It's just the strangest thing, I think I've seen your face somewhere....

March 25, 2011

It’s just the strangest thing I think I’ve seen your face somewhere….

                Last I left you our group was still in Stellenbosch. To end our time in Stellenbosch we took two wine farm tours. The first on last Friday afternoon was at M’Hudi; a black owned wine farm. It is definitely rare for a black family to own and run a wine farm. Unfortunately all I have to tell of this trip is that we sat and tasted about five wines and listened to the owner talk. I am not even sure what he talked about, he was all over the place. The wine was good. I am not sure I have a mature enough wine palate, like my brother, to say if it was great or not. Saturday, we went to Solms Delta. This tour I really enjoyed. We actually got to walk around and see the farm and learn about all the farm does and how it accommodates its employees. We then had a wine tasting where we were told about the wine we were drinking, so I learned a lot and then had a big delicious lunch. I really enjoyed Saturday but it was good to see two different farms as well.

                From Stellenbosch we finally went back to Cape Town for about two hours then headed west to !Khwa ttu. I really wish that I could hear people try to pronounce that name. Ha. !Khwa ttu is a cultural centre that helps educate the community and employ and train the San people. The San people are the indigenous people of South Africa and yet another culture. We were camping for the three days we were there. I was not excited about going to this place but as soon as we got there I loved it. I really enjoyed camping and learning about the San people. The stars were absolutely beautiful and it was cool to star gaze on the Southern Hemisphere. Also we had a campfire one night which is always fun. The San people like many other groups of people in South Africa have suffered a lot and it was refreshing to go to a place that was both educating the community about the San and also helping the San community.

                From !Khwa ttu we came back to Cape Town for good. Crazy I know. It had been 24 days since we had been in Cape Town for a full day. I have to say that I LOVED this excursion and ALL that happened on it but it feels really good to be back into Cape Town.  Last night we started our last homestay in Bo Kaap. Bo Kaap is I guess you could say the “colored” homestay. Colored under apartheid meant anybody of mixed race. Bo Kaap is a radiant area full of color (literally the houses are painted crazy colors) and liveliness. This area is also very much Muslim. The family I am staying with is a single mother with her four children. From the one night I have been there I can tell that there will always be something going on in the house. Different friends and kids going in and out. While my family is Muslim they are do not practice as strongly as some. This last homestay is twelve nights. I am sure I will learn a lot in those almost two weeks.  It will also be nice to be in one place for twelve nights. Almost two weeks in one place? Unheard of.

                I will be really busy in the next ten days preparing for my ISP; Independent Study Project that is a research project that consumes all of April. We research a specific topic or issue for the entire month and then compose a forty page paper at the end. During this time we live in apartments with other students, anywhere we want. I am really excited for ISP, I think it will be great but for now it is a lot of work looming over my head. Our proposal is due on Monday and I will spend most of my weekend working on it. My topic is going to be the relationship between Christianity and Traditional African Religion. It is very broad right now and I do not know a lot but I suppose that is the purpose. I am excited to start.

I think that is all for now. Still just living in a dream world. I hope that all of you are well whether you are starting Spring Break or ending or just enjoying the end of March. 

Miss and love you all.

Sala Kakuhle,

Keely

Sunset on the beach...bliss.

The Solms Delta Wine Farm vinyards

View from !Khwa ttu

Part of the !Khwa ttu Centre

More from !Khwa ttu

View of Bo Kaap and Table Mountain

A Street in Bo Kaap

If only I knew what I know...

March 18^th 2010

 If only I knew what I know....

                So I am very aware that the previous post was exceptionally long, not to worry I will keep this one shorter. I do want to say thank you for the responses I have gotten, I love hearing from you and it is so encouraging.  I hope that St. Patrick’s Day was fun for everyone!

