Time flies but your the pilot....

April 29, 2011

Time flies but you are the pilot…

                All week I have been pondering what I am going to write a blog about. I even considered not writing at all this week. So for those of you who were looking for a break from my scarily regular blog posts, my apologies. However, you only have to put up with my rambling on about my life in South Africa through this post and one more. That is right, two posts left before I will be back in the comfort of the Colorado Mountains. Back to my post this week. Nothing happened this week thus my contemplation of not writing. All I did was work on my project, had a wonderful Easter, and worked on my project.  Obviously I decided against not writing and am taking the advice of my wonderful mom. She suggested that I write not necessarily about what I did but take a more introspective approach and speak a little to what I am learning. So here goes it.

                For good or for bad, I have already reflecting a little bit on my trip to South Africa. I think this is due to the very real thought of going home. I have learned so much in this trip. I have learned a lot about South Africa, about myself and I have already taken a turn for the corny and cliché. It is even more unreal to think of myself back in September before I left for Ireland. I am getting carried away. This trip has taught me a lot and the rest of this post will consist of my sharing some of the small lessons I have learned in big ways.

Cherish where you are in life and make the most of it.  The first weeks here were very hard for me. More than anything I wanted to be back in Colorado with my family. I questioned my decision to study abroad twice all the time and worse I questioned my ability to make it through the program. What a miserable way to spend time. Regardless of how green the grass may seem on the other side, you are not on the other side. My mind was set on summer, I had to face the fact that I was going to be in South Africa for four months and I was not about to be miserable. Then I wanted to slap myself silly when I realized, I AM LIVING IN SOUTH AFRICA! What and incredible opportunity! And arguably one of the coolest experiences ever. I have not visited South Africa I have lived in a township, a rural village, wine country, in Bo Kaap, and in downtown Cape Town. That is unreal. Now I can see that going abroad twice was one of the best decisions of my life. Not that this has changed my looking forward  to summer at home, but more in the past two and a half months I have cherished my time and taken advantage of every opportunity. For some reason I think this is a lesson I will use again in my life.

You do not always have to have the answers to everything.  As a group of Americans on the program we have spent literally hours discussing the issues and realities of South Africa. We have studied race, poverty, politics, culture, religion, on and on.  We debate (I hate debating), discuss and rarely come to a clear answer. I do believe that many of the issues we discussed do not have easy answers or they would not be issues any more.  All of these discussions that went in circles and other experiences in my life led me to the idea that maybe we do not always have to have the answers. Maybe it is more about living the best life you can. I have now come to the conclusion that I do not want to know too much and I definitely do not want to think I have all the answers; cause I don’t and I never will.

 It is helpful to learn to go with the flow. They say that when you study abroad you learn more about America than you do about the country you are living in. I am not sure how valid that is but I have learned a lot about America. One thing is how time oriented we are. Everyone in our program, including me, was ALWAYS asking for the schedule for the next week or trying to figure out what we were doing, where we were going to be and what time we would be doing it. Not that this is terrible, it is how our society works. However, after a few weeks I learned that it is better to go with the flow. Let things happen. I am not saying sit back and let life happen to you, but I am saying in most if not all situations I have encountered it is better to be low maintenance. High maintenance people piss everyone off. J

Live simply and love well and laugh often.  Okay besides being a really corny saying that belongs on a picture frame or ugly sign, the latter statement holds a lot of truth. I have found that the simpler I live the more I get out of life. I think we try to complicate everything and I don’t think that is good. Love well. To quote the marvelous Beatles “All you need is love”. Love makes the world go round. It turns out all of that is true. I also think the people I know who love well, live well. Love is at the core of all of our being and there is no sense keeping it inside. Laugh often. I remember in seventh grade English class Mrs. Mac (here is your shout out Mrs. Mac!) shared a quote that said something to the effect of laughter bringing people closer together. That all sounded way better in my head. Moving on. The best memories often include laughter. I really think laughter heals and some of my favorite memories of this past month have been the times when the five of us flat mates have just laughed together. There is just something so wonderful about sharing in that pure joy with friends.

Relationships matter. Which brings me to relationships. If I know anything that matters in life it is the relationships you have with people. Friendships, marriages, dating, siblings are things to invest time into. To prove this theory I can tell you of my friends from Ireland and from South Africa. I have spent three months with each yet have developed what I consider deep and meaningful friendships with them. I can attribute this to cool people and the fact that we have spent and intense amount of time together. Also in a good way been forced to invest in one another. I know that these friendships will last for far longer than the program or the souvenirs.

