Sunday, January 27, 2008
NEWSFLASH
Such exciting news! So our group is officially meeting Desmond Tutu this Friday the 1st of Feb! One of the guys from the Direct Action Center for Peace and Memory made it his personal mission to get us a meeting with him, and he definitely succeeded! I'll try and snap a picture with him- wish me luck! And I will say hi for you mom :)
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Finally Some Pictures!
Alright...well I've finally decided to throw some pictures up on here. This week we've spent mostly between classes and our community engagement projects. We got delayed starting at Belville, so we are spending extra time with them this upcoming week. Thursday night we went out with some people that we met here to this club called Hemisphere. It's on the 38th floor of one of the downtown buildings, so it has an awesome view. Yesterday we all decided to have a low-key night around the house and in the neighborhood. Today some of us went horseback riding. It was really fun, but it is really really hot here. There were also fires int he mountains close to where we were riding.
some of the scenery around here:
And with that, here's (finally) some pictures:
our first night out all together as a group a few weeks ago:
Suzanne's birthday (thats a picture of all the cupcakes and shot for everyone lined up):
hanging around one of the local bars here:
Camps Bay beach:
getting ready to go out Thursday night:
all of us horseback riding on the beach today:
me on the horse today:
And, finally, (this if for you mom!) Moss's son Lemi...he took this of himself on my camera:
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
We Still Need Donations!
Hey all! So real quick, we still need donations for the project that we're working on :) If anyone has an extra $5-$10 or knows anyone else who would be interested please please please forward this on! Our letter explaining our project and how to donate is below!
Thanks in advance!
Dear Friends,
We are writing to invite you to participate in an exciting opportunity! During this Winter quarter, eighteen students from the University of Washington will be studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa with the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) program. While staying in Cape Town we will be participating in a variety of community engagement projects. One of the projects that a few of us will be working on promotes understanding between students from Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington and students from Isilimela and Belleville High Schools in Cape Town. This project will consist of a number of creative elements including photography, writing and other arts-based activities.
This project will be groundbreaking in its capabilities to create bridges between American teenagers, as well as teenagers from two distinctly different cultures in South Africa. Despite the fall of apartheid, the majority of students in South Africa still live in very segregated conditions and rarely communicate with one another across race and class divides. In February 2008, sixteen Roosevelt High School students will visit Cape Town for two weeks, spending time in Langa Township and in Belleville. It’s a unique opportunity to learn about one another, dialogue about difficult issues, and build new friendships.
We plan to help facilitate this exchange by giving students a unique opportunity to understand each other through self-expression and artistic communication. We will do this through a series of guided photography and writing workshops. We have been working this quarter with a program at UW called “Literacy Through Photography,” where we learned how to develop and lead this kind of youth exchange. Given an irreplaceable opportunity to work in groups consisting of one student from each high school, students will use their photos to create dialogue. Photographs, artwork, writing, and performance open up a space for youth from vastly different backgrounds to communicate with one another. Important aspects of this project will include movement and performance workshops with a professional teaching artist, an overnight retreat and open mic where students will present their written pieces and finally a public celebration in Langa, where the students will be given an opportunity to share their photos and artwork to members of the community. Additionally, we are hoping to bring some of the photos back to Seattle to display in the spring.
Here is where you come in: we have the heart, but we are still seeking resources for the final funding of this project. Our goal is $4000. We have raised some money already, and though we realize this is late notice (we leave at the end of December!), we are still hoping that you may be able to help. The donated funds will be used toward cameras, 100 rolls of film, art supplies and developing costs. Any additional funds beyond our practical needs will be used toward helping Roosevelt fund the work of the teaching artist. Again, we apologize for the late notice. For many of us working on this project, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We hope that you will consider supporting our efforts. Happy Holidays.
