Thank God I’m Not A Vegetarian

Mzoli’s is a giant braai (barbeque) and party in a township that occurs every Sunday. I was able to go two Sundays ago with another house, Roxy, and then again this Sunday with my house, Highstead. Both of my RA’s, Martina and Buhle, took all 30 of us from my house at 10:30 yesterday morning.  It was pretty empty when we first arrived, but I knew from my experience the last week that within a few hours, it would be packed. We all figured out tables and sat down while our RA’s got the meat situated. Once they came back, my RA Buhle took all of us into a small house, a block from the party site, to buy alcohol. The house that we went into was nicer than I had expected, as it had somewhat proper flooring and furniture. The family sold all of the alcohol out of their fridge and only sold 6 packs. A few of my friends and I shared a six-pack of Savannah dry, a cider which kind of tastes like sparkling apple juice. Then our RA’s got us big buckets and ice to put our beer and in so it would stay cold (a nice feature that we didn’t have the previous week). As time went on the braai became more busy and packed with all different kinds of people. There was a DJ playing lots of popular house music and people dancing. There were also a lot of people trying to sell things to us like sunglasses, fedoras, and earrings. We were told that our meat would be ready at 12:30 but it did not come until 1:30. A large white bucket came with sausage, chicken and steak. People LOVE meat here. Then we also got pep (or something, I’m not too sure what it’s called but it’s kind of like grits) and salsa to put on the meat. Everyone was eating the food like they had never eaten before. Also there is no silverware or plates, so you just eat everything with your hands... So cleanly. The sausage and steak were good, but it was honestly the best chicken I have ever had. Both this Sunday and the Sunday before, I over ate until I felt sick – but it was so hard to stop eating because it was so good.

 Eating..

Taylor looks so happy here haha... The long line in the background is people waiting to put in their meat orders.

The 30 of us couldn’t end up finishing everything that was in the bucket but we came pretty close. After we ate we continued to hang out there for a few hours. The time went by quickly as we danced and met knew people. This more recent time there were a lot more international people than the last time. However, both times I feel like I was able to have good conversations with the local people to learn about their lives.

My first time at Mzoli’s an old woman came up to me and started talking; however, I had a really hard time understanding what she was saying. All I could really understand was her saying something about bread for her family. So I reached into my bag and gave her 10 rand (a little more than a dollar) and she started to cry, then gave me a huge hug… I’m not sure if this is appropriate or not but I think this thought is okay because it is reality - I really hope she didn’t end up spending that on drugs.

Overall, Mzoli’s was a great time with great food and great people. Hopefully I can go a few more Sundays while I am here – but maybe next time I won’t eat until I’m in pain.

The Garden Route

We had about a week off before classes started, so a group of us decided to go on the Garden Route. My group that I was traveling with consisted of eight of us from my house and two boys that are in a homestay. These two girls, Masha and Chloe, literally planned everything for us. The only other girls on the trip were me and my friend Taylor, and I would say we are both laid back and not really good at arranging this kind of thing. Therefore, everyone was SO thankful for Masha and Chloe. Not only were they so organized in booking and planning everything, they even gave us a powerpoint presentation of our plans for the trip!!

We started on this thing called the Baz Bus, which advertises itself as a “hop on hop off” kind of thing. This way none of us would have to drive on the other side of the road and with stick shift cars. The first day we left Cape Town early in the morning and headed to Jeffrey’s Bay. Along the way, our driver Sydney played some really strange violent movies like Adventures of a Foot Solider (or something) and some Quentin Tarantino movie with George Clooney. Except none of the movies ended up finishing because they player would get to hot and the DVD would skip. Anyway, the bus had to stop really often because it would pick people up from hostels along the way. Sometimes we would even have to wait at hostels for the people to come – this kinda sucked. But we all started drinking on the bus and once we got to one of the hostels our bus driver bought us shots! Then we also took a bungee shot at one hostel, which is lit on fire. Before anyone started to drink their shots my friend Sam goes, “Phil lets show them how it’s done” and the two boys took their shots. They both ended up lighting themselves on fire, Phil ended up being fine but Sam ended up burning his lip pretty badly. (This story reminds me of my golf cart accident that I got in with Peter being fine after and me being injured in Harbour Island). Anyway we finally arrived in Jeffery’s Bay later that night where we would stay at Island Vibe hostel for two nights.

