Cast Away...in 19 days

I just got back from my doctors appointment! The doctor said that I'm healing really well, and pretty fast. Apparently my bone is "sticky" which seems to be a good thing. My spring break is only three weeks away, and I was scared that my foot would still be in the boot for my trip...but it turns out that my foot will be healed in 19 days!!! Thats about five days before I leave for my trip. PERF!

I'm feeling really good about this; I can't wait to be able to move around freely again, and it looks like it will be soon.

Classes

I realized that I haven't written much about my what classes I'm taking, whether I like them or what the academics are like at the University of Cape Town.

I'm taking three classes at UCT:

1. South African Politics II: I really like this professor, but I'm struggling a little because I don't really have a background in South African politics. This makes it hard to understand many of the examples.

2. Policy and Administration: This class focuses on implementing policy and the prof is specifically interested in policy disasters. We're looking at case studies of South African policy so I'm facing a similar problem of having to play catch-up in this class, too.

3.Medical Anthropology: This is probably my favorite class so far! The professor is amazing and a self described Marxist--most of the professors here don't really engage in a dialogue with students, but she does. There is, of course, a focus on South Africa in the class too, but I feel more comfortable with her teaching style and less confused by what's going on.

All of these classes are held in large lecture halls; I find I'm missing my small, sheltered classes where I get to discuss the reading with the professor. Its a little frustrating because its not the learning environment I've grown used to--the only time we discuss and interpret our readings are in small tutorials, which are basically TA sessions. I would say my first couple of classes have left me generally confused about when things are due and what reading to do for which class, but hopefully this will all clear up in the next few sessions.

In addition to these three classes, I'm also taking my class with the other Trinity students, which is tons of fun. We meet once a week for dinner and discuss our reading; there only five Trinity students so this is a nice break from the lectures. Plus, the class includes delicious food and wine!

Kirstenbosch, again

So, my blog has been a little stale these past couple days. With classes starting, things have been a little more hectic and there's been less time for blogging!

Last night, I went to a concert at Kirstenbosch. This time we also stopped at the bar before our picnic, which was a nice addition. Again, I wasn't overly impressed with the music, but I had a good time. And, I remembered to bring my camera.

Carded at the polls

Recently, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments about an Indiana law requiring that citizens present valid ID to vote. It appears that the law was aimed at keeping immigrants from voting, but this interesting article points out that there are serious implications for college students, too.

As a college student who loves to vote, this was of particular interest to me! The article questions why the government would make it harder for citizens to vote; I couldn't help but agree and further question why they would target a group of people so often criticized for not voting. Young people want to be part of change and have great vision for progress--isn't it the duty of the government to remove obstacles so the voting process is as fair and easy as possible? During a time with such excitement around politics, particularly on college campuses, its important to reflect on how a law like this can effect the democratic process in more ways then we expect.

"Carded at the Polls"

asleep at a bar

I've been trying to push myself (and my foot) to go out more; I don't want my foot to keep me from having fun. So, the other night I was excited to go out with some of my house mates to see a folk singer in bar. The bar is called the Armchair, which seemed promising because I figured that would mean I could sit down. When we got there, I found I was right--there were several couches and chairs. I grabbed a seat right away.

However, I think these couches may have been too comfortable because I fell asleep as I was listening to the music!! They performers were pretty good, but I think the combination of a dark room, a comfy couch, a beer, and my habit of going to bed early led to this little nap. It turned out, though, that I was not the only one to fall asleep at the show; the two girls sitting next to me also enjoyed a nice rest.

For those of you in my family, I think this a clear example of the Glover Disease--falling asleep early while reading, watching tv, and apparently listening to live music.

Grammar 101

I just thought I would post this fun article about the use of semicolons. I'll definitely be conscious of my use of semicolons after reading this article! Sooo, check it out.

Celebrating the Semicolon in the Most Unlikely Place

Ostrich

My sister, Emily, often tells me about the wonderful ostrich she ate when she studied in Cape Town; last night I finally got my chance to try this exciting, new meat. Emily was totally right--it was great! For those of you who haven't had the chance to try it, it's pretty tasty and reminds me of a mix between steak and chicken. I would totally recommend it.

I went out to dinner with the other four girls from Trinity last night, along with our professor for "Imagining South Africa." That course is just the five of us and we meet once a week on Monday for class and dinner. We read something for each week and then write response papers for our dinner and discussion. For next week we reading the book I wrote about earlier, My Traitor's Heart.

