Some Final Thoughts

Now that I have been back in the States for a little over two weeks and have had a chance to reflect on the plethora of experiences I had since I last posted, I feel ready to write my final entry on Cape Town and to move onto thinking about my upcoming semester in Paris.

Finals ended at the end of the first week in November, and between then and the end of my time in Africa, I was living out of a heavy duty overnight camping backpack and traveling all over southern Africa. Not bad, hey? My travels began with a tour of the Garden Route with a girl with whom I had become very close over the course of my stay in Cape Town. We traveled very well together, which was crucial seeing as we drove all the way from Cape Town to Joburg via Durban, a trip that took us along the entire southern coast of South Africa over a week's time - no small task! We arrived in Joburg, where I spent the night with my friend's family. We had one great night out before I headed off into the bush for two weeks on an overland safari.

The Garden Route was truly amazing, with one of the highlights being my long-awaited bungy jump (the largest in the world, I might add!) and another being Cape Agulhas, the true southernmost tip of Africa (not to be confused with Cape Point, which is the southwestern-most tip of Africa). While this road trip was great, the overland safari was indescribable. Having the opportunity to drive across borders into truly "African" countries, such as Botswana, Zambia, and even Zimbabwe, will forever remain a part of my memory of my overall African experience. I saw Victoria Falls from both Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as from the air on a microlight plane. I also spent two nights completely removed from civilisation in the Okovango Delta in Botswana, where we were guided in wooden mokoro boats through reeds and water lilies. And those are just a few of the innumerable experiences I had over those two weeks! After the trip, my flatmate from Cape Town (who traveled with me) and I spent a few more days in Joburg and Pretoria (the capital of South Africa) before heading to Mozambique.

The three day visit to Inhaca Island in Mozambique was a relaxing culmination to my stay in Africa. With nothing to do but lounge by the pool and swim in the warm waters of the Indian Ocean, both my flatmate and I got tanned and ate some unbelievable fish before heading back to Cape Town for a final South African hoorah. These final days were bittersweet in that I was sad to be leaving behind a city and a country that I had come to love and to feel at home in, but I was also excited to get home to the States where I had left my friends and family behind.

I can honestly say that I do not regret a single thing that I did while in Africa, and I now have memories that will forever remain with me. Each new experience has contributed to the person I have become since leaving for Africa almost six months ago. While I am relieved to have all the comforts of home, I am also amped to embark on my next adventure. Please look out for my next set of blog posts from Paris. Wishing you all the best in 2009!

(Troubles) On the Road

As my classes came to an end and work began to pile up for the first time all semester, it became difficult for me to find time to update you all on my life as of late. Instead of boring you with the monotony of papers, exams, and other “hand-ins” (as they are termed here), I will devote this post to some of the traveling I have been doing over the last few weeks. You may be wondering how I could possibly have found time to leave Cape Town with all the work I just complained about having. My answer is simple: these are the joys of studying abroad!

A while back, a couple of the guys I live with and I drove north along the Western coast of South Africa to some of the quaint coastal villages located there. Our final destination was the Cederberg Mountain range, which is located about four hours inland from Cape Town. The drive there was beautiful – pristine beaches, breathtaking views, and plenty of Rooibos (a tea plant indigenous to these particular mountains). As we left the town of Wupperthal, a small village at the base of the mountains that boasts a start-up rooibos soap business employing previously disempowered women from the area, the road up the mountain seemed manageable for the small car we were driving. At one point, however, there was a sign warning drivers of the necessity of a 4x4 vehicle to reach a town whose name we did not recognize. We decided to continue driving along the road, assuming that the road we were on would not deteriorate. We could not have been more mistaken! About a half hour into the drive, we reached the first of what would be dozens of deep puddles. In order to avoid flooding the car, the driver (my friend Sam) drove around the puddle, only to encounter mud that had us stuck for hours. To make a very long story short, we managed to escape the mud, drive the car through puddles that reached our knees, and to find our way in the dark to the highway we needed to get back to Cape Town. We finally arrived home at 4 AM!

