Introduction to Gugulethu

**Sidenote before I write anything: I discovered the most delicious combination at Wimpys the other day when we were sitting down for some burgers.. Fries dipped in mashed avocado. Give it a whirl. I'm really craving that right now.

We are going to our homestays tomorrow, so Aaron wanted us all to blog before we left since we won’t be by our computers until Friday night.

Today was was a little introduction to the upcoming week for us. Today definitely was heavier than what we experienced all of last week. We had class at the JL Zwane Community Center and had three lecturers. First we heard from Edwin Louw, who works with the community center, and he described a little bit about his life. His mother was a white woman who came from a very rich family. She gave up all family and financial support to marry Edwin's father, who was poor and Zulu. Edwin's grandmother was extremely racist and would treat Edwin and his siblings much much worse than she would treat their cousins. Because of this (and I really respect and appreciate his honesty), he told us that for a long time, he held a strong hatred of white people. He really changed his point of view when his son was born and realized that he did not want his son to look through the same eyes that he had looked through; he did not want his son to live a life so entrenched in hatred because nothing good would ever come from it. He made a conscious choice to change his outlook.

It's hard for me to explain my reactions to the lectures we got today. It was so refreshing to me to hear the absolute truth about what these men felt, but I definitely don't feel like I know enough about their side of the story to form any solid opinions. I'm not used to putting all my thoughts and feelings out for everyone to read them, so that's another reason I'm having trouble writing this.
Edwin talked about a couple other points, but they completely flew out of my mind as I was writing the last paragraph.

Dr. Rev Spiwo Xapile spoke to us next and told us about where he is from and the work he does. Spiwo was supported by a local pastor because his family did not have enough money to finish his education. The pastor's decision to support Reverend Xapile, he said, changed his life. It seemed to me that this situation played a large role in his belief that leaders do not create change for others, but rather help them to create it themselves. A big thing that I took away from his talk was that a huge part of a leader's work is to help people see that their situation does not have to be the way that it is, that it can be different. He said, "leadership is helping people cross bridges that they have to cross."
To move on from the history of Apartheid, he believes that black South Africans have to realize that they are somebody and that they need to be the ones to make change in their own lives. They have to create South Africa's future and make it different. His role in this is helping people switch to that mentality, especially by expanding their worldview past the borders of their township. He travels with members of the community to various countries to show them that it is possible to create an environment better than a township.
There were a couple other things that Spiwo said that I really liked. First he said, "I'd rather ask the church for forgivness than to ask for permission for someting that will never be granted." What he meant by this is that in his line of work as a reverend, actions must be OKed by the church, but because the situation in the townships is so dire no one really believes that positive change will actually happen, so many requests for projects are rejected by the church. He would rather have to ask for forgivness for taking an action may produce results rather than waiting around for the church to grant a permission that will never come. At least, that's what I got from it.
The other thing I liked that he said was, "Some say that if you walk with dwarves, you will be a dwarf; if you walk with giants, you will be a giant. But leadership is making giants out of dwarves, and you can't do that unless you walk with dwarves." Think about that one for a bit. It reminded me of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and how he walked with the people.

The next person who spoke to us was Kenneth Lukuko from the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation. It's an NGO that was created to deal with the issues not addressed by the Truth and Reconciliation Committee.
(The Truth and Reconciliation Committee was set up after Apartheid to hold hearings for both the perpetrators and victims of Apartheid-era crimes in order for them to tell their stories and begin a healing process.. I would recommend the book Country of My Skull by Antjie Krog if you want to learn about it)
Basically, the TRC only dealt with the physical harm that was caused. The Institute of Justice and Reconciliation was created to address the mental, emotional, etc harm that was caused. Much that is being addressed now deals with the violence that occured between different black and colored communities because of fighting political groups. Communities come together and each person comes up with 5 milestone years and how that year affected their lives, their families lives and the lives of their community. This process challenges the assumptions that members of each community have about each other. It brings people back from the state of dehumanization that was caused by the enviornment of Apartheid and builds new communities across geographic, racial and political boundaries. Kenneth called it 'Rehumanization'
This process is so important because the harm that was cause not only affects a person's mental state, but it also affects people's ability to come together. The different groups here are now in a position, for example, where they are allowed to work together, but it causes huge problems when you work in the same building as somone who murdered your brother 20 years earlier. This whole thing tries to heal the wounds so people can move on with each other.