Donations can be made via check or online:
Checks:
Checks for any amount can be made out to The University of Washington Foundation and should reference Cape Town Photography
Please mail them to:
Amy Peloff
Comparative History of Ideas Program
Box 354300
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-4300
Online:
To make a donation with a credit or debit card, please visit the CHID website at http://depts.washington.edu/chid/giftsandgiving.php, choose the Jim Clowes Local/Global International Fund and reference Cape Town Photography in the comment section.
Any help you can offer us will be greatly appreciated. Please let us know if you have any ideas to help us or can point us in any new directions. We could even bring back a sample of our work for you and/or your organization if you are interested. If you have any questions about this project, please contact one of the members of our group listed below. If you have any questions about making a donation, please contact Amy Peloff at 206-543-7991 or apeloff@u.washington.edu.
Thank you,
Tessa Adams
Suzy Hu
Kate Jesse
Mallory Loflin
Joy MacTavish
Alena Marshak
Mehret Weldu
Instructor:Georgia Roberts
Thanks in advance!
Dear Friends,
We are writing to invite you to participate in an exciting opportunity! During this Winter quarter, eighteen students from the University of Washington will be studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa with the Comparative History of Ideas (CHID) program. While staying in Cape Town we will be participating in a variety of community engagement projects. One of the projects that a few of us will be working on promotes understanding between students from Roosevelt High School in Seattle, Washington and students from Isilimela and Belleville High Schools in Cape Town. This project will consist of a number of creative elements including photography, writing and other arts-based activities.
This project will be groundbreaking in its capabilities to create bridges between American teenagers, as well as teenagers from two distinctly different cultures in South Africa. Despite the fall of apartheid, the majority of students in South Africa still live in very segregated conditions and rarely communicate with one another across race and class divides. In February 2008, sixteen Roosevelt High School students will visit Cape Town for two weeks, spending time in Langa Township and in Belleville. It’s a unique opportunity to learn about one another, dialogue about difficult issues, and build new friendships.
We plan to help facilitate this exchange by giving students a unique opportunity to understand each other through self-expression and artistic communication. We will do this through a series of guided photography and writing workshops. We have been working this quarter with a program at UW called “Literacy Through Photography,” where we learned how to develop and lead this kind of youth exchange. Given an irreplaceable opportunity to work in groups consisting of one student from each high school, students will use their photos to create dialogue. Photographs, artwork, writing, and performance open up a space for youth from vastly different backgrounds to communicate with one another. Important aspects of this project will include movement and performance workshops with a professional teaching artist, an overnight retreat and open mic where students will present their written pieces and finally a public celebration in Langa, where the students will be given an opportunity to share their photos and artwork to members of the community. Additionally, we are hoping to bring some of the photos back to Seattle to display in the spring.
Here is where you come in: we have the heart, but we are still seeking resources for the final funding of this project. Our goal is $4000. We have raised some money already, and though we realize this is late notice (we leave at the end of December!), we are still hoping that you may be able to help. The donated funds will be used toward cameras, 100 rolls of film, art supplies and developing costs. Any additional funds beyond our practical needs will be used toward helping Roosevelt fund the work of the teaching artist. Again, we apologize for the late notice. For many of us working on this project, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity. We hope that you will consider supporting our efforts. Happy Holidays.
Donations can be made via check or online:
Checks:
Checks for any amount can be made out to The University of Washington Foundation and should reference Cape Town Photography
Please mail them to:
Amy Peloff
Comparative History of Ideas Program
Box 354300
University of Washington
Seattle, WA 98195-4300
Online:
To make a donation with a credit or debit card, please visit the CHID website at http://depts.washington.edu/chid/giftsandgiving.php, choose the Jim Clowes Local/Global International Fund and reference Cape Town Photography in the comment section.
Any help you can offer us will be greatly appreciated. Please let us know if you have any ideas to help us or can point us in any new directions. We could even bring back a sample of our work for you and/or your organization if you are interested. If you have any questions about this project, please contact one of the members of our group listed below. If you have any questions about making a donation, please contact Amy Peloff at 206-543-7991 or apeloff@u.washington.edu.
