Wednesday, February 25, 2009

An Update on School

Since my last post I have been … busy. I’ve been in and out of faculty offices, getting used to changing venues, dressing in layers for the schizophrenic weather, joining clubs, meeting new people, attending art festivals, meeting with non-profits, climbing mountains, adopting kittens, walking up and down the million flights of stairs on campus, and reading until my eyes cross.

-Let me air that out a little bit-

Friday the 13th was the first day of school, which was uneventful and disappointing. None of my classes were actually held on Friday, but I did get to pick up one of my course readers and sink my teeth into a little bit of academic material before our first class. From where I live it takes about 25 or 30 minutes to walk all the way to upper campus (sweating and panting), or 6 minutes to the jammie, a 3 minute ride up to campus, and 5 more minutes of walking to my building. I ALWAYS walk down though (mostly because I’m afraid to take the wrong jammie and end up on a different campus). I went on a run up and down campus with Laura yesterday, and I don’t think I’ll ever do that again. But campus is beautiful with Table Mountain as a backdrop, and I’ve already found a cozy place in the library where I can hermit between classes. I’ve also found a very popular Indian lady that sells delicious vegan-friendly food and sweets on campus and I visit her every day. We’re good friends – I’m already a regular.

On Sunday afternoon Mindy and I met three guys from Congo, Tanguy, David, and Angel, and after they insisted on walking our groceries home for us (they turned out to be our neighbors), we invited them over for dinner. Tanguy is very deep and likes to ask huge and unanswerable questions like “Do you think that youth today really understand what love is?” which, it turns out, is even more difficult to discuss through the French-English language barrier. Angel is very fun-loving and outgoing and aspires to live in New York. He asked Mindy and I to show him all of our photos from the U.S. and says that he loves my family, and thinks that dad looks Lebanese (??). And then there’s David, who spoke almost no English and giggled at his end of the table all night when we would try to involve him in the conversation. We ended the evening around 8pm, just in time to relax and unwind before the next school day – it was great to meet some people who were as sick of the night scene as we were.

On Monday the 16th I had my first classes, and I LOVE them. I have quite a heavy load, but I’m excited about it. I am taking Medical Anthropology (a second year course and my favorite), Anthropology through Ethnography (a third year course), Ethnographic Approaches to Research (a post-graduate level month-long module through March), and a post-graduate level independent research project in Socio-Cultural Anthropology. I have been VERY busy already, and haven’t even started my March class or much of my independent research. I have been meeting with the head of department in Anthropology frequently about my project, and today we’ve made it official that she’ll be my advisor. Inspired by my classes and the unique history of South Africa, I will be studying South African youth and HIV/AIDS education through the arts.

Last weekend Mindy and I (we’re getting to be great friends!) went with Angel and Tanguy to watch some performances around town. The Spier Arts Festival - Infecting the City presented by the Africa Centre is a group of outdoor performances in random public locations, all surrounding this year’s theme of “Home Affairs.” These performances are in response to the xenophobic violence that took place throughout South Africa in May of 2008. Sixty-four immigrants were murdered, many more were beaten or raped, homes and businesses were destroyed, and thousands of immigrants fled the country. One of the most famous and horrific images of the media coverage is of a man on his hands and knees, completely engulfed in flames, and this was the image they chose to represent the festival. We watched four amazing performances all over downtown, but my absolute favorite was one performed in the water fountain in a roundabout in the center of the city. It was beautifully choreographed, with about 30 men and women splashing through the fountains, and it had a happier ending than the depth of the material would suggest. It’s amazing to think that not more than 15 years ago, this type of public protest could get you imprisoned or killed. If you’re intrigued, the website is www.infectingthecity.com.

When I first got here I contacted a non-profit organization here called My Africa Jam. They call themselves a youth empowerment organization and lead events for thousands of impoverished high school aged youth in a township near Cape Town. They have several programs within the organization, including an afterschool theatre arts program, and an HIV/AIDS awareness theatre production put on by Africa Jam staff that they tour around different schools (www.myafricajam.org for more information). We met yesterday and there’s a lot of excitement on both ends. They’re excited to learn from my experience teaching theatre workshops and being in a touring social justice theatre company and want me to train their staff. They were also very excited about my ideas for theatre education techniques (thank you Jan Mandell!). I am pumped that I will have the opportunity to do some real ethnographic research that could benefit their curriculum. It’s a win-win and we feel like it’s destiny that we found each other (they’re also based out of MN – small world). I will be volunteering with them on the weekends as assistant to the theatre youth group leader and I’ll be starting as soon as we can figure out the logistics (Kayalitsha is quite the trip by public transport).

