its been two years, and i still think about africa every day
well even though it's been two years, i came across my journal that i wrote everyday while i was there. it was so powerful and life-changing and i'm going to add some of my experiences here, since i've already lost my journal once and i know i will do it again.
May 2007;
Jo'burg:
We almost missed our connection in London from Boston - nothing quite like running through heathrow airport in socks with 11 other people. Then our 10.5 hr flight to S. Africa sucked. The TVs didn't work, it was afternoon time for us (even though it was almost midnight for them), and I got sick infront of all my new friends. I'm still surprised they talked to me the rest of the trip after I did that. Our first hotel is really cute. It's almost like a guest house, with little rooms throughout the place. Instead of having heating in each of the rooms, the floors are heated, which is coming in handy, since its only 40 degrees here DURING THE DAY. We got to celebrate Beth's 21st with her. I think she really missed not being at home with her friends and family, but we still had cake and she gets to tell everyone that she turned 21 in South Africa.
Soweto: Walking around this township was our first exposure to what South Africans live like. After getting a walking tour and informal meeting with the Electricity Crisis Group, we went to visit the Hector Peterson museum. I loved getting the opportunity to see the different perspectives on the student uprisings and subsequent shooting of young Hector Peterson. [Side note: I found out a few months ago that Hector's older sister, the one who is pictured carrying him after he was killed, actually works at the museum and I wished I had got a chance to speak with her] After the museum, we got to see Mandela's house, Desmond Tutus' house, and Winnies' house. After, we walked around some more informal camps. Seeing how little these people have, especially what a 4 room house consists of, which is next to NOTHING, really makes me appreciate what I have back home. We had our first "South African" lunch at this funky restaurant called Wandies and I had my first of many fishes. We went out to dinner that night and I tried calamari for the first time, which wasn't as bad as I thought.
Apartheid Museum/Wits University: The apartheid museum was very moving. There was so much, I could probably have spent hours and hours in there. It was weird to find out that they only built the museum so that a hotel/casino/theme park could be built there too. Then we headed to Wits, which I was definitely looking forward to. I have this secret love to visit other colleges/universities and see what they are like; I have no idea why, but I LOVE it. We got to eat lunch in their student cafe and it was insanely cheap - $5 for everything! Then we got a chance to stop at their bookstore and even thought i really wanted to buy a sweatshirt they didn't have any in. Then we met with the infamous Anton - or Mr. Too Tight Pants - as we liked to refer to him. It was such a disppointment to meet with him and only have him talk about the upcoming election for the ANC.
Constitution Hill: I didn't know much before we got there, but spending the entire day there was definitely worth it. This place used to be an old fort/jail where Mandela was held at one point. We got to meet with Justice Albie Sacks for a few minutes, a man who played a significant role during apartheid, then we got a tour with his clerk. [Side note: His clerk was HOT and watching everyone try to sneak pictures of him was amazing] He pointed out why each piece of art was significant to the whole place. We also went out to a typical afrikanna dinner and the theater that night. Let's just say I still have nightmares about that play, which was suppose to be a greek tragedy done in typical Zulu tradition. I was terrified we were all going to be decapitated by the man swinging the mallet around his head, especially when he dropped it and it went flying.
Human Rights Commission: We got to meet with Jody Kollapen, whom Christina and I had met at Harvard in the spring. Unfortunately, I found him more interesting at Harvard then here. But it was still a great experience to practice our journalism skills. Then we met with a Wits Arts professor who took us to Funda Community College. We got to meet with the art students there, many of whom are older adults who have families and have to work in the little time that they have. That night, we meet with Eritrean refugees, which I think was mostly for Dan's benefit. Due to a lack of time, we didn't get to meet with them that long. Then we went out to dinner where we had my new favorite drink, Pims Cocktail. It's a mix of ginger ale, cucumber, strawberries and the Pim's liquor, which is apparently gin based.
Game Park: 3 hour ride to the game park today. Half way there we got to stop at a small market place and I got to pick up some gifts for home; salt and peppers shakers, and small bowls that were all hand carved and painted, as well as a giraffes hair bracelet. The minute we got off the bus we saw these cute little monkey's running around, which of course freaked Christina out. Our rooms were apartment-style, with a loft, which is where I got to sleep. We were stopped leaving our rooms at one point because of the baboons outside our rooms going through the trash - I'll never forget Christina yelling to us to come get her. We got to go on a 2.5 hr game drive on the first day. We saw all the typical animals, except for the cats. Walking back to the rooms at night was a little frighting, since the animals could be wondering anywhere. The following morning we had a 5 am game drive, which I would never recommend to anyone. It was beyond freezing and we didn't see many animals.