                So after all of the excitement that happened in the rural village and in the Eastern Cape our group headed back to the Western Cape. We flew from East London to Cape Town and from Cape Town drove straight to Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch is about forty minutes from Cape Town and, like every other part of South Africa, is beautiful. The claim to fame for the area is wine. Stellenbosch is a predominantly Afrikaner area. Let me make a note here of the term Afrikaner. An Afrikaner refers to the white Afrikaans population of South Africa, obviously, but also a culture of people who is known for their rule during apartheid. Also note that there is a big difference between an English speaking South African (roots in England) and an Afrikaans speaking South African (More from the Dutch side).  Just as there is tension between the blacks and whites there is still a lot of tension between the Afrikaners and the English.

                So we went straight to a house in Stellenbosch to meet our third homestay family. Similarly to the previous, we were paired. This time I was with a girl named Olivia. We met our family and, yet again, I immediately liked them. They are a married couple with three boys. The father has a glass blowing company which makes scientific materials (i.e. lab equipment) and the mother is a former lawyer and has this year become more of a stay at home mom.  Their boys are 16, 12, and 10 and all of them are very involved in tennis and several other sports. The family is constantly busy with one thing or another. The family is not unlike my own in that sense. Just as my family was they are always going to some event for one of the three kids. They are a wonderful family and I loved living with them. The food has been delicious and they had the best coffee in South Africa. Overall it has been a low key week of hanging out with them and going to lectures.

                On our final night Olivia and I made dinner for our family. We made tacos and key lime pie. So simple but something our family had never had before. I love Mexican food so it was fun to share that with them. Buying ingredients at the grocery store was an experience in itself. You don’t even realize things that people would not have in other countries, like lime juice, sour cream, and pie crust. I was a little nervous that the family would not like our meal but as it turns out it was a big success. Hooray! Everything was delicious and they liked it all; at least they said they did. It was really fun to be able to cook again. All in all, a great last night.

Now that I have a moment I would just like to chat about less of what I am doing and more of what I am learning. So if you do not care what I am thinking, this is your cue to stop reading. Now that we are at the end of our third homestay and going into the fourth and final one and looking at our final project (which takes all of April) I am beginning to see how exhausting this program is. I have found that it is really challenging to be moving all the time and not just moving but moving into completely different cultures from week to week. As you can tell there are HUGE differences between groups of people in South Africa.  It is physically, mentally and emotionally draining to adapt from one to another in sucha  short amount of time. I am not by any means suggesting I wish I had not done this, I love what I am doing, but it definitely takes a toll on a person. I have also been thinking  a lot about the fact that I have learned so much but at this point am unsure what to do with all this information.  I really believe that it is crucial to do something with what we learn, otherwise there is no point in learning it. I can sit in classrooms around South Africa and experience some of the most surreal things but what am I going to do with it? At this point I still don’t know.

I know I have mentioned this before but staying with various families, all of whom have been great, has made me so grateful for my own family. They really are incredible and I do not know where I would be without them. So family, I love you and miss you!

Coming up in the next week, another wine farm tours, camping for three days, and headed into our next and last homestay. Stay tuned J

I hope you all are well and please please watch the Duke tournament games and cheer them on for me. It is killing me to miss March Madness, but not that much because I am living in South Africa and that is pretty incredible.

Sala kakuhle,

Keely

Sorry for the very random assortment of pictures but they are mostly from previous weeks but I still wanted to share them :)

Maddy Katharine and I

Maddy and I having fun at the Cape of Good Hope

Katharine and I at Cape Point

Maddy Kathrine and I

My firend maddy and I on the beach in the Eastern Cape

Me at the Afrikaans language memorial

Stellenbosch

Sunrise

my whole Tshabo family

From the wine tour we did this afternoon

All you need is love...

Blog 6

March 11, 2011

All you need is love…

What a week it has been since I last posted. Where to even begin? It is still so surreal to think of all of the events and places I have been and the things I have experienced in the past almost year. I am so grateful for this year. I will remember all of this for the rest of my life. You all may be sick of me saying things of this nature but I cannot even get over the overwhelming feeling of gratitude.

