South African Journeys: You gotta stand for something or you will fall for anything....

You gotta stand for something or you will fall for anything…

I have to be honest and say that the first few days in South Africa have been a lot harder than I anticipated. I really feel that I was leaving for this trip snuck up on me and I was totally unprepared mentally. I am also feeling a little unsettled. Each day is getting better especially as I am getting to know the girls and one guy better.

Saturday we took a trip to a place near Johannesburg called Soweto. Soweto is a township that has now grown to a population of over 3.5 million people. As we were driving though you would never guess that many people lived there. I still cannot comprehend that many people living in the place we saw. We mostly drove around in the bus but we got out for lunch. We ate lunch at a buffet place. I was not overly impressed with the food. It was not bad just not my favorite food. I also had a cold coke, which was delicious as always. The restaurant was next door to Tutu’s old house and just down the road from Nelson Mandela’s house. After lunch we went to see Mandela’s house and to the Hector Peterson Museum. Hector Peterson was the youngest student shot in an uprising in 1976. Seeing the museum was just the beginning of learning the tragic history of South Africa.

Sunday we woke up and first went to the Apartheid Museum. The Museum was a lot of information about South Africa before, during and after the Apartheid Regime. I have to admit that I did not know much about the apartheid in South Africa. The museum was a lot of information to take in at once, especially on only a little amount of sleep. It was good to learn about the country I am living in. If any of you have ever been to the Holocaust Museum, it was a little bit like that. We then went to Market Street for lunch. This was my first experience really eating out at typical restaurant. It was really enjoyable. The food was good but the service was slow, typical and just like Europe. After lunch we went to a performance on Market Street. It was really cool to see a theatre performance here. There were definitely cultural jokes that no one in our program understood. Overall a good day. Monday was a day full of orientation and a lecture of the history of South Africa at Wits University in Johannesburg.

Tuesday, what an exciting day! We had a casual morning with an orientation session and then departed for Cape Town. Finally, Cape Town. I enjoyed seeing Johannesburg and liked learning about the city but was so glad to make the trek to Cape Town. We took a two hour flight to get here; flying as a group of twenty- seven was a whole new experience. Cape Town is beautiful. I always heard it was pretty but seeing it for real is a whole new experience. I have not even really seen the city but I already like it. We are staying in a lodge that is built around old trains. The rooms are in the train, kind of small but also very cool.

Wednesday we had the opportunity to explore the city of Cape Town. It is so beautiful. We had an assignment that required us to explore different parts of the city and navigate around. I had my first experience in a cab. The cabs are like a version of a fifteen passenger van and they drive on the side of the road and just honk and scream where they are going. When we got in the first one they were blasting Bob Marley. I loved it and I am sure Chad would have as well. At night we had dinner down on the waterfront and took a farris wheel ride over the city. What a great day. I have now seen the World Cup stadiums in both Johannesburg and Cape Town. It was so cool to see them. They are really abandoned now. I am curious to know if there is any future plan for them. Cape Town is interesting because it can feel very much like a European city or even like San Francisco but also there are parts that are still so poverty stricken. This country has a rich history that is very much alive. It is easy to see the effects of the apartheid and how some things have not changed but on the other hand it has made drastic improvements. Very interesting.

Today, I guess the biggest news is that I found out about my first home stay family. The first home stay will be in Langa; which is a township in Cape Town that is a Xhosa speaking area. My family is a woman who is an ex-teacher and now works for the City of Cape Town Municipality. She lives with her 26 and 22 year old daughters and her 86 year old mother. I am very excited to meet them. The first home stay (one of four) will be for three weeks (23 nights) and is the longest one. During this month I will be taking classes and living with this family. I am eager and nervous for it to begin.

Also today we had our first Xhosa class. Xhosa is one of the eleven official languages of South Africa. I guess what makes Xhosa a little different is that it has three different clicks that are a part of the language. I actually really enjoyed the first class. The language is phonetic which is so nice. I am really excited to learn it and hopefully gain a good knowledge, especially seeing that our second home stay is in home where they only speak Xhosa.

IT has been one long and hard week but it has also been great. I have already experienced so many cultural differences and emotions. I am excited for the rest of the journey to get going. I know that it has been very cold at home but I am happy to report that it has been so hot here! It would be perfect if it was ten degrees cooler, but I cannot really complain.

Sharp,

Keely

Sea Point