Molly and Devin Stroll Through South Africa

Cape Town/Shark Cage Diving

D: Last weekend our big happy family (or the group we spend every second of every day together) went to Cape Town because we had a five-day weekend; you mad Nick Matra? Friday we had off for Freedom Day and Tuesday for Workers Day. We shacked up in a hostel; I was prepared to get dragged out of Cape Town by my ankles at the end of the weekend (right Red??).

We arrived on Friday morning prepared to hike Table Mountain. Unfortunately we couldn’t due to weather, so we headed down to the Waterfront, Cape Town’s version of Navy Pier

 

We then headed over to Camp’s Bay, a wealthy suburb of Cape Town along a nice beach.

 

(Guys, we’re never going to get this moment back - M. Conroy)

I was yelling at Molly about something. She was probably making fun of me for being myself. (M: For obviously posing so someone would take a picture of him…dat timeline shot with hair blowing in the air and toes in the water) 

After playing at the beach for a while we got some dinner and went back to our hostel before heading out. We went to this bar called Zula’s and saw a live band perform and it turned Morgan’s birthday at midnight. Great start to the weekend.

That morning we went to Old Biscuit Mill, a big, open air food market. It was really touristy and a sorority girl’s dream (Molly can confirm this), but I shouldn’t complain because my sirloin steak sandwich was awesome. (M: I had a gourmet crepe and the best hot chocolate i’ve ever had in my life)

On returning to our hostel we decided to go see a park called The Company’s Gardens (girls do different things than boys).

I don’t know why she does the things she does. Zoom in on her face. (M: Climbing trees is fun. Just fact)

Brian thought it’d be a good idea to feed the squirrels.

 

Until it bit him and he had to throw it off. Big ups to the tetanus vaccine!

After, we went to a museum. Hard to argue with a $1.50 entrance fee.

We had to sneak this photo in while security wasn’t looking. There was also a twin’s exhibit where they had films of two twins talking about their experiences. Miss you Dane. Also, you need to respond to my Facebook posts. My ratio is not so great right now.

That night we went out to a nice dinner for Morgan’s birthday.  Afterward we went out on Long Street, the main place where college kids go out. Most of the group went out to a champagne bar (M: champagne LOUNGE); I didn’t know those existed. At the end of the night I ended up falling asleep on the couch in the hostel common room, classic me right?

The next day we all got a pretty late start. With Table Mountain ruled out due to time we decided to hike up Lion’s Head, another mountain bordering Cape Town.

We had to be up at 5 AM the next day for shark cage diving… Tough to complain about that.  I was just hoping it didn’t come to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ri2Khr4eP90 . I was hoping more for this :

M: Monday we woke up at 5am and drove 2 hours to Gansbaai for Shark Cage Diving. We always take buses. Buses are the worst (D: I love our bus rides). I get mildly claustrophobic and yell obscene things out the windows to vent my rage (not really, but I do complain a lot)… Anyhow, we arrive in Gansbaai by 7am and meet our captain, a guy by the name of Brian McFarlane- also known as the sharkman (D: He’s essentially quints from Jaws http://moviebuzzers.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/jaws-quint.jpg). He’s made several experiences on Discovery Channel, including “Dirty Jobs.” We’ve been talking about spirit animals a lot on this trip, and Brian McFarlane’s spirit animal is most definitely a great white shark.

We get on the boat and head over to Shark Alley, the stretch of ocean between Seal Island and Bird Island that is infamous for attracting tons of Great Whites.

They give us awesome orange ponchos to stay warm.

The crew chums the water with a gross tuna concoction and then throw in a seal dummie to bait the sharks. It takes maybe 5 minutes before our first shark arrives and they yell for 8 people to get in wet suits. We happened to be in this first group. After suiting up, we get in the cage off the side of the boat. The cage is partially above water so that you don’t need a snorkel or air—the crew yells when the shark is near and that’s when you duck underwater. 

