Good Bye, Cape Town

This is my very last morning in Cape Town, I head home to Chicago this evening. Yesterday, I celebrated Cape Town by going to the beach and sitting on some beautiful rocks (way, way too cold to swim). The view continues to amaze me, I think Cape Town is the most beautiful city I've ever lived in. My roommates and I had dinner at our favorite Thai restaurant here; I'm the first one in our little group to leave so it was great that we could have one last dinner together!! I still have a little more packing to do today, but we're also heading out to our favorite organic market for one last chicken avo sandwich (actually the best sandwich I've ever had in my whole life).

I'm sad to end my semester, but I'm super excited to see family and Chicago again. Its been a long time away from home and I'm anxious to see everyone!!

Farewell, South Africa.

Robben Island

I finally made the trip out to Robben Island this weekend; I was lucky enough to get one of the most beautiful days we've had in weeks!! I was really looking forward to going to the prison where Nelson Mandela and other activists were held, but it took me all semester to actually get there.

After the end of apartheid, the prison was turned into a world heritage site and is now basically a museum, obviously no prisoners are held there any longer. I really don't know if its on purpose or not, but the prison grounds are not well kept up and the whole island felt quite deserted. The tour was conducted by a former inmate who told us about his time on Robben Island and his time in detention, he didn't give us much detail but revealed that he was brutally tortured while in detention. It was definitely interesting to hear his story, but it was clear that he's probably told it a million times. The highlights of the tour were seeing Mandela's cell, seeing where he hid his manuscript (later published as The Long Walk to Freedom), walking in the limestone quarry (where prisoners performed daily hard labor), and, frankly, the ferry ride there and back which provided beautiful views of Cape Town.

Xenophobia

As many of you know, there has been an outbreak of xenophobic violence throughout South Africa. It started in the townships outside of Johannesburg, but has spread to Durban and Cape Town. I haven't seen or really felt any of the effects of the rioting, it's mainly contained in the townships; Zimbabweans and Somalians have been the main targets of violence, many of them having their homes and stores burned. Refugee centers have been set up all over, many people are staying churches and community centers.

Today, I went to an anti-xenophobia rally at St. George's Cathedral, the Anglican cathedral where Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached against apartheid. One of the South African women I was with, told us that the church has always been a site of social justice gatherings and that her son had been chased in there in the 1970s and beat by the police. Needless to say, it seemed a fitting place for a rally against the intimidation and violence occurring across the country.

We got there early and helped hang up posters and organize t-shirts. Everyone wore t-shirts which read "foreigner" on the front. The rally began with the Chief Justice of the South African Constitutional Court who spoke about the human rights embodied in the constitution and the need to celebrate human dignity. Speakers continued after that, including the current archbishop of Cape Town; there were 18 speakers in total. Although many of the speakers were compelling, listening to so many at once was a little overwhelming and at times boring. I was a little disappointed that the we weren't mobilized to do something about what was going on; I felt comforted by the fact that so many people showed up to the event, but I think the event could have used a little more energy.

Here are some background articles:

Xenophobia hurts like apartheid

Mozambicans flee over the border

Mbeki's rule in limbo as townships burn

Cape Town in May

Again, I've let too much time go by before posting! And, there is really no excuse--most of my classes are pretty much over, and I've been doing a lot of reading for pleasure.

May started out with crazy amounts of work, including several long papers, but this last week my work has totally disappeared! Now that I have all this free time, though, Cape Town has really taken a turn for fall. Today it is pretty nice out, but generally there has been a lot of rainy, cloudy days. To occupy my days, I've been reading a couple books. Last week I read The Nine about the Supreme Court which answered many of questions about how the Court works and helped me understand a lot more about the current justices' personalities and jurisprudence. This weekend, I went a different direction and read On Chisel Beach by Ian McEwan; I loved reading Atonement so I was pretty excited to pick this up. It was a nice, short read which definitely kept me occupied for the weekend. On Sunday, I started East of Eden which I really like so far, but I'm intimidated by its length.

Other than reading, I have done a little exploring. I went to the town of Kalk Bay which is on the ocean and totally adorable. We just took the train out for an afternoon and did a little shopping. I also went out for Sunday tea at the fancy Mount Nelson Hotel. It happened to be a beautiful day and we got to sit out on the veranda, an idyllic setting for afternoon tea. The food was delicious!! I'll try to post some pictures soon.