Train from Jo'burg to Capetown: 26 hrs on a train is not something I'd probably want to do again. First, we almost missed out train [I see a pattern of us almost missing a lot of things] The whole time I could only think of Eurotrip with the sketchy Italian guy. There wasn't much to do except hang out in the TINY rooms, so me, kristen, faythe, beth and christina bonded a little. We didn't end up getting a lot of blankets for the night since it was already warm in our room and we knew we wouldnt sleep for that long - BOY were we wrong. In the middle of the night the heat turned off and everyone but me and kristen froze.
Capetown: We made it after 26 hrs stuck in a 5X5 room. Capetown is significantly more beautiful than Jo'burg already. Our hotel, the Cape Castle Hotel, overlooks Capetown and its gorgeous here. We ended up at a Cuban bar for lunch which had amazing drinks. We have a full next couple of days but then the entire weekend off - no Dan!
Bo-Kaap/University of Capetown: Bo-Kaap was fun to walk around, with it's colorful buildings. Plus, we got to have tea and snacks at this woman's house and it was soo tasty. Then we headed over to the University of Capetown (you know i'm excited!) and we got to meet with students there. I got to talk with two girls, one from Norway, the other from Swaziland and learned about their HIV program here. Plus, I got to buy a Tshirt from their bookstore! We had lunch at one of their cafe's and it was of course yummy. College food overseas is much better than at Simmons. UCT is located right on Table Mountain and it was beautiful to look at the mountain and the scenary as we walked around. If I could have done a semester abroad, I would definitely have picked UCT. Dan took us for a tour of the waterfront area when we got back and showed us the amazing ice cream/hot chocolate place that he had been telling us about for weeks. We met with Eritrean refugees again tonight after dinner, this time we had more time to talk and I found it more interesting.
District 6/U.S. Consulate: We headed out to District 6 today, which is an area that used to have homes and businesses before the groups area act [Side note: I wrote one of my articles about this!] The museum was moving, as it was an old church that many of the families visited to leave messages about what they experienced. I found it interesting to see all the old street signs that one of the bulldozers was suppose to take down and destroy but he risked a lot to save them for years until he was able to bring them to the museum when it opened. We then met with a woman from the Anti-Eviction Campaign, who told us her story. She was very inspiring and I'm glad we got to talk with her. Then on to the U.S. Consulate! There was a lot of security for this, but I got a lot of information regarding the U.S.'s stance on HIV/AIDS in South Africa. They also gave us this lame presentation about how dangerous South Africa is; Hi Buddy, we've been there for almost two weeks and it's not that bad, so no thanks. We went out to Cubana that night, the sweeeet Cuban bar for drinks. We got to see Beth drink a shot that was on fire, and we had tasty and VERY CHEAP drinks (thank you amazing exchange rate, i love you).
June 2007/First day of Winter in South Africa;
Table Mountain/Touristy Day: The cable ride up the side of the mountain was far less scary than I thought it was going to be. I finally used more of my slide film and took a ton of great pictures. i could have spent all day up there. Then we went on a driving tour of Capetown so we would know where things were when Dan left us for the WHOLE weekend. I find it amusing that our professor had to get away for the weekend and trusted us on our own, way to go. Then we went to the Slavery House Museum, which did a great job comparing South Africa to America. We got to stop in Clark's Bookstore, where they were selling the book from the previous trip and is hopefully selling ours now!
Free Weekend in a foreign place: I went shopping in the craft market today and got a bunch of stuff to bring home, including art, figurines, and coasters. Then that night all 10 of us went out for drinks. We went to Cubana first then went to this dance club called 169. Nothing like getting back at 2 am since we had no professor to report to.
Khayelitsha: We were met by 6-10 little kids that were so excited we had come to visit. We were going to be staying at Vicky's Bed and Breakfast which is literally a shack that has been turned into this B&B. None of us were prepared for this, not knowing we were staying in the middle of the township. We were taken on a walking tour of the township, since we were not allowed to go by ourselves. The girls I was staying with were brought to another house a car ride away, since there was not enough room for everyone at Vickys.
Langa: We got to have "fat cakes" for breakfast, which are exactly what they sound like. After, we met with the Treatment Action Campaign [Another one of my articles] and they provided a ton of great information. They took us to a local rally/protest for one of their workers killed because she was HIV positive. We had an amazing lunch at this restaurant where we were the only ones there then went on a walking tour of Langa, which is the oldest township. We stopped at a preschool where the kids sang and danced for us; wicked adorable.
