Back in the United States of Amerricahhhh

I've been back in the USA for quite some time now. Made a couple grand as the Inst. Lt. at Malibu pool where I got to enjoy the TOH from a completely new perspective with a new crew, which helped to make the short time go by quickly.

But here I am back in Washington, DC, up late when I should be sound asleep getting ready to dive into the pool at 7:30am for my make-up practice with Jess & Rick. However, I have come up with a delightful new idea to help me prep for potential interview questions in the coming months while on the hunt for jobs/interviews.

My goal is to answer one interview question every other night via this blog to help me prepare responses if an employer were to throw a more thought-provoking question my way. I would appreciate all and any feedback you can give me. Beginning tomorrow night...

The Minibus Diaries continued...

More times than I can count I have been told not to go into the Minibus Taxi's if it is either (1) dark outside or (2) there are no other passengers inside of the Minibus.

Well one morning last week while catching a minibus on the way to work, Alexis and I were caught in the typical conundrum of picking between two taxi's who pull up to pick us up at the same time and yell at us to jump in their taxi in order to get our business and detract us from the other taxi. This particular morning Alexis decided to take the reigns on the decision and started walking to the first taxi that pulled up. As I started to follow her, I realized that there was no "caller" by the door of the car and only one other passenger sitting in the front seat next to the driver. I called over to Alexis telling her that we should go over to the second minibus, but she was already on her way into the first taxi...

I figured it really couldn't be that bad... Right?

We both hopped inside to find the minibus literally carpeted from floor to ceiling in SHAG. Green shag carpeting on the floor, seats, walls, and yes, the ceiling. Immediately I thought, "This is how I am going to die."

About 5 minutes into our ride, the other passenger in the front got out of the minibus. The driver's accomplice was gone. Alexis and I were alone to fight off the driver to our deaths on some South African side street.

Sadly, the highlights of this story end here, because less than 10 minutes later the minibus pulled over on the side of the street at Long Street, our stop. We jumped off the bus and made a pact never to ride on an empty minibus taxi again.

Lame excuse for a shot inside of a crowded minibus taxi...

Table Mountain

Look at any picture of the Cape Town landscape, and you cannot miss it--Table Mountain towers over the city and is a beautiful juxtaposition to the violent Atlantic Ocean surrounding the cape. I had been told by so many people, past tourists, Captonians, and other South Africas, that you just can NOT go to Cape Town and not climb up Table Mountain. Past students in the program even advocated taking off days of work when the weather was beautiful to go. Any many students in the program did just that. But just about everyday someone skipped work to go, I felt obligated to go to work for some reason or another. So it came down to last weekend, and there was still a group of 5 of us who had not climbed. The weather was said to be iffy, but we decided we'd aim for climbing on Saturday.

Well, mother nature must have known how badly we wanted to climb, and left us with a gorgeous day. There was some light fog covering the middle of the mountain, but the traditional "tablecloth" covering the top of the mountain wasn't in sight. We received approval to climb from another climber who gave us some tips and we were off!

Tim & I led the pack and we all had such a blast climbing. We took our leisurely time and made it to the summit in about 1hr 40minutes. Even though there were low-lying stratus clouds, the view was remarkable and definitely worth the wait.

Halfway to the summit

Ashley & Tim at the top of the mountain

Lion's Head and Signal Hill - Sea Point is on the other side of Signal Hill
(and I thought the hike up Lion's head was a tough one!)

Cape Town City Bowl

View up Table Mountain after we took the Cable Car down to the base...

I Know My Status - Do You Know Yours?

Taylor & Team behind him completing Skillz activity

Grassroot Soccer held its first VCT (Voluntary Counseling and Testing) Skillz soccer tournament in Cape Town, South Africa on June 16, 2009. It was held on Youth Day, a national holiday in South Africa. Although GRS has held VCT's before, this was the first one held in Cape Town.

The tournament was held at Luhlaza High School in Khayelitsha. Over 140 kids ages 12-18 played on teams and went through the Skillz tournament and activities. By the end of the day 87 people were tested for HIV/AIDS and an additional 100 went through general health counseling.