So, thanks, Trinity College for the lovely ostrich meal last night.

Pres Bush still in Africa

So, I just read this New York Times article about President Bush in Tanzania. Its an interesting article that says people are excited to have Bush in town, but that people are really talking about Obama. So, far I've found that people in South Africa are also eager to talk about the presidential race. Few have mentioned the Republican nominees, but everyone knows about the Democrats. As I mentioned a couple posts earlier, many South Africans are quick to draw comparisons between the racial politics here and in the United States. I'm not sure how similar the politics are, but certainly people are well informed about both national and international politics. Back home, it seems like there is often little dialogue about politics with people you don't know, but in Cape Town everyone wants to talk politics. I think because their transition to democracy is so recent, people are excited, engaged, and perhaps still angered about the changes going on around them.

I had my first session of South African Politics II this morning, and I'm excited to delve more deeply into a lot of these issues. The class focuses on the current political climate of South Africa; I'm hoping it will force me to closely follow current events and politics.

Here's a link to the article: Tanzania Welcomes Bush, but Obama is Topic No. 1 on the Streets.

Concert @ Kirstenbosch

Yesterday afternoon, I went to an outdoor concert at Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. This is a beautiful place only about a 15 minute drive from our house. The concert was set against the mountains in the background, and there were beautiful trees all along the grass. Several people commented that it looked like they might have filmed "Jurassic Park" there; I think the lush trees, plants, and grass against the mountains did feel kind of prehistoric.

We brought a picnic dinner and sat on blankets. I went with my house mates and a bunch of other North Americans in our program. There were tons of young people, but also lots of families and couples. It was nice to relax and enjoy the scenery.

The concert itself was not amazing. It was an Afro-ska band which reminded me of some of the concerts I went to as a freshman in high school. Once the concert started lots of people got up and danced, which unfortunately meant I could not see the band. I think I would have liked it more with two working feet.

At any rate, I think we might check it out again next weekend. I just love the fact that we can go to an outdoor concert in the middle of February.

Pres Bush visits Africa

President Bush and I are sharing the same continent for the next couple days. Sadly, he won't be making a stop in South Africa.

Here's an interesting BBC article about the trip. 'Mercy and Realism' in Bush visit

Cruthin' Around

I think I'm making some advancement on the crutches! Around, the house I've just been using one and it's definitely getting easier to move around. I still need both crutches for the trips up and down the stairs--I try to limit those as much as I can.

There are still a lot of things I can't do, like go to the beach. So, yesterday I stayed home while my house mates went to the beach. It was not the most exciting day of my life, but I am making some progress on my book. I'm reading My Traitor's Heart by Rian Malan; its the true story of a white South African attempting to reconcile his family's past with his feelings about apartheid. The author reflects on what it means to be white in South Africa during the 1980s as the country was coming apart at the seams. He is a journalist who was part of the anti-apartheid movement but honestly admits that he still feared things like going into townships and acknowledges that he could never completely separate himself from his family's racist past. The book is pretty compelling and I'm learning a lot about the anti-apartheid movement and the chaos of the time. The author is not afraid to critique his own past which I think allows a deeper connection between reader and writer.

After my day of reading, I went out to a party that some other Americans were throwing. It was pretty fun, and I met some new people, but I got tired of the crutches by the end of the night. Despite my fatigue, going out with the crutches made me more confident about what I can do and hopefully, I won't be spending as much time in the house.

Most of my house is heading off on a hike up Lions Head (one of the smaller mountains in the area), obviously that is not a possibility for me, but later we're all going to an outdoor concert. I think its supposed to be a ska band which should be interesting, so I'll have to write more about that later.

First day of classes!!

As I've mentioned before, its quite a hike from my house to the University--the whole walk is uphill. This posed a big problem for my newly broken foot. My program arranged for a driver to take me to and from classes. I think I look pretty stylish with my moon boot and crutches while riding in an old, blue VW van.

I'm enrolled in four classes, but only two professors showed up today. The two classes were "Poverty, Development, and Globalization" and "Medical Anthropology." They were both pretty cool, but I have to drop one of the classes I'm taking (I'm enrolled in too many) so we'll see how the other two work out next week. I'll post my final classes when I figure them out.

