversations with friends and family at home because there were often racist undertones to some of things my mom would say. I tried to engage her in conversation about some of the things she would say, but those chats were often difficult for me to navigate. I know from talking to my peers that I was not alone in hearing ignorant comments and struggling with how to respond.

Another issue I struggled with in Stellenbosch was privilege and social inequalities. I had just spent a week in a four room house with no running water and limited electricity and now here I was in a four bedroom house with three full baths, an in-ground pool, and wireless internet. It seemed unfair to me that my family in Tshabo had so little while my Stellenbosch family had so much! Then I realized that one of the reasons I was so upset and uncomfortable was because this house and my family’s lifestyle reminded me a lot of my life in the United States. I immediately felt guilty and unsure of how to navigate my feelings. In an attempt to reconcile these feelings, I talked to my host mom about her privilege. She explained that while she feels guilty for having a large home and nice things, her wealth and role as the head of an NGO put her in a position to create jobs and give back to the community. The talk made me feel a little bit better knowing that my host mom was conscious of her privilege in South African society, but I still felt conflicted about my own privilege. It’s something I've been grappling with since my Social Inequalities class fall semester 2011 and something I think I’ll still be struggling with for a long time.

Although I had my struggles and some homesickness, I still enjoyed my time in Stellenbosch! I love being in a home with dogs and on a college campus again, plus going on a wine tasting was a really fun experience. Though I did find out when I got home the night after our wine tasting that you're not supposed to drink every glass of wine, just taste it then spit it out... oops. No regrets though!

Lara and I at our group wine tasting at Solms Delta Winery 

view from our front porch of False Bay