Mindy and I also joined the Mountain and Ski Club at UCT, and our first event was last Wednesday: a sundown climb up Lion’s Head. It was about 10 times easier than climbing table mountain, but unfortunately when we got to the top we only got about 1/10th of the view. It was so foggy that we couldn’t see the trees 25 feet in front of you, let alone the sunset. Our hike down, therefore, was very dark (usually they’re guided by the full moon), but we made it. I’m looking forward to our next adventure, rock climbing this Friday!

Well, this week has been challenging and it will only get busier. I’m disadvantaged in that I am taking classes simultaneously that usually are taken in a strict order, and I am doing my research backwards (and packed into a semester instead of a full year). The good news is that I’m in a beautiful country in a new educational setting that will teach me new ways to learn - and what better place to study Anthropology than in South Africa where I am constantly (although subtly) adjusting to a new culture. I feel truly lucky to be here. Talk to you soon.

Love,
Emily

Sorry, no photos this time - haven't taken any in a while

PS – I’m adopting my landlord’s kitty for the semester. Her name is Nellie Mandellie and she is very naughty. She likes to bite my ankles when I’m walking and attack my pencil when I’m trying to study. I really like when she falls asleep on her back with my skin or clothes between her teeth.


The best pic I could get of a kitty that can't sit still

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Garden Route is for Tourists - and I Love It

I got in last night just before midnight after a short driving tour of the Garden Route along a small part of the South African coast. After registration on Friday (which wasn’t so bad), Matt, Mindy, Pujita and I rallied together to plan a trip before the first day of school on the 13th. After a couple hours of planning and last-minute hostel bookings, we rented a small car and headed out on Saturday afternoon to our first and furthest destination - Jeffrey’s Bay. For 8 hours we ate and drank through half of our cooler and took in the breathtaking views along the way. When we got to our hostel, the Cristal Cove Guest House, we hunted for the key that the owner hid for us under the “fire ladder.” After 10 minutes, we realized he had said “fire lighter” by the grill and let ourselves in. We went in for a beer and a round of pool and chatted with Bruce from Jo’Burg who had studied and travelled in the states, and a man from Germany who was on his 11th month of vacation. After nearly falling asleep at the bar we excused ourselves and went to sleep while Matt stayed up to chat.


The Cristal Cove Lounge

The next morning Matt got up at 6am to surf. The weather was less than ideal, which was disappointing since Jeffrey’s Bay is home to a national “super tubes” surfing competition, and is one of the best surfing spots in the world. Mindy, Pujita, and I went to lay out on the beach and swim in the warm water, but we were a bit discouraged after walking a mile down the beach in order to find a shore free of rocks, stepping on and popping tiny blue washed up jellyfish along the way.



Eventually the weather cleared up and the sun was scorching and I burned sunscreened hand prints onto the sides of my back (I forgot to reapply after I turned). After a few burning hours, we dodged the sun and went to a local Mexican restaurant for dinner, then came back and chatted/debated with Bruce into the night.



Monday morning we went to a little café called the Sunflower for breakfast before we hit the road again. We drove an hour or so west to TsiTsikamma where we went on a canopy tour of the indigenous forest in Tsitsikamma National Park. For two hours we got an awesome view of the forest while we ziplined between trees 30m above the ground, using our double-gloved hand as a cable break.



I was really impressed with the platforms around the trees that were held up by tension alone, using no bolts or nails that would harm the tree (scary…). We were then served a light lunch before we made our way to the next hostel, called Tube N’ Axe. Matt and I played a couple terrible rounds of pool and we all sat around the TV at the bar to watch a bit of the Grammys. I met a friendly little kitty that the hostel adopted, and he curled up next to me the whole night (not always against his will).