As you can probably imagine, I was hesitant to get into a car for quite some time after my experience in the Cederbergs. So, when my friend Teal and I arrived in Namibia for a weekend adventure and learned that we had to hire a car in order to get around, I was not too amped. Luckily, Teal offered to take care of the rental and to drive us around. The first day of the trip, which we spent in the highly German-influenced (Germany once controlled Namibia before it gained its independence from South Africa in 1990 – the last country in Africa to do so!) town called Swakopmund, went smoothly. Unfortunately, early into our long drive to Sossusvlei, home to the most impressive sand dunes in the world, we ran into some car troubles when our car got stuck on top of a pile of large rocks alongside the road. Luckily, Teal and I were able to make it to the dunes alive, after having gotten a new rental car and having changed a popped tire (something that neither of us had ever done before!). Despite the rocky moments (no pun intended), Teal and I had a blast quad biking and sand boarding on the dunes in Swakop and climbing the dunes in Sossusvlei and Deadvlei, which made it all worthwhile.

And if that wasn’t enough…this past week, my two flatmates and a guy from the flat across the way drove another rental car from Durban, a city on the eastern coast of South Africa, through Swaziland, a landlocked country on the South African-Mozambican border, into the Drakensberg Mountain range, all the way to Joburg. We had originally planned on driving through Lesotho, another landlocked country within South Africa, but we learned that the roads in the country were not paved and that our car would struggle on them. With my recent history of car troubles, we all decided that it was best not to risk getting ourselves into any sticky situation. Even with the slight change in plans, the trip was amazing – beautiful and relaxing!

As I write this post, I am putting off studying for an exam on Wednesday. I wrote my first exam today, and have three more to go. While exams are worth 50% of my overall grade in each course and are pretty stressful as a result, I refuse to allow them to prohibit me from enjoying my last few weeks in Cape Town, especially now that the weather is so nice! I am looking forward to the travels that I still have to look forward to, but I will be very sad to leave this place and all the people I have come to know while living here. I imagine that by the time I find the time to write the next post, I will be finished with exams and will be saying goodbye to Cape Town. Between now and then, I will be sure to look back on all of the amazing experiences I have had here during the last four months. Even with the short amount of time remaining, I still plan on adding new experiences to the many I have already had this semester. There are so many things I want to see and do before I go home! As always, look for updates in the next (and perhaps final) post.

I hope all is well back in the States! Looking forward to seeing many of you soon…

Thrill Seeking and Other Musings

Finally, I have found a moment to sit down and update you all on my life since I returned from vac. As you might be able to guess from my lack of posting, life has been pretty hectic around here. For the first time in my career at UCT, I actually had work to do. It has been strange writing for classes other than English; Sociology papers require serious amounts of background research, which I am not accustomed to, so they took me some time to complete. Luckily, the pile-on has finally come to an end, and I am able to enjoy Cape Town again!

I have done so many new things over the past few weeks, that I cannot possibly describe them all here. For the most part, my activities have required that I push myself beyond my typically established boundaries. It almost feels as if my experience on Kilimanjaro has caused me to actively seek other transformative experiences. For example, last weekend some friends and I drove out to Kleinsbaai (about 2.5 hours from Cape Town) so that we could go shark cage diving. Having a shark within 5 feet of my face was truly a unique experience, one that I hope never to have again, but that I will surely never forget. I am not interested in putting myself in any real danger, but I am looking to test my own limits, if only for a brief moment. What makes Cape Town so special is that it allows for these milestone experiences in that it has so many diverse activities to offer at a reasonable price (well, for those of us with stronger currencies than the rand, of course).

Now that I am fully integrated into student life at UCT, I am meeting more people (mostly South Africans) who are shaping my experience here. As a result, though, it is becoming somewhat difficult for me to maintain the close relationships that I have established with the other Americans that are here with me. I try to diversify the experiences I have and the people I have them with as much as possible, but it feels so much more real and worthwhile to spend my time in South Africa with people that live here. Seeing that we are from such different places, we are able to share so much with each other. After all, I have the rest of my life to surround myself with Americans (unless, of course, I live abroad, which, after living here is not entirely out of the question!).

