Just a few things

Well I finally got around to posting the rest of the Capetown pictures on my picture site. You can find them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanessa_in_sa/sets/ and it shows all 3 of my picture sets.

I realized as I was posting the pictures that I failed to mention that while we were in Capetown one of the mountains started on fire. Apparently this happens there every few years, but it was strange to watch it. We were on a walk back from the waterfront to the city center and noticed it, and were able to watch it spread (it was really windy that day) and we also saw the helicopters dropping water on it. It made for an interesting walk.

I included pictures of Boulder Beach as well, which is where there are African penguins. They were really cute and I wanted to play with them.

Pictures from Robben Island round out the trip. I wish I could do a better job of explaining that place, I think I'd like to learn more about it, actually. Basically all I've gathered is that throughout history it's been used to jail people, sometimes criminals sometimes political prisoners etc. The policies of apartheid (preferential treatment based on ethnicity) existed within the jail as well, as I think I mentioned before. Nelson Mandela spent 18 years in his cell there (which I put up pictures of) and he's probably the island's most famous prisoner.


In other news... last week I had a couple of firsts happen. We had Wednesday off school because it was Human Rights Day. What did I do to celebrate? I went paintballing! Sounds silly I'm sure, but a bunch of people were going and since I'd never been I thought it would be fun and worthwhile. I was actually pretty decent at it, and besides the welt on my back and getting shot in the head it was relatively painless. I'd definitely do it again :) Last weekend we also made it out to a township, which was a very neat experience as well. It turns out what I thought townships were, and what they actually are, are very different things. I've got pictures from that as well, so I'll save the full explanation for when I get those posted... just wanted to give you something to look forward to.

Hope all is well. I hear it's getting warmer there. It's starting to cool off here, and it's rainy more often. I'm still hopeful that there will be hot days when I can go to the beach... but sadly my tan is fading. Still getting my Easter break planned, but I'll keep you updated once I get that all figured out as well.

Until next time...

Capetown in Pictures

So I realized I have a ton of pictures from Capetown... and the site that I've been hosting my pictures on has a limit of how many pictures I can put up per month, so I thought I would share some of them here instead. These are all of/from Table Mountain (except the really wide landscape one of the mountain which is taken of the mountain from the Robben Island)


^This is the vertical escarpment we essentially rock climbed... from this angle it almost looks like steps but let me assure you the vertical drops are much bigger than they look.
^The "path" we took getting halfway up the mountain.

^Table Mountain as seen from Robben Island
^The "path" we took down from halfway up the mountain... yeah... there's not really a path there. We came down from somewhere in between the two shadows, I think.
^Gondala to the top
^View from the Gondola, the island out in the sea is Robben Island
^The view down

^Me and Kelly on top of the mountain... it was so gorgeous up there!

^The sun was setting on our gondola ride down... it was pretty
^The city and cape
^Still on top of the mountain... the order of the pics got mixed up in uploading I guess

Capetown: a mountain, some penguins, and a lot of fun!

Hey everyone! Hope things are going well. I just got back from Capetown this morning, and I had a great time.

We got in to Capetown on Wednesday night and all of us stayed in the same hostel. On Thursday we went to Table Mountain and decided to climb it. Apparently I was the only one who remembered our plans though... because I was the only one who wore shoes. So we all climbed up, everyone else wearing flip flops and some people carrying alcohol they'd bought earlier in the day. We realized after a little while that we weren't on a "real" path and eventually came to a near-vertical escarpment. At that point the way down looked just as dangerous, so we decided to make our way slowly up the wall. It was pretty crazy looking back on it... we probably should have had harnesses on and all that jazz. After we found a path again (not even halfway up the mountain) most of us decided to try to make our way back down, having realized that it would be nearly impossible to make it all the way to the top the way we were going. Gideon and Raj weren't satisfied with their adventure yet, and decided to try to make it to the top anyways. On the way down, the rest of us struggled through a path of dishelved rocks... Crystal's flip flop broke and she had to go the rest of the way with just one shoe. We had to walk through bushes with lots of thorns, and we were a little frightened at what might be lurking on the ground. The only wildlife I saw the whole climb though was a little black salamander, happily I saw no snakes or anything else that would have scared me enough to make me stay put. When we got to the bottom we tried to call the guys who had been continuing upwards, because we'd seen them recently and they weren't making much progress -- we wanted them to come back down before they got hurt.