To sum things up— four sharks ended up coming. I was being a cocky brat (D: strong second) about how I scuba dive a lot in cool places and wouldn’t be impressed with some lame sharks… My expectations were far exceeded. Great whites are enormous and terrifying.

At one point, Devin and I were in the corner of the cage and a shark came directly underneath us. I had to back against the cage to keep from touching its fin.

D: That’s me holding the camera. I could have touched it… but I didn’t. I wussed out.

D: Ya boi snapped this from underwater. Their sheer size is astounding. Hard to put into words.

Shark diving was a great phenomenal way to attend our Cape Town weekend. Went back to Stellenbosch with sooo many new experiences (D: Making memories with friends is fun). YOLO.

MY Homestay Weekend

So I’m kinda bad at this blogging situation. But i do want to give a recap of my homestay experience…even if it is a week and a half late. 

Anyhow, Megan and I stayed with a middle class colored family (culture lesson: colored is actually the racial group, not a derogatory term) in Idas Valley (a colored community  right next to the University). The family consisted of a mother, Bonny, and her two kids, Lewellyn (19) and Prudence (15).

They were wonderful people.  Lewellyn invited us to hang out with his friends. He also made a wicked lemon meringue cake— so he’ll always have a special place in my heart. Prudence was super sassy and reminded me of my own little demon sister Brenna (plus, she knew all the words to every Rihanna, Beyonce, and Nicki Minaj song). Brief summary of the days: Friday, we spent at home just getting to know the fam. Saturday, Lewellyn took us to wine tastings at a couple local vineyards in the afternoon and we had a braii (South African barbecue that lasts hours) that night. Sunday was comprised of church and a gigantic lunch. 

To make this brief, here are some observations:

1. The first question I got from the family was if I was involved in the Christian Youth. The entire colored community is very Christian. Their weekend revolves around going to Sunday services. I really enjoyed seeing how much community comes from this aspect of their lives. A big challenge was watching myself for “Oh my God”s… Not okay here. 

2. South African’s eat ridiculous amounts of meat. As in, I had sausage for FOUR meals in a row. This includes the 7:30am hot dog i was served. I don’t think I ate sausage four times in the last year. 

3. When you go to wineries and are not with fellow students, you should spit out the tastings or you will be considered “silly Americans” and made fun of in Afrikaans. The stingy side of me just couldn’t let all that quality wine go to waste. 

4. Dominoes is the game to play to impress people. Our host family was very competitive. We earned major points for not being awful. 

5. To South Africans, Megan and I are the same person. Our host mom could absolutely not distinguish us. CAN YOU TELL WHICH ONE IS ME!?

6. The pace of life here is incredibly slow. People are very content to just sit and talk for hours on end. There is no such thing as rushing. Not a bad lifestyle to have. 

Overall, I had a wonderful weekend. That isn’t to say I didn’t challenge myself. The language barrier was hard, and living with a family in such small quarters is never easy.  They didn’t have many of the luxuries I take for granted, but their love of family and community is something i think we lose site of a lot in the big ol’ USA.

AND the most important lesson I learned on homestay weekend was that the whole world, including Idas Valley, loves “Call Me Maybe” (I’m looking at you Prudence). 

Kayamandi Homestay

D: This past weekend everyone on our program did a homestay with families in the Stellenbosch areas. Between sixteen students there were four different sites. Within each site the students were paired off and put into different homes. In an effort to help us understand the entirety of Stellenbosch the areas ran the socioeconomic spectrum, from very wealthy to very poor. I was placed in Kayamandi, the township in Stellenbosch. The NGO I work with is located there as well, but I tried to go in with as few preconceived notions as possible.

We arrived at our meeting location and waited for our host families. It was immediately apparent just how much we were going to stick out. There was a soccer game going on nearby, but I’m pretty sure more people were staring at our group. I received less attention than Ann and Victor however (apparently Asians are a rare sight). Everywhere we went we were greeted to cheers of “China!”, “Bruce Lee!” and, getting really creative with this one,  “ching chong!”.