Thank you,
Tessa Adams
Suzy Hu
Kate Jesse
Mallory Loflin
Joy MacTavish
Alena Marshak
Mehret Weldu
Instructor:Georgia Roberts
Monday, January 21, 2008
Whirlwind week!
Wow! It is hard to believe that we are entering into our third week here!
Lastweek was another great whirlwind of a week! On Monday we went to the University of Cape town and toured around the historical sights. Monday was also Suzanne's birthday so we made dinner reservations and went to a few bars.
Tusday Ron was nice enough to move our classes to the afternoon to accomidate the poor condition that some of our group was in. We met downtown at the Jan Smuts statue, and then walked to Idasa, where one of Ron's friends works. Idasa formerly stood for institute for a democratic alternative in South Africa, and now stands for Institute for Democracy in South Africa. I'm sure they have a website, my best guess at its address would be www.idasa.co.za. That may be way wrong though...Either way, Ron's friend was a wealth of political information! It was almost to the point where we felt embarassed for knowing so little and not even being able to ask intelligent quesitons of him! Also, since we met in the afternoon after lunch, and it was a warm day, and Ron's friend had a slightly monotone voice it was almost impossible for us to stay awake! I was genuinely interested in what he had to say, but I still ended up giving myself a bruise on my hand from poking myself with a pen cap tyring to stay awake! No wonder professors hate teaching afternoon classes!
Wednesday was our first group outing into Isilimela High School and Lovelife in Langa. Isilimela is the school that CHID (Comparative History of Ideas) and HFB (Hands For a Bridge) have a strong relationship with. It is the shcool that I helped teach English in last time, as well as doing the photography/art/writing/poetry project. Lovelife is a type of afterschool/teen place that is like a boys and girls club a little bit. However, the focus of it is HIV/AIDS awareness, education, and prevention. They have a free clinic that is frequented, as well as a radio station, and games and activities to keep teens and young adults off the streets and engaged in their communities. One of the girls in our group works with the Seahawks corporate offices and actually got some donations from the Seahawks to bring to Lovelife. I think a few of the people from our house might work on teaching flag football there, as well as running some sore of basketball tournement.
Thursday we had our last class with Ron :( We discussed our readings for the week--the Freedom Charter as well as the South African Bill of Rights from their Constitution. THe bill of rights here is really quite amazing. Instead of just including civil-political rights (i.e. right to vote) like most, it also includes socio-economic rights (i.e. right to adequate housing). While everythign promised in it sounds great, not a lot of the rights are being fulfilled right now. I really could go on for days abouth this.... a lot of our talks thursday reminded me of a couple of the human rights courses I've taken at the UW.
Friday was a pretty relaxed day. We had a brief meeting with Rebecca (our peer facilitator- she was here two years ago with me), and then there was a house soccer game. I think a good half of the house made it to the soccer game. Some of us (like yours truely) decided on more leisurely activities (i.e. napping). Friday was also Ashley's birthday! (yay she's 5^2 now!) We had a great big huge house braai (bbq) and trashed the place before going out that night. I dont think i've ever seen so many dirty dishes and pots and bags of garbage everywhere- and that's saying a lot!
Saturday and Sunday were both fairly relaxed days. Georgia arrived Saturday morning (yay!) and Ron left on Saturday night (boo!) Its quite sad to see Ron go, but I'm excited that Georgia is here with us now. I chose to stay in and read and work on my journal/scrapbook for most of the time. (Our journal/scrapbooks that we're keeping are 40% of our grade since we dont have any tests or papers) Sunday we ventured out to the beach at Camps Bay, but it was so windy it was painful to stay on the beach too long. The sand was ripping our skin off. My town and my sweatshirt also blew into the water :( It was fairly cold for me after that point.
Today was our first class with Georgia. Also, our group doing the Literacy Through Photography project with the HFB students met to finalize a syllabus for our project and print up handouts. Tomorrow we are going out to Isilimela (the high school in Langa), Wednesday we are going to Belville (in Belville- a mostly Afrikaans suburb of Cape Town), and then Thursday we are back at Isilimela. Hopefully that schedule will continue so that we are meeting at least 4 hours a week with the learners at Isilimela and 2 hours a week with the learners at Belville.
and with that I will end this crazy long post! I really need to work on doing these more often so that they're not just weekly recaps...