Back to Capetown: We had to say goodbye to the kids today and it was pretty hard. They were so cute and kept asking us when we would be back, but we all knew the answer was probably never. We stopped at the botanical gardens, where we got in trouble from Dan, since we were fooling around and not paying attention; oops. Then we went to the PENGUINS, which was something I had been looking forward to. They were tiny and so cute and JUST out of reach otherwise I would have taken one home. We went to this really nice restaurant right on the water where we had Kingklip wrapped in bacon; the only fish I actually enjoyed. Then again, anything wrapped in bacon is delicious. We went to Cape Point after and went on a really long walk along the coast. I wrote <3 Simmons 2007 on one of the rocks in a marker where other people had wrote messages and I hope it's still there for the 2009 trip. Then we went hiked to the Cape of Good Hope (the southern most point in Africa). We got to stop at the beach and run through the FREEZING waves and I'm glad I got to share it with the select few who chose to go. We had to climb down some intense rocks and I'm glad I didn't die or fall. We took the 'annual' group picture infront of the Cape of Good Hope sign. We got to our new hotel, The Breakwater, which used to be an old prison. We each got our own room, which I think was necessary at this point, since we were all stressed and cranky.
Robben Island: Whoever said these seas were smooth, were clearly lying to me, but I didn't get sick, surprisingly! I guess puking all over the place only had to happen once on this trip, thank god. Christina held my head in her armpit the whole ride and comforted me; what a friend. Our tour guide sucked and didn't tell us anything about what we were seeing on the ride. Considerating the importance of this island to apartheid, I didn't feel like I got anything out of it. We did get another tour from an maximum security ex-political prisoner who was much better. We got to see Mandela's cell but the other people on our tour were pushy and annoying so I didn't get to see too much. Once we got back we had lunch and I got to buy my favorite gorgeous green scarf. Nothing like cashmere that is extremely cheap! That night I decided that I needed to cause a little trouble so we stopped in Dan's room to ask something, I forget what now, but when he was getting his pictures together, I started hiding creamers all over his stuff. How he put up with me for the past 3 years, I have no idea.
Apparently that's all I wrote in my journal. We still had two more days left but we had a lot of free time and just walked around and enjoyed Capetown. We did go out drinking our last two nights in the country and drank mostly for free, which I DO remember. We also went dancing on our last night and it was such a great way to end a great trip. You'll be happy to know I didn't get sick on the way home, except once again, my TV didn't work and I had to deal with a 16 hr flight with no movies.
May 2007;
Jo'burg:
We almost missed our connection in London from Boston - nothing quite like running through heathrow airport in socks with 11 other people. Then our 10.5 hr flight to S. Africa sucked. The TVs didn't work, it was afternoon time for us (even though it was almost midnight for them), and I got sick infront of all my new friends. I'm still surprised they talked to me the rest of the trip after I did that. Our first hotel is really cute. It's almost like a guest house, with little rooms throughout the place. Instead of having heating in each of the rooms, the floors are heated, which is coming in handy, since its only 40 degrees here DURING THE DAY. We got to celebrate Beth's 21st with her. I think she really missed not being at home with her friends and family, but we still had cake and she gets to tell everyone that she turned 21 in South Africa.
Soweto: Walking around this township was our first exposure to what South Africans live like. After getting a walking tour and informal meeting with the Electricity Crisis Group, we went to visit the Hector Peterson museum. I loved getting the opportunity to see the different perspectives on the student uprisings and subsequent shooting of young Hector Peterson. [Side note: I found out a few months ago that Hector's older sister, the one who is pictured carrying him after he was killed, actually works at the museum and I wished I had got a chance to speak with her] After the museum, we got to see Mandela's house, Desmond Tutus' house, and Winnies' house. After, we walked around some more informal camps. Seeing how little these people have, especially what a 4 room house consists of, which is next to NOTHING, really makes me appreciate what I have back home. We had our first "South African" lunch at this funky restaurant called Wandies and I had my first of many fishes. We went out to dinner that night and I tried calamari for the first time, which wasn't as bad as I thought.
Apartheid Museum/Wits University: The apartheid museum was very moving. There was so much, I could probably have spent hours and hours in there. It was weird to find out that they only built the museum so that a hotel/casino/theme park could be built there too. Then we headed to Wits, which I was definitely looking forward to. I have this secret love to visit other colleges/universities and see what they are like; I have no idea why, but I LOVE it. We got to eat lunch in their student cafe and it was insanely cheap - $5 for everything! Then we got a chance to stop at their bookstore and even thought i really wanted to buy a sweatshirt they didn't have any in. Then we met with the infamous Anton - or Mr. Too Tight Pants - as we liked to refer to him. It was such a disppointment to meet with him and only have him talk about the upcoming election for the ANC.
