A Different Perspective

Another week of school has passed by (well, for me, seeing as I have no class on Friday!), and I love this place more and more with each passing day. I am particularly excited right now, as I am preparing to leave for Durban for the weekend. Durban is located in Kwa-Zulu Natal, a province located northeast of the Western Cape and Cape Town. Durban is a relatively large South African city (but not as big as Cape Town or Jo'Burg) and is known for its beautiful beaches along the Indian Ocean. While I am not really into surfing, I am looking forward to experiencing the waves of an ocean I have never been in before. I am traveling with one of my roommates, and our two other friends are meeting us there tomorrow. This travel arrangement happened by default, in that we booked our flights less than a week ago, and one of the flights sold out after two of us bought our tickets. My roommate and I definitely got the better end of the deal, as the other two have to wake up ridiculously early to catch a 6:15 AM flight tomorrow. We have no set plans once we get there (other than a reservation at a backpacker's, i.e. hostel), but I got a list of things to do from a native Durbanite in one of my classes. According to my friends from the U.S. who studied in Cape Town, Durban is a great weekend trip, so I am really excited about going there. Even more exciting is the fact that the weather is rainy and cold in Cape Town, and it is sunny and warm in Durban! I will write all about the trip once I return on Sunday night.

On a less exciting note, I had a rough moment in one of my "tuts" today, when the professor made the claim that once a nation attains economic power, it also attains linguistic power. In other words, if a country has a large stake in the world economy, then a large percentage of the world will learn the native language of that country as a result. Someone in the class brought up the economic relationship between the U.S. and China as an example of this claim, and I disagreed. I argue that while the number of people learning Chinese in the States may be growing, it is in no way being forced upon them by the U.S. or by China as a result of its economic power. This statement elicited a heated response from a number of Americans in the room, all of whom attend private universities and are thus exposed to students that study Chinese at school, probably with the intention of entering the international business field upon graduation. That said, the majority of college-aged students in the United States do not attend schools that afford them the opportunity to study Chinese. As a result, I do not think that it is accurate to argue that because the U.S. has a strong economic link to China, Chinese is becoming a widely spoken language in the U.S. I apologise for the rant, but I left the class feeling as though this issue had not been discussed sufficiently. I hope that we will continue the conversation in next week's "tut."

I suppose the moral of that story is that I have been hypersensitive towards any discussion of the United States since I arrived in South Africa. While I appreciate the perspective of South Africans, academics or not, I feel that there is a certain level of misunderstanding on their part. Perhaps I am being stubborn or closed-minded, but I would rather hear the South African perspective on South Africa than on the United States while I am here. With time, I hope that I can engage in constructive conversation with South Africans regarding the United States, but for now, I am still getting used to being here and learning so much about South Africa and Africa as a whole.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the situation I encountered in class today, or any experiences you may have with being exposed to discussion of the United States while abroad. Stay well!

A Resident Tourist

Sorry for the delay in writing this post, but I have been busy exploring the city for the past two days. Since I don't have class on Fridays due to an awesome Sociology professor who decided to cut back the number of lectures for our class, I spent the day in Cape Town at the Castle of Good Hope. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it is rare to find time to be alone here, so it was a treat to be able to wander through the castle by myself and to get a somewhat topographical view of the city. While the military history of the castle is interesting, what I enjoyed most about my visit was discovering a working art studio/gallery in which about a dozen local artists gather to create modern artwork, mostly in the form of paintings, with the exception of one artist who creates shapes out of wire and beads - I bought an elephant with Tufts in mind. I spoke with one of the artists whose paintings I like a lot, and he told me that the space is rented to aspiring local artists that cannot afford to rent space elsewhere in the city to paint and sell their work. While the workspace is rented to the artists by the government at a very inexpensive rate, they must commit to spending at least three days per week in the studio. 

As a result, the government ensures that its artists will produce artwork and bring culture to the city, so it is a win-win situation. I really liked hearing this story, especially now that I am taking an art history course with a focus on South African artwork.