They said they were going to turn around, but it would probably be another hour or two before they were back at the bottom. Kelly and I decided to take the gondala up to the top of the mountain so we could enjoy the view and kill some time before the guys got back. This is me at the top of the world -- ok not really the world, but it sort of felt like it!:

I've got lots more pictures on the way, but I didn't want to sort through them all. Just wanted to throw one up so you could appreciate the view... and I looked cute :) The guys got down ok... they were back by the time we came back down from exploring the top of Table Mountain. They seemed pretty shaken up though, and realized how dumb they'd been.

We went out to some clubs a few of the nights. Capetown has this street called Long St. that has tons of bars and clubs on it (hostels as well, although they were full so we ended up staying further out of the city). The buildings and ambience resembled that of New Orleans (that's what the people in our group who'd been there said anyways). It looked like a lot of fun. Though we have a lot of clubs here in Durban, we don't have a place like that street where everything's jam-packed together and you can make your night wandering from bar to bar.

We took a trip down to Boulder Beach which is the beach where the penguins live. It was a ways away from the city center, but the view on the ride was beautiful, and the penguins were really cute. It's a bit bizarre to think about penguins living in Africa... but I guess this is one of the only beaches they're on and they definitely seem to have made it home.

We also went to the District Six museum... which is a memorial for the area of the city that used to be a very cosmopolitan area with tons of different ethnic groups living together in a happy little community. During Apartheid, the coloreds, Indians, and muslim families were forced to move out into townships and the museum serves to remember not only what the community once was, and what happened to it, but also the rebuilding of it and the relocation of former residents back into the area.

We walked around town quite a bit as well; saw the parliament and the company gardens. Then we made our way to the waterfront to go to the Two Ocean's Aquarium which had fish/animals from the Atlantic and Indian oceans. It wasn't overly impressive (tough to beat the Shedd Aquarium and some of the others I've been to) but it was a neat experience nonetheless.

While Peter, Kelly, and Raj were staying with friends who go to the University of Capetown for the weekend, and Crystal and her boyfriend had their own place, Gideon and I had to find a hostel to stay at. Though it was a bit further out from town than I'd hoped, we stayed at a pretty nice place that was only 3 blocks from the beach.

Yesterday we went for a walk along the waterfront and grabbed some delicious lunch. (This is noteworthy because most of the weekend I was frustrated at my inability to actually get food the way I ordered it, so when I was able to get something delicious I got really excited). Then we went down to the Wharf in the V&A Waterfront district and met up with some of our friends for some food and looking around. Later in the afternoon we had a tour of Robben Island scheduled, which we went to. Robben Island is most famously known for the fact that Nelson Mandela was imprisoned there for 18 years, but it also held many other political prisoners captive, as well as some regular criminals. The tours there are led by ex-inmates, which I thought gave it a really interesting feel. They didn't share that much personal experiences, but just knowing they really experienced it put a different tone on the experience. We saw Nelson Mandela's cell... to sleep all they had was a pillow and blanket on the floor (even in Winter, and it was already getting chilly in Capetown when we were there), they had a bucket to use as a toilet, and they were locked in their cells starting at 3:00 everyday. The tour guide told us about the fact that inmates of different races were treated differently... with the diets of black political prisoners being much smaller and less nutritional than those of colored or asian political prisoners. The clothing they were able to wear was also different, while black inmates were only able to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts with no shoes or socks, colored and asian inmates wore long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and were usually given shoes and socks.

Overall I have to say Capetown was an absolutely amazing place to visit. There's tons to do there... we didn't get to the winelands and there were lots of other museums I would have liked to visit as well. It's a very historical place... but I'm very glad that I'm studying in Durban. Capetown felt much more like Europe than Africa... and though the city had some interesting dynamics because of different sections resembling different cities across the globe... I'm enjoying my experiences much more here in Durban.

I'm sure I'm leaving some out... but that's the way it goes sometimes. I'll elaborate on anything you might have questions about. And I'm sorry if you tried calling at all this weekend... my phone shut off after being in the mountain drained its battery, and I didn't know the PIN number to be able to turn it back on. I'm back now and will be around all week (I think) so give me a call if you'd like :)

A little recap

So it's been a while since I've made a real post... here goes:

I haven't been doing all that much that's been specifically exciting. I have, however, been making more observations about the world around me here, which is pretty cool in itself.