Alexis and I, as well as some of the other GRS staff and volunteers went through the HIV testing, not only to "know our status" but also to see how the process went in order to figure out how the process can be improved upon for next time. The entire process was so quick and made me feel confident that the counselors were well-trained and that my results would be kept confidential. I'm proud to say I am HIV free!

Alexis and I waiting for our test results!

The day was exhausting, but it was so exciting to see it unfold, as we had been working on finalizing details since I had arrived at the GRS office. Over the past two weeks, Alexis and I had been doing anything and everything that the GRS staff needed to prepare for the tournament. From designing T-Shirts, to visiting the site to understand the flow of the event, to ordering toliets--we did it. Lisa was in charge of the testing operations, which led her to meet with New Start, Médicins sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders), and the City Health Staff.

On the day of the event I did everything from registration, serving food, handing out kids lunches, managing the flow of the testing component, and handing out the awards at the end of the day. It was quite an exhausting day. We arrived at the office at 7am and didn't get back to the Stonehurst Guest Lodge until 8:30pm.

Winning Girls Team Celebrating!

Find the Ball

What's on the menu tonight?

A picture diary of the plethora of animals I have eaten while in South Africa. Mmmm..delicious!

Kudu

Ostrich

Springbok

Warthog

Gemsbok

Crocodile

Stellenbosch Wine Hopping

"Pinotage is my boss, when it speaks I listen." (in Afrikaans)

Yesterday we spent the day visiting four different wineries in Stellenbosch, one of the major wine regions in South Africa. We left at 9:15am and didn't return until around 7pm.

We began the day shopping in town and went on our first wine tour at noon in the cave cellars of a nice winery where I pretended to be sophisticated and all-knowing about the flavors and scents of the wines--giving my expert opinion of the quality of each wine. By the time we got to our 4th winery, our group's volume had increased a couple of decibels and we munched down on the crackers intended to serve as a palate cleanser between wine tastings.

I passed out on the van ride home, took a short nap back at Stonehurst, and was changed and ready to go out to dinner, where we proceeded to split a pitcher of strawberry margaritas at a Mexican restaurant - South Africa does not know how to do Mexican food well.

Since we were already out on Long Street (the Adams Morgan of Cape Town), four of us proceeded to meet up with the other Grassroot Soccer interns at The Waiting Room, a bar with a nice laid-back atmosphere. There was a rooftop area with lights overlooking Long Street and good music which led to non-stop dancing. After a while, we moved onto another club, appropriately called "Bang Bang," with all of the GRS interns to meet up with some of their other friends. The night flew by in a blur (literally and figuratively) -- and the four of us didn't get home until an exhausted 3am.

Needless to say, every decision I made yesterday was carefully weighed against the need for me to write a 15-page paper that is due tomorrow. My head hurts. Ready, set, go...

Stellenbosch Winelands

The Minibus Diaries continued...

Surprisingly out of all of the minibus taxi's in Cape Town, we have already managed to hop on the same one twice--of which Cydney obviously made friends with the driver.

While Cydney was joking with the driver, he asked where she was from, and he was SO excited to hear that we were from the states. We have received a lot of praise towards Obama from the people of South Africa, but this man was not phased that we lived in DC with Obama. He wanted to meet Oprah!! He would not stop talking about how much he wanted to meet Oprah--and I'm not surprised. Our B&B has no more than 3 television channels, and whenever it is on, it always seems to either be the news or the Oprah show.

Our driver went on to say that Mandela has a lot of cousins running around Cape Town, and started pointing out about every man on the street--at this point he was getting a little ridiculous.

The second time we were on the same the same minibus taxi, Cyndey starts talking to the driver again, and he again starts to praise Oprah. At some point he begins talking about Jacob Zuma, (the current President of SA), and makes a comment "well now that Zuma is president, rape is legal." Although the intension of the comment was to be a joke, it made the entire van slightly uncomfortable, but Lisa helped to ease the situation by jokingly saying, "okay driver, I think we will get out now!" Oh minibus taxi.

(For those unaware of South African politics, Zuma was brought to court but found not guilty of rape charges. Zuma did not deny that he had sex with her, but made the case that because she was wearing a skirt, it was "his duty" as a member of the Zulu clan. Zuma stated, "In Zulu culture, you cannot just leave a woman if she is ready." The woman also was known to be HIV-positive, and after choosing not to use a condom, Zuma "took a shower afterwards" in order to reduce his chance of getting AIDS. Disgusting.)

