Volmoed and ubuntu

Monday:

• My classes are being all sorts of switched around because my psych professor had a heart attack :(
• Obz cafe night, we had a larger group this week (Sofi's family was in town and her sister accompanied us). I think our waiter was new because I didn't recognize him from my past weeks of obz burger night, but he will come to know us soon enough.

Tuesday:

• My mission for the day was to run around campus and locate the new venue and time for my psych class. But I am proud to announce: not only did I actually find the psych department BUT I now know where the psych 3 notification board is! Huzzah!
• My new professor seems to really know what she is talking about, but she led more of a lecture than a discussion, so I think I am going to miss hearing about my classmate's perspectives on race. But we have a paper due next week regarding the famous Spear painting and whether or not the media is perpetuating racism. Good stuff.
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spear_(painting)
• I am really used to being in art classes where making the viewer uncomfortable and non-politically-correct discourse is encouraged, so it's really bizarre to be in a place that wants to limit expression, particularly artistic and political. I feel like I have gone back in time. 
• Our trusty bus broke down so I got to meander around campus with Jess Buck, Jason, and Kholeka and we all toured where Kholeka lives and works on campus. (lesson learned: the swimming pool is by far the warmest building on campus).

Wednesday:

• Ethics class. The professor liked my group's write up from the homework (talking about the gender dynamics of Islam), so she specifically asked us to elaborate on it. We're kind of a big deal like that.
• Some news from Africa! There have been many strikes and protests happening due to "service delivery" in that many people are without proper housing (hence the informal settlements) and the government has promised housing as a right for anyone that cannot afford it. It is even embedded within their constitution.
• http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Lawlessness-on-the-rise-in-SA-ISS-20120827
• Furthermore, there has been some tension with the mines and workers wanting fair wages. Most of the mining companies are internationally owned, and with the global market for such resources in question, it may be economically unwise to raise wages. So the question is: profit or just wages? One protest a couple weeks back led to the shootings and killing of 34 miners. More recent news says that autopsies have shown that most of the victims were running away when they were shot.
• http://www.iol.co.za/business/business-news/autopsies-show-miners-were-fleeing-1.1370093#.UDszz9aPXhc
• The political atmosphere is so interesting here. I feel like people feel more self-empowered than in the states, yet at the same time feel more strongly about the government. I feel like Americans like to grumble about politics but God forbid we all show up to vote.

Thursday:

• Service day.
• They are having a performance this weekend that I won't be able to go to! I am very sad about that :(
• The internet was down all morning so I folded programs for an hour with Lisa (the German volunteer) and we walked around Athlone and just sort of hung out. It was a very chill day.
• I have been thinking about the idea of Ubuntu a lot recently. I like the concept that we exist as we relate to others, and I feel like it could be a part of bridging the gap between the parts and the whole being greater than their sum. As far as I
   have noticed, there are applications for this view in almost everything, but I also feel like it may be a little simplistic. Does it relate to more than just humans?
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(philosophy)

Friday:

• We woke before the sun to go to a mass in town with Archbishop Desmond Tutu!
• He was the most adorable little old man, it was so great. He played a huge part in the post-Apartheid reconciliation era.
• We went to our service learning class, and I am getting nervous about all the reflections and work that is on the horizon. I'm not sure if I have accomplished enough to reflect on it yet, but Riverdale has taught me well, so we shall see.
• We have a weekend retreat to Volmoed, near Hermanus. It is up the coast two hours and is known as whale town! Volmoed originally meant place of courage, and we are going there to meet John de Gruchy, the author of one of our required reading books- Reconciliation: Restoring Justice.
• It was absolutely beautiful, I felt so giddy on the car ride there. Jason, Shatevia, and I got to hear Melikaya's life story of being a poor shepherd boy in rural Eastern Cape and then moving in high school to New York City. Talk about culture shock.
• Volmoed is so gloriously beautiful. It is half wine country, half deserty, with a little bit of pine forest thrown in. We took a sunset walk to the waterfall and climbed up the rock face. It felt like home.