Clowning

Nowethu, the host of Kris and Ann, arrived first so we went to her shack (for those who, like me, think that makes me seem like a condescending jerk, it is the technical term) to wait for the other host.  The shacks are really quite amazing; they are for me the perfect image of contradiction.

Seeing satellite dishes on the shacks is very common, some people even have cars.

While on the outside they look like very informal housing, they are in fact very permanent, many having been there for decades.

Nono picked us up at about 8:30 (about three and a half hours late (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHsrr0JJMbY TIA bru) and we headed over to her house. She is 25 and lives with her parents, brother (22), and two sisters (14 and 5).

This photo shows the inside of their home and the youngest daughter engaged in a dance off with a neighborhood friend (I have that effect on females).

Homes are an interesting dynamic of townships. In a sense they belie the financial circumstances of their residents.  It is a natural to assume that those living in houses are better off than those in shacks, which is true in terms of things like access to bathrooms and running water. However, because the homes are government-built and essentially (or theoretically as corruption runs rampant) given at random, many people living in homes may be earning a lower wage than those people living in shacks. Interestingly, many of the homeowners have shacks behind their houses, displaying the actual amount of resources available.

This is where Nono’s brother sleeps.

The food given to us while in Kayamandi was great, probably better than the food I cook for myself (a lot of pasta, chicken, eggs, frozen veggies, sausage, and grilled cheese if you were wondering). The first night we were served what they called African salad. It was basically just maize meal topped with what Tandeki (Nono’s mother) called “sour milk”. Apparently it’s made from whole milk left out for two days. I’m just repeating what I was told.

Victor was a champ for putting it down, lactose intolerance and all.

That night we hung out with the family and talked out on the porch. Talking with Thabo (Nono’s father) we covered a broad array of topics, ranging from the ANC to the transition from apartheid to conditions in the townships. It was great to hear the perspective of a person living in a township as opposed to learning in an academic setting. On a lighter note, Victor and I spied an extremely circular baby that night. We couldn’t believe how mobile he was.

Breakfast the next morning was pretty self explanatory.

Baked beans in South Africa? You mad Dana?

The morning consisted of waking up at around nine, and not doing anything until 12:30.  Victor and I passed the time by catching up on our South African soaps. They’re huge here.

Rhythm Nation was our consensus favorite. The most outrageous plot line involved a guy raping a girl so he could start dating her. Soaps are crazy everywhere I guess.

After this we went on a walking tour of Kayamandi. Nono and Nowethu showed us all the different sections and gave us history of the township. The first homes were built in 1941 and today it is now home to 30,000 people. The geographical size of the township however is not large as it only took us an hour or two to walk the entirety along the border. This is often achieved by sleeping an ungodly number of people into living spaces. It’s quite common to have extended families (6-10 people) living in a two room house/shack.

The sanitation here is repulsive. In many parts there is a constant smell of rotting trash.

I like this photo both because it is going to win me the IPD photo contest and I still can’t get over the way the electricity is set up.

That afternoon we got lunch at a street vendor.

Not the most encouraging menu. In retrospect I’m surprised I didn’t have qualms about ordering.

This cost 10 Rand, or about $1.30. Dat cost efficacy.

Attached to the vendor’s shack was a hang out spot. When we got lunch at 3:00 it was occupied by a group of men hanging out. And by hanging out I mean drinking. And by drinking I mean being pretty excessively drunk for 3:00 PM (Nono said they probably started in “the AM”.

This guy. Cheesin’.

Anyway they were really friendly and very willing to engage and talk with us, even scored a few free drinks (brandy and tonic is big here)! We got into some pretty deep discussions. The main guy I was talking to was wild. He told me he was a member of the ANC paramilitary wing during the struggle and committed acts he was “ashamed of and never wanted to talk about again”.  Wut. And while he was drunk, he really encouraged me to try to take a look at the bigger picture and step into other people’s shoes (metaphorically obviously) to understand how people feel. Drunk wisdom.