Blue Waters

On Saturday, we sat in a leaky tent on flimsy folding chairs, overturned buckets, and the rain-soaked rug, taking the stories of the refugees of the Blue Waters Camp. By the end of the afternoon my heart was aching and I was emotionally drained after taking affidavits from two refugees who are working along with other refugees in the camp with the LRC (Legal Resource Center) to protest the government's closure of the camp.

I spoke with a man from Somalia and a 29-year-old widow from the DCR, both who displayed little emotion while telling me the stories of their lives and the reason they are now living at Blue Waters. While I am not at liberty to disclose their stories due to confidentiality with the LRC, I can honestly say that I left horrified and guilt-trodden at the things in life that I complain about. To complain about a slow internet connection or having to put a sweater on when it's too cold in the house seem so shallow and insignificant.

It wasn't until this Saturday, staring into the eyes of the refugees around the room that I really realized how lost some of them are in the world. Some literally had no other person in the world, as they had fled their native countries due to political unrest--fleeing to South Africa in hopes of a better life. For some, it was only a year after arriving in SA when the xenophobic attacks began in May 2008, forcing them to flee their communities and find refuge at the camps.

One of the most unsettling comments was one after I asked about the availability of food at Blue Waters. After learning that there was none, and following up by asking how the refugee received food, I was saddened to hear that there were many days when they were even too tired to go to town to beg, and would simply go to bed hungry. So much for even living on $1 a day.

The Minibus Diaries

Today is the third day traveling to work via the minibus taxi & I can already tell that they will be a unique adventure everyday.

First to explain the minibus taxi's: They are basically run by self-employed duo's of men. One is the driver, and the other sits by the door yelling out to people on the street either "CAPE TOWNNNN," or "SEA POINTTTT," depending on which direction you are going to. The "caller" then collects your 5 Rand (basically $0.60) and you wait til you tell him when you have to get off.

On Monday, myself and four other girls who are interning in the City Bowl caught a minibus taxi. While we got on the crowded bus, another one pulled up behind which was rather empty. As the driver in the 2nd bus honked, our caller yelled to the other taxi "you don't even have your license!!" oh dear.

On Tuesday, our driver pulled over to pick up a passenger on the side of the road, and our caller jumps out of the minibus, runs behind it, and starts pushing the "press to walk" button at the nearby crosswalk, then runs back into the minibus, and starts laughing to himself. We all think this man is absolutely absurd, until we turn around and see the next minibus taxi behind us stuck at a red light--because of the button he pressed. And that is how to sabotage another minibus taxi. lol.

Sidenote: "minibus" is relative. They're more like soccer mom vans.

in honor of zach & molly

Saw penguin's on Saturday.

Went to a game farm yesterday & today. Drove around on Land Rover. Saw elephants, rhinos, lions, cheetahs, buffalo, wildebeest, & other animals. Slept in really amazing bungalow huts that are perfect for a romantic vacation or honeymoon!

Beautiful Cape Town

We spent last Saturday the 23rd on a Peninsula Tour of Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. Here I am at Cape Point, where the Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean currents meet. Reppin' New York from 12,541 KM away! It was a gorgeous day, but started to rain and get quite dreary as the day went on. We saw some baboons, ostrich, and a bunch of birds attacking people's food as they dared to sit outside at the restaurant.

I was at the South-Western most point of the African continent this day!



On Sunday, a bunch of us hiked up Lion's Head, one of the prominent mountains in the Cape Town landscape. It was a super intense hike. Here is Jackie and I about halfway up the mountain! In the back are the mountains known as the "12 Apostles." In order to get up the mountain, we had to scale the rocks by using chains and ladders! It was intense but so worth it once we got to the top and had a 360 degree view of the city. We made it just in time to see the beginning of the sunset---but the sun goes down fast and we were slightly afraid that we wouldn't be able to get back down by the chains & ladders. As we got a little lost going down, we were lucky enough to meet up with a great group of locals & their friends from around S. Africa who gave us a lift home, instead of making us hike home in the dark for another hour.

Human security is more important than human rights

"Human security is more important than human rights."