Ok so enough about the lecture. It's late and I want to go to sleep. We had an AWESOME lunch today that was made a few women at the community center. Absolutely delicious, it was like Thanksgiving. If I could eat homemade South African food everyday for the rest of my time here, possibly for the rest of my life, I'd be cool with it. Then we watched a small performance of a singing/dancing group from here that is about to travel to the states to put on a ton of shows. When they are in Cape Town, they travel to schools and different places to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. They were amazing. I can't even tell you how cool that was. There was 5 singers along with a small band and those 5 singers could take out any 50-person chior I've ever seen. And their dancing was pretty kick ass too. (They'll be in Minneapolis around July 5th, you should definately go check out the show, seriously).

Then we were driven around Gugulethu for a tour. This was surreal. Pictures can't quite describe it, I've seen photos in National Geographic of shanties before, but I went in one today. The people that live there are a 17 year old girl and her 9(I think) year old brother. Their mother died 2.5 years ago, and they are now left to take care of themselves. What they live in, I guess you could call it a dwelling, but there is no way you could call it a building. 2 rooms. Both less the size of a small walk-in closet. One room is the kitchen, the other is everything else.. except a bathroom, they dont have one of those. They have a wash bin but no toilet. Nothing is new, or even in good condition. There are tears and dirt and even the wooden beams that hold the 'ceiling' up are cracking and bending.

It is damp in there too and just like the rest of their house, the floor is made out of scraps of anything flat. As I'm writing this, it's pouring rain outside and freezing cold. I feel pretty dumb for complaining about how cold our carpeted and roofed house is as I sit here and think about where they are. Driving around today, it was aparent that they are the rule and not the exception in the townships. It is weird to think that there are entire cities of this. We have areas of cities that are bad, but this isn't just an area. Take your city and replace everything with a scene you would imagine from under a bridge in New York City. That's basically what I saw. There are houses, but they are more like a dilapidated strip-mall version of housing. Rows of tiny houses just stuck together, better than shacks but I wouldn't like to live there. I didn't take many pictures because I felt crooked doing it. This is these people's reality and it's not here for me to gawk at or take pictures of simply so I can say I visited a township. I did take a few pictures, however, because I want you to see. I want you to see because I believe these people deserve to have someone know of their situation. Just to know and acknowledge that they exist halfway around the world, I think, is a step in the right direction. And it isn't just about these specific people in South Africa, but people around the rest of the world as well. But at this moment I am here and this is what I can provide, so here you go.

We saw two monuments: the first one was in memory of the Gugulethu Seven. On March 3, 1986, these seven black men were walking to a demonstration march when a white police officer came down the street and shot everyone of them to death without provocation; the monument was built on the spot where they died.
The second one was for Amy Biehl who was doing missionary work with children and was murdered by two black men outside a gas station; her monument is also on the spot where she died.

I will post pictures and some more messy thought blogs that done make any sense when we get back from our homestays on friday, I'm tired now and want to go to bed. More to come then!

Non Stop -- Friday, Saturday, Sunday

The last few days have been crazy! I have a lot to catch up on...

Friday:
In the morning we had class at UCT and had a lecture from a man named Steve. To go along with our last lecture, which gave a political outlook of Apartheid, Steve's lecture gave us a personal one. Steve was born in exile because his father was a wanted man in South Africa because of anti-Apartheid activities (I forgot exactly what he did). Steve and his family grew up having to change names and moving from country to country. They lived in a politically-charged environment and members of the ANC (African National Congress) became their extended family. Their house was even bombed twice. That's crazy, I can't even imagine what it would be like to live like that. It was really cool to hear his story.