Lastweek was another great whirlwind of a week! On Monday we went to the University of Cape town and toured around the historical sights. Monday was also Suzanne's birthday so we made dinner reservations and went to a few bars.
Tusday Ron was nice enough to move our classes to the afternoon to accomidate the poor condition that some of our group was in. We met downtown at the Jan Smuts statue, and then walked to Idasa, where one of Ron's friends works. Idasa formerly stood for institute for a democratic alternative in South Africa, and now stands for Institute for Democracy in South Africa. I'm sure they have a website, my best guess at its address would be www.idasa.co.za. That may be way wrong though...Either way, Ron's friend was a wealth of political information! It was almost to the point where we felt embarassed for knowing so little and not even being able to ask intelligent quesitons of him! Also, since we met in the afternoon after lunch, and it was a warm day, and Ron's friend had a slightly monotone voice it was almost impossible for us to stay awake! I was genuinely interested in what he had to say, but I still ended up giving myself a bruise on my hand from poking myself with a pen cap tyring to stay awake! No wonder professors hate teaching afternoon classes!
Wednesday was our first group outing into Isilimela High School and Lovelife in Langa. Isilimela is the school that CHID (Comparative History of Ideas) and HFB (Hands For a Bridge) have a strong relationship with. It is the shcool that I helped teach English in last time, as well as doing the photography/art/writing/poetry project. Lovelife is a type of afterschool/teen place that is like a boys and girls club a little bit. However, the focus of it is HIV/AIDS awareness, education, and prevention. They have a free clinic that is frequented, as well as a radio station, and games and activities to keep teens and young adults off the streets and engaged in their communities. One of the girls in our group works with the Seahawks corporate offices and actually got some donations from the Seahawks to bring to Lovelife. I think a few of the people from our house might work on teaching flag football there, as well as running some sore of basketball tournement.
Thursday we had our last class with Ron :( We discussed our readings for the week--the Freedom Charter as well as the South African Bill of Rights from their Constitution. THe bill of rights here is really quite amazing. Instead of just including civil-political rights (i.e. right to vote) like most, it also includes socio-economic rights (i.e. right to adequate housing). While everythign promised in it sounds great, not a lot of the rights are being fulfilled right now. I really could go on for days abouth this.... a lot of our talks thursday reminded me of a couple of the human rights courses I've taken at the UW.
Friday was a pretty relaxed day. We had a brief meeting with Rebecca (our peer facilitator- she was here two years ago with me), and then there was a house soccer game. I think a good half of the house made it to the soccer game. Some of us (like yours truely) decided on more leisurely activities (i.e. napping). Friday was also Ashley's birthday! (yay she's 5^2 now!) We had a great big huge house braai (bbq) and trashed the place before going out that night. I dont think i've ever seen so many dirty dishes and pots and bags of garbage everywhere- and that's saying a lot!
Saturday and Sunday were both fairly relaxed days. Georgia arrived Saturday morning (yay!) and Ron left on Saturday night (boo!) Its quite sad to see Ron go, but I'm excited that Georgia is here with us now. I chose to stay in and read and work on my journal/scrapbook for most of the time. (Our journal/scrapbooks that we're keeping are 40% of our grade since we dont have any tests or papers) Sunday we ventured out to the beach at Camps Bay, but it was so windy it was painful to stay on the beach too long. The sand was ripping our skin off. My town and my sweatshirt also blew into the water :( It was fairly cold for me after that point.