That's a very bold statement that was made at the end of one of our lectures this week by Elrena van der Spuy at UCT, who spoke about Crime and Public Safety in S. Africa. As a liberal American, I personally believe that my right to privacy and treating criminals humanely--even after being convicted of heinous crimes--should be upheld in the name of protecting human rights. Because - how can you convict a criminal on the basis of using evidence obtained after using torture on the individual? However, I tend to sway on the issue when people persuade me into thinking that it is because we fight to protect our democracy (aka protect human security first), in order to protect our freedom of speech (aka protecting human rights guaranteed in the Constitution).
This past week, President Obama spoke about his plan for closing the Guantanamo Bay prison and moving high profile terrorists to maximum security prisons in the U.S. It was interesting to see the minor comparison between this speech and my lecture, realizing that the issues of human security are vastly different in the two countries. I don't believe that human security is more important than human rights, but I am inclined to believe that it must be established first in order for human rights to thrive.

The UCT Main Campus













"Those two cars are racing."

Over a delicious dinner dinner (avocado & cheeseburger) & South African white wine, I looked to my left and saw two cars speeding down the road, engines revved. Rather nonchalantly, I said to the other two girls, "Those two cars are racining." They both took a glance and I turning back to my meal when suddenly we heard a BOOM and then nothing, and then a large CRASH. The car closest to the meridian must have skidded on the wet road (winter in Cape Town = a lot of rain and no snow), crashed into the palm tree on the meridian, flipped over, and landed on the hood of the car. Everyone in the entire restaurant instantly rose to their feet, and some scrambled across the road to see if the driver was okay. Frantickly, I yelled, "Someone call 911!" Yeah-- remember, I am in South Africa--It didn't even occur to me that this would'nt be the number to call. I don't know how the man did it, but he crawled out of his car, and was walking around as if he was just going for a stroll (my likely conclusion was that he may have been in shock). The police, ambulance, and fire truck arrived fairly rapidly, which helped to ease any concerns over the speed of medical help here in Cape Town. But honestly, that driver was a dumb-ass.

Deep Democracy Convention

On Saturday, May 23 I had the opportunity to sleep in and go shopping at the markets, or sleep in and go hiking up Signal Hill (really close to our B&B). Or, I could opt to par-take in the Deep Democracy Conversations across the Social Divide conference along with a broad spectrum of people representing many of the socio-economic (and racial) groups in South Africa; high-level and other representatives from the Education Department, management level business people and professionals, ordinary middle class South Africans, and many impoverished members of the community in Mitchells Plain. This "conference" was nothing like what I expected it to be.

I expected to be sitting around a table all day, discussing the issues and solutions to economic inequalities amongst the classest. Instead, I found myself to feel completely emotional and passionate about the people I met, most of whom were high school "Peer Leaders/Educators" and also impoverished adults in the neighboring communities. Most of the discussions were conducted with the entire group standing up, moving around what could be considered a "wreck room." We spoke using the "two-foot shuffle," which allowed a person to state his/her belief. If you agreed with the statement, then you would shuffle your feet across the floor until you agreed. If you did not, you stood in the same spot.

At lunchtime, a group of adults eagerly introduced themselves to myself and the other three students from my class who also went to the conference. It was amazing to listen to their stories, but exciting to see that they were equally interested in ours.

At the end of the conference, I not only felt a deep connection with the other people in the room, but myself and some of the others who came with me, also had a slight feeling of unease about our place in the conference that day. By the time I walked out the door, however, I knew that it was important for me to be there that day, as it gave me a face-to-face perspective of those who are living in underdeveloped conditions, and it allowed me to get a feeling of what they invisioned should be the solutions to their situation.

Here are some of the major notes I took down as I reflected at the end of the conference:

• use "less fortunate" instead of poor - the people in the townships may have their fancy cars and HD TV's... but their circumstances are less fortunate
• its hurts the girls when others say "all girls are baby-making machines in order to get governmental grants"
• it is important not to generalize. not all blacks without jobs are "lazy"
• we cannot "forget" about Apartheid even though it ended 15 years ago. it is a major player in why the inequalities today still exist
• one of the women in the group said that she had been working since she was 14 and still doesn't have enough money
• we will always have the poor among us. But, what is God's perception of poverty? Some parts of the debate got very Biblical--which was very persuasive for much of the members of the community.
  