So the last full day in Simonstown we ventured to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. This area is known for being the southernmost point in Africa. What a crazy idea that I have now been to the most southern tip of Africa. It was incredibly beautiful and so crazy to stand in place where on one side you see the Indian Ocean and on the other side see the Atlantic Ocean. It was almost hard to fully comprehend but neat to see the different oceans and clearly be able to see that the desperate characteristics of each ocean. While hiking around  I could not help but be reminded of God’s vastness and the greatness of His love for us. May we all always remember that. The views were absolutely breathtaking and we saw ostriches just running around. So cool and kind of bizarre.  All in all a wonderful experience and another event on the list of things I will never forget.

Alrighty then, now to the bulk of what consumed my week; the rural village homestay.  As you may now I said I was a little nervous, in reality I was more nervous that I expressed. On the drive from the airport to the village I was trying to imagine what was ahead of me.  As we drove further and further from urban areas the road ceased to be pavement and became dirt. As we drove into Tshabo all of the mamas were there singing and clapping to welcome us, it is moments like this were nerves ceased to be and excitement took over. My host family was wonderful from the beginning. As Julia (the other student I was paired with) struggled to carry our suitcases across the rugged terrain we saw our humble blue rondival . A rondival is a home that kind of looks like a modern mud hut. It is obviously round and is a one room home. I have wondered before what it would be like to live in a one room house, and now I know. The house had electricity but not plumbing. It was kind of strange to walk in the door and look around to see the beds, the kitchen the living room, the closet, the TV all right in front of you. You may be wondering well where was the bathroom? And  how did you bath? The bathroom was a shack made of scrape metal and scrape wood with a big hole in the middle and a makeshift toilet seat made out of wood. If I can be blunt and honest, the bathroom made port-o-potties look nice. As far as bathing, I just did not bath for a week. Not really a problem at all. But the family uses a basin of water and kind takes a version of a sponge bath every day, in the house. Another major aspect of the rural homestay was the language. My family was actually fairly fluent in English, which was wonderful. There was still a lot of lauging to cover awkward misunderstandings and gesturing, but overall much better than anticipated.

The scenery of Tshabo was so beautiful. Not what I personally would have thought of for a rural African Village. It was so green with great views of endless green rolling hills. There were also animals running around all over the place. Not wild animals but chickens (that often wondered into the house), cows everywhere, dogs running about and lots of bugs. It was so funny to be in the front yard and have cows passing through and chickens running around your feet. Also a note, if I liked roosters before ( I am not sure I did), I do not like them now and vow that I will never own one.  

Okay, now on to my actual experience. As I mentioned my family was wonderful from the first minute we met. They were so welcoming and open to having two students stay with them. The house was always filled with laughter and love. There were a few times that my host mama mentioned that her life was a struggle and that she was suffering, but to me the family was the picture of love. They loved each other and Julia and I so well. Just observing the actions of the family you would never know that they were suffering. The house was always bustling with people. We lived with our mama, her two daughters who were 16 and 8, our mama’s sister, her two kids Phaphama 8 and Imange 14 months, and our older brother who was about 19. Yes, there were 8 people sharing a one room home. It was a lot of fun, we played so many card games and just spent time together.

I have so many stories from the week but I would like to share one particular one. My eight year old host brother, Phaphama (pa-pa-ma), loves soccer and plays every day. One day a large group of us went to a field and played an 8v8 soccer game. It is worth noting that only the American students were wearing shoes. It felt so good to play the game I love so much again with people who share the same love. Only for the purpose of the story I will share that I scored three goals, and yes, Coach Keidel two of them were low and wide. Phaphama was so happy and he said to me “Soccer. It is your favorite.” And I replied “Ewe” meaning “Yes”. He then told my host mama, his mama and my other host brother all about how we were on the same team and how I had scored the three goals.  It was so cool to see that despite the language barrier we bonded through a game we both loved. From then on we were much better friends and played many more soccer games together. Yet again, something I will never forget.

All in all the village homestay was very enjoyable and I learned so much about rural South African life. I intend to stay in touch with my host family from Tshabo through letter writing and look forward to continuing these new friendships.

We are currently staying at a backpackers lodge on the Indian Ocean on the eastern side of the South African cape. It is a really neat lodge and it has delicious food. This morning I had normal drip coffee for the first time since I have been in South Africa; compared to the instant coffee I have been drinking. It was just a joyous morning. Today we also went on a game drive.