Dinner was… tough for me to put down.

It consisted of maize, spinach, potatoes and cow stomach. Cow stomach is really hard to explain. It tasted really good actually. The consistency and feel was  straight up weird. It was like the outside was covered in little feelers. I won’t be trying it again soon.

That night we just stayed in and watched TV. Surfs Up was on so we watched that. The chubby child penguin reminded us of round baby (see above)

The next morning we went to church. Kayamandi is an extremely religious place, with an estimated 70% (Thabo, 2012) attending church regularly. The service was completely in Xhosa, so we couldn’t understand, but I was content to just take everything in.

The service consisted mostly of singing with the sermon only taking up about 5-10 minutes out of a 2 hour and 45 minute service. Yikes.

Well with that our time was up in Kayamandi and we were heading back home.

Figured I had to get a group photo on here.

Just a few concluding thoughts:

1. There is a complete lack of activities in Kayamandi. Many of the other groups had events planned for them by their host families; we did not because there are no affordable options in the area. Nono told us that often times on weekends she stays in and watches movies because there is “nothing to do other than drink” (See: men drinking early in the morning).

2. It simply amazes me, and hopefully always will, that generations of people have been living in these conditions. The government has been promising housing (I guess it’s the least they could do after force removals) but there is really no end in sight. It seems that the strength of the community is what keeps people’s morale high. Dat Ubuntu. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_%28philosophy%29

3. Every time I go out to Kayamandi the geographic proximity to Stellenbosch University surprises me.

The cluster of red roofs is Stellenbosch. I don’t have much to say on it, mostly because it’s a hard idea for me to put into words. These two places couldn’t be more different, yet here they are, a 5 minute drive apart. The fact that this country is so stratified, and so visibly so, always takes me aback.

4. Lastly, I was amazed at how welcome and comfortable we felt while there. Everybody we met was willing to talk to us about their lives and they was extremely forthright. While the setting could not be more different, living with Nono’s family felt very similar to being at home. They hang out as any family, including mine, does. Watching Thabo and Tandeki operate at church was hilarious in that it reminded me too much of my own parents (Hi mom! Hi Dad!). Also, it seems no matter where you go kids try and get out of church.

An avid reader puts it better: “i leave realizing that even though we’re different on the surface and are at different levels economically my house family and i share values that remind me of back home. it’s amazing to find how easy it is to relate to people here, and leaves me feeling with a startling notion that in reality, deep down, we are all the same.” (Bole, 2012). Doesn’t quite have my voice though.

Anyway, thanks for reading this monster post. Here’s a picture of a cute kitten to reward you.

Garden Route

D: So this past weekend our group went on a guided tour of the Garden Route. It’s a stretch of coastline that is filled with touristy things to do. We left a little after 7:30 in the morning (due to Molly’s lateness) (M: FALSE) ready to take the country by storm. 

After a quick lunch at a game lodge, filled with gear Dana would die for, we were back on the road, and by that I mean we had 20 people squeezed into a small van. After being on the road from 7:30 to 3:30 we arrived at our swanky accommodations, a renovated train.

D: The rooms were tiny. Maybe 8x6. Not like I was spending any time in my room anyway amirite?? (M: Cool?)

The train had a glorified clam shack hooked on so we spent the day at the beach (it was a 10 foot walk) and the night eating seafood and hanging with our tour guide Eon (more on him to come)

We woke up early the next day again and headed to off to the elephant sanctuary. Most of us were pretty excited.

