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!!

Cast Away

Well, the day has finally come! My foot has healed enough for me to walk without a cast! I still have to be a little careful and wear sneakers most of the time--but, I'm pretty pumped to use to both feet.

My doctor warned me that I shouldn't wear high heels anytime soon, but that shouldn't be a problem since I didn't bring any with me.

My roommates and I made a little photo documentary about the foot unveiling, so I'll post those picture soon...

On a different note, there have been rolling blackouts in Cape Town which is always frustrating, but at least the power is on now!

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!

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"