• I am feeling so much closer to everyone since the retreat. It was great to get into a different setting and realize what a great community we have created. Although there is speculation that it is because all of us wenches have many manly traits and vis versa for the boys. But whatever the reason, it feels good.
• I would also like to announce that we all gave each other "fat names" (like Barge or BigMac, etc.). Mine is now "Spirit-fingers" which is a combination of my facebook nickname and the restaurant Sticky Fingers which is home to some of the best greasy, fatty food around.

Saturday:

• We met Mr. De Gruchy and he seems like such a swell chap. We opened our conversation with asking him about his perspective on reconciliation and other social and political matters of South Africa.
• He suggested that when we went into town that we should go to Anya's Mum's, a great coffee shop. 
• It was so adorable, we got some amazing chocolate-covered shortbread and Meghan and I knitted a bit on the communal scarves. Although Meghan told me she once knitted a stuffed zebra... I am going to need to practice.

• HERMANUS! It's a little coastal town, like Seaside, that is known for its whale watching. We saw a whale!!! We were standing on the cliffs and watched it swim right by us. There were also these critters that looked like giant hamsters that are called rock rabbits. The weather was quite bipolar, but we got some sprinkles, some high winds, and then some glorious sun.

Sunday:

• We woke up at 6 to go on a hike up the mountain. Watching the sunrise come over the hills was one of my favorite moments here so far. There was a giant cross on the top, and we could see from the ocean all the way across wine country. It was so magical.

• We saw baboons!!! They had been playing on the lawn the morning before, and we saw them out of the window during our meeting with John, and when we were hiking back, they were all up in the trees we were walking next to. There were some BIG ones, and lots of little babies! Apparently they can be rather troublesome, and I believe that because I saw them digging up the lawn and flipping up big rocks to find the bugs underneath.
• We met with Mr. de Gruchy again. This time we discussed Christian Humanism and got into neuroscience and how a lot of philosophies reduce people down to just parts (molecules, etc.) but how being human is greater than the sum of our parts, and what it means to be human from different perspectives anyways. It was pretty great.
• We were really sad to leave, it was a great retreat, and it was a nice getaway. Our drive home took us along the coast, but we didn't see any more whales. When we got back, I had this great feeling of homecoming that was really nice.
• It is good to be home.

Whadda Week

Here is the lowdown for this whirlwind:

Monday:

• My psych class got cancelled yet again. My professor had a heart attack! So that is no bueno, and we are probably switching class days to Tuesdays.
• Rugby practice has been changed around, so I am not sure if I am going to be on campus those days, but we shall see.
• Obz Burger night! only three more burgers for me to sample before I have tried them all!

Tuesday:

• I have finally caught the sick that has been circling the house. I started to feel gross on Saturday, but my tummy has finally decided that food is its mortal enemy. Today is a lay on the couch and watch Alias whilst I paint day.
• Hooked on Alias. So hooked.
• It is Meribeth's birthday, so I spent the day painting her some cheetahs. 
• We went out to Pancho's for birthday dinner! I split some awesome fajitas (that weren't really fajitas, but still scrumptious) and a burrito and we were all stuffed and happy and boisterous.

Wednesday:

• The excitement of the day came from a single bloke in Ethics class.
• We had a sub, last minute, because our professor was ill. She showed a movie (a Nineties, American, Public Service film) about masculinity and how perceptions of masculinity condone violence and whatnot. As soon as the movie was over, and the professor tried to get discussion rolling, this one gent raised his hand and went on for five minutes straight about how since this was an academic class, we should only be critiquing academic sources, and the video did not measure up to such. And furthermore, he didn't want us Americans to think that South Africa had such a huge problem with domestic abuse as the video made it seem (I should reiterate: the stupid thing was an American nineties film). After another bit of discussion, he loudly walked out of class. We were then all fortunate to be copied in his email to the professor, stating that he left because he refused to be indoctrinated by a substitute that clearly had no knowledge in the field and that clearly degrees don't mean competence. It was rather amusingly scathing. I am excited for the drama next week.

Thursday:

• Again, I was feeling rather sick, and stayed home. I got some reading and general work done, so that was nice. 
• It was a much-needed chill day filled with gloriously de minimis and trivial happenings.