M: That’s just mean 

At the sanctuary we first lined up and got to walk hand-in-trunk with an elephant. It was amazing how heavy and muscle bound their trunks are (did you know elephants can lift half their weight? Crazy times man!). (M: They’re also a matriarchal species. Young males are ostracized from the family. And their gestation period is 22 months. GIRL POWER!) Your hand is directly in their nose and it therefore feels like you’re picking a giant, moist, hot nose. Next we got to watch some of their behaviors and pretty much had the opportunity to have a guided grope of an elephant. Molly’s loving it!

Lastly we were allowed to feed the elephants some mangos and stuff. They do this really cool thing where they curl their trunk and chuck it in their mouth

D: Dat money shot.

M: Completely candid shot. 

That night we went out to an American (so Elvis and Marilyn Monroe) themed diner to celebrate Brian’s birthday. I was able to get both French toast plus bacon and eggs for under nine dollars. I felt very at home.

D: Happy birthday Brian!

D: Molly makes herself look dumb yet again.

M: Shout out to Caelan Weldon.

D: Apparently South Africans think American urinals have pictures of bikini-clad women draped around Harleys all over them. Culture!

The next day consisted of first going to Tsitsikamma national park. I don’t know it’s exact claim to fame, but it looks straight out of a Jurassic Park movie (I wish).

What we were there to see was a suspension bridge. This sounded awesome to me. I imagined myself as a version of Indiana Jones, hiking through the jungle, looking for prehistoric fossils to keep away from whatever asshole bad guys were trying to get to them first.

Unfortunately we got a paved pathway that led to this:

D: Win some, lose some I guess.

In other news, Molly spent her time pretending she was Katniss from the Hunger Games

M: I was told I look like Katniss when I have a braid in… the nicest compliment I’ve ever gotten (thanks, Gabi!) Isn’t Katniss a modern day Indiana Jones anyways (D: I’m glad I know next to nothing about The Hunger Games and can’t comment on this, but my gut says no)?

D: You’d think there were better things to do in South Africa.

M: Katniss training was in preparation for bungee jumping. Obviously. Katniss isn’t scared of cliffs. Neither are Charlie’s Angels. 

… I get my characters confused. 

D: She gives me endless opportunity to make fun of her. 

M: Anyhew, Bloukrans Bridge is the highest commercial bungee bridge in the world at 216 m.

I’m not even going to try to play this one cool. I was terrified. First they make you walk across the bridge that is basically just metal grating so you look down and see the monstrous drop below you. Then you get to the top and they have a DJ jamming music and people jumping around pumped up on adrenaline while I just want to curl up in the fetal position and cry in the corner (D: It was awesome, both We Found Love and Levels came on). Next they call your number one by one. You never know if you’ll be next. It’s probably similar to what Harry felt like when he walked into the Enchanted Forest to meet Voldemort…except he had a cloak and a magic stone…and I have lame straps on my ankles (D: I wish I could say she was kidding with this comparison).

SEE VIDEO ABOVE
(D: I’m still working on getting mine up. Let’s just say I play it a little more cool than Molly)

Sooo I screamed a little bit. And then tried to jump, but I was more accurately pushed by two dudes who didn’t even smile when I whispered “Am I going to live?” The whole experience was amazing. The first 4-5 seconds you feel completely weightless, and it is terrifying. And then you start to bounce… all the obnoxious people singing “We Found Love” on the bridge fade into the distance and you hear the river. Pretty cool. By the time the little man (D: He was very normal sized) came down to bring me up I couldn’t speak. Literally.  

So I highly recommend jumping off bridges. 

I FOUND A NEW LEAST FAVORITE ANIMAL AND IT IS CALLED AN OSTRICH. (D: Nice transition Molly)

For realz (D: really?), they are repulsive. Big and stinky with shark beaks to poke your eyes out and tiny dumb brains… the absolute worst. We went to an ostrich farm as our last stop. Some people rode them—I don’t know why. I fed them and regretted it. THE END. 

D: I dedicate this selfie to Taro. This was actually terrifying. (M: Sometimes we agree!) Ostriches are huge and really weird.