After that, we went down to the harbor for some lunch before we went out to Robben Island. A bunch of us sat down at a Cape Malay restaurant because we hadn't tried that kind of food yet. Nate and I split this seafood platter that had mussels, calamari, line fish and prawns. I never had mussels before this, and I'm never going to eat them again! Apparently, you aren't supposed to chew them.. I didn't know this and it turned out to be an unpleasant culinary experience. And I didnt know what prawns were until the plate came out. It's crayfish! Crayfish as in they serve the entire crayfish-shell, antennas, eyes and legs!! I felt a little grossed out looking into the eyes of my food and I was afraid its little legs were gonna start kicking around when I grabbed it. But don't worry, I ate it anyway.


Then we got on a boat to go over to Robben Island and I slept the whole way, which was awesome because it's a 45 minute ride. Robben Island was where they kept black political prisoners during Apartheid. The tour was alright.. it was very interesting and our tour guide was a former prisoner who received a 7 year sentence for bombing a government building. What I didn't like was that most of the tour was focused on Nelson Mandela (who is the most famous prisoner of Robben Island). It was cool to hear about all that, but I wanted to hear stories from other prisoners too because as important as Mandela's work was, he wasn't the only prisoner there and he didn't end Apartheid by himself. I felt that the tour was geared more toward what visitors want to hear rather than telling an equally-balanced history of the prison.



Saturday:
Safari day! We got ourselves up before sunrise (quite possibly around 4:30ish or so) and walked down to the police station to meet our tour bus. This morning, it set in beyond any question that yes, Africa does get cold, cold+damp. It's winter here and it was definitely in the 40's that morning. I know we're all from Minnesota, but we weren't ready for this. So we hopped on the bus, wrapped up in blankets and slept for most of the 2.5 hour drive to Inverdoorn Game Reserve. When we got there, we looked around and it was absolutely gorgeous! They have a whole set up with little cabins, a pool, tables, a fire pit, all that kind of stuff. They served us coffee, tea and some bar/bread type of stuff. Eventually, we got onto the trucks with our guide, Grant, and went to see the animals! We went to see the cheetahs (who are kept in a separate area until they are quarantined) and driving up there, we were thinking "oh, we'll probably just drive along the edge of the fence and look in." Nope, we went in! With cheetahs. They were literally less than 15 feet away from our truck! It was so crazy. But they were pretty chill and got annoyed with us and kept walking away. Fun fact of the day: cheetahs' bones are almost completely hollow.




So then next were the lions. We went up to a lookout tower to see them. They are 'canned lions,' meaning they were raised in captivity and fed until they are fat and easy to hunt. It's illegal since there is no sport to is.. I guess it would be like baiting deer? I don't know hunting laws, so maybe not. They don't know how to hunt because of this so they associate humans with food, so we couldn't go up to the fence because they could break through and eat us. Lions. Amazing.

After the lions, we went into the main reserve and eventually, it started warming up! The sun came up and it was awesome. Even in winter the sun is really powerful here (when it is out).We drove around for a loooong time and had to be really careful not to stick our arms out too far because a ton of the trails had these plants lining them that would tear your arms off. Not really, but you know.

Here is the other animals we saw:

• Ostriches
• Springbok (the national animal of South Africa, and the cutest but most hilarious animal I've ever seen.. they spring up in the air when they run, kind of like a mix of tiny reindeer and rabbits on crack)
  
  
• Wildebeest
• Buffalo (the real kind..which happen to be the #2 killer in Africa, they are HUGE!!)



• Zebra and Rhinos!!


• Giraffes.. we got to walk with them! And see two of them fighting..intense! Here's a video of it.. its too bad you can't hear the noise it would make when they hit each other because it sounded really painful
  

Oh my lord it was great! I took about a million pictures and I'm keeping them all. After we got back from the safari, TJ, Nate, Aaron and I had a chance to go 4wheeling through the bush for about half an hour and it was absolutely one of the best times of my life (along with everything else on this trip)! They have a trail that leads out through a vast open bushland area going toward the mountains. It was so much fun- the trail curved all over and had sand and mud and little hills to jump off of, and the entire time there were the mountains in the background and a bright blue sky above us. It was incredible. On the way back, we went through a huuuuuuge puddle of muddy water way too fast and it splashed all over my pants and killed TJ's quad (thats what they call them here). This is the only picture I have of the 4wheelers.. TJ got some when we were out on the trail, so I'll put one of those up when I get them.

