a: First Week of Classes

Oh my, my, MY! What a week it has been.

Monday was the first day of class. I wanted to jump off of a bridge. It was the first time I was pushed to the limit and extremely frustrated since being here. My whole schedule changed and I waited in a “queue” (line) half of the day with questions that never got answered!!! It’s funny though how worked up we (or at least I) get about merely the little things. Here, no one really sweats the small stuff they just live life and take what comes their way. That is definitely a mentality I’m having to adapt to. In the end, everything worked out beautifully and I have a more than ideal schedule. I’m only taking three classes at UCT and then my IES class. I have “Organizational Behavior and Employee Relations” Monday-Wednesday from 9:00-9:45; “African Instruments” Mondays from 3:00-5:30; and then “Afrikaans” Tuesdays-Friday from 11:00-11:45. I love all of my classes and am definitely going to be learning a lot!

Tuesday was better. Everything from Monday was resolved and I felt like things were under control and I was on the right track! I started my morning off at upper campus in the shade of a huge tree. It was super peaceful and a great way to just reflect and refocus. After class that day I took a mini bus to “Cavendish Mall” in Claremont. It’s a really nice mall, but it is pretty cramped and the quality of clothes here is much different than the US. I ended up finding some new shoes in Wolly’s (Wolsworths) and made it home in time to go to a workout class at the gym! In honor of Mardi Gras we grilled out downstairs. The boys went together and bought a grill for 180R (less than 20 USD) and it was definitely worth the money. Good food, good friends, good night. Like everything here it was trial and error. They cooked chicken, kabobs with pineapple, sausage, garlic bread and asparagus. I contributed make shift kings cakes in the form of cupcakes and the baby was replaced by an “M&M.”

Wet and Wild Wednesday was such a hit. After class we took the train to Muizenberg and beached all afternoon. The weather was just right and while I wasn’t cat napping, I enjoyed watching the little kids taking surf lessons. I came home to Caitlin cooking crepes in the kitchen! Everyone came up and socialized and then we went to Stones in OBS. It was good to see some of the people I met during orientation and catch up with them.

I blogged about my morning Thursday and that was about as exciting as the day got. Haley and I went to a workout class and I went to bed by 9:30! Happy Valentine’s Day to all!

Friday was an adventure. We had high hopes of going to the beach but there was a chilly wind so we vetoed that idea. Instead, we took a mini bus to the city and mini bused to the Waterfront. The mall is very nice. Being in that area is practically like being in America. After scoping out all the stores we went to see “Zero Dark Thirty.” Fun fact, the reason South Africans are so fit is because they don’t believe in butter on their movie theater popcorn!!!!! Total letdown, but the fact that I paid 50R for my ticket and 43R for “Combo 2” (Medium popcorn, coke, and Whispers...basically Whopers) made up for it! The whole movie outing was about $10, talk about BARGIN! My boy Wilfred picked us up and 9 of us crammed into his cab. The best purchase of the day was a book that is an illustrated poem about CapeTown! See picture below!

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday. Ha, what a day full of life. We were up and at’em by 8:30 for SHAWCO training. SHAWCO is the oldest campus organization and the education sector provides opportunities for students to go invest in the lives of kids in the different townships. The project I am going to be working on is called “STAR” and I will be in Manenberg every Tuesday afternoon. We will play sports with the kids for the first half of the afternoon and then sit down and read with them the second part. This project is all about promoting literacy and the kids are Afrikaans/English speakers. I am really looking forward to jumping in and making new little friends! WooHoo can’t wait for Tuesday!

After the training we all hurried home to finish up last minute details before we left for our home-stay. Over Christmas, Bethany and I made “Sand Art Brownies” in a mason jar to give to my host family as a gift. However, this IES EcoJustice class has opened my eyes to how people in the townships have to sparingly use electricity and what not so I decided I’d go ahead and whip up the brownies before I left, because what if they didn’t even have a stove?! Muzzoro picked us up from ShopRite and took all of us to Mama Nook’s where we got to play with all the kids on the street while we waited on our Mama’s to pick us up. Cassie and I stayed with Mama Titi. She is an awesome Godly woman who was extremely hospitable. She has a 5 year old grand daughter named Naledi and Naledi’s 18 year old cousin Moipone (Pony) is also living with them at the moment. Our evening was spent outside with all the neighborhood kids. We jumped rope, played “how low can you go” and then did some old-school street races! The girls loved playing with our hair so we also had about a 30 minute salon sesh before Mama called us to dinner. DINNER. Ahhh it was the best meal I’ve had in Africa, serious. She made us chicken with potatoes and broth, pop (it’s white and looks like mashed potatoes but it’s got a sticky(ish) texture), fresh spinach and onions, and steamed sweet potatoes. My may me. This girl filled her plate AND had seconds!! The food reminded me a lot of Mrs. Jo’s and that made my heart happy! A little slice of home with a new African twist!! The most uncomfortable part of the whole thing was that we ate it with our hands. That really blew my mind but when in Africa... The rest of the night we just spent chatting with Mama Titi and asking questions. She had amazing stories about the Apartied times and it was so interesting to hear about her life. Crazy enough when I was looking through her book of who all has stayed with her, there had been a guy from Abilene! (Small world?!)

This morning we all went to church and it was really cool to see everyone worship in a different language. It was rather exhausting sitting in the heat, being hungry, and trying to concentrate on the english interpretation. The gist of the sermon was that there is power in prayer and I am extremely glad I had the opportunity to go. I think I will have to go back to visit Mama Titi and go to church in Langa with her next time!

After church we headed to the infamous Mzolizs. HA, WHAT AN EXPERIENCE. Basically it is a restaurant in a township that serves meat, meat and more meat. I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was blown away. It is a huge patio? thing...It is all covered with tents and there is boooooming loud music and dancing. Monica and I had gone to get drinks and when we came back to the table there was a HUGE bucket of meat on meat and everyone was digging in. Again, we resorted back to our primal instincts and ate only using our fingers. NOM. It was such a laughable afternoon and we made memories that we will never forget. We made it home safe and sound and a couple pounds heavier! This week is going to be yet another busy one! We’ve made a list of all the fun must does from my illustrated poem book and are looking to check a couple off in the next few days.

Thoughts/Reflections

As you can tell this is unlike any first week of school I’ve ever had!!! I’ve definitely come to terms with the second stage of culture shock and realize everything here isn’t magical. However, like I said earlier it’s all about perspective and realizing that we are truly blessed to live in the States and be able to come “live” here for a temporary time. There are certain things about home I really miss and today “Sweet Sammies” was high on the list! The home-stay was really eye opening and it was cool to see the way the people we interact with every day do life. I think the head SHAWCO guy really hit it dead on when he said that the people in the townships should not be pitied. That’s not what they need. They need positive energy and hope. At this point there really is no one cure fix all thing anyone can do to make everyone’s situation better, however by simply conversing and challenging their ways of thinking you can shine a new light on something they can do to help themselves. I am also very thankful for the people in my program. Doing life with them the past four weeks has been great. There are times when we all get crabby, grouchy and need band aids, but I couldn’t imagine having this experience without them.

Have a greet week!