The ostrich farm was the last excursion of our trip (D: I personally thought it was kind of cool, however they did smell terrible). We however still need to talk about our tour guide, Eon.

D: Essentially he is a 31 year old, married, man-boy who leads safaris for a living. He also surfs and played rugby above the college level. He bought us beef jerky, shots and ice-cream. And he is even cooler than he sounds.

M: He’s also quite fond of “bunny ears”. He’s inspired me to bring them back. 

Here’s a cute hyrax from Tsitsikamma National Park as a reward for reading!

Week 1

D: So this post is mostly a teaser for what will I’m sure be a monster post after our weekend (we’re going on the Garden Route, essentially a giant park with a ton of touristy things to do). (M: Giant Park as in coastline where people like to vacation because it’s beautiful beaches and rainforest). We had all our classes this week and it was nice to begin doing legitimate things again on a schedule, as opposed to wine tasting for lunch. We have classes on South African politics (I somehow managed to fall asleep the first day, whoops), culture and language (we’ll be learning Afrikaans and Xhosa), health care, and development. (M: FYI, Xhosa involves three different types of clicks— supa hard). The last two are exciting in that they involve a lot of fieldwork.

For the health care class this week we toured 3 different health care facilities: a public community health centre, a public hospital, and a private hospital.

This is the private hospital in Somerset West, the wealthiest town in South Africa. It is in no way different than any major American Hospital. Its patrons are predominantly white.

This picture was taken within a few miles of that hospital. The inequity in this country is consistently astounding. All levels of income can be seen within hundreds of yards of each other.

For the development class our program has been split up into groups of four and will be working individually with different NGOs over the course of the quarter. My group is working with Legacy Centre, a company that works with education about and treatment of HIV for the Kayamandi township. It looks as if our task will be to develop a curriculum for 6^th and 8^th graders. There will be much more on this to come.

One of the things I find most fascinating is how even in the townships there are stark contrasts of wealth. Here you can see a shack, constructed of corrugated tin sheets and scraps of wood, sandwiched between two concrete buildings with working electricity. The culture of the townships is really interesting and I’m sure it will be a recurring theme here on “Molly and Devin Stroll through South Africa”.

Random thoughts:

D: How could I not put this up (it was a poster in the public community health centre)? Just a really hilarious way of illustrating the benefits of condoms. As a bio major I feel required to let you know it’s not to scale.

D:My propensity for saving money has already become sort of a running joke on the trip, so Molly wanted to make sure that this picture made the blog. This 5-liter box of wine cost 70 rand, or just under $10. How could I resist! It is described as “a relatively dry white wine, well balanced and delicate on both the nose and palate. Together, the good earth of the wineland and art of the cellarmaster have created this touchstone of excellence far beyond its price (probably not that difficult). I swear it’s not that bad. (M: Its kinda bad, but better than carlo? Also, he acts like I’m a wine snob because i buy the “expensive” ones…Which are like $5 a bottle) 

M: So all that stuff Devin says I agree with and don’t need to restate (even though I’d be wittier). Like he said, we have one class exclusively on “Development” where we are split up into different groups for our project. Mine is focused on the farm workers that work on the vineyards, a good contrast with the congested areas Devin will work with. The people that work on the wineries have developed full communities on the land-their houses hid from the beautiful views tourists see for wine tastings. The group i’m volunteering with is called Pebbles Project- an NGO that focuses on bringing education (by way of preschools and after school programs) to the workers on the farms. The organization developed in order to address the special needs of a lot of children in the area with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (alcoholism is crazy common among the workers) and parents that don’t talk an interest. Specifically, my job will be to work one-on-one with a teacher (who has no formal schooling) for the afterschool program to teach her how to use basic computer programs (Word, Outlook, and Skype). Eventually, a few of us working on different farms will use the knowledge we get from educating the teachers to create a manual for the rest of the teachers to follow. I’m sure you’ll here more about this in the future…but I’m really excited about it. Also, I got to play with 1-4 year old African children today— absolutely adorable. 