Continuing with my city exploration, my roommate and I devoted yesterday to experiencing some of the museums in Cape Town, most of which are situated around the Company's Garden (a not-so-nice public park). We started at the Slave Lodge, a slavery museum located in the building that originally housed the Cape slaves in the mid-1600s. While this museum was interesting, we were hoping that the others would be less dry and more interactive. We walked through the park (a little sketchy, but safe nonetheless) until we reached the South African National Gallery, which houses both South African and European artwork. The collection had a few great pieces, but by and large, we were unimpressed. We ate lunch afterwards at an authentic Ethiopian restaurant called Addis in Cape, which came highly recommended by a friend who studied here last year (thanks Marisa!). The food was delicious, and seeing as it was my first time eating Ethiopian food, the whole meal was quite an experience! After lunch, we walked through the market at Greenmarket Square, in which we stumbled upon another museum called the Michaelis Collection at Old Town House. The building itself is a beautiful Cape Rococo-style house built in 1755. The artwork inside was

largely unimpressive, though. We began to think that museums are not the focal of Capetonian culture, but nonetheless we gave the South African Museum a try. Not surprisingly, this natural history museum was not very good, so we gave up on museums for the day. There are few others around the city, which I hope to visit at some point, but I'm in no hurry as I do not have overly high hopes for them.

Last night, we went out to the clubs on Long Street. I realize I have not written anything about our evening activities, which comprise some of the most fun I have had in Cape Town. Unfortunately, last night was not a good example of my fun nights on the town in that I was forced to deal with some drunken drama at the end of the night. While the details of the story are not important, I felt uncomfortable leaving some of the girls I was with alone on Long Street as they seemed vulnerable in my estimation. I have noticed that South African men that choose to take advantage of women, foreigners or not, seek out women that are alone. As soon as a man arrives on the scene, no matter how intimidating he may or may not be, the potential predator will back off. I am not sure how race factors into this equation, but I do know that white American girls are quite conspicuous on Long Street at 1 AM, and it is important for them to remain vigilant, even when out drinking. I fear that Americans, myself included, have a sense of invisibility when abroad, which can lead to serious problems. As a result, it is important for us to watch out for one another. No one should have to be the martyr for us all to realize that Cape Town is not like the safe American cities that we are all accustomed to. That said, most nights out here have been a blast, and everyone has returned home safe and sound without any drama. Cape Town has amazing nightlife, and I can't wait to take advantage of it throughout the semester.

On a more positive note, today has been the perfect lazy Sunday. I slept in, did some of my work for class tomorrow, and ate lunch at a great place called Mimi's in Observatory (aka "Obs"), which is just down the Main Road from my house. Tonight, my roommate and I are going to see a show at the Artscape theater in town, which should be fun. Looking forward to another week of classes and experiences. More soon...

STUDYING Abroad

I am writing this after completing my first written assignment for my classes at UCT. Today was the second day of classes, and I have now had at least one class meeting for each of my four courses. While we are only doing introductory work in most of my classes (I say "most" because the four page essay I had to write tonight seems a little more advanced than introductory), I have enjoyed the subject matter of them all so far. I am particularly interested in my Contemporary Art and Visual Culture class, which came recommended to me by a Tufts student who also studied abroad at UCT and loved this particular course. The class is a 100-level course, and is thus designed for first-year students. While I am sure the class would bore an Art History major, I have never taken a class remotely like this one before, so I find it really engaging. I am also really excited for my Democracy, Social Change and Development course, which is a 300-level course, and is thus very demanding. This is the course for which I already had to read two dense articles and then write a four-page response. The other two courses, African Language and Literature II and Race, Class, and Gender, seem fine, but the lecturers (i.e. professors) are not particularly engaging. I hope that with time and more interesting material to discuss, these professors will become more passionate in their lectures.

Whereas at Tufts I have recitations for some of my large classes, at UCT, every class (they are all enormous considering the fact that there are 20,000 students enrolled at the uni) has a tutorial, during which students submit the majority of their graded assignments. Much like at Tufts, lectures are very broad and impersonal, so the tutorials (dubbed "tuts" here) are meant for in-depth discussions. The main difference between recitations and tuts, though, is that each tut covers different material. Students enroll in tuts based upon their specific interests. All tuts require the same amount of work, but the assignments are tailored to each tut's unique subject matter. T.I.A. - This is Africa!