• One of the students claimed "I do expect things to be done for me." - reflecting on the issue that S. African jobs were taken because people from Zimbabwe would work for less and work harder to succeed.
• girls in south africa have resorted to selling themselves as prostitutes to make a living
• some do not want hand-outs from foreign investors/foreigners
• someone said that "we didn't demand handouts before and now we are because the president is black" another girl reminded that before, under apartheid, they didn't have a voice... so they were unable to ask for anything.
• one older man regreted that he hadn't made use of the educational opportunities offered to him - slightly reflecting on the ability for the 4 of us to study abroad in S Africa
• another woman reflected that uneducated people have lost their dignity because they must resort to washing other peoples panties.

The most emotional part of the entire conference was when one older woman, who had been quiet during most of the day, began crying about the lack of respect among so many boys who use girls, sleep with them, say they love them, don't use condoms, and then leave the girl to care for the child along with the girl's parents.

I am glad that I took this opportunity. I can go shopping at the market or hiking any other day. This past Saturday was about really understanding South Africans.

Robben Island

Although the sun was glaring and the ocean breezes helped to keep Robben Island refreshing, I still felt a slight chill run through my body as we walked off the boat to experience Robben Island.

Our afternoon began with a bus tour of the island, which explained that it began as a Leper colony from 1836 to 1931. It was then vacant until 1939, when it served as a military site during the Second World War. However, by 1959, Robben Island changed hands and became the maximum security prison for which it is widely known.

I was overwhelmed by the experience of walking through the Robben Island prison, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of his 27 years before being released during the breakdown of Apartheid. It was definitely a surreal experience to see Mandela's jail cell and have a tour guide who also had been a prisoner after being arrested and tortured for fighting to end Apartheid. Our guide had been arrested after partaking in some civil unrest, and was found guilty of illegally leaving and then re-entering the country without the proper permission of the White Apartheid government (which wouldn't have been granted anyways).

It is quite an atmosphere to take in, especially when trying to picture the cells, overcrowded with inmates and prison guards roaming the halls.

Take-home Message: One of the most touching parts of the tour was from our first guide on the bus. Before we exited, he asked each of the people on our bus what country they are from. He concluded by saying, "if the whole world can fit and get along on this bus, please go out there and do the same." He went on to ask us to make sure that what happened in South Africa does not happen again, and that it is our responsibility to make changes in the inequalities in the world.

Taxi Cab Wars & the Townships

Prior to the end of apartheid, the two major taxi cab companies in Cape Town held a great deal of power within the townships. But, sometimes they got themselves into a bit of trouble by driving into the other taxi cabs “turf.” There were literally taxi cab wars in which one company would drive over to another companies fleet of taxi’s and begin shooting them down. It got so intense that the taxi drivers used to drive around with body guards to help protect them. If people in the community were upset with someone else, they would talk to the head of the company to get the issue “taken care of.”

Need some issue resolved? Call 1-800-Taxi-War!

Monday, May 18 – We had our official campus tour of CTU today. At the very beginning, we watched a promotional video that the school uses to recruit 11^th and 12^th graders deciding if they want to attend CTU for their undergraduate degrees. The acting and cinematography were absolutely hilarious, but my favorite part was when the narrator was explaining the thrill of going to the campus gym. Then, covering the entire screen was a picture of a guy’s 8-pack abs while he’s lifting weights. The narrator’s comment – “Hey girls… check out those muscles!” Oh dear.

However, although I have yet to see whether the 8-pack abs are in fact adorned by every CTU student, I am not in the slightest bit shy to test it out to see if it is true. haha... They surely have quite a lot of hot South African men walking around this campus. The English and Afrikaans boys are absolutely gorgeous.

Tuesday, May 19

Totally forgot yesterday was my parents 30th wedding anniversary. Luckily I gave them the gifts before I left! Hope you guys enjoyed it all!

After our lecture this morning, we had lunch at the Noon Gun restaurant after watching the cannons fire the 12 noon shot that goes off everyday.

Today was the most emotional day so far. We visited the District 6 Museum, which is dedicated to the forced movement of a black community located near the city bowl to the outskirts of the city when the area was declared "whites only" under apartheid in 1966.