Today was our first class with Georgia. Also, our group doing the Literacy Through Photography project with the HFB students met to finalize a syllabus for our project and print up handouts. Tomorrow we are going out to Isilimela (the high school in Langa), Wednesday we are going to Belville (in Belville- a mostly Afrikaans suburb of Cape Town), and then Thursday we are back at Isilimela. Hopefully that schedule will continue so that we are meeting at least 4 hours a week with the learners at Isilimela and 2 hours a week with the learners at Belville.
and with that I will end this crazy long post! I really need to work on doing these more often so that they're not just weekly recaps...
Monday, January 14, 2008
It's gettin hot in here....
Hey all!
Sorry it has been a while since I updated- we've been fairly busy! Last week we wrapped up our work with the Direct Action Center. Yazir has requested that we refrain from describing all of the work and sights we visited online so that others who come to work with them dont have a heads up about every little thing that will happen. So, out of respect for him I am not going to put it on here. If any of you are interested, you can email me (krjesse@u.washington.edu) and I can write back any answers or a personal description. All in all, it was a great experience, and I would say we all learned a ton and had good fun at it.
Thursday we got a day off to reflect and relax after our work with DACPM. Then that night we had a pizza party at one of our prof's (Ron) house. I think our group tore through 9 or 10 pizzas and an entire fridge full of beer and wine. Thats what happens when you have college students over! It was really fun, and the house that Ron is staying in is owned by a lady with a couple of dogs. A few of the girls and I went and petted and played with the dogs. I miss Louisa so much! (Although,if she were here she would not be able to deal with the heat at all!)
Friday we had class in one of the local restaurant/cafes. It was a good discussion and debrief time. After that we all rested a little bit, and then went out to downtown on Friday night. We went to a few of the nightclubs that I remember from last time, and had an awesome time. (Pictures to come soon)
Saturday we relaxed after the crazy week. It was generally a pretty chill day. And then Sunday, we got ready and left the house at 830 to go river tubing. We drove about 1 1/2 hours outside of cape town. We all were in lovely little wetsuits, helmets and life jackets (be happy mom!), booties, and gloves that turned our hands into little flipper things. It was generally an awesome time, although I'm a little sore today! I didnt realize how much of a workout it was.
Today we went and toured the University of Cape Town and some of their historic sights and monuments. We had good discussions about Rhodes and why he is all over Cape Town. He is quite a controversial figure. Next to one of the statues of him on campus theres a plaque thing that makes a little bit of mention about the controversy surrounding him, but then it says that the University wouldnt be there without the land he donated. My question is, how do you donate land that wasn't yours to begin with?! (Look up the history of Cecil Rhodes if you dont know what I'm alluding to.) We also hiked up part of the mountain to the Rhodes memorial that looks out across cape town. Great walk, but it is hot as hell today which makes it really really rough! I think it was supposed to be like 90 degrees today, but it felt like more than that!
Additionally, the rolling blackouts have started today. Cape town does not have enough power stations for how many people live here, so pretty much theres rolling blackouts every summer while they maintain all of the ones here. They are working on building more power stations, but its going to be about 5 years until they catch up to how much power is needed in the Western Cape.
Today is also Suzanne's birthday! (yay!) So we have reservations at the mexican restaurant in our neighborhood for the whole house. We already raided the bottle store (liquor store) for tonight as well. I cannot wait for a nice cold margarita with some rice and beans on such a warm day! I think we are going out within the neighborhood tonight as well. We convinced our professor to move class until tomorrow afternoon because the birthday girl might not be in good condition tomorrow morning :)
With that, I'm off! It is way to freakin warm to be sitting with a computer in my lap right now!
Sorry it has been a while since I updated- we've been fairly busy! Last week we wrapped up our work with the Direct Action Center. Yazir has requested that we refrain from describing all of the work and sights we visited online so that others who come to work with them dont have a heads up about every little thing that will happen. So, out of respect for him I am not going to put it on here. If any of you are interested, you can email me (krjesse@u.washington.edu) and I can write back any answers or a personal description. All in all, it was a great experience, and I would say we all learned a ton and had good fun at it.