Another difficulty I have been encountering lately is the feeling that end of my time in Cape Town is approaching too quickly. While I have been trying very hard not to think too far ahead to next semester in Paris, I cannot help but consider about how hard it will be to make the transition away from Cape Town to Paris, a city that is so vastly different. While I am so amped to spend a semester in Paris where I can use my French skills, I cannot deny the fact that the idea of staying in Cape Town for the entire year has crossed my mind on a number of occasions. Every time that I have some amazing new experience (which is every day), I remember how quickly time is passing here and how much I never want to leave. This may sound cliche, but it is so hard to believe that I only have one month left of school. Luckily, I will have the opportunity to stay in southern Africa and travel a bit after the semester ends, which I hope will make my transition away from Cape Town easier for me. I must force myself to remember how nice it will be to come back to the States for a month or so, and how much I have to look forward to next semester in Paris.

Tomorrow is Heritage Day (a day devoted to celebrating the many histories of the South African people), so there is no varsity. In order to take advantage of the extra free time, as well as the nice weather that we are just beginning to experience, some friends and I are going on a road trip to the mountainous area northeast of Cape Town. Looking forward to another weekend filled with new adventures...

Please keep me updated on your lives back in the States (or wherever you may be). Thinking of you all!

A Physical and Emotional Adventure to the Top of the World

As you can surmise by the fact that I am writing this post, I have returned from Tanzania and Mt. Kilimanjaro alive and well. Despite a serious sunburn/windburn that continues to linger on my face, I made it back to Cape Town on Sunday evening somehow feeling refreshed after the most exhausting week of my life. Perhaps I felt invigorated by the constant praise and congratulatory sentiment that I, along with the two others that climbed with me, met from others upon arriving back in South Africa. As I am constantly reminded by those around me how intense my experience on the mountain must have been, I cannot help but mull over the unforgettable memories this once-in-a-lifetime (assuming that I won't climb Kili again) experience has bestowed upon me. While the details of each day of the climb are not worth describing here, it is important that I note the level of excitement I felt throughout the beginning of the climb as the summit attempt approached. I was able to think about the prospect of reaching the summit constantly during the first few days of the climb, as they were not too physically taxing. All of the anticipation that built up inside me over these four days, however, caused my emotions to become completely out-of-whack in my state of delirium when I finally arrived at Uhuru Peak (5985m), the tallest point on the African continent.

Unfortunately, I cannot articulate precisely the emotions I felt while atop the mountain as the altitude and ridiculously cold weather (-23 degrees Celsius with a windchill) blurred my ability to remember much of what happened while I was there. Whatever these emotions were must have been quite overwhelming, though, because they have been consuming my thoughts ever since I began descending from the summit that day. It is hard for me to grasp the fact that I managed to arrive at a destination (the summit) that cannot and will not be reached by even a small majority of the world. To be more specific, according to the certificate that I received at the end of the climb, only 43,553 people have successfully reached the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro since this time last year. I can now say that I am among those people, which, in retrospect, is worth all of the physical and emotional stress that I endured during the climb.

While the beginning of the climb did not challenge me physically to the extent that I had anticipated, Day 5 (the day of the summit attempt) pushed me far beyond my comfort threshold to the point of exhaustion, dehydration, and delirium. In order to arrive at the summit, I needed some kind of motivation other than the joy of finally achieving my ultimate goal of conquering Kili. This motivation came in the form of a blind Turkish man who we constantly ran into throughout the climb. Learning of his personal goal of climbing the highest peak on every continent provided me with the physical and emotional boost that I craved. As a result, he became a hero in my eyes, as well as in the those of the others climbing with me. To me, he epitomizes the phrase that I repeated in my head over and over again as I ascended and descended the mountain: "It's not your aptitude, but your attitude, that determines your altitude." While I am far from a seasoned mountain climber, I have successfully climbed the highest peak in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world as a result of a positive attitude and a will to achieve my goal of overcoming the physical and emotional hardships that I encountered en route to the top of the world.