A game drive is pretty self explanatory I feel. We went to a game reserve and got to see a ton of cool wildlife. We began the day by going to see the elephants. By seeing the elephants I mean that they brought the elephants to us and we got to feed them than touch them. It was fun to just kind of play and pet and elephant like it was a pet dog. They are such cool animals! They are surprisingly hairy and their trunks are insane but my favorite was to feel the tusks. After a delicious lunch we went to see the cheetahs. I was able to play and pet three different cheetahs. It was bizarre that they just sat and purred while we hung out with them. They we so beautiful and so calm. Incredible. Then after all of that we went on a couple hour drive around the park to see all sorts of wildlife. Ostrich, wildabeast, warthogs, giraffes, emu, a lot of crazy animals that I don’t even know the name of and of course lions. The lions are in a separate area for obvious reasons and as we eneterd the guide said “Don’t stand up or fall out because they will eat you and we will not be able to save you”. Always comforting. The lions were beautiful. It was crazy to be with wild lions and know they could charge at any moment. It was an awe-some experience. I say that in the literal sense that I was literally in awe the whole time. I am not usually an animal person but I LOVED it today! So remarkable.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of our third homestay in Stellenbosch. In this homestay we will be staying with an Afrikaner family. They will be a white family and we will experience a completely different side of South Africa. Our program is themed multiculturalism, and this is where we will truly begin to experience the many different cultures. I am eager to get a taste of another side of South Africa.

So many crazy things happening in South Africa and I am so happy to be able to share them with you all. I hope that you are well and that as spring is approaching you feel rejuvenated for a new season.  I also apologize for the extensive length of this post.

Miss you all!

Sala Kakuhle,

Keely

me next to a really cool tree

at the Cape of Good Hope

just a cool picture over the cliff

So  beautiful, the most south western point of africa

Yes, that is me kissing the head of a cheetah

and me feeding an African elephant

My host mama, little host sister and Julia & I

Just an ostrich on the side of the road

My home in the Village

Me my little host sister and Phaphama

 Cape Point

Together we will flow into the mystic...

March 1^st, 2011

Together we will flow into the mystic…

So I know that it has been a little more than a week since my last post and I apologize for the inconstancy but for the next couple weeks I will not be able to be very consistent, for reasons explained later, but after that I promise post more consistently. I am not sure if the previous is good or bad or annoying. Ha!

As I told you all before, I went to Robben Island last Saturday. I was really excited and a little nervous for the trip. I was excited to see such a big part of the history of South Africa but also nervous because I had heard our intense and heart breaking the prison was. Our tour guide on the island, as they all are, was a previous prisoner of Robben Island. Before we toured anything he told us of his story and how he made it to Robben Island. It was heart wrenching. To hear a grown man speak of being tortured and humiliated in ways I do not even want to repeat and to see him standing there speaking so somberly was an experience I will never forget. We then moved into the prison area. As I was walking up the board walk and into the prison I could not help but think of what it would have been like to walk that same walk going into prison for reason majorly based on the color of my skin. The prison was oddly just how I thought it would be. Cold and grave, this feeling was accompanied of stories told by our tour guide that made the whole trip very real. He told us one story of how his father was shot eight times based on the fact that he wanted to visit his son in prison. His dad has been in a wheelchair ever since. We were able to see and go inside Nelson Mandela’s cell. This was rushed because we were the only group allowed to go inside but still it was quite and inexperience to walk into such historical and sad place. Something that will definitely never forget. We then saw the rest of the island. Personally, I kind of didn’t even think there was a “rest of the island” but there is. There is a town where the prison workers lived; there are churches where people still to this day get married and a school. It was really weird to see such a normal life style in a abnormally dismal place. Overall I enjoyed seeing Robben Island and I feel so fortunate to have been able to go.

The rest of that day we spent at the beach relaxing and soaking in the hot African summer sun. Talk about a change of atmosphere. However, it was really good to just hang out and relax with my friends. We also had ice cream and it was exceptionally delicious that day.  