So then we slept on the way back home so we'd be ready to go out and celebrate Nate's birthday. We got reservations at an African cuisine restaurant called Marcos. It was so much fun! They had a great live band playing and singing and did an awesome cover of No Woman No Cry. I am proud to say that I tried some pap, ostrich, crocodile, warthog, springbok and sheep stomach! I liked aaaalll of it. The sheep stomach was weird, probably would have been better if I didn't know what it was. It tasted like sheep smell.. not like the dirty barn smell, but a general sheep smell? Make sense? Well, thats how it tasted. The springbok was delicious, it was like the most tender steak you've ever eaten in your life.

The best part of dinner, though, was the beer. Marcos has one specialty beer and it is brewed in Gugulethu (the township we will be in). They bring everyone's beer out together in this big wooden sphere jug. You swirl it around, drink it and pass it on to the next person. You will never taste a beer like this in your life! It wasn't even like beer except for a small little bite of flavor at the end. It was more like a liquid fruit yogurt drink mixed with beer.. but in the most delicious way! I love that beer. What I was told is that they brew it in the township early in the week, let it ferment throughout the week then bring it out to the restaurant and by saturday it is pretty potent. I'll post some pictures of this when I get them.

After dinner, everyone except for Aaron went out to the bars. Sawiwe, Ajidt and his friend Allen came with too which was awesome cuz those guys are a ton of fun. We stopped at the Dubliner for some over-priced drinks (where we got a shot called the Springbok...mint liqueur and Kahlua Amaretto. Amazing) and a live band with a very good looking lead singer. After admiring this man's talented singing for a while, a few of us wanted to go dance (I had been waiting for it since our plane touched down here) so we went across the street to the Joburg bar. It's some semi-hole-in-the-wall place with some great music to dance to. By 11 it was absolutely packed and about 1000 degrees in there! We made it out to one more club that I didn't like as much only because they played techno music nonstop once 1:00 rolled around. Not my bag of chips but it was fine, it was still a great time! Favorite part of the night: learning some African moves.. too much fun.

Sunday:

This wasn't originally part of our trip plan, but Aaron asked us if we would want to attend a church service in Gugulethu (as it came highly recommended by Kevin Winge), an we all ended up wanting to go. We were able to get both of our van drivers to come pick us up so around 8a.m. we piled in (a little/a lot tired from the night before) and drove to church.

The service was amazing. It was a Xhosa/English mix so I could only understand 25% of what was said, but that didn't matter at all. We got hymn books so we could sing along in Xhosa.. they don't use organs or instruments or anything, just a small drum and the most wonderful impromptu A Capella I've ever heard. The entire congregation knows all the words to the songs and don't need to look at the hymn book at all, they clap their hands and dance to the music. The sermon, even though I couldn't understand most of it, was so heartfelt, sincere and hopeful.

Everyone there is so friendly, too. A lot of people greeted us and were genuinely happy that we were there to worship with them. I wasn't sure how we would be received because I am never sure of how black or colored South Africans may view privileged white people. I don't know how they have been treated in the past by white people so I don't know if they think we are here to take advantage of their situation or treat them badly or impose our beliefs or judgements on them. A lot was said about learning how to be their brothers and sisters and that made me feel so welcome because in this country that has such a stark divide along racial lines, these people are willing to accept us beyond the color of our skin, and reversely, see that we want to do the same.

That is one of the greatest reasons I came on this trip, and why I will be going to India in the spring.. I want to know someone as a person. I dont want to know them by their nationality or the color of their skin, I don't want to know black, brown, green, red, poor, rich.. I want to know them as a human being, and I feel like I can do that here.