God is good and He is everywhere. This sounds like something you learn in Sunday school but here I am 20 (21 next week!) years old and still learning. In doing my project on religion in South Africa I have read a lot of sad things about what has happened but also still can see God’s goodness prevailed.  There have also been so many times in everyday life where I find myself thinking “God is so good”. He has proven to carry me through challenges I never knew I would face. I am surrounded by people here who do not believe the same things that I do but have seen God’s greatness in them in ways they will never know. It is a beautiful thing. I have also traveled the world and have not found a place where God is not, so until further notice God is everywhere….how freeing and comforting.

So maybe these “little lessons” of mine are common knowledge but I have learned them in a new way since being here.  I am sorry if I just bored you or was far too cheesy but just some thoughts to leave with you this week. My project is coming along. I will finish early next week. We also move out Thursday. I have a big week coming up but am glad I was able to take a little to reflect on what I have learned. Not to worry you teachers out there, I have learned a lot academically as well. What a wonderful opportunity I have been given here.

Alright this has gone on long enough. I hope summer’s approach is coming with excitement for you all, I know it is for me. Have a wonderful week and sala kakuhle.

Miss and love you all.

Until next week (my birthday),

Keely

My flat mates and I..yep I am the dummy who can't jump on time

Being foolish at the  rugby game

In our flat :)

The five of us. From left to right Nora, Katharine, Tyra, Me, Maddy

Just in case Katharine reads this...thanks for the pictures:)

The more I see the less I know...

April 22, 2011

The more I see the less I know…

Another week has come and gone and here I am again writing a blog post with little to say. I am sorry if these posts are getting a tiny bit boring. I am not sure if this is due to my writing or the fact that I am not doing much these days. Either way, you have my apologies.

The four girls I live with and myself decided to make use of ourselves and go to the Old Biscuit Mill last Saturday. The Old Biscuit Mill is one of the places that I was told to go to before leaving Cape Town, I just had not done so.  Not knowing what to expect but really hoping there would be biscuits there (I love me some biscuits!) we found a taxi to take us to the mill. It was a really windy day in Cape Town but that did not stop us from fully enjoying what we saw. The Old Biscuit Mill is kind of like a giant farmers market. There are shops that are permanently there but also every Saturday a food market is set up and also other little market-y booths. It is a very….I am not sure how to put this. I guess a very uppity hipster place. It was good fun. The food there was delicious. Unfortunately not a biscuit in sight. Instead I had a coffee, a crepe with ham cheese and egg, and got a sandwich to go.  It was fun to shop around at all of the little boutiques and just to hang out as a group of friends.

In other news at the Old Biscuit Mill, I met a distant cousin of mine. Yes, that is right. I knew that this guy, Garrick was going to be in South Africa at the same time as me but I had not met him yet. Back in December or something, my Uncle Ted and Aunt Sharon mentioned that Garrick was going to study abroad in a different program but that we are somehow related through my Uncle Ted. It was just by chance that I ran into him at the Old Biscuit Mill. I had no idea what he looked like but he is also friends with another girl in our program. So we met and established that we are distantly related, I am not sure how really, but we settled to call each other cousins. All that confusion to say I met a distant cousin of mine from Chicago at the Old Biscuit Mill. Crazy and cool. Thanks Aunt Sharon and Uncle Ted!

For the first time since being in South Africa I was able to go to church last Sunday. I went to a Methodist church about twenty minutes from our flat. I was able to both be at church for me personally but also use the time there for my research project. Double bonus. It was so wonderful to be back in a church environment. The service was very interesting, it was interesting to hear the history and social aspects of South Africa come through in the message. It was such a terrific way to spend Sunday morning. Being in that church also made me very excited to go back to my church at home.  Then in the afternoon we decided to go to the beach. Sunday morning church, Sunday afternoon ice cream and the beach; not a bad day in any way.

Monday was not a bad day, not a good day but a very weird day in which I had to face reality. I registered for my fall classes. I know have my housing assignment and my classes for Wofford in the fall. I am taking Abstract Algebra, Disctrete Mathematical Models, Probability and Statistics, Digital Photography, Science and Religion, and Old Testament. The weird reality I had to face was that I indeed have to go back to school in the fall. Being gone for so long I kind of forgot that I would go back to Wofford when it was all over. I guess it is not really a bad thing but more just a weird realization to come to. It is real and official; I am going back to school. I suppose I could not travel forever; which is unfortunate.

Back to my time in South Africa. My research project is coming, slowly but surely. I am at the point where I have to start making sense of the information I have gathered. I still have interviews to conduct and several journal articles to read but I finally am getting a grasp on and a direction for the final paper. Crazy to think in two weeks I will turn in a fifty page paper.

I hope that you all are finding a joyous way to celebrate this Easter weekend. What a glorious weekend of hope. I hope that you all are well and that spring is treating you well.

Miss and love you all!

Until next week,                                                                                                   

Sala Kakuhle!

Keely

Dreams are more than bedtime habits...

April 15, 2011

Dreams are more than bedtime habits….