Constitution Hill: I didn't know much before we got there, but spending the entire day there was definitely worth it. This place used to be an old fort/jail where Mandela was held at one point. We got to meet with Justice Albie Sacks for a few minutes, a man who played a significant role during apartheid, then we got a tour with his clerk. [Side note: His clerk was HOT and watching everyone try to sneak pictures of him was amazing] He pointed out why each piece of art was significant to the whole place. We also went out to a typical afrikanna dinner and the theater that night. Let's just say I still have nightmares about that play, which was suppose to be a greek tragedy done in typical Zulu tradition. I was terrified we were all going to be decapitated by the man swinging the mallet around his head, especially when he dropped it and it went flying.
Human Rights Commission: We got to meet with Jody Kollapen, whom Christina and I had met at Harvard in the spring. Unfortunately, I found him more interesting at Harvard then here. But it was still a great experience to practice our journalism skills. Then we met with a Wits Arts professor who took us to Funda Community College. We got to meet with the art students there, many of whom are older adults who have families and have to work in the little time that they have. That night, we meet with Eritrean refugees, which I think was mostly for Dan's benefit. Due to a lack of time, we didn't get to meet with them that long. Then we went out to dinner where we had my new favorite drink, Pims Cocktail. It's a mix of ginger ale, cucumber, strawberries and the Pim's liquor, which is apparently gin based.
Game Park: 3 hour ride to the game park today. Half way there we got to stop at a small market place and I got to pick up some gifts for home; salt and peppers shakers, and small bowls that were all hand carved and painted, as well as a giraffes hair bracelet. The minute we got off the bus we saw these cute little monkey's running around, which of course freaked Christina out. Our rooms were apartment-style, with a loft, which is where I got to sleep. We were stopped leaving our rooms at one point because of the baboons outside our rooms going through the trash - I'll never forget Christina yelling to us to come get her. We got to go on a 2.5 hr game drive on the first day. We saw all the typical animals, except for the cats. Walking back to the rooms at night was a little frighting, since the animals could be wondering anywhere. The following morning we had a 5 am game drive, which I would never recommend to anyone. It was beyond freezing and we didn't see many animals.
Train from Jo'burg to Capetown: 26 hrs on a train is not something I'd probably want to do again. First, we almost missed out train [I see a pattern of us almost missing a lot of things] The whole time I could only think of Eurotrip with the sketchy Italian guy. There wasn't much to do except hang out in the TINY rooms, so me, kristen, faythe, beth and christina bonded a little. We didn't end up getting a lot of blankets for the night since it was already warm in our room and we knew we wouldnt sleep for that long - BOY were we wrong. In the middle of the night the heat turned off and everyone but me and kristen froze.
Capetown: We made it after 26 hrs stuck in a 5X5 room. Capetown is significantly more beautiful than Jo'burg already. Our hotel, the Cape Castle Hotel, overlooks Capetown and its gorgeous here. We ended up at a Cuban bar for lunch which had amazing drinks. We have a full next couple of days but then the entire weekend off - no Dan!
Bo-Kaap/University of Capetown: Bo-Kaap was fun to walk around, with it's colorful buildings. Plus, we got to have tea and snacks at this woman's house and it was soo tasty. Then we headed over to the University of Capetown (you know i'm excited!) and we got to meet with students there. I got to talk with two girls, one from Norway, the other from Swaziland and learned about their HIV program here. Plus, I got to buy a Tshirt from their bookstore! We had lunch at one of their cafe's and it was of course yummy. College food overseas is much better than at Simmons. UCT is located right on Table Mountain and it was beautiful to look at the mountain and the scenary as we walked around. If I could have done a semester abroad, I would definitely have picked UCT. Dan took us for a tour of the waterfront area when we got back and showed us the amazing ice cream/hot chocolate place that he had been telling us about for weeks. We met with Eritrean refugees again tonight after dinner, this time we had more time to talk and I found it more interesting.
District 6/U.S. Consulate: We headed out to District 6 today, which is an area that used to have homes and businesses before the groups area act [Side note: I wrote one of my articles about this!] The museum was moving, as it was an old church that many of the families visited to leave messages about what they experienced. I found it interesting to see all the old street signs that one of the bulldozers was suppose to take down and destroy but he risked a lot to save them for years until he was able to bring them to the museum when it opened. We then met with a woman from the Anti-Eviction Campaign, who told us her story. She was very inspiring and I'm glad we got to talk with her. Then on to the U.S. Consulate! There was a lot of security for this, but I got a lot of information regarding the U.S.'s stance on HIV/AIDS in South Africa. They also gave us this lame presentation about how dangerous South Africa is; Hi Buddy, we've been there for almost two weeks and it's not that bad, so no thanks. We went out to Cubana that night, the sweeeet Cuban bar for drinks. We got to see Beth drink a shot that was on fire, and we had tasty and VERY CHEAP drinks (thank you amazing exchange rate, i love you).