Apart from academics, it has been quite an experience just being on a campus that has so many students around at all times. There are lines for everything, from department offices to food courts. Luckily, I found a place outside of the food court called Souper Sandwich (I'm sure that anyone who studied at UCT know about it!), which serves really inexpensive grilled paninis that are made-to-order. Needless to say, I plan on eating there every day! In addition to the long lines, the campus has a general aura of anonymity due to the large number of students that are there at any given time. Granted the fact that I know almost no one at UCT, it still feels as though I could walk around all day and not see one face that I recognize. As strange as it is for me to be in an environment that is so different from what I am used to at Tufts, I am really enjoying being able to do my own thing while I am on campus. Because I am constantly around people when I get back to my flat, it is a nice break to be alone while at school. I should note, though, that there is at least one American student that I know in each of my classes, so I am not entirely alone during classes. While it is nice to see a familiar face when I arrive in class, I wish that I had chosen courses that attracted fewer foreigners and more South Africans. I suppose that I am here to learn as much as I can about South Africa, and my course selection reflects that, so I am not too concerned about the seemingly overwhelming international (read: American) presence in my classes. I am going to make an effort not to sit with the Americans I know during class so that I can branch out and meet South Africans. 

In brief, I am really happy with UCT so far. It's nice not to have to worry too much about grades, as I only need a passing grade to get credit at Tufts. That said, I am here to learn and I want to get the most out of all of my classes, especially because they are so different from those that I usually take. I am sure there will be more to say about classes as the week progresses, so look out for an update!

A Comic Shabbat

My dad pointed out that I neglected to mention anything about my Shabbat experience on Friday night. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my roommate and I met a famous Jewish comedienne at a bar on Long Street last Monday night. She invited us over to her home in Sea Point (a very ritzy suburb of Cape Town located in a valley between Table Mountain and the Atlantic Ocean - extremely beautiful!) for Shabbat services and dinner. We arrived at her home in time to meet her twin sons and daughter before walking to their synagogue for services.

The Jews that attend this synagogue technically belong to the Orthodox sect of Judaism, but they are nothing like the Orthodox Jews that we know from home. In other words, there is a sizable population of Jews in Cape Town and in South Africa at large, but it is not as big as that in the United States. That said, however, nearly every Jew in South Africa is very observant. Despite the fact that the shul I went to is less observant than most in South Africa, men and women were still seated separately, and the services were conducted entirely in Hebrew. I suppose that these particular Jews may be compared to Conservative Jews in the United States.

One of Tracy's sons accompanied us to the main service, which was really nice, especially considering the fact that I was able to sing along in the prayers as the same chants are sung here as the ones we sing in the State. The fact that there was any singing at all made the congregation feel Reform, but in speaking with the rabbi (an American from Minnesota!) after the service, this is not the case. In fact, these Jews form their own unique form of Orthodox Judaism, so it is impossible to compare them to the Jews in the States. After spending some time in the main synagogue, we moved downstairs to a smaller prayer room devoted to young adults under 18. It was really nice to be around other young Jews, and the food (kosher sushi, etc.) was delicious! My roommate and I felt a little out of place, though, because neither of us are particularly religious or observant, but the rabbi made us feel welcome, and even invited us back next week!

Once services ended, we returned to Tracy's house for dinner. In addition to her immediate family, her brother, mother, and family friends, joined us for dinner. The food was all homemade and delicious - a nice break from our failed attempts at cooking at our flat! We ate, drank, and talked for hours until it suddenly became 11 PM. It was so nice to start the weekend this way, and we hope to do it again sometime soon. Not only did Tracy invite us over for Shabbat in the future, but she also asked if we would join her for the High Holidays in September. It is so nice to have met someone like Tracy so soon after arriving here, because she genuinely wants to ensure that our experience in Cape Town is positive and filled with meaningful activity. While I did not come to Cape Town to explore my Judaism per se, I am looking forward to taking advantage of the opportunities available to Jews while I am here.

On a completely different note, please copy and paste the attached link into your web browser to view the few photos I have taken since I arrived. Unfortunately, I often forget to bring my camera with me when I go out, so there are only 25 photos. Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005669&l=14e82&id=1085820031

The End of the Beginning

Today marks the last day of my Capetonian vacation. In other words, school starts tomorrow! I am very excited for classes to begin, not because I'm not enjoying myself now, but rather because I am looking forward to establishing some consistency in my life here. Currently, I wake up each morning without any specific plans or direction. Luckily, Cape Town lends itself to this kind of lifestyle, as it has so much to offer. For example, yesterday my roommate and I went on a search for a good place to eat lunch near our flat. We ended up at a restaurant called Fat Cactus Cafe, which is located in our small suburb of Mowbray. Eating at this restaurant may not seem like much of an adventure, but for the fact that the bar was mobbed with die-hard fans of the national rugby team, the Springboks, which was playing a match against its greatest Australian competitor, the Wallabies. The sprit in the room was indescribable. Even though I know nothing about the South African team or even the sport itself, I still felt proud to be in South Africa and lucky to be around such kind and inviting people.