The above description does not even scratch the surface of my overall experience on the mountain. Check out my pictures to follow my 6-day experience from Machame Gate up to Uhuru Peak and down to Mweka Gate (with stops along the way, of course!):

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbrisk01/MtKilimanjaro#

While I devoted this post t my Kilimanjaro climb , there is so much to say about my trip to Johannesburg and Soweto beforehand. Look forward to that in my next post!

Return from Spring Break Part I and Anticipation for Part II

While it has been far too long since my last post, I can honestly say that I have not had a single free moment to sit down and blog. I just returned from a week-long journey with my parents, which was quite possibly the most meaningful experience I have shared with them. The week began in Cape Town, where I was able to put my knowledge of the city to the test by showing them around. Well, I was stymied a little bit by the fact that there was a tour guide that accompanied my parents the entire time they were in Cape Town. The guide said it himself, travel agents in the US sell fear and portray South Africa as a land ridden with ills, so American tourists don't feel comfortable traveling here without supervision. But after spending nearly two months here (wow, time flies!), I can attest to the fact that South Africa is perfectly safe when one understands what it means to be vigilant at all times. I think it is unfortunate that the guide only exposed my parents to the privileged Capetonian lifestyle. Were I in control of touring my parents around the city, I would have ensured that they at least visit the nearby townships so that they could have a fuller understanding of Cape Town and its inhabitants.

While the weather in Cape town was often cold and rainy during my parents' visit, there was always enough of a clearing that they were able to experience all of the most popualar tourist attractions, especially the cable car up Table Mountain and the tour of Robben Island. I was quite moved by Robben Island, and I will save an explanation of my thoughts and feelings regarding the tour for a later post.

After leaving Cape Town, my parents and I did some wine tastings out in the Francschoek/Stellenbosch/Paarl area. Of course, it was very fun (read: drunk). We left the winelands on Monday morning on a relatively small plane to a town called Nelspruit, which is located near Kruger National Park in the northeastern part of the country near the South Africa/Mozambique border. Then we took a light plane from the airport to an airstrip made of dirt in the middle of the Manuleti (the provincial area adjacent to Kruger proper). The two days my family spent on safari were filled with game drives, bush walks, and relaxation at the beautiful tented camp that boasts absolutely no connection with the world - a truly memorable experience! I left my parents on Wednesday morning to return to Cape Town, where I have been for only one fully day. Now you know why I haven't posted!

As I write this post, I am preparing to embark on the most exciting, but also one of the most terrifying journeys of my life thus far. I have been writing about my imminent Mt. Kilimanjaro climb for some time, and now it has finally arrived. I am looking forward to pushing myself a little bit (Mom, I said "a little bit," so don't worry!), but I also know that this reaching the summit is a huge accomplishment that not every climber who attempts it can achieve. That said, I feel that however far I make it up the mountain will be an accomplishment for me. I'll be sure to write all about the experience when I return. For now, wish me luck!

Apple #2

I remember a presentation made to all of the international students during our orientation in which I learned of the three apples that metaphorically comprise one's study abroad experience in South Africa. As it was explained it to us, there are three different kinds of apples that one might come into contact with throughout the semester at UCT. Apple #1 is commonly experienced by the majority of study abroad students when they first arrive. In essence, this is the apple that represents the "honeymoon" stage in which all is new and exciting. With time, however, apple #1 begins to transform/evolve into apple #2. Study abroad students usually experience this apple after having spent a month or two in South Africa, at which point nothing is as amazing as it was when they first arrived. (Remember this apple, because it will pop up in a moment.) Finally, apple #3 is the most desirable apple in that it represents the period in which a study abroad student feels entirely integrated into South African life and culture. It should be every study abroad student's goal to experience the taste of this apple. While this metaphor may seem unnecessary, I now understand its value and accuracy. It is very difficult for me to express certain emotions regarding my study abroad experience thus far, so creating a metaphor to do so is extremely useful.