My classes seem to have a lot of international students, but I did meet one South African who told me that he's obsessed with American politics. The conversation took a weird turn when he compared white South Africans with African Americans--not a comparison I would make. He told me that both are trying to make inroads in the mainstream culture and politics; he went on to say that African Americans are doing really well in this area. Examples of this include Beyonce Knowles, Chris Rock, and Barack Obama as the best America has to offer. I thought it was surprising to hear the three of them grouped together! I didn't agree with much this guy had to say, but it was definitely interesting to hear how he views American politics and culture.

Wine Tour

Cape of Good Hope

The view from Lover's Walk

hospitals, wine, and internet

There's a lot going on in my life these days. As Emily wrote, I went to the hospital on Sunday night and found out that I had broken one of the bones in my left foot. The doctor put a temporary cast on, and I had to use crutches to get around. And, as Emily said, I learned a lot about the South African health care system. Although they would not take my insurance, it wasn't any where near the amount you would have to pay without coverage in the States. Also, the hospital was clean, efficient, and modern. I hadn't expected much less than that, but I was also quite nervous on the way to the hospital. My blood pressure was unusually high when the nurse checked me in and she asked if I was feeling nervous or anxious about anything.

The next day I was off to Stellenbosch where we planned a wine tour. This trip was a little tougher than I thought it would be. I found that walking more than half a block was exhausting! This is the first time in my life that I've had crutches and they are definitely hard on your body. But everyone tried to help me out by giving me piggy back rides, and our bus on the wine tour tried to drop us off as close to the tastings as possible. The wine was great, but I didn't drink as much as others because I am still getting used to crutches. I hope to go back to Stellenbosch when my foot is healed so that I can take another wine tour and explore the beautiful mountains.

We got back yesterday, and today I met with an orthopedic surgeon who looked at my foot. Apparently, I have a Jones Fracture (named for Sir Reinold Jones who broke the same bone dancing) which is really common. It should heal in six weeks. That seems like forever to me, but as my roommate pointed out, my foot will be healed by Spring Break. For now I'm wearing a "moon boot" which pretty much describes what it looks like. My foot really isn't in any pain, but the rest of my body hurts from using the crutches.

Its been tough to have this happen without my family and friends from home, but everyone here has been great! There are few things i can do for myself right now and my house mates have all been great about helping me up and down the stairs, making my food, and giving my piggy back rides!

Finally, we just had the internet installed in our house. Its perfect timing for me because its hard for me to walk to the internet cafe and I hope it means I'll be able to be in better contact with all of you!

An Unfortunate Accident in a Canoe

Hi This is Emily Witt, SG's traveling companion and guest blogger extraordinaire.

SG limped off to Stellenbosch today to do some wine tasting and traveling. You might be asking yourself why SG was limping. We went for a 3 day canoeing expedition this past weekend. On the third day, an exhausted SG and I rounded a bend only to encounter hectic and dangerous rapids. From my steering position in the back of the canoe I made a costly mistake sending our canoe into the air and dumping ourselves and our belongings into the rushing water. SG was throw onto a nearby rock and the canoe came crashing down on her, fracturing her right foot. I had to carry her the more than 6 miles to the nearest road.


.....and now for the story of what actually happened. SG tripped coming down the entrance to our house and injured her LEFT foot. I gave her the great advice that she would probably just sleep it off. Against this advice, SG went to a clinic yesterday where she learned that her foot was fractured and was informed that if she hadn't come in, her bone might HAVE DIED! She was given some sweet crutches by an apparently attractive young doctor who looked like he had just come in off the beach in order to wave her x-rays around in the air and tell her that her bone might die.

So, Today, armed with a cast covered by a plastic bag, SG trooped off to Stellenbosch, which is why I have the honor of writing this guest post. Nothing was going to keep SG, the insatiable lush, away from her wine tasting!

I'd also like to mention how good natured SG is being about all of this. Today she told me that she's happy to have the experience of being exposed to the South African healthcare system!

Beachin' it up!

Yesterday was a great day at the beach! My house mates and I all went down to Clifton 4. There are 4 Clifton beaches and they each have their own personality. There's one that's a nude beach, one that's a gay beach, one for models (or model wannabes) and finally the beach we went to is for young people and families. We spent the afternoon there and then stayed for some music in the evening.

Although the water is totally freezing, I went for a swim. Once you go under your whole body becomes so numb that you don't really notice how cold the water is! I know this sounds like some kind of perverse torture, but the beach was so hot you had to something to cool off.