M: …and then I spent my afternoon today on the beach… Casual post-class Thursday activities. 

D:Dat sunset. Metaaa.

Well see you next week!

“Orientation” Week

Tuesday

D: After a long day of travel on Monday (20 hours of flying, a 6 hour layover and 5 movies) not many of us got much sleep the night before. We had orientation all day, which just consisted of touring campus, getting cell phones and an introduction to the program.

D: This is called the Red Plain and it’s considered the center of campus. Not the worst place to hang out.

After the full day we went out to dinner and later hit the town in celebration of our first day in Stellenbosch. (M: We discovered that if we talk loud at the bar people get interested in the obnoxious Americans and talk to us)

D: Brian kills it at bars. Pretty typical ratio.

M: Other first day observations:

1. All the guys are huge
2. They wear their shorts pretty short (D: It’s awesome and I have henceforth decided to start cuffing my shorts)
3. Some have mullets
4. It’s awesome

Wednesday

D: On what was essentially a free day most people tidied up there rooms or went shopping. Molly, Morgan, and I decided to instead hike Stellenbosch Mountain with our free time. The view from the top gave a great view of Stellenbosch and the surrounding area. (M: Mind blowing to realize we get to spend our next 3 months here)

Thursday

D: The day began with a museum in Stellenbosch that went through all the different time periods, from the early 1600’s through the late 1800’s. It was pretty boring. There’s really not much else to say about that. (M: I enjoyed it?)

After the terrible museum we went to a bed and breakfast. I’d like to give you a good reason but I just don’t know. I fell asleep during the presentation. (M: VERY publicly) Luckily we were rewarded with tea and scones!

A short bus ride later and we arrived at lunch. And by lunch I mean wine tasting with food. Our student guide Margot informed us that as students we would look like asses if we spit out the wine, so pretty much everyone in the group had roughly 4 glasses of wine (M: this was lunch on a farm with chickens and turtles and dogs and wine, so basically heaven) at our orientation lunch (did I mention that this counted toward our class hours?).

The next stop on our tour was Kayamandi, a township outside of Stellenbosch. I fell asleep on the way (I don’t know what they expect after that lunch) while our guide, a lecturer at Stellenbosch, gave us a brief (30 minutes) history of apartheid. I think half the bus was asleep by the end.

M: Devin falls asleep every time we are on the bus. And snores. D: I blame the jetlag

 That guy could sure talk: I asked him one question about how the residents felt about us taking photos of their homes and I got a 15 minute response that not only covered my prompt but also covered the minimum wage, unemployment, energy shortages, protests, apartheid, and democracy.

Our last stop on the tour was a cheetah conservatory, not kidding. The program covered our expense into the conservatory, and we had to pay a small fee to pet them.

D: I mean come on, like I’m not going to pet them, right Dana?

Cheetahs are actually surprisingly small. The cheetahs we pet were sisters and mad playful (M: I decided a cheetah is one of my spirit animals. Plus, I can talk to them). Unfortunately they’re cheetahs, so we had to leave when that happened. Oh well. 

Friday

M: This was our first day exploring Cape Town. We woke up to lots of rain, and unexpected cold weather.  Piled onto a van around 8am—First drove through the township of Khayelitsha, the biggest and fastest growing one in South Africa with 1.75 million people according to our professor (and 400,000 people according to Wikipedia…you be the judge).

Unfortunately, we couldn’t get out to see the full view because of the rain. We did make a pit stop at a shop where single mothers or HIV+ women weave rugs and sell artwork, all profits going to their children.  After Kayelitsha, we went to the art center at Langa-another old township in Cape Town. Lunch was at a “guest house”, or b&b, in Langa. Best meal I had in South Africa thus far. Malaysian influenced rice, curried chicken, and mangos with ice cream for dessert.  All our meals here last approximately 2 hours, so we had more than enough time to discuss how Devin “killed it” in high school (D: My bad right?). Friday afternoon we spent at the District 6 museum- the infamous area of South Africa where the apartheid government forcibly relocated an entire coloured community.