About 9am the next day, we packed up and drove 20 minutes away to Bloukrans, where they proudly boast the title of “the world’s highest bungy bridge.” The girls watched an adrenalin-filled Matt leap off of the bridge, which he said was one of the best experiences of his life. Regretfully I didn’t go. I was holding out for a Victoria Falls bungy over spring break and learned that it is a sad one-third the size of the Bloukrans jump and about twice the price… Matt promised he’d return with me for a second bungy on a weekend trip this semester. In the bungy waiting area, we overheard a group of people talking about an amazing elephant tour that they went on and decided that we needed to go as well. We drove to the Knysna Elephant Park where we signed up for a “be touched by an elephant “ tour. For an entrance fee of roughly 6USD and a 2 dollar bucket of fruit, we set out with our tour guides to go meet the “ellies.”



We touched and fed massive elephants and their babies, literally centimeters from their gigantic round feet. They slurped up every last drop of the fruit juice with their snotty trunks and I got to bottle feed an elephant baby. By the end of the tour (you could stay as long as you wanted) my hands were completely covered with dirt and we had chased the elephants up and down the fields until they were downright avoiding my touch. Never in the U.S.



That night we drove to Outdshoorn a few hours away, stopping at a beach in Wilderness so Matt could take advantage of the humungous waves we saw from the car. It was possibly the most beautiful beach I have ever been to, since we arrived just in time for the sunset and it was nearly completely free of people. We took our time on the beach, took a lot of pictures and a few short walks.



When we got into the city, we checked into the Karoo Soul hostel, which was my personal favorite. It was an old house-turned-hostel, and we had fresh clean towels waiting for us when we got there. We were all spent from the days excitement, so after showers we went quickly to bed.

After a lazy morning, we were kicked out of the room and headed toward the Cango Caves.



We signed up for the 90 minute adventure tour “for lean people only” that required shimmying on your belly through tiny passages and crawling through very narrow chimneys, grunting the whole way. We had an exciting group for our tour, which allowed our very flamboyant tour guide to show off his German, French, Italian, English, and Afrikaans. He referred to me as “Miss Minnesota” and offered encouraging words as I hesitantly squeezed through a passage that he explained a “horizontally challenged” woman had insisted on attempting after many warnings. It took 12 hours, drugs, and lube to get her out of the passage. Luckily, we all made it unscathed.


Actual size of the smallest passage

For our final destination, we headed to the Cango Wildlife Ranch where we were promised supernatural and interactive encounters with wild cats and crocs. The whole thing seemed a bit exploitative, but all of the animals seemed happy and healthy and welcomed the attention and affection. After a brief tour of the whole park (more like a zoo), we were given the opportunity to cage dive with the crocs (no thanks) or touch and play with the big cats for a small fee. This was definitely the highlight of my trip. Pujita and I forked over the money to touch a full-grown Bengal tiger, 2 full-grown cheetahs -and my personal favorite – cheetah cubs. They acted like giant housecats and purred really loudly, jumping on and wrestling with the other workers. The tiger kept sucking on the fingers of one of the workers and I was told it was ‘not allowed’ when I gave it a try.





I was warned many times to not touch their faces so much or let them lick me, because they follow the same lick-lick-bite routine that other excited cats do. I would have taken the stitches for the experience. We headed back to Cape Town afterward and made it home just before midnight last night.

The first day of school is tomorrow and I’m ready for it. I’m registered for a heavy load of courses and seem to be one of a handful of international students who gets grades A-F and not Pass/Fail on their transcript. I was encouraged by the Head of Department in Anthropology to take a couple postgraduate level courses and audit a third, including an independent research project and paper. I’m already familiar with some of my professors and others in the department and I’m excited to work closely with them; an experience I don’t have in MN because Anthropology is so large there. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Oh – and a quick recap of last week. We had the UCT orientation for about 300 of us international students which involved a lot of unnecessary and redundant lectures, but did include a really fun peninsula tour. Most of the sites I had seen before, but we did get to go to Boulder’s Beach in Simons Town where the penguins are. I had accidently kept the manual settings on my camera so none of my pictures really turned out. Argh.



But after I figured it out we went to the Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point and got to take in the view on the hill by the lighthouse. The best part, however, was when we went to a community center near Simons Town for lunch and watched the local youth group break dance and sing for our entertainment. The rest of the week was pretty drab.

PS – Thank you everyone for your Valentine’s Day cards! What an awesome surprise!

Love,
Emily