Things are starting to come to an end, in about a month I'll be back in Chicago!! There are still a couple things I have to do before I leave, but luckily there is a super long study break before exams--lots of time for all the touristy stuff I've missed.

Back to Reality

Well, last weekend was a quick trip to Namibia. I haven't calculated it, but it seems like we spent almost as much time in Namibia as we did on the bus. It ended up being a 25 hour ride each way, and we were only in Nambia for about 3 days.

The highlights include: sand boarding, camel riding, and a dolphin cruise.










Now, I'm back in Cape Town with a ton of work to do. I have three papers to write this weekend, so its been a harsh transition back to reality. So far, I've averaged a paper a day for the last two days, so hopefully that will continue today!!

Weekend in Namibia

I'm off to Namibia for a couple days!! Abby, Avalon, and I decided to take advantage of our long weekend and head off to Namibia. We're taking a bus and it should be approximately 22 hours...but once we get there it promises to be another adventure!!

I'll make sure to write all about it when I get back.

Photos from Table Mountain

I've been meaning to put these up for a couple days...

Weekend in Stellenbosch

I spent this weekend in Stellenbosch with the four other Trinity girls. We stayed at our professor's house--she has a beautiful home with an amazing view of the mountains. Huge windows along one whole side of the house provide a perfect view to the living room and all the bedrooms.

We got there Saturday morning; we first went to a little market and then into town. This was my second time there, but it really is a cute little town. That evening, we all went out to dinner at Moyo, an African themed restaurant with a giant buffet and "traditional" performers. A little touristy for my taste, but still fun to see.

On Sunday, we went out to lunch with Sibs and her husband, Basil, to a restaurant in Franschoek (neighboring town to Stellenbosch). Possibly the best part of the day was that Basil drove us to lunch in his blue 1953 Mercedes convertible!! It was the perfect setting of mountains and vineyards for riding in an antique car. We even took some pictures of me at driving wheel--I'll have to post those soon.

The Week in Review

I've clearly been slacking off on my blogging, but its only because I've been super busy. Here's some of what I've been up to:

On Thursday night, I saw a production of the musical, "Chicago." I was hoping for some nice scenes of the skyline, but the whole play took place inside the Cook County jail, which doesn't exactly remind me of home. It was great production and I think many of the characters really mastered the Chicago accent.

On Friday, my roommates and I went out for delicious sushi! First time I've had sushi in Cape Town--so far, so good.

Saturday was the start of an action packed couple of days. We woke up early and set out to go to an organic food market. My roommate Jenny had gone the weekend before, and gave us some simple instructions. Unfortunately, these directions did not prove very easy to follow; it required the help of two really nice strangers and two rides on mini-buses. Once we got there, it was an amazing market with tons of food. I had some really amazing crepes and brought home olive bread for later.

After we returned home, we headed to a rugby game. Again, it was tons of fun. This time the Stormers even won, so that was exciting.

The next day, we woke up early again! Avalon, Abby and I all headed to Table Mountain for a nice hike. I've been meaning to do this since I got to Cape Town, so it was exciting to finally have a chance. The hike up was pretty intense and definitely made me feel like I'm a little out of shape. The top of Table Mountain has a beautiful view of the whole city. Its a little weird because there's a gift shop and restaurant at the top, so there's a bit of a clash between the tourist stuff and the beautiful scenery. We took the cable car down, which also offers a great view, but its really fast, so you can't blink.

Finally, that night we went out to dinner at the Buena Vista Social Cafe, based off the band and documentary, the Buena Vista Social Cafe. It was a pretty cool scene with lots of salsa dancing.

It was an awesome weekend, but I'm super tired, and I really need to catch up on all my school work.

I'll try to post some pictures later today or tomorrow!!

Spring Break 2008: Adventure Vay-cay

I'm finally back in Cape Town after an amazing spring break trip!! We began the trip heading east and drove along the Garden Route. We stopped in a couple small towns where we stayed in super nice hostels. We referred to everything as though it were specially designed for the adventure we were about to have: the adventure back pack, the adventure sandals, the adventure shorts...All of these were accessories for our truly adventure activities. Along the Garden Route, we went cave climbing (through some very small spaces) and flew across a water fall on a zip line. I had never done either, but both were amazing. I'm not usually the most adventurous traveler, but these were experiences I'll never forget.