My friends and I spent the latter part of the day yesterday at a soccer match between a South African local team and Manchester United, the best team in the world. The game was down the street from out house at the Newlands Stadium, which is being replaced by the Green Point Stadium in Green Point for the 2010 World Cup. It was a really great time, and a perfect way to integrate ourselves into South African culture - rugby and soccer are immensely important to South Africans! Last night was equally as fun, as I went with a local South African friend and a few other Americans to an authentic African game restaurant. I tried warthog spare ribs, and it was some of the most delicious meat I've ever had!

I am now considering what I want to do today, for my last day of freedom from academics. I may go surfing at a nearby town called Muizenberg, or watch an indie film in town and then climb a short trail up Table Mountain to the Rhodes Memorial. I've only been here for two weeks, and I've done so much. At the same time, though, I am always learning about new things that I really want to do before I leave. Living in a place for such a long period of time affords me the opportunity to leisurely experience all that I want to while I am here, which is so great. I just hope that once classes start and life gets hectic, I will still be able to find sufficient time to go exploring and to try new and exciting things.

As you can see, I attached a couple pictures of the soccer game here. Please check out some of the pictures I added to the older posts. Thanks!

Arriving at Comfort

As I write this now, I cannot help but think how much I wish I had written this post this yesterday, as its emotional content would probably have been a bit more enthusiastic. In short, today was the second day of pre-registration for courses at UCT, i.e. the most stressful course registration process I have ever experienced. I will preface this complaint with the admission that I know South Africa differs in many ways from the United States, and in no way do I expect to live my life in the same way that I do at home. That said, this has been an enormously hectic (a very South African term used in lieu of 'crazy') week. To start, there is no online self-service registration at UCT, so each student must wait on line in order to get through each step of the registration process. On top of that, in order to be enrolled in any advanced course, one must approach the appropriate department head for his/her signature. As a result of this somewhat primitive system (especially for a school ranked number 200 on the list of the world's top universities!), I have spent the last two days on campus trying to sort out my schedule, and I still feel relatively lost. As was said point blanc to me by a department secretary, UCT refuses to hold its students' hands like the American universities do. Instead, it is each man for himself here, and it is very intimidating. Despite the headache, however, it has been quite an interesting adventure trying to navigate all the red tape at UCT.

Now that I have sufficiently expressed my somewhat negative emotions about my experience here, I should also share some of the many amazing things that have been happening in my life since I last posted. First of all, I have met some of the most amazing people here. For example, I went to a place called Zula Sound Bar on Monday night for its weekly comedy night, and I was lucky enough to meet some of the amazing comics after they had performed. One of them is a comedienne named Tracy Klass, and she does a hilarious set about Jewish women. We spoke at length about South African comedy, which, according to her, permits comedians to poke fun at their respective communities, such as Jews, Muslims, blacks, or females. As I have explained before, everyone is grouped, mostly by race, in South Africa, and South African comedy is no exception. By the end of our conversation, Tracy discovered that I am Jewish, and invited me and my roommate to her house for Shabbat dinner and services on Friday night. We are really looking forward to checking out the Capetonian Jewish community, as it is known to be very large and vibrant here. That is just one of the many people we have met here who have gone out of their way to get to know us and make our experience in Cape Town the best that it can be.

Getting to know these people has been really helpful in my quest to feel more at home in Cape Town. I am getting to know the area around UCT and my house much better as well, so I trust that soon I will find a comfortable routine as soon as classes begin. My only fear is that once classes start, I will not have the time to do some of the other touristy activities that Cape Town has to offer. Even though there is so much I still want to do in my own backyard here in town, I am already planning my Spring Break trip for the end of August. As of now, some friends and I are hoping to go to Tanzania in northeastern Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Also, some of us are interested in taking a weekend trip to Durban, a beach city in northern South Africa (where it is warm now!), in the next few weeks. All of this is really exciting, but I am so focused on getting my class schedule set that I cannot think of much else at this point.

I hope to be settled into classes by the next time I post, so my stress level should decrease substantially! I hope to continue meeting great people and to have more amazing experiences as I go. Thanks for reading!