Friday:

• In Service Learning we talked about priorities and how to begin the planning process, which is definitely going to be helpful with my service site.
• In Theology we talked about the similarities between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It was quite enlightening...
• After class, we took the train to Muizenberg again! Stuart had his friend Michael come home with us, so yes, we are socially competent. It was so beautiful, as always, and a great break from my tough week of being sick and sleeping on the couch.
• I decided to go to the ballet with Jessica Burkard and Jason. We went to the theater and they told us it was sold out. Bummer. BUT then we were discussing options (getting matinee tickets or saturday tickets, etc.) and this lady comes up and asks if we need tickets. I say yes, all three of us do, and she responds, "well, now you have one." and puts one in my hand. So I went to the show by my onesie and they got tickets for the following night. The real kicker is that it wasn't just ANY ballet. It was QUEEN AT THE BALLET. You heard me, Freddie Mercury as told en pointe. It was pretty darn good, I had a swell time.

SATURDAY'S A RUGBY DAY:

• We began our Saturday at the Old Biscuit Mill. I had some very excellent green curry, samoosas, and frozen yogurt. The place was huge! The picture just shows one section of it. Vendors everywhere with all sorts of scrumptious goodies!

• The SPRINGBOKS played today!
• It was the last game versus Argentina
• We won. No big deal!
• I purchased a wonderful jersey that I am going to wear as soon as I get home so that I can be the envy of all my comrades.

• We hung out in the beer garden before the game and met many new friends. One lady gave me and my buddies flag tattoos for our faces!
• Our tickets were for the standing area behind the goal posts, not the worst seats, I might add. We had made friends with a couple of South African blokes and they told us that if we looked like we knew where we were going, it would be easy to get to the top. It was. 
• The game was really fun to watch, it is much more of a kicking game than what we play, and we all had such a blast.

Sunday:

• My roomie, Mary Claire and I were in charge of family dinner this week!
• We made four potato bakes, and ended up having a whole one and a half left over, so I am going to have many leftovers this week. I was very sad that the sauce I used never set, but it was still tasty. We also made a bomb salad with carrots, mushrooms, pepper, feta, spinach, and love.
• Our video entertainment consisted of Shrek.

Islands

Monday:

• Psych class was interesting. I am still having a lot of trouble getting all of the cultural references (stereotypes and locations and whatnot), but I think I am catching on. 
• I tried to go to the girls rugby practice today, but it was cancelled due to rain (Boooooo! What wimps). But next week, I shall be there! At last!
• Driving in circles. Poor Pearnel (our driver) had to turn around so many times today it became so comical. Meribeth left her computer at home, then he had to come back to school for me because practice was cancelled, and then Jessica Burkard wasn't finished at her work site so we left and then came back for her.
• Obz cafe 2 for 1 burger night is still going strong! Stuart and I were the only ones to go this week, but the staff knows us. That's right. We are regulars. They even said that they will see us next Monday. What now.

Tuesday:

• Work site. Not much was happening, but I got a ton of reading done.
• The weather has been very temperamental. Some days have been gorgeous, tank top weather, and others I do not possess enough clothing to bundle me up enough. It has been getting steadily nicer though, but I am not looking forward to the winds that people say are a'comin.
• We have also met a ton of people, but due to the fact that we are all over always, we don't have very permanent friends yet, so I will keep you posted if our social skills improve.
• I have been cooking up a storm! And getting quite accomplished at it, if I do say so myself. 
• I miss pizza. Truly, I do.
• Pets, I am in need of more pets in my life. Although the cats here are ridiculously friendly and approachable. So that is nice. I also like the neighbor dogs.
• I am finding people's accents easier and easier to understand, but I still cannot for the life of me reproduce them. But I am working quite diligently on being able to do so.

Wednesday:

• The ANCYL (African National Congress Youth League) wanted to protest living conditions and sanitation among other things, so they had planned to blockade highways and make it impossible for anyone to leave or enter the city via highway. Here is the link:  http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/we-will-shut-down-cape-ancyl-1.1355605. Melikaya was telling us that if it seemed bad, then Pearnel couldn't drive us in the big bus because we would look like a public taxi and seeing as the taxi drivers would also be on strike, they would try to kill him. No big deal. However, the strike was called off, and only certain areas were affected. So that was good.
• Ethics class: we talked about groups and different facets of oppression. To demonstrate how fluid grouping people is, the professor had us stand up and move from side to side according to different groups (South Africans/Americans, boys/girls, wearing a hat/not wearing a hat, etc.)
• Hillary Clinton came and spoke about South African/American relations. I felt like it was rather vague and mostly fluff and the South Africans say that she said pretty much the same thing as every other politician. But it was still an experience.