Now that you understand the apples, I can explain to you why I have been experiencing an apple #2 period recently. While I am still completely in love with this place, there are times when I feel as though I made a mistake leaving the States and Tufts for an entire year. Undoubtedly, living abroad is an experience that I would never pass up, but now that everyone at home is going back to school, I feel as though I am missing out. I had a ton of work this past week, which would be fine but for the fact that I hate spending my time abroad doing work, especially because I can't seem to forget that it's August and I would normally still be on summer break. What makes focusing on school even more difficult, though, is that  I am still new to this city, there is still so much that I want to do, and time seems to be flying by! I think it is important that I realize that I am here for another four months and will have plenty of time to do all that I want to do before I leave.

Despite these apple #2 feelings, this weekend was another great one. On Friday, I went out to Century City, a newly developed edge city (a term I learned in one of my Sociology classes - it describes self-sufficient cities located outside of a major metropolitan area) with a high-end mall and a wealthy demographic to match. It is hard for me to believe that an enclave of such great wealth is located just a stone's throw away from numerous poverty-stricken townships in the area. As always, it was so nice to explore the city (and its surroundings) on my own for the day. That night I went with two other interstudy students to a wine tasting hosted by the Wine and Culture Society, of which we are all members. While the wine we tasted was not the best, it was still nice to spend time around South Africans who share our interests. I love the fact that wine is such an integral part of Capetonian student life - quite a change from the drinking that occurs among college students in the States!

The rest of my weekend was spent outside thanks to the amazing weather that the city has been experiencing lately. My roommate and I walked along the water in Green Point and Sea Point on Saturday. I stopped to try a human maze there, which, according to its owner is a metaphor for life and love. The towns along the water (of which there are many) are beautiful, and there is so much to see and do in them! Once the weather gets even nicer, I hope to spend a lot of time exploring them all.

In addition to the water, the mountains are everywhere. As part of my Kilimanjaro training, I climbed Devil's Peak today with two of my friends. We stopped at Rhodes Memorial, which is nestled into the mountain behind the UCT campus. Then we continued hiking for about four hours, stopping along the way to eat lunch and to soak up the 360 degree views of the city and suburbs. Even after the Kili climb, I hope to make climbing a Sunday tradition. There is no better way to see the area, get exercise, and bond with people than to spend a day in the mountains - and the trail options are limitless!

The weekend ended with an afternoon swim at a friends' house in Camps Bay, another beautiful area on the coastline. It was so refreshing to jump in a pool after climbing all day - and the food they served was much appreciated as well! The afternoon was made even better, though, when I received a call from my parents to say that they arrived safely in Johannesburg. They are spending the next few days in Zambia at Victoria Falls, and they will be in Cape Town on Wednesday. I hope that my apple #2 days are behind me so that I can enjoy the next few weeks with my parents before the vac (read: Spring Break!).

As I said, I am beginning to miss home a little, so you should all send me updates! I hope all is well...

A Weekend to Remember

I am writing in the wake of the most exciting weekend I have spent in Cape Town thus far. The weekend began on Friday, most of which I spent shopping for climbing gear for my Kilimanjaro trek. While I am really psyched about all of the stuff I bought (especially the high-tech hiking boots made especially for Kilimanjaro climbs), I am having a hard time finding all that I need in one store, so I have been running from store to store. Of course, my main priority as I buy my gear is safety, so I am not cutting any corners. I even went as far as to purchase my own mutlitool (pocket knife with all the bells and whistles) so that I will be well-equipped in the off-chance that I find myself without my guide, who will, I imagine, have all the necessary tools (Mom, I promise this will not happen!). After shopping, I spent the evening at the flat and watched a movie so that I could be well-rested for the busy weekend that was ahead of me.

The entire interstudy group woke up early on Saturday morning to embark on what we thought would be a day-long tour of the District Six Museum, Langa, and Robben Island. Unfortunately, we learned early in the day that we would not be able to go to Robben Island, as the water was too choppy for the ferry to travel. While this was a let-down, we were still able to enjoy the District Six Musuem (although I would have liked to stay there a little longer, so I will have to go back once my parents arrive in Cape Town). The museum was really interesting - the best I've experienced in Cape Town thus far!