One of the best parts of the day is that we got to meet our host families! We are living in Gugulethu tuesday through thursday (as well as going to class and doing service projects during the day all week). Stella and I are staying with our momma, Noxie. She is so great, I already love this woman. She is so full of life and so kind. She teaches a first grade class and we get to go with her in the morning on wednesday (or thursday?) to meet them! Most of the host families have had students staying with them for a homestay experience and were willing to do it again for us, so they love what they do. Every night, we are all getting together with all the families to eat dinner together. Noxie is going to teach me and Stella how to cook like a South African, wrap our hair up like a South African woman.. anything that Stella and I want to learn how to do, she wants to teach us. I am excited to learn from her. She was born in Gugulethu and has lived there her whole life. I want to hear her story and I'm happy that she is willing to tell it.

I know that this next week will be difficult. Noxie had an 18 year old son that died a few years ago, I'm not sure how but I know she will tell us later. We are going to leave the rich part of Cape Town to spend countless hours in poverty-ridden areas; and we're going to face some hard truths, knowing full well that there is nothing we can do to give it a quick fix. Nothing. There will be so many people in need and such deep-rooted social issues that no amount of donated money can fix it-it will take a lot more than that, much more than we are capable of doing at this point. That will be tough because it hurts to feel as though you are turning your back on someone in need, especially when that person is in front of you, looking you in the eyes. That is what I've prepared myself for but I know that no matter what I do, I cant completely prepare for next week. But thats ok because I dont want any preconceived notions getting in my way of learning exactly what it is Gugulethu wants to teach me.

We Were Blessed A Lot -- Thursday

Our tour guide today told us that if you get rained on in South Africa, you've been blessed. If this is true, then all of us could get into heaven 20 times over with the amount of blessing we recieved. I have never been that throughly drenched in my lifetime, but it didnt keep any of us from having an amazing time today!

We started off the day by walking to our tour bus and getting a short driving tour through downtown Cape Town. The rest of the day was spent getting a coastal tour of the Western Cape. We first went to Campe Bay on the Atlantic Ocean. Some huuuge clouds were rolling in, but thankfully they went away. I really wouldn't mind having a house here.

After a few minutes here, we got back on the bus and drove to Haut Bay to go on a glass-bottom boat to look at the seals. I didn't go on the boat, unfortunately. In the frenzy to get out the door in the morning, I completely forgot to grab my seasickness medicine and I didn't feel like spending the entire tour hanging off the back of the boat and not even seeing the seals. So I stayed on land and did a little market shopping and got some presents for my parents to put in their houses. Since they'll be reading this, I can't say what I got, but they are pretty awesome and the proceeds go to a seal protection program..

I didn't like this guy.. he was blowing smoke into his 'pet' seal's face and letting people sit on its back for pictures.

At this point, it started pouring rain. And when I say pouring, I mean a horizontal, face-pelting deluge. (I find out later that it was good I didn't go on the boat. The water got pretty rough, people struggled to hang onto the boat and get inside, and then got sea sick). I had some extra time until my group got back from the boat so I went to some coffee shop and got some breakfast.

After Haut Bay, we drove to the other side of Africa. It was the first time in my life that I touched the Indian Ocean. First time in my life I've seen penguins. All I could think the whole time was just, 'God, how lucky am I??'

We walked around in the freezing water and picked up some sea shells, wrote our names in the sand and loved every second of it.

The next part is my favorite! After lunch we went to the Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve which is located at the bottom of Africa. Very bottom. As we were driving through the park, we could look tho the left and see the Indian Ocean and look to the right to see the Atlantic. Along side of the road, we came up on a troupe of baboons! Those things are huge and mean looking! We definately were not allowed to have the windows open because otherwise one might jump in and fight you for food.

A big baboon with a couple babies.. can you see them all? Tricky.

I wasn't expecting baboons to be so big, but they are definately almost the size of a lab retriever. With huge fangs the the strength of 3 men.

