a better place for pictures!

So, I think that I've managed to set up an account on Picasa, another google thing. I'll be able to put up more pictures, so that should be good...
Check out picasaweb.google.com/aatinafrica for that!

...and please let me know if it isn't working.

Love you all!

making the Monday posts a tradition

A picture from last weekend: Emily, Shannon and I at Neethlingshof Wine Estate

A good looking bird at the ostrich farm (I feel like every post will eventually contain one good looking bird or another)

Coming back from the ostrich farm they let me sit in the bed of the truck. What a beautiful view!

My favorite picture from the weekend (although I swear I can't take a picture with a perfectly flat horizon to save my life)

The past week was pretty calm, in an eventful sort of way. During the week I attended a presentation given by UCT Student Workers Alliance (UCTSWA) on globalization and outsourcing as it pertains to a university setting. It was pretty interesting, but a little too communist for my taste. I also volunteered for the first time at the LEAP school, which tries to encourage maths and sciences to its students. That was pretty cool, but we'll see how it pans out.
In a weird way, the most exciting part of my school week was when I walked into my room at home, only to find a Cape Morning Dove sitting in the corner, bleeding from the head and staring at me. Surprising to say the least! Michelle, the Congolese man who lives in the house and is very nice, and I tried to capture it with a laundry basket. After leaving some blood stains on my ceiling it finally gave itself up and I got to teach Michelle the proper way to handle a bird. We put it outside in a protected spot, and it wasn't there the next day, so I feel at least ok about it.
This past weekend was the really fun part of the week. The program I'm on organized a home stay for us in a colored township called Ocean View. It was amazing. I stayed with a woman named Myrtle, her husband Patrick and their two children, Robin and Zoe. The family was so nice and open and loving. Both nights they made us big dinners and lots of people came over. One night they served fried abalone which apparently is illegal because it's endangered.
Saturday we went to help at a cancer benefit in the morning, then to an ostrich farm in the afternoon. Sunday we went to see the big bike race drive by. People who were there earlier apparently got to see Matt Damon drive by because he's in the area filming a movie and a big cyclist.
The story of Ocean View itself is pretty fascinating. The community was created in the early '70s by the forced relocation of the colored populations of nearby Simons Town. Many of the people lived where the apartheid government wanted to build a naval base so they were simply forced into moving. Despite the extremely unfair circumstances that their community was founded on, the people seem to have little residual animosity. When asked if they would move back if they could, my family said no. Though some areas of the community are poorer (tin shacks), generally people seemed comfortable. The family I stayed with had a working shower, good food, a flat screen TV, and had just redone their kitchen. Mainly though, the family was so full of love, and that's what made the difference. I felt more comfortable with Myrtle and the family than I had since I've gotten here. My family in Mowbray may think that they're living in much better circumstances, but it doesn't matter if there isn't good home cooked food and love enough to spare.
Something interesting they told us about was how in '94 when the new government came into being apparently there was a mass exodus of white people from the country. A lot of white people, if they didn't leave, stocked up on all sorts of stuff because they thought there would be a civil war. To think about the type of ingrained and institutionalized racism and white power structures that were here, it really is amazing that there wasn't more tumult. It really can't be over stressed what people like Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela did to keep South Africa together. (On a lighter side note, one of the waitresses at the restaurant I'm at keeps popping in an out her partial denture with a loud sucking noise. Those are the things that really do make me love people!)
I guess that the main point to take away is that though it's easy to view people as "other," a weekend in someone's house brings the point home that it's all the same thing, just a slightly different context. The differences make things interesting, but it's the similarities that are the real take home point. It may sound cheesy, but it really is profound to experience it in a new context. And let's be real, it's always nice to be around a loving mama who cooks you good food. Definitely helps with the homesickness, even if I'd prefer that it were my mama.

Sorry it's been a while...

Egyptian Goose at the Company's Gardens

Vodacom Stormers vs. the Reds (we're the Stormers - we Won!)