Thursday:

• Today is National Women's Day. So we got school/work off.
• Robben Island! We have been putting this off for so long! It has been getting cancelled last second and we were so happy to finally get to go!

• It was an amazingly gorgeous day. Just absolutely stunning. I am in love with the ocean and the mountains. Despite the terrible things that have transpired on the island (it was a leper colony and then used as a prison for political prisoners), I think it has been one of the more beautiful places I have seen. The colors were just wonderful and everything was so vibrant. Despite the fact that it was a prison, all of the buildings had a certain element of beauty to them as well. The water here is so unbelievably clear; we could see right down to the ocean floor which was covered in starfish!
• On the ferry ride over, I made some friends. There was a group of 27 women from South Africa (very near to Zimbabwe) that had been touring around Cape Town for the past two weeks. They were dressed in traditional garb, but they were using beach towels as shawls! Their outfits were superb. One of the women started to clap and dance around on the boat ride over, so, naturally, I joined her and they all got a big kick out of that.

• On the return journey, one of the women beckoned me over to their group, and the one I had been dancing with gave me two of her bangles!! I was very flattered. She didn't speak any English, so one of the other ladies translated a little for me and I got to talking to them about Cape Town and their travels and my travels. And then one of the other ladies gave me one of her bangles! The translator lady said that she would give me one too, but my wrists were very small and hers would slide right off because she was a "big Mama!!"
• Animal sightings: sea lions, whale, penguins, tortoises, starfish, jellies!!!
• Waterfront wanderings followed. We saw some acrobats and tribal dancers. Then we ate at Spurs, the American wild west/native chain restaurant.
• Sofi's parents are here, and oddly enough, we ran into them as we were walking downtown to catch the public taxis.

Friday:

• First thing in the morning, we all piled into the buses and went to the airport to pick up Sophie! She has finally returned to us after a month of being in the states to deal with medical issues. We had a joyous reunion!
• We had our presentations on different case studies dealing with participatory development and our professor was quite impressed with all of them. My crew did a Norwegian case and then Brazil as a country.
• In theology we had a guest lecturer who spoke with us about the Kairos Documents. The first one was written in 1985 as a challenge to the church to stand up against Apartheid and proclaim that something was wrong. At the time, South Africa was about 80% christian, so the churches were the only groups other than the National Party that were not banned. As such, they held a lot of influence yet at the time just stood on the political and social sidelines. The second Kairos letter was written in 2011 in anticipation of 2012, the hundredth year anniversary of the ANC (African National Congress which is in power today). It applauded the successes that has been made, yet brought up certain grievances with today's issues. These included factionalism and distribution of wealth.
• Muizenberg! I took the train to this beach town with Sarah, Shatevia, and Jason. It was half blue-skyed beautiful, and half ominous storm clouds. We walked along the beach and took many pictures of the golden mountains bathed in sunlight. We then walked to an indoor market and I fell in love. Every stand had incredible smelling food from all over the world, falafels to cheesecake! I personally indulged in some butternut samoosas. We then walked back to the beach and watched the sunset. As we were approaching the beach, Jason yelled out that he saw something spout. Whales! Three of them! That was a really great surprise. We then decided to walk back to the market in which we ran into some friends of our housemate and his roommates. One of them had gone to high school with Shatevia and was in her graduating class! Crazy small world we live in.

• Sophie's return meant that we had to celebrate! We went out to Long Street and I had such a great hot dog, it was unreal. My roomie, Mary Claire had her purse pickpocketed, so she is out a credit card and cell phone. Although she got lucky because her debit card and iphone were in her pockets and not her purse. Shatevia almost had even worse luck. She lost her ids, money, credit cards, and atm card. But then these random girls came up to her and told her that they had been looking for her everywhere. Their friend had found Shatevia's things on the ground and they gave it all back to her! Ah, the kindness of strangers.