A "Safrican" Week in Review

Mowbray (Cape Town), South Africa

I should begin by apologizing for not getting a chance to write since I arrived in South Africa nearly a week ago. This week has been a whirlwind filled with adventures both during the day and at night, leaving me very little time to sleep, much less to write. For whatever reason, though, I have felt so stimulated by the new people and environment that I have not felt overly tired until today. That said, I am staying at my flat tonight with almost all the other American students to recover from this crazy week. Also, my internet is finally up and running, so I am taking advantage of my ability to finally post!

I think that it will be easiest to describe my experiences over the past week by differentiating between the daytime and the nighttime. As you may know, during the apartheid, South African cities were integrated during the day and largely segregated at night. Despite the fact that the apartheid is no longer in existence here, I have noticed that the city (or at least the places where I have been spending time) has a very different racial breakdown during the day than it does at night. Specifically, the racial breakdown of the city changes in that I find myself surrounded almost completely by white people wherever I am at night. The only black or colored (a word that I have a hard time using as it has not been socially acceptable since before the Civil Rights Movement in the States, but in South Africa refers to a person that is neither white nor black, i.e. mixed race, Chinese, etc.) people in the places we visit after dark appear to be working for the white people that frequent the restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. What has been interesting about this is that there are a few black American girls on my program, and they stick out in the all-white crowd. As you can see, race is a very popular topic of discussion here, both amongst South Africans and Americans. More about that in future posts I’m sure!

While issues of race are always present in South Africa, they seemed especially apparent to me today when my program organized a trip to a black (note the separation from colored) township called Gugaletu. We ate lunch at a touristy meat market called Mzoli’s, which is located in the center of a poverty-stricken neighborhood in which very few people have an education or a job. While some of the other students on my program were snapping pictures at every corner, I refused to take my camera out of my pocket out of fear of disrespecting the locals in their hometown. It felt to me as though the township was one large museum, and it made me feel pretty uncomfortable. That said, I am interested in spending more time in the townships so that I can get to know South Africa in its entirety. I found out today that it is possible to do a homestay in a nearby township for a night or two, so I am looking forward to that.

On a completely different note, a bunch of us spent a full day in the wine country in a town called Stellenbosch. We tasted wines at three different vineyards, and they were all amazing. It was nice to get to know everyone and to see another part of the country. Since then, I have spent a lot of time with the Americans and not enough with the locals, so I am constantly trying to meet new people and try new things. Unfortunately, it’s never considered safe for a

white American to walk around alone in the city, so I am always exploring the city in large groups of Americans. I hope to find an opportunity to be alone here so that I can feel more at home in my new environment. Luckily, my flat is feeling like home now that I have decorated my room a bit. I still haven’t found a routine here, though, because classes haven’t started yet and it feels like a vacation. I’m sure that once school starts, life will feel different. By then, I hope to feel more adjusted to the racial complexities of South Africa so that I can focus on becoming a regular UCT student for the next four months.

Hopefully, I will have reliable internet access soon and will be able to post more regularly. Check back soon for more!

I have attached some pictures of my room above. People here call it the "Beach House," as it has tile floor, unlike the rest of the flat.

Mental Preparation

Fire Island, New York. 

Departure tomorrow. 

To answer the question that I have been asked time and time again: I am VERY excited to leave tomorrow for Cape Town, South Africa. And to answer the likely follow-up question: I am SOMEWHAT nervous to leave tomorrow for Cape Town, South Africa.

Because this is not the first time I have spent an extended period of time away from the comforts of home, I do not feel overwhelmed by the prospect of being a 17-hour plane ride away from home in a country filled with political strife and racial inequality. (I realize the latter part of this description will probably seem narrow-minded when I look back on this post a few months from now.) From what I have read, South Africa, much like any other country I am sure, never ceases to surprise its visitors and its residents. While I have done a fair amount of reading about the country both in the past and in the present, I know that no matter what I do to prepare myself, I cannot avoid feeling like an outsider in an unfamiliar place. The next four and a half months will be filled with many firsts, and that is precisely what excites me most! And here comes one now...

This is my very first blog! As some of you may know, I have recently been intrigued by the growing popularity of the "vlog" (a.k.a. video blog). While I am sure this will not compare to some of the brilliant vlogs that are out there, I hope it will pique your interest, if only just a little! I will try to log the most interesting aspects of my life abroad, hopefully without sounding overly sappy or guidebook-esque. As much I hope you enjoy what I write here, this blog is for me, too. I hope to look back on this and feel proud of the honesty in my writing. I know that I will have some amazing experiences, both positive and negative, and I plan on logging it all here, so here goes...