Later that night my roommates and I went shopping for dinner; unfortunately as I came through the gate to our house I tripped on the step and hurt my foot. I didn't twist my ankle, but I landed really hard on the side of my foot. I'm trying not to let this get in the way of my plans. I have no classes next week and we've booked a wine tour for three days. I'm going to ice my foot all day today and hopefully it will be fine for my trip. I think the key is positive visualization. At least, that's what my mom would tell me.

Freshers Braai

So, I'm learning some new South African terms. For example, "fresher" means freshman or first year student; "braai" means barbecue; and "varsity" means school.

On Thursday I hiked up to varsity for a braai with the freshers. It was much colder than we expected and the wind was really blowing. When we finally got to the rugby field for the braai, it was packed--tons of freshers. There was a big stage and long, long lines for free food. For the Trinity community reading this, it was a mix between the Spring Weekend concert and the crazy bbq which always follow. . .Even though it was discouraging, we stood in the long lines for food; when we finally got our food it was sooo windy that we tried to seek cover by sitting between some cars and a wall. We were not particularly successful. After much laughing over the craziness of the situation, we ended up eating at a restaurant. Even though it was kind of horrible, we ended up having a good time and laughing about our first experience at a braai.

Pictures on blog?!

I'm trying to figure out how to post pictures on my blog...but its not working. I think the problem is that the pictures are too big. Does anyone have ideas about how to do this? I was able to do it back in the States, but now that the internet is a little slower, it won't work. I could really use some advice!

Cape Town, South Africa

Greetings from sunny Cape Town!! I’ve been here for almost a week now and I am experiencing a mixture of excitement, awe, and a little bit of homesickness.

I arrived early on Thursday morning; I was greeted at the airport by several University of Cape Town students who herded us all on to buses which took us to our new homes. Unfortunately, my bus had a new driver who did not know the area around the University and I ended up spending over four hours on the bus. It was pretty inconvenient since I was starving, tired, and dirty but everyone on the bus was friendly. Finally, I arrived at my new house, with Emily (my travel companion and good friend, not to be confused with my sister) which is beautiful and definitely worth the four hour bus ride. We share the biggest room and have our own bathroom; the house is pretty big and there are 9 of us Americans living here. The highlight of the house is a sun room and the beautiful garden which surrounds the house. Everyone in Cape Town is obsessed with security, so we have a big fence surrounded by shrubs—it actually makes the house quite beautiful. Conveniently, its right across the street from UCT and our trek up the mountain to class shouldn’t be too far. Can you picture me here yet?

Speaking of mountains—all of Cape Town has a beautiful view of mountains (including our house). I feel lucky to live in such an inspiring place. Sitting on the beach yesterday, I was able to enjoy the beauty of bright blue (but icy cold) water and giant mountains. Not a bad spot to spend the afternoon.

Our orientation has been acquainting us with many parts of Cape Town. I live in the Southern suburb of Rondebosch, but I’ve already been downtown, had lunch in a township and traveled along the peninsula. I hope to be able to go back to some of the townships and do some volunteer work—our trip consisted of lunch and kids performing hip hop. I did not feel like I learned much about the history of townships nor how they function today. On the same trip we got to explore Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope (not actually the southern tip of Africa) which is definitely one the most amazing places I have ever been. I took lots of pictures and as soon as I have internet in my house (I’m currently at an internet café) I will post some of them here.

Along with meeting tons of nice people, these have been the highlights so far. However, there have been some things that take getting used to, for instance there are rolling blackouts because there is not enough power to supply the whole country. And on Friday night the whole city lost power which was both annoying and, frankly, pretty scary. There is also the constant discussion of safety; everyone focuses on what to do be safe—I obviously want to follow their advice, but it’s hard to be aware of so many dangers without becoming overly anxious. One other thing that is frustrating (but much less serious) is that internet access is nothing like what we have in the States, it’s often slow and can be hard to come by. Hopefully, we’re going to pay for wireless to be installed in our house, but it may take a while. Lack of internet makes it hard to talk to people back home (I left home a week ago and still haven’t talked to my parents…) but I also know that I can do without the luxury of internet for a little while.

I hope to write more about my experiences soon. This is just a brief overview of what I’ve been up to but I hope in the future I will be able to write more about the culture, history and politics of South Africa. Classes don’t start for another week and a half but I think that will give me a better chance to understand the complexities of the South African situation, not just because of the course work but also the interactions I’ll have with the students. So, keep checking!