Hey All! So, things have been pretty busy here, and the internet's been as hard to get to as ever, but never mind the excuses...
Last weekend we went to a rugby game, which was really fun. There are guys wandering around with basically hot chocolate camel backs, and they'll sell you a cup in your seat. Pretty decadently awesome. Certainly cooler than the wander biltong (jerky) vendor. Our seats were good, and it was definitely better than the soccer game, where no one even scored. Maybe it's weird, but I just kind of enjoy watching people just wail on each other and being able to shout about it.
Culturally the soccer game we went to a while ago was very different than the rugby game. Soccer seems to have a much higher black attendance. Everything's a bit more laid back, and a little bit grimier. The stadium wasn't fully finished and there was no score board. At rugby there were various wandering vendors, nice score boards, play back screens and the vodacom stormgirls (basically your garden variety hooched-out chearleaders). Definitely different, and you just have to think about all of the reasons why.
Classes over the week were pretty good, just settling into a routine. Volunteering starts this week. I'm going to be at an organization called LEAP, which is a school that specializes in maths and sciences. It may be nerdy, but I'm already so fired up to encourage some young girls to love bio!
This past weekend we went wine tasting at a wine estate outside of Stellenbosch in the morning, and then picnicing at a place called Speir in the afternoon. I have to admit, it's pretty nice to be just a little wine tipsy at ten am in some lush wine estate, only to have it followed up by a picnic involving goat cheese. I'm not saying I could get used to it, but once was definitely great. That night we made some veg lasagna, then went out with a friend's flatmate's wife (Zola) and her friend (Crystal). It was such a good time, and it's so nice to actually feel like you know people who aren't American.
Yesterday a friend and I went to the Design Indaba fair in Cape Town. It's a huge design festival once a year. It was pretty interesting, but a lot of it was very familiar. There was a lot of screen printed fabric and bird-themed jewelry. I got a cool handmade ceramic necklace though, and lots of good ideas, so it was certainly not a bust. In the afternoon we went to Kirstenbosch botanical gardens and saw a concert in the park at night. The music was good, the mood was chill, and in general it was amazing. It's so cool to be able to look behind the stage and just see Table Mountain and Lion's Head stretching out beautifully against the sky. The crowd was pretty mixed, and it was so nice to see all of the families with small children just enjoying themselves. We might do it again, but this time remember to pack a picnic, or at least some snacks.
That's about it for now, and I'll try and be better in the future. I just feel bad posting without pictures too often. Internet here is paid for by the megabyte, not by time though, so it's hard to post pictures because they just eat up your allowance. I'm at a cute little coffee place now though that lets you have some wireless connection though, so it's all good.
Hope to hear from you all soon!

First Week of Classes

So things are finally beginning to fall into some semblance of a routine here, and it's certainly a welcome change. I'm taking four classes (The Making of the Modern Wold Economy, The Making of the Modern Middle East, Southern African Hunters and Herders and Logic and Epistemology), and all seem pretty good. The last one is a bit of a let down, because the two subjects are split into completely separate components, and I've already done all of the logic covered and much more in depth, but who doesn't like an easy A where you enjoy the course material? As for the others I'm always a bit concerned when I have to write a paper that doesn't include a "methods" section, but I'm sure it will work out...
As for those of you bored enough to follow this little blog, I just want to lay something out for future reference so that nobody gets the wrong idea. Race is a very very big issue here (obviously), and it's often important for explaining things to mention someone's race. Also, "colored" here isn't a derogatory term, but instead refers to someone who has mixed race parents. Just wanted to put that on the table so that when I make remarks about that kind of stuff nobody will think I've turned into some crazy Afrikaner.
Aside from that, a few observations (because I don't have pictures at the moment):
Salad dressing is almost non-existent here
Everything is wide-rule, two hole punch
Even though white people are a stark minority, most drivers seem to be white, whereas most walkers seem to be black (thank you legacy of apartheid)
People are much more into processed, prepared and frozen foods
Interracial dating is still very much a big deal here (although, after some honest conversation, most American friends (including myself) would admit that it's still somewhat of a deal at home)
Watching another people's race relations really makes you more honest and realistic about the (often messed up) nature of your own
Obama is the best thing that could've happened for people traveling abroad
Every South African seems to like a braai (huge barbecue)
Here it's referred to (at least by one of my professors) as the war ON Iraq, not the war IN Iraq (it does somehow seem more accurate, doesn't it?)