Now, here is my favorite part of the day! Our tour guide told us about this absolutely gorgeous beach, but that we should really avoid going down to it because the rip tides are so strong that you'll die, it happened. But did we listen? No; this was the one time in our lives to go check it out and we weren't going to pass it up.

Here it is!

We climbed down a million stairs down to the beach, took our shoes off and ran down to the water (but we didnt go in because the waves were HUGE!) There are absolutely no words to describe how beautiful this place is. It's a piece of heaven that I will never forget.

Our time at the beach got cut short when we saw all those dark clouds moving in, and the wind was blowing the sand so hard, it stung our legs reeaally bad. The second we made it back to the trail after climbing those million stairs, the clouds completely opened up and we were introduced once again to that horizontal rain. Except this time, the wind was blowing so hard that some of the rain felt like hail hitting you in the face!

Probably the most safe thing I've ever done in my life.. hiking on trails and climbing up rocks with cliffs no more than 10 feet away in a torrential downpour and wind blowing so hard it could blow your eyes out of their sockets. But it was amazing; freezing cold, wet, tired.. all I could do was smile, laugh and think, 'Oh my god. This is incredible. I can't believe that I'm actually here, that I'm actually experiencing this.' No words can describe how lucky and amazed I feel.

We eventally made it to the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost point in Africa! We were at the bottom of the world! We saw two oceans at once and pointed out across the water at Antarctica.

District 6 Museum and Downtown -- Wednesday

We walked all the way to class today and holy crap! We walked up a few huge hills and probably 400,000 stairs. It was a trek. We got a lecture from a very good-looking man about the process of ending Apartheid and all the negotiations that happened. It was so interesting to learn how a bunch of different conditions came together at the right time to lead to the end of Apartheid.

The big lesson I took away from today was the importance of realizing the possibility of long-term consequences. Apartheid lasted for only a few decades but the social problems that stem from it will last past our lifetimes. So many public decisions are made without giving thought to the consequences they'll bring and more problems are created than good things.

After class, we went to the District Six Museum close to downtown Cape Town. It's in an old church and pays tribute to the history of the District Six museum and the memory of its former residents. Before Apartheid, the area was a vibrant community of mostly colored residents, but when the government imposed forced removal, these residents were moved to the townships, their houses and buildings were demolished and zoned for white residents only. Not only this, but races were legally forbidden to have any contact with each other. The museum is filled with stories and pictures from the residents themselves so we were able to see the human face behind the history. I could never imagine what it must feel like to be categorized as subhuman and have your home and its memories demolished. It breaks my heart to know what human beings are capable of doing to each other.

Part 1

Part 2

After the museum we had a couple hours to walk around downtown before our vans came back to pick us up. So we went to the market!

We didn't have a ton of time there, so good thing we're going back for more shopping soon! We left to walk back to where the vans were going to pick us up and all of a sudden we hear a ton of yelling on the next block and see flashing cop lights all over the place. We are supposed to avoid demonstrations (rule #1 we learned was to not get arrested) so we all had to resist the urge to go check it out. Then a paddywagon drove by filled full with men from the jail who were rattling the bars and yelling some nasty things out the windows, and some people somewhere were yelling 'go back to your homes!' We ended up having to go around the block to get to the vans and here is what we found:

It turns out there was some sort of demonstration taking place at the courthouse and it must have gotten out of hand to the point of police forces coming out to break it up? Still don't know what exactly was going on, but it seems like it had to do with the conflict between the refugees from Zimbabwe and the South African township residents. I hope the problem doesn't get bad enough for our time in the townships to be cancelled because I know everyone in my group is looking forward to that so much. At this point, a lot of us feel just like tourists and we are so excited to go to Gugulethu to go through that experience. So I just hope that the situation stays under control, not just for my group, but also because it's a terrible situation all the Africans affected by it.