D: An old sign from the apartheid days

D: I’ve given up trying to figure out what Brian is doing at any given time.

M: We’re pretending we’re in Sound of Music… duh. 

Dinner we spent at an 11-course African café, casually sipping wine and fruity cocktail drinks with our group advisor, Jan, and several of our professors, including Jacob—both total studs- (Direct quote when talking about our safari: “Never again will you get to sip a cocktail in the bush next to a guy carrying a gun”). 

       Arrived back at our dorm late and turned around to go out—in celebration of Victor’s 21^st.  First went to the hipster bar of Stellenbosch (D: Suffice to say it’s not that sweet, but they have juice boxes of wine). Cheers were made. Shots were had. Good times all around.

M: Margot, basically our PA, made it out. Devin was tryna. D: I definitely wasn’t.

Then headed to Catwalk… club where people act like they’re at a rave on the first floor and swing dance on the second. Being the Northwestern kids we are, naturally we spend our time on the second floor.  Overall phenomenal night. Got home around 3:30—supposed to meet for the next day at 7:30. Geez, we’re such badasses (D: Cool story bro). 

Saturday 

M: Boys miss the bus in the morning (D: Sorry for chilling). Jacob needs to drive. Lack of water. Rough times had by all (D: This is Molly’s way of saying we had an awesome time the night before). Off to Cape Town again. First stop- Robben Island, infamous spot where they put political prisoners during the apartheid era. Beautiful place—eery feel. Tour of the prison was with a guy who had spent 7 years there.

D: This was Mandela’s cell for the 17 years he spent there, tough not to get chills.

D: Courtyard where Mandela hid the pages of his book so a guard could smuggle them out of the prison 

We spent the afternoon at Table Mountain. The boys hiked across the top.

D: This is the view of part of Cape Town from the top of Table Mountain.

M: Kalindi, Morgan, Megan, and I decided to pose for profile pictures—I might as well be honest. D: This gets my vote.

Still jet lagged, sleep deprived, and struggling we all pass out super early. 

Pre-Departure

D: Because you’re reading this blog you probably know that I’m studying abroad in South Africa for Spring Quarter. To be honest I hadn’t really thought about coming here that much during Winter Quarter and it crept up on me. Between finals and spring break

it’s fair to say that I wasn’t really ready for South Africa heading into my 16 hour drive back from South Carolina on the 22nd (thanks to Darrien and JLee for coming with). Somehow, mostly due to my loving mother (HI MOM!!), I was all packed on Friday the 23rd and we hit the road for Boston.

In Boston we ate dinner with my family, Nat Dog, and Grace. Afterwards we hung out at Natalie’s apartment for the night. It was a great sendoff before heading out.

Natalie and Minkey just being themselves and having fun.

Posted on the couch with Grace and Ethan.

I regret nothing… - N. Matra

After a fun/hard Winter Quarter and a breakneck spring break I was finally heading off to South Africa on the 25th. YOLO.

M: So my spring break wasn’t as frattastic as Devin’s.. I was in Hinsdale (D: Lameeeee). First legal St. Patty’s day in the city with Beef and fam, Mary, Beth, El, Jenny,  and other friends, etc.. I carried around my passport all day which was pretty cool…the bouncers loved me.

The rest of the week consisted of spending time with my family and packing. Well rested and wayy ready for Stellenbosch. Never believed i’d start a blog, but thats what happens when Devin forgets a camera and wants to copy JLee. 

M&D: So friends enjoy our adventures. We’ll try to be entertaining and clever, per usual. We’ll give both our opinions on photos and events so you can find the unbiased truth amidst what may or may not be shameless bragging, sarcasm, and just outright lies. Keep reading. 

Welcome to our blog!! :) - Molly