Jeffery’s Bay is known for its surfing, so there were a lot of people at the hostel that were there for that reason. It was really fun to see/ hang out with so many international kids. The hostel was really fun and pretty rowdy. The next day some kids surfed but most of us ended up just hanging out on the beach. The water was a lot warmer here, and it was the Indian Ocean, it was my first time swimming in it! This day was kind of stressful as we realized that the Baz Bus is not really “hop on hop off” because the bus only runs in each direction once a day. This conflicted with our plans for the next day because we wanted to bungee jump, but where we wanted to stay was in Knysna, which was farter away. So, we ended up having to also rent a car for the next day.

We woke up the next morning, got the cars and headed towards the largest bungee jump in the world. I honestly cannot believe I bungee jumped. It was something I never saw myself doing until I talked with my good friend Mike Scott, and he honestly did a great job at convincing me. I knew I had to do it but I was really nervous. I kept thinking that I was going to pee my pants once I jumped. When we got there we had to put on our gear then wait around for a while. All of the employees wore t-shirts that said “fear is temporary, regret is forever” – pretty funny. I was obviously already nervous, but I became more nervous because it was pouring rain. We sat in this waiting room that had a flat screen TV that showed a live camera of people that were jumping at that time. I watched a few, but then I couldn’t watch anymore. I turned on my iPod and listened to songs like The Wind, Wild Horses and Clare De Lune to try and calm myself down and relax. I never debated about not doing it, I knew I had to, I just had that weird feeling in my stomach. Once it was time a large group of us walked along the bridge in this sketchy small pathway where you could look down and see the huge trench. This is the pathway:

Taylor, Sam and I right before my time to Jump

The bridge. This picture was taken not on the day I went because it was foggy and rainy so it was a lot harder to see.

Then we all waited inline and watched people go before us. Everyone that came back up had huge smiles on their faces and seemed so happy. Before I knew it, it was my turn to go. I was told not to look down when I first stood up there so I didn’t because I knew I would freak out. It was also pretty foggy and rainy so it was kind of hard to see. I told the two guys who helped me over there that they might have to push me off because I was afraid I wouldn’t jump. Techno loud music was playing in the background and my friends were all cheering behind me, then all of this sudden I hear 5 4 3 2 1 BUNGEE! All of this sudden I left the loud jumping spot and flew through the air. The sensations were so amazing as it was so peaceful, feeling like it was just nature and me.

Honestly, it was the best thing I have ever done and I was so happy I did it and I would do it again in a second. After I stopped flying through the air I just hung there for a little bit until a man on a lever came down to get me. He then flipped me around and all I could keep saying was “oh my god that was so amazing oh my god” while at the same time he kept saying “Katharine you are so beautiful will you be my girlfriend.” So that was pretty funny. Here's a picture of us

But everyone in my group LOVED bungee jumping and I haven’t heard of one person who didn’t like it. So if you’ve ever even considered or thought about it – DO IT, I promise you won’t regret it. 

After bungee jumping we drove to the Knysna Elephant park where Masha and Chloe (who were the only two in the group that didn’t bungee jump) rode elephants. Everyone else walked around to pet, feed and play with them. Then from there we drove to another Island Vibe, ate dinner then went to bed after a very long and adventurous day.

The next day we woke up, returned the rental cars, and got on the bus to Hermanus. This area is known for its large whale population. Unfortunately for us, whale season isn’t until their winter so it starts in July. We spent that night in a hostel and then woke up the next morning ready for activities. So a group of us went kayaking and we were able to see penguins in the ocean as well as a lot of seals. The kayaking was really fun but it hurt a little because the carpel tunnel that I got from working at Ben and Jerry’s came back… It was pretty painful, and kind of sad. Apparently if you go kayaking during whale season it is like 100% likely that you will see one if not more. Also I ate kelp out of the ocean. I was also the only person to get out of my kayak and swim in the middle of our trip. It was pretty funny because the instructor wouldn’t let me take off my life coat and he told me to grab kelp and swim downwards to look at the ocean. Let me just say, swimming underwater with a lifejacket on is hard. I didn’t even get all the way underwater I’m pretty sure my legs were flailing in the air, hahaha! But it was really cool to see under the water, the guide said he thinks it looks like the Avatar world. After about 2.5 hours of kayaking we ended up going back to the hostel and hanging out until the bus came to pick us up and take us back to Cape Town.