After the museum, we went to another Township, where we went on a walking tour through the community and met with some people who are living with their entire families in one room - approximately the size of half a dorm room. Some of the houses have 8 rooms and can hold 32 people. But the people we met, especially the children running around on the streets, seemed especially happy. It was close to dinner time so we saw a mother feeding her two young children on her bed, another woman cooking stew dinner for her family, and others selling meats right on the streets--pigheads too. It really was quite an experience and very eye-opening. It gives me another check on the reality of the world and the extreme inequities our world faces both economically and racially.

The irony is that in the driveways of some of the houses were nearly brand-new Buicks and even a BMW here or there. While many blacks in the townships continue to face extreme poverty, there have been a few who have struggled to the top to become lawyers and doctors. But rather than leaving the townships and moving to a "better" community, the families stay in the townships-- the cost of living is cheaper so they can then afford to send their children to private schools in the City Bowl. But most importantly, they can maintain their sense of culture and community --- the children running carelessly on the streets, the meat being cooked on the streets, the loud music and dancing at night -- That's what they live for, by caring for and looking after each other for all of the years during apartheid... a cultural connectivity that has lasted until this day.

Acclimating to South Africa

Thursday, May 14
I have officially arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. It has been quite a surreal experience because while I can completely tell that I am in a different country, it is still hard to believe that I am on the African continent between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

After an 8 hour flight to London, 7 1/2 hour layover in the Heathrow Airport, and another 12 hour flight to Cape Town, I arrived safely and only slightly exhausted. I immediately saw my two suitcases circling around the baggage claim and was extremely relieved. I have never lost a bag on a flight yet--knock on wood. Another girl in the program, Jackie, was on the same British Airways flight to Cape Town with me, but neither of us even saw each other so we didn't know!

A slight mishap
When I got out of customs to the transport area, I did not see anyone with my name to pick me up. After waiting approximately 20 minutes, i decided to go to the information station and asked the man at the desk if there was any phone I could use to call Romer Tours, the company that is in charge of driving us everywhere during our stay. He kindly used his phone to call, Rithwann, who is basically our personal driver. Apparently my name was missed on his excel sheet because it was the first name on the list of students to be picked up. But not a problem! As he had picked up Jackie already, they simply turned around and came back to get me. Then we were off driving through some morning traffic through the City Bowl down to Sea Point, the area in which we are staying.

Stonehurst
Our group, along with my professor, David Hirschman, is staying at the Stonehurst Guest House. It was quite a splendid place with a lot of character. There are a couple of permanent residents here who have been extremely gracious in welcoming us. As Jackie and I were the first to arrive, we were given a grand tour and basically asked to pick any room we desired for our stay. Initially I chose a room with two twin beds, as the rooms with double beds require two students to share. (The house is relatively small and there aren't enough beds for everyone to have his/her own). However, as we were ready to go to lunch with Professor Hirshman, Jackie and I fell in love with two of the rooms by the entrance. We are in separate rooms (I share with Megan) and Jackie with Ashley and Cydney. However, these rooms are two level "flats" where each floor has a double bed. I lucked out only having to share with Megan, so I have the entire upper level to myself. We share a shower (on my level) and a bathroom (on her level). My bed is extremely comfortable and I have sleep pretty well so far as well.
The house itself have a quaint sitting room with a huge flat screen TV which seems rather silly juxtaposed to the older furniture in the room. We also have a cute kitchen with all of the essentials and more where I will soon be cooking. Jon (pronounced as Yon) -the manager- has been extremely gracious and is providing cornflakes cereal, apples, oranges, bread, butter, and milk for our group whenever want it. The owner and his son also live in the house as well and have been great hosts and continue to work to accommodate every request we make.

The rest of Thursday included a lot of exploring: eating brunch at a local cafe, walking approximately 4 miles up and down the coast of Cape Town with just my professor, unpacking, then out to dinner at a local Indian/Pakistani/Chinese/English restaurant - what at interesting mix!

Friday, May 15
We had a breakfast from the professors at the House and discussed the week, blogging, and our internships. I was extremely excited to find out that I will be interning with Grassroot Soccer starting June 1st! The office is in the City Bowl, right in the center of everything exciting in Cape Town!!

