Hello again!

I write to you from my wonderful bedroom at Godfrey and Lynne’s residence in Diep River! But I’m getting ahead of myself already…

July 12

08h00

Another early morning, but for the first night since I arrived, I slept all the way through the night (yay!). I purposely got up early to catch breakfast right when it opened at 07h00 so that I could go get some awesome pictures of the sunrise on Devil’s Peak. It. was. AWESOME! (I guess ‘awesome’ is a totally American thing to say here). As my photo shoot went on, my camera battery started blinking for the first time since I charged it a couple of weeks ago (pretty good for the level of digital camera I’ve got) and not even 10 minutes later, it was dead. I was able to get all the pictures I wanted anyways, so I took my camera back to my room. Meeting downstairs at 08h45, we were split up into our housing arrangements and for the first time I got to meet the other 5 students in home stays (besides the couple I had met at breakfast earlier). Felicity, the CIEE Assistant Director for Res. Life, gave us a quick overview of the homestays, specifically the names, addresses, and short bios of the families we each would be living with (1 student to 1 family), 5 of us within a few blocks of each other and 20min. train ride from campus with the 6th student just off of UCT campus. I was placed with Godfrey and Lynne Hendrickse, a middle-aged couple with an adorable Collie mix named Alexander. Godfrey and Lynne are both teachers, Godfrey teaching high school biology in a disadvantaged area with Lynne teaching 5th graders at a nicer all-boys school. There was not much else given, but Zelda, the home stay coordinator, emphasized again that each family had been hosting students for years and that we would get the experience we were hoping for. The 6 of us then asked questions about the actual location of Diep River (where I would be staying being 1 of the 5 in the group), transportation back and forth to campus (public trains during peak hours, taxis off-peak) and other random questions about the families that we were curious about.

09h30

Feeling much less anxious than before, the entire CIEE group headed back to Baxter Hall (where we had orientation the previous day) to talk about the volunteer opportunities. Earl Erasmus, the Res. Life Director, gave a moving opening speech about his own time living on the streets, hooked on drugs, and nearly dying from sickness that nearly caused starvation. His main goal was to emphasize that we should strive to make as great an impact as possible while we are here in Cape Town. Different RA’s and community organization leaders gave brief 5 minute “commercials” about their volunteering opportunities ranging from orphanages, feeding and clothing the poor, prison ministries, and after school programs and sports clinics for disadvantaged kids. The one organization that I immediately connected with was called The Ark: City of Refuge, a Christian community outreach that functions like a small city serving 800 poor people daily with proven drug rehabilitation programs, life skills programs, elderly care, meals, early learning centers, sports facility, and overall general refuge for adults and children in need. The two women who gave the short description said they literally had people as young as newborns to people in their nineties that they were currently serving. And they have been doing this for 20 years.

Yes, you read that right: 20 years (as in 240 months, 1,040 weeks, 7,305 days).

Needless to say when the presentations were over, I bee-lined over to their table to get a brochure and ask more questions. I came to find out that they were funded completely by private donations, an absolutely crazy fact in and of itself. As they had not really mentioned healthcare as a part of their ‘city’, I also learned that they are currently in the process of setting up their own clinic and would love help/input as they try to move away from their present (and costly) method of transporting those with medical needs to other clinics nearby. (Jesus didn’t come floating down on the clouds with a billboard arrow and heavenly choir in the background at this time, but it was pretty darn close). Since we haven’t scheduled classes yet, there was no obviously concrete guarantee I could volunteer there on a permanent, 2-3 times/week basis, but they said Earl would work his best to align the transportation schedules right where the students who wanted to serve could (insert the flexibility mindset I mentioned in the “Hidden Diamonds” post.  The always-lingering, frigid rain was suddenly bearable as I walked back to Graça Machel, still in a daze of disbelief as to what I had just learned (you can find out more about the awesome work The Ark at their website www.theark.org.za). As the exclamation for disbelief in South Africa goes: whoa!

02h00

Sitting at another café in the surrounding area of Rondebosch, the rain continued as it looked like AMA-zing race, a tour of campus named after the infamous show of the same name, was going to be cancelled. Upon finishing another great meal (haven’t had a bad or even mediocre one yet), we went back to Graça Machel to find out that indeed, it was cancelled and instead we would be going up to the sports complex for basketball, African Dance, and football (the real one that involves footwork skills on a consistent basis). I gravitated to the football as my jumpshot was a little lacking the last time I had shot a basketball quite a few months ago and wasn’t living up to the 6’0″-6’4″ that were going to play. Living up to all the hype and then some, we set up 3 teams and played round-robin, golden goal (1 goal) games for a solid hour and a half. Whoa, whoa, whoa…. Not only were the Capetonians good (as could be expected), a surprising majority of the Americans were pretty good footballers as well which soon led to a light-hearted, but very competitive pseudo tournament. Though without many contributing plays from myself (I did play some good defense against Vongs, the alleged great footballer and my homestay RA), our team dominated after a slow start with two stretches of 5 or more games straight.

I…

Was……

Exhausted………!

We quickly took down the goals and walked back to Graça Machel around 17h30 as we needed to clean up for our welcome dinner at Moyo, Spier, an old winery near Stellenbosch.