Saturday:

• Gloriously lazy day. Which was quite alright because there was such a glorious thunderstorm brewing. Apparently lightening and thunder is quite rare here, so we were lucky to see it.
• I am getting sick. But I am feeling proud of myself for holding out this long; everyone else has been really sick and I am the last to catch it.
• We had a braai at the house! A group of Fordham graduate students who are staying in Pretoria were touring around Cape Town and our program directors organized a "barbecue" for our two groups. They were all very interesting people, about 20 of them, and most of them were international (Philippines, Russia, Dominican Republic...). Three of them had previously volunteered for the Peace Corps, so we talked to them about their experiences (mom and dad, I'm getting ideas). 

Sunday:

• Lazy day round two!
• Family dinner was cooked by Sam and Maggie. They made a beast of a chilli and our visual entertainment consisted of Slumdog Millionaire. One of my personal favorites.

Wenches and Welps

This week in the life:

Monday:

• I walked to the Old Biscuit Mill, which is a market-like place, with Meribeth and Sarah. It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk. The market is really popping only on Saturdays, so there wasn't much to see, but we are definitely making plans to go back!
• Finally! Psych class!
• During class we discussed the difference between racism, discrimination, and prejudice. The professor was asking us about our definitions of racism and one girl made a comment about "non-whites" so he asked her to leave class. She told him that she didn't understand why, so he made her come down and sit on the table next to him and he explained that he considered the term "non-white" to be worse than a swear word. We are all something, we are not nothing and we should not be defined as not something. He even went so far as to say that if any of us used that word on a paper, it would be an automatic zero. It was quite a reality check for us all.
• Obz cafe night! It's turning into such a great tradition :)

Tuesday:

• Work site day
• I just helped out with some research around the office. They are planning a huge talent show as a fundraiser so I needed to find contacts of people that could potentially judge singing and specialty acts.

Wednesday:

• Ethics class. I was a little annoyed because the professor said since she didn't assign a summary of the reading, the lecture would just be an overview. I felt it was a little unnecessary, since I had actually read the articles, but such is life. We talked about why morality is or is not necessary.
• Worked out at the track again, but my shoes were hurting so I ran around barefoot and did some yoga and proudly upheld my "Americans are so weird" image.

Thursday:

• Work site day part two for the week.
• A new woman, named Angela just started on Wednesday of this week. She is supposed to be in charge of finances and fundraising, but she was telling me that she used to be a social worker. With that being said, she wants my help putting together programs on life skills for kids involved in the township outreach program. Finally, psych stuff.
• We went to a play because some of the folks I am living with are in a theater class. It was a 'campfire' play in that most of it came from audience members sharing their personal stories and the actors portraying it. It was a neat concept, but I felt like the stories were a little too

Friday:

• In my Community Development class we just discussed literally what we thought of the words "community," "development," and "community development." I guess that's a pretty good place to start. We were all supposed to do presentations on case studies of participatory development in different countries, but we didn't know that she wanted visual aids, so we are all making powerpoints for next week. 
• No Robben Island. We had planned to go today, but our program director went to pick up the tickets, and they told him he had just put them on hold and that they had already been giving away. So we are moving that adventure to next Thursday instead.
• Bo-Kaap! I went with Shatevia and Stuart to explore the Malay sector of downtown. We took the public taxi to get there, and I am a fan. We also checked out the museum there. There are a lot of Muslims in the area, and some gorgeous mosques. We checked out this great cemetery that had an incredible view of all downtown, from the mountain to the waterfront! We also saw a crested guinea fowl and it made the most obnoxious noise in the entire world!

Saturday:

• Saturday is a rugby day!
• We met some ruggers from UCT on Wednesday, and they informed us that there were to be games and general rugby festivities, so we went to go check it out. There were literally hundreds of ruggers and multiple games. It was great. I am missing rugby more and more. 
• I indulged in a light lunch of a quadruple-deckered pizza. I think God has a favorite pizza joint.
• We have discovered a place called Gandalf's. A LOTR themed bar. Your jealousy may begin now.

Sunday:

• More hiking and tree climbing shannonigans ensued 
• Family dinner night! We had orzo with chicken and oven roasted potatoes (not as good as at home, but nostalgic)! The film entertainment was Salt with Angelina Jolie. It was actually a lot better than I expected. 
• Seeing as everyone has returned from The Foot, I expect the courtesy of updates. No updates, no more blog posts. That is all.