We continued to head east, and drove through the Wild Coast. This is a much less developed part of the country; much of it was formerly part of the Transkei, a homeland under the apartheid government. As we drove along the highway, there were people using it as sidewalk and farm animals using the grass for grazing--a little more hectic than what I'm used to in the States. We stayed three nights along the coast where we swam in the beautiful Indian Ocean (possibly my favorite ocean). The four of us had an amazing "adventure" day when our guide in Port St. John's took us to cave for natural sunscreen (basically, clay), took us canoing, and finally for the most amazing hike of my life through jungle and coastal terrain.

The final night of the trip was spent in Durban before we flew home. I was only there for about half a day, but I wasn't that impressed. Much more crowded than Cape Town and not as beautiful.

I was super lucky to go on this trip and its really made me itch to do some more traveling around the region. Can't wait till classes end!!!

Spring Break, South Africa

Well, I'm heading out today for a week long road trip to Durban. We're driving along the Garden Route and the Wild Coast, then flying home from Durban. I'm really excited for this vacation, there's tons of stuff to do along the route, if I can I'll try to update the blog, but you may have to wait until I get home on Sunday.

If you're in the area, look out for a bright, blue, shiny Audi (yes, they rented an Audi to 4 21 year olds who have never driven on the left side of the road), we'll be jamming out to our road trip mixes the whole time.

Happy Easter!!

Photo documentary!!

Thanks to my personal photographer, Emily Witt, I have compiled a series of photos depicting my transition from cast to no cast. Enjoy!!

Afrika Burns

I've been pretty busy this last week, mainly with papers and presentations, but I realized that I've been neglecting my blog posts!! So, here's a short update:

The high light since I last posted was this awesome hippie festival I went to on Saturday night. It was a promotional event for Afrika Burns, which is the South African version of Burning Man. If you haven't heard, Burning Man is a week long event in Nevada--the event I went to was much smaller. They were trying to get people excited for Afrika Burns, and I think it did. There was good food, dancing, and of course a big fire at the end. Around 2 am they set fire to this giant structure built to look like a man. It was actually pretty powerful to see a beautiful piece of art disintegrate before your eyes.

This was really fun to go to with my friends, and was certainly a different event than I've been to before.

Around Cape Town

Cape Town is not known for its great public transportation system, so to get downtown this weekend, my roommates and I took a mini-bus. A mini-bus is usually an old van which seats about 10 people, you just hail it as it passes and then squeeze on. There is one guy who drives, and another who takes your money and yells out the window to attract more people. I've been on a mini-bus a couple times, but my most recent ride was by far the most exciting.

We were traveling along Main Road, when there was a sort of "bang" on the side of the van. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but either I think another mini-bus side swiped us or we hit another mini-bus. Well, the money collector was not pleased and so he was yelling out the window at the other van. To make matters more intense, he reaches over towards where my broken foot is lying and grabs what looks a lot like a police officer's night stick. As, the guy is waving this out the window to threaten the other driver--I was trying not to look back at my roommates who were all sitting at the back of the bus away from me. The night stick seemed to do the trick, because after our show of force, the other mini-bus left ours alone. I think this is the closest I've ever come a movie inspired chase scene.

While all this was going on, my roommate Abby, was really enjoying the music. As we were finally departing the van (glad to be on solid ground), she starts asking the driver where he got this great clubbing music. Turns out, that its pretty hard to find, so he sold it to her right there! At least we got some good music out of the ride...

Nothing as exciting happened the rest of the day although we did enjoy some shopping and an afternoon at the beach.

Rugby Nation

In case you don't know, South Africa is a rugby crazy country! Last night, my roommates and I went to watch the Stormers (Cape Town's team which competes internationally) against a New Zealand team. As we approached the stadium, fans were all over and really excited to be at the game--the intensity was actually a little scary at times. However, we decided to join the fun and buy jerseys, so at least we could look the part even if we knew very little about the game.

As we sat down in our seats, we realized something very interesting...there is no beer sold in the stands, only doughnuts! There was never an adequate explanation of this, but we missed much of the first half searching for and enjoying the bar in the stadium (you couldn't leave the bar with beer).

Sadly, the Stormers lost 22-0.

Emily [friend, roommate] says that its the most fun she's had in Cape Town, so far. Since we already own the jerseys, I think we'll be going back for more!

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.

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.

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.

I bought a pack!

As my first blog post (and as a test post before I leave for South Africa), I will tell you all about my new travel pack. . .Exciting, I know. . . I just bought it at Uncle Dan's--the young woman who helped me was great. The pack is green and gray; I chose a pretty small pack to fit my frame. Hopefully, it will serve me well throughout my travels in South Africa and on safari.