We then went to Cape Town University (now after referred to at CTU) for our first lecture from our Professor Hirshman about the history of South African democracy and apartheid.

After the lecture, we began our "transportation exercise" which allowed us to learn all of the means of transportation which would bring us from CTU to Stonehurst. We began by taking the Campus shuttle to the train. After riding the train, we arrived at what could be considered the "Grand Central Station" of Cape Town. From there we took these really ghetto bus taxis which cram a lot of people in--but are super cheap. Finally we arrived back at our house.

For dinner we went to Mama Shiela's in Lelapa, Langa which is a black township created during the apartheid. The food was absolutely marvalous. This woman has created her own business by struggling from the very bottom by working two jobs and going to night classes to learn how to manage and finance. She now only takes groups by reservation and creates an entire story with the dinner which is a lovely African Buffet. Everything she made was delicious and throughout our dinner we were entertained by a lovely xylophone trio of three men who would sing songs in Xhosa (one of the national languages of S. Africa).

Saturday, May 16
We visited the South African Slave Lodge. It was quite interesting to see the influence of Malaysian and Indonesian slaves brought TO Africa, rather than the US traditional study of African slaves brought to the United States. It never occurred to me that the Dutch colonies in Cape Town would have brought slaves from other countries instead of enslaving the indigenous already in the area.

We went to the Castle of Good Hope which was built by the Dutch to protect themselves from a potential battle by the British who were also settling in Cape Town. Ironically, there was never a
battle but it is now the oldest building still standing in Cape Town.

We had originally planned to travel to Cape Point of a peninsula tour, but due to poor weather conditions, our professors booked ourselves for a wine tour at the oldest and largest wine estates in S. Africa. We then had a lovely wine tasting, but many of us did not particularly enjoy the wines enough to purchase a bottle. However, we were excited to see baboons on the estate!!

Sunday, May 17
Finally to today. Today was a very simple day that we had completely to ourselves. We only had one task at hand- to read some South African newspapers and prepare an issue we find interesting for a group discussion as 7pm at Stonehurst. I picked an article directed to the new Minister of Sport, explaining the problems of money administration, management, and distribution. It also covered the issue of the need to increase grassroot sports development in order to create more organized sports at the club level. Finally, it emphasized the financial inequality between women and men in sport. Women's sports in South Africa lack sufficient funding and are not supported equally. Additionally, sports teams have become owned by corporations rather than the government, leading to potential to create human rights abuses when corporations allocate sponsorship to sportsmen without allocating assistance to sportswomen.

The "Ecology" Club

Not only is my Health in the Developing World class one of the most relevant classes to the world's problems, but it also has some of the best discussions as well. The combination of graduate students in the class adds a new dimension and level of outside expertise that I have yet to experience in the classroom.

But my professor always knows how to relate on our level, trying to bring a bit more of a positive side to our lectures by adding pictures of himself from about 20 years ago into the powerpoints. Longer-haired and hippy-eske, last weeks photo was from his high school yearbook. Next to his picture mentioned that he was the captain of his high school swim team, and a member of the ecology club--we laughed.

His quick reply... "The ecology club is what myself and my under-achieving friends made up to put something on our college applications. We never really had a meeting without a bong."

This week's photo: professor smoking hookah somewhere in Egypt (I believe) with two old college friends.

I honestly can say, I look forward to this class every single week.

one year too late: but better late than never...

I've been snooping on a bunch of blogs lately, and it's made me miss my xanga blog that I used to post on back in the day. So I decided to give it a little check-up and found that my last posting on it was from Jan. 23, 2008... mostly talking about my excitement for conferences coming up in the next month.

What is more intriguing was my goal times I posted:

Conference Goals
under 2:30.00 2BR
under 2:15.08 2IM
under 4:51.22 4IM

Last year, I didn't accomplish any one of those goals, and it was pretty disappointing overall (even though I did swim all best times last year...)

But this year's conferences was basically the BEST meet I have ever swam at and experienced in my life. Not only did I achieve every one of my goals from last season, but I crushed them:

2009 Conference Times
2:27.33 2BR
exactly 2:15.08 2IM
4:41.48 4IM

A year ago I predicted the exact time I went this past weekend in the 2IM. Pretty freaky.

Maybe I'll start posting on here more regularly...