From various cab rides, including rides with our "regular" cab driver, I have learned how dangerous life can be for cabbies here. This seems to be particularly true of Indian drivers, who typically own or lease their car and work for themselves or for very small companies, as opposed to the large cab companies who are predominantly driven by black drivers. Our regular cab driver recently had his car broken into, on a separate occasion he had his battery stolen, and most frightening of all he received a call last week telling him to stop doing one of his weekly runs to and from a popular burger and beer joint "or else". Another night we took another Indian cab driver home and he was telling us that he'd been hijacked 3 times already, twice at gunpoint and once at knife point. It's a little scary when they're telling you these things as you're riding in the car... you start looking around watching everyone on the street, wondering if someone's going to come attack the car.

Our "regular" cab driver has also been telling us about what it's like in his neighborhood, where there is a lot of racial tension. Apparently the homes in the area were all sold to Indian families, but at the end of apartheid when the new government went into place, half of the neighborhood's homes were given (free of rent/charge) to black families. These families now receive vouchers for food and most of their bills. In an area where everyone's living in poverty, but some feel like they've earned the right to be there and are upset at those who don't seem to have done anything to deserve it are quite upset. Last night he told us that his wife had called warning him that unfamiliar cars had been driving through the neighborhood (he said this is usually an indication of "casing" an area) and he said he was nervous to go home. I can't imagine living like that.

Some of the people I was with were really freaked out by everything he said and felt like we were going to die the minute we stepped out of the car... but I guess I haven't felt that fear yet. We don't go into the kinds of areas that he lives in, and while I know people say that everywhere in Durban is dangerous after nightfall, I feel that most people are living in fear. I'm cautious and all (I'm not putting myself into dangerous situations or anything, don't worry), but I refuse to stay in my dorm room all the time just because something could happen out in the world. Stuff happens everywhere.

While it's interesting being the minority here, it doesn't always feel like it. It totally depends on the social setting we're in. Two of my classes have a lot of white students, so it doesn't feel strange at all. In my classes where most of the students are black or Indian it's a little bit different... but what's more interesting is hearing the way they talk about Americans or America in general, when they're not thinking about the fact that there is an American in the room. (It makes me think about the comments that professors make at home about all sorts of countries... and how it might make international students from those countries feel). I'm probably not the best person to ask in terms of being insulted, since I tend to criticize our policies a fair amount myself... but one example that was too much for me to handle was in my Linguistics class. We had an assignment to compare two news reports (I did mine on some attacks in Iraq that killed a bunch of Shiites) and a girl spoke up about the same topic... explaining that 90 pilgrims had been killed on their way to pray, someone asked who they were killed by (because she was explaining the apathy of Americans in the news articles she'd read) and she said "the Americans". I raised my hand and waited for her to finish, then pointed out the fact that the attack had actually been a suicide bombing by insurgents... to which she replied "oh yeah" and no one else in the class seemed to care much about the difference. I guess I might have a little bit of patriotism in me after all, I didn't want to be associated with such a brutal, meaningless attack.

Last night a few of us went to this flatfoot dance and percussion performance that was on campus. I'm really glad we went, because it was one of the first cultural things I've experienced here. There were five drummers, and then another five dancers. For the most part it was African dance that included a lot of stomping and varied movements of the body... but they also made use of sticks and popcans while they were dancing to add to the percussion of the drums. I wish I could describe it better, it was really cool.

Soon I'll be heading out on my weekend excursion with my study abroad program; we're going to the Drakensberg mountains. I think the plan is to go up the mountain to see some Sans paintings (done by bushmen a long, long time ago), hopefully do a little more hiking, then I think we have to decide if we're going to go to a small game reserve (no big animals) or do some Zulu cultural stuff. I'm bringing my big camera and hoping for some beautiful pictures. I'll be sure to share when I get back.

Next Wednesday I'll be heading out for Capetown for an extended weekend, and though we haven't yet decided what all we'll be doing, I'm really looking forward to it. I've got a lot of work to do on Monday and Tuesday, but it should be manageable and it will be worth it.

That's all for now, I'm sure I have more observations to share but I need to go pack! Have a great weekend and leave questions / comments if you have them!

Some pics to hold you over

I'm not ready to post on all my thoughts yet... I'll probably do that tomorrow afternoon before I head out on my weekend excursion. Here are some pics of stuff I've been up to... just to show I'm alive and well.