And that's about it for now, when I come up with more I'll jot them down...

Love and miss you all!

What a trip!

The ferry to De Hoop (notice the guy literally pulling the ferry along a rope on the far right)

Sand dunes at De Hoop

Zebra!

Maggie and Andrew practicing rugby at the beach in Mossel Bay

So, we all managed to return home (rather triumphantly, at that) from our road trip along the Garden Route. A short recap:
Having rented our car from Thrifty (the only place that would rent to us youngun's), we set out for Mossel Bay the first night. The hostel was really gorgeous, and really cheap, so it was a great time. We had a lovely dinner at a local restaurant, with lots of wine, desserts and butternut squash ravioli. During dinner we got a call that some friends also in Mossel Bay had been robbed, but everything ended up being ok, and though people were short a few dollars, everyone was safe.
The next day we went for a short day at the beach in Mossel Bay, and all managed to burn the hell out of ourselves. Me especially. I was so sunburned on my legs I couldn't walk the next day. After our beach excursion and a short picnic lunch we set out for Wilderness (an actual city).
We did two days in Wilderness, which was in fact beautiful. Andrew, Shannon, Jeff and Maggie went for a hike while I loafed around the hostel, whimpered about my legs and read some South African Cosmo. An exciting day for sure.
After Wilderness we started heading back to Cape Town by way of De Hoop nature reserve. We took a ferry to get there, and it was pulled by the people working it, which was pretty interesting to see. Once we made it to De Hoop we even got to see wild zebras and antelope. It's actually really exciting to see something in the wild that you only ever see in zoos and National Geographic documentaries. We also climbed some beautiful dunes, and generally had a good time.

That's about it for the past week. The first day of classes was Friday, but things were pretty laid back, and aren't too intensive until Monday or Tuesday. But more on that later...

Off on an Adventure!

So, just a quick little post before we set out on our road trip. Some friends and I managed to rent a car (shocking when you realize that we're all under 21), and are about to go pick it up for a 5 day tour of the garden route (think the southern coast of SA). The car's a manual, and we're not used to driving on the wrong side of the road, but I'm sure it will work out (mostly because I won't be driving - thank God!).
I finally have a bit more access to internet, so there should definitely be photos from that...
As for the past week, we did more orientation at UCT, as well as registered for classes. I'm not taking a single bio class, which will be a bit weird, but a nice change of pace. Registration was somewhat hectic. It took almost two hours to wait in line to get our IDs made, but other than that it was bearable. They still do everything here with paper forms, which was a not-so-fun part of it.
That's about it for now. The city is still beautiful, the restaurants are still great, and the weather is still amazing. Too Cool!

Almost a week in Cape Town

And what a week it's been! After some orientation in a hotel, I moved into a homestay near the University of Cape Town campus. UCT and the home I'm staying in are both in an area called Rondebosch (or something to that affect) and I've just been getting used to it. The woman I'm staying with is named Rose and she hosts events out of her house. The first night I was there there was a wedding. It was really ornate, but a little bit wierd in it's own way. Everyone there seemed to love it though, so a success! Rose also hosts other students, mostly kids in an English program. There's a Brazilian girl and French boy. It's definitely interesting!
Yesterday we went on a tour of the Cape Peninsula. We loaded into huge tour busses, and went all around the peninsula. We saw african penguins at a place called Boulder Beach, and then had lunch in a township called Oceanview. It was cool because the local kids did some breakdancing for us, as well as singing, and one kid did firedancing! Pretty neat. After that we went to the Cape of Good Hope, the south-western most point in Africa. It was completely beautiful, ocean all around. I think that I even saw two ostriches out the bus window!
My login's about to end, so I've got to go, but pictures soon, and I love and miss you all!