South African Journeys: 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.