Alright so I am not sure why but I thought it would be so much easier to focus on school work than it actually is. It is not even that I am not interested in my project, because I am really interested in the topic. I think I have just become much better at playing than studying. I am going to need to get over that really quick because April is now half over and I still have fifty pages of paper and research to do. Oh my.  So let me tell you this week how I played around Cape Town…

Saturday, Maddy, Katharine, Andrew and I decided to go to a local rugby game. Now, I know nothing about rugby, but because it is a big sport here we thought it would be a cool and fun thing to do. We were right. It was a blast. We went early to get our tickets and walk around the stadium. There was the South African version of tailgating all around. It was so much fun. We enjoyed having lunch there and just watching all of the crazy rugby fans. The actual game was also very enjoyable, I feel like I learned a lot about the game (but I still don’t really understand it) and it was very interesting to be able to see that culture. We were in the standing section (i.e. the cheap section) but then Andrew paid the guard ten Rand to let us sit in the bleachers in front of the standing section. As it turns out you are supposed to be under seventeen years old to sit there. So the four of us sat in the kiddy section and it was fabulous. If I may just note at how crazy ridiculous rugby is…I wish I was tough enough to play.

Sunday, I spent Sunday lying on the beach reading my book and listening to music. Absolutely wonderful.

Wednesday, Maddy Katharine and I decided it was time that we hike Table Mountain. After spending two and a half months here looking at it, it was time to conquer it . We woke up early and took a taxi to the base and headed up. The trail we took ended up being pretty much just a a giant rock stair case. I have to admit that climbing a mountain via stairs is not really the ideal trail. Staircase aside it was a good hike. As you will see in my pictures it was a cloudy day on the mountain. It is hard to describe but the clouds kind of flow over Table Mountain. Kind of like a river flowing over rocks in a river. It was really cool to be in that. At one point we stopped and turned and watched the clouds move over the mountain covering the face of the mountain like a veil.  Like I said, it is hard to put into words but it was something like that. When we made it to the top it was so cloudy we could not see anything. Thus, we did not spend much time up there. When we returned to our apartment we ate some lunch and spent the afternoon lying by the pool.  Great day.

So I know you all are really concerned with my project and my lack of work. I will put your mind to rest by telling you I did do some work this week. First, I found an advisor; my meeting with her was extremely helpful in giving me a direction to run with my topic. After the meeting I felt I had a much better grasp on what I need to do.  Then on Thursday I had my first interview. My interview was with a minister at a church in Gugulethu. Gugulethu is another township outside of Cape Town. So I headed there and met with the man picking me up. I had the interview with the minister with ease. We spoke for about an hour and I gained a lot of perspective from him. He then insisted I spoke with two other people in his office. My one interview turned into three very helpful interviews, wonderful. It was a very successful day. I suppose I have a start on my project but I still have a tone of research and reading to do. I do not fear I will not get it done, I know I will, it is just a matter of when.

The weather has been fantastic here still. Sunny and warm without being terribly hot. I am glad for this because I heard it was supposed to be rainy in April, crossing my fingers that it will hold out for a little while longer. I have loved laughing and spending time with my roommates and exploring this great city in more depth. In other fantastic news, we have a coffee pot in the apartment and I found quality coffee beans. Put two and two together and I finally have a great, simple, delicious, cup of coffee. I believe it is important to find joy in the simple things in life.

Hopefully next time I will be able to report huge accomplishments on my project. Until then I hope you have all have a terrific week! Miss and love you all! Thank you for sharing this journey with me.

Sala Kakuhle,

Keely

Clouds coming down

Cloudy Mountain

View from the top :)

Clifton Beach where I spent Sunday

Bottom of Table Mountain

The cover of the night with diamonds in the air....

April 8^th, 2011

The cover of the night with diamonds in the air…

I think my last post may have been a little bit on the negative side. That is how I was feeling at the time but I am happy to report that this week has been a good week and I am feeling better overall. The end of my Bo Kaap homestay was good. I was really excited to move on from moving around and be in one place for a significant amount of time. The last times with my family were great. Looking back I had some great times with my Bo Kaap family. They were really nice to me and I learned a lot about the colored and Muslim communities in Cape Town. I was a bit negative about them before, and they still stand as the hardest homestay, but I think I was a little unfair before.

Moving on, Tuesday morning we packed up our suitcases and headed out of Bo Kaap to all of our various ISP accommodations. I am living with four of my good friends from the group. We had a little (by little I mean a lot) of drama among the group when it came time to decided who was living with whom. I guess that is to be expected with 23 three girls. When all of that settled the five of us we busy scurrying for an apartment. By Monday, yes the day before we moved in, we signed for an apartment for one month.  The concept of finding a fully furnished and equipped apartment for one month the day before moving in is strange to me but I am not complaining.