This past week was fairly uneventful; mostly just the same routine of class and living in Langa. On Friday we did do a “Journey of Remembrance”. This journey took us to District 6, the previously lively and multiracial community that was resettled during apartheid. We also went to Langa, which was slightly ironic because that is where we are living, but they did share stories of the struggles in the township that were good to hear. We were also able to see parts of the township we had not traveled to, this was the area that is shacks and a more impoverished area. WE finished out journey in the township of Guguletu. We heard here of the Guguletu Seven, who were seven young boys killed in a very shady operation. We were told of all the events of that day and how everything happened but I still do not fully understand how it all tied together and the ways the government was involved. It was really sad. Again our tour guide was a man who survived the incident. Many people are not even aware there are survivors of the incident. The man to this day, the event happened in 1986, cannot fully talk about what happened because it is too hard to re-live.  The tour was structured to take us to major historical sights of suffering and struggle. It was a very interesting and informative day and a reminder of what struggle this country and its people have encountered.

Sunday we had a party with our families from Langa to say thank you and good bye. I suppose I had really high hopes for the party but it was not as exceptional as I was hoping. Do not get me wrong it was an enjoyable time for us all to be together but there are a few things I would have done differently. They had a group of kids from Langa come in and play traditional African music, which was really cool and enjoyable. There was no dessert after the meal….disappointment. I am making this party out to be a total failure, but I assure you it was not, it was fun.

Which brings me to Monday morning, when I left my first homestay. I was actually really sad that morning. The family I stayed with was so wonderful and I loved feeling like I was a part of the home. I was really nervous going into the Langa homestay but, as it turned out I loved it. I am so grateful to that family for the way they welcomed the strange white American girl into their home. I loved getting to know my host sister; she is a friend I think I will have for a long time. I am really sad to leave Langa but I am really excited for all that is to come.

 Now that we have left Langa, we will spend three days in Simonstown. Simonstown is a small beach suburb outside of Cape Town. We are staying in a much nicer lodge than the previous train lodge. It will be great to have some time to just relax before our next adventure. Today (Tuesday)we will probably spend some time at the famous Boulder Beach and explore Simonstown. Boulder Beach is famous for the penguins. This morning I spent some time there and was able to swim in the ocean with the penguins. It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun!  Wednesday (tomorrow) we are going to Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape of Good Hope is obviously known for being the most southern point of Africa. Overall it should be a nice relaxing and fun couple of days.

After the three days in Simonstown we head to the Eastern Cape for our rural homestay. I have to admit I have very mixed emotions about this homestay. This homestay is seven nights and it is with a family in Tshabo that will speak Xhosa. I am so very excited to experience village life and see all of the cultural differences. I know there will be a ton of cultural differences between that and home but also between the rural village and Cape Town. I am nervous for the language barrier. There is a chance that the family will not speak any English and if the family does speak English it will not be very much. So hopefully my Xhosa pulls through. It crazy to think that I only started learning this language a month ago and now I am going to a place where I will have to speak it constantly. I have heard immersion is the best way to learn, and now I will have a chance to test that out. I am also just nervous for what is come and not knowing what to expect. I think, or hope, that it is normal to feel a little nervous.  We can expect that the family will not have plumbing in the house and there is chance that they will not have electricity either, but we will not know for sure until we arrive. I know that I am living with one other student, Julia, and that there is a five year old and a six year old in the house hold. I secretly hope that they play soccer. I also know that we will have a chance to do some beading and crafty things while there. I am hoping it will be a fun week.

So clearly , I will not have internet for until Friday, March 10^th. So know that I will not be posting a blog but I am doing just fine. Until then I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you all are doing well.

Miss you all very much!

Sala Kakuhle,

Keely

View from boulder beach

Penguin!

View from the train of Simonstown

My house in Langa

Guguletu 7 Memorial

Guguletu 7 Memorial

Street in Langa

Another Street in Langa

District 6

Road in District 6

Langa Houses

Table Mountain

Camps Bay Beach

Leproacy Graveyard on Robben Island

Nelson Mandela's Cell

Entrance to Robben Island

Courtyard in the prison

Nelson Mandela's window