After visiting the museum, we traveled out of town to Langa, a nearby black township. We were lucky enough to be able to watch an amazing youth dance troupe perform at the Langa Community Center, which was really impressive considering the young ages of the performers. We explored the township for awhile, and along the way we met all of the children that live in the area. Whenever tourists pass through these townships, the children get very excited, especially because they get to take pictures of themselves on the tourists' digital cameras. For many of these children, it is the only time they are able to see what they look like - hard to imagine, eh? Of all the townships I have visited thus far, Langa has been my favorite. I think that my positive reaction can be attributed to the friendliness of the township's residents. Having the opportunity to tour some of the shanties there, as well as to try their local beer (not very appetizing), was an unforgettable experience. I was excited to learn that Langa is located very close to the high school at which I teach journalism every Monday (more about that later!). As I said in an earlier post, I would like to do a weekend-long homestay in a township, and I think I might choose to do it in Langa.

Because we were unable to visit Robben Island, my roommates and I spent the afternoon in Simonstown, which is located about an hour from Cape Town along the coast. We took the commuter rail to get there, and the views along the way of the ocean and of Table Mountain were breathtaking. I saw quite a few other towns that I would like to visit before I leave here, which is always an exciting discovery. We returned home completely exhausted, but I still mustered up enough energy to go to a braai (BBQ) at a friends' house and to go out to a nightclub where local bands were playing live music. While this was an amazing day, Sunday was even better...

A few of my friends (including the two others that are climbing Kilimanjaro with me) and I woke up early for the second day in a row so that we could begin our climb of Table Mountain. The climb, which is considered the hardest of the innumerable climbs in the area, is ideal because it offers the most spectacular views from the top. I, along with two others, wanted to get a strenuous workout during the climb, so we pushed ourselves the entire way up the mountain, getting to the top an entire hour quicker than we had anticipated - it only took us two hours! Once the others had reached the top, we enjoyed the views over a much-needed lunch. I felt really good about the climb, especially in the sense that it built my confidence regarding Kilimanjaro. The other two climbers did not get up as quickly as I did, but nevertheless I trust that they will be in good shape for the big climb in a few weeks. The descent took about the same amount of time as the ascent, which is great, considering that it often takes people longer to come down. My legs were feeling pretty tired on the way down, but I figure that I was getting tired after having been moving for so long. On top of feeling great about the climb itself, the views from the mountain were out of this world. I am looking forward to my next Sunday climb up Devil's Peak. As you can see, the training is well under way...

The day ended with a celebratory dinner at the comedienne's house. We had a typical Jewish food - bagels, cream cheese, and schnoek, which tasted like whitefish salad. The meal was delicious, and as always, it felt great to be around my surrogate South African family. I hope that my parents will have the opportunity to meet them all for Tracy's birthday, which falls on the Friday that my parents will be here. It is so nice to have a network of South African friends that want to include me in their lives here. I can't think of a better way to end such a memorable weekend.

I will finish by giving a quick summary of my experience with the Media School, the journalism program I will be working with for the semester. Essentially, the program sends UCT volunteers to four different high schools (grades 11 and 12) in some nearby townships. As volunteers, we are responsible for teaching the students a curriculum that eventually culminates in the creation of a full newspaper publication, complete with text and photos. I went into the classroom for the first time yesterday afternoon, and was shocked to find an amazingly high level of interest and devotion on the part of nearly all the students. While many of the students are at grade school reading levels, have never held a camera before, and cannot afford to purchase a newspaper, they are nevertheless interested in media and seem so anxious to learn how to become involved in it. I am sure there will be more to say about the Media School in future posts, so look out for that.

This felt like a long post, so thanks for reading! I hope all is well at home. Enjoy the nice weather! It's getting warmer here, too, but I'm sure not as warm in the States. Hopefully that will change soon!