^ Gideon, Me, Raj, and Kelly at Taco Zulu (the closest thing to Mexican food you can find here). Kelly was reacting to something funny that had been said, but I think her face just makes the picture that much better. Gideon's from Boston, and Raj and Kelly are from Iowa.
^ Raj, me, Gideon, and Kelly out at De la Sol .... group hug :)
^ Look I'm smiling! Gideon, me, and Peter I think.
^ Peter and me chilling at the guy's res hall
I got my hair cut today though... it was the first time I've ventured off on my own. I took a combi (the public taxi that resembles a van) to one of the shopping centers in search of a hair salon, and found one. Turned out to be a pleasant afternoon actually; I remembered how much I enjoy shopping and doing stuff like that on my own. I thought I'd post the picture of my new hair cut and then some other pictures of random stuff, just to show you I'm alive and well :)

A little isiZulu for you guys

Here's a little video that I made for you... just wanted you to hear what Zulu sounds like. Hope you enjoy! You can expect a real post soon, I've got a lot to put down into words.

Not missing the snow

So... I got an e-mail yesterday from the U of M saying that they cancelled classes. Interesting... I heard that almost never happens.

The weather there must really suck right now. I went on weather.com to read a bit about it, and found out they're expecting up to 2 more feet (again, after you guys just got that much last weekend as well). It also said the MSP airport had cancelled 400 flights. I'm happy I'm not there.

Sadly... I had to pass up the beach today in favor of the library :(
I've got my first music assignment due on Monday and all of the resources are only available in the library. What sucks even worse is that the library is only open until 12:30 tomorrow and not open at all on Sunday. The sun feels so nice today... I just wanna go to the beach.

There will always be other days for that I suppose.

I figured I should report this funny story (one of Mom's comments reminded me that I hadn't shared it...). Earlier this week I was walking up the stairs in one of the academic buildings with two friends (Gideon and Raj) and I completely tripped up the stairs and almost fell flat on my face -- I stopped with my face about 3 inches from the stairs. My knee really, really hurt... and a few minutes later I realized it was bleeding! It's scabbed up now... but for a few days it hurt everytime I walked (which is alot... and all the stairs didn't help much!). Now the internal bruise is finally surfacing and my knee looks even nastier. Yes... if there's one word that can always be used to describe me, it's clumsy.

Anyways, hope you're all staying safe and warm!

Another week almost over

It's Thursday already... which seems quite surprising. Time's kind of flying by.

My fan miraculously started working again, which was extremely exciting. I slept so well the night it turned on again!

Classes this week have been a bit more challenging. I had my first tutorial in my politics class, which all of us international students were completely unprepared for. Apparently it goes unsaid that an essay is also due along with the reading assingments in your tutorial. We found out from a second year student who's in our class the night before we had the tut. I had done all the readings, so it wasn't that big of a deal... until I was sitting in the tutorial and saw everyone else turning in 4 page essays while I turned in my page and a half assignment. I also talked to the tutor guy and he was telling me how we should have answered the question -- apparently we were supposed to summarize all of the readings and then answer the question, rather than simply answer the question. So I probably won't be getting a good grade on the assignment, and in the future I guess I will just summarize then answer since most of the reading wasn't relevant to the question we were to answer. It was also interesting being the only American in my tutorial because people don't think about watching what they say as much... they didn't say anything outright negative, but there was definitely a tone behind what they were saying.

We have a zulu test coming up in a week and a half... so I've been trying to come up with a game plan for preparing for that. I spent a few hours typing up the notes in a way that made more sense to me, because they worksheets they give us are illogically organized. I have to say though, learning zulu here is definitely a very different experience from any of the language learning experiences I've had in the States. We jumped straight in, there was no going over the alphabet or phonetic sounds... we didn't start with numbers, days of the week, and colors. We started with things that will actually be conversationally helpful. Right now I still require cues from my notes, but I'm starting to get the hang of it, and soon I think I'd be able to hold a conversation with a native speaker.

I'm getting really excited about all of the traveling I'll be doing in the next month or two. Not this weekend but the next is our group trip to the Drakensberg mountains along with Zulu Falls, Zulu land, and possibly a short game reserve trip. Then the Wednesday after that I'm taking an extended weekend trip to Capetown. For Easter break (fall break here) I'm planning on going to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and Namibia... though the groups of who's going hasn't been entirely decided yet. It seems like pretty much everyone is going to those places, but in what order, where they're staying, and what they're doing is yet to be determined. I know which group I'd prefer to go with, just have to figure out if it's really happening or not. Either way it should be an incredible experience!

That's about it for now... hopefully I'll have something exciting to report after the weekend.