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.