Overall, the Garden Route was an amazing time. I am really glad we were able to explore more of South Africa! Also sorry I don’t have very many pictures, my camera broke literally two days before going.

UCT

UCT requires new students to pre-register. Completing this says that tuition has been paid. For international students it also asks questions about our passports, study visas and our medical insurance. This process for some took 3 hours of waiting in line (or a queue as they call it)! Once I heard that, a few of us decided to leave an hour early, so it only ended up taking us about a half hour – we got very lucky! First you had to fill out a bunch of forms. Once they were filled out, a woman had to check them to make sure things were completed correctly and signed correctly. From there you entered a room where there were two women on computers (that looked like they were from the 1990s) who checked that tuition had been paid. Then you had to wait again for two other people in a different room on computers who entered all of your information into the computer system for registration, which happens in a few days. I was pretty surprised how “old” this system seemed because the rest of campus is so nice. However, internet in South Africa is rarely free. At home, we have to pay per megabyte that we use! I heard one company monopolized the internet for a long time and that is why it was so expensive.

UCT registration also seemed to be very old school. When you first arrived you had to wait inline by your last name. There we would give our preregistration forms and they gave us a form and student ID number. Then we sat in another really long line where we had to fill out the form with a bunch of our personal information and the classes we wanted to take. Next there were about 10 people all sitting at desks where you would take your form and they would check everything off. They were primarily making sure that all of the students were eligible to sign up for the classes that they wanted. So, they have to find your name on a long list to see what classes we were preapproved for. If we were not preapproved for a certain class, we had to (beforehand) go to the department head with our transcript and have them sign off on a piece of paper which showed we were allowed to enroll in the class. After the person checked off the classes you wanted to take, we had to wait in another line to have all of our information put on the computers. People were sitting at computers waiting to enter our class information into the system. It was actually pretty interesting to see that UCT uses the same registration system as CU… Except UCT has all of those kind of annoying extra steps beforehand. After this, there was another 3 hour line to wait and get student ID cards. I didn’t end up waiting to get my card, and tried 4 other times to get it and finally on the 4^th time I was able to pick it up. Then you have to wait in ANOTHER line to have it activated. Wow, so much waiting in lines..

Anyway, I am enrolled in Health Psychology, Ancient Mythology and Genocide: African Experiences. The psych class seems really cool, it is a large lecture and my teacher is really nice and fun. She is really into South African music and the idea of music as therapeutic, so we get to listen to a different SA song/ band once a week… I am really excited about that since I love music. The mythology class seems pretty boring and the teacher seems pretty strict. I am only taking it to fulfill the core requirement upper division literature and the arts back at CU. Then Genocide: African Experiences is pretty much all American students, so that kind of stinks. But I think the class will be really interesting as it takes a deeper look into African Genocide. One thing my teacher brought up yesterday that I thought was really interesting was that the worst genocides (by worst I mean killing the most people) that have taken place have been in Russia, parts of Europe and Asia – not Africa.

**I will put up pictures of UCT soon! My digital camera broke and I just got a memory card for my new one. The campus here is gorgeous.. Although it is on a hill (larger than Boulders) so it is literally a workout walking to class everyday. It is also kind of embarrassing because we get sooo sweaty walking to class. Also, everyone looks nice here for class. So that kind of stinks. I have kind of a hard time trying to pick out what I’m going to wear since I would be obviously American if I wear gym shorts and a tshirt. I wonder how long me dressing up for classes will last.. And when I say dressing up for classes I mean nice khaki shorts with a plain shirt and birkenstocks, haha. Lots of girls wear summer dresses with nice flats or sometimes heels. 