This is just so weird to see that as a middle class American. We have demonstrations, but really, people get arrested for trespassing on private property or something minor like that. Just the other week here, a man was burned to death in the street. It's a little different. At this point, I don't have a lot of opinions.. well, no, I do. They just are floating around in my head but I can't really form anything solid yet. I'm just taking it all in now. I'll figure out what I really think about it later. For now, you just get read my day-to-day stuff, nothing too deep because I just haven't figured it out yet. I feel like I'm not really qualified to figure it out yet because I have only been in the wealthy areas of Cape Town, and that is by no means the whole story of this country. I need to see the other side of things before I can form solid opinions.

Right now you see a man in tattered clothes at the harbor and view him as just a poor guy, but I feel as though after we go to the townships, that man would be viewed as a neighbor. Does that make sense? All I know is a privileged life outside of poverty. I don't know anyone who is struggling to survive. But once I experience Gugulethu, I feel like the man in the tattered clothes won't be just another poor person; He'll have a story and a life and a family and a place. Until this happens, I don't feel like my thoughts are solid enough because I just don't know enough.

On another note.. we ate at Nandos tonight! Delicious. It lived up to the hype. Next on my list is to eat at the KFC and see if Ajith was right at all about his claim that South African KFCs are better than American. After Nandos some of us went across the street to a bar called Pig & Swizzle for some drinks and pool. Good times.

UCT and a few Jam Jars -- Tuesday

Today was fun! Last night Aaron told us to go outside when we woke up.. so we did and you will not believe the view we have from our place! You turn around and there's Devil's Peak and Table Mountain! Right there! Pretty sure we woke up the neighbors we were so excited!
We walked to campus at UCT and got a tour.. amazingly beautiful campus. We like buildings at the U that are 'old' and pretty.. but these are old. Like colonial style old. Campus is huge too... they have lower, middle, and upper campuses. To get to the upper campus you have to walk up hill a lot! I ate a ton on the planes and I feel like I burned it all off.

We had sort of our first class where we got a lecture on safety followed by the best clubs and bars to go to... that sort of stuff. Don't worry, the clubs generally are closed Monday nights, so we'll at least get a night off. We walked by the rugby fields! But there was no one playing because I guess it's exam time for them. We walked down this big hill to get down to the main street and the houses here are so cool. They sort of remind me of houses in Florida because most of them are short but interesting-looking. ALL of the houses are surrounded by gates and a lot of them either have some sort of spikes or barbed wire running across the tops of the gates. Some houses even have guards standing by the entrances.

Diane and Ajith showed us the main street and the most important place on it-Nandos. According to them Nandos is a healthy delicious version of KFC. Ajith even said that South African KFCs are better than the ones in the US! We'll see about that, I'm pretty skeptical.
Eventually we went to the harbor and ate at this awesome restaurant called Primi Wharf. Interstudy paid for our food and drinks (thanks!) so I got some sort of ravioli stuff and a Sex on the Beach. They had these drinks there called Jam Jars that are made up of a few different liquors and come in different flavors.. the best is strawberry. They come in big jam jars. They are delicious. And they have Tea Pot drinks that come in teapots!

After we were done eating, we went to the waterfront, took a group photo and walked for a while. The harbor is so pretty. You can look across and see Robin Island and faroff mountains and then you turn around and see Table Mountain. Everywhere you look is gorgeous! There are a ton of stray cats too...didn't expect that. They look a bit crazy too, like they might bite. I saw at least 8 of them walking around today. They were in the weirdest places, too.. like on the huge concrete wave breakers and hanging around in the hotel parking lot next to a Porsche. As we were in the mall looking for hair dryers and adapters, we spotted Lisa and Bianca from America's Next Top Model... long story short, Nate and Cole managed to get their numbers and an invite to Lisa's 21st birthday party tomorrow night. Haha they were so giddy about it, they went and bought new shirts to wear out. So we'll see how that one goes!

I guess I don't have a lot else to say besides the basics because we havn't had that much of a culture shock yet.. Cape Town is so westernized that there hasn't been anything that is completely different than what I am used to. It will be interesting to experience the huge contrast between Cape Town and the townships, especially when it comes to the disparities in wealth.