Our apartment is right in downtown Cape Town. It is a two bedroom two bathroom apartment with a fully equipped kitchen. The complex has a gym and pool and laundry for our use. It is really nice and I really am happy with our find. We moved in on Tuesday morning and I was able to unpack my suitcase for the first time since I packed at my house on January 26^th. It was the best thing ever! We also have been able to cook for ourselves. Shower in a place where not twenty five people are showering. Have my own space.  It is the simple pleasures in life.

This month is not just a free time to hang out though. I have this massive research project to do. I have decided to do mine on the relationship between Christianity and African Traditional Religion; specifically among the Xhosa speaking South Africans and how this relationship manifests itself in daily life. All that mumbo jumbo means that a lot of the black South Africans would claim Christianity as their religion but still practice a lot of traditions and rituals from African Traditional Religion. I am curious because I find it weird that it seems people are picking and choosing from two religions. We will see how the whole thing plays out. I think one of the major challenges with this will be to get motivated to work on the project and not play around Cape Town.

 It is so surreal that I will be in Cape Town now for only about 35 days and then I will be home. I have been planning and looking forward to this year abroad since I was a freshman in college. It is really strange to think of it as coming to an end. I feel like I am at the beginning of the end. I am going to do all that I can to thoroughly enjoy and cherish this last little bit and not dwell on the small amount of time I have left. 

I think that may be all for right now. I hope that all is well at home!

Miss and love you all!

Sala kakuhle,

Keely

The Kitchen in our Apartment

My room in the apartment

View out of our window

Another view out of our window

Sunset

Another shot of the sunset

We are in the same room just a million miles away....

April 1^st, 2011

We are in the same room just a million miles away….

Alrighty- well it is time for another post. How terrible is it that by the time Friday comes around I have forgotten what I wrote in my last blog post? I contribute this to the massive amount that happens in each week. First I am sad to inform you all that I have not been feeling great these past few days so this might be a not so good post. Not to fear mom and dad, it is nothing serious and I will rest this weekend and take care of myself. I suppose if I had to choose a broad topic of this week it is our last homestay in Bo Kaap.

                 I believe that I briefly touched on this last week but let me tell you there is much to tell now. I have had so many of what SIT would call “cultural experiences” in this homestay. This family is different than any other family I have stayed with. They are all running around busy all the time. Saturday most of the family went to a two year old birthday party for a nephew of my host mother’s. It was good; I was able to meet another exchange student from Norway; which I loved Norway so I loved talking to her about it. Saturday night my host mom, little brother and I went to a festival that was happing in Bo Kaap. Here we had delicious braai (do not know if I have explained that is like barbeque) and listened to the music and comedian MC. All of the music was local talent, which is way cool. I could not understand the comedian most of the time because he spoke in Afrikaans. We were standing to the side of the stage and probably ten rows of people back. The comedian at one point stopped his routine and looked right at me and said “Where are you from?” It was so obvious that I and my strawberry blonde curly hair did not fit it with the majority Muslim population. He proceeded to make some US jokes and then in Afrikaans said he was going to talk about me all night because I would not understand what he was saying. I only know he said that because my host mom told me. I think this was funny and took no offense at all but it was still very awkward.

                Sunday, we were meant to go to a traditional prayer meeting, where I would have to dress in appropriate clothing for a Muslim woman (i.e. dress to my ankles and head scarf). As it goes my family is often late and we only made it to the party for the part at the end where they eat; which I am totally okay with. The food was great. I did wear the dress and had the head scarf but did not wear it, it was all black and I kind of looked like I was a ninja. J  It was a great cultural experience.  Then last night we went to another prayer meeting. This time I did not have to wear the traditional dress but we were on time and I was able to see the whole thing. The meeting was not as uncomfortable as I anticipated. Obviously, all of the prayers were recited in Arabic so I understood…nothing. Also the night ended with enormous amounts of food.  I am glad I was able to get to see a prayer meeting actually happen.

There have been many times where I walk into a room full of people and I obviously stick out. I am getting used to it by now but it is still a little weird. I have learned a lot about the Muslim and “colored” cultures in South Africa. I have to admit that this is definitely my least favorite homestay. I am not sure it is appropriate to say that but I am just being honest. My host family is SO nice to be and I greatly appreciate them accepting me into their home. I think the one thing that is really hard is that three of the five people in the home smoke. And yes, they smoke in the house, all the time. It kind of grosses me out but I can deal with it. I am learning a lot in this homestay about adapting and just going with the flow.

ISP starts next week on Tuesday. As of right now my four friends and I do not know where we are living. This may stress some people out but I am not too worried about it. It will work itself out….hopefully. It is blowing my mind that I will be home from my year long adventure in six weeks. Whoa. All the more reason to cherish everything I can.

Happy April to you! Have a wonderful week. Miss and love you all!

Sala Kakuhle

Keely

All of the pictures this week are just more pictures from the Bo Kaap area....