Thursday we got a day off to reflect and relax after our work with DACPM. Then that night we had a pizza party at one of our prof's (Ron) house. I think our group tore through 9 or 10 pizzas and an entire fridge full of beer and wine. Thats what happens when you have college students over! It was really fun, and the house that Ron is staying in is owned by a lady with a couple of dogs. A few of the girls and I went and petted and played with the dogs. I miss Louisa so much! (Although,if she were here she would not be able to deal with the heat at all!)
Friday we had class in one of the local restaurant/cafes. It was a good discussion and debrief time. After that we all rested a little bit, and then went out to downtown on Friday night. We went to a few of the nightclubs that I remember from last time, and had an awesome time. (Pictures to come soon)
Saturday we relaxed after the crazy week. It was generally a pretty chill day. And then Sunday, we got ready and left the house at 830 to go river tubing. We drove about 1 1/2 hours outside of cape town. We all were in lovely little wetsuits, helmets and life jackets (be happy mom!), booties, and gloves that turned our hands into little flipper things. It was generally an awesome time, although I'm a little sore today! I didnt realize how much of a workout it was.
Today we went and toured the University of Cape Town and some of their historic sights and monuments. We had good discussions about Rhodes and why he is all over Cape Town. He is quite a controversial figure. Next to one of the statues of him on campus theres a plaque thing that makes a little bit of mention about the controversy surrounding him, but then it says that the University wouldnt be there without the land he donated. My question is, how do you donate land that wasn't yours to begin with?! (Look up the history of Cecil Rhodes if you dont know what I'm alluding to.) We also hiked up part of the mountain to the Rhodes memorial that looks out across cape town. Great walk, but it is hot as hell today which makes it really really rough! I think it was supposed to be like 90 degrees today, but it felt like more than that!
Additionally, the rolling blackouts have started today. Cape town does not have enough power stations for how many people live here, so pretty much theres rolling blackouts every summer while they maintain all of the ones here. They are working on building more power stations, but its going to be about 5 years until they catch up to how much power is needed in the Western Cape.
Today is also Suzanne's birthday! (yay!) So we have reservations at the mexican restaurant in our neighborhood for the whole house. We already raided the bottle store (liquor store) for tonight as well. I cannot wait for a nice cold margarita with some rice and beans on such a warm day! I think we are going out within the neighborhood tonight as well. We convinced our professor to move class until tomorrow afternoon because the birthday girl might not be in good condition tomorrow morning :)
With that, I'm off! It is way to freakin warm to be sitting with a computer in my lap right now!
Monday, January 7, 2008
First Day of Classes
This will be a brief post because its 7 am here and I have to get ready for class soon... Yesterday was our first day of classes. We are doing our first three days with the Direct Action Center for Peace and Memory (http://www.dacpm.org.za/). Its an organization founded by a former member of the Umkhonto We Sizwe- the military wing of the African National Congress.
The main guy, Yazir, is freakin intense as hell. The last time I was here we spent a day with him, and all I remember from then was everyone crying and being questioned. He's quite good at making everyone uncomfortable. It was honestly not an enjoyable experience for me before, so I was kind of dreading these first few days. However, I went in with an open mind this time....so I'm doing slightly better. Its still really hard not to have strong emotional reactions to everything that is going on around us.
We spent yesterday doing introductions, and then touring around the main core of the city and the original peripheries. Today we are doing the tour of rememberance, which is journeys around the city and to the townships to visit sights where people lost their lives in the peace struggle. I'm bringing tissues again...
Anyway, I'm off to go shower and get ready for the day!
P.S. Dad and Lillian: the first aid kit/medicine kit thing that you guys gave me is making me quite a popular girl around here....
The main guy, Yazir, is freakin intense as hell. The last time I was here we spent a day with him, and all I remember from then was everyone crying and being questioned. He's quite good at making everyone uncomfortable. It was honestly not an enjoyable experience for me before, so I was kind of dreading these first few days. However, I went in with an open mind this time....so I'm doing slightly better. Its still really hard not to have strong emotional reactions to everything that is going on around us.