That's all I got for now..I'm thinking upcoming posts should be better once we start getting into less touristy activities and my brain starts to turn back on. Until then, sorry for the scrambled mess of thoughts.

We Made It!! --Monday

Well, we got here last night! I have no idea when, though.. my concept of time wasn't working after 30 hours and some 8,000 miles of traveling. We flew from Minneapolis-New York-Dakar, Senegal(refuel)-Johannesburg, South Africa-Cape Town!

First off, gotta tell you that Rev Run was on our flight from Minneapolis to New York-pretty sweet! Sara got a picture with him, so once I get it from her, I'll post it.
Once we got to New York, we had a 7 hour layover so we filled up with food and hung out in the food court for a few hours. The food on the flights was surprisingly good.. minus the somewhat soupy scrambled eggs with wierd mushrooms. The South African Airlines planes were pretty awesome.. we each had a tv in our headrest with our own choice of movies and we got free drinks! But the wine wasn't very good.
The airport at Johannesburg is crazy! We had no idea where our luggage was going but we finally found it, but then there is a ton of construction so we had nooo idea how to get to our next flight. Then some nice porters led us through the airport and then demanded lots of tips so they could buy some drinks after work. We ended up giving them alot of money.. oops!

We got into Cape Town sometime in the evening/night and met up with Aaron, Kate, Sephimo and Ajith. Then we went to our houses...my house is for student housing so its pretty bare bones compared to our other house across the street which is a bed and breakfast. We didnt do a whole lot last night, just ate pizza, took showers to get the plane grime off, hung out and went to bed.

Pictures!Flying into New York

Yay! So excited!

Almost Time To Go!

12 hours from now, I'll be up taking a shower and getting all my stuff together to go to the airport. AAHH! As you probably know (since I havent shut up about it for the last couple months), I'm going to Cape Town, South Africa with 16 other students and our teacher, Aaron.

I get asked a million times what we'll be doing there. Well, here it is: Our class is called 'Cross-Cultural Leadership Contexts of the AIDS Pandemic.' In the mornings we'll be hearing from a ton of guest lectures to learn about the history and current situation of South Africa, especially surrounding the issue of AIDS. They'll also talk to us about the work they do within the township communities. We'll spend most of the afternoons in Gugulethu (a township just outside of Cape Town) working with the Rainbow after-school program helping out with an orphanage and disabled children.

But it's definately not all work! We'll have time for some entertainment, too:

• Check out the Waterfront (Cape Town's harbor area)


• Go on a safari


• Get a tour of the coast (we get to go on a glass-bottom boat and see seals and penguins!)


• Head out to the Winelands for some taste-testing


• Aaand, weather permitting, we'll get a tour of Robbin Island (where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned), go sandboarding (like snowboarding but with sand), shark diving, and hike around Table Mountain (that's where the baboons are..aah!)

One of the weekends we'll also be partnering up and going to Gugulethu for homestays. We get to sort of live like a township resident for a couple days, which should be pretty interesting. Oh man, I'm getting excited just thinking about all this stuff! So there's the basics of what's going on.

I obviously super excited to go but I'm also pretty nervous. Never in my life have I seen someone struggling to survive or stood within 1000 feet of a house made of scraps. I've never had to face a truth like that. There will be a lot of difficult things that we're going to come across while we're there and this blog is meant for me to tell you about those experiences-both good and bad. So enjoy your reading, leave me some comments and I'll see you in 3 weeks!

**I want to thank everyone that donated money.. here's a list of everything that you helped to purchase for the JL Zwane Community center:

• 21 rain jackets


• 15 shirts


• 27 pants/shorts


• 1 jacket


• 200 condoms


• 114 pairs of socks


• 8 bras


• 192 pairs of underwear

This is the pile of donations.. I couldn't get it all in one suitcase (George, you were right), let alone keep it under 50 lbs, so it isn't all coming with me (most of it is, though). The rest will eventually make it there either through Open Arms of Minnesota/Kevin Winge (who does work in the townships) or other groups traveling down there. No worries!