June 2007/First day of Winter in South Africa;
Table Mountain/Touristy Day: The cable ride up the side of the mountain was far less scary than I thought it was going to be. I finally used more of my slide film and took a ton of great pictures. i could have spent all day up there. Then we went on a driving tour of Capetown so we would know where things were when Dan left us for the WHOLE weekend. I find it amusing that our professor had to get away for the weekend and trusted us on our own, way to go. Then we went to the Slavery House Museum, which did a great job comparing South Africa to America. We got to stop in Clark's Bookstore, where they were selling the book from the previous trip and is hopefully selling ours now!
Free Weekend in a foreign place: I went shopping in the craft market today and got a bunch of stuff to bring home, including art, figurines, and coasters. Then that night all 10 of us went out for drinks. We went to Cubana first then went to this dance club called 169. Nothing like getting back at 2 am since we had no professor to report to.
Khayelitsha: We were met by 6-10 little kids that were so excited we had come to visit. We were going to be staying at Vicky's Bed and Breakfast which is literally a shack that has been turned into this B&B. None of us were prepared for this, not knowing we were staying in the middle of the township. We were taken on a walking tour of the township, since we were not allowed to go by ourselves. The girls I was staying with were brought to another house a car ride away, since there was not enough room for everyone at Vickys.
Langa: We got to have "fat cakes" for breakfast, which are exactly what they sound like. After, we met with the Treatment Action Campaign [Another one of my articles] and they provided a ton of great information. They took us to a local rally/protest for one of their workers killed because she was HIV positive. We had an amazing lunch at this restaurant where we were the only ones there then went on a walking tour of Langa, which is the oldest township. We stopped at a preschool where the kids sang and danced for us; wicked adorable.
Back to Capetown: We had to say goodbye to the kids today and it was pretty hard. They were so cute and kept asking us when we would be back, but we all knew the answer was probably never. We stopped at the botanical gardens, where we got in trouble from Dan, since we were fooling around and not paying attention; oops. Then we went to the PENGUINS, which was something I had been looking forward to. They were tiny and so cute and JUST out of reach otherwise I would have taken one home. We went to this really nice restaurant right on the water where we had Kingklip wrapped in bacon; the only fish I actually enjoyed. Then again, anything wrapped in bacon is delicious. We went to Cape Point after and went on a really long walk along the coast. I wrote <3 Simmons 2007 on one of the rocks in a marker where other people had wrote messages and I hope it's still there for the 2009 trip. Then we went hiked to the Cape of Good Hope (the southern most point in Africa). We got to stop at the beach and run through the FREEZING waves and I'm glad I got to share it with the select few who chose to go. We had to climb down some intense rocks and I'm glad I didn't die or fall. We took the 'annual' group picture infront of the Cape of Good Hope sign. We got to our new hotel, The Breakwater, which used to be an old prison. We each got our own room, which I think was necessary at this point, since we were all stressed and cranky.
Robben Island: Whoever said these seas were smooth, were clearly lying to me, but I didn't get sick, surprisingly! I guess puking all over the place only had to happen once on this trip, thank god. Christina held my head in her armpit the whole ride and comforted me; what a friend. Our tour guide sucked and didn't tell us anything about what we were seeing on the ride. Considerating the importance of this island to apartheid, I didn't feel like I got anything out of it. We did get another tour from an maximum security ex-political prisoner who was much better. We got to see Mandela's cell but the other people on our tour were pushy and annoying so I didn't get to see too much. Once we got back we had lunch and I got to buy my favorite gorgeous green scarf. Nothing like cashmere that is extremely cheap! That night I decided that I needed to cause a little trouble so we stopped in Dan's room to ask something, I forget what now, but when he was getting his pictures together, I started hiding creamers all over his stuff. How he put up with me for the past 3 years, I have no idea.
Apparently that's all I wrote in my journal. We still had two more days left but we had a lot of free time and just walked around and enjoyed Capetown. We did go out drinking our last two nights in the country and drank mostly for free, which I DO remember. We also went dancing on our last night and it was such a great way to end a great trip. You'll be happy to know I didn't get sick on the way home, except once again, my TV didn't work and I had to deal with a 16 hr flight with no movies.