We spent yesterday doing introductions, and then touring around the main core of the city and the original peripheries. Today we are doing the tour of rememberance, which is journeys around the city and to the townships to visit sights where people lost their lives in the peace struggle. I'm bringing tissues again...
Anyway, I'm off to go shower and get ready for the day!
P.S. Dad and Lillian: the first aid kit/medicine kit thing that you guys gave me is making me quite a popular girl around here....
Saturday, January 5, 2008
28 hours...and I'm finally here!
January 6, 2008
My journey to Cape Town:
Flight #1: Sea-Tac to Dulles (DC)
with our aweseme private bathroom:
Now its off to start my day! I think i'm going to wander around the neighborhood and see whats changed, and then I think Rebecca and I are going to go shopping, and pick up a few things we forgot. Its a rainy day today (so rare for Cape Town this time if year!!!) so it'll be a good one to stay in doors and rest up. Classes start tomorrow at 8am!
My journey to Cape Town:
Flight #1: Sea-Tac to Dulles (DC)
So I took off Friday morning at 745 AM from Sea-Tac for a flight to DC. The good news: the flight wasnt full so I got a whole row to myself. The Bad news: it was so turbulent the entire time that they literally never turned of the fasten seat belt sign. Did I mention I get motion sick?! Good think I was exhaused and took lorazapam, so I managed to sleep through most of it.
Flight #2: Dulles to Johannesburg
Layover in DC was uneventful- I took another lorazapam and then read a few chapters in my book. Upon boarding, I realized that I forgot how big planes can be. I was in row 63, and there was definitely at least 30 or 40 more rows behind me. Unfortunitely, the plan was full- and not just full FULL OF CHILDREN. The next 17 hours were spent alternately watching movies, wanting to throw babies overboard, and sleeping while I could. I did manage to watch 5 movies on the plane: Ratatouille, Transformers, No Reservations, The Ex, and something else that for the life of me I cant remember the name of. I took my contacts out on the plane (yay me!) but somehow during the course of the flight woke up with pink eye. (Exciting picture to come: I promise!) The man I was sitting next to was quite kind, and helped me manouver my luggage after we got of the plane and did customs. Just listening to most of the white people waiting for their luggage in Johannesburg was a little disgusting though. Few random quotes: "Make sure to open your stuff up here, you know how these people are with their sticky fingers" "Honey, pick up one of those forms for stolen items, just in case we notice our things are missing when we get home" etc. etc. The opposite of the plane happened to- all the big Afrikaaner guys pushed me out of the way and then wouldn't help me lift up my bags. I kinda forgot how sexist the South African culture was too....its all coming back to me.
Flight #3: Joberg to Cape Town
So, by the time I'm out of customs in Joberg, I'm about 25 hours into my journey here. And just because the world loves me so much, in Joberg after customs if you are continuing on you have to physically walk all your luggage over to the terminal and wait in line, and re-check it, and get new boarding cards, go through security again. So I pushed my heavy little cart about a mile (ok, maybe it was more like 1/2 a mile...but it was long!) to the domestic terminal and went through all of that again. Then, I just headed straight for my gate and waited for the Cape Town flight. For those of you wondering what someone looks like 26 hours into their journey with pink eye, here ya go:
gorgeous, huh?! Anyway, got on my flight to Cape Town and met a wonderful couple from here whom I chatted with most of the flight. Arrived in CPT, picked up luggage, and low and behold there's no one to pick me up from the airport. I waited about 15 mins (Moss is known for running late) before I lost my patience and just grabbed a cab. Good thing I know where I'm goin around here!
So I settled in last night. Rebecca got us our awesome room:
with our aweseme private bathroom:
...and I devoured my first piece of lemon meringue pie already:
Now its off to start my day! I think i'm going to wander around the neighborhood and see whats changed, and then I think Rebecca and I are going to go shopping, and pick up a few things we forgot. Its a rainy day today (so rare for Cape Town this time if year!!!) so it'll be a good one to stay in doors and rest up. Classes start tomorrow at 8am!
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