20h00

Being told to dress “smart casual,” we arrive at this massive estate with many adjoining tents that housed the dining room, buffet line, and cash bar. Finding a table with Haley, Taylor, and Lauren, 3 of the other 4 homestay students in our group, I had instantaneous flashbacks to the dinner I had during our day in Morocco some years ago on my trip to Spain with the African decorations and face paint with a raised platform in the middle where musicians played while we sipped our wine from Western Cape and enjoyed the best meal I had had in South Africa, full of fresh vegetables and an array of meats that were cooked so perfectly that a knife almost wasn’t needed for the ribeye. After dinner, the party really started as the DJ cranked some (rather typical) American music with some interspersed raffles of the prizes that were originally intended for the AMA-zing race winners (I unfortunately did not win any of them, including the R8,000 trip to Victoria Falls among other sights). Deciding to see whether the alcohol was really as cheap as the frat boys from Vanderbilt had been claiming and since we were not paying for the food portion of our meal, I went to the bar for a double of Scotch, reasonably priced though even with the a markup due to the upscale nature of the restaurant. The party continued a little while longer as us homestay students sat with Colby, a student on the service learning CIEE program who is studying public health at John Hopkins and had some interesting stories about her own travels and studies among the Zulu people. Closing in on 22h30, we were corralled essentially (as there were some students who could not walk straight otherwise, a sad fact considering how it seems to reinforce the American stereotype as loud, crazy, and drunk…) and headed back to the bus where I proceeded to doze off on the way back for our final night at Graça Machel.

July 13

09h45

Suitcases repacked and ready to go, I sat out in the courtyard of Graça Machel for probably the last time and worked on the blog posts some more (see above…duh) while anxiously awaiting the arrival of Godfrey and Lynne. Punctual as ever, my name was called by the RA director and I followed her outside to meet my new ‘parents’ for the next 5 or so months. Full of smiles and hellos, Godfrey and Lynne helped me rearrange by bags to fit in the car (my Versa back home is about the average size of cars here). As Diep River was to the south, we followed the winding road along the mountain range all the way to the coast past Diep River so that they could give me some orientation and sense of direction. Going far enough south to see the major areas, we stopped at their favorite café to get a cappuccino for the road (the coffee freshly ground in front of us as we watched a man walk some dogs right into the operating bakery, a sight ending in a silent chuckle). Following a different route than the way we came to see more sights, we arrived at their modest two-story home right just a little before noon.

Lest I make this sound more formal than it was, during the entire ride and subsequent chat now in their living room, they had both already opened up and answered my questions ranging from simple directions to the most complex political, economic, and social aspects of South Africa, especially those related to apartheid. With Godfrey having to step out for an installation appointment of a Bluetooth hands free system in one of their cars (apparently using cell phones and driving is a problem everywhere), Lynne started on lunch while I unpacked in my spacious room with connected private bathroom and shower. Having finally decompressed my stuff, I went back to the kitchen and continued on with the conversation with Lynne we had earlier about family, food, and the errands Lynne would be taking me along with after lunch. After a health conscious meal of fresh chicken, salad, and bread with olive oil butter spread, we hoped in the “buggy,” their van, and went for some errands around town: picking up a prescription from the doctor for her father (who lives in Godfrey and Lynne’s renovated garage with Lynne’s mom who has Alzheimer’s), going to the grocery store for dinner, window shopping the equivalent of Bed Bath and Beyond, looking for a good jacket for me, going to the “chemist” to fill the prescriptions, and finally heading back home to get ready for supper. Godfrey returned from a graduation ceremony for some of his students and while Lynne starting preparing supper, Godfrey took me along with to fill up their gas tanks for their heater. Once again, this whole time was filled with more questions about the effects of apartheid on religion, the struggle to establish upward mobility, and the restructuring and streamlining of their education system. Though certainly the more fascinating aspects of the day, I could not recount them all and give me some time to sleep tonight! (I do plan on at least a weekly post diving into the more interesting aspects of their cultural as the connections and observations I’m making become clearer to me so that I can actually understand what’s going on besides speculating in my own ethnocentric ways, a skill that my otherwise less-than-insighful anthropology class instilled in me).

21h00

Supper was a fabulous chicken curry with rice and salad that looked like pico de gallo (but tasted quite different) accompanied by another savory local wine. Besides the three of us and Alexander, they invited over Patrick, Godfrey’s brother from down the street with his wife Francine (who would join us after dessert), and Clive and Denise, another couple from the neighborhood. Spending the first time really getting to socialize with Capetonians, the one thing that stood out the most was how witty and hilarious they all were, constantly poking fun at each other while simply sharing their lives together and asking me more and more questions about me, my family, my studies and my interests (Clive kept joking about my “Amish background,” just to give you a relevant taste of the joking involved). Finishing off with a dessert of a pudding cake topped with real custard and cream, the evening continued with more relaxing conversation and wine followed later by some refreshing Irish coffee and more conversation till much past 23h00. Wishing the night would never end, yet longing for my pillow and bed, our guests, slowly left one-by-one and I went to my room to prepare for bed and type up the rest of this two day blog.

So we are once again at the present…

Some side notes to mention: I do now have Internet (obviously) but it is still limited though not nearly as much as before, so although I am not posting any pictures tonight (as it is now after 01h00 in the morning), I will hopefully be able to post some up tomorrow after we go to a rugby game in the afternoon.

But until then…Cheers!