Highstead and Settling In

The house that I moved into after spending 5 days in the UCT dorms is called Highstead because that is the street it is on. The house holds 30 people but it is split into two that are not connected from the inside. The first house, A house, is very homey and is where I live.  B and C houses are connected, but B is the downstairs and C is the upstairs. Every home (A, B and C) has its own kitchen and bathrooms. We also all have our own bedrooms. I like living in the A house because my room is pretty big. Tall/ large wooden gates that have electric wires on top of them surround our house. To open the door in the fence you have to put up a little circular thing to a detector and it will beep with a green light to let the door unlock. This is kind of frustrating though because A has a different gate than B and C so I cannot get into the other houses without them opening it for me. There is also a doorbell that attaches to a phone inside of our house so we can talk to people outside and let them in. To get out of the house we have to press a button which unlocks the door. We also have a small house for our security guard, Alison. He works five days a week from 6pm-6am. I have had a chance to talk to Alison a bit and he is very nice. I didn’t understand how he kept remembering my name since there are 30 of us, but I walked into his little house/ sitting area where I saw our passport photos that we had to send in with our names below them (haha mine is such a bad picture). On his nights off there is another security guard who comes, but we have not met yet. If we are at a CIEE house that is close by to another and choose to walk to the other one, the guards will communicate so they walk outside and wait for us to come. If it is too far for us to walk, CIEE provides us with a “guardian angel” which drives us for free from house to house. Overall, I have felt very safe at my new home.

On Monday, everyone in my house went to the beach. We all took the minibus which is very cheap –  12 rand (less than 2 dollars) for a half hour ride. Riding the minibuses is quite an experience. The drivers go very fast and weave around traffic. Then there is another person who yells out the window saying our destination, trying to recruit people to ride in the bus off of the street. In Cape Town, all of the busses end up at a bus stop. This was the first time in my entire life where I have felt what it is like to be a minority. It wasn’t a bad feeling it was just very interesting. We definitely stood out as not White South Africans, because they seem to stay away from this area. We were literally the only white people out of mostly Black people and a few Colored people. Racial distinctions are also different here than they are in the US. So they define Colored people as those who are mixed race, or have lighter skin. Anyway, this bus stop was really busy and full with people trying to go places and people selling things. From here we got on another bus to take us to the beach. We went to Clifton #4 and it was so nice to lay out and swim in the ocean, but the water is really cold! So it was nice to just jump in and cool off. Then we all went and got lunch in Camps Bay which has a bunch of restaurants by the waterfront, and then headed back home.

This is when we were leaving the beach. That's Taylor, haha. I love the palm trees and mountains.

Yesterday, February 1^st, two other girls and I took the minibus into Cape Town to walk around the city. We ended up walking to the V&A Waterfront, which was so gorgeous. It was very interesting walking from an all Black area at the minibus station to the Waterfront which was occupied by mostly, if not completely, by Whites.  However, a lot of the employees at the Waterfront were Black or Colored. Anyway here are some pictures from the Waterfront, it was cool overall. You also take a boat from there to go to Robben Island, I think we are going on Friday!

I was pleasantly surprised to see the nice parts of Cape Town are very green! The UCT campus is also pretty green. They recycle a lot and charge for plastic bags! (On the downside, there is a lot of littering here especially in the not so nice areas.)

The clouds literally look like they are floating off of the mountains. It is SO cool! This picture doesn't give it justice. 

This picture is of the four Nobel Peace Prize winners from South Africa. They are (from Left to Right) Albert Lithuli, Desmond Tutu, FW de Klerk, and Nelson Mandela. Then Taylor, Katie and I are in the middle :)

 

Peninsula Tour

On last Sunday (1/30) UCT took all of the international students on an all day peninsula tour. We arrived on campus in the morning and got on large coach busses. These busses were way nicer than any coach bus I have been on in the US. They had large leather seats and they could extend back really far. The busses all had two entrances and also had coffee makers on them. On the ride we saw a lot of cool animals including baboons!

The first main stop we took was at Boulders Beach which is known for its penguin population. We weren’t able to actually walk on the beach, but there was a wooden platform that we could all walk around on to see the penguins. Since penguins are my favorite kind of animal, I really loved being there. However, I was kind of upset that we didn’t get to play with them – even though I heard they bite. 

Once we were done viewing the penguins a few of us went to go get frozen coffee. Before walking back to the busses to leave Boulders Beach, I ran into Angela Groves who was in the same class as me at HB! It was really nice to see a familiar face from Cleveland. We were able to catch up a bit on our lives when we hiked at Cape Point. The first picture is from Boulders Beach and the second is from Cape Point.

When we arrived at Cape Point we were able to hike up to a lighthouse and look out at the amazing view! It was so amazing. We also hiked down and around Cape Point which was really fun. We spent about 2 hours exploring here before heading back home.